FMHS APES First Spring 2019

Julia Young As we reach the end of a semester full of environmental discussions and unique hands-on learning, it is easy to forget about the variety of topics we discussed and start to generalize our experience in the class. We took a record number of field trips, learned from a variety of professionals, and— perhaps— changed our views on some things. For this last blog post, I want to open the floor to all of you guys. Tell us about something you learned in these past 18 weeks; It can be as life-changing or as basic as you’d like. Have you applied anything we’ve learned? Or, tell us about your most favorite experience in this class. I’ll go first. Looking back, my favorite day of this semester was when the snake lady (AKA Mrs. Jill) FaceTimed us! Snakes have always freaked me out, and when she said that they are nothing to be afraid of, I laughed. However, throughout the lesson, I learned that rather than decapitate every wild snake we see with a shovel (which is my general respo

Amanda Yancey - To Kill a Mockingbird The debate going on between cat and dog people is a never ending argument, consisting of pet owners who believe their pet is superior. However, science is showing how dogs may have the edge over cats environmentally: cats are killing a devastatingly large amount of North American birds every year. Most cat owners probably have experienced their cats bringing in dead bird or leaving them on their doorstep. This isn’t only a gross inconvenience but it’s also disturbing bird populations and altering the food web. Cats kill on average 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds a year. Considering that there are only 10 to 20 billion North American land birds, cats are eliminating 5-15% of the bird population every year. The magnitude of bird deaths suggests that cats are causing significant declines to bird populations in some regions. Additionally, threatened and endangered wildlife species are the most susceptible to the effects of cat predation. At the

Since we were children, we were told to recycle. We have constantly been told that recycling is helping the planet by producing less waste that will end up in landfills. So, if us Americans pride ourselves so much on recycling, why isn’t it actually working? For one, not many cities in the US make it clear as to what exactly can be recycled. Many waste products are made up of mixed materials, some of which are recyclable, and some that are not. This causes confusion for many consumers as they are not aware of what specific materials can actually be recycled, causing materials that are not meant to be recycled to end up in the recycling bin. One example of this problem is the on NYC Sanitation website, which states that plastic jugs should be recycled. This statement is extremely vague and does not specify what types of plastics should be recycled. Also, many Americans are not aware that materials that are recycled must be dry, meaning that there is no liquid or food on or in