Ecobook

Ecobook

Omnivore #1:

Squirrels are omnivores because they ingest on plants primarily nuts, seeds, conifer cones, fruits, and fungi. Sometimes they consume insects, eggs, small birds, newborn snakes, and small rodents like rats or mice.

Carnivore #2:
My dog Lucky is mainly a carnivore because he eats pork, beef, chicken which is all categorized as meat.

Ecosystem #3:

The park are ducks, squirrels, pigeons' ecosystem because this is where they live, interact with one another, while adapting to their environment and everything else around them.

Producer #4:
Algae and plants are classified as producers because they're a source of food for other organisms. Green plants harvest through photosynthesis.

Land Use #5: 

This is considered Land Use because University of Massachusetts Boston is renovating it's environment for dormitories for college students.

  

Abiotic #6:

Sunlight is an abiotic factor because it effects living organisms and the ecosystem. The sun provides vitamin D and also is an extensive part of photosynthesis.

  

Community #7:

Charles Newtown is a community because various of different race of people live here. Everyone pays rent, buys groceries, and communicate with one another.

Heterotroph #8:

I am a heterotroph because I absorb autotrophs (plant). Plants are also a source of food for me because they are nutritious and provide carbohydrates, fiber, protein, minerals, and vitamins.

Biotic #9:

Trees are a biotic factor because they affect other organisms. They provide oxygen to living things like humans and animals. Also, plants are contributed with food through trees because of photosynthesis. Without them no living things would be alive.

Land Pollution #10:

Across from my house is a baseball field that is occasionally filled with trash; papers, dunkin donut cups, plastic bags, plastic wrappers, etc. 

Renewable Resource #11 9/21/15:

Primark's paper bag is a renewable resource because it has the recycling symbol on the bottom with a statement stating, "Paper is a natural and renewable resource."

Water Pollution #12 9/21/15:

The water beneath this bridge that connects from Charlestown to Boston has filthy water that gushes out occasionally at least a day (I don't know how many times per day), but it turns the water into a disgusting green-like color.

Composting #13:

This is composting because it is a natural fertilizer where the people in The Greenway decomposes soil and plants, which also reduces the amount of material in the landfill.

Autotroph #14:

This flower is an autotroph because it takes in energy from the sunlight, also known as photosynthesis. Autotrophs and Producers are a major factor in the food chain in all ecosystem.

Omnivores #15:

My pet rats; William and Alfonso are both omnivores because they eat anything. They eat seeds, fruits, grains, nuts, flowers, leaves, insects, birds, etc.

Throw away society #16:

An iPhone is considered a throw-away-society because it involves consumerism. It promotes interests towards consumers and buyers by its cool features and updating every 6-12 months.

Waste generation #17:

This coca-cola bottle is considered waste generation because it is a waste/trash that is consuming our planet because it is made out of plastic (I found picture two disturbing and funny).

Food Chain #18:
This is a food chain because it is categorizing the food the animals take in and what animals take in them.

Pesticide #19:

This is pesticide prevention for dogs so that they will not have ticks or fleas or pest on their fur.

Study Links Polluted Air in China to 1.6 Million Deaths a Year

ScrAPES#4: Study Links Polluted Air in China to 1.6 Million Deaths a Year

by Dan Levin

August 13, 2015

            In China, which population stands at approximately 1.357 billion, contributes to the deaths of an estimated 1.6 million people every year due to it's toxic air which terminates smogs that originated from emissions in a distant industrial zone. Studies show that pollutants had airborne particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter. This motive's aftereffect leads to asthma, strokes, lung cancer and heart attacks. Ninety percent of 360 cities in China failed to meet the standards of air quality in the first few months of this year. Air pollution subsidizes seventeen percent of deaths in the nation each year. For China most of their air pollution are caused by coal-burning factories in Shijiazhuang of Hebei Province. 

                It is utterly interesting to me that China's President, Xi Jinping and their government could not have done any more diminishing egregious ways for their community and even in a whole country to suffer. I have heard plenty of rumors about China; from being a communist to invading countries like the Philippines, Tibet, Japan and soon other Eastern and Southeast Asian countries. I am not surprise that China has a mere tremendous amount of pollution, China is most likely the uttermost polluted and unhealthy country in the world. Their climate is unquestionably unhealthy, absence in social classes, equality, and money. They use their people primarily as slaves because of inequality and selfish desires. I know for a fact that as long as China's pollution is grave no one would want to visit. So then if there are no tourist there will be no appreciation for the good things of China. I am not saying China is an unacceptable country because every country has it's good and bad, but I am saying that China needs to change for their government, people, and society. 

Couple poses with gas mask for their wedding photos to protest heavy
pollution in China.

           China's pollution relates to the environment because it's fallout increases death tolls, and appalling environment; for example parks, grass, trees, and animals. Overall China in the future will soon see itself as the land of the forgotten. Everything will die not only because of pollution but because of mother nature itself as well, like global warming, changes of atomic plates, erosions, volcanic eruptions, and much more. Currently their people, the Chinese, are suffering from pollution. Most are suffering asthma and lung cancer due to their lungs taking up polluted air because polluted air consist of harmful and poisonous effects. They are also most likely iron deficient due to lack of sunlight. Iron deficiency can result to anemia and severe anemia can cause to heart diseases such as heart disease and for pregnant women it can result to newborns with deformation. Animals and plants are dying too. If trees die there will be barely any oxygen for living things to take in and also causes starvation because of lack of sources for food, since everything will die. It is partially the China's government's misdeed to why air is polluted because they are careless to  fix their dispute. Other than that just because China's government is fallacious their people and climate need to be much more vigorous; Citizens need to have equality, jobs, and lively environment for a valuable outcome.

Sources: 

• Study Links Polluted Air in China to 1.6 Million Deaths a Year
• 23 Shocking Photos Reveal How Bad China’s Pollution Problem Has Become
• Couple Poses With Gas Masks For Their Wedding Photos To Protest Heavy Pollution In China

Wild Uganda Chimpanzees Using Clay as Food

ScrAPES#3: Wild Uganda Chimpanzees Using Clay as Food

by Sindya N. Bhanoo

August 3, 2015

                Wild Uganda Chimpanzees that live among the Budongo Forest in the Western Region of Uganda, closest to the city Masindi; these Chimpanzees has been studied by fellow researchers of Dr. Vernon Reynolds for half-a-century and they have discovered that Uganda Chimpanzees has begun eating clay instead of decayed pith of Raffia Palm Trees. Chimpanzees turn to clay for food supply because of the widespread destruction of local Raffia Palm Trees. Local tobacco farmers strip the trees of their leaves for use of curing and drying tobacco which results to Raffia Palm Trees dying and most likely being extinct. 

                This article is very interesting to me because I may not know several Chemistry but I do know that if a body take high concentrations of iron Hemochromatosis occurs in the body. Taking in too much iron produce damage to the liver, heart and leads to diseases such as diabetes and arthritis. Studies say deluding bountiful amount of aluminum may lead to Alzheimer's Disease (http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/153326/). In my opinion it is both animal abuse and illegal to cut certain trees for local tobacco use which emanates the fact that animals would have to rely on other unhealthy sources for food. Tobacco is generally being used carelessly by humans through their satisfying needs of cigarettes. It is selfish and unfair and I think humans need to understand that it is also not their needs that always have to be satisfied but other divisions of nature, for example animals and plants. But this world will never fully understand. Nothing will change or drastically improve, we just need to respect each other, animals and plants by respecting their personal space. 


               This issue is important to the environment because Uganda Chimpanzees CANNOT depend on clays for food! It is very unhealthy and not normal. It is like a baby eating play-doh; when people see that they automatically care and show their heart out for the baby but it is different if it is an animal. I feel very pity for us, people, because we are the cause for most of the environment's complication. Uganda Chimpanzees will become extinct or have a physical deformation in the near future if no one provides proper food for them. Our environment and the living things that consist of it need to change. We need to be father open to change.


Resources:

• Wild Uganda Chimpanzees Using Clay as Food

Plastic in the Ocean Podcast

ScrAPES#2: Plastic in the Ocean Podcast

June 5, 2015 Episode

The pod casts from Living on Earth: World Sailors Call For Plastic-free Oceans, Testing Boston Harbor for Plastic, and Meeting the Challenge of Plastic Marine Debris all have a common theme. The theme of the three pod casts are about cause and effect of plastics. In podcast one World Sailors Call For Plastic-free Oceans, sailors discuss about how plastic kills animals in oceans because aquatic animals mistaken micro beads for food. Eighty percent of plastics found in the ocean come from land. Even though plastic is useful for health care, reservation, and it reduces energy; it can also live for a really long period of time. Plastics find their way from water ways that eventually leads to the ocean. Obviously, if aquatic animals like fish eats micro beads they will eventually die and if this process keeps going on and we do not do anything about it, fishes and other aquatic animals will go extinct. We will not have food. The ecosystem will not be balanced. In the second pod cast, Testing Boston Harbor for Plastic, Graduate from University of Massachusetts Boston and Master Degree of Marine and Science Technology, Tyler O'Brien, analyzes micro plastics on the Boston Harbor. She goes into the facts that micro plastics are 5 millimeters or smaller found in plastic bags, bottles, and more. Micro plastics ingest small animal's ecosystem. Also, she talks about how plank tons can feed on sixty-three micrometers which effects animals that eat plank tons as well. Micro plastics are broken down to plastic bags, bottles, and wrapping. In Meeting the Challenge of Plastic Marine Debris, Dr. Sandra Whitehouse is a biological oceanographer and Senior Advisor to the Ocean Conservan explores about how eight million plastic per year are being wasted as trash. Dr. Whitehouse also discussed that twenty percent of sea-based action comes from fishing gears, containers, etc; eighty percent comes from land from human activities, fifty percent comes from Asia and South East Asian countries like the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka.

These pod casts are quite interesting to me because they all comment on the cause and effect of plastic; that plastic creates pollution in the ocean other than land. The fact that the every day material that we find almost everywhere can ruin our environment by killing animals that live in the ocean because they mistaken it for food is a very nerve-racking thing. Before I have heard about how plastic effects badly on our environment, supermarkets like Market Basket or Shaw's would offer their costumers the right whether to buy reusable bags or not, made me think it was a stupid idea. I did not care much about what a little thing like plastic could do to living things like animals and especially us. Now I understand the idea of reducing or eliminating plastic in our communities because we are basically murdering animals in the ocean. Animals do not know the bad things in life. I feel severely pity for them. It is exceedingly important that we reduce as much or if we can eliminate plastic overall because it will cause our environments to begin to be a healthier place. 

This pod cast is important to environmental science because plastic effects our community it is trash that later turns out into pollution then to deaths of animals and other living things. Now it may be pollution in the ocean maybe next it will be air pollution. Animals like fishes, crabs, jellyfish, sharks, etc have a significant part on the world. It is also important because it is human impacting on the environment; they are the one's causing land and ocean pollution by misusing land resources. People should care more about their environment, land and ocean, because one small thing can effect a whole. 

Sources:

• World Sailors Call For Plastic-free Oceans
• Testing Boston Harbor for Plastic
• Meeting the Challenge of Plastic Marine Debris

My Connection to Nature

Nature

Nature is all around us. It is like a drug that suffocates us. Nature includes plants, animals, landscape, features and products of the earth, and it especially includes us. We are part of nature; what we do, whether the positive or negative, affects nature itself. In my personal life, I believe I take part of the good things in nature and also the bad things. Around me I see recycling bins, trash bins, dog bags, etc. I also see improvements to our environment for example new construction sites that later on become new buildings and parks. Helping our society; the poor, hungry, homeless, or helpless also effects nature.

In my environment I often connect with nature by recycling paper and plastics. Also I pick up trash whether it is on the street, public transportation or in a classroom. With that, I do not know whether it is my slight OCD kicking in or not. To be honest I do not know where the recycle goes. Are they being converted into reusable material? Or is it just being placed somewhere in an abandon site? Also I think I can do more for the environment I can help clean places that are dirty or take part on something for a cause. 

Goose Exterminator of the Netherlands Enrages Animal Rights Activists

ScrAPES#1: Goose Exterminator of the Netherlands Enrages Animal Rights Activists 

by Andrew Higgins

June 14, 2015

          Mr. Den Hertog, 40 years of age, is the Netherlands' peerless expert in the theory and practice of killing large animals of wild geese. He recently killed 570 graylag geese in his portable gas chamber which totals the death toll in a weekly basis to 7,000 geese. Dutch authorities pays Mr. Den Hertog to decrease the population of wild geese. Due to a ban of hunting wild geese, their population has increased rapidly due to the farmers' increasing use of nitrogen-rich fertilizer and expansion of protected nature areas.

          This article is most interesting to me because I am an animal lover; the fact that I own four different kind of animals and growing up with mostly dogs and cats, I have adapted to loving and caring for animals. I feel tremendously sad that there are people in this world who would kill animals whether it is due to the increasing population, food, or medical use. Yes, food and maybe medical use is okay. But if you have to kill dogs or cats (which are most likely home pets to almost anyone) for food; for example in China they kidnap dogs and kill them for the Yulin Festival. That is not acceptable. It is sick and incredibly repugnant. This article reminded me of countries who kill animals for food or abuse them. 

          It is quite hilarious how the Dutch authorities allowed Mr. Den Hertog to kill wild geese due to the increase of population because WE humans are over populated as well. There are approximiately more than 7 billion people living on earth. There are fewer than 4 million babies born in the United States each year. How much more in other countries like China or Japan? Yes there are crimes anywhere we go and it will most likely seems like it is a way of decreasing our population but those crimes like murder are chosen by selfish desires, hunger, or mental illnesses. Geese do not have selfish desires or mental illness; they do not choose to kill one another. I doubt they even have hate for one another.


          This article is important to environmental science because it is endangering geese. It also takes part on the equilibrium of the ecosystem. Plants affect animals, vise versa. Geese are consumers who take part on receiving energy by consuming other organisms to form the food chain and balance. I believe that every living things have the right to live no matter how small or big they are.

Source:

• Goose Exterminator of the Netherlands Enrages Animal Rights Activists