There have been 5 major oil spills that happened in Alberta in the past few years. These oil spills happened at Little buffalo, Red Deer River, Elk Point, Slave Lake and Red Earth Creek.
The first spill that occurred was the oil spill in Little Buffalo in April 2011. This oil spill was the largest oil spill in 35 years. Almost 4.5 million litres of crude oil was spilled because Plains Midstream (the company that owns this pipeline) had inadequate leak detection and they didn't test their emergency response plan. They got charged with 3 counts of violating environmental protection laws. The spill contaminated over 3 hectares of beaver ponds and muskegs in a forested area. In June 2012, Plains Midstream caused another oil spill. This time they spilled 461,000 litres of sour crude oil in the Red Deer River. This spill affected many species that lived in/around this lake such as fish and plants. Plains Midstream was charged with 2 counts of violating environmental protection laws 2 years after this spill occurred. They pleaded guilty to the chargers for both spills and got fined $1.3 million. The oil spill at Elk Point occurred because a pipeline flange gasket at an Enbridge pumping station failed. This happened in June 2012 a Little after the spill at Red Deer River. Even though about 231,000 litres of crude oil was spilled, most of it was contained. Luckily no wildlife or water was impacted. The fourth spill that happened was at Slave Lake in April 2014. This was caused because of an above ground pipe failure that was owned by Canadian Natural Resources which caused 70,000 litres of oil and processed water to spill. This oil spill wasn't considered an an emergency since it didn't spill near any people,wildlife or water. The fifth major oil spill to happen in Alberta was the oil spill in Red Earth Creek in November 2014, a few months after the Slave Lake oil spill. Canadian Natural Resources was responsible for another spill in Alberta. 60,000 litres of crude oil spilled because a pipeline experienced a mechanical failure. There was also small amounts of hydrogen sulphide gas detected with the oil. Luckily no wildlife was affected. These oil spills have many negative impacts. They harm wildlife;they can kill or seriously harm wildlife. They can kill/harm animals and ruin plants/habitats. They also impact humans because they can end up in our water systems. The water we drink and use is extracted from fresh water sources like these and if there's oil in the water it will end up in our water systems and harm our health. If we drink/use it it can negatively impact our health.
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Global warming is one of the biggest issues going on right now and greenhouse gases are a big contributing factor to it. Canada is responsible for 1.6% of greenhouse emissions world wide. That means each person is responsible for about 22 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year. The thing that surprised me the most was that Alberta emits the most carbon dioxide. Alberta has the largest oil reserve in all of Canada and the third largest in the whole world. they have a lot of oil and natural gas/coal. Since they provide us with so much, they emit more carbon dioxide than other provinces and the amount of carbon dioxide they emit will most likely keep going up unless they decide to do something about it. The amount of carbon dioxide they have emitted has gone up a lot of the years. In 1990 it was about 170 megatonnes, in 2005 it was about 230 megatonnes and in 2017 it was about 270 megatonnes.
Christmas is special holiday celebrated all around the world. Different places have different traditions/ways of celebrating Christmas. In South Africa, people eat deep fried caterpillars. They deep fry caterpillars known as Emperor Moth caterpillars and eat them as part of their holiday feast. Since they are harvested around Christmas time, they are said to be a great source of protein and they are eaten throughout the winter. They eat these caterpillars because its said that anyone who eats them will have lots of good luck for the rest of the year so instead of eating pie or cake they eat deep fried caterpillars.
MapAction creates maps about natural disasters that have/could happen using data they have collected. They look at areas that have been affected the worst, where the most vulnerable people are, what happened to roads/railways/communication networks, where medical supplies are and where they are most needed. By gathering this information quickly and putting it into a map, aid agencies,governments and local partners can make informed decisions,deliver aid and emergency supplies to those that need it most, quickly. They've saved thousands of lives by doing this since 2003.
I think what they're doing is very important because without them many lives would've been lost and the effects of the disaster could've been worse/harder to deal with. Places and people that desperately needed aid and supplies wouldn't have gotten it that fast and it might've been less effective if they got it from someone else because MapAction gathers data quickly. One of the places they helped recently was Djibouti. There were floods in Djibouti and Mapaction helped the people in Djibouti by giving them medical/emergency supplies. The floods killed 9 people and affected 250,000 but MapAction saved as many lives/helped as many people as they could. Plastic has many benefits and it's used all around the world but it has been getting in lakes,rivers,oceans etc. It's polluting our water sources and harming the animals and other organisms. Animals are eating the plastic thinking its food and they end up getting ill/injured or they could even die. Its harming coral reefs because they get tangled up in them and ruin them. Its a big problem because its killing sea life. I think we should be taking more action by spreading awareness,throwing out/recycling our waste properly,cleaning the oceans and any garbage we see on the land so it doesn't end up in the water, reducing the amount of plastic we use. If this continues there will be more/larger dead zones around the world and some species could end up getting endangered or extinct from this problem. There will be too much plastic in our oceans if we don't take action and it will be hard to clean because it sinks to the bottom and is intact.
Temperatures all over the world are rising because of climate change. This is a big issue and it needs to be top priority because rising temperatures have many negative affects like melting glaciers/ice caps, longer dry season, droughts, hotter summers etc. When the temperature rises glaciers melt which will cause sea levels to rise and that can affect the areas of land near oceans by submerging them underwater. There can be longer dry seasons which can cause droughts,shortage of water for people to drink which can cause many deaths, crops wont grow/will die,animals will die from dehydration and there wont be a lot of food for people to drink. When I'm an adult I might be able to contribute to the solution by using renewable energy because its better for the environment, reduce waste so it doesn't end up in land fills, eat less meat because the production of it creates a lot of CO2 which speeds up global warming and tell other people to do the same.
Personally I think public transit is a good thing. There are many pros of public transportation but there are some cons too. You can save gas and money; you don't have to buy gas and there would be less pollution because there are less people driving cars. If you don't have a car/any mode of transportation you can use public transportation. Public transportation can be annoying too. The train/bus can be late which can make you late for class/work/wherever you need to be, and keeping track of times/stops can be a little hard especially in large cities. The TTC, GO transit, and Zum Busing is one of the cheapest and best ways of public transportation. They're really helpful for anyone that needs a ride somewhere. My thoughts on public transit are good because its useful and helpful.
Many people use cars to get to where they need to be everyday. Walking is a better way to get to where you need to be (unless your destination is far). My thoughts on the human scale are positive. Its better for the environment because there isn't pollution that's caused by walking, it's good for your health because you get exercise and you can also see and interact with new people. Our ancient way of building was better because everything was closer and people can easily get what they needed. Most things were close by so people had to walk. There was more social interactions, people got exercise by walking and it was healthier for the environment. It encouraged people to actually get up and do something instead of staying home all day or sitting in a car for a while. |
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