Sir David Attenborough

 Sir David Attenborough is a British film producer. He was born on May 8, 1926 in London, England.  

Attenborough developed a love for natural science and studied at Cambridge. 

After studying at Cambridge, he was deployed in the British navy for 2 years.

In 1949, Attenborough returned to London and became an editor for an educational publisher.

The next year, Attenborough began a training program with the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), where he eventually became a producer. 

Sir David Attenborough began his production career by broadcasting two shows, a game show called “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral?” and he co-hosted a show called “The Pattern of Animals”Attenborough quickly moved on from those shows because it took animals out of their natural habitat. He launched a show called “Zoo Quest” in 1954, this show filmed animals in the wild as well as in captivity. The show was so successful that it led BBC to launch its own Natural History Unit in 1957. He left the BBC to study Anthropology at the London School of Economics. But returned when he was offered the head position at BBC two in 1965. He went on to produce more and more shows, such as: Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In 1970 he was awarded the Desmond Davis award for his contributions to television. In 1972 he resigned and decides he wanted to produce shows on a freelance basis.

With the many shows he produced on his own, Attenborough has produced and featured in more than 100 TV shows and documentaries. His legacy in British television is so grand that he was knighted in 1985 and was awarded a second knighthood in 2020 at the age of 94.

Sir David Attenborough (aged 94)

• Sir David Attenborough oversaw the first ever colored broadcast in Europe, beating Germany to gain all the bragging rights. 
• He has 2 children and was married from 1950-1997
• Whilst he was filming for one of his shows on a tribe in the Solomon Islands, he fully immersed himself in their culture, where he wore nothing but a loincloth.
• Attenborough was the first to catch the Komodo Dragon on film. 
• Attenborough has named several plants and animals. 
• The flightless beetle, a species of hawk weed that can only be found in the Brecon Beacons, and the Attenborosaurus, a long-necked dinosaur.
• Sir David Attenborough holds the record for the deepest dive on the Great Barrier Reef, where he went 1000 feet below sea level. 
• Sir David does not love all animals. He has a bitter hatred for rats.
• For his Life of Birds documentary, he traveled 256,000 km, that is equivalent to going around the world 10 times.
• He doesn’t own a car because he never passed his drivers test, and he doesn’t like e-mails, he prefers letters. 
• Attenborough has stated that beneath all his production of the wilderness and environmental issues, he wished to inspire people to take care of our beautiful planet. He has inspired millions of people to tackle climate change and the call for protection of the environment.

  

Glacier National Park

"The crown of the continent"

Glacier National Park is a wilderness area in Montana's Rocky Mountains, with glacier-carved peaks and valleys running to the Canadian border.

On May 11, 1910, President William Taft signed a bill into law establishing Glacier National Park.

Glacier straddles the Continental Divide, allowing for extreme weather. That’s because the opposing Pacific and Arctic airs meet at the Divide, creating a dramatic clash of weather.     

Evidence of human use in the area dates back over 12,000 years. Archeological evidence shows human occupation of this landscape dating back to the retreat of the Ice Age glaciers 12,000 years ago.

Home to 71 species of mammals, trails, and a hidden lake.

Cuyahoga River Fire

 Cuyahoga River Fire    

    On June 22, 1969 moments after a train passing over the river the Cuyahoga river was sent ablaze. This not being the first time this has happened. The Cuyahoga river has been on fire many times in its long polluted history.

The fire that occurred in 1969 caused $50,000 worth of damage this is nothing compared to the expenses of the 1952 Cuyahoga river fire incident. After the the fire in 1969, it was brought to the governments attention that this is a problem. In 1970 the Environmental Protection Agency was founded, they later founded the clean water act. 51 years later, the Cuyahoga river is clean and home to many different types of fish.

Wangari Maathai

 

Wangari Maathai a Kenyan politician and environmental activist was born on April 1st, 1940, Nyeri, Kenya and died  September 25, 2011, Nairobi, Kenya.

Mrs. Maathai received a college education in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College) and received her Ph.D. at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. In 2004 Mrs. she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her contributions sustainable development, democracy and peace, making her the first African woman to be awarded it.

To win the award Wangari Maathai came up with the brilliant idea to start the Green Belt Movement, which is a women run organization that helps improve the environment and reduce deforestation. The movement started when streams began drying up and women were struggling to find food, deforestation and realization that the environment needed protection. Mrs. Maathai commenced the Green Belt Movement by encouraging women to plant trees in their environments and by the 21st century over 51 millions trees were planted. By planting the trees Wangari Maathai has provided a fuel source and has reduced the deforestation and desertification in Kenya.

The Green Belt Movement is still active today, on a mission to manage the environment and empower the community, all thanks to Wangari Maathai, who´s vision helped people love their environment, 

Although dead, her legacy still lives on through the millions of people who she has guided and are still willing to keep her vision alive by protecting the environment. 

   The Dust Bowl Disaster

    When strong winds, drought, and clouds of dust consumed nearly 75 percent of the United States between 1931 and 1939. The era became known as the legendary Dust Bowl disaster. The Dust Bowl brought ecological, economic, and human misery to America during a time when it was already suffering under the Great Depression. This picture is showing the height of the dust bowl and how thick it is. People were dying because of this dangerous natural disaster mainly because the dust would go into their lungs causing breathing problems. With this disaster, people lost their jobs, families, and working lives especially farmers. Farmers' crops were destroyed and they became too poor to buy anything from markets. With the way climate change and global warming are changing the Great Dustbowl disaster can occur again and the Great Depression can once again be a major problem in the U.S.

Shenandoah National Park

 As America’s 17th national park, Shenandoah never fails to impress. Located at Luray, Virginia and measuring at 311.09 square miles, Shenandoah National Park was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression. In efforts to provide jobs for struggling Americans, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was made and thousands of workers were sent to Luray, VA to construct the Park we now know as Shenandoah.

After its establishment and formal opening by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, Shenandoah has become home to both hundreds of animals species and plant species, including the Shenandoah Salamander which is an endangered species and cannot be found anywhere else but in Shenandoah and also the beautiful Mountain Laurel shrubs all over the park which were planted by the CCC during their construction. Shenandoah also has Virginia's largest black bear refuge, and is also home to the densest population of black bears in the United States. Also Shenandoah consists of 500 miles of trail including 101 miles from the Appliachian trail and 105 miles of it’s very own 105 Skyline Drive. Which is a road/trail that expands throughout the park with amazing scenery spots and overlooks attracting about a million hikers or enthusiasts yearly.  

But not only that but Shenandoah carries a lot of history behind it’s gigantic land. For it used to be the home to Native Americans who lived on the Blue Ridge Mountains many years ago and to European settlers from the 1700s who used to farm the lands. So Shenandoah is filled with exhibits that teach visitors the culture and the way of life of these people who used to live on the land.  But overall Shenandoah is a beautiful park full of many things to do and home to many animals and plants. 

Love Canal Disaster

 

The Love Canal Disaster was a calamity that took place during the 1970s in an upstate New York neighborhood near Niagara Falls. A whole town was led to catastrophe as it had been built on top of a toxic chemical landfill. The toxic chemicals had been dumped in what was named "The Love Canal" by several companies and business entities. One of these being the U.S. armed forces who dumped tons of nuclear waste from failed nuclear weapons into the canal. The Hooker Chemical company then purchased the land, dumped a couple thousand more tons of toxic chemicals into the canal and then covered the whole thing with clay. Within the waste dumped in the landfill were cancer-inducing chemicals. After having capped the landfill with clay and earth, the Hooker Chemical company sold the land to the Niagara Falls school board. The Niagara Falls school board proceeded to build a school and many other residential buildings on top of the clay-capped toxic chemical landfill. This would lead to disaster as the layer of clay was dug into and then rained on which interacted with the chemicals who began to wreak havoc on the surface. The chemicals would rise and create acidic puddles with the potential of disintegrating most of what they could touch. People had their car and bike tires melted along with the sole of their shoes. Many children would get burnt after touching these puddles. These were only the immediate effects, as the disaster sported many continuous effects. The rate of infant-mortality, miscarriages, and other birth related issues were abnormally high. Many residents suffered with issues of breathing, epilepsy and various forms of cancer. The health scene at the Love Canal was alarming to say the least. State officials began to get involved as residents were outraged and making headlines on various newspapers and other forms of media. At first they wanted everyone to remain in the town, but soon realized this would not be a feasible nor safe option. The first people evacuated from the town were pregnant mothers and children under the age of two. Soon after everyone was evacuated from the town and it was left as is. The families were given money and assisted in the moving process. The toxic chemical landfill scene as a whole was given new requirements to follow to make sure this type of incident is less likely to repeat itself. Many of the residents who were gravely ill were not able to recover, but this event as a whole was a learning experience for the public when it came to environmental awareness.