Last time I taught this class I realized both the power of current events and the naivety that many of US hold about science. By US I mean everyday citizens. We often do not have the expertise to analyze how complex all this stuff about the environment really is.
I also realized amazing insights that young people provide and how interesting their perspectives toward our world trully are.
So, since you are about to go out to the real world, whether it be to college (which is by far NOT the real world) or to a career (or at least your first career), I feel that it is important to try out what you have been preparing to do since your first day of kindergarten……make informed decisions and express your educated opinion!
Bottom line, learn about a few things and have interesting discussions with your classmates and other passers by on the web. And of course you will get paid for your effort. 4 points a post, for at least 8 of the 10 weeks for the marking period.
You might be wondering at this point what you have to do or what type of response I am looking for. Some general guidelines are below:
Opinion/Reflection Paragraph (4 pts)
Your opinion about the content of the article is expressed in one paragraph in your own words.
Examples from the article are used to support your opinion.
Paragraph is AT LEAST four sentences long.
Your first reading assignment is posted, check it out, what do you think?
http://rhenvirosci.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/nasa-whose-air-is-it-anyway_.pdf
After reading the article, post your comment using the “leave a comment” link in red. Please leave your name so that I can figure out who you are i.e. do not create some wacko username like chappy or something, I will have a hard time giving you credit.
The air we breath can come from many different sources such as from cars, people, or other countries like china or the US. People share the air with the other organisms on the planet and affect one another with knowing most of the time. Scientists are measuring weather patterns and trying to see where air currents take air from one place to another. Only through following these patterns can we understand where the problem comes from and how we can fix it.
By: matthew on February 8, 2010
at 11:28 am
The air we breath does not only contain oxygen, but also moisture, bacteria, and dust. It travels through out the world; dust from the Sahara desert has been found in coral reefs located in Florida. There for clean air is not available to everyone until the amount of smoke and pollution decreases in the air everywhere in the world. This air pollution results in ozone. Scientists are trying to figure out if it is made by humans or natural causes and until we figure that out, it will be hard to clean up the air.
By: Jenna on February 9, 2010
at 7:21 pm
The air that goes into all living organisms’ systems contains more than just oxygen gases. Chemicals from cars, factories, and other manmade, non-natural by-products given off as a result of human activities, are also found in the air. This air is then shared between all living organisms on the planet. Wind naturally spreads air globally. The NASA mission’s goal is to be able to pin-point where certain particles within the air. The idea is to be able to differentiate between what naturally exists and what is forced into existence.
By: Dana on February 10, 2010
at 4:40 pm
Air is something that everyone and everything needs in order to work or live. Although it is hard to believe the air can carry dust, smoke, bacteria, and many other objects around the world. This article should really open up the eyes of not only americans but people world wide, that what they do affects everyone around them so be careful what you put into your envrionment.
By: Myles Ott on February 11, 2010
at 9:49 pm
How can we lower the amount of pollutants we breathe in? Even if the United States started using different forms of energy to lower pollution we would make little progress without help worldwide. Winds carry these polluted gases all over the world, so the actions of one country may effect ecosystems across the Earth. If we can figure out the main sources of the pollution we might be able to reverse the damage we have caused and not all die tragic deaths. :]
By: Jared Joy on February 11, 2010
at 11:10 pm
Air is a necessary part of life. As human, air is not something that someone can own, we all share and use it. Air is intercontintial which means air can go anywhere. Since its intercontinetial, it means we all have to take care of our world and have less air pollution. One pollutant that orginated from one place may end up from another.
By: Denise Nguyen on February 12, 2010
at 10:52 am
Thats really cool that everyone shares the same air. then again, there are people with halatosis that breath the same air that i wouldnt want to breath haha. To think that you breathed the same air as some amazing explorers like St. laurence, you know, the laurance guy from France. If we can tell whos air we are or were breathing, think of what else we can find out with air!!!
By: Scotty K on February 12, 2010
at 10:52 am
Even though we share our air with the rest of the world it is surprising to me that other countries are not as concerned about the cleanliness of our air as the U.S. seems to be. Im sure we too give off our fair share of smoke and harmful gases but that picture of massive smoke clouds over China is shocking. When the smoke is so massive and so thick that you can see it from space then i think there may be a bit of a problem. I don’t want anyone else being responsible for dirtying the air i breath other than myself. I don’t want to be made less healthy and become more damaged on the insides because of someone else’s carelessness.
By: Jason Bloss on February 12, 2010
at 10:57 am
I was kind of surprised when i read that everyone breathes the same air. I understood that we all share the air, but i never considered the concept that we are sharing the same air with someone from a different country. The air is recycled which means that we in theory are breathing the same air that Shakespeare once had. This is why we need to find cleaner fuels that produce less harmful emissions.
By: Kyle on February 12, 2010
at 11:00 am
I guess I never really thought of it this way. I was a bit suprised to know that air from other places of the earth reach us personally. To be specific, the article states that in 1997, sea salt and frozen plankton picked up by Hurricane Nora in the Pacific made it to the Midwest. Seeing as we all share air, I now want to be even more careful as to what I put in this air. My friends, family, and even random children in Africa could be breathing in bad ozone because of my car!
By: Faith on February 21, 2010
at 7:31 pm
While reading this article i knew that when it said we were not the only people sucking in the same oxygen, i knew emissions were the cause and the ozone but the thing that really did scare me is that it was being shared all over the world my whole thought is that where we lived i knew we didnt have clean 02 but i didnt think we were the only country was the only place with contaiminated air.
By: joey k on February 21, 2010
at 10:21 pm
After anaylizing the article “Whose Air is it Anyway?” I immediately became disgusted with the air around me. The fact that dust, bacteria, viruses, and various gases are in the air that we breath in cannot be healthy. I feel like this article should open up the eyes of the public to make smarter choices in our everyday lives. I fully support NASA’s experiments , because if we find the main source of pollution we can maybe start breathing cleaner air in the future.
By: hannah :) on February 23, 2010
at 8:59 pm
After reading the article i was suprised at how many toxic pollutions there were in the air. It was kinda disgusted seeing as no one knows about this and it is not healthy. I feel like people should be more aware at whats going on.
By: alyssa on February 24, 2010
at 2:15 pm
Before reading this article, I never really thought of how many pollutants there are in the air we breathe in. We need this air in order to live and if we keep polluting it with harmful gases, we are not only putting ourselves in danger but the people around us as well. Everybody shares the same air and we breathe in what other people breathe out. I never really thought of this statement until I read this article. Humans need to be more aware of what they are doing when they harm the air with gases and smoke from emissions.
By: Kylie on February 24, 2010
at 2:19 pm
If we don’t respond quickly our air quality will only continue to get worse. We use harmful contents that consistently pollute the earth which will only have a negative affect on us in the future. This really never came to thought until I read this article. It made me realize that we all need to stop using things that hurt our atmosphere and be more eco friendly to our planet.
By: Sasa on February 25, 2010
at 9:46 am
before reading this article im aware that air is important.Because i never realized that their are so many pollution we breathe.If we need to clean the air because we all share it.Also this article should nopen new ideas to the public for trying to help clean it.This issue should be taken seriously since it effects every person on earth
By: Glen on February 25, 2010
at 10:04 am
i know that our planet needs oxygen to have living things on here, but i wasn’t aware about how many people pollute the air everyday. this isn’t good for living things on earth, and for the ozone layer. i think we need to take control over this problem.
By: JENNA LYNNE on March 4, 2010
at 1:14 pm
Air is essential for all living things and it is important that we keep it clean and unpolluted,by lowering the burning of fossil which is 1 big factor along with many others…and if we all dont start to change our air quality will get worse and cause more problems within the environment
By: Darryl on March 5, 2010
at 8:25 pm
I never really thought about air this much before. It’s actually kind of gross to think about sharing air with strangers but either way whether I’m sharing it with strangers or not, it’s not as clean as I thought it was. I also think it’s pretty crazy how air travels throughout the world, like how air from the U.S. can sometime reach Europe. I knew ozone was dangerous for us to breathe in but i didnt know it would burn your lungs if breathed. Kinda makes me not want to move to Florida anymore.
By: Rachel Sorber on March 11, 2010
at 4:45 pm
It’s pretty interesting to think of where the air we breathe everyday has been or who else has breathed it. It’s kinda crazy to think that dust from one continent can travel in the air to another continent. But this is also why we have to be careful about air pollutants. You never know where it might end up.
By: Sara D. on April 8, 2010
at 8:24 pm