Flooding in Venice

November 14, 2019

Venice, Italy is currently in a state of emergency due to its second worst flooding ever recorded. The flooding has taken an elderly man’s life, caused businesses and hotels to shutdown, threatened delicate works of art located in historic areas, and electrical and fire hazards due to short circuiting. Most importantly, St. Mark’s Basilica was flooded for the second time in history. Last year there were high tides and it was said that St. Mark’s Basilica had aged 20 years because of the high tides but with the extreme flooding this year it is in danger of aging even more than that. Venice has always been an area prone to flooding but the frequency of flooding has had a significant increase in the last 20 years. This is said to be due to “overtourism” and climate change. Both of these things have worn away on the banks surrounding the city.

I chose this article because it is another climate change article and there has been a lot of those lately. This one is a little more serious because it is one of the most visited cities in the world and has some very important venues like St. Mark’s Basilica. The article does a good job of insetting tweets and pictures to show what the flooding looks like instead of just writing about it. This also was a little more serious because there was a death related to the flooding. One ting that I personally thought was different was how when the author inserted tweets, the tweets were not in English ad it didn’t have a translation for the tweets. I wanted to know what they said not just look at the pictures.

https://www.mic.com/p/venice-italy-floods-at-historic-levels-plunge-the-city-into-state-of-emergency-19347959

Audio Presentation

November 12, 2019

Is Trump really unpopular?

November 9, 2019

Everyone knows the hate that President Trump receives, but is it really all that relevant when it comes to the election? In the new polls it has shown that trump may be disliked by 55 percent of America, but a lot of his supporters live in the “swing” states where he can make up a lot of ground is he, once again, does not win the national popular vote. Also, Democrats who do not support Trump are leaning towards voting for him if Warren win the Democratic side because most Democrats believe her views are too strong. A heavy concentration of white, working class people, push the sing states towards the right.

One of the biggest things I noticed about this article was how it did use numbers to support facts but some of it was bias. For example, a quote from the article read, “Trump retains a very strong position, thanks to his support among white voters without a college degree.” The way it is thrown in the article makes it just a little bias because they don’t come out and tell you his voters are uneducated but the author implies it by throwing in the “without a college degree” part. I liked how this article compared Trump to multiple different Republican candidates and backed it up with stats so the reader knows it is reliable information.

https://www.mic.com/p/2020-polls-show-trump-strong-in-swing-states-spelling-trouble-for-democrats-19295169

Darrian Adkins Interview

November 7, 2019

Darrian Adkins pursues a career that not many people would have chosen. Most people look for money among other things when looking for a job, but Darrian believes there is more than that to work. Darrian is here at Morningside as a sophomore religious studies major, and also has a minor in English. He chose Morningside because it is a Methodist College, and he has a dream of becoming a pastor at a Methodist Church.

Darrian decide to stay close to home when he made his college decision; he is from Spencer, Iowa. When he is at home, or has free time here, one of his favorite hobbies is playing the commonly known Dungeons and Dragons game. He spends a good bit of his free time playing this game.

When asked about his future more, he explained how he wants to be far away from Sioux City. One location goal for him is to live on Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina. He has been there once, for a wedding, and described how beautiful the location is. “Ocean Isle is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. It has a beautiful sand bar surrounded by resorts and bodies of water.” He also noted that the only time he has been there, there were hurricane warnings. That did not stop him from falling in love with Ocean Isle Beach.

Science Story

November 7, 2019

As of Sunday, California Governor, Gavin Newsom, declared a state wide emergency due to the wildfires. Wildfires have been going on in California for about a month now but with the dry air and high winds, said to be hurricane strength winds, they have really started to spread, forcing people to evacuate from their homes. These fires have also caused supply shortages and power outages. The fires have been the worst in the northern part of California. In the northern part, the firs have caused damage to over 66,000 acres of land and have caused evacuations of over 200,000 people.

This is an important article because it is a world even that isn’t getting enough attention in my opinion. When people read this article it will want them to make changes and help. I also think it is good for this website because people of my age need to know what’s going. I think the author did a good job of inseting tweets into this article since it is intended for people around my age.

The time has come where we can truly see the effects of climate change.

People of The Yup’ik village have been forced out of their homes due to climate change.

For more than two decades, people of The Yup’ik village have been preparing to move out from their homeland, climate change being the reason for that. The land around their homes has started to crumble away and sink, along with increased flooding risks due to thawing permafrost and erosion.

Families have started to move all of their belongings to the village of Mertarvik, which is about ten miles Southeast of The Yup’ik village. While it is important that the families move out of their old homes, people of The Yup’ik village believe it will take until at least 2023 for the amount of new homes to be built in the village of Mertarvik that will be necessary. “It will be challenging, but this is a very strong community.” Said a development manager with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

National Geographic claims that this won’t be the only place this happens to. National Geographic reporter, Craig Welch, reported that there will be school teachers on both islands so the kids will still be able to attend school. Welch also reported that it is not only hard on the parents to leave their homes, but on the kids as well as they leave some of their friends behind.

Microplastics are being inhaled and consumed by not only animals, but humans as well. Microplastics are everywhere, and there’s not a whole lot that can be done now. Primary microplastics are plastics that were made small, such as the microbeads found in body scrubs or toothpastes. Secondary microplastics are items that were originally larger plastics, but have broken down over time into much smaller pieces. There isn’t a whole lot of research on what microplastics do to the human body, but the Earth’s wildlife continues to suffer. It is up to us to stop using plastic so much. Some things you can do is use reusable straws, and wear clothing made from sustainable products.

This article is very relevant to today’s world so it is a very important article for this website to publish. One thing the article did well was describe what primary and secondary plastics are. It also does a good job of getting the scariest information at the top of the article. One thing I didn’t agree with was how they have the tips to reduce microplastics at the very end of the article. I think the author should have tried putting it earlier in the story because not many people will make it all the way down to the bottom more times than not.

China and the NBA

October 10, 2019

As of late, there has been a lot of controversy between the NBA and China. China has recently been one of the NBA’s primary focus points for continuing basketball growth. These past couple of seasons, the NBA has played both preseason and regular season games in China to promote their brand. Recently, the Houston Rockets played the Los Angeles Clippers in an exhibition game in China. Both games were tightly contested and enjoyable for the fans there. That is not what made it controversial. Before the second game, Rocket’s GM Daryl Morey tweeted out, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” This was a gesture in support of pro-democracy protesters in the semi-autonomous region, who have been protesting for months to demand societal change from Beijing.

When I first saw this article, I thought it was very interesting. I didn’t think much of the tweet when I first saw it until I got to read more about it. There is a big movement in China and a person from America made a comment on it which didn’t settle well. This is definitely an attention grabber because of how timely it is, since the problem is ongoing. Also, this article was made to be read by the general audience, and audiences of all ages. There weren’t any screenshots of the tweets or anything that would be seen on a website that is made for the younger generation. Also, the article did a very good job explaining the story, why it was such a big deal, and had background on why this is going on in China.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/business/china-blows-whistle-on-nationalist-protests-against-the-nba.html

Greta Thunberg Story

October 10, 2019

“People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” said 16-year-old Swedish Climate activist, Greta Thunberg.

Greta spoke out at the UN Climate Action Summit, and demanded change. “The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees, and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.” said Thunberg.

Greta spoke intensely, and imperatively on stage, getting her point across to anyone that was there listening. Greta is tired of people thinking that climate change is something that can just be joked about and brushed off. Even at her young age, she knows that something needs to be done. One of her main points was how the adults and scientists are doing nothing to stop global warming, but it won’t effect them. It will effect the people like Greta, who still have a long life to live.

Greta believes that people need to tell us the facts straight as it is. She is tired of people sugar coating the facts about global warming, trying to protect us from is. She says it does no good for people to not know the truth. Greta went on to say, “

There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is. You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal.”

Greta presented strong arguments and finally got people’s attention. There were many people that disagreed, and laughed at her speech, but there were many more who agreed with the 16-year-old. By the end of her speech, 65 countries had announced efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, something that Greta believes can save the world from the global warming crisis.