Article Summary

Reducing Energy Consumption and Creating a Conservation Culture in Organizations: A Case Study of One Public School District is an article written by Chelsea Schelly, Jennifer E. Cross, William S. Franzen, Pete Hall, and Stu Reeve. This article researches two high schools from the same school district with different energy consumption levels. The average dollar amount of money being spent towards energy usage totals out to be around 6 billion dollars annually. The researchers state that more money being spent on energy than is being spent on text books and computers combined. The study found that an older, energy costly high school could still conserve energy by implementing energy saving tactics as simple as reducing light usage, unplugging electronics while not being used in the class room etc. The second high school was newly built and more structurally energy efficient. Researchers found that the newer high school was less likely to implement energy reducing tactics because the building itself was already energy efficient by itself. If a school district wants to save on energy without rebuilding its whole infrastructure, there are behavioral tasks that can be done to reduce the amount of energy being produced. 

This article talked a lot about the air quality in the Central Valley. A local football coach mentions that many of his players are using inhalers because they can't breathe and the fact that they have to change practice times during bad air days. He remembers being able to see the Sierra Nevada mountains, but passenger vehicles and trucks moving farm products through the valley have really changed things here.California sets tougher emissions standards than national standards. A California air regulator is ready to fight the president's pollution standards, and would like to see flexibility for automakers.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/04/16/emissions-fight-pits-california-against-detroit/519587002/

Fracking has been the nation's trend and has been increasing our economy ever since the rise. Currently, with new technology and economics have some natural gas companies existing their field and transitioning into solar and wind energy due to the fact its becoming cheaper and it's much easier to install. This change was caused by technological advances, and climate change. On the other side, some companies in Arizona are claiming that natural gas is more reliable to lean on, since it can be available 24/7 unlike solar power. But with constant research, studies have shown the cost per kilowatt with wind is three cents, while gas is four cents. Overall, the government is trying to push natural gas companies into cleaner energy. For example, California closed down three gas factories to move towards cleaner energy. Many people are realizing there are different routes companies can go for energy. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/business/energy-environment/natural-gas-power.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FGas%20(Fuel)&action=click&contentCollection=energy-environment&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection ;

To reduce global warming, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions needs to happen. The International Energy Agency reported that carbon dioxide emissions from the use of coal, and natural gas increased 1.4 percent globally in 2017. This alarming report translates to adding 170 million new cars on the roads worldwide. The energy agency reports that there are several reasons for this increase. First reason listed in this article is the rise of emissions in Asia. Roughly about 2/3’s of 2017 emissions came from Asia. China alone is responsible for one-quarter of industrial greenhouse gases. Another reason for the rise is the renewable energy growth that isn’t growing fast enough. Wind, solar, and hydro-power grew fast in 2017 but not fast enough to clean up our air. Demand for oil is rising. More people are opting to buying bigger cars such as SUV’s. Lastly, energy efficiency efforts are slowing down.       

This article is about how important tropical forests are in climate change.  Due to the amount of trees, they "contain about 25% of the world's carbon." As a result of this, when trees from these forest are cut down, there is a large increase in carbon emissions. Deforestation can also impact the climate. Since trees transpire, when large amounts are cut down there is a decrease in rainfall, which can affect food production and temperature. A  decrease in water can then result in less trees in these forests as well as other plant growth. 

This article shared interesting information as mentioned above and was easy to read and straight to the point. It was able to cover the topic without repeating itself and was still thorough. It was an enjoyable read.

https://globalforestatlas.yale.edu/climate-change/climate-change-and-tropical-forests

This article is about the water cycle. What I really liked about this article was that they explained the water cycle in an easy way but still in a very informative way. The main points were to illustrate the reader how the water cycle works and how it developed over time and how the water cycle will look like in the future. It showed me how the water cycle affects everyones life now and especially in the future, for example because the global sea level changes and will keep changing in the future. 

The scholarly article that I chose to read is titled, Endangered Species Database May Have Misclassified Hundreds of Animals. I chose this article because I have always been fascinated with how it is that scientists identify whether or not a species is endangered and at risk of going extinct. This article talks about how the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resource’s which is otherwise known as the IUCN, may have misclassified the threats to many animals in their Red List of Threatened Species. It says that these miscalculations can be severe as it may leave animals who are endangered off of the list and put them at an even greater risk of becoming extinct due to the lack of protection that they require in order to continue reproducing. Furthermore, the articles states that these miscalculations occur because the system that the IUCN has in place for assessing species are outdated. Outdated in the sense that the IUCN relies on old maps. Rather than using satellite and aerial imagery to be able to more accurately detect deforestation and human settlement. As a result, the Red List misses important geographical features such as deforestation and changes in elevations that can in fact affect where certain species live within a certain range. Thus, leaving the IUCN with inaccurate numbers.  
Website: http://www.sciencemag.org.hmlproxy.lib.csufresno.edu/news/2016/11/endangered-species-database-may-have-misclassified-hundreds-animals

According to Peter Kandela's article, “Pollution”, from The Lancet, a European medical journal, pollution does not just affect the air but also the noise-levels of the environment. The more congestion there is of people and automobiles, the more pollution witch results in an increase in noise-levels. Congestion also leads to “lack of accessory nutritional factors, exercise, sunlight, and fresh air”. The article discussed various problems that London has had because of pollution throughout history. London saw a variety of problems such as illnesses due to issues with the sewer system, and noise pollution which resulted in, according to the author, “the loss of efficiency and energy” of the workplace. It was an interesting read and had many of the health and environmental consequences, due to pollution, that we learned about in our course.

https://goo.gl/1AGhZv

Hydraulic Fracturing is the process of oil and natural gas production technique that involves the injection of millions gallons of water. It also involves chemicals and sand underground at a very high pressure creating fractures in the underlying geology to allow natural gas to escape. This is a process I wrote about for this class in a writing assignment and it was very interesting. You understand the benefits, but you also see the affects it brings to the community with the chemicals it is releasing to everyone especially to the workers. As I have said before, the problems with Fracking are the chemicals that are released and how it hurts the environment. A huge question community people have is that does the process affect drinking water? Of course the community would be concerned with this issue as anybody would. It is an issue that continues o be brought up as the community will always bring this issue up. I find this topic very interesting because of everything I found out about it. 

https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/energy-development/fracking/

The article I chose talked about the endangered species both in this country and in Canada, focusing on the roles of science and policy in determining which species needs protection. The article talks about how each country should mirror each other strengths to back their acts stronger. The article also mentions the similarities and differences between the two agencies and what criteria is used to determine what animal is considered endangered.  




http://web.b.ebscohost.com.hmlproxy.lib.csufresno.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=7a4c7e5b-f694-482c-917f-46b9e2f55462%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=asn&AN=90206955&anchor=AN0090206955-10

This article talked about the endangered species in Illinois. Also it talked about which animals are enraged, and threatened animals, insects, and plants. I was astonished to see that the butterfly was threatened. This article just explained which organisms are endangered and which ones are threatened. it gives the person reading the article the organisms names and if they are threatened, or if they are endangered. this article is a checklist of which endangered species that are in Illinois. In class we discussed about the endangerment of species among other things.  

This article is talks about how wildfires have put so much pollution into the air. The Thomas Fire is only one of the six major fires that have destroyed more than 1,000 structures. These fires are making history with how badly they have affected the land and air causing immense amount of pollution. 
https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/11/us/california-wildfires/index.html