Living Battery

                This week’s assignment has me looking online for an article related to an environmental science topic. I am quite picky over where I read/watch my news…as many do not include their sources in their articles and some are all hearsay. But for years when I worked a graveyard shift job I would read articles at www.nbcnews.com. Because of my familiarity with the site, I decided to start there. I was not disappointed when I got there, immediately I saw something that caught my eye. The title, “‘Living battery’ generates electricity from sewage and waste water,” immediately catches my eye. The article is located here. Basically the article explains that a team of Stanford scientists are working with naturally occurring microorganisms that feast on plant and animal waste for their own biological fuel. The microorganisms defecate electrons which the scientists then harness. The interesting thing about this is that they in essence become living batteries that can generate electricity that is as efficient as the highest performing solar cells. There are problems with the current method as the materials they are currently using make it too costly to be feasible. The team from Stanford is working on at this time to find alternative methods of harnessing this power in a more cost efficient method.

                The website is ran by the MSNBC news network. This is a major news network which has many TV news channels as well as the website I obtained this article from.  Overall the fact it is a major news network does make it more credible. There is of course a chance no matter the article a chance that the info is off, which is why I like information being cited. The author of this particular article, John Roach, works for MSNBC news and also has a web site which can be found here. On his website he writes on a plethora of topics which include biodiversity, geology, and health. I like the fact this particular writer does focus on science news. The author also started his career at the Environmental News Network and was a lead writer for the 1.0 version of National Geographic news. Being that this article is from a main news network and the writer cites his information to leave a trail to confirm what is in the article, and of course as mentioned focuses on these sort of topics, I believe there is sufficient evidence to support his claims.

                The main claim in the article is that the microorganisms they are working with defecate electrons which are being harnessed by the scientists and that in theory can produce very impressive results comparable to the highest performing solar cells. There is sufficient evidence to support this claim as the author left a URL to their research here, which also lists the scientists working on it. The author also left a link to Craig S. Criddle's page who is an Environmental Engineer Professor also working on the project which is located here. Because there is a trail leading to the actual research and those findings also mirror what was summarized on the article, I would like to think the claim being made is well supported.

                As for my reaction to the article…well…I think it is really interesting. The fact common microorganisms can feed off of certain waste and produce energy is really awesome. There are certain limitations that they are working on to make this project more efficient, such as finding an alternative to using silver oxide electrodes, which if a much less costly alternative could be found it would make it more economically feasible to use in the future on a much larger level. In theory (according to the researchers working on the microbial battery), when all is said and done, it could generate enough energy to treat waste water with current technology. It is not only interesting to me but it makes me a little excited that more and more alternative energy sources are being found. Eventually I hope we find even more replacements to the fast depleting non-renewable energy sources we have today.

Chemical Hazards and Human Health

            For my assignment this week I am to access the potential health risks of some common personal and household care products. Some of these risks are present from the actual product while others from the container. I will choose a couple products I use personally (to make things more interesting) and find a couple specific common chemicals found in them and research them to access their risk levels and of course I will be providing adequate evidence to support my findings. There are numerous potential risks that can be associated with a variety of chemicals found in these common products that can range from respiratory effects to birth-defects. They can also be a carcinogen and cause or promote a cancer’s growth while others can damage the immune system. The list of possible short and long-term risks associated from the chemicals found in many common products is quite staggering.

            When trying to find common chemicals from some common household products I turned my head slightly and picked up a can of Febreze: Air Effects (If you want to get specific the scent is Alaskan Springtime, which I highly doubt truly smells like spring in Alaska, but that is another topic entirely).  It was the first thing I picked up but the reason I picked this product to examine…well I will explain that shortly after I explain the chemicals (Yeah, trying to keep you reading).

            The first chemical I researched was limonene. Per such sites as this classify it as a VOC (Volatile Organic Compound). VOC’s include a massive array of chemicals and are found in a variety of products such as air fresheners and perfumes and can have short and long-term negative health effects. I had to be very careful which sites I drew information from as some of them were vehemently trying to defend this chemical and how it is much safer than many other solvents (such as this site ). Limonene itself as many sources explained (this  is the one I am paraphrasing here) is a scent ingredient and solvent that is naturally occurring in the rind of many citrus fruits. And when stored and exposed to sunlight and air, it degrades to numerous oxidation products which act as skin and respiratory irritants. The above source listed a variety of issues with Limonene which is a VOC. It also seemed like a decent source as it listed numerous references. It shows limited evidence of immune system and toxicity as an allergen and is also classified as an irritant. And in one or more animal studies it showed developmental effects at high doses. The site also explained that it is not classifiable as a human carcinogen (yay, I won’t get cancer…at least from this).  

            The second chemical I looked up is again another VOC called n-butanol. This site, which I found  here was quite informative on what it was and potential risks involving it, and should be a good source as it was linked as good information from a government source.  But first a brief definition of the substance. It is a flammable colorless liquid that has a characteristic banana-like smell.  It is mostly used in cosmetics, solvents, textiles, cleaners, floor polishes, gasoline, and coatings (list is a little longer). The lists for this chemical are quite more severe than that of the first chemical I researched. This one explains of the basic eye irritation and that overexposure can cause death, though many things in excess cause death. Repeated exposure, again as per the above listed source, can cause depression of the central nervous system but will slowly go away after the exposure is removed and the body recovers (found that quite interesting).  The site explain that this is often observed with short-chain aliphatic alcohols. The chemical also causes birth defects or malformations in rates when the exposures are great enough to cause significant toxicity to the mother.

            Now on to why I chose these chemicals. Well for the assignment we have to choose a specific product from our house and relate it to a chemical we researched. So I thought…why not just pick the product first and find the chemicals that way. The problem with this came when I picked up my favorite thing ever (aside from Lysol) to make my living space smelling amazing. This product is Febreze…the major issue came to looking at the back where a brief list of ingredients/chemicals should be. Instead all I found was a list of how it contained No CFC’s or Phosphates and really only listed water, odor eliminator, fragrance (which ties into my chemicals) as ingredients. I quickly checked my Lysol and to my surprise also noticed it boasting mostly about what it could be used on and how it can kill bacteria and of course what bacteria it could kill. I decided to look up what exactly was in Febreze. This lead me to multiple sites but none I could actually definitively use as a good source UNTIL I came here which if you click on the "fragrance blends" link you are diverted to this massive array of chemicals. So I decided to find a couple that were used in many types of aerosol cans and start there. The Febreze contained both chemicals I listed and MANY (Yes, I use caps here for emphasis) others as seen in the above link.

            When researching safer alternatives I came across this site which explained that the fabric refresher is pretty safe but a good alternative to the air freshener would be the aroma pill by method. Which their link didn't work and even through other means was unable to locate it. The product may have been discontinued. So based on some of the other tips they gave, either using the fabric refresher or using a homemade powder such as the one listed here is also a safe viable option. Ingredients listed for it are:

1/2 cup of borax
1/2 cup of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cloves and/or cinnamon

            And alternatively an orange can be used instead of the spices. I may just try this when I run out of what I am currently using…if it works well I will refrain from buying most all of those Febreze products and just make my own. I would try it right now but I don’t have anything on that list except for cinnamon. Next time I am at the store I will pick them up. Overall, this has been quite the learning experience. I really never thought about my Febreze as containing chemicals that could harm me until I dug deeper. This was most likely because of the lack of information on the back of the can and also just mentioning it didn't contain certain bad things rather than listing a couple harmful chemicals it did indeed contain.

My Ecological Footprint

            I went to www.footprintnetwork.org/calculator and answered numerous questions regarding my eating habits and energy uses and other questions regarding what I do with certain resources. Answering these questions will give me an idea my effect ecologically on the planet. Before taking the test I was almost confident I didn't use too many resources. But that might be compared to the average person in the United States.

              I was rather surprised when my ecological footprint showed that if everyone were like me then we would need 3.5 Planet Earths to provide enough resources. In the footprint breakdown my services use was a little more than half of it all and the next ended up being food. To support my lifestyle it would take 15.7 global acres of the Earth’s productive area. The most in this category by far was energy land. Crop Land and Forest Land were about a third of the energy land used but still a decent chunk used. The rest of the land use was very small.

            I clicked on “explore scenarios” to check how I can reduce my footprint. If I pledged to reduce the amount of animal products I currently eat by half my footprint goes down by .1. If I pledged to purchase products that used less packaging or were made out of 100% post-consumer recycled content material my footprint goes down by .2.  If I pledged to use public transportation one day more each week instead of driving my car it goes down a little less than .1 in overall reduction to my footprint. All together it comes out to about .4 reduction to my ecological footprint if I were to make these changes.

         I can honestly say I am surprised and at the same time not surprised. As an American I use much more than I probably could ever need. Kind of an eye opener overall. I should probably take steps little by little to make my ecological footprint a little smaller, which the scenarios did give me some ideas. This was a rather interesting bit of information. 

My Biography!

           

            Greetings and salutations. My name is Andrew Snodgrass. Yes, I know what you are thinking. That is the most amazing last name ever! And you sir/madam are very correct.  I was born in Banning, California and grew up close by in the city of Perris. I currently live in the city of Riverside near UCR and can be found running in the hills nearby either in the morning or right before it gets dark at night. My current and immediate academic goals are to finish my IGETC requirement (Only need to finish my math class to accomplish this) and of course my Math and Science degree with a focus on Computer Programming. Most of that should be completed by next semester before I transfer and finish a degree in History and hopefully move on to Law School from there. I would like to be a Lawyer but I am debating where my focus in law should be.

            My hobbies include running and hiking. I have been running five to seven miles most days during the week, usually with one off day (more than likely the Wednesday taking Environmental Science) to let my bones rest. I also love playing video games and talking with friends. I used to be a pro-gamer of sorts in a couple of games a couple years back. I mostly play RPG games now as I enjoy the story aspect of them. Currently playing all of the Mass Effect games in my free time. I also enjoy practicing Martial Arts when I am in the mood.

            As for the reasons I am taking environmental science. I had a choice of Genetics or Environmental Science for a Math & Science requirement. And I really was interested in both but I just wanted to learn about environmental science. I am a big nerd so many things interest me.  I am taking 18 units this semester, so I have a bit of work to do! But I am up to the challenge.  I really do not have any one question I want answered this semester. I have come to the conclusion that I really have a lot to learn when it comes to the environment and I really am interested in way too much regarding this class to pick only one topic.

I will end with a quote I am rather fond of.

“Even today, I dare not say that I have reached a state of achievement. I'm still learning, for learning is boundless.”

--Bruce Lee