PDS AP Environmental Science 8th Period 2010-11

After watching Who Killed the Electric Car (2006), we took a look at some of the new plug-in electric cars from Chevy, Ford, Nissan, and Tesla now on the market.  Are electric cars really the answer for ending our dependence on foreign crude oil? Could it be that simple? This Daily Show clip (8 minutes) [...]

First, we talked about smog. Term coined by combining smoke + fog to get smog. Here are the two types we learned: Sulfur-based Smog: “industrial smog” Nitrogen-based Smog: “photochemical smog” Sulfur-based Smog takes on a gray color. When coal is burned compounds within the coal interact with atmospheric oxygen which then causes iron oxide and [...]

We didn’t have time to discuss some “new” sources of fossil fuels, namely oil (tar) sands and oil shale. Your book briefly mentions these resources. Our neighbor to the north happens to rich in oil sands, which contains oil in a semi-solid state known as bitumen. This substance must be heated before the liquid crude [...]

Yesterday in class, we learned about how harmful oil pollution can be on the environment. We never really knew the extent oil pollution would have on the environment until the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound occured in 1989. History: The Exxon Valdez spill occured in Prince William Sound in 1989 when the [...]

Did you guys hear this yet? It’s true….check out the developing story: Boston.com:  Oil Sheen Spreading from Gulf Oil Platform NPR.com:  Production Platform on Fire South of Louisiana, Coast Guard Reports