Nepal Earthquake

What?

Earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.8 happened in Nepal.

When?

25th April.

Lost?

At least 3,218 have died.

Efforts?

• US: Disaster response team and an initial $1m (£0.7m), according to aid agency USAid
• China: Rescue team reported to have arrived in Nepal
• India: Several aircraft, carrying medical supplies and a mobile hospital, and a 40-strong disaster response team, including rescuers with dogs
• UK: Eight-strong humanitarian team, £5m in aid
• Pakistan: Four C-130 aircraft carrying a 30-bed field hospital, and army doctors and specialists; urban search-and-rescue teams equipped with radars and sniffer dogs; food items, including 2,000 meals, 200 tents and 600 blankets
• Norway: $3.9m (£2.5m) in humanitarian assistance

Ideas?

Donation

Sports like basketball or dodgeball

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-32475030

10-Day-Single-Use-Plastics-Collection

Tragedy of the Commons

We are sharing earth resources together. Tragedy of the Commons occurs when one individual thinks of Commons as his own property and only use it for himself and eventually causes harm to the society.

Earth day

What is it?

Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which day events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection

When is it?

April 22nd 2015

Purpose?

• to make all participants of this day Earth trustees and eliminate the problems of pollution, war, poverty, injustice, and conflicts.
• to unite people of many different cultures for a single purpose care for the earth.

Single-use plastics

Compass “single-use plastics”

Nature

• Plastic is non-renewable resources.
• It takes many hundred of years or even thousand for plastic to decompose.
• Most marine debris is included of plastic material and it also kills some marine animal or bird that misunderstand plastic debris as their foods.
• Affect the animal’s habitat.
• for nature, we shouldn’t use plastics.

Economy

• Plastic bag is cheap and more affordable.
• Supermarket will offer the plastic bag to the customers because it costs less than anything else.
• When we buy water, we always buy water bottle which will help company that produce it.
• For the economy, Yes, we still need single-use plastics.

Well-being

• Single-use plastic is convenient to use.
• Water bottle of water contains some chemical, we do know it but we still drink it rather than tap water.
• For the well-being, we still need single-use plastics.

Society

• There will be more trash because plastic is non-renewable.
• People will be more comfortable not to bring paper bag or another kind of bag with when they go to supermarket. So they will use plastic bag that is given for free. However, this can be changed by telling them the plastic issue.
• For society, we can survive without single-use plastics.

Overall= Yes

Continue using it? Yes, Why?

In my opinion, I don’t think I can’t stop using single-use plastic but I will try to reduce the amount of plastic I use these day even though for me it would be pretty hard. I cannot live without drinking water bottle each day, I cannot live without buying food which is contained in plastic box from the shop and I cannot live without buying a snack that is also contained in plastic bag. The solution I think I can do is I’m trying to make a food from my house and bring it to school and maybe bring my own bottle to get a water from a tap instead.

Citation

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/environment/pollution-environment/plastics-environmental-health-literature-review

http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/plastickills.html

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/dangers-of-plastic

Natural Capital

Intrinsic value of the environment

Economic value – determined from market price of the goods and services.

Ecological values – no formal market price. (soil erosion control, nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis)

Aesthetic values – no market price. (appreciation of a landscape for its visual attraction)

Intrinsic value – value in their own right, not economic value.

Direct use values – they are the ecosystem goods and services that are directly used by humans.

• Consumptive use – includes harvesting food products, timber for fuels, or housing, medicinal products and hunting animals for food and clothing.
• Non-consumptive use – includes recreational and cultural activities that do not require harvesting of products.

Indirect use values – from ecosystem services that benefits outside the ecosystem itself. (ex. natural water filtration which may benefit people downstream).

Optional values – from potential future use of ecosystem goods and services. either by yourself (option value or your future generations (bequest value).

Non-use values- It includes aesthetic and intrinsic values, sometimes called existence values.

Recreational value – For natural resources to attract the tourist that can provide an alternative income that is sustainable and does not deplete the source of natural capital.

Sustainability

Sustainability means using global resources at a rate that allows natural regeneration and minimizes damage to the environment.

Humans goes beyond sustainable limits through…

1. Over population
2. Financial motives
3. Ignorance

Unsustainable to soil:

1. Overgrazing (loss vegetation and exposure of the underlying soil)
2. Over-cultivation (loss of soil fertility and structure leave the soil on top vulnerable to erosion by wind and water)

Local or global?

Ecosystems are affected by global processes, so sustainability needs to be understood as a global issue.