A Meticulous Perspective...

Nanotechnology , or tiny tech, uses science and engineering to manipulate and create materials out of atoms and molecules at the ultra-small scale of less than 100 nanometers. A nanometer equals one billionth of a meter. It is one hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair, and the period at the end of this sentence is about 1 million nanometers in diameter. At the nanoscale level, conventional materials have unconventional and unexpected properties. Scientists plan to use atoms of abundant substances such as carbon, silicon, silver, titanium, and boron as building blocks to create everything from medicines and solar cells to automobile bodies. Nanomaterials are currently used in more than 800 consumer products and the number is growing rapidly. Such products include stain-resistant and wrinkle free coatings on clothes, odor-eating socks, self-cleaning coatings on sunglasses and windshields, sunscreens, deep-penetrating skin care products, and food containers that release nanosilver

Modern industrialized agriculture produces large amounts of food at prices that are relatively low, mostly because the harmful environmental and health costs of such agriculture are not included in the market prices of food. But to a growing number of analysts, this form of agriculture is unsustainable, because it violates the three principles of sustainability ( https://meticulousperspectives.blogspot.com/search?q=three+principles+of+sustainability ). It relies heavily on use of fossil fuels, which adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and thus contributes to climate change. It also reduces biodiversity in areas where food is grown and agrobiodiversity, and it reduces the cycling of plant nutrients back to topsoil. Thus, it becomes must to shift towards a more sustainable form of agriculture. One component of more sustainable agriculture is organic agriculture . From a nutrient standpoint there is no clear-cut evidence that organic foods are nutritionally healthier to eat than conve

Humans are destroying or degrading terrestrial biodiversity in a variety of ecosystems. We can reduce this destruction and degradation by using the earth’s resources more sustainably. We must be aware of the importance of simply planting trees; the importance of protecting species and ecosystems in nature reserves such as parks and wilderness areas; And also the importance of preserving what remains of richly diverse and highly endangered ecosystems (biodiversity hotspots). Preserving terrestrial biodiversity as it is done in the Green Belt Movement involves applying the three principles of sustainability (Refer -  https://meticulousperspectives.blogspot.com/search?q=three+principles+of+sustainability ). First, it means respecting biodiversity and understanding the value of sustaining it. Then, in helping to sustain biodiversity by planting trees for example, we also help to restore and preserve the flows of energy from the sun through food webs and the cycling of nutrients within eco

  Air pollution is the presence of chemicals in the atmosphere in concentrations high enough to harm organisms, ecosystems, or human-made materials, or to alter climate. Note that almost any chemical in the atmosphere can become a pollutant if it occurs in a high enough concentration. The effects of air pollution range from annoying to lethal. Sources: Air pollutants come from natural and human sources.  Natural sources include wind-blown dust, pollutants from wildfires and volcanic eruptions, and volatile organic chemicals released by some plants. Most natural air pollutants are spread out over the globe or removed by chemical cycles, precipitation, and gravity. But in areas experiencing volcanic eruptions or forest fires, chemicals emitted by these events can temporarily reach harmful levels. Most human inputs of outdoor air pollutants occur in industrialized and urban areas with their higher concentrations of people, cars, and factories. These pollutants are generated mostly by th

  Chernobyl is known around the globe as the site of the world’s most serious nuclear power plant accident. On April 26, 1986, two simultaneous explosions in one of the four operating reactors in this nuclear power plant in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) blew the massive roof off the reactor building. The reactor partially melted down and its graphite components caught fire and burned for 10 days. The initial explosion and the prolonged fires released a radioactive cloud that spread over much of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and Europe, and it eventually encircled the planet. According to UN studies, the Chernobyl disaster was caused by a poor reactor design (not the type used in the United States or in most other parts of the world) and by human error, and it had serious consequences. By 2005, some 56 people had died prematurely from exposure to radiation released by the accident. The number of long-term premature deaths from the accident, primarily from exposure to radiation, ra

  Plants need sunlight, carbon dioxide (from the air), and mineral nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Traditionally, farmers have obtained these nutrients from soil. Hydroponics involves growing plants by exposing their roots to a nutrient-rich water solution instead of soil, usually inside of a greenhouse. Indoor hydroponic farming has a number of advantages over conventional outdoor growing systems: Crops can be grown indoors under controlled conditions almost anywhere. Yields and availability are increased because crops are grown year round, regardless of weather conditions.  In dense urban areas, crops can be grown on rooftops, underground with artificial lighting (as is now done in Tokyo, Japan), and on floating barges, thus requiring much less land. Fertilizer and water use are reduced through the recycling of nutrient and water solutions. There is no runoff of excess fertilizer into streams or other waterways. In the controlled greenhouse environment, there is little or

  At one time, the North American passenger pigeon was one of world’s most abundant bird species. In 1813, bird expert John James Audubon watched a flock of these passenger pigeons that was so huge it darkened the sky and took three days to fly over his location. By 1900, North America’s passenger pigeon had disappeared from the wild because of three factors: habitat loss as forests were cleared to make room for farms and cities, uncontrolled commercial hunting, and the fact that they were easy to kill. These birds were good to eat, their feathers made good pillows, and their bones were widely used for fertilizer. They were easy targets because they flew in gigantic flocks and nested in long, narrow, densely packed colonies. Beginning in 1858, passenger pigeon hunting became a big business. Shotguns, traps, artillery, and even dynamite were used. Hunters burned grass or sulfur below the pigeons’ roosts to suffocate the birds. Shooting galleries used live birds as targets. In 1878, a pr