Blog #4

The past week and a half we have been discussing platectonics and the movement of the plates within our earth. Growing up in the Bay Area, we were constantly reminded about the possibilities of having "the big one" and what that can do to the state and it's economy and how many people can possibly be injured in such a catastrophic event. Living in Fremont, we had two major faults run straight through our city. The Hayward fault, runs through the south part of the city and actually runs right underneath the police station. While, the San Andreas fault runs through the western part of the city. Fremont can be a major spot for an earthquake because of this. Living in Sacramento, we are virtually in an earthquake safe zone because of the hills between the valley and the faults. However, this doesn't mean that we may not feel some of the tremor if the earthquake was large enough.
Overall, the state of California is highly vulnerable to an earthquake, because the mass part of it's population and sources of economy live along the entire coast from San Diego to San Francisco. This means that we need to take major precautions in how we design our buildings, homes, bridges and overall infestrucure in California. This is a main reason why the Bay Bridge has continually been worked on since early September, in order to maintain the highest safety standards, but we truly won't know how well any of our infestructure can withstand one, until that "big one" really occurs.

Blog #3

I went back home to the bay area this last weekend. I noticed the difference in the air quality and smog along with the level of humidity and moisture in the air. When I first arrived in the bay, I noticed how the air was fresher because of the constant bay breeze coming through the shore. I also noticed the intensity of the sun is a lot less extreme. This was difficult to adjust back to after living in Sacramento for over a year now. When it hit night time the fog began to roll in. Now I have lived in Sacramento for long enough to get adjusted the the climate out here. I noticed the fog is still thicker in Sacramento, but it only shows up in the winter times unlike the bay area where it is there year round. I also noticed a difference in the air also. When the breeze comes in, in the bay area it is a cool refreshing breeze. While Sacramento and the entire valley is more of a frozen and nippy wind. This has been one thing that has taken some time to adjust. Last winter I got sick constantly because I was not used to wearing many layers during winter. In the bay area I wore shorts and long sleeve shirts during winter and was just fine.