Ashley Explores The Arts

https://abcnews.go.com/International/humans-contributed-extinction-dodo-bird-giant-tortoise-madagascar/story?id=73564865&cid=clicksource_4380645_18_big_feature_bf_image

Tortoise and Dodo

The islands of Madagascar and Mascarene are home to many mega fauna. A word not often used but referring to the animals that weigh 22 pounds or more. These islands are extremely biodiverse. However, because of human existence, they have lost a majority of their native species.

According to Julia Jacobo, a reporter for ABC News, there has been new research on the two islands. Researchers have studied about, “8,000 years of climate data from cave mineral deposits,” Jacobo said in her article. With the use of these deposits it shows that climate change alone did not cause extinction. Marissa Hernandez, a student at Morningside, commented, “Both the giant tortoise and the dodo bird were likely driven to extinction from human interruption.”

These species thrived before humans arrived at the islands because there was nothing to upset the balance of flora and fauna. The use of this study is proving that humans and climate change are killing off the native features of earth. Now, two of these three species are extinct.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/record-snow-hits-upper-midwest-red-flag-warnings/story?id=73732357&cid=clicksource_4380645_5_heads_hero_live_headlines_hed

Snowstorm to Red flag Warnings

On October 21^st, many midwestern states saw an average of three to ten inches of snow. The amount of snow has made it record high in some states.

The month of October is typical for snow, but never this much before Halloween. In Wisconsin they received 6.9 inches of snow. While in Minnesota they received 7.9 inches. Some areas became so slippery from snow and ice, that planes skidded off runways.

While the Midwest was being coated in snow, the west is still burning up. Fires continue to rage in California and Colorado. Iggy, a student who is attending Morningside, but is from California said, “Sometimes we are even told not to let our kids out or our animals out because the air, it’s way too dry.” As wind gusts pick up, making the air dryer and they create red flag warnings for these states.

Wind gusts as high as forty to fifty miles per hour are believed to sweep through the states. Not just California and Colorado, but through Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico as well. Each state is either under a wind advisory or a critical fire advisory.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/growing-nkorean-nuclear-threat-awaits-us-election-winner-73729250?cid=clicksource_4380645_10_heads_posts_headlines_hed

US Elections cause for Nuclear War?

The two presidential candidates continue to campaign but have not brought up the issue of North Korea. As last the public knew, president Trump was working on an agreement with North Korea to denuclearize the country.

Arms experts in Washington say that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jung Un, has created a new missiles weapon. With the possibility of firing multiple nuclear war heads at any country, at once.

According to Deb Riechmann, a reporter for ABC News, North Korea is known to fire off missiles before elections in the US and South Korea. North Korea calls these “test” fires, as they have no set location to hit.

As president Trump says, “All I know is we’re not in war and that’s OK.” He has not seemed to make any other agreements since the last time he met with Kim Jung Un. Joe Biden mentions he will not sit down with Kim Jung Un until an agreement is reached. Garrett Arbuckle, a political science major here at Morningside agrees with Biden’s method, “[Joe Biden] mentioned in the debates he kind of has no intention of meeting with certain leaders unless there is a reason to.” The fear that something will happen in the beginning of the new year lingers within the US government.