The Mesozoic era.
The Mesozoic era By Marie Carigliano Year 11 Miss Bustamante The Mesozoic era was one of the most eventful periods of its time in the earth's history. This era has seen a change from being one super continent Pangea in the early Triassic; thriving in rich plant and animal life, to the last million years of the Cretaceous where nearly all the life forms became extinct. Australia similarly was a part of these events, and played a role in the evolution of life during the Mesozoic period. The following report will outline the key events and organisms that have been the formation of the present day world, but most especially Australia's evolution as we see it today. A) State what period of time the selected era lasted for? The Mesozoic era started 245 million years ago and is divided into 3 categories or stages: The Triassic (245-208 Million Years Ago) The Jurassic (208-146 Million) and the Cretaceous (146-65 Million Years Ago) lasting 180 million years all in all. (http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/mesozoic/mesozoic.htm) diagram B) Describe the position of Australia in relation to the other continents during the selected era and explain a theory that describes how the continents have changed their positions. At the beginning of the Mesozoic age, all continents were joined, Australia at the base of the large super continent Pangea. For 160 million years Pangea was
Water Conservation Projects in agriculture in China
Water Conservation Projects in China Introduction Increasing water usage demands in China, as a result of a growing industry and a growing population, particularly urban populations, together with severe droughts and reduced snow melt has been placing strains on groundwater and surface water resources (European Science Parliament, 2010). Water in China is scarce, and unevenly distributed, so there is regional management to allocate water where needed. Any aims to cut water use will affect such allocations and in some areas farmers buy water in times of need - which is pricey and can have peak demand issues. High amounts of runoff from irrigation have associated problems such as salinisation due to mobilising soil bound salt and contamination of resources from chemical runoff due to the high amount of chemical fertilisers used. Recent news has suggested that already 21% of fresh water in China is unsuitable for use in agriculture due to pollution (Guardian Sustainable Business, 2010). In 2004 agriculture in China used a massive 3585.7 million m3 of water (China Statistic Census, 2006) - that's 65% of all water used and approximately 90% of this agricultural use is used for irrigation. Water shortages and predicted crises have prompted the Water Resources Ministry to promote the conservation of water, affecting agriculture by way of plans for increased irrigation efficiency
Carbon tetrachloride.
CARBON TETRACHLORIDE During 1839 a highly toxic substance was discovered by the name of carbon tetrachloride. Created by the reaction of chlorine with chloroform, carbon tetrachloride is manufactured when chlorine and methane or chlorine and carbon disulfide react. The process including methane became the prominent way of production in the United States during the 1950's, but the process dealing with carbon disulfide remained important to countries in which natural gases were not abundant. Because of its excellent solvent properties and non-flammability, carbon tetrachloride has been in use for many decades in certain products such as grease solvents, dry cleaning solvents, and fire extinguishing agents. Also it has been used to catalyze ozone depleting CFC's, chlorofluorocarbons, such as dichlorodifluoromethane (F-12) and trichlorofluoromethane (F-l l), primarily used as refrigerants (freon). Carbon tetrachloride contributes both to ozone depletion and to global warming. Recently it has been utilized by industries as a fumigant and feedstock, but because of its toxicity, these uses have been discontinued, and only the industrial use as feedstock remains. Decomposition of carbon tetrachloride may result in the production of carbon dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and phosgene, a highly poisonous gas. Carbon tetrachloride has been classified as a substance too hazardous to
ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS - Kyoto
ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS 1 REYES BRAGIMO K0427364 TOPIC 19: "The Kyoto Agreement should be enforced without delay" ? The Government agreed in 1997 the Agreement Kyoto of The United Nations Framework Convention on climate Change (UNFCCC) ? The agreement will come into effect only when 55 nations which add up to 55 % of the greenhouse emissions confirm it. Now there are more than 150 nations, but the emissions of the EE.UU and Russia mean 33% and 17%, respectively and they don't want to sign the agreement. ? The main objective is to get reduce 5.2% the volume of the greenhouse gases emissions below their 1990 levels for the period 2008-2012 ? Kyoto's mechanisms O Emissions trade => buying and selling of greenhouse gases emissions between industrialize countries or countries belonging to the Annex I of the Agreement Kyoto. O Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) => the governments and private sector companies of the industrialize countries can transfer clean technologies to developing countries. O Joint Cooperation => one industrialize country invests in other industrialize country to carry out a project to reduce the greenhouse gases emissions. ? Threats of the increase of the invisible gases, such as CO2. - Greenhouse gases: they catch a part of the solar energy. - Global warming: there is a 30% of CO2 in the atmosphere than when we started to burn en masse coal at
This Moral Coil
This Moral
Global Warming and its Impact: Mention both the global effects and the effects on a specific country.
Global Warming and its Impact: Mention both the global effects and the effects on a specific country. 998 was the warmest year on record and eight of the ten warmest years on record have fallen within the last decade. This combined with evidence of decreasing ice sheets and global snow cover, points to the fact that Global Warming, caused by the greenhouse effect, is increasing. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the gas most commonly related to this global climate change and, although plant respiration and decomposition of organic material releases more than 10 times the CO2 than released by human activities, these releases have generally been in balance during the centuries leading up to the industrial revolution. Since the industrial revolution the amount of CO2 released has increased by 30%. The combustion of fossil fuel (oil, natural gas and coal) by heavy industry and other human activities, such as transport and deforestation, are the primary reasons for increased emissions of these gases. Research institutes use climate modelling to simulate the climate and ocean temperatures over many decades. Recent model simulations point to global temperature rises of approximately 3ºc in the next 100 years, which doesn't sound much. Consider however that the difference between average global temperatures now and the last ice age some 20,000 years ago is only around 6 to 8ºc. The models
The Kyoto Protocol and the United States
The Kyoto Protocol and the United States Human survival on the planet is threatened by many factors, one of which is the threat posed by heat-trapping green house gases that cause a change in climate. This change leads to the so-called global warming, whose harmful consequences are witnessed globally. The rise of the see levels, unusually warm temperatures, an increased variability in whether patterns are some of the example of global warming. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts that the average global temperature could increase by 3.6 degrees Celsius by the end of the twenty-first century and could be equivalent to that which ended the last ice age. Scientists argue about the reasons of the global warming. While some of them claim that it is a part of cyclical change, others believe that the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) primarily by the industrial Global North states are part of the problem Climate change is not just an environmental issue: It is also affecting the well-being of millions of people. The United Nations (UN) contribution to the development of international cooperation in the protection of enviornment is huge. A significant progress in this cooperation was made in 1997 when more than 160 countries gathered in Japn to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, "which sets specific binding targets for emissions of greenhouse
Introduction To Events Management 1 Assessment 4EM 001
Introduction to Events Management 1 Assessment 4EM 001 Since the beginning of time events have been around, these may have been to mark the changes of the seasons, such as spring to summer, or the cycle of birth and death. Whilst today they range from these to sporting events. Events are needed socially to mark the local and national details of people's lives. (Bowdin, 1999). In the events industry today the type of events can be classified according to their size and scale, and are usually done in the following way: * Mega Events, * Hallmark Events, * Major Events, * Cultural Events, * Business Events. However, events can also be classified according to their purpose and the motivation behind either holding or attending the event, not to the particular sector to which they belong. An example of this is Shone (2001) which provides a good characterization of events: Shone, operates on the theory that events are organised and categorised depending on the motivation behind the event and they are therefore one of the four special events above. By using both of these ideas of characterization they can be interlinked to describe the type of event and the motivation behind the event. Mega Events are those events which are so large that they affect whole economies whether this be in one particular area or international economies. And these types of events tend to gain global
Ethical Clarification of the Climate Change Debate
Ethical Clarification of the Climate Change Debate It is clear that neither scientists, economists, environmentalists nor politicians can agree, even with those in their chosen fields of expertise, on whether or not climate change is a real problem. Regardless of the answer to this question - whether or not climate change exists - there are ethical consequences of any course of action or inaction we choose to take. While the debate over climate change may seem to be more scientific, rather than ethical in nature, there are underlying ethical convictions which serve to further complicate the issue. In order to understand the role that ethics play in this controversy we use a five-step method of ethical clarification as it is important in understanding the debate as a whole. Explanation of the basic arguments put forth by each side is the first step towards a better understanding of the issue. Those who believe that climate change is indeed a threat claim that human activity is to blame for the increase in atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases which have intensified and will continue to this effect (Dotto, 1). They advocate immediate action in order to avoid further climate change and adapt to the already altered environment (Dotto, 22). Though most environmentalists seem to subscribe to this viewpoint, it is interesting that both politicians and scientists have found both
Review the evidence that climate change will cause an increase in malaria.
TITLE: Review the evidence that climate change will cause an increase in malaria Malaria is the word's most important vector-borne disease. It is currently endemic (found in a particular area or a particular group of people), and 2400 million people are at risk to develop malaria (Martens et al., 1999). More than 90% of the worldwide cases are reported in sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and Americas are thought to have 5-20 million cases per year, where 80% of these occur in Asia (Anderson et al., 1996). Million deaths are caused by malaria every year, especially in young children in rural Africa (Hales and Woodward, 2003) where malaria is responsible for the deaths of one in 20 children before the age of five (Anderson et al., 1996). But what is malaria and how is transmitted? Well, malaria is an infectious disease which is conveyed from person to person by a mosquito. There are 422 species of mosquitoes around the world but only about 70 species are vectors of malaria. The main vector species in Africa, the Anopheles gambiae complex, is the major factor for the transmission of this disease to humans (Martens et al., 1999). In addition, malaria is caused by species of parasites which belong to the genus Plasmodium: Plasmodium vivax, P.falciparum,P.ovale, and P. malariae. P.falciparum is the most common species in tropical areas and the most dangerous