Some interesting facts about the environment.

Here are some things that you may or may not have known about the environment.

1. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours.
2. During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50,000 12-ounce aluminum cans are made.
3. Every time you open the refrigerator door, up to 30 percent of the cold air can escape.
4. We consume over 80 trillion aluminum cans every year.
5. The world's tallest tree is a coast redwood in California, measuring more than 360 feet or 110 meters.
6. The world's oldest trees are 4,600 year old Bristlecone pines in the USA.
7. Every day, American businesses generate enough paper to circle the earth 20 times!
8. Each year, Americans throw away 25 trillion Styrofoam cups.
9. Only 1% of the world's water supply is usable, 97% are the oceans and 2% is frozen (for now).
10. The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.

Discussion about hybridization between humans and animals

The debate

We believe, too, that we are God's partners in the work of creation, both as innovators and as protectors, and that this partnership obliges us to be guided by ethical principles.

Office of the Chief Rabbi, Memorandum to Select Committee on Science and Technology November 2004

There are strong arguments on both sides of the ethics of creating human/animal embryos. We've listed some of the arguments put forward below.

In some cases the arguments seem to be similar but expressed in a different way.

In some cases arguments on the same side of the case seem to conflict with each other.

Arguments against creating human/animal embryos

...the creation of an animal-human being represents a natural border that has been violated, the most grave of violations.

Bishop Elio Sgreccia, president of Pontifical Academy for Life, May 2007

·         It blurs the distinction between human beings and other animals

·         It's a repulsive thing to do

·         It's unnatural

·         It's playing God

·         It violates human dignity

·         Human embryos have a special (moral) status from the moment of fertilisation that should be respected and this makes any research using human embryos wrong and a violation of their human rights

·         It's wrong to create beings (embryos) that are solely at the disposal of scientists; it says that it is acceptable to create motherless beings and could open the way to the creation of beings that are effectively owned by whoever controls the medium in which the embryo develops

·         Even if using human embryos for research is sometimes acceptable, creating animal/human hybrid embryos is a step too far

·         It's the start of a slippery slope that could lead to creating hybrid human/animal creatures capable of independent life

·         It's wrong to use animals in this sort of research

·         The research will be of little scientific value - no new treatments have been produced by embryonic stem cell research

·         Mixing human and animal genetic material risks creating new diseases

Arguments in favour of creating human/animal embryos

We think there is nothing illegal, immoral or unethical about this.

While we understand the concerns, we think they are largely founded on misinformation. People think we are generating some sort of hybrid animal. This is just cells, just for science. No animal is ever going to be created. Professor Chris Shaw, Kings College London, 2008

·         It may produce enormous benefits for human beings

·         It is a strictly limited procedure - creatures capable of independent life will not be created. These are 'just cells', not actual beings

·         It avoids the use of human eggs in research

·         The genetic contribution of the animal to the embryo is so small that it is essentially a human embryo

·         Since the embryo was not produced by human fertilisation, it can't be regarded as a human embryo

·         It's very similar to cell nuclear replacement research, and if we accept research on human embryos up to 14 days, there is no reason to oppose research on an embryo that is less than wholly human

·         Neither human nor animal rights are violated since the embryo will never be allowed to become a human or an animal

In this canl of youtube, you can see different opinion about hybridization

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTeuOuwVdZkR0s3dDIwW-rw

Group 11: Carmen Maria Jimenez Navas, Genoveva Carmen Martos de la Fuente, Beatriz Lopez Lopez

Travel to the most contaminated capital

Ulan Bator (Mongolia)

Mongolia conjures images of endless steppes, blue skies, wild animals, and ancestral traditions refuse to die. At the end of the day, its land surface triples that of France but has less inhabitants than Madrid. However, half of the three million Mongolians breathes in winter the most polluted air in the world.

They are the people who are concentrated in the capital, a city that grows frantic pace of globalization and an economy that exploits mining. Between 30,000 and 40,000 nomads here embrace a sedentary lifestyle and assert their constitutional right to a plot of land to settle with their yurts in the hills that protect the capital.

The problem is that, like they did in the countryside, burning coal and wood stoves in their antiquated to combat the harsh temperatures also make Ulaanbaatar in the coldest capital in the world. In fact, at dawn mercury can plummet to 40 degrees below zero. This is also the time when the imposing power plants that have been engulfed by the megalopolis are at peak performance, emitting thick loads of polluting gases into the atmosphere. And before sunrise inadequate road infrastructure collapse with a jam perpetual.

Unfortunately, the combination of these three socioeconomic factors have dramatic effects: in 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) stated that 10% of deaths in the city, the most polluted capital of the world in winter ahead even of Beijing or New Delhi, were related to pollution. Between 2004 and 2008 there was a 45% increase in cases of respiratory diseases, which, according to the World Bank, causing additional spending on health of over 300 million euros a year. And the situation does not improve.

Group 2: Amalia Cortés and Natalia García.

Environmental problem in Spain

Explosion at fertilizer factory (Barcelona)

Regarding to the present and the environmental problems we are having for several reasons this year there was a big explosion at a fertilizer factory in Igualada (Barcelona).

The explosion occurred during a working operation loading and unloading of chemicals in the polygon Les Comes.

He forced the neighbors to hide indoors with the windows closed doors and ventilation elements and will not go looking children to school.

Toxic cloud caused by minor injuries left inhalation two people who were manipulating the material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPvuTd2wAIU

Group 2: Amalia Cortés and Natalia García.

The importance of our nature

Irrational use of renewable and non-renewable natural resources in activities of an industrial nature, mining , agricultural and domestic are impacting the environment causing ecological effects on natural ecosystems and the man and his socio- cultural dimension. In natural ecosystems such as air pollution , water, soil , destruction of flora and fauna and climate disruption. In humans and their socio-cultural dimesión such as landscape degradation and disease.      The most serious and harmful for humans , effects have been caused to natural resources such as air , water, soil , flora and fauna.

 

Air pollution , water and soil affected the flora and fauna , causing the death of animals and plants. For industrial and domestic pollution of rivers , lakes and seas causing death to huge amounts of fish and plants.    Oil spills at sea seabirds losing itself .    Atmospheric pollution also affected the flora and fauna, líquines have disappeared , fluoride prevents the growth of conifers.

contamination of flora

contamination of fauna



Group 2: Amalia Cortés and Natalia García.

21st-Century Style

In the '00s, fashion looked to the past for inspiration, arguably more so than in previous decades. Vintage clothing, especially from the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties became extremely popular and fashion designers often sought to emulate bygone styles in their collections. 

The early '00s saw a continuation of the minimalist look of the Nineties in high fashion. Later on, designers began to adopt a more colorful, feminine, excessive, and 'anti-modern' look. Name brands became of particular importance among young people and many celebrities launched their own lines of clothing. Tighter fit clothing and longer hair became mainstream for many men and women. 

Fashion in the third third of the century

• 1970: Polyester was the material of choice and bright colours were everywhere.  By 1973, most women were wearing high cut boots and low cut pants. By the late 1970s the pant suit, leisure suit and track suit was common. Tunics, culottes and robes were also very popular. There is one common theme throughout fashion in the 1970s: pants were tight fitting. And it is probably the first full decade in which women could be seen wearing pants in every walk of life.

• 1980: Blocky shapes were everywhere and dressing like a tennis player was the cool thing to do. Bright coloured accessories like sunglasses, bangles and hoop earrings were a necessity. Teased hair, loud makeup and neon were an important part of this style. 

• 1990: Fashion in the early 1990s was generally loose fitting and colorful. Boys and girls both wore baseball caps in many different ways.Teens were digging through dad’s box of old clothes to get their hands on some authentic hole-ridden jeans to wear over top of their long john stockings.  In the early nineties fashions worn by hip-hop artists were becoming increasingly mainstream. Starting in the mid-90s, industrial and military styles crept into mainstream fashion. By the late 90s, rave culture swept through and people were looking for clothes that were more glamorous again.

Wolves change rivers

 

In nature, everything is connected, connected in ways you might not expect. Nothing is irrelevant, or put in another way , everything has consequences. These days internet triumphs in a video that explains how unexpected point that statement is real. Can a small group of wolves have changed the course of a river in Yellowstone National Park ? The explanation is called trophic cascade , ecological process that starts at the top of the food chain and affects smaller animals and the environment . The four minutes of this video shows an example of an amazing trophic cascade. Wolves led to changes in the behavior of this and other species affected the landscape, the trees ... and the riverbed. To what extent ? Here is the explanation:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q

 

Group 2: Amalia Cortés and Natalia García.

Fashion in the second third of the century

• 1940: Fashion in 1940s was a mix of comfort and glamour. Men were still pretty dressed up. Suits, ties and hats were commonplace in public. Women wore dresses and skirts. They always wore gloves. Clothes in the 1940s were very bright and colourful.

 

• 1950: Fashion in the 1950s saw the introduction of many new styles. Some women really like the snug fit of the Dior dresses while others liked the dressed with no waistline, often referred to a “sack dressed”. People were beginning to feel a little more freedom. 

• 1960: The early 60s were conservative and restrained. The late 60s were exact the opposite. Bright and swirling colours were common.  Women wore shorts skirts and men wore capes. 

Fashion in the first third of the century

• 1910s: Clothes became softer. Fabrics became lighter and colors became brighter. The dandy look was in.

• 1920s: Women’s fashion is distinguished by a long, straight silhouette. Curves were not accentuated. Small hats were high demanded, and also the white gloves. While women’s fashion was breaking new ground, men’s fashion stayed relatively unchanged.

• 1930s: Women wore dresses and kept their hair close to their head. Fur was in, and there were floral patterns. Although hats were still popular for women, they were gradually becoming less popular.