In today's reality, energy based powers provided by plants and combustion greatly influences human traditions. Having self-sufficiently calculated out many different ways to obtain enormous energy, the tendency to get lost in the process is great. Such innovations that have fogged our mind from nature include nuclear power plants, hydro power electricity, and fossil fuel based power plants. Today, the spotted turtle (which has the capability of inhabiting all of the eastern states) remains on the endangered species list provided by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). How is this occurring and in what ways have humans attempted to mitigate this horrifying misfortune?
The initial development of energy from fossil fuel combustion such as burning coal has been around for many years. Yet until now did we notice the drawbacks of this energy creation. Burning and combustion of fossil fuels emit great amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. This increase in carbon concentration in the atmosphere has the capability to disrupt the carbon cycle, the hydrogen cycle, as well as the nitrogen cycle. During the past century, natural cycles being disrupted can either warm or cool temperatures on Earth. Thus, stabilized climates become unstable which put native species such as the spotted turtle in the US to record as endangered. Even with alternatives such as nuclear power plants and hydro power electrical plants (which the majority use the flow of water to produce energy), past effects of radiation and pollution to the spotted turtles habitat still remain as scars in some areas of the US.
Nuclear power plants reduce carbon emission into the wild. This is a very beneficial way of obtaining energy for humans. Many studies have concluded that the nuclear fission of Uranium-235 may produce a nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear chain reactions are important due to the fact that the chain of reacting does not need external supplement to keep it reacting. This is one reason why nuclear power has been suggested to replace the burning and combustion of fossil fuels. Yet one objective that restrains the creation and use of nuclear power are the waste that nuclear fission leaves behind. Most of the waste produced from nuclear fission still remains radioactive; thus, the placement of the waste becomes a very dangerous hazard. Leaving the radioactive waste lying around in a dump greatly releases radiation into the atmosphere. Radiation from radioactive waste may concentrate so high that humans and organisms nearby may develop abnormalities such as cancer in humans and physical deformities in organisms. Spotted turtles around nuclear plants have been recorded to being born with missing body parts as well as facing problems with their ability to correctly swim in water. Governmental and economic citizens recommend not expanding nuclear power usage because of the caution with catastrophic events similar to the Chernobyl disaster. With a catastrophe as impacting as Chernobyl, spotted turtles are most likely to disintegrate exponentially due to their time-consuming ability to adapt with the environment. Consequently, this gave rise to new alternatives which show great improvements.
Hydro power electricity is created through certain amounts of water flow which turns turbines in circular motion. The water which creates hydro power electricity is then returned back to the stream or river to which it came from. Large dams such as the Hoover dam generate enormous amounts of energy without emitting harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. Smaller dams or water channel constructions are also used to improve the environment economically. Water-way designs allow spotted turtle's to face fewer threats compared to nuclear or fossil fueled power and also helps to increase their chances to be listed as least concerned species. However, hydro power electricity plants have some disadvantages to spotted turtles. Large and small dam reservoirs block seasonal migration of marine life; which spotted turtles included are part of. With a harder time phase to travel upstream, spotted turtles remain "wedged" at the end of the man-made reservoirs. Water concentrations below reservoirs are at lower levels and with less water, there lays fewer resources for turtles in general.
In conclusion, wildlife conversations and protected seasonal regions are one of the only natural home to which spotted turtles are able naturally move about. If we strive to protect our environment from harmful activities -even with little changes-, species such as the spotted turtle would not have to be listed as endangered and humans would have less to worry in the future about sustaining and obtaining resources of energy. Newly developed alternatives of generating energy are improving and have greatly shown positive feedback's upon the environment. One in particular, nuclear fusion has been proposed as to being the futures greatest change in energy development but the aspects of how its energy is to be created man-made has yet to be discovered. In a broad-spectrum, nuclear fusion -as of how the sun powers the Earth- will be able to provide further positive feedback than negative to the environment and to our friend the spotted turtle.
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