ASSIGNMENT 10-8-09

There are two successful stories of how a nation or a group of people helping to restore the ecosystem. The first one is about United Nations who is willing to contribute great amount of money to assist Kenya in restoring the Mau Forest Complex which has been drastically disappearing in acres of the forest. About 264 acres of forest is disappearing every single year due to the drought and the unfavorable use of land. The United Nations spend $81 million on that but they only could restore 988 acres of the forest so far. Let’s think about it how the Mau Forest Complex will turn out in 100 years. 1320 acres or more forest might disappear if we keep ignoring the problem. Maybe 1000 years later, there will not be a forest anymore in Kenya, and people who live there have to move to other place to live for resources. The United Nations spends that much of money on restoring the Mau Forest Complex to slow down the speed of losing forest every year.

The second article talks about The Colorado Division of Wildlife recognizing that mule deer and elk at the Uncompahgre Plateau were competing for winter food sources and the number of these wild animals are encountering the difficulty in survival due to the limited food source. The collaborative approach to restore and maintain the ecosystem health of the Uncompahgre Plateau, using best science and public input among 50 governmental agencies and more than 600 private citizens is impressive. This project embraces the region’s economic, social, cultural and ecological issues and is impacting 1.5 million acres of private, state and federal lands – 75 percent of which are public! It is pretty hard to cover that far for a protection of species; yet, it’s everyone’s responsibility to well maintain all natural sources as much as we can.

In recent article according to The National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) reports a 4% increase in beach pollution violations from 2007-2008. Based on their study, 10% of water samples at California beaches last year contained more human fecal bacteria than the state allows, creating health and sanitary issues for all beachgoers.Bacteria can flow into beach water from sewage accidents such as the spill that forcedclosures in beaches but also through stormwater flowing through urban areas. The "urban runoff" pick ups animal waste, fertilizer, motor oil and other contaminants that are dumped into the ocean through our untreated waterways. These high bacteria levels lead to sickness and beach closures at some of the most popular tourist destinations in Southern California.What approaches and actions can we do to minimize the increase of harmful waste from polluting the nature which the earth offers? I propose that as a class we presenting MHS, we can start with beach cleaning in beaches in Southern California. We can go to beach as a class on holidays or weekends, to pick up trashes on the beach, and after we finish our job, we can enjoy the rest of the day at beach. It helps the water we use every day cleaner a little bit.