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Environment - Blog Posts
More development on the 2D side of a game I want to make. This time on the environment side of things.
A location/exploration mattepainting for the same game pitch as the characters in this post.
you whispered my name before i was born,
you gave me a vessel,
you gave me a home.
you braided my spirit,
you knitted my mind,
you shaped me into who i have become.
o ancient womb of stone, soil and water,
i love you forever, our dear Great Mother.
pls sign this!!!!
the willow project is a huge oil drinking project that has just been approved by the Biden administration.
it will be done on Alaska's north slope in the national petroleum reserve. the project will release the equivalent of 260 million metric tons of carbon pollution.
So oil is flowing since the beginning of this month. But people are still fighting. Here are some places you can help and donate:
Support camp migizi which is just an hour north of me st
I think we need to normalise trying to be sustainable. The amount of people who just don't care about the environment around them astounds me. Some people don't care that the $700 temu haul doesn't degrade because everything is made of plastic. They don't care that the tree they just dug up has been there longer than they have been alive. They don't care that most of the food they buy comes in plastic that hasn't been recycled and will take hundreds of years to degrade. They don't care about native fauna and flora that are going extinct.
PLEASE READ!!! I DON'T POST STUFF LIKE THIS AND THIS IS SERIOUS TO ME! ELON MUSK IS TRYING TO DUMP THOUSANDS OF GALLONS OF WASTE WATER INTO THE LAGUNA MADRE IN SOUTH TEXAS!!!
The Laguna Madre is a beautiful ecosystem that houses so many species of wild life and many migratory species of shore birds go there to eat and rest. Its all thanks to the sea grass that grows there, and after the big freeze of Texas in 2021, it is slowly making its recovery and now it's in danger again!
(Black Skimmer with chicks shown here)
If Elon continues with this disguising act, nitrogen and hydrogen rich waste will be dumped and plankton and algae will begin to overpopulate and create a cloud of themselves over the sea grass causing it to not get the sunlight it needs to photosynthesize. It will basically be suffocated by the overpopulation of microorganisms and die out and so many species of animals will lose that shelter they need to feed, breed and even escape dangers like predators. This grass also feeds the endangered green sea turtle and was even given the name "Turtle Grass" for its huge importance to these creatures.
(Green Sea Turtle grazing) Not only that, but the South Padre Island is one of the largest ports in America and has many shrimping and fishing companies that rely on the environment to make a minimum wage. And once the water gets polluted, so many people can get sick or worse if they eat the fish and shrimp that have been exposed to it!
(South Texas Shrimping Boats) This is serious! And if you or someone you know lives in Texas there is a way you can make a comment and state how you DON'T WANT LITERAL SLUDGE IN THE OCEAN! IT WILL HURT THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AND ANIMALS AND THE VAST AND DIVERSE ECOSYTEM THEY LIVE IN!
You can find the link here:
PLEASE DO WHAT YOU CAN! WE CAN'T LET MUSK DO THIS!!!
Environment
Isn’t this looking like some microbes? Or space cloud? Maybe there’s no diff...
Still thinking about following content (tYpE Me iF u gOt AnY wIShEs)
The Animal Manifesto
NO. 1
Aristotle wrote, ‘’Nature proceeds little by little from things lifeless to animal life in such a way that it is impossible to determine the exact line of deformation, nor on which side thereof an intermediate form should lie.’’ (Book VIII, pg.6) to compare this to his hierarchy the ‘’The Great Chain of Being’’ in his book, ‘’The History of Animals, where humans are at the top, and slaves and non-human animals are at the bottom, justifying the subjugation and oppression of these beings. But that isn’t fact, it’s just a theory to support this type of biased reasoning at the time. In this essay, or manifesto, I will explore my four main steps that I believe will benefit all animals, humans, and the environment.
NO.2
The discussion about the cruel treatment of animals, particularly agricultural animals like cows, chickens and pigs, and the harmful effects it has on our society and on the environment is still talked about now. In her paper called In Defense of Slavery, sociologist, Marjorie Spiegel compares the suffering of animals and humans. For example, chickens cramped in cages, stacked on top of each other, to the slaves in the south. The comparison of non-human animals to humans isn’t the right way to make the point across that we need to liberate all animals that we use for food from these machine-type farms, because comparing animals to captive human beings is wrong.
The difference between non-human animals and humans, are what early scientists has described as, ‘’The argument to prove that the reason why animals do not speak as we do is not that they lack the organs but that they have no thoughts; (Humans) We all have moral status because we *think*. If animals think, they must use language. Humans who do not speak use symbolic language to express original thought.’ (Descartes, 1646). This type of thinking is why for centuries the abuse of animals has gone on for so long, and it has only caught attention during the last two decades. 1) My point is, all animals, including humans, share the Earth and we must co-exist to help protect it. Since we can speak, we believe we are the superior species, and even then, we feel that way and dominate other races of humans, anyone or anything we feel that is ‘other’.
NO.3
All animals have a right to life, even the right to bodily integrity, Regan, (pg.25) ‘’If animals have rights, and if rights are the trump card in the moral game, their rights override any benefits, real or imagined, we have gained, or stand to gain, from using them in biomedical research.’’ And this is something I agree to. Utilitarianism, the practice of maximizing the good stuff and minimizing the harm, and is connected to animal welfare, is the complete opposite. (Bentham, pg.9) The liberation of all animals, from zoos, farms, circuses, labs, etc. is, in my opinion, the moral way. I understand the reasoning behind using animals as test subjects for research and medical cures, but I know there are other ways to cure diseases. All animals deserve to be in there, natural habitat, and it is not fair for us to be keeping them in tanks and simple four inch. rooms with the door locked. The only animals that should be involved with humans are domestic dogs, cats and birds, etc. Simply because they wouldn’t survive in the wild, since they are descended from actual wild animals.
In Marc Beckoff’s, The Animal Manifesto, one of the reasons he uses to envision the world a better place is, ‘’Connection breeds caring; alienation breeds disrespect,’’ is one very important step we humans must learn if we want instill peace, for all living beings. For example, humans express lighter emotions, especially to dogs and cats, animals we normalize and see as pets, whereas we express extreme dislike and contempt to many animals, like rats, pigeons, reptiles, bugs and even some dogs, like the pit bull. For example, during the late 1800’s, the English Sparrow was one of the most documented problem animals of that time. ‘’The English Sparrow is a curse of such virulence that it ought to be *systematically attacked and destroyed’’, (U.S Department of Agriculture, 1889). The hatred of this particular bird stem from moral attributes, rather than scientific ones. They are foreigners, they attack American birds, there character is disreputable, and they need to be controlled as foreigners. Humans also show contempt to other humans, those of a different race and different culture. We still don’t understand one another, and so we make up stereotypes from one person we’ve met, and suddenly that stereotype is placed on the whole race of people, alienating and disrespecting a whole people. It leads to social problems, fear, and occasionally, death, toward the oppressed.
NO. 4
The environment is the most important place we all have to take care of, and it fits into my thinking of the human-animal relationship because we are the cause for its downfall. The Rain forest in South America is nicknamed, ‘The lungs of the Earth’’ for a reason, and every day it is getting destroyed, or cut down to make room for more land, which is damaging to animals’ habitats and the ecosystems, and to ourselves. We dominated and distanced ourselves from nature. The only reason why it is affected is because humans are destroying the natural order. The Meat and Dairy industry is giving land animals’ products displaying scientific substances inside it to speed up the process of killing for consumption. The animals, on the one hand, excrement is filled with nitrogen, and when that piles up all together, the air is affected.
The main reason, alongside the obvious reasons, for global warming is because of how much meat and dairy, we are consuming. As long as there is a want and need for meat, global warming will always be a problem. Wanting to eat meat is not a horrendous thing, seeing that humans are omnivores. But there is simply no reason to speed up the natural process for killing these animals by mixing drugs with their food. Most humans know about the daily abuses these animals go through, but we ignore the social world, so we don’t see it, and we sanitize everything, and it lets us off the hook. This is called the toilet assumption, (Spiegel, 1988). In my opinion, we can improve the way we treat animals, even land animals. We can do better, the way we treat others, we can show more compassion and love to everyone and everything. And my final point is again from (Beckoff, 2010) and that is acting compassionately helps all beings and our world. Showing compassion to animals and to non-human animals can definitely affect our day-to-day understanding of the world. We all have our own personal beliefs, and it’s okay to disagree, but respectfully.
"The substances behind the slimy strings from okra and the gel from fenugreek seeds could trap microplastics better than a commonly used synthetic polymer.
Texas researchers proposed in 2022 using these sticky natural polymers to clean up water. Now, they’ve found that okra and/or fenugreek extracts attracted and removed up to 90% of microplastics from ocean water, freshwater, and groundwater.
With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Rajani Srinivasan and colleagues at Tarleton State University found that the plant-based polymers from okra, fenugreek, and tamarind stick to microplastics, clumping together and sinking for easy separation from water.
In this next stage of the research, they have optimized the process for okra and fenugreek extracts and tested results in a variety of types of water.
To extract the sticky plant polymers, the team soaked sliced okra pods and blended fenugreek seeds in separate containers of water overnight. Then, researchers removed the dissolved extracts from each solution and dried them into powders.
Analyses published in the American Chemical Society journal showed that the powdered extracts contained polysaccharides, which are natural polymers. Initial tests in pure water spiked with microplastics showed that:
One gram of either powder in a quart (one liter) of water trapped microplastics the most effectively.
Dried okra and fenugreek extracts removed 67% and 93%, respectively, of the plastic in an hour.
A mixture of equal parts okra and fenugreek powder reached maximum removal efficiency (70%) within 30 minutes.
The natural polymers performed significantly better than the synthetic, commercially available polyacrylamide polymer used in wastewater treatment.
Then the researchers tested the plant extracts on real microplastic-polluted water. They collected samples from waterbodies around Texas and brought them to the lab. The plant extract removal efficiency changed depending on the original water source.
Okra worked best in ocean water (80%), fenugreek in groundwater (80-90%), and the 1:1 combination of okra and fenugreek in freshwater (77%).
The researchers hypothesize that the natural polymers had different efficiencies because each water sample had different types, sizes and shapes of microplastics.
Polyacrylamide, which is currently used to remove contaminants during wastewater treatment, has low toxicity, but its precursor acrylamide is considered toxic. Okra and fenugreek extracts could serve as biodegradable and nontoxic alternatives.
“Utilizing these plant-based extracts in water treatment will remove microplastics and other pollutants without introducing additional toxic substances to the treated water,” said Srinivasan in a media release, “thus reducing long-term health risks to the population.”
She had previously studied the use of food-grade plant extracts as non-toxic flocculants to remove textile-based pollutants from wastewater and thought, ‘Why not try microplastics?’"
-via Good News Network, May 10, 2025
Combustibili fossili,
prima o poi saranno solo un ricordo.
Time to explore the ruins 🗡️✨
Walk in the woods, you might find a friend✨🦊🍄✨ . Made with watercolor, blueberry juice, black berry juice, tea, gouache .
Nothing better than a mossy forest and a little stream ✨
Gouache forest 🌿
Experiment with different colour palettes for one art. This is island drawn by me in two different moods.
March is Women’s History Month and therefore the perfect time to share the accomplishments of amazing women like Nzambi Matee from Nairobi, Kenya. Nzambi is one of seven winners of The Young Champions of the Earth prize. Announced in December 2020, this United Nations Environment Program initiative engages youth in tackling the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Tired of seeing plastic waste littering the streets of Nairobi, Nzambi was determined to make a difference. She developed a mix of sand and plastic that when heated and compressed could produce bricks that are harder than cement. The building applications are enormous but as of the filming of this video she is currently only producing pavers. She hopes to scale the production and expand the use of her bricks.
Plastic waste is an environmental concern the world over. Our reliance on petrochemicals, single use plastics and cheap manufacturing materials has made plastics an increasingly dangerous threat to our biosphere.
You can read more about her work here: Building Blocks for a Greener Nairobi
References:
Roland Geyer, Jenna R. Jambeck and Kara Lavender,’Production, use and fate of all plastics ever made’,(Science Advances 19 Jul 2017: Vol. 3, no. 7, e1700782)
Hayden K. Webb, Jaimys Arnott, Russell J. Crawford and Elena P. Ivanova, ‘Plastic Degradation and Its Environmental Implications with Special Reference to Poly(ethylene terephthalate),’, (Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, 28 December 2012)
What is Climate?
Climate is a long-term state that helps us predict our weather. For example, Florida’s climate isn’t going to be anything like Alaska’s. We know, as Floridians, that our climate here is sub-tropical. Our proximity to the equator and the fact that we are almost completely surrounded by water means that we typically have warmer, wetter weather. Climate is long-term and weather is short-term. Even though Florida can get the occasional cold front and thus cold weather, we know that it will eventually give way to warmer weather. Our tropical climate here in Florida is the reason we can go swimming in December.
What is climate change?
Climate change typically refers to the Earth’s total climate. Since climate is such a long-term, broad concept, it can take a lot of things and a really long time to drastically change it. However, the effects of climate change can be felt as they gradually increase overtime. For example, there were more named storms in 2020 than in any previous recorded year.
What is causing climate change?
Historically, Earth’s climate has always gradually changed over time. What’s new is the rate at which our climate is changing. Climate scientists believe this rapid change is due to the massive increase in burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. Burning fossil fuels for energy to power our homes, jobs, and cars releases gas into the atmosphere. The same atmosphere that traps air for us to breathe has been trapping the increased amounts of fossil fuels which is causing a massive shift in how we experience climate and weather.
What can I do?
Learning is always the first step. Making educated decisions for yourself and your family is the best way to move forward in any given scenario. Climate change is no different. Take the time to learn more and share the knowledge. Pasted below is a list of reliable resources on climate change.
NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-climate-change-k4.html
United Nations (UN): https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/climate/climate-change-impacts
Check out part 1 of our Climate Change interview with Coral Springs Commissioner Nancy Metayer https://anchor.fm/snc-wild/episodes/Interview-with-Commissioner-Metayer-Part--I-eqtv93
Join SNC staff in our discussion on Climate Change!
While cute and small now, adult American Alligators can grow up to fifteen feet long! Their massive size is not only a deterrent to predators, but also helps them accomplish a very important role in the environment.
American Alligators are known as Keystone Species. That fun vocab term means they are a species capable of establishing a new ecosystem for a bunch of other animals in addition to themselves. They dig for water to create Gator Holes. These gator holes become homes for fish, amphibians, and water birds. Without gators, the Florida Everglades would be a much drier place.
We’ll be the first to admit that sometimes trying to lead a zero-waste or organic lifestyle comes with a cost association. But in a year such as this, or any other year you might have a tight budget, there’s no need to feel guilty about not spending more to do more for the environment. In this article we will discuss some easy, affordable ways to reduce your waste footprint on the planet that won’t have you breaking the bank.
https://sawgrassnaturecenter.org/2021/01/19/zero-waste-on-a-budget/
The Wildlife Among Us
Among Us is an online game that has become a sensation almost overnight. As the name implies, the game is focused on discovering the Imposter among the players before they are all killed. During this investigative process, players are also responsible for completing several tasks aboard their spaceship. When Camp Wild campers excitedly used their free time during snack and lunch to discuss the game with their fellow campers, I knew we could use this concept in our curriculum.
The next morning I set up tasks all around the education area of the nature center. The first station was a plastic frog dissection, fully equipped with all the vital organs typically searched for on live dissections with less mess. The goal of the second station was to organize the ladybug life cycle. The third station, the ”electricity station”, had corks painted in primary and secondary colors and attached to strings. For this station, campers had to “rewire” correctly by tying two primary colors to the secondary color they would make when blended. The fourth station was a fish tank that needed to be refilled and restocked. Campers quickly figured out the rain barrels stationed outside could provide them with the water necessary for this task. The fifth task was to assemble “solar panels,” or sun catchers out of marbles for clean energy. The sixth task was a bit more involved.
Since we are an environmental camp based out of a nature center, the setting of the game was a nature center where the campers were playing the role of Wildlife Rehabilitators. Throughout the week they learned different types of animal classifications. Calling on this knowledge for the sixth task, wooden hearts representing “medicine” were scattered around the outdoor education area. Each time one heart was found, campers would have to sit down together and identify an imaginary animal to give it the proper course of treatment. They were given hints like “it’s cold blooded,” or “it’s a reptile,” and if they could properly identify the animal under a certain amount of time, they would successfully earn the medicine heart they found. If there was an animal that could not be properly identified, the medicine hearts were scattered and the task would start over again.
Each task was created with an educational intent, but the campers were having so much fun, they didn’t even realize the valuable lessons they learned. The rounds were easily set up again after each imposter either won or was voted out of the nature center. For added fun, we let the campers create their own name tags in association with game colors.
With respect to COVID protocols, all of the tasks were sanitized between campers and a limit of no more than two masked campers to each task allowed them to maintain social distance outside of their assigned seats. A fun, safe game and a successful educational tool that related back to something the camper’s already enjoyed guaranteed a successful event that is sure to be recreated for camps in the future.
SNC Staff took a stroll through one of our local parks, Tall Cypress, and spotted Beauty Berry and Red Lichen. It’s important now more than ever to immerse ourselves in nature for improved mental health. Look in your area for local parks and nature centers that are accessible to the public. Remember to stay safe and healthy.
Tall Cypress was destined to be redeveloped into real estate until a Coral Springs High School Club called Save What’s Left began advocating for the area’s preservation and safety. The City of Coral Springs and Broward County through joint collaboration agreed to preserve and maintain the area. A phenomenal feat accomplished by teenagers. Remember anything is possible when you work together and never doubt the capability of youth!
This orphaned baby raccoon was brought to the SNC after being found by a South Florida resident. Most baby raccoons do not have a fighting chance without their mom in the wild. Luckily, this little guy has grown quite a bit and will soon be ready to be prepped for release back into the wild.
Often times, when people find abandoned babies in their neighborhoods it is because mom has died due to human activity. Wildlife rehabbers and nature centers are imperative to continuing breeding populations for wild animal species that are most impacted by human development and activity.
Check out our resident red-shoulder hawk. A Florida native, this bird of prey has a distinct call that is uses to signal we are encroaching on his territory. Does this call sound familiar to you?
Red-Tailed Hawks can be found all over North America!
Decline of the Everglades Snail Kite
The Everglades Snail Kite is a hallmark of Florida wildlife. Found in central and south Florida, this magnificent bird of prey thrives in swampy, wetland habitats (Audubon Society, 2020). Unfortunately the population of this seasoned hunter has dropped at an alarming rate.
The Everglades, a vital habitat to the Snail Kite, has been significantly reduced in size due to expanding infrastructure and construction of surrounding human populations (National Park Service, 2019). Fortuitously, organizations such as the Everglades Foundation have worked tirelessly throughout the years to restore and conserve the Everglades which is home to many of Florida’s unique species. (The Everglades Foundation, 2020).
But habitat loss is not the only struggle the Everglades Snail Kite faces. Their curved beaks are adapted specifically to feed on its namesake: Florida Apple Snails, or Pomacea paludosa. While there are several species of Apple Snails currently located in Florida, Pomacea paludosa is the native species of apple snail to Florida. There is some debate over whether local populations of the Florida Apple Snail may be a separate species from Pomacea paludosa (Schad, 2018), but we will only be referring to Pomacea paludosa for the purpose of this article.
One might think that the addition of new types of apple snails to Florida would mean the expansion of food for the Everglades Snail Kite, but that does not seem to be the case. Their beaks are so specifically adapted to the smaller, curved shells of the Pomacea paludosa, that the Everglades Snail Kite cannot use its beak successfully to feed on larger species of Apple Snails that are invading Florida wetlands. This poses another problem where the larger species of invasive apple snails are outcompeting and displacing the smaller Pomacea paludosa. The Everglades Snail Kite is facing food loss in addition to habitat loss.
But all is not lost. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, located in Fort Pierce, Florida has successfully completed research on the practice of captive breeding the Florida Apple Snail with a long-term goal of finding ways to replenish wild populations of Pomacea paludosa (Garr, Amber, Helen Posch, Margaret McQuillan, Megan Davis, 2012). These practices, if safely regulated and approved, could be used to help replenish the population of the Everglades Snail Kite by providing it with more food. Regulations and controls are needed to ensure that captive populations would not introduce new bacteria, or diseases to wild populations.
The Everglades Snail Kite is not the only endangered species in Florida, but it is a wonderful example of how—when united—people have the chance to improve many environmental problems.
Audubon Society, 2020. The Everglades Snail Kite. Audubon Florida.
[https://fl.audubon.org/birds/everglade-snail-kite]
Schad, Morgan. 2018. The Discovery of a Forgotten Species in an Unexpected Location: Pomaceamiamiensis in Palm Beach County. Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College.
The Everglades Foundation, 2020. About. [https://www.evergladesfoundation.org/about]
Garr, Amber. Helen Posch. Margaret McQuillan. Megan Davis. 2012. Development of a captive breeding program for the Florida apple snail, Pomacea paludosa: Relaxation and sex ratio recommendations.
Aquaculture. Volume 370-371, Pages 166-171.
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044848612006163?via%3Dihub]
National Park Service. 2019. Restoration of Everglades National Park. U.S. Department of the Interior.
South Florida Natural Resources Center. Everglades National Park.
[https://www.nps.gov/ever/learn/nature/upload/RestorationFactSheet%20Lo%20Secure.pdf]
The Sawgrass Nature Center was notified via email today that we will be one of the many businesses featured on the Female-Founded Business Finder. This is a joint project between the Stacy’s Rise Project and the Hello Alice social business platform. The directory is featuring businesses run and founded by women. It can be found by scanning the QR Code on a bag of Stacy’s Pita Chips during the month of November or by clicking here: www.femalefounderfinder.com.
It is important for women to come together and support each other to close the gap between genders in leadership. We are proud to promote this business finder and other businesses of all backgrounds being run by women for women.
Friendly reminder that the Sawgrass Nature Center (legally Coral Springs Nature Center and Wildlife Hospital) is a non-profit, charitable organization that runs on donations and is dedicated to the conservation of wildlife and environmental stewardship. We rehabilitate and released injured, sick, or orphaned wildlife brought to us by the surrounding communities. We also provide a home to over 100 non-releasable animals due to permanent injuries or their non-native status. Our education department is responsible for organize on and offsite programming as well as developing a program to provide free educational and professional development resources to Title I schools in South Florida.
Feel free to check us out on our website, or like us on social media. We really appreciate the support :)