This article talks about the littering problem in Miami and the damage it is causing to our water. It mentions a nonprofit organization called "Clean Miami Beach" that weakly cleans up our beaches, waterways, and causeways from all the litter. This article suggests that more education and engagement is needed to to prevent so much trash from entering our waterways.

"Miami Air Quality Index (AQI) and Florida Air Pollution; Airvisual." Miami Air Quality Index (AQI) and Florida Air pollution/ AirVisual, https://www.iqair.com/us/usa/florida/miami

This article talks about how polluted the air in Miami is, Miami-dade county is ranked as the most populous county in Florida and the seventh most populous county in the United States. The article goes in detail on why we have such poor air quality, its ranking, and what is being done to improve the air quality in Miami.

Hataway, James, and James Hataway, "Researchers Help Miami Fight Plastic Pollution." UGA Today, 20 Dec. 2021, https://news.uga.edu/researchers-help-miami-fight-plastic-pollution.

This article talks Jenna Jambeck, an enviromental engineer professor and her students who have partnered with Ocean Conservancy which is a nonprofit enviromental advocacy group and the city of Miami to better understand the life cycle of plastic pollution and what steps must be taken to keep Miami's waterways clean.

  "The world we need: Sharon Lavigne's story of rise st. James" is a narration told by Sharon Lavigne. Her story takes place when she is six years old and is visiting the mississippi river, Lavigne explains feeling the fresh air flowing through giant grasses filled with blueberry vines and white spider lillies (0:15). Lavigne and her family had everything imaginable they grew fruits and vegetables, had their own animals that produced milk and eggs that was until the first chemical plant arrived in 1968. This negatively affecting her community, people were becoming sick and dying and it caused air pollution. Years later Lavigne and her neighbors sought out change and started a cause to stop the burning of plastic in her community. 

  Both videos inspired me to better care for my community and start making changes even if they are small. I have personally noticed the overusement of plastic in my community and will start to refrain from using it as much as I can. Taking care of our enviroment is essential not only to us but to our wildlife and marine life. Many animals and plants are facing extinction due to our poor decisions when it comes to taking care of our enviroment. There are many great changes we can make in protecting the earth and some include recycling, conserving water, shopping wisely, creating compost piles, keeping track of our trash to see how much we really waste and cutting back on that and using less packaging.  Even small changes will make a big difference and watching these videos will motivate you to start. 

Work cited:

"The story of plastic"

"The world we need: Sharon Lavigne's story of St. James" 

"What to do with piles of plastic waste"

This article talks about plastic waste and the negative effects it has on our environment as well as helpful solutions to limit the amount of plastic waste we consume. The article mentions that communities around the world are turning plastic waste into the raw materials to build local infrastucture, create employment, and change the systems that have trapped them under the weight of the world's plastic waste for far too long (Breanna Draxley paragraph 1). Our World International is a local nonprofit founded eight years ago that promotes sustainable waste management and trains people on how to manage waste by turning it into useable products and since then there has been a 10% waste reduction.

Second article 

"New York's real climate challenge: fixing it's aging buildings" 

This article talks about a housing project in brooklyn that is taking nine apartment buldings and retroffiting them to be more sustainable and cut carbon emissions (first paragraph). This project is called Casa Pasiva and it aims to be a new model for the sustainable transformation of Brooklyn's housing stock. Each of the 146 apartments will have a wall-mounted electric heater and air-conditioner connected to a system of ducts and refrigerant lines that snake up the walls and connect to an energy recovery ventilator, a rooftop machine that purifies and circulates air. Tenants will not only have energy saving benefits but also better air quality, less noise from the outside and fewer pests and mold issues. 

Reflection:

Solutions journalism is an amazing resource because it not only provides important information about certain topics but it also mentions people's personal experiences with them. I learned a lot from reading the two articles I chose under the topic climate change. The first article provided important infromation on how damaging plastic waste is to our enviroment and what we have done in regards to limit our usage of plastic and how to make reusable products from it. The second article is one I wasn't too familiar with so I'm glad I came across it, it is about a project taking place in Brooklyn, New York called Casa Pasiva. This project is an attempt to reduce the carbon emissions that come from buildings, this will result in better air quality for tenants, less noise, fewer pests, mold issues and plenty of other benefits. Both articles cover ways we can better take care of our enviroment and the efforts we have made and their impact, it is something I feel very strongly about and I am glad to have discovered solutions journalism to keep reading up on this important topic. 

Works cited:

"What to do with piles of plastic waste"

"New york's real climate challenge: Fixing it's aging buildings"

Works cited: (Planet A, "it's hard to care about climate change". 2022)