Current Event Report #1 Due:
March 25, 2014
Recently,
a third independent model had been created to examine the potential
consequences a nuclear war would have on the planet Earth. They have found that
even a small regional nuclear war could have a huge impact on the Earth’s
climate, ozone layer, and droughts. When there were world superpowers during
the years of the Cold War, nuclear wars were a major threat. Consequences of a
nuclear war, between such powers, include what is known as a “nuclear winter.”
This would cause huge fires with dust and ash that would blot out the sun,
which would result in a “twilight at noon.” This would lead to crop failures
and starvation, which many people could potentially die from. Today, an event
such as this one is unlikely, however, smaller nuclear wars are still very
possible between countries such as India and Pakistan. Scientists created a
study of the effects a nuclear war would have on climate by modeling a war between
India and Pakistan. They used 100 Hiroshima-level bombs and created
interactions “within and between the atmosphere, ocean, land, and sea ice
components of the Earth’s climate system.” They found that even a nuclear event
taking place on the other side of the planet could effect global climate for at
least a decade. After such a war, average global surface temperatures would
drop about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. North America, for example, would experience
a 4.5 to 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit temperature drop in the winter, and a cooler
summer by 1.8 to 7.2 degrees. Furthermore, destruction of the ozone layer has
also been a detected consequence. Ash and heat from the nuclear explosions
would intensely heat the stratosphere, resulting in chemical reactions that
would be harmful to the ozone layer. Ulraviolet radiation would greatly
increase and reach the Earth’s surface more easily, putting human health and
agriculture at a greater risk. Additionally, the drop in temperature would be
especially dangerous in regions, such as the Amazon, where lack of rainfall
would massive fires. With their
supporting evidence and studies, scientists believe that they will further the
elimination of nuclear on Earth today. Yet, many out of the 17,000 nuclear
weapons that still exist today are much more powerful than the 100 that were
tested in the model.
The
evidence from these studies is a crucial part to arguing against nuclear
weapons and nuclear wars. Not only will this affect the territory and people of
one area, but also it will clearly have a major impact on the rest of the
planet. Continuing this research could greatly contribute to the elimination of
the nuclear weapons left on this planet. The experiment has been approached
several times, and every time, the results have revealed more ways that a
nuclear war could be destructive to our planet as a whole. Although the threat
of superpowers battling each other no longer exists, nuclear wars between
“developing-world nuclear powers” would be a serious, global issue. Overall,
this research can provide a defense for why nuclear weapons are not necessary
on this planet.
I
think the author of the article did a good job of providing evidence and
support of the topic. I did not mind that it was a brief article because I was
able to get a general sense of the “cause and effect” of this matter. There
were some things that were somewhat unclear to me such as the “twilight at
noon” or the chemical reactions due to a heated stratosphere, but then again,
it was somewhat of a brief article. I also liked that the author gave an
explanation of what nuclear wars meant and what their consequences were in
times like the Cold War. Overall,
I learned something completely new by reading this article. I have never been
too interested in nuclear bombs or weapons, but it was very interesting to
learn the impacts they could potentially have on someone even on the other side
of the world.
Choi, Charles
Q., and LiveScience Contributor. "'Small' Nuclear War Could Trigger
Catastrophic Cooling." LiveScience.
N.p., 26 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.livescience.com%2F44380-small-nuclear-war-could-trigger-catastrophic-cooling.html>.
The first aspect of your review that I thought was particularly well done was how you gave specific examples to help frame the information that you displayed. Citing exact temperature changes allowed the reader to better visualize the impact that nuclear conflict would have on their own life. Also, by addressing the amount of warheads still present in today’s world and informing the reader that they pose even more of a threat than the bombs used for testing makes your points much stronger. Calling the reader to examine problems facing the world helped to frame the massive scope of consequences that nuclear war present. I also thought that you did a great job drawing a strong conclusion from the article. Stating that “this research can provide a defense for why nuclear weapons are not necessary on this planet” makes the reader feel that you really understand the content and are confident in the points that you made. The first fact that really stood out to me was the scope and severity of the impact of a nuclear explosion. The fact that an explosion on one side of the planet could cause droughts and even wildfires on the opposite side was quite astonishing. Another fact that I found concerning was the sheer amount of nuclear warheads still around today. 17,000 warheads are enough to cause complete Armageddon. The fact that this many remain despite preventative measures taken by the U.N. is very worrying. One fact that was completely new to me was that nuclear fallout could so dramatically affect the climate of an area. A global temperature shift of 2.7 degrees is enough to threaten most major agricultural establishments in the world. The biggest un-answered question that I had, as a reader, was what the other two independent models were. You make a reference to them in the first paragraph but never really elaborate on what they are or why they are significant. If you explained the other two models in more detail it would have helped to raise the significance of these new findings as opposed to previous results and assumptions.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you went into the effects a nuclear war would have across the planet, not just in the area where the war was taking place, like your specific detail about the temperature drops in North America if the war was being fought in Pakistan. You made a very good connection to why this is important in our lives today in explaining how evidence from this study helped eliminate nuclear weapons legal on earth, and will help eliminate nuclear weapons left on the planet. By using evidence from previously exploded nuclear bombs like Hiroshima the data from the studies was more tangible than if you had just put numbers. I was very interested in the connection with the Cold War, in history we always learn that it creates the promise of equal mass destruction, but never went into the specifics of it. I was also did not know that there were over 17,100 nuclear weapons which existed on the planet today, which I found shocking. I was also new to learning that there is an organization which fights to ban certain powerful weapons, I had no idea it was such a global issue. I am impressed by how much you wrote and analyzed from what seems to be a shorter article. One thing I would like to know more about is how exactly did they perform this study or experiment, for example was it a computer model or a smaller scale nuclear war of some kind?
ReplyDeleteNatalia, I really enjoyed your current event and your topic. In world history, we had just been studying MAD; mutually assured destruction. During the Cold War, if either the US or the Soviet Union had used nuclear weapons it would be so devastating and surely caused MAD. It’s interesting to see how it would affect not just humans but also our Earth. I had no idea that nuclear weapons could cause such problems with crops and eventually lead to starvation, because not enough safe crops would be able to be produced anymore. I do agree with you that a full-out nuclear war today is highly unlikely due to the fact that it would lead to destruction on all sides and millions of deaths and problems. Another thing I didn’t know about was the study the scientists conducted between India and Pakistan. I would like to know more about how scientists used these bombs without causing danger to anyone. I think it’s amazing how far science has come today that we are able to do things like this. Nuclear weapons can cause so many problems that I hope with this research, we are able to further eliminate them. They can add to radiation, crop failures, ozone layer problems, etc. I think you did a good job in your paragraph about how this would affect us and I agree with you. This is just another factor to make sure that no countries use nuclear weapons; it wouldn’t only harm us it would harm all our surroundings and nature, which do affect us. I hope this research is continued but in a safe way and it leads to good and safe outcomes. I think overall you did a great job but the only thing I would have liked to know more about is the Pakistan and India research. Maybe if you just explained a little bit more about how that was done it would have painted a clearer picture of the outcome. But overall great review and great topic!
ReplyDeleteNatalia, I really enjoyed your article. It was very fascinating to read on what the world would be like if we have another nuclear war. Since I am in 11th grade, the majority of this semester's history class has been on WWI and WWII explaining all about nuclear weapons and how they are such a threat. It's very interesting to here it in the science perspective, not only the history perspective. I thought it was very interesting that if we have another nuclear war, we could have a nuclear winter. Meaning that it would cause huge fires with dust and ash that it would blot out the sun, which would result in a “twilight at noon.” If we continue this research on nuclear wars and the affect it has on our world in general, I believe that someday there will be complete peace and we will never be threatened with a nuclear threat again. Once again, nice job with this article!
ReplyDelete