Transport of Water Pollutants

By: Shaelynn

We rely on clean water to survive, and yet we are heading towards a water crisis. Changing climate patterns are threatening lakes and rivers, and key sources that we tap for drinking water are being overdrawn or tainted with pollution. Water pollution is a change in chemical, physical, and biological health of a water resource. Water pollution falls under two categories, point sources and nonpoint sources of pollution. A point source originates from a single source, such as a sewage outflow pipe that discharges directly into a body of water. A nonpoint source is a contamination that occurs from sediments, nutrients, or organic or toxic substances from land-use activities are carried into lakes and streams by surface run-off.

Water pollution is caused by many things, including, industrial waste, sewage and waste water, mining activities, marine dumping, accidental oil leakages, burning of fossil fuels, and many more. Waste that is dumped into lakes or rivers can be carried by a current into the ocean, thousands of kilometers away from the original dump site. Polluted water can harm fish and other aquatic life that are exposed to the pollution, or that consume it. Due to this exposure, aquatic species may encounter reproductive difficulties, or death. Water pollution affects the entire food chain in two ways, through bioaccumulation and biomagnification/bioamplification.  

Bioaccumulation occurs in an organisms, where a concentration of a substance builds up in the tissues and is absorbed faster than it is removed. This often occurs in two ways, simultaneously: by eating contaminated food, and by absorption directly from water(also called bioconcentration). Bioamplification is an increase in the concentration of a substance as you move up the food chain, often by persistent pollutants that don’t or slowly do break down by natural processes. These persistent pollutants are transferred up the food chain faster than they are broken down or excreted.

Due to bioaccumulation in aquatic life, humans have been affected by biomagnification, simply by consuming fish with mercury poisoning. Back in the 1950s, at Minimata Bay in Japan, industrial production concentrated mercury in fish to the extent that 900 people died, and some 20 000 became ill, as a result of consuming the contaminated fish. So, what will you do to stop water pollution, cause the next individual to experience death or illness due to consuming polluted fish could be you.

References

• http://mercurypolicy.scripts.mit.edu/blog/?p=499
• http://www.nrdc.org/water/
• http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/sources-and-causes-of-water-pollution.php#sthash.tmslrux5.dpuf

What you should know about the Keystone Pipeline

Blogged by: Abie

The Keystone XL Pipeline is a proposed 875-mile pipeline project that would extend from Alberta Canada to the Gulf Coast of Texas. The pipeline would allow delivery of up to 830,000 barrels per day of crude oil from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and the Bakken Shale Formation in the United States to Steele City, Nebraska, from there it would be delivered to refineries in the Gulf Coast area. TransCanada Keystone Pipeline has applied for a Presidential Permit that, if granted, would authorize the proposed pipeline to cross the United States-Canadian border at Morgan, Montana.

The pipeline is a controversial topic because of the environmental concerns that come with it. The main complaints from environmental groups is that there will be a spill, and that the pipeline will create a conduit to market for petroleum extracted from the Alberta oil sands, an unconventional energy source requiring far more fuel, water and carbon emissions to extract than conventional oil and gas.

There are two ways producers get the sands out of the ground, both damaging to the immediate environment. In one method, large amounts of water and natural gas are used to pump steam into the sands to extract the oil, which creates toxic environmental runoff.

Alternatively, energy companies strip-mine the sands and then heat them to release the oil, a practice that has already destroyed many acres of Alberta forest. An environmental review by the State Department concluded that production of oil-sands petroleum creates about 17 percent more carbon pollution than production of conventional oil.

The United States Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs has overviewed the project and came up with six main enviormental concerns

• Climate change
• Potential oil spills
• Water resources (effects on ground water)
• Destruction of wetlands
• Threats to endangered species
• Potential effects on geology, soils, other biological resources (e.g., vegetation, fish, and wildlife), air quality, noise, land use, recreation, and visual resources.

On friday the House voted 266 to 153 to approve the measure, though Obama has threatened to veto the project. The bill goes to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to stage a lengthy, high-profile debate that is likely to stretch through Obama’s State of the Union address Jan. 20.

Mass Animal Die-Offs Are on the Rise!

By: Amy. G

Mass die-offs are events that kill at least a billion animals, nearly 90% of a population, the estimated weight of 1,900 Empire State Buildings. That’s a lot! Mass die-offs have become more common and are increasing. There are three main causes for these die-offs including diseases, human disturbances and biotoxins.

       You may not think that this is an issue and that it isn’t important but everytime there is a mass die-off there is a disturbance in the food chain leaving many species helpless. These die-offs can disrupt insects that pollinate plants, like bees and that interferes with human activities such as farming! There is a chain reaction everytime it happens. These die-offs have become more common for birds, marine invertebrates and fish.

Climate change and environmental degradation are some contributors to diseases in the ocean that are affecting many animals. This situation needs to be monitored frequently in order for us to determine if there is an effective solution. There could be huge consequences for many species even humans if nothing is done!

In my opinion I think more people should be aware of what is happening and what needs to be done in order to reduce the amount of die-offs that are occurring. Climate change is a factor in this situation and there are some things that we can do to reduce climate change such as going green, being energy efficient and finding an alternative for driving everywhere. Doing this can help us and the animals as well!  

Painting roofs white is as Green as taking cars off the road for 50 years !

Blogged by: Kayla.B.

Painting roofs white and using light coloured materials to cover roads and pavements would not only make cities a lot cooler in summer, it would also save the same amount of carbon as taking every single car off the roads in the world for 50 years. This is something so incredibly simple and yet it would help our environment out so much!

                                                              

Many researchers estimate that cities and towns where the roofs, pavements, and roads have light coloured surfaces can increase their reflected sunlight by about 10%. Increased reflected sunlight can decrease atmospheric temperature and reverse some of the predicted temperature increases from global warming.

Black roofs just absorb the heat, just like when you wear dark clothes in the summer time and feel much warmer. In a world of energy-efficient technology, painting roofs white is seen as an easy and inexpensive way to reduce energy use and put a stop to climate change. 

White roofs are not a new thing, in fact extremely warm places such as Greece and the Bahamas have had white roofs in their agriculture for hundreds of years now.  

In my opinion, seeing how much this helps out our environment and how much energy we would save (especially on those very hot days in the summer), I think for now on when houses are built their roofs should have to be white for now on. This is something that is extremely simple and we can all do, and it’ll make a huge impact on our environment!

Global warming is a huge problem we deal with within the environment and to do something to almost eliminate it completely, now wouldn’t that be incredible?! YES, yes it would and I think eventually we as human beings can do this and give back to our wonderful environment of ours!

ART GONE GREEN- A SUCCESS!

After lots of careful preparation, planning and promotion (online and in person), our group was ready to spread awareness about our individual, family, school and community ecological footprint. The goal of our project was to make people think about the ways that we are treating our earth, and to promote green living, through paintings, photography, poetry, sculptures and other creative ideas. It was our hope that  these art  pieces would help students, staff and guests to develop a greater understanding and passion for our school and communities Ecological Footprint. We had so much fun collecting the art, and being able to witness interpretations of ecological footprint come to life,  in so many cool and creative ways!     

On Friday December 12th, 2014, our group was proud to host Nottawasaga Pine’s first ecological art show; "Art Gone Green"!! We were pleased to welcome teachers, artists, classes, parents and members of the community to our school for our unique and exciting event! Our guests were extremely impressed with the beautiful pieces of artwork, which ultimately made the show so powerful and inspiring for those who attended. We made a quick speech, and shared some alarming and scary facts about the environment, and our CO2 emissions. We talked about ways to reduce our own ecological footprint, and the impact it could leave on our children, as well as future generations to come.  

We were truly impressed with how the event went, and we are very

thankful to everyone that came out to support Art Gone Green!! A huge shout out to Mr. Baker and his art classes for all of their help, individual artists and our teacher, Ms McLeod! Although the art show is over, and will sadly be taken down within the next few days, we hope that Art Gone Green has inspired staff, students and guests within our school community, to live a more green and eco friendly lifestyle!

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported our project over the past few months :)

Eco Ornaments!

By: Maddie, Kayla, Emily, Liam, and Madison

We are grade 12 students that all shared the same common interests: a love for christmas, and to bring awareness to our community of our ecological footprint. We accomplished this by selling recycled christmas ornaments to the public on our schools Arts Night in December. Throughout our journey we managed to collect 6 cans, 8 mason jars, 30 water bottles, used clothing, and 4 light bulbs to create our ornaments around our community and school. Despite not having any financial goal in mind as a group we are happy to announce that by selling our ornaments made out of recycled materials we made roughly $40!

From the beginning, our main goal was to bring awareness and also to reduce our ecological footprint by re-using materials that would have otherwise been hazardous to the environment if not recycled properly. As a group we wanted to do this in a light and fun way that caught people’s attention, and we believe that we achieved this by selling our ornaments and displaying our flyers around our school. We sold: mason jar snow globes, penguin/snowmen light bulb christmas tree ornaments, water bottle icicles, snowmen made out of cans, and penguins made out of water bottles and used clothing. All of our ornaments were under $5 and attached to each was an environmental fact for our buyer.

        Now that our group project has come to an end and we have sold all of our eco ornaments we have to decided use the money that we raised to donate to an environmental charity along with our other classmates. Despite our group project finishing we hope that with the sales of our ornaments that we have inspired others within our high school and community to be more cautious of the environment and their ecological footprint.

Career Paths in the Field of Geography

Blogged by: Josh

Have a love for geography, or a passion for the environment? Ever considered a career in the Geography field? With global warming, pollution, and other environmental issues starting to effect the human population, the broad field of geography is starting to expand. Ecological annalists predict that jobs in the environmental category will increase significantly in the next 10-25 years.

The geography field is much broader then just trees or people; there are many different categories of geography, and many jobs within each. Some of these categories include:  Human (social, economic, historical and cultural studies), Physical geography, Computational and analytical methods, and Environmental geography. Below is a closer look at each of these categories and specific careers in their field.

Human Geography (social, economic, historical and cultural studies)

Cultural and human geography: aspects of geography that relate to different cultures (ie: cultural origins and movement). Historical geography: recreating the geography of past times and protecting historical landscapes and structures. Economic geography: location and distribution of economic activity.

Location analyst Market researcher Medical geographer Map librarian Historic preservationist Political analyst

Urban planner Real estate developer Demographer Travel/tourism planning Community developer Municipal advisor

Physical Geography

Examine distribution of the Earth’s surface features and analyze the processes that create and shape landforms. May include working with environmental concerns and/or studying the impact of natural hazards such as hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes

Hydrologist Resource management specialist Outdoor guide Soil conservationist Pollution control consultant

Ecologist Geologist Climatologist Habitat researcher Atmospheric data technician

Computational and analytical methods in Geography

Use computers to generate maps and store map-related information. May be applied to problem solving in industry, agriculture, weather, military, government, land use and other related areas.

Cartographer Remote-sensing analyst Map curator GIS/GPS analyst Field surveyor

Computer mapping and software developer Map interpreter Aerial photo analyst Spatial data analyst

Environmental Geography

Concerned with how human beings use the earth. Focus on human impact on the environment (population growth, food supply, water quality)

Conservationist Outdoor recreation management Waste management Forestry technician Hazardous waste planner

Ecotourism planner Wetlands conservation supervisor Conservation education coordinator Environmental impact assessment Recycling coordinator

More careers in the field of geography can be found by visiting the following links:

• http://geography.about.com/od/careersingeography/a/jobsgeography.htm
• http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Careers+and+Further+Study/Careers+with+geography/Careers+with+geography.htm
• https://www.southampton.ac.uk/geography/undergraduate/careers/career_opportunities.page

Getting the right education

Before heading into the exciting geography workforce, getting the right type of education is vital. With so many different Career opportunities, there is no shortage of courses, diplomas, or degrees leading to jobs in the geography field. If any of the above careers are of any interest, it is easy to find the schooling and training requirements in the above links, or just by searching the career name and “required education”.

With so many career opportunities all having a positive impact on our earth, why not go into a job in Geography?