2012-03-29 Review of the class: Space, the Ocean, and the Orchid Island

There's no doubt about the amazing evening with lots of sparks among our discussions in today's CI class!

CI Class of 2012

It was another great class although it was a bit cool with the blowing wind, but the heat generated from the class made me warm and electrified.

Today, we continued to discuss more about the topics that we didn't finish last week. Teacher Abbie provided us with three big topics(Space junk, the Ocean vortex, and the nuclear waste in Orchid Island) and we formed three groups to talk about them individually. Abbie also helped us with a clear direction to think through the topics from different angles: problems, reasons, consequences and solutions. 

The first group was assigned to talk about the Ocean vortex and it was fabulous to have George to share the information with us. To be honest, George was doing amazingly although he told us that he was really nervous. It's always a challenge to step on the stage. However, tonight, George took the first step and broke the obstacle to prove that he'd made it! He mentioned that there was so much trash in the ocean and most of it was PLASTIC. It's sad to see we people have thrown so many plastics into our only ocean that the trash's formed several giant trash patches. Plastics are not only non-biodegradable but also hard to sort and recycle. If we don't make any action to deal with the big problem, sooner or later we'll have to lose more than we could imagine. George brought up someone whose name is Diana Cohen, the co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, and  told us another sad result that it's almost impossible to solve the trash vortexes in the ocean due to the inestimable amount of the trash. Nonetheless, each of us is still able to make some effort to make our world better and cleaner by carrying out these 4Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Refuse!

The nuclear waste in Orchid Island was the second topic shared by another group. Andrea explained the problems and crises that we might have in the future caused by the waste stored in Orchid Island. If there was a earthquake which was stronger than magnitude 7.0 outside the ocean near Orchid Island, it would cause a huge tsunami and destroy the plant which stores the nuclear waste from Taiwan. After that, it would result in radioactive leaks and caused genetic mutation, deformity and other deadly health problems. It would also be a huge danger to our offspring. However, the local people in Orchid Island are striving to voice that they want the waste out of the island immediately. On the other hand, it shows that being against the government and the big company Taipower isn't an easy task. They're still fighting for their rights but it seems that it's not going to come to an end really soon. There is another big issue raised: Where should we deal with the nuclear waste anyway? The half life of the nuclear waste is at least 11,000 years. It's harmful to not only our environment but also the living on the planet. 

The last topic was the space junk. The space near the Earth is getting more and more crowded because not only the governments but also the commercial companies keep launching the satellites into the space for global communication, weather tracking, radio broadcasting and military surveillance uses. We have way too many satellites and there are more going into the space for the sake of improving the quality of our lives, more advanced technology, bigger capacities, and etc. But I can't help stop thinking that do we really need so many satellites to improve our life quality. Having more satellites or space junk doesn't make people happier so why are we putting more? It's time for us to make a stop and set a rule for those satellite launches or we'll face the same disaster soon again. 

Abbie received the teacher certificate from our Yi-Lan Community University Principal