Tori

Week Four:  Geothermal Energy Geothermal energy is composed of heat trapped inside of the Earth. If you were to dig a large hole in the Earth, the deeper you went, the warmer it would become.Geothermal energy that is currently used either takes form in Geothermal power plants or Geothermal heat pumps. The general idea behind a geothermal power plant is that the heat trapped deep inside of the Earth is used to to generate steam and ultimately make electricity. This works by first drilling wells one to two miles deep in the Earth's surface. Hot water is then pumped from the wells under very high pressure. Once it reaches the surface, the pressure is dropped drastically causing the water to turn to steam. The steam is then used to spin a turbine. The turbine is connected to a generator creating energy. The steam is then allowed to cool in a cooling tower, causing it to condense and turn back to water. This water is pumped back into the Earth, where it will ultimately be used to begin the process again. Due to the need for hot water from the Earth, geothermal power plants are generally found near hot springs, geysers, or volcanic activity. Geothermal heat pumps are a much smaller operation than geothermal power plants, and are used to collect water close to the Earth's surface to be used in a local building. They can serve the purpose of either heating water for the building or heating the building itself. More residential uses include heating and cooling homes, and heating swimming pools. Heat transfer is accomplished by pumping either water or a refrigerant (a special fluid used in geothermal heating) under the Earth's surface where the temperature is somewhere from 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (around ten feet under). However, in areas with limited space this can vary due to the installation of vertical pumps, as well as in some areas with different ground temperatures. In the winter time, the water absorbs heat from the ground and is pumped back up, working with the regular heating system to bring heat to the building. During the summer when it is hot, this process can be reversed to help cool buildings. In detail, first the water or refrigerant moves through a loop of pipes. When the water starts out cold in the winter, it moves through the underground piece of the pipes and gathers heat from the Earth. It is then used to transfer heat to the building. The water or refrigerant then becomes cool again, and is pumped back into the ground to begin the process again. In the summer, to run the process in reverse, the warm water is pumped underground where it transfers excess heat into the Earth surrounding the pipes. The cooler water is then used to cool the building. The history of geothermal energy use dates back thousands of years, and it becoming more popular and efficient in modern times. In ancient civilizations like the Romans, Chinese, and Native Americans, hot mineral springs were utilized in the bathing, eating, and cooking processes. While this is less complicated than energy use in modern times, it illustrates a foundation of the idea. Now, wide geothermal energy use is popular in both Iceland and an area in the pacific known as the "Ring of Fire". In Iceland, water from hot springs is used to heat water and buildings on a large scale basis. This is also the case in the "Ring of Fire", but to an even greater extent. This geographic area has a large amount of magma close to the Earth's surface, causing the water beneath the surface to get very hot. In class during the week, we looked at both the problems that we are causing because of our energy usage and different types of renewable energy sources. Geothermal energy was briefly discussed as a source of renewable energy, but was not the main focus of the day. I've known about sources like wind, solar, tidal, and geothermal energy for a while, but I never actually knew the details about how geothermal energy is collected or what it truly is. We went over different ways to collect energy, like by burning fossil fuels or using solar panels, and from this I decided I wanted to research and learn more about different fields of renewable energy sources that could be most efficient in certain geographic areas! I think that this is really cool because it isn't just a large scale thing, individual people and houses can implement it as well! The video below provides a visual example in both diagrams and real footage to show how a geothermal heat pump can work. It explains how the pumps work for both heating and cooling, and shows how they are installed. It gives real examples of buildings using geothermal heat pumps later in the video, and also explains that they can be used anywhere in the world, though they have varying levels of efficiency and cost. It also shows a diagram illustrating hat both vertical and horizontal pumps can be installed, depending on the amount of space that a property has. media type="youtube" key="y_ZGBhy48YI" width="560" height="315" align="center" Week Three: Humane Farming Association The Humane Farming Association is a group dedicated to the protection of farm animals. The main focus of the group is to combat the harms caused by large scale factory farms. The group was founded in 1985 and currently is composed of 250,000 members. Its primarily goals regarding factory farming are to combat abuse of farm animals, protect consumers from the misuse of antibiotics, hormones, and other various chemicals used by factory farming companies, and to protect the environment from the harmful impacts of factory farming. The Humane Farming Association has utilized multiple methods to accomplish its goals, with its most widely known and successful being the National veal Boycott. Other methods that they have used include anti-cruelty investigations, national media campaigns, emergency care and refuge for abused farm animals, legislation, and educational programs to inform today's youth. The National Veal Boycott is claimed to currently be the most successful animal rights boycott that takes place in the United States. In 2016, the boycott was responsible for reducing per capita veal consumption in the United States to an all time low. In 1986, when the National Veal Campaign instituted by the association was first commenced, US annual veal consumption was at 3.4 million. Veal consumption was also the most rapidly expanding meat industry, with production matching the increasing demand. Today, after thirty years of extensive campaigning, veal consumption has dropped to less that 0.5 million annually. The National Veal campaign has worked by including television ads and full page newspaper ads in papers as large as the New York Times.

The Humane Farming Association's method of combating farm animal abuse and cruelty is through its foundation of the Suwanna Ranch.The Suwanna Ranch is an animal refuge operated by the Humane Farming Association. It is the largest farm animal refuge in the world and is composed of over seven square miles of land. Each year, hundreds of abused and neglected animals are taken care of and rehabilitated here. This work has earned the refuge national recognition. The Humane Farming Association is also the only national animal protection organization that has never turned away an abused farm animal that was seized due to cruelty. Suwanna has been able to provide a much needed place for permanent and temporary care of seized farm animals, which has made a huge impact because now law enforcement has motivation to crack down on animal cruelty against farm animals, whereas previously even if they had there was often nowhere for the animals to be sent. This week we learned about the dangers that factory farming poses to us, animals, and the environment. While much of what we saw related to what people are doing that is wrong, or small individual sacrifices, this organization illustrates that there are large movements in existence for the purpose of combating factory farms. The Humane Farming Association has had a large scale impact on American meat production in the veal sector and has been successful in both raising awareness for the issues associated with factory farming and protecting some individual animals. We also learned that cutting our own meat consumption can do wonders for the planet. This organization has for thirty years been promoting this ideal, being particularly successful in the veal sector. The video below was created by the Humane Farming Association depicting the Suwanna ranch. It begins by briefly showing the harm and confinement imposed on farm animals by factory farms. While these images play, there is also a brief explanation provided as to how these animals often end up being rescued and brought to Suwanna ranch. The remainder and majority of the video then gets into clips of different types of animals being rehabilitated/living on Suwanna ranch, and shows some of the facilities of the ranch. I love this video because it shows how many of these animals are able to recover and live normally/happily after the abuse that they have sustained! media type="youtube" key="kxrJrhDg2lY" width="560" height="315" align="center"

Week Two:

The Water Crisis  Often times, organizations setting out with the original goal to provide clean drinking water and water pumps to underdeveloped communities eventually abandon the pumps after they break, or leave the area so that no one is there to maintain the reliable water source. An organization known as The Water Project has addressed this issue and has the goal of creating sustainable water sources in underdeveloped areas. While many organizations measure their success through the number of water pumps that they have set up in areas, The Water Project measures their success not through the total number, but the current number of pumps that are functional and being used.The water pumps set up by this organization have all been focused in Africa.

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 The link above provides access to The Water Project’s official website. The page directly attached provides a map of each of the locations where The Water Project has created an accessible water source. Zooming in on each of the areas reveals a larger number of pumps than originally visible on the map. It also provides specific detail on the water sources created in four African areas. The Water Project has thus far been able to achieve its goals in Southeastern Kenya by implementing sand dams, digging wells with hand pumps, creating hand-washing stations, and rainwater catchment projects. In Western Kenya, many wells with hand pumps had previously been created, but became dysfunctional. Here, the Water Project focuses on fixing them or, if impossible, creating new pumps. In Western Uganda, dug wells are so far the only development in cleaner drinking water, which aid communities previously dependent on contaminated water or long walks. In Sierra Leone, well rehabilitation and new boreholes with hand pumps are the focus. To support each of these projects and the overall goals of the organization, The Water Project relies on donations. Outreach is also focused on the sustainability of a reliable education in affected communities. Providing a stable source of water can promote this, thus creating a foundation to build upon in these growing communities. During class this week, we did an activity illustrating the amount of water on Earth that is actually available to us as drinking water compared to the total amount of water present on the Earth. We continued to watch a video that displayed the issue of water scarcity, and were taught that water scarcity is believed by many to be a leading conflict in the modern world. This current event illustrates that while there is fighting and there ignorance regarding the scarcity of water, people are out there making an active effort to fix the lessen the problem and help other humans. While water scarcity is a problem, there are still steps that we can take to alleviate the struggle that many people face towards finding safe, drinkable water. Week One: Sustainability Question 1: After watching WALL-E, use your own background knowledge to define sustainability in your own words. Sustainability is the ability to maintain a livable environment on the Earth.

Question 2: What are the next steps for the new settlers? That is, if you were to colonize an area in this condition, what are some of the first major issues & solutions that need to be accomplished for successful & sustainable future? The settlers would first need to begin to compress the garbage to limit the amount of space that it takes up. This would allow them more ad cleaner space to plant crops and plants and to build permanent shelter. They would then need to begin to plant crops to create a food source on Earth and plants to undergo photosynthesis and create oxygen. This would increase oxygen levels and create a more livable climate. They would also need to create shelter for themselves to be able to safely live on the land. Furthermore, they would need to find a natural water source for themselves and the plants if they wish to permanently inhabit the area.