Ninth Week Assignments due on November 4:
1. On-line Discussion: Do the readings in the text book and correlate that with the Topic 9 Global Air Pollution and Problems.
This should be a very interesting topic. In the report for the week you get a chance to see daily contour maps of the ozone hole, as well as, animated maps showing a season of the ozone hole for a period of 3 months. When people talk about the the ozone hole they are usually referring to the one that forms at the South Pole in "our Fall", but the Southern Hemisphere spring. So you will need to look at some dates in Sept, Oct, Nov. to see how long it stays there. This year the ozone hole is slightly smaller than in the past. In September 2002, the hole actually split into two pieces. You will learn that this is not present on a constant basis, but only for about 2-3 months. I also have an editorial from the Chicago Tribune about someone mixed up about ozone. What is the difference between good and bad ozone?
Issue Question: Should the Use of Methyl Bromide be Banned as an Ozone Depleting Chemical?
In the report of the week and Content Question B, you will have worked on the causes of the ozone hole, this debate will focus on further measures that are proposed to prevent further depletion of the ozone layer. In addition, I have made contact with a strawberry farm in California which uses methyl bromide. Although 3 years after that initial contact, I think that they have quit using it. Dave Peck of Manzanita Farms wrote me a special letter in answer to some questions that I had about the use of methyl bromide. You can read about this in the introduction to the issue.
A look ahead:
1. Try to find your water bills to be used in Lab 5.
2. You will need to begin collecting various kinds of plastics for Lab 6.
3. Exam 3 is ready for those that want to start early. It is due on November 18.
Go to the Exam Index page for various versions of the exam.