Google Earth Assignment #1
Name: Ashley Elwell
The field of environmental health is quite expansive and holistic. Understanding issues
necessitates knowledge of economics, history, sociology, psychology, and geography.
Geography is especially important since environmental hazards are spatial and
understanding where and why they occur is essential in preventing their occurrence. I
will demonstrate this in this first Google Earth assignment by having you explore a
complex current environmental issue; the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
Open the corresponding .kmz file in Google Earth. Double click on the place marks in
the Places menu on the left side of the screen to fly to the intended location and to answer
the following questions.
Type your answers on this sheet, directly after the questions (you can leave the
question on the sheet). Make sure to use correct grammar, complete sentences, and
fully answer each question.
Place mark A:
Anytime you see a blue hyperlink in the Places window, make sure you select it and read
the information, follow the hyperlinks, or view the embedded image. There may also be
additional information or hyperlinks below or above the embedded map or image, so be
sure to scroll down.
Place mark B:
Spend a few minutes selecting and unselecting the various data layers available in the
Layers sections of Google Earth. There is a tremendous amount of spatial data available,
and you will use many of these layers this semester.
Place mark C:
Question 1: Using your textbook, succinctly define the field of environmental health.
The field of environmental health focuses on the health of human population in terms of
environmental hazards to human health.
Place mark D:
Question 2: When you select the hyperlink in the Places window a map of the Sandhills
will pop-up. There is an additional hyperlink below the map. You can either have this
hyperlink open within Google Earth or in an external browser. I like to view webpages
within Google Earth. To change this select Tools, Options, General, and un-check the
Show web results in external browser.
Describe the physical characteristics that make the Sandhills a unique geographic region?
My mother grew up in Alliance so the Sandhills are near and dear to my heart. Each year
I run a half marathon south of Valentine. It is the most beautiful, peaceful race. The
Sandhills are 19,600 square miles of sand dunes that sit atop/in the Ogallala aquifer and is
covered in grasses. Precipitation soaks into the sandy land creating 1.3 million acres of
wetlands.
Place mark E:
The High Plains or Ogallala aquifer is one of the largest in the world and extremely
important for irrigation and municipal water supplies on the Great Plains.
Question 3: What is an unconfined aquifer (textbook pg. 17)?
An unconfined aquifer is an aquifer in which the recharge area is directly above the
aquifer with no intervening impermeable layer.
Question 4: How do humans use the aquifer?
We utilize the aquifer for water supply. It is used mainly for the irrigation of crops and is
also used as a residential and industrial water source.
Question 5: What health concerns are mentioned in relation to contamination of the
aquifer (also refer to pg. 238-240 in your textbook)?
Nitrate levels in ground water can be elevated due to the use of fertilizers on crops. This
contamination can result in infant illness and can possibly lead to methemoglobinemia, or
blue baby syndrome. The baby will take a bluish color because of low oxygen levels in
the blood stream. Growing up I can remember when nitrate levels were high everyone
was told not to drink tap water, specifically pregnant women, infants and children.
Place mark Fs: Center Pivot Irrigation
Place mark Gs: Alberta Oil Sands
The first place mark includes a map of where the oil sands are located and a hyperlink to
a webpage with information about the oil sands. The second place mark shows the open
pit mining of the oil sands. Vast amounts of oil are located in these oil sands, but getting
it to population centers/markets is a challenge.
Question 6: What are oil sands?
Oil sands are a mixture of sand with clay or minerals, water and the oil bitumen refined
and then used to make gasoline and diesel.
Question 7: How much oil is there in the Alberta oil sands? What might be some of the
options to get this oil to world markets?
There was 170.2 billion barrels of oil in the Alberta oil sands in 2011. The options to get
this oil to world markets include transporting it throughout North America via pipeline
which can then get it to ports to be taken by tanker ship across seas to world markets.
Place mark H: Keystone Pipelines
Explore the map of the Keystone project pipelines. The second H place mark changes the
date of the aerial image from 2012 to 2009, so you can view the pipeline being built.
This pipeline, in which about 600,000 barrels of oil flow each day, is about three miles
from my office and goes directly over the well field where Seward, NE gets its drinking
water. To change back to 2012 imagery, just unselect the pop-up box in the left hand
corner of the screen.
Place mark I: Con-pipeline Video
The battle over the pipeline pits various special interest groups on both sides of the issue.
Watch the video by environmentalist Robert Redford.
Question 8: What environmental and environmental health arguments and fears are used
in this video?
The pipeline carries dirty oil promoting the most damaging industrial process exposing us
to ruptures and blowouts putting the environment at risk. A failure will contaminate 5
billion gallons of fresh ground water utilized by people from the Ogallala aquifer.
Place mark J: Pro-pipeline Video
Watch this video arguing for the economic benefits of the pipeline.
Question 9: What specific arguments are made in relation to building the pipeline in this
video?
With the right contractors you would have a 100 year pipeline. They argue that they are
the experts in pipeline building giving the safest product. It is an advantage to get cheaper
energy from Canada. There is also the argument of increasing jobs in the building and
managing process. They believe this will help to meet energy needs.
Place mark K:
As I always tell students, the oil from the Alberta oil sands WILL go to market, whether
it’s to the U.S. or other countries. China is investing heavily in the proposed Northern
Gateway Pipeline that would take oil from Alberta to Kitimat, BC, a port on the Pacific
Ocean. An existing oil pipeline, the Trans Mountain, has been transporting crude oil to
the coast since 1953. Read the news items provided in the link.
Place mark L: Pipelines Map Overlay
The U.S. economy essentially runs on fossil fuels, principally oil. Our country is already
crisscrossed with numerous pipelines moving petroleum products to market.
Like most issues involving risk to the natural environment and human health, the
Keystone XL is complex and finding good, unbiased information can be challenging. Do
on online news search for Keystone XL and read more about the issue, concentrating on
the health concerns.
Question 10: After completing this assignment, do you believe the Keystone XL should
be built? Be sure to comment on the environmental health side of the issue.
I believe that it will be built in a time that we need cheaper alternatives for energy and it
appears to be for the most part reliable. I do not agree with placing the pipe line in a
delicate, unique eco system such as the sandhills which will be sensitive to any possible
leakage. There is a risk of something going wrong somewhere along the way, no one can
guarantee complete safety no matter which side they are on. So where ever this inevitable
project is placed it should be where the environment has the best chance of surviving
such an accident.