Evirogamer: Survivalcraft

In survivalcraft, as well as minecraft, there are a variety of different biomes. Certain animals and plants can be found in certain biomes. Oak and birch trees tend to be found in deciduous forests, grasses tend to be found in savannahs, pine trees and reindeer tend to be found in tundras, and jungle trees tend to be found in jungles. There are more biomes than this between the two games, they are just a lot rarer or only found in minecraft.

Taiga

Tundra^
Dessert

Deciduous Forest^

Floods

In the area I live, there is not an extremely high risk of flooding. I do live very near a fiver, but according to the map if it floods it will most likely not reach my home.

Three viable flood control methods for an area like Manhattan are a self closing flood barrier, tidal gates, and groynes.

Self closing flood are pretty self explanatory. They are flood gates that you can install around an area that rise when they detect approaching flood water. They do not require someone to raise them. So even though they are really best for areas with few humans, I think they could be useful in an area like Manhattan. That way they would not block ports or ocean access, until the flood actually got there. It would also look a lot better than a permanent wall.

Tidal gates would be an excellent choice in a coastal area such as New York. They use the change in water level to control water flow. They act kind of like a wall between different waterways, but they allow water and fish and other things to pass through. They utilize a float to close a gate when the water reaches a predetermined level. These would be great for the coast, which could help prevent flooding further inland as well.

Groynes help prevent flooding by keeping beaches from eroding. They can also help limit the flow of water in streams. They could be used to not only protect area in immediate donger of flooding because of  rise in the sea level, but they could also protect areas farther inland. If you put them in the rivers, it would limit the flow of water from the ocean when it rises, protecting the areas along that river.

Of the options I listed above, I think the best method for our area would be self rising flood gates. We aren't really in immediate danger of flooding though, so i do not know if it would be worth the effort. As far as New York goes, I think a combination of groynes and tidal gates could work really well for that area. They would work well together because the groynes would help keep the beaches from eroding, while the tidal gates would keep the rivers from flooding, while still letting things pass through.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11_BcJSdZCzRYDFmTEyvGJuTxjU9EBVBDCxMe9WGnspY/edit?usp=sharing

Planetary Defender

The lead level in lipstick a talcum powder is fairly unregulated. This means that when we use these products, our bloodstream may absorb some of the lead. If it goes uncontrolled, it may get into ecosystems, and not only kill animals there, but if we kill and eat animals that have ingested lead, our bodies will absorb the lead. The lead levels will also build up in larger animals that eat the smaller ones, and kill those animals too. This will not only kill off animals, it will really mess up the food web. So we need to not buy stuff with lead in it, because it could build up and damage an ecosystem.

Where in the World?

• What features in your surroundings would be the most useful in describing your position to the authorities? The features I would point out first would be the features that are not normally found in whatever area you are in. For example, if I was in the forest, but there was a huge clearing with a lake and a very old building, then I would report that.
• How could you know your approximate lattitude and biome using the local biotic (living) and abiotic (nonlivng) features even if you did not know the name of andy of the species around you? You could know the biome because each biome has a distint set of plants and animals that normally live there. So if you are in a very cold area covered in snow, and all of the animals seem to have white fur/feathers, then you would assume you were in a tundra, and if vereything were green and there seemed to be a million different types of animals, and it was very warm, you would assume you were in a rainforest. You could estimate your latitude because different biomes are located at different latitudes. For example, tundras are only found at higher latitudes, which are closer to the poles, and rainforests tend to be at lower latitudes, which are closer to the equator.
• How could you use the stars to determine your exact position on Earth? Polaris, or the north star can be used to determine which way is north, and assuming you are in the northern hemisphere, if you measure the angle Polaris is above the horizon, and that is equal to your latitude.

If I was stuck in the middle of nowhere I would probably first describe any oddities out my surroundings to the authorities. If I could find any thing written, like a street sign, or something inscribed on an old building, then I would most definitely describe that, because the language it was in could give then a good idea of my general location. I would then describe the biome I was in. Lastly, I would describe the sun's position above me if it was daytime, and my relationship to Polaris if it was night. All of that put together would give the authorities a decent idea of where I was.

Save The ______!

For this assignment, we were supposed to pick an endangered animal, and create a video to help make people aware of why it is endangered, and how they can help keep it from going extinct. I chose to do mine on the red wolf.

Storms

In order to create a superstorm you need a perfect mix of conditions. These storms, though rare, cause mass chaos and destruction. But what exactly is needed for one of these storms to form?

In order for a superstorm to occur, there must be a collision between warm and cool air masses. In order for a massive hurricane to form, there must be an adequate supply of water, and air currents to start it spinning. In order for a tornado to form, you just need the two air masses to collide with enough force to set the air spinning. Blizzards are just snowstorms that have very high winds, so they form under the same conditions as a rainstorm, just much colder.

There is a warm air mass, that will collide with a cool air mass from the north west. This will result in a superstorm in the central U.S. sometime in the next two days. The storm should last about two days, and will bring heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and possibly even tornadoes. Also, the north east U.S. can expect steady rainfall for the next week, as there is a stationary front hanging over the north east U.S.

Envirogamer: Animal Crossing City Folk

In animal crossing you have to survive in a capitalist society. You have to hunt for resources and sell them to survive. If you destroy your trees, then you have to wait a really long time for them to grow again. There are also different fossils you can find, and different fossils are found in different areas. You have to work harder to get to some fossils than others. Also, if you fish a lot at once, there will be less fish for a while, and different fish are more common in certain areas.

Book Club: The Roar

The Roar is an intriguing science fiction book, about what happened to the human race when they destroyed the earth. It started out with the richer people telling the less rich people that there was this awful disease that they would catch if they didn't move inside this giant concrete wall, which surrounded a good bit of the northern hemisphere. They eat  food made entirely in a factory, and are so overpopulated that they are forbidden from having children. Outside of the wall though, the higher ups have replanted vegetation and are getting along fairly well. But inside the wall, death is a common thing, and if you manage to scrape by, well, life isn't that great. So the moral of the story is don't destroy the Earth
.

The Sixth Extinction

Everyone know that big extinctions have happened in the past, but what many don't realize is that we are living through a mass extinction right now. And even worse, we are the ones who started it. Below are my criteria for whether something is worth saving or not, and six endangered species, and how they line up with my criteria.

Extinction is a big problem for us humans because eventually we won't have anything left to eat. If we have nothing to eat we die. My highest ranked species to save is the red wolf. They, like many other wolves, serve as a predator to keep other populations in check. There are very few left in the wild. Conservationists  have bred them, and released them into the wild. They are endangered because of predator control programs and loss of habitats.

My criteria for whether an endangered organism is worth my time and money to save:

1. How much money will it cost to save?
2.  Are there less than 1,000 individuals left?
3.  Are the individuals able to mate?
4.  How willing will people be to donate to save this organism?
5.  How much time will we have to invest?

Giant Panda

1. There is a pair of pandas at one zoo, that cost a quarter million dollar a year to keep alive. Pandas are extremely expensive to keep, and even more expensive to breed.
2. There are at least 1,800 Pandas left.
3. In captivity yes because they breed them, and usually they can in the wild, but pandas are very picky about mating.
4. Pandas are adorable, so naturally people are very willing to donate money.
5. A ton of time and effort.

As far as currently endangered organisms go, I don't think pandas should be a priority just because they are adorable, but they should be saved.

Red Wolf

1. In the thousands of dollars 
2. Hundreds exist in captivity, but the are far less in the wild.
3. Yes, especially in captivity
4. They are a very adorable animal, and can be intimidating, but overall i think people will want to save it
5. lots of time, seeing as they mostly exist in captivity.

Brown Spider Monkey

1. It costs somewhere in the thousands of dollars to take care of a monkey
2. There are around a hundred recorded left in zoos, and there is no real population estimate as far as how many are left in the will.
3. Mating is very slow in both zoos and the wild
4. It really depends on the animal, but this is still a fairly cute animal so yes
5. We don't really know how any are left in the wild so it is hard to tell

Snow Leopards

1. Anywhere around 100000 dollars
2. Around 6,000 are left and that is a higher estimate
3. only around 2500 individuals that are left are able to mate
4. Yes i think people would.
5. Not to much because there is still a relatively high number left.

Javan Rhinoceros

1. Hundreds of thousands of dollars at least
2. there are only around 60 left
3. They have never been successfully bred in captivity, and there are not very many left to breed in the wild.
4. This animal is not as cute, so people are less likely to try and save it.
5. A ton of time and resources

Baiji

1. Hundreds of thousands of dollars at least
2. There are most likely at least fifty left in the wild, and a few in captivity, but it was declared functionally extinct
3. They are not able to mate enough to continue the population
4. It is not as cute as other dolphins, and has been declared functionally extinct, but it at least gets a little bit of support
5. A fair bit of time and money

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HUMO22ybBaZR8BmG84XWuPZ5t-49ookVp34nHsityII/edit?usp=sharing

Volcanoes

The Yellowstone supervolcano has been due to erupt for some time now. But how likely is it to actually explode? And, if it does explode, how much damage would it cause?

The Yellowstone caldera is huge, and it has had dozens of super eruptions in the past. According to some volcanologists though, the Yellowstone caldera is not likely to erupt in the near future. They have been studying the rise and fall of the land at Yellowstone, to detect the amount of magma building underneath. Although the likelihood of it erupting in the next century is extremely low, if it did erupt, it would scorch everything near it, and could cover most of the U.S. in ash. The best way to protect ourselves from this eruption, would be to get away from it before it actually explodes. Other than this, we may be able to get away from it if we go underground. We most likely would not get to that point though because eruptions are usually preceded by earthquakes and smaller eruptions. Also with the technology we have today, we should be able to detect the coming eruption before it happened. Although we could avoid most human deaths, it would be a bit harder to protect all of the buildings we have on the surface earth. Most buildings will end up being scorched, and would cost probably somewhere in the trillions of dollars of damage. There isn't really much we can to to avoid this though. Luckily the range of lava flow is fairly small compared to the possible range of the ash. If you were to be caught in the range of the ash during the explosion though the best thing you could do would be to cover your skin and wear a mask to breath through. Goggles would also help so you can still see. So in the end, although it is not likely to erupt anytime soon, if the Yellowstone caldera were to erupt it would cause widespread devastation.
http://news.discovery.com/earth/if-yellowstone-supervolcano-ever-erupts-ash-may-reach-new-york-city-14082.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera#Volcanic_hazards
http://www.seismic.ca.gov/VolcanoWhat2Do.html

Jurassic Park

The following is a link to a presentation containing zoo placards for organisms that are currently extinct. It consists of one organism for each of the five mass extinction events, that I would put into a zoo if they could be resurrected.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-FHprRqxebF3HFRSmFUfUBWDN-4dBdbFFWMukNTR1yM/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kEOpZZvTTjHcn0g6LJkSmHU_lLonObbgGFbaMkYR3mE/edit?usp=sharing

Extraterrestrial Beings

I think we have all wondered what might be out in space. Some of us may have even considered the likelihood of living on another planet in space.Maybe you have even considered the possibility of a colony. But how likely is it that we could actually live somewhere else? And if we could live somewhere else, how costly would it be?

In my opinion, a colony on the moon would be the most feasible. Since it is a planet with a solid surface, i like this option more than a space station because there is at least some natural gravity, and there are some natural resources that we could use. I think the moon is a better option than mars, because there is less radiation there, we could avoid extreme temperatures by living underground. The moon is also closer to Earth, which means that it would cost less to get there, and humans would be able to quickly get back to earth in case of an emergency. Communication would also be able to occur with very little delay, because of the moon's closeness to Earth.

In order to survive on the moon we need:
Oxygen
A stable temperature
Some sort of radiation sheild
Some source of food
Shelter
Something to keep oxygen in (much like Earth's atmosphere does)
A way to communicate with Earth

In order to provide for oxygen, we could get some photosynthetic bacteria, or other microscopic organisms, to produce oxygen form CO2 in a closed environment, which would provide oxygen, as well as get rid of CO2. We could use trees as well, but since they would obviously take up much more space than microscopic organisms. In order to provide a stable temperature, we can use current heating and/or cooling technology in a closed environment. As far as a radiation shield on the moon goes, living underground would provide sufficient shielding and is very feasible due to lava tubes that currently exist. For food, we could initially import food, but we would eventually have to grow our own plants, which could in turn support animals. Shelter could be provided in many ways, such as living in lava tubes, but we would also need shelter from the moon's atmosphere, or lack thereof. In order to provide this we could live in inflatable structures underground, or in glass or plastic domes. The oxygen and temperature could be contained y the above methods, or eventually it may be possible to create an atmosphere on the moon. Communication with Earth can be provided with current technology, and because the moon is so close to Earth, there would only be about a three second delay.

Here is a habitat I designed for life on the moon. It consists of a plastic structure inside of a lava tunnel.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FeWE4mADwDJIBjljZRKCioV8tAK53zrY6qd5BU8ExjQ/edit?usp=sharing