Students you still need to create a 1-3 paragraph blog on your thoughts on the oil spill. Ensure that you have proper paragraph organization and that it is edited for mechanical errors etc. You can post the blog (include your initials or a nickname that I can recognize with your blog please).
Here are some depressing and shocking photos from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Click on the links to the ctv website.
Brown Pelicans in oil
http://www.ctv.ca/gallery/html/oil-animals-pelicans-birds-200604/index_.html
Wild life affected by oilspill
http://www.ctv.ca/gallery/html/oil-spill-wildlife-damage-20100528/index_.html
Effort to contain Gulf spill stalls as oil spreads
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20100602/oil-florida-100602/?s_name=&no_ads=
Leonardo de Caprios Eco website... lots of great stuff on the oil spill.
 Gulf 'media blackout' triggers journalist fury CBS, CNN, the New York Times — these are not fringe media outlets. And when Anderson Cooper and Katie Couric complain about press barricades, you know that not only is the rumored media blackout very real, but it is clearly also very serious.  Gulf Oil Spill: BP’s Poor Record So Far Dulls Hope for Future In the more than seven weeks since its deep-sea well exploded and began belching oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico, all BP has done is make the leak worse.  From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence Orange Beach, Alabama -- While President Obama insists that the federal government is firmly in control of the response to BP's spill in the Gulf, people in coastal communities where I visited last week in Louisiana and Alabama know an inconvenient truth: BP -- not our president -- controls the response. In fact, people on the ground say things are out of control in the gulf.  Want to Avoid Using Oil? It’s in Everything from Shampoo to Vitamins Washington(AP) -- So the Gulf oil spill has you ready to quit petroleum cold turkey? Louisiana's brown pelicans have more of a chance of avoiding Big Oil than you do.  Oil-Coated Birds Could Be Cooked Alive as Gulf Heats Up Things keep getting worse and worse for the bird populations around the Gulf Coast. First, experts revealed that once a bird is coated in oil, it's almost certain to die -- citing that less than 1% survive, even if they're thoroughly cleaned. Now, scientists are worried that oil-covered birds will literally be cooked alive by the heat-absorbing oil.  Obama overlooked key points in offshore drilling review Washington — Weeks before the world had ever heard of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, President Barack Obama stood in the Roosevelt Room of the White House poring over maps of oil drilling sites in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and elsewhere. For more news... Mother Nature Network Huffington Post Green Treehugger DeSmog Blog It's Getting Hot in Here |
Oil Spill Response
ReplyDeleteTwo weeks ago, there was a fatal explosion on the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig sank shortly afterwards, and since then the well has been leaking crude oil into the Gulf, spreading an oil slick towards the U.S. Gulf Coast. This spill is pouring as many as 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil a day into the Gulf and poses a serious threat to coastal industries, sensitive habitats and wildlife, including numerous species along the coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
Other Oil spills that have happened in recent years is the Exxon Valdez oil spill that took place more than 21 years ago in Alaska. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. 10.8 million US gallons of crude oil spilled out of the oil tanker. It is considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters ever to occur in history. Until the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The cost for the Alaskan oil spill cost them $287 million for actual damages and $5 billion for punitive damages.
Oil Spill Response
ReplyDeleteThe oil is spilling out of the seafloor at five thousand barrels a day. Equivalent of two hundred thousand gallons maybe much more, from a well about fifty miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, and it could soon eclipse the volume of the infamous Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. That disaster spilled oil onto rocky Alaskan beaches, but it is at least possible to wash oil off a rock. In the Gulf, the oil is floating into wetlands that could hold on to its toxins for years. Scientists said, the spill's damage could be magnified by its awful timing. Among the animals that live along the Gulf Coast, this is the time for hatching and rearing: Species as diverse as pelicans, shrimp and alligators are all reproducing, or preparing to. That could bring sensitive young animals in contact with toxic oil or cause their parents to plunge into oily waters looking for food.
It’s been a month since the explosion in Louisiana happened and now it is getting worse. People living near the coast are affected by this disaster, mostly fishermen’s. Fishermen’s might lose their job. All of the beaches are close because the oil already reaches the shore and it’s not just affecting the people living near the coast but it is also affecting the animals. When I saw the picture on CTV it was horrible. You can’t even say that it was pelican because it’s all covered with oil.
When will this stop and how will they stop the oil from spilling. If this thing will not be stop as soon possible it would be a big problem.
A.YAP
The catastrophic explosion that caused an oil spill from a BP offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico has reached the shoreline. Efforts to manage the spill with controlled burning, dispersal and plugging the leak have so far been unsuccessful. This oil spill has now obtained the dubious distinction of being the worst oil spill in US history, surpassing the damage done by the Exxon Valdez tanker that spilled 11 million gallons of oil into the ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound in 1989. Unlike the Exxon Valdez tragedy, in which a tanker held a finite capacity of oil, BP's rig is tapped into an underwater oil well and could pump more oil into the ocean indefinitely until the leak is plugged.
ReplyDeleteAn oil spill that threatened to eclipse even the Exxon Valdez disaster spread out of control with a faint sheen washing ashore along the Gulf Coast Thursday night as fishermen rushed to scoop up shrimp and crews spread floating barriers around marshes.
The spill was bigger than imagined — five times more than first estimated — and closer. Faint fingers of oily sheen were reaching the Mississippi River delta, lapping the Louisiana shoreline in long, thin lines.
The oil slick could become the nation's worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world's richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life. Thicker oil was in waters south and east of the Mississippi delta about five miles offshore.
The leak from the ocean floor proved to be far bigger than initially reported, contributing to a growing sense among many in Louisiana that the government failed them again, just as it did during Hurricane Katrina. President Barack Obama dispatched Cabinet officials to deal with the crisis. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency Thursday so officials could begin preparing for the oil's impact. He said at least 10 wildlife management areas and refuges in his state and neighboring Mississippi are in the oil plume's path.
The declaration also noted that billions of dollars have been invested in coastal restoration projects that may be at risk. He also asked the federal government if he could call up 6,000 National Guard troops to help.
The oil penetrates up the structure of the plumage of birds, reducing its insulating ability, and so making the birds more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and much less buoyant in the water. It also impairs birds' flight abilities to forage and escape from predators. As they attempt to preen, birds typically ingest oil that covers their feathers, causing kidney damage, altered liver function, and digestive tract irritation. This and the limited foraging ability quickly causes dehydration and metabolic imbalances. Hormonal balance alteration including changes in luteinizing protein can also result in some birds exposed to petroleum. Most birds affected by an oil spill die unless there is human intervention. Marine mammals exposed to oil spills are affected in similar ways as seabirds. Oil coats the fur of Sea otters and seals, reducing its insulation abilities and leading to body temperature fluctuations and hypothermia. Ingestion of the oil causes dehydration and impaired digestions. Because oil floats on top of water, less sunlight penetrates into the water, limiting the photosynthesis of marine plants and phytoplankton. This, as well as decreasing the fauna populations, affects the food chain in the ecosystem. There are three kinds of oil-consuming bacterial. Sulfate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) and Acid Producing Bacteria are anerobic, while General Aerobic Bacteria (GAB) are aerobic. These bacteria occur naturally and will act to remove oil from an ecosystem, and their biomass will tend to replace other populations in the food chain. Hopefully this tragic event will be resolve and will end soon. So that these innocent individuals will not be affected worse than ever.
Erickka
Thank you so much for posting my videos on your site! Where do you teach? I'm in Boston, MA. School's almost out, and I plan to make more videos over the summer. Are there any topics you'd find most beneficial to make a video of?
ReplyDeleteAnd than you so much for your suggestion to make my ruler out of clear plastic for the overhead! I'm going to make one tomorrow at school!
I'm so happy to have run into you!