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.

Homework: Turkey Earthquake

1.) What are the names of the two tectonic plates which are interacting to cause earthquakes in Turkey. 

• The names of the two tectonic plates which are interacting to cause earthquakes are named the Arabian Plate and Eurasian plate. 

2.) What kind of plate boundary is it? 

• The plates are convergent boundaries. 

3.) What is the most powerful magnitude earthquake that has struck Turkey in the past 100 years? 

• The most powerful magnitude earthquake that has struck Turkey in the past 100 years as a M7.8 earthquake that hit Erzincan in 1939.

Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam

If the construction project were to go through, only the people of China would have benefited from it.  The Chinese were the ones who would have constructed it and they 90% of the power it generated would have gone to China.  Now this is not only a turn away for the people of Burma, but there are also very large environmental impacts as well.  If the dam were to be built it would immerse cultural and historical sites, along with the birthplace of Burma.  It would also flood 766 kilometers of forests.  100 kilometers away is a fault line, so, if there was ever an earthquake, the possabilities of the dam craking are very high.  The opinion that this author has about this topic is that he is in favor for the construction being halted.  I know this because only cons were displayed not pros.