1. Read the article on the following website ( https://www.nrdc.org/stories/single-use-plastics-101) and research the topic of single-use plastics further to address the following in a discussion post:
What is the harm of single use plastics to biodiversity? Which ecosystems are the most impacted by plastic waste?
How long do plastic bottles take to break down? Plastic bags? How does this compare to the amount of time they are typically used by humans?
List two countries that have banned single use plastics. How do they enforce the ban?
Some American cities have bans on single use plastics, but there are fewer statewide bans and no national bans. Why do you think this is? Do you think this should change?
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2. The biggest threat to global biodiversity is the continued growth of the human population and the increased per capita use of resources. Costa Rica has become a model country for the widespread changes which may help humans lessen their impact on the environment and conserve the biodiversity of the planet. However, they still face a big issue familiar to all countries- transportation.
Read the following article https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200601-costa-rica-the-worlds-most-sustainable-country and discuss how transportation poses the biggest road block () when trying to achieve a zero emission goal. What challenges are faced and what are the plans to address them? Finally, discuss whether you think these types of measures are scalable- do you think larger, more populous countries could employ similar tactics as thosed planned in Costa Rica to lessen the atmospheric impact of transportation? What challenges do you think America would face if it tried to follow Costa Rica’s example?
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3. Introduced species are a huge threat to native biodiversity. One of the most recent introduced species threatening both American biota and agriculture is the Asian giant hornet, also known as the “Murder hornet”. Research this introduced species and address hypotheses as how they were introduced, what areas of the US they are colonizing, the threats they pose to native biota, the potential economic impact of their populations spreading, and at least one effort that is being made to eradicate them.