http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110920163314.htm
When the tragedy of the BP oil spill occurred, some of the oil was attempted to be contained by burning it away. While at first it may seem like a great idea to help the animals around the area, it actually has terrible impacts on a worldwide level. It was estimated that a whole barrel's worth of oil was burned over the water and is now seen to have released black carbon into the atmosphere. The oil was deliberately burned to save ecosystems, but the black carbon can now destroy the atmosphere itself and hurt organisms around the world. Black carbon is known to destroy the atmosphere since its particles are light absorbing and will hold in the heat from the sun and contribute to global warming, and even just ingesting the particles through breathing it in can cause much health problems. It is estimated that somewhere from 1.4 to 4.6 million pounds of black carbon was released into the air. Even though this was a terrible idea that will have many long-term effects, it has changed our understanding of doing such things as burning oil, and from it we've learned the dangers that it can and will most likely cause. Hopefully this data will be seen as a way to help our environment instead of continuing to treat it wrongfully.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Global Warming and Bacteria Growth in Oceans
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44502602/ns/health-infectious_diseases/
It's been found that warming oceans are beginning to harvest bacteria, and a deadly one at that. It helps support a Vibrio genus of bacteria, this may cause "food poisoning, serious gastroenteritis, septicemia, and cholera." The study was performed by Project CLAMER, and funded by the European Union. Not only does this endanger people in the water, but it may contaminate seafood which has the potential to eventually be eaten by much of the population. A researcher explained that "things are changing in the ocean much more rapidly than we thought was possible," and at this pace we may be slowly killing ourselves and the wildlife around us. In fact it already has, since fish populations have decreased "with larger species moving towards the arctic and smaller ones taking their place." Now that temperature in the ocean is increasing the Vibrios is increasing, and one of its dangers is that it contains cholera. Also by killing algae, we'll have a larger amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, indirectly causing one another in a constant cycle.
I think that this story is a wake up call for all, since those who don't believe in global warming must realize that there is something going wrong, and it must be stopped before it harmfully effects people. And those who just believe it and don't do anything about it, must start to realize that it's not just harmful for our future generations, which some people, unfortunately, don't care about, and they just may realize that people nowadays may be affected by this. Hopefully these problems can be solved soon enough to help make all people safe and all organisms on the earth safe as well.
It's been found that warming oceans are beginning to harvest bacteria, and a deadly one at that. It helps support a Vibrio genus of bacteria, this may cause "food poisoning, serious gastroenteritis, septicemia, and cholera." The study was performed by Project CLAMER, and funded by the European Union. Not only does this endanger people in the water, but it may contaminate seafood which has the potential to eventually be eaten by much of the population. A researcher explained that "things are changing in the ocean much more rapidly than we thought was possible," and at this pace we may be slowly killing ourselves and the wildlife around us. In fact it already has, since fish populations have decreased "with larger species moving towards the arctic and smaller ones taking their place." Now that temperature in the ocean is increasing the Vibrios is increasing, and one of its dangers is that it contains cholera. Also by killing algae, we'll have a larger amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, indirectly causing one another in a constant cycle.
I think that this story is a wake up call for all, since those who don't believe in global warming must realize that there is something going wrong, and it must be stopped before it harmfully effects people. And those who just believe it and don't do anything about it, must start to realize that it's not just harmful for our future generations, which some people, unfortunately, don't care about, and they just may realize that people nowadays may be affected by this. Hopefully these problems can be solved soon enough to help make all people safe and all organisms on the earth safe as well.
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