The world is a very wonderful and mysterious place. For the human race, it seems to be a vast land of endless possibilities and opportunities. We evolved and adapted to this world, and now hold the power to make or break all of mankind. But for other species of animals and plants, the world is cruel place where only the strongest will survive.
Many species of animal on the earth are quickly going extinct. And as the world’s most highly-evolved and intelligent animal, it’s up to humans to help these other species’ not only survive, but thrive.
1: The Black Rhino. Since 1970, the Black Rhino population has declined by 90%. Native to southern and eastern Africa, this species of rhino cannot adapt and move to a more peaceful climate. There are less than 3,000 of these beautiful animals left, and they are still being killed by poachers who harvest their horns. The Trade of Rhinos has been banned for over twenty years. But Africa being so vast, these laws are difficult to enforce and Rhino parts are still in great demand.
The greenhouse effect, or global warming as we more commonly call it, happens when the sun’s radiation is reflected from the earth’s surface and gets trapped in our atmosphere by the greenhouse gases which are present.
Though we do have a plentiful supply of those gases naturally, mankind has fed the supply with the burning of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. There are many ways to describe what’s happening now that global warming is taking place. Some equate its effects to the commonly coined butterfly-effect, where a butterfly flaps its wings in Japan, and a train is derailed in Minnesota.
The polar ice caps melt and cause the water levels to heat up and rise. This phenomenon is known as thermal expansion. The warmer water which is expanding is wiping out coastlines all over the world. And that’s just the start. Economies and ecosystems will also diminish as a result and leave both marine life and human beings in dire straights if the problem goes uncorrected.
While someone in the middle of America may not think global warming is an actual threat, someone who lives on the coastline around the great coral reefs would beg to differ.
One major problem that global warming is having right now is the decreasing fish stocks throughout the ocean.
The greenhouse gases which are ever-present in the earth’s atmosphere help to keep a constant and livable temperature for all manner of life on the planet. Over the years, we have pumped far too many of these gases into the atmosphere in the form of fossil fuels and carbon, causing the planet’s temperature to rise.
Global warming is a legitimate threat which is guaranteed to affect many regions and ecosystems in our own lifetime. The consequences of letting this phenomenon continue to persist and incalculable. The ice caps are melting already, causing the water levels to rise due to thermal expansion. The amount of carbon in our atmosphere is destroying coral reefs, devastating biodiversity. These are just a few of the adverse affects we’re witnessing today.
One thing remains certain, the power crisis is not going to diminish or disappear. With our world’s growth in green power efficiency, many of yesteryears appliances are becoming quickly obsolete. As people, we do need to look to our future and realize that a sound investment today will ensure the health of both our pockets and environment in the future. Though many energy-efficient appliances are popping up, a lot of people still own ones which are anything but. In no particular order, here are 10 of the most inefficient appliances you can possibly own.1: Refrigerators. These are some of the most inefficient appliances to ever be invented. Sure, they keep your food cold and make pretty little ice cubes, but they eat away at your electricity bill like no other appliance in your house. You can make a switch to a more energy-efficient fridge, but that still may not do the trick. A good tip to remember is to not buy a bigger fridge than you need.
2: Electric Dryers. Clothes dryers are the number 2 largest consumer of household energy among appliances. Surprising to most people, gas dryers are available and around 80% cheaper to run. Switching to gas is something that may well be worth it, especially if you have a large family which has to dry a lot of clothes.
Every year, an estimated 500-billion plastic bags are used worldwide. That’s an absolutely staggering number. When you take into consideration that just one bag has the potential to damage the environment, the other 499 billion are just overwhelming.
There are around 6-billion people on are planet. So to do the math, each man, woman and child uses around 83 plastic bags per year. Of the 500-billion, 1/5 are used in the United States alone.Plastic bags are difficult and very costly to recycle. For that reason, many end up in landfills where they take more than 300 years on average to photo-degrade.
The bags break down into tiny toxic particles that can easily contaminate the soil and waterways. Once an animal ingests these dangerous toxins, they’re forever integrated into the food chain, damaging animals of all sorts and even eliminating some species before they rise to dominance. These toxins are also very dangerous to humans when ingested in large amounts. All it would take is a few glasses of water per day for a few months for an individual to experience health problems from the poison.
The entire world seems to be turning green. While some big shot oil companies and other modern moguls drain the life-force from our already bleeding planet, green entrepreneurship is being established as an honorable and efficient business model. There is just something more settling about a business whose goal is to help, rather than one whose ultimate goal is to become wealthy. This environment-friendly brand of business resonates with customers and lets them know that someone out there actually cares.
Green power marketing, among other things, offers utilities and power marketers a way to differentiate their numerous products. To date, utility experience with green pricing has been quite mixed. While some programs have met their goals rather easily, others have been unable to educe significant customer response, and have even encountered resistance from environmental and consumer groups. The common thought is that even though the marketing is “green”, it’s an unfair practice that wishes to take advantage of our planet and its many residents.
With the growing demand for alternative power sources, scientists and different manufacturers are starting to piece together different types of green equipment. You now have solar powered devices small enough to run a laptop computer and large enough to power entire office buildings. Solar and wind powered jets have soared through the sky and incredible heights and speeds, all while leaving every drop of oil and gas on the ground. These incredible advancements are made possible by peoples’ dedication to save our planet. But even though we have new devices which create energy in many different ways, some have stayed the exact same for many years.
A wind turbine is a very simple piece of equipment. It is a rotating machine that converts the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy for our use with everyday electrical needs. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, then the device is referred to as simple a windmill. But if the mechanical energy is then converted to electricity, the machine is called a wind turbine. Wind machines have been around since 200 B.C., when the Persians used them for grinding grain. They then moved from the Roman’s, to the Dutch, and ultimately to Cleveland, Ohio where the first windmill was used to produce electricity.
What a lot of people don’t know is that wind energy is also a form of solar energy. The sun’s radiation heats different parts of the earth at different rates. This in turn causes portions of our atmosphere to warm differently. The hot air rises and reduces the atmospheric pressure of the earth’s surface. And when the cooler air is drawn in to replace it, the result is wind. A wind turbine system is pretty basic in design. There are only two main designs of turbines: vertical-axis and horizontal-axis. Horizontal wind turbines are the most common, constituting nearly all of the utility –scale turbines in the global market. Utility-scale turbines produce 100 kilowatts kW, or larger.
Over the past two decades, solar energy has really caught on. The prices for home solar panels have dropped over 80% and anyone in the world can use them. It provides free energy by harnessing the power of the Sun. Even if the Sun isn’t shining; the solar panels collect and store its energy. You can have free energy everyday and really save a bundle on the high price of living. Solar panels are available the world over, you don’t have to live in sunny California or near a desert for them to work.
I found that I could live “green” and not only help the planet by doing my part to reduce global warming, but also save a ton of money by proving free and clean energy to my entire family. I’m a huge advocate of solar energy and believe that the Sun can provide energy to the entire world, for free, and most importantly, clean. The Sun powers our entire planet. It feeds plants with its powers and holds us in orbit. It’s the most powerful thing in our entire solar system. No wonder some of the ancient people worshipped this glowing giant; they knew exactly what it was, a life force.
