Introduction
Morro Bay is a beachfront town in San Luis Obispo County, California. It is located along the central coast of California, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. According to the United States Census Bureau (n.d.), the 2010 census reported that Morro Bay had a population of 10,234. Moreover, the 2010 census reported that the total population was composed of 4.4% of persons under 5 years of age, 15.0% of persons under 18 years of age and 23.7% of persons 65 years of age and over. The top three industries in Morro Bay are: “transportation and warehousing; travel, hospitality and tourism; retail and wholesale trade” (Simply Hired n.d.). The companies offering the most jobs in Morro Bay are Gordon Trucking, Cedar Rapids Steel Transport Expedited, and Taco Bell. The per capita income in Morro Bay in 2010 was $31, 899 (Neighborhood Scout, n.d.). Education statistics represent the highest level of education achieved by residents in Morro Bay. In Morro Bay, 8% of residents 18 and over graduated from high school while 31% of residents accomplished a Bachelor’s
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degree or higher degree ("Morro Bay, CA - Lifestyle and Demographics," 2015). Morro Bay’s unemployment rate is 5.3% and 12.4% of residents are living in poverty ("Morro Bay, California," 2015). Environmental Issues The two main environmental issues in Morro Bay are flooding and the possible obliteration of nuclear power plant caused by an earthquake.
Due to the changing climate and rising sea levels, Morro Bay is prone to flooding. According to City of Morro Bay (n.d.), the greatest damage occurred during the 1969 storm. The floods caused substantial damage to telephone, electric and gas lines, water wells and bridges. The total damage caused by 1969 storm related flooding was $1,476 million (Alluvial Fan Task Force, n.d.). The 1969 flooding was blamed at poor drainage systems. Currently, Morro Bay has taken steps to maintain, repair and evaluate drainage systems within the community to prevent damage caused by flooding. The city of Morro Bay has employed flood control program which maintains all storm drain facilities and creeks on public property and manages emergency response during heavy
rainstorms. The Morro Bay nuclear power plant was constructed in the 1950’s and was a major manufacturer of electrical power. In 2014, the nuclear power plant was shut down as it was not economically feasible and less efficient than modern power plants. The Morro Bay nuclear power plant is not dismantled and contains tons of radioactive hazardous materials. Morro Bay is situated in a seismically active area. The San Andreas Fault located 41 miles away from Morro Bay can produce an earthquake of 8.0 to 8.5 in the future (City of Morro Bay, n.d.). Due to strong ground shaking from an earthquake, the damage to the Morro Bay nuclear plant can be similar to the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. During an earthquake, if hazardous materials such as radioactive cesium is released into the environment, it can potentially cause human mortality and damage to the ecosystem. The chemicals released from a nuclear power plant can linger in the environment for a long period of time. Moreover, exposure to radioactive chemicals such as cesium 137 can cause various types of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and infertility (Environmental Protection Agency, 2012). As of now, the future plans of the Morro Bay nuclear plant are undetermined. Stores The two main shopping centers located in Morro Bay are Central Coast mall and Madonna Plaza shopping center. Residents usually go to these shopping centers to shop for clothing, pet supplies and house appliances. These two shopping centers have various types of stores such as Kohl’s, Sears, Best Buy and Ralph’s grocery store. The main neighborhood stores are Lucky’s, Spencer’s Fresh Markets, Del Mar Market and Whole Foods Market. Local residents go to neighborhood stores after work hours to purchase produce. To travel to shopping centers, residents drive their cars. Those who live close to neighborhood stores simply walk. However, people who live far away from the neighborhood stores either drive their cars or take buses. It was observed that most of the neighborhood stores were mainly located in lower middle class working neighborhoods. Also, it was noted that the main trucking companies such as Royal trucking, F Bento trucking and Derek’s hauling are located in the outskirts of the city. Race/Ethnicity During the drive through, mostly Caucasian residents were seen in the community. The upper middle class neighborhoods are dominated by Caucasians while the lower middle class neighborhoods are subjugated by the Hispanics. According to the United States Census Bureau (n.d.), 87.1% of residents living in Morro Bay are white alone, 0.4% are African American, 0.9% are American Indian, 2.5% are Asian, 0.1% are Native Hawaiian and 14.9% are Hispanic or Latino. 17.17% of the Morro Bay population is of Hispanic ethnicity and 82.83% of the population is of Non-Hispanic ethnicity (Community, Luxury and Residential Search, 2012). The most common language spoken in Morro Bay is English followed by Spanish. Los Osos Mexican market was the main market where most Latinos bought their groceries. Recently, the Los Osos Mexican market was permanently closed. Throughout the whole community many Mexican restaurants can be found. Most of these Mexican restaurants are located in the lower middle class neighborhoods. In the whole community only two Asian markets named New Asian gourmet and Sushiya were discovered. Both the Asian markets and the Asian restaurants are located in upscale neighborhoods of Morro Bay. During the windshield survey, five catholic churches were located. Most Latinos living in Morro Bay are catholic and attend these churches. There is only one private school named Central Coast Montessori preschool in Morro Bay and majority of its students are Caucasian. Most of the Latino children are enrolled in public schools.
Case study: the flooding that occurred in Minden Hills in the spring of 2013, flooded the downtown core. The picturesque cottage town has the Gull River flowing through it. The river overflowed in April because of many reasons: a couple of days of rain, the third largest amount in over a century, but it also happened because the frost in the ground stopped the water from going into the Earth, the lakes and rivers being full from the spring thaw, and the rapid
Semaphore is a classic Adelaide beach supporting many facilities. However, this would not be the case if coastal management was not put into progress. Coastal management is a way of supporting the world’s coasts, by using many techniques from construction of structures in which prevents wave energy from reaching the shore to planned strategies. Factors of this includes; rising sea levels, erosion, long and short term drift, sand movement and marine biology. The importance of coastal management is quite significant as it will help to prevent coastal erosion. In addition to this, without coastal management the world will be affect economically, environmentally as well as socially. Without the strategies involving the management of the coast,
For many years now scientists and researchers have been paying their attention to the bay. Millions of dollars and hundreds of hours have been spent to return the bay to its glory. However, with all that has been done the bay is still in danger and the work is no where near complete. In 2005 the bay's health was evaluated at a “D”. (Chesapeake Bay Restoration)
Authorities at LSU's Hurricane Center and Water Resources Research Institute, and US Army Corps of Engineers lead a discussion of how Louisiana's coastal region is doomed to storm surges. A case in point is the deterioration of the Mississippi Delta, a triangular-shaped deposition of sediment, which works to mitigate flooding and damage caused by storm surges. In fact, every four miles of the delta could knock down a storm surge by one foot. Unfortunately, some areas of the delta like Port Fouchon are losing 40 to 50 feet of land per year. By 2090, experts at LSU have postulated that the delta will be gone - vulnerably leaving New Orleans on the sea. Aside from the delta, barrier islands and marshes are the only other two natural entities which could mitigate a storm surge. The barrier islands' black mangrove trees and the marshes' tall grasses interfere with incoming gulf currents. However, just like the Mississippi Delta, these natural entities are also eroding (Fischetti, 2001).
By August 28, evacuations were underway across the region. That day, the National Weather Service predicted that after the storm hit, “most of the [Gulf Coast] area will be uninhabitable for weeks…perhaps longer.” New Orleans was at particular risk. Though about half the city actually lies above sea level, its average elevation is about six feet below sea level–and it is completely surrounded by water. Over the course of the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers had built a system of levees and seawalls to keep the city from flooding. The levees along the Mississippi River were strong and sturdy, but the ones built to hold back Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Borgne and the waterlogged swamps and marshes to the city’s east and west were much less reliable. Even before the storm, officials worried that those levees, jerry-built atop sandy, porous, erodible soil, might not withstand a massive storm surge. Neighborhoods that sat below sea level, many of which housed the city’s poorest and most vulnerable people, were at great risk of
This may be a common trend in every large city if more hurricanes strike. Urban development in almost all cities in America has made flooding worse than it should be. The creation of buildings, asphalt, concrete, and other things have eliminated much of the grass in the cities, which will cause less rainwater to be absorbed into the ground. Although most major cities have rain drainage channels, Houston may not have had enough of them, which caused them to fill up with water. The water had nowhere to go except on the streets. The city of Houston avoided floodplains. The floodplains that were present in Houston were often ignored by construction companies. These companies chose to build houses on the floodplains. This is discussed in this quote by Sean Breslin, “In the months following Hurricane Harvey, Houstonians face an important decision: respect the floodplain and stop building homes wherever, or continue to ignore the lessons taught by countless flood events and build more homes in the most vulnerable areas of town” (Breslin n. pag). I feel that if the civilians and building companies in Houston would have respected the floodplains years earlier, fewer lives would have been lost in this hurricane. Coral reefs provide excellent coastline protection which slows the hurricane just before landfall. The death of coral reefs also could have played a large role in why the hurricane was so
In modern times Oakland is known as the main metropolitan city in the East Bay. The city possesses 3 professional sports teams, which have a population of just below 400,000. Oakland is also the 3rd largest metropolitan city in the Bay Area behind San Jose, and San Francisco.( Encyclopedia Britannica ) The city mayor is the ex Governor of California Jerry Brown. Located in Alameda County Oakland’s area consists of a total square mileage of 78.2 miles, of which 56.1 miles is land, and the latter consisting of water.( Encyclopedia Britannica ) Oakland also possesses the 3rd largest seaport on the west coast.
The category 3 storm changed the lives of the residence who lived there forever. The storm in combination with the fault of the man-made flood protection walls (levee’s) resulted in the death of at least 1,300 people (1). With nearly half the victims over the age of 74, deaths were caused by; drowning, injury/ trauma and heart conditions (2). Hurricane Katrina was one of the most costliest storms to land on American soil, costing around US$135 billion in damages (3). Although the number of deaths caused by Hurricane Katrina are not as high as other natural disasters, Katrina displaced a massive amount of people from their homes, around 85% of the population were displaced directly after the storm hit (6). Being one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the United States, Hurricane Katrina impacted not only the residence of New Orleans by also many of the surrounding
On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast of the United States. The storm was measured as a category three hurricane which had reached winds of approximately one hundred and forty miles per hour. The storm had initially measured almost four hundred miles across affecting the areas of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Of these three affected areas, Louisiana contained the largest amount of damage; however, one city in particular suffered the greatest damage and was the primary focus of this disaster. That was the city of New Orleans. The city of New Orleans was at an incredibly high risk for a few reasons. One reason was that New Orleans was surrounded by significant bodies of water. Each of these bodies of water had contained levees that were built in the twentieth century, where some were stronger than others. Those levees that were not built properly held the greatest risk of being breached and causing treacherous flooding as well. Another factor included New Orleans being located below sea level, which had included the “city’s poorest and most vulnerable pe...
The Chesapeake Bay is a very large estuary that holds more than eighteen trillion gallons of water (“The Bay Watershed”). This large estuary is part of six of the different states of Maryland, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia (“Chesapeake Bay Program”). Some characteristics of the bay are salinity, temperature, and circulation. The bay watershed is home to seventeen million people and gains more people each year, so it is no wonder why there are pollution problems (“Chesapeake Bay Program”). The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States and is diverse with life. Though the bay is filled with life, it faces many problems caused by humans.
Most of this region’s history meshes with the history of the Delmarva Peninsula. Originally, when the English colonies were established, it was and the original focal point at the time, Chesapeake Bay, were part of the Virginia colony. However, the term Eastern Shore became a more common term to use because of everything was to the east of the peninsula.
New Orleans flooding risks originated from its location characteristics in proximity of Mississippi River. Since its foundation up to 1927, New Orleans water and flooding threats originated from Mississippi River but human activities had contained this by 1930s. Regrettably, this led to additional water problems. Accordingly, the critical changes to the New Orleans environment originating from the human development worsened the water problems in area caused by the floods. In particular, the growth in ...
DESCRIBE THE STRATEGIC CONTEXT IN WHICH QUINTANA SHOULD JUDGE MUSIMUNDO’S PERFORMANCE. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENVIRONMENT THAT MUSIMUNDO COMPETES IN? WHAT ARE PEGASUS’ STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES FOR MUSIMUNDO? HOW DO THESE FACTORS AFFECT THE BUDGETING PROCESS?
Prevention is necessary to control many problems in the Chesapeake Bay. Prevention can range from something as big as a government issue or as small as a single person helping out. The greatest chance at total protection for water quality is when many people and organizations work together to prevent problems. According to the Chesapeake Bay Program, “Federal, state and non-profit Bay Program partners are working with farmers, developers, homeowners and local governments to reduce pollutants from multiple sources and restore water quality for all to enjoy” (Chesapeake Bay Program).
More heavy downpours may increase the likelihood of property damage, travel delays, and disruption in services. Sediment runoff and erosion may clog reservoirs and reduce storage capacity. Local governments may invest in new infrastructure to prevent contamination and protect water resources. Disruptions in barge traffic along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers have already occurred. Changes in the Great Lakes are less clear, but water level decline may force reductions in the weight of cargo shipments and diminish the usability of coastal infrastructure, such as docks and