reveiw for test wednesday

     We have a test on Wednesday on environmental geography. Some notes from our review; for hundreds of centuries the earth has cycled between ice ages and thaws. It has always been part of the natural order of things. Our impact has included raising the planets temperature by 1.2 F to 1.4 F in the last hundred years. Compare this to your basic pattern of glacial periods, usually last between 40,000 to 100,000 years. Burning fossil fuels, produces carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide intensifies the greenhouse effect, which causes heat to be reflected back to earth. Carbon dioxide and methane have reached their highest levels in 420,000,000 years. Sources: cars, factories, power plants, trucks, jets. Rising sea levels which could flood coastal areas. Severe drought (warm areas) and species unable to adapt to the changing conditions, the animals can face extinction. 10 of the last 13 years were the warmest on record. Corals and species at risk, oysters and clams are calcified. The food web (food chain in ocean) are endangered.

more enviormental geography

     Today we were asked if we should be worried about the affects of all these fossil fuels and the climate change because of them. I think we should be worried about the problem because of how the problem will turn out long term. On the other hand there isn't a whole lot we can do, we can't all just stop using gases to fuel our cars and other systems. We can slowly start doing small things, but in the long run they won't be very effective. Also nobody really understands what they are really doing to the environment. They are just going through their everyday routines. They don't want to be worried about that especially if its not effecting us currently. With the fact we didn't want to deal with these problems, we just ended the class with cute videos of bunnies, puppies, and goats.

Enviormental Geography

   Today we watched a video by Bill Nye. It explained how our climate is changing and it's our fault. "Ocean acidification" a rise in activity in the oceans chemistry as a direct effect from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reacting to salt water. Glaciers are melting and have caused the sea level to rise up about 6.7 inches. Every year since 1944 the Earth has lost 400,000,000,000 tons of glaciers/ice. Shores can't hold water, so this is causing areas to flood. "Climate change" a long-term change in the Earths overall temperature with massive permanent ramifications.