The Worst Way to Power Our Planet

     So now comes the big question. What is the worst way to power our planet? Oil.

     Most of us know it as that bill that goes up during the winter; the bill that makes us take shorter showers and turn down the thermostat. We all use it, but unfortunately its destroying our planet. We only see it being pumped into our houses, but not out of the ground.
     The drilling rigs that are offshore all around the world are destroying the environment and our society. When oil leaks into the ocean, a huge environmental crisi is created. When an area gets contaminated, it stays contaminated for up to 1,000 years, even if they do get cleaned. But, private corporations have come up with a solution! Corexit!

     Just kidding. Corexit is designed as a dispersant for breaking up oil slicks. Sounds good, right? False. While corexit may be their "solution" its actually creating a bigger problem. Corexit is actually more toxic than crude oil itself. It's extremely dangerous and actually contains cyanide, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and mercury. You don't have to be a chemist to know that cyanide, arsenic, and mercury aren't good for you. In fact, they are actually deadly. All of them are known carcinogenics.
     In the 2010 BP oil spill, 200 million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico and this "solution" killed more than 82,000 birds, about 6,000 sea turtles, nearly 26,000 marine mammals, and an unknown massive number of fish and invertebrates. This also put thousands of workers in the Gulf out of work.
     Some solution, huh?

Nuclear Power vs. Foreign and Domestic Oil

     Today, I'll be talking about two of what I think are the worst power sources in the world. You guessed it, oil and nuclear power. Right now, the US consumes almost 19 million barrels (bbl) per day. That's a lot of oil. In recent years, scientists have started to fear that the Earth may actually run out of oil. In retaliation to this fear, scientists and different countries began to promote nuclear power.
     Nuclear power is created by nuclear reactions. There are two ways to make these reactions. You can split the nucleus of an atom (fission), or you can fuse two atoms together (fusion). Both of these reactions produce a lot of heat energy, but nuclear fission, which is more widely used, creates significantly more amounts of radiation. So why use a power source that we know causes cancer-causing radiation? It's simple, higher energy output.

     Nuclear power is dangerous. Small amounts of radiation can cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, and even the loss of white blood cells. These effects can last a lifetime. But that is just about a minute's worth of exposure. Three minutes can cause hair loss and nervous and digestive damage. Four and a half minutes can put a person in a coma. At eight minutes of exposure without protection, instant death. Leukemia, lung cancer, thyroid cancer, and breast cancer have all been proven to associated with some amounts of radiation.

     There was an incident at Chernobyl in April 1986. A nuclear reactor exploded when the cooling systems failed. Radiation spread 15-20 kilometers in every direction. This disaster will kill up to 25,000 people from radiation alone. 

    How does this new, state-of-the-art power source sound now? By the way, there are about 104 nuclear reactors in the US. It's only a matter of time before the US, as a country, is influenced by the destructive potential of nuclear power.

Coal vs. Fracking

     In the US, more than 50% of our power comes from coal. We all know that burning coal emits carbon dioxide which pollutes our air and destroys the ozone layer, but what have we done to change it? We have turned to natural gas. Halliburton, one of the world's largest natural gas producers, say that natural gas is "converting America's massive, untapped energy potential into the reality of millions of well-paying jobs, billions in state and federal revenue, and a real path to a clean and affordable energy future."
     Sounds great, right?

     Not so much.
     Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, produces a mini earthquake that releases natural gas. Still not a big deal. Although, the hydraulic fluid, such as dichlorobenzene and xanthene, can leak into the ground and contaminate water sources. Halliburton admits to using "a small percentage of additives to aid in the delivery of the solution," but what are these chemicals and how can they affect us? Let's just look at the thousands of people that have been affected by fracking. Across the country, people around hydraulic fracturing sites have experienced chronic headaches, hair loss, and have even developed cancer.
     Not too many people know about fracking, and I'm no expert myself, but the facts are clear and natural gas is hurting us. Coal may be bad, but it's not worth switching to something potentially worse.

Global Warming: Man-made, or Man-made Myth?

     I firmly believe that global warming is real and over the course of this unit, my belief of global warming has been solidified.

     There are many films and documentaries having to do with the issue of global warming; two of which being Day After Tomorrow and An Inconvenient Truth. Day After Tomorrow may seem to be a fictional film filled with Hollywood hype, but there are numerous scenes that have significant historical attributes. One example of this is the extreme drop in temperature in a rather short amount of time. This may seem impossible, but in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the temperature once dropped from 54 degrees Fahrenheit to -4 degrees Fahrenheit in a little over twenty minutes. 

     In An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore provides countless facts and statistics about how global warming is . One fact is that the “10 hottest years on record have occurred in the last 14 years.” This shows that the frequency of record-breaking years for temperature is increasing. Remember, this film was produced in 2006. Since this film came out, 2010 and 2011 have tied the previous hottest year of 2005. 2012 just ended and NASA has released that it has been the hottest year on record. Gore also explains that the US, "experiencing a record high of 1,717 tornadoes in 2004,” as well as other weather related phenomenons might also have to do with global warming. He suggests, “as water temperature increases, wind velocity increases.” This can also explain the increase of other wind related disasters like hurricanes. Not only has there been an increase in the number of hurricanes, but “in 2004, there was a hurricane in the south Atlantic that hit Brazil.” This is extremely unusual seeing that the formation of hurricanes really doesn’t allow them to make landfall in the area.

     Is global warming real? I believe it is.