Excurtion report 1: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation:
Title: Virtual Excurtion - "Climate Change: A Scientist and a Lawyer Walk into a Webinar"
This presentation is a webinar that discusses climate change in both scientific and legal perspectives in order to bring more attention to rising sea levels in the Chesapeake Bay. Climate change and global warming is due to increased greenhouse gases. As temperatures continue to increase, the temperature of the Chesapeake Bay also increases which leads to a reduction in oxygen levels. This can threaten aquatic life and cause dead zones. Dead zones are areas in water where oxygen levels are very low which lead to less aquatic life. Legal efforts to reduce the effects of climate change were also discussed in the webinar. The Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency work to reduce the effects of climate change and manage emissions from power plants and vehicles. Overall, increased advocacy and action for combating climate change is necessary to lower the effects of it on earth.
Spreading more awareness about the result of climate change and what the government is doing to combat it is very important, especially so people can understand the drastic effects climate change has on our lives. The points made in the presentation were supported by outside sources which makes them accurate. In my SGC course we discussed the reasons behind the climate crisis and how this is due to human actions. The presentation discussed greenhouse emissions which directly ties into what we were learning in class about why climate change occurs. There were not any forms for bias or lack of critical thinking in the presentation.
Excurtion report 2: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation:
Title: Virtual Excurtion - "Plastics and Microplastics: An Emerging Global Issue"
This presentation discussed how plastics and microplastics are creating lots of global issues, especially increasing the effects of climate change. Microplastics are a global issue that causes environmental degradations, entanglement of marine life, and increased accumulation in oceans and waterways. Plastic is nonbiodegradable and can take centuries to even start to decade. Primary microplastics are manufactured products that are used in cleansers, drugs and more. Secondary microplastics are plastics that have been broken off from larger pieces of plastic which is usually what you see on beaches. Microplastics are being found in seafood because fish ingest the plastic which then ends up in our food. We are also finding microplastics in beer because the water from the ocean that contains microplastics also contains microplastics which aren’t filtered out which then end up in our drinks. This causes concerns about food safety.
The presentation was a way to raise more awareness about plastic use and microplastics in the environment. The points in the presentation were all supported by outside sources and research. There were no logical fallacies or lack of critical thinking found in the presentation. This related to my SGC course because, in class, we discussed the reasons for climate change and how human activity is a large piece of climate change. Plastic use and disposal is all human made which shows a direct relationship between plastic/microplastic pollution and human use. The presentation was very clear, engaging, and informative.
