Hope

Last night I signed to walk for Relay for Life from 9pm through 11pm. As I was there, I thought it was more of small festivity or fundraiser for the cause, and that it was more for fun and less for the seriousness and heartbreak cancer has thrust upon everyone's life in one way or another. My perception of Relay for Life drastically changes when the sun set and everyone was asked to sit in silence for a tribute to those who have lost the fight to cancer. On the opposing side of the bleachers, lighted bags spelled out hope as we all listened to a woman list off the names which were asked to be remembered in our community tonight. After the woman listed off an overwhelming amount of names who died or are still fighting cancer, she next spoke of how limited cancer is to spread in our lives. She spoke that cancer cannot destroy our love, it cannot destroy our hope, and it most certainly cannot disintegrate our family bonds and relationships. There were many more examples and reasoning of how limited caner is when against us, but those I listed about impacted me the most at the ceremony while watching the empty chair shown in front of the stadium; the chair illustrated where those who have fallen from cancer would have sat which made it all more real to me how many have fought it. It was hard to realize that I was thinking of this event in the wrong light. Before, I believed that no one cared anymore, unless it was directly affecting them, the problems of the world seemed too far away to reach a hand out. But this event made me realize that all these people here, all those who fought and are still fighting for a cure chose to reach out and help others. Now, I wish people reached out more than once a year to help save a life, but I come back to my thinking habits of some selfish individuals in the world. I promise (I made this after walking at Relay for Life and helping build houses at Habitat for Humanity earlier that day) that I will periodically help out people in need throughout the world no matter what kind of salary I make or how hectic my life is because there is always someone who needs a hand of any shape or size. I hope whoever reading this will later search for a non-profit organization online which really helps out people in need.

Chikyu (Earth)

 1.    It’s Earth week and to pay homage to this lovely planet, I thought it would interesting to post the seven things you should know about the planet according to Cleveland’s own, The Plain Dealer.

                      Seagrass loss threatens dependent creatures

Vast undersea meadows of seagrasses are dying off, shrinking their rich habitat on which other species depend.the first global survey of seagrass revealed that about fourteen percent of the species are at risk of extinction. The University of New Hampshire professor Fredrick Short, director of SeagrassNet, told the BBC that the plants have vanished from the most developed coastlines due to pollution. We need to take responsibitity for our wrong doing in the oceans and other parts of the environment that was affected by pollution. Many know that it is impacting the survival rate of species throughout the world greatly, yet the majority of humans are just sitting back and pretending that they didn’t cause this because it’s happening farther away from them. This is not the case, and thus, small changes like the decline of seagrass, have large effects. Runnoff: studies at the 114 sites around the world found that seagrasses are also in decline throughout many coastal waters due to silt runoff from deforested areas and filled-in wetlands. They are also being overwhelmed by powerful nutrients flowing into the ocean in sewage and agricultural runoff. Again, I believe that the effects of runoff are not just naturally caused the environment, but that humans have a huge role the causes of sewage runoff, deforestation and other things most do not take responsibility for. Haven: creatures such as fish, sea turtles, sea horses, and manatees depend on the fields of flowering marine plants for food, and sometimes to provide a safe haven for their young. By the decrease in the seagrasses, the protection and food sources are extreme limited between animals. I think biologists should start to replant seagrasses along the coastlines as they have started with rebuilding coral reef gardens. To help bring back the marine populations destroyed by boaters and fishermen.

Mother Earth

1.       Asian stink bug wreaking havoc on mid-Atlantic crops

A foul-smelling invader is marching across the U.S., already posing as a major threat to agriculture. The brown marmorated stink bug is believed to have “hitchhiked” with a shipment of goods from Asia and was first spotted in Pennsylvania in 2001. It has since rapidly spread to infest thirty-three states from coast to coast. When threatened, it releases a pungent odor; it is its voracious appetite for almost any edible substance which makes it a major threat to farmers. Last season, mid-Atlantic apple farms lost about eighteen percent if their crops from that bug! Solution: the USDA is pinning its hopes in a wasp that has proven to be an effective predator against the stink bug in China, Japan, and Korea. Since predators that feed on native U.S. stink bugs are going after the new Asian cousin, it may become necessary to breed and release sterilized swarms if the Asian wasps to control crop damage. I don’t know about the Asian wasps, but hope that by incorporating this species into the western’s biosphere populations, the other species within it won’t become greatly affected by it. I say this because sometimes in order to cure something, or to make it better, negative side effects become unintentionally evident and mostly unavoidable along with the cure. Hopefully this theory doesn’t pertain to the initiation of the Asian wasp into the western hemisphere.

Terre

1.       Weather extremes may be the new normal

Dramatic swings between very wet, dry, and catastrophically stormy weather are likely to be the norm from now on, according to scientists who point to an overall warmer global climate as the source of the new meteorological reality. Manmade change: while it’s impossible to point to climate change as the cause of any single event, such as the devastating tornados in Mo., scientist K. Hayhoe says that the pervasive background of a warmer global change now has an impact on every storm heat wave and windy chill. She and other scientists joined with business leaders in a teleconference to highlight the toll from manmade climate change. Overall, don’t keep freaking out that the weather patterns are so irreagular; get udes to it cause it’s the worlds new norm. it is interesting and a little hesitant to see whether or not the natural  events will become more drastic with the more extreme weather, and if there will be more common natural disasters because of the increased effects of drastic changes in climate.

Erde

1.       One of the longest La Ninas declared to be at an end

Australian meteorologist declared the La Nina ocean cooling of the past year finally over, and that the U.N. says it is not likely to come back later this year. Climate Changes: weather shifts triggered by the huge pool of cool water in the equatorial Pacific brought by vast flooding in eastern Australia, severe droughts in Texas and Southeast Asia and a winter rainy season that  has seemed to never end in the western U.S. and Canada. This is a great explanation for the never ending rain we seem to have here in good ol’ northeast Ohio. Since La Nina is not likely to come back again, I predict that we are going to have a very hot, clear of storm clouds summer this year. It’s an interesting fact that while we are getting huge amounts of rain, Texas and Southeast Asia are experiencing threatening periods of droughts from these weather shifts. It puts the idea of real power in perspective when we are at the mercy of a weather patterns.

Gaia

1.       Strong storm steers clear of landfall

Typhoon Songda formed from an area of distributed weather swirling around the Micronesian island of Yap. It steadily gained strength while taking aim on the central Philippines; despite eventually attaining Category 4 force, Songa veered to the north, remaining well off the coast of that country’s central and northern islands. It was expected to eventually affect Japan’s southernmost islands as a much weaker storm. A scary threat to hear about, again depicting the mercy humans are under when describing the weather. It is a blessing to the people of the Philippines that the typhoon missed them, but Japan still worries about the weaker storm to come; there is already so much devastation in Japan, it would be hard to fathom what another storm could lead to in these next months. So, just because Japan is no longer on the front page of the newspaper, doesn’t mean that all their problems are solved over there, they still need support and help to rebuild from all parts of the world- make it evident that you care, don’t just pretend when everyone else is talking about it.

Tierra

1.       Icelandic volcano ash disrupts European air traffic

Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano erupted with a massive plume of ash that soared high above the North Atlantic a year after ash from nearby Eyjafjallajokull caused major disruptions to global air travel. Aviation officials briefly closed airports across Scotland, Norway, and other northern European countries after volcanic debris was detected blowing into their air routes. Heavy Ash: while the Grimsvotn eruption was for larger than that of its notorious and nearly unpronounceable neighbor in the spring of 2010, its ash was heavier and fell into the ocean at a faster rate. Just like in its eruptions of 1998 and 2004, Grimsvotn ceased spewing within a few days. I tried researching what the effects of the ash falling into the ocean were, but there was no credible information to derive an answer. So, I am still wondering if the amount of ash with a heavier mass compared to most volcanic explosions has any negative effects toward the oceanic ecosystem as pollution does.