My final examination in Science Technology and Society, Assignments of Science education

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Science, Technology, and Society: Comprehensive Final Examination

A. Climate Change

1. Due to industrialization, human activities contribute to the increase of greenhouse gases that speed up the occurrence of Climate Change.

TRUE, Industrialization began in the 18th century, and people use harmful emissions like carbon dioxide that contribute to greenhouse gases. At present, we’re still in industrialization, and unlike before, we contribute more harmful emissions such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and many more (Denchak 2019). Greenhouse gases are important, but too much or too little is harmful to many living things. Fewer greenhouse gases may affect coldness, while too high greenhouse gases may affect heat. In industrialization case, it contributes so much to greenhouse gases that cause the warmness of climate. Our climate has changed in the past years because of overusing resources for industrialization. We, people, choose fossil fuels, coal, or non-renewable resources that emit harmful gasses. Factories use chemicals and put them in rivers and seas that evaporates. The big result of global warming in the past few years is the melting of the north and south poles. The temperature increase from 0.4% in a pre-industrial period then in 2016, we had a 0.83% increase highest in the 21st century (Richie & Roser, 2020). The temperature around the world has become higher, which leads to drought and big storms. Overall, we can say that industrialization is one of the causes of the greenhouse effect that leads to global warming.

Figure 1: Chart of greenhouse effect from 17th^ century to Present Industrialization

https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions#:~:text=%E2%80%9CAnthropogenic %20greenhouse%20gas%20emissions%20have,least%20the%20last%20800%2C000%20years.

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References :

Denchak, M. (2019, July 23). Greenhouse Effect 101. NRDC. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/greenhouse-effect-101.

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2017, May 11). CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions.

3. Tree planting is the solution for global warming

FALSE, According to the journal Nature (2015), "About 46% of trees in the world are already cut down and the reason for climate change." So people think that planting trees again or reforestation is one of the solutions to fight climate change. Based on the research of Tom Crowther in 2019, his ecologist team found out that we can fight climate change by planting 1.2 trillion trees. They believe that trillion trees will help fight 37 billion tons of Carbon Dioxide that people emit every year (Tutton,2019). However, we cannot rely on planting trees because they cannot reverse climate change. Reforestation only slows and reduces global warming. Actually, the research of Crowther in 2019 was criticized by many because they only focus is the numbers of trees. Planting trees are good, but a study in 2007 showed that there only the best place to plant trees that can totally help reduce global warming, these places are tropical countries (Bala et al., 2007). Planting trees in the north and south pole is not effective, unlike planting trees in the tropics. Some trees also contribute bad emission to the greenhouse gases if they are planted wrongly. The best other solution is the natural climate solution, which is reducing greenhouse gases by protecting the forest, restoring wetlands, and restoring different ecosystems (Griscom et al., 2017). All in all, planting trees indeed can reduce climate change. However, planting a lot of trees is not the best solution. Reforestation in the wrong way will make climate change worst. So the best solution is a natural climate solution or protecting the forest from deforestation.

Figure 2: Trees produce carbon dioxide emissions after being cut down. Protecting forest is the best way than Planting in wrong way.

https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/10/18194106 /18_TCL_Emission_By_Numbers-03_002.png

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References : Tutton, M. (2019, April). The most effective way to tackle climate change? Plant 1 trillion trees. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/17/world/trillion-trees-climate-change-intl-scn/index.html.

Nunez, C. (2019, February). Climate 101: Deforestation. National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/

Bala, G., Caldeira, K., Wickett, M., Phillips, T. J., Lobell, D. B., Delire, C., & Mirin, A. (2007, April 17). Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation. PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/content/104/16/6550/.

Marshall, M. (2020, May). Reforestation is seen as a way to help cool the climate, sucking excess warming carbon out of the atmosphere. But it’s not always that simple. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200521-planting-trees-doesnt-always-help-with-climate -change

B. Biodiversity Conservation

1. Infectious Diseases from wild life will be closer to humans as we continuously convert, modify, and destroy species habitat.

TRUE ,

Based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature, more than 14,000 animals are endangered. One of the main reasons is humans destroying their habitat. The result of the destruction of animal habitats is relevant at this time. The best example is the SARS-CoV and COVID19. According to the research of The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2020), “The SARS-CoV can be seen in horseshoe bats.” The main suspect of spreading of SARS-Corona Virus is wet market and Laboratories in China last 2003, same in SARS-Corona Virus 2 in 2019. Moreover, the deadly HIV or AIDS theorize that it was originated from butchering and eating Monkey Meats (Avert, n.a). Many animals already spread sickness or zoonotic diseases because animals are being modified and destroying their habitats for food. So to fight this problem, humans should spread awareness about diseases that can give by animals. We should help each other to protect and preserve our nature because most of them are nonrenewable. Also, laboratories should be more careful because one accident can lead to world disease. All in all, modifying animals and destroying their habitats will cause harm to other living things. Many diseases already circulated in the world because of human selfishness. Humans should be united and make plans to avoid diseases that can be acquired because of animals.

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Figure 3: Number of people living with HIV in the Philippines from 2000 to 2020

https://www.statista.com/statistics/701857/philippines-estimated-number-of-people-living-with-hiv/

Figure 4: SARS and COVID19 deadly results

https://www.statista.com/chart/20652/coronavirus-compared-to-sars/

References :

Morens, D. M., Breman, J. G., Calisher, C. H., Doherty, P. C., Hahn, B. H., Keusch, G. T., … Taubenberger, J. K. (2020, September). The Origin of COVID-19 and Why It Matters. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7470595/.

Buchholz, , K. (2020, March). Infographic: Number of Threatened Species is

Rising .Statista.

https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/www.statista.com/chart/amp/17122/number-of-thr

eatened-species-red-list/.

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3. Extinct animals can be given birth through the advancement of technology

TRUE , The cloning becomes possible with the help of CRISPR-CLONInG (Arbab et al., 2015). In 1996 the first cloning began with Ian Wilmut. Dr. Wilmut cloned a sheep whose name is Dolly. The sheep lives from 1996 to 2003 (Fridovich-Keil, 2020). After cloning an animal, scientists cloned an extinct animal in 2003. This animal is Pyrenean ibex, which originated from Portugal, France, and Spain, that extinct in 2000. The Center for Agro-Nutrition Research and Technology is the one who decides to clone Pyrenean Ibex. In 2003 the team became successful (Choi, 2009). The successful cloning of both extinct and not extinct animals is valid evidence that we can get back vanished animal species. Advance technology is the one who makes it possible. To make extinct animals given back to life, humans should stock the genes of endangered animals, so that in case of emergency, we can make a clone. An actually cloned animal has a short life span compared to naturally given birth. Even we can use clones or advanced technology, much better to protect endangered animals. We should not relax because there is cloning. Each animal has a big role in biodiversity, and humans will suffer if we destroy other living creatures. All in all, there's a piece of evidence that technology can help to give back to life the extinct animals, but we should not rely upon it because natural is better than modified.

Figure 5: Dolly the first cloned animal

Reference: Fridovich-Keil, J. (2020), Dolly Cloned Sheep. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dolly-cloned-sheep

Choi, C. (2009), First Extinct-Animal Clone Created. National Geographic. https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/scienc e/2009/02/news-bucardo-pyrenean-ibex-deextinction-cloning

https://theconversation.com/20-years-after-dolly-everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-the-cloned-sheep-and-what-came-next-

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Arbab, M., Srinivasan, S., Hashimoto, T., Geijsen, N., & Sherwood, R. I. (2015,November 10). Cloning-free CRISPR. Stem cell reports. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4649464/.

C. Genetically Modified Organisms

1. Genetic engineering can help humans to solve climate change and species loss when several biological and environmental techniques are carefully studied and examined.

TRUE , Climate change and species loss is a huge problem in past years. There are many proposals to solve the issue of climate change and species loss. One of the famous plans to curve global warming and get back the extinct animals is Genetic Engineering. Genetic engineering is manipulating the genetic code using biotechnology (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.). Genetic modification can reduce climate change by modifying plants that have a big role in our climate. Many Scientists already modified plants to reduce climate change. One of the scientists who put a passion for nature is Dr. Joanne Chory, she modified a super plant that has long and stronger roots that can store more carbon dioxide, although she thinks it needs more time to fight climate change to be effective (Popescu, 2019). Moreover, some trees are modified to grow faster to make million of trees to reduce carbon dioxide or other emissions (Ajisha et al., 2011). Furthermore, there are animals that already successfully clone, like the Pyrenean ibex and Dolly the sheep. Scientists plan to clone a mammoth, passenger pigeon, thylacine, and many more (Dodgson, 2017). So Genetic Engineering has a big role in helping our clime become better and heal our biodiversity. Modified plants and animals can help not only humans also the whole earth. In the future, if the technology becomes more advance, we can attain a sustainable life. To summarize, we can fight climate change with the help of scientists’ genetic engineering. Humans should take the risk in innovation to have a better life and help the earth.

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Figure 6: Modified plant that can store more carbon dioxide

https://inhabitat.com/digging-deeper-for-climate-solutions-deep-root-gmos-could-feed-world-and-store-carbon/

References :

Dodgson, L. (2017). 25 Animals That Scientists Want to Bring Back From Extinction. Business Insider. https://www.sciencealert.com/25-animals-that-scientists-are-planning-to-bring-back-from-exti nction.

Popescu, A. (2019, April 17). This scientist thinks she has the key to curb climate change: super plants. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/16/super-plants-climate-change-joanne-c hory-carbon-dioxide.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419.

Ajisha, S. U., Joseph, B., & Jini, D. (2011). Fight Global Warming with Genetically Altered Trees. Research Gate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235713047_Fight_Global_Warming_with_Genetica lly_Altered_Trees.

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3. Cancer is a disease of a gene; thus, cancer is more likely epigenetics-caused than hereditary or genetically-caused.

TRUE , According to the World Health Organization (2018), “one in every six deaths are because of cancer.” Most of the Cancer is 70-90% environmental and only 10-30% hereditary. Our everyday lifestyle is the main reason why some acquire cancer. Most cancers are not linked to the genes we acquire from our parents (Whiteman, 2015). Based on the American Cancer Society, the things that boost having cancer cells are smoking tobacco, Bad diet, bad physical activities, Sun, radiations, viruses, and infections. It shows that we develop cancer when time goes by based on bad habits and routines. Although cancer is deadly, we can prevent or avoid it by following a healthy lifestyle and discipline. The choice is in every person if they will live healthily or not, then the consequences will be shown after years. On the whole, cancer has more percentage as an epigenetic-caused than genetically caused. We can avoid cancer, but it is hard to be treated. Cancer maybe is the consequence of our unrighteousness doings and hobbies in the past.

Figure 7: Cancer is more likely epigenetic-caused than hereditary.

https://clinicalgenetics.nm.org/cancer-genetics.html

References :

Whiteman, H. (2015, December). Most cancer cases 'caused by lifestyle, environment

- not bad luck'. Medical News Today.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/304230.

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American Cancer Society. What causes cancer. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes.html

World Health Organization. (2015). Cancer. World Health Organization.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer.