This challenge begins with ancient sunlight trapped in deep time, condensed into fossilised life, and cooked under the heat and pressure of kilometres of rock. From the ‘age of dinosaurs’, some 200 million years ago (mya), methane - a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide - lay sequestered, safely locked away from the atmosphere three kilometers down in shale, two in sandstones, and one in coal seams, as life evolved overhead. The gas was there when mammals (205 mya) and flowering plants (130 mya) first appeared. Then a meteor struck and dinosaurs departed (66 mya). The gas stayed put as continents drifted and Australia split off from Antarctica and South America (50 mya). Locally, the Mt Warning/Wollumbin volcano erupted …show more content…
A friend said ‘you’d better look at this’ and that led Susan and me down the CSG rabbit hole, which, to be technically correct, should be relabelled the ‘UG’ rabbit hole (for ‘unconventional gas’). Whatever you call it, it was a hell of a hole. Like Alice, once we were in, there was no turning back, and as we fell deeper, things became curiouser and curiouser. By the time we woke up, the fate of Queensland’s Darling Downs was sealed and mining giant Santos was deep into the Pilliga State Forest and the premier farming region of the Liverpool Plains. More than 50 gas wells had been drilled in the Northern Rivers and thousands more were planned. A gas pipeline connecting our region to the Gladstone liquefied natural gas export hub via the Border Ranges National Park looked to be a done deal. And government ministers and gas company executives were telling the community that there was nothing they could do about it. That seems a long time ago now, though only about six years has passed. I feel as if I’ve earned a Master’s Degree in Gas that I never wanted, but am now grateful to have. I’ll tell you what I know about this challenge, and how it was met with perhaps the finest example of creative problem-solving on a grand scale that Australia has
For the past twenty to thirty years, hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, has been the number one source of natural gas, oil, and energy in the United States. The process of fracking is that a well is built above the ground and then a drill digs several thousand feet deep into the ground to extract the oil and natural gas that is trapped inside of rock formations. Fracking is very controversial because of the cost of the process and the environmental “threats” that it poses. From methane emissions to earthquakes, fracking has been accused to be linked with several environmental issues. To prevent any environmental dangers, states place regulations and boundaries that energy companies have to follow in order to build a well and keep it up and running. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) also works with states to help regulate these wells. More importantly, fracking in the United States is very important and acts as a bridge to the future. While it may be argued that hydraulic fracturing is not beneficial to the economy and harmful to the environment, fracking in the United States should not be banned because fracking is not only imperative to the growth of jobs and the economy, but it also does not put the surrounding environment in danger.
Jonathan Edwards use of restatement, repetition, logos, pathos, and ethos, in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” make his pastoral very persuasive. He spoke with such persuasion that his congregation are told to have screamed in terror. Even though he spoke with no emotion Edwards had to pause his preaching to request the silence of the congregation.
The job of fracking constitutes of gas being released to supply both Australia and overseas countries. Administrators and workers take this process seriously as every cubic foot of gas is measured and supplied. Although potential health problems have been recognized, the companies have been focusing on the collection grid and the and the shortage of regional community employees as only 2% of the workforce is applied for the job. Another economical factor is that Fracking is destroying jobs in other industries. These include manufacturing, tourism and agriculture as well as gas related fields. This caused a major problem in for farmers as they live on rent as well as the decrease of jobs is becoming difficult to maintain that wage. Furthermore, as the natural is supplied throughout the world, citizens must pay double or triple the prices in the upcoming years due to this fracking site.
Tap water isn’t supposed to catch fire. It does in Dimock. Josh Fox, the director of "Gasland," chronicles his search to discover what gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale might do to his beloved Delaware River watershed should he and his neighbors sign the leases they received in the mail. That search takes him first to Dimock and then across the United States, where he meets people struggling with unexpected consequences of gas drilling in multiple states. He spent time with citizens in their homes and on their land as they relayed their stories of natural gas drilling in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Texas, among others. He spoke with residents who have experienced a variety of chronic health problems directly traceable
Natural gas is the transitional fuel that is cleaner than coal and oil that has been experiencing a boom in the United States for the last few decades. Natural gas is most familiar to us in the form of heating and cooking on gas ranges. It is abundantly available and modern technology has made it much more accessible and cheaper than other energy sources. Hydraulic fracturing, known short as fracking, is the combination of technology with water and chemicals, and high pressure, that breaks through shale rocks to capture energy. The Climate One podcast titled “ Fracking Boom,”explains America’s recent obsession with fracking, surrounding its history, economic stimulus, construction, and community opposition among other issues. Presenting the talk were Russell Gold, author of The Boom: How Fracking Ignited American Energy Revolution and Changed the World, Mark Zoback, professor of Geophysics at Stanford University, and Trevor Houser, co-author of Fueling Up: The Economic Implications of America’s Oil and Gas Boom. The three guest speakers shared their expertise on how the fracking boom can power America’s economy, but can only be successful if the process in making the wells for fracking, are done along guidelines within the regulations.
Hydraulic fracturing is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer caused by the presence of a pressurized fluid. (wiki 2011). This occurs naturally in nature, but the Hydraulic fracturing that I will speak of in this paper is a process being used by gas companies nationwide. Fracking is currently regulated by the EPA under the clean water act of 2005 (EPA.gov). However, this only partially governs the methods of injecting fluids and the retrieval of such fluids into the earth. It does not govern the types of chemicals that
A good novel consists of exciting characters, an interesting setting, plot and story line, but most importantly a good novel conveys certain ideas about different messages the author is trying to get across, Louis Satcher in the novel holes does exactly this. Throughout the novel Satcher is constantly conveying the message of racial tolerance and intolerance, perseverance and has used clever techniques such as linking references from the past with the present to create an interesting novel filled with important themes about life.
One of the parts of Ruddimans three part early anthropogenic hypothesis focusses on the anomalous rise in methane after 5,000 years. By looking at the past three interglaciations methane levels should have fallen from ~700 ppb to a level such as
In the Film Holes different filmic conventions are used to portray characters and construct atmosphere. The film is about a young boy named Stanley Yelnats who follows a journey like his great great great grandfather did. He was sent to Camp Green Lakes for a crime that he did not commit and when he arrived at camp he uncovered some of his family secrets. Techniques such as camera angles, sound effects and color constructs the characters and atmosphere in the film which creates the mood.These film codes are very important in the film as they help the viewer understand the story and conventions better.
Climate change or colloquially known as global warming, now pose a new threat to civilization as the levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) are soaring to new levels. The most significant contributor to greenhouse gasses would be Carbon Dioxide (Co2). The levels of Carbon Dioxide (Co2) gas have risen to levels civilization has not seen before. As such, the effects of these levels are not known to civilization as data gathered from the ice cores drilled in the Antarctica only shows data up to 650,000 years ago. However we can conclude that present CO2 concentrations are higher compared to any time in the last 650,000 years (IPCC 2007). Current carbon dioxide concentrations are hovering around 389 parts per million (ppm) as of September 2011,
Since before the industrial evolutions humans have been pumping green house gasses—carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons— into the atmosphere however, it wasn’t until recently that the amounts being produced are shoving the Earth into a sixth extinction. While the causes of this upcoming extinction are constantly debated on it has earned itself the name Holocene extinction. This name is derived from the theory that humans are the main contributors to this extinction. To investigate the cause Elizabeth Kolbert, and American journalist and professor at Williams College, took the world on a wild and saddening journey on the human contribution to this looming extinction in her novel, The Sixth Extinction; An Unnatural History. Not only does Kolbert’s book explain how humans have contributed to global warming and its effects on life on land but also ocean acidification and how life under the sea has changed over the years.
Much like the glass of a greenhouse, gases in our atmosphere sustain life on Earth by trapping the sun 's heat. The Earth’s atmosphere contains several different gases that act like a blanket, keeping the Earth warm. Water vapour and some trace gases like CO2, CH4 (methane), O3 (ozone), N2O (nitrous oxide), are “IR active”, i.e. they absorb heat energy, and stop the warmth from escaping into space. Without the entrapment of heat, the earth’s mean temperature would be -180 C and life, as we know it today, would not be possible. These gases are present in the atmosphere in tiny quantities compared to the amounts of oxygen and nitrogen. But even a small change in the concentration of these gases may create an effect that could change our
Coal, oil, and gas were all formed from the remains of decayed and decomposing ancient animals and plants (Science Daily 2014). These fossil fuels we produced far before the dinosaurs ever roamed the earth, during the Carboniferous Period (Chapter 8 2012). This period of time, estimated around 360-286 million-years-ago, is believed to be when the earth was covered mostly in trees, plants, and swamps, and the bodies of water existing at the time were all filled with hundreds-of-millions of small plants called algae.
It is reported that nearly three quarters of green house gases are a result of humans burning fossil fuels from nonrenewable energy, cars, and electricity (LaMeaux, 2014). The effects of carbon emission on climate change are having devastating and many irreversible
The concept of global warming has become one of the most widely debated and controversial topics of our time. Scientists learned long ago that the earth’s climate has powerfully shaped the history of humanity. However, it is only in the past few decades that research has revealed that humans have a significant influence on the climate as well. A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that since 1950, the world’s climate has been warming, primarily as a result of emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and the destruction of tropical forests. More importantly, an article titled "Global Warming" published in the New York Times shows that methane, a gas that is emitted from landfills, livestock and oil gas facilities,