The Harmful Effects Of Coal Mining Environmental Sciences Essay

The Harmful Effects Of Coal Mining Environmental Sciences Essay Coal mining particularly surface mining requires large areas of land to be temporary disturbed. It causes and number of harmful effects. This raises environmental and human challenges, including, the impact of its activities on the neighboring community, impacts on biodiversity, water and air pollution. Trees, plants, and topsoil are cleared from coal mining areas, destroying forests and wildlife habitat, encouraging soil erosion and floods, and stirring up dust pollution that can cause respiratory problems in local communities. Underground mining, including an intensive method known as long wall mining, leaves behind empty underground spaces which can collapse and cause the land above to sink. Known as subsidence, this process can cause serious structural damage to homes, buildings, and roads when the land collapses beneath them. This destructive mining method destroys habitat, eliminates forests, and damages local property. The government estimates that if this mining continues unabated Appalachia it will destroy 1.4 million acres of land by 2020. Coal mining and coal preparation both stir up small dust and coal particles, which combine with other chemicals in the air and can cause serious and potentially fatal respiratory problems like black lung. About 75 percent of all local shipments in the U.S. are made via railroads, which are one of the nations largest sources of soot and smog pollution. Both soot and Fig. 1. A cartoon shows the environmental effects of coal mining (Joel Pett). smog can cause health problems, including respiratory problems and increased risk of asthma attacks. Coal-laden railcars and trucks also cause soot pollution when coal dust blows off into the surrounding air. Coal mining releases about 26 percent of all energy-related methane emissions in the U.S. each year. Methane is a global warning gas more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide, and is released from surrounding rocks when coal is mined, as well as during coal preparation and transportation. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, methane has a global warming potential 21 times greater than that of carbon dioxide on a 100 year time line. While burning coal in power plants is most harmful to air quality, due to the emission of dangerous gases, the process of mining can release pockets of hazardous gases. These gases may pose a threat to coal miners as well as a source of air pollution. This due to the relaxation of pressure and fracturing of the strata during mining activity, which gives rise to serious safety concerns for the coal miners if not managed properly. The buildup of pressure in the strata can lead to explosions during or after the mining process if prevention methods, such as methane draining are not taken. A common source of acid mine drainage is abandoned mines that fill with water that becomes acidic and mixes with heavy metals and minerals. When this toxic water leaks out, it combines with groundwater and streams, causing water pollution, damaging soils, and harming humans and animals. For example, in Pennsylvania alone acid mine drainage has polluted more than 3,000 miles of streams and ground waters, which affects all four major river basins on the state. Coal preparation uses large quantities of water and chemicals to separate impurities from mined coal, washing away the wastes in a sludge known as slurry. Up to 90 million gallons of slurry are produced every year in the U.S. In 2000, a 72-acre slurry impoundment in Martin County, KY breached, spilling 250 million gallons of water and 31 million gallons of local wastes into the local watershed-over twenty times the amount of oil spilled when the Exxon Valdez ran aground. Mountaintop removal mining involves literally blowing the t ops off mountains to reach thin seams of coal. Then, to minimize waste disposal costs, mining companies dump millions of tons of waste rock into the valleys and streams below, causing permanent damage to the ecosystem and landscape. This destructive practice has damaged or destroyed approximately 1,200 miles of streams, disrupted drinking water supplies, and flooded communities. Black lung is a group of respiratory disease in coal miners that can cause serious lung disease and death. About 12,000 miners died from black lung in the U.S. in the ten-year period ending in 2002. Symptoms include coughing, spitting up black material, shortness of breath, and eventual hardening and scarring of the lungs. Although some of the symptoms can be alleviated, there is no known cure for black lung and reversal of the symptoms. Like all occupational diseases, black lung is man-made and can be prevented. In fact, the U.S. Congress ordered black lung to be eradicated from the coal industry in 1969. Today, it is estimated that former coal miners each year die an agonizing death in often isolated rural communities, away from the spotlight of publicity. Those who are falling ill and dying are not just the coal miners. Everyone who lives near the mines or processing plants or transportation centers is affected by chronic socioeconomics weakness that takes a tool on longevity and health. Residents of coal- mining communities have long complained of impaired health. This study substantiates their claims. Those residents are at an increased risk of developing chronic heart, lung and kidney diseases (Michael Hendryx). Coal mining can destroy sources of local revenue, including losses from tourism and recreation, such as the estimated $67 million lost annually in Pennsylvania from sport fishing because of streams too polluted from acid mine drainage. Coal mining can also damage homes and decrease property value, making it hard for people to sell their houses and move. Coal mining has been a decreasing source of jobs over the last two decades and is still considered to be one of the most dangerous jobs in America. Estimates of mining production and working coal miners show that between 1985 and 2005 mining production in the U.S. increased 22 percent, while the number of coal miners decreased by about 55 percent. The average income of coal miners has also been on the decline, dropping 20 percent over the same period. In 1952, Alabama became the first state to provide compensation for coal workers pneumoconiosis. A few years later, Virginia recognized the disease as compensable, but pressures were exe rted the following year and the amendment was repealed. Pennsylvania enacted legislation effective on December 1, 1965, and Virginia again amended its compensation law in 1968. Late in 1968, a number of miners organized the West Virginia Black Lung Association, which successfully led a campaign to introduce a bill in the 1969 session of the West Virginia legislature making coal workers pneumoconiosis a compensable disease. The compensation bill was quickly made a major issue by the Black Lung Association and militant miners in February when the legislation ran into opposition from the coal-operator-dominated legislature. Most of the 40,000 miners in West Virginia walked out of the mines, and large number of them marched on the state capitol in Charleston demanding passage of the bill. This was one of the largest and longest strikes ever on the single issue of occupational health.

Alfred Hitchcock has been called ‘the Master of Suspense’, considering ‘psycho’ state how effectively he achieves the element of suspense in this film

Alfred Hitchcock has been called ‘the Master of Suspense', considering ‘psycho' state how effectively he achieves the element of suspense in this film. The film Pycho is known for its suspense. The dictionary definition of suspense is ‘the anxious uncertainty the audience feels while waiting for an event. It's an attraction/repulsion response, or that ‘oooooh errrrr' feeling! ‘ I personally think that suspense is the feeling of not knowing what's about to happen, feeling unsure of how to react to the next thing that happens. It puts you in to a state uncertainty or excitement, like you are waiting for a decision. It makes you feel a degree of apprehension or anxiety. Alfred Hitchcock was brought up in a strict Roman Catholic environment. He always knew exactly what was right and what was wrong and was aware of other people's wrong doings. This comes across in the film. Marion was the first woman to be murdered and she was also the first person to be seen as immoral, she was seen in white underwear in the first scene as she was in bed with a man she was having an affair with. This shows her flaunting her sexuality. She was also seen flushing the toilet just before she was murdered. This is another thing that Hitchcock was brought up to think was immoral also Hitchcock was a misogynist. This might explain why he killed off the main female character in the film. Work played a huge part in Hitchcock's life, he was a workaholic infact. People would describe Hitchcock as obsessive with his films because he would devote his life to and take so much pride in them. Psycho was released in 1960. The morals and attitudes of people were a lot different in 1960 to what they are now. There were far more of the population who attended church and would call themselves ‘christian'. Also there was a much surer sense of definite rights and wrongs; moral and immoral behaviour was much more clearly defined. In the film this comes through clearly. In 1960, men were thought to be superior to woman they certainly occupied the higher status in their occupations. Marion is at work and the man who has come in to speak with her boss is talking to her. He looks old and arrogant. He is boasting about how rich he is, telling Marion about how he is buying a house for his daughter. He is trying to chat up Marion but she ignores him. He sits on her desk so that he is at a higher level than her to show that he is more important. Marion is seen in her underwear. This was a very rare thing to see in any film in 1960. Before she stole the money she was seen in white underwear which is shocking enough. After she has stolen the money, she is seen again in her underwear but this time it is black. White is seen as a pure colour so this is why she was wearing white before she stole the money where as black is not pure, a dirty colour, this is why she was wearing black after she had stolen the money, to symbolise that she has become immoral. The audience can now expect something bad to happen. Just before Marion steps into the shower were she gets murdered she flushes a check down the toilet. Films would never show a toilet being flushed in 1960. It was looked up on as an immoral thing to be seen. Now, in 2003, seeing someone flush a toilet on a film is completely normal. The film starts with a shot of Marion and Sam (her secret boyfriend) in bed. They talk about running away and getting married. Marion goes into work that day as if everything is normal. She sits down at her desk when her boss walks in with a man. The man sits down on her desk and starts telling Marion about the $40000 he has in cash to buy a house and he gives Marion the $40000 to put in the bank but Marion steals the money so that she can get married. She drives to a motel – the ‘Bates Motel', and gets herself a room. She spends sometime talking with Norman Bates, the owner, and then goes to her room for a shower but as she has a shower someone murders her. Norman then takes Marion's body and puts it in a river. Marion's sister, Lila, realises she is missing and asks Sam if he knows where she is, he doesn't. Arbogast is a detective who try's to find Marion so he goes to the motel to see if she is there but Norman says that he doesn't remember her. Arbogast still suspects something so he goes to Norman's house however as he goes up the stairs, he also gets murdered. Sam and Lila realise that Arbogast hasn't returned so Sam goes to the motel to look for him but he can't find him so then Sam and Lila go back to the motel. Marion's sister goes into the house to look for Norman's mother as Sam and Lila think that she knows something. Lila goes down to the cellar and finds a skeleton of Norman's mother just as Norman comes in to the cellar dressed as his mother with a knife to kill Lila but Sam stops him. Norman's mother was dead but he believed she was still alive, for example, he would pretend to be her and it was Norman being his mother who had murdered Arbogast and Marion. This is a horror/thriller film. It focuses on an individual who is mentally ill and it explores some of the possible consiqueses of mental illness. This is one of the most successful of Hitchcock films. This could be due to the amount of suspense in it. Hitchcock has used very successful techniques of creating suspense. There are many scenes in Psycho that are suspenseful for example the shower scene where editing was used in a bold and sharp way. The shower scene, in which Marion was brutally murdered, was a huge hit with its audiences. This is because is was so suspenseful. The quick cuts – the entire stabbing lasted only twenty seconds, the sound effects – you could hear the tearing of the flesh as the knife broke the skin but you never actually saw the knife cut the skin, the music – all strings, very high pitched, the sort of music that makes you cringe and know that something big is about to happen, all created a great amount of suspense. When Marion is in the shower we see the door of the bathroom open, but Marion doesn't. Seeing this makes us pay attention, at this point the suspense starts. Then the music starts and we see the knife. At this point we are almost certain that she is going to be murdered. Then the murderer pulls back the curtain and Marion screams. In my opinion, this is the most suspenseful point in the murder. As she is being stabbed, there are alternate shots of Marion and the knife and the music is very loud and fast. When the murderer has gone, everything slows down as Marion slides down the wall and falls to the ground. There is a close up on the blood going down the plug hole after the camera has very slowly zoomed in on it. There is then a close up on Marion's eye, as she lies dead on the ground, and the music is very low and slow and then all the action is over and the level of suspense suddenly drops. This plays with the mood of the audience, it takes them from a state of tension or anticipation, building up to the point were the murder is commited and then giving the audience a kind of release. The music plays a big part in creating suspense. The music used in Psycho is very sinister, high pitched and high tempo. The music not only creates suspense, it adds a certain amount of tension. As the camera focuses on different things, the music tempo and pitch changed to build suspense, for example, as the camera pans across the room with the money in it the music is a medium tempo but as the camera zooms in on the money the tempo of the music shoots up. This draws your attention to the money. Another of the most suspenseful scenes in Psycho is where Arbogast is murdered. He walks in to the house slowly and curiosly. This is suspenseful as the audience know he's looking for something and are waiting to see what it is. As he walks up the stairs, the audience see a door open slowly. This builds the tension and anxiety that the audience feel. We see someone step out of the room, at this point the music that was heard when Marion was murdered was played. The audience now associate this music with murder. The person who stepped out of the room starts to walk quickly over to Arbogast on the stairs. The music is very loud and quick at this point. The audience's heart rate is automatically increased and they are more exited/uncertain. You then again hear him being stabbed but don't actually see it. As Arbogast falls down the stairs, the camera is above him, and he then falls to the floor and the murderer stabs him again, then the music suddenly stops and the camera cuts straight to a different scene. All through that scene there is a lot of suspense. There is a great deal of suspense created in the scene where Lila goes to talk to Norman's mother. Lila walks down to the cellar. The audience thinks she is down there because Norman had said previously that he was taking her down there. When Lila walks into the cellar, she sees the back of who she thinks is Norman's mother. She turns Norman's mother around and find only the skeleton of her. Throughout this scene there is slow low music playing until she sees the skeleton then the music speeds up. We then see Norman running in to the cellar dressed as a woman. This confuses the audience but builds the suspense as the audience are unsure. When Norman walks into the cellar the music changes to the music played for the previous two murders. The music automaticly creates suspense as the audience presume there will be another murder. At this point, the audience immediately suspect that he is going to murder Marion's sister but then we see Sam who stops him from murdering her. This creates suspense because it is a twist to what has happened with the other murders, so we do not know what to expect. As Sam fights with Norman he knocks the light bulb so it is swaying. There is a close up of the skeleton, it is in the shadow, then in the light, then in the shadow again etc. because of the light bulb swaying. The audience feels calm at this point as the light bulb swaying slowly and quietly gives the impression that the drama is over. When Marion is driving away from Phoenix with the stolen money, the audience hear the voices in Marion head. We hear the voice of her boss, what he might say if he found out she had stolen the money. This is suspenseful because we are thinking what if her boss does know she stole the money†¦ what would he do? The voices make the audience feel anxious because they hear what Marion is thinking, and therefore they are put in Marion's position. We sympathise with Marion because we know what she is thinking. Although she stole the money, we don't feel sorry for Cassidy (the man whose money it was) he is a very arrogant man, he boasted about how much money he has and he tries to flirt with Marion. He doesn't respect Marion; he thinks he can easily get her because of his money. He says ‘I never carry as much as I can afford to lose. ‘ This tells us that he can afford to lose the money and it would be good to use the money for a good cause. If Marion had stolen the money from a charity, we would not sympathise with her because she is taking the money from a worthy cause. When Marion and Norman are in the parlour, Marion talks about Norman's mother. She suggests he puts her into a mental home. Norman's reaction to this suggestion builds suspense. He gets very angry and looks like he could get aggressive. He often compares people to birds as stuffing birds is his hobby. When Marion suggests his mother could go to a mental home, Norman compares his mother to one of his stuffed birds on the wall, he says how she is as harmless as one of them. He says how a mother is a boys best friend which makes us believe that he is very close to his mother but he is closer to her then anyone expected. Hitchcock has the title ‘The Master of Suspense'. I personally don't think that he deserves that title for this film. In 1960 he may have deserved it for this film as it was the first film like this, but now, in the year 2003, there are many films like this. It has suspense but I don't think it has enough suspense for him to have that title. Psycho is a horror/thriller film and it achieves the title of being a horror/thriller film better than it achieves the title of a suspenseful film.

Halley’s Comet

Nathan Reeves Geo 105 Professor Kerr 12-13-11 Halley’s Comet Astronomers first observed Halley’s Comet as far back as 200 BCE. The comet's periodicity was first determined in 1705 by English astronomer Edmond Halley, who it was eventually named after. Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986 and won’t appear again until mid-2061. Although the nucleus of the comet itself is not that large, the coma can extend to a very large size.As the gas molecules in the coma are ionized by the solar ultraviolet radiation pressure from the solar wind, a stream of particles emitted by the Sun, pulls the coma's ions out into a long tail, which may extend more than 100  million  kilometers into space. The nucleus itself is only 15  kilometers long, 8  kilometers wide and 8  kilometers thick. In comparison, the earth has a diameter of 12,756 km and the sun has a diameter of 1,392,000 km.This means that Halley’s Comet is only about 4% the size of earth but because of it’s coma, it appears much larger to the naked eye. While the planets orbit around the sun, Halley’s Comet orbits towards and away from the sun, all the way out to Jupiter, perpendicular to the planet’s orbits. Halley is classified as a periodic or short-period comet, one with an orbit lasting 200 years or less. This contrasts it with long-period comets, whose orbits last for thousands of years.Most short-period comets, those with orbital periods shorter than 20 years and inclinations of 20–30 degrees or less, are called Jupiter family comets. Those like Halley, with orbital periods of between 20 and 200 years and inclinations extending from zero to more than 90 degrees, are called Halley type comets. Only 54 Halley-type comets have been observed, compared with almost 400 identified Jupiter family comets. The orbits of the Halley-type comets uggest that they were originally long-period comets whose orbits were altered by the gravit y of the giant planets and directed into the inner Solar System. If Halley was once a long-period comet, it is likely to have originated in the Oort cloud a sphere of bodies that has an inner edge of 50,000  AU. Also, the Jupiter family comets are believed to originate from the Kuiper belt, a flat disc of icy masses between 30  AU and 50  AU, from the Sun. Another point of origin for the Halley type comets has been proposed.In 2008, a new object with a retrograde orbit similar to Halley's was discovered. Named Drac, its orbit takes it from just outside that of Uranus to twice the distance of Pluto. It may be a member of a new population of small Solar System bodies that serves as the source of Halley type comets. A few things make Halley’s Comet popular and unique. The obvious thing is that it is fairly easy to see when it does orbit, more so than most other orbiting comets. Also, it orbits every 70 years or so.This makes it unique because it means that most people have a chance to see it at least once. Every generation of people gets an equal opportunity to see it ,which makes it special because now everybody can have a part in it. A lot of other comets only orbit every hundred years or so, so you just have to be lucky to be able to see them. References: 1. ) http://csep10. phys. utk. edu/astr161/lect/comets/halley. html 2. ) http://nineplanets. org/halley. html 3. ) http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet

The Tragedy of Oedipus Essay - 1135 Words

The Tragedy of Oedipus When there is the mention of a hero in literature, the image of a tall, strong man on a pure colored horse, with a sword drawn and the shield held up, crying out to his men the honor and good they will bring in defense of their homeland, may come to mind. This, though, is not the image Sophocles gives to Oedipus, yet Oedipus is considered a true hero. Even if he is not depicted as a great war hero, or one who does some great deed to the benefit of humanity, he is the image of the perfect tragic hero, having normal, imperfect qualities, yet facing the consequences of his actions with dignity. Oedipus personality is clearly demonstrated throughout the play. The first quality he shows is his love toward his†¦show more content†¦Oedipus perseverance to find the truth leads to the punishment he himself pronounced. Instead of hiding his sins, like many probably would have done, he faced the consequences of his actions. He accepted them without a single whimper, and for that he is the perfect tragic hero. Oedipus is the tragic hero and main character of Sophocles play. He is the cause of many deaths and sufferings, whether directly or indirectly inflicting them. At the start of the play, Oedipus is depicted as a loving king, taking good care of his people and doing whatever he can to ease their pains. After realizing his mistakes and suffering the consequences, he became even more humble and kind, but with weak spirit and mind. He had a short temper and flared out with suspicion and distrust. This occurred first when Teiresias accused him of killing, and later when Oedipus suspected both Creon and the blind prophet of plotting against him. However, throughout the whole play, one aspect of his personality was clear: his endless ambition to find the truth. Even when it finally dawned on him that he truly was the son and killer of Laius and the son of his wife, he just had to gather the last piece of the great puzzle to satisfy himself. Jocasta is the wife of O edipus, but also, with such ironic cruelty, his mother. She breaks up the quarrel between Oedipus and Creon, and later assures Oedipus he is not the killer of Laius. Jocasta is very incredulous. She had learned about the fate of herShow MoreRelatedThe Tragedy Of Oedipus Oedipus Rex 928 Words   |  4 Pagesbetween Oedipus’ irrevocable circumstances as well as his flawed character that makes Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus Rex† a quintessential example of Greek drama. His circumstances, which are set by the Gods, are profound and beyond anyone’s control; either he must be killed or there will be great consequences. 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