January 21, 2016
1. I wrote this topic initially to spread awareness that it is possible for state officials to lie to their people and to say how badly this is and people should try and get involved. Although not until now that I looked at another aspect of this problem; help from celebrities. In class Shane was saying how one of the Kardashions had a 40,000$ purse. What I didn't understand was why would you be spending your money on a purse when their is more important things going on in the world. This is why I really admire Cher; she donated thousands of bottled waters to the cause.
2. I had a little trouble writing this post because their weren't too many facts about it, just videos, but I did enjoy writing it.
3. The purpose of this post was to spread awareness of this terrible problem in Michigan.


January 19, 2016
The Lead River

The citizens of Flint Michigan has had their water supply contaminated with lead since spring of 2014. What has finally been declared a state of emergency; this contamination is leaving families with rashes and terrible sicknesses from the laced water. Although at the end of 2014 officials had proclaimed that the water was unadulterated. At least 27,000 children have been diagnosed with lead poisoning. The situation is so bad that even water filters are no help to the lead infused water. The water supply was changed to the Flint River and has had problems ever since. This is a very severe situation because it is possible for something like this to happen throughout the U.S. It's ridiculous for officials to have lied about the unsafe drinking water and have let it go untreated this long!

January 21, 2016
1. I wrote about this topic because it spreads awareness to people that we are wasting so much food that is resulting with harm to our wallets and environment.
2. I did  not have trouble writing this post, I really enjoyed knowing the statistics of how much food we actually waste as a country.
3. In this post I wanted people to that they can avoid food wastage, I wanted to make them aware of all of the people without food in the world and have them appreciate what they have. In this post I wanted people to start changing their ways and reduce food waste.


October 23, 2015
Food Waste Crisis

Food waste is a national growing problem. The agricultural and environmental protection agency is in full efforts to educate consumers and companies how help reduce food waste. The average American family wastes about $1,500 of food yearly. According to government data retailers waste 1/3 of the country's food supply. Not only is this a waste of food and money but this issue is harming our environment! As those hundred billions of pounds of food rot they are releasing methane gases which amplify global warming. 14% of American homes do not have enough food to properly feed themselves. Studies show that if we reduced our food waste by 15% it'd be enough to feed more than 25 million people! If we reduce our food waste then we will not only be saving money but we will be conserving our natural resources and preserving our planet for our future generations. The Obama administration has taken a big part in the process of food waste reduction. They want to reduce wasted food by 50% by 2030. Here are some tips to decrease food waste: 

1. Shop realistically, as in buy food that you know that your going to eat.
2. Don't over serve when cooking, and save leftovers.
3. Treat expiration dates as guides; just because it says the food is past it's due date, doesn't necessarily mean that it is.
4. Donate unused or unwanted food to food pantries.
5. Store food in the right places so that it doesn't go bad.
6. Try composting.
I hope my tips are helpful for some people. Please think before you waste!

January 21, 2016
1. I wrote about this topic in particular because plastic bags seem to be a rising problem in the U.S, not to mention that other places like Ireland for example are banning plastic bags.
2. I had no difficulty writing this post, I really enjoyed it, once I got started, I couldn't stop.
3. I want people to see how much one person can do by just using reusable bags. I want more and more people to buy reusable bags to help our environment.


Janurary 19, 2016
Reusable Bags

Around 1.8 billion plastic bags are wasted weekly by Americans. Plastic bags take 15 to 1,000 years to actually decompose, and paper bags are close to the same statistic. Most of these bags are sitting in landfills or live in our oceans. These plastic bags kill thousands of sea creatures daily and require 12 million barrels of oils every year to produce the bags in the U.S alone. Paper bags – the U.S chops up 14 million trees to make them, along with the 13% more energy than plastic bags that is required for production! Only 20% of paper bags end up being recycled and 2% of plastic. Reusable bags are going to change all of this. Reusable bags have a lifespan of roughly 700 plastic bags. A single person who uses reusable bags over a lifetime can prevent up to 22,000 bags from harming our environment, our earth would thank us dearly. Not only are you saving the planet but you could be helping yourself and community as well. When reusable bags are sold most grocery stores offer a perk. Most vendors will give you a discount or coupons to thank you for your purchase. I know for a fact – as I said in my last post - that at Hannaford’s they will donate 1$ from your purchase of the bag to a local organization like  local youth centers or animal shelters or food pantries. Don’t forget that reusable bags – depending on the type – can hold up to 3x more than a standard grocery bag and you know what that means; less trips to the car! Now take it from a bagger who watches thousands of plastic bags leave the store daily just to end up living in our oceans that buying reusable bags are going to benefit your environment, yourself and your community. I highly urge you to go buy at least one reusable bag next time that you’re grocery shopping.

Denmark – Clean Energy Central

On January 15, 2016 Denmark broke the world record for the most use of wind powered electricity. Although the record broken was Denmark’s own record from 2025; coming with a total of 39.1% of Denmark’s electricity came from wind powered turbines, as this year it comes to 42.1%. This is a stunning accomplishment! By 2030 they want 90% of their electricity to be powered by wind. This is amazing for our environment and future, just think; cleaner air and energy!

"Green Skyscrapers"

January 4^th 2016 Copenhagen School of Design and Technology released an article named Green Skyscrapers. These are actual skyscrapers that are made with minimal impact on the environment. The skyscrapers are designed to be productive to the environment instead of just plowing down trees and using natural resources to build a building. 

“Got Dust?”

On January 5^th 2016 people take action to prevent a cement and shipping port from being built just yards from the local elementary school in Vallejo California. Tons of soot, fumes and dust have been reported as the initial consequence. The pollution would be coming from 3 main sources – the making of the cement - the 300 diesel trucks that would be passing coming and going daily – along with the ships coming from with steel waste from Asia. The company, Orcem American, wants to keep production 24/7. People from the area have created the Fresh Air Vallejo group to spread awareness about the situation and try to put an end to it. They have come up with the slogan “Got Dust?” and will be proceeding to put an end to this local and environmental threat.

Setback With Volkswagen Recall

The Air Resources board rejected VW’s offer to buy vehicles that were a part of the recent Volkswagen scandal. They feel as though the recall will not be efficient and will take too long”. This is not fair to our environment; they are letting the pollution (40x the legal limit) continuing. This is such a huge setback for dealing with this situation.

The Climate is Affecting the Animals

Recent studies from the University of Utah have shown that climate change is affecting plant-eating animals. The warmer climate is making some of the animals go to cooler areas; thus making their typical diet harder to find. This problem has the potential to affect mammals all over the world. Climate change seems to be becoming a bigger problem than thought.

Satellite Launched to Monitor Sea Levels

Stephen Volz; the assistant administrator NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service says “Jason-3 will take pulse of our changing planet by gathering environmental intelligence from the world’s ocean.”The rocket took off January 17^th 2016, and is drastically going to support the environmental protection action. It will better the accuracy of the weather and climate information and keep us informed better by watching the sea levels. This is such a huge step for us!

Stand Up For Our Environment

  A topic I never got around to spread the news about – Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline. On November 9^th 2015 Obama rejected the oil pipeline that could have badly affected our climate and wildlife all over the U.S. Many Americans went out of their way to spread the word to avoid a climate tragedy. We avoided disastrous effects from the pipeline and showed that as Americans we do have a voice and if we all ban together we can make that voice be heard and we accomplished something as amazing as this.

Asia and Pollution

A rising problem in Asia is the massive amounts of pollution.  Pollution is causing 4,000 people in China a day to die. This pollution is being caused by factories burning coal and the mass amounts of power plants. Coal is the cause of 80% of China’s Co2. People are buying air purifiers for their homes and their cars. In Beijing the government has had to call 2 pollution “Red Alerts” within the past month; one was caused by the most intense smog. In order for people to go out on the streets they have to wear face masks. Throughout all of the bad, China has made huge efforts and plans to put an end to this terrible pollution problem. China is in the process of making the country have clean air. They have intensified their pollution and environmental protection laws. China is on its way to clean air and energy.

This picture below is not fog, but it how bad the pollution is in China. 

Say Goodbye to Small Buisinesses

Recently a local small business in Sturbridge – Poalettis went out of business. I have always been a big supporter of small businesses and farm stands. This really struck me as people aren’t in favor of backing up small businesses, that they are just supporting big brand name companies. When you do this you are just giving some big executive, who doesn’t even care another boat but when you support a local business or farm stand you are getting the guarantee of fresh food and giving to someone who cares about your community. So go and support local businesses! Over the months of fall I helped my parents run their farm stand:

Red Meat is Bad for the Environment

Studies are showing that eating less red meat would help cut emissions more than not using a car. Red meat needs 28x more land to produce than meat or chicken and 11x more water and has 5x more carbon emissions. I’m not trying to control your diet, but I am saying that next time you go to the grocery store to think of the environment.

Get Updated to Wear Our Oceans Stand With Global Warming

Global warming – an issue we all hear about. But how the oceans are affected is something that people should be aware and prepared for. The Oceans are absorbing an abundance of extra heat; 30% of carbon dioxide from consumption of fossil fuels. Scientists are predicting a “global coral bleaching” which is when coral whiten and die due to the risky heat. The food chain of the ocean is also at risk. This is caused by excessive fishing, pollution and climate change. This is not good and action needs to be taken, this could have colossal catastrophic affects. 

The Lead River

The citizens of Flint Michigan has had their water supply contaminated with lead since spring of 2014. What has finally been declared a state of emergency; this contamination is leaving families with rashes and terrible sicknesses from the laced water. Although at the end of 2014 officials had proclaimed that the water was unadulterated. At least 27,000 children have been diagnosed with lead poisoning. The situation is so bad that even water filters are no help to the lead infused water.The water supply was changed to the Flint River and has had problems ever since. This is a very severe situation because it is possible for something like this to happen throughout the U.S. It's ridiculous for officials to have lied about the unsafe drinking water and have let it go untreated this long!

Hopefully This Story Inspires All

 Magnus Henneberger is making a difference in the environment at age 13. He became interested in the ocean from an assembly with the American environmental group and decided to reach out. After attending a camp organized by Plastic Tides, Magnus was accepted as an official ambassador for plastic tides in Bermuda. This kid is making a difference every day to help the ocean. He made a wreath out of ocean debris and was very surprised with the results, “I didn’t expect a wreath I made of garbage to be on display – it was more about making a point to all  different age groups about what the ocean will look like if we keep polluting it.” This just goes to show, no matter your age, it is never too early or too late to start helping our earth.

Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015

I’m throwing it back to a post from a while ago – micro beads. Officially on December 30^th the U.S signed a bill that prohibited micro beads from all cleansing products! This bill requires all manufacturers to eliminate micro beads from all of their products by 2017. This is terrific news for the environment and individuals. People finally don’t have to worry about those tiny plastic beads showing up in their water. 

E-cycle

Blue Star Recyclers are a very progressive group when it comes to the environment. Just this past Sunday the group held their 5^th annual E-cycle event. They collected unwanted electronics from the public ranging from cell phones to computers to TV’s that all get recycled. This is great because this means less land will be taken to throw away these wasted electronics. The Cheyanne Mountain Zoo also got involved as well by recycling a bunch of their old electronics. The small fees for recycling and any donations will go to the animals of the zoo. Blue Star is also giving jobs to many disabled people as well. This group and the actions they are taking is what we need to see more of!

What Does Cheap Oil Actually Mean?

Have you thought about how low the oil prices are lately? They are about 28$ for one barrel! That’s record-breaking! It may be good for your wallet but is it good for the environment? This is concerning to some environmentalists that these low prices are going to excite people into turning down clean energy because it is simply cheaper. This is very risky for the environment; it could be indulging people with the low prices to strive for building a stronger fuel/ polluted industry instead of keeping the idea of clean and improvement. Hopefully this colossal oil incentive won’t turn into a problem.

Reusable Bags

Around 1.8 billion plastic bags are wasted weekly by Americans. Plastic bags take 15 to 1,000 years to actually decompose, and paper bags are close to the same statistic. Most of these bags are sitting in landfills or live in our oceans. These plastic bags kill thousands of sea creatures daily and require 12 million barrels of oils every year to produce the bags in the U.S alone. Paper bags – the U.S chops up 14 million trees to make them, along with the 13% more energy than plastic bags that is required for production! Only 20% of paper bags end up being recycled and 2% of plastic. Reusable bags are going to change all of this. Reusable bags have a lifespan of roughly 700 plastic bags. A single person who uses reusable bags over a lifetime can prevent up to 22,000 bags from harming our environment, our earth would thank us dearly. Not only are you saving the planet but you could be helping yourself and community as well. When reusable bags are sold most grocery stores offer a perk. Most vendors will give you a discount or coupons to thank you for your purchase. I know for a fact – as I said in my last post - that at Hannaford’s they will donate 1$ from your purchase of the bag to a local organization like  local youth centers or animal shelters or food pantries. Don’t forget that reusable bags – depending on the type – can hold up to 3x more than a standard grocery bag and you know what that means; less trips to the car! Now take it from a bagger who watches thousands of plastic bags leave the store daily just to end up living in our oceans that buying reusable bags are going to benefit your environment, yourself and your community. I highly urge you to go buy at least one reusable bag next time that you’re grocery shopping.

Hannaford Puts the Environment and Community First

I started working at Hannaford's in North Brookfield about 3 months ago and I couldn't be happier with the place that I work at. Hannaford's is very environmentally conscious and helps the local community massively. When I finally started working at Hannaford's is when I learned about all of the environmental and social benefits that they have. Hannaford uses only eco-friendly lights and doesn't turn all of them on until an hour after they open, they also turn a majority of the lights off an hour earlier than they close the store; they do all of this to save energy. Hannaford also saves and sells their broken or unused plastics to a plastic recycling company. Another way of saving plastic is the reusable bags; although a blog a whole blog post in itself, I will say that these reusable bags are saving vast amounts of wasted plastics and a dollar from every bag you buy is going to a local organization; for example the N.B youth center or the Second Chance Animal Shelter. Hannaford also assists local food shelters as well; when meat is about to go bad they freeze it and send it to these shelters. Along with giving away the meat Hannaford also gives the "damaged products" to food pantries, now I know what you're thinking about the damaged products, but these "damaged products" are mostly just slightly opened bags, dented cans and partially squished bread; so basically the products that the average consumer eye would not purchase but are still sustainable. Hannaford also supports local businesses. They created the "close to home" program to help support locally grown products. All of the Hannaford stores supports different local farms depending on their location; North Brookfield supports the Howe's Farm and Garden of Braintree. Hannaford also supports fighting hunger locally. By doing so they have the Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger Boxes that people can purchase in the store. These boxes contains various food items that are sent to local food pantries to be given to families in need. Hannaford's puts the community before itself and I am a very proud associate.

California Methane Gas Leak

On October 23rd Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility found a leak in one of their wells. This leak is spewing methane gas by the ton everyday into the atmosphere. To this day the leak has allowed 83,511 metric tons of methane gas to escape Governor Jerry Brown has finally called a state of emergency. Since the leak was discovered at least 2300 homes in Los Angeles have been evacuated. After the leak had been releasing this greenhouse gas local residents began to experience symptoms of headaches, rashes and nosebleeds. The gas that has leaked so far is only 2% of the total amount stored - along with the fact that the quantity of methane leaked is equivalent to 1.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide; in retrospect that is the pollution that 330,000 cars emit yearly. This environmental disaster has the potential to be fixed by March, earliest, but that is also 2 more months of methane leakage.

We Can Save Money and the Environment

Homeowners in the U.S are spending an average of $100-$400 on their electric bills monthly; what our electric companies are not telling us is that we can have solar panels installed for free. Certain zip codes qualify for 1000$ worth of solar panels to be installed at their homes. These solar panels are saving Americans 70% off of their monthly bills. This program costs literally no money anyone can see if they qualify on this site: http://www.nationalsolarprogram.com/z362/home-solar-quote/?campid=C5526A13FC75C779&s1=633&s2=&vid=7b515d46-baca-11e5-8475-02b15a4ff650
So see if you qualify and save yourself some money and help the environment by using clean energy!

Volswagen Stole Our Clean Air To Sell Car's

The Volkswagen scandal has been going on for a while now - since 2009 - yet only recently has been recognized - September of 2015. In this time Volkswagen has been able to "rig" at least 11 million diesel vehicles, along with 800,000 gas fueled cars. How Volkswagen did this was by altering the exhaust system software to make the emissions pass while being tested, but recognize when regular driving is happening and make emissions go above the legal amount. Emissions are for reducing the amounts of pollutants made by the car. The main car computer controls how many pollutants that can pass through the nitrogen oxide trap; and by letting more pollutants through the car saves fuel and increases acceleration. Why Volkswagen did this - expenses. In this case fitting the emissions underneath the car is a difficult task. Volkswagen had to update their emissions to the SCR for the  models, which would have not only required reengineering but also a added 300$ to make the car. Also the fact that the car will save more fuel and have more acceleration and torque will result in a popular car. The Volkswagen cars emit from 9 to 40 times the legal limit of pollutants into the air. These are the pollutants that cause emphysema, bronchitis, asthma and many more types of respiratory diseases. The cars that were affected range from the VW Jetta 2009-2015, VW Beetle and Convertible Beetle 2012-2015, VW Passat 2012-2015, Audi A3 2010-2015, Jetta SportsWagen 2019-2014, VW Golf 2010-2015, and VW golf SportWagen 2015. Their are many more affected cars along with Audi and Porches. How this affects the environment - pollutants can be washed into the ground in the form of rain and kill many plants and animals. This effects Europe more than the U.S considering their higher amount of the rigged cars. The environmental damages are not  as severe as the health effects, but as Travis Bradford - director  at the Energy and Environmental Concentration at Columbia University says "this is just a drop in the bucket in terms of our aggregate pollution."