Coral Scenarios

Coral Bleaching: Coral bleaching occurs when coral becomes stressed and the algae that it depends on for food and color dies out, leaving a white and bleached skeleton of calcium carbonate. Coral bleaching can be caused by increased water temperature or runoff of silt from the land, which covers the coral and prevents photosynthesis. Aesthetically coral bleaching can cause a lack of tourist, because coral reefs which do not have an abundance of color will not attract visitors. Economically, coral bleaching can cause damage to homes and property by lessening the buffer zone through the degradation of its structural integrity, by allowing higher tides to cause erosion. Finally, ecologically, coral bleaching disrupts the familiar food chain of aquatic ecosystems through the loss of homes for various little fish such as fairy basslets, blue tangs, shrimp, and angelfish which are food sources for larger consumers such as Coney and Morey eels. Through the loss of coral, little fish begin to die, and as a result secondary and higher-level consumers die due to a lack of food. Coral bleaching can be treated by adding large amounts of hydrogen peroxide into the surrounding waters and allowing for the tide to bring it in. 

Fishing with dynamite: Blast fishing destroys the calcium carbonate coral skeletons and is one of the continual disruptions of coral reefs, and as a result, weakened rubble fields of coral are formed and fish habitats are reduced. Aesthetically, it has the same result of coral bleaching, but the consequences are much more severe, as the coral will never be able to return to its previous form.  The damaged coral reefs from blast fishing lead to instant declines in fish species wealth and quantity.  Explosives used in blast fishing not only kill fish but also destroy coral skeletons, creating an unbalanced food web within the aquatic ecosystem. Lingering pollution produced from the blast is also a large issue. Economically it creates problems for fisherman who use legitimate fishing methods. Although blast fishing is illegal, it is not a complete solution to prevent fisherman from using the method. Stronger legislation and larger fines should be implemented to prevent this inhumane form of capturing fish.

Coastal development:  Coastal development degrades the natural resources and services that make coastal areas filled with coral so enjoyable and ecologically and economically valuable. Coastal development can cause economic damage, as it encourages erosion due to rising sea levels. At least 30% of coral reefs are damaged from coastal development and 40-60% of coral reefs are threatened. Construction projects, such as piers, dikes, channels, and airstrips kill corals directly. Habitat degradation causes a decrease in fish populations, as fish have fewer places to live and breed. This has a domino effect which harms other species as well such as tertiary consumers such as Gray reef sharks and even producers such as algae, phytoplankton and zooplankton. 

"Scales"

I have gotten Mr. Swann's approval to put my comic on the school website, but unfortunately I have been very busy lately and have not gotten the chance. But, I think my comic will be about three lizards!

1. Green Anole
2. Western Fence Lizard
3. Blue Tailed Skink

-A continuation of Mr. Drusky's horrid joke on the e-mail.

"Conventional-Type" HW

A.

Chernobyl: On April 26, 1986 a series of explosions in one of the reactors in a nuclear power plant in a remote area in Ukraine literally blew the roof off a reactor building. The reactor partially melted down and its graphite moderator caught fire and burned for 10 days. The explosion and the graphite fires released large radioactive clouds that spread all over Ukraine and Belarus. Around 35,000 people had to leave their homes because of the radioactive fallout, and it is estimated that the death toll may be more than 90,000. In some parts of the Ukraine people still cannot eat or drink some of the local water or locally produced or grown food.

Three Mile Island: On March 28, 1979 reactor 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania suffered a partial meltdown. A gradual loss of cooling water to the reactor's heat-producing core led to partial melting of the fuel rod cladding and the uranium fuel, and the release into the environment of a small amount of radioactive material. The Three Mile Island accident caused no injuries or deaths. In addition, experts concluded that the amount of radiation released into the atmosphere was too small to result in direct health effects.

Fukushima: On March 11, 2011 a large earthquake and tsunami struck Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station and knocked out backup power systems that were needed to cool the reactors at the plant, causing three of them to undergo fuel melting, hydrogen explosions, and radioactive releases. Radioactive contamination from the Fukushima plant forced the evacuation of communities up to 25 miles away and affected up to 100,000 residents, although it did not cause any immediate deaths.

B.  General Motors began systematically buying streetcar lines and then shutting them down, leaving millions of Americans without practical public transportation options. General Motor’s motive was to ensure a market for its innovative personal transportation technology. Rather than walk, the idea was, people would hopefully buy Buicks.

C.

Resource	Advantages	Disadvantages
Petroleum	Petroleum is inexpensive It can also be easily transported	Easily disrupts habitats Oil spills such as the Exxon Valdez in 1989 and the BP oil spill in 2010.
Natural Gas	Natural gas can be easily extracted and processed. Yields high net energy Causes less pollution than other fossil fuels	Sulfur dioxide can be released during processing Can contaminate wastewater, brine and land CH4 is more harmful than greenhouse gases
Coal	Large natural supply of coal High net yield of energy Subsidies help create lower prices Stable and nonexplosive	Excavation is dangerous Produces ash, over burden, mercury, sulfur Expensive to produce and transport Expensive to dispose of
Nuclear	Large fuel supply Low environmental impacts( without accidents) Emits 1/6 as much CO2 as coal Moderate land disruption and water pollution( without accidents)	Costs are high Radioactive wastes must be stored safely for thousands of years Low net energy yield Catastrophic accidents can happen Subject to terrorist attacks

D. 

I can make it bigger, if it is too small

E.  In 1985, the DOE announced plans to build a repository for under-ground storage of high-level radioactive wastes from commercial nuclear reactors on federal land in the Yucca mountain desert region. In 2002 congress approved Yucca Mountain as the official site for storing the country’s commercial wastes. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama promised to "lead federal efforts to look for a safe, long-term disposal solution based on objective, scientific analysis. In the meantime, Obama will develop requirements to ensure that the waste stored at current reactor sites is contained using the most advanced dry-cask storage technology available. Barack Obama believes that Yucca Mountain is not an option because it is too expensive, already costing the government over $12 billion and harmful to the people of Nevada.

F. Passive Solar Heating System is a system that captures sunlight directly within a structure and converts it into low temperature heat for space heating or for water for domestic use without the use of mechanical devices.

     

1. Direct Gain
2. Greenhouse, Sunspace, or Attached Solarium
3. Earth Sheltered

"Home Energy Saver"

CO2 Calculations

I drove 108 miles last week, and my car gets 19 miles to the gallon, so I used around 5.7 gallons of gas.

•      5.7 * 20= 114, so I released 114 pounds of CO₂ into the atmosphere
•          5.7 * 21= 119.7, so I also removed 119.7 pounds of oxygen into the atmosphere.

The True Cost of Oil

After reading and watching the article and Tedtalk video, I became much more aware of oil’s impact on the environment. Building a long oil pipeline from Canada to Texas is a very bad idea. Is America in that great of a need for resources that we must transcend boundaries which are both physical, and ethical? Both resources gave a very different perspective of the same issue. In the Tedtak video, speaker Garth Lenz focused more on the environmental aspect of the oil pipeline, while the article centered on the political side of the oil pipeline installation. The Tedtalk video was also more personal, as it featured small anecdotes of Mr. Lenz’s journey through Canada and how the oil affected families. But, the big question I gained from both the article and video, is how is America going to change, as the climate does as well? The big problem with the gigantic oil pipeline is how it can eventually alter the environment. America’s infrastructures are at great risk to the effects of climate change. I believe that in the future, there will be shifts in infrastructural investments. If we continue to harm the environment with the implementation of oil pipelines like the one today, then there will no longer be a need to go “green”, our attention will need to shift to more efficient buildings that address inevitable climate change, but only if our blatant neglect of our resources such as oil continues.

No to Nuclear

No, it is not worth risking an accident like the one at Chernobyl in order to separate from traditional, fossil-fuel based energy. The event which occurred at Chernobyl permanently affected the environment. If we continue to test nuclear energy, we can permanently affect all aspects of our daily lives. The people who lived in Belarus continue to suffer from the lingering radiation that perpetually plagues their home.  A baby boy born in rural Belarus today can only expect to live 59 years. Forty-five to 47 percent of those graduating from high school have physical disorders like gastro-intestinal anomalies, weakened hearts, and cataracts; 40 percent of them have chronic “blood disorders” and malfunctioning thyroids. These are just a few of the side-effects that afflict the people who live in Belarus, but even their surrounding environment is tainted with persistent chemicals which have their own detrimental effect on Belarusan soil. Celsium-137 is one of the numerous lasting results of the Chernobyl event. This isotope is easily absorbed and accumulated by grains and legumes, which means that Belarus soil has been rendered barren because of one of the various radioactive isotopes. Strontium-90 also affects bone marrow, irradiating the stem cells responsible for our blood and immune systems, and iodine-131 can even cause thyroid cancer. Nuclear energy can eventually foster a more sustainable future, but at the moment its ambiguous nature and possible consequences prove to be too dangerous for modern society.