Amanda Shkreli
Mr. Ippolito
AP Biology- EF even
11 October 2017
Fountain, Henry. “California Winds Are Fueling Fires. It May Be Getting Worse.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/climate/caifornia-fires-wind.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront.
I chose to review the article, “California Winds Are Fueling Fires. It May Be Getting Worse,” written by Henry Fountain. In the article, the author addresses the deadly wildfires that have been recently raging in California as a result of the regional atmospheric patterns that develop in the fall. Scientists have been debating whether or not climate change has an impacted the dryness of California’s winds, which ultimately cause the wildfires. Alex Hall, a climate researcher in the University of California, that climate change “... is a pretty key parameter for fire risk.” The winds in Northern California and Santa Ana originate in the desert of the Great Basin of Nevada and parts of Utah. In these areas, high pressure air flows toward lower pressure air over California and the coast. The air descends to lower elevations, causing it to compress and become hotter and drier. This air picks up speed and funnels through canyons or across peaks that are lower. Dr. Hall adds, “The wind is seeking the path of least resistance to lower pressure. That tends to be where there are gaps in the topography.” As a result, hot and dry winds are created that can exceed speeds 70 miles per hour. Scientists have a predicted some relief from the winds, though they are expected to to pick up again in the next following days. This variation is typical, considering that there is variability when it comes to large-scale climate patterns such as high pressure systems. In addition, winds tend to subside during the daytime when its warm, and during the night when the atmosphere is cool, the pressure gradient between the Great Basin air and California’s air increases. As climate change continues, it is likely that high wind season, which takes place from October to January, will extend.
These fires occurring in California are relevant to society because they have caused an immense amount of damage so far this year, and if climate change continues, we are at risk of lengthening these dangerous seasons. According to state figures, the current wildfire outbreak is now the second most deadly that has happened in the last century. So far, at least 17 people have died since most of the fires began. As the areas affected by the fires have been blanketed in smoke, it had become very harmful for residents to breathe. When materials burn, the flames produce gases and throw fine solid particles into the air. These particles can bury deep into the lungs, which is specifically dangerous for people living with heart or lung conditions, older adults, people with diabetes, pregnant women, and children who have lungs that are still developing. These areas have received extremely high levels of air pollution from the fires. The danger of forest fires and its threat for its season to increase also reminds people that they should be more conscious about issues such as global warming, and what they can do to stop it.
Overall, I believe that this article was very informative and well written. The author provided excellent information regarding how the winds that cause the forest fires are produced and what their behavior is like, and strengthened his points by including quotes from a climate researcher from California. The other also poses the suggests that it is likely (but still uncertain) that the seasons for the dry winds that start forests fires will extend over the next decade as a result of climate change. This could effectively create more forest fires, putting thousands of people at risk of danger. In the article there are certain areas where I believe that the author could have included more information. For example, if the author included more information about how the people can be affected by the gases and particles released from the fires, and express how harmful the fires are, it would create a sense of urgency that this problem needs to be solved. This could be easily improved by adding details on how the fires are harmful to society.
Kunzang Namgyal
ReplyDeleteMr.Ippolito
AP Biology- E/F even
12 October 2017
Fountain, Henry. “California Winds Are Fueling Fires. It May Be Getting Worse.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/climate/caifornia-fires-wind.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront.
This week I decided to read Amanda’s current event on the NY Times article, “California Winds Are Fueling Fires. It May Be Getting Worse”. Amanda did a very good job of explaining the cause of forest fires, stating that "the deadly wildfires that have been recently raging in California as a result of the regional atmospheric patterns that develop in the fall”. The "regional atmospheric patterns” refer to the dryness of California’s winds and the dropping night time temperatures. Amanda also gave a statistic, “at least 17 people have died since most of the fires began”. The fact that multiple people have died due to these forest fires gives the readers a greater sense of urgency to fix the problem. Also, when Amanda was discussing the relevance of these forest fires to our society, Amanda brought up the growing dangers to human health, “"These areas have received extremely high levels of air pollution from the fires. The danger of forest fires and its threat for its season to increase also reminds people that they should be more conscious about issues such as global warming, and what they can do to stop it.” These lines did a very good job of summarizing the health issue arising with the increasing amount of forest fires.
Although Amanda did many good things in her current event, there are also two areas in which she can improve. Amanda included two quotes from Alex Hall, a climate researcher in the University of California. It was great that she included these quotes, in fact, I wish that she included more quotes from other credible sources. I believe that this would have added greatly to her argument. I also wish Amanda had gone into what the reader could do to help fix the problem of climate change and these growing forest fires. Amanda states that this article, "reminds people that they should be more conscious about issues such as global warming, and what they can do to stop it”, however the reader does not know what actions they can take to combat this issue. One thing I learned from Amanda’s current event is that the severity of forest fires depend on certain factors such as the dryness of the wind and pressure gradients. I found this very interesting because I had originally believed that forest fires were caused by fires in the woods created by campers or hikers that ended up blowing out of proportion.
Viktoria Schmuck
ReplyDeleteAP Biology: EF 246
October 14, 2017
Current Event 5: Comment
Fountain, Henry. “California Winds Are Fueling Fires. It May Be Getting Worse.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/climate/caifornia-fires-wind.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront.
For this weeks current event, I chose to read Amanda’s piece on the article, “California Winds Are Fueling Fires. It May Be Getting Worse”. She did an excellent job describing the wind patterns that have been causing the devastating fires in california,”The air descends to lower elevations, causing it to compress and become hotter and drier. This air picks up speed and funnels through canyons or across peaks that are lower.” To someone with little knowledge on the subject, she described it well, making sure that the reader was not confused about her topic. Additionally, she was able to state her topics relevance to society in an enticing way, and although it is extremely sad, mentioning that, “at least 17 people have died since most of the fires began,” only makes the importance of the subject more drastic. Lastly, she was able to chose a topic that instantly grabbed my attention: the forest fires in california have been a long lasting issue, which is not discussed enough. In choosing this topic, Amanda was able to address something that needed more attention, highlighting not only the importance of her report, but of the overall article. Although Amanda did an good job with her report, I do think she could have fixed some organizational problems with her report. Even if most of her summary was in the initial summary paragraph, she went back to summarizing the article in the “affect on society” section, making it confusing to follow, and it being unclear whether she was analyzing herself or stating paraphrasing from the article. Another interesting aspect that she could have included would have been any solutions to the issue, and how the reader could have taken the issue into their own hands, or helped. This would have allowed for a greater variety of personal connections, and would have left the reader with a sense of purpose. Lastly, one thing I learned from the article was that there is an increasing amount of fatalities. Although I knew that forest fires were a serious issue, I never knew the magnitude of the problem, and that people passed at a direct result of this natural disaster.