The Reason For this Blog

I have been taking classes in various environmental fields, such as Environmental Science and Environmental Philosophy. Now I am working on a project about Environmental Law. What I have been noticing is that there are problems within each of these fields that are creating problems for environmental studies as a whole. My hope with this blog is to; a) share information about the environment that is in the news and b) give summaries and my opinion about articles written in all the environmental fields.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Climate Change in 2011


This is the year that, hopefully, everyone will agree that climate change is real. The evidence in support of climate change is impossible to ignore. Other than the billions of dollars that the oil industry spends to convince the public that climate change is not real or all of the weathermen (and news anchors) that laugh at global warming during the harsh winters. We know that climate change is happening and the is enough evidence to suggest that people are one of the main causes of this. 2010 was officially the warmest year on record. The biggest problem we face is that since so many people disagree or are unsure about climate change that there is very little that can be done to try to fix the problem. What can be done is to understand climate change and help those around you to understand.

Fertilizer For Everything

Fertilizer overloading Earth's plant life

This report is another reminder of how our agricultural practices in the modern era are only making the rest of the world worse. In the report, fertilizer use has increased by 800% from 1960 to 2000. This high percentage means that we are putting quite a bit more fertilizer than ever before. The nitrogen found in fertilizer has led to an increase in dead zones and changing the nutrient balance. "Humans may have produced the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle since the major pathways of the modern cycle originated some 2.5 billion years ago." The increase in nitrogen from fertilizer can cause a decrease in plant and algae growth. This can also lead to a need to use more fertilizer, a cycle that is hard to stop. Luckily, there are some suggestions for farmers that can help reduce the need for nitrogen fertilizers.

  • better crop rotation
  • better timing to limit amounts of fertilizer
  • developing genetically-engineered fertilizer-hoarding crops
  • improving wheat, barley, and rye through current breeding
  • supplying cereals and other crops with microbes that supply nitrogen