The Horse 2019/20

Technology & Environment

Plastic waste? What is that?

4. March 2020 Nicole-Anderegg Mineral resouces, VZ19A (5)

First of all, what is plastic? It is a durable material that takes up to 450 decompose. It is estimated that 3-10% of the 300 million tonnes produced every year end up directly in the oceans. 

How can you reduce using plastic? Try not to use plastic bags. Require a bag made of fabric instead. And in place of plastic bottles buy a bottle, which is a little expensive but one that you can use for a long time. Say no to plastic utensils and avoid microbeads. More...

Where does your phone end up?

4. March 2020 Giorgio-Zanatta Mineral resouces, VZ19A (3)

Definiton:

What is electronic waste?

Electronic waste are used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale and recycling.

 

Norway and other european countrys lead the world electronic waste production. In 2017, each inhabitant in Norway produced 28.5 kg of electronic waste.

However, electronic devices can be recycled. They are often shredded and sorted. After they are separated into clean commodities that can be used to make new products.

The problem is, not every electronic device can be recycled easily. For example ovens or cooling equipments such as freezers, are often full of toxic chemicals such as lead and ozone destroying substances. 

Sadly, electronic waste does often get mixed up with general household waste. If it ends up in general waste, it can not be recycled. This is why an efficient separation of waste is very important!

 

Question:

How big is the largest electronic waste landfill in Ghana? (landfill = Müllhalde)

Audio

Electronicwaste.pptx (14,50 mb)

Example presentation post [Catching title]

4. March 2020 Eliane-Suter Mineral resouces, VZ19A (0)

[Short text, summary of your presentation]

[Picture or diagram =>upload in your folder VZA]

[Audio pitch] =>How to upload and insert an audio

[Quiz question => correct answer as a comment]

[Vocabulary, technical terms]

[Name of team]

=>Categories: your class, Mineral resources
=>Tag: resource presentations

[Attachement of your material/notes of presentation: or PowerPoint or PDF]

[Sources of material: or in the pdf or here]

Gold mining and its social & economical impact

26. February 2020 Luca-Napolitano Mineral resouces, VZ19A (3)

Team: Jan Tall & Luca Napolitano

Audio

Introduction: In our presentation we talked about the different methods gold is being mined and what social & economical impact it has on certain cultures.

There are many methods in order to mine gold. It depends wether the gold is already loose and can just be seperated from the dirt and rocks (by washing) or if the gold has to be loosened from within the rocks. The most popular method is gold panning, also known as gold washing.

Old and used gold is not being thrown away! It is finite and consequently valuable. Gold can be molten and formed into brand new gold bricks. There is absolutely no degradation in quality.

Gold mining impacts the world we live in, in various ways. The only winners in this business are the big corporations, which own the gold mines. But sadly if there is a winner, there has to be a loser aswell. The losers are the countries with gold occurance, mother nature and the people/workers in those countries. 

Quiz question: Which of the following country has the most gold occurance?
1. Russia
2. Australia
3. South Africa

Vocabulary:
consequently - somit
degradation - Verlust
occurance - Vorkommen

Sources:
gold mining
gold recycling
social and ecological impact of gold mining

 

What is embodied energy and why is this such a big problem?

25. February 2020 Matteo-Lazzarotto Mineral resouces, VZ19A (4)

The direct energy, which we all see and know about only makes one third of the whole energy. The rest is embodied energy, which we don't see in a product. It is the hidden energy, the energy used in making the product and it is one of the biggest problems if we want to talk about climate change. This is why we have to get educated in this issue.

Audio: 

Embodied Energy

More...

Breakdown of sulfur

25. February 2020 Devin-Stettler Mineral resouces, VZ19A (1)

Introduction

Sprache 003.m4a (273,86 kb)

The breakdown of sulfur is a very challenging and hard work. It is extracted out of highly toxic gases in acid lakes or out of volcano mines. The workers have a big lack of equipment and their life expectancy is at 50 years, coughing blood is normal for them. 

The mineworkers who breakdown sulfur on the Java island in Indonesia are working on the most difficult and dangerous conditions. But what are their lives worth and what is sulfur used for?

Find out in our presentation below! More...