Exhibition ~ 2023
By: Elissa, Jacob, Laura, Ferris, and Samantha
Exhibition ~ 2023
Central Idea
Limited freshwater connects and impacts Earth.
Line of inquiry
Water Scarcity / Limited Freshwater
(Cloud Seeding/Drought)
Essential Agreements
Questions
How is drought affecting the Earth? - Samantha
Did you know that drought is affecting the Earth in different ways? Ways that it is affecting the Earth are through harm to the ecosystem, lack of vegetation and food, and financial costs. The lack of food and vegetation is caused by drought by people not having enough water to make food and grow crops. Africa has the most severe drought that causes millions of people to starve. The harm to the ecosystem is from the plants and animals not getting enough water from drought. Some types of grass will start to grow slowly or turn brown to save water during a drought. Finally, the financial problems and hardships are caused by the people having health issues due to drought and not getting enough food so it costs money to be hospitalized and people lose money when the crops don’t grow due to the dry land. California has lost about 2 billion dollars a year since 2014 because of drought. All in all, this is how drought is affecting the Earth.
This is what people put into the sky in the process of cloud seeding. They are things like silver iodine which is a compound of chemicals. The picture also shows the dry ice that people sometimes use instead.
Silver Iodine Chemical Compound
Dry Ice
What is drought?
Drought means not a lot of rain or storage of water. When regular weather is interrupted by destroying the water cycle, it causes drought. This is what causes most droughts. Texas has experienced drought before, and so does many places. The changes in wind patterns can also interrupt how much moisture different regions have absorbed. Texas has experienced the worst drought in the history of drought, it lasted for three years.
The Water supply drought is known as the hydrological drought. It is known for lack of water there, making the lakes, and rivers have less water.
The Agricultural drought happens when there is not enough rain to support the crops and other farming that live there.
Environmental drought is the third kind of drought. The rainfall storage affects the environment—for example, land, wildlife, and fish. There are not many droughts in the world.
In conclusion, There is more kind of drought that is not in this page. But, drought is more serious than you thought it was.
Agricultural drought
Water supply drought
Environmental drought
What is cloud seeding? -Ferris
You might not have heard of cloud seeding before, so I will tell you what cloud seeding is and how people use cloud seeding in this essay. Cloud seeding uses chemicals such as silver iodide to make clouds rain or make cloud snow to make water. There are two ways to do cloud seeding. The first way is to use a plane to fly on top of a cloud and then deliver chemicals to the clouds. The second way is to use ground-based generators. The generator is putting chemicals into the air and the cloud will touch the chemicals and it will rain too. People use cloud seeding because some places are having droughts and cloud seeding will make more rain so there will be no more droughts there. Some uses of cloud seeding are different, people can use it to change the climate or make the air better for breathing. An example of changing the weather and temperature using cloud seeding is the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they use cloud seeding to change the temperature to let athletes cool down. In conclusion, cloud seeding can make clouds rain more by putting chemicals in clouds to produce more rain and make ice. People use cloud seeding to change the weather or to solve the drought.
Image of the process of cloud seeding
Is cloud seeding an effective way to end drought?
People have different opinions on if cloud seeding is a good way to end droughts, so is cloud seeding an effective way to end droughts? Why can’t cloud seeding solve drought completely? It has been proven not to be very effective. Cloud seeding can only increase rainfall by five to 15 percent, which could help during a drought. You also need a specific type of cloud, to perform cloud seeding. To perform cloud seeding, you need a specific type of cloud. The technique to perform cloud seeding is, a cloud needs to show early signs of precipitation, because of this, we don’t know if it is the chemicals we use to make it rain, or if it is just the cloud. All in all, cloud seeding would not end droughts, but it can help. Even though cloud seeding won’t get rid of drought it can help many people in countries with very little water. So is cloud seeding a good way to end droughts? No, cloud seeding would not be an effective way to end droughts.
Cloud Seeding Chemicals
People sprinkle chemicals from planes, making rainfall. This is called cloud seeding.
How can Cloud Seeding affect the environment?
Cloud seeding can affect the environment in many different ways, some can be helpful and boost agriculture but can also affect the Environment in many negative ways. One reason it is helpful is for clearing out fog and mist at airports. You could also seed clouds to make it rain or snow and even increase snowpack on mountains. It could even stop drought, it also makes more areas liveable, seeding clouds can also boost the economy by creating rain which can help an assortment of crops grow. Some negative effects of cloud seeding include eroding the soil and dirt. It can also impact the Earth’s Ozone layer by breaking the ozone molecules which can lead to climate change and radiation. It can also change the ecosystems around and can also lead to droughts in other nearby areas. It can also cause a lot of rain which can lead to floods. Seeding clouds could also contaminate water beneath and can impact humans and animals. All in all, Cloud Seeding can affect the environment in helpful ways including clearing out fog at airports and boosting the economy by helping crops grow. Cloud seeding can also impact the environment in negative ways including breaking the ozone layer by breaking ozone molecules and causing floods.
What are the perspectives of cloud seeding?
Many people believe that cloud seeding is great and can end drought but people also think that seeding clouds is bad for the environment. Some reasons why people think cloud seeding is good is because it can increase rainfall and snowfall in the surrounding areas, clear fog and mist in the sky, and help agriculture. Increasing rainfall or snowfall can help during droughts. It may not solve the problem, but it will help. Clearing fog and mist in the sky can decrease plane crashes or accidents. Rainfall can also help farmers grow and sell crops, they could provide more food or water for people. Cloud seeding can greatly impact the Earth, but some people think cloud seeding is bad for the Earth. Many people think that cloud seeding is bad because when you seed clouds the nearby areas will no longer have rain, when cloud seeding is used it will erode the soil around the nearby areas. Cloud seeding can also break the ozone layer by breaking the ozone molecules. Seeding clouds could also make the water below contaminated and the particles can harm animals and humans. In conclusion, Cloud seeding has many benefits and disadvantages like breaking the ozone layer and eroding the soil while some benefits of cloud seeding are increasing snowfall and rainfall and clearing mist and fog at airports.
Reflections
Ferris : I think the debate was the hardest part of the whole exhibition but it ended up into the easy part.
Elissa : When we started, I thought that the hardest part would’ve been filming the debate, but it actually isn’t hard. I think the hardest part would be research and typing the paragraphs.
Jacob : I thought the hardest part was the debate but it was actually the drawing and coloring part because you have to draw something that’s good enough to be in the project so you might have to redraw or redo most of the drawings.
Samantha : In the beginning I thought the research was going to be the easiest part but it ended up being the hardest part. Exhibition is definitely much easier if you can agree, work together, and get along with your group.
Laura : I always thought the memorizing is the hardest part in exhibition, turns out it is researching and understanding is the hardest part.
Bibliography
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/understanding-droughts/ “National Geographic Understanding Drought”
https://connectusfund.org/12-important-pros-and-cons-of-cloud-seeding “12 Important Pros and Cons of Cloud Seeding”
https://emagazine.com/cloud-seeding-bad-for-environment/ “Cloud Seeding: Risky for the Environment. Emagazine.com” https://www.popsci.com/environment/cloud-seeding-drought-climate-change/ “Popsci.com. Is ‘cloud seeding’ actually helping fight drought?”
https://www.rescue.org/uk/article/what-drought-causes-impact-and-how-we-can-help#:
~:text=Increase%20in%20diseases,diseases%20like%20cholera%20and%:20typhoid. “What is drought causes, impacts, and how can we help?”
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/17/how-cloud-seeding-can-help-replenish-reservoirs-in-the-west.htm. “How cloud seeding can help replenish reservoirs in the west”
https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2017/atp-cloud-seeding. “Why isn’t Cloud Seeding a Viable Answer to Drought?”