Tiago's 2026 Blog

 After reading this week's topic on Population, Urbanization, & Sustainability I learned how these three interact with one another. Urbanization is present in the Bay Area every year, whether it's new housing developments or more cars on the road. It seems like there are more and more people, which is directly related to the stress on resources we've been learning about. I learned that cities can be both a answer and a problem. By having more people living in cities means more trash, pollution, and energy use, but cities can work better if there are certain things made accessible and mainstream. Ways that are already environmentally friendly are taking the bus or train places and building homes that use less energy. It put the thought into my mind on how important it is to plan for better systems in the future to lessen the impact on people. Population growth changes everyday life in small ways, like when it's hard to find parking or when there are more people in li...

 Biodiversity has been a topic that I have been briefly informed on with other courses, however this week I have had my understanding of the topic be expanded upon and deepend. My initial understanding on biodiversity was about the variety of different species in an ecosystem, but now I have come to realize that it is also connected to topics like evolution, natural selection and genetic variability. Not solely being on how many organisms coexist together but how these lives adapt to their environments over periods of time. Genetic Variability was the topic that stuck out the most to me when going over our lecture, how over time mutations in a organisms genes start to create subsets of species, referred to as gene pools. These gene pools allow the species that has adapted best to its environment to reproduce and continue to survive while the weaker gene pool species are more likely to die off. This process of genetic variability is what allows species to be able to live on in their...

My initial thoughts regarding sustainability categorized it as being basic and ordinary. Reusable grocery bags, reusable bottles, unplugging unused devices, turning off lights, making sure faucets are shut, and, most recognizable to me, recycling were all things I initially thought of when thinking of sustainability. When introduced to the increased scope of sustainability provided in my environmental issues course, I came to the realization that even though these topics have significance and I understand the importance of them, there is a deeper level to understand.  Progressing through the course materials and lectures, sustainability isn't something as simple as a change of habit, but in the grand scheme of things, analyzing how society as a whole consumes a significant amount of resources. I first realized this fact during an earlier lecture in my environmental issues course, where our resources were stated through a graph illustrating how 70% of our resources are used by only ...

 Hello! My name is Tiago Nunes and this is my first blog of 2026 and my first blog ever! I am excited to share my thoughts, reasonings, experiences, and concerns on the environment and deep dive more into understanding it as a whole!