Environmental Effects by USA

Wetland mitigation

Wetland mitigation is the process in which wetland functions that are previously stopped or slowed are resumed through new or improved wetlands. The primary aim is to resume these wetland functions that may benefit the public, such as preventing floods, maintaining the water quality and quantity, habitats for fauna and floras, and such.

The goals which the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) are hoping to meet are as follows:

1. Wetland permit applicant may benefit because the permit processing time is shorter and the costs are lower, and there is a higher availability of adequate mitigation sites.


2. It benefits the state's wetland resources because new mitigation banks are created before foreseen loses, by combining small mitigation projects into a larger one in which it would be easier and more efficient to handle, and by encouraging integration of wetland mitigation projects with watershed based resource planning.

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Prairie restoration

Prairie restoration is an environmentally-friendly way of bringing back a portion of the prairie lands that were previously lost to Man’s interest. That includes removing them to build factories, agriculture and business interests. A prairie land is a patch of land in which the predominant vegetations are grasses and shrubs. They are considered to be part of the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome by ecologists.

The soils of which prairie lands reside on are extremely fertile. This allows farmers to plant crops such as wheat, barley and corn. Many prairie plants can stand extreme periods with lack of water. As a result, they are often used in projects and experiments involving vegetation that do not require watering as often.

The benefits of prairie restoration are significant. A small part that is restored would assist in holding in soil and slowing down or preventing soil erosion. They would also absorb any excessive rainwater into the ground to prevent surface flooding. The flowers are also attractive to insects that promote pollination. Looking on a wider impact, organisms thrive and areas in which organic carbon are stored in the soil are created. This helps to maintain the biodiversity that depends on these prairie lands for survival.

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Hazardous wastes management

Hazardous wastes often has the potential to incur illness in people that can have long term effects or death, and they pose a danger to the environment and human race if they are not handled with care and treated carefully. These wastes can be in various states, including gaseous, liquid and solid. Depending on the different states, it is handled differently. They must be specially treated because it cannot be disposed off by conventional methods.

The facilities that process these wastes must obtain a permit from the relevant authorities to do so. The hazardous wastes are broadly sorted into 4 categories. The ignitability of the wastes determines that the wastes is highly combustible, or can start a fire in temperatures less than 60 degree Celsius, examples are oils and used solvents. Corrosive wastes, such as battery acids, have pH values of at most 2, and can corrode the container that are used to contain them. Reactive wastes can result in an explosion or release poisonous particles when exposed to high temperatures. Toxic wastes contain poisonous materials that exceed the allowed level, and can cause harm to people or the environment.

Modern landfills are capable of storing these hazardous wastes in large amounts, whilst at the same time having little impacts on the environment. Alternative methods of handling these hazardous wastes include recycling them into new products, be mixed with cement to produce cements that have different properties such as being stronger. Neutralization is done so that the dangerous materials are removed. They can also be burned in very high temperature to destroy them, or burning them as energy sources to produce electricity. An alternative landfill can be created to separate these hazardous wastes, or may be disposed off in the presence of electricity to keep them stable and not react.

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De-icing procedures and salt reduction

Deicing is the process in which frozen materials such as ice, are removed from a surface. In the past, they do harm to the environment because the additives that are mixed with the deicing compounds to improve their performances are toxic. However, in the present times, organic compounds that are sprayed on roads are created that reduces the impacts it has on the environment connected to chemical compounds. Moreover, mixing these deicing chemicals with some other common household items allows the compound to work effectively even at lower temperatures.

In some airports, the planes are deiced on special surfaces, in which the deicing chemicals, along with the melted ice and snow, are channeled from the surface into storage areas, which are later processed and later used again as deicing chemicals. This process produces heat in which are stored and used to heat the airport terminal.

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Storm water management

Storm water management is the process in which storm water which remained as surface runoff are treated so that they would not pose a danger to the environment. They do not go into the ground and flow on the surface. As they flow over buildings, pavements and roads, they gather debris, chemicals and other sediments that may be unhealthy to us, and flow with them to water bodies. These could affect the water quality. Moreover, floods can be controlled and aquatic life can be preserved, and the water would remain safe for humans to use. Some of the approaches used include filters and separators. More advanced techniques such as the usage of ultra-violet disinfection units may also be utilized.

In USA, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) is in-charged of the water bodies in the country. Their goal is to restore all the water bodies in USA to be in “fisable” and “swimmable” conditions. Despite the efforts done by the EPA, a lot of water bodies in USA are still pretty much unsafe.

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Noise monitoring and noise walls

Noise can come from a variety of sources and they can upset the balance of our lives, and likewise to any other living things in the vicinity. This is because the stress level increases when one lives in an area which is noisy, and thus they could not relax. This could give rise to anxiety, high blood pressure, heart problems, and even death.

Noise walls, also known as noise barriers, are built along roads to absorb unwanted noise from vehicles on the road. They have been built in USA since the mid-20th century when the amount of vehicles on the road rose sharply. However, some limitations, such as that it would be impracticable in some areas, pose problems for the building and development of noise walls. The final costs of building the structure also determines if it is actually built. The designing of the noise walls takes place inside a computer, using computer simulations. With the introduction of noise walls, people living in residential areas near roadways can enjoy their sleep longer, more able to enjoy the outdoor life better, can communicate better because there is not sound disturbance, and reduced stress level.

The presence of extra soil in the vicinity of the noise barrier allows constructors to use them for berm construction. It would cost less because they can use the soil to construct an earth berm noise barrier than remove them. In fact, the cost may be negligible, save for the fact that moving the earth upwards may not be cheap.

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Done by: Francis Cheng, C Vaahsan, Ren Yonglin, Ong Tian Hua (10S20)

Deforestation and soil erosion

Although people are part of the bioshpere, we have a far greater ability than other living things to adapt and alter the environment to suit our own needs. We can make it more comfortable and convenient, but sometimes it might be at the expense of our one and only Earth. In some areas of the world the environment has been damaged by the activities of people. There are many environmental problems caused by mankind.

Tropical rainforests help to control the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and these forests are also home to a huge variety of plant and animal species. In 1950, 15 per cent of the land surface of the Earth was covered by rainforests. By the 1990s only 6 per cent of the land supported forests because trees had been felled for timber and to free land for cattle ranching. This forested area is decreasing all the time.

Indonesia has lost an estimated 72 percent of its original frontier forest.

For example in Indonesia, more than 20 million hectares of forest have been cleared since 1985, but the majority of this land has not been put to productive alternative uses.

Nearly 9 million ha of land, much of it natural forest, have been allocated for development as industrial timber plantations. This land has already been cleared or will be cleared soon. Yet only about 2 million ha have actually been planted with fast-growing species, mostly Acacia mangium, to produce pulpwood. The implication: 7 million ha of former forest land are lying idle.

Nearly 7 million ha of forest had been approved for conversion to estate crop plantations.

By the end of 1997, and this land has almost certainly been cleared. But the area actually converted to oil palm plantations since 1985 is about 2.6 million hectares, while new plantations of other estate crops probably account for another 1-1.5 million ha. The implication: 3 million ha of former forest land are lying idle.

Soil erosion happens naturally, but it can also be caused by cutting down trees on hill slopes so that soil is washed away downhill by heavy rains and storms. In the Himalayas much of the natural forests has been felled for firewood and to increase land for farming. The bare soil is unprotected from the wind. Use of chemical fertilizers instead of organic manure and compost exhausts the soil so that it crumbles into dust and is easily blown away.

Soil is one of our most precious resources. The loss of this resource, through land degradation processes such as wind and water erosion, is one of the most serious environmental problems we are faced with as it is destroying the means of producing our food.

Human activities, particularly agriculture and deforestation, however, have increased erosion rates, as they tend to remove the protective vegetation and reduce the stability of the soil. This human influenced process is termed accelerated erosion. Since 1950 accelerated erosion has resulted in the loss of 1/5 of the topsoil from the worlds agricultural land and 1/5 of the topsoil from tropical forests.

In conclusion, many people are now more conscious of the need to protect the encironment and to preserve the balance of the biosphere where we all live. However, there's still a need to continue raising the awareness with regards to the importance of conserving the environment as many are still either ignorant or indifferent towards the degradation of our precious environment.

Teo Min Min 10A05
- Encyclopedia, http://www.informaction.org/cgi-bin/gPage.pl?menu=menua.txt&main=soilerosion_gen.txt, http://www.globalforestwatch.org/english/indonesia/forests.htm

Oil slick hits Chandeleur Islands off Louisiana

One of the world's worst man-made environmental disasters

Most environmental disasters--hurricanes, earthquakes, or wildfires--lie largely beyond human control. But some of the world’s most lethal calamities have been caused at the hands of people. The pursuit of more (and more efficient forms of) energy, food, and building materials have depleted parts of the globe. The effects of things like overfishing and coal and ash spills are assessed quickly, but the longer-term impacts often permanently threaten the livelihood of the world’s ecosystems and the human populations that depend on them.

An oil slick near the Chandeleur Islands in Louisiana in May 2010. The Gulf of Mexico spill, already deemed worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, may be the worst environmental disaster the U.S. has ever faced.

The well blew open on April 20 2010 when the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded 50 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers. It has been spewing an estimated 200000 gallons a day in the nations biggest oil spill since the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989.
Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agents announced on Thursday that they found two dead gannets, possibly killed by oil from the spill, while patrolling closed fishing grounds Wednesday near Grand Gosier Island, between the Chandeleurs and Breton Island in Plaquemines Parish. Agents confirmed the seabirds were covered in oil. They were turned over to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials in Venice, who will determine the cause of death.

Workers will collect as much of the free-flowing oil as possible on the west side of the islands with oil booms and skimmers, and use water to wash any remaining oil off the vegetation
In addition, Huge Department of Defense C-130 cargo planes continued spraying dispersant chemicals across the oil slick, while BP contractors sprayed similar dispersants at the oil escaping from two leaks a mile below the surface.

The earth we abuse and the living things we kill will, in the end, take their revenge; for in exploiting their presence we are diminishing our future.~Marya Mannes, More in Anger, 1958

The environment is fundamentally connected to everything we need as human beings to survive. If we disrupt the temperature balance and precipitation patterns of our current environment, it will make it more difficult to grow food leading to the starvation of millions more and the extiction of animals.

By:Jolene Lim Qi 10A05

Mercury Poisoning and others

"As mercury destroyed their nerve cells, patients lost sensation and motor control, and their limbs become contorted."

In 1908, Chisso Corporation first opened a chemical factory in Minamata. The waste products resulting from the manufacture of chemicals were released into Minamata Bay in the factory wastewater.

This inevitably led to environmental pollution of the seawater that led to decreased fisheries. It was nothing serious, when the issue was resolved with two compensation agreements given by the Chisso Corporation

Trouble silently brew when Chisso started acetaldehyde production in 1932. The waste product was a highly toxic compound known as methyl mercury.

At first, people observed the unexplainable behaviour of wildly acting cats that slowly spread to fishermen and their families who were the earliest and most severely afflicted. They could not make sense of what was happening except for the fact that both victims consumed the greatest amount of fish.

For the fishermen, the sea was life-giving. It was hard for the fishermen to commprehend that the sea could also take life away. One fishermen expressed his love of the sea:

When I thought I was dying
and my hands were numb
and wouldn't work-
and my father was dying too- when
the villagers turned against us-
it was to the sea
I would go to cry.
...
No one can understand
why I love the sea so much.
The sea
has never abandoned me.
The sea
is the blood of my veins.

Indeed, it was the poison in the food from the sea that also flowed in his blood, that would take his very life away.
The mercury poison from the waste water had poisoned both the environment and the people.

In this case, we see how environmental pollution caused by the people has affected both the environment and its people adversely. This is the case as to what is happening in the world now-Environmental damage by the people for the people.

Though the "adverse effects" may not be obvious now, little environmental damaging things we do everyday accumulate itself to become an unreversible damage to the environment and ultimately to the Earth and us. Examples would include the simplest act of throwing rubbish into rubbish bins. We do not even need to talk about categorizing the rubbish for easy separation.

When you stop admiring Mt Everest and gaze down...What a shock! Perhaps 10-20 years down the road, we may not see people dying like in Minamata, but who knows, the toxic fumes from land pollution and air pollution (which includes smoking) will be passed down to the child when he is born.
That was also what happened to those in Minamata, where their child suffered from severe cerberal palsy when born.

Global efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol, UNEP and Greenpeace with many other private environmental organizations all around the world in tow, there is no reason to say, "My lone efforts are useless" There are many supporting organizations for environmental conservation and it all starts with you! Cliche it might sound, but little drops of water makes a mighty ocean and every effort contributes to improve or at least maintains the environment.

In Minamata's case, because the people ostricized those who became sick instead of helping them to find the cause, they were not able to quickly alert the authorities who were not aware it was the factory's fault. This led to continued productions of highly-toxic methyl mercury that extended the damage.

Thus cooperation amongst people is vital in stopping such hazardous wastes from harming the environment and us and so let us cast away our selfish interests that will eventually harm us in the end. As the saying goes, What goes around, comes around!

Credits:
Wikipedia for information on Minamata Disease
"The Tragedy & Triumph of Minamata" by Douglas Allchin
www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05..._eve.php for the picture

By Kee Hui Xi, 10A05

Earthquake, Chile

On the morning of 27th February 2010, a massive earthquake of 8.8 on the Richter scale hit the coast of Chile for 90 seconds at 6.34am , causing buildings to collapse and triggering a tsunami.

Coastal towns suffered fatal double blows, as tsunamis came crashing onto their shores. A tsunami warning was extended across 53 countries, including most of Central and South America and even Australia and Antartica. The tsunami has caused extensive damage to a number of islands, and travelled across the ocean at a shocking speed of hundreds of kilometers per hour. However, the warning at one of the affected islands, Hawaii, was lifted. 1m high waves hit the shores, but no damage were reported. Although islands like Hawaii were not badly affected, the giant waves are known to affect islands like Juan Fernandez islands, causing serious damage.

The quake hit near the town of Maule, 325km southwest of Santiago, at a depth of 25km underground. The epicentre was just 115km from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city.

The giant quake caused widespread damage, destroying buildings, bridges and roads in many areas, causing huge cracks in roads and bridges. Water, phone lines and electricity were cut, thus worsening the already bad conditions. This renders rescue efforts hard to be carried out, not to mention the dangerous conditions for rescuers to carry out their missions.

8 aftershocks were recorded, largest of which has a magnitude of 6.9. Chile is highly vulnerable to earthquakes due to its location. It is situated on the infamous Pacific “Ring of Fire”, on the edge of the Pacific and South American plates. It has suffered many earthquakes, the biggest of which is the 1960 earthquake, with magnitude 9.5, which struck the city of Valdivia, killing 1655 people.

The initial official death toll of the 2010 Chile earthquake was put at 800 was lowered to 528, reason given was that the initial death toll included those who were displaced. And also, some of the people who were thought to be killed by the earthquake turned out to be alive.

More than half a million homes were destroyed, resulting in about 2 million people homeless, forcing them to live on the streets. With the emergency situation, major supermarkets were ordered to give away essential food and water supplies to the affected Chileans.

More than half a million homes were destroyed, resulting in about 2 million people homeless, forcing them to live on the streets. The emergency situation required major supermarkets to give away essential supplies such as food and water.

Relief efforts were also provided by many countries and organisations in the form of emergency supplies. The UN World Food Program (WFP) delivered food aids, one of which is in the form of high-energy biscuits enough to feed 35,000 children for 5 days. World Vision has also organized operations to aid the relief efforts by supplying necessary high-priority supplies for the survivors in the form of food, water, water tanks, water purification tablets, cooking items, hygiene kits, disposable nappies, candles, batteries, flashlights, blankets, sleeping bags and lanterns, especially in the hard-hit areas of Concepcion and Santiago.
Financial assistance is also heavily required for rebuilding efforts. Japan gave 3 million US dollars in emergency grant aid to Chile, following a formal request from Chilean President Michelle Bachelet for international assistance. These forms of financial aid is crucial in the rebuilding of the country after the vicious earthquake had hit Chile.

However, other then aid in emergency supplies, psychosocial and psychological aid is necessary for the survivors, especially the children. The earthquake and aftershocks brought about a negative emotional impact on the children, and requires serious and immediate attention and concern.

With the different relief efforts and aids, Chile has hope of a bright future ahead, however this rebuilding will need time of about a few years.

By Nur Farizah Bte ROslan (10S01)

Oil Spills and Its impacts

Oil Spills and Its impacts

Oil spills endangers animals as well as humans and are detrimental to the environment.

Causes

Oil spills usually occur during the transportation of oil across waterways such as oceans. Oil is commonly transported by barges, tankers, pipelines, and trucks, each of which has its own flaws that can lead to an oil accident. Tankers and barges can crash or run into unexpected land that causes a crack or hole which causes oil to escape. Likewise, pipelines which transport oil underground can develop leaks or cracks that allow oil to seep into the environment. Oil shipping trucks can also instigate an oil spill in the event of an accident. Some oil can escape while it is being moved from one vessel to another, a process called lightering. Uncontrollable factors such as hurricanes and other violent weather can cause tankers or barges to wreck or can damage offshore drilling facilities, incidents that can lead to oil spills. Oil spills can occur during other phases of production, such as when oil is being extracted from an oil well or being converted into other products at a refinery. Human mistakes as well as equipment failure are common causes of accidents in such situations. Sometimes oil is even spilled intentionally as an act of war or vandalism. Illegal dumping of oil is another deliberate act that causes environment degradation. Oil is an important commodity in World trade. Hence, oil spills also occurs when oil is being exported/imported during long international commutes.

Effects

Oil spills have affected many people and many industries. They affect both the economy and the environment.

Effect on marine life

Marine life is gravely affected by oil spills. Some birds die because they have ingested oil. However, more commonly the birds drown because they get stuck to the oil and are unable to get out of the water, starve because there's no food left for them because the fishes have been poisoned by the oil or lose too much body heat because of damage to their plumage by the oil. Fishes die of starvation because of loss of food or from being poisoned by the oil.

Some marine mammals and reptiles, such as dolphins, whales and turtles are very susceptible to oil spills because they have to be able to surface to breathe and the reptiles also need to leave the water to breed. The layer of oil makes surfacing difficult and causes the animals drown.

Vegetation in the water can be vulnerable to light crude or light refined oil spills if the oil reaches the root area of the plants. However, a thick coating of oil on the leaves does almost no damage if it occurs outside the growing season. Loss of vegetation can lead to more animal deaths as they lose sources of food. Living coral is also vulnerable to oil slicks. If the living coral dies, then the reef of coral can be destroyed by wave erosion. This means many fish and animals lose their homes.

The time taken for these damaged populations to recover depends on many factors and is highly variable.

Effects on local industries

Oil, tarballs, dead fish and birds all get washed up on the shores and the oil slick interferes with activities such as fishing, sailing and swimming. The local tourist industry suffers because tourists would not be enticed to visit a coastal area where they cannot engage in activities as listed above. Industries that rely on clean seawater for routine operations can also suffer because operations have to be stopped while the water is cleaned. The livelihood of communities that depend on coastal industry for survival thus can be seriously damaged. As such, oil spills has its economic implications as well.

Effects on fishing industries

The fishing industry suffers badly when an oil spill occurs. Firstly because the fish are often covered in oil, or have swallowed oil making them poisonous. Also a large number of fish die, decreasing the number of fish that could have possibly been caught. It is also difficult for boats to sail because the oil can damage them and the devices they use to catch the fish. Thus the livelihoods of fishermans are affected and this may result in them sinking into poverty. This would result in the fisherman and their famines being ensnared in a life of poverty. Their kids might as such be deprived of education, thus they do not have an opportunity to improve their lives. The impoverished fisherman may resort to petty crimes such as stealing. Therefore, oil spills may result in dire social consequences.

Ways to prevent oil spills

The whole world uses nearly three billion gallons of oil every day. We all use it to fuel our cars, trucks, and buses. Oil is also used in medicines, ink, paints, and to generate electricity. We can do our part to stop oil spills happening in the oceans. If we use less oil, then less will have to be transported, lowering the chances for oil spills to occur. We can use less oil by not using our cars instead we can walk or ride a bike. We also can use less oil by paving the roads with cement. That way we are not using oil.

Think about how many lights you have in your house. Also think about all the electronics like computers or televisions. All of these things use electricity. If we all were to turn off lights, computers, or televisions when not in use, we wouldn’t be using as mush oil to create the electricity throughout the house.

Letty Seah

10A05

New Orleans - Hurricane Katrina

Background

On August 28th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the eastern coast of New Orleans in United States. By August 31st, 2005, 80% of New Orleans was flooded with some parts under 15 feet (4.5 m) of water. More than 1,800 people lost their lives, and more than $81 billion dollars in damages occurred.
Hurricane Katrina was the sixth strongest recorded Atlantic hurricanes ever, and was amongst the five deadliest hurricanes that ever occurred in the US history.

Effects

Before the Katrina attack,

Max Mayfield, the director of the National Hurricane Center, telephoned New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, on the night of August 27th to express his extreme concern, and on the morning of August 28th, made a video call to U.S. President, George W. Bush, about the severity of the storm. Many New Orleans residents secured their belongings and prepared for evacuation immediately as Mayor Nagin issued the first ever mandatory evacuation of New Orleans.
About 1 million people managed to flee New Orleans and its surrounding suburbs by the second hit of Katrina the next morning.

After the Katrina attack,

• Many telephones, including most cell phones, and Internet access were not working due to line breakages, destruction of base stations, and power failures, and all local television stations were disrupted. This made coordination of rescue and the telecasting of the disaster difficult.
• Most of the major roads traveling into and out of the city were damaged and this toughened rescue efforts. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport was closed before the Katrina attack but was reopened for rescue work because there was no flooding in airplane movement areas and inside the building itself. The renowned Superdome was no longer safe for the people seeking shelter in it too.
• The levee system built by the US Army Corps of Engineers was severed damaged by Katrina and it was said to be the worst engineering disaster in US history. The US Army Corps of Engineers admitted that faulty design specifications, incomplete sections, and substandard construction of levee segments, contributed to the damage done to New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and two thirds of the flooding in the city would have been avoided if the levees held.
• Death toll of 1,836 was resulted and dead bodies were found everywhere in the city; most survivals lost their loved ones.
• Toll on America’s economy (E.g. New Orleans was pro active in oil refining and this form of income for America ceased periodically after the Katrina attack).
• Unstable homes, unclean water and insufficient food for the survivals as it took time to repair the damage.
• Increased crime rates as survivals looted to fight for necessities and non-necessities.
• International criticism on US’ lack of leadership to minimise the impacts of Katrina and mismanagement regarding the relief efforts of the attack.

Measures

• Non-governmental organizations like the American Red Cross rendered financial aid and helped raised US$4.25 billion to help the victims.
• US Army Corps of Engineers proceeded with the reconstruction of levees, with new considerations of the new levees locations and further modification to be made.

So,
a natural disaster could happen anytime and anywhere. It could possibly happen just where we live tomorrow. Hence, it is very important for the government to always take precautions and ensure the national facilities are working in good conditions so as to defend the country with preparedness when need be and the citizens should also be prepared to stay united in terms of a crisis. This is all we can control and we should make good use of this abilityto do so and this would minimize the impacts of a natural disaster.

By Cheryl Mun (10S01)

Heatwaves in Australia

Heatwaves in Australia

Australia has a long history of heatwaves. The worst recorded heatwave was in 1939 when 438 people died. This heatwave affected South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
Heatwaves have accounted for more deaths in Australia than any other climatic event. Some of the worst heatwaves on record are below:

-January 1896 - 437 people died
-January 1908 - 246 people died
-February 1921 - 147 people died
-January 1927 - 130 people died
-January 1939 - 438 people died
-February 1959 - 105 people died
-January 1973 - 26 people died
-February 1981 - 15 people died
-February 1993 - 17 people died
-February 2004 – 12 people died.

It’s getting hot in here!

The highest temperature in Australia was 50.7°C at Oodnadatta in South Australia in 1960.
Marble Bar in Western Australia holds the record for the longest days in a row when the temperature was above 37.8°C for 160 days in 1923-24.
The hottest day in Sydney was set in 1939 when it got to 45.3°C.

Exceptional Australian Heat Wave

In early February 2009, residents of southeastern Australia were cringing at their weather forecasts, as predictions of temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) meant that a blistering heat wave was continuing.

This map of Australia shows how the land surface temperature from January 25 to February 1 compared to the average mid-summer temperatures the continent experienced between 2000-2008. Places where temperatures were warmer than average are red, places experiencing near-normal temperatures are white, and places where temperatures were cooler than average are blue. The data were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

By: Marie Tan 10S01

Eyjafjallajökull Iceland Volcanic Eruption 2010

Effects:

• Flights cancelled (European Airways affected) Air France lost about US$300 million in revenue.
• Airlines affected for 9 days.
• More than 63,000 flights had been cancelled in 23 European countries, businessmen who need to get to another country find themselves stranded for at least 3 days, as trains and rental cars are fully booked for days.
• Health risk: breathing in ash or poisonous gases like sulfur dioxide, may develop complications especially for those with existing respiratory problems.
• No aeroplanes to transport food. Agricultural workers will lose income.
• Other forms of transport like companies that rent out vehicles and trains and ferries will earn more revenue,
• Hotel trade will also make more money as people are staying longer. However, some hotels will also lose business because people have are not able to travel there.
• In those hotels, there are more room vacancies and many employees are now redundant.
• The impact on smaller businesses is more severe. Companies that depend on imports from other countries, will find themselves out of stock of certain items. For example, florists who get flowers from another country.
• The stocks have fallen due to flights being cancelled and airlines losing money.
• Celebrities may have to cancel performances because they are not able to get to their destination.

Measures taken to solve problem of people stranded in foreign countries

• Deploying the Royal Navy, cruise ships and commercial shipping to transport passengers to the UK if the crisis worsens.
• Using Spain, which is not yet affected by the eruption, as a dropping-off point for stranded air passengers before continuing their journey by train, coach or boat.
• British consulate officials visiting key airports worldwide to advise passengers of their rights, including food and accommodation from EU-registered carriers.

As you can see from the effects, just one volcano can cause a lot of problems to its surrounding countries and affect the world (stock market). This shows the interconnectedness of this world. Singapore is considered lucky, as it has once again not a direct victim of this eruption, hence the impact on our economy is minimal.

The European countries have been criticized of being unprepared for this emergency, as the previous eruption of Iceland happened in the 1810s. That time, solutions were maybe not recorded, and there was probably not much interconnectedness in the world. However, the problem of being stranded could be alleviated, as in 2001, September 11, the same situation happened. The problem cannot be avoided, as there is still speculation whether the volcano will still erupt, making air travel impossible. In 911, the duration of the attack is much shorter than the volcanic eruption and thus, people were stranded for a shorter period of time.

By Angus Ng (10S01)

Aceh Tsunami

On the 26th December 2004, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, was hit with a Tsunami with wave heights as high as 30 metres. It was one of the deadliest natural disaster ever happening in history. The Tsunami has killed about 230 000 people and made 500 000 others homeless. Aceh was one of the hardest-hit areas by the tsunami caused by the Indian Ocean earthquake of magnitude of 9.3 according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. This earthquake is the second largest earthquake ever recorded by a seismograph.

The earthquake which had resulted in the tsunami, was caused by the tectonic movement of the Indian and Burma plate. At these plate boundaries, 2 activities happened. First was the subducting of the Indian plate under the Burma plate. Second was the faulting of both plates where both slides past each other, one moving upwards and the other moving downwards, causing a large displacement in height of the sea water. As a result, tsunami waves were formed due to the displacement of about 30 km3 of water.

Aceh was not only the place being hit with the Tsunami. Countries like India and Sri Lanka was also affected. Others that are known are affected mostly by the earthquake.

Due to the tsunami, Aceh's infrastructure was greatly affected. Most of its buildings are destroyed leaving their citizens homeless and unaided. Hence, many neighbouring countries have come forward to help the country in providing the daily necessities and health care to the people.

Economically, the country was affected as the coastal fishing communities and fisherfolks were unable to generate their only way of income. Environmentally, pollutions happened and these affected the ecosystem in some ways. Tourism in the country has also declined drastically eversince the disaster.

Rebuilding and recoveringf of the city has taken a long time as the country has lost about US$4.5 billion. t has received monetary aid from the World Bank to rebuild it's city. Aceh has also decided to build a tsunami detecting system so that the country will be more prepared when another tsunami is bound to happen in the future. The country believes that another tsunami may happen in the future since such natural disasters are more prone to happen these few years.

The tsunami that happened in Aceh has made the world realise how important it is to be ever ready for such natural disasters that can occur anytime without any warning. Therefore, it is advisable to install a detecting system than to lose many innocent lives due to such disasters in the future.

By Nurul Atiqah (10S01)

China's increased efforts to promote the eco-environment compensation mechanism

In recent years, the establishment of a sound ecological environment in the pace of increase in the compensation mechanism. 2001-2004, the countries of the Central forest ecological benefit compensation fund an experimental basis. Since 2005, the central government formally established the forest ecological benefit compensation fund, marks the compensation mechanism of forest ecological benefits, was formally established. Now accumulated more than 200 billion yuan invested, will focus on seven million hectares of ecological forest into the scope of compensation. In 2006, the State authorities issued on the progressive establishment of mining environmental management and ecological restoration accountability mechanisms guidance to the mines to make the deployment of a pilot eco-environmental compensation. At the same time, the central government also adopted to improve standards of environmental protection expenditures and transfer payments coefficient approach, increase of Qinghai Three Rivers, south-middle part of the natural forests, water areas and protected areas such as financial transfer payment.

Over the past 10 years, China has started the implementation of the returning farmland to forest, pasture, natural forest protection, Beijing and Tianjin sandstorm source control, the southwest karst rocky desertification area of governance, Sanjiangyuan nature reserve in Qinghai, Gansu Gannan important source of water recharge area of the Yellow River such as the nature of ecological compensation has some major ecological construction projects, with a total investment of more than 7000 billion yuan, of which the nature of the expenditures for a variety of subsidies for the more than 3,000 billion yuan.
Through the establishment of a compensation mechanism is to make the ecological environment of the internalization of external costs, the formation of the ecological environment beneficiaries pay spoilers compensation, builders and protectors of a reasonable compensation for a favorable operating mechanism, thereby enhancing the ecological environment of the community consciousness. Worth looking forward to is that the current parties are speeding up the development of "Eco-Compensation Ordinance," which will make the future more in the practical operation "law" Keyi.

But overall, China's ecological environment is relatively fragile situation has not fundamentally changed, particularly in promoting the ecological construction and environmental protection interests do not straighten out. "Eleventh Five-year" eco-environmental planning to limit the development of regional and prohibition of the development of regional explicitly provides that: limits the development of regional major national ecological security, including those related to protected areas of natural forest resources, forest area, grassland, "three" areas, an important water source protection areas, serious soil erosion areas and so on; prohibiting the development of region is dominated by various types of nature reserves established by law

China's efforts to cut greenhouse emissions effective

China on Wednesday said its efforts to cut greenhouse emission were the best in the world, vowing continued work.

"China's energy consumption per-unit GDP has decreased by 10 percent from that in 2005, our target this year is another 5 percent drop," Yu Qingtai, China's top envoy on climate change, told a press briefing in Beijing.

Released in 2007, China's National Climate Change Program set a goal of lowering energy consumption per-unit GDP by 20 percent by 2010 from that of 2005, which Yu said would cut a total of 1.5-billion-ton greenhouse emission, an equal to 300 million ton of carbon dioxide every year.

"The figure shows that China's effort to cut greenhouse emissions and its actual effect are second to none," the envoy said.

Stressing China's status as a developing nation at a stage of industrialization and urbanization, Yu said the country was confronted with double challenges of developing the economy and protecting environment.

"China has a population of 150 million who are living on less than two U.S. dollars a day, a poverty standard recently set by the United Nations," Yu said.

With its coal-dominated energy mix, China looked to the renewable energy as a way to cut gas emissions, Yu said.

Under China's national program, the renewable energy will account for 10 percent in the country's energy total by 2010 and up to 15 percent by 2020.

"China has achieved impressive progress in utilizing renewable energy," Yu said, citing the figure of 2008 showing that the country's use of hydropower and solar power ranked first in the world, wind power the fourth.

China's bio-gas users in countryside, Yu said, amounted to 26 million by 2007, which would help reduce the use of 16-million-ton coal annually and cut 44 million tons of carbon dioxide.

Although the global economic downturn took its toll on China, Yu said the Chinese government didn't waver in its efforts to tackle climate change.

Of China's 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package unveiled last year, around 58 billion yuan was earmarked for climate change projects, Yu said. "The percentage ranked the second worldwide, according to a report by the Hongkong-Shanghai Banking Corporation."

Yu said the Chinese government also advocated the energy-efficient products among the public with an aim to cutting greenhouse emission.

"In a nutshell, China has taken the climate change seriously, set clear goals and acted vigorously," Yu said.

South East Asia Capacity Development Initiative for Youth Involvement in Eco-Villages

This initiative aims to pilot at the sub-regional level a self-sustaining capacity development mechanism for the continuous and direct involvement of local and national youth organizations in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of community-level (village level) sustainable development efforts (eco-village initiatives) in 10 pilot communities in each of the following target countries in the South East Asia Sub region: Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

The initiative will link both information and community organizing technologies to facilitate through capacity development interventions, the transformation of existing local community groups supported by national youth networks to self sustaining and politically strong youth cooperatives or enterprises engage in sustainable livelihood in such eco-preneurial (conservation-based) enterprises as: a) community-based coastal resource management, b) community-based forest management, c) community-based sustainable agriculture, d) community based ecological solid waste management and e) community-based eco-tourism.

The information generated and manage through an electronic information system once transformed into non-electronic forms of information sharing tools useful and usable at the community level can then be used both for accessing relevant information and opportunities and as a marketing & promotions mechanism for the products and services that will eventually be developed out of the expected community youth-led eco-enterprises to sustain the respective operations of the target community youth groups.

~ The 2006 European heat wave ~

The United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany were most affected. In addition Reported deaths reached 1 000 extra deaths in the Netherlands.

More from BBC……….

Temperatures for much of the UK, have been significatly above average recently. It has been the warmest June for thirty years and July has continued the warm trend.
The Met Office have issues a level 3 heatwave warning for England and Wales until Friday 21 July. Remember heat can kill. In the 2003 northwest Europe heatwave 27,000 people died - a stark reminder that it's not a subject to be taken lightly.

Blizzards in Europe!!

Extract from an article dated December 28, 2005.....

Chaos …
Snowstorms caused hundreds of train cancellations in Britain and flight disruptions in Germany, Sweden and Portugal, as well as bringing road chaos to Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Worst hit was north-eastern France, where 5000 to 10,000 people spent a chilly night behind the wheel after traffic ground to a halt on a stretch of motorway between the towns of Toul and Nancy, regional authorities said.

In Turkey, temperatures plummeted overnight to minus 31 degrees in the eastern mountain area of Agri.

More than 1000 villages remained cut off by deep snow that blocked access to about 3300 hamlets earlier that week.

Munich Re is worried =(

Munich Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurance group, joined calls on the world’s politicians and governments to take measures to combat climate change as it reported that the cost of natural disasters had doubled this year to just under $30 billion (£15 billion).

There were 950 natural catastrophes this year, the highest since Munich Re began to keep records in 1974. Despite a total economic loss of $75 billion, the disasters still caused far less damage than 2006, when the combined effects of severe hurricanes, such as Rita and Katrina, caused losses estimated at a record $220 billion, with almost $100 billion of that paid out by insurers.

In Europe, Storm Kyrill caused the greatest chaos, bringing windspeeds of up to 200 km/hour in January, reaching from the mid-Atlantic as far east as Poland and Austria. Kyrill caused about $10 billion of economic damage, according to Munich Re.

Kyrill caused widespread damage across Western Europe, especially in the United Kingdom and Germany. 47 fatalities have been reported as of January 19 as well as extensive disruptions of public transport, power outages to over one hundred thousand homes, severe damages to public and private buildings and major forest damage through windthrow.

Dr Jeworrek, a member of the board at Munich Re gave warning that weather-related losses would rise, pushing up premium costs and acting as a drain on government spending on infrastructure.

Mediterranean would soon be able to form its own Hurricane!!

Studies have shown that the Mediterranean could start generating its own hurricanes if sea temperatures keep rising.

“We have detected for the first time a risk of tropical cyclone [hurricane] development over the Mediterranean based on anthropogenic [man-made] climate change,” said Miguel Gaertner, lead researcher at the environ-mental sciences faculty of the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Toledo, Spain
He added: “The scientific record shows global warming is raising sea-surface temperatures. Observation and theory suggest that hurricanes are becoming more intense as the earth warms.”
Moreover, scientists agree, the surface layers of the Atlantic and Mediterranean have warmed by about 0.6C, with most of that change happening since 1970. Some predict a further 2C-3C warming by 2050.

Anguilla Anguilla a.k.a. European eel faces extinction threat

The Anguilla Anguilla or European eel is amongst one of the highly endangered marine species today. According to an article from the Guardian, the population of the eels has declined by 95% over the last 25 years. And people, especially the fishermen, fisheries officials and conservationists are baffled over this mystery of the vanishing eels which is occurring in the Al. They simply cannot pinpoint the main cause of this.

On one hand, environment changes could have played a role in causing this. Kevin Friedland, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.) biologist and his colleagues’ research has found a significant correlation between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO - a type of ocean-atmospheric pattern) , and the variation in the number of glass eels (juvenile stage) caught. He said that, “Changing ocean conditions in the Sargasso Sea (the hatching area) caused by the NAO could be affecting the recruitment and survival of European eels.” Similarly, other natural-occurring variations, for instance, the North Atlantic Drift and the Gulf Stream might also have contributed to this phenomenon. This is because the eels are hatched in freshwater lakes in America first, and they travel to their respective oceans upon reaching the juvenile stage.

Furthermore, the decline could have also occurred due to over-fishing, given the large demand for the fishes in the far-east. At one time, a kilo of glass eels itself was worth 500 pounds, tempting fishermen to use illegal nets to scoop “as many up as possible”. Adult eels are also caught for the same purpose. Therefore, with the eels being caught continuously without any restrictions, there is no doubt that the population of eels would decline so drastically to the verge of extinction.

Besides this, the construction of man-made structures has contributed to this emergency too. By building structures that obstruct the paths of the young eels, we are basically preventing the European eels from reaching the Atlantic Ocean, their spawning ground, trapping them hence, causing the premature deaths of the eels.

Lastly, the population of European eels could have declined because of the introduction of parasites to their habitats, for example, Anguillicola Crassus, a parasitic nematode worm that lives in the swim bladders of the eels. These parasites are a threat to the eels because they can spread easily among the eel populations upon being introduced to water. Using the preys of the eels as hosts, these parasites enter the eels’ body when it gets consumed along with its hosts by them. Soon, the infected eels’ swim bladder will collapse causing its death due to its inability to stay afloat. The deaths of these eels along and those caused by the other factors eventually caused its population to decline rapidly

Just like other endangered animals, the problem that the European eel is facing should not be left unsolved. Unless any actions is taken by the relevant authorities, nothing can help the eels to save themselves from extinction.

Study: Global warming worst in Western Europe

Global warming and a hotter solar cycle will bump up average atmospheric temperatures about a third of a degree by 2014, and then flatten out for the rest of the decade, suggest climate scientists.
Temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, "especially Western Europe, will experience the largest warming," almost 2 degrees Fahrenheit, says the study in the current Geophysical Research Letters led by Judith Lean of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C.
In the study, the scientists match recent surface temperature observations with past ones to project a temperature increase "at a rate 50% greater than predicted," by the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
An uptick already underway in the sun's solar cycle combined with greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere, will trigger the increase by 2014, find the researchers. However, declining solar activity after 2014 will keep temperatures steady until 2019.
A major volcanic eruption would cool temperatures or severe El Nino would exacerbate them, the study cautions. "The major assumption associated with our forecasts is that ‘past is prologue’; climate will continue to respond in the future to the same factors that have influenced it in the recent past and the response will continue to be linear over the next several decades," concludes the study.

The impact of global warming in Europe

Europe’s natural ecosystems are generally fragmented and disturbed, making them very sensitive to climate change. Most of Europe experienced temperature increases this century that are larger than the global average, and precipitation generally increased in the north but decreased in the south. The warming is clearly noticeable in mountain regions by the widespread retreat of glaciers in the Alps. Plant and animal species are also apparently responding to the changes by shifting their ranges northward and by changing the timing of their activities to coincide with an earlier spring. The fragmented nature of the European landscape, however, may make it difficult for less adaptive species to respond to continued climatic warming.
For Europe we have many more hotspots than for some other regions of the world, although impact studies have been emerging in larger numbers in recent years from previously under-studied regions. This higher density of early warning signs in Europe is due in part to the fact that these regions have more readily accessible climatic data and more comprehensive programs to monitor and study environmental change, in part to the disproportionate warming that has been observed over the mid-to-high-latitude continents compared to other regions during the last century, and in part to emphasize the importance of the industrialized countries of Europe taking strong action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.