Ch 10 Blog

Human Population Growth

The Earth's population has increased dramatically over the past century. In 1804, there were an estimated one billion people on the planet. By 1927, that number had doubled, and it doubled again in 1974. At that rate of growth, the Census Bureau estimates, the world population could reach 9.4 billion by the year 2050.
China is the world's most populous nation with about 1.32 billion men, women and children - about 20% of world population. The second largest is India, with 1.12 billion - about 17 percent of all people on Earth. India is followed by the United States, with 300 million and Indonesia, with 225 million people. Together, these four nations contain nearly half of the world's human population.
There's an obvious link between the number of people and the amount of pressure we are putting on the environment. More people require more resources to survive. That means more potential for polluting the planet's air, soil and water.
That's where we all come in. Saving the environment will require everyone's best efforts - not just those of politicians, scientists, grownups or kids acting alone.- by David George Gordon 

Check out this National Geographic Video that explains the graph below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4HxPxNrZ0

What's Your Plan? How are you going to be a part of the solution to environmental woes? 

Posts must be a minimum of five sentences.
Please sign your first name and period only!

Earth Day is April 22! 

Click the links below for ideas!

http://www.scholastic.com/actgreen/

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=271

Ch. 7 BLOG 2014

Should conservationists allow some species to die out?

A recent report reveals that one in five vertebrates worldwide is threatened, but so is the funding to save them. Projects like the preservation of the California Condor cost over $4 million a year. Stuart Pimm, a conservation ecologist at Duke University states, "people have to accept that we don't have enough money to save everything." Check out the organisms on the endangered species list http://www.fws.gov/endangered/.

Hugh Possingham a ecologist and mathematician from the University of Queensland in Australia explains, "some endangered species are far more likely to recover than others, so we should identify those and save as many as we can." The California Condor probably wouldn't make the list.

David Jachowski a wildlife biologist from the University of Missouri gives an opposing view saying, "rare or declining species are typically poorly studied, so the easiest to conserve might not be the most ecologically important."

Both sides agree that a successful recovery program must understand why a species is in trouble in the first place and identify solutions to fix the problem before a species is reintroduced in the wild.


The original  Endangered Species Act (ESA fact sheet) was passed in 1973. Is it time for it to be revised? If so, what criteria do you think it should be based on?



See the following links for more information.
http://discover.coverleaf.com/discovermagazine/201103?pg=17#pg17
Discover Magazine
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/

Posts must be a minimum of five sentences.
Please sign your first name and period only!

VOLCANOES!

Controversy Erupts!

The volcanic eruption last year over Iceland sparked much controversy. Many people were evacuated from their homes, travelers were stranded, and airline companies suffered from financial loss because of the cancellation of flights, not to mention the talks about potential health risks triggered by the ash cloud.
Check out these amazing pictures!

Now the controversy has been shifted to the U.S. Congress:

In a reaction to the Democratic Party’s stimulus package, Republican Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal stated that it is unnecessary to monitor volcanic activity in Alaska. "He claimed that “their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington D.C.”

On the opposing side, Democrat Senator Mark Begich, Alaska said that ‘volcano monitoring’ is a matter of life and death. He also said that it “safeguards national economic interests, since Anchorage is one of the busiest cargo airports in the world. Any interruptions of that traffic by a volcanic eruption could be felt in Tokyo, New York or even Baton Rouge.”

Should the U.S. learn from Iceland's natural disaster or worry more about our countries deficit? You decide.

Write a paragraph (5 sentence) response voicing your opinion on the issue. Check back at a later date and respond in a full paragraph to two other bloggers. Remember! Only sign your post with your first name and period.

Read the full article

Alfred Wegener

"Some truly revolutionary scientific theories may take years or decades to win general acceptance among scientists. This is certainly true of plate tectonics, one of the most important and far-ranging geological theories of all time; when first proposed, it was ridiculed, but steadily accumulating evidence finally prompted its acceptance, with immense consequences for geology, geophysics, oceanography, and paleontology. And the man who first proposed this theory was a brilliant interdisciplinary scientist, Alfred Wegener." -The Origins of Continents and Oceans (4th edition) 




If you were a scientist during the early 1900's would you have supported Wegener and his theories. Why or why not? Explain.
 

Geologist R. Thomas Chamberlain said, "If we are to believe in Wegener's hypothesis we must forget everything which has been learned in the past 70 years and start all over again." 
 

See the links below for more information on the topic.
http://www.scientus.org/Wegener-Continental-Drift.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html

Write a paragraph response to the question posed above including a quote from one of the resources provided or one of your own to use as support for your statements. Then respond in an additional paragraph to two other students. Please include your first name only and the period.

The Dam Debate

Where does our water come from? The Hetch Hetchy Water System transports Tuolumne River water 156 miles from the Central Sierra to the San Francisco Bay. While another water system, The East Bay Municipal Utility District, supplies cities on the east side of San Francisco Bay with Mokelumne River water. Check out the interactive map to explore our watershed.

Our Local Watershed Interactive Map

There is a debate between environmentalists and city officials about whether the O'Shaughnessy Dam, part of the Hetch Hetchy water system, should be removed or not. Research more about the dam using the sites below.

Suggested resources:

http://www.hetchhetchy.org/

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environme…

http://www.evergreenlodge.com/hetchhetchy.html



Which side are you on? Should they restore the dam or tear it out? Examine the pros and cons of each and support your stance on the issue with evidence from your research.

Respond in a minimum of one paragraph to the post above. You MUST include a quote from the resources to support your statement. Then comment on two other students responses. Please sign your first name only and period to your post. Posts must be approved by the teacher and therefore may take some time to post.

Dirt

Dirt

How can humans “listen to nature” and bring their needs
and activities into alignment with those of nature? Are there 
ways you can be more attentive to the natural world in your
daily life? How?

Respond to the post above in a minimum of 5 sentences. Be sure to answer all parts of the question and support your answer with evidence from the video "Dirt" or another resource. Then, read and respond to two other students posts. Explain why you agree or disagree.

Please sign your FIRST NAME AND PERIOD or your comment will not be posted!

The Metric System

Sources say that the U.S. is one of the last three countries in the world to go fully metric. Do you think that the U.S. Government should pass laws to force the U.S. to convert? What would be the advantages and disadvantages? How would it be enforced?


Respond to the topics above in a minimum of 5 complete sentences. Then in separate posts, comment on two other students responses. Be sure to include your first name only and period on all posts or they will not be published.