Sunscreen is Dangerous?

Sunscreen is Dangerous?
Connor Bell

We all love to hang out at the beach. We can make sand castles, collect shells, splash around, and surf. Others like to enjoy the reefs on scuba trips. On such protracted adventures sunscreen is a must to take care of ourselves. Unfortunately sunscreen is a harmful substance to the ecosystem. It causes what is called coral bleaching.

Coral bleaching is a process in which coral rejects symbiotic organisms and lose their color, according to the Time magazine. It results in death of the organism and leaves the reef barren. Coral bleaching can be caused by the chemicals in sunscreens such as oxybenzone and octinoxate, which are key ingredients in absorbing UV rays in sunscreens.

An alternate choice to these chemical sunscreens are mineral based titanium dioxide and zinc oxide sunscreens. Current opinion favors these sunscreens as less harmful; however if the zinc oxide sunscreen is made from nanoparticles it can still be of harm to the entire ecosystem.

Whenever you visit the beach and wear sunscreen out in the surf, be aware that 6000 to 14000 tons of sunscreen is dumped every year into the ocean by tourists and beach goers. Choose reef friendly sunscreens to protect our ecosystems.

Sources:
https://www.coralisles.com/reef-friendly.aspx
https://time.com/4080985/sunscreen-coral-reefs/
https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2018/05/24/sunscreen-killing-coral-reef/
https://www.badgerbalm.com/s-35-coral-reef-safe-sunscreen.aspx
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science/scientists-are-unraveling-new-dangers-sunscreen-coral-reefs-180969627/

SC Johnson and Milwaukee Brewers Recycling Partnership

Shruthi Annapureddy

With concern for the environment growing more widespread amongst American society, greater efforts for reusing plastics have started to become apparent. One instance of this is the newly unveiled partnership between American household cleaning products company SC Johnson and the MLB team, the Milwaukee Brewers. The Wisconsin based company has launched an initiative with the baseball team to reuse plastic glasses marked with the company's logo for the SC Johnson’s signature Scrubbing Bubbles bottles. This is a monumental step in plastic reuse as currently “only 13 percent of plastic packaging in the U.S. is recycled (Simon).” This is not their only plan as the two parties also have planned “Clean Up” day events and keeping the MLB’s “Players for the Planet” running which makes donations towards environmentally friendly initiatives. 

Despite initiatives like this one to regulate plastic waste generation, recycling has actually been decreasing due to a number of reasons. China used to be a major importer of plastic waste, but due to a tariff put in place starting in 2018, they have stopped taking in much of the world’s plastic leaving plastic waste abundant. This is a great concern for the entire world as plastic production increases with every passing month, and eventually year. This plastic has wound up polluting the local ecosystems as well when the plastic is dispersed amongst rivers and other bodies of water. 

SC Johnson will be a pioneer with this partnership as they are setting an example to others that corporations can still be profitable while also taking precautions for the environment. The amount of plastic cups that are used during an MLB game is astounding and SC Johnson’s missions to reuse these glasses is an ingenious solution as it does not cause any inconvenience but creates long lasting impacts for the better. The Milwaukee Brewers being open to this partnership also sets precedent for other professional sports teams to set up similar programs. 

SC Johnson is a leader amongst companies when it comes to establishing environmentally conscious efforts as shown by their recent partnership with the Milwaukee Brewers. This new age of multi-corporation collaborations for the benefit of the environment as a whole does provide a glimmer of hope for future generations. The efforts of the company should be applauded and other companies should now follow in example to create a better tomorrow for generations to come. 

Sources:

“SC Johnson and Milwaukee Brewers Team Up to Take on Plastic Waste; Stadium Cups to Become New Scrubbing Bubbles Bottles® .” MLB.com, 24 Jan. 2020, www.mlb.com/press-release/press-release-sc-johnson-and-milwaukee-brewers-team-up-to-take-on-plastic-waste.
Plastic Pollution Coalition. “U.S. Plastic Recycling Rate Projected to Drop to 4.4% in 2018.” Plastic Pollution Coalition, Plastic Pollution Coalition, 4 Oct. 2018, www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/blog/2018/10/4/us-plastic-recycling-rate-projected-to-drop-to-44-in-2018.

The Dangers of Ocean Acidification

Shreya Andapally

Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have been releasing large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels. The ocean has been a huge helper in keeping our atmosphere balanced as people continue to bring imbalance to the Earth. The ocean helps to regulate the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by absorbing approximately 30% of the carbon dioxide.

However, the ocean can only do so much. When the carbon dioxide is absorbed by the water, the concentration of hydrogen ions increases. As a result, the seawater becomes more acidic. In fact, since the Industrial Revolution, the pH of surface ocean water has fallen by 0.1 pH units. This means there has been a 30% increase in the acidity of the ocean.

But what does this mean for the ocean’s organisms? On one hand, some organisms benefit from the higher carbon dioxide in the ocean. Photosynthetic algae and sea grasses need higher levels of carbon dioxide for better conditions. However, there are also highly detrimental effects on species like oysters, clams, corals, and sea urchins. These organisms need calcium carbonate, but due to ocean acidification, there are lower levels present. For example, ocean acidification greatly reduces the ability of corals to produce their skeletons. This change is devastating for endangered coral species and coral reefs will erode faster than they can be rebuilt. These changes influence the entire ecosystem and can cause imbalance.

Image of dying coral reefs

The ocean is at stake and this is why we must act fast. Ocean acidification is a global problem and it is uncertain the extent of the damage that will fall upon the ocean’s wildlife. One interesting approach to solving this crisis is growing sea plants. Since these plants take in carbon dioxide, they make the water less acidic and life is easier for other organisms. It is always safer to restore sea grasses that used to exist in order to balance the acidity. Additionally, there are more calls for funding to monitor and prevent ocean acidification. Citizens can also indirectly help by reducing their carbon footprint. In the end, we must hope that we can make a difference to prevent this snowballing problem of ocean acidification.

What are some things you think will happen in the future if this problem continues? Do you believe that ocean acidification is preventable? Why or why not?

Sources:

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/acidification.html

https://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/story/What+is+Ocean+Acidification%3F

https://e360.yale.edu/features/kelp_seagrass_slow_ocean_acidification_netarts

Carbon from wildfires

 Sakina Ali

     In the past year, in the United States alone, there have been 46,706 wildfires. Imagine what the number would shoot up to if we added the wildfires that have happened in the rest of the world. Just last year we had the “lungs of the Earth” battle a fire. Now Australia has been burning for months! According to the law of conservation of matter, atoms cannot be created or destroyed. So what happens to all the carbon emissions from the fires?

      As we learned about the carbon cycle, we know that plants take the carbon in, but not all of it. The fires are burning fast and hard, releasing more carbon and toxic carbon emissions than plants can take in. California had a target of 2020 to cut carbon pollution, they met their goal 4 years early. Unfortunately, the fire in 2018 released nine times more carbon than were reduced in 2017 and set them back. Wildfires may be a natural part of the carbon cycle, but not all of them are of natural causes.

      In pictures we see a raging fire and black smoke coming from it, black carbon is harmful in any ecosystem. It is extremely harmful to humans, to animals, to the ocean, and is a strong contributor to climate change. One cause of wildfires is climate change, Australia is burning right now because or record high temperatures and drought. As mentioned before, black carbon from fires contributes to climate change, thus creating a positive feedback loop, causing more fires.

       One thing I’ve noticed, lot of the fires are occurring on coasts, allowing for easy access to the ocean. With a little wind, ash and debris can land in the ocean and seriously injure marine life, and what of black carbon? With the damage done to the trees and soil in wildfires, watersheds are in danger of being contaminated, and we already learned how important they are.

      Mostly the good carbon is used by plants and it keeps going through the carbon cycle, which we can see from the Amazon Rainforest fire. But there isn’t always a couple billion acres of rainforest to pull the carbon from the air. So what can we do to reduce the carbon emmisions? Why not cut to the source, 84% of wildfires are caused by humans, how do we reduce that?

This image shows effects of one of the biggest fires in the history of California, it happened two years ago and destroyed 154,000 acres of land and released 45 million metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere(that’s a lot!)
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23082018/extreme-wildfires-
climate-change-global-warming-air-pollution-fire-management-black-carbon-co2

Sources:

Rott, Nathan. “Australia’s Wildfires are Releasing Vasts Amount of Carbon”, NPR. 10 Jan, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/01/12/794665203/australias-wildfires-are-releasing-vast-amounts-of-carbon-emissions

McDermott, Amy “Wildfires aren’t just a Land Thing. Smoke and Ash Can Choke The Ocean Too”
https://oceana.org/blog/wildfires-aren’t-just-land-thing-smoke-and-ash-can-choke-ocean-too

Maxson, Ryan. “The Impact of Wildfires on Water” https://www.cwp.org/the-impact-of-wildfires-on-water/



   

Welcome to our Class Blog!

Hi! This is Ms. Westbrook

Welcome to our APES class blog!

This blog serves several purposes for our class:

1. Literacy and science, believe it or not, have very important links.  As people of science, it is important to learn to speak and write the language of science in order for us to convey the essence and specifics of what we need to learn.  It is important to practice and learn how to talk about science in academic, yet engaging language.  This blog gives us a chance to practice and learn from each other.

2. APES is a class of immediacy.  There are relevant topics that surface in the media and in everyday life consistently.  Whether the topic is oil drilling, pipelines, climate change, plastic straws or testing on animals, environmental science is in the news!  We need to learn to read and discern the messages we are receiving and to find out what everyone's talking about.  This blog gives us a chance to discuss and challenge what we read and see.  It also allows us all to be able to help others understand what they are read and hearing if we are the experts in the discussions!  This is a class of current affairs!

3. This is about what interests YOU! What topic would you like to dig deeper on?  What would you like to research and know more about? Here is your chance to write about your passions.

4.   We only have 18 weeks to cover the material.  APES is a very broad class.  There is NO WAY I can cover everything.  So you get to help!  And this is important.  On last year's AP test, one of the FRQ's was about ocean acidification.  I barely grazed the subject in class but someone from each class wrote a blog about it.  And guess what? Everyone went into the test armed with knowledge about the subject. Yay!  I get to let you cover what I can't as just one person!

So here are the guidelines for writing your blog:

• Pick a topic that (hopefully) is relevant and timely.  Try to look at what we are studying and make your blog fit with the topics.  This isn't alway possible if your passions are for climate change and we are talking about biomes.  Go for your passions!!
• Make it personal.  Relate it to something in your life. Tell us why you are passionate about it! Use humor.  Make us cry! Make us angry enough to fight!
• Use photos. Make your blog look nice.
• Use proper grammar and check for spelling... please!
• It needs to be AT LEAST 4 healthy paragraphs.
• Ask questions at the end of the blog to stimulate discussion in the comments.
• Cite your sources.  There needs to be at least 3 good, reputable sources at the end of the blog.  Links to websites are fine. Plagiarism is a HUGE NO NO.
• Your name must be at the top of the blog. I will not give you credit until your name is at the top of the blog.