Since the desolation of Wuhan, Coronavirus has spread all over the world, and WHO declared it as a pandemic. Considering all the harm it has already done, it is hard to imagine any good things coming out it. However, “For every bad thing in life, there are more good things to tip the balance.” -Richelle Mead. Here we discuss how Coronavirus has helped the Planet.

China is sending an expert team to help Italy and Spain contain the recent death toll surge. “The Happiest Place On Earth” – Disneyland is closing its doors. St. Patricks Day Parade is canceled, Broadway theatres are postponing their shows, and it is all due to the deadly coronavirus.

Since the desolation of Wuhan, coronavirus has spread all over the world, and WHO declared it as a pandemic. Considering all the harm it has already done, it is hard to imagine any good things coming out it. However, “For every bad thing in life, there are more good things to tip the balance.” -Richelle Mead.

Hong Kong (CNN) Factories were shuttered and streets were cleared across China’s Hubei province as authorities ordered residents to stay home to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

It seems the lockdown had an unintended benefit — blue skies.

The average number of “good quality air days” increased 21.5% in February, compared to the same period last year, according to China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

And Hubei wasn’t alone.

Satellite images released by NASA and the European Space Agency show a dramatic reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions — those released by vehicles, power plants and industrial facilities — in major Chinese cities between January and February. The visible cloud of toxic gas hanging over industrial powerhouses almost disappeared.

“This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” says Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “I am not surprised because many cities nationwide have taken measures to minimize the spread of the virus.”

A similar pattern has emerged with carbon dioxide (CO2) — released by burning fossil fuels such as coal.

From February 3 to March 1, CO2 emissions were down by at least 25% because of the measures to contain the coronavirus, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), an air pollution research organization.

As the world’s biggest polluter, China contributes 30% of the world’s CO2 emissions annually, so the impact of this kind of drop is huge, even over a short period. CREA estimates it is equivalent to 200 million tons of carbon dioxide — more than half the entire annual emissions output of the UK.

“As a measure that took place effectively overnight, this is more dramatic than anything else that I’ve seen in terms of the impact on emissions,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at CREA.

But while lockdown measures designed to stem the spread of the virus have caused a momentary uptick in China’s pollution levels, experts warn that when the county starts to reboot its economy the toxic chemicals could up to higher levels than before the epidemic hit.

Governments should act with the same urgency on climate as on the coronavirus, leading campaigners say, as evidence mounts that the health crisis is reducing carbon emissions more than any policy.The deadly virus outbreak, which has killed more than 4,000 people and infected more than 116,000, has caused alarm around the world. However, unlike the response to global heating, it has shown how political and corporate leaders can take radical emergency action on the advice of scientists to protect human wellbeing.In China – the source of the disease and the world’s largest carbon emitter – the actions taken by authorities have inadvertently demonstrated that hefty 25% carbon dioxide cuts can bring less traffic and cleaner air with only a small reduction in economic growth, according to a study by Carbon Brief.If this trend continues, analysts say it is possible this will lead to the first fall in global emissions since the 2008-09 financial crisis. Even a slowdown in CO₂ could buy time for climate action and, more importantly, inspire long-term behavioural changes – particularly in travel.On the advice of health authorities, millions of people are avoiding school journeys, shopping runs and office commutes. Tens of thousands of flights have been cancelled. Italian bishops are not conducting mass. Across much of central China, factories have been closed, with knock-on effects around the world.The virus has disrupted several events linked to the fossil fuel industry. In the past few weeks, the Geneva Motor Show was cancelled, after Switzerland banned all public gatherings of more than 1,000 people. In Houston, the giant annual CeraWeek gathering of oil and gas executives was called off, as was the Formula One grand prix in Shanghai.More carbon savings will come from the cancellations of international conferences. Donald Trump has postponed a 14 March summit with the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The London Book Fair, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Adobe’s annual live summit and even South by Southwest, the huge annual film, music and media conference in Austin, Texas, have all been called off, which means thousands of tonnes less CO₂ from flights taken by international delegates.The worlds of entertainment, fashion and sport are similarly affected. Stormzy, Mariah Carey, Slipknot and New Order have all cancelled or postponed gigs, though most of the attendees were likely to have been local so the climate impact will be more modest. A bigger effect is likely to come from the postponement of Art Dubai, the biggest art fair in the Middle East. The closure for several weeks of Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea, or the Universal Studios theme park in Osaka, Shanghai Disneyland and other attractions that usually draw tens of thousands of visitors every day, are also expected to result in fewer flights.Global air traffic decreased by 4.3% in February with cancellations of tens of thousands of flights to affected areas. But Rob Jackson, the chair of Global Carbon Project, said this would only be meaningful if it led to long-term behavioural change, particularly in aviation, which is one of the fastest growing source of emissions.“If this could change the way we travel, it could lead to more virtual meetings,” he said. Otherwise, “I see no silver lining to the coronavirus. If gas emissions drop temporarily then great, but it won’t be a meaningful change in the long term unless it shocks us in a global recession. Nobody wanted that in 2008 and nobody wants it now.”There are encouraging signs. The 189-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending organisation, the World Bank, will replace their usual spring gathering in Washington with a virtual teleconference. This is a one-off emergency measure, but the economic and carbon savings could prompt calls for this to become the norm every year.The question is whether changes are temporary. China’s climate gains – so far estimated at about 200 megatonnes of CO₂ – could be short-lived if factories later reopen and crank up production to make up for lost business. President Xi Jinping has indicated the government will provide extra stimulus packages to help the economy recover. Some reports suggest this could prove counterproductive for the climate if this means ramping up coal production or relaxing environmental controls. The last time China suffered a major threat to GDP growth was during the 2008-9 financial crisis. Within a year, extra government spending ensured both the economy and CO₂ were back on an upward trajectory.Analysts say it is too early to know if coronavirus will push global CO₂ emissions onto the downward path that is needed if the world is to have any hope of keeping global heating to a relatively safe level of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. That depends on how far the outbreak spreads, and whether the economic effects are prolonged.Corinne Le Quéré, professor of climate change science at the University of East Anglia, said that so far the crisis is only likely to slow CO₂ growth, not reverse it. “Over the past 10 years, emissions have grown at an annual rate of 1%, or about 317 megatonnes, so you would need a really big reduction to see a fall this year. It’s plausible but I don’t think we can say at this stage.”But, Le Quéré noted, even a slowdown would gain time for action – advances in technology, lower renewables prices and more public pressure on governments to change tack. The response to the coronavirus could also demonstrate that radical steps can work.“You can see that when governments see there is an emergency they act straight away with measures commensurate with the threat. That assessment has not yet been made in the case of climate change although governments have declared it an emergency,” she said.If the outbreak continues, there are concerns that the virus could also force the cancellation of the EU-China summit in Leipzig in September, which would be bad news for diplomatic efforts to build a climate alliance between these two powers.US author and environmentalist Bill McKibben wrote that no environmentalist should welcome a crisis, but they could learn from it: “Completely apart from the human toll, economic disruption is not a politically viable way to deal with global warming in the long term, and it also undercuts the engines of innovation that bring us, say, cheap solar panels.”But McKibben is more optimistic about the demonstration that people can change. “It’s worth noting how nimbly millions of people seem to have learned new patterns. Companies, for instance, are scrambling to stay productive, even with many people working from home.“The idea that we need to travel each day to a central location to do our work may often be the result of inertia, more than anything else. Faced with a real need to commute by mouse, instead of by car, perhaps we’ll see that the benefits of workplace flexibility extend to everything from gasoline consumption to the need for sprawling office parks.”

How Coronavirus Has Helped The Planet

Coal consumption falls

A fall in oil and steel production, and a 70% reduction in domestic flights, contributed to the fall in emissions, according to the CREA. But the biggest driver was the sharp decline in China’s coal usage.

China is the world’s biggest producer and consumer of coal, using this resource for 59% of its energy in 2018. As well as running power plants and other heavy industries, coal is also the sole heat source for millions of homes in the vast rural areas of the country.

The country’s major coal-fired power stations saw a 36% drop in consumption from February 3 to March 1 compared to the same period last year, according to CREA analysis of WIND data service statistics.

“The largest consumers of coal — coal-fired power plants — have been affected a lot because electricity demand is down,” said Myllyvirta. “I think it’s clear that this effect will continue for the next weeks and months, because there has also been a major impact on the demand side of the economy.”

In 2017, President Xi Jinping promised to make combating pollution one of China’s “three battles,” and the following year the Ministry of Ecology and Environment was created.

The policies have resulted in a significant impact, with overall pollution levels 10% lower across Chinese cities between 2017 and 2018, according to a report released last year by Greenpeace and AirVisual.

Climate activists say the crisis could provide a window to ramp up these promised reforms.

“We would very much advocate for China to foster this opportunity to transform its economy, to break apart from the old,” said Li Shuo, a senior climate policy adviser for Greenpeace East Asia.

“Revenge pollution”

The concern, Li said, is that once the coronavirus threat has passed, China will be solely focused on restarting its economy, which was already hurting in the wake of the US-China trade war. That could come at the expense of the environment.

“There might be a round of economic stimulus which would inject cheap credits to heavy industries in China, and as a result of that we might see increasing pollutants and also carbon emissions in the second half of this year,” Li added.

This bounce-back effect — which can sometimes reverse any overall drop in emissions — is something Li calls “revenge pollution.” And in China it has precedent.

In 2009, the Chinese government launched a giant $586 billion stimulus package in response to the global financial crisis — the majority of which went to large-scale infrastructure projects.

But the resulting explosion in pollution in the following years — particularly in the “airpocalypse” winter of 2012-2013 — led to a public outcry which ushered in the Chinese government’s first national air pollution action plan in September 2013.

President Xi has made clear that workers and factories need to ramp up activity as soon as possible if the country is to avoid a steeper economic downturn.

Myllyvirta hopes China has learned lessons from the past.

“It was really those previous episodes where it boiled over,” says Myllyvirta, who also warns of a public backlash if the skies turn gray again.

“The reduction in air pollution has been very clear so if the pollution does come back, because of stimulus measures, because of heavy industry going into overdrive to make up for lost time, there could be a counter reaction.”

Hong Kong pollution falls

In neighboring Hong Kong, air quality has also improved since the city entered partial shutdown mode to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Key air pollutants dropped by nearly a third from January to February, according to data from Hong Kong University School of Public Health, which was analyzed by environmental organization Clean Air Network.

Monitoring of stations in the busiest areas of Hong Kong, including Central, Causeway Bay and Mongkok, revealed that the fine particle pollutant PM2.5 decreased by 32%, while the larger particle pollutant PM10 fell by up to 29%, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was reduced by up to 22%.

Pollution in the city is mostly caused by motor vehicles, marine vessels, and power plants in Hong Kong and around the Pearl River Delta, the government says.

The declines in harmful pollutants came in direct correlation with the Hong Kong government’s introduction of measures including working from home procedures, the closure of some public facilities, and a partial closure of the border with China. A drop in pollution in mainland China during this period also resulted in less regional smog from the industrial powerhouse cities in the southern province of Guangdong.

“There are lots of people who work from home, and that has reduced the traffic and the traffic congestion,” said Patrick Fung, chairman of the Clean Air Network. Hong Kong’s measures were nowhere near as drastic as those in mainland China, but there was still a significant impact.

Fung has been campaigning about the long-term health impact of the air pollution in Hong Kong, which he says causes on average 1,500 premature deaths per year in the city.

“For the last decade, Hong Kong’s air pollution has been double the World Health Organization’s recommended safe level,” Fung says. “Especially at the roadside, where a lot of pedestrians and commuters are exposed to that kind of toxic and carcinogenic air pollutants.”

Hong Kong’s government did introduce a raft of green policies in its recent budget, including a roadmap on cleaner public transport vehicles. Fung says the announcement was a good “first step,” but much more needs to be done.

Now, Fung believes this brief period of cleaner air should send a message for people to push for longer-term changes. “If we want the children, the elderly, who could live healthily in Hong Kong, then we should think how to make business as usual change,” Fung says.

Reducing The Dangers Of Climate Change

China, the world’s largest carbon emitter (over 12 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide due to coal electricity generation and coal mining) is producing 25% less carbon dioxide. Giant cruise ships, i.e., “The Climate Killers” or “Floating Quarantines,” are also significantly reduced in their presence and mobility across the world seas.

The reduction of carbon emissions due to current events related to the coronavirus disease proves we are capable of doing much more for climate issues than we are already doing. Unfortunately, it took a world-wide virus outbreak to show us that. Corporate heads and political leaders can take similar emergency actions to save our planet from a much slower, but no less disastrous sickness.

To top it all, the reduction in economic growth is very little compared to the benefits it made. Coronavirus is also helping with the regulation of expenditure of fossil fuels. Events like Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland and CeraWeek gatherings in Houston have all been postponed or canceled, resulting in much-needed carbon savings for our planet. Entertainment is also experiencing a similar cutback, with many artists canceling and postponing their concerts.

Raising Awareness In Dealing With Global Problems

Let’s face it; climate change is real. We are losing our planet’s biodiversity. We are killing Earth. Just because our world gets sick slower than we do, it does not change the fact that there will come a time where we will lose the illusion of control we have over our environment, just like with the coronavirus. We can see how much effort everyone is taking to stay productive, whether it is online education or remote working.

If we take a step back and reexamine everything that has happened so far in the case of coronavirus, we will realize that we can learn a thing or two from such a crisis. And maybe we can stop a different disaster in its making. If people continue to avoid airplanes, cruise ships, and make adjustments to try and work from home, the fear of the virus may result in lasting shifts in the carbon footprint.

The quick responses that many of the world’s countries had in the face of this pandemic are an indicator of how we can also make all sorts of social and economic changes needed for the climate change crisis. When the governments were confronted with the case of the virus, they made measures to try and stop the threat. Such actions are still much more significant than those made in the case of climate change, even though they are both declared as an emergency.

The destruction of our economics is, of course, a wrong way to deal with such a problem in the long run, and all the death and suffering are not a great example of how we want to reduce emissions from climate change. Still, maybe it will help us see a better alternative for the other threats that are waiting for us and our planet. Perhaps the harmful emissions will return after the economy bounces back, but maybe, and just maybe, the horrors of this pandemic will open our eyes for a brighter future with a healthier planet.

The post How Coronavirus Has Helped The Planet appeared first on Top Fourteen.

source https://fourteen.online/how-coronavirus-has-helped-the-planet/

from Dr. Linex https://ift.tt/38ZP2lu
via IFTTT

What are the Elements Found in the Earth Crust

What are the elements found in the Earth Crust, The elements that make up the Earth’s Crust is shown in tabulated form with the estimated crustal abundance for each chemical element shown as mg/kg, or parts per million (ppm) by mass (10,000 ppm = 1%). Note that the noble gases are not included, as they form no part of the solid crust. Also not included are certain elements with extremely low crustal concentrations: technetium (atomic number 43), promethium (61), and all elements with atomic numbers greater than 83 except thorium (90) and uranium (92).

Estimates of elemental abundance are difficult because (a) the composition of the upper and lower crust are quite different, and (b) the composition of the continental crust can vary drastically by locality.

Earth is unique among the known planets: it has an abundance of water. Other worlds — including a few moons — have atmospheres, ice, and even oceans, but only Earth has the right combination to sustain life.

Earth’s oceans cover about 70 percent of the planet’s surface with an average depth of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). Fresh water exists in liquid form in lakes and rivers and as water vapor in the atmosphere, which causes much of Earth’s weather.

Earth has multiple layers. The ocean basins and the continents compose the crust, the outermost layer. Earth’s crust is between three and 46 miles (five and 75 km) deep. The thickest parts are under the continents and the thinnest parts are under the oceans.

This is a table that shows the elemental chemical composition of the Earth’s crust. Keep in mind, these numbers are estimates. They will vary depending on the way they were calculated and the source. 98.4% of the Earth’s crust consists of oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. All other elements account for approximately 1.6% of the volume of the Earth’s crust.

What are the Elements Found in the Earth Crust

 

Element	Percent by Volume
oxygen	46.60%
silicon	27.72%
aluminum	8.13%
iron	5.00%
calcium	3.63%
sodium	2.83%
potassium	2.59%
magnesium	2.09%
titanium	0.44%
hydrogen	0.14%
phosphorus	0.12%
manganese	0.10%
fluorine	0.08%
barium	340 ppm
carbon	0.03%
strontium	370 ppm
sulfur	0.05%
zirconium	190 ppm
tungsten	160 ppm
vanadium	0.01%
chlorine	0.05%
rubidium	0.03%
chromium	0.01%
copper	0.01%
nitrogen	0.005%
nickel	trace
zinc	trace

Mineral Composition

The crust is chemically similar to andesite. The most abundant minerals in the continental crust are feldspar (41%), quartz (12%), and pyroxene (11%)

Keep in mind, the elemental composition of the Earth’s crust is not the same as the composition of the Earth. The mantle and core account for significantly more mass than the crust. The mantle is about 44.8% oxygen, 21.5% silicon, and 22.8% magnesium, with iron, aluminum, calcium, sodium, and potassium. The Earth’s core is believed to consist primarily of a nickel-iron alloy.

source https://fourteen.online/what-are-the-elements-found-in-the-earth-crust/

from Dr. Linex https://ift.tt/2VOObkS
via IFTTT

Elements That Make Up the Earth’s Crust

The elements that make up the Earth’s Crust is shown in tabulated form with the estimated crustal abundance for each chemical element shown as mg/kg, or parts per million (ppm) by mass (10,000 ppm = 1%). Note that the noble gases are not included, as they form no part of the solid crust. Also not included are certain elements with extremely low crustal concentrations: technetium (atomic number 43), promethium (61), and all elements with atomic numbers greater than 83 except thorium (90) and uranium (92).

Estimates of elemental abundance are difficult because (a) the composition of the upper and lower crust are quite different, and (b) the composition of the continental crust can vary drastically by locality.

Earth is unique among the known planets: it has an abundance of water. Other worlds — including a few moons — have atmospheres, ice, and even oceans, but only Earth has the right combination to sustain life.

Earth’s oceans cover about 70 percent of the planet’s surface with an average depth of 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). Fresh water exists in liquid form in lakes and rivers and as water vapor in the atmosphere, which causes much of Earth’s weather.

Earth has multiple layers. The ocean basins and the continents compose the crust, the outermost layer. Earth’s crust is between three and 46 miles (five and 75 km) deep. The thickest parts are under the continents and the thinnest parts are under the oceans.

Crust

According to “Essentials of Geology” (7th Ed., Prentice Hall, 2000) by Frederick K. Lutgens and Edward J. Tarbuck, Earth’s crust is made up of several elements: oxygen, 46.6 percent by weight; silicon, 27.7 percent; aluminum, 8.1 percent; iron, 5 percent; calcium, 3.6 percent; sodium, 2.8 percent, potassium, 2.6 percent, and magnesium, 2.1 percent.

The crust is divided into huge plates that float on the mantle, the next layer. The plates are constantly in motion; they move at about the same rate as fingernails grow, according to NASA. Earthquakes occur when these plates grind against each other. Mountains form when the plates collide and deep trenches form when one plate slides under another plate. Plate tectonics is the theory explaining the motion of these plates.

Mantle

The mantle under the crust is about 1,800 miles deep (2,890 km). It is composed mostly of silicate rocks rich in magnesium and iron. Intense heat causes the rocks to rise. They then cool and sink back down to the core. This convection — with the consistency of caramel — is thought to be what causes the tectonic plates to move. When the mantle pushes through the crust, volcanoes erupt.

Core

At the center of the Earth is the core, which has two parts. The solid, inner core of iron has a radius of about 760 miles (about 1,220 km), according to NASA. It is surrounded by a liquid, outer core composed of a nickel-iron alloy. The outer core is about 1,355 miles (2,180 km) thick. The inner core spins at a different speed than the rest of the planet. This is thought to cause Earth’s magnetic field. When charged particles from the solar wind collide with air molecules above Earth’s magnetic poles, it causes the air molecules to glow, causing the auroras — the northern and southern lights.

Earth, Venus and Mars

To better understand Earth’s composition and history, geologists sometimes compare our planet to other rocky planets in our solar system. Venus is a similar size to Earth and a little bit closer to the sun, while Mars is only about half the size of Earth. Although several spacecraft have been sent to Venus and Mars, we know very little about their interiors — yet. The InSight mission is expected to launch in 2018 to do a deep drill into the surface of Mars and yield more information about the interior. Some planned rovers also carry lengthy drills, such as the ExoMars rover that launches in 2020.

Venus has an extremely thick atmosphere that blocks visible light from reaching the surface, which means it requires radar to look at the surface. The surface appears fresh and young — no more than 500 million years old — due to the amount of volcanic activity on Venus’ hellishly hot surface. While Venus likely has a crust, mantle and core similar to Earth, its magnetic field is very weak compared to Earth’s. That may be because the core spins sluggishly to generate the magnetic field, or because there is no core at all.

Mars is a cold planet whose atmosphere is not thick enough to let liquid water flow at the surface (although briny water is a possibility). It has a crust covered by dust; it’s believed the crust is solid, with no plate tectonics. This allowed Mars to build up huge volcanoes on its surface, such as Olympus Mons. However, the Martian volcanoes appear dormant — why is still poorly understood. Underneath the surface, Mars likely has a mantle and a core; since Mars has no global magnetic field, the core probably does not spin.

Elements in the Earth’s crust

Almost 99% of the minerals making up the Earth’s crust are made up of just eight elements. Most of these elements are found combined with other elements as compounds. Minerals are elements or compounds that occur naturally in the Earth’s crust. Rocks are mixtures formed of minerals. Just as elements are the building blocks of minerals, so minerals form the building blocks of rocks. Table gives some information about the most common elements in the Earth’s crust in order of abundance.

Element name	Symbol	Percentage by weight of the Earth’s crust
Oxygen	O	47
Silicon	Si	28
Aluminium	Al	8
Iron	Fe	5
Calcium	Ca	3.5
Sodium	Na	3
Potassium	K	2.5
Magnesium	Mg	2
All other elements		1

The post Elements That Make Up the Earth’s Crust appeared first on Gradaxis.

source https://gradaxis.com/elements-that-make-up-the-earths-crust/

from Dr. Linex https://ift.tt/2TJiqqN
via IFTTT

Most Scary Roads in the World

Fancy signing up for the ultimate road trip? Tackle one of the following, although a word of warning: If you’re the kind of driver who struggles to find reverse or doesn’t know how to change a tire, you might want to allocate a designated driver to do the hard work instead. From winding roads through the Himalayas to sleepy roadways through the countryside, here are 10 of the most scary roads in the world.

Want to explore some of the world’s most scary roads? Then welcome. We’ve got a lot of distance to travel so we’ll just get stuck in. The following are in no particular order and the list is far from exhaustive.

Dalton Highway, Alaska

One of the world’s most isolated roads (and a regular fixture on all-American bucket lists), this icy finger of tarmac was built in 1974 as a supply route for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Tackle this route and you’ll need to pack plenty of supplies; there are just three towns on the 413 miles (or eerily, 666 kilometers) route, one of which is named Deadhorse. To complicate matters, large sections have fallen into disrepair, and its most famous claim to fame is a reminder that this isn’t a highway you want to break down on: It’s the longest stretch of road in North America without roadside services of any kind.

Atlantic Road, Norway

This twisting ribbon of coastal concrete might look beautiful, but don’t be fooled; it’s one of Norway’s most dangerous roads. Drive along it and you’ll feel as though you’re on a rollercoaster ride, thanks to the sharp turns, curves, and twists. When the weather’s bad—as it often is in this part of the world—visibility can disappear in a matter of seconds. And then you’ve got huge, thundering walls of water which regularly crash over the road’s barriers.

North Yungas Highway, Bolivia

Scarily, this narrow road clinging to the side of a Bolivian mountain was once the main route into the country’s capital, La Paz, which holds the honor of the world’s highest capital city. Authorities eventually built a shiny new highway, but locals still speed down this road that also serves as a popular mountain biking spot. There are several reasons not to look down. One of the most unnerving sights is the dozens of makeshift memorials dedicated to those who’ve lost their lives here. The road has a total drop of 12,000 feet and even today, between 200 and 300 people die on the road every year.

Guoliang Tunnel, China

Leave the monster truck at home for this one. The inside of this 3/4-mile-long road tunnel is just 16 feet tall and 13 feet meters wide. You’ll find it in the Taihang Mountains of Henan Province, China. It was constructed in 1977 by 13 locals, although the reason that it took five years to build is that several villagers died on the job. There are 30 “windows” carved out of the rock, but we don’t recommend stopping for a selfie. And if the thought of driving through this particular tunnel gives you chills, consider this: Before it was built, locals from the village it connects to used a ladder to get back and forth.

Zojila Pass, India

At 5.6-miles and 11,500 feet above sea level, this Himalayan highway connects Ladakh and Kashmir. The uneven road surface means it’s only really suitable for off-road vehicles, and during the colder months, wind, snow, and rain make this road more challenging. This is another place where it’s probably best not to look down; at some points, there’s only several thousand yards of nothingness between you and the valleys below.

Karakoram Highway, between China and Pakistan

The Karakoram Highway connects China and Pakistan and at 15,400 feet above sea level, it’s the highest paved road in the world. A total of 82 workers died during construction, mostly due to rockslides, which remain an ever-present hazard to this day. There are no barriers, and many of the drivers who’ve had accidents on the road have been victims of altitude sickness or possibly distracted by the spectacular views of K2. The good news? There are plans to widen the road from 32 feet to nearly 100. The bad news? Authorities believe that this could see the number of vehicles triple.

Canning Stock Route, Australia

This road certainly doesn’t offer much in the way of views. There’s dust, dust, and more dust, and hardly any road signs to point you in the right direction. This 1,150-mile-long track in Western Australia is regarded as the world’s most remote road, and you’ll need three weeks to drive it from start to finish. Doing this road trip during the warmer months is almost impossible due to the searing heat, and drivers are advised to travel in multi-vehicle convoys. The road is in a bad state of repair, which is why drivers are urged to leave room not just food and drink but for spare parts, too.

Skippers Canyon Road, New Zealand

This unpaved road was carved out of the side of a New Zealand mountain 140 years ago, and today, it’s so dangerous that standard drivers’ insurance won’t cover you should you run into trouble. Encounter another vehicle and it’s highly likely you’ll have to reverse for up to 2 miles before you find a passing point. The miners who built it had only hand drills and gunpowder at their disposal, so it’s understandable that it took 20 years to complete.

Tizi-n-Test, Morocco

A narrow, winding road stuck to the side of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, the Tizi-n-Test was blasted out of the rock in the 1920s and became the first modern road link between Marrakech and the Souss plains. The steep drops mean it’s best avoided if you suffer from vertigo, and local drivers are known to whiz along it at frightening speeds, ignoring rules of the road followed in other parts of the world. The lack of barriers means it should only be attempted in daylight, and during the winter landslides and avalanches occur on an almost daily basis. On the plus side, you’ll enjoy beautiful views of the Atlas mountains, the gorges of Moulay Brahim, and the Souss Valley.

source https://fourteen.online/most-scary-roads-in-the-world/

from Dr. Linex https://ift.tt/2IpjQBr
via IFTTT

The Six Main Causes of Drought

A drought or drouth is an event of prolonged shortages in the water supply, whether atmospheric (below-average precipitation), surface water or ground water. A drought can last for months or years, or may be declared after as few as 15 days. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region and harm to the local economy. Annual dry seasons in the tropics significantly increase the chances of a drought developing and subsequent bush fires. Periods of heat can significantly worsen drought conditions by hastening evaporation of water vapour. Here we discuss the six main causes of drought.

Drought is a recurring feature of the climate in most parts of the world.

Many plant species, such as those in the family Cactaceae (or cacti), have drought tolerance adaptations like reduced leaf area and waxy cuticles to enhance their ability to tolerate drought. Some others survive dry periods as buried seeds. Semi-permanent drought produces arid biomes such as deserts and grasslands. Prolonged droughts have caused mass migrations and humanitarian crisis. Most arid ecosystems have inherently low productivity. The most prolonged drought ever in the world in recorded history occurred in the Atacama Desert in Chile (400 Years).

Drought affect food production and human society, so they are considered a disaster, of natural, supernatural or human cause (which itself could be supernatural causes, malediction, sin, …). It is among the earliest documented climatic events, present in the Epic of Gilgamesh and tied to the Biblical story of Joseph’s arrival in and the later Exodus from Ancient Egypt. Hunter-gatherer migrations in 9,500 BC Chile have been linked to the phenomenon, as has the exodus of early humans out of Africa and into the rest of the world around 135,000 years ago. Rituals exist to prevent or avert drought, rainmaking could go from dances to scapegoating to human sacrifices. Nowadays, those ancient practices are for the most part relegated to folklore and replaced by more rational water management.

Types of drought

People tend to define droughts in three main ways:

Meteorological drought occurs when there is a prolonged time with less than average precipitation. Meteorological drought usually precedes the other kinds of drought.
Agricultural droughts affect crop production or the ecology of the range. This condition can also arise independently from any change in precipitation levels when either increased irrigation or soil conditions and erosion triggered by poorly planned agricultural endeavors cause a shortfall in water available to the crops. However, in a traditional drought, it is caused by an extended period of below average precipitation.
Hydrological drought is brought about when the water reserves available in sources such as aquifers, lakes and reservoirs fall below a locally significant threshold. Hydrological drought tends to show up more slowly because it involves stored water that is used but not replenished. Like an agricultural drought, this can be triggered by more than just a loss of rainfall. For instance, around 2007 Kazakhstan was awarded a large amount of money by the World Bank to restore water that had been diverted to other nations from the Aral Sea under Soviet rule. Similar circumstances also place their largest lake, Balkhash, at risk of completely drying out.

The “new normal” of water management across the United States suggests we need to consider the regions we live in are either heading into a drought or coming out of a drought. California is in a mega drought and most data indicates water is becoming more available. Georgia is heading into a drought. For the past year things have been getting worse and according to the U.S. Drought Monitor today over 30% of the state is in a severe drought. This is nothing like the drought of 2008 when Atlanta was days away from running out of water, but as cycles go, they are headed into a drought and it’s hard to say when it will end. Ohio, who has been in a sports championship drought and moving out of it is headed into a water drought.

The Six Main Causes of Drought

1. Land and water temperatures cause drought. As overall temperatures increase more water evaporates and severe weather conditions increase. Landscapes and crops need more water to survive and overall the demand for water increases. This is why it is so important to consider changes in ET when discussing water savings. You might be using more water or less water depending on weather conditions.
2. Air circulation and weather patterns also cause drought. Key events like El Nino or La Nina help contribute to drought in areas. All the water we ever had we have today and it is stored in the air or on land. Weather patterns move the water in the air around. This is constantly changing.
3. Soil moisture levels also contribute to drought. When soil moisture is depleted there is less evaporation of water to create clouds. Surface temperatures rise, more water is needed and less is available which contributes to a more severe drought.
4. Drought can also be a supply and demand of water issue. When a region is growing rapidly the demand for water can exceed the supply. When weather conditions, temperatures or air patterns push a region toward a drought the demand for water by people can offset or worsen the situation depending on how the region reacts. Excessive irrigation is an excellent of people contributing to a drought.
5. If the timing of water doesn’t match the agricultural season you may have too much water when you don’t need it and too little when you do need it. Proper storage and collection of water is key to counter balancing this cycle and clearly in the scope of human management.
6. Overall, global warming will result in increased world rainfall. Activities resulting in global climate change are expected to trigger droughts with a substantial impact on agriculture throughout the world, and especially in developing nations. Along with drought in some areas, flooding and erosion could increase in others. Some proposed solutions to global warming that focus on more active techniques, solar radiation management through the use of a space sunshade for one, may also carry with them increased chances of drought.

Severe droughts also impact the migration of people. As countries continue to protect their natural resources people will move to water. The amount and timing of the movement can contribute to water issues not previously felt before.

The post The Six Main Causes of Drought appeared first on Gradaxis.

source https://gradaxis.com/the-six-main-causes-of-drought/

from Dr. Linex https://ift.tt/32U3VVg
via IFTTT

What are Some Agents of Socialization

When human children are born, they know nothing of the society they are born into. Socialization is the process through which individuals acquire culture to assimilate into society. Socialization is continuous and it happens all through a person’s stages of life. A person familiarizes themselves with language, norms, values, roles, customs, and attitudes. Through the socialization process, a person forms their personality and sense of self. Successful socialization manifests as a uniformity within a particular society. Governments, for example, tend to standardize education to nurture law-abiders and control potential radicals. In any society, there exist individuals who, because they did not internalize society’s values, do not conform to the set standards. What are Some Agents of Socialization, which are family, peers, schools, and mass media.

Family

The family represents a child’s first emotional tie, and it is by far the most significant agent of the socialization process. Infants are entirely reliant on other people to survive, and the parents assume the role of guiding them to be able to care for themselves. Parents or guardians provide children with their initial system of beliefs, norms, and values and the system are based on their ethnic community, social status, and religion among other factors. The system that parents inculcate on children normally has a profound effect throughout their lives. Social class has been identified as a critical factor in the socialization process. Melvin Kohn (1965, 1977) expounded on the reasons why middle and working class parents socialized their children in different ways. Working class parents possess less education and do more repetitive work duties with little autonomy, and therefore obedience is a necessary virtue, and they pass this to the other generation. Middle-class parents, on the other hand, hold white-collar jobs where creativity and independent thought are encouraged and they pass these values to their children.

The primary function of the family is to reproduce society, both biologically through procreation and socially through socialization. Given these functions, the individual’s experience of his or her family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a family of orientation: the family functions to locate children socially, and plays a major role in their socialization. From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a family of procreation: The family functions to produce and socialize children. In some cultures, marriage imposes upon women the obligation to bear children. In northern Ghana, for example, payment of bridewealth, which is an amount of money, wealth, or property paid to the bride’s parents by the groom’s family, signifies a woman’s requirement to bear children, and women using birth control face substantial threats of physical abuse and reprisals.

Schools

Most children are enrolled in schools for the primary purpose of acquiring education. The institutions socialize children in various ways. First, the children are instructed on a formal curriculum, a system informally known as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Teachers represent the school’s authority figures, and they continually reinforce school values and other established practices to inculcate obedience. Sociologists have named this system of enforcing societal values on children as the hidden curriculum. When children are grouped to engage in a project, for example, they learn the significance of teamwork and cooperation. The role of the hidden curriculum is to mold children for the adult world. The children learn how to manage expectations, regulations, bureaucracy, and sitting still for several hours. The way in which schools socialize pupils differs from culture to culture.

Education is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people is transmitted from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts. In its narrow, technical sense, education is the formal process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, customs and values from one generation to another. The sociology of education is the study of how public institutions and individual experiences affect education and its outcomes. It is most concerned with the public schooling systems of modern industrial societies, including the expansion of higher, adult, and continuing education.

Education has often been seen as a fundamentally optimistic human endeavor characterized by aspirations for progress and betterment. It is understood by many to be a means of overcoming limitations, achieving greater equality and acquiring wealth and social status. Education is perceived as an endeavor that enables children to develop according to their unique needs and potential. It is also perceived as one of the best means of achieving greater social equality. Some take a particularly negative view, arguing that the education system is intentionally designed to perpetuate the social reproduction of inequality.

Peers

Peer groups are made up of age mates and those children who share a similar status. Peer groups enable children to form bonds on their terms and they learn from each other without an authority figure present. Peer group socialization commences in a child’s formative years such as when kids playing in a playground learn the aspect of taking turns. A child’s initial peer circle may be accidental such as, by way of joining a class, but they become intentional in their choice of peers as they mature. As one approaches adolescence, peer group centers around similar interests, activities, and status. A peer group impacts on a person’s choice for things like fashion trends, appearance, relationships, music, drugs and drug use, sex, and technology. Peers rely on each other for companionship, emotional support, and fun. However, peer circles are negatively associated with peer pressure. This situation occurs when a peer group encourages an individual to violate societal values. The influence of peers declines as a person reaches their 20s and 30s particularly if they start a family. This influence does not ultimately diminish as married couples, particularly those with young kids, meet, and socialize.

Peer groups have a significant influence on psychological and social adjustments for group individuals. They provide perspective outside of individual’s viewpoints. Members inside peer groups also learn to develop relationships with others in the social system. Peers, particularly group members, become important social referents for teaching members’ customs, social norms, and different ideologies.

Peer groups can also serve as a venue for teaching members gender roles. Through gender-role socialization group members learn about sex differences, social and cultural expectations. While boys and girls differ greatly there is not a one to one link between sex and gender role with males always being masculine and female always being feminine. Both genders can contain different levels of masculinity and femininity.

Mass Media

The aspects of mass media include television programs, magazines, radio, websites, music, and movies. These aspects have been shown to influence an individual’s preferences in popular culture. Sociologists agree that the extent of the influence of mass media is hard to measure. Mass media relays impersonal information in a one-way direction to a passive audience. Commercials significantly impact our choices of retail products such as clothing, food, and household items. The media is always criticized for exposing children and young adults to negative scenarios. In today’s world, the average child soaks in thousands of violent acts shown on television before attaining adulthood. Various studies have reported a strong correlation between watching violent movies and shows, and committing violent acts although watching such shows does not always result in violence. Scholars are continuously engaged in a debate over the link between media violence and violence perpetrated by the youths. The perceived correlation has triggered calls by societal groups for the censoring and even the banning of particular acts of violence. Mass media empowers its audience by giving them wider information not only about their particular territory of residence but also the entire world.

Mass media is the means for delivering impersonal communications directed to a vast audience. The term media comes from Latin meaning, “middle,” suggesting that the media’s function is to connect people. Since mass media has enormous effects on our attitudes and behavior, notably in regards to aggression, it contributes to the socialization process.

What are Agents of Socialization?

Agents of socialization include family, schools, peers, and mass media.

source https://fourteen.online/what-are-some-agents-of-socialization/

from Dr. Linex https://ift.tt/3cshT54
via IFTTT

What are the Four Major Agents of Socialization

The socialization that we receive in childhood has a lasting effect on our ability to interact with others in society. In this lesson, we identify and discuss, what are the four major agents of Socialization in childhood: family, school, peers, and media.

The primary function of the family is to reproduce society, both biologically through procreation and socially through socialization. Given these functions, the individual’s experience of his or her family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a family of orientation: the family functions to locate children socially, and plays a major role in their socialization. From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a family of procreation: The family functions to produce and socialize children. In some cultures, marriage imposes upon women the obligation to bear children. In northern Ghana, for example, payment of bridewealth, which is an amount of money, wealth, or property paid to the bride’s parents by the groom’s family, signifies a woman’s requirement to bear children, and women using birth control face substantial threats of physical abuse and reprisals.

Producing offspring is not the only function of the family. Marriage sometimes establishes the legal father of a woman’s child; establishes the legal mother of a man’s child; gives the husband or his family control over the wife’s sexual services, labor, and/or property; gives the wife or her family control over the husband’s sexual services, labor, and/or property; establishes a joint fund of property for the benefit of children; establishes a relationship between the families of the husband and wife. None of these functions are universal, nor are all of them inherent to any one society. In societies with a sexual division of labor, marriage, and the resulting relationship between a husband and wife, is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household. In modern societies, marriage entails particular rights and privileges which encourage the formation of new families even when there is no intention of having children.

Socialization

How do we learn to interact with other people? Socialization is a lifelong process during which we learn about social expectations and how to interact with other people. Nearly all of the behavior that we consider to be ‘human nature’ is actually learned through socialization. And, it is during socialization that we learn how to walk, talk, and feed ourselves, about behavioral norms that help us fit in to our society, and so much more.

Socialization occurs throughout our life, but some of the most important socialization occurs in childhood. So, let’s talk about the most influential agents of socialization. These are the people or groups responsible for our socialization during childhood – including family, school, peers, and mass media.

The Four Major Agents of Socialization

Family

There is no better way to start than to talk about the role of family in our social development, as family is usually considered to be the most important agent of socialization. As infants, we are completely dependent on others to survive. Our parents, or those who play the parent role, are responsible for teaching us to function and care for ourselves. They, along with the rest of our family, also teach us about close relationships, group life, and how to share resources. Additionally, they provide us with our first system of values, norms, and beliefs – a system that is usually a reflection of their own social status, religion, ethnic group, and more.

For example, Alexander, a young boy who lives in America, was born to an immigrant family. He grew up bilingual and was taught the importance of collectivistic values through socialization with his family. This experience differs drastically from someone born to an older, ‘traditional’ American family that would emphasize the English language and individualistic values.

Keep in mind, however, that families do not socialize children in a vacuum. Many social factors affect the way a family raises its children. For example, we can use sociological imagination to recognize that individual behaviors are affected by the historical period in which they take place. Sixty years ago, it would not have been considered especially strict for a father to hit his son with a wooden spoon or a belt if he misbehaved, but today that same action might be considered child abuse.

Schools

The next important agent of childhood socialization is the school. Of course, the official purpose of school is to transfer subject knowledge and teach life skills, such as following directions and meeting deadlines. But, students don’t just learn from the academic curriculum prepared by teachers and school administrators. In school, we also learn social skills through our interactions with teachers, staff, and other students. For example, we learn the importance of obeying authority and that to be successful, we must learn to be quiet, to wait, and sometimes to act interested even when we’re not.

Alexander, like other children, might even learn things from his teacher that she did not intend to teach. For instance, he might learn that it’s best to yell out an answer instead of raising his hand. When he does so, he gets rare attention from the teacher and is hardly ever punished.

School and classroom rituals, led by teachers serving as role models and leaders, regularly reinforce what society expects from children. Sociologists describe this aspect of schools as the hidden curriculum, the informal teaching done by schools.

For example, in the United States, schools have built a sense of competition into the way grades are awarded and the way teachers evaluate students (Bowles and Gintis 1976). When children participate in a relay race or a math contest, they learn there are winners and losers in society. When children are required to work together on a project, they practice teamwork with other people in cooperative situations. The hidden curriculum prepares children for the adult world. Children learn how to deal with bureaucracy, rules, expectations, waiting their turn, and sitting still for hours during the day. Schools in different cultures socialize children differently in order to prepare them to function well in those cultures. The latent functions of teamwork and dealing with bureaucracy are features of U.S. culture.

Peers

Another agent of socialization that relates to school is our peer group. Unlike the agents we’ve already discussed – family and school – peer groups give us an opportunity as children to form relationships with others on our own terms, plus learn things without the direction of an adult. Our peers have an incredible amount of influence on us when we’re young, so it’s understandable that parents worry about the type of friends we choose. Often, we discuss topics and learn behavioral norms from our peers that our parents do not or would not approve of.

Mass Media

Mass media distribute impersonal information to a wide audience, via television, newspapers, radio, and the Internet. With the average person spending over four hours a day in front of the television (and children averaging even more screen time), media greatly influences social norms (Roberts, Foehr, and Rideout 2005). People learn about objects of material culture (like new technology and transportation options), as well as nonmaterial culture—what is true (beliefs), what is important (values), and what is expected (norms).

The post What are the Four Major Agents of Socialization appeared first on Gradaxis.

source https://gradaxis.com/what-are-the-four-major-agents-of-socialization/

from Dr. Linex https://ift.tt/2vpsc9r
via IFTTT