Earth Quakes

Last month in china there was a massive earth quake. This mas destruction had collapsed school, houses, mountain sides fell, hearts broken. This has been china longest month of their lives. The government took action right away. chines sholdiers marched trough the destruction looking for survivours. The land was so tore up that it took days for the sholdiers to get to the hardest hit places. As the search went on the death tole had rose to almost 70 000 people, and more then 17 000 are still missing.these surviviours we put in make shift camps. dams are still breaking causing massive floods trough the mountain's making new land slides. The government are just only talking about Reconstruction its going to take years to rebuild but life's lost will never rebuild.

I think that the government of china are handling this well. this is not a easy problem to handle. I also think that other countries should help out more because we never hear about anything that we did to help.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/news/china.earthquake/

Turbot Closure

Turbot Closure

Fishermen blocked the harbour Tuesday to protest the early closure of the turbot fishery.
Approximately two dozen fishermen stood on the wharf in Cow Head, after putting a rope across the harbour to prevent any boats from leaving or entering the wharf.
On Monday, the DFO announced the turbot fishery would close for vessels less than 19.8 m (65 ft.) based in western Newfoundland would close at 8 p.m. Tuesday evening.
The DFO also stated within the announcement, the reason why the turbot was closing was because of the high bycatch of the Halibut.
“Fishermen said without the turbot fishery they wouldn't be able to make ends meet, and half of their quota is still in the water.”
The union representing our province’s fisherman was supposed to meet with the DFO to deal with the inadequate halibut quota.
“David Decker, spokesman for the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union, said the department needs to deal with an unfair sharing of the halibut quota between Newfoundland and Quebec, and a failure to free up halibut quota that has been set aside for bycatch for cod and redfish fisheries.
"The halibut resource has been rebounding significantly. This has been documented by science. There is strong recruitment. And in addition to that we can free up halibut quota assigned to non-existent fisheries," Decker said in a statement.”
There are about 100 vessels are involved in the turbot fishery, which means a lot of these people could become unemployed.
DFO also stated fishing gear had to be removed from the water by 8 p.m. but the fishermen alleged they were planning to continue their protest.
In my opinion, I think the fishery should stay open, because they decided to close the cod fishery on us, all our dependence was based on the cod and we lost it all. The turbot fishery should be ours because of that, and plus hardly anybody fishes halibut.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2008/06/10/turbot-protest.html

Oil Spills

The oil spill near the town of Usinsk in Northern Russia (Komi
republic) is one of the most serious environmental disasters of the
decade. The pipeline just south of the Arctic Circle had been
leaking since February 1994 but the oil was contained within a dike
built for this purpose. On October 1st, the dike collapsed because
of cold and snow. Following the collapse, around 102,000 tones of
oil began to pour onto the Siberian tundra. The spill reached the
Kolva River, a tributary of the Pechora River, which falls into the
Barents Sea.The ruptured pipeline is the third largest oil spill in
history. Russia has more than a million miles of gas and oil
pipelines, many of them poorly maintained. "Every year, up to a
fifth of Russia's total oil production is lost - partly through
theft, but much of it through leakage". Komineft, the company
responsible for the 20-year-old pipeline, has a history of
accidents caused by age and corrosion. Along the oil pipelines,
which experience hundreds of leaks and breakages each year, the
ground is saturated with oil.

oil spills are one of the most dangerous environmental disasters. I think that governments should pay more attention two their pipelines because when these chemicals leach into the ground it kills all the soil and nothing will grow back there, also when the oil gets into the water it will kill the fish and birds that get in it. personally i think this is a crime, the people that don't make sure that this don't happen should be punished.

http://www.american.edu/ted/KOMI.HTM

Water Quality

What are we drinking?

The consumption of poor-quality drinking water can have a serious impact on public health. The degradation of water bodies by human waste and industrial activities can also seriously harm fish and other wildlife even humans.Incredibly, what happened on December 3rd is only one part of the ongoing chemical disaster in Bhopal.A long list of toxic chemicals created and used in Union Carbide's pesticide formulation process lurked in the water, soil, and living organisms around the factory.The vast majority of the more than 20,000 people living in communities that surround the abandoned Union Carbide plant and solar evaporation ponds rely on groundwater for all of their domestic water uses, including drinking. A 2001-2003 survey in Annu Nagar found that 91% of the households interviewed use contaminated hand pumps to supply drink water. Mercury, heavy metals, and VOCs appeared at dangerously high levels in the water samples.

A series of health camps were organized by the Sambhavna Trust Clinic from July 15, 2000 onwards at Atal-Ayub Nagar. Of the 240 persons reporting to the health camps, 181 were tested for Haemoglobin content in their blood. It was found that only 5 % of the persons examined had normal values. That is 40% less than the national average for India.

In my opinion I think that these abandoned plants should be striped down and properly cleaned up so that these places wouldn't have to deal with these problems. i also think that these areas should be made boil all there water before using it, also i think that the government should take part and supply every home with a manual filtering system. this way it could reduce some problems that the water has

http://www.niichro.com/Environ/Enviro4.html

Declining Fishery

Declining Fishery


In today’s society, the fish has been declining by numbers each and every day. The key to stop this tragedy from going any further would be realizing the concept of “SUSTAINABILITY.” Sustainability is defined as an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future.We can learn how to conserve all of the different types of fish, especially cod. Before the occurrence of the moratorium in 1992, the Government started to realize what would happen in a couple years time if they didn’t take a course of$ action. "The Government of Canada recognizes its moral obligation to treat fairly fishermen and plant workers who, through no fault of their own, face two years with no income from the northern cod fishery," Mr. Crosbie said.” Mr. Crosbie also stated, "The period of the moratorium offers an opportunity to consider what is needed to achieve a self-sustaining northern cod fishery, including a means to stabilize fishery incomes in the event of catch failure," The moratorium meant there was no work for at least 20,000 inshore fishery minorities. So many people were angry, blaming the government mismanagement.

I think the moratorium made much of a change to our fishery. Today, the cod stocks are still declining, and we cannot do anything to stop it because they wont let us kill more seals. Our main source of life – fishery – is slipping away from under us, and we cannot prevent it.In the past us, and our people should have sustained it.

http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/cod/announce.htm
http://archives.cbc.ca/economy_business/natural_resources/clips/1081/

Coyote Bounty

In the winter of 1985, There was reports of wolf-like dogs coming ashore from the ice near the Port au Port Peninsula. The first confirmed coyote on the Island of Newfoundland was a pup hit by a car near Deer Lake in 1987. By the mid 1990s, coyotes were found throughout most of the Island. The winters of 2005-2006, there were 19 coyotes were captured and radio transmitters were put on them so they could be tracked. Some coyotes moved around a lot more then they thought. One moved 170 km from the place they tagged it, and another one moved 110 km from the place they tagged it. Today there is a bounty on coyotes so people could kill them. The reason why there is a bounty put on these coyotes is because they are killing off a lot of our moose and caribou and if we don't do anything about it the coyote will be over populated.

I totally agree with the bounty on these animals because if theres nothing done with them they will be over populated and then they will become a huge problem because they would be in the community's attacking people when they run out of resources in the forest.

URL: Env sci textbook unit 2

Snowmobile Engines

In our province today we use snowmobiles all winter long and a lot of us use them. today there are 4-stoke engines on the market. These engines are improvements to a 2-stroke engine because they burn less fuel and they release a lot less pollution in the air from the fumes. Just imagine if 200 2-stroke snowmobiles in a area burnt 25 letters of fuel and 1/3rd left the exhaust unburned. That would be a total of 1650 litres of fuel released into the environment in one day. Not counting the fumes that would be released. What do you think should happen to snowmobile engines? Should they stay 2-stroke or should the be 4-stroke?

Personally I think that I would rather a 2-stroke snowmobile then a 4-stroke because the 2-stroke has more power and it is a lot lighter then the 4-stroke. On the other hand I think that there should only be 4-strokes because they burn less fuel and they put off a lot less emissions then the 2-stroke engine. also in our situation with global warming today we should be worried about our ozone and what we are doing with it.

URL: Env sci textbook unit 2.

Forest Pest Control

Forest all over Canada today are being attacked by pest such as the spruce bud worm. when these bugs come in over a number of areas it doesn't take long for them to wipe out a forest. For example when I was ski-dooing this winter I saw a area where bugs have Eaton all the trees to death, The area was at least 2km squared. We have to control these pests from eating our forest there are many ways we can do it but it cost to much money and it's a lot of work to save Canada's forest.

one way that we could save our forest is to find a chemical that will kill the bugs not just frighten them away. also if we do that we would have to find something that wouldn't harm the trees. When we have found the right chemical we could spray the area that the bugs are eating the trees and try to solve the problem.

URL: http://www.bugwood.org/pestcontrol/insects.html

Tuckamore Forest

The tuckamore forest are small stunted evergreen trees with gnarled
spreading roots, forming closely matted ground-cover on the barrens. It is mostly found along the coastal areas, and on higher elevations. The tuckamore forest have most of the oldest individuals on the island. The tuckamore forest has adapted to our environment by being able to grow in acward paterens for example the tuckamore trees grow along the shoreline and salt from the sea kills the trees. So they have adapted to our enviroment by growing in a diretcion that there is no salt hitting the tree.

URL: http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nl/grosmorne/natcul/natcul5_e.asp

Monongah Mining Disaster

The worst mining disaster in American History occurred in the community of Monongah, West Virginia on December 6, 1907. Around 10 o'clock in the morning after a full force of 380 men and boys had begun their shift, mines number 6 and 8 of the Consolidated Coal Company shook from the impact of an underground explosion. A total of 362 men and boys lost there lives.

The mines were connected above ground by a steel bridge over the West Fork River and underground tunnels. An enourmous cave-in closed the main entrance of number 6 the main opening was blocked by two strings of ore cars and two electric dynamo motors. The underground structure was twisted into a mass of rock, wood and metal. The explosion destroyed the ventilation systems causing a deadly build up of gases trapped in the mines. The poisonous fumes flowed trough the mines causing rescuers to work in relays as they had no protective devises, such as gas masks and could only work in the deadly atmosphere for fifteen minutes before resurfacing. Fires in mines number 6 and 8 created an additional hazard of smoke, and flames which increased the problems involved in the rescue attempt. The fire started on December 8th in the main entry of mine number 6 around midnight and the second fire started in mine number 8 shortly after 3 o'clock in the afternoon, delaying rescue work. By 1908the coal mine operators were starting to recognize that an unsafe mine was costly and unproductive. In 1909 the Engineering & Mining Journal stated that accident showed lack of efficiency and production in a mine and lack of productivity would result in lack of profitability so the closed down the mine in 1910.

Mining is a very dangerous job but there are may ways that we could make them more safe to work in. The main problem with this mine was that it wasn't safe enough to work in. I think when underground mines are made they should be made with more exits then one, because no one knows when that one exit can collapse and kill hundreds of people. I know that it would take more time and money to do this but it would be better then people dieing.
URL: http://www.boisestate.edu/history/ncasner/hy210/mining.htm