AP Environmental Science

The world’s largest water storage facility, the Three Gorges Dam in China, has been significantly polluted by pesticides, fertilizer, sewage, and passenger boats. Not only has the Three Gorges Dam reservoir been polluted by the above listed causes, but also over 600 kilometers of the Yangtze River in China is “critically polluted.” This comes out after a study done by the Chinese Academy of Science, WWF organization, and the Yangtze RIver Water Resources Commission.  Along with the dam and the river, about 30% of the major tributaries to the river are “seriously polluted.”

Three Gorges along the Yangtze River, Photo Credit: www.wikipedia.org

Ever since the rapid economic growth, the condition of the environment in China has been decreasing. Approximately 14.2 billion tons of waste a year are put into the Yangtze River, which is 35% of China’s freshwater resources. China’s aquatic products in the 1950s were 427,000 tons, but in the 1990s they were down to 100,000 tons. Let’s see. 427,000 tons - 100,000 tons = 327,000 tons decrease in the amount of aquatic products in China.

The article discussed the pollution problems that are going on, but it didn’t discuss the possible solutions or if China has any plans to disrupt this pollution. I wonder if it is illegal to dump the pesticides, fertilizer, and sewage into the water. If it isn’t, the government should regulate the dumping. I don’t understand why the people would be dumping all of that stuff into the river, if it makes up 35% of their freshwater resources. Maybe it is not really having an impact now and they aren’t really looking to the future.

Article: China’s Yangtze River Extensively Polluted, Study Says  By: Reuters http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12582

A week from today 12 leaders of South American countries will meet with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to discuss the building of a 5,000 mile natural gas pipline. This pipeline would take OPEC nation’s gas reserves to South American nations, such as Argentina and Brazil. This meeting comes at a time when tensions are high with Brazil. Brazil has been cooperating with the United States to promote the use of ethanol. Chavez claims that an increase in use of ethanol will make world hunger increase. Chavez says that ethanol is not needed and that the countries participating in the conference should look for ways to reduce energy consumption. He is putting down the US calling for regional support for “anti-US politics.” Venezuela has the hemisphere’s largest oil reserves and is the 5th leading exporter of oil to the United States.

I agree with Chavez that new ways need to be developed to reduce energy consumption, but I am not sure that the way to go about it is by going against the United States. In my opinion, he is just trying to coax the regional South American countries into hating the US by offering them a natural gas pipeline to their countries. The article did not discuss much about why Chavez said that world hunger will increase with the use of ethanol and I am not quite sure what he means by that.

Article : Venezuela’s Chavez Challenges US with Energy Summit by Brian Ellsworth http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12580

I am sure that we all remember watching Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” in class. It was a very interesting movie, but how many times does someone want to watch the same movie, pointing out the same facts and numbers. Well, beginning this week there are going to be tv shows about “earth justice.”

Photo Credit: www.wikipedia.org

Next year on cable tv, there will be a network called Discovery PlanetGreen wich is aimed at helping to educate people on living a green lifestyle. “The Green” on the Sundance Channel is going to start this Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. It will be during primetime hours every Tuesday.  It will not only cover issues facing the earth, but also solutions to these problems that humans are creating. Some topics that will be discussed include: global warming, pollution, and energy depletion. Although I am sure that they give you facts, they also take you to different towns accross the United States and do different experiments. One in particular is a race between a car fueled by vegtable oil and one that is fueled with gasoline. The gasoline powered car obviously wins the race, but the experiment proves that a vegtable oil powered car does work and is sufficient.

I think that this is a great idea. I don’t know how many people will tune in to see, but they may get some channel-surfers that become interested. I like that they are not just giving you facts, but they are going around, talking to different people, taking you to different towns, and actually showing you something (rather than just explaining it to you).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18078524/       Cable Channel Plants Seeds for “The Green” by Frazier Moore

Pictures from: www.wikipedia.org

Nissan Motor Co. and NEC ( an electronics maker) have indicated that they will be partnering to make lithium-ion batteries for hybrids and electric cars, known collectively known as green vehicles by the year 2009. The lithium ion is most commonly found right now in laptops and cell phones. The corporations are investing 490 yen or 4.1 million dollars in this project. Nissan plans to release their version of the hybrid car in 2010 and electric car sometime early in the next decade. Toyota and Honda have been in the market for green vehicles for many years using the nickel-metal hydride batteries.

Researchers are making the battery based on cost, performance, safetly, and reliability. When the battery is released it will be available to all automakers.

I think that it is great that Nissan is finally coming out with a more ecologically friendly car; however, I am not sure how much money they will make from it. I feel like people who are serious about buying environmentally friendly cars have already done so, buying a Honda or Toyota. But, maybe by the time Nissan’s new cars come out, there will be more an urgent reponse to global warming. I wonder what the difference is between the nickel-metal hydride batteries and the lithium-ion batteries are as far as which is better for the environment, or even if one is.

Article from: http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12568 Associated Press, Nissan, NEC To Produce Batteries For Ecologically Friendly Vehicles

Usually for vacations, especially ones that require long plane rides, I buy a couple magazines to read on the way. One of the magazines that I bought this time was Glamour. As I was sifting through the articles, only reading the ones that I have a real interest in, I came to an article entitled “The woman’s guide to saving the planet.” The first thing listed was the top 10 ways to help. This list was very predictable including: changing to flourescent light bulbs, driving fuel efficient cars, conserving water, recycling, etc. The common ones.  Then it went on to state that the average American throws away 21 bags of garbage each month. I was amazed at this number. It also said that one of the studies indicated that 75% of things in landfills could have been recycled, mainly plastics and electronic goods.

Next was the discussion about dry-cleaning clothing, microwaving in plastic, and cooking in Teflon pans, all of which may be bad for you and are definitely bad for the environment. The issue with dry-cleaned clothes is that it a chemical used may be linked to cancer and reproductive damage. Not ony could it damage your health, but also air and the producing the plastic that is wrapped around your clothes when you get them from the dry cleaners uses a lot of energy.

Eco-friendly beauty supplies and clothing that is good for the environment is the next topic. Included in the clothing section are: clothes that have been colored with vegtable dyes, organic cotton, washing your clothes in cold water, and buying shoes that can be resoled easily. Eco-gadgets that are do not put a drain on energy and resources including: Water pwered clocks, Eyemax radio, Soldius solar recharger, Vessel Candela lights, and Muji cardboard speakers. Why these products? They are recharged by sunlight, rechargeable batteries, or they are biodegradable.

 The magazine also gives some statistics including:

” 10 times as much energy is wasted when you run a computer screen saver instead of using sleep mode.”

“14 plastic grocery bags contain enought petroleum to fuel a car for a mile. Make friends with a cloth tote.”

“20 gallons of water go down the drain daily when you have a drip-drip-drip faucet. Call the plumber!”

“75 percent of energy used to power electronic items is consumed while they’re plugged in but not in use.”

“31,600 planes could be built with the amount of soda cans and other aluminum stuff thrown away every year.”

“100,000,000 trees are made into junk mail every single year. And no, that is not a typo. What a waste.”

What really got me were the statistics at the end. I think that my family is guilty of every thing listed above. The computer that I am writing this on has a computer screen saver not on sleep mode. When my Mom goes to the grocery store she comes home with plastic and sometimes paper bags. In some of the faucets in my house, there is a drip-drip and we leave our electronics plugged, whether they are off or not. We try to recycle our soda cans, but sometimes it doesn’t always happen. And the junk mail we get all the time in the mail. Sometimes we get more junk mail then mail that it actually worth our time reading. This is a real eye-opener.

Article in Glamour April 2007