Good Environmental Technology Sources

Posted by NKirchoff , , Sunday, September 26, 2010 1:21 PM

A good source for new and updated environmental technology I found was eco-ideas.net.  The major component in this website’s credibility is that it is supported by the company Panasonic.  “Panasonic Corporation provides a wide range of products, from audiovisual and information/communication equipment to home appliances and components, as one of the largest electronic companies in the world today.”(1)  Panasonic also strives to be the number one “Green Innovative Company” in the electronics industry. (1)  This ambition may present Panasonic an opportunity to be biased on the reports and articles they wish to publish and make it appear as though Panasonic products are exceedingly environmentally friendly.  However, after perusing the articles I discovered that ecoideas.net is simply a website that reports on new and upcoming environmentally friendly inventions and concepts.  For most items Panasonic has no connection or claim to them at all, except that they helped support the website and increase awareness of environmental issues.  For example, a recent popular article on ecoideas.net is one that introduces paper made from elephant dung.  Panasonic does not own this paper; it simply supports the website and encourages environmental awareness, while adding solid credibility to this site.
 Another aspect that increases credibility is that practically every article is posted with an accompanying, professional-looking video.  In the elephant dung video you can actually see the indigenous people create the paper. (On a side note, I actually witnessed this elephant dung paper for myself when I went to the zoo last weekend.)  Also, the website is updated often which is helpful for me when I choose to use this website to discuss up-and-coming environmental technologies.  The articles report about green technologies and environmental awareness all over the globe and the articles are monitored by an editorial staff.  One of the indications of legitimacy that I really appreciate is the aesthetic quality of the website.  Ecoideas.net looks professional and friendly, plus you don’t see annoying advertisements that say “meet new singles here”.





(1) http://panasonic.net/about/

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Bad Environmental Technology Sources

Posted by NKirchoff , , 1:03 PM

A bad source I discovered was:  http://armessaoui.wordpress.com/2007/11/19/environmental-technology/

  From Google this site appears as “Environment Technology<< Amine and Imran’s Weblog”.  In terms of being a legitimate source, blogs should immediately put you on the alert.  While some blogs may have a certain level of credibility thanks to constant citation of sources, an objective tone, or an author with prestigious qualifications in the field of his blog topic, this blog is DEFINITLEY not one of them.  The blog has a personal tone to the writing and the blog posts are exceedingly short with no source citations at all.  Due to the wording and tone of the writing I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a child’s blog.  Nonetheless, this can be accessed through Google if you use this search engine to research and can be see with a title of “Environmental Technology”.


            One atrocious source that could be barely counted as a source was http://www.eti-usa.com/, which is a website for “Environmental Technology Incorporated”.  While outwardly it appears to have some relevance to my topic, (it’s even one of the first couple of websites Google brings up), it actually has nothing to do with environmental technology! It’s just a website that sells polymer coatings, adhesives, and other crafty items. Plus, the website looks slightly dodgy anyway; I wouldn't buy my polymer coatings here.

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Extension of Group #5 Project: Life Online

Posted by NKirchoff , , Monday, September 20, 2010 8:22 AM

The original problematic internet use article states “it is difficult to determine whether loneliness is a symptom of excessive Internet use or whether heavy Internet use is a symptom of loneliness” (Ceyhan & Ceyhan).  A study was conducted in the adolescent age group to determine the risk of depression and anxiety for adolescents who pathologically used the internet.  These young people were initially free of any mental health problems and after a 9-month follow-up, the group who pathologically used the internet were 2.3 times as likely to experience depression compared to the students that did not show pathological internet use.  After taking into account confounding factors and baseline risk for controls, the individuals who pathologically use the Internet were 1.5 times more likely to have experienced depression than the control group (Harrison).
                There are many possible and potential factors that may contribute towards the connection between pathological internet use and depression.  Dr. Lam, one of the individuals conducting the study, believes “one obvious explanation [of an increase in the risk of depression is] lack of sleep, which is very common among problematic Internet users”.  During the discussion of this study the similarity between pathological internet use and a gambling addiction is mentioned as well.  Lack of sleep and gaming are two potential factors that contribute to a higher risk of depression for internet users.  Problematic internet use and social withdraw is termed as a “vicious cycle”.  With an increase of problematic internet use there is an increase in social withdraw, then that increase in social withdrawal is followed by more problematic internet use (Harrison).
                This study focuses more on an adolescent/teen age group compared to our group’s original study that focused on college-aged individuals.  It would be interesting to see if the numbers and results would change if the study was done for college students.  I think it’s also very interesting that, like in my group member Christine’s research, I found mention of strong internet use compared to gambling addiction.  However, I was slightly confused, this study seemed to use “problematic internet use” and “pathological internet use” interchangeably and in my mind they have too different meanings.  Also, at the end of this article it discussed early detection and prevention of depression which is nice because this shows they had a helpful mindset when researching this study.  The article was ended with a statement that research about problematic internet use is still in its beginning stages because the internet is constantly changing and it’s hard for researches to keep up with all the new activities you can participate in online. 

Sources:
Ceyhan, A. Akyut and Ceyhan, Esra.  (2008). Loneliness, Depression, and Computer Self-Efficacy
as Predictors of Problematic Internet Use.  CyberPsychology and Behavior 11, #6.

Harrison, Pam.  (2010) Pathologic Internet Use by Teens Linked to Increased Depression Risk.  Medscape Today.  http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/726217

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"Battle for the Soul of the Internet" Article Reflection

Posted by NKirchoff , , Monday, September 13, 2010 7:11 AM

Battle for the Soul of the Internet



Without initially checking the date for this article, it was really easy to figure out that it was written a while ago.  While the casual references to O.J. Simpson and the TV show Roseanne might have given it away, the fresh tone of the article set the Internet up as if it was  still a novelty and on its way to becoming bigger.  Well it certainly became a great deal more popular.  However, the article describes the primary users of the internet as college students, hackers, or government employees.   While all three of these demographics are still using the Internet, the Net has spread to users of all types.  Many different people are now using the Internet for many different purposes which is the result of convergence and the Internet’s increasing capabilities.  While there is still plenty of pornography online, there are now many kid-friendly sites that parents can direct their children to and even censoring capabilities through programs such as Net Nanny.   Spammers and hackers are still a major problem; however there are spam filters and security programs and patches constantly being tweaked to keep internet sites spam free and secure.

 Online news networks are becoming increasingly more popular as more people get their news from the Internet.  There is even talk of the newspaper becoming obsolete.  Also, during the time this article was written the Internet was primarily used by men, the percentage of women using the Internet has definitely increased since then.  The article predicts that Internet users will stay within select domains and communities and never venture out into more public spaces.  What sites and communities Internet users visit are usually divided up by their interests, but there are a few seemingly ‘universal’ sites that a generous amount of people use such as Google, YouTube, and Facebook.  Even now Internet users are growing in number and the capabilities and sophistication of the Internet and the computers it runs on are increasing.  However, there are gloomier predictions such as the guess that the internet will soon run out of websites to use. I suppose only time will reveal the fate of the Internet, though with the increasing usefulness of the Internet I’m confident we can work to combat any problems endangering it.

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History of Wind Energy

Posted by NKirchoff , , Wednesday, September 8, 2010 10:21 PM

Humans have been exploiting energy from the wind since 1000 B.C.E.

             Wind is one of the true renewable energy sources on our planet. The wind is still blowing while oil and coal reserves are being all used up. By harnessing wind energy, we are allowing nonrenewable resources to be conserved. The plain cloth used for sailing and to propel boats was the technology of early civilizations. The Persians created the vertical axis windmill that was used to grind grain and pump water for irrigation around 500 C.E. The windmill technology spread throughout Eurasia and more efficient models were made. When the turbine windmill found its way to America in 1850, it was used for farming purposes as well. In the late 19th Century, Charles Brush created the first U.S. turbine windmill that generated electricity. However, the low blade speed of this windmill could only create 12 kilowatts of electricity. Today, the United States has turbines that can produce over 1000 kilowatts of electricity.

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Little History Between Environment and Technology

Posted by NKirchoff , , 10:08 PM

The turbulent relationship between technology and the environment dates all the way back to our “caveman” ancestors who learned to create fire about 1.4 million years ago.


The burning of wood not only requires the depletion of our oxygen-restoring trees it also contributes to the release of greenhouse gases into the air.  However, in humans’ early history fire and other technological advancements were created and used primarily for survival only.  We started out with stone spears and weapons in the Stone Age and as us adaptable humans made more discoveries and materials we emerged into the Bronze Era and then the Iron Era.  With more sophisticated weaponry and technology, competition and war became more intense.   The group with the more developed technology was usually the victor and so humans searched for methods and materials to make better technology.  The bronze and iron used to create these tools and weapons come from the environment.   And so begins the human driven acceleration of depletion and destruction of essential resources as well as unique habitats.

           The increasing human population meant that an increasing number of resources needed to be extracted.  Technological advancements lead to increased productivity and communication and therefore the economy and commerce greatly increased.  Soon, many parts of the world were trading their resource-depleting technologies and globalization comes about.  Now humans from all parts of the world were depleting and polluting the environment.
           
          The Industrial Revolution was a time of great technological advancement with the development of such inventions as the steam boat, the gas light, and coal powered trains.   However, these lights and trains required resources that we know today are in great danger of becoming depleted because we continued to find uses for these fossil fuels since this revolution.  During this time only a select few poignant individuals such as John Muir and Henry David Thoreau were openly concerned over the environment and the future of the planet.  Any environmentally friendly technologies that were invented usually had a practical application.  For example, the seed drill was developed during the Industrial Revolution to help farmers save money by not wasting seeds through the broadcasting method they utilized before.  The straight lines also helped farmers more easily maintain their crops.  Environmentally, we were conserving seeds and crops because not as many seeds needed to be wasted and the straight line of plants actually prevents soil loss erosion after tilling which means better health for nearby water systems and help in preserving the nutrients in the soil which are needed for the healthy growth of many organisms.
     
           Now in the present “Computer Era” technologies are being built to not only increase communication and trade, but to attempt to negate or even reverse the negative impacts technology has had on the environment.

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The Beginning

Posted by NKirchoff , , Tuesday, September 7, 2010 11:52 AM

Hooray for my first blog post!!!

        The topic I will be researching and discussing will be environmental conservation and technology.  This topic can definitely address many issues such as home recycling to conserve our use of plastics and aluminum, “green” technology that is being used to make buildings more environmentally friendly and conserving resources such as water and electricity, and even the online technological aspect as well as other communicational technologies that help promote environmental conservation.
        
         One of the major reasons I selected this topic was because in high school I was involved with Poolesville’s Global Ecology Program for four years and so I was constantly surrounded by environmental knowledge and different sides of environmental debates.  Because of my solid prior knowledge of the workings of the environment and possible conservation methods I believe I can successfully create and maintain a blog on this topic for a full semester.  Despite what I have previously learned about conservation technology, environmentalists and scientists are constantly developing new technology and encountering new breakthroughs dedicated towards trying to help preserve our natural resources and prevent dangerous pollution of irrevocably harming our planet.  I also have a personal interest in saving the environment because I would rather not have all our essential resources depleted and all the beautiful natural wonders of the world be destroyed.  The environment provides us with so many essential resources such as water and food and it still has the potential to continue to do so if we keep it healthy and use our current resources sparingly.
        
          While I am currently undecided about my major I am in the Life Sciences Scholars program so a major related to environmental science is a strong possibility.   My goals include learning more about certain subtopics such as alternative energy or perhaps improved technology in regards to agriculture or recycling techniques.  Alternative energy should definitely have several prospects for news regarding new and developing technologies. Theses may involve solar energy, geothermal energy, hydro-powered energy, wind energy, and hydrogen powered energy. I may also research well known pro-environment organizations to see how they spread their opinions and their effects on those who discover them.  I may even research the opposition to these organizations to see how they combat each other by using technology.   I am looking forward to researching the different emerging environmental technologies and perhaps one of the technologies I begin to research will become mainstream in the future. 

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