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/