Environment Diary #6
Due January 2, 2009
posted by Mr. Enns at
2:14 PM
Geography 12
Heritage Christian School's Geography 12 Blog
Monday, December 22, 2008
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http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/01/02/aquaculture-benefits.html
Who: Fish farmers
What: Fast-Growing Fish Farms
Where: North America
When: 1985-2009
Why: Wild fish populations can grow as they will not be as heavily fished
How: Environmentally friendly fish farms
My Opinion: Fish farming is a touchy issue. Any environmentally friendly farm sounds like a good idea. As long as it doesn’t effect wild fish populations (via sea lice etcetera) I feel that this is a easy way to help fish populations grow.
Attack of the Jellies
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/38939
Summary:
Who: Massive swarms of jellyfish.
What: Massive swarms of jellyfish are wiping out the fish population by devouring their eggs and larvae and out-competing fish for food. Schools of Nomurai jellyfish (around 500 million strong jellyfish in a school, reaching more than two meters in diameter) are clogging fishing nets, killing fish and are costing fishing industries hundreds of millions of dollars for losses. There is even a region of the Bering Sea that is so full of jellies that it has been appropriately nicknamed, “Slime Bank.”
Where: They are blooming all over the globe, from the tropics to the Arctic, from Peru to Namibia from the Black Sea to Japan.
When: December 27, 2008, 8:50 am
Why: Though the reasons for the rise of the jellyfish vary from region to region, mostly, we have only ourselves to blame. For one, in some oceans, climate change is fueling their growth because they grow and reproduce faster in warmer waters. Another reason their population is rising so rapidly is that in some areas, where the over fishing of large predatory fish, such as tuna, is a great occurrence, they have no one to keep their population under control so they are allowed to multiply. Finally, farming is also an issue. Fertilizer runoff from farms causes algae to bloom, which soak up the water’s oxygen and render vast areas inhospitable to life – except jellyfish. Jellies can survive in very low-oxygen conditions where other creatures cannot. The result is that the fish die out leaving large amounts of resources and space for the jellies to multiply.
How: This problem will be solved when we lower our greenhouse emissions, stop over fishing and stop using harmful fertilizers and come up with an alternative.
My Opinion: In my opinion, again all we need to do is be more conscious of how we are affecting the earth. Most of these environmental problems are occurring because of a lack of awareness of how we are affecting our planet. If we carpool, recycle, compost and think green we can drastically reduce our greenhouse emissions and thus solve many of these environmental issues. With this particular issue, we simply need to act greener, stop abusing our natural resources and stop polluting our environment with harsh chemicals. All of this can be accomplished through the raising of awareness.
-Ashleigh Miller
Environmental Article Summary #6
Rebekah McMurphy
January 5th, 2008
Geography 12
Japan Races to Build a Zero-emission Car
http://www.enn.com/business/article/39002
Who:
Japanese Car Dealerships
What:
Zero-emission vehicles – electric cars
When:
Nissan Motor Co. aims to start selling an electric car in the United States and Japan in 2010 and the rest of the world in 2012.
Where:
United States and European manufactures want to put them on the market within a few years. Japan is already planning on launching an electric car next year.
Why:
Electric cars are environmentally friendly, not creating as near as much pollution. It’s been hard to get them on the market because of limited battery life which makes the vehicles not very practical.
How:
With the technological breakthrough in long lasting lithium-ion batteries, which make it actually possible for the zero-emission automobiles. Mitsubishi's electric car now runs 160 kilometres (100 miles) on one charge, which takes 14 hours when using a conventional 100 volt outlet on the wall, or 30 minutes to charge 80 percent of the battery using a special quick charger.
My Opinion:
In my opinion I think it’s brilliant if these zero-emission cars could work. It would be so much better on the environment, and would help so much in global warming and pollution.
Other Japanese automakers have been working to create fuel cell cars, which produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, with water. It would just be amazing to cut back any unnecessary pollution where possible. The two biggest problems that they face with the vehicles are the price and the short mileage per charge. But the technology of the lithium-ion batteries will still advance and is supposed to triple the current distance in just 10 years. So if they find an even more efficient way for the cars it will just be all the better.
Source:http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/
Who: Civilians of Washington
What: A major event of floods have occurred causing many people to evacuate and closing interstates as well as flooding streams and rivers
Where: Washington
When: January 8th 2009, and to continue for the next couple days
Why: Due to the high temperatures occurring in the wrong seasons, a lot of snow has melted… and the result is nasty floods.
How: The Weather Service in Seattle states the snow and heavy down pour of rain that occurred is causing the water to come to a record high at this time. People were evacuated immediately for their safety. Sadly these high temperatures that caused the snow to melt is probably an effect of global warming.
My Opinion:
Having an all time high of flooding in Washington should be a wake up call to everybody. It is showing that because of our careless effect of abusing the environment, we lead to greater consequences in the long run. This does not necessarily mean that the flood could have been completely stopped, but it may have made a difference if we were willing to respect our environment fully. Overall this is just one event that shows us our actions do have consequences, and the time to treat the environment with respect is now.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Malaysian logging plans threaten rhinos and tigers
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/38646
Who - DEIA
what - Rhinoceros and Tigers
where- Malaysia
When- November 13, 2008
Why - Ther building dams in the animals habitat which is killing them.
My Opinion - I think that they dont need to build dams in that area. They should build them in some other area so it doesnt kill animals.
jamie fielder
Dog electrocuted in Toronto park
Canwest News Service
Tuesday, January 13 2009
http://www.globaltv.com
TORONTO - A dog was electrocuted Tuesday after trying to relieve itself near a hydro pole in a west-end Toronto neighborhood, the second occurrence in three months.
A 25-year-old man had been walking his five-year-old Labrador-poodle dog, Mark, in High Park around 2:15 a.m., when the dog stepped on a metal plate at the base of a Toronto Hydro pole.
"The dog instantly lost consciousness and went into convulsions," said Toronto police Staff Sgt. Mary Shaw.
Toronto Fire and Toronto Emergency Services also attended the scene.
"CPR was performed on the dog for about 20 minutes. It was then transported to an emergency animal clinic where he later passed away," Shaw said.
Police say Toronto Hydro crews discovered a live electrical wire at the top of the pole.
"We don't have the cause of death for the dog established yet," said Karen Evans, a Toronto Hydro spokeswoman.
"We have . . . cordoned off the area and have begun an investigation."
Evans added that there is no apparent risk to the public.
The company is currently doing an "infrared investigation" for all hydro equipment throughout the city, following a similar death last November, when a German shepherd was electrocuted in the same west-end neighborhood.
Summery:
Who: The dogs of Toronto and possible the children of Toronto west- end in the future.
What: A dog was electrocuted trying to relieve itself near a hydro pole, the second occurrence in three months. Toronto Hydro crews discovered a live electrical wire at the top of the pole. There is no apparent risk to the public. However appearances can be deceiving.
When: Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Where: near a hydro pole in a west-end Toronto neighborhood
Why: When lightning strikes it likes to take the quickest possible route to the ground generally using conductors such as metal and hitting something that is substantially high in the sky. There was also a live wire atop the hydro pole and unfortunately for the Dog he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Dog died because when you are electrocuted your muscles can move they just have a spasm, and your heart is a muscle causing injuries that the Dog could not have survived with.
How: well this issue can be resolved by everyone doing there jobs. The owners knowing the risk at a thunderstorm should keep their dogs close and away from lightning areas. Also the Toronto Hydro workers have to constantly maintain protection for the public and sustaining proper working equipment while having consistent checks on dangerous stuff.
My opinion is that if this can happen to two dogs in a time spand of 3 months that it could quiet possibly happen to a small child or a stupid drunk, and that this must be stopped before a human is effected. Also I think the human should be compensated for what he pad for the dog by the city or the hydro plant.
.. Didn't know we'd had this due??
http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/39084
Tropical Rainforests are Regrowing!
The world's tropical rainforests are making a comeback, but young vegetation may not be able to sustain as much diverse wildlife or lock up nearly as much climate-warming carbon dioxide as old trees did, scientists report.
The rainforest debate has raged publicly for decades, and more recently has been the subject of behind-the-scenes ferment among conservation scientists. It is the main topic of a Smithsonian symposium on Monday at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington.
These discussions are taking place as the international community is trying to figure out how to stem global warming. Because tropical forests sequester the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, they are considered an essential part of the solution.
About 135,000 square miles (350,000 square kilometers) of the original forested areas that were cut down by humans are growing back, according to Greg Asner of the Washington-based Carnegie Institution, a presenter at the symposium. That is only 1.7 percent of the original forest.
This regrowth is relatively quick, with the shady forest canopy closing in after just 15 years as trees grow taller and denser, offering habitat for creatures adapted to just this environment, such as birds with huge eyes able to see in the leafy gloom.
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The basic question -- will rainforests survive? -- has been complicated by research by Joseph Wright of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and Helene Muller-Landau of the University of Minnesota.
RAINFORESTS RETURN AS PEOPLE LEAVE
These two scientists reported that the future of tropical forests may not be as bleak as other conservation experts warn, mostly because people who once lived in or near these forests are moving away, mostly toward cities, allowing vegetation to grow.
Using United Nations projections of population growth, Wright and Muller-Landau predicted in a 2006 journal article that "large areas of tropical forest cover will remain in 2030 and beyond, and thus that habitat loss will threaten extinction for a smaller proportion of tropical forest species than previously predicted."
Keeping a wide range of tropical rainforest species is important as a source for potential pharmaceuticals and disease-resistant crops. The prevailing scientific prediction is that up to half of all species may be lost in the coming decades.
But these young forests can't support what the old-growth forests did, said William Laurence, also of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Center.
From the Amazon in South America to the tropical woodlands of Africa and Southeast Asia, human beings have destroyed as much as 4.6 million square miles (12 million sq km) of rainforest, about half of the original tropical forests on the planet.
These forests are disappearing at the rate of 50 football fields a minute, or 32 million acres (13 million hectares) a year, Laurence said in a telephone interview before the conference.
"There's just no way that secondary forests are going to capture a lot of the biodiversity and critical ecosystem," Laurence said. "They're also much more vulnerable to fire."
Laurence also argues that people used to clear rainforest for small-scale farming, but this is being supplanted by more destructive large-scale industrial agriculture, logging and mining.
Who:Rainforests, Amazon in South America to the tropical woodlands of Africa and Southeast Asia
What:The world's rainforests are starting to regrow but all of the vegetation can't keep up.
Where:The world's tropical rainforests
When:Now and in the past 15 years, continuing forward into the future
Why: Rainforests are regrowing where they had once been cut down by foresters.
How:The environment's way of surving, the cycle of life.
My Opinion: I think it's good that rainforests are regrowing, replenishing themselves but it seems that the whole balance of nature is being slightly thrown off by how fast they are growing back. Yet this should be a sign to humans. The environment is being thrown off because we had to cut down the rainforests, forcing them to grow back quickly and have everything be slightly "off"
Correcting Ocean Cooling
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/OceanCooling/
Summary:
Who - Oceans
What - oceans are too warm
When - Thursday evening in February 2007
Where - All over the World
Why - Absorbing heat from Global Warming, getting to warm, need to be cooled
How - In 2004, Willis published a time series of ocean heat content showing that the temperature of the upper layers of ocean increased between 1993-2003. In 2006, he co-piloted a follow-up study led by John Lyman at Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle that updated the time series for 2003-2005. Surprisingly, the ocean seemed to have cooled.
Not surprisingly, says Willis wryly, that paper got a lot of attention, not all of it the kind a scientist would appreciate. In speaking to reporters and the public, Willis described the results as a “speed bump” on the way to global warming, evidence that even as the climate warmed due to greenhouse gases, it would still have variation. The message didn’t get through to everyone, though. On blogs and radio talk shows, global warming deniers cited the results as proof that global warming wasn’t real and that climate scientists didn’t know what they were doing.
In my Opinion: Okay first of all I can't believe there are actually people who don't believe that Global Warming exists because the signs are everywhere and they aren't the positive signs either which is why we have to do something about it. If the oceans keep getting warmer does that mean that it melts the glaciers faster? Cause if thats the fact which i am pretty sure it is that really sucks, and those people who don't believe better start believing or else they ..wil...die! ..haha or the world will.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/EnergyBalance/
Climate and Earth’s Energy Budget
who:us the people
what:warming up the earth
where: all around the world
when:Right now!
how:The Earth’s climate is a solar powered system. Globally, over the course of the year, the Earth system—land surfaces, oceans, and atmosphere—absorbs an average of about 240 watts of solar power per square meter (one watt is one joule of energy every second). The absorbed sunlight drives photosynthesis, fuels evaporation, melts snow and ice, and warms the Earth system.
My Opinion:we are killing animals plants from us being so greedy..
I think that we just need to slow down and use the resources we havea round us. and dont use planes and machines to bring us food or otherthings over seas or by veicles.
I think we need to step back because natures turing around on us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley's_Comet
Who: Me :)
What: Halley's Comet or Comet Halley (officially designated 1P/Halley) is the most famous of the periodic comets and can currently be seen every 75–76 years.[1][9] Many comets with long orbital periods may appear brighter and more spectacular, but Halley is the only short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye, and thus, the only naked-eye comet certain to return within a human lifetime.[10] During its returns to the inner solar system, it has been observed by astronomers since at least 240 BC, but it was not recognized as a periodic comet until the eighteenth century when its orbit was computed by Edmond Halley, after whom the comet is now named. Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986, and will next appear in mid-2061.[11]Halley's orbit is highly elliptical, and focused on the Sun. Its perihelion, its closest distance to the Sun, is just 0.6 AU (between the orbits of Mercury and Venus), while its aphelion, or farthest distance from the Sun, is 35 AU, or roughly the distance of Pluto. Unusually for an object in the Solar System, Halley's orbit is retrograde; it orbits the Sun in the opposite direction to the planets, or clockwise from above the Sun's north pole. Its orbit is highly inclined (18°) to the ecliptic, with much of it lying below the orbits of the planets (assuming Earth's north pole to be "up").[19][20] Due to Halley's highly eccentric orbit, it has one of the highest velocities relative to the Earth in the solar system. The 1910 passage was at a relative velocity of 70.56 km/s (157,800 mph).[21]
Halley is classified as a short period comet (a descriptor for comets with orbits lasting 200 years or less). However, its orbit is such that it is believed to have been originally a long period comet whose orbit was perturbed by the gravity of the giant planets and sent into the inner Solar System. It gives its name to the 'Halley group' of comets, which share these orbital characteristics.[22]
Why:If Halley was once a long period comet, it is likely to have originated in the Oort Cloud, a sphere of cometary bodies which has its inner edge at 50,000 AU. This distinguishes it from most other short period comets, which originate instead from the Kuiper Belt, a flat disc of icy debris between 38 AU (Pluto's orbit) and 50 AU from the Sun.
In 1989, Boris Chirikov and Vitaly Vecheslavov [23] performed an analysis of 46 apparitions of Halley's Comet taken from historical records and computer simulations. These studies showed that the comet's dynamics follow a simple area-preserving map similar to the standard map. Its dynamics were shown to be chaotic and unpredictable on long timescales. Halley's projected lifetime, as determined by differential escape, is roughly 10 million years.
Where: in the atmosphere
When:The next predicted perihelion of Halley's Comet will be 28 July 2061.
My opinion: i was named after this comet and i just wanted to a journal that didnt depress me like the rest of them. :) So if the world is still around in 2061 be ready on july 28th. i will!
ARTICLE: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=36511
Topic: Natural hazards, fire.
Who: From teh article it is the people of Ghana, but as far as the topic is concerned it affects many more groups of people around the globe.
What: Immense amounts of forest fires.
When: January 11th 2009
Where: Ghana, Africa
Why:Generally very dry conditions and a lack of knowledge for fire prevention.
How:Again, regular dry conditions with vast crops that can easy catch fire.
My Opinion: Everybody who lives in an area that is at moderate to high risk of fires, should be educated on how to try and prevent them, now some with naturally happen but there are some that can easily be prevented. This not only goes for this area of Africa, but even in our own continent.
Andrei Eremia
http://www.globalissues.org/article/529/global-dimming
Global Dimming
Who- BBC broadcast
What- Global Dimming
Where- Global
When- January 15, 2005
Why- Consuming of fossil fuel
How- Fossil fuel use, as well as producing greenhouse gases, creates other by-products. These by-products are also pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, soot, and ash. These pollutants however, also change the properties of clouds.
My Opinion- Many people have already suffered from Global Dimming. Some scientists believe that billions of people in Asia will be affected from the monsoons they get.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7845306.stm
A billion frogs on world plates.
Who: Environmentalist extremist
What: a billion of farmed frogs a year are eaten.
when: Jan 22
where:All over the world
why: Frogs taste good.
my opinion: The eating of farmed frogs is not a big deal to me. They are farmed specifically to be eaten and if people stopped eating them then they would stop making them. I dont think this is an issue that realy deserves attention
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Hey Mr Enns, I completed this but it's still showing as a zero on StudentsAchieve?
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