Earth & Space Science Summative

Jeffrey Walters, May 14th 2017

1. Tomatosphere

Every year, students across Canada and in the USA from kindergarten to grade 12 participate in the Tomatosphere. Banting has been participating in the Tomatosphere for a few years now, around late April to May, and every year we plant two different types of seeds, ones germinated in space and the other germinated on Earth. The information collected will be used by the Canadian Space Agency to plan for a trial mission to Mars. Everyday, Banting students record the height for each of the seeds planted, about 24 each. Last year results show that while the seeds germinated in space grew quicker, they were not as resilient as the ones germinated on Earth. Life in space has been portrayed in many recent movies such as the Martian, Interstellar and Gravity. Sparking interest in space exploration, however, the colonisation of Mars, such as in the Martian would be impossible. This is because everything that is utilised comes from the Earth such as food and ore. Mars’ atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide, poisonous to humans but necessary for plant growth. There is no fresh water or even water in liquid form on Mars. Mars is extremely cold and night and hot during the day with a range of over 200 degrees Celsius. This results in extremely high winds much faster than hurricanes on our own planet. Mars is home to many gigantic volcanoes, much larger than are ones on Earth. Mars lacks much carbon within its crust being mostly iron, magnesium, aluminum and calcium so growing plants and stock there would be too inconvenient and expensive. The Tomatosphere is an interesting and fun activity for students to see how difficult for life to originate and be sustained, and raise curiosity about life beyond our planet.

2. Copper One

The nickel and copper rich Val D’Or in Quebec is home to the River Dore Project is home to some controversy. The Copper One company, owned by the Copper Range Company, an American mining company.  There is a 60,000-hectare property covers the base of the 80 kilometre-long Bouchette anorthosite complex 140km southeast of Val D’Or. Copper One wants to expand to the Lac Barriere area which is home to the Algonquin tribe. The Quebec government or the MFFP is trying to stop Copper One from mining there. However, hope is naive for the Algonquin tribe and concerned citizens as the MFFP is trying to sell that land at a tax free low price to logging companies. There have been countless protests especially  in South America , where companies mine copper and local watersheds are poisoned, stock dies and the population becomes mutated and plagued. There have been few government, corporate or even civilian effort to alleviate these problems. One method, tried successfully in Cape Breton, was plant remediation where pants such as tobacco were planted because they suck up most chemicals from the ground and break them down to less harmful properties. While the whole process of mining and logging is in of itself very harmful, the lack of regulation on cleanup and waste disposal is most dangerous to life. Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium mercury and lead are known to lead to nerve damage, babies being born deformed, pigment changes in skin, increased risk of cancer, developmental delay of the mind. Little effort has been taken to solve the problem in both Quebec and South America and the problem will only grow worse in time.

References

Tomatosphere.org

copperone.com