Artist Statment

Leo Tabalon
Artist Statement
My essential question falls under the lines of “how do your daily actions really effect the environment” and “if going green really does have a significant impact on the environment?” Our video is supposed to be humorous satire with an artistic video design embedded into the project. The “green guy” is a symbol for all the going green posers who really have no clue of what their actions effect the environment. Its one thing to care about the environment and it’s another thing to be aware and to take action and steps for a better environment.
The fact of the matter is every single thing we do has an impact on the environment and this main character in our video has no clue of what he is really doing, he is falling under the trend of going green. The little things he does in the movie like drinking a lot of water bottles and leaving the sink on while he’s brushing his teeth all have an impact on the environment. Like when he throws away the papers it’s like he doesn’t even know a thing and he’s totally thinking he’s helping the environment. The funny thing is that people don’t actually realize those kinds of things, they don’t realize that by a ton of paper is equivalent to 17 trees and by just recycling they can save and reuse a significant of that thus having a good impact on the environment.
Another thing is that water bottles are being consumed in the United States at an alarming rate. To be exact every second 1,500 plastic water bottles are being consumed and about 80% of that total is not being recycled. What are we really doing with all those water bottles? Like the guy in the video almost every day he drinks a water bottle and that will add up to be a huge number.
I hope that by watching this video you think more about what you are really doing every single day of your life and that just little things such as recycling or driving less, even just turning off the sink when possible all can have a good effect on the environment.

Annotated Sources

http://www.conservatree.com/paperlisteningstudy/LSForests.pdf

The reason why I really like this article is because it states various different arguments and topics in every chapter. For instance are old growth forests being cut down for paper use, what content standards are necessary for paper to be labeled as made from sustainable fibers, etc.? They also all provide citations and quotes from other sources but it’s a really long article. They provide information from credible sources like American Forest and Paper Association and they provide links to other websites.

"Conservatree." Conservatree - Recycled and Environmental Paper Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. .

This website is really helpful with the little facts we can use in our video. The site isn’t from Google scholar but it is really helpful with our senior project because it provides the facts about printer paper production and how much trees it takes. (17 trees= 1 ton of paper). I really like this website because it also provides a link to myths in recycling paper and they exploit the truth in those myths and they provide the real facts. http://www.conservatree.org/paper/PaperTypes/RecyMyths.shtml

http://www.valemount.org/water/WaterDocs/PouringDown.pdf

Here it provides lots of numbers and certain facts about global water bottle consumption. It provides good information but it was published in 2006 so the past 3 years I still need to find research on that, but it’s still a good article but it’s really brief and short. They also talk about money spent on bottled water and other various topics.

When water flow in rivers lowers due to:

- Warmer climate and

- Less precipitation

- Human water usage

Lower water levels cause:

-Less water to use for human consumption

-losses of fish in rivers

-Estimated by the year 2100 anywhere from 1-75% of fish habitat will become extinct.

Many people are developing different approaches to conserve the water and habitat in the freshwater rivers.

-Setting Regional Environmental Flow Standard

Effects of climate change and water shortage on freshwater biodiversity (2007): 1-1. Effects of climate change and water shortage on freshwater biodiversity. Marguerite A. Xenopoulos, 4 June 2007. Web. 8 Nov. 2009. <http://nabs.confex.com/nabs/2007/techprogram/P1113.HTM>.

Colorado River supplies:

-27 million users in 7 states and 2 countries

-27 million people in the southwest United States and Mexico.

-Irrigates over 3 million acres of farmland

Water shortages continue to decrease due to rapid increase of populations in these regions. Due to this as well as climate change it will reduce water flow by 10-30%.

Due to climate change:

-Reduce runoff by 10-30%

If climate change reduces by 10% then scheduled water deliveries will be reduced by about 58% by year 2050.

If reduced by 20% the then scheduled deliveries will be reduced by about 88%

Sustainable water deliveries from the Colorado River in a changing climate 106.18 (2009): 1-2. PNAS. Tim P. Barnett1 and David W. Pierce, 6 Mar. 2009. Web. 8 Nov. 2009. <http://www.pnas.org/content/106/18/7334.full.pdf+html>.

Temperature in America:

-Studies predict that U.S. annual temperature expected to rise 2-3 degrees C over the next 100 years.

-Greater increases in northern regions, about 5 degrees C.

-Northern Alaska expected to by 10 degrees C.

Precipitation:

-Expected to increase 5-10% over the 20^th century, predicted to increase overall.

-15% increase in winter precipitation for northwest regions

-General increase for central and eastern regions.

Many predictions for precipitation increase, however there are net decreases from water availability die to offset increases in evaporation.

-20% decrease for summer precipitation. Especially in southwest regions.

Effects of climate change on water resources (2008): 12-14. Choices. Richard M. Adams and Dannele E. Peck. Web. 8 Nov. 2009. <http://www.choicesmagazine.org/2008-1/theme/04.pdf>.

Final Draft

Shed Organization and Tool Maintenance Research Paper

Much like Michael Pollan states in his editorial Farmer in Chief, “the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention.” Most people don’t realize the issues and complications being caused by our food production. The inequality of international trade poses a big problem towards the farmers’ community and also has an impact on the environment.

Because the green revolution has occurred, industrial farming and food production are being used all around the world, due to the fast rate of production as well as the huge numbers that can be produced in a minimum amount of time and the prices to produce those foods. These methods of farming pose a serious threat to the population of organic farmers or the people who do all the labor because of the fact that they get a low amount of pay which don’t necessarily meet living standards. It also includes health problems due to the harsh working conditions. Pesticides, chemicals, and harsh working conditions all play a part in the life of whoever is doing the dirty work and they don’t even get paid much for them. In the article The Global Food Crisis by the National Geographic Magazine, it stated that “the high cost of fertilizers and pesticides has plunged many Punjabi farmers into debt” a number of those famers committed suicide due to that reason. The article also mentions how some of the areas in where chemically enhanced farming takes place, the population around that are harmed from the harmful bacteria in the air and water that come from the chemicals and pesticides.

How do we ensure the equality of international trade? The answer is Fair Trade. Fair trade is considered a social movement which aims to provide and help producers in developing countries as well as the approach to implement sustainable alternatives that are safer to the environment. Fair trade helps farmers/producers create more of an economic stability and self sufficiency. According to the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, it was estimated that over 7.5 million producers and their families were benefiting from fair trade funded infrastructure, technical assistance and community development projects and according to UK's Fairtrade Foundation, $4.12 billion was the total amount of money in fair trade sales for 2008. In my opinion if we keep this up both producers and consumers will be satisfied with the sales and products thanks to fair trade organizations.

The Fair Trade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) are responsible to certify fair trade in producer groups and other organizations, stated from the Transfair USA here are summary of certification standards:

1. Guaranteed floor price paid directly to the producer group, or income paid to the worker organization.
2. Fair labor conditions for farm workers.
3. Freedom of association for farmers and workers, and democratic decision-making processes.
4. Environmental standards that restrict use of agrochemicals and foster sustainability.
5. Removal of unnecessary middlemen that decrease producer income.
6. Access to pre-harvest lines of credit for cooperatives.

As stated above some other goals of Fair Trade Organizations such as TransFair USA and the Fair Trade Federation are for certified organic farmers receive a certain amount of pay for their product, as well as maintaining and enforcing fair labor conditions for the farmers, community development, and most importantly environmental sustainability. TransFair USA strictly prohibit harmful chemicals and GMOs, instead they promote alternative sustainable farming methods.

Sustainable farming methods should be more of the standards of farming due to the fact of energy used to produce industrial foods. The Farmer in Chief article stated that according to one study “the way we feed ourselves contributes to more greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere than anything else we do, as much as 37%,” we need to find alternative ways of producing our food that won’t burn up fossil fuels as well as find more sustainable ways of using energy to reduce our green house gas emissions when we produce our foods. According to the Encyclopedia of Earth worldwide agriculture contributes to almost 14% of total green house gas emissions. Michael Pollan is right, our abundance of producing food “depends on cheap energy which we can no longer count on.” We need to face the facts, oil is becoming more expensive and we are depleting our oil and fossil fuel supply in an alarming rate, and we need to do something about it. The Encyclopedia of Earth states that 82% of greenhouse gasses are from the carbon dioxide from the process of burning fossil fuels and only 2% are from other carbon dioxide emitters.

There are so many sustainable energies that can be implemented in different methods of farming; there are biofuels, geothermal heat pumps, hydroelectric power, passive solar heating, solar hot water systems, and wind energy. I believe that all these alternative energies can be used to significantly decrease the damage that our greenhouse gasses are doing to our atmosphere and environment. The US Department of Energy states that farms and ranches can use anaerobic digesters in their farms. Anaerobic digesters, also known as biodigesters, recover methane from animal manure to produce electricity and heat, and they reduce methane emissions, which is in fact a green house gas. Another alternative energy that can be used in not only farming but in the use of homes, is solar energy, which in my opinion is the most “sustainable” because we will never run out of solar energy for maybe a couple billion years. According to the US Department of Energy, such examples that solar energy can be used are; solar water heating (being used in dairy farms to clean equipment and stimulate and warm cow udders), and photovoltaic systems are being used for lights and water pumping.

The truth is there are so many alternative ways to farm as well as use in your home. They way we produce consume, and transfer food consumes so much energy and does a significant amount of greenhouse emissions and can damage the environment. The population needs to be aware of what some say this “food crisis” is causing. “Food is about to demand your attention” said Michael Pollan, Farmer in Chief Article, I think food has always had our attention, we just didn’t know exactly what to do with it. We solve problems with solutions that bring up other problems. The green revolution is a great example of that. So how do we stop history from repeating itself? No one knows for a fact.

But there are still ways that our food crisis can be contained and monitored, fair trade and sustainable farming, may be a solution to this problem.

Sources:

-Bourne Jr., Joel. "The Global Food Crisis." National Geographic June 2009: 13. 11 Oct. 2009 <http://ngm.nationalgeographic

-"Fair trade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 15 Oct. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade>.

-"Welcome to the Fair Trade Federation." Fair Trade Federation. 16 Sep. 2009 <http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ht/d/sp/i/2733/pid/2733>.

-"TransFair USA About Fair Trade." TransFair USA . 16 Sep. 2009 <http://www.transfairusa.org/content/about/>.

-Pollan, Michael . "Farmer In Chief." New York Times 9 Oct. 2008. 11 Oct. 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?pagewanted=all>.

-"What Alternative Energy Options are Available for Farms?." National Agricultural Library. 15 Oct. 2009 <http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/altenergy.shtml>.

-Energy Savers, U.S Department of Energy, <http://www.energysavers.gov/your_workplace/farms_ranches/index.cfm/mytopic=30002>

-Walser, Maggie (Lead Author); Stephen C. Nodvin (Topic Editor). 2008. "Carbon footprint." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth April 18, 2008; Last revised August 23, 2008; Retrieved November 1, 2009

Senior Project Annotated Sources

I like this website because it provides some facts such as “In 2007, for example, more than 200 billion liters of bottled water were sold worldwide. Americans alone purchased more than 33 billion liters for an annual average of 110 liters (nearly 30 gallons) per person—a 70 percent increase since 2001.” It also includes a PDF of an article written about the energy intensive process it takes to transport the water bottles to our local markets. It also mentions some facts about how much oil is being consumed in making these water bottles and it provides links to other articles and websites.
West, Larry. "Bottled Water and Energy - How Much Energy Does It Take to Make Bottled Water?." Environmental Issues - News and Information about the Environment. 22 Oct. 2009 .

“Most people who buy bottled water have access to clean drinking water virtually for free (in the US, tap water costs less than a penny per gallon, on average). Nevertheless, the consumption of bottled water continues to grow, far surpassing the US sales of milk and beer, and second only to soft drinks.” This fact truly struck me because the fact that tap water is basically almost free and that bottled water sales are passing the sales of milk, beer and even soda. That’s too crazy. Think about all the energy and oil consumed during that process.
"How Much Energy Goes Into Making a Bottle of Water?." PhysOrg.com - Science News, Technology, Physics, Nanotechnology, Space Science, Earth Science, Medicine. 22 Oct. 2009 .

Research Paper

Shed Organization and Tool Maintenance Research Paper

Just like Michael Pollan states in the article Farmer in Chief, “the health of a nation’s food system is a critical issue of national security. Food is about to demand your attention.” Most people don’t realize the issues and complications being caused by our food production.

The inequality of international trade poses a big problem towards the farmers’ community and also has an impact on the environment. Because the green revolution has occurred industrial food production and industrial farming are being used all around the world due to the fast rate of production as well as the huge numbers that can be produced in a minimum amount of time and the prices to produce those foods. These methods of farming pose a serious threat to the population of organic farmers or the people who do all the labor because of the fact that they get a low amount of pay which don’t necessarily meet living standards. It poses other problems to their health because of the conditions when working. Pesticides, chemicals, and harsh working conditions all play a part in the life of whoever is doing the dirty work and they don’t even get paid much for them. In the article The Global Food Crisis by the National Geographic Magazine, it stated that “the high cost of fertilizers and pesticides has plunged many Punjabi farmers into debt” a number of those famers committed suicide due to that reason. The article also mentions how some of the areas in where chemically enhanced farming takes place, the population around that are harmed from the harmful bacteria in the air and water that come from the chemicals and pesticides. How do we ensure the equality of international trade?

The answer is Fair Trade. Fair trade is considered a social movement which aims to provide and help producers in developing countries as well as the approach to implement sustainable alternatives that are safer to the environment. Fair trade helps farmers/producers create more of an economic stability and self sufficiency. According to the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, it was estimated that over 7.5 million producers and their families were benefiting from fair trade funded infrastructure, technical assistance and community development projects and according to UK's Fairtrade Foundation, $4.12 billion was the total amount of money in fair trade sales for 2008. In my opinion if we keep this up both producers and consumers will be satisfied with the sales and products thanks to fair trade organizations.

Some of the goals of Fair Trade Organizations such as TransFair USA and the Fair Trade Federation are for certified organic farmers receive a certain amount of pay for their product, as well as maintaining and enforcing fair labor conditions for the farmers, community development, and most importantly environmental sustainability. TransFair USA strictly prohibit harmful chemicals and GMOs, instead they promote alternative sustainable farming methods.

Sustainable farming methods should be more of the standards of farming due to the fact of energy used to produce industrial foods. The Farmer in Chief article stated that according to one study “ the way we feed ourselves contributes to more greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere than anything else we do, as much as 37%,” we need to find alternative ways of producing our food that won’t burn up fossil fuels as well as find more sustainable ways of using energy to reduce our green house gas emissions when we produce our foods. Michael Pollan is right, our abundance of producing food “depends on cheap energy which we can no longer count on.” We need to face the facts, oil is becoming more expensive and we are depleting our oil and fossil fuel supply in an alarming rate, and we need to do something about it.

There are so many sustainable energies that can be implemented in different methods of farming; there are biofuels, geothermal heat pumps, hydroelectric power, passive solar heating, solar hot water systems, and wind energy. I believe that all these alternative energies can be used to significantly decrease the damage that our greenhouse gasses are doing to our atmosphere and environment. The US Department of Energy states that farms and ranches can use anaerobic digesters in their farms. Anaerobic digesters, also known as biodigesters, recover methane from animal manure to produce electricity and heat, and they reduce methane emissions, which is in fact a green house gas. Another alternative energy that can be used in not only farming but in the use of homes, is solar energy, which in my opinion is the most “sustainable” because we will never run out of solar energy for maybe a couple billion years. According to the US Department of Energy, such examples that solar energy can be used are; solar water heating (being used in dairy farms to clean equipment and stimulate and warm cow udders), and photovoltaic systems are being used for lights and water pumping.

The truth is there are so many alternative ways to farm as well as use in your home. They way we produce, consume, and transfer food consumes so much energy and does a significant amount of greenhouse emissions and can damage the environment. The population needs to be aware of what some say this “food crisis” is causing. “Food is about to demand your attention” said Michael Pollan, Farmer in Chief Article, I think food has always had our attention, we just didn’t know exactly what to do with it. We solve problems with solutions that bring up other problems. The green revolution is a great example of that. So how do we stop history from repeating itself? No one knows for a fact.

But there are still ways that our food crisis can be contained and monitored, fair trade and sustainable farming, may be a solution to this problem.

Sources:

-Bourne Jr., Joel. "The Global Food Crisis." National Geographic June 2009: 13. 11 Oct. 2009 <http://ngm.nationalgeographic

-"Fair trade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 15 Oct. 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade>.

-"Welcome to the Fair Trade Federation." Fair Trade Federation. 16 Sep. 2009 <http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ht/d/sp/i/2733/pid/2733>.

-"TransFair USA About Fair Trade." TransFair USA . 16 Sep. 2009 <http://www.transfairusa.org/content/about/>.

-Pollan, Michael . "Farmer In Chief." New York Times 9 Oct. 2008. 11 Oct. 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?pagewanted=all>.

-"What Alternative Energy Options are Available for Farms?." National Agricultural Library. 15 Oct. 2009 <http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/altenergy.shtml>.

-Energy Savers, U.S Department of Energy, <http://www.energysavers.gov/your_workplace/farms_ranches/index.cfm/mytopic=30002>

Researach continued.

Fair Trade:
“It is a holistic approach to trade and development that aims to alter the ways in which commerce is conducted, so that trade can empower the poorest of the poor. Fair Trade Organizations seek to create sustainable and positive change in developing and developed countries.”
Facts and Figures:
*$4.12 billion - amount of total fair trade sales in 2008 according to the UK's Fairtrade Foundation
* 2.7 billion - estimated number of people in the world existing on less than $2 / day, according to the World Bank
*7.5 million - individuals in 2008 that directly benefit from Fair Trade Certified production, according to the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International
*$25 billion - amount spent annually on US farm subsidies, according to a 2007 Heritage Foundation report
Source:
"Welcome to the Fair Trade Federation." Fair Trade Federation. 16 Sep. 2009 <http://www.fairtradefederation.org/ht/d/sp/i/2733/pid/2733>.
“The Fair Trade Certified Label guarantees consumers that strict economic, social and environmental criteria were met in the production and trade of an agricultural product. Fair Trade Certification is currently available in the U.S. for coffee, tea and herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fresh fruit, flowers, sugar, rice, and vanilla. TransFair USA licenses companies to display the Fair Trade Certified label on products that meet strict international Fair Trade standards”
Fair Trade Information Map: http://www.transfairusa.org/content/about/global_reach.php
Fair Trade is much more than a fair price! Fair Trade principles include:
*Fair price: Democratically organized farmer groups receive a guaranteed minimum floor price and an additional premium for certified organic products. Farmer organizations are also eligible for pre-harvest credit.
*Fair labor conditions: Workers on Fair Trade farms enjoy freedom of association, safe working conditions, and living wages. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited.
*Direct trade: With Fair Trade, importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowering farmers to develop the business capacity necessary to compete in the global marketplace.
*Democratic and transparent organizations: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers decide democratically how to invest Fair Trade revenues.
*Community development: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, quality improvement trainings, and organic certification.
*Environmental sustainability: Harmful agrochemicals and GMOs are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.
Source:
"TransFair USA About Fair Trade." TransFair USA . 16 Sep. 2009 <http://www.transfairusa.org/content/about/>.

Farmer In Chief Response

* One idea that I really want to put an emphasis on is, like i said during discussion, that everything we do would take different resources and different ways and amounts of resources we use. No matter what we decide to do we would need to find the money, the time, the energy, the information, the materials, etc. to do what we need to do. Several times in the article he makes the point that "cheap energy" is a resource we are running out of and should not depend too much on. We all know that oil is getting more expensive and we are running out of fossil fuels, some of the ways we use energy isn't healthy for the environment. One way farmers are doing something about this is using more sustainable methods of producing food. Even then you still need cetain resources to use these methods, for ex. you need sunlight for solar energy, and things like that cost money, which is another resource that is important. Everything falls upon money, does the government have enough money to do this and that? Does the population have enough money to buy it, which is more efficeint, more convienent? A lot of questions pop up in my head when thinking about these type of things.

*Another thing to think about is how certain things will effect the environment and the population of the world not just certain areas. On page one it says " you will not be able to make a signigicant progress on the health care crisis, energy independence or climate change." What exactly does that mean? He mentions that " after cars, the food systems uses more fossil fuels than any other sector of the economy," I'm pretty sure thats not neccesaraly a good thing. If we are blowing through all these resources that we might not have later on in the future then what will it come to when we actually reach that limit. I have a feeling that we will just find another resources that we can rely on DURING THAT TIME. Theres a pattern with the world, we always try to solve things with certain things that will cause a different problem in the future, for ex. the green revolution reading, yeah it fixed the problem at the time but entirelly caused a new problem of disease caused by the chemicals used to enhance the growth of the crops. When will this pattern stop? I honestly don't think it will anytime soon.

*During the discussion I heard a large number of the students say that people "just don't care," i dont think thats exactly right. I think people don't have the resources to actually do something. People don't have the TIME to do certain things that are healthy for the environment and themselves, they dont have the MONEY to do all these things like buy more expensive organic foods, they arent AWARE that the food production has a dark side and it's causing a problem that most likley they will have to deal with later. And he government and media play a big part in that situation. Maybe if the media put out that there is a problem then people would start to relize whats going on. Maybe if the government started to monitor certain things like, say compost in homes or recycling, etc., then maybe the people will start to do these certain things. And it always goes back to the resources. Does the government have the money to do all that, how will media portray these problems, is it actually a problem. There are so many different situations that come up on this subject.

*On page 7 the author talks about how alternative agriculture is taking into place in different places and what kind of positive impact it will have on the environment but he also mentions that if these projects are being done it will become more of a long procees and a "long term project" it will be. And lets face it, do we really have the time to do this things, theres a food crisis going on and if we spend alot of time doing something that might work will it be worth it? maybe it will and maybe it wont, we just dont know. And we dont neccesaraly have the time and money to be playing trial and error. We have to deal with this problem right now. Who knows what'll happen if we don't.

Best Practices

Special Assignments Groups

(Shed/Organization)

For our special assignments group we are in change of keeping the tools and she organized, as well as keeping track of each tool and make sure it is returned to its correct place in the shed. We plan on doing this by having each person check out the tool they are going to be using by putting their name, what tool they have, what time they checked it out, and what time they checked it back in. We realize that there maybe multiple numbers of a certain tool (such as a shovel) so we plan on taking colored tape and taping it around the handle and in that case you will put what color shovel you have.

For the shed itself, we still plan on putting shutters on the windows, cleaning up the inside more (getting all the dust and dirt out of there), putting some sort of lighting, and organizing the tools so that everything can be found easily and there is easy access to it.

For our experiment, our special assignment group plans on doing something with waste. We plan on having two different plants grow in little pots, one growing organically with nothing but organic material and the other grown in more of an industrial fashion with the use of plant enhancements etc. We are going to log what happens and see how they differ. Our question will be "How does a organic plant differ from a plant that is treated with waste grow?"

Stop Motion Plant

For my plant stop motion i have decided to grow acorn squash because it not only grows year around but also grows relatively quick, which will show a lot of progress in the stop motion. My partner and I will be growing it in a small pot however we will have several different seeds growing in case there is a lack of production from a certain squash

Senior Project Topics

Food: (This is the topic I choose to focus on with my group for the media project but I'm not sure if i want to choose this topic for whatever we are doing in Environmental Science Class)

* Industrial vs. Organic
-> which foods take less energy to make? ( I want to know the process of making these foods and how much energy is put into it. whether it just takes sunlight and water or different machines and pesticides. I would like to research the differnt ways these food are grown and whether or not they make a significant impact on the environment through the energy it takes to make those certain foods.)

-> what impact on the environment does processing these foods have? ( I think this is a really strong question. I would like to figure out if these foods effect the environment on many different levels. I'm curious to see if one of these processes are better for the environment as well as the economy. Maybe one is better than the other or maybe they both should exist for the environment to be better.)

-> Process of making these foods ( I'd just like to do some general research on the process of making and growing these foods. I want to see which is easier to maintain or which is harder. A lot of questions pop up in my head when thinking about it. Usually when you grab something of the store you wouldn't think about that stuff but I want to go in depth in this topic)

Other Topics/Questions: (These questions/topics are just other things I'd like to research more in depth but I'm just not sure under what general topic the actually fall under because some of them overlap each other.)

-> If the human population keeps growing exponentially, how much food and water would be left in the near future for the people? And how much energy would be put into producing those foods? ( I'd like to figure out the answers to these questions. Theres no doubt that the population is ever growing but how will that impact the food and water supply? Only one percent of the earths water is accisible, so how will we survive. Is there new technologies that can help us with this probelm?)

-> How does all the energy we use effect the climate/atmosphere? ( We use a lot of energy and it does have a significant impact on the environment. Green house gasses, ozone layer, sustainable energies, etc. All these impact the environment and I'd like to go more in depth. )

Growing in the Garden

Environmental Science

Honeydew Melons

1. Fruit
2. This plant needs full sunlight to grow, so I think our San Diego weather is perfect even in the coming winter because we get a significant amount of sunlight during that time. I think that it would be really cool to plant a honeydew melon and they are delicious so no one can argue with that.
3. They are grown from seeds or seedlings. Germination: 3 to 5 days 60˚F to 95˚F. Other than that there are no needed special preparations
4. Takes between 65 to 86 days to harvest. A pretty manageable amount considering the time we have this semester. I think two months is a really good time. Not too long but not really short. I think that it would be easy with the timing and the weather so honeydew might be my number one plant I want to grow. I think in terms of long term growing, it might be a good idea. We mostly meet the specific needs that this plant has to grow for a long time. For ex. Sunlight, warm soil, etc.
5. The seeds need to be about a foot apart when planted, so it has the same situation with the potatoes. I don’t really know how much each pair of students get when it comes to the area of soil, so I’m not sure how much we can grow. But overall it doesn’t take as much space and with a given amount of space we can grow a reasonable amount.
6. This fruit prefers well drained warm soil, which in our case won’t be a problem because it’s really warm here. Soil needs to be high in organic matter with a constant pH level between 6.5 and 7.5. It’s manageable. It needs a significant amount of moisture only until it reaches the size of a tennis ball. Sandy or light textured soil that warm quickly tends to be the best.
7. Needs a large amount of moisture until pollination. When it reaches the size of a tennis ball only water when soil is really dry.
8. It says to avoid planting by cucumber family crops, such as melons, squash, pumpkins, etc.

Potatoes

1. It’s a vegetable, root crop
2. Most websites say that you should plant potatoes in late summer or early fall so it can grow in cool weather to be a winter/spring crop. It wouldn’t want the potatoes to grow during the hottest months of the year. I’m not sure if that’s the case for our San Diego weather but I think that the coolest days we get is during the winter.
3. It doesn’t say anything about any special preparation. Just before planting be sure to mix plenty of compost into the gardening area. One problem I came up on is that gophers like to eat them so it might come up as an obstacle later on during the gardening process.
4. It takes 2-4 months to harvest so I believe that it fits the timing for our project. I think that it would be a good vegetable to grow. I’m not sure if it will benefit the garden in terms of the future. I guess if it’s maintained then we can keep growing them but it’s not for sure.
5. You have to plant the seed potato pieces about two inches deep into the ground and about 1 and a half feet apart. With our space given I think we can grow just a small amount because they don’t take a large amount of space but I don’t think we can grow a significant amount for exhibition.
6. Some websites recommend to grow the potatoes in soil that with the pH between 5.0 and 6.0. it seems that growing them in soil with a higher pH makes them more prone to decease call scab, which are small rough spots in the potatoes. It also says to not plant the seeds in an area where tomatoes or eggplants have grown before because it can attract some pests and cause some problems.
7. It needs a significant amount of water. Soil should be rich and moist but not too soggy. Soil should not dry out and soil should contain moderate levels of nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, and sulfur.
8. No companion plants, but like it says before, don’t plant in areas where tomatoes or eggplants have been grown.

First Environmental Science Blog

What is the one thing in the natural world that you are curious about?

One thing I'm curious about is how plants actually react to everything in the world. Not just on a basic level but on a higher kind of getting into depth level. Like how exactly do they get nutrients from soil? How do they react with other plants? What other ways can you feed a plant? Those kind of questions. I really want to get a higher understanding of how plants grow.