Energy Flow Systems
Richard White's Organic Machine, and William Cronon's Changes in the
Land, both examine environments as energy flow systems. The energy flow model was utilized by the authors to explain relationships within ecosystems.
Richard White's thesis is to examine the river as an organic machine, as an energy system that, although modified by human intervention, maintains it's natural, its “unmade” qualities. White emphasizes on energy because it is a useful concept that can be easily understood. He says, “the flow of the river is energy, so is the electricity that comes from the dams that block that flow.
Human labor is energy; so are the calories that are stored as fat by salmon for their journey upstream.” White notes that energy is as concrete as salmon, human bodies, and the Grand Coulee Dam. White wants his readers to think about nature and its relationship with humanity.
White explains how the river is energy. The Columbia River works as gravity pulls it to the Pacific Ocean. The Columbia is continuously cutting into the terrain that it flows through. Over millions of years water rushed through the Columbia Basin to form the Columbia River. Water carries soil, silt, and debris downstream. The constant movement of material in the river cuts and shapes the river basin into the land. This movement is a slow and inefficient use of energy. According to White, only two percent of water's potential energy results in the work of erosion. The other ninety-eight percent of water's energy was lost as water molecules rub against themselves, the river bed, and the river banks. This energy was released as heat into the river.
Often the energy of flowing water was not recognized. There are occasions when rivers do show their power is destructive ways. Power was usually demonstrated through floods, and more so in flash floods. Thousands of years ago, an ice dam in the Columbia River, holding the glacial lake Missoula, broke and created the largest known freshwater flood in earth's history. The flood rushed into the Columbia Channel and created the Grand Coulee and other rock channels that would have taken the Mississippi River three hundred years at full flood to create.
Salmon are also a part of the Colombian energy model. As the river works its way downward to the Pacific Ocean, the salmon work their way up the
Columbia to spawn. The energy in salmon can be measured by their body fat and caloric value. Salmon start their run upstream prepared for the long hard run.
Their bodies have stored fat and oil after a year worth of feeding at sea.
With smiles on our faces we cast our wisely selected lures into the ocean, but we then encountered our first problem of saltwater fishing. Our lures wouldn’t sink. As soon as they hit the water, the ocean current would just buoy them to the surface and, soon after, down current into the line of a nearby fisherman. Improvising our rigs, we dug the heaviest weights out of our tackle boxes and clamped them onto our lures. Sure enough, we got our lures underwater and under control.
The use of turbines from dams to provide power was a brilliant idea until water levels started running lower than normal. The water waste from humanity is directly contributing to portions of it, aside from drought conditions affected by pollution, widespread fires battled, and more adds to the depletion thereof. When humanity is relying on power provided from dams to handle the demand, they are essentially relying on the assumption that water levels will always be there to provide it. The Hoover Dam provides power to the southwestern portion of the USA that has a large number of people.
The company that I choose to explore is The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney started the Disney Brothers studio in 1926, after years of working as a cartoonist. I selected this company due to the fact I am a fan of their products and services. Disney produced some of my favorite films like Aladdin, Hook and The Lion King. After I visited their website, I discovered that Disney owns multiple media outlets, in such areas as film, Internet, music, broadcasting, publishing and recreation. According to Disney’s “The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be the one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, service and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world”. The Disney brand is doing exactly what their mission states.
The entertainment industry holds the immense potential for growth and development. The industry is constantly evolving and Walt Disney emerge as a global leader and recognized as the world’s second largest media conglomerate in the terms of revenue after Comcast. The Walt Disney Company is a multinational entertainment conglomerate headquartered at California, United States. The company integrated its products into five target segments are as follows: (1) Media Networks (2) Parks and Resorts (3) Walt Disney Studios (4) Disney Consumer Products (5) Disney Interactive. The company has strong diversified product portfolios and generate high returns and revenues from all the target segments but the media networks contributes
• Understand the movement of fish. Since small water bodies have limited oxygen supply, fish tend to stay shallower. On the contrary, fish in larger lakes have adequate oxygen supply; hence, fish tend to stay where there is food. The fish may also stay deeper because the temperature of the deep water is slightly higher.
From the surface to its deepest depth the ocean is 11km deep, and with this distance comes a vast change in physiological feature of fish as they try to survive the changing conditions.
Dams operate by using water as its main source of power. They produce power from fast volumes of moving water that turns a generator. This falling water at one gallon of water per second, can create one kilowatt of electrical power if it falls one hundred feed. When water behind a dam is released, it runs through a pipe called a penstock, which then delivers it to the turbine. Different shapes are used on these turbines, but are generally created to harness kinetic force of the moving water as well as the water pressure.
will break down information that describes various kinds of salmon that specifically live in the
Pacific salmon belong to a group called anadromous fish that includes Atlantic salmon, sturgeon, lampreys, shad, herring, sea- run cutthroat trout, and steelhead trout. These species hatch and live the first part of their lives in fresh water, then migrate to the ocean to spend their adult lives, which may be as short as 6 months or as long as 7 years. When they reach sexual maturity, they return to the freshwater stream of their origin to lay their eggs. Pacific salmon make the round trip only once, but some Atlantic salmon may repeat the cycle several times.
Success is within the mind of the individual. A large portion of ones life is spent working to become successful. People are told throughout childhood to work hard so they can grow up and make lots of money. But success takes many different forms. Different people have different interpretations of what success means to them. For some, success is measured by social status and wealth; for others success is determined only by the amount of happiness one feels.
Through the ratio analysis, we can conclude that Disney is a stable company, keeping up with industry trends and up to par with industry averages. Although at times it can seem that Disney is a risky and unstable company, those conclusions are false since the unstableness has come through decisions which will better establish Disney’s position on the market. Although Disney’s competition, namely CBS, is on a similar standing as Disney when comparing ratios, Disney will manage to remain the largest media conglomerate in the USA and one of the best corporations in the world.
Overfishing is the most major problem related to oceans, but it is also the most overlooked. Fishing has been going on for thousands of years, and fish have always been seen as a renewable resource, that would replenish itself forever for our benefit. But around the world there is evidence that fish are not recove...
Energy can be put into two broad categories Renewable energy and none renewable energy. Renewable energy sources can be reused continually as they are abundantly found in nature. All of them are non-polluting but devices used to collect the energy may impact the environment adversely. They are free but producing storage equipment or converting them into another form of energy may be costly.
The true definition of success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Although, many people have different perceptions of success. Success is judged by the individuals themselves. Success can be defined in many ways including: wealth, happiness, fame, etc. Success can be anything from material goods to concepts. It all depends on your concept and how you achieve your goals. You have to have persistence within yourself. Varying on your profession, you will need a certain skill level. Your definition of success can be suitable best for you, but not for others. It is about truly not giving up, reaching your full potential, and self-fulfillment.