Category Archives: Posts

3.1 Oysters

1 Reply

Idea:

The last week I came across the Billion Oyster Project. Their goal is to restore oyster reefs in New York Harbor. Here is the link: https://www.billionoysterproject.org/. The project is alive and running since 2014. I found out how little I knew about oysters 😉 and what they are capable of.  An adult oyster can clean up to 50 gallons of water per day. I checked the web page and investigated the whole operation and the concept. I was going to focus somehow on this initiative but…

…I came to the idea to check if there was anything going on with oysters on City Island where I actually live at the moment.  I discovered there was City Island Oyster project going on since 2019 to restore oyster beds around City Island. A group sponsoring the project is called City Island Drift. They collect oysters’ shells from local restaurants and  after curing them for a year return them in the waters.

Questions:

  1.  Hypothesis: How biological systems can be used to clean polluted waterways. Can it work? How long does it take to restore an oyster reef? How does it work?
  2. What’s feasibility of having it done around City Island? Based historically on formerly existing oyster reefs.
  3. Mechanics of the operation: How is it done? Future plans? What is being done? Who is doing it? Where is it done?
  4.  How is it going to benefit the waters around City Island in the future and people who are living there? How long is it going to take?
  5. Should the Billion Oyster Project be connected to the City Island’s local one in my project? Why? Why not?
  6. What could be in my bibliography? Newspaper articles? Book about City Island waters?

Post 3.1; Research Question

2 Replies

Is New York water as clean as the NYC government makes it seem?

I think that I’m going to do my research paper on the water of New York. Everyone seems to drink it and everyone says that New York water is the best water in the world. But is it really? Apparently, the water from the Long Island highly differs from the water in New York City in consumption safety. In the summer, algae rises to the surface of many large bays of New York, which causes turtle and fish to die. In the grand schemes, the geographical location of both locations are not as far as one sees. There are many towns that even border Long Island to Queens.

What exactly makes New York City water so healthy and readily available to drink from the tap? This is a filtration system that millions of New Yorkers not only believe, but continuously fall back on. Some even completely skipping at home filtration such as, Brita filters. Granted, the New York City water system cannot be compared to Flint, Michigan as we’ve never had an issue as large as theirs. However, how much is New York City really hiding when it comes to its water?

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s amazing that anyone and everyone can drink the tap water of New York, which includes numerous homeless people throughout the state – not a single soul will die of dehydration. The public parks of the city and state include multiple water fountains so even the homeless can gain access to New York’s water. But this doesn’t mean that the water is highest potential of prime quality. Just because New York City has what is deemed to be the safest tap water to drink in all of the US does not automatically make it the actual safest option for water. Now, I am not a water filtration expert, but I find myself speculating quite a bit about the water of New York.

On the other hand, there’s also the debate of bottled water companies filling those waters with tap water. Bottled water rose to consumer preference over tap water in recent decades due to the societal perception of ‘what is safe water’. It’s a very contradicting industry given previous leaked information regarding the water source of bottled water. Thus, is bottled water safer than tap water if it might just actually be tap water?

SO, what is safe water? I know this is starting to feel like a conspiracy but back to my first question asked, is NYC tap water as safe as the government wants to make it seem – it all ties together. Some people want to believe that bottled water is better and safer than tap way but if water bottle industries are just deceiving us, is it possible that the New York government is deceiving us as well?

There’s so many questions that I can have answered if I focus my research paper on this topic. I don’t want to question how safe New York’s water is but is it as safe as the city wants us to believe?

 

post 3.1

1 Reply

The imaginary world of cartoons has evolved rapidly, in the history of cinematography. It has brought a lot of humor in our every day life, especially with our little ones who are growing in this new era. Kids are entertained and greatly influenced by animated film.

During the early stages, a child’s first attraction is sound, then image. Words don’t usually have meaning to them during that stage. Over the course of time, they become influenced by cartoon animation. Children are often curious and attracted to cartoon characters than academic learning, I believe this influences the child’s perception of the world. They also memorize and imitate the behavior of cartoon characters due to their cognitive abilities.

Cartoons continue to have positive impact on children, they aide in enriching their vocabulary and language development. For example, Dora The Explorer, is an interactive cartoon which invites children to repeat after her, and sing along with her. The character speaks different languages, which makes the cartoon an educational experience. A personal example of my own, is that my daughter learned to speak English from watching Dora the Explorer.

Additionally, children often imitate characters they like or their heroes. Cartoon has affected the thinking , intellectual and communicative abilities of children in a fun and interactive way. The movement and pictures make the learning experience more interesting. I think is really interesting subject ,I will write on the effect of daily watching cartoon have on kids.

Jenny’s Show & Tell

Leave a reply

I agree with Nicole, the first thing that drew my attention instantly was the children like animation. My hypothesis, just like trees growing we have to plant seeds in our children of tomorrow. Teaching them the importance of nature, the role it plays in our environment and why we must protect forestry. Plantings these seeds now and hopefully, when kids grow up, they will help save the ecosystem of tomorrow.

Would green real estate be more expensive to the city? The trouble with centuries of real estates is greenery. Real estate is “property consisting of land and the buildings” Walking through my neighborhood, reminded me every other street in the city, no greenery. I looked at images of most modernized city and concluded more technology no greenery . I am poised to think that oxygen will either be artificially made or be stored in tanks. I looked at most modern cities, just to realize I am looking at stone cold concrete paves and bricks, asphalt and these are all good features of a city. Cause when the rain comes there’s no puddles of mud in the road. etc., however, I look I see no green. Before people had no machines making their meals and needed to plant crops and needed that plants grow in abundance, now I see a few plants. Will we need our plants more than ever or will we be communities without trees and plants? What about parks can you pinpoint the closest park, if we have so many houses of square footage, could we not reinvent our yards, and make Green House or Green Yard. Yes, Tree  yards not a park where people need to socially gathered, instead a place with a small amount of land only for trees, shrubs or mangroves, and we can see them all behind this twelve foot plastic wall, since we like to build everything so technological. I found myself on google counting, most family yards have left with only 1 tree,  counted the parks and I saw only, ten trees, there was lots of places for more. Extra Extra Read all about it, Yard Trees coming to a neighborhood near you. Trees, you mean that other green thing, I’m excited.  An entire yard of trees, that last throughout the year, plants were indoors for the winter. If we have so many lands available, real estate should stop and reconsider Green House or Green Yard. instead of , the sizes of these trees should be monitored, not to exceed some heights, areas, well,  maintained by neighborhood botanists or environmental technicians, this may seem a bold venture but may be of good purpose for otherwise wasted green acres. I speak of green real estate as more efficient homes built and more green present even on just the balconies not just the Green House or Green Yard, like before mentioned. This was the trouble with centuries of real estate, we did not include the plants, we included the effects on the environment, but no real estate from plants. One question would be is anyone paying attention to the plant population? How many plants have died over the last two decades. How much more good could they have done. Biodiversity, did not mean only inhabited by folks. We”RE” so mean referring to the humans. Stating “we” to refer to us humans. We conquered the world and put out all the plants and animals, mother nature responds with a whopping, i researched into innovative cities . Just to realize that this refers to some of the countries who can afford to build greener right away, contrary to an article by a student. I wonder if the plants may go extinct before us humans do, since we put concrete on everything so far.  Since all the birds and mammals seem to be dropping. Should I welcome another deli in my neighborhood or a bio park, should I pay taxes on the web, or should I donate 50 cents to the gardeners in my neighborhood. Should I spend a few dollars and sprinkle seeds around, or should I respect peoples properties and wonder if I should I mail gardening instructions and flower seeds to get the public more interested in trees respons Is the next generation less stubborn than the current one, when it comes to farming, or gardening. Or will they like the green plants more. Were they better educated to participate in the preservation of real estate for green or will they continue to pur concrete which seems easier to put in the ground than plants.   My light is I see there were the emergence of some small trees growing g, trees of all heights I was happy to see. They grow some more tall, it’s like they can reach the heavens of we only learning to grow and climb them. Yes I always realized I was just that short. Can better real estate solve climate? Would green real estate be more expensive to the city?

 

3.1: Is our lack of education leading the human species to extinction?

1 Reply

Of the two options I am strongly leaning towards the idea of looking into a local environmental problem and researching a solution for it, because local environmental problems are something I see and am affected by regularly. As opposed to developing an argument about contemporary media and analyzing through a variety of lenses, which is not as motivating because I may not be directly affected by what is reflected in the contemporary media. When I read the first option I instantly had an idea, unlike the second option which I am still not sure where I would take it to. As someone who lives on Long Island the rising sea level is something that is constantly on my mind. Long Island is primarily built upon sand and other minerals, lacking a sturdy foundation for long term reliability, unlike the rest of New York, which is built upon bedrock. Due to the fact that Long Island is not structurally sound, Long Island is much more vulnerable when it comes to natural disasters, such as hurricanes. Since we lack a stable foundation, hurricanes are able to wreak havoc upon buildings, ruining their structural integrity and destroying some completely. Some parts of Long Island are still recovering from the aftermath of hurricane Sandy. Thankfully I did not live in Long Island when hurricane Sandy occured so I did not think too much of it until I moved out here I saw it first hand. Not only do we have to worry about hurricanes we also have to worry about coastal flooding and rising sea levels. Long Island has many beautiful beach house, but once the sea level goes up a few feet those houses are no longer over the beach instead they are partially underwater, and as that water retreats, if it does in fact retreat, it erodes the coast slowly taking sand away from the beach lessing the gap between the water and the homes of many, so that the next time it will only be worse. Since my family has recently bought a home in Long Island with a 30 year mortgage, for the most part I am stuck. So I rather research the topic and learn how to prepare myself and hopefully Long Island for what is inevitable at this point. Research on the topic has been exhausted to this point and solutions have been present for quite some time, but why are we acting so slowly? This is where I feel I will take my research. I feel that due to a lack of education on the topic of climate change is leading not only Long Island but the entire world to a state of chaos, from which we may not recover. So is our lack of education leading the human species to extinction?

Link

Trees play many important roles in the environment and are an essential factor in keeping our lives enjoyable. Trees serve other vital roles such as providing quality air for us to breathe. This is important because humans and animals require clean, breathable oxygen levels as it is crucial for survival.

In the evolution of industries people are in need land and fail to realize to the effect of deforestation on the ecosystem. They cut trees and are often never replaced. This act of deforestation leads to global warming, due to an increased presence of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, it disturbs the water cycle. It is clear that when there are no trees, different types of calamities are inevitable. Calamities such as, more chance of floods and erosion; extinction of wild animals, which happen to be of high importance in the ecosystem. The video above give us a vu of deforestation and the reflection on our environment .

Questions .

a) How can we overcome the crisis of deforestation ?

b) What makes deforestation so difficult to stop ?

c) What  a rapid solution can we bring ?

 

2:4 Essay 2 Reflection

1 Reply

   Q• What are you proud of in this draft? What’s working well?

     

   A* I took great pride in making my essay clear and polished

    

   Q• More broadly, what do you think your strengths as a writer are? Why?

  

     A* Honestly, when I’m given a project I tend to approach the assignment really ambitiously. I start off having all these different ideas sort of spiraling in my head, that I have a hard time honing them in and really refining what is it that I really want to say, specifically

   

  • What are your goals for revising? (Share your 2 “radical revision” steps you’ll take, too.)

My goals for revising are thinking more “Big Picture” create more engagement, In the past I missed my mark ( main idea). Which was not just about masculinity but was the way fossil fuels Defined it.

essay 2 draft reflection

1 Reply
  • What are you proud of in this draft? What’s working well?
  • More broadly, what do you think your strengths as a writer are? Why?
  • What are the most important issues to address in revising Essay 2? Why?
  • What are your goals for revising? (Share your 2 “radical revision” steps you’ll take, too.)

In this draft I’m proud of writing about a topic that really interests me. The picture I referred to was very upsetting to see but a good write. The relatability of the picture is working well. My strengths as a writer is that I enjoy writing from within and in this class I can write from within. In my revision the most important issues to address are more details of how the picture relates to the writing. My goals for revising is to use more details from the photograph. Two of my radical revisions are to examine the photograph in more details and to use more details from the writing.

2.4 Reflection

1 Reply
  • What are you proud of in this draft? What’s working well?

I hope somehow i created something engaging. Hopefully the claims, evidence and thesis make sense. I think that my analysis of the object and its connection with Daggett’s essay was successful.

  • More broadly, what do you think your strengths as a writer are? Why?

With some combination of pure luck and intuition my sentences look “polished”. I’m also successful with analyzing facts, and texts.

  • What are the most important issues to address in revising Essay 2? Why?

Eliminating the “lard overload”. Rearranging the paragraphs. Shortening the sentences. Focusing more on lens analysis instead of rhetorical analysis. Getting rid of parts which sound “weird”.

It’s going to make a revision more solid and “to the point”.

  • What are your goals for revising? (Share your 2 “radical revision” steps you’ll take, too.)

The goals are:

Clear paragraphs, tightly connecting claims to the evidence.

Radical revision number 2 and 9.