Environmental issues

Environmental Issues; this issues are situations that affect us not only in the present but , rather they are situations and behaviors that if continue to occur will only bring negative and devastating consequences; that is why we must be aware and make others take awareness of them!

Nowadays there are a high number of environmental issues that affect our entire planet, among these global issues, there is overfishing and ecological disruption; and as far as my local community there is the issue of drought.

The issue that interests me most would be the one in my local community; but what is drought?

First of all Drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region. Drought is a normal, recurring feature of the climate in most parts of the world.

Some of its causes are, the fact that generally, rainfall is related to the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, combined with the upward forcing of the air mass containing that water vapor. If either of these is reduced, the result is a drought. Also oceanic and atmospheric weather cycles such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) make drought a regular recurring feature of the Americas along the Pacific coast and Australia, which explains why my country and local community goes through longs periods of time with an insufficient water supply that will satisfy the needs of the resident population.

As a result of this environmental issue we can see there can be agricultural, health, economic and social consequences; this result can vary according to the communities' vulnerability. Drought is rarely if ever the sole cause of famine; socio-political factors such as extreme widespread poverty play a major role. Drought can also reduce water quality, because lower water flows reduce dilution of pollutants and increase contamination of remaining water sources. A few common consequences of drought include:

ü --*Diminished crop growth

ü --*Famine due to lack of water for irrigation;

ü --*Habitat damage, affecting both terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.

ü --*Malnutrition, dehydration and related diseases;

ü --*Mass migration, resulting in internal displacement and international refugees;

ü -*Reduced electricity production due to insufficient available coolant for power stations; and reduced water flow through hydroelectric dams.

ü -- *Shortages of water for industrial users

ü --*Social unrest

The reason why the local issue interests me more than the global one, is because the consequences affect me directly so I would like to know more about the causes and have a deeper knowledge and information on the subject, in order to take part in an initiative that can help find a solution to this problem which affects us all as a living community.

Visit the following link to find some incredible statistics regarding the planet WE all live in!

--> EARTH CLOCK! <--

Research Activity/ Natural Disaster

Date of disaster:
December 26, 2004

Type of Disaster:
Undersea megathrust earthquake

Description of Disaster:

On december 26, 2004 an undersea megathrust earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 UTC , with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. This earthquake resulted in a tsunami wich is usually refered to as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami, and Boxing Day Tsunami.

Visuals of the Disaster:

According to the U.S. Geological Survey a total of 227,898 people died . Measured in lives lost, this is one of the ten worst earthquakes in recorded history, as well as the single worst tsunami in history.

The tsunami caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east coast of Africa, with the furthest recorded death due to the tsunami occurring at Rooi Els in South Africa, 8,000 km away from the epicentre. In total, eight people in South Africa died due to abnormally high sea levels and waves.

Relief agencies report that one-third of the dead appear to be children. This is a result of the high proportion of children in the populations of many of the affected regions and because children were the least able to resist being overcome by the surging waters. Oxfam went on to report that as many as four times more women than men were killed in some regions because they were waiting on the beach for the fishermen to return and looking after their children in the houses.

In addition to the large number of local residents, up to 9,000 foreign tourists enjoying the peak holiday travel season were among the dead or missing, especially people from the Nordic countries.

States of emergency were declared in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Maldives. The United Nations estimated at the outset that the relief operation would be the costliest in human history. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has stated that reconstruction would probably take between five and ten years.

About the advantages and disadvantages of certain technologies

Technology, it's impossible to not be under the influence of technology if you live in the 21st century! It's very useful and convenient, as long as it's used wisely of course; but we can't look at everything through rose-colored glasses, there are not only advantages but also disadvantages to its use.

In this post I'll be writing a paragraph based on a tree diagram about the advantages and disadvantages of something related to technology, in my case I chose social networking.

Social Networking is very popular nowadays as it brings many people together in one place and allows them to interact, based on similar preferences, tastes and other common criteria. Of course it's not perfect, after all nothing in this world is; it has its pros and cons.

Some of the advantages to social networking are its low cost, the fact that they provide social contact, and how they supply the user with quick and updated information exchange.

Social networks provide social contact as it makes it very easy to meet new people who share the same interests and likes, not only that, but you can also stay in touch with a group of friends or regain contact with a person you had lost touch with; furthermore it supplies quick and updated information exchange, this can be seen trough networks such as twitter who in their short 140 character publications, spread just about everything! From peoples personal thoughts, to entertainment updates and news coverage. Last of all, it has a very low cost and saves time, rather than calling your old friend, or new group of people to set up a meeting you can just leave them a message on their page; and regarding the news you can even save money from having to buy the morning paper.

As they are useful and resourceful there can also be certain disadvantages to social networking ; to mention a few there is a lack of anonymity; after all you are putting out information about your name, location, age, gender, and many other types of information that you may not want to let others know. Another downside to using social networks is that they can be used for scams and harassment; while many sites apply certain measures to keep any of these cases of harassment, cyber-stalking, online scams, and identity theft to a minimum, you still may never know. That is why you should choose your contacts wisely and make sure that you maintain confidentiality as much as possible. Unfortunately, the internet has made it easy for individuals to claim to be someone they are not, this will not only lead to disappointment when you find out, but it could also put you in a dangerous situation. Finally there’s the disadvantage that social networking can be quite time consuming, specially for kids and teenagers who instead of going out and interact with other people while enjoying the physical activity and contact prefer to sit at home in front of their computer all day.

Here's the tree diagram I made in order to organize my ideas related to the paragraphs above :