A Survey of Human Stupidity: Deforestation

A human being by definition is "a person, especially as distinguished from other animals or as representing the human species..."  This means that as human beings, we are set apart from the animals in the world.  In my opinion, I believe that this means we have power over the animal kingdom and in return are supposed to care for it.  To protect the animal kingdom, we must first protect the environment they live in.  This also means we need to protect the autotrophs and flora that make up the lowest level of the food chain.  If we are cutting out the lowest level of the food chain, we are cutting out the rest of the animal kingdom and in the end, ourselves.

Forests cover about 30% of the world’s land area and at the current rate of deforestation; the forests could be gone in a hundred years according to National Geographic.  There are many reasons for deforestation but in the end, money is the biggest factor.  Deforestation has many impacts on the environment, the biggest being the, "...loss of habitat for millions of species.  Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes."  These shocking statistics come from National Geographic and show that if we don't do something about deforestation, we could potentially not only lose all of our forests, but 70% of all the animals and plants that live there.

In my opinion, human impacts all affect each other.  This means if you help one, you can help them all.  For instance, if we recycle more of our paper products there won't be the need to cut down as many trees.  If the trees stay, then there will be more protection for the animals that are going towards extinction.  If the forests are cut down, the animal being poached are forced to live in the new boundaries of the forest.  With smaller forest boundaries, it is easier for poachers to trap and kill their desired prey aiding in the animals extinction. There is also the issue of global warming and climate change.  With the large amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, there are not enough autotrophs to perform photosynthesis to convert CO2 back into oxygen. There is so much more to recycling as well.  If we can reuse, there will also be a decrease in pollution in the air and on the land.  Plants cannot grow under certain pH levels that can be affected by the garbage that seeps into the ground.  As you can see, by doing things like reduce, reuse, recycle we can change more than just deforestation but human impacts as a whole.

We have the power to change the world!  The question we must ask ourselves, is how we are going to change it and what is it going to cost us?

Thanks for reading!

~Em

P.S.

Here is YouTube video showing a time lapse of deforestation!

Here are the links to the sites I used:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/human+being?s=t&ld=1172

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CEQQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcwmi.css.cornell.edu%2Fsourcesandimpacts.pdf&ei=bhRcUuvjLaXYyQHE34CYDg&usg=AFQjCNG0PqBLvfdTbU_a7zZo9CzKiFH-tQ&sig2=R1ZgTZ5b-kJrZ2qWbcnHKg 

SPARTA HOMECOMING!

 

This past week, Sparta Spartans have had their annual homecoming events.  It is the time of year for a week filled of fun and ending with a lot of school spirit.  This year our theme was decades!  The Seniors got the 80's, Juniors got the Roaring 20's, Sophomores go the 70's, and the Freshman got the 90's.  There are so many amazing things that go into Sparta's homecoming, it is almost impossible to fit all of the good times into one post, but I will try :) 

During the week of homecoming there are dress-up days: Monday is dress up from a decade day, Tuesday is crazy hair day, Wednesday is PJ day, Thursday, twin day, and Friday is class color day.  Friday has to be my favorite day of the week.  It is a day full of games, from the caterpillar to the orange pass, it is a great day!  It is Friday when all of the speeches are given from the homecoming court and the king and queen are announced at the game that night.  We also do a class dance called Mock Rock every year along with float building.  We also do a can food drive along with penny a point which is donated to charity. 

Mock Rock has been one of my favoirte parts of homecoming since I was a sophomore.  As you know, I am a dancer and love an opprotunity to dance and have fun with my classmates.  Mock Rock has allowed me to get involved in my school and get to know my peers better.  This years Mock Rock was a lot of fun when we danced to Michael Jackson's, "Thriller".  We also finished off the dance with Journey's, "Don't Stop Believin'".  I have had a blast working on Mock Rock for the past three years!

Another part of homecoming I look forward to is, of course, the football game!  I love the feeling of community you get at a Sparta football team.  There is a feeling of unity and pride when you are sitting in the bleachers cheering on your team to victory.  Sparta did win their homecoming game 41 to 14!  I am so proud of our football team!

I have to say the best part of homecoming has to be the dance.  Getting a dress, doing your hair, going to dinner, and having fun with friends are some of my favorite things to do :)  I love dancing with all of my friends and having a good time.  I don't always get the chance to hang out outside of ballet, but homecoming is one of the few times in the year I can get dressed up and dance for fun! :)

It's so hard to believe that this year was my last homecoming and that a year from now I will no longer be a student at Sparta High School.  I know that next year I won't be attending Sparta Area Schools anymore, but I will always be a Spartan and I will always have my Spartan Pride! :)

HAPPY HOMECOMING
~Em

First Entry! :)

Welcome to my AP Biology Blog!  My name is Emily and I am a ballerina.  I am a part of a junior company, which means I am dancing 6 days a week.  I have danced many different roles, my favorite has to be "the Witch" in Snow White.  There is just something about dancing that makes me so happy.  For a moment you get to be on stage and tell a story, be an inspiration to someone watching.  Besides dance, I love science and I want to do cancer research for my career.  I have been affected by cancer through family members and friends.  I feel that cancer is something that needs to be stopped, and I want to be the one to help make that happen. 
I am taking AP Biology because I love science!  I loved biology and chemistry and I really wanted to dig deeper into my field of study.  I hope to get a better understanding of biology on a more detailed level.  I want to dive right into biology.  It is so interesting, I love it!
On a final note, thank you to all of the past AP biology students for your advice!  It really helped put this class into perspective.  I will also have a good idea of what I'm getting myself into.  With this summer assignment and your advice I know I will feel confident walking into AP Biology on my first day!
Have a fantastic summer!
Em