Water Pollution Explained

Water pollution is when water contains contaminants. In the context of environmental science, a contaminant is usually a substance which can be harmful to living things like plants or animals. Environmental contaminants can be the result of human activity, for example a by-product of manufacturing. However, they can also occur naturally, like radioactive isotopes, sediment, or animal waste. Because of how general the concept of pollution is, we can assume that polluted waters have been around even before humans were here. For example, a spring might have high sulfur levels, or a stream with a carcass in it would have been unfit for other animals to drink from. However, the number of polluted streams, rivers, and lakes multiplied rapidly as the human population increased, agricultural practices intensified, and industrial development spread. Important Sources of Pollution A number of human activities lead to water pollution harmful to aquatic life, aesthetics, recreation, and human health. The main sources of pollution can be organized in a few categories:   Land use. We have a heavy impact on the land: we cut forests, plow grasslands, build homes, pave roads. Land use activities intercept the water cycle during precipitation events and snowmelt. As water flows over the land and into streams, it picks up anything small enough to be carried away. Vegetation does an important job of holding back organic and mineral components of the soil, but clearing that vegetation means a lot of substances make it into streams, rivers, wetlands, and lakes, where they become contaminants.Impervious surfaces. Most man-made surfaces cannot absorb water like soil and roots would. Rooftops, parking lots, and paved roads allow rain and snowmelt runoff to flow with great speed and volume, picking up along the way heavy metals, oils, road salt, and other contaminants. The pollutants would otherwise have been absorbed by the soil and vegetation, where they would have been naturally broken down. Instead, they concentrate in runoff water, overwhelming the streamsà ¢â‚¬â„¢ capacity to process them.Agriculture. Common agricultural practices, like exposing soils to the elements, using fertilizers and pesticides, and concentrating livestock, routinely contribute to water pollution. Nutrient runoff, mostly phosphorus and nitrates, leads to algae blooms and other problems. Mismanagement of farm soils and livestock can also lead to significant soil erosion. Soil picked up by rain makes its way into streams where it becomes sediment pollution, with harmful consequences on aquatic life.Mining. Mine tailings are the piles of rock discarded after the valuable portion of the ore has been removed. Tailings can leach to surface and ground waters large amounts of contaminants, some occurring naturally in the waste rocks, others a product of the ore processing methods. Mining by-products are sometimes stored in impoundments as a slurry or sludge (for example, coal ash), and failure of the dams holding back these artificial ponds can lead to environmental dis aster. Abandoned coal mines are a notorious source of acid mine drainage: water in flooded mines and in contact with mine tailings sometimes oxidizes sulfur-bearing rocks, and turns extremely acidic.Manufacturing. Industrial activities are a major source of water pollution. In the past, liquid waste was dumped directly into rivers, or put into toxic waste barrels which were then buried somewhere. Those barrels then deteriorated and leaked, resulting in heavily contaminated sites we are still dealing with today. In the United States, regulations now severely limit these practices, notably the 1972 Clean Water Act, the Resource Conservation Recovery Act of 1976, and the Superfund Act of 1980. The release of toxic materials at industrial sites continues, either at levels below regulatory thresholds, or simply illegally. In addition, accidental spills occur all too frequently – for example with the recent West Virginia MCHM spill. In developing countries, pollution from industria l sources is still widespread and dangerous to human and ecosystem health.Energy sector. The extraction and transportation of fossil fuels, notably oil, is prone to spills that can have long lasting effects on aquatic systems. In addition, coal-fired power plants release large amounts of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in the air. When those contaminants dissolved in rain water and enter waterways, they significantly acidify rivers and lakes. Coal plants also emit mercury, a very toxic heavy metal, polluting lakes throughout the world and making fish unsafe to eat. The production of electricity through hydropower produces much less pollution, but still has some deleterious effects on aquatic ecosystems.Household practices. There are numerous actions we can take every day to prevent water pollution: avoid lawn pesticides, slow rainwater runoff, collect pet waste, properly dispose of household chemicals and medicine, avoid products with microbeads, attend to oil leaks on the mower or car, have the septic tank maintained and inspected.Thrash. A lot of trash persists in the environment, and plastic matter breaks down into harmful microplastics. Are Contaminants Always a Substance? Not always. For example, nuclear power plants use vast amounts of water to cool down the steam generator by the reactor and used to spin the turbines. The warm water is then released back into the river it was pumped from, creating a warm plume that affects downstream aquatic life.

William Moliere s Tartuffe As A Threat Of Reason

The Role of Reason in Religion What happens when hypocrisy invades religion in the absence of reason? This is the very question that Moliere addresses in Tartuffe as he establishes his characters. In satire characters are usually very one dimensional and unchanging. They are simply there to represent an idea. Therefore, rather than using character development, Moliere uses character establishment to shape his story and theme. This is most notably seen in the last two scenes of act one in Tartuffe as he establishes the characters of Orgon, Cleante and Tartuffe. In the establishment of these three characters Moliere forms a strong point about reason’s role in religion and the rightful way to pursue genuine belief. In the last scenes of act one in Tartuffe Orgon’s character is established by his attitude towards his family, his misplaced concern for Tartuffe and his blindness towards Tartuffe’s hypocrisy. As Orgon makes his entrance into the story, he inquires of his brother-in-law that state of his estate. Dorine reveals that the lady of the house has been very sick even going as far to say that a bleeding â€Å"has saved her from the grave.† Orgon takes the information in without acknowledging it. His only concern is for Tartuffe, the religious man he has taken in and aspires to be like. This nonchalant attitude toward his family reveals disconnect between him and his family that is only made up for in his relationship to Tartuffe. This replacement of a practical stranger for

Brain Compatible Strategies Free Essays

One of the most important avenues of debate when it comes to education is the question on how to make the learning experience in school be also connected with real life. There are many hurdles to answering this question. For example, the feeling of being closed in during learning makes the students feel that school is an entirely different world and is an entirely different experience, and when classes and end and they rejoin the real world, they tend to leave the things that they relate to school in the recesses of their mind and shifts their cognition by turning on the brain they use for real life. We will write a custom essay sample on Brain Compatible Strategies or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is just one of the many different factors, and because of this reason, experts are consistently looking for a way to ensure that what the children learn is something that they also apply in real life. The effective designing, formulation and use of brain compatible strategies are important in the learning experience of the students; but more importantly, the brain compatible strategies should also be updated and up to date. As Sousa (2003) explained, â€Å"the sit-down-be-quiet-and-listen model is not compatible with the brains of many students who now cross the thresholds of our schools because the environment has affected the contemporary student brain compared with that of just 20 years ago (Sousa, 2003, p. 101). † The use of brain compatible strategies are strategies which do not just help in the effective teaching and lesson retention inside the classroom; more than that, the application of these approaches of this type of style is also usually connected with approaches that individuals take in real life when they are faced with different scenarios, picking a system which the individual feels is suitable for a particular situation. Because of this, brain compatible strategies help not just in the learning process of school-based education but also close the gap found between school life and real life. According to Karten (2007), one of the basic principles of brain-based learning strategy is the use and the presence of the effect of â€Å"activities such as simulations and role (that) provide real-life emotional connections (Karten, 2007, p. 57). † This is one of the proofs that through the use of brain compatible strategies in teaching and in the learning experience of children, the lessons learned are applied in real life, closing the gap found between school life and real life. What is the gap between school life and real life? For some students, the problem with going to school is that they see lessons in school as purely limited for use inside the school or inside formalistic educational grounds. They see math solutions as tools to achieve problems inside the classroom as well as history notes as the key to answer the midterm history exam. The manner by which the students are thought sans brain compatible strategies isolate school life and real life, and when this happens, the students feel that whatever it is they learn in school is exclusive for school use alone, which should not be the case because the lessons learned in school should be transformed as intellectual tools that should be used in real life so that a person can react correctly and rationally in real life situation. This is the gap present in school life and real life, and there was a point that the gap grew bigger and bigger simply because of the fact that the teaching style does not make the learning experience of the students a way for them to realize that what they learn in school should be applied in real life – that math solutions should be applied for counting changes when buying in a store, that the critical thinking during science experiments should be extended in real life. Take for example the different types of brain compatible strategies being used today. In cooperative learning, the student is learning school based education while at the same time learning the value and use of cooperation between individuals, and because of that, the student transfers this knowledge about cooperation in real life. The same is true with the use of problem-solving, which infuses in the child’s conscious and unconscious mind the need to use critical thinking not just to solve school examinations but real life problems as well (Cooperative Learning, Collaboration, Problem-Solving etc. ), not only increase student learning but also help bridge the gap between school and â€Å"real life. † Experts are inclined also to believe that as much as most people believe that brain compatible strategies for learning should impact not just school-based scenarios but real life as well, the truth is that proponents of brain compatible strategies who teaches this system to teachers are advocating the use of not just school-based examples but also to use real life examples to teach the students how the lessons in school are actually usable as well in real life scenarios and not just limited to school experience. As Tate (2006) explained in her book about integrating brain compatible system in teaching inside the classroom, â€Å"a third way to gain student’s attention is to connect the learning to real life. It stands to reason that if the brain was meant to survive in the real world, then the closer a teacher can get the instruction to the real world, the more memorable it becomes (Tate, 2006, p. 51). † Conclusion – The use of brain compatible strategies to teach students today has already garnered many followers, if not something that is already widespread, and people ask why such phenomena occurred. Brain compatible strategies are always changing, based on the changes happening on the target audience, and it is important that everyone is on the same page. Maybe the shift in the education paradigm has happened. Before when education was limited to a select few, the idea was to teach things that cannot be easily learned by sheer experience alone (i. e. technique in arts, formula in sciences, strategies in politics), but now educators are looking the reality that what the students needs is a good dose of traditional educational content and lessons which have practical application to assist in the refinement of the actions and reactions individuals make when faced with circumstances, using the knowledge transmitted and embedded in a child’s brain through the use of brain compatible strategies that closes the gap between school learning and real life learning. References Fisher, Robert (December 2005). Teaching Children to Think. Thornes Nelson. Karten, Toby J. (April 2007). More Inclusion Strategies That Work! : Aligning Student Strengths with Standards. SAGE Publications. Sousa, David A. (May 2003). The Leadership Brain: How to Lead Today’s Schools More Effectively. SAGE Publications. Tate, Marcia L. (August 2006). Shouting Won’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Techniques for Managing a Brain-Compatible Classroom. SAGE Publications. Tracy, Kim (May 2000). Brain Compatible Learning: Another New Program†¦ or Is It?. The Teachers. Net Gazette. Volume 1 Number 3. Retrieved June 14, 2008, from http://teachers. net/gazette/MAY00/bcl. html How to cite Brain Compatible Strategies, Papers

Micheal Jackson free essay sample

There are 2 approaches to do this: ) the real speech- this Is the description of a real, tangible, and physical that Is so vivid and precise that the audience can picture It In their mind. The subject could be a place, an object, a person, etc and is described so clearly that the audience can accurately visualize it. B) The mood speech- this is where you attempt to convey Just how a particular emotion or feeling feels; and the successful mood speech has the audience actually experiencing that emotional state. For instance, when answering the question How does It feel when you are depressed? The speaker does not simply sit other synonymous labels for depression such as down, bummed, low, but focuses Instead upon the physiological ( weak, listless), mental (slower thinking, confusion), psychological( joyless, hating self), social( rejected, friendless) aspects. A good contemporary example is the TV ad about ADD that likens this condition to trying to watch TV with the channels changing every second while showing a rapidly changing TV in the background. We will write a custom essay sample on Micheal Jackson or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Mood speeches are difficult to maintain and develop as the entire speech, and are used many times as a segment of a report speech on hat topic. ) Report the Report speech is a vastly different speech from the mood speech in that it deals with hard facts and precise data in a very analytical way. It also can be used in a myriad of ways: the life cycle of a flea, a biography of a person, a report giving information about a culture, country, religion, event, medical condition, etc. Even topics of some controversy can be Informative In this category: compare/ contrast prescription generic drugs, the legal history of Roe v. Wade, pros/cons of legalizing prostitution/pot/gambling: school uniforms.The over-riding goal here is to remain fair and objective, the audience should not be able to tell what the speakers personal position on the topic happens to be. It is unethical to hide a persuasive agenda under the auspices of an Informative speech, so avoid l want to inform you why prostitution should be legal and/or So you can see that since the pros greatly cons) without fairly and honestly including the cons (or pros). 3) Explanation- the speech of Explanation defines a process. This is NOT a how to speech; it explains how and/or why some process occurs.This is very much like a tour guide at the mint telling their group how coins are made. This is a more intellectual approach to a process- how diamonds are formed, how the AIDS virus invades T-helper cells, how wood becomes petrified, the water cycle, photosynthesis, how microwaves cook food, any surgical procedure, how the brain stores memories, how viruses infect computers, what makes a survivable curve- the list is endless. Think of all the processes you understand, any of them have the potential to be a good explanation speech. Instruction this IS the traditional How to speech, and this is where the process is actually performed, or we are taught how to do it. This has a hands-on feel to it: how to write a good resume, how to save money/gas/time, how to pack for a vacation, how to debug your computer, how to throw a survivable. Sometimes the process can easily be demonstrated within the time limits of a speech; other processes my take longer than the allotted time. If that is the case, then have the successive steps/ stages pre-done so you can move easily form one to the next.The audience really doesnt need to watch you slice six carrots for a salad instead have all of them pre- sliced and Just demonstrate a few cuts and then move on, nor do we need to wait until the paint dries. Take a hint from the professionals that do the hobby/craft/ cooking shows on TV, a bit of careful planning beforehand can result in a polished presentation of even a very complex process. These are the categories of Informative Speaking. You do not have to stay within Just one type, they can be combined as you see fit.For example, in speech that is primarily Explanation, there may be a section where you need to Describe what something looks like and there may be some elements of Report if you discuss the history of it. There is an easy way to consolidate the points of the text with these 4 types of informative speeches. Think of the categories listed in the text as general topic areas from which an Informative Speech topic could be found. Once a topic has been selected, then its development can be guided and focused by the 4 types of informative speeches.