Wednesday, February 29, 2012
outside
For my environmental science class homework this week i had to go outside and just observe nature for 20 minutes, observe as much as i could. i chose a spot by my house off of victoria avenue in riverside. above are a few pictures for you so as you read you can know what i was looking at.
The first thing i noticed was the wind, it was quite a windy day today. The wind was chilly too, and it caused there to be noise as it passed through the plants. there was also a lot of different plants in the area, some had little plaques with the names of the plants to identify them. There was a lot more trashed then i had expected as i observed, but then again this place wasn't far from society, but still more than i had expected. I saw gum wrappers, trash bags, cigarette butts, mostly tiny things though. right after, i noticed a small green bug flying right past me, all i was able to get out of looking at it was its color which was green and thats it. A also saw a june bug or two. There was also some birds chirping. Actually, there was a lot of birds chirping, and many different bird noises, as well as some birds singing. i heard about 15 different bird noises or so. It seemed as if a few of them were even communicating with one another. Also, as i looked in the sky, i could see some flying birds, as well as a couple airplanes. when i looked down, i noticed ants after a while. the more i looked, the more i noticed there were ants everywhere along the ground. Not big piles of them, but small groups of a few everywhere i looked, perhaps scavenging for food. i noticed some gnats flying around also around a few plants, perhaps trying to stay away from the cool air by staying close to the plants. There were a few joggers/ walkers/ bikers every minute or so. i didn't see any spiders, but i had noticed some spider webs, so there had to have been spiders. i heard noise coming from the bushes behind me but had seen nothing. at first i assumed it was the wind, but it didn't sound like the wind normally does as it breezes through the plants, so it had to have been something i just didn't catch fast enough to see. i noticed there was a cactus like plant by me, which i later remembered was agave from class. As i looked at the ground again i noticed that there was random plants here and there growing from the ground. i also noticed a roly poly as i was staring at the ground. as i was leaving, i noticed some nails stuck into one of the bigger palm trees, as if someone had put up a yard-sale sign with a nail to hold it. this was a sort of vandalism as well as a hazard to the tree. One of the trees in the area i was able to identify by the name of schinus molle, and another as a saucer magnolia tree.
There had definitely been a lot more abiotic things than biotic things in my list, although that could have been from the fact that perhaps i was not observing hard enough or the fact that it wasn't in a place that was mostly nature. I feel as if though i wasn't quiet enough, because i was jotting things down in my notebook so i wouldn't forget them, but would like to do this assignment again, perhaps in a more secluded area next time. Or maybe even do it in the same area but at different times of the day and at different times throughout the year.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
My ecological footprint
For my homework, i had to figure out my ecological footprint, which would be estimated in amount of earths it would take to sustain the life i lived if everyone lived the way i did. To live the life I live, you would need 4.1 earths. I found this out using www.footprintnetwork.org/calculator. Most of my ecological footprint comes from the services which i feel i need such as driving rather than using public transportation. Things which I could do to decrease the number of earth needed to live a life like mine would be to purchase products with less packaging, use solar panels for the majority of household electricity usage, or use more public transportation.
Biography
Hi there, my name is Eduardo and I am your host for this blog. I am currently attending RCC and have to do this for my environmental science class, so this blog will be somewhat mostly science related. I was born in Riverside and have lived here the past 20 years (boring, right?). I applied to major in environmental engineering, although I am beginning to lean more towards oceanography or environmental science, mainly because I don't want to be having to do math my whole life, even though its inevitable. I currently work at a pet shop, and i love it! Thats probably due to the fact that i have a cool boss and work with some of my closest friends too. I've got a dog named Steak and a snake without a name (help me name him!) as well as a saltwater tank I am currently working on. I've got two brothers and two sisters, with me being the middle child.
Everything interests me, i love learning, i don't think i'll ever stop going to school or stop trying to learn something new. I feel like a loser for saying this but i love spending time online because i can get lost in just reading or looking up random stuff. I used to play rugby up until recently, due to injury. I'm interested in this class because it seems as if though I'm always interested in learning about the environment, and like I said, I liked learning. Plus i would like to find out ways in which i can have less of an impact on the environment, I find it selfish to take without giving back, and if I can't give back to the environment, the least i could do is take less. I would like to learn this semester about impacts we have on earth that we don't commonly know about (example: how many bathtubs of water does it take to make just one pound of beef?).
Everything interests me, i love learning, i don't think i'll ever stop going to school or stop trying to learn something new. I feel like a loser for saying this but i love spending time online because i can get lost in just reading or looking up random stuff. I used to play rugby up until recently, due to injury. I'm interested in this class because it seems as if though I'm always interested in learning about the environment, and like I said, I liked learning. Plus i would like to find out ways in which i can have less of an impact on the environment, I find it selfish to take without giving back, and if I can't give back to the environment, the least i could do is take less. I would like to learn this semester about impacts we have on earth that we don't commonly know about (example: how many bathtubs of water does it take to make just one pound of beef?).
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