Environmental Problems: Landfill
by: Jared Skye
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average person dumps almost 4.5 pounds of waste into landfill every single day. With the population increasing across the country, these landfill will become more of a public issue as time goes on. Landfills cause numerous environmental problems especially on the atmospheric and hydrological. Although both are of great importance there are factors that distinguish them.
Atmospheric Effects
According to EPA, methane produced by the rotting organic material in an unkempt landfill is 20 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat from the sun. Methane alone is not the problem but the addition of household cleaning chemical can cause toxic gases. In addition, the dust and non chemical contaminants further contribute to the air quality in the vicinity.
Hydrological Effects
People throw away everything from industrial solvents to household chemicals such a bleach and ammonia. Overtime these chemical mix and a great concern is for the animasl that come in contact with the chemical.
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Mr. Chris Boswell, the mayor of Harlingen has proposed that local schools participate in minimizing the amount of waste within our campus and gradually follow suit at home and around our neighborhood. Your classroom has been chosen to pilot the program.
Your classroom has to introuduce a creative solution.
Please keep in mind that it is impossible to completely eliminate the garbage coming out of our households but small steps can be taken to mininize the amount produced.
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Solutions: http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/solidsolut.html |
1. Read and analyze the scenario and situation. Check your understanding of the scenario. Don't be tempted to start thinking about potential solutions or to start looking for information.
1. List your personal understanding, ideas or hunches.
Now that you are familiar with landfills you will write everything you know about landfills. Describe your thoughts or ideas about how to solve the problem. There are not incorrect answers in this step, just feel free to brainstorm your ideas.
2. List what is known.
With your team use all the information available in the scenario to list everything that you know about landfills. You do not have to conduct any research yet. Just use the information given and write the facts that you already know about landfills.
3. List what is unknown.
With your team, make a list about what you do not know and would like to learn. List all the questions you will need to answer to solve the problem.
4. List what needs to be done. "What should we do?" List actions to be taken, e.g., question an expert, conduct research, go to a board meeting about topic. List possible actions.
5. Develop a problem statement.
You will be responsible for thinking and choosing one of the questions to solve the problem. A problem statement should come from your analysis of what you know. In one or two sentences, you should be able to describe what it is that your group is trying to solve, produce, respond to, or find out. The problem statement may have to be revised as new information is discovered and brought to bear on the situation.
6. Gather information
Use all the resources available (Internet, library, etc) to research about the problem/topic and find a solution. Mrs. Cavazos, our librarian is very knowledgeable on research and with web 2.0 tools.
7. Present Findings
You and your team will be creating a 2-4 minute youtube video to be aired on Harlingen's KHGN Channel 17 for the district that will educate and inform others of this ongoing dilemma, while providing a sensible solution. Your proposal must be back with research and data.
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6 Scientific investigations are conducted for different reasons. All investigations require a research question, careful observation, data gathering, and analysis of the date to identify the patterns that will explain the finding. Descriptive investigations are used to explore new phenomena such as conducting surveys of organisims or measuring the abiotic components in a given habitat. |
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