Tier 2: Damming River

Dams have many positive and negative impacts on nature, and the people that live around the river.  In my opinion, I think that the positives out weight the negative impacts, therefore, humans should continue to construct dams.  Reasons that they should do so is because a dam controls flooding.  Flooding, every year, ruins the lives for so many.  People loose the homes, their valuables and sometimes even their lives, so if there is a way to stop it from happening, why not.  Now, the negative impacts are kind of sever, for example, species like fish will not be able to cross to the other side of the river because the dam blocks it, but are the lives of people not more important than fish?  Now, I am not saying that fish aren’t important but there are other things that can be done to protect them. Another positive to building dams is electricity.  Dams create hydropower which is electricity.  That electricity is cheeper and is a renewable source of energy.  Therefore, I believe that humans should continue to contruct dams because it saves life and money and can be used as a source of power.

Classwork: "Snow damages Colosseum

What kind of weathering is affecting the Colosseum? Is it Chemical or Mechanical?
The kind of weathering that is affecting the Colosseum is Mechanical.  It is mechanical frost wedging.  It is this because ice has been getting into the cracks in the walls making it expand.  then it thaws and the Colosseum is unsafe.

Reading Graphs: How to read a graph

What is the horizontal axis showing, and what is the range of values?

The horizontal axis is showing calendar years and the range of values (from when to when the data was collected is from 1979-2000.

Is present day on the right, or the left?
Present day(11 years ago) is on the right.

What is the vertical axis showing, what are the units, and what is the range of values?
 The vertical axis is showing degrees C˚.  The range of values is -0.6˚ -  0.8˚ C.  The horizontal axis is showing calendar years
The graph was created from data that was gathered.  Does the web page state where the data came from?
The web page (nasa) states that the information comes from surface temperatures in the tropospheric  layer.

Do I Believe What I Read?

After reading the two articles about global warming, I came to the conculution that I did not believe or agree with either of the two.  Actually saying that I did not agree would be a false statement because I could agree with both.  National Geographic, I personally think, is not a bias website.  On the other hand, I could not decipher whether or not the other one was bias or not.  I don't think that they both gave all the information and I think any information they had was accurate for the entire globe.

Soil Loss Intro -- The End of Cheep Food

I read the article The End of Cheep Food.  The article had many statistics.  Here are a couple:


Statistic: 98% of people do not derive their lively hood from the ground.  Only 1/3 of people make something.
Reaction: Compared to 1-2 centuries ago, that is not a lot of people who make a lively hood from the ground.  If you think about how much country land their is in the US and the world, then look at that percentage, that is not a lot of people farming.  I wonder what happens to all of that land.

Statistic: China has 20% of the worlds population, but only has 7% of the worlds farm land.
Reaction: That is a lot of people.  OK, first of all, China is a huge consumer of rice.  That is a staple in their diet.  But if they only have 7% of the land, how are they feeding everyone.  The article then goes on to say that countries are buying each others land in order to feed their people. This must be a reason that Chinese families can only have 2 children.

Homework: Coal Mining

What are the causes of explosions in coal mines? 

• Methane ignition
• Production over safety
• Workers were intimidates to tell officials what was really going on
• Many violations of laws
• Mining industries failed to conduct inspectors

How were families in the United States compensated for the deaths of their family members?

• Each family was paid 1.5 million dollars
• They were told that the safety of these mines would improve.

How does the compensation of the United States families compare to the compensation of Chinese families?

• Each family was paid 10,000 yuan for the expenses of the funeral
• Each family was then paid 660,000 yaun

Speculate about why miner safety conditions are so much worse in China:

• No one cares
• The government is run by a dictator and the dictator does not care
• Everyone is afraid to go against the beliefs of the dictator

Homework: Who was most directly responsible for the Deepwater Horizon Disaster? What Would be "Justice" for the Responsible Party?

Who do you think was most directly responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster? Why?--
I think that the crew was most directly responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster.  The crew was directly responsible for the disaster because they were the ones who initially got the reading that something was wrong but ignored it.  There were things that could have been done to prevent it and they were not.

What would be "justice" for the responsible party?
Justice for the responsible party can not properly be served.  Now although the crew was responsible, 11 people died, and others were injured so the sympathy part of me says that they should not be responsible for the justice.  The people who would be responsible for the justice would be the company and people that make the regulations because there should have been regulations that keep things like misreadings from happening.