Bottled water vs. tap water

Bottled water is collected from natural springs or it can be just purified tap water. In countries where there isn’t clean enough tap water, bottled water is used instead. In the last few decades bottled water consumption has grown exponentially; mainly in countries where clean tap water is available. For example, in the United States, where bottled water consumption is one fourth of the global consumption, a bottle of water costs about $3, while the equivalent amount of tap water costs only one cent. In my opinion, something doesn’t add up here.

So what is this new trend? Why is bottled water so popular? You might say that it’s convenient to carry a bottle of water with you, but isn’t it more convenient to carry a bottle filled up with tap water with nearly no cost at all, and you wouldn’t have to buy another bottle every time you finish one. Here we see another issue with this. When people buy new bottles all the time, a lot of plastic will go to waste if the bottles aren’t recycled.

In Finland bottled water hasn’t become so popular and I think it never will, because we have so clean tap water here.

Blueberry

This may come as a shock when I tell you that there isn’t even a single blueberry growing in the forests of Finland. Those “blue berries” that we see are actually called bilberries. Both of those species are included in the same family but their Latin names are different, making them two different species. The Latin name for blueberry is Vaccinium cyanococcus and for the bilberry it’s Vaccinium myrtillus.

The actual blueberries can be found in North-America and in some parts of Europe and Asia. Bilberries grow predominantly in Europe but also in Northern Asia, Western Canada, and the Western United States.

There is a lot of confusion between the two berries since they are really similar. The easiest way to tell which one is which is to look the colour of the berry’s flesh. Bilberries are dark on the inside while blueberries are light or translucent.

Squirrel

Squirrel is a type of small rodent. There are many different species of squirrels. Some are ground squirrels and others tree squirrels, and there are even flying squirrels. Squirrels are very common in all over the world, although there are many squirrel species that aren’t found in every continent, for example, the Siberian flying squirrels. Australia is the only continent where squirrels are brought by people.

You can imagine that ground squirrels and tree squirrels are very different animals. Tree squirrels obviously have a smaller size in order to be able to climb trees efficiently. Those types of squirrels usually eat nuts and other things growing in trees. Ground squirrels eat pretty much the same, but the nuts they eat grow on the ground. Squirrels are known to eat vegetation, too, and even insects and some birds if they’re short on other food.

Squirrels can be tamed quite easily, and there are some people that have pet squirrels. On the other hand, squirrel meat is considered to be a delicacy in some countries. People should still be careful when eating a squirrel, at least one captured in an urban environment, because they might be contaminated with pollution.

Melting glaciers

One of the most substantial things that climate change causes is the melting of the world’s glaciers. Climate change increases the temperature in the areas where glaciers are located, and that will lead to the melting of the glaciers. Glaciologists have studied this matter since 1850, so it has been around for quite a while now. Most of the melting is industrialism’s fault. Obviously there are all kinds of problems that will occur because of this situation.

First thing that would happen if the melting continues on its path is the rise of sea level. Ice is water in solid state so when it melts it will turn to water and thus mix into the sea and raise sea level. The consequences of this are massive. Even though we would barely see a minor change in sea level, the people who live in low areas could lose their homes if the water came that high. These kinds of areas are found, for instance, in the Netherlands which is a very densely populated country. Millions of people would be in danger, and even today some of them struggle to keep their properties dry.

There are a lot of glaciers that have already retreated significant amounts and some glaciers have vanished completely. It’s estimated that if all the ice from polar areas were to melt, sea level would rise up to 70 meters.

Downloading stuff from the Internet

The Internet is a vast system. You could say that nearly everything can be found there. With just a few clicks you could download almost all the digital content you can possibly imagine with no cost at all. That truly sounds tempting, but is it the right thing to do?

I suppose the majority of people have downloaded something from the Internet and could probably even admit to that. People don’t see what’s wrong with downloading. They just think that they get free stuff and everybody’s happy. But it’s not that kind of win-win situation. People who have made the content lose because they aren’t getting any money if the content is downloaded from the Internet instead of purchased from stores. But I don’t think that is the main reason why some people wouldn’t download or at least would be discreet about it. Downloading from the Internet is illegal and that’s why they won’t do it.

What I think is weird is the authorities’ reaction to all this. They are well aware about this happening but it seems that they don’t really do much about it. However, they have bigger things to worry, off course.

Littering

Wherever you are you can always see some litter outside. This problem literally touches every country and that’s why it is one of the biggest environmental issues out there. Due to recycling, littering has diminished to an extent in developed countries, but in some developing countries littering can be a life-threatening problem.

Trash, such as, candy wrappers, pieces of paper and cardboard boxes can be found in the suburbs of a developed country. Not the most harmful kind of trash but still very unpleasant. In developed countries the most hazardous waste, like, household appliances, tires and chemicals are usually recycled properly and not just dumped in nature. But that’s not always the case in some other countries.

The biggest reason why developing countries are “filled” with garbage is their poor or non-existent garbage disposal programs and landfills. Trash is just gathered to certain areas or more commonly just dumped in ditches. Those piles of trash can cause serious health problems to people and other wildlife. With a better garbage disposal, those problems could be solved. Also lot of money could be saved with recycling some materials, so people wouldn’t have to make everything from scratch.