The story Atomic Dreams, by Jason Mark, shows the contravercity in atomic power. The story tells of the pros and cons of nuclear power. My biggest concern about nuclear energy is how dangerous it can be. in 1986, a nuclear power plant in Russia blew up, killing thousands and aslo poisioning the land for thousands of years. This scares me because nuclear blasts can effect areas 40 miles away. I live in a town called Manteno, and in a town, Braidwood, which is 26 miles away has a nuclear plant. The story also sais that it is a possibility for terrists to blow up nuclear plants in america. The braidwood plant is close enough to do damage in manteno if it blew up and that scares me. On the other hand, nuclear power is a good source of power. The story sais that it is cleaner than natural gas and gives a lot more energy that natural gas. Those are two very good reasons that it is greatly useful. The cheeper cost is great because the economy is in a slump right now and so the cheeper energy is great. On top of that is the cleaner energy. The environment is slowly suffering because of all the toxics we are putting into the atmosphere, cleaner enegy helps out there also. A big downside to nuclear power plants is the inital cost of the reactor can be up to $4,000,000,000. Thats a lot of zeroes to be writing on checks for countless reactors across the country. I think that Nuclear power is good and not as scary as everyone makes it sound, the only thing is to make sure we are careful with it.

The New Wilderness Land Grab

After reading The New Wilderness Land Grab by Elizabeth Arnold, I got a little inspired. The article talked about how the last years have changed the way we think about the environment. before, the environment was just unconquered land, but now that we see how important it is, there are organizations trying to save it. Even the government took steps to help out. Making forests national parks was a great idea. It lets animals live freely and also makes sure that we don't cut down too much land. The trees being cut down effect us greatly because they give oxygen and that's a necessity. I am glad that there are national parks and forest preserves because it helps the environment out and this way, not as many animals are homeless.

English Paper

My teacher has given our class a research paper assignment on our landscape or the environment. I have decided to write my paper on how overpopulation is effecting the environment. In the paper I will state how the grow in population has come to be, what if it keeps up, what is happening to our resources and the landscape itself. Overpopulation is very bad in countries like China. There are so many people so close together, that it has become illegal to have more than one child. My paper will address ideas like this one and others.