Drought Effecting Man Made Lakes

It's very easy to take for granted how lucky us Wisconsinites and Minnesotans are with our plethora of lakes. While we'll most certainly have our dry season's, we really never have to worry about lakes drying up or our water sources being lost. So when I read stories about man made lakes in California losing the majority of their water, and communities struggling with a lack of water, it's something I just can't relate to too much. I read an article on Nacimiento Lake and Lake San Antonio in California, both man made, being effected by the extremely dry season currently taking in place in the Cal Poly region of California. The region is currently in it's third driest year on record in Cal Poly. The lakes were made to control flooding in winter months from strong winter storms, and then be a water source in the hot spring and summer months when the largest amounts of water are being consumed. Obviously, with dry weather the lakes didn't fill up over winter, and there's been no water available for these already dry spring and summer months. With no natural spring feeding these man made lakes, when there's no rain, there's no lake. Communities are feeling the pain of no rain, with not only their landscape drying up, but more importantly their tap water sources are limited effecting drinking water and utilities. There's really no way humans could have predicted when they built these lakes that drought would nearly dry up completely. However, we're seeing the impact a man made lake can have when relied upon for water. It's something we don't think about much here in the Midwest, but that many parts of the country and world have to deal with. http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2013/09/28/2708164/drought-hits-some-area-lakes-hard.html

Major Irish River Potentially Threatened

One of the many beautiful views along the River Shannon, Ireland

For the first time on this blog, I decided to just Google environmental hazards and select news and see what came up. I was shocked when the second headline was from Limerick, Ireland, the exact city I studied abroad in last semester. Aughinish Alumina is looking to extend the size of its bauxite residue deposits pond. The pond leaves a red-coloured bauxite residue that's stored as a red mud. So far this may not seem like two big of a problem, but one of the largest rivers in the country of Ireland just happens to be 100 feet away from this proposed pond expansion. I can tell your firsthand, it rains pretty much everyday in Ireland. With a pond that holds a chemical residue so close to a major river , in a country where flooding is as common as a pint of Guinness on a week night, one could see why there would be some concern. Humans are the one's causing this concern, since it's the companies wish to extend their holding pond. It may seem like this really isn't related to an environmental hazard, and nothing has really happened yet. However, think of the hazard that would occur if there was a flood, and this red mud did make its way in the Shannon River. While the company is pushing for their pond to be expanded, there's plenty of opposition to it. A local farmers action group has talked to the European Commission, saying the material should be considered hazardous waste. The former mayor of the city is speaking out about the potential danger to the wildlife, which includes dolphins, otters, and numerous birds. As someone who walked right along this river multiple times, there are numerous fisherman, massive swans, and plenty of ducks that can be found all over this river. There are also many canoe's and kayak's that spend hours everyday on the river. It will be interesting to see whether this pond is approved or prevented, but I believe it absolutely could lead to an environmental hazard occurring. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/concerns-raised-over-aluminium-plant-in-limerick-1.1532430

Numerous States Feeling Affect of Drought

 Last class, Dr. Hupy asked the class to raise their hand if they had heard of the horrible drought occurring in Oklahoma. A few raised their hands, but the majority had no idea what he was talking about, including me. I had already planned to read up on it, but also chose a book for my book review about the Dust Bowl in an attempt to learn a little bit more about one of the largest environmental hazards the United States has ever seen. What I learned about the current drought, affecting more than a few states, was pretty interesting. My family also owns a farm, mainly for hunting, but that grows corn and soybeans. I was surprised to read Wisconsin as on the of the states listed in the article being affected by the drought. I suppose it was just me not really thinking about it considering we haven't had rain here in a very long time, but it still made me a little more interested when I read my state as one that was a part of this drought. While the cause of the wildfire that I've talked about in my previous blogs is linked to humans, a drought is something we have little control over. We don't have the ability to make it rain, and the only thing we can really do in response is wait it out for that rain to come. The article listed the states affected: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. That's a lot of states. It also discussed how prices and overall crop yields were being affected on the crops. Something that I found very interesting was that the USDA still was expecting record yields for corn and the third largest yield of soybeans ever. I would never associate drought with record crop yields, but I'm also not about to question the USDA. The drought overall is considered severe, and obviously thousands of farmers are being affected. However, with high yields I would not expect prices to go up too much for consumers on the crops being affected. Overall, it was interesting to read about something that I didn't even know was occurring until a couple days ago.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20130913/BIZ/309130005/Drought-worsens-Midwest-South-crops-taking-hitile

The Financial Damage of the Yosemite Fire

As a Finance major, I'm always interested to see if there's a financial aspect to worldly news, and that's no different when it comes to attempting to put out a wildlifefire. I think it's specifically interesting in the story of the Yosemite National Park fire. For so many other Environmental Hazards, such as Hurricane Katrina or tsunami's in Asia, we're informed of the financial implications that these hazards caused. Very rarely in wildfire's is that sort of information focused on, so it was interesting to read this article saying that the cost of fighting the Yosemite fire has reached $100 million. That number is surely only going to grow. Slince my last blog post, the fire is still spreading. The fire remains 80% contained, but the article stated nearly a dozen homes have been burned to the ground along with almost 100 outbuildings. As stated in my last blog post, this fire was caused by an illegal fire set by a hunter in Yosemite. While putting out the fire is obviously the top priority and should be done at whatever the cost, it's just interesting to look at this from a financial perspective. The article talked about how Tuolumne River Trust has already asked the US government and the state of California for funds, as it should as a National Park. I just thought this was a different look at the fire that we don’t always think about, but is obviously significant.www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Rim-Fire-Started-Near-Yosemite-Costs-100-Million-223131161.htm

Hotter Weather Means Spreading Yosemite Fire

As someone who was able to visit Yosemite National Park just a few weeks before the current wildfire started, I was interested to take a look at the current situation of the fire. Of course it's been national news for a while, but I hadn't looked into it a great deal. First off, the cause was an illegal fire by hunters. I would have never believed that hunters would be allowed in a National Park, but due to my recent visit, I can see why it's allowed. Yosemite is larger than a few states. When I visited, it would take 45 minutes just from the entrance to the middle of the park where we were doing our hike. I was also able to to see firsthand the number of campers that are allowed in Yosemite, and with that, the number of campfires. It was so interesting to see the change in climate when I was in California. My family spent a few days in San Francisco where it was surprisingly very cool. The four hour drive East to Yosemite brought us to what I always thought California weather would be like: hot and dry. Therefore, the fact that a fire could spread quickly in Yosemite didn't surprise me. What was shocking to me was the article stated that the fire spread 10,000 acres on Thursday! I was also very surprised to read that the fire was 80% controlled. It was interesting because perhaps my favorite part about Yosemite was when we visited the giant sequoias. During the tour of these beautiful trees, the tour guide discussed how they create fires on purpose quite a bit because it's good for the trees and the forest as a whole. Still, I find it very impressive that a wildfire this large could be 80% controlled. The image above is a personal photo I took while at Yosemite. http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/06/20362060-crews-could-lose-ground-as-rim-fire-gains-speed-in-california?lite