Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Task 8: WATER SHORTAGE




Water Shortage

“Water is the most common liquid on our planet, vital to all life forms”( http://polymer.bu.edu/Wasser/robert/work/node2.html). A person can’t live without water. More than 75 percent of the Earth's surface is covered by water, including oceans, seas, lakes, ponds, estuaries, rivers and streams. Some places in India have polluted groundwater which is the big problem for many people in India. In this essay I’m going to write about the problems and the solutions about water shortage.

The main problem is that most of the poor countries’ water systems are controlled by many putative companies. Almost all the problems are made by human activates. First of all we use water more than what we need everywhere and we don’t have an alternative source. Furthermore, it is estimated that by 2020, about 50 per cent of India's population will be living in cities. Yet another problem is that we also pollute our water (flowthefilm.com). This scenario is the same in many poor countries. Building dams also affects the flow of pure rivers which makes it undrinkable.

There are many solutions for this issue. The solution for this problem is in human’s hands, mentions that we should start work in planning and implementation of development project immediately. People also could be creative in water conservation by using modern or old techniques to get and collect fresh water. Water could even be stored at those depots to reduce the risk of another Burchfield fire/disaster.

In conclusion water crisis has been one of the most recent problems in century. In my opinion people need to take more care for water because it’s not only for government and companies but it’s for people also.


Bibliography:

Http://www.ezilon.com/articles/articles/1766/1/Water-Problem-in-India-and-How-to-Solve-it. 31 May 2009.

Http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/Crisis/AA-on-drought.htm.

Http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/24/news/international/India_water_shortage.fortune/index.htm. 28 May 2009.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Global Warming

Global Warming

The world economy has changed a lot over the past 10 years. Everything has changed; more dangerous energies are used such as, gas, oil, and electricity nowadays which cause a harmful affect on the environment and cause many problems. Two of these problems are pollution and global warming that have a really dangerous effect on earth. First of all I will outline some problems that cause pollution in more detail which will also cause the percentage of global warming to increase.

The main problem is that many people are not aware of global warming and what will happen to the earth in the near future, so they keep using things that are unnecessary to use, like, for example, they are producing the same item but in a different brand just to show which of the items are the best and they forgot the negative affect that they cause to the environment. Another problem is the carbon dioxide from power plants “In 2002 about 40% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions stem from the burning of fossil fuels for the purpose of electricity generation. Coal accounts for 93 percent of the emissions from the electric utility industry.”(http://www.ecobridge.org/content/g_cse.htm). Moreover the radiation which is stacked inside the atmosphere causes the earth to warm up and causes global warming.

However there are lots of solutions for these kinds of problem that I am going to outline, and one of the major solutions is to make new laws for those who will harm the environment. Each person should have only a certain amount that he can use during the year. In addition to make cities aware of the problem like what California did “In 2006, California passed two groundbreaking laws to reduce California's emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollution” (http://www.solutionsforglobalwarming.org/1calpolicy.html ).
Another final solution is to stop cutting trees for crafting, making paper and try to look for a different source, although it is hard to replace the paper with another thing, but at least try. As David G. Bancroft said “All one can do is try every single day, regardless of the test, to live the truth, not to lie. Knowing this earthly stay is a short lived quest to the one most high, resisting to be led astray into evil’s fiery nest like those who defy and continue to betray, including angels once blessed”.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Cool Cities

Cool Cities
Now days, many cities in the world are modern and have basics needs to live, however, these cities consume more energy that produce more CO2 and heat. Therefore, the developers found out a basic strategy to deal with heat and CO2 by building Cool Cities. These cities have the ability to reduce heat and CO2 to the zero level. However, Cool cities are not practical for two main reasons. This essay will describe my research on cool cities and my recommendation.

The first reason is the size of the world population. For example, Masdar City is designed to be free from cars and any other polluting machines, but this city will serve only 50,000 citizens (Kawach). The world population rate is increasing year after another and by 2050 the rate will be approximately 10 billion. Therefore, we need many cool cities in each county which is impossible.

Another reason is the cost of building this type of city. Masdar City cost around $ 22 billion. Many countries around the world are poor and to have this type of city in them would be very impossible. This huge amount of many can be used to reduce CO2 level by developing the old factories and replace them with new one. Furthermore, this amount of budget can help to find many projects which have to be available and that are including poor countries.

In conclusion, having cool cities is a brilliant idea; however, most people can’t live in it. Therefore, I recommend that we should change our lifestyle and I believe that this is the solution for global warming.


Bibliography

BibliographyBuilding a green dream. 23 Apr. 2009 http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080506/BUSINESS/203459638.Cool Cities. 23 Apr. 2009 .Cool ideas to beat the heat. 23 May 2009 http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080505/BUSINESS/69195690.Green plans for Abu Dhabi. 23 Apr. 2009 http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/hd1/level2/174/174projectlinks/adcity.flv.Masdar’s green dream is not for all. 23 Apr. 2009 http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080424/BUSINESS/919451504.

Monday, April 27, 2009

CARBON FOOTPRINT

CARBON FOOTPRINT

The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive global amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted by a human activity or accumulated over the full life cycle of a product or service.
We could measure our carbon footprint from two sites, and we took the average from the both site, the first site - http://footprint.wwf.org.uk - I got 4.32 the questions were classified in four categories food, travel, home and stuff. In the second site - http://www.myfootprint.org – I got 7.1 the questions were first about your home and your family, then about what do you do to save energy, and about your food. The average I got was 5.71, so we need another planet to live.
Some of my friends got lower than me and some got more than me, the ones are less than I got 3.45 and the one are more than me got 6.4 and 8.7. UAE is considered one of the highest rates of energy consumption per person in the world, if it not the highest.
So we have to do something to save the energy and to reduce our carbon footprint especially in the UAE. We can adjust the AC and turn it back up few degrees and turn it off when you leave home, you will save money and you will make your footprint less. You can use energy saving light bulbs it’s more efficient and its last 10 times longer. So you will reduce your footprint and your money also!! So you every time you are going out you turn everything off and try to make your carbon foot smaller and smaller.


BIBLIOGRAPHY




· Heroes of The UAE. 8 Apr. 2009 .

· Foot Print Calculator. 8 Apr. 2009 .


· Ecological Footprint Quiz. 8 Apr. 2009 .

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Argument: An Inconvenient Truth

Argument: An Inconvenient Truth


Some people say that the Inconvenient Truth is not a very good movie and it discusses a small problem or it’s not a problem at all, but there is other people who say that it discusses a very serious problem and it’s a good way to show us a lot of facts. So this essay will talk about different opinions and two reviews of the movie, one negative and one positive and at last a will put my opinion.

Scott has written a negative review for the movie. He said that the movie doesn’t seem to be about global warming, it was more about Al Gore and his life and about selling Al Gore as a human being and possibly a future presidential candidate, and he was trying to emotionally manipulate that fact by telling about losing his sister to lung cancer. He is presenting in the movie jokes against Bush and other republicans.

The Diva also has written a review, but this time it’s a positive one. He is saying that the global warming is a passion for Al Gore, because he was thinking about it when he was in college about 12 years ago. and he said that what Al Gore shows us that could happened with the warming trend, it’s enough to make you want to go and throw your car away.

I think the movie was very good, because he is talking about a very important issue we are facing, and he is waking us up to face this problem. And the movie wasn’t so boring like any documentary movies, it was interesting and he put some jokes on it.


Bibliography

· An Inconvenient Truth. November 25th, 2006. Scott. 2 Mar 2009
http://www.threemoviebuffs.com/review.php?movieID=inconvenienttruth

· An Inconvenient Truth. June 7th, 2006. The Diva.2mar.2009
http://3blackchicks.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=30


Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Problems & Solutions of Global Warming

Problems & Solutions of Global Warming
One of the biggest problems facing the world today is global warming.
Many people believe that our production of carbon dioxide and other
gases is heating the atmosphere, and this could be very dangerous
for human life. This essay will include the problem of global warming and
suggest some solutions for it.

Many problems could result from global warming. One of the biggest is
rising sea level. This could flood the low lying coastal areas and
cities, such as Egypt, the Netherlands,. Another problem is
changes in weather patterns. Many areas of the world are experiencing
increased hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters. A final issue
associated with this problem is the negative effect on animals. Fish
populations could be effected, while some insects which spread disease might become more common.

There are several solutions we can do to deal with global warming. One
solution is to stop making CO2. We can do this by switching from oil, coal and
gas to renewable energy. A second solution is to plant more trees. Trees absorb CO2 and produce oxygen, which is not a greenhouse gas. A third idea is to use less energy and recycle more products. If we use less energy, the earth’s temperature may not rise too much.

In conclusion, making small changes now in the way we live means
making huge changes in the future. Scientists, governments and individuals
must work together to overcome this serious
threat.