Saturday 24 August 2019
Thursday 22 August 2019
Do You Really Understand How the Five Essential Facts about Water are Ethical?
Do You Really Understand How Five Essential Facts about Water are Ethical?
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.” ―
Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Water is everywhere…in the seas and oceans, groundwater or
aquifers, polar ice caps, lakes and
streams, atmospheric moisture, locked within the bodies of living things. It is
a transparent, tasteless and odorless chemical substance without which Life on
the earth would not be possible and, therefore, must be protected with ethical responsibility by every person.
The more we can learn about water, the more precious and
inviolable it becomes. Here are some interesting facts, some which you may commonly know
and some which may open a greater awareness of water’s importance as they did for me.
Fact 1 - CYCLE: Water
moves around the earth in a water cycle with 5 parts:
evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration and surface
run-off. Water helps to regulate the
earth's temperature.
In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere. Groundwater can take a human lifetime just to travel a mile.
The overall amount of water on our planet has recycled to remain
the same for two billion years. There is the same amount of water on earth as
there was when the earth was formed. The water that comes from your faucet could
well contain molecules that dinosaurs drank.
Fact 2 - QUANTITY:
Earth is largely water at 75% with 25% for land mass. Apparently 97% of the total
amount of water on earth is found in oceans, 2% of which is frozen. It doesn't
take much salt to make water "salty." If one-thousandth (or more) of
the weight of water is from salt, then the water is "saline." Saline water can be desalinated for use as
drinking water by going through a process to remove the salt from the water.
Of all the water on earth, only 2.5% is fresh water. Less
than 1% of the water supply on earth can be used as drinking water to be used
by a huge population all over the world dependent for their survival.
Fact 3 - FORMULA: Water is the only substance that is found
naturally on Earth in three forms: liquid, gas, or solid depending on how far
apart the molecules are…densest in ice, farthest apart in gas. Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius and
vaporizes at a hundred degrees Celsius.
The water molecule consists of three air atoms, 2 Hydrogen atoms
and an Oxygen atom that are bond together due to electrical charges. Weight of a water molecule depends on the number of molecules
present; one molecule is 18 grams. A liter of water weighs about 2 pounds (1.01
kilograms).
Fact 4 - HUMANITY: Clean pure water is essential to humans. Approximately 66% of the human body consists
of water including all organs as they perform their physical functions. The total amount of water in the body of an
average adult is 37 liters. Human brains
are 75% water. Human bones are 25%
water. Human blood is 83% water.
A person must consume 2 liters (8 glasses) of water daily to live
healthily. You can live about a month without food, but only about a week
without water. If a human does not absorb enough water, dehydration is the
result. Humans can drink an average of 75,000 liters of water throughout their lifetime.
Humans use about 190 liters or 50 gallons of water every day. An automatic dishwasher uses 9 to 12 gallons
of water. A small drip from a faucet can waste as much as 75 liters of water a
day.
Two thirds of the water used in a home is used in the
bathroom. To flush a toilet we use 2 to 7 gallons of
water. A five-minute shower takes about 25 to 50 gallons of
water. Brushing your teeth can use 2 gallons of water unless you
fill a glass to rinse your teeth instead of running the tap.
You should never drink water straight from a lake or river,
as it can cause serious health damage if it is contaminated by bacteria and other micro-organisms. In most cities and towns, drinking water from
the tap is treated so that people don't get sick with diseases such as cholera
and typhoid, which are caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites found naturally
in the water.
Bottled water can be up to 1000 times more expensive than
tap water and it may not be as safe. Besides, there is the unsustainable
problem of thrashing the plastic bottle and polluting without biodegrading.
Unfortunately, more than 2 billion people on earth do not
have a safe supply of water. Today, at least 400 million people live in regions
with severe water shortages. Most of the
world's people must walk at least 3 hours to fetch water. Each day almost
10,000 children under the age of 5 in Third World countries die as a result of
illnesses contracted by use of impure water.
Fact 5 - POLLUTION: Because water molecules have both polar and adhesive properties, they are attracted to other molecules as a simple access to water pollution. Water quality is affected because humans dispose
of their waste in water and because industrial uses add all kinds of substances
and contaminants that are not naturally present. There are at least 70,000
water pollutants with more than 500 new chemicals are developed each year. For
example, 1 gallon of gasoline can contaminate approximately 750,000 gallons of
water.
Public water supplies must consistently supply water to
cities requiring over a hundred different standards for drinking water quality
including lead free pipes as a minimum standard to start with.
Oceans and coastal areas are especially impacted because of more
concentrations of pollutants from normal water sheds and run-offs.
How about this interesting fact? A chicken is 75% water and takes 120
gallons of water to produce one egg.
What about this fact:
It takes 1,850
gallons of water to refine one barrel of crude oil. Any kind of industrial use also hugely impacts our supply of fresh water.
So next time you feel a raindrop on your nose, or take a swallow of cool clean water, pay
attention to the myriad of links to this most precious life-sustaining commodity
resource we have. In fact, a few lifestyle changes can help to preserve your
own personal use of water: such as, keep taps from over rinsing, use water efficient appliances, wash with phosphate free detergents and clean with nontoxic biodegradable
household products.
Take time to watch water trickle
through your fingers. This is where life comes from. It seems without form but
can split the hardest rocks over time and reshape the geology, habitats and
communities with floods and droughts. No
one living plant or creature can live without it. Strange to think that human beings are frail
and small in comparison but are largely in the control of the taps and its
utilization.
Yes, the more we know, the
more we need to manage water from a sense of accommodating to its cycles and
truths rather than controlling its powers for selfish agendas. Yes, we are totally, deeply dependent on the
bounty of this natural cycle and each one of us has the responsibility to respect
and protect our planetary shared precious water.
PS: It gives me great pride to be the author of a special e-book
called The Incredible Journey of a Water Sprite with Roots on his mission to
discover Cyclical Truths …
Imagine for a moment that there is a character who personifies this most
valuable, but limited resource, known as pure, fresh water. He is unique because he is also part plant
with retractable roots and cellular chloroplasts with which to make his own
food from the sun's energy. This gives
him a unique perspective on the symbiotic interdependence among plants, animals
and even micro-organisms at the four important levels of healthy ecosystems.
Read more about the Most Common Questions about the Incredible Journey of
The Water Sprite with Plant Roots and a Table of Contents
Excerpt: My thoughts wander about the kind of ecology that
humankinds believe in, as I have witnessed. Do they get it that natural life
begins with DNA in a nucleus, one celled animals and plants, then species and
then an ecosystem? Do they know that every small ecosystem is part of the total
large biosphere on Earth that connects them all; water, air, food, resources,
and shelter? Do they realize that perpetual growth, industry or destruction of
any habitat is not sustainable on a limited planet?
Download here: 50% of profits is shared with water conservation agencies and more.
Download here: 50% of profits is shared with water conservation agencies and more.
How Climate Change Disrupts the Water Cycle via the Hydro-logical System Express Cause and Effect
How Climate Change Disrupts the Water Cycle via the Hydro-logical System Express Cause and Effect
“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest
source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source
of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that
makes life worth living….You realize you are not immortal; you are not a god;
you are part of the natural world and you come to accept that.”
Sir David Attenborough
As the huge cumulonimbus clouds rise along the horizon,
there is also rising concern about rising climate temperatures, but have you
thought that the primary disruption is happening with the water cycle? This complex integrated system has many
parts and functions linked interdependently; if one part is un-linked, then all the other
parts can be derailed.
Therefore, let’s use a concrete metaphor to show the cause
and effect of climate change on the water cycle in the form of a large train
with linked boxcars and call it the Hydro-logical System Express. It moves through the Earth’s Ecosystems where
all moving parts are connected for Nature’s essential synergy within the
Earth’s Biosphere. As you can quickly
see, this road map is much more than a friendly springtime shower.
Water moves around the Earth in a water cycle with
immemorial, basic mechanics: evaporation, condensation, precipitation,
infiltration and surface run-off. Along the way, it affects water supplies, food
webs, health, sanitation, and energy production.
Imagine, this natural process is now steaming through a time
of Climate Change with huge possible interference by affecting the amount,
distribution and quality of available water. In turn, communities, industries and
ecosystems can also be impacted, directly or indirectly.
Here is the Nature's scientific engineering fact: hotter climate causes more water to evaporate
from land and ocean water. This also means greater plant transpiration which
results in water loss in soil and plants.
Imagine there are five boxcars linked to the water cycle that show
cause and effect:
ONE: A warmer
atmosphere can hold more water moisture; roughly four percent more water for
every 1 degree rise in temperature. One
result is increased precipitation and runoff, leading to flooding. Another
result, depending on geography, is less precipitation and longer drought
periods.
TWO: Mountain
melt water and runoff provide more than 50 percent of the world’s freshwater.
Therefore, as global temperatures rise, mountain glaciers and snow packs are
melting at an unprecedented rate creating greater water stress in the habitats.
Just think, glaciers can’t be replaced once they’re gone.
THREE: Valuable groundwater levels will be affected along
with accelerated water competition and stress at the surface about its proper
use without overusing this limited resource. Water quality will decline within
the ecosystems as well. For example, higher water temperatures in lakes,
streams and reservoirs result in lower levels of dissolved oxygen which adds more
stress on the fish, insects, microorganisms and other aquatic animals that rely
on oxygen.
FOUR: More precipitation will cause a greater pollution load to be washed into our
waterways, such as nitrogen from agriculture, pesticides, herbicides and even
disease pathogens. It’s simply another engineering cycle that all water will return eventually to the coastal ocean
waters. This can create blooms of harmful algae and bacteria such as blue-green
algae or red tide which, in turn, can damage aquatic life and produce dangerous toxins for humans and other
animals to touch or drink; thereby, hurting the fisheries, shellfish and tourism economies. A new reality called ocean acidification will need further
study.
FIVE: As oceans become warmer along with an increased melt
from ice caps and glaciers, the sea
levels will rise. This will drive saltwater into freshwater aquifers affecting
the drinking supply as well as irrigation. These threats to fragile coastal communities
are alarming as infrastructure and economies try to cope for a roughly estimated
more than 200 million people worldwide who live along coastlines less than 5
meters above sea level; a number that could reach 400 to 500 million by the end
of the 21st century.
Of course, the picture of a Hydro-logical System Express throttling through
our land is a caricature oversimplification. There are far greater dimensions and confluences to the survival of the planet itself based on the variable living Ecosystems
which aggregate to make the Earth’s Biosphere.
Each ecosystem has its own energy cycle which contains all
of the living species and all non-living elements in any particular
environment, whether as a single tree, a forest or even a puddle. This energy flows from the sun through
plants, food producers, consumers, microorganisms,
and animals which ends with decomposition in order to recycle the process
again. Climate change may force habitat
relocation and upset the food chain or contribute to species extinction. It
will affect human land development, agriculture, erosion, flooding, droughts,
or greater wildfires.
Still larger, the all-embracing and cohesive mother of all,
is the Biosphere based on water, air and minerals found on land where all life
exists below ground, above ground and at least 200 meters of the ocean and
seas. Energy flow is essential to maintain the structure of organisms by the
splitting of phosphate bonds. As levels of greenhouse gases increase, including more water vapor, the Earth
responds with higher temperatures. As the Biosphere’s temperature increases, it
becomes global warming versus climate change which is more localized long-term
pattern changes in weather conditions.
There are arguments as to which degree human activity is
responsible for climate change affecting the causes and effects of the water cycle. But there is
no argument that such a wide range of human activities depend, directly or
indirectly, on water and that future climate-driven changes in water resources
will affect many aspects of our lives.
So next time you look up at some lazy cloud passing by on a
warmer day than usual, or a tumult of clouds building along the horizon, please
visualize the all-powerful water cycle connecting all possible links to
precipitation, run-offs, surface water, pollution, ocean levels, ecosystems, communities
and so much more within the vastness of this blue planet’s Biosphere.
Then, see yourself as one individual who needs to do your part which is morally right and
responsible to keep
your water in your space to be as pure and fresh as possible to make all life possible.
Questions and comments are always welcome and appreciated to further this discussion. What are some of your questions or experiences with water or lack of?
Sincerely,
Annemarie Berukoff
amarie10@gmail.com
PS: It gives me great
pride to be the author of a special e-book for children of all ages called The Incredible Journey of a
Water Sprite with Roots on his Mission to Discover Cyclical Truths …
Read more about the introduction of how and why this story was written:
Read more about the Most Common Question Asked about the Incredible Journey of
The Water Sprite with Plant Roots with a Table of Contents
It can be downloaded here:
Excerpt: My thoughts wander about the kind of ecology that
humankinds believe in, as I have witnessed. Do they get it that natural life
begins with DNA in a nucleus, one celled animals and plants, then species and
then an ecosystem? Do they know that every small ecosystem is part of the total
large biosphere on Earth that connects them all; water, air, food, resources,
and shelter? Do they realize that perpetual growth, industry or destruction of
any habitat is not sustainable on a limited planet?
Sunday 18 August 2019
Clarion Call in Defense of Public Education in a New Digital Social Order
Clarion Call in Defense of Public Education in a New Digital
Social Order
“The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones
she would have made. They were the choices of a changed person, a new self. You
could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity.
Betrayal. I call it an education” ― Tara Westover, Educated
A Clarion is a shrill, narrow-tubed trumpet formerly used in
war; also, a clear and loud description.
Let me be that soldier or educator with my call out to say
that public education as decreed for hundreds of years must not be ingested by
the many current online strategies to displace its value. This week for the first time, I saw a TV
advertisement and a Facebook page for an online Academy to enroll students from
kindergarten to high school. At the same time, the American government
requested to cut more than $8.5 billion from the Education Department budget
and add a proposed $5 billion plan to support private schools. Realizing the
power of mass media, public opinion can be willfully diverted.
A public school is an
icon of the community. As such, teaching takes an active role in social
responsibility in a changing technological society to maintain values, manners
and fundamental skills for survival. But when society has undergone such a
radical change in such a short time, what do we know how to best educate for
survival in this new social order of massive technological changes, information
overload where quick tweets can substitute for learned input.
The public educational process has gone through numerous
reformations to meet continuing societal demands. But I worry how public
education will survive this technological opponent under various names of
modern education, online e-learning and free public virtual schools, especially
at the elementary level.
First, I can mainly refer to my 24 years as a public-school
teacher teaching grades from grade 3 (7 years old) to grade 8 (14 years old). I
have an Bachelor of Education degree based on four years of university teacher
preparation with core subjects as well as early childhood development, psychology
and sociology.
Yes, I worked with specific curriculum objectives as mandated
by the provincial Department of Education to ensure standardized learning
outcomes at every grade level. There were daily lesson plans complete with
resources, outlines, activities and evaluations. There was satisfaction at the
end of a class and the school year when the students left with more What I Know Now vs What I Didn’t
Know when I Started.
Every subject had its particular parameters, facts,
schematics, formulas, and hypothesis. But the
classroom atmosphere had much more to offer. There could be 30 young people of
different backgrounds, aptitudes and abilities in an enclosure who also had to
learn the values of obedience, co-operation and group management. There was mindfulness for students of limited
abilities. There was problem-solving and creativity from many perspectives and
challenges. There was brainstorming and decision-making with multiple variables
where the best alternative was with democratic approval. Analysis was communal
and leadership self-evident.
These are essential skills of listening and collaborating that
are co-factors in an integrated public-school education, along with a broad
based global and historical courses of study from biology to physics to algebra
to ancient history to literature. It wasn’t about any student's self-centered preference about whatever I want to learn, but
public participation in how society and
environment continue to work together.
No doubt, a public-school system has its constraints in a digital society. Perhaps a well-rounded
core education doesn’t matter to your all-knowing cellphone. But it’s not a
matter of learning to use a calculator versus learning the multiplication
tables by rote; or better yet, by drawing pictures of things multiplying or
dividing into equal groups. It’s not a matter of using Google to spell
correctly or use grammatical syntax. It’s the sequential thinking process that
matters. In my brief encounter with computers in a classroom, I have yet to see
a program that outlines how to write specific stylistic paragraphs for various reasons
while sharing evaluations for improvements.
No doubt, several
complaints about public education can validate discussions such as too much curriculum
being teacher centered; an old grading system related to passing exams; passive
disengaged students more electronically geared; overcrowding and school
closures; lack of parental involvement; being passed on to higher grades
without grade level adequate skills; facing negative group behaviors; too many extra-curricular distractions; and even,
possibly poor teachers who practice favoritism. But I remember my Math
professor once saying all you really need is one good teacher to turn you into
a life-long student ... maybe he was right … virtual or a real handshake.
No doubt, there are several compliments about online learning
that works best for the self-directed motivated students, who can progress at their
own pace, working in a home environment, with remote instructors and virtual
tutors, with interactive media and resources, automated evaluation via digital logs, and who
can manage to stay the course from entertaining games. Parent supervision may
be needed to make sure assignments are
turned in. Perhaps you’d agree that this self-directed learning is better for
older students or adults interested in upgrading.
But, there are also problems such as lack of social interaction or developing
relationships with peers, other than communication on forums, chat rooms,
message boards and videos usually with homogeneous viewpoints. So how do you learn
to deal with diversity or discrepancy in different situations?
Undeniably, digital screens have become the natural habitat
of young people in a transformation of subjects and thoughts unlike anything
experienced in human history. This
Internet of all Things has created Great Changes in our society and culture
forever, but where are the educational safety nets for young developing brains?
For example, my current worry and project is especially about educating teen girls who are surrounded by a brand-new vocabulary and motivation in a
Selfie Domain with no training or denotation.
And therein are two problems. First, a general lack of teaching
knowledge how to cope with this new subject matter. Usually, any new subject
requires learning with clear objectives like any other study; preparation,
asking questions, content, decision making and evaluation. Unfortunately, there is a lack of training for
young girls at any level to gain any kind of understanding much less mastery
over these overwhelming changes. Ignorance and confusion are a lethal mixture.
The second problem,
based on lack of preparation within the context, is how young girls are being taken
advantage of by mass media which brainwashes their developing minds with adult
prerogatives. For example, how unnatural
is it for young girls to sexualize their bodies to be "LIKE" adult
images or role play? Part of this assault is their addiction to their cell phones
and manufactured Selfies but with limited educational or survival strategies.
More than ever, I believe public schools are the best places to address and discuss this issue and others related to information overload
and hyper social media interaction. These are serious social issues best dealt
with by social discussion and remediation where listening, cooperation and
empathy play central figures and consensus is mutual.
I believe that business and political opportunities should
not interfere in this sacred passage rite from childhood to adulthood. The future of education must not be monopolized by internet corporate
giants with material agendas which is much easier to do with e-learners in digital
controlled environments.
There is no doubt that technology as an integral part of daily life, for better and
worse, needs to be incorporated into traditional classrooms.The fact
remains that more and more educational tools, resources and Apps are always on
the horizon to facilitate the learning process and improve outcomes.
But, as a final word, I hope it will be a broad-based public
education with an open classroom with different backgrounds, experiences, and decision
making based on majority consensus in order to show students how to effectively
participate in society and produce positive contributions.
Your comments and questions are always important to continue this discussion.
Annemarie
amarie10@gmail.com
https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com
Excerpt: There has never been a greater urgency to make the case that
public education must remain democratic, diverse and strong; especially for
young people who are the stimulus and hope as they inherit the future with
greater degrees of fairness, ethics and justice, both to the kinds of society
and environment they want to live in.
https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.blogspot.com/2019/07/discovering-platos-allegory-of-cave-in.html
Saturday 10 August 2019
Friday 2 August 2019
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