Topic: Creating a Blog
Unit Objectives:
- Become familiar the structure and requirements for this course
- Create an online blog to use for posting research and other assignments
- Become familiar with the other students in the class
Artifact: Water Ban – Charleston, West Virginia
While searching for a blog post to review, I came across Technorati’s Top 100 Blogs. The number 19 spot is filled by a water crisis that is occurring in Charleston, West Virginia.
An environmental enforcement boat patrols in front of the chemical spill at Freedom Industries.
One the morning of Thursday January 9th, a chemical spill was detected at Freedom Industries’ storage facility. The storage facility is upstream from a water treatment facility, near Elk River in Charleston. A chemical known as 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol (MCHM) was detected in the water. MCHM is used for coal production and is known to cause “severe burning in throat, severe eye irritation, non-stop vomiting, trouble breathing or severe skin irritation such as skin blistering.” Once detected, a state of emergency was declared and more than 300,000 people were ordered not to use or consume their water, for anything other than flushing toilets.
In a press conference Friday evening, Freedom Industries President, Gary Southern, could not confirm the amount of chemical that had spilled into the water, nor confirm when the leak began. At this point, the contaminated water cannot be treated and is distributed to a 1,500 mile area. There is no timeline for when the water ban will be lifted, throwing West Virginians into a water crisis.
Empty shelves at a local Foodland between Freedom Industries and American Water.
Local stores have been chaotic, with shelves of bottle water being cleared quickly. Police officials were called in to guard the water delivery at a local Wal-Mart, as well as National Guard overseeing the distribution at the state capitol.
View the stunning article by Kiley Kroh, here.
I believe that this chemical spill and the effect that it is having on the city shows how important it is to have clean water. We are very lucky to live in America, where we have the means to obtain clean drinking water. Other countries are not as lucky, making me very grateful to be able to not have to worry about where I will be getting my next drink of water from.
Reflection:
This initial artifact was very important to my future success in the course. I have never used a website such as Word Press, so becoming familiar with the site was vital in the completion, and success, throughout the term. Learning how to add hyperlinks, images, pages, subpages, etc., was something that I had yet to learn. Through videos and screenshots, I was able to learn how to create a blog that showed my personality, a blog that I am proud of.
In addition to the importance of learning how to create a blog, I loved learning about what my fellow students. Our first blog posts tell a lot about what we as students are passionate about. Water quality isn’t something that I am extremely passionate about, however I recently moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where the water quality is not what I am use to. I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and did not realize how lucky I was to have such clean drinking water, straight from the tap. This is something that I took fore granted, therefore when I ran across the article it sparked my interest.
Learning Goals for the Future:
Click on the picture to take a sneak peak into a 2nd grade classroom’s blog.
Blogging is an important technique to master, and having the opportunity to do so in this course is extremely beneficial. I will be teaching elementary school in the fall, and I hope to incorporate a blog into my classroom. The blog that I create for my classroom will help benefit students, as well as parents. I will be able to upload information about what we are learning in class, as well as homework assignments. This will allow for parents to track their students progress throughout the year and read about helpful ways to help encourage them in their learning endeavors.
Citation:
Kroh, Kiley. “West Virginia Declares State Of Emergency After Coal Chemical Contaminates Drinking Water.” Think Progress. Center for American Progress Action Fund, 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Jan. 2014. <http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/10/3145221/west-virginia-emergency-coal-chemical-spill/>.
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