Citizens Who Care

Hello all! As you may have noticed, not many posts have come out recently. Please forgive this, because our team has been very busy doing school work. We don't do this for a job. Thanks, Samuel

Deforestation What is deforestation? Deforestation is a loss of trees due to fires, pollution, and land conversion. 46% of the world's trees have disappeared since the dawn of humanity. What efforts are being taken? Many organizations, such as the nature conservancy, buy land in critical places to protect it from being cleared. Lots of legislation is also being passed worldwide in order to prevent trees from being cut down. One thing many people don't know is that there is info available online to educate the public on how much land is being cleared. How is it affecting us? Trees and other plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen a necessary effect to produce oxygen for us to live. Without trees, we wouldn't be able to survive. I find that I need a green space to calm down, without plants, there would be none of this, and I'd be angry all the time. So, there's also a social aspect to deforestation. How is it affecting animals? Land ...

Ocean Acidification (Link To Next Post In Series & Series Plan Post) Written By: TGU - Blogger  First Of All, what is Ocean Acidification? Ocean Acidification is when the water absorbs the CO 2 that is released into the air. The water absorbs the  CO 2  in the air because of hydrogen ions in the water. When the  CO 2  gets absorbed into the water the water becomes more acidic, which makes it difficult for coral reefs and sea shells to build.  The ocean will probably be dead if we don't do anything about it now. Here are a couple of stories relate to Ocean Acidification.  Stanford researchers released a VR software in October, which 'teleports' the user to the future, and you are able to fully explore the ocean, seeing how the ocean will (possibly) become with what's currently happening. The software allowed the player to also see the Carbon emissions coming from the car, and it allows the user to fo...

By: Or Desai Have you ever heard of the Pangolin? I hadn't until recently. Pangolins look sort of like an anteater, but aren´t anywhere related to them. They have a hard shell made from keratin scales, what your fingernails are made out of. Where do they live? Pangolins live throughout Africa and Asia. There are 8 different species of them, all of which are at least vulnerable. Many of them are critically endangered. What do they eat? A pangolin eats insects like ants, but they also eat worms as well. Scientists estimate that a pangolin can at as many as 70 MILLION insects every year. Pangolins also have special muscles in their mouths which protect against attacking insects. Threats Pangolins are in severe danger, for one is poached every 5 minutes. Even though international trade is prohibited, pangolin skin is prized in many countries around the world. That is why they are the most poached mammal. A pangolin skin hung at a market alongside other endangered...

Beware Biodiversity Loss Carolyn Fu Previous Post --Next Post Now I bet you’re wondering, what in the world is biodiversity loss? So, biodiversity loss is basically loss of the animals on the earth, so loss of life’s diversity. Now, losing wildlife is a big problem, especially to animals on the earth. First, what causes this problem? Read on and you’ll find out. Surprise! We humans create biodiversity loss. We fish, and when we do, we change the ecosystem and the food chains of the river. We also move animals from one place to another. For example, when a fishing boat drags their nets across the ocean floor, it picks up small critters like hermit crabs, and deposits them miles away from it’s home. Then, in it’s old home, animals eat hermit crabs, so those animals will affect other animals too. Then a bad food chain is there. Also, global warming will cause habitats and ecosystems go bad. Pollution will destroy habitats and animals. Losing habitats will lead to loss of biodiv...

Next Post -- Previous Post Living in the 21st century, our world has to deal with the problems of disposing of our waste. And we are faced with that problem if disposing of our waste. According to the United States EPA, we threw out 570 billion pounds of waste in 2007, where should we put all that waste? The Truth I know this is old data, but I have to admit something. The United States accounts for only 4 percent of the world's population, but guess what? The waste from people in our country accounts for just about 30% of the world's waste. We are headed into the inevitable, we need to reduce our waste. The Great Pacific Trash Heap(s) The Great Pacific Trash Heaps are two floating islands of trash which are stationary because of the currents. You'd think it would be really easy to clean up, but it isn't. You see, there are more than 100 million tons of it there. And it gets harder and harder to clean up. Most of the trash there is plastic, which d...

By: Samuel Desai Next Post - Previous Post The population on earth is growing, at about 7.5 billion and still growing , we need more natural resources every day. And we can't take these resources forever.There are many different resources we need to save. Oil Oil is one of those resources which we will lose very soon. If we continued to consume it at our current rate, our oil supply would run dry in 45 years , but our consumption rates of oil should continue to increase, lasting us about 25 more years. Consequences: Possible transition to renewable energy :) Shrinks economies like Russia's (built on oil) less transport to places Water Water is one of the most fought over resources in the modern  world. Climate Change is causing severe worldwide droughts. Only 2.5% of the worlds water is fresh. Of that 2.5%, 70% of it is locked up in glaciers. Of that amount (.75%), 10% is used for drinking. THAT ONLY LEAVES .075% of the worlds water to drink, w...

Overpopulation By: TGU-Blogger Next Post: http://kidsconcerned.blogspot.com/2017/01/natural-resources-gone-4-8.html    Think about every problem in the entire world. It's easy, which is bad. What's on the list: Global Warming/Climate Change, Pollution (all types), Traffic, Starvation, Disease, etc. The list is very long. But, a lot of those issues are because of one main issue, Overpopulation.  Overpopulation is when there are two many humans, and in this case there are currently 7 billion, 500 million, and that number is still growing by the second.    Now, if you look on The Washington Times, or any other newspaper or news magazine, you'll notice that they hardly touch the subject, especially some people, and there's a good explanation for that. Here's a hint: In some countries there are women in power, and they tend to have less children. That's right, the reason most people won't touch the issu...

Climate Change Previous Post                                                                                                                          Next Post By: Samuel Desai The world is getting worse, I can't say no to that. Humans are dirtying the air, water, night sky, and our ears. It will only get worse. As humans pollute the air with more and more carbon dioxide, greenhouse gasses force the suns to heat in, heating up the earth more, and more. The Greenhouse Effect The greenhouse effect is a pretty simple effect which helps keep our planet warm. I once read somewhere that without it, the Earth would be about 0 degrees (worldwide the Earth is about 61 degre...

Climate Change Previous Post                                                                                                              Next Post By: Samuel Desai The world is getting worse, I can't deny it. Humans are polluting the air, water, night sky, and our ears. It will only get worse. As humans pollute the air with more and more carbon dioxide, greenhouse gasses force the solar radiation in, heating up the earth more, and more. The Greenhouse Effect The greenhouse effect is a pretty simple effect which helps keep our planet warm. I once read somewhere that without the greenhouse effect, the average temperature on Earth would be about 0 degrees (the average temperature is about 61 degr...

Previous Post     Next Post Noise Pollution - 4-8 Written By: TGU-Blogger  What Is Noise pollution? Just by listening to Noise pollution it sounds as if Noise is  contributing to Climate Change, which is completely wrong. Noise pollution happens when there are sounds that either: disrupting sleep patterns, disrupting 'important' conversations, and just disrupting the way of life overall. Noise pollution doesn't just mean a bunch of loud noises, it means, "unwanted, or disturbing sounds".   Noise pollution is dangerous to health. It can lead to illness, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep deprivation, and lost productivity. If you want to protect yourself from the noise you can use head gear (earmuffs, earbuds, etc.).  One of the biggest causes of noise pollution is cars. Cars create a lot of noise, simply from driving an old (loud) car, or from hearing the honki...

Previous Post                                                                                                                               Next Post Light pollution video Light Pollution Map Light Pollution General Info At night when you look up at the sky, all you see are some clouds, and the moon. But did you know that when you are out in the middle-of-nowhere, the night sky is actually quite beautiful? One of the reasons you don't see any stars anymore actually has to do with light bulbs over powering the light of the stars. Besides the sun, the closest star is  25,260,733,353,600 miles away! Even though it is so close (compared to other stars), it is so di...

Previous Post                                                                                                                             Next Post As you saw last week with air pollution, there are four different types of pollution. I will now talk about the second type, water pollution. Water pollution happens when humans dump toxic chemicals into bodies of water. The toxic chemicals can vary from paint, motor oil, sunscreen, and even sewage. What is water pollution? Water pollution can be defined in many ways. However, it usually means substances which are in water which damage the health of animals and humans. What are the main types of water pollution? Whe...

Air Pollution Next post in series Samuel Desai Many environmental activists, unlike me, like to say that pollution is an important issue. I prefer to categorize them into three different topics. Air Pollution, Water Pollution, Noise Pollution, and Light Pollution. The other types of pollution are for another week but don't worry, you will hear about them soon. You may believe that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) it the only pollutant, but it isn't. There are others. One type is methane gas, emitted by livestock and swamps. Another CFC's or chlorofluorocarbons which were used in refrigerators, hairspray, and many other things. But they were banned internationally in 2010 because of its deteriorating effect on the ozone layer. Personally, I think that the pollutant which harms us the most is sulfur dioxide. Sulfur Dioxide is a component in smog, but also reflects sunlight out into space, causing a global cooling. This may seem good, but sulfur dioxide is directly link...

Dear readers, As you know, our big series starts this Saturday, we are busy writing posts. However, we wish for you to have your voice heard. Please let us know (through the comment section) if you have any questions about the topics we are blogging on (see below) Air pollution- DONE!!!!! - Water Pollution- Being written Light Pollution - Already Written - Noise Pollution - Written - Climate Change - Overpopulation - Written - Depletion of natural resources - Waste Disposal - Biodiversity- Written - Deforestation - Eli/TGU Ocean Acidification- Written - Acid Rain  - GMO Desertification Invasive Species - Eli/TGU Happy reading! Samuel Desai

 Driverless Cars, they're closer than you might think they are. If you look at big News companies (New York Times, TIME, Washington Post, etc.) around a year or two ago, you'd find something known as 'Project Titan' somewhere in the headlines. Project Titan was basically the iCar, and that basically sums it up. Except, the 'iCar' was meant to be not a regular car, but a driverless car. Recently, there is a bunch of news articles about driverless cars, as they are coming closer to reality, but Project Titan has died out. (On Fool.com) there is a news article claiming,  "Goodbye, Project Titan: Apple's Car Ambitions Fade..."    In the beginning of the news article it says that with the release of the iPhone 6, it disturbed time for possible research on the iCar. Then it says that the Apple executives 'seem' to 'give up' on Project Titan for now. One of the reasons that Apple decided to postpone Project Titan was because, " It ...

Gasoline,  Hybrid, Electric, Hydrogen, and Diesel Cars! - Grades 4-8  As we all know there are 3 main car types: Gasoline, Hybrid, and Electric. And, I posted before about Hydrogen Cars, so that makes 4 types of cars. But, there is 1 more car type, Diesel. In this post, it'll be all about the 5 different types of cars, Gasoline being the first, Diesel being the last.  Gasoline cars are everywhere, if you look on the back of almost every car that you see you'll probably see no Hybrid sign, but a tailpipe. Gasoline cars are cars that run on Gasoline mostly, and they are the worst way to travel (using cars). You have to refill them at least 2 times a week (depending on the car model and its millage). There are gas stations almost around every block, taking space for businesses, which are forced to move to different areas, which are possibly making the residential area smaller. As a fun-fact: When you drive a car (that's about 6 months o...

Hello all, The new URL for the Green Blog is kidsconcerned.blogspot.com Thank you for your cooperation as we make these changes. The Green Blog will reopen tomorrow.

 In the United States there are three area vulnerable to rising waters: North Carolina, South Florida, and Norfolk, Virginia. In North Carolina there is a scientist that is trying to save the Inner Banks, the end of a costal plain. The state of North Carolina is only looking 3 years ahead, instead of 9 years ahead. Scientists think that North Carolina should be looking 9 years, but the state isn't responding. So, a scientist named Stan Riggs is planning to save the Inner Banks, he has created a school program to get children engaged in this issue, and plans to make a documentary for those schools. He also created a charity called  North Carolina Land of Water. Frank Gorham, the leader of the Coastal Commission says that Riggs did not understand the problem that North Carolina has. He says that he is possibly the best environmentalist that there ever is.  Hurricane Matthew doesn't help this issue, killing about 29 people and caus...

Recently in India, Diwali has been going on. Diwali is the festival of lights in India which celebrates Ram and Sita defeating the reason Ravana. People usually celebrate with fireworks and lighting a "candle." These celebrations have taken a toll on India's air quality. Before Diwali, the air pollution was bad: But after, was a whole other story: These celebrations for Diwali put pollution levels 42 times above recommended pollution rates. And with now wind to blow the pollution away in the next months, it is only supposed to get worse. You see, India has two primary seasons, a season of drought, and a season on monsoons. In the dry season, there is little wind. It occurs at this time of year until the spring.  It is not like I am against these celebrations, I just wish to seek an alternative. Maybe environmental friendly fireworks display all over, instead of having one major one which everyone goes to. Good luck India! Hard time of cancer are ahead for the ne...