Iria Vasquez-Paez
Bio
I have a B.A. in creative writing from San Francisco State. Can people please donate? I'm very low-income. I need to start an escape the Ferengi plan.
Stories (411)
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How Long Does It Take Plastic to Biodegrade?
Plastic takes approximately 450 years to decompose according to a Google search. Plastic items can take 1,000 years to decompose in landfills. Landfills consequently are not the best way to take care of garbage in general. Plastic bags take 10 to 1,000 years to decompose. With biodegradable plastic, decomposition can happen faster. Recycling plastic can make more plastic. Disposable diapers, for example, make up a huge chunk of what goes into a landfill. Sometimes ordinary people don’t see how much they contribute to the garbage problem, which is not getting any better if it takes diapers 250-500 years to decompose.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in The Swamp
Biodegradable Plastics Currently Available
Apparently, there already are two different types of biodegradable plastic on the market that we need to start introducing into manufacturing. These are known as oxo-biodegradable, (oxygen) and hydro-biodegradable (hydrolysis), both types emit
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
Climate Change Evidence
Denial is not just a dried up river in Africa. Earth has cooling periods also known as Ice Ages and warming periods, such as the global warming that occurs in 2018. There is much evidence of the existence of global warming. Shells in glacial deposits help scientists decide a “maximum age for the glacier advance.” These shells had been preserved for 14,000 years because of being well preserved. In the past, Britain and Ireland’s winters were very cold. This was in the remote past. Global warming is surely influenced by human activity but it is also part of a natural cycle of weather on this planet.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
What the Rising Levels Mean for California
Rising sea levels would impact California’s sea level areas such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Mountain View. A third and two-thirds of California’s beaches will be wiped out from rising sea levels. Beach towns could utterly disappear in the next century if we do not check our greenhouse emissions from cars, and planes. The loss of beaches will affect California’s economic future. Infrastructures such as the San Francisco and Oakland airports will be affected by the rising sea levels. California’s communities by the sea do not necessarily experience extreme flooding like Florida but it could start happening.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
Writing a New Constitution
Here is a radical idea to bring about social change. The Constitution is constantly in motion, in flux. We need to write a new one altogether since The Civil Rights Act is a major change made in 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 allowed employees to sue their employers for discrimination. There have been major amendments to the Constitution but we as a country need to rewrite it to suit us. This is why I’m proposing rewriting the Constitution altogether to reflect modern times and a desire to state that we are all social equals without regard to race, religion or political leaning.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in The Swamp
How to Fix the Landfill Problem
The landfill problem is a huge issue in the modern world today. Small-scale societies in far-flung corners of the planet have less garbage than we modern peoples who live in cities or in the country. The landfill problem is becoming bigger by the day. The old landfill in my hometown of Mountain View, CA, which got turned into a rather smelly park. The park is a great idea-sure, but then again where does the rest of the garbage go? The landfill problem is something that affects every single city on the planet, but the thing is, we don’t have concrete solutions for it.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
The Paris Accord
Most Republicans, I’m sure, love 45’s having left the Paris Agreement. But no, we liberals are not happy with this, which cramps their style. The agreement reflects on different countries joining together to find solutions to climate change. Leaving this agreement threw supporters into a tailspin. Pamela Hill states that the World Health Organization has uncovered that “7 million premature deaths are linked to air pollution” (77), (World Health Organization). The air pollution problem is a growing problem on a long list of problems.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
How to Resolve the Plastic Crisis
Resolving the plastic crisis is something more think tanks need to be thinking about but also actually doing something about it, not just talking about it and doing nothing. Survival on this planet is rather harsh despite all modern conveniences that we can afford to use. The plastic crisis is reaching epic proportions here. We need to get civilians out there by having a company build a fleet of ships as well as submarines for civilian use so that we can clean up the garbage. We are digging ourselves into a premature grave daily.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis
4% of the children of Flint, Michigan have lead contamination in their blood (NBC). Researches feel the problem could have been taken care of for as little as $100 a day, yet officials in the City of Flint did nothing for the 100,000 residents who pay their water bills. In April of 2014, Flint started drawing water from the Flint River, and not Detroit, a move that was originally promised as temporary. In October of 2014, a General Motors engine plant stopped using Flint’s water because it rusts parts, supposedly, which means it must be very acidic.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in The Swamp
The Great Plastic Gyre Patch
Plastic pollution is a huge global crisis that nobody is paying attention to right now except those of us who bother to read about it. Plastic finds its way onto beaches, according to Environmental Protection: What Everybody Needs To Know, since there is “4.8 to 12.7 metric tons” (56), of plastic in the ocean, increasing by the day or by the year. However we measure it, many politicians put climate change on 'ignore', in particular, Republicans. The North Pacific Gyre or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of France.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
What Air Pollutants Do to a City
Air pollution does a lot of harm to city infrastructure all across the United States. Air pollution exists in an invisible state that not everybody can see. But it certainly affects your breathing. According to epa.gov, there are six common types of air pollutants. Cars are only one source of pollutant emissions along with planes, ferries, and trains. It is a little-known fact that death can be caused by air pollutants known as “fine particle matter (PM22.5)” which can cause premature death and harmful effects on the cardiovascular system” as well as other systems such as inflicting asthma on the respiratory system.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
Toxicity and What It Does to the Body
Toxic leaks from landfills seep into our groundwater all the time. Imagine all that plastic just not biodegrading at all, staying put in that landfill for all time. We have access to many a lethal chemical on this planet right now. Toxicity cannot be resolved in one generation, in fact, it may take many but we need to quit ignoring all the problems it brings. Prolonged stress can cause reactions in the physical body. Poisons work inside the body but some will increase or lower the heart rate for example.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez8 years ago in Futurism
