FMHS APES Third Spring 2019

By: Chaeryn Yoon Balloons are something that are never missed out on birthday parties and special occasions. A few days ago, I saw a little kid let a balloon accidentally slip out of his hands into the air and it made me wonder, where will that go? We all seen a balloon fly off into the air. But to be honest, most people, myself included, do not think too much about where those balloons will go or what kinds of impact it will have on the environment. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it piles up to be one. People don't consider releasing balloons in the air to be littering, but it is, and they normally end up in oceans and beaches. Balloons are made out of different types of plastic, like rubber and polyester. And, we all know that plastic aren't biodegradable and are harmful to the environment, but a life without it is hard to imagine. Balloons pose serious threats to the environment and the animals. Different animals have been feeding on these colorful pieces...

Bogdahn Vasyutynskyy To many people around America, the events of nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl stand just as a historical event, but they do not think about how devastating the aftermath of Chernobyl was. During the events of the Chernobyl accident, my mother was in a close one hundred mile radius in Kiev, Ukraine. The government had repressed word of Chernobyl until around May 5th, and every single child was being hustled out of Kiev and sent onto trains to other towns. Every building in Kiev was being hosed down and washed to combat any type of radiation. My uncle during this time was in the army and had been tasked with the mission of cleaning up areas around Chernobyl. To combat tragic events like this ever happening again, the populace should first be informed of how dangerous nuclear radiation can be. Chernobyl was the first event in human history in which people had died from radiation related issues. How it had happened was due to poor management by the hands of t...

By: Akhila Srinivas A lot of you may think that carbon pollution ONLY warms the climate—wrong. Carbon pollution is a MAJOR player in acidifying our Earth’s oceans right as we speak. So what even is ocean acidification? Is the ocean lowering in pH? Well, as a matter of fact, yes. Our oceans absorb almost 1/4 of the carbon dioxide that is emitted into our atmosphere. Every day, this is around 22 million tons of carbon dioxide from factories, power plants, cars, and other anthropogenic sources. The oceans are in serious trouble. But why does this matter in the long run? Ocean acidification causes harm to creatures with calcium carbonate in their shells or skeletons, making it difficult for creatures like mollusks, crabs, and corals to survive. An acidic ocean robs seawater of the compounds these creatures need to build their shells and skeletons, impairing their growth. In addition, increased acidity makes it extremely difficult for clownfish (aka Nemo) to sense predators and f...

Poaching: Not Just a Way to Cook Stuff By: Jacob Spalding How many of you would do something illegal for money at the expense of someone or something else? Hopefully none of you would do something like this but alas, there are people that do things like this all the time. One of these actions is poaching. Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. There are plant and animal poaching but for this particular post, I’m going to focus on animal poaching. The main motive for animal poaching is commercial gain and/or trophies. For instance, a rhino horn can cost around $60,000 per kilogram and elephant ivory can cost around $2,142 per kilogram. Clearly this is tons of money in poaching and it makes since that people would try to gain monetarily from this illegal trade. $70-213 billion dollars a year are gained from this illegal wildlife trade. Rhinos and elephants horns and tusks are cut off and the animal is left for dea...

Benny Son Imagine living next to a landfill, smelling and getting frustrated by the gaseous chemical emitted by the wastes. There are so many landfills that are continuously increasing in size, affecting the standard of living for numerous residents. Have you ever been to Carrollton Texas where you experienced that weird and funky smell? Yeah.. that's from the landfills. However, thankfully, there are some countries who have figured out the way to utilize the landfills and make a complete turnaround. South Korea is a great example of it. In South Korea, Seoul, there is a renowned park called, Hanuel Park, that plays a significant role in providing comfort and joy to the Korean citizens. It allows visitors to experience and communicate with nature as it is heavily packed with plants. Would you be surprised if this beautiful park was, in the past, just another pile of trash? In the earlier time, Nanjido used to be a place where nature was preserved, however, in March 197...

by Sophie Slaughter The most popular power sources in the United States are coal, natural gases and other fossil fuels. These not only are non-renewable resources, but they also hurt the environment through pollutants. One alternative source of energy is wind energy. Enormous wind turbines placed on wind farms convert the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical energy or electricity.  In 2016, about 5.5% of power in the US came from wind farms. The year before the national percentage was 4.7%. It is a growing industry that provides over 100,000 jobs and has a twenty billion dollar impact on the economy. Wind power is popular because it’s sustainable and clean. Wind turbines don’t produce pollutants or atmospheric emissions that hurt the environment the way traditional power sources do, and they will continue to function as long as there is wind. In addition, after the initial cost of installation, wind farms are free to operate. However, there are several dow...

By Kareem Shamroukh When the word “Hairspray” is brought up, what do you think of? The first thing that probably comes to mind is the aerosol used to protect your hair from humidity and wind. While it may protect YOU, it definitely does the opposite to our world. Now while most ozone deple ting che micals,  chlorofluorocarbons(CFCs), have been phased out of aerosols with the Montreal protocol, there replacement, various propellants, contain  hydrocarbons and compressed gases notorious for their contribution to global warming. Even newer, CFC-Free aerosols contain Volatile Organic Compounds(VOCs) that add to " ground-level ozone levels, a key component of asthma-inducing smog."(Scientific American) But, There can be something done to prevent this problem. I mentioned the Montreal Protocol earlier, and how it banned CFCs from aerosols to help prevent ozone depletion. Well now, 30 years after the signing of the treaty, our ozone is benefiting greatly from that deci...