Reflection from Nick's visit to BPS

- At first i thought that all farmers have huge businesses and don't really consider the environment and animals. However, i feel more reassured because i was reminded that there are good farmers who grow their meat organically and treat it with respect.
-I'll also limit (unless in certain situations) my consumption in fast-food restaurants (e.g McDonald) because their meat isn't probably the best quality
- Also, now i know that i can trust meat imported from New Zealand because most meat there are organically grown, NOT grown under the influence of the food industry

Article preview on microorganisms cleaning up oil spills

Slick Solution: How Microbes Will Clean Up the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Bacteria and other microbes are the only thing that will ultimately clean up the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico

By David Biello  | May 25, 2010 |

"The last (and only) defense against the ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is tiny—billions of hydrocarbon-chewing microbes, such asAlcanivorax borkumensis. In fact, the primary motive for using the more than 830,000 gallons of chemical dispersants on the oil slick both above and below the surface of the sea is to break the oil into smaller droplets that bacteria can more easily consume.
For decades scientists have pursued genetic modifications that might enhance these microbes' ability to chew up oil spills, whether on land or sea. Even geneticist Craig Venter forecast such an application last week during the unveiling of the world's first synthetic cell, and one of the first patents on a genetically engineered organism was a hydrocarbon-eating microbe, notes microbiologist Ronald Atlas of the University of Louisville. But there are no signs of such organisms put to work outside the lab.

"Microbes are available now but they are not effective for the most part," says marine microbiologist Jay Grimes of the University of Southern Mississippi. At this point, there are no man-made microbes that are more effective than naturally occurring ones at utilizing hydrocarbons. 
Scientists are still working to deploy known oil-eaters, such as Alcanivorax, in the form of booms laced with slow-release fertilizer and the microbes. In experiments such microbial booms ate heavy fuel oil in two months and "the experimental waste water was clean enough to be released back to the sea," says environmental geneticist Peter Golyshin of Bangor University in Wales. But "in the Gulf of Mexico, the amount of oil is simply too big. The oil gets dispersed but there is not enough [nitrogen] and [phosphorus] to feed bacterial growth."

Ultimately, it is only microbes that can remove the oil from the ocean. "In the long run, it's biodegradation that removes most of the oil from the environment in these situations," Lee says. Or, as Joye puts it, "They're clever, they're tough, they can basically eat nails…. The microbes have to save us again."


full article at : http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-microbes-clean-up-oil-spills

Starting with the phrase 'high sea temperatures' use your knowledge and this diagram to explain the formation of a cyclone

High sea temperatures causes warm air from convection currents to rise, simultaneously causing a build up of energy and low pressure. This energy results in the powerful kinetic energy within a cyclone (with the help of latent heat.) The Coriolis effect then causes the cyclone to spin, as it is also the most energy stabilized way of movement

Temperate inversion

(i) where are strategies for reducing traffic emissions likely to be more effective - in developed world cities like los angeles or in developing world cities like Cairo and beijing?

Probably in developing countries like Beijing and Cairo, because they tend to emit the most greenhouse gases. Also, they may be more willing to 'go green' if they know it will save them money, unlike areas like los Angeles. 

(ii) state two reasons why atmospheric pollution are worse in places with a dry and hot climate

-In hot climates, the warm, less dense air mass moves over a dense, cold air mass. As a result, warm inversion layer then acts  stops atmospheric mixing, and traps the pollution
-

Activity 7

Accuracy: To increase accuracy/ get the number closer to it's true value, increase it's decimal points
Reliability: To make an experiment more reliable, repeat the experiment several times to eliminate anomalies
Drawing graphs: (example)

 

Burning Sugarcane is not environmentally hazardous

when you burn sugarcane, it does not contribute to the greenhouse gases.the sugar cane is acting as a carbon sink since the farmer is not burning a long-term storage of carbon dioxide. It's also sustainable since the carbon is taken in next year when the crops are grown again

Enviromental management test

20.6 - The nutrient cycling and carbon cycle
For nutrient cycling :

Nutrient cycling is a concept that shows how nutrients are being used up and given out by organisms and their environment


It is essential for life, and must remain both balanced and stable.
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/kids/nutrient_cycling.php


Text book pg 187
For carbon cycle:
Carbon is part of the nutrient cycle. 


We drew a mind map which shows the carbon cycles 

We listed the natural.. 
sources 

• Animals
• Volcanic eruptions

sinks

• Fossil fuels
• Plants/trees
• Oceans (note that the ocean both absorb and release CO2)
• Atmosphere

stations

• Animals
• Marine Biota
• Plants/Ancient plants
• Fossil fuels
• Oceans
• Atmosphere
• Soil

We played that dice game with the beads to get a better sense of how the carbon cycle works

It is also found in the text book pg 188