Delviscio, Jeffery. "In Alaska, Thousands of Walruses Take to Land." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/science/earth/in-alaska-thousands-of-walruses-take-to-land.html?ref=earth>.
In this article by Jeffery DelViscio, the trouble that Walruses are in comes to light as an estimated 35,000 of them are photographed in huge semicircles on shores that are not usually their home. In the Bering and Chukchi Sea, where Walruses usually lay on ice masses in order to hunt for food and raise their pups from the safety of the ice, the ice is gone in the warmer months. In the Chukchi Sea in particular, there is no ice at all to be seen. This situation has consequences for Walruses, because they then have to travel much farther distances in order to get the food they need. The rich food beds that contain clams, worms, and snails are much deeper into the ocean. Also, Walruses do like the company of others, but they are easily scared, and they stampede into the ocean. In sad scenarios, the young ones are stampeded and die because they are small. Although these pictures raise concern for the Walruses, this is not the first time that Walruses have been photographed. In the past 8 summers, 6 out of the 8 have caused Walruses to do the same thing. As Dr. Jay said, “In the summer we have seen the ice recede far into the north. That change is making it very difficult for Walruses to make a living.”
Although some people may read this article and think that it is just another article on global warming and that it will never have an impact on them, it will. Global warming is still alive and well on the radar for world problems. The fact that everything, the air and the ocean, is heating up at such a rate will soon be a problem for humans too, not just Walruses. The ice is not just melting a little bit, the ice is just not there anymore. Imagine if instead of the Walruses’ ice not being there, your house was not there. It is the same issue, and at some point in the near future, it will be our problem too.
I thought the author did a great job at giving just the right amount of detail, but not too much. I felt intrigued and wanted to read more while reading the article, however I had enough information to write a review about it. One of the things I think that author could have changed was that there was only one credible source of quotes in the article by Dr. Jay. I think the article could have been more impactful if there were more quotes from credible people. Also, I think that the article could have included another paragraph with statistics of this problem, because that would have been interesting to see. He gave information, but he never gave any specific numbers from these issues. Overall, I thought that the author did a great job at explaining every subtopic of this issue, from the Walruses eating patterns to the patterns we see every year at around the same time. Also, the author was not biased in any way toward any side of this issue, and he did not focus his entire article on his opinion, or any of his article really.
Laura Holland
Chemistry 9H
After reading Laura Holland's current event article, I found some things that were well presented and some things that could improve. For example for something that was well presented, I liked Laura's topic that she chose. It interested me very much. By having a interesting topic, Laura was able to grab my attention and make me want to read more about her topic. Another thing that I think Laura presented well was she included a quote from the article. Including the quote helps back up her evidence and it provides more information. Lastly, another thing that Laura presented well was how Laura chose to write about her topic. The way Laura presents her work really shows that she does know what she is talking about regarding this topic she has written about.
ReplyDeleteIn Laura's article, there were some things that could improve. For example, I think that Laura could have provided more proof or evidence for her article. I know it must be difficult because like Laura said, her article did not provide many quotes but you could maybe find another way to provide some more information. Another thing I think Laura's current events could improve on is after Laura or anyone states a quote, you should possibly try to conclude a explanation after that sums up what you think this quote is trying to say. Otherwise, I think that Laura's article was very well written.
One thing in Laura's article that surprised me was that the facts that Laura provided about the Walruses. For example, how walruses don't like company, they are easily scared, and they will stampede into the ocean. Some facts Laura stated, I never knew which makes me very interested in this topic. Including the facts makes the article better and helps the reader understand the topic more. I really enjoyed reading Laura Holland's current event.
I read Laura Holland’s response to the article "In Alaska, Thousands of Walruses Take Land." In her response, something she did well was one of the first things she stated was a statistic, which draws the reader in. Her critique was very thoughtful, and showed she paid attention to detail. Another thing she did well in her response was add a quote from the article to back up her argument.
ReplyDeleteOne mistake Laura could work on is that walrus doesn’t need to be capitalized if she’s speaking about walruses in general. Something else she could have done is added a photo or a link of a photo, because she stated in the response the walruses were being photographed.
I learned more about how the climate is really affecting animals, specifically walruses, in the arctic, and that it could affect me soon. Laura did a good job responding to this article.