ENVR 1301 - Meli Davila

I have created a simple concept map based on the video "Exploring natural resources" produced by Brian Jerome. The term "natural resources" refers to any goods provided by nature. Natural resources are divided into 2 major groups: Renewable and Non-renewable. The way these are categorized depends on the time it takes for them to restore.   Renewable natural resources are elements of nature that are almost always available and take little or no time to replenish. Solar energy, for example, belongs in the renewable category because it cannot be completely depleted. In the video, Nina Keck narrates that there is always more solar energy available than it is being consumed, and it is always being produced. Things that can be obtained from these resources, such as chairs made out of wood, are also considered natural resources. It is important to note that renewable resources may become scarce if consumption is faster than replacement. For example, fish may become ...

Country name: Afghanistan  Birth rate: 32 Death rate: 6 Population growth rate (rate of natural increase): 2.6 Life expectancy for males and females: males 64, females 67 Fertility rate (average number of children per childbearing-aged female): 4.3 Gross National Income (GNI): 2,110 Country name: Singapore Birth rate: 9 Death rate: 5 Population growth rate (rate of natural increase): 0.3 Life expectancy for males and females: males 81, females 86. Fertility rate (average number of children per childbearing-aged female): 1.1      Gross National Income (GNI): 86,480 World Birth rate: 18 Death rate: 8 Population growth: 1.0 Life expectancy: males 71  females75 Fertility rate: 2.3 Gross National Income: 17,535 Population ecology studies a certain country's population and life. For this assignment I chose the countries of Afghanistan and Singapore. Although they are both Asian countries the quality of the average person in each one is drastically different. In every ...

Energy and Ecosystems The value of biodiversity The organization of life Upon reading the chapters in this module. I have created three infodoodles instead of concept maps because i thought I would enjoy it more than the maps. The first infodoodle shows the cycle of energy. Before we look at a food chain we must understand the two main laws of thermodynamics. The first one states that energy cannot be created. It only exists and is transformed. The second law says that as "randomness" or disorder increases so does entropy. The main source of energy for all life is the sun. From there, it is transformed into oxygen produces by plants during photosynthesis. It then travels from a plant, to a herbivore, a carnivore and so on until it reaches a decomposer organism, such as fungi. The second image is an infodoodle of the value of biodiversity. In his book Environmental Science: A canadian perspective, B. Freedman (2018) says that nature provides us with many utilitarian values, s...

         Great Salt Lake September 1999    Nature.org The Nature Conservancy (2021)         Great Salt Lake 2016      Nature.org The Nature Conservancy (2021)     Great Salt Lake July 2017   Google Earth (2017) The Great Salt Lake, Utah. 1999-2017 Problem The Great Salt Lake in the state of Utah has been slowly shrinking for many decades. In the pictures shown above we can see the receding edges and the progression of the areas of lakebed being gradually exposed in different parts of the lake. The third photo, taken in 2017, shows all that is left of the lake. As a result, Salt Lake city, populated by more than 70% of all of the state of Utah’s inhabitants, and other areas near the shrinking lake, are in extreme danger of respiratory disease. This is due to the extremely toxic dust clouds containing high levels of arsenic and other poisons emitting from the exp...

Climate change refers to the impact of the emission of greenhouse gasses that trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Reducing the world’s largest activities of greenhouse gas emissions, such as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels, is a complex problem that is difficult but imperative to resolve due to its gradual destructive consequences on the environment. According to environmental scientists, it is considered a super wicked, worldwide problem due to the following 4 factors: -time is running out -those who cause the problem also seek to provide a solution -the central authority needed to address them is weak or non-existent -irrational discounting occurs that pushes responses into the future. (K Levin et al. 2010) Institutions of higher education produce approximately 3% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States which is 416738 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. But there are numerous ways in which we can start to reduce it, and if we all work together at NVC ...

Point of View The video is told from the perspective of those who praise Rachel Carson and see her as a heroine for speaking up for the environment. It seems like the person who put this video together finds her courageous because Rachel was speaking up against what most believed during a time when she was wrongfully ignored and silenced. I also find her very admirable and brave. I can't imagine what it must have been like to speak up alone and turned down when you try to share your knowledge of something so urgent with a bigger audience. All while simultaneously being publicly criticized by everyone. Purpose The main purpose of this video is to educate the viewer on how Rachel Carson's controversial book "Silent Spring" drastically changed the course of history. It also focuses on the fact that, like DDT, scientists will have many discoveries that can promise to be beneficial to humans at first but, if we are not careful and respectful of nature, can also be irrevers...