Montezuma Oropendola

These are the hanging nests of the Montezuma Oropendola, a tropical bird who is characterized with a black head and a bright yellow tail. These woven nests are normally built in trees that are somewhat isolated from the rest of the forest so that monkeys cannot eat their eggs. The Montezuma Oropendola prefer these isolated trees to have hornets nests to help them protect from predators as well.

Bromeliad

Above is a picture of a Bromeliad our group spotted on our way to Caracol. This Bromeliad is epiphitic and uses its roots to anchor itself to the tree. The Bromeliad gets its food mostly from its leaves rather than its roots. It is able to absorb airborne food as well.

This Bromeliad is located at the base of a tree outside of the hotel we were staying at. The location of the plant allows for it to catch rainfall traveling down the base of the tree.

Houston Recycling

Crayons

An article written in the Houston Chronicle discusses crayon recycling. Crayon wax petroleum based, so recycling it makes perfect sense. The recycling company has already recycled 81,000 pounds of crayons, wow that's enough crayons to outweigh about 6 cars! Personally, crayons are my favorite medium, so this is a big deal for me and my crayon waste. The article writes that it is necessary to leave the crayon wrappers on so that its easier to differentiate between colors.

Obama and His Love for Hybrids

Obama Pushes to Add More Credits to Hybrids

On Obama's trip to North Carolina, he called for an increase in credit per vehicle for people and businesses that buy cars powered by alternate energies. This idea is supposed to make prices similar to prices of conventional models. Seems like a pretty great idea to me, but how much is it costing the government? What will we do with hybrid batteries? They're difficult to store aren't they? Everything seems to have a problem in the background.

Fishing for Plastic

How to Rid the Seas of 'Plastic Soup'

Garbage in the oceans is growing at an alarming rate. 80% of this waste is plastic and for it to fully biodegrade, high temperatures are needed and that's a problem seeing as this plastic is floating in the ocean. So since this plastic can't biodegrade fully, billions of fragments are floating around. This causes it to be absorbed into marine life. Some people are proposing to pay fishermen to "fish for litter", but that can't solve the problem about the 'Plastic Soup'. Obviously, we need to prevent it going into oceans in the first place.

China's Environmental Issues

China Faces 'Very Grave' Environmental Situation

Although China has met its goals set by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, it still faces an ugly situation. Rural areas are becoming more polluted due to dirty industries moving into the area. China previously feared unrest within the people about their economic situation, but are now facing protests regarding rural areas. Local governments are at times aiding companies move illegally onto lands set aside as reserves. Mr. Li, the vice minister, stated that "In some of these areas that are very fragile, we will strictly limit development." Let's hope they stick to that!

Problems with Wind Farms

Wind Farms Warming Texas

This article, on Discovery News, discusses the effects wind farms have on temperatures. Turbulence behind the wind turbines causes the blades to pick up cool air on the ground and force warm air to the bottom. These temperatures could possibly hurt local farmers who have also suffered from drought. A solution to this problem could be smaller turbines or different shaped blades. A smaller turbine would decrease available power, because winds are slower closer to the ground.

Strangler Vine

While touring the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich, our guide, Patrick showed us the amazing strangler vine. This parasitic vine chooses its host tree, ascends while dropping its roots and eventually destroys its host's ability to obtain nutrients. After the host is dead and rotted, the strangler vine creates its own hollow tree and is extremely susceptible to high speed winds. It is also called the strangler fig.

Ceiba

My friend, Eila and I took pictures along side the Ceiba tree when we were touring the Mayan ruins of Caracol. This tree is the national tree of Guatemala and is extremely important to the Mayan culture. Our lovely Mayan guide explained to us that the Ceiba was the inspiration for the mystical tree in the movie Avatar.

According to Mayan culture, The Tree of Life has branches connecting to the heavens and long roots connecting to the underworld. The Mayans believe that the underworld consists of cave systems. This is where they performed many sacrifices and other rituals.

The Lovely City of Caracol

Welcome to Caracol, an ancient Mayan city occupied from 600 B.C. to 900 A.D. My family and I were fortunate enough to visit this stunning archaeological site. The Mayan people successfully dealt with a challenging environment through the use of reservoirs, city planning, a terrace system and recycled garbage. In this picture, I am standing on a massive temple called Caana which is 140 tall.

 Here is a picture of my friend, Eila, in front of the Mayan reservoir located about half a mile from the temple shown above.