Fracking Concerns

On the Environmental News Network website, there is a very interesting article on Fracking and concerns with it and the effects on animals. If you are wondering, fracking is short for hydrofracking or hydraulic fracturing. It is a process of extracting natural gas and oil by injecting water and chemicals underneath the ground. The water and chemicals are pumped into the ground, which causes pressure to form and create cracks for the gas. The gas is then brought to the surface by wells.

There have been lots of talk with fracking and if it is safe or not. Some concerns with fracking include groundwater protection, the possible cause of earthquakes due to fracking, and hazardous waste products resulted from fracking. There are also many different sides and point of views for fracking and if we should continue with it or not. I'm not against any one's opinions or anything, I just found this article to be an interesting read on an argument I have not heard a lot about yet. Below, is a link to the article. Enjoy!

http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/45524

~Kathryn Moore

Cook Island Marine Park, Protecting and Sustaining Ocean Life

Conserving natural resources is a difficult task when there is a high demand and low supply.  Currently sixty percent of the world's fisheries are collapsed or fully fished.  It is hard to justify not fishing an area that still has fish, but allowing ocean ecosystems the chance to recover is the only way to ensure that our oceans have a future.

Kiribati, a small island nation in the Pacific, shocked the world when they created the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in 2006.  Then in 2008, they went even farther by more than doubled the area protected to 408,250 square kilometers, which is larger than the state of California.  Kiribati was one small nation providing an example, but now the Pacific Oceanscape, a group of 15 nations that controls approximately ten percent of the ocean's surface waters, is planning a large conservation project of their own.

The proposed Cook Island Marine Park would be a 1.2 million square kilometer area, which is an area larger than Texas, and is being cooperatively planned by scientists, local leaders, and local fishermen.  The goal is to create a park that has tourism, low fishing, and commercial fishing zones to provide multiple functions while managing the ocean ecosystems sustainably.  Although the park will still be used for fishing, the combined effort of the Pacific Oceanscape is a victory for sustainability because there will be collaborative management that will use the different ecosystems within the park for their most suitable use.

Coordinated conservation efforts are important for the survival of the world's oceans.  Hopefully we see more efforts like those of Kiribati and the Pacific Oceanscape in the future.

There is a great video that goes farther into this topic.  It is really short, and I encourage you to check it out by clicking on this link: How 15 Island Nations are Changing Ocean Conservation .

Cheers,
Vicki Simonsen

The Importance of Water Scarcity Awareness

Movie Website! (Trailer Included)

In my water science course, which most of you are taking as well, we watched a movie about the scarcity of water called "Last Call at the Oasis."  For those of you who have not had the chance to see this movie, you really should consider it.  If I could somehow force every American to watch this movie I would.  Not only does it point out the many things we are doing to make water scarcity accelerate, it shows some solutions that many people are opposed to.  A part of this movie that really stood out to me was the fact that many Americans will not try recycled drinking water, something that supplies Singapore with 30% of their drinking water.  I believe that if people had a heightened level of awareness on the delicacy of water, they would be willing to drink recycled water in order to preserve the amount we have available to us at this point.  It is shown in the film that it is pure and tastes normal.  If people were not told that is what they are drinking they would have no idea.

That being said, I believe that everyone should take note of this and really pay attention to the amount of water they use on a day-to-day basis.  Personally, I have found many ways to decrease the amount of water that I use/waste.  I am going to go ahead and use that cheesy line "think of the children."  :)

People should pay attention BEFORE the United States reaches the scarcity level.

-Sarah Spier :)

TESTING, TESTING!

Greetings 249ers!

This is Vivian, your TA that will sometimes be in class. This will be the blog that you guys post to as the year progresses. Make sure you bookmark this page, so you can come back to it! Dr. Pennisi will have instructions on how to blog very soon.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about class or school in general. I'm getting kind of old, so I know my way around Hardin. :)


Hope everyone is having a marvelous start to their spring semester!




Vivian Nguyen