Males Mating With Males?

I found the article Pollution Making Males Birds Mate With Each Other on TreeHugger, which later led me to a more indepth explination on a UK website Daily Mail. The name of the article caught my eye, and it infact, turned out to be very interesting.
Pollution has been known to have small effects on many animals reproductive systems, but never to this extreme.  Researchers have found that when even low levels of the poisonous metal compound methylmercury is ingested in a male white Ibises' diet, the male birds attempt to mate with other male birds and completely ignor the female birds.  Methylmercury is a form of mercury. The metal  is liquid at room temperature and has been seeping into groundwater from ­industries for years.
One researcher, Peter Frederick ­captured 160 young white Ibises and gave them food laced with methylmercury. They put the birds into four groups. One group ate food with 0.3  parts per ­million methylmercury (most U.S. states would call this too high for human consumption). A second group was fed 0.1 ppm, and the third 0.05 ppm (a dose that wild birds would be exposed to frequently). The fourth group received food with no poison. All three dosed groups had significantly more homosexual males than the control group. Male-male pairs courted, built nests together and paired off for several weeks.
Scientisit are not exactly sure why this is happening.  They knew mercury could depress their testosterone levels, but not to this effect.
This relates to class because if the male birds keep ignoring the female birds, the reproduction rate will go down, making the overall population of that species go down.  This can later start affecting other species as well.

'Soulful Sofas'

Are you looking for a new sofa? If you want an original sofa unlike any other, then you should read this aritcle on Treehugger called Sublime Sofas With Soul: Recycled Textile Seating by Casamento, by Kimberly Mok. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/11/recycled-textile-sofas-casamento.php?campaign=th_rss

A South African furniture company has decided to make furniture with a little 'soul' by using recycled and natural textiles and handcrafted eye-catching materials.  Designers Starry Eve Collett and Henry du Rand are making furniture with frames made from recycled or FSC-certified wood and natural, non-allergenic fibres like sisal, raw cotton wadding, and horsehair webbing. 

They are staying away from the the usual flammable foam, which has to be treated with toxic fire retardants. Foam maunfacturing releases harmful gases into the air.  Also, foam doesn't have a long lifespan and will eventually disintegrate into toxic dust.  There are many alternatives to using foam, such as wool, raw cotton, and other various forms of recycled textiles.  Using these things will help cut back on toxic fumes in the air.

I think that these sofas are an amazing idea.  They are much better for the environment and they even look really cool. I was so interested in them, that i decided to check out their website, which shows some cool designs and gives a lot of great information. http://www.casamento.co.za/casamento/home_.html 

This relates to class, because we are constantly talking about pollution, and with less toxic fumes, we can cut out some pollution. If you want to help the environment in an easy way, all you have to do is get your hands on one of these super cool couches, but im thinking they are most likely out of our price range.

 

 

Penguins Get New Homes!

A few weeks ago i wrote a blog about penguins going extinct.  Today, looking through treehugger's blogs i found one entitled Endangered Galapagos Penguins Get New Homes, by David Franza. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/10/endangered_gala.php?campaign=th_rss
I am happy to have learned that there are other people out there other then me worried about these penguins, and these people are actually doing something about it.   A group of conservationists have set out to keep this endangered species from dying off. To do this, they have built 120 new homes for the penguins.  Usually, the penguins build their nests in shaded areas between rocks or lava tubes. But, their habitat is decreasing and the crevices available for nesting have become limited. Also, predators like cats, dogs, rats, and pigs try to disturb the nests.  The penguins need more nesting sites and greater protection from predators for their population to stabilize.  The goal of these conservationists is to increase the population of Galápagos penguins by making sure that when conditions are good and not food-challenged, that all of them will be able to breed.  The team built 120 new crevices, made from collected lava rocks, in areas isolated from invasive species.  They said that the nests were completed just in time because the Warm La Nina currents are expected to make the next months particularly productive for penguin breeding.
Reading this blog made me extremely happy.  I hope that they kee up with this and also start doing things like this for other species that are going extinct.
This relates to what we are learning in class because these penguins will have to adapt to the new location of these habitats that the conservationists have built for them.

breast cancer caused by air pollution?!

I found an article entitled "Breast Cancer Possibly Linked to Air Pollution" by Michael Graham Richard on TreeHugger's blog. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/10/breast-cancer-possibly-linked-to-air-pollution-study.php?campaign=th_rss There was a study done in 1996-97 in Canada where scientists tracked nitrogen dioxide in the air, and the addresses of where women with breast cancer were living. Across Montreal levels of NO2 were between 5 parts per billion and 30 parts per billion.  The scientists discovered that the risk of breast cancer increased 25% with every 5 ppb.  This means that that women living in the more polluted areas were almost twice as likely to develope breast cancer then the women living in the less polluted areas!  They are not saying that NO2 causes breast cancer but they are looking at it as a possible contributing cause and more research will need to be done before any conclusions are made.
In class, we have talked about pollution and how it effects people and the environment, and this article is a great example of that.  I would have never expected pollution to have this kind of effect on people!  I know that Pennsylvania has a high pollution rate, although i'm not sure about the nitrogen dioxide levels in the air, but this still worries me. I hope that there are ways to cut back on the NO2 pollution so we can help save women's lives, if this really is contributing to breast cancer of course.

SAVE THE PENGUINS!

   I saw an article linked from TreeHugger called "More Than Half of Penguin Species are Under Threat".

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/more-than-half-of-penguin-species-are-under-threat.html

I immediatly had to read this since penguins are my favorite animal.  The article stated that at the International Penguin Conference they announced that 10 out of 18 penguin species are experiencing population decline and many things are threatening their survival.

   One thing threatening them is over-fishing.  Many people use anchovy and sardines for fishing bait, taking away from the penguins food supply.  The penguins are also getting caught in fishing nets and dying. 

   Another thing killing them is climate change.  Many penguin species are highly dependent on small schooling fish for food. When the climate changes it can affect the migratory patterns of  fish, which makes it harder for the penguins to find food. 

   Also, the pollution from oil companies is killing off penguins.  Chronic petroleum pollution has killed thousands of penguins off the coasts of South America and South Africa. This comes from illegal operational dumping from ships, long term leaks from sunken ships and some land-based discharges. 

   The last way that penguins are being killed is by predation by introduced mammals.  Penguin populations of places like New Zealand, Australia and Argentina are being attacked by mammals such as weasels, feral cats and foxes.

   This relates to class because we were talking about pollution and changes in the global climate, and both of these things effect the penguins way of living. We need to do something to save the penguins! We could use different bait when we fish so that we dont take their food.  We could also get oil companies to stop dumping their products illegally into the waters.  If we dont do something to stop this, many penguin species will be facing extinction by the end of the 21st century. 

hybird-diesel school buses

I read the blog "Kentucky Introducing Hybird School Buses" posted by EcoGeek. http://www.energyempowers.gov/post/School-buses-get-greener-in-Bluegrass-State.aspxState.aspx
The blog explained how this year into next year Kentucky will start the deployment of 213 hybird-diesel school buses.  These buses will go out all across the state and will have their preformance monitored.  A triditional school bus gets about 7.5 miles to the gallon, where the hybird gets about 12.5 miles per galoon, a 65 percent improvement.  They say that hybird technology works best in stop-and-go traffic, which is perfect for school buses.  The project was funded with $13million by Clean Cities Recovery Act funding.

This relates to class because we were talking about problems in the environment such as over population, pollution, deplation of resources, ect..  These buses help cut way back on pollution because they use a lot less gas and therefore cut out fuel emissions.
I think the hybird buses are a great idea and will have a huge impact on the environment.  They might coast a little more, but in the end I think they will be worth the money because they will greatly help the environment.  I hope that if they work out well in Kentucky that schools in other states join in on the idea.

about me

i am writing this blog for environmental class. i have an older brother who graduated last year. i am a high school junior. i played field hockey for two years but decided to take a break to concentrate on school. i love spending time with my friends and my boyfriend. i live with my mom, her boyfriend and my brother. I'm a pretty easy person to get along with.