Shade balls

With the large drought going on in the west, many solutions have been brought up by various individuals on how to combat the drought. One of these solutions went into action over the last couple of months. This solution was releasing 100 million black rubber balls. These balls are called shade balls and can prevent algae formation and wildlife. These balls are primarily used to prevent evaporation in the California water reserves. It is said that these shade balls could potentially save 300 million gallons of water each year. After about ten years, the balls will be replaced while the old ones are being recycled.

While many people applaud this idea, I am skeptical on how it will work. Even though it has been stated that they will prevent algae formation, it seems that rubber makes algae grow on it. I think that there are better solutions out there that haven’t been brought to the table that could save a lot of water. Even though I have no doubt that this is already occurring, there are many simple ways to cut down on water such as putting water bottles or milk gallons in the back of the toilet.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/millions-of-shade-balls-to-prevent-evaporation-in-calif-reservoirs-150813.htm

Toxic Spill Into Colorado's Animas River Disrupts Livelihoods

In Colorado, tons of toxic water poured into the Animas River, a river going  through three states, while construction workers were trying to close an old gold mine.  The Environment Protection Agency stated that they would do everything they could to clean up this problem.  Not only is the river closed to recreational use, but the still unknown toxicity could be affecting the plant and fish populations in the river.  The river, an intense yellow-orange color after the spill, has returned to its original color, but the lasting effects of this spill have yet to be handled or even fully determined.  With the help of the EPA, this spill will hopefully be completely  cleaned up, but the magnitude of the toxicity could slow down the process.  I believe that there should be more precautions taken so that these kind of incidents can be avoided, such as regulations on how toxins should be transported and contained.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=432192384&m=432192385&live=1

The Significance of Air Pollution in Weather Patterns

Jiwen Fan, a leading specialist in air pollution and climate, recently published a scientific paper analyzing the impacts of pollution in storm intensity. The concept behind this analysis began following the Sichuan Flood of 2013, a place known for its high air contamination, that closely accompanied a massive earthquake. Fan began inquiring the role the air quality played in the trend toward extreme weather in this region. Setting up a model with both clean and foul air, the Fan and her co-authors saw that the addition of pollutants suppressed rainfall until extensive amounts of water forced the clouds to precipitate. Ultimately Fan’s research supports other scientists’ work pushing for pollution to be taken into consideration in weather forecasts.  

The best possible solution to the unreliability of weather reports is to create a machine that takes in a sample of air quality in a specific location-with various other factors- to predict weather conditions. As air pollution in regions change, this machine could be altered to current events. The issue with a machine would be the obvious cost to build a reliable weather apparatus and the imperfection of such a device.

I believe it is quite interesting the role pollution plays in weather patterns. As weather itself has gotten more extreme in recent years, meteorologists and national governments need to have a quick and effective method to interpret the weather for the day. Time is of the essence- especially in situations that involve a lot of people evacuating. Many people are going to state how we should look at this situation as a huge call to stop pollution. However, in third world countries volleying for any type of economic advancement this is simply not a choice. I think the best method to handle such a common issue in today’s world is to adapt, then try to fix.

Article: http://news.sciencemag.org/asiapacific/2015/07/catastrophic-chinese-floods-triggered-air-pollution

EPA Spills Contaminated Water into River

The EPA accidentally spilled contaminated water from a Gold mine into the Animas River which is located near Durango Colorado.  According to CNN “Officials said they believe the spill carried heavy metals, mainly iron, zinc and copper, from the mine into a creek that feeds into the Animas River. From there, the orange water plugged steadily along through the small stretch of winding river in southern Colorado and across the state border to New Mexico where the Animals meets the San Juan River.”

A possible solution to the problem would be to put a dam up a place ahead of where pollution stops (ex: Grand Canyon) and to filter the water then put it back into the river. A barrier to this problem would be building the dam before the pollution gets to it.

My thoughts on the matter are that it doesn’t matter how they solve the problem. They just need to solve the problem fast before the contaminated water reaches the ocean.  

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/09/us/colorado-epa-mine-river-spill/

Litter

Most people don’t think it matters where they put trash, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Firstly you can be charged up to 1,000 dollars for littering. Second of all trash is prone to  germs and they can make you sick. Thirdly litter can take years to decompose. According to Environmental Impact: Project litter “75 percent of people admit to littering in the last 5 years” They also say “1.9 billion tons of litter ends up in the ocean every year

The Environmental Impact: Project litter decided that they were going to do something about the litter. They picked up trash in a park. You can make a difference like they did. This environmental problem has a very simple solution. Don’t litter and if you see trash on the ground pick it up. But the biggest barrier is that people don’t want to pick up after themselves. My thoughts are if you make a mess you need to clean it up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcHwYFmmV9s

Recycling

Recycling lessens the amount of trash we place in landfills. The less trash we place in the landfill the better because landfills makes our carbon foot print bigger. According to Kate Pullen “Recycling uses less energy than manufacturing product from virgin source” Recycling is also a lot cheaper too.

A solution to the recycling problem is easy if you have a water bottle or any other recyclable material and recycle it instead of throwing it away.  A barrier to this problem is not all people want to recycle. But you can’t get rid all trash because some trash isn’t recyclable.

http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/How_Does_Recycling_Affect_the_Environment

Salting the roads

In big cities they put salt on the road so people can continue with their everyday lives. Everyone knows salt helps keep the road safe when it snows, but what people don’t know is that the salt that is put on the road gets into the drinking water. According to the Smithsonian “More than 22 million tons of salt are scattered on roads of the US”. The salt flows away in the form of runoff. According to the Smithsonian “A stream in Southeastern New York state that was monitored from 1986 to 2005 ….. with a significant annual increase and road salting to blame for an estimated 91 percent of sodium chloride in the watershed” The salt can also kill plants on the side of road ways.

What is there to do to prevent these problems from occurring any longer? According to the Smithsonian all of these are used with salt to help limit the salt used“Beet juice, sugar cane, molasses and cheese brine.” There is no solution that works without salt. In my opinion they can put special storm drains in on roads that get treated often and send the water for special cleaning.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/science-nature/what-happens-to-all-the-salt-we-dump-on-the-roads-180948079/