habitat
The natural home and environment for all things sci fi, including future homes and territories.
Our World
I aim to uncover the real damage humans are having on the world around us. I will discuss what "Climate Change" and "Global Warming" really mean and how it is affecting our animals, landscapes, and ecosystems. I will also be looking at which countries are to blame for this and which ones need to desperately change their ways.
By Lillie hardwick7 years ago in Futurism
Coral Reefs
I watched an eye-opening documentary on Netflix today, Chasing Coral, which highlights the issues faced by our coral reefs. These issues being caused by none other than climate change. A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem which should be thriving with life; however, as the seas warm up, it causes the coral to bleach then causing the polyps to eject their plant-like cells, causing them to lose their source of food, and eventually, this causes them to die. It is thought that within recent years, this has happened to half of the world's coral reefs. Two-thirds of one of the most well-known coral reefs, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, has died. Some scientists believe that by the end of the century, coral reefs will be completely extinct. (Blue Planet II, 2017). Our marine ecosystems are facing a possible collapse if nothing is done to stop these environmental issues. This major problem is being addressed in so many ways, art being one of them. Jason DeCaires Taylor, a sculptor, created his own artificial coral reefs after looking at the effects of global warming, pollution, overfishing, and ocean acidification, the impact of tourism and habitat loss. Initially, Taylor placed one sculpture, called “The Lost Correspondent,” off the coast of Grenada, where he quickly saw how it was quickly transformed by marine creatures, making it their own. This first sculpture then led to many more in an attempt to continue growing his artificial reefs. Taylor has created over 800 new coral habitats. The sculptures are created with a PH neutral marine cement for healthy and natural growth, that coral polyps can easily attach to and allow fish to congregate on a large scale. The marine creatures turn the sculptures into their own. Taylor stated that once the sculptures are submerged, they no longer belong to him, they belong to the ocean (Ted Talk, 2015). The pieces are never finished as they are continuously changing due to life forms constantly adding to the sculptures. Taylor now has a large range of underwater sculptures, his largest being 60 tonnes in Nassau, the Bahamas. The piece, titled “Ocean Atlas,” presents a young girl kneeling on the seafloor, holding up the ocean, like she has the weight of the ocean on her back. “The piece symbolizes the burden we are currently asking future generations to carry and the collective responsibility we have to prevent its collapse.” (deCaires Taylor, n.d.). This particularly spoke to me. We are a generation who seems to be blissfully living in ignorance. We all know that climate change is a major issue but that’s it. We hear about it but none of us act upon the information we hear, unfortunately.
By niamh yehezkel8 years ago in Futurism
Mass Extinction Is Imminent
A long time ago, dragonflies spanned five feet and centipedes, ten. The glorious time was the Carboniferous period; a time known for growth and prosperity. The creatures that roamed earth were limitless and beautiful. That is until the forests became deserts and oceans became flaming acid. The world would stop in its tracks due to methane-producing bacteria. This was known as the Great Dying; almost 90% of species suffered a horrendous extinction. Bacteria produced that mass extinction—but we as humans will soon have done even worse.
By i don’t know how to delete this account 8 years ago in Futurism
5 Simple Actions You Can Take to Help Save the Oceans
It is now no surprise to anyone that our human waste is piling up. We are finding sea animals beached with stomachs filled with garbage and plastic. We find animals with plastic embedded in their bodies or even stuck around their limbs and neck. We all see the pictures, it devastates us, and then we go about our normal lives rarely making any conscious changes to fix what we as a species are destroying at rates that are absolutely mortifying. So, what can we as individuals really do?
By Kristin Wilson8 years ago in Futurism
The Winter Forecast for 2018/19
It was very relieving to read that all 12 Thai boys, along with their soccer coach, were successfully rescued from their harrowing ordeal being trapped in a flooded cave! Even Elon Musk went to lend a mini-sub and help work out rescue plans. The Discovery Channel is planning a documentary on the rescue of all 13 people, OPERATION THAI CAVE RESCUE. The coach and 12 boys became trapped during an on-foot exploration of Tham Luang Cave in Northern Thailand after it flooded. They were lost for 10 days until they were located. Amazingly, all were still alive and successfully rescued! The only casualty was Thai NAVY Seal who perished while setting up oxygen tanks along a rescue tunnel. When the most experienced divers lose their life, you can see why it took several more days to initiate a successful rescue. Not all the boys could swim, but each of the 13 had two divers as escort. Not to mention a blessing from a famous Buddhist Monk. In groups of four, they had to swim underwater for two miles, in sometimes murky water. A water pump, and oxygen, had been set up. They were simultaneously pumping water out of the cave, and pumping oxygen in so the 'Lost Boys' could breathe. Just as the rescue ended, the rescue teams water pump failed. Thailand's Monsoon Season had just started, and the Monsoon waters they managed to keep at bay flooded back in.
By Lady Sunday8 years ago in Futurism
What the Rising Levels Mean for California
Rising sea levels would impact California’s sea level areas such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Mountain View. A third and two-thirds of California’s beaches will be wiped out from rising sea levels. Beach towns could utterly disappear in the next century if we do not check our greenhouse emissions from cars, and planes. The loss of beaches will affect California’s economic future. Infrastructures such as the San Francisco and Oakland airports will be affected by the rising sea levels. California’s communities by the sea do not necessarily experience extreme flooding like Florida but it could start happening.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
How to Fix the Landfill Problem
The landfill problem is a huge issue in the modern world today. Small-scale societies in far-flung corners of the planet have less garbage than we modern peoples who live in cities or in the country. The landfill problem is becoming bigger by the day. The old landfill in my hometown of Mountain View, CA, which got turned into a rather smelly park. The park is a great idea-sure, but then again where does the rest of the garbage go? The landfill problem is something that affects every single city on the planet, but the thing is, we don’t have concrete solutions for it.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
The Birds and the Bees
According to surveys and research by many different scientists, pesticides can severely affect the population of various species of birds. For example, pesticides like neonics and organophosphates, are direct factors that can alter the bird population. DDT had a significant effect on eagles and fish in the 20th century. But, as a result, Rachel Carson brought the epidemic to the public’s attention by publishing her book, Silent Spring. After these factors were discovered/publicized, the production of the harmful pesticides reduced massively, eventually diminishing to nothing; this led to the flourishing of bird and other animal populations.
By Lauren Watkins8 years ago in Futurism
The Paris Accord
Most Republicans, I’m sure, love 45’s having left the Paris Agreement. But no, we liberals are not happy with this, which cramps their style. The agreement reflects on different countries joining together to find solutions to climate change. Leaving this agreement threw supporters into a tailspin. Pamela Hill states that the World Health Organization has uncovered that “7 million premature deaths are linked to air pollution” (77), (World Health Organization). The air pollution problem is a growing problem on a long list of problems.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
How to Resolve the Plastic Crisis
Resolving the plastic crisis is something more think tanks need to be thinking about but also actually doing something about it, not just talking about it and doing nothing. Survival on this planet is rather harsh despite all modern conveniences that we can afford to use. The plastic crisis is reaching epic proportions here. We need to get civilians out there by having a company build a fleet of ships as well as submarines for civilian use so that we can clean up the garbage. We are digging ourselves into a premature grave daily.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
The Great Plastic Gyre Patch
Plastic pollution is a huge global crisis that nobody is paying attention to right now except those of us who bother to read about it. Plastic finds its way onto beaches, according to Environmental Protection: What Everybody Needs To Know, since there is “4.8 to 12.7 metric tons” (56), of plastic in the ocean, increasing by the day or by the year. However we measure it, many politicians put climate change on 'ignore', in particular, Republicans. The North Pacific Gyre or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of France.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
