Toxins and You!

Before I start I would like to comment about human nature. Humans have a tendency to not do anything about something (namely toxins in the environment) until it threatens our lives. This can be seen with the toxins in our environment. We won't recognize or refuse to recognize the toxins until they are threatening our lives.
Now something should definitely be done about the mining wastes. The question is; How long can we let it go? Until the eco-system becomes sick? Until the animals slowly poison themselves and die? The answer is that the wastes need to be taken out, now. But how will we dispose of the waste? Put it in another landfill? We need to find a way to safely dispose of the waste or maybe find a way to convert it to another use.
Now toxins are constantly being added to our environment and also the world. The solution to this is the same as any other anti-global warming technique. Cut back on driving, green-living, etc. Or perhaps find less damaging ways to mine or acquire resources.

Guest Speaker # 2

Well this is the part where I would like to say what a wonderful speaker we had on thursday. How the speaker beautifully articulated their words. And how the speaker was very wise in their subject. I would love to say these things and much much more, however, I got snowed in on thursday. I didn't think It would be possible a second time, and yet when I awoke on thursday morning I discovered about two and a half feet had fallen that night. Of course I had about two feet of snow that had already fallen, so lets just say that it took me a while to shovel the snow...

Guest Speaker # 1: Gary Noy

Gary Noy was an informational speaker. And to be honest I didn't have much interest in his topic when he first started speaking. I've lived around the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range my entire life. I've hiked, camped, biked, swam, and even written several papers about this mountain range. So when Mr. Noy came into class I didn't think he could have much to entice me. However, I was wrong. The simple fact that the mountain range has about 3500 different species of plants was completely unknown to me. The information about how people would sell Sierra Nevada ice was also unknown to me.
One thing that really struck me as interesting was how the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range has influenced the rest of the world. The comment about how the Chinese would order ice from the Sierra Nevada Range really showed me how far the influence of the mountain range can reach.

Conservation of Species

I believe that in order to know what species need to be saved, we must first understand their place in the ecosystem. What I mean by this is that we need to know how the ecosystem will be affected if a certain species is no longer a part of it. The lack of a certain species can have a "domino affect" on an eco-system; in theory if a particular insect were to disappear another species (let's call them species A), that feeds on these insects is without a food source, species A would either die off or significantly be reduced in number. Perhaps another species (let's call them species B) feeds on species A, if species B is without a constant food source they in turn could also die off or be reduced in number.
This can seem very complicated; however it shows how important every species can be to a certain eco-system; from the lowly insects to the "dominant" humans.
Humans tend to save species that are "cute" or "adorable." We base our intentions off of the mere look of an animal. But who'd want to save a hairy tarantula? Or a slimy fish? What people don't seem to realize is that these "gross" insects and "dull" fish are important to the ecosystems that they reside in. So before we decide to save a certain species based only on their "cuteness" factor we should consider the affect of losing the other "less cute" species.
When it comes to balancing the needs of humans with that of animals, I only have one thing to say: We as human-beings need to realize that this world was not put here just for us. We are not here so we can drain this world of its resources and merely leave. We need to know that other organisms exist with us, and that they have just as any right to exist and thrive as we do.