Eco-STEM – Ecosystemic Magazine

Climate Change Is Here, If Hurricane Ian Is Any Indication

10Nov

By Anya VedantambeNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Climate Change Is Here, If Hurricane Ian Is Any Indication

By Anya Vedantambe Beginning on September 23, 2022, Tropical Storm Ian swept through the Caribbean, devastating the Southeastern Coast of the United States. Claiming over 110 lives, this was the deadliest storm in Florida since 1935 (AccuWeather, 2022). The damage caused by Hurricane Ian can lead to insight into some of the effects that climate change will have on our planet. But isn’t climate change supposed to be something well off into the future? We can see now how rising sea levels, extreme weather, and uncontrollable flooding are not just intangible instances existing far off into the 21st century and beyond. If Hurricane Ian is any indication, the effects of climate change are already here. News outlets began to release stories coming from Florida ranging from firefighte...

8Nov

By May ChanNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Mangroves Combat Climate Change

By May Chan In Hong Kong, there is a coastal wildlife reserve full of trees with dense tangles of prop roots; the roots make trees appear to be standing on stilts above water. Those odd-looking trees are called mangrove trees. According to the National Ocean Service, mangrove trees: “only grow in areas with low-oxygen soil of tropical or subtropical latitudes near the equator,” and where slow-moving waters allow fine sediments to collect. Their location makes them adept for protecting coasts from erosion and acting as a haven for living creatures, such as cormorants, snails, and insects. Moreover, a recent study found that mangrove trees are capable of absorbing significant amounts of carbon, which plays a large role in regulating the Earth's climate. Source: May Chan (A view o...

Abortion and Environmental Issues are Healthcare Issues

22May

By Anya VedantambeNo Comments

Eco-STEM, Global News & Policy

Abortion and Environmental Issues are Healthcare Issues

By Anya Vedantambe When I, as a middle schooler who was living through a politically turbulent time in early 2020, heard rumors of a disease sweeping across the globe, I experienced mixed emotions. It was a disease and could of course shatter the lives of many–– but a tiny part of me was slightly grateful that the whole world would experience something, something that could draw us closer and possibly bridge political divides. 2020 me believed that disease and health issues could be the one thing that could bring the world together, because no one wanted to be sick. What happened over the course of the next two years shocked me. Mitigation strategies for the pandemic somehow became just as politicized as many of the other issues on which there were large partisan divides. Even now, in ...

2Apr

By Isabel LimaoNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Free Range Labeling Lies

By Isabel Limao The food industry is dominated by big businesses with the financial resources to lobby the government. Because of this some people feel like it is hard to make change when it comes to issues such as the environment, animal rights, and other food production issues. One way people can demonstrate their beliefs is by buying food that has been made in a way that is better for the environment and animals. When you buy food created in a way that aligns with your beliefs it is like casting a vote in favor of these better methods. Usually when people look to buy food produced a certain way, they look at the labels. But what if those labels weren’t telling you the whole story? The term “free range” implies that the animals that produced the product, usually chickens or cows, h...

Clean Coal: What It Is and Why It Doesn’t Work

2Apr

By Amrit KaurNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Clean Coal: What It Is and Why It Doesn’t Work

By Amrit Kaur Clean coal. It sounds like a pretty neat thing, right? Well, not quite. It’s a lot trickier than that. Trust me, before I did my fair share of research about this term, my head was in the clouds regarding what “clean” coal is and what exactly its purpose is. How come coal became clean all of a sudden? As soon as I heard the word “clean”, I immediately dismissed any doubt that it could be bad, but I forgot the second word, coal. Well, we can start by defining what clean coal is. It’s essentially capturing carbon emissions and storing them under Earth permanently. Clean coal is an industry term that is linked with a range of technologies that burn coal more efficiently because they are supposed to eliminate or significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-...

Time Bomb: The Environmental Effects of Detonated Explosives

19Mar

By Quinn PatwardhanNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Time Bomb: The Environmental Effects of Detonated Explosives

By Quinn Patwardhan “War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin.” This lyric by The Temptations will survive throughout the rest of humanity. Not a single person will ever be able to justify war. Its effects include the worst that can be inflicted upon humanity: famine, illness, fire, and destruction. Many of Western Generation Z hasn’t witnessed the outbreak of war, at least on a global scale. We have been able to live with the false assumption that war is something we have left in the past, in history books. We have been told that the U.S. invasion of the Middle East was justified and had a minor impact. We have been lied to. War has been a prevalent controlling force of humanity since its very start. Weapons have gone from rocks to swords, to bows and arrows, to guns to bombs ...

The Wartime Destruction of Ukraine’s Flora and Fauna

19Mar

By Ilaria LunaNo Comments

Eco-STEM

The Wartime Destruction of Ukraine’s Flora and Fauna

By Ilaria Luna An absurd, devastating war is raging on Ukrainian soil before our horrified eyes, destroying cities, murdering people indiscriminately and compelling millions to flee from their homeland to seek refuge in unfamiliar territories. While Vladimir Putin claims that Russians and Ukranians are a single people, with the intent of reabsorbing the Slavic country into Russia, Ukraine claims its place in Europe, now more than ever. Geography itself has already answered this political question, defining Ukraine as the largest completely European country, and science has likewise highlighted the nation’s crucial environmental contributions to the Old Continent thanks to its considerable land and biodiversity. Indeed, according to the CBD Fifth National Report, “occupying less than 6 ...

War Vehicles Emit Atrocious Amounts of CO2

19Mar

By Lucas FlahertyNo Comments

Eco-STEM

War Vehicles Emit Atrocious Amounts of CO2

By Lucas Flaherty The war in Ukraine has killed, displaced, or worried people both inside and outside its borders; the invasion has also harmed the environment as war vehicles release tons upon tons of greenhouse gasses. When people think of greenhouse gasses, they often visualize them coming from cars, trains and factories. War vehicles fail to come up in any discussions about greenhouse gasses because they are not used by day-to-day consumers. Nevertheless, they are not fuel-efficient and can emit grim amounts of greenhouse gasses. There is a wide range of emissions when it comes to war vehicles; armored trucks are quite inefficient with their six miles per gallon compared to an average car’s roughly 24 miles per gallon. Fighter jets with nuclear capabilities such as the B-2 ...

19Feb

By Tara PrakashNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Carbon Removal Methods

By Tara Prakash Since the beginning of the industrial era in 1850, human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide by nearly 49%. In 2019, global carbon emissions reached a high of 36.44 billion metric tons. The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is currently at nearly 412 parts per million and rising. As we begin to run out of time, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), might be a necessary tool. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. The term “greenhouse” refers to the essential and natural process that warms Earth by trapping heat in our atmosphere. Without carbon dioxide, the planet would be inhospitably cold; plants and animals alike would be unable to survive. Despite the clear ecological necessity of carbon dio...

Sustainable Agricultural Practices: Agroforestry

4Feb

By Alma BielenbergNo Comments

Eco-STEM

Sustainable Agricultural Practices: Agroforestry

Alma Bielenberg, Sidwell Friends School Endless stretches of corn and grain illustrate the American farming ideal, but mass plantings of a single crop are not effective nor enduring compared to less mechanized methods. An ancient farming practice, agroforestry, provides an alternative. As Earth’s human population grows, nourishing the world poses a new challenge. To make the most of the land around us for the longest possible time, nature’s resilience and adaptability could serve as a guide. Reintroducing trees into farming practices is one way to maximize efficiency and ensure sustainability to fulfill our need for food. Agroforestry, a low-tech and traditional farming practice already used in one billion hectares of land worldwide, can be easily applied to our farmland for the b...