Oil Spill in San Fran Bay

A container ship ran into a piling on the bay bridge and spilled its contents into the water of San Fran Bay on Wednesday. 16 beaches are closed and 60,000 gallons of oil are spreading into the bay. The report said that the oil was killing birds and causing other environmental problems. Make sure to watch the news clip on the first resource link. This doesn't seem to be the first oil spill in the bay. Take a look at the 2nd article. And, it certainly isn't the worst oil spill in our history. One of the worst in the U.S. was the Exxon Valdez in Alaska. A summary of the accident can be seen in the video on the right. You can also take an extensive look at the accident at the links below.

Questions:

1. Identify and briefly discuss 2 other large oil spills (hint: USINSK, EKOFISK) that have happened in the world.

2. How is an oil spilled cleaned up?

3. Discuss 2 long-term environmental problems that result from a large-scale oil spill?

4. Discuss one legislative and one technological fix for preventing oil spills in the future.

5. In lite of the ideas of reduce, reuse, recycle and renew, discuss how we could reduce our dependency on oil.

Resources:
Bay Oil Spill -

http://www.news10.net/display_story.aspx?storyid=34886

Major Oil Spills Around San Fran Bay -

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_7408041

Alaska: Exxon Valdez -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKPz4y-5G-o

Exxon Valdez Spill -
http://www.loe.org/series/exxon/exxon.htm

Wildfires

I'm sure everyone has been watching the news about the wildfires in California over the past two weeks. Most of the news has discussed the horrible damage fires can cause to homes and the surrounding area, but most ecologists believe that periodic fires are helpful to the general evolution of an ecological community. In this light, I thought it would be a good idea to do a post on the benefits of wildfires.

1. Name two biological communities that experience wildfires.
2. Describe the beneficial role of fire to an ecological community?
3. Define the term succession and describe what role it plays in the evolution of an ecological community. Is fire an example of primary or secondary succession? Support your reasoning.
4. For one of the communities chosen above describe the 4 stages of ecological succession. Discuss the role (facilitation, inhibition, tolerance) of either a plant or an animal for each stage of succession.
5. Describe one fire management technique and one fire suppression technique used today by the US Forestry Service.

Resources:
California Wildfires on Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr80oRpD6vI
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fire Management - http://www.fws.gov/fire/living_with_fire/
Ecological Succession on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_succession
USGS Wildfires Fact Sheet - http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3015/2006-3015.pdf
Technology Review's Mapping Wildfires - http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19324/

Planet in Peril

I recently heard through the APES listserv that this week on CNN, Anderson Cooper is hosting a special called "Planet in Peril". This week's assignment then is to:

1. Participate in the Roundtable Discussion. Send in a picture (or preferably a video) of your question to CNN at the link below and it may be included on the show.
2. Watch the show on Oct. 23rd and 24th and each night post your response to our blog.
3. Create a podcast on "How Green Your Are" and submit it to CNN. They may use it in a news broadcast.

Any change in our planet will come from each individual trying to make a difference. This is your opportunity to use Web 2.0 technologies to educate others, get your opinions out there, and show how you are helping to improve our world.

Resources:
Planet in Peril - http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/planet.in.peril/

Are Hurricanes Increasing?

With severe drought in Georgia and hurricanes in the gulf, I thought it might be reasonable to learn something about severe weather patterns and what we can do as responsible citizens to be prepared for a natural disaster. In this light review the resources below and then answer the following questions.

1. What conditions are necessary to produce a hurricane?
2. What governmental organization monitors severe weather?
3. Have the intensity or frequency of hurricanes changed over the past 50 years? Graph the data at the resource below and explain the results.
4. What are some of the effects of hurricanes to our society?
5. What can you do to be prepared for a disaster?

Resources:
1. Hurricanes - National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association
http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/
2. Past Hurricane Data from the National Hurricane Center
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdec.shtml
3. Katrina Hurricane Video - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvoEiBnpCc8

The Amazing Albatros

Yesterday, I was waiting the orthodontics office looking for something to read and came across an article on the albatross in the latest edition of the Smithsonian magazine. I was amazed when I read that the albatross can fly 50 miles per hour and go years without touching land. As I read on, I learned that they mate for life, and they can somehow even predict the weather. And yet, even with all of these amazing abilities, they are among the world's most endangered birds. I found this somewhat unbelievable due to their similarity in life span and reproduction habits to humans. From my antidotal observations, humans tend to spend more time and money preserving species that we have something in common with, rather than their significance in preserving an established ecosystem. So, I thought what a great opportunity to learn about the albatros' habitat, their role in the environment (or niche) and some of their unique requirements. Take a look at the resources below and then answer the following questions:

1. Briefly describe the albatross' habitat an niche. You should talk about the physical characteristics of the bird species, its population size, its geographic range, its feeding requirements, and its nesting and reproduction requirements. All of these are important in understanding why the bird is threatened.

2. What technology is being used by scientists to learn more about the albatross' habitat and niche? Give a basic description of GPS technology and also some of the problems the scientists are having with the technology.

3. Discuss one natural and one man-made disaster that are making it difficult for the albatross to increase its population size.

4. Discuss two cases of how technology (other than GPS) is being used to preserve the albatross.

Resources:
The Amazing Albatross
http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2007/septembe

Artic Resources Up for Grabs

Over the past couple of months there have been a number of news stories on the 5 countries that have arctic coastlines and are trying to stake a claim to possible resources in the arctic. If nations were allowed to extract these resources, there could be drastic changes in the arctic ecosystem.

1. What resources are nations expected to find in the arctic?
2. Are these resources considered renewable, perpetual, or nonrenewable?
3. How could large scale extraction of these resources cause a shift in climate conditions?
4. What organisms live in the arctic and how would changes in climate affect their survival?

Resources:
Nations Jostle for a Share of the Arctic
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14092469
Global Warmng Polar Bears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQivFU_H5pk
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
http://arctic.fws.gov/

Manufactured Landscapes

Today's field trip to see the movie "Manufactured Landscapes" by Edward Burtynsky gave me new insight into how much we are altering our environment through the use of our natural resources. Two of the most stunning scenes were the destruction of land from the mining of coal and the damming of the Yangtze River. The movie mentioned that the creation of the reservoir actually caused the earth to wobble on its access. For this blog choose of the scenes from the movie or one of his photographs from china found on his web site and briefly describe it, then answer the following questions:

1. What type of human activity (e.g. mining, logging, etc.) caused the change in landscape?
2. What products are made from the use of this resource?
3. Research one example for the pollution caused by 1) extraction of the resource; 2) production; 3) distribution of the resource.

References:
1. Art of Edward Burtynsky
http://www.edwardburtynsky.com/
2. Manufactured Landscapes Official Site
http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=manufacturedlandscapes