WATER

Most of our water comes from Lake Michigan.  Lake Michigan supplies about 1 billion gallons of fresh water to Chicago and about 125 suburban communities. This done through a network of purification plants, tunnels, pumping stations, water mains, sewer mains, valves.  Our waste water in Chicago goes through a system that is called Tunnel and Reservoir Plan or TARP.  It is a large underwater system that contains many pipes.  The pipes carry the storm water and sewage to the water purification plant.  After the water is purified, the solid material left, gets carried out to a landfill.  Bacteria is added into the container, which eats up the waste material. 
After doing an assignment that allowed me to see how much water I (my self only, no family members) was using, it made me realize how much unnecessary water I was using on a daily basis (21 gallons a day).  My biggest problem was when I showered. I normally take two showers a day, but even though I have a low pressure shower head, I still took a 20 minute shower!!  That is way too long!!!  I try not to waste water in every other way, like watering the lawn and washing clothes, but never realized how much water I was wasting when showering.  I personally think that I contribute to some of the water pollution, when I used cleaning chemicals when cleaning the tub, sink, toilet and when ever I paint, and clean the brushes in the sink.  I mean all the chemicals, do get diluted, but I am sure I am not the only person doing this, which makes me think that all of these chemicals do add up.  I guess one way to minimize the water pollution is buying cleaning supplies that are eco friendly, but I've always wondered if they would do the job that the other strong chemicals do?  I guess I will just have to try it out.

The Plantain

Is one of my favorites foods.  I've been eating this fruit, since I was a little girl.  This is a typical food for many Latinos.  You could either eat them fried, boiled, or steamed.  My mother used to fried them all the time, but because I've changed my eating habits, I boiled them instead.  I go to a local Spanish supermarket around my house to get my the plantains.  They sell  them riped or green. The picture above shows (top to bottom) green, yellow, and riped.  The more riped they are, the sweeter they are.  The plantain is similar to the bananas, but people usually cook them in before eating them.  These plantains that I buy, come from Mexico and are owned by Chiquita Company. The are gown in a company owned plantation.  According to the  Chiquita banana's website, they state that within 36 hours of harvest, Chiquita Bananas and plantains are packed in special shipping cartons and loaded onto refrigerated ships. Refrigeration “puts the bananas to sleep” and temporarily prevents them from ripening. They're transported to market in refrigerated trucks. The whole process from the farm to your grocery store takes about two weeks.  Chiquita company are one of the few companies who are certified to the environmental standards of the Rainforest Alliance.  The are against deforestation and use low pesticide.  This seems like a good way of processing bananas and plantains, but I still think, that our environment suffers the consequence of the pollution of the ships and the truck drives to their destinations.  Like many major companies, Chiquita company makes a big profit from the distribution of plantains and bananas, because they could be grown all year round.  They have many locations around Central and South America and also in Mexico.  Others making a good profit are the local markets, who sell their plantains for almost 30% higher cost.  I went to different markets like; Dominick .98 cents each, La Fresquesita at .89cents each, Cermak produce .78cents each, Fresh Market at .78cents each.  It was obvious that the Spanish market's prices were the lowest and of course sell the most.  Plantains are very popular in the Latin communities, and it makes total sense for local food markets to play with their prices, because of the high demand.  Plantains, just like bananas are a good source of potassium, vitamin C, B6 and fiber.  There are many dishes that can be cooked with both ripe and green plantains.  Although they are starchy, they are healthy to eat as long as you don't fried them all the time!!! ;)

The Norway Maple Tree

So I chose this tree, because not only is it in front of my house and I have to see it every day, but it is one of the most popular street trees in Chicago.  The Norway tree or Acer Plantanoides is native to eastern and central Europe and southwest Asia, from France east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran.  It can grow as tall as 60-70ft and the trunk as wide as 3ft.  The bark has a grey/brown color with shallow groves.  Although I am not sure how this tree got planted here, but I could assume that it was around the same time they began the development of the street.  Most of the trees adjacent to this one, are all about the same height, this would mean, they were planted around the same time.  Most of the trees on my street are Norway Maple, but there are also other types of maple trees. 
It is favoured due to its tall trunk and tolerance of poor, compacted soils and urban pollution. 
The Asian long-horned beetle can eat through the trunk and can kill these trees.
 Norway Maple is generally free of serious diseases, though can be attacked by the some types of mildew.  The wood is hard, yellowish-white to pale reddish, with the heartwood not distinct; it is used for furniture and turnery.  In this particular tree, there are many squirrel nests, but I've not seen any bird nests.  I've seen different types of birds landing on the tree, but none seem to stay for too long.  The leaves on the Norway maple, are the last ones to change in color.  They begin to change color in late November to a bright yellow.  I was surprised to see that this tree is did not seem to have any scars on the trunk.  The city does come every year, to trim the branches, which does not appear to hurt the tree.  These trees along with other trees, have many benefits to our environment.  They improve our air quality,  they provide for wild habitat, increase property value, it beautifies our streets, give good shade (which help us on a very hot day, when we try to hide from the sun), storm water attenuation, among other things.  If these trees along with other trees continue to get cut down, our environment will lack all of these things.  Action should be taken when trees get cut down.  We should have a law that says, that if we cut a tree, we must plant another.  Trees are needed for our environment in order be able to sustain all of the problems that the human population has introduced into the environment like air pollution.

Population Problem in U.S.

Over population, might not seem like a problem to some people, but the reality is that the U.S. is headed in the same direction  as China and India.  After the baby boom in the 1960s, one could say that our population has not stopped growing. It seems that having a child is not the job of a house wife any longer.  The more I pay attention to my surrounding, the more pregnant teenagers I see.  Because of my job industry, I am able to see teenage girls as young as 12yrs old having babies.  What ever happened to the pep talk that parents had with  their kids about safe sex and not getting a girl pregnant?  Teenagers having unprotected sex and getting pregnant, plays a role on the over population problem that we have here ain the U.S.  So what should or can we do about it?
There are the voluntary and the involuntary control.  I believe that the current birth control methods are somewhat adequate. I also believe, that birth control pills should be free for young girls between the ages of 12-21.  I don't believe that voluntary abortion is suitable for contraceptive use.  Why?  Well I my self have a friend who has had 9 abortions within a period of 5yrs.  It took the doctor who did all 9 procedure to tell her that he hopes to never see her again under the same circumstances for her to finally come to terms, that it was wrong what she was doing.  The ideal contraceptive besides abstinence, is "EDUCATION" about not only preventing STDs, but avoiding getting pregnant.  I approve of the idea of unmarried teenagers having free access to birth control counseling and services without parental permission, because there are too many irresponsible parents in this world who are not doing their job properly on educating their kids about sex.
Let us look at the involuntary population control, which in reality it should not be any one's business as to how many children you should have, but yours and  I also don't believe this is the right thing to do, but since it is affecting us in many different ways , then I think the government should have some kind of say on those who continue to have children under welfare care only.  The government should limit welfare help for anyone who has more than 3 children.  I don't think the government should limit working parents who are able to sustain a family of multiple children,  but I also think that if they continue to have them and are not able to afford them, then yes make one of the parents become sterile rather than making the parent have an abortion. 
I think immigration is another factor that plays a major in the over population problem here in the U.S.  I think we should limit the people we allow into our country by either taxing them every time they want to send for another family member.  I also believe that if a child born here and whose parents are not U.S. citizens, should not automatically become a U.S.citizen and have legal rights to stay here.   One involuntary population program is practiced by China, who limits families to have 1 child only.  Yes, this seemed to have lower the yearly population rate, but also caused families to make some sacrifices, like giving up baby girls up for adoption, because they need the boy to care for them when they are older.  Paraguay, Argentina and Indonesia are other countries who also have a form  of involuntary population control.
I think population control efforts should be a global goal, because it would benefit not only our economy, but also many of the world's problems (environment, starvation, diseases, poverty, etc.).  The U.S. is a big help to many  families when it comes to income tax deductions for dependents.  Some people depend on this money to help pay bills, so I don't think it should be eliminated.  I don't think this is the solution to having smaller families.