Out in the Gulf of Mexico there are a lot of oil rigs, owned by big companies like BP and operated by other companies, like Transocean liners. On the 20th of April, 2010 an oil rig blew up, taking 11 lives and scarring many more people who were on the rig at the time. This rig was the deepest oil drill created; it was digging 4,000 metres below the sea floor. This rig had a successful history, oil rigs were dangerous things, but this one had operated safely for 7 years. So why did it blow up?
There are many reasons flying around, there is a lot of finger pointing going on, every company connected to the rig is trying to shift the blame. One reason was the ‘blow out preventer’ failing. Blow out preventers, or BOP’s are invaluable to an oil rig, there function is to stop the build up of pressure from the oil well exploding onto the rig. BP had warning that the BOP was faulty but pressed on with work because an oil rig costs $500,000 a day to run.
Another reason was that a new well was just put in use, and when creating a new well concrete must be poured down it, to seal the edge of the pipe, 21 braces must also be used to support the pipe from pressure. BP didn’t wait for the concrete to set properly, and they only used 6 braces. These were risks that saved them money in the short term.
Unfortunately for BP, but quite foreseeable, the oil rig blew, pumping millions of litres of oil into the ocean every day for many months. The Gulf is home to many unique animal species that have only just recovered from the last oil spill, now they are quite possibly facing extinction again.
304 words
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Economy
Economy, it is a big topic, with lots of phrases unique to it. One topic you cannot miss is about the three sectors, they are the way working people are divided up. The Primary sector is the first sector; it covers the sections of the economy where people harvest the produce of nature. Farmers and miners fall into this category. The second sector obviously the second section; covers the people that take these produces and turn them into sellable/eatable products. Engineers and automobile producers are secondary sector workers. The last section is the Tertiary sector, people who work in the Tertiary section either sell the products or use the products, teachers and bankers fall into the Tertiary sector.
In Australia the majority of the work force works in the Tertiary sector, this is because the other two sectors use machines to complete lots of their tasks for them; in the Tertiary sector you cannot do this so much, hence needing more people to complete a productive amount of work.
The second sector makes up about 66.9% of all Australia’s importation; the second sector is the largest importer of goods, this is probably because the secondary sector covers vehicle manufacturing and such things, things where Australia imports lots because we cannot complete it ourselves.
The Primary sector is the largest sector for Australia’s exports, this is a bit weird as we have the least amount of workers in this section, but then if you think about it, it is the section that requires the least maintenance and probably has the highest amount of machinery which completes a large amount of work quickly.
It may not have any effects on Australia, especially in the long term, at the moment Asian countries are thought of as making products of lesser quality to America and Europe, this is probably because they are countries on the rise as appose to European countries and America already being established. In the future Asian countries will hopefully increase quality, although they may not, as their products at the moment are cheap to produce as they hire people in poverty stricken states for cheap labour, they create the products for almost no cost and then sell them for a relatively cheap price, cheaper than established countries who have to hire people at higher wages. I do not know what effect this will have on Australia.
369 words.
In Australia the majority of the work force works in the Tertiary sector, this is because the other two sectors use machines to complete lots of their tasks for them; in the Tertiary sector you cannot do this so much, hence needing more people to complete a productive amount of work.
The second sector makes up about 66.9% of all Australia’s importation; the second sector is the largest importer of goods, this is probably because the secondary sector covers vehicle manufacturing and such things, things where Australia imports lots because we cannot complete it ourselves.
The Primary sector is the largest sector for Australia’s exports, this is a bit weird as we have the least amount of workers in this section, but then if you think about it, it is the section that requires the least maintenance and probably has the highest amount of machinery which completes a large amount of work quickly.
It may not have any effects on Australia, especially in the long term, at the moment Asian countries are thought of as making products of lesser quality to America and Europe, this is probably because they are countries on the rise as appose to European countries and America already being established. In the future Asian countries will hopefully increase quality, although they may not, as their products at the moment are cheap to produce as they hire people in poverty stricken states for cheap labour, they create the products for almost no cost and then sell them for a relatively cheap price, cheaper than established countries who have to hire people at higher wages. I do not know what effect this will have on Australia.
369 words.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Energy
This week we looked at all types of energy and fuel sources, some renewable some not.
Renewable energy sources are a pretty important topic at the moment with global warming being such an issue. At the moment most energy sources are non-renewable, like coal, this means that as we use them we cannot replenish them, so one day they will run out. We are slowly changing to renewable energy sources, this means they will never run out and we can continue using them forever. One of my favourite energy sources that we researched is the idea of converting our waste into energy. About 80% of Australia’s waste is available for the production of energy. The conversion will reduce green house gas and fossil fuel emissions. Unfortunately waste can be difficult to process and transport. Conversion plants may also have to be far away from rubbish plants, although this should be easy to fix. Converting waste to energy is not a very nice sounding source for energy but it is practical because of the way we live. Ethanol is another plan for resourcing energy. Ethanol can be created from many plant forms, making it very diverse and possible to be created in many places. Unfortunately as Ethanol relies heavily on the crops of plants used to create it a bad harvest will result in a shortage of Ethanol. The creation of Ethanol is relatively easy and does not release many Co2 emissions. Wind power is also one of my favourites, it is not highly favoured as the wind turbines are impossible to hide away in the middle of nowhere and forget about. Some people think they remove from the natural look of Australia’s coastline, but I think they enhance the look. Some people complain that they will kill birdlife off, but if a bird flies into a wind turbine and dies it doesn’t deserve to live as the turbines are extremely slow moving. They release no emissions and are powered by a source that does not require changing to be useful.
There are many options out there for Australia and other nations, each have their own positives and negatives.
358 words.
Renewable energy sources are a pretty important topic at the moment with global warming being such an issue. At the moment most energy sources are non-renewable, like coal, this means that as we use them we cannot replenish them, so one day they will run out. We are slowly changing to renewable energy sources, this means they will never run out and we can continue using them forever. One of my favourite energy sources that we researched is the idea of converting our waste into energy. About 80% of Australia’s waste is available for the production of energy. The conversion will reduce green house gas and fossil fuel emissions. Unfortunately waste can be difficult to process and transport. Conversion plants may also have to be far away from rubbish plants, although this should be easy to fix. Converting waste to energy is not a very nice sounding source for energy but it is practical because of the way we live. Ethanol is another plan for resourcing energy. Ethanol can be created from many plant forms, making it very diverse and possible to be created in many places. Unfortunately as Ethanol relies heavily on the crops of plants used to create it a bad harvest will result in a shortage of Ethanol. The creation of Ethanol is relatively easy and does not release many Co2 emissions. Wind power is also one of my favourites, it is not highly favoured as the wind turbines are impossible to hide away in the middle of nowhere and forget about. Some people think they remove from the natural look of Australia’s coastline, but I think they enhance the look. Some people complain that they will kill birdlife off, but if a bird flies into a wind turbine and dies it doesn’t deserve to live as the turbines are extremely slow moving. They release no emissions and are powered by a source that does not require changing to be useful.
There are many options out there for Australia and other nations, each have their own positives and negatives.
358 words.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Water.
Water is such an obviously essential part of our life, but ‘virtual water’ is the name given to water that is not an obviously essential part, but it is still very essential. Lots of food products use large amounts of water just to be created, water the consumer does not necessarily no, or think about. So many products use so many litres of water, without our knowledge, it’s no wonder we’re in a severe drought.
I think there is definitely the potential for water to be fought over, it is in the end up to each countries leaders as to whether we get to the point in time where water is so scarce we have to fight over it, and then if we do get to that point whether there is a way to resolve matters without fighting.
One way people hope to stop the need to fight for water is to turn sea water into fresh drinkable water, otherwise known as desalination. It is pretty important for Australia to invest in some form of water increase technology as it is becoming sadly evident that we can no longer rely on nature to provide enough. But is desalination the way to go? There are so quite a few negatives connected with desalination, it does seem smart though for a country surrounded by sea to use some of it to create drinkable water, just is the electricity needed to power the plant going to have such detrimental effects on the environment that water will seem a miniscule issue? I think that if the desalination plant is the best cure for Australia’s water shortage issue, then it should be used wherever it’s needed. But I’m not sure it is the best solution, I’m not sure the positives outweigh the negatives, I don’t think the people who are trying to solve Australia’s problem have done enough research into other solutions, the desalination plant is causing a lot of upheaval while it is being constructed, hundreds of kilometres of farms are unable to use paddocks for months as big pipelines are tunnelled under their land along with the electricity needed to pump the water from the plant. When the desalination plant is discussed people talk about the amount of electricity needed to power the plant, but how much power is also needed to pump the water? How many other things are connected with desalination plants that are bad for the environment? Was there a better way to solve our water shortage issues? Is this just another way out that will cause more issues for our environment later on?
I think there is definitely the potential for water to be fought over, it is in the end up to each countries leaders as to whether we get to the point in time where water is so scarce we have to fight over it, and then if we do get to that point whether there is a way to resolve matters without fighting.
One way people hope to stop the need to fight for water is to turn sea water into fresh drinkable water, otherwise known as desalination. It is pretty important for Australia to invest in some form of water increase technology as it is becoming sadly evident that we can no longer rely on nature to provide enough. But is desalination the way to go? There are so quite a few negatives connected with desalination, it does seem smart though for a country surrounded by sea to use some of it to create drinkable water, just is the electricity needed to power the plant going to have such detrimental effects on the environment that water will seem a miniscule issue? I think that if the desalination plant is the best cure for Australia’s water shortage issue, then it should be used wherever it’s needed. But I’m not sure it is the best solution, I’m not sure the positives outweigh the negatives, I don’t think the people who are trying to solve Australia’s problem have done enough research into other solutions, the desalination plant is causing a lot of upheaval while it is being constructed, hundreds of kilometres of farms are unable to use paddocks for months as big pipelines are tunnelled under their land along with the electricity needed to pump the water from the plant. When the desalination plant is discussed people talk about the amount of electricity needed to power the plant, but how much power is also needed to pump the water? How many other things are connected with desalination plants that are bad for the environment? Was there a better way to solve our water shortage issues? Is this just another way out that will cause more issues for our environment later on?
Monday, August 2, 2010
Ecological Footprints
Our Ecological Footprint is a sum of all the natural resources and man-made resources that it takes to support our lifestyles. Each footprint is different because each person is different and we all live differently.
You may think you are very similar to a person in the way you live, but your ecological footprint sometimes changes dramatically on very small choices.
Everything affects your Ecological footprint, sometimes indirectly but mostly directly, what you eat, what you wear, where you live, how you get to work/school, where you work, which products you buy, every choice you make will eventually affect your ecological footprint.
There are so many things we can do to reduce our ecological footprint, it’s just the question of can you be bothered? As it concerns our planet and for how much longer it can remain our home, I think we should all be more than bothered. My brother told me a fact the other day, if all the millionaires in Mexico changed as little as 3 of the light-globes in their houses to energy efficient ones then Co2 emissions would decrease noticeably! Think about the impact it would have if everyone changed 3 light-globes! Solutions aren’t difficult to find and they’re generally not difficult to do either.
You may think you are very similar to a person in the way you live, but your ecological footprint sometimes changes dramatically on very small choices.
Everything affects your Ecological footprint, sometimes indirectly but mostly directly, what you eat, what you wear, where you live, how you get to work/school, where you work, which products you buy, every choice you make will eventually affect your ecological footprint.
There are so many things we can do to reduce our ecological footprint, it’s just the question of can you be bothered? As it concerns our planet and for how much longer it can remain our home, I think we should all be more than bothered. My brother told me a fact the other day, if all the millionaires in Mexico changed as little as 3 of the light-globes in their houses to energy efficient ones then Co2 emissions would decrease noticeably! Think about the impact it would have if everyone changed 3 light-globes! Solutions aren’t difficult to find and they’re generally not difficult to do either.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)