Mia Mendieta- Environmental Science

 Historical Summary         The United States has a very diverse and complicated history regarding the notion of environmental policy. The early American colonists saw the environment and its production of goods as something to be taken control of for personal needs and power.  ( Russell, E., & Fairfax, S. K. , 2014) This underhanded point of view towards the land extended through the Industrial Revolution and into the 20th century. Nonetheless, several key moments in American history have altered this type of treatment toward the environment.        A writer, named Jared Elliot from Connecticut  wrote in the mid-18th century about how the people were taking the land for granted and not being well respected. (Theis, T., & Tomkin, J. 2018). At this point in time, the environment was indicating poor fecundity from being cultivated and maintained improperly. He educated uninvolved farmers on the subject of field husbandry and...

       Although it may be convenient, plastic is dangerous to human health and the environment. It can take years to break down into the earth and during that process can harm human and animal life. Microplastics are small pieces of plastic that measure less than five millimeters long that can be harmful. (NOAA, 2023) Plastic is used all over the world for packaging and everyday life. It can be very useful for things like dishware and utilities. These might sound great, but over time, they will be destroying our planet.          Microplastics can be found in the stomachs of several different wildlife creatures, air, tap water, sea salt, beer, and bottled water. (NOAA, 2022) This is why recycling used plastic bottles and other items is important so they can be reused for other purposes. When people dispose of their trash incorrectly, the plastic can make its way into oceans, rivers, and the habitats of animal life. This can cause the...

      Natural Resources can be split into two different groups. Renewable and Non-renewable resources. Renewable Resources are things such as trees, wind, and solar energy. These can all be replaced to meet society's demand for energy. Sunlight and wind are never going to completely deplete, therefore these resources can be used forever. Although trees take years to grow, planting new trees over time can keep our needs met. (Jerome, 2017)     Non-Renewable Resources are things such as copper, minerals, and coal. These can also be identified as Fossil Fuels. These are energy sources that are very powerful but can take hundreds to millions of years to reproduce. Although these energy sources are important to our daily lives, they can become scarce.      This brings us to Reusing and Recycling. Recycling plastic bottles, cans, and cardboard can reduce the amount of waste that goes into our environment. Old cardboard can be reused to make paper straws...

  This concept map depicts the different units of energy and how they relate to the energy sources and producers in the environment. Specifically where the energy is created and how the energy moves throughout the ecosystem to different organisms.  This concept map shows the different groups within biodiversity, which relates to the categories and different classifications of organisms in our ecosystem. This helps categorize each organism into different sections so we can understand where it originated from and what it is.  This concept map depicts the different natural biomes and the categories they originated with and what specific area the different biomes exist within the plant, animal, or microorganism group.         Beginning with the first concept map, which contains information on energy in ecosystems. Autotrophs are more so the basic origin of energy in the ecosystem. It is the producer of the main external energy source and then other co...

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 Original Photo 1938 (Grinnell Glacier, 1938) Second Photo 2019 (Grinnell Glacier, 2019) (Google Earth, 2023) Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park, Montana 1938 to 2019 The Grinnell Glacier, which subsides in the Glacier National Park in Montana, has existed for about 900 million years. This was during the Proterozoic Era .  (Dawes, 2001) The Grinnell Glacier has shrunk considerably, due to climate change and erosion. Most people tend to forget or ignore the impacts of erosion on our environment and only focus on climate change and global warming. But especially in this case, Glaciers like the Grinnell, have shrunk due to the freezing and refreezing of the ice and the breaking down of the rocks and other natural causes. In the span of 39 years, the Glinner glacier has lost almost 40 percent of its acreage. Researchers believe that by 2030, all the glaciers in the National Park will be gone. This is due to the increase in carbon dioxide, which has been inclining rapidly in t...