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Commercial Salmon Fishing in Alaska
Commercial salmon fishing began to really take off in the 1880's after commercial canneries opened in Alaska. Originally, the Salmon was salted for preservation. The first salteries opened in 1868. 10 years later, canneries replaced salteries. By 1900's over 85% of the fish caught in Alaska were Salmon. The industry had a huge effect on our economy especially with the use of canneries. Economists estimate that the industry provides Alaska's economy with $5.8 billion and 78,500 jobs. -
Klondike Gold Rush Begins
The Gold Rush began in July 1897 when 2 ships carrying gold docked in Seattle. out of the 100,000 people who left for the Klondike, only 40,000 actually made it, and only 4,000 found gold. The Gold Rush contributed to technological breakthroughs as well, Nikola Tesla, promoted an x-ray machine that supposedly could tell where the gold was.
Effects: 1. Brought more people to Alaska(miners, laborors etc 2. Increased technology 'cause people invented better ways to find gold. 3. Gave AK notice. -
Sinking of the RMS Titanic
The Titanic sunk after colliding with an iceburg on her maiden voyage. It was the biggest oceanliner ever built. It's downfalls were: the designers added too much carbon steel so it was not flexible enough. That is why hitting the iceburge destroyed the side of the ship. The bulk head deviders weren't high enough. Not enough lifeboats.
Effects. We were woken up to the fact that technology is not infallible. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea was founded. -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On this date, the U.S. dropped a 9,000 lb bomb, "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan. Effects: 66 thousand people died instantly. Everything within 1/2 miles in diameter was vaporized. There was total destruction for 1 mile in diameter and serious fires for 3 mi. Nagasaki: 3 days later, the U.S. dropped "Fat Man" on Nagasaki. That bomb weighed 10,000 lbs. Effects: In 1 second, the population went from 422,000 to 383,000. Long term: radioactive rain. scientists learned to harness nuclear energy. -
World First Nuclear Power Plant
This is the date that the U.S. government turned on the Experimental Breeder Reactor #1, the first nuclear plant ever. Then, on July 17, 1955, the town of Arco, Idaho became the first twon ever to be powered by nuclear power.
Effects of nuclear power plants: *they have a relatively low emmission of greenhouse gases. *radioactive waste. *uranium, the power source, is in scarce supply. *Accidents, they can be destructive. -
Chernobyl Accident
The accident was due to a flawed Soviet Reactor design and the plant operators making serous mistakes. The end result was a reactor vessel exploded. *An explosion and fire released large ammounts of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere. *the cloud covered a significant portion of western USSR and Europe. *from 1986 to 2000, 350,400 people were resettled from the most highly contaminated areas. *The battle to contain the contamination and avoid a bigger disaster crippled the economy. -
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
Exxon Valdez hit Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound. 11 Million gallons of oild spille out into the ocean. The oil covered 10,000 sq. miles of ocean. Within a week, the currents had pushed it 90 miles from the original spill.
Effects: All the oil killed birds, marine mammals, fish, and ocean vegitation. Everywhere the oil went, it devastated the ecosystem. The crude oil destroyed water and land that Native Alaskans had lived on for millennia. Fishing had to be severly limmited in the Sound. -
Terrorist Attack on the Twin Towers
On 9/11 terrorists highjacked planes and flew them into the two World Trade Center towers in New York City. They also crashed one into the side of the Pentagon in Washington D.C.
Effects: *the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and started the "War on Terror." * There is a sense of "anti-Americanism in the Muslim world because we invaded them. *The war put America in billions of dollars of debt. Both sides lost thousands of people. It also put the U.S. on alert. -
FUTURE!!
Open up recycling centers and require people who are recieving unenployment to work in the centers sorting recycelables in order to recieve benefits. The technology involved would be the machines to recycle and process energy from the waste. Problems solved: *Unenployment. *Energy problem: produce methane by composting, recycling, and keeping nasty chemicals out of the garbage. MY ROLE: I can help open recycling centers nationally.
