M6.4 Industrial Farming

Bee The Movie

I'm going to be honest, I never really understood why bees were so important until know. Even though it appears to be common sense of why bees are needed, I did not know that their role in our environment. The movie discusses the basic role bees have in our environment which is vital for agriculture. The video also discusses the disappearances of bees in recent years. Bees have been disappearing for unknown reasons which has started to create a problem for agriculture. Farmers hypothesized that the pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture are driving the bees away. But yet, there is not clear explanation of why bees are disappearing. Bees are pollinators which is important for the production of foods. The article The Pollinator’s Decline Could Harm Health of Millions, explains that pollinators are responsible for 35% of food production and are 40% of the worlds supply of important nutrients. Pollinators help produce foods rich in Vitamin A and folate, which are important for children and women. What I found more interesting it that researchers discovered that a complete loss of pollinators would lead to 71 million people into vitamin A deficiency and 173 million people into folate deficiency, and would lead to about 1.42 million more deaths due to non-communicable diseases. A decrease in pollinators has been seen in the past decade, but researches have not been able to identify why these pollinators are disappearing. 


Dirt!
Factory Farm 
Composting

Dirt, the movie was an eyeopener, I found this documentary very interesting. Let me start off with saying that I did not know the importance of dirt. Like many, I have always though that dirt was just dirt, and it had no significance. I was wrong!. Dirt plays a very important role in our environment as well. Dirt is described as having various organisms and makes up the living "skin" of Earth. Dirt provides an environment in which plants can grow, which provides food for other organisms. Dirt composes 5 cm of superficial layer on the surface of earth, and in the past decades humans have taken dirt for granted. With the creation of cities, production of agriculture using various chemicals, and other uses, dirt has been destroyed. Without dirt, animals and humans can not live. Dirt plays an important role in our environment, and for many years humans have been using chemicals in agriculture that destroy dirt. For example, farmers use Nitrogen as a pesticide. While nitrogen kills pests, it contaminates the dirt and water resources and contributes to air pollution. In recent years, individuals have been involvement in a movement that uses protects dirt. For example, community gardens have been created to promote sustainable farming practices. 

I live in the City of Woodland, north of Sacramento, farm land surrounds Woodland in all directions. I was not surprise with the amount of animals in these farmlands. But I was surprised to know that there is an average of 2,188 animals per site. This raises many questions on the conditions these animals are raised in. The use of antibiotics on these animals that humans eventually consume can make humans less responsive to antibiotics. The waste product produce by these farms also add to the contamination of water resources in the area. 

No I do not compose and I do not know anyone that does. During undergrad at UC Davis, we were required to compose certain waste. I understand the benefits of composting and how to approach the idea. We are currently renting and to be honest, at the moment it seems like a hassle to be able to compose. I know that is something that we can easily do, and it's definitely something we are open to doing once we have our own home. 

M5.7 Sewage Facilities

The City of Woodland has two waste water treatment facilities. These include, Treatment Ponds at Beamer & Rd 102 built in 1950 and North Ponds built in 1970. In 1988, due to the increase in population the Woodland's Water Pollution Control Facility was built.

M5.5 Campaign for Tap Water

After learning about the harm that plastic bottles do to our environment, I believe everyone should be informed about these issues. After watching the videos on "The Story of Bottled Water" and "The Story of Stuff", companies have made us believe that we must have their various water products. When in reality, we are all purchasing the same water, but just at a different cost. I do have to agree, tap water may sometimes may not be as tasteful, but at water will always be water, it does not matter what kind of fancy bottle is stored in.

If I were to create a tap water campaign I would use the following slogan:

Think outside the bottle

Think TAP!

My campaign will focus on informing individuals about the harm of water bottles has on our environment and the various things they can do to reduce plastic bottle waste.  I will not only take my campaign to social media, but I would also take it to college campuses, public schools, and community centers, in order to educate various members of our community. I would also give out re-usable water bottles to encourage individuals to use less bottles water. 

M5.4 Consumer Confidence Reports

• What is the source of your drinking water?  Where does your water ORIGINATE?  (It is treated at a water treatment plant, but what watershed or aquifer is the sources of the water?)
• Eighteen operational groundwater wells are used to pump water thought the city. By the summer of 2016, Woodland was receiving most of it's water from the Sacramento River. Like any other water system in the country. Woodland's water goes to a treatment process for disinfection. 
• What chemicals were found in your water that were higher than expected?  
• Though, the Water Quality Report does not show any chemicals being out of range, several chemicals were close to the high range. These chemical included Radium, and Uranium. Radium had an average of 1.9 pCI/L, wich a range of 1.3-2 pCi/L. Uranium had an average of 0.6 pCi/L with as high range of .08 pCi/L
• What chemicals did you NOT expect to find in your water?
• I did not expect for the water to contain levels of Barium. According to the WQR, Barium comes from discharges of oil drilling wastes and from metal refineries. 
• Are there associated health risks with the chemicals found in your water?  (sources for this last question include the EPA, CDC, ATSDR and the National Library of Medicine's ToxNet program.

• What did you discover about your water quality?
• I was not surprised with the chemicals that I found in our water. The city does a good job at informing us about the quality of water through tv commercials and/or ads. Before moving to Woodland, I knew that the water contained various chemicals due to the surrounding agricultural fields. 
• Do you use a filter for your water?
• No, I do not use a filter for our water at home. Though we do not use tap water to drink at home, we go and fill 5-gallon bottles with water at our local store. 
• What are you trying to filter out?
• We decided not to drink water from the tap due to the taste of the water. After attempting to use a filter, we liked the water taste from the water we are able to get at our local store. 
• Do you drink bottled water? 
• No, we are 100% against the use of bottled water. We have various reusable water bottles that we use on a daily basis. For example I carry 1 1/2 gallon water bottle with me that I refill at least twice a day. 

http://www.cityofwoodland.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=14615

M5.2 Safe Drinking Water

Water is the basic unit of life; 70% of the human body is made up of water, this just tell you how important water is. Before any kind of regulation was created in the U.S, only 1/3 of the water was safe to drink and for fishing. In 1970, the population of the U.S was 205 million, but only 80 million people had access to ware that was treated by a water treatment facility. The role of any government should be to protect the water that is available and to ensure all it's citizen have access to clean water. Though, in recent says, the current administration has rolled back the water rule that prohibited companies to dump waste in water streams.

In 1972, with the opposition form President Nixon, the Clean water Act was sign into law by Congress. The purpose of the law was to restore and maintain the nations water, provide assistance to treatment facilities to assure that the water was properly treated and to maintain the wetland in the U.S. The law had several goals that have not been met. The act was to make all U.S waters fishable and swimmable by 1983, have zero water pollution discharge by 1985, and to prohibit the discharge of toxic amounts of pollutants. As of today, these goals have not been met, and it seems the the U.S is going backwards on its protection of water. The Safe drinking water Act which made made into law in 1974 ensures that public drinking water meets specific safety standards. Both acts work together to allow the EPA to pose regulations on water facilities to provide clean and safe water. These laws need to be strictly enforced to avoid dangerous chemicals in our water, the  and government should take full responsibility when citizens are not provided by clean and safe water.