Last Field Trip

In my environmental science class, we went to the last field trip. I thought we were only eating eel but we went to the thrash center where they trash all the trashes that came from family. It was great experience for me to see all of them and how it works. First I heard that about 60 tons of the trashes come everyday and they have to mix it well so that it can easily burn.

 This is when we were learning about how it works.

 This is where they control the machines.

 This is how they mix the trash into the pieces so that it can burn well.

 This is the monitoring of the burning stuff.







This is when we were watching the mixing the trashes.

In my environmental science class we learned about the photosynthesis. This rose was found near the front door of our school. It was growing near the trash disposal machines. They seem to be entangled to the fences, and all of them seem to have red or pink-colored flowers.

I wondered, first, whether it was planted by someone or it was natural. Then I wondered if it were to be natural, why did they plant it near where they dispose of trash? Last, I wondered what makes some flowers red and some flowers pink?

I think I could find answers on the coloration of flowers in my old Biology textbook, as it talks about phenotypes. I could also ask about the roses to the guard near the front door, whether someone planted it or not, and if it were, why was it planted there. I didn't really learn much from the roses, but I learned that roses have weak stems, therefore need some support to grow, such as fences. 

During my co-curricular class, we use an old science room that is not used this year. This spider was found between the glass doors that exist between the classroom and outside the classroom. When I shook the door to see if it was alive, the spider seemed to shake frantically. It did not have any noticeable prey caught, and its webs were highly disorganized.

I wondered, how could it survive between doors, where there are low chances of prey being caught. Also, since it was sealed, I wondered how does it get air? Finally, I questioned about its species.

I could look into the Internet about domestic spiders to see to find about its species. Also, I could visit the local library to find more about spiders to see what it needs for survival. Anyway, I learned that life could be found in unexpected places.

Noise Pollution

In my environmental science, we learned about noise pollution. And we needed to create a powerpoint slide to describe the noise pollution  By doing this activity, I could clearly identify which kinds of aspect that I am relating to noise pollution in our real society.

North and South

In my environmental science class, we learned about the land use in north and south Korea. And we were to create google sheets to  find similarities between them. We were to find percentage of urban and rural population for both countries. So,  I have found out that  North Korea have 19.5 arable land, 1.9 permanent crops, 0.4 permanent pasture, 46 forest and 32.2 others. However In south Korea, I have found out that 15.3 are arable land, 2.2 permanent crops, 0.6 permanent pasture, 63.9 forest and 18 others.

	North Korea (percentages)
Arable land	19.5
permanent crops	1.9
permanent pasture	0.4
forest	46
other:	32.2

	South Korea (percentages)
Arable land	15.3
permanent crops	2.2
permanent pasture	0.6
forest	63.9
other:	18

To add on, 

	North Korea
Rural	9881585
Urban	15487035

North Korea have these amounts of populations.

	South Korea
Rural	8920853
Urban	42324854

And South Korea have these amounts of population.

By doing this activity, I clearly understood the concept of the land usage and how it is used and also the population of the urban and rural. 

Urban Land Use

Today in my environmental science, we learned about Urban Land Use. And we had a mini field trip where we could have chance to go up to the roof of faculty residence. By doing this activity, I could clearly identify which kinds of aspect that I am relating with the urban land use. 

This place is great example of urban sprawl. This is because this building started to construct last year and it had grown really fast.

This place is great example of open space. This is because open space is land that is set aside for agriculture or scenic and recreational enjoyment. This place is used for golf and as well as park.

          

This picture is great example of Urban land use. This is because highways can make transportation more easy and fast.

This picture is great example of the urban land use because it shows the developed urban with great buildings.

This picture is great example of infrastructure which is the topic of the urban crisis. This is because. It is the dometry where it can be used for the society buildings.

By doing this, I had better understanding of Urban land use.

This picture is great example of the development on marginal lands This is because it is the land that is poorly suited for building. And I believe that building in the red circle is not located in great place!

Land usage!

In my environmental science class, we have learned about the land usage. This reminds me of my friend who is vegetarian. He told 1000 reasons why we should eat vegetables. The thing that reminds me of him is that he says that growing meat consumes too much land. He said that the central reason why we have food crisis going on around the world is because we consume too much meat. According to him, we can grow 50 bushels of corn on the same amount of land we can raise a single cow. According to him, ultimately it is our selfish desire to consume meat that leads to food crisis and we need to consume no, if not, less meat in order to feed the world.

However, I think we need to look deeper in the fundamentals of the unfair world. I think we have enough land to feed the whole world. It's just that the land is unfairly distributed. In class, we learned that Americans have an average of 12 hectares of land, while some people in developing countries have less than 1 hectare of land to feed themselves. Before we decide to consume less meat, which is actually needed to a certain extent for a healthy diet, we first need to find a way to distribute the land to a much more equal fashion. 

https://www.globalagriculture.org/report-topics/meat-and-animal-feed.html

Mosquitoes

In my Environmental science class, we learned about the organization of life. I recently got a lot of
mosquito bites. It is only May but I still got bites. I saw that it bit me in the arm, the back and legs. They
become more swollen as I scratch more. They also seem to leave some marks and take some time to
disappear. Then, I started to think questions about mosquitoes.

I wondered why I was the only one got bit while my parents did not get bitten at all. I also wondered why
mosquito bites tend to itchy. Last, I wondered why it gets swollen if I scratch more and more.

I could learn more about mosquito bites on the Internet and how they work. I also can ask my parents on their know-how of not getting bitten. I haven't learned much yet but I am sure I may be able to learn a lot after I actually go into the web for information.

As I researched about the mosquitoes, I learned that mosquitoes can be very dangerous.
Mosquitoes can carry out the unwanted blood to the other person. There are dangerous mosquitoes
that can make people to be sick or even to death, dengue and malaria. Therefore people should be aware
of mosquitoes.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614227/

Hornet or Wasps.

In my environmental science class we learned about the adaptation. I found the bugs resembling wasps or hornets which were next to my house. They were quite numerous, with around 10 members of their species. I don't know why they were all gathered there, but I assume they were trying to build a new hive or something. The next time I saw these bugs are in school. However, I went into the classroom, I couldn't find any wasps or hornets around there. If they were trying to build their new home, I assume that the school staff probably destroyed it or something.

I first wondered, whether they were hornets or wasps. Then I also wondered, if they were trying to build a hive, why did they choose that spot, where there is much human activity going on? Last, I wondered how did the staffs got rid of the wasps or hornets.
To find about more about hornets and wasps, I can use the Internet. In addition, they probably can tell me the distinction between those two. I could also use a library to find about some information.  Distinction between those two are that hornets' size are 1- 1.5 inches long and hornets' color are black and white; brownish-reddish. However, wasps' size are smaller than hornets, 1 inch or less, and the color of them are vary. 

https://www.orkin.com/stinging-pests/wasps/difference-wasps-hornets/

What's that hole? Mel's Hole.

Today, I watched a short clip about a mysterious hole called Mel's hole. Mel's hole is located close to Ellensburg in America.  According to the video, Mel's hole is hole where Mel found in his area where he bought and the hole is so deep that Mel could not find out the depth of the hole. One day, someone threw away their dead dog body into the hole and next day, the dog was alive and it started to run away from their master and disappeared again. Because of this event, people started to call this hole, "the devil's hole." Of course this cannot be scientifically proven, therefore it is myth. However, one weird thing that happened to Mel was that the government started to ask Mel to borrow the land that includes Mel's Hole for 2 years. Not only that but the government asked Mel to go to Australia. After he got back from Australia, 2 years later, he went to the radio broadcast to tell about his situations. However, he claims that when he was coming back, he got kidnapped from some people and when he opened his eyes, he was in San Francisco with marks that he got beaten up. Because of this situation, he did not have any power, and therefore the Mel's land became the property of the government. Since he talked about the truth in the radio broadcast, people started to show some interest of Mel's hole. And after that, Mel was gone. Few days later, Mel's neighbor claims that  he saw Mel getting kidnapped by the people who were wearing black suits. This created a lot of issues and people were more interested about Mel's hole. 

Then 8 years later, Red Elk who is expert in Mel's hole claimed that everything that Mel talked about was all true. He adds on saying that the government is trying to hide the existence of Mel's hole. This is because the Mel's hole is covered with white box when it comes to the Google Earth where it shows detail of the certain area. By this we could see that government is trying to hide it. Some people claims that it is all lie by a attention seeker, however, some people believes that it is the aliens who made the hole or it is a hole that connects to the outside Earth. Believe it or not, Mel's hole was really interesting. In my Environmental science class, I have talked about Mel's hole and students were interested about Mel's hole. Mr Lyke found out the answer that it is all lie by the attention seeker, but it could be lie from the governments too! It is interesting!

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2011/08/mel-waters-and-the-devils-holes/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkgCPLz4JNA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel%27s_Hole

What are they?

In Cheongna, I found many birds flying around. I saw birds staying in the place where the bulldozer mowed down all the reeds so that there can be some kind of construction going on. The whole area looks desolate, with rotting reeds and some mud puddles left due to rain. However, there are still many birds that could be observed around the area, seen on the photo. All of those birds seem to look like some kind of herons.

I first wondered, even with their habitat gone, how are they surviving? I also thought to myself, what are the species of these birds and what do they usually eat for sustenance? Finally I wondered, that since they are surviving, is there a new ecosystem forming amid the ruins? With these questions on my head, I started to research about them.  However, I could not find out what are those. In order to find the answer I should use more Internet websites to find out what kind of birds they are, and how do they survive. I also can ask local construction workers, as they might have observed these birds more than I did. This photo has been taken a few days ago, and I still see many birds around the area. This made me realize, even with the natural habitat gone, many species find a way to survive. This can relate to our Environmental Science Class that they are able to adapt their habitat in order to survive.

https://www.edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_54_18.html

What is going on with the weather?

Today in my environmental science class, we learned about weather and climate. Korea is well known for having four distinct seasons. However, this year's weather was very weird. It felt like there is no spring between the winter and summer. I feel like weather is cold in the morning but it became so hot in the daytime and later it becomes cold again when it is afternoon. Which was also a cause to many students getting sick this year.

I actually like the climate right now. It will become hotter and humid as the calendar approach
the June mark and it is personally my worst time of the year. Being hot and humid at the same time
is the worst. Your body get sticky with the sweat which is so annoying but a cool shower in summer
after a tiresome day always make it up. That is the reason why I like this weather because it cools
me off when you feel sticky during the daytime.

Also in Korea, most of the rain during the whole year drops during July to august. I should hope it rains less this summer.

http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/seasons.html

Itai Itai disease

In my environmental science class, we have learned about fresh water. And I started to wonder what happens if you don't drink fresh water. There are a lot of consequences if you don't drink fresh water, but I have found out quite disgusting thing when I started to research about it. Of course, if you drink non fresh water, it would damage your health. What if you don't drink fresh water in Japan when Japan was destroyed by nuclear bomb? Therefore, I started to research about it. This is what I found when I research about the consequences if too much metal accumulates in the body. There are Japanese patient who are afflicted with the "Itai -Itai" disease, which literally translates into 'it hurts- it hurts' disease. This disease was caused by consuming too much cadmium. This disease disrupts the metabolic activities regarding calcium, which weakens bones enough to turn people into the man.

This was caused by industrial waste leaking into the waters unchecked, which were then used for drinking or agriculture. This is very similar to what we are doing to the fishes in the aquatic environment that I mentioned in the previous blog post. After this, I gained a fear that I might be developing health problems from consuming too much fish as well. From this research, I learned that if we abuse the environment, eventually it will bring consequences to us. There we should keep environment safe.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/itai-itai-disease

What will Donald Trump do?

In my Environmental science class, we have learned about global warming and air pollution. Donald Trump has been elected as the 45th president of America. Well, it pretty much means disaster in every aspect, but it is evident that the environment is going to be taking one of the worst.Donald Trump is a man who called the global warming as a Chinese hoax. 

South Korea is having serious issue with the fine dust because of China. Donald Trump wants to get rid of many environmental regulations Obama has created, and it is certain this could be done easily as the house and the senate is also republican-dominant. He wants to get rid of the Environmental Protection Agency and also remove any federal spending for clean energy such as solar power or wind power. Not only that, he wants the United States to remove themselves from the Paris climate deal as well.


America is already a country contributing greatly to the destruction of the environment. It is sad that their negative contribution is going to be much larger now that Trump is the president. This could create chaos in South Korea and we are looking forward what is going to happen next.

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2017/04/donald-trump-wants-terminate-environmental-protection-agency-can-he

Earthquake can occure anytime anywhere

In my environmental science class we learned about the different natural disasters. I researched about earthquakes. I looked through the internet to learn more about earthquakes, I saw that Japan has really great architectural techniques that lets the buildings not break apart when Earthquake hits.

It seemed since 1988, Korea's building higher than 6 stories are forced to use seismic design to endure earthquake. However, buildings built before 1988 and buildings that are between 3 stories and 5 stories high was not built using seismic design.

Then, I was reminded of the recent Earthquake that hit South Korea. The News told me that it happened at Pohang. After the earthquake I thought about what if another earthquake hits Korea and a really strong one. I wanted to know if Korea is ready for a strong earthquake. So, I decided to look it up on the internet if our houses are capable of withstanding strong earthquakes. By doing this research I learned that earthquake can be very harmful and can happen occasionally. South Korea government should be aware of this fact and should get ready for after.

https://earthquaketrack.com/kr-14-pohang/recent

Seoul is overpopulating

In my environmental science class we learned about overpopulation and the problem of that. However I want to first emphasize that Korea's population is about 50 million. It is very fair number of population. However, South Korea is dealing with serious over-population in Seoul. There is 10 million living in Seoul and much more stays in Seoul during the day because of their job.

In South Korea most of the thing running in Seoul and Korea that foreigners know is actually just Seoul. For example most of the big companies run in places like gangnam, myungdong, jongro, and etc... Recently I watched a video and an american embassy in Korea, Gregory Henderson said, "As Paris was for France, Seoul was not simply Korea's largest town; it was Korea."

The government is not blind and ignoring this problem. They have been trying to solve it for a long time and had made efforts such as making satellite towns around Seoul or force government employees to move to a specific city. However, it is not a easy problem to fix. But in fact, people are starting to distinguish people who are living countryside. I think that is the biggest problem. Since people are crowded in one small place, it seems there are a lot of problems than countryside. I think this problem should be fixed. By doing this I learned that how Seoul is being too overpopulating and the issue of them.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/a-bleak-future-and-population-crisis-for-south-korea/article21249599/

Han River

Today in my environmental science class we learned about fresh water. And I start thinking if Han river
is fresh water or not. Seoul is formed around the huge Han river. The Han River is famous for being so wide. There are famous rivers of big cities like the Thames with the tower bridge or the Hudson river. But among them, Han River is the widest and most beautiful, I believe. It is a sad that with such a good river, the Korean Government does not do much other than make bridges. The water is not clean and there is not so much investment into activities that can be done in the river. There are certain manias that still fish or water ski in the river but there is no facilities that can help people or lure new comers to join and have fun. It is a shame that people need to go countryside to enjoy marine sports while there is such a great environment right next to us. I hope the government makes good use of Han river. Even if it is considered not fresh water, people should keep it clean so that people can have great image of Han river. By doing this I learned that Han river is not a fresh water that people can enjoy to drink, however, it is really amazing river.

Water!

Today in my environmental science class, I have learned about water fertilization. 

Since Korea is a developed nation, we have safe water. Although you need to pay for it, you don't need to worry about getting sick from it. And from that, I started to wonder and made me research on how much do we need to pay for water in order to get safe water.

According to my research and our billing paper I understand that you pay 402 won per m^3. In average, a house with 3-4 family member pays 30,000 to 40,000 won a month for water. Water is not expensive in Korea because we can afford it easily. However, we should make a daily habit of saving water. Not only it is beneficial to the environment, it also saves your money. And also comparing to countries in South East Asia countries, they charges you for water, however, in South Korea water is free.

I think our current situation on water is not problem because the government seems to make it cheaper. Therefore, people should still save water or else our billing paper on water will look much different and people would not enjoy on the money. By doing this I learned that South Korea is in safe level on water and people should care more on water.

http://tip.daum.net/question/89617057

Today in my environmental science class we learned that there are salinity and the different ocean currents. It made me understand that the reason why the ocean does not freeze but the river or lake,

When lakes freeze, only the topmost part freeze. That is the reason why there is still fish under the frozen surface. Also, because the top part freezes, the temperature of the water itself is not too freeze so fishes can survive. If the water was too cold, the fishes might also hibernate like the bears do in the winter.

The weather like 1 week ago, it was super cold. And Cheongna Canal way was frozen. People started to play at the frozen Canal way. I believe that our world is very interesting.

By doing this research and through my experience, I learned the importance of salinity. And I start wonder what will happen if the ocean frozes. It will be very interesting. 

http://www.water.wa.gov.au/water-topics/water-quality/managing-water-quality/understanding-salinity

Natural disasters.

Today in my environmental science class we have learned about natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanoes..And I start wondering about other natural disasters suc as tsunami, tornadoes, and etc... I start wondering that because I watched a movie. There was a Korean Movie named Hae Un Dae. Hae Un Dae is Korea's most famous beach at Busan. The Movie Hae Un Dae is about a fictional story that Busan gets hit by an enormous tsunami. Although it reached milllion in the box office, the movie itself did not get a good review score because of general plot line and an ending that 'forced' audience to cry. According to my research, hurricane Chaba hit lower right corner of Korea, where Busan city is located. The city of Busan was overwhelmed with water flow. The whole city was filled with water which it was real situation rather than a movie.

People in Busan had damaged by the unpredictable natural disaster. 

After doing this, I learned that there are serious natural disasters that can happen unpredictiably. Therefore, people should always prepare for the natural disasters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Chaba_(2016)

Earthquake in Pohang

In my environmental science class we have learned about an earthquake and learned how it is made and how strong it can be. Recently, there has been a series of earthquakes occurring around Pohang. My friends  told me they felt the earthquake even though they live quite far away from where the earthquake hit. It's been rare that earthquake occurred in Korea, and everybody seems to be scared, yet there has not been much words from the government for disaster preparation. 

It was very scary because Pohang earthquake have happened on last year when students are taking "Suneng" test. Because of the earthquake, the Suneng test was delayed for a week. Many people were at first not worried too much about the earthquake. However, when it happened again in Pohang, people are starting to be in fear.

I learned that Korea is not safe from earthquakes and there must be measures to prevent much disaster resulting from the catastrophe they cause. After doing some research, I have learned that Korea is no more safe country from earthquakes and should prevent from the catastrphe. 

http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/11/15/2017111502688.html

Extinction

In my environmental science class, we have learned about extinction of animals. Students started to teach the others by presenting slide shows. It was very interesting to see that animals are extincting and it is hard to imagine that the animal were existed before the extinction. And today I found something unusual.  Going back home, I encountered a wildlife that I usually don't encounter in an urban environment of Korea. It was a squirrel.The moment I came into its sight, it ran away as quick as possible to the nearest tree. It ran away so fast that I couldn't even take a picture of it. I didn't have much time to observe either. All I took noticed was that it was quite big, had a bushy tail and grey fur.

I wondered how could a squirrel live near the road in which is very noisy. Also, I wondered what could eat for sustenance in food-scarce urban areas. I started to think, that it is human activity that made the extinction or not. 

As other students have mentioned, human activities are surely the reason for extinction of animals. This is due to the fact that squirrel is animal that it is hard to see, and it is the reason for the urban which is made by human. Therefore, I think people should stop destroying the habitat for animals. 

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/species/problems/habitat_loss_degradation/

An Inconvenient Truth

In my environmental science class, we have learned about the global climate change. I know that I have been doing a lot of blogs about global climate change, but global climate change is the topic that I am very interested in and very important to people. To learn more about global climate change, I looked into the documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth.' It was a great documentary that disproved what deniers of climate change are stating. Al Gore who is the speaker gave various proof on how climate change is, in fact, the truth throughout the video, and it was especially alarming to see the effects of climate change, both to nature and to us, humans.

I remember watching Al Gore video when I was young but found it boring. However, when I got interested in the global climate change, it seemed interesting to me. He thought me that we should not take the environment for granted. The change that Al Gore described in his documentary was so gradual, yet so swift at the same time. The changes that we are experiencing are not so subliminal anymore, and it may be that we can't provide the environment that we enjoyed to our sons and daughters.  

As a result, I could understand global climate change better and helped me understand the concept. 

Fresh water technology in Busan?

In my environmental science class, we have discussed about fresh water. So, I started to wonder how do we get the fresh water. According to my research Busan is trying to increase fresh water supply by desalinating the sea water of East Sea. This effort has been going on for a few years, and they already have built a few desalination facilities to put their plan to practice. However it seems like citizens are against it.

I started to wonder what is the main reason why the citizens were so against the technology? Therefore I started to research about it and I learned that ever since the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, it has been suspected that pockets of radiation have been leaking to the East Sea, rendering the East Sea as a possible radioactive hazard.

Even with the possible dangers, the city of Busan still tries to utilize its desalination technology as they spent a fortune on the facilities and infrastructures required. This means that they did not consider any environmental factors even though it was explicitly revealed that the Fukushima Disaster is causing serious environmental problems in nearby oceans. After doing some research, I have clearly understand the reason why people are against the technology and how to get fresh water.

http://www.busan.go.kr/water_en/index