Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 08/21/2011 - 09:56
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Adaptations of Marine Worms in Antarctica

Hi my name is Jake and I am a student from St. Mark Catholic School. Out of your summer vacations, which one uses their natural resources in the best way? Philadelphia, Massachusetts, or Chicago?

Sun, 08/21/2011 - 12:39

Michael League

Jake, Great question! I am so pleased that you are thinking about
environmental issues like this. All three of my summer trips impressed
me in the way these areas are managing their natural resources.
In Massachusetts, I spent a lot of time in local ponds and the ocean
SCUBA diving. I think Massachusetts has made tremendous improvements in
cleaning up their local freshwater and marine habitats. This especially
includes how they handle wastewater treatment. Many of the divers I
talked to talked about how the water is getting clearer than in the
1980s or 1990s.
In Philadelphia, I went to a technology conference where I saw a lot of
neat products for schools about conserving electricity and paper. These
included a lot of digital products like iPads and computers that could
be used in place of paper. There were also a lot of electronic tools
that had technology to shut off when they detected they were not in use.
Finally, in Chicago, I was impressed just by walking the streets. The
city was very clean and there were many public bins for recycling. My
favorite bins were the solar trash compactors that were on every corner.
These trash bins had a solar charger on top that powered a compressor
within to compact the trash so the bin had to be emptied less frequently
and the trash takes up less space.
Great question, Jake! Keep them coming!
Mike