Environmental Science Topic?

Question

Hey. I'm looking for a novel and really interesting topic for my environmental science course. For an example of what I'm looking for, my last project was on Colony Collapse Disorder, a little-known phenomena...does anyone have a really cool ecological or scientific topic? Preferablly with regards top wildlife, but anything would help. Thanks

Answer 1

The topic could be about how we make ecological value judgements.

For example:

What is the difference between a plant that has been introduced by a human being and one that has been carried naturally for instance on the wing of a bird?

Details: If something occurs naturally or is spread naturally we would not perceive it as a problem. However a plant that is introduced by, say the aquarium trade, would be taken to be an invasive species. So how are we making ecological value judgements?

Answer 2

Control of Nature by John Mcphee is a good book. It would be for an upper high school level class or college.

Answer 3

Today here is what we know:  many of mankind’s advancements cause earth surface to warm, destroy the ozone layer, kill off endanger species, heat cities, and in some way cause more destruction.  Blacktop (roads and parking lots), buildings, air pollution (causes lung and other diseases), deforestation, duststorms (which increase hurricanes and cyclones and cause lung diseases), fires (cause pollution, mud slides, and deforestation), refrigerants (like CFC's), solvents (including benzene destroy the ozone layer raising skin cancer rates) and plastics; cars, airplanes, ships and most electricity production (causes pollution including raised CO2 levels) are human problems we need to fix to keep life on earth sustainable! The federal government needs to adopt a pollution surcharge to balance the field and advance new technologies. We must pay the real price of oil (petrochemicals) including global warming, cleanup and for health effects. But with that we must understand we have never seen what is now happening before. CO2 has never lead to temperature change, but temperature change has led to increases in CO2. The models have to be made as we go along with little evidence! The result is:  change is on the way, we just do not know what changes. But again adding a small amount of CO2 to the atmosphere enlarges the earths sun collection causing warming; increase water in the atmosphere and they form clouds cooling earth but causing flooding. Even natural events are warming earth and causing destruction. The sun has an increased magnetic field causing increases in earthquakes (more destruction), volcanoes (wow, great destruction), and sun spots. Lighting produces ozone near the surface (raising air pollution levels). But humans have destroyed half of the wetlands, cut down nearly half of the rain forest, and advance on the earths grasslands while advancing desertification which increases duststorms. The USA Mayor's have taken a stand and I believe are on the right track, we can have control and can have economic growth. With the peak of oil in the 1970’s, the peak of ocean fishing in the 1980’s, humans must stop procrastinating and make real changes to keep earth sustainable including in the energy debate, finance and regulation. The sun is available to produce energy, bring light to buildings and makes most of human’s fresh water. Composting is the answer to desertification. New dams are the answer to fresh water storage, energy and cooling earth by evaporation, we need many small ones all over (California needs 100 by 2012 and has not even started).

President Bush has made a choice of energy (ethanol) over food and feeding the starving people around the world; this is a choice China has rejected.

That is why I founded CoolingEarth.org, a geoengineering web sight where you can learn more about earth, the atmosphere, and how to sustain life on earth’s surface.

Here is more:  I think, I can explain more about earth if I have it grow over time, as earth is a magnet for water, oxygen and attracts other small heavenly bodies (even pea sized objects given enough time can make a planet the size of earth). Therefore, the pressures on earth’s core are increasing and have been. Secondly, earth’s mass is shrinking because earth can not hold its free hydrogen nor helium.

Earth is a magnet because it is in a dominate magnetic field called the sun. And those magnetic switch backs, we see on the ocean floor, are caused by the sun switching polarity, earth switches polarity rapidly. One way the sun could switch polarity is if the sun passed through a greater magnetic force. I think humans will learn much about these types of magnetic events over the coming years (as the song says, if man can survive). Magnetic forces can be greater than earth’s gravitational forces, even though magnetic forces are part of gravity, they are different as objects get close or magnetic field get stronger. From my understanding, this is the magic bullet needed in Plate Tectonics. What drives the plates? The magnetic forces of the earth compared with the plate. These forces are great enough to build the Himalayas. These forces are able to rotate plates one way and back again when the magnetic field switches.

What formed Pangaea? What broke Pangaea apart? Is that when the great Mammoths were frozen in ice with the plants they were eating?

I believe this can only be explained by the failure of a terrarium system. Earth was encompassed by a layer of ice which grew thicker as water was attracted to it in evaporation. The land was compressed together-Pangaea. The earth was hit by a small asteroid, collapsing the ice, and then striking earth. I do not know where, but looking for a hole in the mantel, I can find the Hawaiian Islands. That impact almost destroyed earth but only bulged the crust on the other side ripping the convenient apart.