Australian Wildfires

Blogged by:  Parker

        As of January fourth, wildfires in Southern Australia had destroyed twenty-thousand hectares of land, and experts are saying that global climate change is the most likely cause of disasters like this which are becoming increasingly more common. There were twenty six homes destroyed by the inferno, and authorities were still attempting to supress the flames on January eighth. 
          Wildfires are not the only form of natural disaster that are becoming more common, other ones such as hurricanes and tornados are also growing in number due to manmade global warming. Tony Abbott of The UN Convention on Climate Change claims that these wildfires “are certainly not a function of climate change, they're a function of life in Australia”, however, the Australian government estimates that they’ll need to double the number of firefighters in the country by 2030 at the latest. This demand for emergency personnel has already begun however, as the number of calls for paramedics increased twenty fold during the last heat wave in Australia. 
         The series of wildfires that have been persisting in Australia recently has been said to been the most potentially dangerous the country has seen since the Ash Wednesday Disaster of 1983, when 180 separate fires, fueled by 110 kilometer per hour winds burned more than 1.2 million acres across Australia. 
            There is good news though as well, the brutal heat wave that has been creating the perfect conditions for the wildfires to thrive appears to be coming to a close. This means that soon the government will be able to begin returning people to their homes after they finish containing the fires, repairing power lines, and clearing roads. Of course, if nothing is done to counter the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to the global climate change, these fires will just continue to become more common and destructive.




image from:  http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/02/bushfires_in_victoria_australi.html

Fukushima --Effects on Canada

Blogged by: Stephen

Do you remember the horrible nuclear disaster that happened at the Fukushima daiichi power plant? For those of you who don't the    Fukushima disaster occurred on March, 11, 2011.The accident happened when a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit japan triggering a tsunami, This tsunami caused critical damage to the power plants cooling systems causing them to start pouring out radioactive substances into the water.

  Not only has the disaster greatly impacted our water quality and infected fish and other sea life with very harmful radiation. The effects of fukushima are also now directly affecting sea life directly off the canadian coast. Now you may be wondering, why does the news not promote this issue so canadians are aware of it? I do not know the answer to this, But i do know that it is an issue directly affecting canadians food sources, water and land quality. I don't know about you but if the fish i was eating contained tons of radiation, i would want to know about it!

Lets make a change and get the word out about this issue!

Change can start with you!

Out of this World News!

New Water on New Comets
By: Maddie G.

The Rosetta spacecraft has detected water coming off comet 67P. The water vapor found on Comet 67P has been tested and found to be significantly different to the water found on Earth. The spacecraft found that water on comet 67P contains about three times more deuterium than water on Earth. Deuterium is a heavier form of hydrogen.

Comet 67P

This is leading to the debate of where the water on Earth originated from in the first place. It is believed that when the planet was formed 4.6 billion years ago, any of the existing water should have been boiled off. But now in 2015, about two thirds of the planet is covered in water.

So where did all this water come from? Scientists think that Comet 67P came from what is called the Kuiper belt, which is a broad band of frozen bodies that begins outside the orbit of Neptune. Kathrin Altwegg from the University of Bern said that instead of comets carrying water to Earth, the water may have arrived on the asteroids instead.

The Rosetta spacecraft “selfie

Measurements from other comets have found water with similar deuterium contents to that on Earth, but the strange structure of comet 67P’s water suggests that the idea of the comets bringing water to Earth is too basic. Altwegg said that in the end, the earth’s oceans are probably made from a mix of things.

Ocean acidification destroying the beautiful Coral Reef

Blogged by: Megan

The coral reef is home to thousands of species and is the world's largest coral reef that needs to be protected.Extending more than 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) through the Coral Sea off northeastern Australia and is the main habitat for endangered species but with ocean acidification it is destroying their home. Ocean acidification is the decrease of pH levels by the increase of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  The acidity in the ocean dissolves the calcium carbonate that forms the coral reef, the ability for it to build. Since the last century ocean acidification has increased by 30 percent , making the condition of the reef decreasing each year.

Scientists estimate that by the year 2050 if ocean acidification does not approve the coral reef will become just a story and many species will die out causing many food chains/webs to be in tremendous trouble. By  most of the carbon dioxide comes from the population that lives on the planet , we need to reduce our CO2 footprint to save the wonderful reef. Simply just by watching your emission gases into the atmosphere can help  save and by simply spreading the world around of how much of a  serious issue  Ocean acidification is so we can  help save these species home!

What type of energy resources does Canada use?

Blogged by: Jessy

Stern, Rudi. "LET THERE BE NEON!" LET THERE BE NEON! Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://www.lettherebeneon.com/?page_id=437>.

In the beginning of December, I taught a grade nine geography class about evaluating energy strategies. I showed them why Canadians use up so much energy and I made them think of ways to reduce this amount. Reasons why Canadians use so much energy are:

• Long, cold winters require heating, while humid summers require an increased demand for air conditioning.
• Since Canada is such a large country, most Canadians drive or fly in order to get to certain destinations.
• Our industries use a large amount of energy to power all of our machinery and to shape resources into finished products.
• Canada has a high standard of living. Personal comfort in for Canadians means a lot of electronics and motorized devices. Ex. Snow mobiles
• We tend to value comfort and convenience over energy conservation.

I also went through the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy sources and the different types of each energy source.

"What Is Renewable Energy? Sources of Renewable Energy." Eschooltoday. 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://www.eschooltoday.com/energy/renewable-energy/what-is-renewable-energy.html>.

RENEWABLE RESOURCES

Renewable energy is energy that can reproduce itself fairly quickly. Different ways to use renewable sources to create energy are through

Hydroelectricity (energy created through water),

Bavota, C. "Resources." The Great Cavallini Energy Debate. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://lcampana.com/webquest/resources/>.

Geothermal (energy stored and created within the earth),

Bavota, C. "Resources." The Great Cavallini Energy Debate. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://lcampana.com/webquest/resources/>.

Solar energy (energy created by harnessing sunlight),

Bavota, C. "Resources." The Great Cavallini Energy Debate. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://lcampana.com/webquest/resources/>.

Wind energy (energy created by harnessing wind).

Bavota, C. "Resources." The Great Cavallini Energy Debate. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://lcampana.com/webquest/resources/>.

NON-RENEWABLE SOURCES

A non-renewable resource is an energy resource that cannot reproduce itself. Different types of non-renewable energy are

Nuclear power plants (energy formed by an atomic reaction),

Reidy, Katy. "Could Nuclear Power Solve Our Energy Crisis?" Trinity News. 4 Dec. 2014. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://trinitynews.ie/could-nuclear-power-solve-our-energy-crisis/>.

Fossil fuels (Fuels containing once living things),

"What Is Energy." Energy and Kids. 1 Jan. 2005. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://www.kids.esdb.bg/basic.html>.

Thermal electric power (Heat that is converted into energy).

"OTEC By the Numbers." The On Project. 1 Jan. 2011. Web. 19 Jan. 2015. <http://www.theonproject.org/2011/otec-by-the-numbers/>.

I feel that teaching younger audiences about the importance of using renewable energy resources is a key step in helping reduce climate change, pollution, and other environmental issues. By teaching them about renewable and non-renewable energy, they now know that there are better alternatives to every negative way of creating energy.

I also showed the class this video to further my explanation of energy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Vb6hlLQSg

US and China Climate Change Agreement

Blogged by:  Liam

The USA and China, two of the worlds biggest economies, recently made an “Historic Agreement” regarding the greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. Although neither of the countries promised to stop using coal and oil any time soon, some arrangements were made in hopes of drastically reducing these emissions. The US has said they will double the speed of the reduction of their emissions and try to get 26% to 28% below 2005 emissions by 2025.China hopes to do the same thing by 2030. As many of us know from our class discussions China has a serious issue with air pollution especially in the Beijing area, where they actually have to have “Air quality days”. This agreement is something that wouldn't have been imagined 5 years ago especially with two of the most industrialized countries in the world. However it is easy to be weary of agreements like this because if there is one thing politicians are good at its lying. People should monitor this situation carefully and make sure the two nations meet their goals by 2025 and 2030.

 

(Photo Courtesy of USA today)

Ocean Pollution

By: Jenna G.

Garbage in our oceans have become a big problem in the past few years. Many people don't realize the effects that this plastic garbage has on our oceans. Humans have developed this mindset “Out of sight out of mind”. Because the problem is not effecting them directly it has become out of control and we fear that there will be no fix for the future. The great pacific garbage patch is one of the major concerns to ocean pollution. It is a collection of debris that ends up in our oceans. The ocean currents brings all the debris to a specific area. The two biggest garbage patches located in the oceans, are known as the eastern and western garbage patch, and because of their large size it has become a problem that doesn't have an easy fix.  

Causes:

• Non-Biodegradable products

→ Plastic water bottles

→ Plastic shopping bags

• Human demand for plastics
• Plastics not properly being disposed

Humans are the cause of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. They have created and continue to contribute to the growth of the patch. The patch consists of marine debris that is non-biodegradable, mainly plastics. These small pieces of plastics have created a problem for many of the birds, fish, turtles, seals, and filter feeders such as baleen whale species. Many of the marine life mistake these pieces of plastic for food. The small plastic pieces are similar in size to plankton, a common diet to many marine species. Along with plastic bags often get mistaken for jellyfish. We need to stand up and put a stop to this problem before it is absolutely too late. Small steps can be taken in your daily life to help improve our oceans.

What can you do?

• Be aware of this problem
• Educate people on this concern
• Reduce the amount of plastic you use:

→ Reusable water bottles

→ Cloth shopping bags

→ Reusable containers

→ Products with little packaging

Help Clean Up Our Oceans