China Report Shows More Population In Waterways

This article is about how in 2007 in China there is now twice as much pollution in waterways. The most disturbing report in the census is most of the discharge is from chemical oxygen demand. The discharge totaled up to 30.3 million tons in 2007. The vice minster of environmental protection said that the census had counted 13.2 million tons from agriculture effluents and 342600 tons of discharge from landfills. It is estimated that the lakes and rivers can only handle 7.4 million tons a year on chemical oxygen demand. A lot of farmers are just dumping there wastes into the lakes and rivers around them. A lot of people knew that China was in bad shape when it came to pollution but now there are numbers to prove it. The China government is trying to figure out a way to solve this problem.

Opinion: I think China better figure this out fast. You can't live like that. China has a lot of problems but I think this should be at the top of the list. People could start to die if they start drinking that water. It's on the side of the road like you see in the picture. It looks gross and is bad for the earth and your health.

3 questions:

1. Where else would farmers put there waste if the government made them stop?

2. We always read about how China has lots of problems right now, should this be at the top of the list to fix?

3. How would you stop this if you were in the Chinese government?

Chinas Population Growing faster Than Need for Water

The article i read was about how the supply of water in china could not keep up with the large population of china. China is not able to dam or divret water fast enough to keep up with its very large, and very thirsty population. In northern china this year there have been recordings of 10 meter deep ( or about 33 feet deep) in peoples, dry dead farms. Many farmers are losing a lot of money on their crops because they cannot harvest in time for fear of bieng injured in the holes, and also for the lack of water. Either they water the farms or drink it to stay alive. 62% of chinas 51 reseviors have run completely dry. Reports say that over 2500000 people are short on drinking water. In south china over 600000 people were affected by their drought and more than 200000 animals died, including animals for food and animals that help on farms. Chinas government has many things to worry about but this may jump right up to number one on their fix list.

Opinion- I think that it is horrible that all these people are so short on water. i could not imagine having no water to drink let alone using it to wash dishes clean clothes and do more. I hope that the crisis in China is solved as quickly as possible. I am really worried that people may die from this drought. If i had a say in this i would solve the problem as quickly as possible.

Questions

1- If you had a say in this what would you do about this problem?

2- How are some ways that you would try to get yourself and your faimly through a drought?

3-How are some ways that you can help reduce the use of water in china? Do you think that the population has the biggest effect on the drought?

The BP- Spill Baby- Turtle Brigade

Summary:

The Loggerhead turtles' nesting season is in May and when the oil spill occured, there was a problem. On the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, female sea turtles began to lay their eggs. When these eggs hatch, the turtles come out of the ground and try their hardest to make it to the ocean. If they make it, they find their way onto mats of seaweed called sargassum and float around on the sargassum for several years. By June, all the sargassum had been contaminated with oil. Then the state and federal wildlife agencies came up with a plan to take the eggs before they hatch and send them to Florida, where they will hatch and be let into the oil-free Atlantic. Loads of volunteers were needed to help out and people helped basically just because they loved turtles! 5 species of turtle that nest on American beaches are threatened or endangered and the Loggerhead turtles are one of those species. Now the volunteers and wildlife agencies try to find the turtles' nests and they protect them. This isn't easy because they have to wake up very early, before anyone gets on the beach, to see the tracks of the female turtles, which are called turtle crawls, and find the nests.


Opinion:

I think what the wildlife agencies and the volunteers are doing is very important. The Loggerhead turtles are already endangered and it would be horrible if they became extinct. It would lower the biodiversity of the area and it would disrupt the food web. I like that the volunteers love these turtles enough to help them survive. I think that since humans made this problem, they should have to fix it. I also hope the oil spill gets cleaned up soon so it stops negatively affecting marine animals.


1. Do you think transporting the turtles to be hatched on the coast of florida was a good idea?

2. If you were a person that lives in an area where the turtles hatch, would you volunteer to help?

3. Why do you think the turtles float around on the sargassum for a few years?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/magazine/03turtles-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Population 4x More Important Than Climate Change on Water Shortage

Title-Population 4x More Important Than Climate Change on Water Shortage.

Author:  Jaymi Heimbuch

Date: 10/1/2010

publication: Treehugger.com

Link:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/10/population-4x-more-important-than-climate-change-on-water-shortage.php?campaign=th_rss

The population of the World is almost 7 billion humans!!!

Summary: 

We're well aware of the fact that humans have a significant impact on water supplies -- from groundwater pumping to altering the course and flow of the world's rivers, we are no small player in how much fresh water exists on the planet. However, would we ever have guessed that we were four times more significant than climate change on water supplies? A new report shows that we really need to focus far more on humans than warming temperatures if we want to avoid major water conflicts in the near future.

Researchers in Finland and The Netherlands have analyzed the mix of population growth, climate data and water resources and have found that despite the fact that our global climate is shifting at a dizzying rate, our population boom as a species has a far greater impact on water sources.

Environmental researchers reports that according to the study, about 2% of the world's population experienced water shortages in 1900, but it shot up to 9% in 1960 and skyrocketed to 35% in 2005. The water shortages fall in line with our population rise -- but it also seems to fall in line with our heightened consumption of goods and services on a global level.
"In Eastern Asia and North Africa, over 20% of the population has been under some level of water shortage since the year 1900," Matti Kummu of Aalto University, Finland told the Environmental Research Web. "In the Middle East, this point was not reached until 1960, and in South Asia slightly later. In South Asia the trend has been particular sharp as today over 90% of the population are under some level of water shortage."
The researchers feel that the study highlights that in some areas there simply isn't enough water to support the population.
"Consequently, there will be an increasing need for non-structural measures, focusing on increasing the efficiency of water use, lowering water use intensity, reforming the economic structure of countries or entire regions, and optimising virtual water flows from regions without shortage to regions with shortage."

Opinion: I think that we should definitely watch out for our water supplies because according to this article it should be gone in a matter of 20-30 years. If we will lose all of our water supply not even one single human would survive in this world and the human population growth would go to extinction.

I think we should control the human population growth because if we won't start taking care of it today, it might hurt our kids and family in the near future. we should have laws that would control the human population from getting too big.

Questions:

1.What do you think would happen to the human population growth when there won't be any water supply left?

2. What do you think the government should do to stop this massive human population growth?

3.what do you think would happen to the cost of regular water in the next 10 to 50 years?

 

Draw up enadangered tiger species by 2022 ?

A meeting in Bali was held, with representitives from over 13 countries to come up with a plan to double the endangered tiger species by 2022. The meeting was held to come up with a program so that Indonesia could double the amount of tigers. The WWF said that there were about 2300 tigers in thw world today - 400 of which are the endangered Sumarian tigers. Indonesia has developed a system where they allow wealthy people to adopt tigers and they care for them and pay for their wellbeing. Although the country has been critized for this, anything is better than the tigers being killed by poachers.

I definitely think that this is the kind of thing that we need to be doing for endangered animals. Breeding and protecting them so that they can continue to thrive in their habitats. Even if this involves adopting out the species so that they can be better taken care of, if we help, these species will be able to thrive and live on. We need to help them though because otherwise they WILL die out.

1. How do you think they'll increase the tiger population?
2. Do you think it's right to adopt out the endangered tigers to other people?
3. Is there another specific species that you can think of taht's in this same postion ?

Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/333442,double-endangered-tiger-population.html