Author: Jess T.
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Why Environmentalism
Interview with Ryan McPherson: Above is a short clip of my interview with Ryan McPherson at UB. I recently interviewed Ryan McPherson, Chief Sustainability Officer and former Assistant Vice President for Government Relations at the University at Buffalo (UB). McPherson earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of New Hampshire as well as a doctorate of law […]
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Clean as Ice
A Finnish University recently discovered the benefits of crystallization, or freezing water in order to purify it. Essentially, these scientists found that the upper layer of ice from a lake in Finland was nearly ten times cleaner than the water beneath. In addition, ice that had formed more slowly was noticeably cleaner than rapidly formed ice. […]
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Shoutout to Dr. Letitia Thomas
Congratulations Dr. Thomas! This past week, one of my favorite faculty advisors was presented with the 2016 Excellence in Mentoring Award. University at Buffalo’s Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender selected two faculty members who inspired students throughout their career to receive this award. I nominated Dr. Thomas for this award […]
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Exploding Lakes
Lake Kivu of Rwanda is among the world’s 10 naturally deadliest lakes. Watching these calm waters from afar, an onlooker would be completely unaware of the toxins that dwell under the surface. Only a few lakes in the world, like Lake Kivu, are sitting on top of inactive volcanoes. Hidden magma pools expel bubbles of […]
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Killer Soap
As part of a recent assignment I was asked to look into the effect of soap on the environment. What I found was a freaky subculture of soap activists and an opposing subculture of people who think soap is practically Agent Orange. I knew I had to post on this because the viewpoints on the internet […]
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How to Deal with Pests
Bothersome plants and animals are why people turn to pesticides and herbicides to protect their houses. But can herbicides be good? When I think herbicide I think about white powder that burns your fingers when you touch it. That is not good. Herbicides aren’t selective on what they destroy. On the other hand, the plants […]
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Green Roofs
The Basics Recently I’ve been working on a project at my job – How much energy could we save if we changed our building’s roof to a green roof? Answer: I don’t know. That would require a lot of math which I don’t have the energy to calculate. But I did learn some stuff on […]
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Ozonation
Most sources on the internet state that ozonation water treatment dates back to the 1800s. The truth is that ozonation could only take place once electricity was discovered, so ozonation as a water treatment method wasn’t studied until the 1840s. The most basic ozonation system includes a transformer, circuit, and water. Take caution if you […]
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Aquaporins
Aquaporins are water channels in the cell wall that allow water molecules to travel in and out of the cell so that the cell won’t swell and explode. Scientists discovered that by using aquaporins, you can sort out water molecules from otherwise impure water. Aquaporins themselves are very small and delicate, so a screen is used […]
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Wonderful Lakes
What makes Lake Rotomairewhenua of New Zealand the cleanest lake in the entire world? It compares to distilled water in its level of clarity and cleanliness. In my last post I covered the possibilities of UV radiation, decreased air pressure, freezing cold temperatures, and limited human interference. After a little digging, I found The Freshwater […]
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