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AP Environmental Science Summer Work

Experience the Natural World

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm August 6th at Cove Lake

Walked with friend (Anna Ward) 30 min walk, 25 minute relaxing in park, 5 minute sound

Observations: The walk lasted about 30 minutes or so. The beginning of the walk didn't have
much that was noteworthy. The path was paved but slightly worn and cracking in places. Then I
saw an unidentified plant growing from a tree stump. It looked like poison oak. It also looked
like it hadn't been there for very long. Then beside the trail I saw multiple holes that had been
dug in the ground. Considering they didn't look very man made they were most likely burrows
for an animal. Thinking about the shape, probably a snake. I wasn't going to go poking around
inside to find out. Walking along side the lake, I saw a fallen tree in the water. Algae was
growing on the underside of it and it was probably home to a few fish but I couldn't see
underneath very well to see if this was true. The water was quite murky from the clay and mud of
the area .

Sound Reflection: Throughout the entire duration of the experience I could hear the changing
volume of the gentle tide against the shore. Along with that, I could hear the constant buzzing of
the cicadas in the distance. For a short time I could hear dogs barking and playing off in the
distance to my right. One of these dogs came up to me during the experience and ran past.
Among the many the other sounds, I could hear various other buzzing insects as well the
occasional tweeting bird in the tree tops. Off to my left I could hear people yelling and playing in
the water.

Natural Area Reflection: I think that some parts of this natural area are indeed natural. Such as
the surrounding forests and most of the lake. However, there are certainly some parts that are
man-made or introduced by humans. Such as the paved walkway and some of the trees that were
clearly planted or altered by humans. I think that 25 years ago the area probably didn't look all
that much different from what it looks like today. However what would be different is how tall
many of the trees might have been, the existence of trees that are no longer there, or portions of
the pathway that weren't there previously. Moving to a time of 200 years ago, I'm sure that the
area looked very different compared to how it looks today. 200 years ago, the area would have
had many more trees and was most likely a dense forest controlled by nature itself. There was
probably very little human interaction with the woods if any at all. 20,000 years ago would be
drastically different. The water level of the lake could've been a lot higher or lower by many
meters. At the time there could've been an even denser forest than previously mentioned or little
to no forest at all. There is an extremely high chance that many species that could've lived in this
area have gone extinct. Within 20,000 years the area could be extremely unrecognizable to what
it once was.
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Environmental Surveys/Ecological Awareness Results

Water Footprint

My personal water footprint:1,332 gallons/day

Household Water Footprint: 9,127 gallons/day

Carbon Footprint

My Carbon Usage Behavior

Home Energy: (48.4%)
Driving/Flying: (26.0%)
Recycling and Waste: (4.9%)
Food and Diet: (20.7%)

Total Usage: 24 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year

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Current Events in Environmental Science

Summary of and Response to A Government-Sponsored Disaster: Florida Asks For Federal

Help With Toxic Algae

In the article, Greg Allen discusses the current situation that the town of Stuart and
possibly neighboring areas are facing. What has come to their attention is a rapidly growing
bacteria known as blue-green algae. This bacteria is known for its intense scent, ability to stain,
and its toxicity. In its current state it is affecting boat businesses negatively as people are being
turned away from putting their boats in the water due to fear of damage or being turned
completely away from buying a boat at all. As well as the affects to businesses, it is detrimentally
affecting the marine life and is potentially harmful to humans or other animals coming in contact
with the bacteria. If ingested, the bacteria can harm the liver and nervous system.

The governmental authorities of Florida have been contacting the United States
government to recommend that they declare this issue a national emergency to aid those trying to
overcome this belligerent bacteria. However, the Federal Government refuses to help Florida in
this time of crisis.

In response to the situation, I'm wondering how this issue is going to be fixed without
proper aid in funding the clean up and preventing it from happening again. As well as this, I
wonder if this issue will become increasingly negative and expansive to surrounding areas. A
fear that I would have is if this bacteria will adapt to different environments if not handled
properly. If it did adapt, it could potentially harm a larger expanse of species.

The way that this relates back to APES is that it is an environmental issue that is
detrimentally affecting the ecosystem of the area. With this in mind, it can also relate in the sense
of being able to scientifically delve into the reasons, and possible solutions to the issue.
Additionally, experiments and research can be carried out about the blue-green algae. This
environmental issue relates back to me since I have an interest in Marine Biology and if i had the
chance to help the town and people, I most likely would.
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Think Globally

Empty Oceans, Empty Nets

Empty Oceans, Empty Nets, released in 2002 is a documentary about the declining fish
population due to overfishing. Some questions rose while watching the documentary. One
question I had addressed the amount of people who are actually aware of this crisis of
overfishing. It seems like an issue that might be swept under the rug for some people or some
people might not even be aware. A follow up question to that was if anyone was actually doing
anything about the overfishing if they knew about the issue. Another question that arose from
this chain of awareness about the issue was if there actually is anything that the consumer can do
to help aside from just buying less fish. Another question that I had was what will happen to the
commercial fish population decades down the line. How many, if any, species of fish will we
extinct or will we solve our issue of overfishing.

As far as deciphering any bias that the documentary may have, I found that the
documentary was fairly unbiased. It showed views from all sides of the issue. It showed how the
fishers feel and what their thoughts were on the decreasing fish population. Not only just that,
but it showed fishers from all corners of the world, many different methods of fishing, and
fishers of all ages.

My overall opinion on the documentary was positive. It brought to concern the issue of
overfishing which still continues to be a problem in the current world. It also talked about the
issue aquaculture has created in that it is progressing too fast and that there are faults with the
system. As most of the fish being farmed require fish to be caught to sustain them. I believe that
the documentary has done well to bring these issues to light since they are still a problem over a
decade after its release.

A large way that this documentary relates back to my life is that I am a very large fan of
the ocean fan of seafood. It affected my thinking on the market from which I get this seafood as
well as how the fish are being collected to feed this market. As someone who is interested in
marine biology and marine life in general, this problem drastically affects part of the field of
study that Im interested in. If there is a large extinction of species, I might lose a large part of
study that I might've wanted to do research on. I think that with the information that the
documentary brought to my attention that it will change the way in which I live my life. Not
intensely dramatically but I will certainly be more aware of the issue of overfishing and attempt
to aid the issue how I can.

Six Degrees Could Change the World

Six Degrees Could Change the World was a documentary released in 2007 about what
just six degrees in the average global temperature can do to the environment. After watching this
film, some questions had formed in my head about the global scale and different catastrophes
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that could happen if the heating trends continue as they are. One question that came to mind was
How would humans handle this change in climate? Although sort of answered in the film,
many things might've been left unsaid. Another question that I had was What can I individually
and specifically do to help stop the drastic impact of my carbon footprint? In this I mean what
specific things can I do. Not necessarily what many people in general can do. A question that i
had quite early into the documentary was How many people are actually trying to make an
impact to lower the emissions of the world causing this temperature change? Two questions that
I had more along the environmental impact rather than the impact on humans was How would
animals or plants adapt to this changing climate?. With adaptation in mind, another question
that I had was Could humans adapt physically to this change and survive?

Some biased that could exist in the documentary could be that there weren't facts
presented from the side of someone who does not believe in global warming nor was there a
reaction to the facts from someone who does not believe in global warming. Other than this,
there was very little bias to be found. The facts given were unbiased and did little to deviate from
what facts have been established in the science world.

My overall opinion of the documentary was positive. The facts were presented in an
unbiased manner and the documentary was interesting to watch. I enjoyed how they went
through the effects that each of the six degrees would have on the earth starting from a measly,
yet drastic, one degree to the planet devastating six degrees. It was eye opening to watch to see
the effect of such small things such as the explanation of the carbon footprint of one single
cheese burger and in turn the carbon footprint for the entire united states consumption of
cheeseburgers each day. All in all it was an interesting documentary to watch.

The way that this documentary connects back to my life is because it directly relates to
the fairly fragile world that I live in. This climate change is something that is and has been
happening for centuries. In the current state of the world, it is also something that we as a people
can lessen the impact of. The information that affected me most was the massive effect that
simply one degree in change of the average global temperature can have on the world and its
inhabitants. As an inhabitant of the world, it makes me want to help make a change so that the
impact of temperature will be less drastic or maybe help prevent the temperature from
increasing.

The Future of the Great Barrier Reef: Bleached or Bright?

The Future of the Great Barrier Reef: Bleached or Bright? is a documentary that was
released in 2005 describing the decline in healthy coral in the Great Barrier Reef due to
increasing temperatures that were stressing, bleaching, and sometimes death of the coral reefs in
the GBR. It also describes a team of scientists attempt to bring some of the coral back from this
bleaching. One question that I had while watching the documentary was How much of an
impact did these people have with their assistance to the reefs years later after the filming of this
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document? Another question that I had about the documentary and the subject it was about was
Did they fully bring the coral to health or at least a portion of the coral back to health?

This documentary had quite a bit of bias compared to the other documentaries that I
watched. The bias seen in The Future of the Great Barrier Reef: Bleached or Bright? is quite
drastic. Not necessarily negative bias but certainly a lot of it since a very large portion of the
people in the documentary are the scientists on the team who are trying to observe and save the
coral in the Great Barrier Reef. The documentary hardly shows points of view from people who
are not professionals the field.

My opinion on the documentary is sort of neutral. The topic of the documentary was
quite interesting; however, some parts of it were slow and didn't take the topic interesting.
Despite this, it still increased my awareness of the bleaching that took place during this time and
what was done to aid the coral that had been bleached.

The way that this relates back to my life is through the interest of marine biology. The
bleaching of coral is a large concern for me as someone who is interested in uprising a career in
this field. It affects me in that a large part of the oceans ecosystem is being destroyed and that
coral around the world (not just in the Great Barrier Reef) could face the same fate of bleaching
due to climate change in their ecosystems.