Change Will Come

I just wanted to congratulate Senator Barack Obama in his success of being elected our next president. I believe that he has a lot of ideas that could help our nation reunite, so I hope that he is able to stay up to par once he takes office in January. Again, congratulations Senator for creating history and becoming the first African-American to take office in the White House.

Looking Back

As I take the time to reflect on the issues I have researched, I am confident to say that my ability to think has definitely grown throughout this project. Before I started this project, I had never written a blog, replied to a blog, or really known anything about the blogging world. I always thought that blogs were a bunch of non-sense and that they were used as a form of diary. I now know that my original understanding was completely off guard and that blogging sites can actually be very informative.

Throughout this project I have not only learned about myself, but I have become much more informed about the issues pertaining to my topic of making the world a greener place. I choose this topic because it is a rising issue in our country, and although I knew some information I wanted to learn more and see what I can do living as your average college student.

Obviously the ability to recycle items that can be reused: paper, cans, plastic I have known about since I was a child, but I never knew how much garbage is taking over our precious land and how a large portion of the waste in landfills can actually be recycled. I've never understood that. Recycling is not difficult at all; there are plenty of containers and most towns pick it up for free, yet we still have so many Americans that have the attitude that it's not their problem to deal with. Truth is that it will become every one's problem if we don't do something about it.

Out of the entire project I probably learned the most about our fresh water crisis. This was something that I knew nothing about, but once I started doing research I was amazed at what I found. I had no idea that the world's fresh water supply was at such a depressing and risky low. I felt like I needed to express this information with all you readers because water is the most important resource that we have and if we lose it, we're going to be losing a lot more than just fresh water. I was able to find appliances that people can use in their homes to help save water in addition to valuable water saving strategies. I was also able to find out how the government is dealing with this issue and how reusable water techniques have already taken effect.

Linking The Chain

I have spent a great deal of time browsing the Internet over the duration of this project searching for valuable and credible information. Because I have been writing about an environmental issue I have not had a great deal of success finding information in the nationally renowned news sites. Instead, I have had to search the internet for each posting and try to find some sites that explore any of my issues of water conservation, recycling, and alternate energy sources. Fortunately, I was able to find some sites which were valuable enough to use multiple times:
OurEarth.org
Water Use It Wisely
Water Conservation News
Recycling Guide
Energy Resources: Solar Power
The majority of the websites that I have used are linked to water conservation because I put most of my emphasis on that topic. All aspects of going "green" are important, but I wanted to spend a lot of my time dealing with the water crisis because I believe that it can grow to become a much more heated topic as the resource continues to dissipate.

Water Crisis

This is an informative video that covers the issues with our world wide water crisis. It is a subtle video with a huge impact on its viewers. Take a few minutes to look over it and let me know what you think.

Recycling Water

We've all heard about recycling newspaper, cans, paper, etc..., but this is a great video that focuses on recycling water. It takes you through the process that plants across the country are taking in order to help conserve drinking water. Take a look and see if you think this is a process that more of the country/world should adapt.

If Left Unchanged

If water conservation behaviors do not begin to take effect throughout the world then a water crisis, larger than the one that we currently have, will effect the globe. Having the majority of the water on Earth come from oceans (97%), there is only at 2% of fresh water that can be used. Right now there is an inadequate amount of clean water to support our population. More than 1 out of 6 people already lack safe drinking water. This can be attributed to tripling of the population throughout the 20th century, but the population is expected to double again within the next fifty years.

( Satellite view shows the retreating shore of the Aral Sea, formerly one of the world's largest inland seas. Image at left was taken in 1989, at right in 2003.)

Other issues that are contributing to the lack of the fresh water supply is the amount of contamination prevalent today. Fresh bodies of water are becoming high in algae because of neighboring land containing manure and landfills. The phosphorus from the manure travels through the soil into the underground water streams. As a result, toxic blue-green algae grows in the water supply thus contaminating the water. Also, about 0.1-0.4% of usable aquifers are contaminated by landfills. The wastes in landfills become saturated with water, and if the water seeps into the groundwater or surface water, it can contaminate the supply.

As you can see, the world's water supply is dissipating from natural parts of the environment, but also by what we humans are doing to it. Because water is already becoming a sparse resource, it means that we as individuals need to contribute in ways to help preserve water. People need to participate in water saving principles and recycle proper wastes or else the water supply will soon be virtually non-existent.

Recycling Newspaper

In class the other day someone asked about if it was worth the process to recycle newspapers. After doing some research, I have found that it is important to continue/start to recycle newspapers. According to a website from Newton, Kansas about recycling, it takes about 17 trees in order to create 1 ton of newspaper, and on average, Americans buy 65 million newspapers each day. However, only about 4 or 5 out of every 10 papers are actually recycled. It is good to recycle paper because it is able to reduce air and water pollution up to 50%, and by recycling one ton of paper we are able to save up to 7,000 gallons of water and 4,100 kwh of electricity each year.

The process of recycling newspaper has multiple steps. First the paper has to go through a de-inking mill where it is washed in a solution containing warm water and chemicals which turns the paper into mush. The mush is then spun and screened to remove the ink and other unwanted particles within the paper. After that the mush is then air treated in a flotation cell. A flotation cell is a water-mineral tank where the surfaces of the selected minerals are made water resistant. Those particles that repel the water then attach to air bubbles thus floating to the top of the tank where the unwanted particles in the froth can be eliminated. The mush is washed one last time, bleached and mixed with tree pulp. It is then squeezed to remove the water and then dried and pressed for shipment.

It is a big process for paper that can typically be recycled 5-7 times, but recycling is actually the most effective way to use money to dispose unwanted newspapers. Typically, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash. By recycling, Americans can save $20-$45 by eliminating the process of sending it to a landfill or burning it. Newspaper can be composted and only leaves a minuscule amount of ink in the compost, the ability to recycle and save trees would be a much more logical way to dispose of newspaper. Newspaper can be recycled and used for other products as well like: cereal boxes, egg cartons, pencil barrels, grocery bags, tissue paper, and cellulose insulation materials. As a result, the effect that recycling newspapers can create other necessary products that are used daily, but can also help save the destruction of trees as well.