Student Writing (Advanced Search)
10406 Articles, Editorials, News Summaries, Blog posts and Volunteer Opportunities submitted by students across the NewsActivist Network.
kristen in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
May 3, 2018
May 3, 2018
In the article “ China’s appetite pushes fisheries to the brink” it talks about fisheries and how they are affecting the oceans”. Decades ago, the oceans were crawling with billions of sea creatures, there was an abundance of everything, it was a fisherman's dream. But these days, fishermen's nets are coming up empty. Overfishing has caused many fisheries to collapse and fully exploit their resources. China, with over 1 billion inhabitants, is a major market place for seafood. But their immense seafood demande and overexploitation of resources has had an effect of the whole world oceans.... [+] Read more
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kristen in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
May 3, 2018
May 3, 2018
In the news article “Bull sharks and bottlenose dolphins are moving north as the ocean warms
”, it touches the subject of climate change, more specifically the warming of waters. Bull sharks and bottlenose dolphins have been seen going out of their natural swimming areas. This is the consequence of the warming of waters due to climate change. During the span of the last century the average sea temperature has augmented every decade by 0.07 degrees celsius. These two creatures and a couple others have been seen swimming where no one thought they would go. For example a fisherman saw bottlenose... [+] Read more
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kristen in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
May 3, 2018
May 3, 2018
In the news article, “Heat waves are roasting reefs, but some corals may be resilient”, it touches the subject of an important ecosystem change. Over the span of a couple years, many coral reefs are being destroyed due to the change in water temperature. For example, there was a heat wave back in 2016 that killed 30 percent of coral in the great barrier reef, a home to many creatures and a must for keeping the ecosystem in tact. Not only does the detrimentation of the coral reefs affect the ecosystem in the water and for surrounding species, it also has a major effect on the millions of... [+] Read more
415 | 0
kristen in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
May 3, 2018
May 3, 2018
In the news article, “Heat waves are roasting reefs, but some corals may be resilient”, it touches the subject of an important ecosystem change. Over the span of a couple years, many coral reefs are being destroyed due to the change in water temperature. For example, there was a heat wave back in 2016 that killed 30 percent of coral in the great barrier reef, a home to many creatures and a must for keeping the ecosystem in tact. Not only does the detrimentation of the coral reefs affect the ecosystem in the water and for surrounding species, it also has a major effect on the millions of... [+] Read more
447 | 0
alexandrapounder in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
May 1, 2018
May 1, 2018
In the article “Fisheries impacts on China's coastal ecosystems: Unmasking a pervasive ‘fishing down’ effect” by Cui Liang and Daniel Pauly, the authors explain how the intensive fishing can greatly impact the marine ecosystems and a lot of other aspects. This indicates that the trophic level of the catches to decrease, and it’s a signal of the existence of the ‘fishing down’ (FD) occurrence. However, even if FD is happening through the world's oceans, it can effortlessly be concealed by various elements, which has misguided a lot of authors to assume that its existence will remain applicable... [+] Read more
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megmeg019 in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 30, 2018
April 30, 2018
The article entitled, "Our growing taste for shrimp is bad news for climate change" by the author Erik Stokstad is about the fact that the demand of seafood is increasing just like the level of carbon dioxide emitted in the atmosphere and the oceans. Crustaceans, shrimp and lobsters are in constant demand for seafood restaurants, grocery stores and markets. The economy is doing well for this part, but it is not the same situation for the aquatic species and for the health of our planet. From 1990 to 2011, according to a new study, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted because of fishing boats... [+] Read more
416 | 0
tatyana.borshchyov in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 30, 2018
April 30, 2018
According to the article “Future fisheries can expect $10 billion revenue loss due to climate change” climate change has an influence on many high points. Global fisheries stand to lose approximately $10 billion of their annual revenue by 2050 if climate change continues unchecked, and countries that are most dependent on fisheries for food will be the hardest hit, finds new UBC research. A vast percentage of the globe is consuming fish everyday. Once again, if we will not control our consumption, with the help of the climate change, there are major chances more species will be instinct. As... [+] Read more
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tatyana.borshchyov in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 30, 2018
April 30, 2018
According to the article “Even small changes within an ecosystem can have detrimental effects”, the relationships between all species may lead to the collapse of the entire ecosystem, if there is a poor connection. One of the research was based on Acacia tree from East Africa Savanna and the interaction with ants that inhabit them. “The ants benefit from the tree by getting housing and sugar-rich nectar, and the tree benefits because the ants protect it from large herbivores such as elephants.” Thus, if one would have been taken away, the other would be directly affected and may improve... [+] Read more
329 | 0
Beatrice Manning in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 29, 2018
April 29, 2018
In the article “Sharks at risk of extinction from overfishing, say scientists.” I realized that over fishing was a big issue to many species. In Asia, sharks are fish for their fins to make a shark fin soup. When they fish the sharks, they cut their fins and they put the rest of the dead shark back in the water. The problem is that more than 100 millions of sharks are fished each years and sharks take a lot of time to reproduce and they take time to be full developed. Because of overfishing we became their #1 predators. Each year between 6.4% and 7.9% of all the shark on our planet are killed... [+] Read more
375 | 1
Nicholastank2 in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 27, 2018
April 27, 2018
Asutralia has one of the world largest reserve marine zones in the world (Which means they are not allowed to be used for fishing at all) This will have a huge impact on the species as these environment have never faced such high levels of human activity. The reason for opening up all of this new fishing area is in an attempt to help local fishing economies and help employment. But doing this is threating a whole bunch of marine life that we haven’t even seen or documented. But the scirenticfic community and environmentalist are fighting to save these zones.... [+] Read more
347 | 0
Dleneveu in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 27, 2018
April 27, 2018
In the article "Fishing problems: poor fisheries management," it explains the problems that are going on in oceans and fisheries and what their main causes and affects are. Oceans are also threatened by marine plastic pollution and each year, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic enter the oceans, with microplastics becoming part of the food chain. Scientists estimate that without urgent action, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. While complex, the issue of ocean plastic waste is a solvable challenge. Five countries are responsible for more than 50 percent of total... [+] Read more
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Dleneveu in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 27, 2018
April 27, 2018
In the article "Evaluation of climate models using paleoclimactic data" it explains how in this period it is the warmest periord in modern civilization, and this trend is expected to continue over time. The climate over the last few years have been record breaking, the last 3 years have been the warmest years on record for the globe. Evidece has shown that it is most likely due to human activities, such as emissions of greenhouse gases. They have susposedly been the number one cause of climate arding since the mid 20th century. The proof that shows that the worlds climate is infact rising are... [+] Read more
157 | 1
audreyannlemieux in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 27, 2018
April 27, 2018
In this article, “Getting Serious about Overfishing” by the Economist, it is implied that our oceans are in more trouble than they have ever been. According to the article, we consume the most fish we have ever consumed. It is shown that in a study conducted in 2013, 32% of the world’s fish stocks were being exploited beyond their sustainable limit which is a lot and this is an increase of 10% since the 1970s. Although we overfish, other problems which affect the oceans are pollution and fertilizer run-off which causes big damage to the fish since it ruins their ecosystems. At this time the... [+] Read more
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beatricegiguere in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 23, 2018
April 23, 2018
The present article is exploring 7 issues that our oceans are facing. It is important to raise awareness about the destructive impacts humans have on them. It also states that we use all the good resources it gives us and we use it as a dump afterwards by dropping all our waste in it. The first problem humans cause is overfishing. We do not think about all the other species that are killed while fishing in the ocean with our big nets, causing troubles in the aquatic life. Furthermore, by taking huge amount of fishes, we are breaking the marine food chain and by consequent, starving other... [+] Read more
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krysisidore in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 23, 2018
April 23, 2018
This article is written by Deborah Cramer and has as a goal to explain to the readers the negative effects fishermen have on Right whales when they leave their fishing nets laying anywhere around in the oceans. The effects dealt on the Right whales are critical injuries that can lead to possible death, decline in the Right whale population, decrease in Right whale infants and negative psychological effects. Deborah uses a lot of statistics to explain her main point in her article. The reason this issue is so important is because, this specific type of whale species was potentially on the... [+] Read more
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Simon-Karl in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 20, 2018
April 20, 2018
The objective of the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Areas (PNCIMA)’s article is to raise awareness to the public about the effects of pollution. In the article, the researchers talks about the way the contaminants enters the animals and plants. It also describes the type of contaminants. It reveals the correlation between the contaminants and the death of many animals who was in contact with those contaminants, it finishes with a positive note by enumerating the laws and projects that where made in order to restrain the level of contamination in water.
Link to article:... [+] Read more
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harshm in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 20, 2018
April 20, 2018
It is said that humankind’s population will increase by 2 billion, which will require us to increase our actual production of food by 50% to 70% to feed everyone on the planet. With that said, we must consider that south America is one of the most resourceful areas on the planet, offering agriculture, meat production, water and forests for the world to trade with. Yet, climatologist claim that due to the upcoming waves of climate changes in south America, 90% of the land will be affected and have possibilities of drought. On the other hand, we have been seeing hints of innovation going on... [+] Read more
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danchelariu in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 20, 2018
April 20, 2018
In the article "Sustainable seafood farms can help Asia's oceans" by Mata Press Service, the main purpose is to show how overfishing and destructive fishing in Southeast Asia puts its sustained existence at risk, despite the diversity of the marine ecosystem. The resource base of fisheries is at a medium to high risk of overfishing in the future, as the UN reports the extinction of exploitable fish stocks by year 2048 which is an economical consequence that also affects seafood production and needs. Asia co-chair Sonali Seneratna Sellamuttu claims that by that year, the region is likely to... [+] Read more
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A.B in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 20, 2018
April 20, 2018
Summary 4(Oceans and Fisheries/Agriculture)
The article I found is from the United States Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). The article points out how agriculture and fisheries are highly dependent on the climate. Climate change, will have affects on food security on a global level. Warmer oceans, higher overall temperatures, drought and extreme weather events like hurricanes and flooding will all impact food sources. Changes in the oceans temperature may affect salmon and increase the likelihood of disease. Warmer waters have already caused outbreaks in disease in coral,... [+] Read more
153 | 0
Lauranie Phan in Planetary Challenge winter 2018
April 20, 2018
April 20, 2018
In the article entitled “Reefs help protect vulnerable Caribbean fish from climate change”, a research group from the University of British Colombia found in the Caribbean, big reef areas where protecting fish species living there from the warming of the ocean. Indeed, while the overall fish population in the region has been decreasing due to changes in the temperature, those whose habitat was in the reef have been experiencing a slower decline. Sadly, however, those reefs are slowly disappearing because of many factors such as storms and human pollution. The article believes that if... [+] Read more
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