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Imagine you are an environmental activist. What is an environmental issue that concerns you? Why does it matter to you? What can be done about it?

My answer: If I were an environmental activist, one of the top issues on my mind would be the problem of recycling. Recycling is when we put used objects to further use, making cycles and insuring we do not exhaust our resources and create massive pits of harmful garbage in the process. At the rate society is consuming resources, we must start remaking the cycles we have broken in nature and insure that the natural, unending processes of nature are preserved. Stricter recycling laws are vital to this process, making concrete reasons for people to recycle, other than just the want to help the environment. 1 other effective measure that could be taken could be to place more burden on large companies to be responsible for their product's entire life cycle, improving standards for the amount of harmful chemicals in the product and giving awareness to customers on what is in the product. Another effective measure would be to give positive reinforcement to recycling people, with things like tax breaks based on the amount of materials recycled by a family or individual to the amount of materials thrown away.

Journal #1
 * x || __**Attitudes**__ || __**Skills**__ || __**Knowledge**__ ||
 * __**Issues**__ || For my topic I have chosen to look at composting. This is an issue which many believe to be irrelevant or of secondary concern compared to other environmental issues such as recycling or pollution, but is in fact an issue which can have serious environmental repercussions if ignored. The problem with composting is people's ignorant nature towards its benefits. || Skills regarding the issue of composting are mainly those of being able to accurately identify the issues, and see the effects poor composting has on the environment || The knowledge of different issues that obstruct proper composting is invaluable when trying to promote composting ||
 * __**Research**__ || The key to conducting efficient research is eliminating your bias, and keeping an open mind and not a negative attitude to effectively find the right information rather than ignoring sources whose information you dont like. || For my research I will need survey-making skills to make an effective survey that can capture maximum information as well as foresight/evaluation to make a hypothesis I can test with my survey || I need to know how to eliminate bias from questions/research to insure accurate information is presented ||
 * __**Actions**__ || For my action I would like to use social media and contact restaurants and other food-handling facilities to gauge how well they compost, and use social media to persuade them to change any negative ways they have. I would like to actually change something || I need the skills to be able to apply my research to accurately gauge where I can make a difference ||= Knowledge of past actions and what methods were most effective will help allow me to decide how I can make the most difference ||

Journal #2
 * x || __**Attitudes**__ || __**Skills**__ || __**Knowledge**__ ||
 * __**Issues**__ || My attitude towards composting has not changed, though from my classmates answers to my poll I better understand the general attitude. The issue with many of those polled is that while some practiced positive composting habits, almost no one really knew anything about composting. This further reinforces the fact that ignorant attitudes are a root cause of our composting crisis. || One must be able to apply the skills of Bloom's Taxonomy to effectively understand the issue of composting || A broad understanding of composting is important for someone to posses before one can try to remedy the issue. ||
 * __**Research**__ || In analyzing all gathered research I must prevent my bias from tainting my analysis of what conclusions may be reached from the research || In order for me to effectively use information I must be able to analyze and apply it. || I require a good basic understanding of a topic before advanced research can be done so that I may be able to accurately gauge what it is I need to learn more about. ||
 * __**Actions**__ || Composting is a relatively unknown issue compared to that of recycling and air pollution/ global warming. From my survey, most people do not know much about composting, which prevents people from taking action. || As the use of social media to reach out to businesses and individuals is likely to be central to my group's plan of action, social networking skills as well as the ability to send concise messages will be vital in being heard by many. ||= Knowledge of who to target demographically based on research is vital to insure that the people who most need attention receive the necessary guidance ||

Secondary Research: Composting Composting: recycling organic matter to return the nutrients contained back into ecosystem

There are three major reasons for composting:

1. Roughly 40% of household waste is compostable (Source: greenactioncentre.ca) and so by diverting compostable waste to composting facilities instead of going to landfills, we are reducing the size of our landfills.

2. When broken down improperly or irresponsibly, compost can produce methane gas- a gas more than 20 times more dangerous than carbon dioxide to the atmosphere due to it being a greenhouse gas. Additionally, if the compost is broken down near water sources or other places that may be contaminated, and improper precautions are taken to prevent seepage, harmful substances can be leaked from the compost.

3. When compost is properly broken down, it can contain loads of beneficial nutrients that make it excellent fertilizer for plants. Bad things that happen when compost is not properly dealt with:

When compost is left in landfills, a number of negative things can happen. When compost is put in landfills, it cannot be broken down by aerobic bacteria and is instead digested by anaerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria is slower than aerobic bacteria, and produces methane gas, a greenhouse gas that's effects can be 20 times more harmful than CO2. Additionally, a variety of toxic chemicals can leach from decomposing materials in the form of leachates. These leachates are in liquid form and so can leach into water supplies, with negative consequences due to the toxic nature of these leachates. Poorly operated composting facilities can also lead to many other

Good things about composting:

A major benefit of composting is the nutrient-rich fertilizer created after organic waste has been composted. This natural fertilizer contains many benefits over synthetic fertilizers such as certain micronutrients absent from synthetic fertilizers, as well as releasing nutrients slower and preventing soil erosion and runoff to a greater extent. This increased resistance to erosion/runoff is further beneficial to the environment as it prevents runoff from infiltrating and contaminating drinking water sources and causing algae to rapidly grow, which can destroy ecosystems due to lack of sunlight and oxygen. This organic fertilizer can also drastically improve the water retention in soil, which helps crops receive an adequate supply of water. Most importantly, putting composted organic matter back into the soil returns nutrients back into the ecosystem, completing a cycle that is broken or slowed when organic matter is put in landfills and mixed with inorganic wastes. Sources:

http://www.ask.com/question/why-are-landfills-bad

http://www.growingcity.com/top-5-reasons-you-should-compost

http://cypenv.org/worldenv/files/methane.htm

http://greenactioncentre.ca/live/composting-at-home-2/

http://www.unep.or.jp/Ietc/ESTdir/Pub/MSW/SP/SP4/SP4_3.asp

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/aerobic-versus-anaerobic-composting.navId-403804.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leachate#Composition_of_landfill_leachate