Response #12: Herbivorous Heroes

Global warming is a major concern for people throughout the world. Scientists have been looking for ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for years now and have come up with cutting down on driving. That’s not all that there is though. In the article “Vegetarian is the New Prius,” Kathy Freston gives a different alternative that is even better than reducing the amount of driving one does. She finds that switching to a vegetarian diet reduces not only carbon dioxide emissions, but also methane and nitrous oxide, which are two other major greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

This article was very intriguing in that it supports a vegetarian diet in hopes of reducing the amount of livestock being raised and processed into meat we buy from the store. In doing this there would be less de-forestation, manure problems, water pollution, farming production of livestock feed, machines that process meat, and transportation of meat. I can see how that would make a big difference because all those things in some way, in large or small amounts, emit greenhouse gases.

However, switching to a vegetarian diet does not guarantee that any of the livestock numbers will be cut down. It may become a useless effort. So many people enjoy eating meat and producers know that. They give the people what they want. There would have to be a large number of people that switch their diet for the idea to become reality.

All in all, I think this article was very effective. It was very convincing. There were a lot of good reasons provided that explained why and how it would make a difference. The conclusion is what really knocked it out of the ballpark, for me, when there were vegetarian recipe websites provided and a bunch of different ideas offered. It really encouraged vegetarianism.

Response #11: Lions, Tigers, and Bears! Oh Yes!

Wildlife is simply amazing, and I know I’m not the only one out there that thinks so too. The Wildlife Conservation Society has a website that contains a bunch of information about saving wildlife and their environments. It offers different choices for viewers from plans to take action to simply learning about wildlife and the Wildlife Conservation Society. There are also resources and books for those who would like to learn about the work WCS does and what the staff recommends for reading.

This website is definitely interesting. It shows the condition of certain wildlife it focuses on in different parts of the world. Most of these places are of the exotic type. I find it interesting because it involves a lot of tiger species, and I personally love tigers, but it also talks about poachers and what they are up to. Poaching is a terrible thing. I am glad to see that there are people out there that are fighting against it in other parts of the world.

From what I see, this website is up in hopes of finding people that will help protect wildlife. I think it would attract more people and be more effective if it had a few more things to it, for instance, other websites I have viewed had games and other interactive and fun things to do. I think it could use a little more excitement or pizzazz to it.

Even though this website focuses on exotic places and has nothing to do with Alaska, I just wanted to point out that wildlife conservation is a good thing, but there can be a point where it becomes too much. For example, the Polar Bear is on the endangered species list because they think it will not be able to survive if the ice continues to melt and because the number that scientists have now are low. However, some of the native people of Northern Alaska (the Inupiat) believe that it should not be on the endangered species list because they know that the bears are able to survive and adapt to different living conditions. They don’t think the polar bears will be dying off any time soon.

Website Response 8: Biodiesel 411

Mondok

Website Response

Fall 2011

Energy

 

Biodiesel.org is a very informative and easily navigated website. The goal of this site is to bring information and access to biodiesel fuel to the everyday consumer. As I navigated this site, there were recent news articles from around the country about advances made in biodiesel vehicles and the biodiesel industry. There is everything from the basic information on how biodiesel is made to the warranties available to the consumer for using biodiesel on Original Equipment Manufacturer products. You can even search for biodiesel retailers within your area. One thing that I did notice that works against the simplicity of this site is the amount of links that it had, otherwise the website gives you access to a large amount of information on biodiesel with very little hassle.

With the concern for the environment and the desire for a new fuel source, biodiesel surely takes up some of the spot light. “Being the only alternative fuel to meet the standards outlined in the Clean Air Act of 1990” (National Biodiesel Board) , biodiesel could reduce the dependency on petroleum products. However being that the oil companies have such a large grasp on the government it will take many years to reduce the dependency on petroleum.  Unfortunately, we will not be entirely able to reduce the use of fossil fuels considering the process of making biodiesel requires the use of petroleum. The impact of using biodiesel will still reduce the amount of pollutants that are released into the air during everyday activities.

 

National Biodiesel Board. Biodiesel Basics. Retrieved from http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/biodiesel_basics/