...greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), all radiated heat would be lost into space and the surface of the earth would be cold and barren. This natural phenomenon acts like a blanket around the earth, is essential for life, and is often referred to as the greenhouse effect. Man-made emissions are leading to increased amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The increases in greenhouse gases are trapping more of the energy radiated from earth and are likely to lead to global warming and weather extremes. The possible impact of human activity on the greenhouse effect was first recognized in the early 1800s. By the turn of this century, calculations were being made relating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide to temperature change. In the early 1900s it was estimated that doubling or tripling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would lead to a temperature increase of up to nine degrees Celsius. Since then, carbon dioxide levels have increased by 26 per cent, and global temperatures have increased approximately 0.5 degrees Celsius. Sources Man-made greenhouse gases include those manufactured and those released due to processes controlled through human activity (eg. The burning of fossil fuels). Some greenhouse gases, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), are entirely man-made while for others, such as carbon dioxide, only a small percentage is manmade. While man-made...
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...These include Alberta: Banff, Elk Island, Jasper and Waterston Lakes, British Columbia: Glacier, Gwaii Haanas, Kootenay, Mount Revelstoke, Pacific Rim and Yoho, Manitoba: Riding Mountain and Wapusk, New Brunswick: Fundy and Kouchibouguac, Newfoundland and Labrador: Gros Morne and Tera Nova, Northwest Territories: Aulavik, Tuktut Nogait, Nahanni and Wood Buffalo, Nova Scotia: Cape Breton Highlands and Kejimkujik, Nunavut: Auyuittuq, Quttinirpaaq and Sirmilik, Ontario: Bruce Peninsula, Fathom Five, Georgian Bay Islands, Point Pelee, Pukaskwa and St. Lawrence Islands, Prince Edward Islands, Quebec: Forillon, La Mauricie, Mingan Archipelago, Saguenay-st. Lawrence, Yukon: Ivvavik, Kluane and Vuntut, and Sakatchewan Province: Grasslands and Prince Albert National Parks. Each of these sites, among others, are designated to contain various types of animals, depending on their geographic orientation and climate. Also, some contain sceneries that attract tourists from around the world such as mountains and lakes. Most of the mountains in this country are described as an experience by those who have been in to the region. Some of these mountains contain lakes, glaciers, waterfalls, limestone caves as well as...
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... 7 Landforms Regions of Canada The movements of the Earth’s plates have altered the land we live on and therefore altering our way of life. Because Canada is in a temperate climate the four seasons change the already vast set of landscapes each year making them change even more. In Canada we have several different landform regions full of different species, habitats and minerals all unique to their own region. Along with each region, different properties are present giving each a different climate and changing the lives’ of the people who live there. The first of several covers a good half of the country. The Canadian Shield covers most of Nunavut, Quebec, Ontario, Labrador, Manitoba, as well as a large part of Saskatchewan and smaller parts of Alberta and the North West Territories. The Canadian Shield is a relatively flat landscape with rounded hills of metamorphic rock. This region is rich in minerals and is often used as a mining area for many of the provinces. It is a bad area in Canada for farming because the soil is too thin. It is mainly covered in Boreal Forest in the south and Tundra in the north. The Western Cordillera rests along the western edge of Canada, covering most of Yukon Territory and British Columbia as well as western Alberta. Consists of high, sharp-peaked mountains separated by plateaus and valleys, running North to South. Created by the North American and Pacific plates. The Western Cordillera is lightly populated...
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... 7 Landforms Regions of Canada The movements of the Earth’s plates have altered the land we live on and therefore altering our way of life. Because Canada is in a temperate climate the four seasons change the already vast set of landscapes each year making them change even more. In Canada we have several different landform regions full of different species, habitats and minerals all unique to their own region. Along with each region, different properties are present giving each a different climate and changing the lives’ of the people who live there. The first of several covers a good half of the country. The Canadian Shield covers most of Nunavut, Quebec, Ontario, Labrador, Manitoba, as well as a large part of Saskatchewan and smaller parts of Alberta and the North West Territories. The Canadian Shield is a relatively flat landscape with rounded hills of metamorphic rock. This region is rich in minerals and is often used as a mining area for many of the provinces. It is a bad area in Canada for farming because the soil is too thin. It is mainly covered in Boreal Forest in the south and Tundra in the north. The Western Cordillera rests along the western edge of Canada, covering most of Yukon Territory and British Columbia as well as western Alberta. Consists of high, sharp-peaked mountains separated by plateaus and valleys, running North to South. Created by the North American and Pacific plates. The Western Cordillera is lightly populated...
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...Abstract: Carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas (GHG), is the major exhaust gas due to human activities contribution to79% of Canada’s total emission. CO2 is released into the atmosphere by means of burning fossil fuels, coal, and land clearance. As the concentration of CO2 accumulates into the atmosphere, climate change and global warming becomes worse. Canada is the leading country in piloting the carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology to reduce the emitted CO2 into the atmosphere by storing the captured CO2 underground, it could reduce GHG by 14-19% before 2050. Shell Ltd. Quest project is the first project to use CCS technology in the Athabasca oil sand projects in Canada. The Post combustion method is being used today at a smaller scale than desired. It is estimated that if post-combustion was to occur at a large industrial scale, it required energy of 25-37% of the total energy, and an estimate of about $3500/kW for the capital cost of an IGCC capture plant installation. Pre-combustion capture has a lower cost in carbon capture and higher capture percentage (90-95%) than the post-combustion capture, but requires more expense on the equipment in order for the process to work. Oxyfuel has the best efficiency (~90%) but requires 15% or more of the overall energy with a capital cost for oxyfuel installation of $1000/kW and a $60/MWh retrofit cost. Geological storage is a favourable method, where the captured CO2 travels to the storage site usually through pipelines...
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...see where our government’s true interest lies and how damaging the oil sands really are. The most obvious effects of the oil sands is the area consumed by their operations. To date, more land has been reserved for oil sands operations than that of the entire country of England. Amongst all of this land, the oil sands have what are called tailing ponds. These are large bodies of contaminated water, created as a holding area for the oil production by-product. Many thousands of migratory birds are sickened or killed every year by landing in these ponds. The oil in the water sticks to them and they are unable to fly away; as a result, they need to be rescued or they die. The Government of Alberta states that “Under Alberta law, any disturbed land must be reclaimed” (government of Alberta, 2010). To date, only one of the...
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...Book Review: This Changes Everything, by Naomi Klein, published: Sept. 2014 Summarize the book. What is being discussed? Rob Nixon of the New York Times called Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate” “a book of such ambition and consequence that it is almost unreviewable.[1]” Naomi Klein researches the impact of Climate change and its relationship with free market capitalism. She discusses capitalism as failed economic system. She goes into great depth on the subject of resource extraction, pollution and the events of surrounding the affected communities in these regions across the world. However, rather than concluding that things are hopeless Naomi Klein argues that: We can build something better and reclaim our economic system. She argues that the market cannot save us. We have the tools/technology to get off of fossil fuels, but it requires leaving free market capitalism behind. We need to rebuild local economies, reign in corporate power and reclaim democracy. She argues that we aren’t all the all powerful saviours of the planet, but that as visitors on the earth we have to save ourselves from an earth that is rocking, burning and driving humanity into extinction because of our actions. Describe the three most important arguments or claims made in the book. The first argument Naomi Klein makes is that world leaders and climate scientists agree if we are going to avoid truly catastrophic consequences of climate change; we need to restrict...
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...The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Alberta’s Tar Sands Student Name: Nas Abubaker Instructor Name: Brenda Lang Course and Section: GNED 1304-009 Date: March 22, 2011 Abstract Alberta is one of the most ecologically rich provinces in Canada, with boreal forests covering most of the northern and eastern parts of the province. The exploration of the Alberta tar sands has a great impact on the environment and the community. The devastation effects can destroy ancient forests, while contaminating food and water, which disrupts local wildlife, leading to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as serious health problems. As the production of oil through tar sands creates intensive challenges, immediate strategies that control the amount of devastation are greatly needed. The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Alberta’s Tar Sands As the world is racing to discover new ways to find replacements for the rapidly diminishing stores of fossil fuels, many have gone into the avenue of looking for the solution via the route of renewable energy. However, the discovery of Canada's greatest buried treasure in Alberta has drawn attention from a multitude of countries around the world, all of them eager to sign contracts with Canadian petroleum suppliers. In a report released by the government in the late 1800's, a report dealing with the region's tar sands called them as the “most extensive petroleum field in America, and even went to the extent that the fields will...
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...semester with a B.S. in computer science and engineering and a minor in geographic information systems, I am interested in attending the University of Alberta for graduate study. Geographic information systems (GIS) is a field especially suited to investigating spatial patterns, modeling diverse scenarios, and overlaying spatial data. This semester, in my advanced GIS course, Spatial Data Structures and Algorithms, I am part of a team developing a temporal database and program for tracing historical trading data. My computer science skills have also been put to use in two summer internship projects, where I acquired proficiency with using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, now favored by NASA in its current 10-year study of Greenland and changes in the ice cap extent. Through my coursework and project experience, I have also accrued skills in using Arc/Info, ArcView, Microstation, and RDBMS software packages, and I am equally comfortable programming in Visual Basic, C++, and Java. For my graduate research project, I would like to investigate methods for improving current GIS data models to better incorporate time as a variable in studying climate change. Changes in glaciers and polar environments occur rapidly, and these changes become important indicators of broader, potentially catastrophic, global changes. By developing and applying temporal GIS methods to glaciology, I can contribute to improved spatio-temporal analysis techniques for...
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...affecting the people in the countries from where the fresh produce come from because they are getting paid and we are getting are fruits. How do the people working on a drilling rig in Alberta share in a process that helps the Alberta government support the health and education programs in which you take part in? In 2005 and 2006, money from exporting energy resources accounted for about one third of the revenue collected by the Alberta government. This is affecting the people all over the world because when you are drilling oil there will always by a demand for it. They are getting paid and others are getting the oil they need. The young Albertans who’s plans where to have a career raising cows in 2003 were not so good because in 2003 the world market got word of Alberta’s cows had a bad case of mad cow disease. As a result, countries around the world banned imports of Canadian beef. When the borders reopened, Alberta cows that would have sold for $1300 each were only selling for $15 each. This affected the reputation of Canadian beef products this is not just hurting the farms paycheck but it was raising the Canadian taxes to make up for the huge...
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...headed to us faster than a locomotive. Montana is full of pristine water ways and unspoiled lands. The greekgroke web site says sending bitumen down a pipeline is especially problematic and damaging: it’s a more acidic form of petroleum that requires more heat and pressure than conventional oil, which increase pipeline stress to keep it moving. (Chameides) How can this create anything but a hazard to the communities and environments of the states the pipeline is proposed to cross? The Environmental Defense website says Canada’s own environment commissioner says there is a lot the federal government doesn't know about the environmental effects of the oil sands, despite having spent close to $10 billion over the last three decades on climate-change programs. (Staff) Canada’s environmental record has been given a double blow, from a scathing federal audit and a European Commissions assertion to blacklist oil sands products. (Staff) Why would our government even consider putting toxic oil sands across the United States? Canada should use its own refineries and ports that are already established, especially in view of Canada not knowing the full impact the oil sands have on its ecosystems. Pipeline and refinery expansions are taking place with inadequate oversight and information. How much additional pollution will the tar sands bring to the Port Arthur area? Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three-times more greenhouse-gas emissions than producing...
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... km and a water area of 891,163 sq. km. Canada’s major cities and highly populated areas are Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Halifax. As part of the North American continent, Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories. Its only border is with the United States and is known as the longest border in the world. Canada’s geographical range stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Arctic Ocean to the north. Much of Canada is still wilderness. The Rocky Mountains cover a major part of western Canada (British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, and the western part of Alberta) which consists of Canada’s highest point, Mount Logan. The western central part of Canada is mostly prairie consisting of the natural resources grain, and timber. The Alberta province in the western region hosts significant amounts of oil and natural gas....
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...The Political Scene The President and the Pipeline The campaign to make the Keystone XL the test of Obama’s resolve on climate change. by Ryan Lizza September 16, 2013 After meeting with Obama, one activist felt challenged to make the case “why this pipeline is not On the day of his second Inauguration, in January, Barack Obama delivered an address of unabashed liberal ambition and promise. As recently as early April, before the realities of the world and the House of Representatives made themselves painfully evident, the President retained the confidence of a leader on the brink of enormous achievements. It seemed possible, even probable, that he would win modest gun-control legislation, an immigration-reform law, and the elusive grand bargain with Republicans to resolve the serial crises over the federal budget. And he seemed determined to take on even the most complicated and ominous problem of all: climate change. The President, who had a mixed environmental record after his first term, vowed that he would commit his Administration to combatting global warming, saying that “failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.” The President flew to San Francisco on April 3rd for a series of fund-raisers. He stopped in first at a cocktail reception hosted by Tom Steyer, a fifty-six-year-old billionaire, former hedge-fund manager, and major donor to the Democratic Party. Steyer lives in the city’s Sea Cliff neighborhood, in a house overlooking the Golden...
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...landmass of Canada is around 3,849,674.042 square miles, and it occupies the northern half of North America. Canada has six time zones, and it has coastlines on the Atlantic and Pacific and the Arctic Ocean, giving it the longest coastline on the world. Canada also has a boundary of 5,525 miles with the United States in the southern. The northern of Canada is Arctic islands, which come within 497 miles of the North Pole. Geography of Canada changes significantly with different its part and with the different region. There are such different climate accompany with landscape. There is a lot lakes and rivers spread out over the country. Canada has more than two million lake and it takes 7 per cent of the Canadian land mass. The biggest lake is Great Bear Lake located in the Northwest Territories. (“Geography Canada”, 2013) However, Canada has only 12 per cent of the land in northernmost is suitable for agriculture because of the harsh climate. Therefore, most of the Canadian live within a few hundred miles in the southern border, where the climate is milder. People Population: 35,163, 430 inhabitants (world population review, 2013) From the chart of Canada’s population growth, Canada’s inhabitants has tripled since the 1940s, from 11 million gain to over 30 million today. Canada’s population has grew largely by immigration. In fact, according to its size, Canada is the largest importer of people capital in the G8 nations, attracting even more immigrants than the USA. Natural...
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...does exist and it is having a devastating effect on the Earth’s climate. A major concern of global warming is the melting of the polar ice caps. Research suggests that global warming is going to greatly impact the survival of the polar bear. In southern portions of their range, like Hudson Bay, Canada, there is no sea ice during the summer, and the polar bears must live on land until the Bay freezes in the fall, when they can once again hunt on the ice. While they are on land during the summer, the polar bears eat very little or sometimes nothing. In just 20 years the ice-free period in Hudson Bay has increased by an average of 20 days, thus cutting the polar bears' seal hunting season by nearly three weeks. Because the ice is freezing later in the fall, and melting earlier in the spring the bears have a much shorter timeframe in which to hunt during the critical season when seal pups are born. As a result, average bear weight has dropped by 15 percent, causing reproduction rates to decline. The Hudson Bay population is down more than 20 percent. Despite the fact that polar bears are good swimmers there has been an alarming increase of polar bears drowning. Although they are well adapted to water, and can swim hundreds of miles to reach solid land, the distance to reach that land is increasing dramatically as the Arctic ice disappears. It is believed that fewer and smaller ice floes and erratic climate changes have contributed to this situation. Polar bears travel great distances...
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