...focused on answering questions about water sustainability after assigned reading and viewing a film on the topic. The second activity was based on the provided LAB 1: Defining the Problem – Understanding Sustainability Criteria” activity. They are each described in more detail below. Activity 1: The plan submitted for the first activity was for groups of students to work together to answer questions about the documentary film “Poisoned Waters” and apply their acquired information to real world issues regarding water resources. On 10/21/13, thirty-seven of my Environmental Health students took a pretest about water quality and sustainability. (See Appendix A) Then, students were assigned Chapter 7 “Drinking Water” from Environmental Health by Dade. W. Moeller (4th ed.) as homework. The following class, I lectured on this chapter, particularly on background about sources of drinking water (including local), water pollution, water scarcity, and water conservation. On 10/28/13, I planned to show “Poisoned Waters “, a Frontline PBS produced documentary chronicling water pollution in some of America’s primary waterways, and conduct the group activity. Unfortunately, the Cabrillo campus was closed due to a campus-wide power outage on this day. Therefore, I had to assign the film and questions to students as homework (See Appendix B), to work on independently. These questions were adapted from the Teacher’s Guide discussion questions on the “Poisoned Waters” website (http://www.pbs.org/wg...
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...Name____________________________________________ Date ____________________ Period _______ “Poisoned Waters” Video Questions 1. What is a dead zone, and what causes one to form? (9) - an area in coastal waters where there’s no oxygen -- fertilizers from farmland end up in coastal waters; grow algae up which sucks up the oxygen when they die; areas are growing; Gulf of Mexico has one size of state of Massachusetts 2. What was the largest public demonstration in American history? -- Earth Day; ~10% of country’s population participated (20 million) 3. When was the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formed? What events prompted its formation? -- 1970; in response to concerns raised at Earth Day and congressional pressure. (skip to 23:00)-- industrial waste flowing into the Chesapeake Bay (could be pig farms in NC) 4. Why does the investigator say “these rivers are delivery systems” to the bay? -- waste seeps into ground or routed by pipes into local streams/rivers and goes right into the bay 5. How do Perdue and other large chicken producers arrange to grow chickens for consumers? (~33) Why don't they raise the chickens themselves? -- contract with farmers; Purdue owns the chickens and feed and everything EXCEPT the waste 6. What is the difference in opinion about chicken manure between Perdue and other large chicken producers and the chicken farmers (represented in the film by Carole Morison)? -- Carole Morison = "a mess" -- it’s a negative, purdue should take responsibility;...
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...Poisoned Waters Viewing worksheet After viewing the film clips on chicken farming and endocrine disruptors, respond to the following questions in a different type of font: 1. How do Perdue and other large chicken producers arrange to grow chickens for consumers? contract with farmers 2. Why don't they raise the chickens themselves? Purdue owns the chickens and feed and everything except the waste 3. What is the difference in opinion about chicken manure between Perdue and other large chicken producers and the chicken farmers (represented in the film by Carole Morison)? Carole Morison = "a mess" it’s a negative, purdue should take responsibility; Purdue = “a resource” farmers should consider it a valuable resource 4. Do you agree with Perdue or Carole Morison? I agree with Carole Morison 5. Why? the farmers should not be directly held accountable for the runoff pollution that the manure causes 6. What do you understand to be the effect of endocrine disruptors? eggs in the testes (feminization of male fish) interrupt normal body functions, such as thyroid, hormones, sex characteristics, multiple (or missing) legs on frogs 7. Which part of the segment on endocrine disruptors did you find most interesting or disturbing? the intersex with the fish 8. Why? (Cite details.) they couldn’t tell what the sex of the fish were 9. Based on the information in the documentary, do you believe...
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...polluted and poisoned because of the phalanx which comes from chemical and pharmaceutical factories above Sheen’s fields(one of the most polluted area in China) The water now is very toxic because of pollution, hydropower, and intensive water extraction for people consumption, it becomes red and purple and can’t be use even for irrigation. Also this river affects other smaller rivers because it has a lot of them. More than 4 billion tons of wastewater are dumped into the Yellow River every year. Due to this fact about a third of the river's native fish species are in the extinction. The Yellow River has been drained dry in the main course of its lower reaches and the groundwater table has rapidly declined in the floodplains. What impacts do these problems have on people? First of all, the Yellow River was a mother river in China, it was famous in Chinese history and important for Chinese population because they started their live near this river many years ago. Now they have a shortage of water because of the factories, which consumed too much for producing but no water is available because such a big and important river is polluted and poisoned. As a part of fish is now poisoned and dying this means that they will may have problems in future with alimentation because they will not have enough of fish to eat. Their population is really huge and it will be difficult to have fish for every person. What states share the Jordan River? Water resources in...
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...MINING AND WATER POLLUTION Water is essential to life on our planet. A prerequisite of sustainable development must be to ensure uncontaminated streams, rivers, lakes and oceans. There is growing public concern about the condition of fresh water in Canada. Mining affects fresh water through heavy use of water in processing ore, and through water pollution from discharged mine effluent and seepage from tailings and waste rock impoundments. Increasingly, human activities such as mining threaten the water sources on which we all depend. Water has been called “mining’s most common casualty” (James Lyon, interview, Mineral Policy Center, Washington DC). There is growing awareness of the environmental legacy of mining activities that have been undertaken with little concern for the environment. The price we have paid for our everyday use of minerals has sometimes been very high. Mining by its nature consumes, diverts and can seriously pollute water resources. Negative Impacts While there have been improvements to mining practices in recent years, significant environmental risks remain. Negative impacts can vary from the sedimentation caused by poorly built roads during exploration through to the sediment, and disturbance of water during mine construction. Water pollution from mine waste rock and tailings may need to be managed for decades, if not centuries, after closure. These impacts depend on a variety of factors, such as the sensitivity of local terrain, the composition of...
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...among others which are toxic and are classified as hard drugs which are a cause of very dangerous effects in the body and in the environment. The reasons people should not smoke in public are explained below. Smoking in public results in air pollution which exposes living organisms to its danger. It is evident that tobacco that is commonly smoked in cigarettes contains four thousand dangerous chemical which when breathed out by the smoker and released to the environment. The particles could find themselves settles on the leaves of the plants. As a result they particles could block the pores meant for photosynthesis or poison the plant. The plant could also absorb the particles and when fed on by the primary producers, the animals could get poisoned. It is also worth noting that the micro-organisms in the air also get intoxicated and this leads to interference with the ecological balance. In addition to that smoke in public greatly affects the pseudo-smokers. Pseudo smokers are those who inhale the smoke coming from those who release it from the cigar. In other words, they are secondary smokers. They suffer the hardest effects of the smoke in as much as they are not direct smokers....
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...environment where they live, learn and work...” (Environmental Protection Agency). Pesticide use has plenty of benefits such as less crop loss due to pests and/or disease, and because less crops are lost, more money is saved, even though pesticides are purchased, they are relatively cheap and do not negate the total savings. On the other hand, there is a plethora of reasons that pesticide use is heinous, and harmful to all those involved from the person whose job it is is to administer the chemicals to the cat that ate the poisoned mouse. Many different problems have been associated with pesticide use. Scientists have executed tests on various food goods, water, and environments throughout the United States and have identified multiple chemicals that can be toxic to humans and wildlife that it comes in contact with. Studies have shown that the fallout from pesticide use can make its way into drinking water, whether it be treated water, ground water, or bottled water, as well as chemical residues on the fruits and vegetables an average American buys at the grocery store.However, there have been a few complications with the...
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...If you enjoy fishing or any aquatic activities then you should be concerned about the snakehead fish. The snakehead fish is threatening our lakes and rivers for the worse. This invasive species fish is threatening people’s livelihoods, and their hobbies. If we do not take action and do anything about the snakehead fish, we may not have excellent waters anymore for our sports, and pass-times that we put so much money, time, and energy in to. Snakeheads are a fish native to eastern Asia and were recently introduced to North America. They were first introduced by Asian food importers to establish a population of harvestable snakehead to supplement, and reduce the foreign import of the highly desired food product. They have also been introduced through release of pet snakeheads into the wild illegally. The first reproducing population were found in a pond in Maryland in...
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...Oil Spills in Water SCI/256 Louise Morell Oil is one natural resource that has been maintained for the most part around the world. It has had its positive and negative effects on the human population as well as in agriculture. Several practices have been put into place in order to manage the sustainability of oil. Countries around the world cross-train and share ways on how to be more conservative with this energy resource. With all of these practices in place, there is irreparable damage in the freshwater aquatic and marine ecosystems when oil is deposited into the environment. Oil spills are something that can affect large bodies of water as well as small. It has been made known the affects it has had on oil drilling in our oceans but, oil spills can happen accidently or due to poor drilling practices in local areas as well. In the freshwater and aquatic arena, oil can be found. Rarely does it exist in its fundamental state as in most areas it must be processed. Although it is a natural resource, it is considered a localized resource due to it being found only in certain areas. It is also an exhaustible resource, which means that it is something that can run out, unlike air. When there is an oil spill in the freshwater or marine ecosystem, there is no mixture of these two liquids as the two are immiscible. Unfortunately the freshwater, which serves as a nesting ground and food source for many different species, it creates a threat to the inhabitants who rely...
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... contamination . Waves, water currents, and wind move the oil onto shore with the surf and tide. Crude oil from the Sea Empress tanker spill coats a beach at Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1996. Although marine transportation accidents can result in such oil spills, they account for only about 5 percent of the waste oil that enters the ocean annually. Crude oil from the Sea Empress tanker spill coats a beach at Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1996. Although marine transportation accidents can result in such oil spills, they account for only about 5 percent of the waste oil that enters the ocean annually. Beach sand and gravel saturated with oil may be unable to protect and nurture normal vegetation and populations of the substrate biomass . Rocks and boulders coated with sticky residue interfere with recreational uses of the shoreline and can be toxic to coastal wildlife. Examples of Large...
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...their lavish lifestyle. The wine spilled in the streets, causing the people to go crazy trying to soak up some thus creating a crowd, and this became dangerous because the people were like raging waters trying to mop up wine. This mob was acting as wild animals trying to get every last drop. The scene was a someone trying to swim against a current, every chaotic. The french have had enough because “ they were at sea and the ship [was] at peril tempest” (Dickens 33). The “ship” france was in serious danger because that ship was going to wreck in and the crew was going to be the cause of the wreck. The state was france was in danger because this crowd of people were very deadly because everything had been taken from them and no one was trying to help them so they were going to take matters into their own hands. The mob has nothing to lose which makes them deadly because they will do anything for the cause. The time will come when blood will be spilled and “ the stain of red will be upon many of them there” because mobs are ruthless. (Dickens 223) People can only take so much and the people of France have barred enough so they will rise like the waves and crash down on the nobility. The time will come and the common folk will get revenge because just like a “ whirlpool of boiling water has a [center] point so does a crowd and that centerpoint was taking out the nobility (Dicken...
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..."It's paranoid and ignorant to worry about industry or agriculture contaminating the environment with their chemical wastes. After all, this stuff is just made ofthe same atoms that were already present in our environment. How would you counter this argument? Yes, that’s right cause the chemicals present in our environment every now and then are the same chemicals that are present in the industrial and agricultural wastes that are contaminating our environment Put in mind first that chemicals is used in large amount may leads or brings us to toxicity or poisoned. In fact these chemicals are made for the benefit of some other people but in the other hand, let's not get away with the possibility that, these are also disadvantage for the others. 3. What are the four emergent properties of water that contribute to Earth’s fitness for life? Explain each. Cohesive and Adhesive Behavior - Cohesion and adhesion in water are caused by the...
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...whole, are ruining our water supplies for the future. We have continuously flushed whatever we don’t want to deal with into our sewer systems. The toxins, mostly from cleaning supplies and body treatment products are being reintroduced into our water sources. The waste water treatment facilities are efficient in removing the organic waste from the water supply, but they are not active in removing chemicals, and nutrients from the water table. I would like to discuss a few things that everyone should know about our waste water treatment facilities and what we can do to protect ourselves from being poisoned by our tap water. First, I would like to go over a few of the intricacies of our wastewater facility in Chillicothe. Second, I am going to discuss the chemicals, nutrients, and hormones that are occurring in our supply water due to the lack of regulations and filtration of our wastewater facilities. Third, I am going to discuss a few ideas that may aid the problem. Let me begin by first describing the waste water treatment process in our Chillicothe area. The Easterly Chillicothe Waste Water Treatment Facility is the subject of my studies because it affects most of us here today. Waste water is drained into the sewer by everyone living in the eastern side of the city. The sewer is perhaps the most important part of our water system today. This facility is built to handle OWC’s or organic wastewater compounds; it is designed to separate the water from the OWC’s using...
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...Content Water they say is life, and indeed they were right. With about 70% of the earth’s cover being water; it undeniably becomes one of our greatest resources. Water resources are used in various ways including direct consumption, agricultural irrigation, fisheries, hydropower, industrial production, recreation, navigation, environmental protection, the disposal and treatment of sewage, and industrial effluents. Water has sources and supplies, economic, social, and political characteristics which make it a unique and challenging natural resource to manage. Water resources refer to the supply of groundwater and surface water in a given area. Water resources may also reference the current or potential value of the resource to the community and the environment. The maximum rate that water is potentially available for human use and management is often considered the best measure of the total water resources of a given region. With two thirds of the earth's surface covered by water and the human body consisting of 75 percent of it, it is evidently clear that water is one of the prime elements responsible for life on earth. Water circulates through the land just as it does through the human body, transporting, dissolving, replenishing nutrients and organic matter, while carrying away waste material. Further in the body, it regulates the activities of fluids, tissues, cells, lymph, blood and glandular secretions. An average adult body contains 42 litres of water and with just...
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...For the past month residents of Flint, Michigan have been suffering from the contamination of their tap water. The crisis can be blamed on Michigans Republican governer Rick Snyder. Mr.Snyder said in a press conference that “I am sorry, and I will fix it”. The problem started when The city of Flint decided to change their water source from Lake Huron to their own Flint River. Representatives did not factor in the safety of their own residents but they only cared that this move would save the state tons of money. Governer Snyder first saw problems with the water supply when city worker’s had noticed that the pipes the water was being pumped through had been very outdated and also had corrosion which started to leak lead into the water supply....
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