ENVR 1301-Kendall Buckman

  One instance of our history of environmental thought in the United States is with the Brundtland report of 1987 (Tomkin, Pg .15). It would summarize things such as our dependency on our ecological systems, quality of life, social networks, and our economy and how these are all intertwined (Tomkin, Pg.15). It would also be one of the first instances in which we see the word sustainable used (Tomkin, Pg.15).   But our history of environmental thought would start much earlier than that.   Environmental historians have deduced that there were at a minimum of three distinct periods in time where the birth of new ideas, scientific understanding, advances in various areas, and more were brought into being and we were able to begin to manage our impacts on the environment (Tomkin, Pg.15). The three periods would be “the American conservation movement, the rise of environmental risk management as a basis for policy and the integration of social and economic factors to create...

  Microplastics are fine pieces of plastic that measure not longer than five millimeters long and have either come from broken down pieces of larger plastic or were intentionally made that way for things like cosmetic purposes (Microplastics, n.d.). For instance, many scrubs such as facial scrubs may contain microplastics. Many popular brands such as Lush, Maybelline and Sephora use more than eighty percent plastic (Prabhakar,2021). One of these brands even having an ecofriendly façade. They also found that “Plastics were present in 79% of the 672 products checked online, 38% were solid microplastics” (Prabhakar,2021).   Most of these microplastics coming from mascara (Prabhakar,2021). This is an enormous problem seeing how deceptive these companies are as well as the damage they are doing to our environment.   They are also “produced from the use of synthetic fibers in textiles” (Haab, S., & Haab, K., n.d.).   This is referring to clothing. Despite what we ...

  Six-Point Critical Analysis of Current Event   My blog posting is available online at:   1. Exploratory                                     Probe basic facts and knowledge found in the readings. ( What research evidence supports _________? Type up several facts and basic knowledge from the readings. Relate this to what you find in other resources, prior activities for stronger scores.) ) ·         An investment company called on the United Nations Member States to set up a global treaty to get rid of plastic pollution at the February March 2020 UN Environment Assembly. (As you Sow, 2022) ·         They sought to have a legally binding treaty (As you Sow, 2022) ·         This had...

          Air Pollution Basics We are exposed to air pollution every day from various sources ( Freedman, Pg.366). Things such as CO2 emissions cars or pollution from overall industrialization. This all began with the industrial revolution around 1750 when coal became the one of the major fuel sources (Freedman, Pg 366). This led to an increase in sulfur dioxide emissions. Air pollution is strongest in atmospheres that are almost stagnant (Freedman, 366). This happens when two separate layers of air, a cool layer is trapped by an underlying hot layer of air (Freedman, Pg. 366). This prevents the two layers from mixing. Keeping polluted air closer to the surface. This is what we think of when we think of smog filled cities from olden times. Especially when considering periods in history such as the industrial revolution. This would cause various respiratory illnesses and even death. In the scientific community this stirred up a...

       Renewable energy is often referred to as alternative energy because generally most countries do not rely on it as their main source of energy (Manoylov, K., VandeVoort, A., & Bennett, D., Pg.3). Some arguments for the use of alternative energy are things such as conventional energy sources are dwindling or because renewable or that alternative resources are practically “unlimited” (Manoylov, K., VandeVoort, A., & Bennett, D., Pg.7)   One good source of alternative energy would be solar energy. Solar energy can be described as “The ultimate energy source “because without thinking about it we use it in our daily lives (Manoylov, K., VandeVoort, A., & Bennett, D., Pg.7). Solar energy has been used for generations to heat homes and to water. It is a completely renewable resource that has the ability to cut down on toxins such as greenhouse gas emissions. Solar also has the advantage that it does not produce any water, air, or nois...

  I started my concept map with natural resources as that is kind of the focus of the video from alexanderstreet-com.  From there I branched into the two resource types, renewable and nonrenewable resources. I also included natural resources alternatives as my third branch because some of those that fall under alternatives do use some natural resources in their production. From the non-renewable I branched into fossil fuels, while they may be renewable, they are considered nonrenewable due to the amount of time it takes to regenerate them. For renewable and nonrenewable I branched down into recycling seeing as it allows for both types of materials to be used again, this would also include reuse. I also included the fact that natural resources can become scarce because it was something I had never gave much thought to myself. Another branch I included for both renewable and nonrenewable was resource management as it involves using less of these resources. For our third bra...