EVOLUTIONS Environmental Leaders 2018

"Day Zero" is when millions of homes in Cape Town, South Africa will go without running water. The people of Cape Town are only allowed to use 13 gallons of water per person when people in the United States use about 100 gallons per day per person. It takes 175 liters (46 gallons) to make only one serving of soda and the people of Cape Town are using less than that. Peter Gleick who has spent a substantial amount of time in South Africa did not think that the country would reach "Day Zero". Since there is a rise in the population it is hard to get everyone there with a substantial amount of water. South Africa has about 7 million people without access to water and that number is on the rise. How are the people in Cape Town surviving with such little water? Since Cape Town is a coastal city, they plan to have a new water source. They will try to use the ocean. There are also some problems that arise with that. Some say it would be easier to treat and reuse wastewa

Everyone agrees that water is a necessity. In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it is one of the first things that people need to survive in this world. What happens if all of a sudden, people have to cut down the amount of water they take in for both drinking and cleaning? The obvious answer is outrage, riots, and panic. That is what is currently happening in Cape Town. Because of a 3-year long drought, previously full reservoirs are running out of water to keep the cosmopolitan city running. The people are complaining. They pay taxes to live comfortably, but in return, they have to minimize their water intake to make sure everyone gets enough water for the day. There is a projection in mid-July called "Day Zero", or the day when most of the city's taps will be turned off to conserve water. What caused this tragedy to occur? Two words: climate change. According to National Geographic, about a decade ago, the city was warned that its current population growth and sh

Who would have thought that the thing that humans need the most would be scarce in areas of the world: water. There is a huge water crisis going on in the world that involves water scarcity. As a result, places are turning to having severe water rationing, such as Cape Town who gets a 13-gallon water limit per person for a day, which is not enough. Climate change plays a role in all of this by disrupting the water cycle. Big shocker right? There are imbalances of where water should be as well, since there are places with too much water. Many extreme weather events are results of this, such as flooding and hurricanes in many areas, including many recent events in the United States. But also, people play a direct role in this water crisis. Industries, energy companies, and agriculture represents about 80-90 percent of humanity's water consumption, while regular home consumption is only 3 percent. Of course, people have to create solutions to try and solve this water crisi

Over the past few years mostly all loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings have been female. Which can pose an issue for the growth and reproduction of loggerhead sea turtles, since the number of male sea turtles are diminishing. This issue can be directly linked to the Earth's rising temperatures.What determines the sex of a sea turtle is the condition or temperature of their nest. If the sand is hotter then the sex of the baby will most likely be female. Since, the Earth's global temperature has been rising over the years caused by greenhouse gases and other sources of air pollution, the sand has been getting hotter as a result. Even though there has been a majority of female baby sea turtles being born there is still enough adult loggerhead's out there to reproduce and keep the population sustained .Although, if this continues to happen they can struggle to grow their population in the future. It's very important to help so they won't be put in danger of dying out. N

Cannabis is often grown indoors so it's production can be controlled. The article I read is about how the one cannabis grower helps cut the carbon emissions. Carbon is harmful to us because it increases the greenhouse effect. This means that it traps the heat in our atmosphere. So, things that live in cold climates find it hard to survive because of the Earth's warming. This cannabis grower is using different lighting to help cut the carbon emissions that is usually produced by the other type of lightings that they use. By every cannabis grower switching to the different type of lighting, this will significantly cut the carbon that is produced by cannabis. By doing this, they also have to change the nutrients and the amount of water that they need to use in order for the plants to prosper. Do you think cannabis users should switch to this different type of lighting even with the other changes that they have to do in order to make their plant grow?

One would assume that a company that relies on gasoline and thus carbon emissions for it's income would not be the most concerned for our planet and where it gets it's building power. However, the Pitt Ohio trucking facility in in Pennsylvania has a depot that is powered completely off it's own power grid. From solar panels to electric forklifts this depot is fully powered off clean energy. Is it odd for a trucking company to invest in clean energy? Or is it more important since it is a large contributor to carbon emissions? Source: https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/05/why-a-trucking-company-built-its-own-grid/

Who would've known that this super duper futuristic looking car would actually be the future of decreasing carbon emissions. This car is the Uniti One. It has many technology advancements such as co-pilot capabilities and self-parking capabilities. This car has a sleek and very small look, which actually helps with the carbon footprint decrease. Because of the golf cart sized build and the plastic material, there would be a much smaller carbon emission output, compared to traditional automobiles and electric cars. It is just a matter of how well this car sells, if it is more accessible, and how well it performs to determine if this is the future of electric cars. **PODCAST LINK SOURCE** :https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/05/new-electric-car-has-tiny-carbon-footprint/