After attending this weeks’ geography class, I have found the concept of tsunami early warning system in tectonic environments of earthquakes and the need to regulate consumption of fossil fuels is an interesting topic to discuss in this short assignment. To start with, earthquakes have become common occurrence across the globe, the most recent and worthy noting being the disastrous magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake in Haiti which killed and injured over 600,000 people (Boyle, 2010). From the discussion, it is clear that earthquakes are mostly associated with plate boundaries and extreme seismic activities take place along the convergence lithospheric plate boundaries (Strahler, and Foresman, 2012). This process is responsible for the majority of the earthquakes in areas such as Japan and Central America. Having visited many earthquake prone areas such as Alaska, it is clear that, the most of the residents hardly understand why their areas are more prone to earthquakes, while early warning system plays a significant role in this area. For instance, on March 11, 2011, hundreds of thousands of lives were saved along the coastal region of Honshu, Japan, after people heeded to the early tsunami warning system in this area. Generally, there is the need for residents in the coastal regions to seek higher grounds whenever there is an earthquake as this usually triggers tsunami.
The other concept I have found interesting is the need to control consumption of fossil fuels. It is evident that, despite the fossils fuels having accumulated for over millions of years, the current rate of consumption by the industrial society are alarming. As a result of dependency in this commodity, it is becoming scarce as well as costly (Strahler and Foresman, 2012).
As witnessed in major cities such as Beijing, China, and New Delhi, India, overreliance in fossil fuels has had devastating effects such as poor visibility, rapidly changing weather patterns among other effects resulting from greenhouse gases. Therefore, there is the need for governments and stakeholders to advocate for greener energies for our planet to be sustainable (Strahler, and Foresman, 2012).
