A Block Physical Geography - Today we're looking at water. Water is the fundamental ingredient for life on Earth. About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered and you can find it in the atmosphere above us, in the ocean, rivers and lakes around us, and in the rocks below us. The volume of all Earth's water is about 1,386 million cubic kilometers (km3). A cubic kilometer of water equals about 1 trillion liters. The USGS diagram to the right shows the distribution of water on the planet and explains the amount of water available for "human use". You'll note that there is precious little water available for the 8.045 billion people that live on Earth and on a daily basis, we use 10 billion tons of freshwater worldwide and in Canada residential water use per person per day has fallen 14% from 251 liters in 2011 to 215 liters in 2019.
If the world's water supply were only 100 liters, our usable water supply of fresh water would be only about 0.003 liter (one-half teaspoon) and all the while, water demand globally is projected to increase by 55% between 2000 and 2050. Then consider that the flora and fauna of the biosphere require water as well and you can see the importance of water to all forms of life on the planet.
We'll look at the properties of water in its three phases (don't talk to me about plasma) and then you'll need to define: condensation, evaporation, transpiration, precipitation, sublimation, percolation, and aquifer. Lastly you'll need to complete the following questions:
- Sketch a simplified model of the complex flows of water on Earth – the Hydrologic Cycle (use Geosystems Core p.127)
- What is the nature of groundwater pollution? Can contaminated groundwater be cleaned up easily? Explain (use Geosystems Core p.134-135)
- Using Figure 5.9, identify the regions where precipitation is the scarcest and the most abundant. (use Geosystems Core p.130)
B Block Criminology - Today we'll start our look at white collar crime. We will begin by learning how to identify a pyramid / ponzi scam (for more take a look at How Stuff Works). I'll introduce to Edwin H. Sutherland's Differential Association Theory (he introduced the concept "white collar crime"). We'll look at individual exploitation of an institutional position, influence peddling & bribery, theft and employee fraud, client fraud and corporate crime. A great example of embezzlement and swindling was presented by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight...
*Warning potty mouthed adult humour so please watch with care*
Another really good example of a text message scam can be found in a CBC news story...where bad cheques are forged and passed on to unsuspecting victims. Perhaps you have received an unsolicited email with the promise of some amazing money windfall for you and the person who has emailed you? These advanced fee "419" scams are called so because the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code that makes it illegal to obtain money under false pretences is section 419. Millions of North Americans and Europeans are being targeted by scammers from Nigeria with very few being arrested or suffering any consequences.
419 is a modern day version of the 1500's Spanish Prisoner con when after the English defeated the Spanish armada in 1588-89, there were still a lot of English sailors who didn’t make it home. Letters began arriving to wealthy English families using the same idea, "if you can give me a small amount of money, then I can free this English prisoner.” In the same way then as today, the con man keeps squeezing more money and eventually begins threatening the victim. Canadian author Will Ferguson received the Giller Prize in 2012 for his book 419 - the tale of an email scam and a woman who sets out on a wide-ranging search for those she believes responsible for her father's death.
We'll also see what we can find on the Internet about white collar crime....spoil alert LOTS!
Today's Fit...
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