Friday, June 4, 2010

That comes from where ???

So I have to say I'm really excited to write this blog and I think most of it is because it's the FINAL blog for the year thank God! but besides that I'm really interested about the topic biosolids. A couple years ago I found out that we actually recycle our used water, so the water from the toilets, showers, sinks, everything. Therefore I'll be speaking about how all of this happens in my blog.


Firstly lets define biosolids.Biosolids are nutrient-rich organic materials obtained from wastewater treatment and is recycled and used beneficially. So like I said before it is recycled water that is mainly used for ferterlizer. Now I know your thinking this is just plain gross and why do we even do this but there are pros and cons to the situation.


Pros

Sewage biosolids are rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as important micro-nutrients such as copper, iron and zinc. These micro nutrients make biosolids a good fertilizer because it allows the pants to grow and the soil to be rich. Sewage biosolids are especially good for growing crops such as corn, soy beans and canola. They also improve pasture. This in turn reduces the need for commercial fertilizers that can have harmful chemicals, reduces production costs and does wonders for the soil. Biosolids enhance the soil structure, moisture retention and reduce the chance of soil erosion and runoff. Not only do biosolids help the crops and soil, but it also helps the farmers. Instead of purchasing micro-nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and other resources needed to grow their plants; farmers can save money by using biosolids that naturally come with all those things. An additional benefit is that by using biosolids on agricultural lands, municipalities are able to recycle a treatment process by-product in a cost effective manner. Society in general gets to reap the benefits. As a result of biosolids as fertilizers, reduced pressure of costs to provide sewage treatment, revitalizing used up soil resources and keeping farmers in business are rewarded to society. Now doesn't biosolids sound way better than all those chemicals in your food, well I think so. By the use of biosolids we dont only benefit ourselves but the environment as well.

Cons
I know I stated alot of benefits to the use of biosolids as land fertilizer but there are some negative aspects to it. One of the main concerns is the odour,even after treatment the smell can range from a slight ammonia smell to the distinctive smell of human waste. Another concern is contaminants in biosolids. Many studies have showed that heavy metals, organic pollutants and pesticides have been in many samples of biosolids. Although some metals are necessary for plant growth, others in large quantities can cause problems with animal health and plant growth. There is also a chance that the air and food can be contaminated by the bacteria as well, leading to hazards for public health. Biosolids can also contain pathogens which can cause severe diseases.

Procedure

Depending on where you live, different countries decompose waste through different systems, but in Toronto, all the wastewater from our drains, toilets, showers and other travel through a 9,000 kilometre underground pipe system which lead into one of four wastewater treatment plants. At these plants, the wastewater is cleaned and solids, chemicals and other material are removed before being released into Lake Ontario. In the first stages of wastewater treatment solids in the sewage are set to settle, which are then later removed to enclosed tanks called "digesters". The remaining harmless waste becomes biosolids.




There is also many protocals and regulations to use biosolids as land fertilizer.Farmers have to go through many steps just to use biosolids on their land, they are:

• The government approval of the treatment processes

• Laboratory analysis of the sewage biosolids


• The receiving the soils to ensure that they meet the standards of the city

• The government approval of the fields that receive sewage biosolids

• Government certification and licensing of persons involved in preparation and land application

• And lastly detailed record-keeping

To conclude I personally think that the use of biosolids is a great thing. It is a good and realistic alternative to current agricultural practices.I think that the benefits of biosolids definitely outweigh the disadvantages. Ofcourse there are risks but come on what are the odds. Everything in life comes with a risk so why not take one, save the plant and benefit yourself by supporting the use of biosolids. Using biosolids as a land fertilizer is not only better for the land, but for society as well. It allows farmers to stay in business and make a living and helps society. I think it is an awesome,safe, and quite interesting method. Although it may seem unclean or disgusting to use biosolids as fertilizer, we have to look past where it comes from and more on the benefits it produces.





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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Everything's FAKE!

Question
Under what circumstances should humans be artificially selecting plants or animals, if any?

We in North America live in a society where we are constantly developing, and as we continue to grow we want the things around us to improve as well.I'm sure most of you have an ipod or iphone or even a blackberry. These things makes our lives easier right? Well this new development is just not happening in electronics, our plants and animals are developing too. Can you believe that most of the foods we eat today are artificially selected? First of all lets define artificial selection. Artificial selection is the breeding of plants and animals in order to preserve selected traits. Where as natual selection is a natural process that results in the survival and reproductive success of individuals or groups best adjusted to their environment and that leads to the perpetuation of genetic qualities best suited to that particular environment.

There are both positive and negative effects of artificial selection.


Disadvantages of artificial selection is that it is inhumane, can cause mutations or produce new problems. An example of the inhumane process is the new way of breeding chickens. These chickens are produced without fethers. Critics say the feather-free chickens will suffer more than normal birds. Males might be unable to mate, because they cannot flap their wings, and "naked" chickens of both sexes are more susceptible to parasites, mosquito attacks and sunburn. Look at the picture above, this is what we have come to. The scientist that created this type of selection stated that they wanted to develope succulent, low fat poultry that is environmentally friendly. They also stated that this chicken will save farmers large amounts of money on ventilation to prevent their chickens from overheating. Now if you knew you were eating a chicken looking like that will you still eat it? I for sure would not. Is there really a need for this? In my opinion I think that animals should not be artificially selected for the benefit of humans.Why do we need faster race horses or cows that produce more milk or five hundred different kinds of dogs? People only develope thsese things to benefit themselves.


Advantages of artificial selection include the treatment of infectious diseases by implanting genes with codes for antiviral proteins. A great example is the desinger baby, like I said in my previous blog with designer babies you can pick and choose the traits of your offspring, therefore if it is detected that your child has a certain disease you are able to remove that gene from your child using artificial selection. So through this method diseases are also prevented from spreading around which benefits the individual and the people he/she gets in contact with. Artificial selection has also hepled our plants. For example corn, before corn was actually corn it was called teosinte. Genes were taken from a crop that had the desirable traits. The process was then repeated generation after generation until the desired crop is created.




Conclusion
Artificial selection has definitley altered our lives forever. There are definitely many advantages and disadvantages of the new development.Some advantages are the prevention of diseases and the altering of certain plants, for example teosinte to corn or wild mustard into broccoli, like a stated before. A disadvantage is the mutation of animals causing them discomfort and a horrible life. In my opinion though artificial selection has helped us throughout the years I think the disadvantages weigh out the advantages because it is changing the way of life. Therefore I do not think that humans should artificially select plants or animals under any circumstances.



cbc news documentary on the evolution of foods
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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Designer Babies







According to dictionary.com the official meaning for designer baby is : an infant created by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilization in order to ensure the absence or presence of a particular gene or characteristic.

When I first heard the term "designer babies" I immediately thought of certain "so called" celebrities such as Octomom who now has fourteen children from the method of in-vitro fertilization and Kate Gosselin who has eight children and a popular reality show called Jon and Kate plus eight.At first I thought it would be cool to be able to pick and choose how your child would look (cause common everyone wants their child to be the best looking), but when I really thought about it, we as a society would take this opportunity and abuse it to the max. Many people in my opinion would not think through this entire process of altering certain traits of their child, they will be living in the moment and changing their child to what they perceive as beautiful at the time. Who knows in a couple of years we will have many blonde hair blue eyed children and the races probably would be diminished. We would then lose the unique quality each and every one of us carries and end up in a society like the one Adolf Hitler wanted. Now think this through, many fought against Hitler to save our nation from corruption but yet in our own way we are heading right there. Imagine the world with the majority being one race, other races will slowly die out because people are put under pressure to have the perfect child. What happens to the people who can't afford to change the traits of the child, are their children perceived as ugly? These are the questions you have to ask yourself.






Now even though I'm not all for the aspect of creating a designer baby (i.e. changing hair and eye colour) , I am for altering a child's trait if he/she has a disease that will harm them in anyway. For example if he/she has a trait for cancer, malaria or AIDS etc. and if this process gets rid of the disease without having harmful side affects and hurting the child in anyway, by all means do it! If this process is safe then we just might be one step ahead of these diseases and even closer to find a cure.

So, yes even though I don't totally agree with the idea of designer babies, the entire process has a positive aspect to it, if used in the right way. Now I don't mean because you might think changing your baby's eye colour to green from brown is the right thing to do you should go ahead and do it, NO! the process of altering traits in my opinion should be used only if your child is going to suffer a great deal from an illness in his/her lifetime.

Okay so lets re-cap, people in the world today have now figured out a way for you to pick and choose both the physical and internal traits of your child. Can you believe this? it's like plastic surgery without all the pain and recovery time. You might think, why not? if it's going to benefit your child, but think about it by you changing the natural features of your child you are taking away his/her true identity. You can no longer hear anyone say "she has your eyes" or "he is the splitting image of you", you might hear " where did he get those eyes from?" or "how come her hair is so curly?".
Now I heard that they might be putting laws in this process of creating "designer babies" and in my opinion that is the absolute best thing for world today. What do you think ?




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Friday, September 25, 2009

Human intervention has negatively affected the biodiversity of our ecosystems

Human intervention has negatively affected the biodiversity of the ecosystems. Before our intervention the earth was serene and clean and now we have turned it into a waste land. Humans are the main contributer to global warming by our acts deforestation due to our rapid growth and constant pollution. Because of these selfish acts we don't realise that we are interfering with the life cycle. The more trees we decide to cut down results in many animals becoming homeless and eventually will become extinct. What we as humans fail to realise is, one disruption in the life cycle will affect everything else as well. It is like a domino effect, if one falls so will the others.
A few people have come to realise the dangers of losing biodiversity and are trying to change our ways and make a difference in the world. Many people are making "green" homes and office buildings, purchasing hybrid cars and recycling, etc. Even though this is a great thing the amount of pollution that is made daily out weighs the prevention of it. We should put a stop to this and preserve what is left on our earth.

POLLUTION !!!

Many causes of pollution including sewage and fertilizers contain nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates. In excess levels, nutrients over stimulate the growth of aquatic plants and algae. Excessive growth of these types of organisms consequently clogs our waterways, use up dissolved oxygen as they decompose, and block light to deeper waters.

This, then, proves very harmful to aquatic organisms as it affects the respiration ability or fish and other invertebrates that reside in water.
Pollution is also caused when silt and other suspended solids, such as soil, washoff plowed fields, construction and logging sites, urban areas, and eroded river banks when it rains. Under natural conditions, lakes, rivers, and other water bodies undergo Eutrophication, an aging process that slowly fills in the water body with sediment and organic matter. When these sediments enter various bodies of water, fish respirationbecomes impaired, plant productivity and water depth become reduced, and aquatic organisms and their environments become suffocated. Pollution in the form of organic
material enters waterways in many different forms as sewage, as leaves and grass clippings, or as runoff from livestock feedlots and pastures. When natural bacteria and protozoan in the water break down this organic material, they begin to use up the oxygen dissolved in the water. Many types of fish and bottom-dwelling animals cannot survive when levels of dissolved oxygen drop below two to five parts per million. When this occurs, it kills aquatic organisms in large numbers which leads to disruptions in the food chain.


LOOK AT THESE PICTURES :

http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2008/05/22/pollution-images-from-around-the-world/


DEFORESTATION !

*** Did You Know ***

Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest an area larger than Greece and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed.










HOW WE CAN STOP DEFORESTATION !


  • Raise awareness about the potential hazards that will accrue if deforestation continues unabated. Whenever in a group, converse on this topic and let people know.
  • Send e-mails to your friends and acquaintances, telling them about the practice of deforestation and its harmful effects. Ask them to forward it to others, to make everyone aware of the problem.
  • Make placards saying ‘Plant More Trees’, ‘Do Not Waste Paper’, ‘Stop Cutting Trees’, and the like. Try to get them placed at venues like the neighboring community, schools, colleges, restaurants, etc.
  • Do not waste paper at all. Instead, try to recycle paper as much as you can. Try to imbibe the same sense in those around you, including your parents, children, siblings, friends, and so on.
  • Plant as many trees as possible. You can enlist the help of those around you and plant trees in the public places, like parks, gardens, play areas, etc. If possible, plant some of them in your house too.
  • Make notes against deforestation and stick them on your desk in the office or pin it on the notice board in your school. This way, you will make people realize how important it is to stop deforestation.
  • If possible, try to arrange conferences and meeting to enlist support, of even strangers, for the cause. You can also get a local celebrity to tell people why and how to stop deforestation.
  • Try to convince the local counselor to introduce the idea of implementing legislations in parliament, which would prevent the continued practice of deforestation.



The killing of animals disrupts our food chain and eventually us !











Watch these !!!







**Information collected from :
  • videos above
  • IGCSE Biology book by D.G. Mackean
  • lifestyle.iloveindia.com
  • New Wider World by David Waugh
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