Synthesis

Environmental studies cover a broad range of topics that you can focus on. Although I am still undecided on my major at this point I would have to say that this project has really helped me to understand what all goes into being an environmental major of any sort. I now understand that education is key to getting people on track, and even little things like taking shorter showers, or recycling can help. As I reflect back on this journey I have taken throughout this blog, I realized I learned a lot more than I thought I would. Not only did I learn about what goes into this major, but how people view it, and ways to be productive in change.

Areas of Focus

There are many different areas of focus one can go into in the environmental field. From things like climate change, agriculture, fisheries and wildlife, sustainability, or energy issues. These are just a few of the areas with many problems that need to be addressed. For example someone with a focus on climate change might be concerned with the Keystone pipeline project that I talked about in Free post # 3. This is due to the fact that in recent months it has been approved to be built and, it will be carrying tar sands, which is a type crude oil that increases greenhouse gas emissions. I have  learned about the depth of the environmental field through my research on this broad topic.

The real world

From this project I had the chance to learn about this major through real work experience. First I had an interview with a professional in the field. In Week # 3 I interviewed one of my Professors who had a lot of insight for me about this major. I learned how cool it actually is. My professor gets paid to sit and think, and research whatever it is that he wants to! He gets to see nature change, and interact with a lot of different people. I learned that a lot of writing and research is needed to get things like grant proposals done to being to implement change as well.

In Week number 4 and 8  I joined a club and got to participate in field work. I found the MSU RISE program, which is a group of students on campus all majoring in environmental studies, who participate in projects to help the environment and spread awareness. With this group I got to be a part of this years Bailey Hall legacy project, Curbside recycling. The RISE students wanted to to test the theory that if recycling is more convenient, then more people will recycle. We put bins in their rooms, and once a week go to collect anything they have put in the bins. 

To learn more about this program you can visit their home page at http://rise.natsci.msu.edu. Also If you wish to learn more about the legacy project you can follow us on twitter @Baileyrecycles.

One last Real world experiment I got to do was a recycling sort. I did so with my ESA 200 class and blogged about it in free post # 1. My class went to the recycling center and sorted through a dumpster deemed as landfill products. We got to see that just under half of the products were actually recyclable. Although some of them we could not recycle because of contamination.

What people tend to think

The real world experiences I had from this blog led me to the sad conclusion that people do no care. I learned this particularly well while working on the Bailey project. I had multiple doors slammed in my face when trying to pass out bins and collect the recyclables a week later. There were so many people who did so because they did not believe in recycling, were to lazy, or just said that it did not matter what they did with their waste,so threw it in the landfill. Granted this is just one experience and only a few people not caring, but it goes above and beyond that.

I noticed that people do not care in a lot of the research articles I read. This is something I particularly noticed about global warming, that I talked about this in week # 7. There are so many people who do not believe it is real! To me that is crazy since in the scientific world, there is almost no debate, all the professionals say it is real. Its not something we need to guess about, but something we need to fix. Although that can’t happen until we get more people on board and educated about the matter. I personally think it is because the term was branded wrong. The term Global Warming caught on when the term climate change is more accurate. Yes it is cold in Michigan this winter and we had tons and tons of snow, all thanks to climate change. Yes, climate changes does more than just warm the earth and create hot temperatures, is is responsible for freak weather experiences and storms as well such as this cold winter. If people could understand what it is about maybe we could do something. It does not even have to be a big change, start off small, recycle, take shorter showers, or buy a fuel efficient car.

Implementing change

Lastly I found out people do not know how to help out and implement change. In the research articles and news stories I read I noticed a common theme. Environmentalists love telling us the multiple things that are wrong, but never enough about what to do. change is never stressed enough. Education is key and nothing is happening. This is something I would have to struggle with as an environmental major. Although it would be a good struggle to make the world a better place, little by little.

Why bother? This is the question many people ask themselves about environmental problems. Being sustainable sounds hard to most people. The truth is one person can make a difference, and we all need to start by making little changes.You may not think one little change can help, but it can, and it can be the start of something huge. For example…

~ Take shorter showers

~ carpool or ride your bike

~ recycle

~ buy a reusable water bottle

~ buy local foods

~ turn off the lights when you leave, and unplug it if it is not being used

~ plant a garden

~ bring your own bags to the grocery store

~ change your lightbulbs to more energy efficient ones

~ Write to your local congressmen 

~ join an environmental group and help spread awareness

These are all small things, but its a start. We will never get anywhere if we don’t start somewhere. Take these small actions to make a better future for our children, so they do not have to deal with a huge crisis.

To me the environmental field seems like an interesting career if I’m up for the challenge. I have learned that there are many problems, and not everyone is aware of all thats happening or know how to help. A lot of education is needed to inform people and make a push for change. There are so many things I could work on in this field that makes it sounds so rewarding as a major as I reflect back on what I learned from this blog

Free Post # 10: The Omnivore's Dilemma

I recently Read an interesting book by Michael Pollan called "The Omnivore's Dilemma". This book takes you through four different types of food systems, and gives you the inside scoop to how your food is made, and what is does to the environment. The four types are industrial, organic, local sustainable and the do it yourself meal.

The first food system is the one most of us eat, the industrial meal. This consists of processed food we get at a fast for restaurant to the meat we buy in the grocery store. I learned that most of what we eat is corn! Not sweet corn that is grown to be eaten, but # 2 field corn as they call it. It is in High fructose Corn syrup and many of the other ingredients no one can pronounce. The farms our where meat is grown on feed their livestock this corn as well. It is what their diets are based on at the feedlot where they are crammed so tightly together. They are not given a grass fed diet that their system was made for, instead we make them eat corn, why? Because it is cheap and big agribusiness's have a patens on GMO to sell to farmers to grow the corn. But thats a whole different debate. Our crops are also sprayed with so many pesticides, and intern cause damage to our soil, then run off into our oceans. Many animals get sick and diseased in the feedlots but no one seems to give that much thought to that when buying your cheap dinner at the store.

The next food system is organic, or as it should be called Industrial organic. Just because something says Organic on it does NOT mean it was grown 100% without pesticides, or on a free range grass fed farm. Although organic food is better for you, I don't think it is the best we can do. The USDA does allow for some amounts of certain pesticides to be used on our crops. That goes for our livestock as well. That chicken you buy that says free range, does not mean it got a nice green pasture to live on. In some places all it means it that it lived in a caged up area, with a little door at the end of the tunnel to go out into a small area if it so chooses, but none of them do, why is that? This is because for they first weeks of life the door is shut, so when it is opened they are so used to living inside they just stay there! These practices are better for the environment, but still harmful in the sense of runoff and pesticides used.

The third is the local sustainable. This is the best for the environment. This talks about buying local food from farmers markets, or family farms that sell their food. This is a great step, and you actually know where your food is coming from, you know its fresh and in season. To me that sounds perfect, the animals are given land to roam, and are moved around so they do not damage the soil that  grows your crops. There is not a lot of emissions or fossil fuels used to ship the food to other destinations as well.

The final food system discussed is the do it yourself meal. In this section  Pollan stresses making your own food, from gardening, to hunting and gathering. Now this is no longer a very realistic goal for us in todays society, but it is a nice idea. The main thing I took away from this is wanting to at least start my own garden, that way I know where some of my food comes from, and that it is healthy for me to eat. It is also the most simple and helpful step I can take to help the environment.

This book was very heavy on agriculture, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. I got to know a little insight into what goes into my food, and how I can vote with my dollars to buy better food for myself and the environment.

Sources:
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

Prompted Post, Week # 10

Global Warming is a HUGE environmental Wicked problem. I found a credited source by the Natural Recourses Defense council that is like a Remix. It presents the information in small groups, has photos and videos all in the website. I will now evaluate it using RAIDS.

R: Revision
The ideas and attitudes in this post are about climate change and that it IS among us. The website does so by telling us scientifically proven facts that Co2 is thickening and warming the planet. They even show you how warm it is getting geographical with a map and how many Parts Per million (ppm) of C02 there is in that area.

A: Arrangement
The relationship we see here is the relationship to global warming and the earth as well as to us as readers. It is put in relation that we need the earth but are doing this terrible thing to our planet and need to help out to fix this problem.

I: invention
 To engage you this website used pictures/maps and a video to engage you to learn more about climate change. They show the attitude that global warming is negative, and make you believe in it and want to help out by the time you are done.

D: Delivery
The delivery is straightforward in an online manner. They give you the facts in different ways, from maps, to videos, to bullet points. The author appeals to us as humans living on this earth, reaching out to us as well as telling us solutions to the problem.

S: Style
The writing is easy for anyone to read. They do not use complicated terminology, yet has a scholarly aspect that makes you believe what they are saying is true.

Overall I think this website is successful. It not only teaches you about climate change, but it tells you things you can do to fix it!

sources:
"An Introduction to Climate Change." Climate Change Facts. NRDC, 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/climatebasics.asp

Free Post # 9: Life cycle Analysis

We so often use products with out thinking about how they were made, or what will happen to them when we are done. We are glad to have them but do not worry about their life cycle analysis.

The evolution of the lifecycle analysis of products came about after the industrial revolution. The phases a product goes through start with the raw materials used to make the product. Then to production, distribution, use, and disposal. We can refer to this as its cradle to grave lifespan which is intern the lifecycle being analyzed. These types of analysis study the environmental impacts of a product such as say a car from the life cycle perspective. We being by looking at the extraction of the materials need and all the inputs such as energy used to get the material and the outputs such as emissions. Then follow through all the steps to final disposal all taking into account their inputs and outputs.

As a consumer we need to appreciate the functions of our products and be aware of they environmental impacts. When you buy the next new iPhone that comes out, what do you do with the old one? Or what about a new car, we so often invest in new products that society wants us to buy not realizing how damaging our lifestyle is. All those things if not disposed of properly can hurt the environment in so many different ways. Life Cycle analysis can really show how awful some companies are and how much damage they create. Hopefully they can use that data to try and improve methods of making and disposing of products in the future more so than now.

Prompted Post, Week # 9

The environment is where we live out our lives, it gives us so much that we take for granted. This is why is was hard to find a news article on the importance of environmental issues. News stories often have environmental stories and talk about crises happening right before our eyes, but they usually don't make a plea for help or mention how urgent and important these environmental issues are. They only report on them which is extremely sad.

Although I did find one good article that talk about the importance of global warming. The article focused on Switzerland. It talks about how it has become a hot spot, and the temperatures are seen to rise each year. It talks about a problem that it brings about with beetles they have there and how it is effecting the  biodiversity. It talks about how the glaciers are melting and have no sign of stopping or freezing again.

It then goes on to talk about how Switzerland needs to take action or they will not be able to cope with future climate changes. They talk about the importance of taking action as well as trying to reduce greenhouse gases and emissions. They will also need improved management of agriculture and more things like pest control to combat what global warming has already done. This article tells us climate change is among us and we need to do something to stop it so we don't suffer anymore. It wants us to take care of the environment because its the ONLY one we have.

Sources:
Bern. "Impacts of Climate Change in Switzerland: Adaptation and Climate Change Mitigation Must Go Hand in Hand." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

Free Post # 8: Classifying Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem is a word often thrown around when talking about the environment. What is an ecosystem? What makes it up, and what does it really do for us? This is something I recently learned a lot about in my ESA 200 class.

An ecosystem is made up of natural materials. Natural Materials means either Biotic or abiotic. Biotic   materials are all of the living things in the ecosystem, including all plants and animals. Abiotic is pretty much everything else in the ecosystem such as the air, water, and minerals.

Next up in an ecosystem are the natural recourses. They consist of renewable and non renewable. Non renewable are recourses that we can not grow back or replenish and deplete with use. An example would be fossil flues. Renewable recourses on the other hand can be replenished and are capable of regeneration. Examples of regeneration include things such as the re-growth of trees, plants, and animals.

Renewable recourses have two types thought. Besides the materials that I mentioned before renewable recourses consist of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are things that the ecosystem provides for us. They do three things in general. The first is that they sustain life. This would be like food production of photosynthesis by plants, and decomposers returning the nutrients to the soil so it can again thrive. The next is regulating natural processed. This would be something like the water cycle and nutrient cycles. The last things ecosystem services provide would be sustaining culture, which is different than sustaining life. In this one nature serves as a source of inspiration as well as learning for things like artistic and spiritual reasons, also educational activities.

Ecosystems do a lot of things and encompass many materials and recources. They play a huge role in the environmental, and should be properly taken care of and respected because we rely on them for a lot more than we know.

Prompted Post, Week # 8

Hands on learning experiences are much different than learning in the classic class room setting. I got to experience a Hands on project in the environmental field through my ESA 200 class and the Rise program.

I blogged once before about the Bailey Hall 2014 Legacy project of Curbside Recycling. A week ago I got to participate in the first collection of this project.

We had about 10 students there who were there to collect and sort all of the recyclables from the curbside bins. First we had to go knocking on peoples doors and ask them for their boxes so we could dump their recyclables into a larger bin for sorting later. It was not as easy as it sounds for, some people were strongly against recycling or did not believe in it. Or that they thought that it does not cause environmental problems if they don't recycle . This showed me that in the real world it is not so easy, and everyone is not on board to help save the planet like they are in my ESA 200 class. The people who refused to participate showed me that there are many more people like this and it may not be an easy ride.

Once the collection was over we had to sort out the recyclables into plastics, paper, glass, metals, boxboard and cardboard, as well as recyclable cans. We thought it would go smoothly because most people understand how to recycle, or so we thought, and we had taken the time to educate these students on the proper ways to recycle and what is allowed to go into the bins. That was not the case either. We had LOTS of contaminated plastics that we were not able to be recycle. Also we had lots of hybrid packaging such as chip bags that have that aluminum colored material inside the product. These types of materials can not be recycled due to the hybrid material. Also we had loft of half full water bottles that we had to take the time to empty so we could recycle them. Not everyone took this project seriously the first week, there was also lots of trash in the bins and one that someone had used to throw up in.

This experience show me that even if people want to help out the environment they don't always know how. By implementing this project we did get a ton of recyclables that we filled all of the bins in Bailey, the Back of a pick up truck, and lots of huge bags full of recyclables that might have otherwise been thrown in the landfill.

Environmental help is on the rise and people are more aware of it but this showed me we have to put more effort into education people on the issues and problems and the correct ways to fix them. It may not be easy but with all that we recycled it showed me that it is worth the fight, and that I look forward to doing more work like this in the future, with other environmental problems as well. It was an eye opening experience that I could not have had in a class room setting.