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Hello, my name is Johanna Cruz-Perez. I am 22 years old and born and raised in Homestead but come from Guatemalan parents. In the 3 times my family have moved, we have been blessed to have very good neighbors and overall live a safe neighborhood. Based out of the Homestead campus, I am woking towards my AA in Accounting. Hopefully I can finish in the summer and soon move to North Carolina to attend UNC Chapel Hill. Moving to North Carolina is actually one of my goals, in doing so I can help open doors for my younger siblings education. Other goals I have would be to finish school and become financially stable. Currently the most important thing to me is of course school but also my mental health and learning to take care of yourself. My hobbies are reading, watching tv and movies, and as of lately, baking. I am currently reading "The Witch's Heart" by Genevieve Gornichec, which so far is very engaging and is a refreshing retelling of Norse legends. Despite 2021 being a mess of a year, Marvel did give us a lot of new shows and Movies. My top marvel show is WandaVision(a masterpiece) and my favorite movie of 2021 is SpiderMan: No Way Home (another masterpiece). I enjoy food and trying new things but my all-time favorite food is tacos. I love me some tacos de al pastor with cilantro, onion, and lime.

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SP2- Research Training & Research Topic Proposal 

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SP2- Research Training & Research Topic Proposal 

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What research tool caught you attention and what topic did you select to research?

The research tools that caught my attention is the academic search complete database. The academic search complete helps me find articles from academic journals, magazines, and newspaper for my own research. Within the articles the site reads back the article to me, it already provide the citation, and it is easy to download for ourselves. I have always struggle to find credible and reliable sources so now with this tool, I feel more confident move forward in all of the research I need to do in my classes.

The topic that I selected to research is the Biscayne Aquifer and the importance of preserve it. Some of the main issues are over-extraction, sea level rise, and an increasing risk of saltwater intrusion. It is important to save what is basically almost all of south Florida drinking water and to make sustainable choices so we can hopefully reverse some of these problems.

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“GROUND WATER ATLAS of the UNITED STATES Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina HA 730-G.” Ha 730-G Biscayne Aquifer Text, https://pubs.usgs.gov/ha/ha730/ch_g/G-text4.html.

In this article, it talks about what is the Biscayne Aquifer and how important it is to the South Florida residents. The article tells us about the current problems that the aquifer is facing. The Biscayne aquifer is highly permeable and lies at shallow depths everywhere, it is readily susceptible to contamination. I can use this article to explain what the Aquifer do and a gist of the problems it is facing.

Flavelle, Christopher. “Miami's Other Water Problem .” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-08-29/miami-s-other-water-problem.

In this article Douglas Yoder, deputy director of Miami-Dade County water and sewer department give us his perspective on the dangers that the Biscayne Aquifer faces. Some of the dangers are climate change and the threat of salt water and toxic chemicals seeping into the aquifer. Yoder also presents some on the solutions that can help the aquifer to thrive. I can use this article to present the harder problems and some solution to help combat it.

Cabrera, Pamela. “The Vulnerability of Potable Water with Climate Change in Miami-Dade.” Harvard Graduate School of Design, 14 Feb. 2019, https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/project/the-vulnerability-of-potable-water-with-climate-change-in-miami-dade/.

In this article the author goes more in depth on the consequence climate change has on potable water. How climate change has increased the vulnerability of potable water by blurring the lines of the wellfields with the imminent risks of saltwater intrusion and surface runoff. Which in the end Miami’s potable relies entirely on the Biscayne Aquifer. I can use this article to once again go in depth on climate change negative impact on not only the Biscayne aquifer but also Miami’s potable water.

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Article #1 The luxury of food waste

The world has a huge food waste problem. In America, the average family wastes an astounding 2,425 pounds of food every year and in climate terms, it’s the equivalent of taking a weekly 85-mile car journey. A concept was started by environmentalists, communal fridges has started to spread across Europe over the past decade, the UK following the lead from Spain and Germany, where ‘solidarity fridges’ started in 2012. Organizations across the world started to use communal fridges to draw attention to the scale of the food poverty and food waste problem in our cities. Even in wealthy nations such as America, some 37 million struggles with food poverty, yet still at least one-third of food goes to waste. Community fridges, while small in scale, address both issues.

Article #2 Giving Food Waste to the Hungry

In Philadelphia this year, over 326,000 people will lack access to enough food to be healthy, a figure that hits its peak during summer, when children no longer receive free breakfast and lunch in schools. At the same time, some 20 percent of edible food ends up in the trash every day in Philly, and 90 percent of the region’s 700 food pantries and soup kitchens run out of food at some point during the year. This is not only happening in Philly but also across the whole country where about 41 million people experience hunger, while almost 300,000 pounds of food is wasted every month. For this same reason the French legislature proposed a food waste bill that passed unanimously by in 2016 which prohibits supermarkets larger than 400 square meters—about 4,300 square feet—from destroying unsold food(Patel Shepelavy). Instead, they are required to donate food still viable for humans to food banks; food viable for animals to farms; and the rest for composting. Philabundance, an organization based in Philadelphia, last year commissioned Harvard’s Food Policy and Law Clinic to study Pennsylvania. From the clinic’s report, it led the hunger agency to create seven legislative priorities it is now working to enact statewide, including a food diversion plan like that in France for supermarkets and other institutions

Reflection

Food waste sadly is a huge problem in the United States and worldwide. It is an issue that we must tackle both on a small scale as individuals to a large scale as a country. In the first article, I learned about the importance of community fridge and the two problems we have currently in the world, food poverty and food waste. I believe as individuals we must look at ourselves and see how we contribute to the problems at hand. Like what can we change in our lifestyle, in our way of eating to help reduce our food waste. Hopefully in doing so, we can eventually address the issues as a community and start moving up in the chain of command—city, state, country. In the second article I learned that in Philadelphia, local communities partnered up with an organization called Philabundance to bring about changes dealing with food waste and how much food was recovered through the organization. Here I also learned about real life results of reducing food waste and how it not only helps the environment by reducing the impacts of waste, but also provides healthy, wholesome donated food to those in need, and creates economic value. Like I said if we start making changes with ourselves, we can eventually make changes as a country. Through soultions journalism, you are given many forms of media to use on research you have going on and on food waste the site provided we with a ton on info to use.

Work cited

McMullan, Thomas. “The Average Household Spends $1,800 per Year on Food They Throw Out.” The Luxury of Waste, Hothouse // Solutions, 14 Sept. 2020, https://hothouse.substack.com/p/the-average-household-spends-1800?utm_source=Solutions%2BStory%2BTracker.

Patel Shepelavy, Roxanne. “Idea We Should Steal: Giving Food Waste to the Hungry.” The Philadelphia Citizen, 5 Feb. 2021, https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/idea-we-should-steal-giving-food-waste-to-the-hungry/.

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Idea We Should Steal: Giving Food Waste to the Hungry

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A French requirement that groceries donate surplus food has provided millions of healthy meals. Would it work here?

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Video #1- The tragedy of air pollution

In this ted talk Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah talks about her daughter who had one of the worst cases ever of asthma recorded in the United Kingdom. It was later discovered in a second inquest into Ella’s death by the coroner Philip Barlow that there was an excessive illegal levels of air pollutions and at its highest ever on the night she died. Because of this, Ella is the first person in the world to have air pollution listed as a cause of death on her death certificate. It is sad to hear Ella story but it’s a reminder that her experience is ordinary, this same story happens all over the world because the lack of control from WHO.

Citation

Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, Rosamund. “The Tragedy of Air Pollution -- and an Urgent Demand for Clean Air.” Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah: The Tragedy of Air Pollution -- and an Urgent Demand for Clean Air | TED Talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/rosamund_adoo_kissi_debrah_the_tragedy_of_air_pollution_and_an_urgent_demand_for_clean_air.

Video #2- this is your brain on air pollution

In this ted talk, Maria Neira talks about how air pollution is not only affecting our lungs but our whole body, especially our brain. Maria talks about the research on the relationship between air pollution and our brain's health and tells us what scientists know so far. The first body of evidence is regarding the potentially harmful effects of air pollutants on our central nervous system. The second evidence, studies have suggested that prenatal and early childhood long-term exposure to air pollution will have a negative influence on neural development. The last one, according to recent scientific evidence, long-term exposure to the particulate matter will cause a cognitive decline in study participants as they age.

Citation

Neira, María. “This Is Your Brain on Air Pollution.” María Neira: This Is Your Brain on Air Pollution | TED Talk, https://www.ted.com/talks/maria_neira_this_is_your_brain_on_air_pollution.

reflection-

What I learned from these ted talks is how air pollution is truly affecting us now and for future generations. The air that we breathe, the very thing that keeps us alive, is essentially the thing that can kill us in the long run.  The amount of research coming out on air pollution affecting our bodies as a whole is astonishing. Many studies show how it can stunt neural development in prenatal and early childhood. Also, the negative influence on some behavioral disorders like autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This is a situation that has to be addressed from a personal view to a community and eventually as a whole to combat the dangerous amount of pollutants in our air. Not only for us now, but for our children and the future generations to come. Also, air pollution not only affects us personally but also the wildlife and nature around us.

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The Tragedy of Air Pollution -- and an Urgent Demand for Clean Air | Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah |TED

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Video- How to make traffic better, not worse

Traffic is something that we have to deal with on a daily basis here in Miami and everywhere in the world. What I learned from this video is that traffic especially in India, can cause chronic stress disorder and creates something called windshield bias which is people who drives cars have been found to view the world differently from those on the street. People who have cars tend to view pedestrian has unfriendly and tend to be skewed in favor of their own kind. Then those people on the street buys car, joining them to the windshield bias club, thus this divisive cycle continues. On Church Street in Bangalore (India), the city decided to ban cars for 6 months and the results are incredible. The city made the streets walkable and surprisingly people started to leave their cars at home and preferred to take public transport. From the result of this air quality improved, the noise level in the city went down and local business owner were happier. If more cities made little changes to the street, making them walkable, and encouraging their citizens to use their car less, then hopefully the cities can see the benefits of not only of their own health but how good the environments improves because of it.

Work Cited

Rajagopal, Aditi. “How to Make Traffic Better, Not Worse - Youtube.” How to Make Traffic Better Not Worse , DW Planet A, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR7caWQvWBQ.