Bio Solids

Poo! It smells funky and looks nasty. But the earth loves this stuff. Our sewage was is nutrient-rich organic materials when treated and processed, it can be recycled and applied as fertilizer to improve and maintain productive soils and stimulate plant growth. Commonly used on farms to help crops.

Wastewater treatmeant process? Solid, organic, and chemical waste is separated from wastewater so that it can be safely re-introduced into the ecosystem.Wastewater treatment technology has made our fresh waters safer as sources of drinking water, it has also improved marine water quality for recreation and seafood harvesting.  By treating sewage sludge, the biosolids can be used as valuable fertilizer, instead of taking up space in a landfill or other disposal facility. In many larger wastewater treatment systems, pre-treatment regulations require that industrial facilities pre-treat their wastewater to remove many hazardous contaminants. This process ensure we get safe clean water.

Biosolids completes a natural cycle in the environment. Just imagine a cow. It eats the grass, then poos, the poos used to  make new grass. Nutrients are found in biosolids, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and also minerals such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, sulfur and zinc, which are necessary for crop production and growth. The use of biosolids reduces the farmer's production costs and replenishes the organic matter that has been depleted over time. The organic matter improves soil structure by increasing the soil's ability to absorb and store moisture.

Biosolids are a good thing. We put waste to good use instead of leaving it out a dump and landfills. It helps in the growth of plants. Its kinda cool how our poo bloomed out greens. Biosolids should be used by everyone. It helps maintain our biodiversity by recycling.






Reference :
Biosolids: FAQ - http://www.cwwa.ca/faqbiosolids_e.asp
Wastewater Process - http://www.epcor.ca/en-ca/about-epcor/operations/operations-alberta/Edmonton/gold-bar/Pages/wastewater-treatment-process.aspx

Importance of Various Technology

Technology plays a huge part in understanding how the systems of the body work. Technology is used by everyone, but more importantly they help in the medical field. Doctors, Nurses, Specialist use these technologies to save LIVES! The technologies help them work faster and easier. From vaccines to machines. Technology plays a major role in our everyday life.
             


Vaccines are used to help strengthen our immune system. They assist our immune system in fighting harmful diseases. An example of a vaccines would be our annual flu shot. We take it every year to prevent serious flu related complications, like pneumonia. Another example of a vaccine, meningococcal injection that prevents bacterial meningitis in both children and young adults. Befroe the development of this medicine, bacterial meningitis presented physicians with many problems. In severe cases, bacterial meningitis has cause death due to rapid progression of symptoms.




Machines technology also helps in the medical field. A well known machine is the automated external defibrillator (AED). This is one of the most important machines because it assist us in regulating cardiac arrest. Without it, irreversible brain damage can occur in minutes, eventually leading to death. AEDs have become standard medical equipment in many public facilities.


Surgery, technology is most important when performing surgery. Without out we couldn't repair the bodies properly and we would have to let them suffer. Arthroscopic surgery utilizes an endoscope to examine and repair internal joints. The advantage is that a smaller incision can be made, which promotes quicker healing. Laser technology used rather than scalpel is used to cut tissue. Commonly used in operations involving the eye, such as in correcting near-sightedness and far-sightedness. Technology involving a laser scalpel can vaporize soft tissue with 
high amounts of water.

TECHNOLOGY IS BEAST! It is essential to our everyday lives. Technology has come a long way from past to present. Doctors now can save many more lives and treat illness in a highly efficient manner. 

Reference:  Technology That Makes Doctor's Live Easier
                 http://www.akwmedical.com/blog/technology-makes-doctors-lives-easier
                 
Vaccines - http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/immunizations/f/vaccinehelp.htm


Comments: http://adorablogs.blogspot.com/2010/12/its-truewe-cant-live-without-technology.html#comments

Sustainable Agriculture

Our growing population demands humanity to develop ways to increase our agriculture to meet every one's needs while minimizing impact on the environment in order to do this farms must have uniform crop types and structures and will they will rely on specific planting and harvesting dates. This will result  in a decrease of crop diversity because we are only growing highly productive crops (industrial agriculture). We will now have, a small variety of crops planted, because the less productive breeds will become extinct.

According to the united nations convention on biological diversity,  in the history of human agriculture there have been about 7000 different species of plants that have been used as food crops now because of industrial agriculture there are only about fifteen plants and eight animal species relied for about 90% of all human food

The benefits of relying on a few highly productive livestock breeds and crop varieties is that it is less costly and it provides the needs for our growing population
However every time you reduce the genetic diversity you increase the risk of the few crop varieties to survive in future conditions, such as climate change or other environmental changes.
- genetic diversity is important to withstand natural selection
- basically unsustainable human activity is the greatest threat to biodiversity
- also factory farms that have a mass production of the few selected livestock and crops force independent farms our of business and this also reduces genetic biodeversity because the other crops and livestock are no longer being tended to

- one of the problems of relying on a few highly productive livestock breeds is that because of industrial agriculture,  these livestock can no longer adapt to the natural environment and must always be carefully regulated. They are no longer able to survive outsite of the factory farm. So in the future this can become more costly
-as for the crops, when you lose genetic diversity, the few crops become more susceptible to devestation by pests. when the crops star looking the same it is easy for pests to wipe out the entire harvest compared to if all the crops were different

- overall, industrial agriculture only considers the present and not the future. by continuing industrial agriculture we are minimizing our food, livestock, and crop security in the future. Also, factory farms and industrial agriculture creates a lot of pollution which will inevitably have a major negative impact in the future.

- what we need to look towards is a sustainable agriculture which is a way of raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals and does not harm the environment. Everything is done in a humane and just way.

- all i eat for dinner and lunch is rice and chicken which is one of the main mass produced livestock and crops.
- i believe that the agricultural industry can keep up with the rapid growth of the global human population however the environment and humanity will pay a damaging price

reference: http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/biodiversity/
http://www.sustainabletable.org/intro/whatis/

Comments : http://itsbiotime.blogspot.com/2011/01/industrial-vs-sustainable-agriculture.html?showComment=1297633456697#c5305868436135431739

http://btotheio.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-are-what-you-eat.html?showComment=1297634865169#c6379794660985120165

Designing Your Baby!

Ever Wonder about customizing you baby? With modern technology it is now possible. You can now create your baby to look like how you'd like. You are able to choose its sex, and its cosmetic characteristics. Designing your baby will help create your "dream" baby, your perfect baby. But is it really worth it?

Designing your baby is done through the process of InVitro Fertillsation (IVF) and Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). In InVitro Fertillsation eggs are being fertillize with sperm in test-tubes. The egg is taken out of the female. Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) occurs during IVF. This reason for this process is to eliminate the chance of you baby being born with a disorder. In this process, doctors would remove the "bad" dna that creates the disorder from the cell. After these process, IFV and PGD the egg is put back in the womb of the female.

It is amazing how far, we've come with technology. Creating babies our "dream" babies is possible with this technoloy. It's cool how we can avoid our baby from being born with a disorder, and make them look pretty. But having to design your baby comes with social and ethical implications. Firstly it is morally wrong. God had intended humans to mate with one another to create a baby through love and intercourse. He had taught us to love our creation no matter how it looks. Designing your baby changes the way the baby looks, and the changes the way God had wanted it to look. We our messing with God's creations. We aren't creating the baby natuarally anymore. We in a way are losing our humanity. Those parents become greedy, trying to get the best, trying to have the best child. It feels like we are now robots that we can change parts too.  Secondly, these processes are expensive. You have to pay so much for your baby to look pretty. I think the money should go towards the clothes and school. I actually think the clothes the child wears is more important to society nowadays. And school will actually help him become smarter. Implanting a "smart" gene wont teach it anything. It would probably give the baby the ability to learn quicker but still needs to undergo being taught. These processes are expensive, against our morality and not worth it.

Reference : http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm
                  http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html
                  images - google.com/images


Comments :


http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1992857930300495735&postID=4074201235661012731&isPopup=true

http://sbi3u1carminachu.blogspot.com/2010/11/designer-babies.html?showComment=1297356452581#c1400125459038314832

David Suzuki, The How to (repair environment) person!

Around the world, people have been harming the environment with the use of technology throughout our daily lives.This is because many people are unaware of the issues that they create. The David Suzuki Foundation, is a global organisation that makes people aware of the issues affecting our environment. 

"Our mission is to protect the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future." (David Suzuki, and Staff)

Goals

The organizations goals:

Protecting our climate - ensure that Canada is doing its fair share to avoid dangerous climate change and is on track to achieve a safe level of greenhouse gas emissions.

Transforming the economy - make certain that Canadians can maintain a high quality of life within the finite limits of nature through efficient resource use.

Protecting nature - work to protect the diversity and health of Canada's marine, freshwater, and terrestrial creatures and ecosystems.

Reconnecting with nature - ensure that Canadians, especially youth, learn about their dependence on a healthy environment through outdoor education.

The Issues

The issues this organizations is helping us avoid:

Climate Change - harming the ozone layer, means increase in global temperature which will create more severe weather, and water shortages in many places. 

Health - Many of the products we use like shampoo for example contain toxics that may harm our body and environment.

Wildlife and Habitats - We humans share the earth with many other kinds of apples. We all need the resources to live our lives suitably. If we waste the resources we would find it very difficult to live life accordingly

What We Could Do and How It Would Help?

There are many things we can do to help our environment: 

Reducing a carbon footprint is one way. We can't suddenly stop harming our environment but by reducing our energy consumptions we can slowly change it. From things like, biking to work if close or using energy efficient light bulbs will help reduce energy consumptions as well as save you financially. Who wouldn't want to save money as well as save the world. By reducing our energy consumptions we damage the ozone layer less quickly which also means severe weather would come less frequently. 

Planting trees in areas where trees were taking away, will help create habitats for some animals, give us more resources later in the furture, as well as give us oxygen. 

The David Suzuki Foundations plays a big role in our community. His website, http://www.davidsuzuki.org/  shows a list of things we can do to help the environment. He educates youths to help youths understand what they could do to help our future. I think it's important we youth know what the consequences that may come upon us in the future so we can avoid it happening. 

Reference: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/

Comments: http://mwbioblogs.blogspot.com/2010/11/recovery-of-endangered-species.html?showComment=1297357001200#c6356077856989219040

http://romasbiologyblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/topic-1-positive-impact-humans-have-on.html?showComment=1297635357897#c5280333070521891618