Nuclear power!!

I am a student who is applying to Japanese University. However, in history, there were some issues with nuclear power. The concerns of the radiation that may result if the nuclear power plants were to explode by the earthquake in Korea, got me back to thinking on the nuclear radiation that actually does exist in Japan at this moment. The nuclear power plants in Fukushima have exploded due to the earthquake few years ago. The radiation still hasn't disappeared and it has affected several crops and fishes to mutate or just simply contain high amounts of radiation.

I wondered, is it safe to eat imported food from Japan when there are still radiation existing from the last explosion? Then I also wondered, is it even safe to go to Japan for a trip, when there are radiation still existing? Last, I wondered whether the radiation has affected Korea as well.

I could look into the Internet for more information. Local newspaper may also help. Anyways, I learned that Japan may still be dangerous due to radiation existing around in the country.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/current-and-future-generation/nuclear-power-in-the-world-today.aspx

Fresh water~~~~

In my environmental science class, we learned that the supply of water is very limited. Out of all the water that are present in Earth, 97% are salt water, and only 3% are fresh water. Even within 3% of the fresh water, only 1/3 of the fresh water are present for us to use, and the rest are present as glaciers and ice.

I had a question during class, why can't we have sea water converted as drinkable water as well? Is there a technology for it? Well as I searched the Internet, there is a technology called desalination, which is removing salt and minerals out of the water so that the water is usable for humans. Middle East, where water especially is scarce, utilizes this technology to create fresh water.

If there is such a great technology, then why don't we utilize it more? Well it is because there is some environmental concerns regarding this technology. It creates enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, and also it kills all the marine organisms that are absorbed with the water as well. I wish we can find a much more environmentally friendly method to desalinate the salt water, because if we were to be able to do that, then there won't be worry for water in the future. 

https://freshwaterwatch.thewaterhub.org/content/water-limited-resource

Sahara desert

In my environmental science class, we learned about many different biomes around the globe. Of all the biomes, there is one biome that is increasing every day. That biome is none other than the desert.

Especially around the Sahara region, the desertification is increasing its speed. This is due to overgrazing of the grass in the area. Most of the people living in the Saharan region or the region beneath it are mostly pastoral nomads, having their cattle graze the little grass that is left around the area. After grazing all the land, desertification begins, since nothing holds the soil that is left on the land. Erosion comes along with unstable soil. Slowly, the overgrazing process is creating more and more desert around the Sahara region.

Desertification must be stopped, as it is destroying the environment not just for humans but the fauna and flora that live or used to live there. I don't know many concrete solutions, but this is a problem that must be addressed at the soonest time. 

After doing this blog, I could clearly understand the Sahara region which is one of the biome and desertification should be stopped.

https://www.livescience.com/23140-sahara-desert.html

Food chain is in danger.

In my environmental science class we learned about the food chain in class which recently made me think of something I learned previously by reading a book. It was about how, as the food chain in the aquatic ecosystem goes up, many metals accumulate in the consumers' bodies. Because we have been polluting water, metals that are unhealthy for us such as lead accumulates in the fishes' bodies. Those fishes are then consumed by a bigger fish, who receives all the unhealthy metals that were inside those fishes' bodies, making it worse for the bigger fish. The bigger fishes then are consumed by the seal, which means much more amount of unhealthy metals enter the seal's body.

The bigger problem is that, just like the seals, we too, consume those fishes. This means our health are also in danger. I wondered whether if I am constantly consuming these metals as well when I eat sashimi or smoked salmon or something. I also wondered what are the bad health effects I actually get when I consume these metals.

After righting this blog, it encouraged me to look further into this in next time, and write about it in this blog.

https://www.sharksider.com/sharks-eat-food-chain-danger/