Blog # 13 10/29/09

Title: Polar Bears vs. Development in Alaska

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/polar-bears-vs-resource-development-in-alaska/

Author: Stefan Milkowski

Date: 10/29/09

Source: New York Times

Summary: The Alaskan Governor promised 200,000 square miles of land, and ice for the polar bears under the Endangered Species Act.According to the Polar Bear Specialists Group, just one of the 19 subpopulations of bears is increasing, eight are declining and three are stable.

Response: Sense climate change is the biggest threat to polar bears, the Alaskan Government giving 200,000 square miles to the species is more then nessesary. They are close to becoming extinct, and they need to be protected. THis land outlaws all hunting and developing on the polar bears property which gives them the space they need to survive.

Blog #12 10/23/09

Title: To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/world/europe/23degrees.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss


Author: Elisabeth Rosenthal
Date: 10/22/09
Source: New York Times


Summary: Changing one’s diet can be as effective in reducing emissions of climate-changing gases as changing the car one drives. The Swedish National Food Administration was given the task last year of creating new food guidelines giving equal weight to climate and health. For example, it has been recommended that Swedes eat carrots instead of cucumbers, because the cucumbers are grown in heated greenhouses that consume energy.


Response: I am happy to read this article, it is good that countries around the world are trying to "go green," hopefully soon more and more will jump on the band wagon. If we want to save this beautiful earth from global warming countries around the world need to start making smarter choices.

Blog #11 10/23/09

Title: Polar Bear Habitat Proposed for Alaska
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/science/earth/23bear.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Author: John M. Broder
Date: October 22,2009
Source: New York Times

Summary: More than 200,000 square miles of land, sea and ice along the northern coast of Alaska has been designated to the shrinking polar bear population by the Interior Department. This is the most land area ever given for the protection of any species. The bears' range was shrinking because of the melting ice caps due to global warming.

Response: This is an extremly important article, and it is huge that this land has been given to the polar bears'. Personally, I am esctatic about this. I love polar bears and to read the government is help ing save them from extinction is great. In May 2008, the polar bear was threatened with extinction. The next step that needs to be taken is the outlawing of hunting in the polar bears' habitat's.

10/19/09 Blog #11

Title: Even Rabbit Droppings Count in Nuclear Cleanup

Date: 10/14/09
Author: Matthew L. Wald
Source: New York Times

Summary: Anything that moves near a nuclear weapons plant may be capable of setting off a Geiger counter. And at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation , animals' droppings alone might be enough to trigger alarms.

Response: This article is interesting and informative. It's crazy reading about a government contractor spending a week mapping radioactive rabbit poop with detectors mounted on a helicopter.

blog #10 10/16/09

Title: Cleansing the Air at the Expense of Waterways

Date: 10/12/09
Author: Charles Duhigg
Source: New York Times

Summary: In Masontown, Pennsylvania residents have been complaining for years about the yellow smoke coming from the nearby coal-fired power plant. This smoke has left a film on their cars and pebbles of coal waste in their yards. The plant's owner, Allegheny Energy has been sued by five states that claim the air pollution has caused respiratory diseases and acid rain.

Response: This article is very positive, and it is good that the plant was sued. After they were sued for causing problems, the plant changed by trapping more than 150,000 tons of pollutants each year before they escaped into the sky.

10/11/09 Blog #8

Title: Alaska: Habitat for Sea Otters

Date: October 7,2009
Author: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Source: New York Times

Summary: The Fish and Wildlife Service designated more than 5,800 square miles as critical habitat for sea otters in the Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and Alaska Peninsula. Ninety percent of the world’s sea otters live in coastal Alaska, but for reasons unknown their numbers have plummeted in many areas.

Response: This is very good, Endangered species are on the rise, and sea otters like many animals native to Alaska are becoming more at risk. Giving sea otters this designated land should hopefully reduce the growing extinction risk.

10/11/09 Blog #7

Title: 7 Preserves Envisioned to Manage Wild Horses

Author: Jim Robbins
Date: October 7, 2009
Source: New York Times

Summary: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is proposing to create seven new wild-horse preserves, to address the problem of a growing population crowding the Western range. The program would expand the use of contraceptives and would spray/neuter more herds on public lands in the West.

Response: I don't think that this will work, it would take a lot to geld wild herds. The problem does need to be addressed, however I feel that this way of doing it will not be successful.

Blog #6 10/2/09

TITLE: State Issues Rules on Upstate Natural Gas Drilling Near City’s Water

Author: Jad Mouawad
Source: New York Times
Date: September 30, 2009

Summary: State environmental regulators released rules governing natural gas production in upstate New York, these rules include provisions to oversee drilling operations near New York City’s water supplies. The report sets strict rules on where wells can be drilled and requires companies to disclose the chemicals they use.

Response: This rule the regulators released is beneficial and is good for the envirnment and community. Gas drilling in upstate New York could contaminate the city's drinking water, and this frightens many residents.

Blog #5 10/2/09

TITLE: Southeast Drought Study Ties Water Shortage to Population, Not Global Warming

Author: Cornelia Dean
Date: October 1, 2009
Source: New York Times

Summary: The drought in the Southeast during the years of 2005 to 2007 was a result from "random weather events," not global warming. Columbia University reseachers say that "its severe water shortages resulted from population growth more than rainfall patterns."

Article Crtitique: After reading this article, i feel a sense of relief and shock. I am relieved to read about the conducted research results concluding that global warming is causing enviromental problems. The part of this article that shocked me was reading how great the population of Georgia has grown from 1990 to 2007.