• What is the overall topic and the goal of your project?

My project was meant to highlight the effects of both deforestation and climate change on each other and on the world as a whole. I was curious to see how deforestation affected climate change because of how trees and other plant life have been shown to affect carbon levels. Deforestation is a topic not widely discussed in relation to climate change, and I wanted to see if there were any obvious impacts on carbon emissions or on air quality in places with more deforestation. I also wanted to highlight these problems for others and make them think about the impact we as a species are having on our planet. Of course most people know about this already, but I really wanted to put into perspective the massive amounts of deforestation and emissions that we as a species are creating.

• What sites did you use to collect your data and create the infographic and what did you learn about it?

I mainly used our world in data, but I also used world data archive. These sites helped me find the world’s carbon emissions, the amount of carbon emissions per capita for a variety of countries, the amount of deaths each year from poor air quality per country, and the amount of deforestation per country for a variety of countries. I enjoyed our world in data’s interface, as you could easily change how the data was displayed. For most of my information I had it displayed in tables, and used the built-in sorting functions to easily gather data.

• How has the process of utilizing these sites impacted your understanding of how technology can change (or help) the world?

It helped me see how easy it is to find this data, and how easily it could be used to make an impactful message. When I was searching for information on deforestation, I came across many different graphs and maps that really put into perspective just how much deforestation was happening in the world, and how much of it was just for housing and agriculture. If used and promoted by the right people, this data could reach hundreds of thousands of people, and really make an impact. It also reminded me of the break the fake assignment from earlier this year, and made me think about just how easy it is to say things with no real proof. These websites can be valuable resources in finding fake vs. real information online, as there is so much data and information on these sites. I think that if used by the right people, not only could these websites and data be used to inspire and motivate people, they could also be used to disillusion and protect people from false information.

• Sources

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2021, February 9). Deforestation and forest loss. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/deforestation

Per capita co₂ emissions. Our World in Data. (n.d.). https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita

Air pollution deaths as percentage of global disease burden. Our World in Data. (n.d.-a). https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/air-pollution-deaths-as-percentage-of-global-disease-burden?tab=table&country=~BRA

CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita). World Bank Open Data. (n.d.). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.ATM.CO2E.PC

Snow leopards are fascinating animals found in mountains throughout Asia. I have always been interested in these animals, and I decided to do some research on them. Snow leopards are large felines with gray, black, white and tan fur. On average, full grown snow leopards weigh about 75 pounds or about the weight of a couch, and are about 1 meter long not including the tail. These cats have been seen jumping lengths of up to 15 meters, or the length of 3 or 4 cars. Much like cheetahs, snow leopards are unable to roar, and yowl loudly instead. Unfortunately, these animals are endangered with less than 7000 in the wild. A big part of this is because of poachers who hunt these animals illegally for their fur, bones, and organs to sell. These animals are very interesting creatures, and I hope you’ve learned something new about them by reading this paragraph. As I have said, I’ve always been interested in snow leopards, and I hope I’ve sparked some sort of interest by writing about them here.

Sources:

Hillard, D., & Jackson, R. (2023). Snow leopard. In World Book Advanced.
https://www-worldbookonline-com.bc.idm.oclc.org/advanced/article?id=ar516840

In this post I will be talking through the process of fact checking an article for our break the fake assignment. To get started I found an article that interested me. After some thinking, I decided to go with an article about greenland sharks because they’re an animal I’ve never heard of before.

*This image has been cropped to not show ads

This article includes a 10 facts about this creature, these facts being:

1. We don’t know much about them as they’re extremely hard to find
2. They have one of the longest lifespans in the animal kingdom
3. Their meat is toxic
4. The shark is one of the largest sharks in the world at up to 7m
5. If they hunt, their prey is usually sleeping, however they are normally scavengers
6. Scientists have found prey like moose, polar bear, and reindeer in their stomachs
7. They don’t pose a threat to people
8. They are blind
9. There is an Inuit legend about the first Greenland shark
10. Their conservation status is vulnerable

After reading through the article, I knew almost immediately that finding other sources would be most useful. Before I did anything else though, I checked if it was a viable source. To do this, I searched the website, ‘Fact Animal’ on Wikipedia.

There were no results, so this is most likely not a viable source.

My next step was to search the subject of the article on google to find a viable source. After doing this, I found a article from Britannica, which is a viable source.

After reading the article I found this:

1. We don’t know much about them as they’re extremely hard to find – True
2. They have one of the longest lifespans in the animal kingdom – True, they are the longest living vertebrate currently known
3. Their meat is toxic
4. The shark is one of the largest sharks in the world at up to 7m – True
5. If they hunt, their prey is usually sleeping, however they are normally scavengers – True
6. Scientists have found prey like moose, polar bear, and reindeer in their stomachs – True it is believed the prey fell through the ice
7. They don’t pose a threat to people – True, they are barely ever seen by humans and there has only been one recorded attack, in 1859
8. They are blind
9. There is an Inuit legend about the first Greenland shark
10. Their conservation status is vulnerable – False, it is near-threatened

I could not find all the information in this article, so I found another viable source, National Geographic.

1. We don’t know much about them as they’re extremely hard to find – True
2. They have one of the longest lifespans in the animal kingdom – True, they are the longest living vertebrate currently known
3. Their meat is toxic – True
4. The shark is one of the largest sharks in the world at up to 7m – True
5. If they hunt, their prey is usually sleeping, however they are normally scavengers – True
6. Scientists have found prey like moose, polar bear, and reindeer in their stomachs – True it is believed the prey fell through the ice
7. They don’t pose a threat to people – True, they are barely ever seen by humans and there has only been one recorded attack, in 1859 and the only evidence, a human leg in the stomach was never confirmed as true
8. They are blind – True, they are mostly blind due to a parasite
9. There is an Inuit legend about the first Greenland shark
10. Their conservation status is vulnerable – False, it is near-threatened

So, in conclusion this article was almost entirely true, with the only false fact being their conservation status. I also found that some of the information in one of the trusted sources was not entirely true. It is very important to check multiple sources because of this. This was a good exercise in information gathering and fact checking, and I learned about a new animal. That’s all for today, goodbye everyone!

Sources:

Greenland Shark Facts

https://www.britannica.com/animal/Greenland-shark

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/facts/greenland-shark