Evergreen

Here is a beautiful video created by the french animator Yoann Lemoine. It artistically illustrates some of the environmental challenges that our planet is currently facing due to human actions. The video begins as a buck awakens and finds himself to be alone in an desolate wasteland. Confused by the devastation surrounding him, he runs away in search of the forest which was once his home. Suddenly he stops short as he is confronted by the source of the destruction. Despite overwhelming odds, the buck perseveres and his efforts provide hope that there is still time for our planet to be healed.

- Amy Evans

The Journey of OR7

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/us/wildlife-activists-follow-lone-wolfs-trek-into-california.html?_r=1&ref=endangeredandextinctspecies

This article just kind of caught my eye while I was surfing the New York Times website.  OR7 is the name that biologist gave to a wolf that they have been tracking with GPS for the past 2 and a half years.  The special thing about OR7 is that he is the first wild wolf to have migrated into California in the last 88 years!  I thought that this was really interesting because it kind of relates back to Aldo Leapold and his experience with wolves.  OR7 has become somewhat of a celebrity in California and even the rest of the United States.  People have even made twitter accounts acting as OR7.  The article goes on to talk about how it is most likely that more wolves will be moving into the area.  There is a lot of controversy going on in California because some people see it as a bad thing and some people think that it is a great thing.  It sound to me like California is probably going to take steps to protect the species if more do end up moving into the area so it is a pretty exciting deal.  Hopefully the wolves will start moving even farther south throughout the whole united states.  I think it would be cool to have wolves in Nebraska again!!

                                                   

                                        COLTON BOESCH

Humans are Natural Vegetarians

Shattering The Meat Myth: Humans Are Natural Vegetarians

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/shattering-the-meat-myth_b_214390.html

I found this article from a fellow friends Facebook post and I thought it was interesting.  This article states that humans have only been consuming for about 10,000 years.  It is stated that early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is largely plant based, foods that we could pick with our hands.  Meat eating was then see to be started by scavenging of what carnivores left behind.  The problem with meat eating is our bodies have never fully adapted to it therefore strong meat eaters in our society today have higher incidences of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.  The article then goes and describes the physiology of humans and how we are built to pick fruits and veggies, not tear hide, hold down prey with our HUGE claws, or rip large amounts of meat with our canines... we simply are not built for that.  Basically the overall health of the population could increase if we all eat more fruits and veggies.

I agree with everything this article has to say.  I think that if we really allow people to understand the physiology behind the human body we could potentially get people to change their habits.  Our meat consumption in the United States is ridicules and the obesity problem is tied directly to that.  Not only does our meat consumption correlate with this countries obesity issue but it also allows for inhuman livestock practices and unnecessary amounts of GHG's released into the atmosphere.   If we educated people more about this issue and the other issues meat consumption causes we might be able to change some peoples minds and stop these on going issues.  

-Mariah Lundgren

Landfill Gas

I was happy to learn that Lincoln now has wells for landfill gas collection at Bluff Road Landfill as of last year and has completed phase 1 of the their Landfill Gas Collection and Control project.  I'll explain what is meant by "phase 1" after I explain what landfill gas actually is.  Landfill gas is a mixture of gases produced by microbial decomposition of the organic materials in municipal solid waste.  Municipal solid waste is about 60% organic material and the gas produced is about 50% methane and 50% Carbon dioxide with less than 1% being non-methane organic compounds.  The Clean Air Act of 1996 required "large landfills" to install landfill gas collection wells, but Lincoln has not reached that size yet.  But Mayor Chris Beutler wants to stay ahead of the game and take the environment into consideration saying...


"I have long believed that you can have strong economic development and a cleaner environment, and this project is an excellent example of that reality. It's also an example of acting to clean up our environment without waiting for federal or state mandates."


So, phase 1 completion means that there are now 54 vertical gas extraction wells on about 61 acres of the landfill and that gas is being burned (flared).  This may sound bad but the burning of the methane breaks it down to carbon dioxide and as most of you know, methane has 23 times the global warming potential than carbon dioxide.  It was calculated that flaring this gas takes the equivalent of 30,780 passenger vehicles out of the Lincoln's atmosphere.  Burning it off also reduces odor problems.  Phase one was estimated to be about $2.2 million and most of the money conveniently came from landfill user fees.


The next step for this project would be to use the landfill gas for electricity and could potentially provide 2,250 homes with electricity.  Lincoln could also make money ($300,000 per year) by selling carbon credits on the international market, since Lincoln's air is relatively clean.  I do have some insider news because of a class field trip recently.  Pipes are soon going to  be placed from the landfill to a near by Power Plant called Terry Bundy Generating Station, owned by LES, which already uses natural gas during peak energy use, so a transition to this fuel source would not be that huge.





Check it Out!
http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_6d721ec2-eb8b-11df-b4c0-001cc4c002e0.html
http://lincoln.ne.gov/city/mayor/media/2010/110810.htm
http://www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/pworks/projects/waste/sldwaste/landfill/


-James Reece

Facts about Recycling

Here is a few web sites about recycling.
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-recycling this one has a unique fact about kisses wrapers. Saying that: More than 20 million Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of aluminum foil. But most people dont even think about it and just through it in the trash.

oops.

and then this website: http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html saying that:
Because so many of them are recycled, aluminum cans account for less than 1% of the total U.S. waste stream, according to EPA estimates.

Which is kind of cool.

-Kaylee Wheeler

More Than Mere Magic Mushrooms

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/more-mere-magic-mushrooms-154207424.html

I found this news article and video very exciting because, like they said, plastic and styrofoam don't biodegrade.  These mushroom discoveries can help us decrease plastic waste in landfills as well as limit the use of styrofoam for packaging.  I have always had an issue with styrofoam... I just never understood why they would use something that will never biodegrade, especially in such large amounts.
We use styrofoam for so many things such as plates, cups, 'to-go' boxes, packaging, etc.  It is being used everywhere, so this new mushroom styrofoam can help us become much more environmentally friendly.   I eat out semi-often, so would really appreciate it if restaurants and fast food places stopped using styrofoam.

I think it's great that we are using nature to help us find solutions.  We can work with nature, but we shouldn't abuse it like we have in so many other ways.  I am excited for the future and these new technologies, but I think overall our consumption needs to decrease.  Though we keep inventing new technologies that will take us out of a hole, the hole may someday get too deep.


http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/971

Here is another video that I found interesting.

SO COOL! http://inhabitat.com/bosco-verticale-in-milan-will-be-the-worlds-first-vertical-forest/