Extra Credit

Chasing Ice Chasing Ice was a movie I watched in my environmental class to receive extra credit. This movie was about a photographer named James Balog who wanted to capture climate change as it was happening. He wanted to prove that climate change is happening by capturing it on camera. He wanted to get videos of the ice melting as it was happening to show people we do have a climate change problem. He wanted visual evidence as stated in the movie. The movie stated he wanted to capture what humanity was doing to the world in a big perspective. James Balog started his project called Extreme Ice Survey by visiting the Solhiem Glacier in Iceland. The glacier resided six feet when he saw it break down. James Balog caught on camera his first glacier to disappear on camera. He then proceeded to put cameras in different places to see how glaciers melted and how they changed throughout a period f time. When he started it was in April of 2006 and went back t check the cameras he located in October. He wanted to see how things changed in a six month period, but when he went back he was disappointed that his hard work failed. Some of the cameras broke down and were no good. The cameras he used did not capture what he wanted because they stopped working, but this did not stop him. He then got some stronger cameras and started again. According to the movie, he installed five cameras in Iceland, five in Alaska and two in Montana. Six months later he went back to check up on the new cameras and they worked. They were recording what was happening during a six month period. At this time he was watching glaciers residing and thinning over time. He saw them melting into the ocean. According to the movie, he saw glaciers dying in Iceland in a period of three years starting from 2006 to 2009. He then started showing his findings to people to prove that global warming does exist. He also wanted to go back to the first glacier he saw melt to see how it was doing. The movie ended when his people recorded a glacier break down. His people waited to see what was happening to the glacier they watched it for weeks. Then one day it started melting and breaking down. They caught it on camera. The Solheim Glacier was described by his people like Manhattan breaking apart. His people caught the event on camera and said it was the biggest calving event on tape. It was awesome to see the glacier melting and the movie stated that the calving lasted about seventy five minutes. James Balog was happy to see all this events happening, but he was sad at the same time because he was worried about what he saw happening to the world.

Synthesis Blob 12

In my environmental class I was asked what are the most important environmental issues today. I think climate change, plastic pollution, and destruction of biodiversities are the most important issues today. Climate change is a big issue today because it is getting worse every year. We are losing many species in the colder areas of the earth because of it. For example, the polar bears are endangered and nothing is being done to save them. They just keep being put on the endangered list and then taken off. The ice is melting destroying their home and making hard for them to hunt. Another example, climate change is a problem because it is causing coral bleaching. In addition, plastic pollution is a problem today. We use so much plastic for everything, but so much plastic is polluting our earth and killing species. Plastic does not biodegrade it just breaks down into smaller pieces. Plastics kill species that eat the plastic. For example, the sea turtles think that a plastic bag in the water is jelly fish and they die because they eat it and it blocks their stomach. Plastic should be banned. Furthermore, the destruction of biodiversities is a big issue today. Many species are dying because their homes are being destroyed. They are being destroyed because people are trying to get the natural resources. People are cutting down trees and pushing other species to move out of their homes. Some species that can’t adapt will die and no longer exist according to natural selection. Some species that do adapt might adapt other traits. Biodiversity in some places of the world are not rich in evenness because of the invasive species caused by destruction of land and because of human impact. Some invasive species can cause the destruction of another species. For example, the brown tree snake eating the birds and eliminating the bird species. Biodiversity is important. In our society today, we can start being more aware of climate change. We can maybe try do fund environmental engineering to try and reduce the high levels of carbon dioxide. We should also try to find other ways to get our oil, coal and natural gas in a way that it would not release any more carbon dioxide. I am up for trying anything, but most important reducing what we do to cause climate change instead of just putting a band aid over it. Also, society can band plastics in order to help the environment. We should not just band it in some places of the world, but we should band it worldwide. We should also promote reusable bags. Society should try to help clean up plastic pollutions we have caused, so no more species get affected. Another thing society should do is stop destroying habitats and biodiversity. People should find other ways to get their natural resources. There should be a law that states that people can longer use plastics and can no longer impact habitats and biodiversity. If this was implemented maybe our environment would not be in jeopardy. As individual I think I should let the people around know about these issues. I think I should also lead by example and try to show that I too I am making changes to help my environment. I think also as an individual I can learn more and get involve with people who are helping the environment, so I can take an initiative towards sustainability. One thing I really been thinking about doing is stop using plastic and bottle waters. I think plastic does a lot of damage to our environment and ourselves. Lastly, another important thing I learned this semester was that we waste a lot food and make a lot of trash. This also causes damage to our environment because we are buying or throwing lots of food to the trash. That is considered to be wasting food. That food ends up in landfills while other people are starving.

Extra Credit

Waste Land Waste Land is a movie I had to watch for extra credit in my environmental class. This Movie was about an artist that wanted to make a difference in the Brazil landfills. This artist name is Vik Muniz. He is an artist that uses different materials to make art. For example, he has used diamonds, wire, string, chocolate syrup, peanut butter and other materials. He likes to make deceiving images. Vik Muniz wanted to work with people who worked in the Rio landfill. He wanted to make a difference. He wanted to make art and change people’s lives. In the movie he said he wanted to change people’s lives using the same material they worked with everyday. His focused was to work with pickers from the landfill. He worked with about six people that were pickers at the landfill. In the movie these people at the beginning they did not know what Muniz was doing and why he was filming them and wanted to know about their work and lifestyle. Most of the people he filmed did not like working as a picker at the landfill, but they had to do it for a living. They get paid twenty to twenty five dollars a day. Most people thought that their job was disgusting and that they did not want their kids working in the landfills like they do. The pickers at the landfill have to pick out the different kinds of materials from the trash and had to separate them. The women would always go for the plastic and the materials that are not so heavy for them to carry. The pickers would all agree that picking waste was not a job they wanted to do, but it provided for their familiar. Muniz photographed and filmed the pickers. He took individual pictures of the pickers and took their pictures and put them in a studio where they could see their pictures on the ground. The pickers were able to see their pictures and they put trash on the pictures. They traced their pictures with trash the materials they worked with everyday and Muniz photographed them when they were done. He put those pictures in a gallery to sell and gave the money from the pictures back to the pickers. The picker’s lives did change after they worked with Muniz. They didn’t think they could make art with trash from the landfill. It also made them be proud of their job and what they did. For some it made them have more confident and made them see that they were doing something big to save the environment. They were the ones recycling for the other people that didn’t. In the end of the movie, everyone was happy they worked with Muniz and everyone did something different with the money they receive from their photographs that were sold at the gallery. Muniz gave everyone a copy of their own photograph. Some people after the experience went through changes in their lives. One of the ladies opened a restaurant and stopped working at the landfill. Another woman also stopped working at the landfill and told all her family she worked at the landfill. At the beginning of the movie she said she was ashamed of working there, but by the end of the movie she was proud of her job. She still wanted a better job to be with her son. Another person opened a library near his home because he wanted people to be educated. In the end, most people left the landfill anyways because the landfill closed in 2012. The sad part was that many lost their jobs.

Extra Credit

Tapped Tapped is a movie I had to watch for my environmental class to receive extra credit. This movie was about tap water and water bottle. The video stated that by 2030 some places of the world will run out of water. This is because big companies like Nestle, Coke and Pepsi are going into towns taking the residents water. They are doing this to make profit out of bottle water. In the movie residents of Fryeburg County they have trying to fight with Nestle. They want Nestle to stop pumping their water. In Maine they have a law that states that whoever has the biggest pump, they can take the water and the residents are trying to change this. They are running out of water and it makes them upset that big corporations keep pumping. The residents tried to make a deal with Nestle. Residents wanted them to pay at least taxes for the water they were taking and Nestle said, “No.” Another thing that makes people upset in the movie, is that big corporations are pumping municipal water and bottling it up and then selling it for a higher price. People say they are buying their water the one that they pumped out of their own town. Communities want to have ownership of their water supply. They want to protect their water. The movie also states that the earth’s surface has seventy five percent of water, but it is sad to say that only one percent is drinkable. Another big issue that the movie talked about is that big corporations try to sell water bottles to make profit, but they do not let people know that water bottles are not that safe. This is because they are made of plastic and plastic is not good for us and the environment. Plastic chemicals have many affects to us and the environment. Also the move stated that bottle waters are not regulated like municipal tap water is. Tap water is tested, while bottle water is not and companies are not obligated to put the reports of their products to see like others do. Some people of the movie were saddened to see so many people trust bottle water instead of water that has been tested. This is because people do not know what gets into their after they are put in plastic. Plastic is bad it is made out of PET or PETE. These chemicals are not good for us. The movie also talked about how the water bottles end up in landfills or in the ocean. Plastic water bottles kill species because they eat the plastic. The movie stated that thirty million bottles end up in the landfills. People buy so many water bottles and don’t recycle them. This also is bad and affects the environment. The movie stated that big corporations try to get people to recycle the bottle. The Corporations support curve side recycling, but reality is more than half of the people do not get curve side recycling. The movie really advocated that we should get rid of plastic water bottles in general. They cost too much, they are not good for the environment and us the people.