Dan's Global Environment Blog

A photo of the earth.  source Originally, for this assignment I was going to discuss the Global Warming crisis as a whole, but, I recently read a Time Magazine article about an effort put together by rapper Lil Dicky to help raise money and awareness for multiple organizations to help reverse the effects of Global Warming and Climate Change. The organizations that the rapper has partnered with include  Quick Response Fund for Nature, the Shark Conservation Fund and the Carbon Cycle Institute, along with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. The song itself uses humor to keep the listener interested, and draws in an  astounding  amount of listeners due to over thirty artists  being  featured on the track. A Time  article  by   ANDREW R. CHOW  compares the song to a modern day "We are the World."  Towards the end of the song, Lil Dicky (David Burd), explains what climate change is doing and how bad the results can be.  I fo...

A current photo of my tree It has been about three months since I first explored and wrote about my tree. My tree is located right outside of my dorm, Holloway Hall, and it makes a statement to everybody who enters and exits the building. The last time I explored this tree for a blog post, it was barren, with absolutely nothing growing on it, as shown in the photograph below. But now, we are starting to see some action! A photo of my tree located outside Holloway Hall. Today, as I was observing my tree, I noticed something new. All over the branches of my tree, there are tiny green leaves, along with red things growing as well. I was very excited to see some action occurring, as it seems to be one of the last trees around campus that still needed to bloom. In my prior post I said " My prediction for this tree is fairly simple. I am predicting that it will bloom with pink buds in the coming weeks, maybe early to mid April, before the tree becomes covered in a bea...

A female Eastern Gorilla and her infant.  Wikipedia, labeled for Reuse. For my endangered species, I decided o n the Eastern Gorilla, which is also known as the " Gorilla beringei." The eastern gorilla has many distinct characteristics, such as a very broad chest and body, dark hair covering the entire body bar the hands, feet, and chest. Out of all animals, gorillas are the closest to humans, and resemble  homo sapiens very much. The eastern gorilla's habitat is the forest, mostly in  Africa.   Gorillas are omnivores, which mean they tend to eat mostly plants, but also eat insects and rodents, but are not predators of many large animals. The biggest predator of the gorilla is the leopard, but other than that, the biggest threat to the eastern gorilla population is human related. The average lifespan of the eastern gorilla is about 35 years old with a generation length of 20 years. Through this time, the average eastern gorilla has an offsp...

A photo of my tree located outside Holloway Hall. The tree I chose is located right outside my dorm, Holloway Hall. I decided to choose this tree because it is located right outside of my door, and I have a great view of it from my room, meaning it will be easily accessible to observe, and can even be done without stepping foot outside.  I am not sure what kind of tree it is, but will be sure to look into it. While I don't know what type it is, I am fairly certain that there are many of the same type all over campus, as I have noticed that they look similar to my tree, located all around Holloway Hall and Appian Way. My prediction for this tree is fairly simple. I am predicting that it will bloom with pink buds in the coming weeks, maybe early to mid April, before the tree becomes covered in a beautiful shade of green, filled with a large amount of fresh leaves. Past that, I believe that around the middle of August, the leaves will begin turning orange and brown, and finally ar...

A photo of a small Lithium Battery. Source:  Wikipedia     I bet you did not know that the exact battery used in our "Eco-Friendly" developments such as electric cars are actually part of a large environmental issue too. I did not know this either, and was very surprised to learn more about this in the article from  Wired .  Lithium is gathered by mining, usually through salt flats in the "Lithium Triangle", which is located over Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. These locations are known to be some of the driest places on earth. To extract the lithium,  miners drill a hole in the salt flats and begin pumping a salty, mineral-rich brine to the surface. This "brine" is then left for months where it will evaporate, which creates a mixture of manganese, potassium, borax and lithium salts which is filtered and placed into another evaporation pool. After 12- 18 months, the mixture has been filtered enough to become lithium carbonate, which can then...

A photo of me cooking over a campfire with Gardner Lake behind me. East Machias, Maine is home to my absolute favorite place in nature, Gardner Lake. I do not know if I enjoy it so much because of the years of memories I have from summer camp along this quaint lake, or if it is because the scenery really just is beautiful, but I like to think that is a mix of both. There is absolutely no interference of the outside world when you are here, instead, all you can hear is birds chirping, the rustling of trees, and the wind against a sailboat sail, making the entire time you're at Gardner Lake, insanely peaceful.  While I have not been to Gardner Lake since 2017, I have no doubt in my mind that it will always be my favorite natural place.