https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro exactly what it sounds like en-us 2016-11-07 21:23:01 UTC 2025-11-01 23:45:33 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Pictureland.png 18kleine https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/135969694 If you're someone who, thus far, has had as mild an autumn as I have, then the very idea of snow seems just obscene at this point. Over in Siberia, that is clearly not the case. In fact, snow is just straight up washing up on Siberian shores, and according to BBC and NPR, this has been happening for a good two weeks as I sit here typing this. Reportedly,  these snowballs that are surely the dream of anybody looking to dominate on the next snow day started off as nothing more than a teeny-tiny piece of ice. After being rolled again and again by wind and water, they become the magnificent things that have captured the attention of many. And what's perhaps even crazier is that this is far from the first time that something like this has happened. In fact, giant snowballs have been known to occasionally wash up on the shores of Lake Michigan, too! Basically, snow has been brought up to the shore as opposed to falling down from above, and people are just really excited.]]> 2016-11-08 00:07:04 UTC https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/135969694 18kleine https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/135974494 Ah yes, everyone's favorite terrifying natural disaster, the earthquake. While typically viewed as unpredictable, unavoidable, and altogether a somewhat random occurrence, Susan E. Hough and Morgan Page have gathered some research  that would completely negate that idea when it comes to several larger earthquakes that took place in  California in the early 20th century. Both members of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), these women found that out of the 22 most widely felt earthquakes at the time, at least 13 could more than likely be largely attributed to the drilling for oil deep within the earth during the oil boom going on in the 1920s and 1930s. The takeaway from this is ultimately that even though some things cannot be controlled by humans, we have a bigger, and sometimes much more dangerous, role in what happens in and to the world than we would think. Therefore, it is our responsibility as beings who inhabit this precious earth to do right by it, to protect it, to help it in any way that we can, and to cause as little damage as possible. After all, not every planet can put up with us!]]> 2016-11-08 01:02:53 UTC https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/135974494 18kleine https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/135983427 The phrase "Think of the children!" seems more often than not to be used in an almost mocking sort of tone when you need a little extra oomph to fully emphasize how dramatic a particular individual or situation is. But when it comes to dealing with real problems that affect millions of people worldwide, it is really quite imperative that we consider the children. In a general sense, they are our future. The kid who's sucking on their thumb today will someday be where I am, and where you are as well, dear reader. That is, if they can make it that far. Obviously, anything that negatively concerns the health of children is something that people would probably rather not think about, but the fact of the matter is this: UNICEF has stated that around the world, approximately 300 million children are breathing what they have classified as highly toxic air. Other than the obvious negative effects this can have on developing respiratory and cardiovascular systems, this also affects other things, such as how often a child can attend school, or later in life, how often they are able to go to work and support themselves. You see, some children may be set up for not even being able to attend school, something that I definitely take for granted, because of complications that may arise from health conditions brought on by extreme air pollution. But that is far from close to the worst part of this. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake has come forth and stated that "Air pollution is a major contributing factor in the deaths of around 600,000 children under five every year..." That means that these kids will not even get the chance to think about an education, or much of a life at all, before they are taken away from the world because of deplorable air conditions. The takeaway from this is grim and glaring: something must be done about the state of air conditions around the world, and it must be done soon]]> 2016-11-08 02:30:32 UTC https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/135983427 18kleine https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/135990684 A certain man by the name of Donald Trump may not believe what I'm about to say, but that definitely doesn't mean that it isn't true: climate change is very real, and it's causing some serious problems, especially in particular areas of the world. For the purpose of this assignment, I'm going to focus on Antarctica. Now, in case you've lived under a rock for your entire life, allow me to quickly point out that Antarctica is ridiculously cold and covered in ice. To be clear, when I say covered, I don't just mean a little layer on top or just on the top or something - I mean that this continent is surrounded by a layer of ice that can be as deep as 1 mile. The thing is pretty much ice-olated (insert optional rimshot here if you're a fellow connoisseur of particularly terrible puns. If not, then I am so, so sorry).Anyways, the big thing here is that as you might have already known, climate change means rising temperatures, and rising temperatures means than ice will melt. What's unexpected about the whole ordeal is that currently, it seems that the ice in Antarctica is going for a personal best in terms of how quickly it can melt. Now, I take it you have lived through the sad polar bear ads too many times for it to be an okay thing for me to bring up, but since there's plenty of other problems to discuss, that's just fine. For one thing, the more ice melts, the more ice is then in turn exposed to warm water. To recap, warm means melting, and the cycle essentially repeats itself at a quicker rate. In addition to that, there appears to be no rewind button for this, and things are only predicted to get much, much worse form here. As a matter of fact, there is a very real and incredibly justified fear among scientists that eventually, Antarctica's ice shelves will just say "forget this" and collapse, causing massive glaciers to flow into the earth's oceans. At this point in time, scientists aren't entirely sure what sorts of consequences an event like this would bring, which is perhaps what makes it so terrifying a thing to think about. In short, we need to do something about the state of our planet's climate so that we never have to actually find out.]]> 2016-11-08 03:47:37 UTC https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/135990684 18kleine https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/136250699 If for some reason you have chose to completely disregard logic, scientific evidence, and a myriad of experts and not believe in climate change, then you're definitely not going to like this next one. Here's the honest truth: climate change is a real problem, and it's about to get a whole lot bigger. According to Scott Waldman of the Scientific American, if Earth were to get warmer by even 2 degrees Celsius, then the global sea levels will rise faster than humans have ever seen. As someone who lives in New Jersey, this would have a particularly large impact on me, because the predictions from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has stated that the Atlantic coast of North America is going to really see firsthand just how drastic this change will be. Now, you may be wondering why the distribution isn't going to be uniform across the planet, and the answer to that is twofold. For one thing, gravity plays a major role. But it's mostly just the movement of the ocean that really has a say in how the water is currently and will soon be distributed across this planet. Now, as far as just how soon this will happen, the answer is really that it all depends on what we do to stop or, at the very least, decrease the rate at which Earth's climate is changing. If people either refuse to acknowledge climate change or just decide to do nothing about it, then we could be seeing a dramatic rise as soon as 2040. Scientists also predict that depending upon how we act, by the year 2100, sea levels could rise anywhere from 11 inches to 38 inches. As is per usual, the real message here is that we absolutely have to do something about the state of our world if we wish to continue to comfortably inhabit it]]> 2016-11-08 21:42:53 UTC https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/136250699 18kleine https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/136274051 As I sit here typing this, I happen to be one of the millions Americans that is remarkably stressed about the results of tonight's presidential election between Our Lady Of Perpetual Pantsuits and The Yelling Tangerine Man. Thus, writing about the fact that 375 scientists felt compelled to address a letter to the latter of the two criticizing anything at all about him is almost therapeutic. Now then, as a quick refresher, I would like to remind whoever has taken time out of their day to read this (by the way, thanks!) that the Paris Climate Agreement is defined by the European Commission as an "...agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C." Basically, it's a plan to ensure that climate change becomes less of a problem so that we can avoid a bunch of problems. Now, this entire ordeal can be tied to Mr. Trump because of the fact that he has stated quite clearly that if he were to be elected, he do everything that he could to pull the US out of it. Not only is that downright stupid in terms of how detrimental that could be for the fate of the world, but it is also certainly worth pointing out that the Paris Climate Agreement does not actually bind the United States to do anything at all; it's really just a formality. Nevertheless, Trump wants to put an end to it, and 375 scientists would definitely rather that he not. Hopefully, we'll never have to worry about what Trump would do in lieu of climate change. But if we should have to, then it would be important to note that since the US is a significant contributor to climate change, it would only make sense that we do our best to reduce it. After all, this is the only planet Earth we've got, so we had better take care of it.]]> 2016-11-09 00:45:39 UTC https://padlet.com/18kleine/apenviro/wish/136274051