PDS AP Environmental Science 5th Period 2010-11

*Note: SargeK moved to the other class, but since we have no one to do geothermal, here is a guess post by him. Geothermal Energy is essentially using the earth’s natural heat for power. One way the process works is the heat from the earth warms water, which evaporates to steam. The steam is then [...]

Currently, about one-fourth of the world’s electricity comes from hydroelectric energy. Humans have created dams and hydroelectric power plants all over the world in order to harness the energy in rivers to produce electricity. The method in which the dam produces electricity is pretty simple: The dam blocks the flow of the river, flooding the [...]

Yes, I had to do it. I try to teach environmental science without preaching, but this one topic is hardest for me to avoid. There are probably hundreds of other posts out there on the topic, but I still feel the need to let this out (sorry as it is a bit long with the [...]

Today we watched a good bit of the PBS documentary Empty Oceans, Empty Nets. Feel free to click around the movie web site if you want want to explore the issues further. What were the main points? 1. The Problem. Yes, we seem to be overfishing the oceans. In the last 4 years, numerous articles [...]

In class yesterday we learned about the worst oil spill in the United States until last summer, the Exxon Valdez. History: In 1989 Mr. Hazelwood was drunk driving a huge ship in Alaska named the Valdez, which was carrying oil for the company Exxon. The ship collided with some coral and since it was only single hulled, [...]

*Again, a guest post since our class got cut short the other day. This one by EvanR.  He linked to a few nice (short) videos with more on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Some scientists have estimated that there is 315 billion pounds of plastic floating in the oceans. There is not an island of [...]

Ok mates, So contrary to popular belief, floods are not things that happen when the Norse gods get angry with the world. They are actually natural phenomena and can help restore nutrients to floodplains. For those of you who have never seen a flood, its when too much water collects in the floodplains because of [...]

Today in class we covered why some parts of the world have too little water and what we can do to fix this.  Mr. Willard gave us some interesting statistics are the beginning of class about the world’s water use: Agriculture- 70% Industry Power- 20% Municipal/Domestic- 10% Anyways, there are four main factors/reasons that can [...]

In class Friday we discussed the Water Cycle. We began by going over the main reservoirs, the unique properties, and the human impacts. The three major reservoirs are 1. Oceans 2. Ice caps and glaciers 3. Ground Water (which is water that is underground stored in aquifers). The unique properties for the Water Cycle that [...]