Quarter 2 Article 8

Radon in Homes an Invisible Danger

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/40929

Roger Greenway

January 16, 2010

Like carbon monoxide radon is an invisible, odorless, radioactive gas that kills may people every year. It is a house hold pollutant and needs to be taken with more percussion.

When radon gets into a home it can increase the resident's cancer risk. The most common way is through cracks in basement floors, walls, and sump pump sumps. In the winter, if a furnace or boiler is in the basement, the chimney can act as a depressurization device since combustion air is vented to the outdoors. Another infiltration route is through groundwater. Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that can exist at dangerous levels in homes, schools and other buildings. An estimated 20,000 people die every year in the U.S. from radon-related lung cancer. The EPA is going around and spreading awareness so people are educated and know how to handle a toxic gas like this one.

I think it is great that the EPA is educating people because most people do not know how bad a chemical like this one is and how quickly it can take your life.

depressurization- to remove the air pressure from.

Quarter 2 Article 7

Trouble in Paradise (the Fishy Kind) as Introduced Tilapia Dine on Native Fish Fry

http://www.wcs.org/press/press-releases/tilapia-farming-fiji.aspx

January 12, 2010

These invasive species are doing harm to the rest of the environment because they are competing with the native species. The invasive species are usually introduced intentionally but then gets out of hand and out of control.

Scientists suspect that tilapia introduced to the waterways of the Fiji Islands may be gobbling up the larvae and juvenile fish of several native species of goby, fish that live in both fresh and salt water and begin their lives in island streams. The team found that streams with tilapia contained 11 fewer species of native fishes than those without; species most sensitive to introduced tilapia included the throat-spine gudgeon, the olive flathead-gudgeon, and other gobies. In general, sites where tilapia were absent had more species of native fish. Since tilapia are known to consume the larvae and juvenile fish, the researchers assume that the introduced species may be consuming the native ones as they make their way upstream and down. Absence of forest cover adjacent to streams was also correlated to fewer fish species.

Archipelago-a large group or chain of islands: the Malay Archipelago.

World warming to greener train travel

Quarter 2 Article 6

World warming to greener train Travel

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/10/green.trains/index.html

These bullet trains will decrease the need for air and car travel which will decrease the green house gas emissions in China. Less CO2 will be released because these trains are ran on electricity and provide a quick and convenient alternative.

Due to present global warming issues, places like China are starting to take more responsibility for their green house gas emissions. They are establishing an electric train system that will extend all across the country.

I think this is a great step in the right direction for China. They need to begin to be more consequence of the ecological footprint and this will be a great step toward the right direction for China.

Quarter 2 Article 5

Settlement Reached in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Lawsuit

http://www.enn.com/business/article/40925

Vicki Shiah , Sive Paget & Riesel, P.C., More from this Affiliate Published January 14, 2010 03:20 PM

This relates to what we are doing in class because it talks about regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

A lawsuit challenged New York State's participation in, and its rules to implement, the Regional Greenhouse gas Initiative (RGGI) have reached a settlement. A company named Consolidated Edison was being suid for there excess emissions of greenhouse gases. RGGI is an agreement among ten Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, including New York, to limit greenhouse gas emission through a cap-and-trade system. As summarized by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the agreement calls for states to cap power sector carbon emission through 2014 and then reduce emissions by 2.5 per year for the next four years, resulting in a 10 percent reduction by 2018.

Consolidated Edison- is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $14 billion in annual revenues and $33 billion in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through the following subsidiaries: Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., a regulated utility providing electric, gas, and steam service in New York City and Westchester County New York; Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc.

Quarter 2 Article 4

Debate rages over future of plug-in hybrids

http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MzcwMzM

By using plug in or hybrid cars, especially in cities like LA the photochemical smog will decrease do to less greenhouse gasses being released into the air.

Hybrid car advocates have taken aim at a government study that predicts it will take decades and hundreds of billions of dollars before the vehicles reach viability. President Obama's stimulus bill set aside billions in grants to build batteries and electric cars and offered new purchasing incentives. Both the White House and the Energy Department have trumpeted electric-drive vehicles as the wave of the clean-energy future. As of now the the batteries in the plunge in cars are not as strong as they need to be, but lithium-ion technology may be the way to go.

Lithium-ion-- is a type of rechargeable battery in which the cathode (positive electrode) contains lithium. The anode (negative electrode) is generally made of a type of porous carbon. Note that the broad term 'Lithium-Ion battery' covers a wide variety of battery types with different battery chemistry mixes wherein each battery chemistry has a different set of performance, cost, and safety characteristics.

Obama Frustrated with Outcome of Copenhagen Climate Talks

Quarter 2 Article 3

Obama Frustrated with Outcome of Copenhagen Climate Talks

http://www.globalwarmingisreal.com/blog/2009/12/24/obama-frustrated-with-outcome-of-copenhagen-climate-talks/

December 24, 2009

By Thomas Schueneman

The Copenhagen Summit deals with environmental talks and attempts to reach agreements together and make the world more environmentally friendly.

Obama said this "What did occur was that at a point where there was about to be complete breakdown, and the prime minister of India was heading to the airport and the Chinese representatives were essentially skipping negotiations, and everybody’s screaming, what did happen was cooler heads prevailed." He felt it was not a success because everyone did not take it completely seriously. So that—that was an important principle, that everybody’s got to do something in order to solve this problem. But make no claims, and didn’t make any claims going in, that somehow that was going to be everything that we needed to do to solve climate change.

instantaneous - occurring, done, or completed in an instant

Rare Rinos Relocated In Effort to Keep Species Alive

Quarter 2 Article 2

Rare Rhinos Relocated In Effort to Keep Species Alive

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/

by Nick Waddhams

December 29, 2009

This relates to miller because it talks about endangered species and how conservationists are working to reintroduce a rare species back into Kenya.

Area covered--Czech Republic and Kenya

Four of the last eight known northern whites in the world, two males and two females, were shipped from a Czech zoo to Kenya, where scientists hope they will begin to breed. The rhinos were sent to Kenya in a desperate effort to save their subspecies, which was hunted to extinction by poachers in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tarmac-- a brand of bituminous binder, similar to tarmacadam for surfacing roads