Halle's Blog

Section 1- (Important person in environmental history):  The important person in environmental history I am deciding to choose to write about is Robert Bullard. Robert Bullard is a scientist and considered the “father” of the Environmental Justice Movement. The Environmental Justice Movement was a movement started to address the unfair treatment and exposure to marginalized communities associated with resource extraction, hazardous waste. This is important to the environment because it was started to maintain and improve a clean environment, especially the people most affected. The people that are most affected by this would be the people closest to the pollutants source. “ Environmental justice embraces the principle that all people and communities have a right to equal protection and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.” (Dr. Robert Bullard.com). This quote and the next following quote were found on Bullards personal website. The website is speaking on his mai...

(Doing homework outside Fiske) Observing nature outside of Fiske The place I am choosing to observe nature is the quad in front of fisk on campus. The first thing my eye was drawn to that I normally do not see when passing by fiske is the new white fencing they put up. Today it is about seventy degrees outside so there are also some people on the quad outside fiske. One thing that also caught my eye super fast was the sound of the chimes on the trees that we talked about when we had class outside one day. There are also a lot of flowers that I see starting to bloom since it has been nice outside lately. The flowers outside are usually something I normally would not right away because I am usually too busy looking at my phone when walking through campus. I decided to observe nature on the quad because this is a place I always say i'm going to go when its nice out and never end up getting to it. I would definitely suggest going to sit on the quad on a nice day if you need somewhere d...

Climate crisis could lead to rise of smaller bees, study finds: Agence France-Presse Danger looms for larger species such as bumblebees, which have lower heat tolerance, leading to ‘cascading effects’ on ecosystems An article I found interesting to read that has to do with environmental change talks about the rise in bees due to the current climate crisis we are facing. The article is saying that the climate crisis would lead to the rise in smaller bee populations but a decrease in other bee species, for example a decrease in the number of bumble bees. This is a very important issue due to the fact that bees including bumble bees have a very beneficial impact on our environment. The article states “ The climate crisis could lead to more small-bodied bees but fewer bumblebees, according to research warning of potential “cascading” effects on plant pollination and across whole ecosystems.” (Agence France-Presse). There was an experiment done on over 20,000 different types of bees over th...

Observing nature on campus: I decided to observe nature from behind the dorm Pondside 3 which happens to be where I live on campus at Keene State College. I decided to observe from this place because it was most convenient for me, but also due to the fact that the view behind pondside 3 is amazing in my opinion. I would suggest that if someone has the chance to go behind Pondside 3 to go check it out on a nice day and just observe nature as I did. In terms of plants that I saw while observing behind Pondside 3, I saw a lot of trees and some other plants that I am unaware of. One of the best things about living in Pondside 3 and having a view of the pond outside your window is that you also get to observe a lot of the wildlife that hangs out. One of my favorite animals to observe from Pondside 3 would definitely be the groundhog my roommates and I named ernie. I am not too sure if it is the same groundhog that comes back each time but I would like to think it is Earnie coming back each ...

The endangered species that I chose was the Puerto Rican Skink, I was intrigued by it because of the name and the unique look. The Puerto Rican Skink is a lizard that has a body that looks more like a snake than a lizard. They also have very short legs that barely come off the ground. Their coloring is usually a brown black coloring and when in the sun can sometimes appear as red. The habitat that the Puerto Rican Skink lives in is forest and shrubland areas. A threat to this species is secondary pressures from other exotic mammals, mainly black rats that are ubiquitous in all habitats and elevations in Puerto Rico, and possibly from habitat conversion due to urbanization and agricultural expansion (Hedges and Conn 2012). Possible solutions to help the endangered species would be if people went into the habitat and maybe got rid of the invasive species and other opposing threats to the species. This would then leave it a safer environment for the species. One threat to my species would...