PDS AP Environmental Science 5th Period 2011-12

*Note: Since I forgot to ask for a scribe, this is a guest post by EvanR from last year from a similar lesson. A nice, concise post with links to more info. It is based on this 12 minute video about one of the first voyages to document the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Some scientists [...]

*Note: This is a guest post by RayS in the other class, scribe for our all day field trip. Today we visited one of Charlotte’s waste water treatment plants, and did some water testing at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve! The waste water treatment plant was all about going to “away”. When you flush things down [...]

If you missed Friday, we discussed the “next” industrial revolution. Did you know it was underway? The last industrial revolution gave us the linear material flow economy-the one we diagrammed earlier in the week. While recycling programs do reduce some waste disposal and some extraction, they focus on the “downstream” end of that flow (waste [...]

                      So we debated recycling. Is it good for the environment? Is it bad for the environment? It’s a decision that each of us have to make, what’s your decision? Here are some points people made that may help you decide, or at least help [...]

In class on Wednesday, February 8, we discussed the material flow economy, which can also be called the “waste stream”. This was inspired by a video called The Story of Stuff (see first attached video). We did not watch the video in class, but I highly recommend that you watch this video for clarification because [...]

The focus of today’s lesson was what happens to trash after we put it on the curb for garbage collection and what trash consists of. Even though all of us are well aware that out of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle; reduction is the most important factor in waste management because of course if there is less [...]

One of the parents that organized the recent Global Day just shared this with me. I thought it fit to share with you guys since we have been learning about ocean currents this unit. The clockwise flow of the gyre in the north pacific is driving debris from the Japanese tsunami towards our west coast… [...]