Unit 2: Alternative Energy and Refugees Flashcards
What were the main elements of Syria’s refugee crisis?
- Protests against the Ba’arth party led to conflict within the region
- approx. 1 million refugees total
- Largest amount fled to Jordan, 420 000 people
- Neighbouring countries are supportive, but contain few job opportunities
- Refugees sneak out at night in groups of 50 - 100
- Method of leaving: on foot or boat
What were the main elements of North Korea’s refugee crisis?
- Refugees fleeing from a communist dictatorship
- Citizens are conscripted into the state army (4th largest in the world), those who refuse are enemies of the state, thus becoming refugees
- Refugees escape to China, Russia, South Korea
- Travel done mostly on foot/by boat, however boats are intensely monitored
- China doesn’t welcome refugees, most countries except S.K. and the US are hostile
What were the main elements of Haiti’s refugee crisis?
Devastating earthquake (mag. 7/10) left 3.5 million people displaced
- 600 000 people left the country
- Dominican Rep. a temporary refuge, due to hospitals over capacity
- US, Canada, and Brazil offering good treatment + medical relief
- Cholera outbreak in 2010, refugees carried to outside countries
- Haiti has a small airport
- Brazil allowed 2000 refugees, Mexico 15,000
- Permanent refugees stay mostly in the US and Canada
What were the main elements of Mali’s refugee crisis?
- Conflict from rebels seeking independence from Northern Mali
- Refugees escape to Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso
- 260,000 fled to South Mali , 75,000 to Mauritania, 50,000 to Niger
- Majority flee on foot, as Mali is landlocked
- Most neighbouring countries are unaccepting b/c of lack of food, jobs
What were the main elements of Sierra Leone’s refugee crisis?
- Civil war led to an outbreak of violence in 1991
- Refugees fled to Guinea and Gambia, typically by buses (often intercepted by rebels)
- Upon arrival, refugees are usually mistreated, beaten, raped b/c Guinea wants to establish control over them
- Faced with high unemployment, poverty, homelessness
- Guinea took in 360k, Gambia 15k, Liberia 120k
What were the main elements of Myanmar’s (Burma’s) refugee crisis?
- Tribes launched a rebellion in 1948 against each other and the state (Ne Win general rose to power) in order to gain independence
- 85k registered refugees taken in by Thailand, 16K unregistered
- Resettlement is usually short-term
- Reports of genocide, inadequate food and water
What were the main elements of Columbia’s refugee crisis?
- Civil conflict from 1964
- Conflict between guerilla groups
- Some leave to Venezuela, yet harassment is reported and there are fears of deportation
- 1200 fled to Panama, 3000 to Venezuela, 12,000 to Costa Rica
- 250K in the US, 56K in Ecuador, 60K to various countries
- Mainly leave by boat, car, or on foot
What were the main elements of Somalia’s refugee crisis?
- Somalia experiencing drought, low food/water availability, political conflict
- Refugees flee to Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, etc.
- Leave by car, boat, or on foot
- Refugee camps overcrowded, lacking in food and water supplies
- US and UK viable options for resettlement
- Kenya 520K, Yemen 206K, Ethiopia 187K
What are some positive aspects of Solar Energy?
- Sustainable; sunlight won’t burn out
- No pollution, waste, etc.
- Little maintenance required, doesn’t take up a lot of space
What are some negative aspects of Solar Energy?
- Without sunlight, no solar power absorbed
- Expensive and slow
- Sunlight is dimmed/obstructed in polluted areas
What are some positive aspects of Geothermal Energy?
- Emission free (no CO2)
- Reuses water; no fuel requirement
- Unlimited supply
- Underground, doesn’t use land space
What are some negative aspects of Geothermal Energy?
- High start-up costs
- May cause earthquakes
- Made for small communities
What are some positive aspects of Hydrogen Energy?
- Abundant and emission free
- Can be produced domestically
What are some negative aspects of Hydrogen Energy?
- Hydrogen doesn’t exist by itself; H + O molecules must be separated by fossil fuels
- Requires 2x the energy to produce than it expends
- Lots of space required for storage
What are some positive aspects of Oceanic Power?
- Renewable and emission-free
- Earth is 71% water
- 80% efficiency (beating out solar AND wind)
- Oceans do not become depleted
Protects land from high storm tides
What are some negative aspects of Oceanic Power?
- High start-up and maintenance costs
- Can interrupt animal (fish) migration, cause animal deaths
- Noisy
- Salt water corrodes pipes, giving way to leakouts
What are some positive aspects of Hydro Energy?
- Emission free
- Provides virtually free electricity after start-up costs are paid off
What are some negative aspects of Hydro Energy?
- Large reservoirs needed
- Risk of reservoirs breaking due to rain
- Difficult to find suitable place for reservoirs + turbines
- May cause earthquakes
What are some negative aspects of Hydro Energy?
- Large reservoirs needed
- Risk of reservoirs breaking due to rain
- Difficult to find suitable place for reservoirs + turbines
- May cause earthquakes
What are some positive aspects of Nuclear Energy?
- Already developed + in effect
- Cleaner than most
- Easy to make, little energy required
- Receives many safety checks
What are some negative aspects of Nuclear Power?
- Expensive
- Takes up a lot of space
- Radioactive
- Prone to terrorist attacks
- Heavily reliant on absence of human error
- Uranium is a finite resource and poses health risks to workers
What are some positive aspects of Wind Energy?
- Wind is free
- Inexpensive to run
- 1 wind turbine can power 400 homes
- Reduces greenhouse gases
- Can be placed on land or offshore
What are some negative aspects of Wind Energy?
- Wind is inconsistent
- Typically only produces energy when wind is 10mph - 50mph
- Expensive to start up
- Short life span
- Kills flying birds
- Can be loud
What are some examples of “cheap, abundant energy” according to the DVD “Blind Spot: the danger of our dependence on Oil”?
Coal, oil, fossil fuel.
