I'm sure everybody's heard about oil spills in Alaska, but what happens after the environmental groups leave. New research has shown that even though the oil spill is cleaned up there can still be oil left behind. Environmental groups tend to only clean up oil spills on the surface, but oil can also seep underground and stay there unnoticed. One prime example is Prince William Sound.
Prince William Sound is an sound just off the coast of Alaska. A sound is a long, wide ocean inlet. In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez hit a reef just off the coast of Prince William Sound, spilling 10.8 million US gallons of crude oil. The oil spill severely damaged the environment, killing nearly 256,000 animals, including seabirds, sea otters, various fish, bald eagles, seals and killer whales.
After the oil spill was cleaned up on the surface, the environmental groups left thinking that they had cleaned up the oil completely. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The oil under ground remained there uncleaned, and because of the sounds ultra dense soil and remote location, unextractable.
Today I went with my group to the Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia. It was founded in the late 1800's and has barely changed sine the day it opened. The Wagner museum is a great way to learn about how museums were back in the 1800's unlike the remodeled Smithsonian Institution. Probably the most impressive thing about the museum had to be the Brontoserus excelsus bone at the back of the museum, it also hosts the worlds first ever discovered sabertooth tiger bones, not bad for a museum no bigger than a barn. One warning though, as I said earlier the museum has remain the way it was back in the 1800's, that means no air conditioning! I'd highly recommend The Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia, just bring along lots of water and some fans.
"Global Warming" it seems like everybody's been hot topic nowadays. Everybody knows that because of global warming, the glaciers and ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic are melting. That would cause the sea levels to rise and flood major cities, but has anybody given a thought about the animals that live there?
I'm sure everybody's heard of the polar bears and how they are at risk of extinction because of global warming. In fact, in 2007 the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Yet despite this the administrators states "that there is insufficient data to establish a causal connection between industrial facilities that release global warming pollution and the disappearance of Arctic sea ice." and will do nothing to protect the polar bear! It's unfair that greedy politicians refuse to protect an already fragile species from extinction because they don't want to spent extra money to lower the greenhouse gases emitted by factories and oil refinery plants and plans to add more in the heart of polar bear habitat. Polar bears are drowning because they can't swim the long distances between the disappearing ice sheets, while others are starving to death from lack of food! If that isn't a sign something is wrong, I don't know what is.
Another animal I want to talk about that doesn't get as much attention is Penguins. I'm sure most of you have seen Happy Feet. The movie addresses over-fishing in the Antarctic but it doesn't really address global warming. People think that because they're living so far away from the antarctic that they won't affect them. It is that kind of thinking that is currently causing global warming. Because of global warming the fish are forced to swim to cooler waters, causing the penguins to have to swim farther for food. Just a .47 degree Fahrenheit difference caused a 9% decrease in the King penguin's population. Not only are King penguins in danger but so are the other 16 species that live on or near the antarctic as well, including the Adélie penguin (best known as Ramon and the Amigos in Happy Feet).
18 species of penguin worldwide, 17 live in the Antarctic
Other species are in danger as well, such as moose, salmon, trout, birds, walrus, etc. Basically all animals (including us) are in danger of extinction because of global warming but those in the arctic and antarctic are at greater risk because of their rapidly changing environment. If we don't do something soon, future generations may not be able to see what a real polar bear or penguin will look like outside of a zoo or museum.
Just some of the animals living in the Arctic and Antarctic
*Otaku: Japanese term for obsessed fan, usually associated with someone obsessed with anime, Manga and Video games.
For once I'm not going to blog about my internship at Temple (YAYS!). Instead I'm going to blog about Otakon and my attempt at making a costume.
For those who don't know Otakon is he largest anime convention on the east coast and the second largest in the country (over 25,000 people attend each year!). Otakon is only beat out by Anime Expo in los angeles (it has over 40,000 people each year and is held over July 4th weekend!).
I attempted to make 3 costumes a once and ended up being overwhelmed and not finishing any of them. I kinda have nobody but myself to blame. Note to self: Never attempt to make 3 costumes at once or at least start several months before the con and don't procrastinate until the very last minute!
I tried to make Euphemia Li Brittania from Code Geass for myself,
C.C from the same series for my sister,
and Aizen from Bleach for my cousin.
Sigh I guess I won't be able to show off my great sewing skills until the next convention. Oh, well Live and Learn ^_^
Yesterday we had to give a presentation on a green topic. we had 3 hours to do research. I chose the topic of sustainable housing. The Idea of sustainable housing is to design and build a building that has little to no impact on the environment. It should also require no non-renewable resources (example: Use loofahs instead of lumber) . A sustainable house should be self-sufficient in energy, water, waste, and food production.
It order for a house to be considered green it should have a way to get freshwater (i.e. rain water system), have a system that recycles waste (i.e. composting toilet, grey water system, etc) and have a form of alternative re-newable energy (ex: solar panels, wind energy)
An easy way to start on the road to a green house is to start your own garden. It doesn't have to be big, even a small one will lessen the carbon footprint you make everyday.
Went around Temple campus taking pictures of various buildings with my group today . We used those pictures to create a Google Map. While taking pictures we decided to visit the Environmental Engineering group (one of the other intern groups) at the College of Engineering. They were kind enough to tell us what what they were doing. They determined how much energy was inside different foods by burning the food. They also told us how many calories were inside one ounce of Doritos. Let's just say I'm no longer a fan of Doritos. Check out our google map at http://phillygreen.blogspot.com/
P.S. I highly recommend the cookie truck located on Mongomery st. between 11th and 12th
Hey everybody! This my first time blogging so be gentle with me. I'm going to blog about my life. Sorry if you were expecting something more exciting. Currently it's summer so there's not much going on. I'm currently interning at Temple University in their ITSRG program. Basically what I'm going to be doing is raising awareness of green projects going on in and around Philadelphia through blogs and twitter. Currently not many followers on twitter but we'll see... Check us out at www.twitter.com/UniversityGreen
Hello! This is geminixdragon. I am a senior at Penn State University. I'm currently working with the Philadelphia Youth network in the ITSRG Program as an intren at Temple.
