This clump of debris was seen floating near Hawaii.
Other items that have been washing up include bikes, toys, insulation, pieces of homes, and unfortunately, human remains. The influx of debris is also bringing a large amount of foreign organisms that are creating a problem for the local ecosystems. For more information, I have provided links to a few news articles.
http://news.discovery.com/earth/tsunami-debris-may-contain-boats-bikes-and-bones-120608.html
http://news.discovery.com/human/discovery-news-dnews-gotta-see-videos-120607.html
http://news.discovery.com/earth/tsunami-ghost-ship-haunts-canada-coast-120324.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-huge-dock-tsunami-20120606,0,7550444.story
So, the next big question is what do we do with the debris that is washing ashore? Some of the debris is just rubble, but others are personal items. Also, there is the possibility that they will have high levels of radiation. So, as always, feel free to write your opinions in the comments below, or in your journal.
~Ms Cooke
Like I said in class, I think it's great you're giving them the option to write in their journals if they are uncomfortable posting comments in such a public forum. The topic for this post is really interesting, and something I hadn't really thought about, especially how you point out that some of the debris washing ashore are personal items. Should we catalogue and retain them somewhere in hopes of returning them to the owners (or owners' loved ones, if they are deceased)? With any tragedy like this, it's not enough to just look at it as a science problem. It's important to remember the humanitarian aspects, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we live on the east coast. I haven't really thought much about the whole radioactive debris washing up onto the western shores of the U.S.. It's kind of terrifying that we don't have a good way to track incoming radioactivity. I like the layout of the blog (very nice earth background) and the practical use aspect of it for your class. I wanted to have a current events thing in my class so this might be my outlet for it. word
ReplyDeleteI was a little worried about writing this post. I thought that it might be a little disturbing for some students, or even hard to deal with. but, unfortunately, you cannot prevent bad things from happening in the world, and I though it was important for my students to see what was happening. Just because you stop thinking about a problem doesn't mean it goes away.
ReplyDeleteI found this post particularly interesting and can see students feeling the same way. The pictures alone were enough to grab my attention. I also agree that it is important to remind students that jut because this happened in the past does not mean it is over and done with.
ReplyDelete