Before taking this class I was always interested in what is really going on in our environment. I was really interested in the debate about global warming and how is our place we called earth is really affected by it. After taking this class I believe that recycling is an important issue in my life, especially plastic.  I realized that what we have going on is working for our environment but I want to figure out and help with all the extra e-waste and plastic that we are sending out to other countries like china. There has to be another way to fix the e- waste problems because I feel like other people from other countries should not be affected by the things we consume.  We use up about 250 million tons of waste in United States alone and only recycle 82 million. We as a society need to use less and buy fewer products that are harmful to our environment.  The thing that I can do is try to keep my electronic products longer, keep them in good shape so I don’t have to buy new products in the future. If I can fix it I rather pay less so I can keep what I have and save others lives.  Like I said earlier the thing I learned I thought is very interesting is recycling. Visiting the landfill really opened up my eyes towards a lot of things I didn’t know especially about methane. I didn’t know that we can produce certain gasses through our trash. Also, how they were designed really amazed me because they really had different sections for different things. This class was really interesting, I wish I was able to focus more and learn more but do to current situations it made it harder. This is a great class that everyone should take; it may change their perspective towards the environment like it did to mine.  

Trip to the landfill!!!

The landfill was actually an interesting experience. I learned a lot of factual information and I was really surprised about certain things. One of the things that I thought was interesting was what they did with the televisions and the refrigerator. I didn’t know that they take out every little part from whatever is recyclable. Also I didn’t know that they receive income for selling some of the parts that they receive. Another interesting thing was how they receive methane gas from the trash. I was really amazed about that and also how they are able to sell that to Edison so it could be used to power some houses. That is a very interesting approach on try to go green; using the material we simply throw away. The last thing would have to be when I seen how they actually process the trash. I seen the tractors compressing the trash and moving it around, it was really interesting. One thing I really noticed was the birds, they were everywhere and it was kind cool to see all of those birds flying in circle. Final thought I liked how they gave us the orange vest I could use that for useful things. Thanks for the interesting trip. 

Climate change :O

1.       According to evidence, is the climate changing right now?

a.       Yes it has; the earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.4F over the past century and is projected to raise another 2 to 11.5F in the next 100 years. Small changes of earth’s average temperature can cause great and dangerous shifts in the climate and weather. Rising temperatures have been accompanied by changes in the weather and climate. Many places have experienced heavy rainfall, droughts, and sever heat waves. With everything happening our oceans are becoming more acidic and our glaciers are melting and causing ocean/sea levels are to rise.

2.       What does evidence say about humans’ roles in the changing climate?

a.       We are releasing tons of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases that are harming the environment. Some of the greenhouse gases com from busing fossil fuels, deforestation, and some agricultural practice. The buildup of greenhouse gases causes the earth’s climate rise and can harm humans.

3.       How is climate change likely to affect our society and our world?

a.       Our lives revolve around the climate and obviously the world. A warming climate will bring major changes for our water supplies, agriculture, power, and transportation system.

4.       Given what you have just learned, briefly describe what you think the world will be like in 50 years if we continue with our current path and do nothing to slow the rise of CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

a.       If we allow CO2 to rise our future and the future of our children would be destroyed.  If the predictions are accurate our global temperature will rise 2 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit. That would cause major temperature changes all around the world. I think that places that weren’t hot will become hot and places that did not rain as much will see more rain. I think that our world would change dramatically because a lot of people are changing to energy efficient vehicles, and power. I believe people will actually try to reduce the amount of CO2 emissions. But if they don’t major global warming will happen and climate and weather changes will happen.  

Today I minimized the amount of energy that I didn't use. I did not use the following objects: phone, tablet, television, computer, car (unnecessary driving), light, and iPod. For the first five hours it was not difficult, I was able to get a lot of homework done without using any electricity. After, I was eager to watch some football or grab my phone to check the score for my fantasy league. So I decided to workout, to ease my mind off the things I wanted to do. I was able to work out for two hours and it made it easier to not want to do things I wanted to do. I actually had to go to work after so I ate and went straight to work until 11 o'clock at night. I got home and went straight to bed because I had work at 6 in the morning. It was easier for me to accomplish this task because I was able to keep my mind occupied with other things. Whether if it was work or if it was doing homework. Some of the things that I was able to cut back were watching TV. I already don't watch as much already it just came to me that I don't have to watch football if I didn't have the time. I knew I had options to watch football or check the scores so it made it that much easier. It was very difficult not being able to pick up my phone to call someone or to simply to go on the internet. If I could continue this process I could probably reduce the amount of light I use. If I'm not in the room I'll turn off the light or I will go into a room where light is already being used. In all honesty, I wouldn't be able to give up my car, phone, laptop, or tablet. I use all of those materials for good use, and for my phone I would probably go crazy without it for more than a 24 hour period. Like I said earlier I could reduce the amount of light that I use. Also, driving to unnecessary places, because I could save gas and money. I could improve my homes consumption of energy by replacing standard light bulbs to energy efficient ones. Also solar power would also help increase energy efficiency. When I was walking around my backyard I noticed that my father uses a lot of water for hid plants and out water fountain. We could use a dripping system to water hid plants instead of the sprinklers. Finally, error can reuse or recycle the water that is being used for the water fountain. If everyone were to figure out all of the things we don't really need, we could improve our environment and we can cut back on all the unnecessary consumption of energy.

Water!!!!!!

The water that I use at my house comes from the water municipal of Western Municipal Water District of Riverside County.  It serves the cities of: Corona, East-Vale, Jurupa Valley, Lake Elsinore, Norco, Perris, Riverside, Murrieta and Temecula. Each city may use other private companies or other municipals, but mainly it comes from WMWD. Murrieta is part of the Western Municipal- Murrieta Division. The entire WMWD serves a population size of approximately 878,000 people. The Murrieta Division serves 7,128 citizens and their water source they use is purchases surface water.  Water within the Murrieta area is pretty safe to drink. In the annual report it indicated that all water in Western Services area is well below 45mg/L level. This is indicating that nitrate in the drinking water is safe to drink; anything above 45mg/L isn’t healthy for an infant or anyone of AIDS or any immune disorder. Most of the water in the Western Service area comes from Northern California via the State Water Project, the Colorado River and local ground water. The United States Environmental Protection Agency also known as (EPA) is in charge of all the drinking water supply. Our government always wants to protect its citizens, so they passed a law that indicates that all the water must be safe for the citizens of our country to use, and the law is the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Food and Drug Administration is in charge of bottled water. The FDA and EPA require the same health safety requirement, but the FDA is not required to test the water quality. The EPA must test the quality of the water due to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Final thought, in my opinion water is water; as long as my water is cleaned and purified I will drink it. I personally do not believe in having bottled water to use while I’m at home. The only time I will use bottled water if I am not home. There are some exceptions to bottled water, some people might have to drink it for health issues or the water in their area isn’t safe to drink. I personally get my water from my fridge which has a filtration process, but that water itself comes from the Western Municipal Water District Murrieta Division. Also, bottled water has a downside; it leaves us with all the plastic bottles that are harmful to our environment. Some companies claim that they are using clean filtered water, for the water bottles but in reality they may use tap water. In the movie that we watched last class gave us an example of a company that used tap water in their product, later the FDA found out and they were forced to pay a cost due to their manipulation of clean purified bottled water. Also in the movie, as I stated above, bottled water is harmful to our environment. It can damage our ecosystems, us, and other living organisms.

How is RCC ECO- Friendly?

How environmental friendly is our campus of RCC? What can us students do to help it become more of one? Well I can list five examples of how RCC can be environmental friendly. One thing we can do is recycle more of the plastic bottles we throw away and all the paper we use. An alternative that we can do to help with the recycling is having recycling bins around the campus (as the club on campus provides).  Transportation can be another example, instead of everyone driving to campus; students can carpool with each other that live near the area. This will allow less carbon monoxide around the campus so it doesn’t affect our plants that are provided for the students and the faculty to enjoy.  Third, can be providing produce with less packaging. Although it may not affect our campus as a whole but it can affect our budget and our waste management.  Fourth thing is how our buildings can be more energy efficient.  With our buildings being so large and use so much energy we can see what we can do to use alternative energy to help our campus.  Final example is what type of renewable energy our campus uses. On a positive note, the building that we have most of our math and science classes is very energy efficient. Yes, our Math and Science building is the campus first LEED building that all RCC campuses provide.   LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, there are 20 LEED facilities around the Inland Empire. Some of the features that the building provides are “the low-flow toilets, sensors on restroom faucets, high-efficiency lighting and mechanical equipment, and effective use of natural day lighting strategies” information provided by Michael Stephens. The four story building has a big impact for our environment and it helps provide more classrooms for students for core classes. The University of Maryland is constructing a building that provides LEED facilities. They are going to enhance their building by providing solar energy into their buildings and having a greener environment by providing plants around the buildings and courtyards.

 

Sources:

"New Nursing and Science Buildings Rated Eco-Friendly." New Nursing and Science Buildings Rated Eco Friendly. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012.

<http://www.rccd.edu/administration/strategiccomm/news/Pages/NewNursingandScienceBuildingsRatedEco-Friendly.aspx>.

My Daily Use

A.      Food and Drink

a.       Turkey Sandwich

b.      Bread

c.       Water

d.      Strawberry banana juice

B.      Housing and other buildings

a.       House

                                                               i.      room

b.      Gym

c.       Toys R Us

d.      Sprint store

e.      Tux store

f.        Ralphs

g.       Shower

h.      Restroom

i.         Container

j.        Sauna

k.       Desk

C.      Transportation and Roads

a.       Car

b.      Gas

c.       Oil

d.      Freeway

e.      Streets

f.        Lights

g.       Bus

h.      Plane

D.      Clothing

a.       Work shirt

b.      Work pants

c.       Socks

d.      Undershirt (workout shirt)

e.      Work shoes

f.        Running shoes

g.       Briefs

E.       School supplies

a.       Paper

b.      Pen

c.       Pencil

d.      Computer

e.      Notebook

f.        Binder

F.       Personal care Products

a.       Soap

b.      Shampoo

c.       Conditioner

d.      Rag

e.      Tooth paste

f.        Tooth brush

g.       Deodorant

h.      Colón

G.     Leisure Activities

a.       Xbox

b.      IPhone

c.       Stereo system

d.      Television

e.      Weights

f.        Treadmill

g.       Boom box

H.      Miscellaneous

a.       Work equipment

b.      Oven

c.       Air

d.      Toilet paper

e.      Cup

f.        Plate

g.       Spoon

h.      Fork

History of the Deodorant

The deodorant first came out in the 9^th century by Ziryab (doesn’t give full name).  A U.S. inventor created the first commercial deodorant in 1888. Then in 1941, Jules Monteneir patented a modern creation of the deodorant in a spray. He later lunched the product in 1965. The ingredients in the deodorant that I use are: Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex Gly (18%). Inactive Ingredients: Cyclopentasiloxane, Stearyl Alcohol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, PPG-14 Butyl Ether, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Petrolatum, Talc, Phenyl Trimethicone, Fragrance, Cyclodextrin, Mineral Oil, Behenyl Alcohol. You apply the deodorant only at the underarms. I usually purchase this item at a local supermarket. If the product is no longer useful, best option is to probably change to a different deodorant that works.  I believe that a deodorant of some form should be used daily and it is something a person absolutely needs.  It is used for people to stay fresh and so they don’t stink or some can prevent sweatiness. This product has been around for a very long time. Deodorants are very useful and have no harm to a person.

                                                

                                                Work Cited

"Old Spice Fiji Anti-Perspirant/Deodorant." - CVS Pharmacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.                http://www.cvs.com/shop/product-detail/Old-Spice-Fiji-Anti    PerspirantDeodorant?skuId=789544.

"When Were Deodorants Invented?" When Were Deodorants Invented? N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2012.                http://www.whenwasitinvented.org/when-were-deodorants-invented/.

Summary

                

I had a lot of things on my list. Some were environmental friendly others were not. While doing this task I seen that I use my car a lot. Some things that I can do to prevent from driving a lot is car pooling or to make trips all at once instead randomly throughout the week. When I chose to write about the deodorant I done some research and I was surprised to know what the deodorant contained.  Couples of things that I can do to help the earth are conserving water and energy.