I read the article “South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects From Rising Waters” by Nick Madigan. It described how Southern Florida could possibly be affected by a rising sea level. The state as a whole is already vulnerable to flooding, but the floodwaters generally recede after a time (albeit leaving significant damage). The rising water level would obviously exacerbate the current flooding problems, but it is possible that the waters would never recede. This could potentially cause Floridians to lose billions of dollars in property values alone as well as schools, roads, and power plants. Community officials and environmentalists are leading the charge, but there is a crucial piece missing. Despite the urgency of the problem, the business community is not actively searching for a solution. Without businesses involved, there is a lack of funding and initiative within politics, yet progress has been made. Some environmentalists are looking at ways other nations and states have dealt with drainage problems. Community Official, Jim Morales, is sure that humans can engineer a solution. “Ultimately, you can’t beat nature, but you can learn to live with it.”
I thought this article was especially relevant to Bronxville Students because our own school, field and playground have been severely flooded multiple times. The first major flood in my lifetime was when I was in 5th grade. I did not attend the school, but I lived in the village, so I went over and took pictures. The amount of water inside and outside the building was astounding, and the repairs cost millions of dollars. Community officials claimed that this was a once in a lifetime event, but a similar flood hit in the fall of 2011. An interesting parallel between Southern Florida and Bronxville is that the residents of Field Court and other low-lying areas have pushed for drainage repairs for years which could have prevented the 2011 flood, but the rest of the town only cares about drainage issues when they have to pay more taxes.
This article documents the problems associated with rising water levels very well. The explanations are clear, and there are additional quotes from scientists and community leaders showing the issues that they must work through before a solution can be implemented. However, I wish the author could have further explained what the solution was instead of focusing on politics.
Manigan, Nick. "South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects From Rising Waters." New York Times. N.p., 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/11/us/south-florida-faces-ominous-prospects-from-rising-waters.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0&ref=science
Elise’s review of “South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects From Rising Waters,” she clearly and concisely presented the information told in the article. The topic that she chose to discuss is very relevant to the people of Florida, but also suggests that others in the future could also be at risk of property loss. The connection that she made to us as Bronxvillians was a great thought, since we have been affected by flood waters multiple times. It was also interesting how Elise incorporated a quote from a Community Official, because it gave her review a sense of validity and urgency. Elise was able to explain how the problem of sea level rising is not being actively attempted to be solved, but instead over looked by many. However, she did acknowledge that some environmentalists are trying to find a solution to the problem. Those solutions though are not going to come from slowing down the rate of sea level rising, but rather adapting to the rises and attempting to change drainage systems to compensate for the change. As a whole, Elise did a great job or reviewing and analyzing the New York Times article.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there were a few things that could have improved her response. For example, she could have used a quote from the author of the article to get his direct opinions and ideas known to the reader. Elise also could have looked into some of the other possible adaptations that people could make to save their land from the rising sea water. Another thing that could have been done better was her analysis of the presentation of the article. After reading the article, I saw that the author set up the information very well and she could have given some more credit to that. Still, Elise’s review of the article was very well written and presented.
The article that Elise reviewed is very prominent in our world and extremely interesting. Although I knew there were problems surrounding rising sea levels, I never knew the politics around that and why very little effort is being put in to offset these changes. I am really glad that I read the article and Elise’s review, because the problem is going to remain for the rest of our lives and people need to be informed.
I read Elise Weir’s Biology review. She did her review on South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects from Rising Waters, a New York Times article. I thought her explanation of the topic was very informative and clear. She said that Florida could be facing problems regarding the increase of water level. I also think Elise did a great job in how she clearly explained the implications of rising waters in Florida. There could potentially be lots of damage done to property, power plants, and even crops. I finally liked how Elise related this story to Bronxville School’s flooding problems. I thought that the problem more relatable to Bronxville students.
ReplyDeleteI thought Elise could have improved her article by separating the review into the three paragraphs. I was confused about what paragraph had what topic. If Elise had separated the last paragraph and lengthen her critique of the author, the review would have been much improved. I also think Elise’s article could have been improved by making a proper bibliography. The link was attached to the second paragraph, and I just do not think that looked good in the review.
I was very surprised about the fact that the water’s in Florida overflow, but eventually go back to its ‘normal’ state. But the most interesting part is that there is a possibility of the water staying at its high levels. That would mean that, not only would the coast part of the state be destroyed, but also that people would no longer be able to live there. They need to find a way to live with nature, not fight it. For Florida’s sake, I hope they can find a solution to this long standing problem.
I read Elise Weir’s current event report on the article entitled “South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects From Rising Waters.” Elise’s report was very well done. She did a good job summarizing what the article said. She did not leave out key facts. However, she also did not include too much information that would be overwhelming for the reader. Also, the blog post included very few grammatical errors. It was clear that Elise proofed her work thoroughly to make sure there were no mistakes. In addition, Elise did a nice job addressing both what the article did well and what it could have improved on. For example, she wrote, “The explanations are clear…however, I wish the author could have further explained what the solution was instead of focusing on politics.” Overall, I think that Elise made the report interesting while providing a nice summary of the article.
ReplyDeleteThe blog contained many good facts and interesting analysis. However, she could have improved the blog comment. For example, although Elise did a nice job explaining how the information is relevant to the residents of Bronxville, she could have also explained how the information could be relevant to people living in other parts of the world. In addition, I wish Elise talked about possible solutions to the problem of the rising water levels. She explains the issue very well but does not say anything about how to fix it. Likewise, I would have liked Elise to include more direct quotes from the article. In the article there are many quotes both from scientists and community leaders that if included I think would have made the review better. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the blog since I learned a lot from it concerning the rising water levels.
I think that Elise’s current event report was well done and included many interesting facts. I was especially surprised that the rising water level could be permanent. In addition, I was shocked that the business community is not actively searching for a solution since the rising water level could have such a detrimental effect on their business and Florida. Overall, I think that Elise did a very nice job on her report.