Well, I've tried to find as much information as I could on turning salt water into an energy source, but it looks like there just is not enough to make a full research paper out of it. It was a very interesting topic to me, but it looks like I'll have to look for another topic.
I would like to start with environmental issues dealing with water though. I came across an issue of the ocean's actually shrinking. The information on this involves poorly managed fishing, inadequate protection, tourism and coastal development, shipping, oil & gas, and pollution among many other issues. This is something that interests me because the ocean has always been a big area of interest of mine. With everything that the human race depends on the ocean with though, the oceans are finally being pushed to their limit. I want to explore this topic so more and narrow it to a few of the issues that seem to be the biggest. It should be an interesting topic to research because even though most of us regard the oceans as endless in possibilities, in fact, we might be taking it for granted.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Buckeye Forest Council Presentation
After David Maywhoor's the thing that I struck me the most was prescribed burnings. I went to the BFC website and saw how the Shawnee forest was supposed to only get 280 acres to burn, but instead over 2,000 acres burned. This just struck me as something that needs to be way more controlled. He touched on prescribed burning and showed us pictures of what was happening to the forests after the burnings. It just looked completely barren and almost depressing. Also, he said to control the burnings they would just take a bulldozer around the perimeter of where the fire was supposed to stop and just destroyed more forest. I do not agree with the way the burn the forests at all.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Research Topics
When I started to think about which environment issue to write about, I'll admit I was pretty unsure of where to even start. So like a lot of people did I'm sure, I went straight to Google and searched, environmental issues. I clicked on the first one and luckily something that struck me as interesting came up: Water more valuable then oil? I clicked on the article and it was talking about how freshwater is becoming more and more scarce and the site mentioned how by 2050, more than 48 countries and 2 billion people will have insufficient drinking water. I realized as I kept reading this article, that we have talked about this in class and the different water issues, so I wanted to move to something that we hadn't talked about.
I remembered hearing once that salt water can turn into an energy source. So I googled that and an article about a scientist who lit salt water on fire. He mentions how if we can turn salt water into fire, then they could use it for energy, and think about how much salt water we have on this planet. There are a lot skeptics about this however and people think that he put electrodes in the water. However he says its just salt water, so I'll do some more research to see how real that is. So I decided to do look up: salt water energy source on google. It turned out that CBS news did a special on this. Kanzius, a luekemia patient is the man who discovered that salt water could be burned using radio frequencies. If this is true, and we could find a way to do it with mass quantities, keep it safe, and use it inexpensively, could it really be a new energy source? Kanzius went to meet with officals of the Department of Energy to try and obtain funding. The heat produced from burning salt water got to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, but they want to know if it could power a car or machinery. This article I found was published in 2007 though, so I'll have to try and find some more recent developments in it.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Last mountain pt. 3
Reece talks about Wendell Berry and how he explains the difference between a "rational" mind and a "sympathetic" mind. When I think about rational thinking I believe it to be the thought process in which one makes a decision because they believe it to be the smartest, most realistic, and least consequential decision. Rational decisions are made for the best possible outcome at that time and it does not necessary comply with the emotions or thoughts of others. A sympathetic mind or way of thinking differs from a rational mind. My thought of what Berry explains sympathetic minds to be is one that makes decisions and actions based upon emotions and the effects that their decision may have on others. Sympathetic minds do not think only upon themselves and they look at other possible decisions even if it will not provide the best outcome for themselves.
Reece's sympathetic mind can be seen in the first chapter of part 3. He talks about the Carter family who live by a road in which the weight limit was constantly suppassed by coal trucks driving on it. Darlies Carter was on her way home from work and was hit head-on by a coal truck being driven by an ex-con on thirty Xanax. It killed her. She was going to graduate from college that year and her mother said, "I was getting ready for a graduation and instead had to go to a funeral." Another way that Reece demonstrates his sympathetic mind was in the chapter RFK in EKY. He talks about how Robert Kennedy had come to Eastern Kentucky to address the coal mining problem in Kentucky. RFK talks about how devasted the land was that he saw after strip mining had occured. He mentions that "the people of Eastern Kentucky are three-way losers." After all this he gets in the car with Mr. Caudill and tells him they will do something about this. Four months later Reece adds, Robert Kennedy was shot dead after winning the Democratic Party. He uses both these examples to show sympathy and to get the reader's sympathy in his reading.
Qoute: "Serous Measures to move toward alternative energies were shuttled by the bill. This is obviously bad news for Appalachia. And it is ad news for everyone downstream. There is a certain insanity (I choose the word carefully) about perpetuating a global economy based on limitless growth when that is powered by finite resources-in the case of the energy bill, fossil fuels." (Page 228)
I chose this quote because I believe it brings about a great point. We are trying to produce a limitless world with a resource that has it limits and will run out. We need to find alternative resources other that coal. The problem, as brought up in this class before, is that America is so dependent on coal that we continually just keep going back to it, even though it destroys the environment and people. We do need coal, but we also should really start more and more investing and development of alternative resources before, like Professor Krupa said in part 2, "We kill ourselves off."
Reece's sympathetic mind can be seen in the first chapter of part 3. He talks about the Carter family who live by a road in which the weight limit was constantly suppassed by coal trucks driving on it. Darlies Carter was on her way home from work and was hit head-on by a coal truck being driven by an ex-con on thirty Xanax. It killed her. She was going to graduate from college that year and her mother said, "I was getting ready for a graduation and instead had to go to a funeral." Another way that Reece demonstrates his sympathetic mind was in the chapter RFK in EKY. He talks about how Robert Kennedy had come to Eastern Kentucky to address the coal mining problem in Kentucky. RFK talks about how devasted the land was that he saw after strip mining had occured. He mentions that "the people of Eastern Kentucky are three-way losers." After all this he gets in the car with Mr. Caudill and tells him they will do something about this. Four months later Reece adds, Robert Kennedy was shot dead after winning the Democratic Party. He uses both these examples to show sympathy and to get the reader's sympathy in his reading.
Qoute: "Serous Measures to move toward alternative energies were shuttled by the bill. This is obviously bad news for Appalachia. And it is ad news for everyone downstream. There is a certain insanity (I choose the word carefully) about perpetuating a global economy based on limitless growth when that is powered by finite resources-in the case of the energy bill, fossil fuels." (Page 228)
I chose this quote because I believe it brings about a great point. We are trying to produce a limitless world with a resource that has it limits and will run out. We need to find alternative resources other that coal. The problem, as brought up in this class before, is that America is so dependent on coal that we continually just keep going back to it, even though it destroys the environment and people. We do need coal, but we also should really start more and more investing and development of alternative resources before, like Professor Krupa said in part 2, "We kill ourselves off."
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Lost Mountain Pt. 2
I really enjoyed how the second part of the book was started off by Reece. I'm not necessarily talking about pages 87-91, but I'm talking about the chapter on the flying squirrels. I think that this chapter does a great job of taking your mind off the depressing effects of mountain top removal mining and the somewhat overral "sad" tone of the book. It was also very interesting to find out how they trapped the squirrels, and how abundant they were in this part of the forrest. At the end of the chapter Reece states how they trapped ten different squirrels, but Krupa mentions how Reece and these students just witnessed something that 99.99% of all people will never see. This stuck out as very interesting to me and as another reason why these forrests need to stay intact. Fying squirrels only florish in this area and if this part of the forrest was destroyed then where would they go? Plus, the idea of a flying squirrel is very fascinating so I think that it was very interesting how Reece dedicated an entire chapter to them.
Going back to the plants in the area that are being destroyed Reece mentions how there is one plant in Appalachia that is only traceable to that region in Appalachia and in China. This was the tulip poplar. Then he goes on to say how there are two-thirds of all the wild orchids in Appalachia are cousins to those in China. This is so interesting based on the fact of how far area these two areas obivously are. These facts just go on to continually show how old this mountain range is. Reece mentions how it is even older than the Himalayas. Destroying this mountain range by mountain top removal is just a complete shame and Reece is doing a great job at depicting why.
Going back to the plants in the area that are being destroyed Reece mentions how there is one plant in Appalachia that is only traceable to that region in Appalachia and in China. This was the tulip poplar. Then he goes on to say how there are two-thirds of all the wild orchids in Appalachia are cousins to those in China. This is so interesting based on the fact of how far area these two areas obivously are. These facts just go on to continually show how old this mountain range is. Reece mentions how it is even older than the Himalayas. Destroying this mountain range by mountain top removal is just a complete shame and Reece is doing a great job at depicting why.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Lost Mountain 1-85
Reece gives many different arguments on why the mountain top removal program in Appalachia is more negative and positive things for this region. The main argument that I came across is what mountain top removal is doing the people in the region. Already very poverty stricken the mountain top removal program gives many environmental problems to the region as well. When Reece meets up with Teri Blanton we see many of these negative affects. He mentions how more than once when the two were traveling past homes of people she has known or knew, she says everyone in that house died of cancer. The reason for this she believed and is a very valid argument is because of the toxins that were being released and not cleaned up from the coal companies.
The county that they were going through was Dayhoit. When the two went to a graveyard a very noticeable thing on the stones was the fact that most date of births to date of deaths would only span till about fifty five years. Blanton says "Not many people in Dayhoit live past fifty-five". Obviously this life span is not near the average life span in America.
Reece also visits a community meeting in which people come to speak about the coal mining situation and problems in the community. The argument for coal mining comes up often in this meeting and the most notable one he mentions is that of Paul David Taulbee. One thing he said was "The only way to stay in the mountains is to mine the mountains!" This argument can become very relavent I believe because mining does bring jobs, not nearly as many as it used to, but it does. Plus most of these communities had been brought up around mines. People who leave the region do sometime come back because they know no other way of life but that of living in a coal mining community.
If I were in the debate of whether to keep coal mining going on in the region, I would say that we need coal to run this country. In the community meeting they also make a mention to how everyone in the meeting is going to use coal and even Reece mentions how he used fuel to write this book. However, something needs to be done about the method of strip mining. Harder laws should be passed to keep the region in as best shape as possible and the carbon and toxic wastes that contaminates the air and waters of the Appalachian region need to be cleaned up.
The county that they were going through was Dayhoit. When the two went to a graveyard a very noticeable thing on the stones was the fact that most date of births to date of deaths would only span till about fifty five years. Blanton says "Not many people in Dayhoit live past fifty-five". Obviously this life span is not near the average life span in America.
Reece also visits a community meeting in which people come to speak about the coal mining situation and problems in the community. The argument for coal mining comes up often in this meeting and the most notable one he mentions is that of Paul David Taulbee. One thing he said was "The only way to stay in the mountains is to mine the mountains!" This argument can become very relavent I believe because mining does bring jobs, not nearly as many as it used to, but it does. Plus most of these communities had been brought up around mines. People who leave the region do sometime come back because they know no other way of life but that of living in a coal mining community.
If I were in the debate of whether to keep coal mining going on in the region, I would say that we need coal to run this country. In the community meeting they also make a mention to how everyone in the meeting is going to use coal and even Reece mentions how he used fuel to write this book. However, something needs to be done about the method of strip mining. Harder laws should be passed to keep the region in as best shape as possible and the carbon and toxic wastes that contaminates the air and waters of the Appalachian region need to be cleaned up.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
In-Class Writing- Coal Pros/Cons
Going to both the pro coal and against coal websites obviously I found considerable differences. The one that I found more appealing would have to be the American Power website, which I also found more persuasive. It seemed more professional to me, and seemed like there was a lot more interaction to be done with the website.
From reading several facts against and for coal on both the websites, it definitely seems that the environment and health of Americans is in trouble, but also the major fuel source in America is coal. Without coal I would not even be able to typing on this computer most likely. Now, I completely agree with the argument that coal power plants need to start capturing the CO2 that is being emitted into the environment, but could we really be doing the things that we have to do to get by in our lives without coal? The This is Reality site states that something must be done in the future to capture the CO2 gas from the plants, and to invest money into alternative sources of fuel. The site says how investing in finding and using alternative fuels like wind power or solar power would also provide many more jobs than the coal industry. Coal is our most abundant fuel source in America though. On the American Power website it states that there is enough coal to power America for the next 200 years, and American Power says how they are and have been for the past 30 years investing money into making it cleaner.
The reason why I found American Power more persuasive was because America would not be the same without coal. Plus, coal provides many jobs for people who may not have opportunities elsewhere. I believe that coal companies need to keep finding cleaner ways to produce energy from coal and start capturing CO2 for sure. I still though am for the use of coal as energy, because until an alternative fuel source is used, which would take years and years to get going, coal is the most affordable and abundant.
From reading several facts against and for coal on both the websites, it definitely seems that the environment and health of Americans is in trouble, but also the major fuel source in America is coal. Without coal I would not even be able to typing on this computer most likely. Now, I completely agree with the argument that coal power plants need to start capturing the CO2 that is being emitted into the environment, but could we really be doing the things that we have to do to get by in our lives without coal? The This is Reality site states that something must be done in the future to capture the CO2 gas from the plants, and to invest money into alternative sources of fuel. The site says how investing in finding and using alternative fuels like wind power or solar power would also provide many more jobs than the coal industry. Coal is our most abundant fuel source in America though. On the American Power website it states that there is enough coal to power America for the next 200 years, and American Power says how they are and have been for the past 30 years investing money into making it cleaner.
The reason why I found American Power more persuasive was because America would not be the same without coal. Plus, coal provides many jobs for people who may not have opportunities elsewhere. I believe that coal companies need to keep finding cleaner ways to produce energy from coal and start capturing CO2 for sure. I still though am for the use of coal as energy, because until an alternative fuel source is used, which would take years and years to get going, coal is the most affordable and abundant.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Introduction
Well, to start my introduction I'll start by telling you all I am a junior at Ohio University studying criminology, and I also play on the football team. This past season we played in a bowl game but unfortunately we lost to Marshall 21-17. I grew up in a small town outside of Cincinnati, Ohio call Wyoming. I lived there with parents Jeff and Kathy. My dad's name is Jeff like mine, but I am not a junior because our middle names are different. I also have two older sisters. One is married with two kids, one of which I am the very happy Godfather of. My other sister attends Ohio State University and is actually getting married in June. Also back home I have two dogs, both akitas. They are both very large dogs weighing in at about 135 pounds each.
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