2A- INTRODUCTION TO THE BLOG - MAÑARIA'S QUARRIES.

2 A- MAÑARIA’S QUARRIES:

We are four students from San Jose Jesuitak call Estepan, Pablo, Ana and Candela. Our teacher has presented to us the proposal of making a blog about all the issues in Bizkaia that can causes several changes or can affect in the biodiversity in some aspects. Some of our classmates are working on fracking, invasive species… we have decided to work on a topic situated really close to us, Mañaria’s curries.

Mañaria is a little village situated, as all the issues we are working with, in Bizkaia, the Basque Country. This small village is not very populated; it has near 500 persons, and it’s increasing with the years. It’s characterized by it proximity to nature and old tradicions.It’s strategically situated due to the fact that it’s surrounded by mountains and Urkiola’s natural park, but during the XVIIIth century mining began and since then, mountains strated being affected up to the point that, nowadays, almost a hole mountain has disappeared.

The first aim of this quarries was to produce an excellent quality marble which is used in construction. As, when this proyect began construction was really developed, many raw materials were needed and thanks to it, Mañaria´s quarries started becoming more and more popular, being the main pillar of this village’s economy.

From Mañaria’s valley, is really impressive how close we are not only from Anboto Mountain, we have Urkiola Mountain too, but presently what it’s much more impressive, it’s the big bite that the five quarries has caused on it. Despite the government, since the last month of the year 2015, have forbid to this type of companies to continue exploiting this resources, but they had continue doing it.

You will ask yourselves, in which stent can this affect to biodiversity, the short answer is that they destroy the wild life in that area plants, animals…, but behind it, there are more complicated reasons. The environment can be straight affected by this big explosions, but the dust and noise, aquatic leaks, soil erosion can produce have bigger consequences.

We will focus the next post in working deeply in the consequences and in the solutions that the mayor, Endika  Jaio, has propose to solve this big problem presented.

           

Wind energy consequences. (4A)

Consequences of windmills.

We can differ the consequences of the wind farms in two stages. The process when they are being built and when they have already built the windmills.

The period of building:

• Atmospheric emissions: the trucks and all the machinery which is essential to build the wind farm give off a lot of fumes and dust to the environment.
• Soil erosion: the construction of roads and trenches damage the soil. As a consequence, many kinds of plants and vegetation is destroyed.
• All the facilities that are needed to the appropriate working of the wind farm take away the habitat. The fauna of flora is removed and normally the vegetation is not replanted.

The period of exploitation:

• Noise, wind turbines produce some noise when they operate and often we are not able to listen to natural noises.

• Visual Impacts, windmills are often placed in exposed areas and are really visible.

• Birds are the animals which most suffer wind turbines.  However, lighthouses, tall buildings, radio and television towers have been associated also with birds deaths.

As we can see in this picture, in OIZ, in the area where the wind turbines are located, the vegetation is very scarce

Information sources:

- http://www.adurcal.com/mancomunidad/viabilidad/59.htm

- http://www.greenrhinoenergy.com/renewable/wind/wind_environment.php

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SMURFIT KAPPA (5A)

 

  SMURFIT KAPPA (5A)

      
  There are 19 Smurfit Kappa factories in Spain and Portugal.

    This company manufractures paper and wavy shaped cardbord in a sustainable, safe, efficent and innovative way. They are an integrated company ranging from sustainable forest management to the production of fibre and recycled paper.

   Smurfit Kappa mainly works doing packaging, cardboard paper and forest products.
This factory is quite beneficial as it recycles paper and their solutions are natural, renewable and recyclable, but the problem is that it pollutes the air and, as a result, it harms the environment and produces not only physical disabilities, but also psychological and behavioral disorders in people.

 

There is a Smurfit Kappa factory in the outskirts of Iurreta. This factory is quite beneficial as it recycles paper and their solutions are natural, renewable and recyclable, but the problem is that it pollutes the air and, as a result, it harms the environment and produces not only physical disabilities, but also psychological and behavioral disorders in people.

The contamination attract dioxin and furan, which are the agents of contamination. These are very toxic, active, physiologically small and not easy to degrade, that's the reason why they can last years and years. There is a long list of problems that these factories can make, such as, genetic disorders, skin diseases, respiratory cancer, pneumoconiosis, bronchopulmonary infections due to the aluminum dusts or fumes or its compounds, bronchopulmonary infections due to powders of metals drives, asthma caused in the professional average by the substances not included in other sections and diseases caused by irritation of the upper airway by inhalation or ingestion of powders, liquids, gases or vapors.

These factories also damage the biodiversity because they produce air pollution and acid rain, for example.

  Now, Smurfit Kappa has created a new headquarter of renewable energy, What they want to achieve by creating this project, is the improvement of it's operative global efficiency through the support of the renewable energies, the forest's sustainable management and the respect and protection to the environment.
  

The invasion of Zebra Mussel 3A

                 ZEBRA MUSSEL

The biodiversity problem that we have chosen is the zebra mussels, which has its name because of the striped pattern of their shells. This species is originally from the lakes of southern Russia.

However, the zebra mussel has been introduced

to another ecosystems, in other words, this issue

can lead into the invasion of this mussel into different rivers, considering that it can live up to four or five years and it reproduces rapidly, just to mention a fact, they produce nearly one million eggs each year.

For example, near us, there is a plague about these species, concretely, in Basauri - Biscay which is getting bigger and bigger everyday.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel

http://www.irekia.euskadi.eus/es/news/16362-confirmada-presencia-ejemplares-adultos-mejillon-cebra-nervion-basauri

The Asian Wasp. 1.A

THE ASIAN WASP 1A

The asian wasp is the world's largest wasp and is from the Eastern Asia. This type of wasp are known as “murder wasp” because of his aggressive personality and for being more resistant than the european ones. These animals can measure 3,5 cm and they have the most powerful venom. The bite of the asian wasp leave on your body some bumps. Those bumps are quite big and let you a strong pain during 24 hour.

The asian wasp arrived in Europe in 2004 and in the basque country in 2010,inside of a container that arrived in Bordeaux. Then in few years it has expanded through all the Basque Country.

Here in Durango and surrounding areas the nest have appeared in 2012 whereas in the Basque Country appeared in 2010.There have founded these nests in Izurza and Durango.

The appearance of these specie has caused some disturbances in these towns because the bite is very dangerous and it has a lot of poison.

Information sources:

http://www.elcorreo.com/bizkaia/sociedad/201508/26/veneno-potente-20150826175948.html

http://www.deia.com/2015/01/29/bizkaia/duranguesado/hallan-posibles-nidos-de-avispa-asiatica-en-izurtza

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSYdnJRKddQ

HST: High - speed train 6A

HST: HIGH SPEED TRAIN 

Nowadays HST (High Speed Train) is very known among people all over Spain. As you would probably know, this fast train has caused a lot of problems, like destroying a lot of mountains, but also has some benefits too. This project was created in 2001, and they are still building it.
First of all, why was it created? Which was the aim of this project? Well, this high-speed train, was designed to join big cities, like from the Basque Country to Madrid, so that the travelers wouldn´t have to take aircrafts. Apart from that is faster than conventional trains and it is also cheaper than some other public transports. We also have to take into account that it doesn´t pollute as much as some other transports.

http://www.ahtgelditu.org/zerdaaht/index.php

Wind Energy in Oiz (4A)

WIND ENERGY IN OIZ

After the Kyoto protocol, the plan of renewable energy sources in Spain and the Plan 3- E 2005 of the Basque country, many governments decided to invest in renewable energy sources. In Oiz, for example, there were installed many electric generating windmills. What seem to be better for the climate change is quite harmful for the ecosystem. Besides, at the process of installing them the nature where they are located is broken.

This wind farm is completed with 40 windmills and it was the first wind farm of Biscay. They started to build it in 2003 and in 2007 they started to work and generate power. Despite the fact that they took into account the biotope, such as, grassland, ponds and vegetation, the consequences are obvious.

But which are the most important harms to the environment?

Information source: 

http://www.euskonews.com/0283zbk/gaia28301es.html

4A Group: Igor, Xabier.B, Xabier.U and Melissa