Physics Project

For my Physics project, I will be drawing three pieces. I believe art does not need to be colorful but needs to be understood. Art has a hidden meaning behind every drawing, and it is up to the viewer on how they interpret it. The world as we know it is under a lot of pressure to create a vaccine to cure the Coronavirus. And with all of this pressure, the world needs a lot of help in order to survive. So for the first piece I wanted to draw something that showed how desperate the world is for help.

Over the break, my dad showed me a photo of a box of medical masks for 150$. I was shocked that people had the audacity to profit off of the pandemic that is upon us. Watching the news, I was pressured to wear masks where ever I had to go. My father was working during this pandemic, and in order to save money, I went with him. My mask became my insurance, and the 12oz bottle of hand sanitizer; which is retailed of about 100 dollars on eBay became my best friend. I was constantly told to keep my mask on, so I thought if it was so important, I should draw one. So for my next piece, I decided to draw a mask.

 For my last piece, I wanted to do something big. Every day I would go on the news and see the infection count grow higher than the day before. And with more infections came more death. The bravest among us who are battling the virus are dying. My passion to become a doctor only grew when I saw that so many brave men and women are willing to risk their lives for the good of others. When I get older I hope I can be just as brave as those men and women who are fighting for the sake of others. For the last piece, I wanted to show how much doctors are suffering in order to cure the world
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Everglades National Park

The National Park is a 1.5 million acre park in Miami, Florida. The park is home to many wildlife including the Florida Panther, West Indian Manatee, and the endangered leather back turtle. It costs between eight to fifteenth dollars for a single person and twenty five dollars for a motor vehicle for entry to the park. The Everglades is in the southern portion of Florida and is a wetlands of the tropical variety.

The Everglades ecosystem is only found in the National and no where else on the planet. Efforts to have to the Everglades land converted into a National Park were initiated by Ernest Coe in 1928 and finally his plans passed legislation in 1934. Due to the parks size it has three entrances and is spread over three cities.

Agricultural pollution

Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The main causes of Agricultural pollution are Pesticides and Fertilizers, Contaminated water, Soil erosion, Livestock, and Pests and Weeds. Pesticides, ammonia, heavy metals, fertilizers, and oils from farms and farm machinery destroy and kill animals, aquatic life, and health problems when they enter drinking water.

Pesticides and Fertilizers have to deal with local pests and invasive species causing them to be contaminated with chemicals that are not found in nature. Once they are sprayed, it does not disappear completely.

Contaminated water is used for irrigation and most of the water we use comes from groundwater reservoirs. While plenty of it is clean, other sources are polluted with organic compounds and heavy metals due to the disposal of industrial agricultural waste.

Soil erosion is also a major factor of agricultural pollution because of its topmost layer which holds all the chemicals erodes into rivers, lakes, and streams.

Livestock is grown in poor cramped conditions where it's fed very unusual diets and sent to slaughterhouses on a regular basis. Slaughterhouses create emissions into the air which accounts for a large contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.

        Pests and weeds are exotically grown crops which decrease natural species. With the arrival of new crops, native species have to deal with new diseases, pests, and weeds. Invasive species then destroy local vegetation, altering the ecosystem permanently. 

Galapagos' Giant Tortoise

Christian Bermeo


Galapagos' giant tortoise has been extinct for over 100 years. A giant tortoise was found on the island of Fernandina, Ecuador. The tortoise was rushed quickly to a breeding center in Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador. The female tortoise was found by a group of biologists. She was around 112 years old.

A giant tortoise average size is five-feet long with a nine-inch neck. The average weight of these tortoises can be around 550 pounds, depending on its gender. The tortoise spends 16 hours resting and the remaining hours eating or drinking. They rest for a long period because they can last one year without food or water. Mating season usually tends to be from January to May. The female tortoise would move to a nesting area to lay her eggs. A female can lay 2 through 16 tennis size eggs. The one female they recently found had stored sperm for many years. The reason why she did not give birth is that she was lost the islands and there was no male guardian for their family.

Charles Darwin believed tortoises' neck is proof of evolution. Some tortoise has longer necks than others, and the reason why is because food resources can be mostly found from hanging tree branches. Most grass on the island is damaged because the island has active volcanos.

Santa Cruz breeding center produced 1,000 giant tortoises in three months. Species are considered endangered when they have 2,500 or fewer individuals. The tortoises are working their way out of being endangered, and I believe they will achieve their goal in a year.

Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park is an American national park in the Navajo and Apache counties along the northeastern area of Arizona. The name comes from the parks feature of one of the world’s largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, and the chargeable area of the park covers about 230 square miles. The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially its fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch, which was about 225 million years ago. The remains containing the fossil logs are part of the widespread and colorful Chinle Formation, from which the Desert gets its name. 

Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified wood is a fossil, and it forms when plant material is buried by remains and protected from decay due to oxygen and organisms. Some specimens of petrified wood are such accurate preservations that people do not realize they are fossils until they pick them up and are shocked by their weight. These specimens with near-perfect preservation are unusual, and rare. However, specimens that exhibit clearly recognizable bark and woody structures are very common. In August 1916, the National Park Service was created by the Organic Act, it was approved by Congress and later signed by President Woodrow Wilson. This federal bureau within the Department of the Interior was now responsible for protecting the 40 national parks and monuments then in existence and those yet to be established. The purpose of the service was to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. Animal life at Petrified Forest includes amphibians, birds, insects, spiders, mammals, and reptiles. Birds, lizards and rabbits are seen most frequently, though seasons and weather play a large role in determining what animals are active. Many animals in the park are nocturnal, which is an adaptation not only to avoid high summer daytime temperatures, but also to avoid certain predators.

The Painted Desert

Furthermore, the top attraction of the forest is called the Painted Desert. It is a U.S. desert in the badlands which is apart Four Corners area running from near the east end of Grand Canyon National Park into Petrified Forest National Park. It is most easily accessed in the north portion of Petrified Forest National Park. The Painted Desert is known for its brilliant and varied colors, that not only include the more common red rock, but also shades of lavender.

-Jonathan Oniyama

9/11

On September 11, 2001, the Twin Towers were attacked by two airplanes and collapsed. The death poll was about 3,000 people dead. When the towers collapsed, the were effects pretty harsh. The effects were that the dust clouds affected people's health like it affected the sizes of newborn babies and people were diagnosed with cancer later in their years. Studies show that pregnant women who were at the beginning of their pregnancy and who were around the collapse of 9/11, had a higher probability of premature delivery. Another concern was asbestos. Asbestos was used in the construction materials to make them stronger and heat resistant. But it also causes cancer and respiratory diseases. Reports show that an estimated 410,000 to 525,000 people were exposed to the toxic dust. 

Donora Smog 1948

Donora Smog 1948


        On October 27th 1948 the town of Donora woke up in a thick yellow fog. Considered as one of the worst air pollution in the US history, in 5 days half of the population was effected by the gases in the fog and 5 people died. But how did this happen?
        Donora was known as one of the biggest cities with Steel Zinc Works and American Steel and Wire plant industries. These companies produced emissions of poisonous gases and fine matter that with a temperature inversion produced this terrible smog. After the rainstorm, that brought away the fog, the United States Public Health Service launch an investigation. In the end the industries were not completely blamed because of their economic power, but they also put the blame on the temperature inversion and other sources of pollution. The outcomes from this disaster were both negative and positive. The negative’s were: 5 people died in the 5 days, half of the population was sick and in the following years the number of deaths for cardiovascular diseases and cancer increased significantly. The positive’s were: after the disaster the government started to take air pollution more seriously and they started to create new laws like the Clean air act in 1963.
       In conclusion the Donora smog was a terrible disaster that killed thousands of people and effected the life of the Donora’s citizens in the fllowing years. Fortunately, from this disaster the government started to take air pollution more seriously and new laws were made to put the situation under control.

Love Canal Disaster

Love Canal Disaster

The Love Canal disaster was supposed to be a dream community. The vision belonged to a man named William T. Love. In 1834 he started to dig a canal between upper and lower Niagara River to provide cheap hydroelectric power to the area. Only after a mile in the project it was shut down due to lack of funding. By the 1920's the canal was used as a chemical dumpsite. Specifically it was used by Hooker Chemical Corporation. Around twenty-two-thousand tons of chemicals were dumped into the canal (1943-1953). Soon after in 1953 the Hooker Chemical Company sealed the landfill with a clay cap to contain chemical waste. Afterwards they sold the land for one dollar to the Niagara Board of Education. Then the city built an elementary school on that land. When the school was built; it started a community with homes and residents on the landfill site. Unfortunately this caused major problems to the community. Cracks were appearing on the streets and people were getting harmed by the chemicals leaking out. Lois Gibbs formed the Love Canal Homeowner Association in order to raise awareness to the government. President Carter took notice and addressed a federal state of emergency; provided all residents a relocation permanently. legislative acts like the clean air and water acts were established to prevent this tragedy. 

John Muir is a well known environmental activist who fought for the conservation of the U.S. Forests. He did a lot of his activism through writing. He was a well known author. He is known as “The Father of National Parks” because of how influential his writing about nature was. His actions led to the opening of multiple national parks. 

John Muir was born on April 21, 1838 in Dunbar, a Scottish city.At age 11, he and his parents emigrated to Wisconsin. Even though he had no formal schooling, he got accepted to University of Wisconsin. He studied Botany and and geology but was never got his degree.  

In his twenties, Muir began to work odd jobs. While working at a factory he had a life changing eye accident where a sharp tool went straight through his eye. This caused him to look at the world differently. He decided to quit his job and explore the wilderness. Muir walked 1000 miles from Indiana to Florida to explore his love for nature. From Florida, Muir took a ship to California where he found Yosemite Park. He fell in love with it and studied its geological and botanical structures. He wrote poetry about it and it got extremely popular. His first Printed Essay ended up in the New York Tribune. He wrote essays that pushed for Yosemite to become a national park which it did in 1890. Other National Parks he helped bring about are the, Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Mt. Rainier National Parks. 

Also, in 1892 John Muir started the Sierra Club, an environmentalist organization with over 3.8 million members worldwide today. He had a famous three day camping trip with the President, Theodore Roosevelt and helped change some of his environmental policies. Muir also traveled to the Amazon at 73 years old to study its fauna. 

Muir died on December 24th, 1914 and left behind two children. He also left behind an extensive environmentalist legacy. He wrote over 300 articles and 12 books about his love for nature and how it needs to be preserved for future generations.

Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state is an icon and backbone of the Pacific North West. The park’s size of 369 sq. miles supports an array of wildlife, plant life and even supports humans through the glaciers. Before it was officially a National Park in 1899 the area was used for more than 9,000 years by Native Americans who used the land for natural resources. The park’s continued importance has shown throughout time, the park was even used as a training ground for the U.S. Army mountain divisions during WW2. More modern times have shown how crucial the park is for the Puget Sound region, consisting of 4.2 million people. Nine rivers that flow from the mountain’s glaciers provide clean water to this large mass of people. This abundance of water also supports the park’s enormous population of flora and fauna. With an estimated 964 plant species and 280 animal species, it would be catastrophic if something were to happen to the water. Along with this, the land is also used for recreation by climbers and for research by a plethora of scientists. Scientists utilize the park’s diverse features including the volcano, glaciers, plant life, and wildlife for research this research can help provide insight on environmental problems that the world faces. This picturesque park should not only be recognized for its beauty but also for how critical it is for the Pacific Northwest and for all living things in the area.

Endangered Species Act

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The Endangered Species Act protects endangered and threatened wildlife by requiring federal agencies to ensure the actions they authorize, fund, or carry out do not jeopardize the animals on the endangered list. The act also prohibits the "taking" of species on the list and it protects the habitat of the endangered wildlife. It originally started nationally when congress passed the Endangered Preservation Act in 1966. Then 70 nations signed CITES ( Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) in 1973, which led to the Endangered Species act being signed in the same year. The Endangered Species Act saved about 172 species from going extinct and the conditions of the animals on the endangered list keeps improving the longer that they are on the list. However, the Trump administration has weakened the act by making it easier to remove animals from the endangered list,  lessening the protections on endangered species, and allowing federal agencies to conduct economic evaluations when deciding to protect a species. These amendments to the act are as recent as August 2019. It allows companies to make a profit without worrying about the effects of their business on the environment.

Exxon Spill of 1989

In May 24, 1989, The Exxon Valdez crashed into Bligh Reef and caused 11 million gallons of oil to spill in the ocean.  The spill covered about 1,300 miles of coastline after a storm past and caused all the oil to move around and to get stuck on the coast of Prince William Sound in Alaska. The reason why the ship crashed was because the captain of the ship left to go drink and left an inexperience third mate go and drive the ship. Trying to move past ice in the water they tried to travel through the Bligh Reef. Since the third mate couldn't make the turn fast enough the ship crashed. The single hull ship design was a big flow since it meant one breach and all the oil would be able to escape onto the ocean. After months of cleaning and 2.5 billion dollars worth of "restoring the coast line" Exxon was held responsible for the mess and the hundreds of thousand wild life lives that were lost. Today there are still traces of the oil spill that can be found. In certain sights if you can dig deep enough there is still oil. Also less than half the wildlife has been restored almost 31 years later after the incident. The Oil Pollution act of 1990 caused the retirement of single hull oil tankers and harsher penalties for companies that causes oils spills in the ocean.

The Cuyahoga River Fire

Cristian Lucero


The Cuyahoga River is located in Ohio that runs through the city of Cleveland and feeds into Lake Erie. The river has caught on fire multiple times dating back all the way back to 1868. Factories near by have dumped out all their wastes like oil into the river polluting it. The river caught on fire on June 22, 1969 due to oil slicks in the river and the sparks of a passing train. The fire caused $50,000 in damage which was not a lot compared to previous fires. After the fire occurred, more awareness about pollution came about and congress passed the National Environment Policy Act in 1970 which helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency. The fire encouraged people to take care of the environment and so one of the first legislation's that the Agency put out was the Clean Water Act. This act mandated that all rivers throughout the US to be hygienic enough that swimmers and fish can use it by 1983. 50 years later and the river is now inhabited by many fish and is used for rowing, fishing and more. The fire brought awareness not just in Ohio but throughout the US and helped sanitize and clean up rivers.

James Lovelock

              We all familiar with existing ecological problems such as pollution or extra carbon dioxide at the atmosphere. James Lovelock is a one hundred years old scientist that shows a completely different way of saving humanity and looking at the earth's climate. Graduated from Manchester University, worked as Medical research council and was a part of NASA planetary research team. While working in NASA, James proposed the Gaia theory.

Gaia theory states that all the physical things on the earth are interconnected and dependent on each other. The same things keep the same temperature of the earth through out. Example - plants take out carbon dioxide out of atmosphere and form clouds. This way plants cool the earth down. When it gets cold - they die. When with no refrigeration earth warms us again, plants reappear and cool down the earth again. This way earth could be compared to a living organism because of ability to maintain homeostasis, but it is not a living thing. James also believes that moving to mega cities, switching to nuclear power, controlling earth's temperature and letting AI take over will buy us some time or even save our lives. James loves science, and I hope that we will see more people with fresh ideas a bout saving the world and us.

Grand Canyon

Jayden Hibbert

The Grand Canyon is a deep gorge in Arizona, formed by the Colorado River. It was cut out by vertical river erosion through the multi-coloured layers of the high Colorado plateau. The Grand Canyon is  277 miles long,18 miles wide and it is more than a mile deep. It is referred to as one of the Natural Wonders of the World and attracts over 5,000,000 visitors every year. The Grand Canyon Skywalk was opened in March 2007 and is a horseshoe-shaped, glass walkway that allows tourists to walk 70 feet past the edge of the Grand Canyon wall and stand 4,000 feet above the Colorado River. The canyon was and is also home to many natives. Such as the ancestral Pueblo people followed by Paiute, Navajo, Zuni and Hopi tribes, but the Havasupai people now claim the Grand Canyon as their ancestral home. According to tribal history, the Havasupai have lived in and around the canyon for more than 800 years.

DAVID SUZUKI

        

                                                 

David Suzuki

        David Suzuki is a renowned geneticist, broadcaster and environmentalist of Japanese-Canadian origin. He was born on March 24, 1936, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  After high school, Suzuki attended Amherst College, in  Massachusetts, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in biology in 1958. He went on to study at the University of Chicago and in 1961 graduated with a Ph.D. in zoology, becoming a geneticist. Suzuki specialized in meiosis and the study of mutations caused by changes in temperature. In 1979, Suzuki hosted his show 'The Nature of Things" on CBC TV. Suzuki's goal with his show was to translate the confusing and complex scientific language into concepts that the general public could understand.  In this program, he identifies the threats to human and wildlife habitat. Suzuki began focusing on environmental issues when he saw the effects that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on people after WWll.                                           

                             

Suzuki travels the world, examining humans' relationship to the earth. In 1990, he established the David Suzuki Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes solutions to environmental problems. The foundation's priorities are oceans and sustainable fishing, climate change, and clean energy. Towards the end of the 20th century, Suzuki became one of the first major voices to call for action in the fight against global warming. This made him one of Canada's most recognizable and vocal environmentalists. His speeches stress the importance of adopting a more sustainable way of living, to reduce the use of fossil fuels, and to empower people to make a positive change for future generations.

By: Adrian Bonilla

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Over hundreds to thousands of years, tons of trash was allowed to gather together in the Eastern Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California. So much that it became the largest patch of trash in the world, it's sheer size being estimated to be 1.6 million square kilometers, being bigger than many countries in the world. All of this trash is located together because of circular ocean currents called gyres.

Due to the amount of trash polluting the ocean, there have been animals killed because of it in gruesome ways by getting stuck in it. The other reason is because of bioaccumulation caused by animals confusing plastic and other garbage in the ocean for food. Through these events there has been a push to remove trash from the patch. Boyan Slat, the CEO of The Ocean Cleanup has ambitious plans to get rid of half of the garbage patch within 10 years. While it is uncertain how things will play out, it's good that there's a push to correct what humans have destroyed. 

Rachel Carson

Luke Amoakoh

Rachel Carson was a biologist and writer who became widely regarded as the mother of environmentalism. She was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania on May 27, 1907 and grew up on a farm, exposed very early to animal life. She entered Pennsylvania College for Women and did graduate work at Johns Hopkins University. She started to work for a doctoral degree but quit in 1934 to obtain a better paying job that could support her family because of the Great Depression. After becoming an aquatic biologist, she became a writer and wrote many of which would become bestsellers. "Silent Spring," the book she is best known for, talked about the harmful effects that pesticides and fertilizers had on those that consumed them. Bird populations were the main ones being affected, including bald eagles. Carson's views on the use of pesticide was harshly criticized by many scientists. She was told that what she was stating was scientifically inaccurate. However, she was backed by President John F. Kennedy and her books sold were great successes. After she died of breast cancer on April 14, 1964, she was eventually recognized nationally as being right about her claims. The use of DDT (the main pesticide she talked about in "Silent Spring") was eventually banned. The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act were passed. What she started launched the modern environmental movement. She made it clear to all scientists to not completely rely on the man-made inventions of the time.

Sir David Attenborough

Christian Bermeo


Sir David Attenborough loves exploring the natural world. He received a degree as a Natural Scientist at Cambridge University, the second most competitive school in England. He became a television producer at British Broadcasting Corporation. He joined up with Jack Lester, a reptile curator, and created a famous television serious named, "Zoo Quest". In this serious, he would have live footage of rare animals, for example, birds, pythons, chimpanzees, etc. He also invented the "Natural History Documentary", where he would travel the world, defining the wonders in natural life. He also ran into the world's tallest plant and renamed plants under his authorization. His series was watched by over 500 million people.

In 2015, he realized that natural life is in danger because of how humans are taking care of the world. He demanded people, such as President Obama, to publish his documents on live television. He wanted his documents to inspire people to preserve the natural world. In youtube videos, he explained how humans must work with the sun to keep producing life. Go watch his movie on Netflix "A Life On Our Planet" (April 2020).

Yellowstone National Park

Jahari Mitchell



Yellowstone National Park is one of the biggest and oldest National Parks in the United States. It is also home wide population of animals and hot springs such as the old Faithful, which is one of the main attraction for tourist. In my presentation I touched on very briefly the importance of why keeping this National park safe because it gives of just a beautiful image of what this world can produce if it is treated right. I also touched on the animals that live in this area such as the Bobcat which is an carnivorous animal that usually preys on smaller animals such as small deers and rabbits, and the black footed ferret which is one of the many endangered species that dwell within Yellowstone National Park. And these animals bring me back to my point from earlier on how without us keeping our planet clean and safe these animals won’t be able to survive and the beautiful environment that we once knew we won’t be able to see anymore. Finally these are the points I touched on inside of my presentation.

Chernobyl: By Sanjay Ramroop

 Chernobyl is recognized as historically, the world's worst nuclear disaster. With this disaster taking place, in the city of Ukraine housing, a population of about fourteen thousand people left many without homes due to the need to evacuate the area. About four thousand deaths occurred due to radiation exposure, along with three and a half million people exposed to Radiactive nuclides (atoms that contain nuclear energy). Radiation contaminated food sources, making life inhospitable. With efforts to contain the radiation by the soviet government, the sarcophagus was created; which covered the entire nuclear power station. With the sarcophagus now degrading, the government decides to cover the plant with a steel cover; which will stop radiation for escaping for another one hundred years. This plan allows for more people to think of better solutions. While this disaster is noted as being the worst nuclear disaster, the government is constantly looking for more ways to clean up this mess, to stop future mishaps. Now 190 people live just outside the "Zone of Alienation", along with wildlife who occupy the abandoned buildings as their home.

C.E.R.C.L.A : Superfund

C.E.R.C.L.A is an acronym for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. It is commonly known as Superfund. Cercla is a law created by Congress that focuses on cleaning up land contaminated by hazardous waste. A very important law to ensure the safety of our health and the environment. In the making of this law, Congress created the Superfund which is technically a "trust fund". The Superfund was created by taxing chemical and petroleum industries to help compensate for the cost of cleaning up these contaminated lands. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in charge of any use of the Superfund. Money is normally used from the fund when the EPA finds nobody responsible for the damage. Whos exactly liable for contamination of a land? Any previous/present owner or operator of the land, whoever took part in arranging the dumping of wastes, and the transporters who transported the waste to the site. If and when the party responsible isn't able to pay for the cleanup of the hazardous waste, the EPA is authorized to use the Superfund to remedy the cost. The EPA then makes sure that the party eventually reimburses the money used from the Superfund. 

Superfund Site

There are over 1,300 Superfund Sites. Cercla and Superfund help protect not only the Environment but even us citizens, from any releases of hazardous substances created by these waste sites.