Big Idea: EmotionsTopic 8 Events

Carly Seyferth

Environmental Disasters

• What are natural disasters?

• What are some examples of natural disasters?– Oil spills,

• When do natural disasters occur?

• What can we do to prevent natural disasters?

An Oil Spill

• What is an oil spill?– It is when oil spreads into the

ocean and damages several animals and their habitat

• How can it happen?– Equipment can break down– Oil tankers can start leaking

from wear and tear– Oil can be spilled because

certain precautions are not being taken as well

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Alaskan Oil Spill

• On March 24, 1989 in Prince William Sound Alaska, An oil tanker from Exxon Valdez spilled about 11 million gallons of oil

• IMAGINE 9 school gyms being filled up with oil• It took them 4 summers to clean it up and less than

10 % of the oil was recovered

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Valdez’s Mistakes

• The crew were overworked• The oil company promised to but

never installed state of the art ice berg monitoring systems

• Valdez failed to do their inspections

• The lack of equipment and personnel hampered the oil spill clean up

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CHAIN OF RESULTS• What happens to the fisherman business

if all the fish die from oil poisoning?– Bad business– They can’t sell the fish

• Prince William Sound Alaska’s economy depends a lot on fish and tourism, what happens when the fish are poisoned by the oil?– The economy starts to struggle– People are not visiting Prince

William Sound Because the oil has ruined the tourist areas

• What happens to the ecosystem if the head of the food chain dies?

• The environmental ecosystem is thrown off and there are not as many predators to eat the prey

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SUPPORTIVE ACTIVITY 1CREATE A VISUAL POSTER

• As a group draw your chain of results that an oil spill can create– What happens when the fish die?

• How does this effect the people?• Ex 1 fish die, 2 fisher men suffer, 3 people who want fish to

eat can’t get the fish locally 4 prices go up etc etc

– What happens to the environment if the head of the food chain suffers?

• What happens to the people?

• The chain of results can be in a circle with arrows• The chain can be a straight line• The chain can be random drawings with labels

SUPPORTIVE ACTIVITY# 1 PART 2 DISCUSS AS A GROUP

• Discuss the following questions with your group– Make sure each question is written down– Make sure everyone’s name is on the poster– Write down your answers under each question

• If you were Valdez what would you do next time to avoid having an oil spill?

• What would you respond?• What would you change and why ?• How does the oil spill effect the environment?

Government’s Response

• Passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990– Companies must have a plan to prevent oil spills that

may occur– Companies must have a detailed containment and clean

up plan

– Companies will be fined $1,200 for every ton of oil that spills

Alaska’s Response

• The citizens of Alaska now have an advisory council that holds annual drills for oil spills

• Next time an oil spill occurs fishing ships and personnel will be trained to jump in and help with the oil spill

• There are now wildlife rescue programs

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BROWN PELICAN

BEFORE OIL SPILL AFTER OIL SPILL

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SEA OTTER

BEFORE THE OIL SPILL AFTER THE OIL SPILL

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SEA TURTLE

BEFORE OIL SPILL AFTER OIL SPILL

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SUPPORTIVE ACTIVITY FOR FINAL ACTIVITY

• Pick at least two different animals that can be effected by an oil spill

• Create a drawing for each animal

• Find at least five scientific facts on these animals

• Figure out how the oil spill effected these animals

How Can You Help?

• What items do we use that have oil in them?– Plastics, asphalt (stuff for roads)– Cars– Electricity

• What can you do to help lower the demand for oil

• Recycle• Ride a bike instead of driving• Use electricity wisely and turn off

lights when you aren’t using them

Michael Boroniec’s Response to BP’s Oil Spill 2010

• “I had to find a way to make this devastation more tangible for my community, as a way to express nature dying in the sea and on land and people loosing their livelihoods”

• “My artwork is a narrative, and this story is not fiction, people have lost their livelihoods, the ecosystem has been damaged badly”

Michael Boroniec Continued

• His work has a journalistic approach

• He deals with controversial issues

• War

• Oil spills

Final Activity

• Create an marine animal that can be effected by oil spills, preferably the one of the animals from your 1st supportive activity

• Know scientific facts about that animal– Ex: life cycle, foods it eats, fun facts, etc.

• Understand how the oil spill effects this animal, the environment, and the economy

• Explain if you were an oil company what actions would you take to avoid creating an oil spill

• Explain how you as a citizen/resident would respond to the situation and how you would help