Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Global Warming III - The Need for Water

A liquid we all take for granted, the substance that makes life possible on our planet, water is the most important resource in the world, yet it is the last one anyone ever worries about.

Fresh, usable water is not something people in the U.S. worry about. It is available to everyone from Maine to California for only a few cents per gallon retail, and even less out of our taps. Yet with the facts stacking up that temperatures will continue to rise slowly for the next few decades and our population steadily growing, perhaps water is something we should be thinking about.

In an article on climate change economics (I'll post it at the end) the cost of doing nothing about increasing temperatures could be terrible for the southwestern U.S. As it is now, the SW State use up more water then nature can provide and geographical studies prove that at the current rate, reserves will soon be used up. Solutions ranging from raising prices on water, to better education on conservation have been brought up. Ultimately the problem still remains that the population will not stay the same and the rate of water consumption will have to go up.

What do you guys think we should do about this problem?

Here's the link for full information and things that might help our problem Water shortage

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Global Warming II

So since Global Warming is one of the big topics people talk about when the environment is brought up I thought I would continue bringing facts and links to my blog for people to look at.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - EPA's website offers very good information into what is happening now, what happened in the past and almost any question you could ask about the topic. More interesting the site has links to any laws that have been passed to counteract or reduce the effects that we have had on the environment and the economic affects these laws have.

One of the topics I find very interesting is the COST reducing emissions has on companies or on us the American tax payer. My next post will try to bring to light some more of these costs that the EPA's website so cleverly hides from us under a bunch of text and other data.
EPA's Website

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Global Warming Part I

I don't know of any other topic that has been more beaten around in the media then Global Warming. Now I don't want to stand up on a soapbox and tell you one way or another whether Global Warming is happening, not happening, a major concern, or something to be ignored. But, I do want to say, we are probably not as important as we think, that is, the earth is a diverse and massive object that we still don't understand. It probably won't be ruined and thrown into chaos just because we burn off all the oil the earth has to offer. But more on that in a later post...

So today I found an interesting article. Maybe the first one I have ever seen that puts some light on the "Global Warming Movement" that doesn't blame humans for the change. I will include the link at the end of the article, but for you, that are lazy like me, I will try to summarize it. First, the earth is twice as dusty as it was about 100 years ago! This dust is naturally occurring, not human caused, and comes from deserts and other dry soils. Next, this dust has a wide spread effect on the climate of different regions and these affects are not quite understood. Things that are known; dust blocks some solar radiation, which might mask some of the negative affects from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But on the flip side, it is a major source of iron for plankton, which are known to remove carbon from the atmosphere.

This is so important because it sheds new light on an old argument. Most of the time we just hear, CO2 this, and CO2 that, but now we read that the earth may have other variables in store for us that we haven't even considered. I hope everyone reading makes their own judgment on what is going on with the climate change issues of the day, but if you want mine, I think the earth has a plan no matter how hard we try to mess it up!

Have a good day, 
Oh and Happy Birthday!


Link: Twice as much dust article

Thursday, January 13, 2011

First Post

OK for this first post, or first few posts I may put up some funny/interesting news articles or flash animations relating to the environment. I think throughout the blog I will continue to do this as a way to lighten the mood from the serious topics we will probably have to discuss. My hope is that this will keep everyone up-to-date with what is happening in world right now... whether there is an explanation for them right now, or not!