https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2 en-us 2018-01-05 17:16:25 UTC 2018-05-14 16:41:53 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Brightnessdown.png 18hinesk https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/218991423 Aquatic species are threatened by the rising ocean temperatures which lead to coral bleaching. The concept of coral bleaching was unheard of as of the 1980s but by now, the reefs don't even have enough time to recover between bleaching. Coral bleaching is when the ocean temperatures are too high and the zooxanthella, a symbiotic plant to coral that gives life to the coral, must leave. This causes the coral to appear lifeless and dead makes them more susceptible to death. The coral reefs can recover from events like this if the temperatures go back down and they are given enough time between episodes. Unfortunately in recent years though, the bleachings have occurred too close in time causing the reefs to be incapable of recovering. While most of the time, the rising temperatures have been due to El Nino events, in this past year, it was observed that bleaching occurred even in the cooler times of the El Nino further proving that climate change has a large effect on the rising ocean temperatures. A few things that can help recovery time of bleaching is reducing the use of fertilizers and sewage runoff that damages coral as well as avoiding overfishing. ]]> 2018-01-05 17:22:10 UTC https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/218991423 18hinesk https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/218994349 As the Arctic warms it plays a key role in changing the weather in the rest of the world, scientists are just not exactly sure how. There are many factors that contribute to colder weather in other areas so it is truly difficult to pinpoint exactly how the warming Arctic effects it. While cold spells have been occurring long before climate change it is difficult to always blame a cold time only on climate change. Studies have shown that in the winter, the jet stream is becoming weaker and for much longer causing cold air to move from the Arctic to lower latitudes. This particular study was focused on Europe and Russia. The weaker jet streams are more susceptible to disturbances which can cause cold spells as well. ]]> 2018-01-05 17:34:34 UTC https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/218994349 18hinesk https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/218996804 In this article, they use Palm Oil as an example since in southeast Asia it is a leading source of deforestation. Many conservation groups have been pushing for corporate sustainability certifications to help control large companies deforestation. Studies at UC Santa Barbara declared certifications a good idea but also needed much improvement with many certified companies, although slightly reducing deforestation, still participate largely in it. As well as the actual amount of land saved was very small compared to the land that was used for deforestation. The eventually recommended that the RSPO, a nongovernment conservation group focus on certifying the companies that are developing forest frontiers rather than the companies working on more sustainable plantations that have been long developed. ]]> 2018-01-05 17:44:23 UTC https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/218996804 18hinesk https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/219096042 In this article, they talk about how Trumps initial stance on climate change has always been that it doesn't exist. Including his recent tweet where he made the most basic of errors claiming that climate change wasn't real because the east coast is experiencing a cold spell. When in reality, a cold spell can in fact be a sign of climate change. The article then explains that the Trump administration seems to take many different, varying views on the issue of climate change. Scott Pruitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has said that he does not believe humans are the many driving force of climate change. Meanwhile, The U.S. Global Change Research program, the program running climate change research in the government has released studies stating that humans are the only possible source of climate change. Although specific opinions vary throughout most of the Trump administration, it is mostly agreed upon that climate change does exist but, that does not mean the Trump administration will do anything to attempt to solve the issue. ]]> 2018-01-06 18:04:00 UTC https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/219096042 18hinesk https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/219096938 As fracking becomes more prominent in Texas, the area has experienced many earthquakes in a part of the country previously known to never have earthquakes. New research even shows that the tremors have occurred in places where faults have been inactive for 300m years further proving that the quakes have been due to drilling. The most likely reason for the earthquakes is not fracking itself but the process of getting rid of the large quantities of water that are built up due to fracking. In many cases extraction methods are used to to push the water underground which is thought to put pressure on the faults. This issue has of course reached political lines and become very controversial in the well known republican area. Many politicians ignoring the concerns of the citizens due to fracking. ]]> 2018-01-06 18:19:23 UTC https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/219096938 18hinesk https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/219097956 Prior to March 2011, Kashiwazaki-kariwa was the biggest nuclear power plant in the world, resting on the coast of Japan for more than 40 years. But after the disaster at Fukushima, the reactors lay unused until more recently. The same utility responsible for Fukushima, Tokyo Electric Power or Tepco, has recently been granted approval to restart the Kashiwazaki- kariwa Number 6 and 7 reactors. They wanted to do so in order to gain enough revenue to fund decommissioning of Fukushima and win back public trust in nuclear power. The company has claimed they have learned from their mistakes proving so in creating Kashiwazaki-kariwa as the safest nuclear power plant implementing many new safety features in case of emergency. Still much of the public disagrees with the restart of the plant, proving so with a 73% disapproval rating. Many of the citizens believe that there is no place for a nuclear power plant in that area geographically. With underground oil and gas deposits in the area and large populations living very close to the plant, it would be absolute chaos if anything ever did occur. Meanwhile Tepco sees the reopening as the only source of profit shown to produce around 200 Billion yen annually. ]]> 2018-01-06 18:36:15 UTC https://padlet.com/18hinesk/apes2/wish/219097956