ENVR130-ChristopherCardenas

Problem Statement New York City is home to millions of Americans; as the city grows in population New York's aging transportation infrastructure is leading to the overcrowding of roads, specifically in areas like Manhattan south of Central Park. In 2007, New York officials began discussing how to solve the city's traffic problem not just for today but for the future of New York. New York has limited space and increasing "space available to expand the existing road network, and highway expansion would likely result in more traffic" (Why can’t NYC get a congestion charge?, 37). To combat overcrowded roads, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed ideas that would increase public transit; however, these ideas cost far too much money. So Mayor Bloomberg attempted to pass a fee that would charge any car entering Manhattan’s central business district. This law not only tackles congestion on roads but effectively pays for all transportation infrastructure upgrades. However, despi...

Christopher Cardenas Activity 2.3.2 1. Exploratory Jim Howell is the owner of a company Grasslands LLC. Grasslands LLC uses techniques talked about in the last activity termed “Holistic Management”. Jim Howell’s business partners identify large acres of grasslands, purchase the land and by using holistic management techniques improve the land's health and amount of cattle held in one grassland. Holistic Management works because it is a technique that mimics natural grazing patterns. Properly using natural grazing patterns on a grassland improves the grass health which in turn increases the maximum capacity for cattle and furthers the region's biodiversity. 2. Diagnostic Humans have used livestock for generations; it was only recently that ranchers have learned and implemented holistic management into their grasslands. Due to this much of the grasslands in America has been unmanaged and overgrazed leading to the decline in grassland and loss of biodiversity all through...

Six-Point Critical Analysis of Current Event 1. Exploratory With global warming on the rise ecosystems are losing a lot of biodiversity be it through drought, wildfire, and historical grazing practices. BLM, a managed agency, has made it their goal to evaluate vegetation in grazing lands. Through the BLM’s long research they have hypothesized and researched techniques to help bring back water level and biodiversity into these ecosystems. To test their new techniques BLM used satellite imagery taking pictures of two eras before and after that would take over 20 years to finally see what worked better for the land. BLM compared the traditional conservation-oriented approach to never letting the cattle graze the land. BLM’s traditional conservation used the “cool season” letting the cattle graze in spring and fall with periods of rest and rotation. 2. Diagnostic As ecosystems continue to be hurt by urbanization, drought, wildfires, and the earth's rising temperatures it is imp...

New Five-Point Environmental Policy Frameworks: Ecological Sustainability - People of this framework emphasize ecological principles, arguing for the importance in environmental policy that preserves ecosystems and helps maintain a location's biodiversity. Ethnic Identity - Depending on a person's upbringing and what groups they choose to associate themselves with, these influences will guide their decision making environmental decision from race, religion, political identification. Fact Oriented - When deciding where an individual holds their position in an environmental policy, they will take into consideration and assess all knowledge that is available looking for points of views that are based on merit. Growth Economic Oriented - Concerned how environmental policies will affect revenue to the economy, this framework centers around being in favor of profits for businesses and using resources available from ecosystems. Conflict Negotiation - People from this f...

Prompt questions I asked for newest article "From Science Daily can you summarize "Plastic pollution harms bees, review finds" answering these following questions. Clearly state the purpose of the article. Clearly state the question trying to be answered alternative ways to think about the question is it possible to divide the question into sub-questions? Clearly state the assumptions being made in the article which of the assumptions might reasonably be questioned? Clearly state the point of view of the article what are the weaknesses of this point of view? What is the Data, Information, evidence and what is the accuracy and relevancy of this data? Explain the key concepts behind the article’s reasoning explain the theories behind the article’s reasoning how is the article distorting ideas to fit an agenda? Clearly state the implications and reasoning that follow from the article." From National Geographic can you summarize "Wild bees are building their h...