Apr 09 2012
*Note: This is a guest post by JYang (’11) to illustrate what a good pre-lesson blog post looks like for our student-teaching project. When you hear the words “Nuclear Superpower” the first thing you’d probably think about would be an image from the Cold War with stockpiles of nuclear warheads to kill off the planet [...]
Apr 04 2012
Recent NPR Headline: Rejected Pipeline Becomes Hot Button Election Issue. What pipeline? Where? Check out this brief story: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/19/145433937/keystone-pipeline-becomes-hot-button-election-issue Yes, there are some “other” sources of fossil fuels besides coal/oil/natural gas, namely oil (tar) sands and oil shale. Your book briefly mentions oil sands, but not oil shale (which you can read about here). Our [...]
Apr 03 2012
Today we compared the “conventional” fossil fuels-coal, petroleum (crude oil), and natural gas. You need to be familiar with what they are, how they are extracted, how they are refined, what they are used for, and the environmental impacts. There was a handout that you can find in our Unit 11 Google Docs Collection. This [...]
Apr 03 2012
For those who missed the first day of our energy unit, here is the kick off: Mining Practices 2012 View more PowerPoint from Derrick Willard I tried to give you a sense of just how destructive surface mining can be to habitats and biodiversity. I’ve also found a great slideshow by a photographer named Daniel [...]
Apr 01 2012
Although it seems like it’s just sea water out there, we seldom forget about the black liquid that taints our deep blue. Oil is always finding its way into the ocean whether it’s through 1) natural seeps (47%), 2) consumption of petroleum/ run off (38%), 3) transportation of petroleum/leaks and oil [...]
