Global Warming

Doing Activity 3 about Global Warming has really opened my eyes to problems I had never even thought about. I already knew about threats of a hotter climate and rising of the sea level, but to think that we may starve (which is an extreme assumption) is a serious wake up call.

Basically my article was about the threat of slowing crop production and the rising cost to may food supplies. I mean I suppose we could grow more food in colder countries becasue with the hotter climate comes longer growing seasons for them. But if we all had to get our food imported just to survive, I feel like our world would be in total chaos. Wars might spring out of lack of food production and you never know, may even go as far as saying who has rights to these lands if food production is low. In other words, this ordeal could become very political.

This is why people need to start opening their eyes about Global Warming. I mean if you do not believe in Global Warming, is it going to hurt that much to conserve anyway? It would still help the world. It just upsets me that people think that we can live on forever and that the world can keep taking care of us and supplying us with unlimited resources. I hope people can really start thinking about the world they live in and not themselves all the time. Ugghh....

The Weather Man!

John Farley was definitely not what I expected at all. He was really funny and down to earth, I guess I expected some snobby guy who would be totally uninterested in talking to us! But he answered all our questions above and beyond, even adding information.

I like how he was very knowledgeable (in this field he said it wasn't unheard of to not be!) in many of the things we were asking him and things we talked about in class. I noticed that although he says he does not have a certain opinion on global warming, he is passionate about knowing why some people do, when it seems they do not know much about it. That was pretty funny.

I also liked how he said he went to different types of conventions, from weather to global warming/environmental. This helps make him a very well rounded person and easy to talk to. I never realized how different things are incorporated into his job such as marketing. I guess if you like different things and are interested in weather, it can make your job more interesting.

In the end, I really liked our conversation and thought it was a very rewarding experience. Whoever didn't go missed valuable information! (Suckers).

Southern California Fires

Honestly, I did not really think these fires were going to get as out of hand as they have. And I really did not pay attention at first but know I see that this is not only changing the lives of our fellow Californians, but is stepping more into my own personal life.

I am glad I know more about what is causing these fires, more than most people I talk to actually. I noticed on a lot of reports that there was mention about the Santa Ana winds and how they are causing all the fires. If I had never learned about them in class, I would be clueless as to why they are the cause. But now that I know, I can let others know and help them out in understanding our weather.

At my job, we have to let our customers know that if we ship to Southern California, there may be a delay since UPS is having trouble delivering to many areas. One package going to Kansas even got delayed because it stopped in L.A. first (I don't know why UPS took that detour), and they were mad but that's mother nature...sorry!

Also, another thing that hits close to home is that my aunt lives in San Diego and hoping her house is surviving is constantly in my mind. Hopefully everything turns out ok in the end, whenever that will be....

Water Temperature

I was sitting in my US Geography class and we were learning about the Bypass East section of the country. (This has to do with your class I promise!) And we were talking how the coast of Maine can be about 10 to 15 degrees higher than the inner part of the part. Granted it will still be cold as heck, but not as much. He said if any of you have ever taken Physical Geography or Environmental Geography, you know that the water warms the land next to it because it takes and longer time to cool down. I was so excited that he mentioned that because I knew exactly what he was talking about! It also made a lot of sense and helped me understand this kind of situation better.

Learning about how water takes a long time to get and release temperatures helps me understand our weird weather over here in the Bay Area. Now I know why it is so chilly in the summer time in San Francisco but when autumn hits, it is actually a little warmer. But I also never knew that the water actually warmer in months like October than in the summer, it is very interesting, but again makes sense.

I am just excited that what I am learning in this class is already applying to my other classes and vice versa. That's how it was last year with Global Warming. For some reason, all of my classes talked about Global Warming in one way or another and they weren't even related classes, just general education classes. But by the end of the semester I had a good idea of what it was, which will make it a little easier to write this paper. Everything is starting to reiterate itself and that will help to stick in my brain that much more.

Measuring Distance

After doing the worksheet measuring distances, I realized that in different situations distances can be really short or very very long. When we were measuring roads around the South Bay one had to be a straight distance and the other had to be a road distance, the time it took to get to the same place using the different ways was huge! In reality, places are a lot closer to us than they seem, it's just that when we have to drive or travel on ground to go to those places, the topography of an area varies and we have to go around those areas to get there. That is what takes up the extra time.

Also, as another part of the exercise, I found that measuring distance is really very helpful when looking at maps. I took a class last semester in Geology and used a lot of maps in that class. I learned a little bit about how to measure distance but not very much. (Maybe it just didn't stick as well!) However, now that I am taking more Geography courses, I am looking at maps more often. Therefore, learning how to read the scales is especially important because it helps a person determine if the map is a large scale or small scale map. Those two terms where hard to differentiate on a map because they don't mean what we think they mean in everyday life. But what I learned in this class and in my Cultural Geography class is that a small scale map can cover a larger area, and you cannot see to much detail. A large scale map covers a smaller area but has more detail in it. (I hope I got that right!) So that for sure is going to stick in my brain because it is important that I know that. So this distance exercise was really very helpful for future measuring.

Time Zones

I really found it very helpful learning about time zones and how they really work. I always wondered what determined time zones andy why certain parts were ahead and why some were behind.

By reading the chapter and listening to the lecture in class made me realize that it was all about Geography and the rotation of the planet. Since not all of the planet faces the sun all at the same time, time zones were made. However, it is true that governments can have a say in time zones in there country. I remember hearing about China in class and how their time zone is not the same because the government does not want to go by it. That means their lifestyle might be very different from the rest of the world's, just because their hours do not coincide with ours.

In was also reading how on Yahoo! News, Anne Bligh from Queensland (I'm guessing Australia?) does not want to enforce daylight savings time in that part of the country. This decision has split the state apart. Even tourists are saddened because no daylight savings time means less time to go out at night. (I can't believe it even affects tourism!).

It amazes me how time difference can be so controversial around the world. This must be a really important issue, and I can understand that.