Our Team
Spring 2016 class of BCN 2046
Green Map Information
The following information
from week 13 assignment
on Sarasota County Green Map
(Spring 2016 class, thanks (^_^)
links below
Student Answers
Love Canal was a spot in Niagara Falls was going to be the site of a hydro electric plant. That plant was never turned up. In the 1920's the site was used for dumping urban waste. Then in the 1940's the US Army dumped waste from WWII there working on the building of a bomb. Later Hooker Chemical bought the land and lined it with clay. It was then used to bury 21,000 tons of chemical waste. Then in 1953 Hooker sold the land to the school district for $1. There was a clause in the contract that said what the land had been used for and absolved Hooker from any damages due to the buried waste. There was a school built on the site and sold the surrounding land where there were houses built. During construction the clay barrier surrounding the waste was breached and the toxins leaked in to the land and water. this lead to many health issues for the people living in the area. President Cater declared it a state of emergency making it the first human caused environmental problem to be given that designation.
Michele McCarthy Spring 2016
List 3 ecosystem services.
Your Answer:
Ecosystem services are divided into 4 broad groups: Provisioning, Regulating, Supporting and Cultural Services. Within each group are outputs each one yields. Below is a quick list for each of the four broad groups and outputs for each.
(Note: The information below was obtained from the following site: http://www.teebweb.org/resources/ecosystem-services/ (Links to an external site.) )
Provisioning
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1. Food; 2. Raw Materials; 3. Freshwater
Regulating
1. Local Climate & Air Quality; 2. Carbon sequestration & storage; 3. Moderation of extreme events.
Supporting
1. Habitat for species; 2. Maintenance of genetic diversity.
Cultural Services
1. Tourism; 2. Recreation and mental and physical health; 3. Spiritual experience and sense of place.
Ecosystem services are critical to human well-being and sufficiently diverse and numerous to justify classification into four major categories. What are the 4 classifications? List them here.
Your Answer:
The first of four ecosystem services is the provisioning ecosystem services which include things we harvest from nature including food, water, and wood. Second are the regulating ecosystem services which are responsible for maintaining climate and water purification. Next, cultural ecosystem services involve the natural environments importance as both aesthetically important as well as important to the the activities dependent on them. Last is supporting ecosystem services which involve the breakdown, nutrient cycles, photosynthesis, and soil formation of an ecosystem.
R. Gasper (Spring 2015)
Student_Responses_2015-16
Question 12 / 5 pts
Who were the big solar buyers according to the module folder on current events?
Your Answer:
According to the text, Google dominates the market, and the following companies are the 2015 New Entrants to the market:
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1. Amazon
2. Equinix
3. Owens Corning
4. Dow Chemical
5. Switch
6. Proctor & Gamble
7. Kaiser Permanente
8. HP
9. Starwood Hotels & Resorts
10. Phillips
11. General Motors
12. Corning
13. Salesforce
14. Cisco Systems
15. Bloomberg
B. Cedeno Spring class 2016
Mid term
What are 2 serious obstacles in our way that block our willingness to grasp the significance of our unsustainable lifestyles? Your answer should be at least 2 paragraphs that include at least 2 examples.
Your Answer:
In my opinion one of the greatest obstacles is our population, which our text says "World Population Growth (Links to an external site.) suggests that global population in 2050 will grow from the current 6.8 billion to about 9.2 billion, an increase of 35%." Considering that even underdeveloped nations desire the same creature comforts that civilized parts of the world have, the demand on our resouces will still be increasing.
Secondly, I think that for many people they think that they whole "green" movement is just propaganda, and that climate change is not real. It seems that society had been given misinformation that is believable enough that even some smart people are duped. I feel that until our government acknowledged climate change and makes new radical policies on greenhouse emissions, people will continue to be to lax in their personal, professional, and political choices
M. Turner
Explain the significance of the phrase energy descent and how it relates to sustainability.
I expect at least 2 well thought paragraphs containing at least 5 complete sentences for full points.
Your Answer:
Energy descent is the period beyond the peak oil crisis, where there should be continual decline in net energy use. If you consider the rapid ascent in net energy use over the past several decades, this period of descent is kind of like a pendulum swinging to the opposite extreme. Eventually, we will settle somewhere in the middle.
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Now that humanity is witnessing the effects of climate change, there has been a dramatic shift in thought. More value and emphasis is being placed on the positive financial and environmental impacts that can be affected through sustainable practices.
The increasing popularity of energy management programs is one example. If we resist, this period of forced energy descent could be a dark and tumultuous time, filled with economically driven political and social unrest. However, if approached with an air of cooperation and enthusiasm, energy descent could lead to a future in which individuals have
Describe at least one of the sustainable agricultural practices/techniques that the text discusses in the section titled: Soil Compaction, Tillage, and Sustainable Practices
Your Answer:
Minimal tillage or no tillage helps reduce the number of trips across a field with heavy machinery to help minimize the compaction of soil and disruption of the natural soil biota that limits root penetration depth thus inhibiting proper plant growth. Minimal tillage to no tillage with proper planning helps to not only limit soil compaction and protect soil biota but can reduce costs, promote water infiltration, and prevent topsoil erosion. Also soil tillage increases the rapid decomposition of organic matter due to soil aeration thus releasing more carbon and nitrous oxides into the atmosphere contributing to global warming effects while minimal tillage or no tillage helps keep carbon within the soil to prevent the exposure of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.
H. Swarm
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Explain the significance of the phrase energy descent and how it relates to sustainability.
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I expect at least 2 well thought paragraphs containing at least 5 complete sentences for full points.Your Answer:
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Energy decent is the concept that if we are not already there, we will reach peak energy use at some point soon. The amount of new oil discovery has been rapidly declining and the demand for oil has been steadily increasing. Some studies estimate that by 2040 oil producing nations will begin to stop exports of oil as anything they produce will be needed locally. No new oil is being made, therefore we need to start planning for ways to survive on less energy.
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The reason for energy descent, is that the current methods of sustainable energy such as wind and solar, do not yield as much energy and will not scale to the level we are currently used to. So even if fossil fuel energy is completely replaced by sustainable energy methods, there will still have to be changes that need made. There is going to be a period of time
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where there just will not be enough energy to go around so organizations and cities have begun (too late) to develop plans for reducing energy use across the population.
R-Gaspar