Category Archives: Human Society

Meatless Mondays

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Vegan lifestyles have dominated social media, and efforts to bring forth conversations about sustainable diets and healthy living attributed to veganism have recently become all the rage. According to the United Nations, almost 15% of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions come from farmed livestock: which includes the raising of cows, chickens, and other animals that are used for meat consumption. The combined production of both meat and dairy products is responsible for a majority of the American carbon footprint as well. So, what alternatives are there to regular diets that include meat, that can also help reduce our carbon footprint? Veganism is an option for a very health-forward lifestyle, that also helps in regard to more sustainable living. One does not need to move to be completely vegan in all aspects in order to reduce their carbon footprint. Across the United States, many programs, organizations, and campuses have introduced the idea of Meatless Mondays, in which during one day of the week, people limit their consumption of meat, dairy, and other animal by-products. As a result, carbon emissions are reduced, and so does water waste. The consumption of meat and its production also largely affects deforestation, and land use, and can contribute to the loss of biodiversity. Addressing food production in small steps like this can lead to big changes over time. If everyone went vegan, according to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, food-related emissions would drop by 70%!

 

Sources:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-would-world-look-if-everyone-went-vegan

Growth and Decay in COVID-19 Viral Infections

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An interesting perspective is understanding this topic through the spread of viral infections. A virus can begin to spread when there is no known immunization or vaccine for it, and each infected person can infect anyone they come in contact with. Taking this into consideration in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020 and is still ongoing, it is interesting to observe the fluctuations in the growth of the virus as a result of not having the vaccine, and the decay of the spread of the virus after people were beginning to get vaccinated. Exponential growth at the beginning of the pandemic caused the rates of people infected to grow very high. For example, if there were 150 cases reported in Los Angeles County on the first day of the pandemic, and had an increasing infection rate at around 7%, after a week we could assume that there were roughly 241 new cases. This was calculated by multiplying the initial number of cases, by the growth factor, 1.07 to the power of 7, which was the total time spanned. The percentage change can be calculated by subtracting the final number of cases for the week, 241, by the initial number of cases, 150, and dividing by the initial number of cases, which would result in a 60.7% percent change. This is just a small example of what might’ve happened in terms of the growth of the COVID-19 virus. Once the vaccine was introduced, cases began to exponentially decay. For example, the population of infected people in the City of Los Angeles as of now is about 1,500. Each week, the population’s infection rate will decrease by 4%. After 4 weeks or a month, the number of infected people will be 1,274. The decay factor is 0.96, and it is multiplied by the initial population. The growth factor is raised to the exponent of time. The percentage change in cases is calculated again by subtracting the final and an initial number of cases and dividing them by the initial number. The percentage change in cases is 17.7%.

Sources: 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/29/opinion/covid-exponential-decay.html

Water Waste & Strawberries

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According to an article found on the University of Minnesota Extension’s website on farming and irrigation, successful strawberry production in the Upper Midwest can be attributed to the use of good irrigation systems. A good irrigation system is conservative in water use, avoiding over and under watering of the crops. For strawberry crops, they take about three months to produce their fruits, including harvesting time. Strawberry plants require 1-inch of water a week as they are first planted, and then about 1-2 inches of water a week during the time that they are in season. Being that there are about 4 weeks in a month, and strawberry season is about 3 months, the total amount of water a strawberry plant would need is about 18 inches of water. In a crop, there can be about 120 producing strawberry plants, which would mean that 2160 inches of water are necessary for a crop. To go even further, converting inches to liters, a crop of 120 strawberry plants would use 35.4 liters of water in a season. 

One of the biggest sources of water waste in the United States comes from taking incredibly long showers and using baths. On average, Americans take showers with a flow rate of 2.1 gallons per minute. If the regular person takes a 10-15 minute shower, twice a day, they waste about 63 gallons of water. If the average American cut down their shower use to 5 minutes per shower, they would be using only about 21 gallons a day for their shower. That saves about 41 gallons. Stepping even further, Americans can shorten their showers even further by shutting off the water when lathering their hair and body and only washing their hair every so often. 

Many people enjoy consuming bottled water over tap water because it is marketed to seem more desirable and a cleaner alternative. Some people also like the convenience of buying water to go, instead of having to carry around a reusable bottle to fill up. Asking some of my friends, their responses to plastic water-bottle use a week range from around 6-7 bottles. Being that there are about 2,040 students on Union’s campus and using this measurement, we could say that about 12,282 water bottles are used per week, and about 2.2 million bottles a year (180 school days a year). It takes a 1/4 of a liter of oil to produce one plastic water bottle. Multiplying this quantity by the number of water bottles consumed a year, it takes 550,000 liters to produce all of the water bottles used.

Resources:

https://extension.umn.edu/strawberry-farming/irrigating-strawberries

https://pacinst.org/publication/bottled-water-fact-sheet/

Sustainable Ways

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For some reason the audio on my video is not working. Nevertheless, this video shows all the ways that my roommates and I are attempting to be more sustainable in our apartment. The first clip shows that we try to take shorter showers and turn off the water as we brush our teach. The next clips exhibits that we keep doors and windows open opposed to using electricity for a fan or air conditioner. The third clip displays all of our reusable cups that we use opposed to using one-use plastic water bottles. The last clip shows our washer machine that we use using cold water opposed to hot water because it’s better for the environment.

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Harvesting the Power of the Sun’s Rays

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In the Last 10 years, the availability of solar power has increased due to the decrease in installation costs. In 2010, the price of installation in the U.S. was 4,731 dollars per kilowatt. In 2020, the price fell all the way down to 883 dollars per kilowatt. Making the installation process cheaper means that this sort of energy will be available to more people of varying economic classes. If we continue to make headway in refining certain solar panels and harvesting solar energy through water heating and plant-based solar extractions, we could reach commercial-level application sooner than we may think. When asked about solar power in an interview with Mathias Döpfner, Elon Musk predicted that our future civilizations are going to be primarily solar-powered. He continued by saying that the only problem would be finding an efficient way of storing excess solar energy on days when the weather would pose an issue. As we continue to make technological advancements in this field, the idea of solar panel farms will become more of a possibility. This alternative source of energy will soon grow to challenge the big fossil fuel giants one day. Some may see this as a threat but if we truly hope to make a dent in the climate change issue, we must progress with solar power.

 

https://www.ans.org/news/article-3812/elon-musk-shutting-down-nuclear-plants-is-total-madness/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/809796/global-solar-power-installation-cost-per-kilowatt/

 

Is Wind Energy the Future?

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In recent years there have been many discussions and efforts to switch away from fossil-fuel based methods to alternative and renewable sources of energy.  One such example of renewable energy that has become a topic of discussion among others, is wind energy.  There is hope for wind energy to become a main form of energy use in the near and somewhat distant future.  Based on the EPA’s Wind Vision Report, wind can become a viable source of energy in every state in America by 2050.  Wind energy is already available in nationwide and this infrastructure makes it possible to dramatically expand the usage of wind energy in the coming years.  In 2013, wind energy already reduced the emission of air pollutants by 250,000 metric tons and if widespread wind energy systems are used throughout the country, the Wind Vision Report estimates that greenhouse gases could be reduced by 12.3 gigatonnes by 2050.  This wind energy format is not only great for the environment but for the public as well, with local communities estimated to be able to collect additional tax revenue totally 3.2 billion annually from land lease and property tax payments by 2050.  The switch however would not be cheap with job losses expected to occur and infrastructure needing creation.  The Wall Street Journal estimates that it would cost 7.8 to 13.9 trillion over the course of the next 30 years.  This isn’t just for wind but for all forms of renewable energy.  The upside however is immense, with the change to renewable energy, our forms of energy will no longer depend on finite reserves of fossil-fuels.  The price of renewable energy is also slowly decreasing as they become more widespread.  Wind energy is roughly $20/MWh compared to coal’s $102/MWh and renewable energy sources can only help the economy with increased jobs in renewable energy sectors and lower prices for goods and energy in the future.  Renewable energy and wind energy in particular will take time to switch to of course, but the benefits of doing so far outweigh the negatives during the process of the switch or not switching at all.

 

Works Cited:

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/wind-vision#:~:text=The%20Wind%20Vision%20Report%20shows,and%20supporting%20services%20by%202050.

https://www.inspirecleanenergy.com/blog/clean-energy-101/cost-of-renewable-energy

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-s-is-turning-green-what-will-this-climate-plan-cost-and-who-will-pay-11634997601#:~:text=The%20biggest%20and%20most%20measurable,energy%20researchers%20at%20Princeton%20University.

 

 

 

Wind Energy!

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There are many forms of non fossil-fuel based energy. But, for this post I will be specifically looking at wind energy. In order to understand wind energy, it is important to first understand wind. When the sun unevenly heats the Earth, that is when wind is created. Wind can then be used to create energy. Knowing this, wind energy is sustainable energy. It will continue to be a sustainable source of energy for as long as the sun continues to shine. Wind energy is caught by the giant windmills, called wind turbines, that tower over 100 feet in the air. Sometimes, the wind turbines work by themselves or they can also be connected to power grids or a solar cell system. When there is a decent amount of wind turbines clustered together it is called a wind plant, however only a handful of electricity providers use these wind plants to provide power for their customers.

Across the United States, there are 41 states have wind plants which have developed more than 100,000 jobs for American citizens. In fact, a wind turbine technician is one of the fastest growing jobs in America. It’s important to note that the wind industry is still growing and is nowhere near its peak. The most common use of wind turbines that are stand alone is to pump water. However, farmers could also use standalone wind turbines, as well as homeowners. When it comes to wind power, it is cost effective as it only costs “1–2 cents per kilowatt-hour after the production tax credit” (energy.gov). Lastly, the newly developing wind industry equals annual investments of over 10 billion dollars into the United States economy. This shows the promise and potential that the wind industry, as well as wind energy has.

Works Cited:
https://www.nrel.gov/research/re-wind.html

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/wind-energy-basics

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy