Renewable Energies

Sunlight, wind, wave power, this are some of the “nature powers”. Renewable energies are those that take advantage of these powers to produce that energy that we use in ours days to cook, to have light at night and so on.
Solar panels are the ones used to store the sun energy and to convert it into electric energy to be used at home. This energy is also use to warm up water that it’s going through a tube and receiving that energy it gets warmer.
The wind, a powerful energy, is usually stored with those windmills that we see on the hills and, basically, they are everywhere but there should be a lot more out there to produce even more energy.
Waves, sometimes we’re at the beach and, out of nowhere, a strong wave appears and put all of our things wet or even drag us down. This power is also exploited by putting a mechanism under the water but that we can see it at surface, not at the beaches because they are usually a bit far from the coast.





















( Sources: http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/040907/040907_waves_hmed.hmedium.jpg ; http://www.windenergyplanning.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/solar-panels-top-energy.jpg ; http://sponsor.sap.manufacturingcentre.eiu.com/images/photos/windpower.jpg )

Gonçalo Monteiro

Sea Level

Current sea level rise is due partly to global warming, which will increase sea level over the coming century and longer periods. This happens because global warming, as the name refers, is the global temperature that’s raising. If the world’s temperature is raising that will cause the ice melting in the poles, and that ice melting will increase the water that’s already in the seas, and if that happens most of the cities in, not only our country but all the countries in the world, will drown. People won’t probably die because it will happen too slowly but it will make us “pull back” and make it even more difficult to live.
This interested me because, people don’t realize, or maybe they do but they don’t give a damn because it won’t happen right now, only in the next centuries, so the problem will be to our sons, it’s our fault but they are the ones who are going to pay for our mistakes.
Floods will devastate our cities just as you can see.



( Source: http://www.cumbriafire.gov.uk/Images/Carlisle_Floods_1_tcm192-45083.JPG )

Gonçalo Monteiro

Recycling

Recycling involves used materials to make new products to prevent waste of useful materials, reduce the consumption of raw materials, reduce the energy used, reduce air and water pollution.
Dumps, they are one nasty thing to see and to be near of. I’ve been in one with my class some years ago and many of friends felt sick because of the smell and as something to look, well, it isn’t beauty. I don’t dumps to grow because I don’t want to live right next to one, and recycling stops that and the materials that are used can be used again and so the planet won’t lose it’s own substances, for example, paper comes from the trees, not recycling paper will make more trees fall to generate more paper and so on until there are no trees in the planet, and this is one of the many examples I could give to you!
Recycling it just isn’t that hard to do and in the end you’ll feel glad with yourself because you know that you did something good. At my place, we do recycle, we have two bags next to each other. Paper, Glass and Plastics are all put together in one of them the other bag is for the organic waste. Then, it’s just separate them to their different destinations.

(Source: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_199/1193348148292kqh.jpg )

Gonçalo Monteiro

The consequences Global warming and the preventions

The consequences the Global warming are the ozone hole, the disappearance of the year seasons, the acidification, the rise of the water level , the droughts and others phenomenon’s.
One example to provoke Global warming: when we goes to the school or other place, we use the car and others vehicles. This is considering one vice in our world but we should go to the different places using public transportations, bicycle or to walk.
To prevent global warming we should:
- Use public transportations;
- Recycling;
- Save energy;
- And save water.





Carina Henriques

The Greenhouse Effect at Danger

First of all we have to define “Greenhouse effect”. The sun radiation passes through the earth´s atmosphere and most of it is absorbed by the earth´s surface. However, some of the radiation doesn´t even passes the earth´s atmosphere and it is immediately reflected back to space and another percentage of the sun´s radiation is reflected by the earth´s surface (under the form of infra-red) but only a small percentage of these infra-red go back to space and the rest of them are reflected back or absorbed by the earth´s atmosphere, thus warming it. This is the Greenhouse Effect.







(SOURCE: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/stro5c0/public_html/greenhouse_effect.jpg )






Why are we talking now more frequently about the Greenhouse Effect than before? The Greenhouse effect is essential for the well-functioning of our planet because it prevents Earth reaching very low temperatures.
Since the Industrial Revolution that Man has been sending gases to our atmosphere with characteristics that increase the Greenhouse Effect (like: Carbon Dioxide and Methane), this is, they help “holding” the infra-red radiation in our atmosphere. As you might now, energy is heat, and infra-red are no exception. More infra-red in our atmosphere lead to an increase of the temperature (known as global warming), leading to so many known problems: ice melting, the increase of the number of natural disasters (like the ones already mentioned in other «posts»), etc.

There are some things that are being done about this problem. Measures were established in the Kyoto Protocol, like removing CFC´s from some products (fresheners for example) and creating and implement filters in the factory´s chimneys.

Despite of these actions there is still a lot to do and each one should help saving our planet, our home.






SOURCES:

* "POLUIÇÃO ATMOSFÉRICA, Poluição Ambiental" :

http://www.rudzerhost.com/ambiente/estufa.htm




Ricardo

Endangered Species

The number of endangered species has been increasing sharply over the last dozens of years.
Endangered specie is ,like the name says, a specie (animal or vegetable) that is in danger of disappearing from the face of the Earth, this is, being extinguished.
The main cause of the mass extinction of species is Man. Due to the deforestation, mainly in South America; a great number of unique vegetable species disappears, not every year, but each month. Animals like the chimpanzees, alligators and many others also disappear due to this deforestation, because their homes are destroyed or the places where they could find their preys disappear.
However we cannot say that deforestation is the main cause of the disappearance of a great quantity of species.
For a long time it existed poachers who hunted a lot of animals (like lions, tigers and crocodiles) to sell their fur or skin as high quality material for clothing which lead to the sharp decrease of some species of wild animals. There are many other causes of this mass extinction that we can see on the video below.
Pandas, tigers, toucans, sea turtles and koalas are only some of the great list of species that are in danger of disappearing.






(SOURCE: http://www.giant-panda.com/panda-munch.jpg )








(SOURCE: http://koalas.org/pair.jpg )







We should react immediately by taking part in associations that defend all the animal rights but especially the ones which defend the endangered species, which are increasing each day.





CLIP FROM A DOCUMENTARY RELATED WITH ANIMAL RIGHTS AND ENDANGERED SPECIES:

Learn about Endangered Species

Ricardo


SOURCES:

* "VIDEO" :

http://www.5min.com/Video/Learn-about-Endangered-Species-117527096

* "MUNDO ANIMAL" :

http://mundo_animal.blogs.sapo.pt/3228.html
http://mundo_animal.blogs.sapo.pt/4498.html

* "DEFINITION OF ENDANGERED SPECIES" :

http://library.thinkquest.org/25014/what/definition.html

Endangered Species

The animals are more and more damage because the pollution that causes several tragic phenomenons. I like very much the animals, they have one life the way us und they shouldn’t be considered different. The species are in endangered because the indifference the people with this problem. As the humans have total power in the world, they forget the problems in us planet and only worrying with their problems. This too happen because the humans activities destroying the animals habitats and too insuring news predators in planet. To prevent the endangered species, we should be careful with defloration and we don’t should pollute the environment.

Carina Henriques

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extin%C3%A7%C3%A3