caesar

After reading the article about the green roof I became aware of the benefits and effectiveness of green roofs. Many people may be scared to install green roofs because they think that old buildings are not able to support them but this article proves that green roofs can be installed on old building. It proves that green roofs are always the best choice when installing roofs because they filter the air you breathe, reduces the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter, but also is a good choice because they can last as long as the house they are on. I personally think green roofs are a great idea because it is very efficient and it helps the environment.

The class planting project started of simply by coming up with a design on the shape and are of where the garden was to be planted which took one class to be decided. The next day we went out to the spot where Mr. Robinson marked the area with paint and then we started removing the sod in square blocks and packing them near the wall to be used later. This went on for about two days and then the next day we started using a rototiller and shovels to loosen soil prior to planting and to keep pathways. That night the soil arrived and so the next day we spread it evenly on the area, also we put the sod on the front area of the school that did not have any grass which took up that period. The next day we spent in class discussing the types of plants we wanted in the garden, which we decided by plant foliage and blooming colours. We later went to the garden where Mr. Robinson had laid out the plants he had chosen in specific spots on the garden for us to plant. After we planted them we watered them and the sod and well that’s the end of my planting experience.

Pesticides including herbicides are chemicals or biological agents used to kill organisms that compete with humans for food (Pests), destroy property, spread disease or are considered a nuisance. Pesticides and Herbicides may get ride of pests but they have many harmful affects that not only affects humans but also the plants. This article is about safe alternatives to herbicides and pesticides available, one alternative I found interesting was the use of ducks. Ducks are used by Chinese framers who have herded Pekin ducks by the hundreds for thousands of years because of they seek out and consume any pests they can find and they leave the mature crops alone. They are best used in your garden when there aren’t any sprouting seedlings, as they will most likely tear up the ground enough and stop the seedling from taking root, because of this ducks should only be allowed to forage when the plants are mature enough that they can survive some physical movement and won’t be hurt by some disruption in the soil.  I think using ducks is an environmentally friendly and low costing gardening and farming pesticide. Another alternative I found interesting was the use of sprays such as Hot Chili Pepper Spray, Hot Chili Pepper and Wormwood Spray, Garlic Spray and Basic Soap Spray. Hot Chili Pepper Spray is used to repel/kill caterpillars and is made by blending 1 cup of hot chili peppers in a blender with 2 cups of water. Hot Chili Pepper and Wormwood Spray can help repel large pests such as opossums and rabbits and also kills white flies and aphids, it is made the same as Chili Pepper Spray but add one cup of chopped wormwood. Garlic spray is said to be very effective when it comes to repelling/killing ants, cabbage worms and caterpillars and basically how you make it is you get four raw garlic cloves in a quart of water for three days and then liquefy it using a blender. These sprays can be helpful to prevent some pests from destroying crops but they don’t really kill weeds. An interesting weed killer I found was Flame-Weeding, which is an intensive wave of heat that kills weeds, without disturbing the soil or harming the crop root system. Flame-weeding uses the heat generated from one or more propane burners to kill weeds. It can be either hand-held with the propane tank carried in a cart or in a backpack, or tractor-mounted but they all work in the same way. Intense heat sears the leaves of the weeds, causing the cell sap to expand damaging cell walls and causes leaves to wilt and prevents water from moving from the roots to the leaves. In a short period of time, the plant withers and dies even though plant is not actually burned. I found all these methods to be affective and safe and I think they should be used more often.

http://www.fowlblog.com/2009/10/want-a-green-alternative-to-herbicides-and-pesticides-try-garden-ducks/

http://greenplanetethics.com/wordpress/green-alternatives-to-pesticides-home-made-natural-garden-sprays-that-keep-pests-away/

http://www.pesticide.org/pubs/alts/weeds/flameweeding.html

 After reading this the article “Geothermal energy benefits” I learned how geothermal energy is great safe and environmentally friendly way to get energy and the advantages that it brings. Geothermic energy is a renewable source of energy that is currently only supplying less than 0.5% of the worlds energy demand but has much more potential because there are many places around the world that are suitable for generating geothermic energy. This renewable energy source has many benefits such as it does not depend on the climate which enables us to use it all year long. Another benefit of geothermic power is unlike power plants geothermal power plants take up little space, they are built directly over the energy source and supply energy to nearby areas. Geothermal power plants are good for the economy because more power plants means more green jobs and also lessen need for expensive foreign fuels on countries meaning it would reduce the importing of oil and carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere. I think geothermic energy is a great idea and should be done.

 http://renewableenergyarticles.blogspot.com/2010/01/geothermal-energy-benefits-overview.html

 Coral reefs are one of the Earth’s most diverse and beautiful ecosystems. It covers approximately 0.2 percent of the ocean’s floor and is estimated to be home to nearly one million species of fish, invertebrates and algae. This article speaks about how much damage have been done to the coral reefs an also a prediction of what’s to come. Although coral reefs appear strong enough to withstand anything they are fragile and 27 percent of the reefs have been destroyed and estimate of 32 percent in the next 32 years because of humans entering their waters and tearing up their foundations, dynamite fishing to global warming. The article goes on to talk about how Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and at several universities around the world have been examining detailed images of the ocean collected by the Landsat 7 and other high-resolution remote sensing which allows them to monitor the worlds coral reef  also  to detect treats and locate reefs most in trouble.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Coral/coral.php

This is my new blog and I don’t know what to write.