Find Your Op-Ed

Find an op-ed (opinion editorial) on environmentalism written in the last 2 weeks. It can be on any specific topic, as long as there is some connection with environmentalism.
  • Post a link to the op-ed
  • Give a 1-2 sentence summary of it—what is the writer arguing?
  • Answer the question—how can you tell this is an op-ed? How does its writing style or structure persuade you in a way that is different from other genre of writing that you’ve looked at (like scholarly article, essay, etc.?) Give specific examples from your op-ed.

Grist Oped_Reading Reaction

Feel free to either agree or disagree with the Grist op-ed. Give evidence for your opinion, either from the Grist op-ed itself or from another online source. It’s a good idea to engage with specific aspects of the text’s ideas, language or context when developing your opinion

Human challenges

According to Conservation Fund in 2002 of <Living Earth>, With humans currently using more natural resources than they can replace by 20 percent, the overall standard of living will decline after 2030 if governments do not intervene. The report indicates that there are 35% of living species on earth decreased in the past 30 years. Freshwater life was reduced by 54%; A 35 percent decline in Marine biodiversity; Tree species decreased by 15%.

The main manifestation of the resource problem is: the world’s forest decline is serious, according to green peace organization estimates, in the past 100 years, the world’s primary forest has been destroyed 80%; The problem of soil degradation is not optimistic. As a result of soil degradation, the world’s per capita cultivated land area has decreased. According to the statistics of the United Nations, the world’s per capita cultivated land area has decreased by about half from 1975 to 2000. The problem of water resources is becoming more and more serious.

There are lack of water resources and serious water pollution which became one of the most important environmental resources problem. That’s also one of the significant challenges that human beings facing. According to the UN’s 2015 world water development report there are 40% which is a huge distance that between human beings’ demand for water and  rehydration.

This responsibility and mission will eventually fall on each of us. We have no way to get rid of it and have no chance to change the past, but what I can do is to start to feel the life and power of the nature around me from now on, and to respect and protect it.

Class Blog

As we are living through an epidemic, many things seem to be getting worse as millions panic. There has been some good that has come out of this experience though, the environment seems to be getting better. In China, since everyone has been staying home and factories have closed, the number of good quality air days has gone up 12.5% since February. With factories closing, the use and burning of coal have gone down a significant amount as well. The amount of nitrogen dioxide emissions has gone down rapidly as well and it shows. The toxic clouds that hang on the horizon have been clearing up slowly. As more and more countries urge people to stay home, more pollution will decrease as well. However, experts are worried once the virus slows down and people can work again, the pollution will get even worse than before with companies having to make up for the lost time. 

 

Eugenia’s Fast Food Impact Sources

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324847#long-term-impact

I liked this source because it describes the long term as well as short term effects of fast food and references many research I can use on my own paper

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4772793/

I chose this source because I want to focus one of my paragraphs specifically on the effects fast foods have on the heart.

For my third source I will use the movie “What The Health” as it is very descriptive and helpful in advocating the negative impact fast food has on our bodies.

Divij’s Sources

1.This is an Op-ed from the NY Times which talks about how nuclear energy can save the world, this source supports my argument for nuclear energy

2. HBO series “Chernobyl”, this source is a miniseries showing the atrocities of a nuclear spillage accident caused in Ukraine.

3. Titans of Nuclear Apple Podcast, this source talks about using nuclear energy to help aid climate change and save forests and land from being overrun by wind farms and dams.

 

 

Alex’s 3 Primary Sources

I really thought this was an excellent source as it clearly visualizes the transition from the original landscape to the way it is today. It also highlights things like the red tide and the issues with water flow in Southern Florida.

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/evergladestrust/pages/3237/attachments/original/1553520247/Nutrients_AlgaeBlooms_-_HABs_Report_2.pdf?1553520247

This source is a somewhat long scientific journal taking a greater look at the problem of the red tide and what’s going on in the water in Florida. Although the source is long and difficult to sort through, it is necessary for supporting the logos in my paper.

A more general look at the Everglades  – the information from this source would be more useful at the beginning of my paper in order to introduce and support some of my main ideas.

Julianah’s sources on plastic pollution

  1. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/banning-plastic-straws-will-not-be-enough-fight-clean-oceans-n951141 : This is an op-ed on banning plastic straws. It will be useful because it has many different aspects such as pictures and statistics.
  2.  Documentary- A Plastic Ocean (2016) : This is a documentary on plastic pollution and how it affects the oceans. It will be useful because it gives a first hand look at the plastic in oceans.
  3. https://www.clarepress.com/podcast/2018/6/22/podcast-ep-47-ocean-plastic-warrior-tim-silverwood : This is a podcast on how plastic affects the oceans. It will be useful because it has two speakers, one of which is a campaigner for plastic pollution.