Nate Lewis Lecture

I thought the lecture was very interesting, its amazing how intelligent Nate Lewis is. I think its crazy that the United States consumes 3 trillion watts. I also like his idea of solar paint I think it’s a creative way for solar production. I hope it pulls though. I also think its crazy that one hour of sunlight is equal to 14 terawatts and we use 14 terawatts now. I think we should just switch to solar power, it’s expensive but it will be worth it and pay its self off in a matter of years.

Artist Statement

We chose to do our project on waste and how people can utilize it because this topic is actually very important to humans. Today we are living in a world with infinite demands and finite resources. The earth is a closed system and it is important for people to know that once we run out of resources, there is no where else to get what we need. We need to be smart now and start making Reduce, Reuse, Recycle a part of our everyday life. By doing so we will be able to preserve the resources we have longer. What we throw away is beneficial; it is just a matter of how we utilize it.

We also mention ways to start being beneficial. We talk about the incorporation of recycle bins and compost bins all around San Diego. An example would be the University of San Diego (USD). Even though they don’t have compost bins, they have recycle bins next to a majority of trashcans around campus. If places around San Diego took this initiative, then we could preserve so many resources because they will just keep getting re-used.

Our project is mainly going to be a flash based with some pictures and voiceovers. In our video we display interesting statistics that display the magnitude of how much we waste, that can actually be re-used.


Sources
HYPERLINK "http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html" http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html

HYPERLINK "http://www.kdheks.gov/kdsi/pg10_recycle_facts.html" http://www.kdheks.gov/kdsi/pg10_recycle_facts.html
HYPERLINK "http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Recycling_Statistics" http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Recycling_Statistics
HYPERLINK "http://sustainablog.org/2008/08/22/recycling-by-the-numbers-the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-statistics-and-comparisons/" http://sustainablog.org/2008/08/22/recycling-by-the-numbers-the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-statistics-and-comparisons/

Sources

http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html
This is a very good website. It has tons of statistics on waste production, landfills, incinerators, natural resources it even has positive statistics on how we’ve improved.


http://www.kdheks.gov/kdsi/pg10_recycle_facts.html
This is a good website for plastics and aluminum statistics. The statistics are really good, and the website is reliable.

http://www.solidwastedistrict.com/stats/plastics.htm
This is a good site for statistics on plastics. It talks about how plastics are made, how they are recycled and the benefits of recycling plastics.


http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Recycling_Statistics
This website has more statistics but also talks about minimizing the trash, saving landfill space, how you could save the environment, and how you could save trees.

http://sustainablog.org/2008/08/22/recycling-by-the-numbers-the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-statistics-and-comparisons/
I really like this website. It has recycling statistics on just the United States, and its also one of the most recent websites.

Cover Cropping Final

Cover Cropping

Cover cropping is a very important part of gardening, without cover cropping the soil weakens. Some common examples of cover crops are Peas, Beans, and soybeans. Not only are they used for covering crops but they can also be eaten once you kill them. They add organic matter to the soil, as well as shade and it also kills the weeds. This is why Cover Cropping has coined he term “green manure. [1]”
“Cover crops are soil-building crops; they give back to the soil. They also help prevent pests, help stop the growth of weeds, they add organic matter, and more importantly they help balance nutrients. [2]” They also increase diversity, and help reduce nutrient leaching. When cover crops are planted to help reduce nutrient leaching they are called “Catch crops” Clay and organic soil holds nutrients and water a lot better then just sandy soil, so when water drains through the sandy soil it brings the nutrients along with it and that is called leaching. Another benefit to cover cropping is your saving a lot of money by not buying nitrogen fertilizer. Farmers don’t use cover cropping because of the time it takes, let’s say you have a farm and you plant corn, the corn takes all the nutrients out of the soil making it harder for future corn to grow. when you cover crop you would have to wait for the corn season to end, then you plant cover crops for the season and then when it comes time to plant the corn again those nutrients will be in the soil. Because of all the time cover cropping most farmers can’t wait, because time is money. Lettuce, spinach, and broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and kale are just a few of the many crops that need nitrogen. Nitrogen helps plants grow faster, increases the seed and fruit production or the plant, and improves the quality of the plant. But a side affect of having too much nitrogen is it could burn your plant. Nitrogen is a gas that gets converted into a form that plants can use in a process called Nitrogen Cycle. The Nitrogen cycle is a process that converts nitrogen gas from the air into a form that plants can use. Bacteria that forms at the roots turn the nitrogen into ammonium, and then the bacteria convert the ammonium to nitrites (NO 2) and finally the bacteria convert the nitrites into Nitrates (NO 3). Squashes, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are just some examples that thrive on Phosphorus. Phosphorus helps with the transformation of solar energy into chemical energy, and it helps with the proper plant maturation, it also encourages blooming and root growth, phosphorus also leaches quickly from soil and is found in DNA and RNA. Roots love potassium; a few examples are onions, shallots, leeks, carrots, beets, turnips and radishes. Potassium helps the process of building protein; it helps in photosynthesis, the quality of fruit and vegetables, and the reduction of diseases. “What you do when you cover crop is, you plant cover cropping seeds, and let them grow, they will add nutrients to the soil, and once the seed sets and top growth shows, you have to kill the plant so their roots wont get down too deep, you can kill the plant by cutting at the base of the plant. Once you kill the plant wait two to three weeks before plants vegetables and flowers. [3]” Crop rotation is similar to cover cropping; Crop rotation avoids a decrease in soil fertility, reduces soil erosion, and reduces dependence on synthetic chemicals. If you plant carrots in the same place over and over again, the nutrients that the carrot needs will be decimated, but if you rotate crops and plant a cover crop then the nutrients that the carrot needs will be there when you’re ready to start planting more carrots. There are different families when rotation crops, for example in the grain family there is corn, rice, sorghum, wheat, oat etc. And in the Carrot family there is celery, dill, parsnip, and parsley. When you’re cover cropping, you need to make sure for example if you plant corn from the grain family, and you want to plant something else after you finish with the corn you have to make sure you don’t plant anything else within the grain family. Crop rotation methods were talked about in Roman literature, and were referred to by many countries such as Asia and Africa.
Cover cropping and crop rotation is a very important part in agriculture. Cover Cropping is fairly simple and everyone can do it, as I stated before, if you cover crop you can depend less on synthetic chemicals which will be so much safer for everyone to eat. “Cover cropping could be considered the backbone of any annual cropping system that seeks to be sustainable. [4]"

1. http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-3-81-789,00.html
2. http://www.helpfulgardener.com/organic/2006/crop.html
3. http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-3-81-789,00.html
4. http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/covercrop.html#

2nd draft

Cover Cropping

Cover cropping is a very important part of gardening, without cover cropping the soil weakens. Some examples of cover crops are Peas, Beans, and soybeans. Not only are they covering crops but they can be eaten once you kill them. They add organic matter to the soil, shade and also kill the weeds. Cover Cropping is also known as “green manure.”
Cover crops are soil-building crops; they give back to the soil. They also help prevent pests, help stop the growth of weeds, they add organic matter, and more importantly they help balance nutrients. They increase diversity, and decrease the over use of nutrients. Not only do cover crops help prevent weeds, and help balance nutrients, but they also help reduce nutrient leaching. When cover crops are planted to help reduce nutrient leaching they are called “Catch crops” Clay and organic soil holds nutrients and water a lot better then just sandy soil, so when water drains through the sandy soil it brings the nutrients along with it and that is called leaching. Another benefit to cover cropping is your saving a lot of money on nitrogen fertilizer. Some crops that need nitrogen are leaves, some examples are lettuce, spinach, and broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and kale are just a few that need nitrogen. Nitrogen helps plants grow faster, increases the seed and fruit production and improves the quality of the plant, but if there’s too much nitrogen it could burn your plant. Nitrogen is a gas that gets converted into a form that plants can use in a process called Nitrogen Cycle. The Nitrogen cycle is a cycle that converts nitrogen gas from the air into a form that plants can use. Bacteria that forms at the roots convert the nitrogen into ammonium, and then the bacteria convert the ammonium to nitrites (NO 2) and finally the bacteria convert the nitrites into Nitrates (NO 3). Fruits that thrive on phosphorus include; squashes, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Phosphorus helps with the transformation of solar energy into chemical energy, and it helps with the proper plant maturation, it also encourages blooming and root growth, phosphorus also leaches quickly from soil and is found in DNA and RNA. Roots love potassium; a few examples are onions, shallots, leeks, carrots, beets, turnips and radishes. Potassium helps the process of building protein; it helps in photosynthesis, the quality of fruit and vegetables, and the reduction of diseases. “What you do when you cover crop is, you plant cover cropping seeds, and let them grow, they will add nutrients to the soil, and once the seed sets and top growth shows, you have to kill the plant so their roots wont get down too deep, you can kill the plant by cutting at the base of the plant. Once you kill the plant wait two to three weeks before plants vegetables and flowers.” Crop rotation is similar to cover cropping; Crop rotation avoids a decrease in soil fertility, reduces soil erosion, and reduces dependence on synthetic chemicals. If you plant carrots in the same place over and over again, the nutrients that the carrot needs will be decimated, but if you rotate crops and plant a cover crop then the nutrients that the carrot needs will be there when you’re ready to start planting more carrots. There are different families when rotation crops, for example in the grain family there is corn, rice, sorghum, wheat, oat etc. And in the Carrot family there is celery, dill, parsnip, and parsley. When you’re cover cropping, you need to make sure for example if you plant corn from the grain family, and you want to plant something else after you finish with the corn you have to make sure you don’t plant anything else within the grain family. Crop rotation methods were talked about in Roman literature, and were referred to by many countries such as Asia and Africa.
Cover cropping and crop rotation is a very important part in agriculture. Cover Cropping is fairly simple and everyone can do it, as I stated before, if you cover crop you can depend less on synthetic chemicals which will be so much safer for everyone to eat. “Cover cropping could be considered the backbone of any annual cropping system that seeks to be sustainable.”

Senior Project

What percentage of Aluminum cans are wasted?

http://www.container-recycling.org/facts/aluminum/
-More than half of the 100 billion cans sold in the U.S. in 2005 were landfilled.

http://www.container-recycling.org/facts/aluminum/dirty.htm
-About 95 million tons of greenhouse gases were produced by the global aluminum industry in 2005.
-In 2005, 50.7 billion U.S. cans were wasted, resulting in the emission of 75,000 tons of SOx and NOx.


What percentage of plastic bottles is wasted?

http://www.environmentfirst.info/recycle.php
-Every ton of plastic bottles recycled saves about 3.8 barrels of oil.
-1.5 million barrels of oil are used to produce plastic watter bottles in the US per year. That much energy could power 250,000 homes or fuel 100,000 cars for a year
-If every American household recycled just one out of every ten HDPE bottles they used, we’d keep 200 million pounds of the plastic out of landfills every year
-Five 2-liter recycled PET bottles produce enough fiberfill to make a ski jacket; 36 recycled bottles can make 1 square yard of carpet

Cover cropping

Cover cropping is a very important part of gardening, without cover cropping the soil weakens. An example of cover cropping is Buckwheat, buckwheat is a quick growing crop, and bees favor their white flowers. The plant adds organic matter to the soil, shade and also kills the weeds. Cover Cropping is also known as “green manure.” Cover crops are soil-building crops; they give back to the soil. They also help prevent pests, help stop the growth of weeds, they add organic matter, and more importantly they help balance nutrients. They increase diversity, and decrease the over use of nutrients. Not only do cover crops help prevent weeds, and help balance nutrients, but they also help reduce nutrient leaching. When cover crops are planted to help reduce nutrient leaching they are called “Catch crops” Clay and organic soil holds nutrients and water a lot better then just sandy soil, so when water drains through the sandy soil it brings the nutrients along with it and that is called leaching. Another benefit to cover cropping is your saving a lot of money on nitrogen fertilizer. Some crops that need nitrogen are leaves, some examples are lettuce, spinach, and broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and kale are just a few that need nitrogen. Nitrogen helps plants grow faster, increases the seed and fruit production and improves the quality of the plant. Fruits thrive on phosphorus; they include squashes, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Phosphorus helps with the transformation of solar energy into chemical energy, and it helps with the proper plat maturation, it also encourages blooming and root growth. Roots love potassium; a few examples are onions, shallots, leeks, carrots, beets, turnips and radishes. Potassium helps the process of building protein; it helps in photosynthesis, the quality of fruit and vegetables, and the reduction of diseases. “What you do when you cover crop is, you plant cover cropping seeds, and let them grow, they will add nutrients to the soil, and once the seed sets and top growth shows, you have to kill the plant so their roots wont get down too deep, you can kill the plant by cutting at the base of the plant. Once you kill the plant wait two to three weeks before plants vegetables and flowers .” Crop rotation is similar to cover cropping; Crop rotation avoids a decrease in soil fertility, reduces soil erosion, and reduces dependence on synthetic chemicals. If you plant carrots in the same place over and over again, the nutrients that the carrot needs will be deprived, but if you rotate crops and plant a cover crop then the nutrients that the carrot needs will be there when your ready to start planting more carrots. There are different families when rotation crops, for example in the grain family there is corn, rice, sorghum, wheat, oat etc. And in the Carrot family there is celery, dill, parsnip, and parsley. When your cover cropping, you need to make sure for example if you plant corn from the grain family, and you want to plant something else after you finish with the corn you have to make sure you don’t plant anything else within the grain family. Crop rotation methods were talked about in Roman literature, and were referred to by many countries such as Asia and Africa. Cover cropping and crop rotation is a very important part in agriculture. Cover Cropping is fairly simple and everyone can do it, as I stated before, if you cover crop you can depend less on synthetic chemicals which will be so much safer for everyone to eat. “Cover cropping could be considered the backbone of any annual cropping system that seeks to be sustainable.”