Self-Reflection

Taking AP European History this year was probably one of the best decisions that I've made this year. It was pleasantly challenging compared to other social studies classes that I've taken in the past (granted, I've only taken summer school classes in high school). I feel that I've learned important study skills. Before this class I never had any reason to read the text book, but FRQ assignments forced me to read the chapters in order to answer the questions. This, in addition to time management skills, are something that I will use later in my academic career. I feel that these are my strengths. The matching sections of the tests are something that I would consider a weakness. I have no idea how I would have studied for these sections (like the midterm section on which I missed every question). Overall, I feel that this class has taught me more about history than any class I've ever taken before. I've learned most from class instruction and individual assignments. I can't remember much of anything that I was supposed to have learned from other people's presentations.

Meeting of the Minds

I wanted to wait until after the first Meeting of the Minds to write a blog about it. At first I was unsure how informative the project would be, but after watching the first debate I'm excited to personify Nietzsche tomorrow. I learned more about his philosophies while studying for this project than I would have merely writing a paper, and I hope that I can successfully pass this knowledge to my classmates tomorrow. I learned more about the historical figures that my classmates personified today than I have all year. I never really knew who Anne Boleyn was until today. Now when I think of her I will picture Sarah Drake.

Works Cited

"Chapter 7: Introduction to the Atmosphere." Physical Gerography.net. 5 May 2009.

http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7h.html

"Chlorofluorocarbons and Ozone Depletion." CIESIN Thematic Guides. 5 May 2009. http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/TG/OZ/cfcozn.html

Crabtree, Vexen. "The USA Versus the Environment Oil, Pollution and Kyoto." 4 June 2002. 5 May 2009. http://www.vexen.co.uk/USA/pollution.html#2004

"Kyoto Protocol." UFCCC.net. 5 2009. http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php

"The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer." CIESIN Thematic Guides. 5 May 2009. http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/TG/PI/POLICY/montpro.html

Dangers to the Global Environment

International Protocols

Montreal Protocol

• Signed in 1987
• Phases out damaging compounds such as CFCs.
• It outlines states' responsibilities to protect citizens' health.

Kyoto Protocol

• According to the United Nations website, "The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012."
• The Kyoto Protocol was accepted in 1997.
• Nations have unique reduction goals to meet based on industrial factors.
• In 2004, Russia ratified the protocol, making it internationally binding.

• The United States, the world's biggest polluter (4% of the population with 25% of the emissions), still has not accepted the treaty. George W. Bush has said that it would threaten the U.S. economy.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXdmqXG3ITU&feature=related

Dangers to the Global Environment

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

• It is a naturally occurring process.
• It is increased by carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane which are able to change the energy balance of the planet by absorbing longwave radiation emitted from the Earth's surface.
• Naturally, 26% of the sun's energy is reflected or scattered back to space by clouds and other atmospheric particles.
• About 19% of the energy available is absorbed by clouds, gases (like ozone), and particles in the atmosphere.
• Of the remaining 55% of the solar energy passing through the Earth's atmosphere, 4% is reflected from the surface back to space. On average, about 51% of the Sun's radiation reaches the surface.
• When greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere, they absorb the sun's heat, trapping it near the surface and heating the ground.
• Carbon Dioxide is the main greenhouse gas.
• Greenhouse gas levels have increased since the industrial revolution.

Types of Greenhouse Gases

• Since 1750, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have increased by more than 150%.
• The primary sources for the additional methane added to the atmosphere are rice cultivation, domestic grazing animals, termites, landfills, coal mining, and oil and gas extraction.
• Nitrous Oxide is now increasing at a rate of 0.2 to 0.3% per year.
• Most of the nitrous oxide added to the atmosphere each year comes from deforestation and the conversion of forest, savanna and grassland ecosystems into agricultural fields and rangeland.

Dangers to the Global Environment

What are CFCs?

• CFCs are chlorine- and bromine-containing compounds which have been implicated in the accelerated depletion of ozone in the Earth's stratosphere.
• They were invented in the 1930s for use in many household and industrial uses including coolants for refrigeration units, and aerosol propellants.
• In 1973 CFCs were found to be catalytic in ozone depletion.
• In 1985 the polar ozone depletion was announced.
• Effective stratospheric chlorine levels as shown here for midlatitudes will return to 1980 values around 2050. The return to 1980 values will occur around 2065 in polar regions. In 1980, ozone was not significantly depleted by the chlorine and bromine then present in the stratosphere.

How do CFCs hurt the environment?

• CFCs released into the atmosphere accumulate in the stratosphere.
• Stratospheric ozone shields living organisms on Earth from the harmful effects of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation; even a relatively small decrease in the stratospheric ozone concentration can result in an increased incidence of skin cancer in humans and in genetic damage in many organisms.
• CFC molecules break down by the action of solar ultraviolet radiation and release their constituent chlorine atoms.
• These then react with the ozone molecules, resulting in their removal.
• CFCs have a lifespan of 20 - 100 years and so can cause damage long after their release.

WWII: Connection Across Time

Many events that occurred during World War II have left impressions on our society and still reverberate in modern news. Most notably, the creation and detonation of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki have left a trail of debris through the decades and into the modern era.

The question of the creation and eventual use of the bomb was not merely a physical problem -- the bomb would have come into existence eventually in some form or another-- but it was also moral. As with cloning in the modern day, the scientists who worked on the bomb had to decide how far they would go to "play God." And after the monster was complete, the were faced with the same decision once again -- could they, merely men, decide if thousands of innocents should die for what they told themselves was the greater good? In my mind, and in the retrospective writings of both Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, they did not have this right.

However, the scientists and policy makers of the world today are still faced with the same questions. Should we bomb an entire village of civilians because there might be terrorists hiding there? Should we sacrifice the lives of innocents in order to possibly protect ourselves in the future? These are the questions that George W. Bush faced when he decided to invade Iraq, and these are the questions that military minds must contemplate as they strategize.

World War II and her monster, the atomic bomb, did not create these questions or these circumstances, but she certainly magnified them into the deadly force that they are today. World War II left us with a power to wreak more death than ever had before and the responsibility to use it wisely -- not at all.