Year overview

This yea we have covered a lot of cool stuff, from the World Wars to the Cold War. My favorite part of this year was probably the movies, none of them were just boring documentaries, they were actually really good movies. 12 Years a Slave was one that stuck out to me alot, it was captivating the entire time. It also really gave me a new view of how horrible slavery was. I haven't watched Thirteen Days yet, but I am starting it right now, and I am pretty excited because I have heard it's amazing. Overall it was a pretty fun year!

Letter to 2216

Dear students of 2216,

What we know about climate change is that it is the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that is heating the planet and causing ice caps to melt and water to rise. The Earth is surrounded by a layer of greenhouse gasses, we need these gasses to keep us warm for the cold empty space around us

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But since 40% of the world’s power comes from coal which releases a large amount of carbon dioxide, all of which gets stuck in the Earth’s atmosphere, causing the global temperature to rise. This could soon be a very bad thing because Earth’s eco system and the life it supports is quite fragile, we are the perfect distance away from the sun, not to far or it would be a constant ice age, but not to close or we would all be bone kabobs. What is interesting though is that CO2 isn’t even that harmful, but when there is so, so much of it, the gas can be extremely damaging. CO2 is released from many different types of natural fuel sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas.

The Earth is basically like a person, it is not technically a living thing, but basically with all the life it supports, it is. So say Earth is watching a movie and they put a blanket over themselves, not because they’re cold, but it’s still no problem. Then Earth puts another blanket on, then a sweatshirt, then a wool coat and even more blankets. Well now Earth is really hot to the point where it is damaging their body, just like the gasses are damaging the planet.

As more and more pollution is being put into the air by humans, it causes the polar ice caps to melt. As the glaciers are melting it is causing things such as the water levels to rise, and more and more rainfall across the globe because as the melting ice is creating more water, more water is being evaporated into the sky. And by doing this it is putting more water into the water cycle which then causes more precipitation all across the globe. But maybe if we just clean up our act and use safer alternatives we can fix it, wrong, according to Susan Solomon even if we go completely green the Earth will not go back to it’s natural state  for over a thousand years. The bad thing for humans is that a thousand years to the planet is nothing, merely a blip in the history, but to humans, that could be the entirety of human existence.

As global warming gets worse, some experts have ongoing concerns about certain species of animals going extinct because of the Earth heating up. One example of this happening is the decline of the Adelie penguins on Antarctica, where the numbers of breeding pairs have fallen from 32,000 to 11,000 in 30 years due to the ice caps melting and due to the fact that because of this these animals have no other place to go, said Bill Fraser.

As the temperatures keep rising, especially during the summer, more and more harmful effects are happening, drought leads to fire, and floods lead to extreme water damage in many places. Since 1970, the amount of wildfires that have occurred have increased by 400 percent, and the amount of land burned has increased by 650 percent.

In an article on the site nature.org researchers predicted that due to all the harmful effects of climate change a quarter of the world’s species could be extinct by 2050. That is an extremely big number, we have already lost a mass of really cool animals to extinction due to climate change, but ¼ would be completely outrageous.

This is what we know and believe to be true about our planet and the crisis of climate change. We

may be wrong on some things but we do know for certain this is a big problem, who knows if there 

will even be anyone to read this in 2216 after all the things we are doing that damage the planet that 

we live on.


http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-effects/water-supply.html- this source was used for the information on what all we use water for, and what global warming's effect will be on those uses.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99888903- this source was one of the best ones, it was the information on how global warming is irreversible, I found this very interesting and very useful.

https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/science/causes.html- this source is basically an explanation of climate change and what effects it has

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/cause/- this source was apparently taken down.

Climate concerns

“How will the availability of drinking water change as the climate changes?”

“How long can we sustain this amount of fossil fuel energy and have a livable climate?”

“Are the humans affecting the climate or is it just natural? Or a combination of both?”

“What will the long term effects of climate change be?”

“Are humans to blame for the drastic changes in the climate?”

“What will people in the future think about our society today?”

“Who is to "blame" those who created climate issues, or those stood by?”


http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-effects/water-supply.html

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/aboutcc/cause/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99888903

https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/science/causes.html


So, how climate change works is we have earth, and then we have the atmosphere which is a big bubble around earth, this atmosphere is being filled with CO2 released from burning fossil fuels such as gasoline and coal, and with the massive amounts that we are burning we are actually altering the climate of the world. But maybe we can fix this right? Well, not really, we can cut back on the gasses and fumes, shrinking the amount of smog, but the mass of CO2 output is irreversible, or at least it is for over a thousand years, according to Susan Solomon, a top climate scientist. But no, humans are not 100 percent to blame for the rapid destruction of the environment, random natural changes happen because of solar activity and changes in earth's orbit and volcanic eruptions, but with humans cutting down all the trees that draw in the CO2, we are purely speeding up our own demise.

Climate Topic

In all of the categories the one that interested me most was the concerns, I would like to find out what the people's concerns were and why were they having these concerns. One of the most interesting questions in this section is the one about the cause, did humans cause the climate change, was it natural, or was it a combination? I don't know the answer to this right now but I would like to find out for myself, and also see what people of the time period found out.

Dam stuff

http://lifeafterpeople.wikia.com/wiki/Hoover_Dam

Hoover Dam is supposedly going to be one of the last remnants of human society, capable of surviving 10,000 years after humans, it will be one of the last intact human remains

In the early 20th century farmers wanted to move some water from the Colorado river to the communities developing in the Southwest. When this failed, the US Bureau of Reclamation had to step in.

At the time of it's completion it was the largest dam in the world

6 of the 7 states that would gain benefits from this dam were worried that the power would go mainly to California.

When the Great Depression hit, many workers came to the Las Vegas area and settled in the desert for a chance to work on the project

The tunnels were around 140 degrees and contained dust and carbon monoxide which lead to a strike, but work quickly got back on it's way

The project took 5 million barrels of concrete and 45 million tons of steel

if used differently all that concrete could have built a road from San Francisco to New York City

Lake Mead, created by the dam was the nations first national recreation area

Hoover Dam was actually the target of a German bombing in WWII



power for the southwestern regions of America was obviously a big step in making the dam,

Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were the ones to authorize construction and provide funds for the project.

There were many natural challenges that needed to be tackled and many hippies may have not liked the dam due to some negative effects on the environment.

The dam made America's largest and first recreational area which was a large step in recreational areas and natural parks. It also made Lake Mead a very popular lake

This would NOT have been considered a good job, but in the Great Depression you were lucky to have a job so you'd take what you could get, 140 degree heat, carbon monoxide, and dust caused serious health issues for men working in the tunnels.

The community wanted the power but they were also worried all the power would go to California so 6 out of 7 of the states had to make sure they got power too

The Grand Coulee dam is a gravity dam constructed from 1933 to the early 1940s, it was for power and irrigation

Many dams and other things constructed in the 1930s and still very important, this means that they have by now gotten web pages and possibly even facebook pages due to their impact in society

The dam was going to be named Boulder dam since it was in Boulder canyon, but hoover played a large part in construction and funding, the name was very controversial because many felt that hoover caused the Great Depression.

This was a marvel at the time it was built, they weren't just thinking about the now when it was built, Hoover dam will be one of the last standing remnants of human society, it was not built for short time, it will last almost forever

Word Cloud

Speeches

The speeches were good, I enjoyed it more than a test, I'm not a fan of public speaking but it wasn't too bad. Overall it was fun.

No I don't think anyone really stood out, they were all good, but none were just fantastic.

Maybe practice the speech before performing a little more.