Note to Reader

IMPORTANT!!! 

THIS BLOG IS BACKWARDS, PLEASE USE THE "BLOG ARCHIVE" ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE PAGE TO SEE THINGS IN PROPER ORDER!!!

Part 5. Credits

Here are the Sites That I Used to Make my Website

• Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/
• Ehow: http://www.ehow.com/
• Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/
• Environment Canada: http://www.ec.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En
• Science Textbook
• Google Images

Part 4. Glossary

Glossary

1. Acid Rain: Acid Rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic(low PH.)It can have harmful effects on plants, animals, and infrastructure through the process of wet deposition. Acid Rain is caused by emissions of compounds of ammonium, carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Governments have made efforts through the 1970's to reduce the production of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere with positive results. However, it can also be caused naturally by the splitting of nitrogen compounds by the energy produced by lightning strikes, or the release of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere by volcano eruptions.
2. Air Pollution: Air Pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans, or other animals, or damages the natural environment into the atmosphere.
3. Animals: Animals are a major group of organisms. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some go through a process of metamorphosis later in their life.
4. Biodegradable Waste: Biodegradable waste is a type of waste, typically originating from plant or animal sources, which may be degraded by other living organisms.
5. Contamination: Contamination is the presence of a minor and unwanted constituent(contaminant) in material, physical body, natural environment, etc. Soil Contamination is caused by the presence of human made chemicals of other alteration in the natural soil environment.
6. Ecological Footprint: An Ecological Footprint is a measure of human demand on the earths ecosystems.
7. Environment: The Environment is living and non-living things occurring naturally on earth.
8. Fossil Fuels: Fossil Fuels are fuels formed by natural resources, such as the decomposition of buried organisms.
9. Groundwater: Groundwater is the water located underneath the earth's surface.
10. Groundwater Contamination: Groundwater Contamination happens when man-made products get into the groundwater and make it unsafe, or unsuitable for human use.
11. Hazardous Waste: Hazardous Waste is waste that threats to public health, or the environment.
12. Hydropower: Hydropower is power from the force of a large amount of moving water.
13. Impact: To Impact something is to have a positive, or negative effect on something.
14. Landfill: A Landfill is a garbage disposal area, where trash is buried into the ground.
15. Living Organisms: A Living Organism is any living system.
16. Natural Resources: A Natural Resource occurs naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by humans, in a natural form.
17. Non Degradable: Waste that cannot be broken down. 
18. Ozone Depletion: Ozone Depletion is a slow decline(4% every decade) of the total volume of ozone in the earth's stratosphere.
19. Pollutants: A Pollutant is a waste material that causes pollution, or contamination.
20. Recycle: Processing used material into new products.
21. Reduce: To buy less, and to use less.
22. Resources: are limited items, that benefit us.
23. Reuse: Reusing is to use an item more than once.
24. Urban Runoff: An Urban Runoff is the rainwater, that runs off, or across an urban area.
25. Water Pollution: Water Pollution is the contamination of water bodies.
26. Waste: Waste is unwanted, or unusable items.

Part 3: Water Pollution

What is Water Pollution, and How is it Caused?

Water pollution is the contamination of water. Water pollution affects the animals and plants living in the water, as well as the animals drinking, and feeding out of it. Water pollution does much damage to the environment and the organisms using the water.

 Water pollution comes from many things, including urban runoffs, groundwater contamination, oil spills, dumping, acid rain, etc.

How to Stop Water Pollution

Humans are very dependent on water. Without water to drink, we would die. But drinking is not the only way that we use water. Here are a few of the ways that we use water:

• To clean our clothing and dishes
• As a power source through hydropower
• For leisure activities, such as swimming and boating
• To bathe in
• To cook food with

From the list above, you can see that we rely on water for a lot. Although we need a lot of water to live, there are many ways that we are using an unnecessary amount of it. For example, instead of using purified tap water to water your plants, you can purchase a water barrel, and use rain water to water them. Instead of using a toilet that uses 4 or more gallons of water, buy a low flush toilet, that uses 1.6 gallons of water. Take a shorter shower, and use half the water you would normally use.

Conclusion

There are many ways that you can reduce your ecological footprint. Natural resources are very important to human beings, and are things that we depend on to meet our basic needs. It is crucial to conserve our resources, so that future generations can also have a good life.

Part 2: Air Pollution

What is Air Pollution, and How Does it Affect our Lives?

Air Pollution is the introduction of pollutants, that cause harm to living organisms, into the air. Air pollution has been the cause of ozone depletion, which can lead to the harm of humans, and other living organisms. Air pollution is caused by the burning of fossil fuels to make energy, gasoline burning vehicles, paint, hairspray, varnish, practically all aerosol cans, and many other things. But it isn't all us - there are also natural causes for air pollution, such as dust storms. 

How to Control Air Pollution

Here are some of the many small steps that can be taken to prevent air pollution:

• When you need to go somewhere, you can carpool with someone, bike, take a bus, walk, or drive an energy efficient vehicle.
• To light your house, use fluorescent light bulbs and turn out the lights when you're not in the room/house.
• In the summer, keep your air conditioning off, in the winter, keep the heat low.

Part 1: Waste

What is Waste, and How Does it Generate?

Waste is made up of the items that we have no use for and plan to get rid of. Waste can also be items that are necessary to be disposed of, such as hazardous waste. In the United States alone, 4.543 tons of solid waste are generated every year! And all of this trash is going to  landfills. A landfill is a location designed to hold tons of waste, over long periods of time. When a landfill is full, a layer of clay is added to the top, then soil and grass is added. There are many impacts that a landfill can cause, such as the contamination of groundwater, and soil contamination.

Solutions to Waste Generation

Waste is a huge problem for humans, but there are many solutions:

• We can Recycle: Papers, cardboard, bottles, aluminum, plastic, electronics, batteries, etc.
• We can Reuse:  Buy reusable water bottles, plates, forks, knives, etc. NO DISPOSABLES!!! We can also donate items that we don't want.
• We can Reduce: Buying less clothing, buying products with less packaging, eating at restaurants that DON'T use too much packaging.
• We can buy biodegradable items instead of non degradable items.

So next time you're going shopping, renovating your house, or are going to grab something to eat, pick clean, eco friendly products, and help to save the planet.

Interactions and Ecosystems Unit Final Project: Introduction

Hello I'm Matt,
I have been hired by the Alberta Council for Environmental Education to educate Albertans on the impact that we have on the environment. I have decided to provide 3 blogs on human impacts on the environment, and for each impact I will include some practical examples on how to reduce the impact. At the end of my project, I will add a glossary to define the bold words, and a credits page to link all of the websites and books that I have referenced or used.