Shale

BHP Billiton is a mining, metals and petroleum company based out of Melbourne, Australia. BHP Billiton is considered amongst the largest mining companies in the world. It is in BHP Billiton’s values to put health and safety first, being environmentally responsible and supporting the communities in which it operates. BHP Billiton is a registered Organizational Stakeholder of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). BHP Billiton practices its sustainability initiatives around the four major areas: 1…

Michael Porter's Five Forces In 1979 a professor at Harvard Business School, Michael Porter, published an article in the Harvard Business Review. The article titled "How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy" outlined the five factors that he believed could help determine the profitability of an organization. The five factors being: the power of customers, the power of suppliers, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes, and industry rivalry. He saw these five factors as being the…

To frack or not to frack? This is a question, common amongst humanity today. Fracking is the process of drilling deep into the ground to extract natural gas from the shale down below. To extract the natural gas humongous amounts of toxic fluid, loaded with silica sand and chemicals, are pumped into the ground. This fluid is not always pumped back out of the ground and seeps into surrounding groundwater. North America should stop the use of fracking because it can cause earthquakes, puts the…

Fracking; A Crime Against Nature Fracking, a cheaper and more harmful way for us to get oil out of the ground. It has caused just as much bad as good, if not more. It leaks into our water, poisons our loved ones, and pollutes our environment. Fracking should be illegal due to its detrimental effects on the environment and people. Here’s a “fun,” fact; each fracturing job uses between 1-8 million gallons of water and over 40,000 gallons of chemicals (Source 2).Think about what can do to you and…

color, odor or taste. It comes from uranium deposits, phosphate mines, and coal combustion. Radon as a short half-life of four days which means it starts breaking down into radon decay. Radon is in all soils, it has higher concentrations in granite, shale, and phosphates. Which sadly means the soil can be contaminated, which could lead to being absorbed into the plants, and then enter the food chain, nothing is known about the effects of this. Radon can be trapped in the water and break down,…

Some of the most important natural resources for the island of Jamaica are sugar, bananas, coffee, and cocoa. Jamaica is one of the world’s largest producers of bauxite. Those resources are only 4 of many other natural resources. Some other natural resources such as , crude oil, clay, and limestone help benefit their country. Those resources help benefit their country by making cement, creating large or small industries. Also they help create new jobs for people. The trees in Jamaica’s many…

The Environmental Protection Agency defines frackings as “A well stimulation process used to maximize the extraction of underground resources; including oil, natural gas, geothermal energy, and even water”(Environmental Protection Agency). This process, employed to release natural gas involves drilling deep into the ground and shooting a high pressure water solution into rock formations in order to release the gas inside. Although the history of fracking can be traced back to the 1940’s, it…

In an article written by The Economist on November 26, 2014, OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is suffering a split in opinion over how to respond to falling oil prices. Responsible for 40% of global oil output, a decision made by the group to cut production could send low prices back to their previous levels. Reaching a decision, however, will be no easy task for the oil cartel. While the wealthier nations represented in OPEC, such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab…

using the fracking method companies can use old wells in mature oil and natural gas sites ("Hydraulic Fracturing"). Fracturing can also recover oil and natural gas from formations that geologists once believed were impossible to reach because of tight shale formations ("Hydraulic Fracturing"). Taxes on natural gas recovered from the use of fracking can be used to maintain roads and to help schools. The tax can also help preserve wildlife around major fracking…

Adair Park Field Trip was a really great experience where you get to see many different types of rocks and many diverse examples of minerals. This trip happened on Saturday November 1, 2014. Several geology classes went to the field trip for the expedition, with the purpose of learning the different types of each rock and its minerals and also to identify the stones from oldest to youngest. The group leaders of this trip were several professors of geology. Professor Croxen, Garrett, Dr. B, did…