When The Creek Runs Out of Water

      We are nature; we can change nature and it can change us.  This is the main thing I've learned from this project.  Doing these observations has really opened my eyes to how disrespectful humans are to our environment, and I think that needs to change. We can only continue with this behavior for so long because eventually the earth will stop being so generous, and what will we do then?  Also, how long will it be until we run out of resources; 25 years or 250?  Just observing this little creek has caused me to want to answer these questions for myself, and that's exactly what I plan to do.  It is entirely possible that the habitat around this creek can be destroyed in the near future, leaving all these animals without a home. 

      Without us realizing it, we are running out of natural resources.  We are destroying the things that keep us alive like forests, for example.  Pretty much every person knows that we need plants and trees to produce oxygen, yet they keep on cutting down trees and forests without replacing these things that we need to live.  We are slowly killing ourselves.  Research shows that some of the elements that we depend on most may not be available in as little as 25 years.  The fact that we are running out of places to find these natural elements is slowly becoming more evident, and there aren't many alternatives (Nuwer).  Although the depletion of our natural elements may not exactly be relevant to my observations, it is relevant to the new view I have on the treatment of our Earth and what we need to do in order to preserve it.  Just this information shows how we don't have a lot of time before we will be forced to make a change to how we live.
      In the past few years, I've noticed that we have not had good winters at all, and that leads to the reduction of the amount of water in things like lakes, ponds, rivers, and creeks.  I've never figured out where the creek leads to because I only am able to see a short piece of it, but I know where the water it contains comes from, and that is the precipitation we get (mostly in the winter).  Another year of not having much precipitation can really hurt this creek and the animals living there.  The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) says that Global Warming is the main reason why temperatures are rising and the severity of droughts is getting worse.  In the Summer of 2012, more than 80% of the country saw abnormally dry or drought conditions.  This not only drives prices of almost everything up, but more importantly it drives water levels down and can cause panic.  Obviously the creek that I've been observing is not a major water source, but it is being affected by changing environmental conditions. 
     Maybe it seems impossible to draw all these conclusions from simply observing this creek, but I've actually learned a lot from this little hidden place that doesn't even have a name.  So maybe this can change someone's mindset on how we treat our planet, and maybe it won't, but my point of view has been changed and I will definitely be more conscious about how I treat nature and this planet from now on.    

Works Cited
National Resources Defense Council.  "Extreme Weather: Impact of Climate Change".  National
      Resources Defense Council.  15 Jan. 2014.  Web.
Nuwer, Rachel.  "What is the World's Scarcest Material?".  BBC Future.  18 Mar. 2014.  Web.

      

U.C.T.'s: Unidentified Creek Trees

      The title of this post should explain how much luck I've had with trying to identify the trees by the creek.  I wouldn't exactly say that I'm an expert with identifying trees, and many of the trees look so similar that it is hard to tell what kind they are.  Although I have not identified the trees, I have noticed that there are several types of birds that fly from branch to branch, ranging from big crows to small finches, and I've even seen some Starlings, which look like miniature versions of the crows. 
     
      I took this picture when I was first starting my observations, and obviously this was before all the leaves fell off of the trees, and that may be a good thing because the trees are much easier to identify with the leaves on them.  The tree on the left hand side of the picture is what I believe to be a Pinon Pine through some research.  These trees produce nuts that are edible, and birds usually consume them.  This would explain why there are always many birds around this tree.  I have also noticed that the Crows tend to fly up to the very top of this tree and just hang out. 
     This creek is undoubtedly the most beautiful in the winter after it had just snowed.  With winter coming, I am just waiting for it to snow so I can take a picture of it.  The snow covers the path making completely white, and the water flows calmly between the two strips of snow.  The trees all become dusted with snow and it looks like something from a postcard.  Sometimes there are still ducks swimming in the water, even though it's absolutely freezing outside. Maybe the ducks enjoy the scenery as much as I do. 


Works Cited
Skelly, JoAnne.  "Selected Native Trees of Northern Nevada".  University of Nevada Cooperative
      Extension, n.d.  Web.  1 Dec. 2014.