Frankie Farina

Biochar is made from a process called pyrolysis, where biomass (waste) is baked without oxygen and is transformed into a dark looking soil. Biochar has been used over centuries and one leading benefit biochar has on the environment is that it's highly effective to help with sequestering carbon, which means it's able to retain nutrients and carbon from being released either through run off or movement of soil. So, biochar has been eminently useful to greatly reduce the Co2 emissions and the effect of greenhouse gases. Another additional benefit biochar can provide that can help communities as well as the environment is the ability to use it as soil for vegetation growth. Since biochar is able to retain the majority nutrients they have, you can use it as soil when growing plants and food, which will allow them to have more richness and exceptional growth rather than using fertilizers or plain soil alone.  

Essentially, the sustainable water future that i would want my region to look like is something pertinent that i find will impact the lives of others, the environment they reside on and the future generations that come after us. I want my region or the majority as least to be aware of how their usage of water is affecting the availability of water needed for others to sustain lives now and future generations. So, I would want to influence others into taking initiative and take action by making changes to the ways they use water, apart of their daily schedule. Even if you alter the way you live by a little bit, it makes a big difference when it includes everyone living around you as well. 

The changes people in my region need to make, that revolve around water usage, shouldn't be required to be major or too challenging. They should be simple small changes that you can incorporate into your daily life that are beneficial for the environment and the communities around us. This can include not letting the water run out of the faucets when brushing your teeth or washing dishes, reducing the amount of water bottles you use and instead get a Brita or any easy device that allows you to filter the water from the tap, taking 5 minute showers, etc. The change my household made that helped to benefit the environment and influence others was the installation of a low flow showerhead. This showerhead had been installed a while back, but it has been very useful for us, nevertheless. Not only have we been saving gallons of water but taking showers have been more efficient because the low flow showerhead is much bigger than the showerhead we had before. Therefore, we are able to take more enjoyable showers, in a small amount of time whilst saving more water.  

The transportation choices we make can affect the engagement in communities because they show what your willing to do for the lives of others and the environment around us based on how get from one place to another. Ultimately, using a car when travelling from point a to point b is an easy option but not the best one because of the high of Co2 emissions it will release, so when opting to use solely cars is a transportation choice your making that shows you don’t engage much into helping out your community. However, when opting to carpool with friends or family or taking public transportations like buses and trains is a much exceptional solution because its like saying instead of taking one car for every person, your taking one car, bus or train with multiple people, so your reducing the amount of cars on the road and reducing the amount of Co2 emissions. Therefore, this transportation choice you make shows that you engage into helping your community and sustaining a better life.

 

Personally, I find my experience or enjoyment will differ while choosing the means of transportation I take when getting somewhere. When driving a car, it may seem that just because it makes it easier to get to places, it will be more enjoyable. You might be right, but I find that taking longer trips, like walking, biking or taking long transit rides, are much more enjoyable because you can take more time to experience the scenery and things around with family and friends like talking a walk in the woods or on a bridge, biking near parks or bike paths and even taking long bus rides and looking out the window to the buildings and people you pass on the way. Although not only can we enjoy the way we get from one place to another, but we also produce little to no Co2 emissions, making a trip worth it. 

The way i can take this a step further is by recycling the paper once more. This can either be done by recycling all the paper used or turning the recycled paper into compost for the soil.

Ultimately, the leading use of smaller dishes tends to help reduce the amount of waste we produce from the food we don't end up eating on our plates. Apart from the environmental benefits, there are additional benefits that come with eating/serving smaller portions. For one, serving small portions of food on small plates can reduce the time spent cleaning them afterwards and this would very useful for people who find it a hassle or if you have a busy schedule. Furthermore, eating small portions of food can consecutively help to control how much food we eat, something i usually struggle with, while also being able to have the food we want but it smaller quantities

Today, I researched about wave and tidal energy for about 60 minutes. Wave and tidal energy is a renewable source that uses the rise and fall of tides to produce electricity. The electricity is produced by tidal generators and barrages or dams that are usually situated near the shores of oceans. When the tides reach high levels, the tidal barrages or dams will open, and water will rush through rapidly. The haste movement of the water will turns the blades of the generator, Then the energy will work its way to the turbine, and will begin to turn as well, thus producing electricity. Additionally, I learned that a fraction of global electricity generation is derived from the renewable energies of the ocean because its high efficiency and predictability is able to harness and convert an abundant amount of energy.

When comparing this renewable energy source to other energy sources, one advantage wave and tidal energy has is that its a highly predictable energy source. This is because tides have a phenomenon that called the tidal cycle, in which it demonstrates the intensity of the tides depending on each season and repeats annually. This phenomenon is caused by the alignments of the sun and moon. This means we can predict in advance when the highest intensity of tides take place. Not only that but, with the highest intensity of tides can produce a high density of energy compared to the other energy sources. However, it is very expensive to build and install the systems needed for wave and tidal energy, compared to the other energy sources and because of the negative impacts it can have on the marine life species, locations are very limited to have these systems. Not only that, but it's considered to be a newer renewable energy source compared to other energy sources, so we usually stick behind the ones we know well. Although, this doesn't mean it's never going to be used. With substantial investments and expanded research done on this energy source, it can eventually be used more frequently.