Week 5 - Matt Bulow - Noatak National Preserve

This week I went out to Alaska to check out the Noatak National Preserve. What is special about Noatak is not only how beautiful it is, but how it has collisional mountain ranges! These mountain ranges were formed by convergent plate boundaries in which an thin layer of oceanic crust met a think layer of continental crust. The oceanic crust gives way to the continental crust until the continental crust is met with another layer of continental crust. This second layer of continental crust won't be easily swallowed up by the first layer and ends up pushing up which gives us mountains! Think of it as two pieces of land slowly coming together and the ocean in between them disappears as they collide into each other. Where they met, the crust crumples up and forms a mountain range. Pretty neat huh!? Anyways, I think I see a moose over yonder. Gonna grab my binoculars and try and get a closer (but still a safe distance away) look.

-Matt

Week 8 - Matt Bulow - San Diego

This week I was asked to go 5,000 years into the future in order to investigate the effects of climate change, if any, on the coastal city of San Diego. I agreed without hesitation, because who in their right mind would turn down the chance to time travel? I with out a doubt regret my decision though. Luckily I time traveled in a row boat which started out as a joke, but was needed immediately upon my arrival. When I left 2020, we had an estimated 10-20 years in order to reduce and reverse the effects of green house gasses. In the year 7020, it doesn't look like we were successful. Upon my arrival and abrupt introduction to the Pacific Ocean, I found myself having to paddle my way for about 30 miles or so to land. Below me, I could see what was left of the city and could even make out some smaller suburbs. When I reached the new shore of California, I found myself in a town called Oceanside. In 2020, this place is called Lakeside, but 7020 seems to have a sick sense of humor which I suppose is better than none at all. When I reached Oceanside, I was greeted by a 30 ft sea wall. The locals had to lower me down a rope ladder for me to climb up and inside. The seawall is how much of California has been dealing with the rising tides. According to some locals, there were attempts and building others that weren't as tall but as the tides grew higher and the people got pushed back they had to build more that were taller than the previous. This is apparently the third structure built. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay much longer due to most of my time being taken up by paddling. It seems that greed and human "need" has done us in the future and I don't see a way it can be reversed. I hope that my first hand account to the global warming aftermath finally opens the eyes of the world and pushes for efforts sooner rather than later. After my trip this week, I think I will be taking a break from traveling and blogging for awhile. I am going to spend some time installing some solar panels for my home and invest in a 10-speed.

-Matt

Week 8 - Venice

I traveled to the year 7020 and went to the coastal city of Venice, Italy. In all likelihood, I'll probably need a submarine. I predict that with our current rate of producing greenhouse gases, we won't curb our consumption in time to save the sinking city. I do think it's quite an intriguing concept that if the Earth does enter another ice age in the next couple thousand years, that the sea level could actually drop again, So Venice might be above the sea, but I predict that it will be pretty destroyed from erosion and other natural changes from the high possibility of it being somewhat submerged for a period. Maybe humans will find a way to preserve Venice and other coastal areas through human-induced global cooling! Maybe somehow creating powerful, controlled currents that could allow us to alter the movements of tectonic plates? Pretty far-fetched, but who knows.

Being from Florida, I'll choose to write about Florida's gulf. St. Petersburg is west of Tampa Florida, imaged here to the right. I will predict that St Petersburg will be largely engulfed and turn into parts of an island, similar to how Key West is today. Tampa's coastline will also recede as a result. The Polar ice caps are completely melted away, resulting in a sharp rise in sea level globally. As more water retreats from the Polar ice caps, precipitation is more prevalent as well, resulting in more rains in an ecosystem which already gets a large amount of rain.I think that a lot of this is the result of natural global warming but also combined with the rise in carbon dioxide in the air from human pollution. To be completely honest, having grown up in Florida, when I do go home I feel that it is hotter than I remembered it as a kid, and I do believe my parents agree. Nonetheless, after a millenium from today, I could envision many, many people moving out of Florida due to it become too hot to bear living in. So I think a lot of the rise in sea level will be out of Florida's control. Perhaps dams could be built somehow, but it would likely be too difficult to accomplish an environment that already faces erosion challenges. I think Florida will become a place no one wants to live, just because it is too hot. As humans scarcely live there 7000 years from now, wildlife will take over in a very hostile way. Reptiles will be the dominant species, such as Gators and crocodiles, but mosquito will mutate to larger sizes to attack these reptiles more effectively.

Week 8 - Jacob Norenko - Global Warming - Miami

Taking my time machine 4990 years into the future with the origin point set as Miami was a huge mistake. I was in the ocean. The water was warm like the modern day Caribbean. When I surfaced the air was sweltering and the sun harsh. There are tour boats all around. Miami has become a popular location to scuba dive and see remnants of the old world. Despite the massive climate and world changes the human race persists. The temperature of the Earth is so high now that the sweat doesn't evaporate fast enough to cool us down before we sweat more. Humans now wear exo suits to recycle any liquids to cool their bodies. I climbed aboard one of the boats and spoke with the people of this time. I learned that the climate change was due to some massive countries refusing to make changes. China, India and the United States being the biggest perpetrators. Their continued overuse of fossil fuels accelerated the heating of Earth through their CO2 emissions. While the earth naturally produces CO2 and goes through cycles of cooling and warming our contribution threw off the balance leading to massive overheating, overtime. Other countries tried their best to fight the climate change through cleaner energy, such as solar panels, wind turbines and nuclear energy. It was too little too late though. When I travel back to my time I hope to come armed with the knowledge to make changes and steer the Earth on a better course.


Andrews, S. (2018, November 3). The 4 Most Intriguing Lost Underwater Cities of the World. Retrieved May 2, 2020, from https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/03/lost-underwater-cities/

C Campbell_Week 8_Time Travel

Time Travel

I find myself today, May 1, 7010 standing at the top of the world which when I left was the Arctic Circle but is now a tropical rain forest! As I look out past what I can only describe as the Amazon, I can see the ocean lapping against the shores of the North American continent in places it should not be. 

I notice almost immediately that something is missing - PEOPLE! So I set out upon an expedition to see if I can find any clue to what may have happened to our beloved planet. I must admit though, it is quite surreal seeing alligators and boa constrictors cruising through the arctic...

Deep into the forest canopy, I happen upon what appears to be an ancient village, primitive in nature with any signal of my modern life completely erased. I am immediately surrounded by tribal men who much to my surprise have maintained language that I am familiar with! It is laced heavily with spanish influences, but still something I can understand. They are relieved as well, to hear that I share their language though cannot understand the clothing I am carrying which I've shed in the heat, or my pale skin. 

I spend many hours with this tribe and learn of the violence the Earth has undergone in the previous 5,000 years. I learn that the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 lasts three more grueling years on the population but it was not enough to drop green house gases below the 400ppm by the end of the century needed to avoid catastrophic global heating. 

I learn that reforestation took hold with the remaining population which had dwindled to below 500 million after the pandemic and that the virus has eventually mutated with a mortality rate that rose to 60%. The reforestation efforts in those early years is what saved the planet, and mankind, a worse fate. Roads had grown over, electric grids gone down and the few that remained after the virus had to learn to live with the elements or succumb to them. 

Most of Earth's remaining population migrated to the poles as the equator and latitude lines closest to it became impossibly hot to survive in and surrendered long ago to drought. Many of the northern peoples were able to remain closer to home, pushing equatorial communities farther into the northern hemisphere. The oceans had risen over 80 feet and drastically reduced livable land masses and communications had gone completely out nearly 3,500 years ago. 

People, though they destroyed the Earth that was handed to them seemed grateful for being given the second chance they had. The world had changed drastically but also seemed more peaceful and balanced. I thanked them for their hospitality and found my way back to my time machine. Given my background in geology I was disheartened to hear of the hardships on mankind but accepted the inevitability that a virus would wipe out the population. I took solace in the fact that the Earth had survived and would again give birth to another civilization of unknown origins when the time was right.

Week 8 - David Clark - The Year 7010

Two weeks ago, I constructed a time machine out of  twine, sticks, and plutonium rods to visit my brother in 2014. Since then, I have had the urge to visit the future, but I could not decide where and when to go. Reading about how the state of Florida is totally botching Covid-19, I thought more about visiting Florida in the future. After all, if they can botch a pandemic, how will they prepare for the elevated sea level rises predicted for the future?

I set the coordinates in my time machine, and hit the "Go" button. When I arrived, I didn't recognize my surroundings. I walked around for a while, but soon was overheated and tired. The weather was suffocating, like being in a sauna. Insects swarmed all around me, biting my supple flesh. I saw lots of alligators and other reptiles as I walked, but no humans. Finally, after hours wandering around, I found some folks gathered around a makeshift well. They were wearing very little clothes, if you could call them clothes. They looked more neanderthal than 27th century humans. Long hair, ragged disposition, and tan skin.

They spotted me and immediately ran over, curious about my strange clothes and pale appearance. They asked me where I had come from, and where I was going. They invited me back to their home, which was a cave carved out of clay on a hillside. After dinner of roasted alligator and insect soup, I asked what had happened to humanity?! They filled me in with the best information they knew.

Global warming accelerated throughout the 21st century as right wing politicians backed by corporate influences continued climate change denial. Eventually, a tipping point was reached in which a positive feedback loop continued exponentially. Humanity continued to grow and spread, like a virus on the planet. Forests were leveled for farmland, which increased omissions. The lack of forests and vegetation around the world stopped absorbing CO2 gasses. The oceans became more acidic, eventually killing most marine creatures. The ice caps kept melting, raising the sea levels ever year. Around 2080 a tipping point was reached where no matter what we did, CO2 omissions would continue to rise. Then it got bad.

With the global population rising, and land area shrinking, desperate migrants fled for higher ground, Countries, bolstered by authoritarian and nationalism, denied entry. There was mass starvation and death. Fresh water became an expensive commodity, and around 2150 the U.S. collapsed as the masses turned on each other. Tribal warfare ensued for the next fifty years, there was mass extinction of animals and the human population tanked.

Temperatures finally peaked out, but the damage was done. Humanity had fallen into disrepair and ruin. The next several thousand years were full of infighting between the various tribes. Technology had disappeared, and eventually, a type of feudal system came into being. There were the various kings and queens of the separate continents, but very few traveled between them. Mostly merchants and other traders willing to risk the seas.

I discovered that the U.S. was now called Ulgathrax, in recognition for the king who untied most of the tribes of America. The folks I had met where called "outsiders", who lived on their own, pledging allegiance to no one. They lived off the land, or what remained of it. The reason I couldn't land in Miami was because Florida was long ago submerged and claimed by the sea. I figured that I had to be somewhere in western Georgia.

Thoroughly shaken, I thanked them for the gator and decided to return home. After arriving back home, I hugged my daughter and was grateful that I did not have to live in that world. But wasn't I somewhat responsible for their fate? Didn't my actions of today, reverberate through tomorrow? I thought of these questions as I lay awake in bed, trying desperately to sleep and dream of a better future.