Climate change and environmental problems.

In the field of environment protection and the recent environmental concerns, I choose one of the important researcher in the field of climate changes and their impacts on the agriculture and food security in Egypt  Dr.Mohamed Abdel Monem.

He is a researcher in Food and  Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | FAO · Regional office for  the Near East and North Africa.

He has a lot of publications  regarding climate change observations and how can we use the innovative role  of science and new innovations and technologies to assess the changes of the climate  to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of  climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic  consequences such as the agriculture and food security in Egypt. He also has a publication in the book “Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture and Food Security in Egypt” 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340516008_Role_of_Science_Technology_and_Innovation_in_Addressing_Climate_Change_Challenges_in_Egypt

Blog post 7

After revealing the ecological issue with its reasons, effects and impacts on both habitat , humans and the whole ecosystem. I do believe that the solution lies in implementing the new techniques that were previously mentioned and discussed.

every person would be able to analyze and monitor the changes of water and even weather quality in his country just by a press ( considering applying  The famous iSPEX add-on) and hence we would be able to report any abnormal changes in water quality. I dream of collaboration between social and governmental organizations to make general awareness campaign to focus on the necessity of changing how we deal with water source. And how would our activities cause drastic changes to aquatic life. We can also work on generating energy from water instead of using fossil fuel. I do believe in the fruitful results of this on both ecosystems and even humans as well. For instance, we would be able to reduce gas emissions that changes into acidic rain destroying the soil and ruining water, increasing temperature and disturbing aquatic life. And as for humans , it will definitely supply them with new and better source to gain economic and ecological  benefits. I dream of using  nPower Wave Energy Converter the generate electricity instead of building dams and disrupting fish path and causing fragmentation of ecosystems. It depends mainly on changing magnetic force into electric one so, I believe that it would be more useful and clean way of energy conservation. What about inventing home-sensors that measure automatically the levels of minerals in fresh water, and therefore, we would be able to monitor the fluctuations in water quality regularly and as citizens, we would be more aware and cautious about our actions regarding the aquatic ecosystems in our countries. I would keep dreaming and support this dream because I’m quite sure that one day it will become a reality

Blog post 5My expert astronaut

I would choose the astronaut  Frans Snik for our ecological issue ( water pollution)

He had a great experience about measuring water quality and has already launched a new technique with the help of other toxicologists  to make a freindly-measuring device that can be attached to your mobile phone to measure water quality.  iSPEX spectropolarimetric smartphone add-on that enables citizen science measurements of air and water quality.

They are also working to relate the state of water with climate conditions. If the sky is dark, the water also becomes darker and if there's a strong wind, sediment from the water bed  is stirred up,  making the water more murky. That's why  people taking part are also asked to take a photo of the sky above the water.  

Blog post  (energy creation from Ontario’s lake)

Great lakes can be used as a good clean source of energy that we can depend on instead of using fossil fuels and therefore , reducing their bad impacts on the ecosystems there. A  Cleveland-based company  has created  nPower Wave Energy Converter.it  is about the size of an automobile and can be integrated into buoys. Inside the converter is a magnet, which moves along with an induction coil to generate pulses of current. A mechanical fuse line would runs from the anchor to the buoy as a primary elastic line.

This technique is believed to be promising as it can compete with coal-fired electricity. Moreover, it will be offered as  5 to 7 cents per kilowatt hour. Giving a better chance for workers who were displaced from factories industries. Above all it doesn’t seem to affect the flow of fish path or affecting water currents as dams do. 

References

https://www.zdnet.com/article/great-lakes-waves-could-power-your-tv/

Blog post 2 ( limiting factors)

any ecosystem is affected by many limiting factors that controls the food chains in it and controls its biodiversity as well.

As for lake ontario, there are many biotic and abiotic factors that limits the ecosystem over there. 

The 1st limiting factor is temperature. Most fish live near 25 degrees and can’t flourish in higher temperature. Another limiting factors is the amount of dissolved oxygen which is controlled by temperature. as oxygen dissolving decreases as temperature increases.

Unfortunately, human activities have affected these limiting factors negatively leading to a lower carrying capacity in theses areas. the excessive carbon dioxide emissions from factories and cars and other combustion processes has led to global warming and and risen the temperature of both water and atmosphere. Many sensitive fish species couldn’t survive this climate change and start to float dead on the shores. Decomposers that decompose such dead organisms consume a lot of oxygen gas and hence, the amount of dissolved oxygen started to decrease dramatically changing this paradise lake into a dead polluted zone. And decreasing the carrying capacity due to the lack of resources that would previously complete the biodiversity of the ecosystem

references

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S147470651500090X

( The periodic table connections)

Blog post 4 ( The periodic table connections)

Periodic table helps me to understand the different elements and their nature ( metal , non-metals , solid or liquid....etc) . Knowing the elements of the periodic table will help me understanding my environmental concern.

My environmental concern is the great lakes and the dissolved minerals’ levels. Some of the elements being dissolved in these waters is mercury (Hg) which leaches from factories and run off to water and soil , deposited in the bodies of fish causing its poisoning . Moreover it can also be transferred to our bodies causing a lot of fertility disorders and nervous disorders as well.

Nitrogen is also emitted from fertilizers into water causing the flourish of some water algae which block sun rays and prevent it from penetrating the deepest layers of water.

Blog post 3 My community expert

My community expert is  Mohamed salah

He is a football player that has a good concern about saving the ocean life and was invited to hand out prizes on the sidelines of the Earthshot environmental ceremony organized by the royal couple. He delivered a speech on the importance of protecting the seas, warning that the ocean will contain more plastic than fish if humanity does not move to save the environment.

I selected this expert because he is a well known celebrity and has a great positive impacts on his followers so his concern about protecting oceans and seas will show a great impact on them

Blog post 1

In the last era, our ecosystems have been affected too much by the different activities done by humans which led to a drastic change in many ecosystems and many wild lives. For example . lake Ontario .  Lake Ontario is home - and a source of drinking water - to 9-million people living in Ontario, Canada and New York State, USA.

In the 1980s, 43 communities on the Great Lakes were designated “Areas of Concern” because of severe environmental degradation.  Today, the greatest threats to Lake Ontario come from urban development, electricity generation, and sewage pollution.

A lot of chemicals such as mercury , nitrogen ,phosphorus and many others have affected water quality. For example , mercury that leaches from factories wastes and falls with acidic rains causes a drastic effects to aquatic life. it deposits in fish tissues and plants leading to their poisoning. Moreover, the use of fertilizers leads to runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus which led to the flourishment of natural water algae , hence, covering water surface and prevent sun rays from penetrating it. Aquatic organisms are no longer able to get enough oxygen, start to die and rotten causing a great pollution beneath wtare sutfcace

References

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/plastic-what-gets-thrown-great-lakes-stays-great-lakes

http://www.waterkeeper.ca/lake-ontario

https://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/lake-ontario

Limiting factors in savanna’s ecosystem

If I'm talking about savanna's ecosystem , I would find a lot of limiting factors that affects the carrying capacity. And no can can ignore human activities and their impacts on carrying capacity as well. For instance, over hunting, overgrazing, and destruction of land for commercial crops. eventually , Many animals in the savanna, such as the rhinoceros and elephants, are threatened with extinction due to hunting, poaching, and habitat loss because they depend mainly on trees not grass as their food source. Moreover, the increased numbers of non-native cattle affected the carrying capacity of savanna's ecosystem because grazing affect the food available for wildlife. So, we can consider plants and competition from cattle as a biological limiting factors for this ecosystem. And carrying capacity will decrease because of these limiting factors and therefore, the number of elephants and rhinoceros populations as well.

Ecological issues

 In the last era, our ecosystems have been affected too much by the different activities done by humans which led to a drastic change in many ecosystems and many wild lives. For instance, climate crisis is one of the main issues we are suffering from nowadays. It affected many ecosystems such as in Arctic tundra. The release of methane from deteriorating permafrost, for example, feeds the thawing cycle, while higher temperatures drive the growth of shrubs, which can change soil temperature and prevent snow from reflecting out heat. Moreover, thriving shrubs also affected lichen, an important food source for caribou and other animals. Also the rate of wildfires have been increased and scientists noticed the disappearance of some lakes in western Greenland between 1969 and 2017. All of these changes were a result of a lot of human activities such as over combustion and cutting down trees which led to increased levels of CO2 ( Green house effect). No need to mention that carbon from diesel engines, fires, and other combustion can settle on snow, decreasing its ability to reflect sunlight and causing faster melting. Chemicals used in coolants and aerosol sprays have driven ozone depletion at the North and South Poles, which can let in stronger ultraviolet light rays, threatening both animals and human who live there. Adding to that, the mining activities which reflects negatively on the fragile tundra habits. We can’t ignore that these activities have affected drastically many other ecosystems such as marine life , rain forests in which some species started to extent , abnormal and sudden wildfires , changes in the soil nature and components and therefore, changes in the food chain itself. References https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/tundra-threats-explained/ https://www.britannica.com/science/tundra/Effects-of-humanactivities-and-climate-change https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNxgY4Ru3gs