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Activity 4.2.1 – Applying My Environmental Policy

  WHY IS HYDROFRACKING CONTENTIOUS? Problem Statement Hydraulic fracturing is a major environmental policy issue in the United States. Hydrofracking takes place to retrieve gas or oil in a way that requires methods that can result to be harmful. The process requires injecting water, chemicals, and sand at high pressure into rocks underwater. To begin, a well is drilled and then extended to reach the gas in the rocks. The issue with this method of getting natural gas is the effects it can cause on the environment and humans. The chemicals released by hydrofracking are known to cause extreme health problems like cancer. However, energy companies argue that the chemicals will not reach drinking water. The practice of hydrofracking also requires gallons of water to manage it. When dealing with wastewater and the release of harmful chemicals, it is still considered a serious issue. Although the economic view of this process is great many groups disagree wanting it to be banned or with r...
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Activity 2.3.2 Ranches as Grassland Conservation

 Six-Point Critical Analysis Worksheet 1. Exploratory Jim Howell is a leader of a rancher company called Grasslands LLC. His job is buying large acres of land and figuring out how to make the land flourish more. 40% of the earth’s land surface is grassland. It supports an estimated 12 billion people. Not including the benefits, it has on animals. Making it very important to manage and maintain. Jim figured out grazing has a larger effect on the grasslands than people think. If there is a lack of activity of herbivores on the land, decay won’t take place leaving the soil not getting enough carbon. Affecting the carbon cycle which is the sustainable part of life. The grass inhibits bad forms from growing wrong and then eventually dying. This can happen not only by the lack of activity but no rain, over rest, and even overgrazing. That is why commercial ranching can be sometimes harmful. Having the cattle graze at the same place each time can bring issues leaving some dead patches. Or...
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Activity 2.3.1 Ranchers, Anglers, and Beavers

1. Exploratory  The Bureau of Land Management's purpose is to sustain productivity in streams. They evaluate 248 million acres in the Western U.S. Their efforts are towards streams; that have been affected by droughts, wildfires, and other environmental issues. They turn a stream that got damaged into one that is functional with life in and around it. To make sure their efforts were sustainable, they found two methods that worked tremendously. Grazing management with sections divided for cattle not allowed to graze and conservation-oriented grazing where cattle shift with seasons. When it is hot and cold, they have rotation and resting periods. The second method is having beavers around the streams. Their dams store water which can then provide moisture-producing vegetation. With these methods, vegetation is 10-40% more productive. All this process is studied and noticeable to people and seen through satellite imagery tracking the changes.   2. Diagnostic  The reason why ...
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Activity 4.2 Environmental Policy Frameworks

  Craig B. Davis Roy, J. Lewicki Environmental Conflict Resolution: Framing and Intractability— and Introduction (2003) Todd Bryan Context in Environmental Conflict: Where You Stand Depends on Where You Sit (2003) Michael Elliott, Sandra Kaufman Building Civic Capacity to Resolve Environmental Conflicts  (2005) Identity Frames How a person understands themselves by the question, “Who am I?” Their beliefs and values and social category they believe they are in. Legal Environment  Laws and regulations that can have an effect on environmental policies and issues. Civic Capacity  An individual ability of decision-making like in politics. Characterization Frames   Statements made by individuals on what they believe the person is like by the question, “who are they?”  These statements can differentiate because of people belonging in different social groups. Political Environment Environmental policies are developed by political administrations and carried out by ...
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Activity 4.1 – US Environmental History and Major Regulations

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The process of understanding the impacts of human activity on the environment is a long learning practice. There are new ideas that become present and scientific understanding that gets more developed. Over time some technological advances and laws and regulations get placed. Human activity is constantly changing and continuously growing. Great representations of human activity growing are the American conversation movement, the rise of environmental risk management, and social and economic factors creating sustainability. The mindset that people had in the 19th century can still be recognized in modern times today. If water became unclean, then people would go upstream. If many trees got cut down, people would move to a new area with more trees. That was the mindset; of avoiding the problem because it was not affecting people yet. However, it didn't take long for them to notice the effects of that mindset. The U.S. population doubled in size and started to become more urbanized. T...
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Activity 3.3.3.1 Current Events in Plastic Pollution

  Current Event in Plastic Pollution  1. Exploratory Microplastics damage eating behavior and brain development in fish. Recent lab studies showed microplastics make rainbow trout more prone to salmonid disease, gill damage and other viruses. The fishes who were exposed to microplastics and carried the disease had a higher chance of dying. On the other hand, fish with the same disease who were not exposed to plastic had a slimmer chance of passing. With damaged gills it made it easier for the fish to get ill from many viruses.  2. Diagnostic Microplastics are the cause of fishes enduring change in their way of living. Microplastics are small pieces of plastic that are everywhere, because of the increased usage of plastic. They become small by the degradation of the sun overtime. Causing it to flow in all bodies of water. Making fishes to consume these small plastics. Research is still limited on how toxic it can be to living creatures. But in this case, they did notice th...
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Activity 3.3.3 – My Plastic Use

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Microplastics are all around us, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear. Scientists have been trying to research and study the effects of it. Although the knowledge of microplastics is limited, the information we do have shown it is something worth exploring. Plastic is something everyone uses every single day. Some are just more noticeable than other plastics. Microplastics are very tiny (less than 5 millimeters) that we can ingest or breathe in. It then can go into our systems without us even knowing. Some examples are Polyethylene, Polypropylene, and Polymethyl methacrylate. Unfortunately, that also means wildlife can be affected by microplastics as well. Like Polyquaterniums, Polysorbates, PEGs and PPGs. (Plastic Soup Foundation, 2019)  Abby Barrows, a marine research scientist, partnered with adventure scientists collecting data from around the world. Her project concluded 74% of the water samples she received contained microplastics. In this project, she emphasizes that ...
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