THE BIG TURKEY DIFFERENCE!

16.6 pounds of difference in 84 years

Big Bird

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!! I had my Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, so the topic for today's blog will not make me question myself. For those who did not have dinner, you might not want to read this just yet.

So what is Thanksgiving day? Well, its an annual national holiday with religious significance and includes the traditional eating of turkey. Some people look at Thanksgiving as the day before Black Friday. And I want to say that it is really sad. But, lets go on with the topic of interest. 

THE EVOLUTION OF THE TURKEY

Back in the 1930 turkey was the important item on the dinner plate. Back then turkeys did not weight 30 pounds; they weighted about 13 pounds. Where did the increase come from? Apparently,(as we all know) turkey farmers selectively breed birds to have the best speed of growth. How does this effect the turkey? Well, Turkeys are so fat that they can't even stand by themselves and cannot transfer semen to hens. Now reproduction happens by artificial means. This is disgraceful, but sadly its the truth. There are way to change it, and one important way is to change our eating habits.

Thanksgiving is not the only time to eat Turkeys; people eat turkeys all the time. I expected that the physical growth in turkeys would also be directly proportional to the price, but I was wrong. Turkey became cheaper and what happens to items that are also in excess? They get thrown out/wasted. 

http://wastingarrows.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/WastingArrows__Turkey.png

Well that is the end of my talk about turkeys. I hope everyone will have a wonderful Thanksgiving and also remember to eat that turkey (all of it... don't waste food... seriously...).
Joel Signing out...

Trouble in the Mid-West

The American Mid-West, usually seen as a place full of adventure, is now in a heck of an adventure. Drought is the problem, which burdens the farmers with their crops and the use of water rationing to ensure that not all the water is used. Prices for American crops and livestock go up due to limited rainfall and tourism is affected.

Droughts cause this

The reasons for the widespread droughts in the mid-west is due to global warming. The planet gets too hot and evaporates water, but since it is too hot, the gas molecules do not cool down enough to become water molecules. A little bit of science I learned, and something that Republicans do not believe in. Since there is not enough water, crops can not grow properly, like how we humans need water to grow, so do crops. The price of crops and livestock, they eat crops, go up since there will not be much crops for the general public. The decrease in rain fall has caused tourism to fall too. Ski resorts can not

Good seasons cause this

produce enough fake snow to make the Ski resort fully snowy. There are still some bare places. Even though the American people are affected by rising crop prices, which leads to inflation. American families are affected by having to ration water. Water is needed for the necessities of life, some mid-Western families have wells, which are out of water and need to dig deeper.

If the drought issue is not addressed, which means that global warming must be addressed, then American families will need to deal with rising prices of crops, livestock, and deflated value of money. There will be widespread hunger in America and our economy will suffer, both globally from our exports and nationally. Let us be grateful for the water we have and remember that others are struggling during these hard times.

Happy Holidays :)

-Stephen

EcoCriminals

Poster: Valentin Sigalov // Prokhor Zakharov

Recently, I've read about Interpol* posting a list of top-wanted environmental criminals. Listing 9 fugitives, these men have committed all kinds of illegal acts, all with the same thing in mind - earning money from harming the environment.

So what exactly is an environmental crime anyway? It's basically any crime that harms the environment directly. When I first heard of the term, I thought it a sort of ‘side effect’ of regular crime, but no. This is straight up comic-villain stuff. Ahmed Kamran, one of these fugitives, is charged with smuggling dozens of live animals from Tanzania to Qatar on a military plane. Sergey Darminov, for another, has been accused of illegally crab fishing in Russia netting 450 million dollars for his organization. Most interesting, though, is Mr. Giacobone, who illegally (obviously) transported and dumped toxic waste - poisoning water beds, carrying guns and assaulting a cop in the process. Other crimes included poaching of ivory and illegal logging.

Honestly, I've found this to be both surprising... and not. I never really thought of organized crime syndicates and structures revolving around earning tons of money from shitting on the Earth they live on. Yet it doesn't surprise me. Humans do anything for money.

Obviously I'm in full support of the criminals being caught and persecuted. Unfortunately, though, these men are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ecocriminals.

*International Criminal Police Organization. Similar to the UN in principle, it is an internationally funded, politically neutral organization aimed towards fighting crime.

Guardian Source
NBC Source

The EPA uses its funds to reduce water pollution and recycle e-waste

Ok Guys what's new in the news. Well, one of the new things that's circling the world right now is about the EPA. The EPA funds now reduce the pollution of water, and increase the E-Waste recycling. "The EPA  has awarded more than $8.6 million in grants to fund environmental improvement projects to reduce water pollution and increase e-waste recycling along the US–Mexico border" (environmental leader). And just where did they get the funds. Well, it just happens to be that the federal funds were awarded in "with the North American Development Bank and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission" and for what "to advance commitments in the US–Mexico environmental collaboration known as the Border 2020 Program"(environmental leader). They will also use sixty five thousand dollars in the EPA border 2020 funds to clean and completely bring back a once beautiful river in Mexicali, Baja California. You people are probably wondering if that place is real. Well, I looked it up and it is real. Real dirty! It's a good thing they're using the funds to restore the river. I mean comon, let's try to keep the world a little more cleaner people! or at least livable! The EPA also wants to use part of the money to start a community environmental education. Not only that but they try to prevent illegal dumping and degradation in the river that flows north into the wide area of California. Then there is Fundación Hélice, a nonprofit environmental organization, which will try to use at least $52,500 recycle e-waste," using internationally recognized best management practices, and divert these materials from landfills and dumps in Mexicali, Baja California, potentially affecting the New River watershed" (environmental leader).


J-Ice out!


environmentalleader

GOP and EPA

Administer Gina McCarthy

 GOP vs EPA which will last?
The GOP which has obtained power in the Senate and the House of Representatives now want to try to end EPA. The Republicans want to bleed EPA dry of green, which includes their funding and environment quota's. The leader of EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, vowed to not give up against the GOP, Good old Party, Republican Party.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed to resist any of Obama's environment policy, since Obama apparently waged war on coal.. Congressmen from both parties will join in with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell since the Congressmen are representing coal states. Some Republicans that do not represent coal states choose to join in those that do, on the claims that science has not proven that Global warming is not happening.

But, there are Democrats and Republicans that support EPA. EPA was made to regulate pollution levels for the whole nation, which is a necessity as the U.S. is the second largest contributor to carbon emissions.
Administer Gina McCarthy stated that EPA must still be kept to keep down pollution levels for the future of America. Representatives from coal states stated that by keeping America's pollution level low. Perhaps we could invest in Green energy and make America a leader in producing green energy or the GOP could use its budget authority to block any funds from going to EPA. Whatever happens the future generations of America must be able to breath easy.

The Keystone XL Pipeline

Valentin Sigalov // Prokhor Zakharov

The Keystone XL Pipeline is the subject of a rather heated debate in the USA. It is, essentially, a proposed pipeline which would stretch from Canadian Alberta all the way to the oil refineries on the Texan Gulf Coasts. It would run a huge amount of crude through it. Of course, this is a Republican-backed built with Democratic opposition.

The bill to approve this project did not pass through the Senate during the vote today. It was extremely close though: 59-41 in favor, but 60 required to pass. President Obama would likely have vetoed the bill if it did pass however.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said, “I think that what we’re going to see is that the president’s got to come to the table, and both parties are going to have to work together to get things done… It’s going to take the president saying ‘I want to work with you, I want to pass some of these jobs bills, I want to pass the Keystone Pipeline and get things done.” This makes it sound like a perfect solution that both parties could get behind. A job creation machine which would improve the economy of all of the states it's being built in.

However, it's not just potentially disastrous, but is also not as much of a job-maker as it is put out to be. While it will create anywhere from 2,500 to 20,000 jobs during it's construction, the number drops to about 20 after it is complete, according to Bloomberg. On top of that, from the $7 billion dollars appointed to the project from federal spending, $3-4 billion will likely be going towards wherever the steel comes from. Is it truly worth it?

Not only will this pipeline contribute to our reliance on fossil fuels, there are massive environmental concerns arising. Along the path of the pipeline, more forests will be cut down. This isn't it: Woodland caribou populations are shrinking and are now listed as threatened by the Canadian government, in part because the animal will not cross logged forest.

Wanted List: Environmental Fugitives?

People who destroy the environment for money 

Nine Dangerous Fugitives Suspected of Crime

This blog is about the importance of the environment and to inform the people around the world about the little changes that could affect the entire human race. I was thinking about naming the people to my left, but that would be too much trouble. The only message that you should receive is that these people...fugitives are dangerous. Well, you already know that so lets continue. 

These criminals are wanted for "poaching rhino, trafficking ivory," and illegal tree chopping Brussels), which increased the crime wave to billions of dollars annually. These nine people are not the only people who should be in trouble, there are more, don't worry. How is one person going to affect the entire ecosystem? They might not, but imagine hundreds of people doing the same thing, then the problem comes into play. The serious changes that could happened is loss of biodiversity and increase in CO2 because there are less trees. But why destroy the environment? They do it for the money. Money has a huge influence on people.  

But why the recent attack on environmental criminals? The answer is simple; danger to society. Damaging environment could be through the use of guns, drugs, and natural elements like fire. This can change the lives of innocent people. 

Personally, I am quite angry about this sort of event done by people. The environment should be kept safe from danger. The environment is our home, it is the place where we live. Little changes go along way, for better or for worse. 

Joel, Signing off...