Oil Spills Across the United States An Informational Piece By: Jennifer Cerceo
It is reported that 168,000 gallons of oil were spilled into the Port of Houston on Saturday, March 22, 2014. This was not the only oil spill across the United States in recent weeks. On Monday, March 24, 2014, another oil spill occurred at the BP Whiting Refinery in Indiana, spilling almost 39 barrels equal to 1,638 gallons of oil into Lake Michigan.
The oil spill in the Port of Houston, which is located near Galveston, Texas, occurred on Saturday after a cargo ship collided with a barge carrying the oil. At the BP Whiting Refinery in Indiana, a distillation unit malfunctioned, causing the oil to spill into Lake Michigan.
Since the oil has spilled into the Port of Houston, the port has been closed, which has many effects on the local economy. Fishermen are unable to fish in the area, and boats are unable to dock or leave the area until clean up efforts are complete. There are also cruise ships that are stranded either waiting to leave the port or waiting to dock.
Another area of concern is the local wildlife that may have been affected by the spill. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff, there are numerous impacts on the wildlife, including birds that reside “in Bolivar Flats, which is considered a significant refuge for birds.” In addition, many questions remain about the affects on marine life in the water.
According to the Chicago Tribune, concerns surrounding the BP Whiting Refinery spill include the concern that Lake Michigan supplies drinking water to 7 million people in the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Amidst this concern, the Chicago Tribune also states, that “Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have said the spill likely poses no long-term risks to Lake Michigan.”
In wake of the oil spill in Lake Michigan, Illinois politicians including: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S. Senator Mark Kirk are demanding answers about what happened to cause this oil spill and what BP is doing to prevent future oil spills and what the company is doing to protect Lake Michigan.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov), “Spilled oil poses serious threats to fresh water and marine environments.” Physical impacts to wildlife and their habitats include birds and mammals being covered in oil. The fact that oil is toxic makes it dangerous for organisms that are exposed to it because it can be poisonous. The EPA also states that the severity of an oil spill is dependent on several factors such as natural processes that alter the fate of the spilled oil such as: “weathering, evaporation, oxidation, biodegradation, and emulsification.” The “physical properties of the oil” also have an impact on the severity of an oil spill. Different types of habitats respond differently to oil spills and their ability to recover from oil contamination varies. The response of organisms also varies. Some organisms are seriously injured or even killed immediately or shortly after they come in contact with oil during an oil spill, while other organisms suffer more long lasting effects.
It is evident that oil spills, regardless of their size or nature can be catastrophic to the environment, wildlife and the economy. The size and nature of oil spills may lessen the impact on nature and the economy; however, future actions to prevent oil spills need to be taken.
It is imperative to the recovery effort after oil spills that immediate and swift action is taken in order to protect and save wildlife affected by an oil spill. It is also important that cleanup efforts happen in an efficient manner so that business can resume on a normal schedule to lessen the impacts on local and larger scale economies.
Perhaps more important than focusing on the cleanup and recovery efforts is focusing on preventative measures that will ensure that oil spills will not occur in the future. These efforts will have an even longer lasting impact on the economy, the environment, and wildlife that would otherwise be drastically affected by oil being repeatedly spilled into the waters across the United States.
Sources: Reuters, CNN.com, Chicago Tribune, ABC News, USA Today, www.epa.gov
H.O.M.E.S – The Great Lakes Informational Text, By: Molly Ostergaard
H.O.M.E.S – Most people don’t know all of the Great Lakes by name; that is why the H.O.M.E.S acronym is so helpful – Lake Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. These lakes are home to the largest freshwater system on planet Earth. It is estimated that the great lakes hold over 6 quadrillion gallons of water which is about 1/5 of the world’s fresh water supply! In fact, if the Great Lakes were “poured” out and over the continental U.S., they would not only cover it, but the water would be nearly 10 feet deep!
On average, the lakes’ depths stem from the shallowest - 62 feet deep in Lake Erie, to the deepest average of 500 feet deep in Lake Superior. At their deepest though, Lake Superior reaches an astounding 1,332 feet deep while Lake Michigan reaches an impressive 925 feet deep! Although all of these lakes are great, they are all quite different from each other. Lake superior is not only very deep but also very cold. Lake Erie tends to be shallow and warm.
Over 170 different species of fish call the Great Lakes home. Along the 10,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, hundreds of species of animals thrive including the gray wolf, the Canadian lynx, the little brown bat, beaver, moose, river otter, and coyotes as well as America’s bald eagle.
Although the Great Lakes are thoroughly enjoyed by many plants, animals, and humans alike, they are also in environmental danger. One massive danger threatening the Great Lakes is that of invasive species which are species that did not originate in the Great Lakes. These species often out-eat the natural plant and animal life, and by doing this, they threaten the existence of the natural species in the lakes. Currently, the most threatening invasive species is the Asian Carp which could quickly multiple in the Lakes and change them forever in ways that would harm the fishing industry as well as the natural ecosystems.
Another threat to the Great Lakes is pollution. Due to fishing, boating, and beaching, the lakes have endured decades of pollution. This pollution, even that which begins on land, usually finds it way into the water and into the natural plant and animal life within. Obviously, this is not healthy for the plants and animals, and it threatens their existence.
Lastly, water shortages within American and Canada threaten the Great Lakes. The lakes are generally clean, and they are large, so they are often pursued as a means of getting water to places in need of water; however, people that live along the Great Lakes’ 10,000 miles of shoreline, and those that live beyond, have spent decades fighting these ideas in order to protect the Great Lakes and their vast ecosystems.
Although the Great Lakes are threatened in many significant ways, they are thriving in many ways too. They continue to bring fishermen joy as well as provide transportation by boat, large and small, and even provide entertainment with their 10,000 miles of beautiful beach shoreline. They are still home to thousands of plant and animal species, and they are still a beautiful, natural wonder of the world.
The Great Chicago Fire- Informational Piece By: Helen C.
The Great Chicago Fire: Did the cow do it?
The destruction and rebuilding of one of the greatest cities in the U.S.
On the autumn night of October 8, 1871 marks the day the city of Chicago was tried and refined by fire, literally.
The fire broke out right outside the barn of Catherine and Patrick O’Leary at 137 DeKoven Street in Chicago. There is a myth that the O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern and started the fire. Many believe this to be false, because the cow did survive the fire. The fire spread throughout the city of Chicago for 73 miles and burned down streets, houses, and other buildings. Many historians say that there were several key components that resulted in the fire lasting for 2 days. In the mid to late 1800’s, many of the houses and streets in Chicago were made out of wood, which are very susceptible to burning. There was a 3-week drought that led up to the night of October 8th,, so everything was very dry . The winds were going 30 miles per hour, which help the fire spread rapidly. On the night of October 7th, there was a fire that went through 4 city blocks, which resulted in some very exhausted firemen.
The fire went through the city rapidly tearing through many buildings. Of course, everybody ran for their lives and tried to stay alive. They carried many of their treasured family possessions and took cover from the raging fire. Some tried to bury themselves in sand and some jumped into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Over 300 lives were lost and over 170,000 buildings were destroyed. Finally after 2 days of the fire spreading, rain started falling and started to put out the fire.
As so much was already lost because of the fire, many people had hope in rebuilding the great city of Chicago. Although a lot of buildings burned down, the basic architecture and framework of some of the buildings and the transportation system were still in tact. Because the framework was still there, workers began to build and soon by 1890, the city of Chicago was up and running again. In 1893, Chicago even hosted the World Columbian Exposition. Presently, where the O’Leary’s barn used to be stands the Chicago Fire Department training school.
There are places on the Internet where a person can order weapons, drugs, even assassins as easily as they might order books from Amazon.com. These places exist in what is commonly called the “deep web.” To explain, the deep web is a part of the internet not found using typical search engines. In fact, the traditional web (the web we all surf) takes up only 0.03% of the entire internet. The rest is comprised of the deep web. No one really knows how big the deep web really is, but it's hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of times bigger that the surface web. The data in this “undernet” isn't necessarily hidden on purpose. It's just hard for current search engine technology to find and make sense of it. In fact, about 54% of the deep web consists of databases. However, there's a flip side of the deep web that's a lot murkier—and, sometimes, darker—which is why it's also known as the dark web. It’s challenging for someone to gain access to the deep web, but one type of software has been developed to allow people this access. Tor is software that installs into your browser and sets up the specific connections you need to access dark web sites. Basically, Tor is an encrypted (coded) technology that helps people maintain anonymity online. It does this in part by routing connections through servers around the world, making them much harder to track. Tor also lets people access so-called hidden services – underground websites for which the dark web is notorious. Instead of seeing domains that end in .com or .org, these hidden sites end in .onion. What is particularly interesting about Tor is that it was initially created through research done by the US Naval Research Laboratory, which created it for political dissidents and whistleblowers, allowing them to communicate without fear of discovery and/or retaliation. Tor was so effective in creating anonymity for these groups, though, that it didn’t take long for the criminal-minded to start using it as well. So, that leaves the US law enforcement in the unique position of tracking criminals who are using government-created software to commit crimes and escape capture. Some of the most famous instances of illegal activities were reported relatively recently when the creator of the now shut-down website Silk Road was finally discovered. Silk Road was a website hidden in the dark web that sold people all varieties of illegal drugs and weapons, using an online, untraceable currency known as “bitcoins.” This website, as well as many others which are still in operation, allow people to buy and sell illegal goods and services, and the government cannot currently keep track of them all. While the government is continuously improving its methods of tracing behaviors on the deep web, it is still a long way away from eliminating the criminal behaviors entirely.
Now, while it’s obviously important for people to understand the dangers of the deep web, it’s also important to recognize and understand the positives. The deep web is home to alternate search engines, e-mail services, file storage, file sharing, social media, chat sites, news outlets, and whistleblowing sites, as well as sites that provide a safer meeting ground for political dissidents and anyone else who may find themselves on the fringes of society. For citizens living in countries with violent or oppressive leaders, the deep web offers a more secure way to communicate with like-minded individuals. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, which are easier for authorities to monitor, the deep web provides a better cover and safety for those who might speak out against politicians and other powerful individuals. Thus, this portion of the information superhighway is important for people to know about, if only to provide space for political discourse and free speech to abound. Overall, the deep web is a part of the internet that contains both positive and negative potential. Much like everything in our world, the difference lies in how it is utilized. The deep web is a vague, ambiguous place. This web is filled with untapped possibilities that we are only on the surface of discovering, let alone understanding and mastering. It contains an enthralling amount of knowledge that could help evolve us, but its darker side will always be lurking too.
1919 World Series: Paid to Lose By Blair Wagonheim
Today professional baseball players receive celebrity treatment and are paid millions of dollars for their talents. However, this was not always the case. In fact, salaries were relatively “average” or even “low” compared to other jobs for the first half of the 20th century. While most of today’s scandals surrounding professional baseball relate to illegal steroid use, performing enhancing drugs, or the occasional corked bat and excess pine tar, in the early 1900s through 1920s, baseball scandals were often a result of poor working wages. Due to depressed salaries, professional gamblers could often incentivize players to throw (lose) games for additional money. One of the greatest known examples of this, and perhaps the most infamous and surprising baseball scandal of all time, occurred during the 1919 World Series, when eight members of the Chicago White Sox intentionally rigged games on their way to losing the World Series in exchange for money. Today, the fix is known as the 1919 “Black Sox” Scandal.
In the fall of 1919, the White Sox had just won the American League pennant, and were favored to win the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. However, there was a great deal of unrest among members of the team. The Sox was divided into two groups: one faction was led by second baseman Eddie Collins, and the other was led by first baseman Chick Gandil. While Collins's group was educated and able to bargain for higher salaries with ownership, Gandil's less-polished group was significantly underpaid and unable to obtain the salaries some of the other players received. As one example, Collins earned approximately $15,000 over the course of the 1919 baseball season, which is equal to approximately $200,000 today. Meanwhile, Gandil earned a mere $4,000 over the course of the entire season, which is equivalent to approximately $55,000 today. While such salaries are not terrible salaries in today’s dollars compared to the average working American, the major issue was the disparity in pay. Even though both players were exceptionally skilled, their respective salaries did not reflect that they were equally valued by the team’s owner. This severed as another major cause for members of the organization to intentionally lose the World Series.
The White Sox owner at the time, Charlie Comiskey, was extremely tightfisted with his players. Comiskey was able to get away with paying his players low wages due to what was known as the “reserve clause,” which prevented players from being able to switch teams without permission from their current team’s owner. In modern terms, no “free agency” existed until several lawsuits much later in the century. The inability to sign with a different team, even after a player’s contract with his current team expired, often led to severe hostility between team owners and the players since it gave players extremely little power in negotiating their salary. Players could not “threaten” to sign with another team once the season or their contract was up, and thus had little leverage. As a result, baseball players essentially had to play for whatever was offered by their team’s owner.
Furthermore, unlike the usual best-of-seven series (like the World Series today), the 1919 World Series was made a best-of-nine games series in order to bring more attention to the sport and money to the owners’ pockets. Fairness clearly did not matter. Thus, the extra income did not go to the players for their extra work, but rather, in the case of the White Sox, to Comiskey.
All of these circumstances created a recipe for disaster, and are widely believed to be the collective cause of one of baseball’s biggest cheating scandals. Joseph Sullivan and Arnold Rothstein, both professional gamblers, bribed eight White Sox players to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series against the Reds in exchange for a buyout in which each player that participated in the scheme received approximately $10,000. In other words, the biggest annual event of America’s favorite pastime was fixed. Of course, for certain players, this amount was double – if not more than double – than their entire salary for the season.
The members of the 1919 Sox who participated in the scandal were two of the team’s pitchers, namely Eddie Cicotte and Claude Williams, outfielders Joe Jackson (who is more well-known today by his nickname, “Shoeless Joe”) and Happy Felsch, first baseman Chick Gandil, who is believed to be the ringleader, shortstop Swede Risberg, third baseman Buck Weaver, and backup player Fred McMullin. For the next year or so, rumors ran rampant that the World Series was intentionally fixed. Subsequently, based on further investigation, each player was criminally charged with conspiring to fix the outcome of baseball’s most revered series. Interestingly, before the 1919 World Series even started, many gamblers were tipped off about the fix, which caused the betting odds to shift shortly before the first from favoring the White Sox to favoring the Reds. This, along with other evidence, would eventually serve as evidence of the fix.
In the aftermath of the various rumors and subsequent charges, two of the more famous players, Cicotte and Shoeless Joe, confessed to their participation. The rest of the players involved, as well as several of the gamblers operating the fix behind the scenes, went to trial. However, the written confessions of Cicotte and Shoeless Joe were lost during trial, and ultimately the players on trial were acquitted by being found not guilty by the Chicago jury. Still, the jury’s finding did not prevent baseball’s commissioner at the time, a former federal judge, from invoking his own investigation and powers, and banning the eight players from baseball, for life. Today, various aspects of the “Black Sox” Scandal are constantly referenced in legal issues involving sports, from the commissioner’s powers to the ultimate “sin” when it comes to professional sports – fixing games. Now, almost 100 years later, the “fix” is surely etched in Chicago and American sports history.
"Death and the vileness of our enemies are the monotonous color of our night." -Paul Eluard
To replace the old monarchy, the Spanish Republic was established. This new form of government was not welcomed by all of Spain. Thus began three long years of bloody civil war in 1936. Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco received the support from fellow dictators, Mussolini and Hitler. Franco granted Hitler permission to experiment military action on an innocent Basque town in the north of Spain. This is Guernica's story:
The Casa de Juntas stores the history and laws of the Basque people—it is where they house memories. A beautiful oak grows in the courtyard of this symbolic structure. This particular tree has united Basques from all the provinces for centuries. The Guernica tree, Guernikako arbola.
Rememberance.
It is a Monday. The town is bustling with activity on market day. A young woman travels from a neighboring village to Guernica to buy vegetables. A farmer is selling his cattle. A boy buys enough poultry to feed his family. At 4:30pm, the sky begins to darken. The townspeople look overhead; a city unprepared, undefended, unaware of what is about to take place. The first plane’s thunderous roar causes a young bull to run wildly in all directions. Everyone panics to find shelter in nearby buildings and homes. Bombs shower the city. Buildings collapse as fires leap from roof to roof. German bombers of the Condor Legion, followed by Italian planes, fly low over the town every five minutes. Families gunned down from the planes as they seek shelter in nearby woods.
Unthinkable.
Three hours and fifteen minutes later. Bombing ends.
Horror.
Remarkably, Casa de juntas and the special oak tree still stand. Most of the town is reduced to rubble. Fires rage long after the last plane disappears. The town is nearly destroyed by fire. This is the first attack on a town inhabited by defenseless civilians. On May 1st, the massacre is printed in the papers worldwide. A painter is appalled by what he reads on the front page, “Guernica in flames”. The artist is Pablo Picasso. The photo of the aftermath included in the newspaper is horrifying. Picasso is furious. The headline is devastating. 1,650 people lost their lives that day. General Francisco Franco denies that the event happened. That same day, Picasso transfers his feelings into an extraordinary work of art.
What power does art have?
Picasso creates a work so moving, so powerful entitled: Guernica. In 1939, the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquires Guernica. For 42 years the painting hangs in the MoMa. Until the country is no longer ruled by Franco, Picasso stipulates that the painting will not set foot on Spanish soil. For the same reasons, Picasso never returns to his homeland.
Three events have happened in the last past couple of weeks that have left me baffled. A white man publicly wondered out loud if slavery were better for “the negro” because they don’t have anything to do now. A white NBA owner told his racially mixed girlfriend not to associate with black people publicly. And while sitting in a coffee shop with a friend of mine a costumer, enraged said, “shit, what’s with all this mixing?” as he put his coat on and stormed out unable to sit next to me and my black friend. I’ve encountered, or heard of, instances of racism before, but with the other experiences I could somehow justify it, chalk those experiences up to the flimsy idea that extreme ignorance is rare and only happens in pockets. Yet, with these three instances I have no mechanism with which to soften these. All three together are blunt objects cutting away at my perception of the world, leaving me grappling with what to make of it all. It’s not the knowledge that racism exists that shocks me; it’s the amount of people that still harbor these feelings that shocks me. President Obama commented about the Sterling incident by saying, “We've made enormous strides, but you're going to continue to see this percolate up every so often, and I think that we just have to be clear and steady in denouncing it, and teaching our children differently.” True, but the rate of percolation seems to be increasing. I don’t disagree that we need to continue to denounce instances like this, but I think racism saturates our country much more than we want to admit and it appears we are really making no strides to counter this ideology. It’s easy for us to have fervor for the outspoken racism because we can identify it, but what about the racism that is private? That’s the really insidious stuff, and it appears to be bubbling up more frequently. Pacers forward David West tweeted, “All this sterling outrage speaks to how naive and gullible folks have become about race.” He hit it on the head. We, as Americans, have not even come close to resolving, much less even productively talking about race. If you are constantly plugging leaks in the dam, then the dam isn’t fixed, likewise, if instances like these keep percolating up, then our issue with race isn’t fixed. What’s interesting about the Sterling incident is that it appears to be sending shock waves through our country and everyone seems to have been deeply affected by this. What I’m left with though is the exact question posed by Wesley Morris and Rembrandt Browne in their article The Owner and the Owned: A Discussion About Donald Sterling. “Is Sterling just the one who got caught? You have to believe there are others who think just like him. And not just within sports, but everywhere. That this pernicious universe remains in which blacks are entertainers, and often rewarded for that entertainment, but are institutionally — purposefully — kept from positions of power. Pick an industry and you can see that play out — that is, if you care to look.” We can be outraged by these instances, but the question still stands, is this incident evidence of a greater problem? And, more importantly is America willing to look for more instances to ensure we work towards truly fixing it?
Rather than simply adding to the clamor and vitriol that everyone so easily spews when signs of racism occur, these events should incite self-reflection. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had to work through some implicit ideas and beliefs that I unintentionally harbored about myself and my students to grow into a better person and teacher, but most are not willing to travel this trail. It takes humility and the willingness to deal with the faulty DNA that we’ve each been given through the generations. No matter how progressive we may seem there are faulty ideologies within us all, most are easy to fix, but they do require the necessary work to make the adjustments. It was C.S. Lewis who said, “When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right.” This is the unfortunate mire that we are in today. In thinking that we are progressive and good, we’ve missed, or ignored, the reality of how bad our country still is in many aspects, especially when it comes to race. This is true for our country and the individuals that make it up. We love the warm, fuzzy feeling that people like President Obama and Oprah provide us, but still the dam leaks. Our perceived open-mindedness might in fact not be true at all, but we can’t get out of our own way, mostly due to pride, in order to truly fix the dam. It’s easier to continuously plug the leaks in the dam, but when do we do the really hard part of fixing the dam? The really scary question is what will happen if we never do? The leaks are warning us of impending doom if we do nothing. The leaks are proof that the dam needs to be fixed. One person can’t fix a dam, yet if enough people begin to remove the false masks of equality and open-mindedness that we so conveniently wear, and have been blinding us to our true nature, than perhaps we can begin to fix the problem. “Pride comes before the fall,” wrote King Solomon, and until we stop fooling ourselves into believing the ignorant, prideful fallacy that we’ve resolved “the race problem” than the leaks will continue to happen. It’s time that we do more than mend the leaks, its time the we as individuals begin to start doing the hard work of fixing our own skewed DNA so that we can collectively repair our country. I realize that this is easier said than done, but one giant step in the right direction would have to be to free ourselves from our isolated ideologies and communities to experience, share, and create relationship with our fellow man that looks, and perhaps thinks, a bit different than us. It’s not a quick fix, but it’s a step in the right direction to ensuring that the dam eventually gets fixed, and our country gets healed.
Methane is a colorless, odorless gas characterized by the chemical formula CH4. The third largest source of methane gas emissions is your local landfill. In the United States, methane gas emissions from landfills, which is the result of decomposing solid waste, accounted for roughly 18.2 percent of human-related methane gas emissions in 2012. While methane gas is colorless and odorless, the increase of it in the environment can have adverse effects on the Earth.
Included among the list of greenhouse gases, methane gas is labeled as one that is more effective at contributing to global warming. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of methane gas is 21, which means that it will warm the Earth 21 times more than an equal mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the next 100 years. Although methane gas stays in the atmosphere for a lesser period than carbon dioxide, it is more effective at absorbing energy which causes it to stay trapped within the atmosphere and cause climate change.
The faster we are able to stop this gas from our atmosphere, the more we can prevent it from impacting our global climate. In response to the dangers of the impact of methane gas in the atmosphere, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established the Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP). This program is targeted for states to use in reducing their landfill gas (LMG) emissions by promoting the capture and use of landfill gas as an energy source. Landfill gas can be used to generate electricity and thermal energy in the form of steam and water to power engines and turbines, produce electricity or as an alternate for fossil fuels.
There are many benefits of using LFG as an energy source. The most important of these benefits is that LFG is prevented from entering the atmosphere where it can cause changes in climate. The use of LFG also inhibits the use of non-renewable resources such as coal, oil and gas from being burned and their byproducts released into the atmosphere causing pollution and climate change. The Landfill Methane Outreach Program also benefits the local economy by providing jobs at every level to manage the program, thus increasing employment, and by investing in the local businesses to support the program. Also, businesses that use this landfill gas as an energy source find that it is cheaper to use than fossil fuels. Currently, auto manufacturing, food processing, pharmaceuticals, wastewater treatment, consumer electronics and products are among the industries that utilize landfill gas energy.
Sea levels have been rising since the development of modern civilization in Florida. As more and more people have come and the land has become more developed, the rates of sea-level rise have increased. This change in sea-level rise is mostly due to climate change and is causing a host of problems in Florida and other coastal states and communities. If climate change is not stopped soon, much of South Florida will become inhabitable in the next 200 years. The question for Florida when it comes to climate change and sea-level rise is not if the state will be affected, but how much. Florida has nearly 1,200 miles of coast line and most of Florida’s 18 million residents live within 60 miles of the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. These counties on the coast represent a built environment and infrastructure whose replacement value in 2010 was $2.0 trillion. With the sea-level rise and all of the problems that come with it, this infrastructure is at risk. The rising waters bring with them a host of environmental problems. The risk for flooding and storm surge during hurricanes and tropical storms is increasing every year. Salt water is seeping into and contaminating fresh water reservoirs in South Florida. Some scientists are predicting that in 100 years, South Florida will be inhabitable. The threat of rising seas is not only for the human inhabitants of Florida. Wildlife and the natural environment will also experience problems. The rising sea-level is shortening Florida’s beaches and islands. Animals such as birds and sea turtles use this land to nest and live. Their habitat is getting smaller and more dangerous in many places. The Everglades, Florida’s largest resource for fresh water, is becoming contaminated with salt water and local plants and animals are becoming endangered. If we don’t do something to stop climate change and sea-level rise in Florida, the state as we know it might become extinct. The people, habitat, and animals are all seeing the effects of climate change. Humans everywhere need to be more conscious of the effects their actions are having on our planet. While we might not be able to stop these effects from happening, we can lessen their impact.
Oil Spills Across the United States
ReplyDeleteAn Informational Piece
By: Jennifer Cerceo
It is reported that 168,000 gallons of oil were spilled into the Port of Houston on Saturday, March 22, 2014. This was not the only oil spill across the United States in recent weeks. On Monday, March 24, 2014, another oil spill occurred at the BP Whiting Refinery in Indiana, spilling almost 39 barrels equal to 1,638 gallons of oil into Lake Michigan.
The oil spill in the Port of Houston, which is located near Galveston, Texas, occurred on Saturday after a cargo ship collided with a barge carrying the oil. At the BP Whiting Refinery in Indiana, a distillation unit malfunctioned, causing the oil to spill into Lake Michigan.
Since the oil has spilled into the Port of Houston, the port has been closed, which has many effects on the local economy. Fishermen are unable to fish in the area, and boats are unable to dock or leave the area until clean up efforts are complete. There are also cruise ships that are stranded either waiting to leave the port or waiting to dock.
Another area of concern is the local wildlife that may have been affected by the spill. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff, there are numerous impacts on the wildlife, including birds that reside “in Bolivar Flats, which is considered a significant refuge for birds.” In addition, many questions remain about the affects on marine life in the water.
According to the Chicago Tribune, concerns surrounding the BP Whiting Refinery spill include the concern that Lake Michigan supplies drinking water to 7 million people in the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Amidst this concern, the Chicago Tribune also states, that “Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have said the spill likely poses no long-term risks to Lake Michigan.”
In wake of the oil spill in Lake Michigan, Illinois politicians including: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S. Senator Mark Kirk are demanding answers about what happened to cause this oil spill and what BP is doing to prevent future oil spills and what the company is doing to protect Lake Michigan.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov), “Spilled oil poses serious threats to fresh water and marine environments.” Physical impacts to wildlife and their habitats include birds and mammals being covered in oil. The fact that oil is toxic makes it dangerous for organisms that are exposed to it because it can be poisonous. The EPA also states that the severity of an oil spill is dependent on several factors such as natural processes that alter the fate of the spilled oil such as: “weathering, evaporation, oxidation, biodegradation, and emulsification.” The “physical properties of the oil” also have an impact on the severity of an oil spill. Different types of habitats respond differently to oil spills and their ability to recover from oil contamination varies. The response of organisms also varies. Some organisms are seriously injured or even killed immediately or shortly after they come in contact with oil during an oil spill, while other organisms suffer more long lasting effects.
DeleteIt is evident that oil spills, regardless of their size or nature can be catastrophic to the environment, wildlife and the economy. The size and nature of oil spills may lessen the impact on nature and the economy; however, future actions to prevent oil spills need to be taken.
It is imperative to the recovery effort after oil spills that immediate and swift action is taken in order to protect and save wildlife affected by an oil spill. It is also important that cleanup efforts happen in an efficient manner so that business can resume on a normal schedule to lessen the impacts on local and larger scale economies.
Perhaps more important than focusing on the cleanup and recovery efforts is focusing on preventative measures that will ensure that oil spills will not occur in the future. These efforts will have an even longer lasting impact on the economy, the environment, and wildlife that would otherwise be drastically affected by oil being repeatedly spilled into the waters across the United States.
Sources: Reuters, CNN.com, Chicago Tribune, ABC News, USA Today, www.epa.gov
H.O.M.E.S – The Great Lakes
ReplyDeleteInformational Text, By: Molly Ostergaard
H.O.M.E.S – Most people don’t know all of the Great Lakes by name; that is why the H.O.M.E.S acronym is so helpful – Lake Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior. These lakes are home to the largest freshwater system on planet Earth. It is estimated that the great lakes hold over 6 quadrillion gallons of water which is about 1/5 of the world’s fresh water supply! In fact, if the Great Lakes were “poured” out and over the continental U.S., they would not only cover it, but the water would be nearly 10 feet deep!
On average, the lakes’ depths stem from the shallowest - 62 feet deep in Lake Erie, to the deepest average of 500 feet deep in Lake Superior. At their deepest though, Lake Superior reaches an astounding 1,332 feet deep while Lake Michigan reaches an impressive 925 feet deep! Although all of these lakes are great, they are all quite different from each other. Lake superior is not only very deep but also very cold. Lake Erie tends to be shallow and warm.
Over 170 different species of fish call the Great Lakes home. Along the 10,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, hundreds of species of animals thrive including the gray wolf, the Canadian lynx, the little brown bat, beaver, moose, river otter, and coyotes as well as America’s bald eagle.
Although the Great Lakes are thoroughly enjoyed by many plants, animals, and humans alike, they are also in environmental danger. One massive danger threatening the Great Lakes is that of invasive species which are species that did not originate in the Great Lakes. These species often out-eat the natural plant and animal life, and by doing this, they threaten the existence of the natural species in the lakes. Currently, the most threatening invasive species is the Asian Carp which could quickly multiple in the Lakes and change them forever in ways that would harm the fishing industry as well as the natural ecosystems.
Another threat to the Great Lakes is pollution. Due to fishing, boating, and beaching, the lakes have endured decades of pollution. This pollution, even that which begins on land, usually finds it way into the water and into the natural plant and animal life within. Obviously, this is not healthy for the plants and animals, and it threatens their existence.
Lastly, water shortages within American and Canada threaten the Great Lakes. The lakes are generally clean, and they are large, so they are often pursued as a means of getting water to places in need of water; however, people that live along the Great Lakes’ 10,000 miles of shoreline, and those that live beyond, have spent decades fighting these ideas in order to protect the Great Lakes and their vast ecosystems.
Although the Great Lakes are threatened in many significant ways, they are thriving in many ways too. They continue to bring fishermen joy as well as provide transportation by boat, large and small, and even provide entertainment with their 10,000 miles of beautiful beach shoreline. They are still home to thousands of plant and animal species, and they are still a beautiful, natural wonder of the world.
The Great Chicago Fire- Informational Piece
ReplyDeleteBy: Helen C.
The Great Chicago Fire: Did the cow do it?
The destruction and rebuilding of one of the greatest cities in the U.S.
On the autumn night of October 8, 1871 marks the day the city of Chicago was tried and refined by fire, literally.
The fire broke out right outside the barn of Catherine and Patrick O’Leary at 137 DeKoven Street in Chicago. There is a myth that the O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern and started the fire. Many believe this to be false, because the cow did survive the fire.
The fire spread throughout the city of Chicago for 73 miles and burned down streets, houses, and other buildings. Many historians say that there were several key components that resulted in the fire lasting for 2 days. In the mid to late 1800’s, many of the houses and streets in Chicago were made out of wood, which are very susceptible to burning. There was a 3-week drought that led up to the night of October 8th,, so everything was very dry . The winds were going 30 miles per hour, which help the fire spread rapidly. On the night of October 7th, there was a fire that went through 4 city blocks, which resulted in some very exhausted firemen.
The fire went through the city rapidly tearing through many buildings. Of course, everybody ran for their lives and tried to stay alive. They carried many of their treasured family possessions and took cover from the raging fire. Some tried to bury themselves in sand and some jumped into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. Over 300 lives were lost and over 170,000 buildings were destroyed. Finally after 2 days of the fire spreading, rain started falling and started to put out the fire.
As so much was already lost because of the fire, many people had hope in rebuilding the great city of Chicago. Although a lot of buildings burned down, the basic architecture and framework of some of the buildings and the transportation system were still in tact. Because the framework was still there, workers began to build and soon by 1890, the city of Chicago was up and running again. In 1893, Chicago even hosted the World Columbian Exposition. Presently, where the O’Leary’s barn used to be stands the Chicago Fire Department training school.
The Deep Web
ReplyDeleteBy Dana Comiskey
There are places on the Internet where a person can order weapons, drugs, even assassins as easily as they might order books from Amazon.com. These places exist in what is commonly called the “deep web.” To explain, the deep web is a part of the internet not found using typical search engines. In fact, the traditional web (the web we all surf) takes up only 0.03% of the entire internet. The rest is comprised of the deep web. No one really knows how big the deep web really is, but it's hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of times bigger that the surface web. The data in this “undernet” isn't necessarily hidden on purpose. It's just hard for current search engine technology to find and make sense of it. In fact, about 54% of the deep web consists of databases. However, there's a flip side of the deep web that's a lot murkier—and, sometimes, darker—which is why it's also known as the dark web.
It’s challenging for someone to gain access to the deep web, but one type of software has been developed to allow people this access. Tor is software that installs into your browser and sets up the specific connections you need to access dark web sites. Basically, Tor is an encrypted (coded) technology that helps people maintain anonymity online. It does this in part by routing connections through servers around the world, making them much harder to track. Tor also lets people access so-called hidden services – underground websites for which the dark web is notorious. Instead of seeing domains that end in .com or .org, these hidden sites end in .onion.
What is particularly interesting about Tor is that it was initially created through research done by the US Naval Research Laboratory, which created it for political dissidents and whistleblowers, allowing them to communicate without fear of discovery and/or retaliation. Tor was so effective in creating anonymity for these groups, though, that it didn’t take long for the criminal-minded to start using it as well. So, that leaves the US law enforcement in the unique position of tracking criminals who are using government-created software to commit crimes and escape capture. Some of the most famous instances of illegal activities were reported relatively recently when the creator of the now shut-down website Silk Road was finally discovered. Silk Road was a website hidden in the dark web that sold people all varieties of illegal drugs and weapons, using an online, untraceable currency known as “bitcoins.” This website, as well as many others which are still in operation, allow people to buy and sell illegal goods and services, and the government cannot currently keep track of them all. While the government is continuously improving its methods of tracing behaviors on the deep web, it is still a long way away from eliminating the criminal behaviors entirely.
Now, while it’s obviously important for people to understand the dangers of the deep web, it’s also important to recognize and understand the positives. The deep web is home to alternate search engines, e-mail services, file storage, file sharing, social media, chat sites, news outlets, and whistleblowing sites, as well as sites that provide a safer meeting ground for political dissidents and anyone else who may find themselves on the fringes of society. For citizens living in countries with violent or oppressive leaders, the deep web offers a more secure way to communicate with like-minded individuals. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, which are easier for authorities to monitor, the deep web provides a better cover and safety for those who might speak out against politicians and other powerful individuals. Thus, this portion of the information superhighway is important for people to know about, if only to provide space for political discourse and free speech to abound.
DeleteOverall, the deep web is a part of the internet that contains both positive and negative potential. Much like everything in our world, the difference lies in how it is utilized. The deep web is a vague, ambiguous place. This web is filled with untapped possibilities that we are only on the surface of discovering, let alone understanding and mastering. It contains an enthralling amount of knowledge that could help evolve us, but its darker side will always be lurking too.
1919 World Series: Paid to Lose
ReplyDeleteBy Blair Wagonheim
Today professional baseball players receive celebrity treatment and are paid millions of dollars for their talents. However, this was not always the case. In fact, salaries were relatively “average” or even “low” compared to other jobs for the first half of the 20th century. While most of today’s scandals surrounding professional baseball relate to illegal steroid use, performing enhancing drugs, or the occasional corked bat and excess pine tar, in the early 1900s through 1920s, baseball scandals were often a result of poor working wages. Due to depressed salaries, professional gamblers could often incentivize players to throw (lose) games for additional money. One of the greatest known examples of this, and perhaps the most infamous and surprising baseball scandal of all time, occurred during the 1919 World Series, when eight members of the Chicago White Sox intentionally rigged games on their way to losing the World Series in exchange for money. Today, the fix is known as the 1919 “Black Sox” Scandal.
In the fall of 1919, the White Sox had just won the American League pennant, and were favored to win the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. However, there was a great deal of unrest among members of the team. The Sox was divided into two groups: one faction was led by second baseman Eddie Collins, and the other was led by first baseman Chick Gandil. While Collins's group was educated and able to bargain for higher salaries with ownership, Gandil's less-polished group was significantly underpaid and unable to obtain the salaries some of the other players received. As one example, Collins earned approximately $15,000 over the course of the 1919 baseball season, which is equal to approximately $200,000 today. Meanwhile, Gandil earned a mere $4,000 over the course of the entire season, which is equivalent to approximately $55,000 today. While such salaries are not terrible salaries in today’s dollars compared to the average working American, the major issue was the disparity in pay. Even though both players were exceptionally skilled, their respective salaries did not reflect that they were equally valued by the team’s owner. This severed as another major cause for members of the organization to intentionally lose the World Series.
The White Sox owner at the time, Charlie Comiskey, was extremely tightfisted with his players. Comiskey was able to get away with paying his players low wages due to what was known as the “reserve clause,” which prevented players from being able to switch teams without permission from their current team’s owner. In modern terms, no “free agency” existed until several lawsuits much later in the century. The inability to sign with a different team, even after a player’s contract with his current team expired, often led to severe hostility between team owners and the players since it gave players extremely little power in negotiating their salary. Players could not “threaten” to sign with another team once the season or their contract was up, and thus had little leverage. As a result, baseball players essentially had to play for whatever was offered by their team’s owner.
Furthermore, unlike the usual best-of-seven series (like the World Series today), the 1919 World Series was made a best-of-nine games series in order to bring more attention to the sport and money to the owners’ pockets. Fairness clearly did not matter. Thus, the extra income did not go to the players for their extra work, but rather, in the case of the White Sox, to Comiskey.
All of these circumstances created a recipe for disaster, and are widely believed to be the collective cause of one of baseball’s biggest cheating scandals. Joseph Sullivan and Arnold Rothstein, both professional gamblers, bribed eight White Sox players to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series against the Reds in exchange for a buyout in which each player that participated in the scheme received approximately $10,000. In other words, the biggest annual event of America’s favorite pastime was fixed. Of course, for certain players, this amount was double – if not more than double – than their entire salary for the season.
DeleteThe members of the 1919 Sox who participated in the scandal were two of the team’s pitchers, namely Eddie Cicotte and Claude Williams, outfielders Joe Jackson (who is more well-known today by his nickname, “Shoeless Joe”) and Happy Felsch, first baseman Chick Gandil, who is believed to be the ringleader, shortstop Swede Risberg, third baseman Buck Weaver, and backup player Fred McMullin. For the next year or so, rumors ran rampant that the World Series was intentionally fixed. Subsequently, based on further investigation, each player was criminally charged with conspiring to fix the outcome of baseball’s most revered series. Interestingly, before the 1919 World Series even started, many gamblers were tipped off about the fix, which caused the betting odds to shift shortly before the first from favoring the White Sox to favoring the Reds. This, along with other evidence, would eventually serve as evidence of the fix.
In the aftermath of the various rumors and subsequent charges, two of the more famous players, Cicotte and Shoeless Joe, confessed to their participation. The rest of the players involved, as well as several of the gamblers operating the fix behind the scenes, went to trial. However, the written confessions of Cicotte and Shoeless Joe were lost during trial, and ultimately the players on trial were acquitted by being found not guilty by the Chicago jury. Still, the jury’s finding did not prevent baseball’s commissioner at the time, a former federal judge, from invoking his own investigation and powers, and banning the eight players from baseball, for life. Today, various aspects of the “Black Sox” Scandal are constantly referenced in legal issues involving sports, from the commissioner’s powers to the ultimate “sin” when it comes to professional sports – fixing games. Now, almost 100 years later, the “fix” is surely etched in Chicago and American sports history.
Guernica
ReplyDeleteby: Amira Shabana
"Death and the vileness of our enemies are the monotonous color of our night." -Paul Eluard
To replace the old monarchy, the Spanish Republic was established. This new form of government was not welcomed by all of Spain. Thus began three long years of bloody civil war in 1936. Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco received the support from fellow dictators, Mussolini and Hitler. Franco granted Hitler permission to experiment military action on an innocent Basque town in the north of Spain. This is Guernica's story:
The Casa de Juntas stores the history and laws of the Basque people—it is where they house memories. A beautiful oak grows in the courtyard of this symbolic structure. This particular tree has united Basques from all the provinces for centuries. The Guernica tree, Guernikako arbola.
Rememberance.
It is a Monday. The town is bustling with activity on market day. A young woman travels from a neighboring village to Guernica to buy vegetables. A farmer is selling his cattle. A boy buys enough poultry to feed his family. At 4:30pm, the sky begins to darken. The townspeople look overhead; a city unprepared, undefended, unaware of what is about to take place. The first plane’s thunderous roar causes a young bull to run wildly in all directions. Everyone panics to find shelter in nearby buildings and homes. Bombs shower the city. Buildings collapse as fires leap from roof to roof. German bombers of the Condor Legion, followed by Italian planes, fly low over the town every five minutes. Families gunned down from the planes as they seek shelter in nearby woods.
Unthinkable.
Three hours and fifteen minutes later. Bombing ends.
Horror.
Remarkably, Casa de juntas and the special oak tree still stand. Most of the town is reduced to rubble. Fires rage long after the last plane disappears. The town is nearly destroyed by fire. This is the first attack on a town inhabited by defenseless civilians. On May 1st, the massacre is printed in the papers worldwide. A painter is appalled by what he reads on the front page, “Guernica in flames”. The artist is Pablo Picasso. The photo of the aftermath included in the newspaper is horrifying. Picasso is furious. The headline is devastating. 1,650 people lost their lives that day. General Francisco Franco denies that the event happened. That same day, Picasso transfers his feelings into an extraordinary work of art.
What power does art have?
Picasso creates a work so moving, so powerful entitled: Guernica. In 1939, the Museum of Modern Art in New York acquires Guernica. For 42 years the painting hangs in the MoMa. Until the country is no longer ruled by Franco, Picasso stipulates that the painting will not set foot on Spanish soil. For the same reasons, Picasso never returns to his homeland.
THE LEAKY DAM OF RACISM
ReplyDeleteThree events have happened in the last past couple of weeks that have left me baffled. A white man publicly wondered out loud if slavery were better for “the negro” because they don’t have anything to do now. A white NBA owner told his racially mixed girlfriend not to associate with black people publicly. And while sitting in a coffee shop with a friend of mine a costumer, enraged said, “shit, what’s with all this mixing?” as he put his coat on and stormed out unable to sit next to me and my black friend. I’ve encountered, or heard of, instances of racism before, but with the other experiences I could somehow justify it, chalk those experiences up to the flimsy idea that extreme ignorance is rare and only happens in pockets. Yet, with these three instances I have no mechanism with which to soften these. All three together are blunt objects cutting away at my perception of the world, leaving me grappling with what to make of it all.
It’s not the knowledge that racism exists that shocks me; it’s the amount of people that still harbor these feelings that shocks me. President Obama commented about the Sterling incident by saying, “We've made enormous strides, but you're going to continue to see this percolate up every so often, and I think that we just have to be clear and steady in denouncing it, and teaching our children differently.” True, but the rate of percolation seems to be increasing. I don’t disagree that we need to continue to denounce instances like this, but I think racism saturates our country much more than we want to admit and it appears we are really making no strides to counter this ideology. It’s easy for us to have fervor for the outspoken racism because we can identify it, but what about the racism that is private? That’s the really insidious stuff, and it appears to be bubbling up more frequently. Pacers forward David West tweeted, “All this sterling outrage speaks to how naive and gullible folks have become about race.” He hit it on the head. We, as Americans, have not even come close to resolving, much less even productively talking about race. If you are constantly plugging leaks in the dam, then the dam isn’t fixed, likewise, if instances like these keep percolating up, then our issue with race isn’t fixed.
What’s interesting about the Sterling incident is that it appears to be sending shock waves through our country and everyone seems to have been deeply affected by this. What I’m left with though is the exact question posed by Wesley Morris and Rembrandt Browne in their article The Owner and the Owned: A Discussion About Donald Sterling. “Is Sterling just the one who got caught? You have to believe there are others who think just like him. And not just within sports, but everywhere. That this pernicious universe remains in which blacks are entertainers, and often rewarded for that entertainment, but are institutionally — purposefully — kept from positions of power. Pick an industry and you can see that play out — that is, if you care to look.” We can be outraged by these instances, but the question still stands, is this incident evidence of a greater problem? And, more importantly is America willing to look for more instances to ensure we work towards truly fixing it?
Rather than simply adding to the clamor and vitriol that everyone so easily spews when signs of racism occur, these events should incite self-reflection. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve had to work through some implicit ideas and beliefs that I unintentionally harbored about myself and my students to grow into a better person and teacher, but most are not willing to travel this trail. It takes humility and the willingness to deal with the faulty DNA that we’ve each been given through the generations. No matter how progressive we may seem there are faulty ideologies within us all, most are easy to fix, but they do require the necessary work to make the adjustments. It was C.S. Lewis who said, “When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right.” This is the unfortunate mire that we are in today. In thinking that we are progressive and good, we’ve missed, or ignored, the reality of how bad our country still is in many aspects, especially when it comes to race. This is true for our country and the individuals that make it up. We love the warm, fuzzy feeling that people like President Obama and Oprah provide us, but still the dam leaks. Our perceived open-mindedness might in fact not be true at all, but we can’t get out of our own way, mostly due to pride, in order to truly fix the dam.
ReplyDeleteIt’s easier to continuously plug the leaks in the dam, but when do we do the really hard part of fixing the dam? The really scary question is what will happen if we never do? The leaks are warning us of impending doom if we do nothing. The leaks are proof that the dam needs to be fixed. One person can’t fix a dam, yet if enough people begin to remove the false masks of equality and open-mindedness that we so conveniently wear, and have been blinding us to our true nature, than perhaps we can begin to fix the problem. “Pride comes before the fall,” wrote King Solomon, and until we stop fooling ourselves into believing the ignorant, prideful fallacy that we’ve resolved “the race problem” than the leaks will continue to happen. It’s time that we do more than mend the leaks, its time the we as individuals begin to start doing the hard work of fixing our own skewed DNA so that we can collectively repair our country. I realize that this is easier said than done, but one giant step in the right direction would have to be to free ourselves from our isolated ideologies and communities to experience, share, and create relationship with our fellow man that looks, and perhaps thinks, a bit different than us. It’s not a quick fix, but it’s a step in the right direction to ensuring that the dam eventually gets fixed, and our country gets healed.
Putting your Trash to Good Use
ReplyDeleteMethane is a colorless, odorless gas characterized by the chemical formula CH4. The third largest source of methane gas emissions is your local landfill. In the United States, methane gas emissions from landfills, which is the result of decomposing solid waste, accounted for roughly 18.2 percent of human-related methane gas emissions in 2012. While methane gas is colorless and odorless, the increase of it in the environment can have adverse effects on the Earth.
Included among the list of greenhouse gases, methane gas is labeled as one that is more effective at contributing to global warming. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of methane gas is 21, which means that it will warm the Earth 21 times more than an equal mass of carbon dioxide (CO2) over the next 100 years. Although methane gas stays in the atmosphere for a lesser period than carbon dioxide, it is more effective at absorbing energy which causes it to stay trapped within the atmosphere and cause climate change.
The faster we are able to stop this gas from our atmosphere, the more we can prevent it from impacting our global climate. In response to the dangers of the impact of methane gas in the atmosphere, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established the Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP). This program is targeted for states to use in reducing their landfill gas (LMG) emissions by promoting the capture and use of landfill gas as an energy source. Landfill gas can be used to generate electricity and thermal energy in the form of steam and water to power engines and turbines, produce electricity or as an alternate for fossil fuels.
There are many benefits of using LFG as an energy source. The most important of these benefits is that LFG is prevented from entering the atmosphere where it can cause changes in climate. The use of LFG also inhibits the use of non-renewable resources such as coal, oil and gas from being burned and their byproducts released into the atmosphere causing pollution and climate change. The Landfill Methane Outreach Program also benefits the local economy by providing jobs at every level to manage the program, thus increasing employment, and by investing in the local businesses to support the program. Also, businesses that use this landfill gas as an energy source find that it is cheaper to use than fossil fuels. Currently, auto manufacturing, food processing, pharmaceuticals, wastewater treatment, consumer electronics and products are among the industries that utilize landfill gas energy.
Climate Change and Florida’s Coast
ReplyDeleteSea levels have been rising since the development of modern civilization in Florida. As more and more people have come and the land has become more developed, the rates of sea-level rise have increased. This change in sea-level rise is mostly due to climate change and is causing a host of problems in Florida and other coastal states and communities. If climate change is not stopped soon, much of South Florida will become inhabitable in the next 200 years.
The question for Florida when it comes to climate change and sea-level rise is not if the state will be affected, but how much. Florida has nearly 1,200 miles of coast line and most of Florida’s 18 million residents live within 60 miles of the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. These counties on the coast represent a built environment and infrastructure whose replacement value in 2010 was $2.0 trillion. With the sea-level rise and all of the problems that come with it, this infrastructure is at risk.
The rising waters bring with them a host of environmental problems. The risk for flooding and storm surge during hurricanes and tropical storms is increasing every year. Salt water is seeping into and contaminating fresh water reservoirs in South Florida. Some scientists are predicting that in 100 years, South Florida will be inhabitable.
The threat of rising seas is not only for the human inhabitants of Florida. Wildlife and the natural environment will also experience problems. The rising sea-level is shortening Florida’s beaches and islands. Animals such as birds and sea turtles use this land to nest and live. Their habitat is getting smaller and more dangerous in many places. The Everglades, Florida’s largest resource for fresh water, is becoming contaminated with salt water and local plants and animals are becoming endangered.
If we don’t do something to stop climate change and sea-level rise in Florida, the state as we know it might become extinct. The people, habitat, and animals are all seeing the effects of climate change. Humans everywhere need to be more conscious of the effects their actions are having on our planet. While we might not be able to stop these effects from happening, we can lessen their impact.