Blog 3: The Environment. Read the article below. Since this is so extensive, let's divide the writing up.
Choose two topics and write a minimum of 100 words for each. Then respond to two other people for each. By Thursday, you should have a total of six responses posted.
Remember Friday is your in-class midterm. If you anticipate being out, make sure you take this before hand.
Edward Flattau.Environmental newspaper columnist
Posted: January 13, 2011 .Environmental Futurecast: Six Pressing Environmental Challenges
The foremost environmental issues in the coming year revolve around air pollution, especially the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions that serve as a catalyst for global warming. But what about the longer view? What are the most pressing environmental challenges facing humanity for the duration of the 21st Century?
There are six that made my list.
Climate Change: This category includes the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning in stationary and mobile sources. The objective is to slow and eventually stabilize global warming, thereby mitigating drastic climate fluctuations and rising sea levels that would cause havoc. Success in controlling the increase of carbon dioxide concentrations and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would also help to curb the acidification of the oceans and destruction of coral reefs.
Energy Transition: This is closely related to climate change and involves gradually replacing polluting finite fossil fuels (like coal and oil) with clean renewable energy such as solar, wind , biomass, and if scientists can ever figure it out, nuclear fusion. Transportation is a subheading here, as we try to shift automobiles (and other modes of travel) away from dependency on oil to a reliance on cleaner natural gas, hydrogen, and in the distant future, perhaps solar power.
Family Planning: This relates to stabilizing the human population through education, contraception, and spacing of births that history shows lead to smaller family size. The idea is to avert population exceeding the capacity of the planet's natural resource base to provide us with an adequate food supply.
Land Use Planning: Under this category, I would include preservation of the earth's remaining biodiversity, wetlands, and prime agricultural acreage. Restoration of degraded natural resources, where possible, would be an important subheading. So would creating livable cities by providing potable water, sustainable clean energy delivery systems, adequate housing, and ample open green space while eliminating sprawl.
Reducing Global Poverty: This scourge jeopardizes a healthy sustainable relationship between human beings and the earth's biological life support system on which we all depend. Desperation is the enemy of conservation. Poverty can be effectively combated through universal education (that leads to societal stability), technology transfer from developed to developing countries, and a modest redistribution of wealth through foreign aid that is structured as a hand up, not a handout.
Preventing the introduction and reducing the presence of industrial produced toxic chemicals in the environment: Effective regulation, technological innovation that provides benign substitutes to toxic chemicals, and rigorous enforcement play pivotal roles in cleansing a global environment plagued by widespread manmade pollution.
I think that just about covers it.
Willie Jones III
ReplyDeleteI believe that energy transitions is taking us along time to shift over to. Even when we know that we are destroying earth with our pollution. Relying on cars and oil ran machines is making us destroy beautiful places and turning them into oil drilling spots. It’s also gotten us in war at times. Instead of wasting our money trying to discover stupid things which I think we do a lot we need to put more time and effort in trying to create machines that run off natural gases and in the future hopefully solar power. To make our earth last longer so we can continue to live on it and not harm it.
Willie Jones
ReplyDeleteOver the years or history as times go by families sizes has decrease. I think that families will remain average in smaller size families. I don’t ever think we will get to the point of everybody will have a huge family because there are not a lot of stay home mothers any more, mothers and fathers are working full times jobs , and living period is becoming a lot more expensive. The dollars is becoming less and less as time goes by. It’s becoming harder to put food on the table so it wouldn’t be smart to have a ton of kids because you might not be able to provide for them. Also natural resources like water are going to decrease over time.
Energy Transition:
ReplyDeleteI think that is one of the really good ideas to help the environment, especially the transportation related ideas. I saw a commercial for this new car that you plug into the wall. There are a few different models that all work about the same but one example is the Chevrolet Volt which can be charged in about 4 to 10 hours and run for about 375 miles. This car is much more environment friendly, less pollution, and it is more friendly on your wallet because you will spend less money on gas in the long run.
Family Planning:
The writer of this article makes a good point when it comes to family planning. If people weren’t having kids so often then there would be less of a demand for food. Almost all food has to go through some kind of machine or factory to make it “store ready.” If we can cut down the amount of food that needs to be produced then we can reduce all the emissions and pollution from the factories and machinery being used to produce these things. So if there were smaller families, it would obviously reduce the population which would be good for the environment. With smaller families we reduce the risk of running out of natural resources necessary for the survival of humans.
Willie Jones III
ReplyDeleteI think Taaqia is right about the new automobiles that run off of electricity is way friendlier to the environment. It also can help people especially with this economic crisis time with paying less gas money or even have to pay for gas. Less pollution is our man drive for changing machines that run off of oil. Which will eventually destroy planet earth if we don’t progress these automobiles or machines ran off of oil. When you really think about it people travel everyday a lot , these new plug in cars might lead to more family time at home and less ripping and running outside the house.
Family planning:
ReplyDeleteThis makes a lot of sense to me. I think that if people plan their families instead of randomly have children; it would be enough supplies available for them in the future. I think this because when people have unplanned children, it’s normally a surprise. They didn’t plan the child, so they most likely don’t have the available resources they need to provide for the child like they need to. Also if their spaced a certain amount of time apart, it will also become easier for you to take care of them and give them the correct amount of attention they need. I noticed that when children are born close together, the youngest one seems to get most of the attention; therefore, it will be best if they are space out. Contraception is a great idea as well. Why have a baby if your not ready or able to take care of it. That’s where contraception comes in.
Energy transition:
I think the idea of using environmentally friendly sources of energy is great. It’s healthier for the planet and us as well. If we use better resources, we can prevent the disappearance of our natural resources such as oil, and use a substitute that is better in the long run any ways. If we use alternate energy sources we can promote cleanliness and prevent global warming as well. If we have a cleaner environment, I think that it will eliminate a lot of illness that we have in the world. I think that using hydrogen would be best, because it’s so abundant and it’s clean. Solar power would be great as well, because we will never run out of solar energy, at least not any time soon.
Willie Jones III
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the family planning article I didn’t think about machinery and factories work is one of our main pollution. I took a way difference approach. Taaqia has enlightened me on this subject t and I do agree with her on her response. She is right about if people reduced their family sizes then less food will have to be produced which will decreased the pollution. Which will save our natural resources, which we need to survive on earth. We should try to all do this so we can help our world survive longer and take apart of saving our natural resources.
In response to family planning I think that idea is absolutely absurd. So your going to try to limit how many people can and will have. You would need loads of contraception to do that. You’ve got the wrong generation to even attempt that on. Sex has become like a fad in today’s generation. Beyond that, it is going to lead to a host of other conflicts. Like is contraception a form of abortion, or the religious idea that God’s will determines how many children one will have and by using any form of birth control or contraception is altering God’s plan for you etc. Also how can you truly determine how many resources there are and how many people it can support. Different people consume different types and amounts of resources.
ReplyDelete-Nautica Lawrence
On Climate Change:
ReplyDeleteGlobal Warming is an issue that we need to focus on. I personally don’t understand how people can still deny its existence when the signs are so clear. It is a lot more than just climate fluctuations (which are an important part). There is a high risk that comes with rising sea levels. We are already seeing the beginning of powerful floods and their effects. But it can and will get much worse if we don’t take measures to stabilize climate change. Whole islands could disappear; we could lose part of California (just an example). We also need to focus on controlling carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It seems to me there are simple solutions with multiple benefits. Here’s one-save trees. Planting more trees and saving the rainforest can seriously decrease the carbon dioxide as well as providing resources for that region.
Response to Willie Jones III:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Willie. Family size has decreased over the course of history. I agree with you that the fact that there isn’t many stay at home mothers anymore. The cost of living has increased majorly. So, people have to work to provide for their families. They don’t have the time to stay home and take care of more they I would say three kids. I think that if the cost of living went down, people would consider having larger families, because then, they would be able to support their families.
Response to Willie Jones III:
This comment is so true. I do think that people are taking a long time to transition over to natural energy sources, knowing that we are ruining our planet. I would think that people would put efforts into transitioning, when they know the harm their doing to the world. The comment about the war is true as well. If the government spent more time on transitioning, rather than going in to territories that is not ours, to get oil. It’s ridiculous and just causes problems. I think the costs of making things that run off of natural gases will be cheap. I also think that they will save people money.
Energy Transition
ReplyDeleteThe dependency on oil, coal, and other fossil fuels has led to more problems than just hurting the environment. Oil is only found in some parts of the world. It has to be shipped everywhere else. The prices has been raised in the last few years and it is a burden on people. Also we are eating our way through the resources. Eventually we will run out and be forced to find other sources of energy. It would be better if we made the shift to wind power and solar power now.
Family Planning
Millions of species have died out over the history of the world. The human death rate is lower than the birth rate and our population is increasing. We have been using up the earths resources and not thinking about what the next generation will do. For example burning through all the fossil fuels. We as a species do not want to get to a point where the earth can no longer support us. Contraception and spacing births can help stabilize the population.
Shanay Baxter
ReplyDeleteFamily planning is huge issue in our society and households. Over populated families, causes for more space, money and care. For those individuals who don’t plan their pregnancy it is a large problem for them, because they may not be prepared for parenthood and the patience and time it takes to care for a child. I agree with this statement because when more children are brought into the world it makes the food supply a larger problem, either for the family itself or the government. For the parents who have low income but have large families, they most likely get assistance from the government and receive food stamps. When children are born close together, most likely the younger one gets the most attention, as the focus is less off the older child who has to cope with neglect from their parents.
Energy Transition: Using less oil and more natural gases would help to save our environments resources. I feel that with a replacement resource there will be a preservation of expensive sources. With cars, there is always a new idea, shape, or environment friendly, and these are all good things. Natural energy is better to be used, because it helps our environment as we are putting less harm on the world as a whole.
On Energy Transition:
ReplyDeleteFor years everyone has been sitting around talking about how we need to make the transition from high polluting fossil fuels to more environmentally friendly options. Sure scientists are working on it but it is clearly not a top priority to everyone, which it should be. I heard a story on NPR about electronic cars and how many companies are starting to make them, there’s even an electronic Mercedes. Of course they’re very expensive right now but there are still plenty of people trying to get their hands on them. Why can’t they? There is a serious lack of supply. A spokesman for one car company said they only manufactured about 300 of their electronic car last year, so it was very hard to get your hands on one. My question is, why? There is clearly demand from consumers and the environment so why haven’t they increased production? We should be working on multiple replacements for oil and making it the top priority. This is definitely an issue we can’t keep putting off.
I think energy transition is the best way to solve the problem of pollution. I think it would be very reasonable to strike the things that most effect the environment like oil and other fossil fuels. I think it is the most smooth and adjustable method that would also limit further issues in other areas. Because a lot of times in attempt to fix one thing other problems will come up such as with family planning or reducing global poverty. Energy transition will also aid us in other economic problems such as gas prices. But at the same time too much of a dependency on natural things can also change culture itself because we cant depend on our technological way of life anymore.
ReplyDelete-Nautica Lawrence
Joseph Gleason
ReplyDeleteENERGY TRANSITION
Energy transition is an important issue. The massive use of finite fuels is a factor in several other environmental issues such as air pollution and climate change.
We need new ways to power our cities and homes. The is no “Silver bullet” when it comes to this. Hydro electric power disrupts rivers, solar at this point is costly and inefficient and nuclear power causes more problems than it solves. Nuclear power creates massive amounts of radioactive waste that requires a lot of resources and money to store and dispose of. By investing in building cheaper more efficient solar panels and by offering subsidies and tax breaks for new “Green” power projects such as wind farms. We can make this transition a viable option.
Energy Transition
ReplyDeleteI feel like scientists are on the cusp of developing these new technologies and that funding should be increased. We have come so far technologically, how come there is not yet a cheap way of producing renewable energy? As far as transportation, what ever happened to those high speed trains? Pollution reduction is not an impossible goal- politicians are just too focused on other issues that hold more heat. I'm hoping that by the time I'm thirty years old, the transportation industry will be completely different and solar panels will have become the norm. It would be amazing if that technology was complete by the time I was at the stage in my life of buying a house.
Have lots of sex be shameless and selfish to the world. use everyone and anyone to your best extent to get what you need. i agree with willy and nautica sorta.
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning
ReplyDeleteI think that family planning has dramatically improved in some parts of the world already. Condoms and birth control have become relatively inexpensive commodities, it is just a matter of making them more easily accessible and convincing certain cultures to embrace them as a means of improving the quality of life for many women and families. There is also a considerable amount of work that needs to be done as far as adoption is concerned- I think many parents would choose to adopt if it wasn't such an expensive process. It's sad to think that their are overcrowded orphanages in China and other countries, yet parents in America and the Western world who want to adopt are unable to do so because the process has become so difficult.
Family Planning:
ReplyDeleteI think that the idea of family planning is a good idea if you are planning to have kids but a large amount of kids would be unplanned and therefore a lot of this idea would not reach every family. I think attempting to try to control the population of families is a bit excessive and even though it may help a bit that’s infringing on issues of the human right to reproduce. Say you want to increase your chances that your family will live on and grow, or that you really like tending to multiple children’s needs, you should be able to enjoy these rights freely, Duh.
I think the Land use issue has alot to do with the issue of family planning. If the idea of family planning fails, the population will be more inclined to inhabit new spaces due to overspacing and overcramping. Even though i do agree that the environment should be preserved in the few places left in which it may be, overcramping and overspacing is a serious issue that we as the human race have had to deal with in the past and i think that the ramifications of conserving ourselves to a single space could be detrimental to our health as individuals and as a society.
Joseph Gleason
ReplyDeleteFAMILY PLANING
The issue the author brings up that he calls “Family Planning” sounds eerily like the notorious “One Child law” that china created in 1979 and is still in effect today. A similar policy in the U.S. would mark a decent into an authoritarian 1984-esque government.
Do not write me off just yet. Family planning is important part of razing happy well-adjusted children. We as a society need to educate parents and teens about the responsibilities of razing a child. Putting a limit on how many children one can have and how fast in immoral and wrong. Through education and advice allowing parents to make informed decisions is an important step towards having a generation of responsible parents which is far more important and effective than a limit on the number of children.
Response to Taaqia family planning:
ReplyDeleteI agree. All these different issues interact with one another, and it seems like improving upon one issue improves upon others as well. Family planning would also help fight poverty as well as pollution issues. You only run into problems when it comes to families who have more kids so that the kids can support the families. Improved worldwide medical care would make it so that there were less disabled adults. It's a confusing interchangeable system
To Justin:
ReplyDeleteJustin, you smart. I'm all like sex them up, who cares? and your like yeah so i agree with you.
On Climate change i love big v8 SS chevelle's, so more or less i hope to build one up and spend thousands of dollars a week on gas. an engines purr is more important to me than a womans touch, which is why i beleive green house gases should be limited just not to me. i can understand a car enthusiasts love of driving a well built machine which may hold more sentimental value to him or her than a house or pet. i also see the opinion to save the world. In a attack on myself engines such as the K20 V-Tech provide more power in sum cases than v6 and v8 motors using a fraction of the fuel dispersing a fraction of the emissions.
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning:
ReplyDeleteIf people do do some kind of planning, that would make this world more organized and put everything into a system. But some people won't follow through with this. some people just dont really care about overpopulating the world or they just dont do a good job of trying to subside it. just live you life.
Energy Transition:
Personally, i think that we could actually do this, but it will take longer than it has so far. people are skeptical about driving electric cars and some want to actually drive faster than a prius. yes, it would be beneficial for everyone and to the planet, plus make the world better, environmentally. but it will just take another couple of years.
Family Planning:
ReplyDeleteThis is starting to become a major issue with countries, like China and India. What gets in the way with trying to control population is religion and common sense. Certain religions honor having many kids and don’t practice contraception or the spacing of births.
Religion aside, there is a major lack of common sense in our modern society. We cannot just keep having babies because the age of most deaths is increasing with new medicines and cures for diseases. People are always having babies, and the only fault is theirs for getting into whatever situation they did. If the world wants to stabilize population to conserve resources, set religion aside, take educational classes about common sense, and only then will we be able to get a hold of this issue.
Energy Transition:
This serious issue dates back to industrial revolution times and the 1950s when the world “didn’t care” about what we did to our environment; our economies boomed and we didn’t care about what we were doing to ourselves. This matter is always being overlooked due to major Republican opposition and ignorance because if the oil companies and coal refineries shut down, they know that they will lose money and they will never have that feeling of being rich anymore. Suck it up, Republicans. There is no way to break the mentality that these people have, even if we passed laws about energy conservation and switching to cleaner fuels and sources of energy. To make a long story short, we can fight this battle all we want, but it will never be won because of the idiotic ways of the Republicans.
climate changing
ReplyDeleteI think that this issue is a huge problem in our world. Although some people dont believe that global warming is an actually problem, it is. All of the crazy natural disasters aren't coincidences, they are from our planet getting warmer because of the pollution in the atmosphere. With the glaicers melting, the sea is rising and therefore there is more water in the water cycle, making participation happen more and more often, and in much more extreme condiditions. One example of this is the flooding in Austrlia, as they have been getting so much rain that it has no place to go. We might be doomed because too much damage is done, but I think we should create awareness and hopefully there will be some solution to climate changes.
Family Planning
Over all, I think that family planning has improved over the world. People have more opprotunity to have sexual education and learn about how to take care of their family. However, i think that family situations are lacking a lot of basic interactions, espacially with the technology enhancements that we live through. Children are often watching tv or playing computer games when they should be socializing with their family members, and yes this is the age we are in, but I think that it is important for these interactions to take place so that people have the ability to be a part of a family that isnt just united by blood, but by interactions and similarities. Throughout the past 50 years or so, families have lost a lot of their closeness to technology, and I think it is important that they regain it.
I agree with medina in her statement that we are eating through our national resources as well as Taquias opinion that it is a burden on the pockets of us all to keep forking out cash for fossil fuels.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Shaniqua Energy Transition
ReplyDeleteYes it defineatley seems like these new sources of energy would be a lot better for the environment. They also seem a lot cleaner, there is no pollution when you depend upon water and air to power your world. It seems a lot more natural. It seems that there is probably some better way of harnessing these energies yet that hasn't been discovered
Linh Truong
ReplyDeleteEnery Transition
Energy transition is clearly the way to go if we want to reduce our negative impact on the environment. If we substitute coal and oil with cleaner energy if many take some time to completely transition but at least it happens. Our reliance on coal and oil shouldn’t be as necessary nowadays since we’ve been given better options and these options need to be looked at more. If we feel the need to drive or use other technologies, solar and wind energy is the best way to do so without plaguing the environment for human’s convenience. It’s great that scientists are figuring out ways to make energy cleaner and more renewable. Eventually humankind will figure out better and more efficient ways to cope with the problems they are causing the environment.
In response to Justin:
ReplyDeleteA Woman's touch? That's a bit arrogant. They can drive a well built machine but they have to find a different way to run it. It's not going to get 720BHP but it'll get you from point A to point B. And that little bit on sex, use what little common sense people have. Dig deep and find it.
Personally, from watching a TV show on conspiracy theories I do not in any way shape or form believe that the global climate is getting in fact warmer. Some might disagree but since this ‘scare’ the government put on us claiming that we should buy greener products came about, the winters have been just as hash if not harsher in the northern united states, even in some southern stated there have been more times where snow has shown up in more southern states. This should make people wonder “If the world is getting warmer, why is it snowing more often in Georgia?”. The Utah House of Representatives had a debate with local scientist after some republican political activists put out an article referring to global warming as a conspiracy; there reasoning is because there is so little evidence of it (which is why we hear the same examples of temperature rising over the years). There has a been a debate since November of 2009 because some scientist say that the climate of the range of years has not changed, but actually stayed pretty consistent. As soon as politics and science come together we should expect it to be suspect or foul play, this global warming scare is only used to control what we buy, and change our mindset do they can industrialize products differently.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Nautica
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with you at all. In China they are already attempting to control the population using the one-child policy. Families are allowed to have two children only if the parents themselves are both only children. There is clearly overpopulation there, and the pollution is horrible as well. I think there are many women around the world who wish they had birth control but are trapped because they can't afford it. Of course they love their children, but I imagine many women feel tremendous depression bringing a baby into the world and knowing that they can not provide a good life for it. In our society there is a lot of teen pregnancy, but just because girls have babies young doesn't mean they are going to be stuck having 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 because they can't say no to their husband or are raped or can't afford contraception. We take things like condoms for granted in our society.
I think anyone should be allowed to have as many children as they want, but they should also have the ability to prevent unwanted pregnancy as well.
In response to Linh:
ReplyDeleteBy the time humankind realizes that going green is the way to go, this planet will be screwed over and we'll be too dumb to get the point that we should conserve.
Energy Transition is definitely needed to prevent the further damage to the environment that’s already been caused. Even though I strongly feel like this needs to be done I feel like no matter what that we will not stop depending on Fossil fuels and other oils to run our country. Oil is infinite and it’s the main source of power right now the transit from that to solar power will take a great amount of time and persuasion because many people even with interest to better the economy can’t afford to have such a transition or want to change from what they are already used to doing in their daily lives that include these oils. Fossil fuels and oils will continue to run our country in my generation and the next generation before it may be fully established in the economy.
ReplyDeleteMolly Howe:
ReplyDeletePoverty article: I agree with this article, the whole idea of education to help people out of poverty and tough situiations is much better than giving out hand outs because with hand outs the government will end up having to continually give out money for them. With hand-outs the people won't be able to stay out of poverty but even if they were able to get out of poverty they will eventually slip back into it because without education they will not be able to hold a substantial job and support themselves and families. Malcolm X was a stronger believer that to escape from slavery, blacks needed to have an education. I think that it's also important that 'developed countries' support 'undeveloped or developing countries' but the developed countries (USA) need to be able to support and fix their own country's situation before trying to help others.
Reducing industrial waste:
First off I don't think that all industrail waste can be prevented or eliminated, but laws can help to try to decrease it. I think that this has to go along with the energy transition- because the technology that comes with the energy transition will replace the technology that is now polluted the earth. But, this change will need to start now for it to happen in the next 20-30 years. Global warming has progressed too far for it to be easy for it to be controlled.
Response to Justin
ReplyDeletehover crafts will soon be the NEW cool. so jump on the bandwagon
LOL in response to Vincent's response to Linh I totally agree with you our country is so air headed that they set main priorities on things that should be the least of our problems. I dont think we'll be screwed over by the time they come around but I do that they'll have to invest alot more by the time they do then they would have had to if they began now. But hey by that time i'll cease to exist anyhow so all I can say is good luck on the generations to come!
ReplyDeleteResponse to Family Planning:
ReplyDeleteEducation, Contraception, and Spacing of births. Our planet is becoming over populated and abusing the planets resources without giving it enough time to recuperate. I think a major part of this is issue is the rise in teen-pregnancy, babies having babies is offsetting the natural balance of lives and death; too many generations are using the world at the same time. There are too many great-Grandmothers who are only in there 50’s. I believe if youth received sex education earlier in life they would be more aware of the risks and recognize that not only are they not ready to start a new generation but the environment is exceeding their capacity.
Response to Global Poverty:
The world needs to recognize that poverty in other areas affects them a lot more than they think it does. I personally would much rather to be doing okay and have my neighbors doing the same than to be doing extremely well and have my neighbors doing extremely poorly. If we as a world united are doing ok than together we can all begin to do better. If we remain separated by such a large margin then we will remain unchanged at that top with no hope of moving forward at all until the rest of the world crumbles beneath us.
The challenges presented by Edward Flattau are very interesting and it makes wonder whether which of these possible solutions would be easier to accomplish than the rest. They all seem like they will take a lot of time, organization and cooperation from the world community. It is also interesting to me that of these six there are some ideas that would be trying to fix something that we have already created such as poverty and then there are also solutions that are completely new such as the biomass and nuclear fusion. Our mistakes will take a toll on the entire world we live in hopefully we can focus on making positive changes instead having to fix what has already been destroyed.
ReplyDeleteReducing Global Poverty: The effects of poverty are all over the news, in newspapers, and in documentaries. Who would think that the answers to all of that are sharing and caring about and for others? If say America was to give some technology, or donate money we could help millions. I do not mean the donating from Opera or other people who are wealthy., this means people who are normal everyday working people who may only be able to spare a little bit just so the wealth in our country can be shared. There is not much money here already but we are way more fortunate then the people in Africa. If everyone in every state, country and nation just reached out to help others instead of having their own hand out for money to be placed in it then maybe just maybe things could be a little better than they are right now.
ReplyDeleteLand Use Planning: Our earth is running out of its many habitats that plants and animals call home. There are certain parks where it is illegal to kill animals or take certain plants, but what are a couple hundred parks (if that) going to do when the rest of the world is changing so fast humans do not have time to react. People need to start preserving what is there what they hold dear what they love. If we started with our cities then worked our way to the uninhabited parts of the world we could slowly but surely make a difference. In under developed countries we could make water and housing with farms or greenhouses people wouldn’t need to travel to get the things they need. Maybe more carpooling and buses or walking/bike trails, so people do not have to rely on a personal car to do what they need or want to do. By doing little things we could change everything and make this place just a little better for ourselves and our children.
In response to Sage:
ReplyDeleteYou are right people have been trying for years to correct some of the things mentioned above, and I do not feel that people really think about the effect their actions have on the world. No one really thinks about how this will impact their children or grandchildren, they just think of the present and how they feel. You are right we did create almost all of our problems and so it is up to us to fix those problems. Maybe people just do not put enough thought into what they want to see happen to us and the world we live in.
In response to viXen's:
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning: My god are you right, every where you look now a days you see a young girl pushing a baby stroller around. The thing is us as kids tend to not listen to the warnings that adults give us so will sex education really work? I think maybe if people's parents played a more active role in their lives there would be less issues with teens getting pregnant. Most teens, not all but most are allowed to do pretty much whatever they please when they want to and maybe that is why kids are getting into things they have no business messing with. That and the infamous statement "There is nothing to do" well maybe if there was something other then parting and acting like they do not have any home training then maybe just maybe our kids would not be so screwed up.
Response to
Global Poverty:
I love reading your posts because they are blunt but true. Everything you said was right if people cared less about how they can improve their lives and looked a how they can help someone with less then we as a whole can do something about the rest of the people. With how our world is now it is like country against country and that will not work against time. Everyone needs to join together to help each other out no more of this you scratch your back you scratch mine. Then can we all truly be happy.
In response to Justin:
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing wrong with the way your looking at things that is your opinion, but you are only looking at the effect on you as a person. You are not thinking about in the future when there is more to consider then just your love of a car. Other people think like that to and if everyone had that attitude then in no time at all things will get worse. Yea i know its great to hear an engie roar and see the mufflur smoke as you drive past someone and to feel the accelerator as your changing gears, but is it worth the horrible lives people after us may have to live so you can have a nice car? Maybe to you but not to everyone.
Response to (other people’s responses on) Family Planning:
ReplyDeleteShaniqua: I agree with you that family planning is a smart solution. I also agree that when a child is a “surprise” the family may not be able to appropriately provide. If a child wasn’t planned the family may not be at all prepared for the child. When a child is planned it is mostly likely at a time when the family is stable, able and ready to support a new life. This will decrease the poverty rate, maybe not significantly but it should have some effect. I also agree that spacing the births of children will be beneficial. If parents have children too close together they might find themselves needing all of the expensive necessities at one time, for example diapers. This could cause financial problems and maybe even end in poverty. Planning families would knock out two global issues at the same time, consumption of natural resources and Global Poverty.
Nautica: I don’t think the writer is trying to force this idea on people. I think what the writer is saying is that through education, contraception and spacing between births the family sizes will decrease. This decrease would help with natural resources because these resources will eventually run out especially if we continue to reproduce at the rate we are now and of course at a higher rate. I don’t think he wants to limit the amount of sex people have either. I agree that this is a generation that is very into sex but I think he just means use better judgment and use contraception to prevent the 49% of unplanned births just in the U.S. alone. But I’m not sure he took into consideration the religious side of this argument.
Response to (other people’s responses on) Energy Transition:
Shaniqua: I agree that switching to different energy sources like solar energy and wind energy would be better for the environment. It is much better for the planet than constantly drilling into the Earth for oil to power most things. You are also right that it is healthier for us because the more we rely on oil to run our machines the more pollution we face. If we use natural sources of energy to power machines, and other objects, it is safer for the environment and the well-being of the human race. Using a substitute is also kind of inevitable at this point because if we continue to use oil as much as we do, our supply with diminish very quickly.
Willie: You are very right when you say it is taking us a long time to convert. We do rely a lot on machines and technology that are run on oil and it does seem to cause a lot of problems. Oil has caused problems in terms of finance and war, like you stated. Also we have known for a while that the pollution is destroying our planet yet haven’t done too much to change it. Other inventions come about so quickly and easily but when it comes to our health and well-being the production is slow. Like you said we need to focus more on the things that will prolong the life of the earth and focus less on all the other things that are not necessary to life.
BY LEAH GARDINER
ReplyDeleteEnergy Transition: I feel that within the next 20 years we will have used up about all of the world’s natural resources. We are using too much at once and the earth can’t keep up with our consumption and as a result our environment is being destroyed. To stop this I believe that we must preserve energy and resources and transition to using things like solar energy. The transition will create less pollution and prevent global warming. If we start now we can hopefully help save our earth for a cleaner, healthier environment for future generations.
Family Planning: Family planning is a huge issue in our world today. Much of the world is way overpopulated and eventually if people keep having kids as much as they do we won’t have enough space, food, and resources to take care of all these people. Many pregnancies aren’t planned and could have been prevented. While in the U.S alone preventing these pregnancies has improved with inexpensive birth control and the raise of awareness to kids in high schools has helped this situation. Hopefully this awareness can spread all throughout the world and as a result less unexpected pregnancies will occur.
Response to Nautica Lawrence:
ReplyDeleteI like how you took a different approach from everybody else who has commented on the energy transition paragraph. I agree that i will help with the economic problems that we have, especially gas because that is a major part of why most people are in the bas circumstances they are in. I also agree that we can't depend on technology anymore. There are other things that we need to focus on such as global warming and the apparent need of a new source of energy. The problems that come from fixing this energy crisis can not be as bad as the crisis itself.
Response to Meredith G.:
ReplyDeleteYou make lots of sense. The government is too focused on the issues that are more heated rather than the ones that will effect us in the long run if their not fixed soon. I don't understand how scientists have developed so much new technology but they haven't developed a new source of energy. i hope to we have a better source of energy by the time i'm thirty and buying a house as well. Therefore, the cost won't be as much as it is now.
Willie Jones III
ReplyDeleteI think Shaniqua is right about family planning needs to become better to not only save our natural resources, but to save ourselves from having surprisingly babies and not being able to support these kids we are having. Damaging their lives because we can’t give them all that they need. Also when children don’t be brought up the best way they should be they usually turn out for the worst in life and its do to the experiences they have encountered during their childhood. If we become more responsibility with our actions and childbirth we will help our world become a better place and save our natural resources we need.
The issue of “family planning,” or at least the way that it’s presented in this article, seems sort of ridiculous. I, personally, have never heard of any parents sitting down and talking about how many months or years there will be in between each child. Additionally, contraceptives are against a bunch of religions, and there are still people that firmly believe that they are wrong. However, I believe that “through education,” as the article states, a better family base could be procured. If children are educated properly and know how to be safe, “family planning” wouldn’t be an issue.
ReplyDeleteEnergy transition is a topic that seems to have diminished over the years. For a while, I heard a lot about using less oil, solar energy and other means of changing the way the world uses energy. I haven’t heard so much of it lately, and I personally think that it’s a simple change. It’s not as if it’s more expensive in the long haul or extremely difficult to transition from polluting oils. Solar and wind energy have been used for years, but never extensively. I think it’s about time for that change.
I agree with Taaquia on energy transition and that seems like a really cool car but it can be an inconvenience to have to charge your car for such a long amount of time specially when people are so forgetful. It’s kind of like a cell phone. How many times have you forgotten to charge it or something just went wrong with the charger. It seems like a nice method but should be improved so that people will actually be willing to use it. There are so many ideas out there to improve the environment through energy transition but the all need to be completely. So I agree with Willie we need to spend more time and money if necessary on research to improve these methods for our environment and for an ultimately better life.
ReplyDelete-Nautica Lawrence
Let's say that Los Angeles has 400 garbage trucks, and the legislature decides to encourage recycling, so it signs a check and pollutes the rivers in the production of 400 more trucks intended strictly for recycling. Now, we have twice the pollution with 800 trucks going about their routes. That doesn't seem to protect the environment.
ReplyDeleteAlso, think about the process of recycling itself: what it takes to recycle that paper. It takes collection, transportation to processing plants, and then bleaching. I'm fairly confident that the bleaching of paper introduces a lot of bad things into the rivers of the world.
But please, let’s clean up one easy thing that some environmentalists often argue: that when people like us use paper, we're depleting the amount of trees on earth. This just isn't true, and it's not that hard to see why. It IS true that humans do use more paper today than ever before, so we are using more trees. But a paper-making company has to get trees, so they’ll have to plant more trees because we need more. They're like other plants; renewable resources, and the only difference is that trees are more abundant than anything else we use. This isn't to say that we should just waste paper for no reason, but if the argument is about trees, we've certainly got them.
The idea of recycling is very honorable, but the actual process is often embarrassingly unhelpful. Nevertheless, most people want to believe that there are far-reaching benefits in doing so. It makes them feel better. Ultimately, that’s fantastic, and if you need to recycle to feel better, then do so. Just don’t think less of someone who might not share your views.
On Energy Transition: This idea of natural and unpolluting fuels covers city power, car power, and personal homes energy efficiency. The moves being made for the switch to renewable energy, I feel, are not moving enough. We need stop lowering gas prices. Yeah, that sounds crazy but if you continue to lower the gas prices, gas becomes more readily available to our millions of drivers. More readily available gas means less of a drive to work towards alternative fuels. We are comfortable where we are, and not really ready for the change.
ReplyDeleteOn our homes and cities, changes are being made but they are too small. These new “swirly energy-saving light bulbs” are really hip right now, but are they really helping? Recycling soup cans and soda bottles is important, but how many Americans take the time to separate the recycling (I know I don’t). Moves are being made towards different sources of energy, but I don’t think the moves are big enough. We’re working to get the earth back in a comfort zone – when we need to be moving out of the comfort zone. Once we are moved, there is room for drastic change.
On Family Planning: The issue for me is moral, and the wants of a family. “Back in the day” having a family with five or six kids was not only accepted, It was the norm. People needed large families to help support each other. Nowadays, the ideal family consists of one or two children. Have these changes been made to deal with our lack of resources, or our lack of need for the extra help.
On averting the population; it’s probobally smart. We are growing too fast and too plenty to keep up with what the earth is producing. I feel this wouldn’t be so much of a problem if our natural resources weren’t being depleted. It all seems to be a soft of clusterfuck. Our population is increasing, the elderly are living longer, and all of our resources and morale is depleting greatly. I can’t say much more on the subject other than that we’ve really screwed ourselves.
In response to Willie:
ReplyDeleteI agree with will, an energy transition is taking way too long. We destroying beautiful places and causing irreversible damage. Ignoring this problem won’t make it go away. People need to realize that eventually we are going to run out of oil, and that day is closer than we’d like to think. Oil has also increased tension between countries. It’s putting stress on global relations and we certainly don’t need to give anyone excuses for war. Bush used so much time and energy fighting to drill oil in Alaska when he could have been sponsoring new sources of energy.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Willie
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning
Family sizes have actually gotten smaller. The average family only has about 3 children. Despite this fact, the number of people of the planet is increasing. People may be able to provide for their own family, but soon the earth will not be able to support us. The amount of waste we make as a population will become too much. There already isn’t clean water available to everyone. There are too many people and we need to regulate what we do to the earth.
Response to Shanay
Energy Transition
It would be great if we could all cut down on how we use what we have today. If we cut down now, we could possibly allow the natural resources to last even longer for later generations. We have a very selfish mentality and almost no one is thinking about the next generation. We could be begin using alternative energy sources and preserve the earth for the future
Response to Nautica:
ReplyDeleteI feel as if charging a car wouldn't be so much of an issue when the thing that you're charging is going to get you somewhere. In fact, I've heard of stations that have already been set up in different places that will charge an electric car. The inconvenience of waiting a little while longer, I think, is much better than spending TONS of money on gas each year. Energy costs would never fluctuate as dramatically as the prices of gas do. In fact, the cost of energy for a car is estimated to be about 2 cents a mile, about half of what gas costs.
@ Rachel:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the family planning. Nobody really thinks about things like how many children they're having, and how many years are in between. The times have changed and I don't think that the way to stop over-cunsumption is to not have children, it's to stop being the worlds biggest consumers. It is ridiculous that it's come to "leveling the population".
- I agree with Shaniqua’s statement that about hydrogen being the best method for energy transition because of its abundance. But I think solar power would ne the least effective method because the sun doesn’t shine everyday. What will happen in the fall and winter seasons? I also agree with Medina our dependency on oil, coal and fossil fuels does stretch beyond the issue of pollution. It is a major part of why our economy is struggling today. But personally I don’t understand how wind power really works, like yes windmills help generate electricity but what about in the absence of wind. It is then that you start to question what other energy forms are really dependable.
ReplyDelete- -Nautica Lawrence
In response to Leah:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Leah about our limited oil supply. It is destroying the atmosphere and we are going to run out. We need to start transitioning now to new energy sources. Hopefully we can stop the affects on the environment if we act now. I was very excited last night when I saw a commercial for one of the electric cars I discussed in my original response. Hopefully this means they are increasing production and starting to examine other sources of energy for major uses. Maybe people are starting to realize what the consequences will be if we don’t.
Ethanol: corn that's made into fuel. Embarrassingly unhelpful idea. There’s three problems with it.
ReplyDeleteTo start, ethanol is not as powerful as regular gasoline. You get about 10% less miles to the gallon for the 10% ethanol stuff that they have at the gas stations now, meaning that you have to buy that much more gasoline to make up for it.
The second problem is that the energy and resources required to produce the ethanol -collection, refinement, transportation- largely outweighs the energy you could hope to get back from using it. And all this, of course, emits even more pollution to the air.
But what I find is the most hideous feature of ethanol is the fact that it’s FOOD. We're using food as fuel for our cars! Not only does that mean that we're telling farmers who should be setting aside land for groceries to use it for gas, but Americans are willing to burn up the millions of pounds of extra corn we have rather than give it to people who even have the necessity of food. So, who are we really saving after all this?
We have these programs because politicians want votes. Presidential contenders, to use them as an example, make a serious early campaign effort to become attractive. The first primaries are crucial to the election, and the very first one is hosted in Iowa. The majority of the corn produced in the U.S. is produced in IOWA. So, these contenders support corn (that means ethanol), and then have to keep supporting it so that they don't get called a liar. Then you’ve got what should be an ecological issue turning into one that deals with politics, and that is backwards-thinking.
Response to Nautica (Family Planning)
ReplyDeleteI completely understand what you are saying concerning the family planning issue. You seem to never surprise me with your opposing opinion of a situation, as to my own. Honestly it hadn’t crossed my mind of how the government (in a way) is trying to limit how many children people are having. Teenagers like us are indeed being sexually active, and unfortunately unprotected as well. When you said its like they are trying to control God’s will and see to how the birth rates slow down, it makes sense. Your statement was well thought out and it opened my eyes to a different view of this environment issue.
Response to Nautica (Energy Transition)
Again you have showed me a different side of the situation. Well I agree with what you said because it is true that pollution can be solved with energy transition. With the environment being affected everyday with our loitering and abuse this would be a great way to end this problem. All of the issues at hand can’t be solved only by the using energy transition, but it is a start. As well as using new generations of vehicles, which don’t cause for usage of oil.
Response to Willie (Energy Transition)
Your response gives me a different view of what the issue is on. I never really thought about how we were taking away from the beauty of out environment by drilling holes in the ground for oil and other such sources. The fact that you included the part about how it starts wars also makes me thin harder and more into this issue.
Response to Willie (Family Planning)
With this response I agree with what you are saying because it is true that there are more mothers with jobs and or other hobbies to keep their time occupied. Its true that the cost of living is becoming more expensive, but with the help of the government any family with low income can get assistance.
@ Spencer:
ReplyDeleteSpace travel is the answer. To infinity and beyond.
Willie Jones III
ReplyDeleteI agree wit Shaniqua the idea of making things more environmentally friendly will be a good for our world today. Because it is healthier for the planet and its healthier for us who live on this planet and to make it last how ever long we can make it. If we do this we can live on planet earth for billions of more years and we wont have to discover more planets to live on because we destroy planet earth with our inventions we have created that destroy our natural resources. I don’t understand really why we will use machines ran off of oil if we knew that it would eventually effect our natural resources we need to survive.
To Willie for Energy Transitions:
ReplyDeleteI have mixed thoughts about your statement. It isn't actually that it's taking a long time to transition to energy-using machines, rather, it's the ignorance of most people not to use such machines. For example, just recently, the cars Toyota Prius and the Nissan Leaf are the signs of progressing into a more green future. Most people would rather choose cars that run on fossil fuels that go fast, that's good on miles, or how cool they look. I do agree that everyone is knowingly destroying the environment, but what other choice do we have at the moment? Once there is an energy source that is better and more prominent and easy to use, we could then save the environment.
To Taaqia for Energy transitions:
I completely agree, most people these days are complaining about how gas prices are becoming ridiculously high than ever before. If people can switch or convert all their vehicles to electric power, people most likely won't have to complain about prices. Along with that the use of electricity, eco-friendly vehicles would be the best decision environmentally and economically.
To Celia on Climate Change:
Yes, global warming is a very big issue. Fluctuations in climates all over the world will change, eventually changing life on Earth. Rising sea levels will be the effect of the polar ice caps melting. Some of its effects are happening now, for example, in the Philippines and other island like areas, there are floods and large mudslides that occur. Smog that causes global warming also harms humans and other animals when they breathe. Not just saving trees could help, but other means of preventing global warming like using products that won't harm the atmosphere also.
To Justin on Climate Change:
Yeah there are a lot of car enthusiasts like you, and there are ways to help the environment while still being a car enthusiast, even by just a little bit. For example, if you could find an engine that runs on less gas and produce less harmful fumes, while still maintain good quality transportation would really help. If you could find a car that that produces less or no harmful fumes , has more power, and can rival the more popular cars would be a great idea.
In response to Justin Blake:
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I’m not sure how much this has to do will climate change overall although I guess it does address one topic. People are entitled to have the cars they want, everyone has a freaky hobby. It’s just going to be inconvenient when there is no more oil and you have no way to hear the engine “purr”. You remind me of an article I was read of a guy who had sexual intercourse with his cars. He was in love with them, really. But that’s your business. We can’t hope to convince everyone of the urgency that climate change has brought but hopefully most will come around with time.
In response to Medina on family planning I disagree yes “contraception and spacing births can help stabilize the population” But at what cost? Do we really want to promote our own extinction? Overpopulation is indeed a major problem but I don’t believe contraception is the way to fix it. If the mother willingly uses it then that’s fine but that shouldn’t be the choice of the government. Meredith also made a valid point in saying the use of condoms and birth control being more accessible to people can help with the issue of overpopulation and the unwanted pregnancy that Shanay spoke about. But that fact of the matter is few people actually use condoms as a form of protection and the government cant force everyone to start. -Nautica Lawrence
ReplyDeleteFamily planning is very important to the survival of our planet. Lets look at the nation of China where there population has exceeded over one billion and resources are in reduction. There is no space left in these country that continues to birth children daily, it is so bad the country had to implement a one-child policy it’s designed to reduce population. If we do not do something about this issue of resources there will be nothing for us to feed our families on in the future. America has to lead the effort in the world to preserve and protect our natural supplies.
ReplyDeleteEnergy Transition:
ReplyDeletePeople are always talking about switching to more energy efficient and environmentally healthy modes of transportation and factory production, but for this to actually work they need to do more than just talk about it. This transition to being more environmentally needs to be a top priority because the longer it takes us to switch over, the more we are hurting our environment with pollution from cars and factories. People talk about how expensive these studies are and how expensive it is to manufacture the energy efficient cars, but in the long run wouldn’t it be better to have a healthy environment?
Land Use Planning:
One of my favorite places to be is on top of a mountain looking down at all of the land surrounding me. Knowing that the natural habitats in the world are decreasing every day, being destroyed and replaced by materialistic things, such as a new, larger mall really depresses me. Restoring and protecting these environments should be another priority because once they’re destroyed and developed on we can’t easily get them back. Also, humans aren’t the only beings on Earth. There are millions of animals in the world and we’re destroying their homes along with all of the natural beauty of those areas.
Response to Savannah
ReplyDeleteFamily planning
The average size of a family is smaller than they were years ago. The population of humans are increasing at a rate that that will soon be too much for the earth to handle. The earth’s inability to support us is also do to our waste. Each generation is leaving so much behind and not thinking of the future. The reason all of this is a problem is because the resources are depleteing. If we had an endless supply of resources, then we would never have to worry, unfortunately that is not the case.
Angelee Ortiz
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning: Family planning is out of control these day, kids are now having kids before they even graduate. They don’t know how to care for an infant when they are still getting out of a child stage. Most teenagers don’t finish school because they are taking care of their child. Truthfully, the parents should teach their kid(s) about health and sex so they won’t be too late. If the parents were in their children’s life more than maybe there would be a lower rate in teenage pregnancy. If they hung out more with their kids (socially), then the children won’t get lonely and want to have sex.
Land Use Planning: It would be smarter for our world to use its natural resources more frugally. If we eliminate the aerosol hair spray, then our ozone layer would be in better shape. In the summer seasons, if people could walk more to their destination than our pollution will decrease. We are in danger with all the rain forests getting cut down, that’s where we get our medicine, oxygen, and animals are starving and homeless. When you take the animals homes, they will move into others homes and start to dominate over their territory.
In response to Mr. Talented (?):
ReplyDeleteDo you believe everything you hear on TV? I don’t advise it but I guess we did grow up in America. I don’t think this is a government scare since not all of the government supports it. Plus there are scientists working on it, not just politicians. It’s not just about getting warmer. There is rapid climate change in general as well as rising sea levels, a dangerous sign. There is actually plenty of evidence, people just aren’t well read and choose to deny it.
I'm angry cause my previous post didn't go up, so I'm doing this again.
ReplyDeleteClimate Change:
It is imperative that people should do something about greenhouse gases. Many people like environmental activists and even hippies are trying to do their best in being green and trying to prevent the destruction of the earth. Ever since the turn of the Industrial age, the climates around the world began to change. Even this day, it could be felt. All the people in the world is enough to provide carbon dioxide for a stable greenhouse gas atmosphere. However people are knowingly destroying the environment by using cars and other vehicles that emit fumes that pollute the air. There are many ways to reduce the production of these fumes, like car pooling, walking or biking, or even using vehicles that produce less fumes. One of the best ways to promote stable climates are using environmentally friendly vehicles, like cars that run on electricity.
Energy Transiitions:
This can go along the topic of climate change, as the two are related in helping the environment. Everyday people are saying that everyone should be green and help the environment. However, they all know that the car they drive emits pollutants into the air that cause harmful effects on people and the environment. For example, those very fumes can get people sick and can kill animals. It is also said that the earth is running out of fossil fuels. The use of electricity is a great alternative. This idea is already being used, for example the bullet train in Japan. More recently there are cars like the Toyota Prius and the Nissan Leaf that promote a greener environment by using electricity as an alternative fuel. Using electricity and other renewable fuels would help make a cleaner world. There would be no more oil spills, less fumes in the air, more people would be healthier, no more exploding oil tanks, less animal endangerment, a more stable climate, less worries about fueling prices, and a better world to live in.
To Taaquia:
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have to say, but do you think that this is possible? I have a feeling that a large amount of our population was unplanned, making family planning a tough practice to execute. I also believe that the entire institution infringes upon our rights to reproduce as we please and to pass on the family name, which as I said, two children might not be enough in an urban environment.
Climate change.......Completly relevant and anyone who beleives global warming isnt real needs to open their eyes. it has snowed in 48 of our 50 national states. the addition of so many hybrid/electric cars and emmisions rating we can see our country slowly trying to combat the effects yet it is unrepairable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Elena Rebolhs the more time we take to fix the problem with energy transition the more harm we are putting on our environment. I hate when we keep hearing about how if we dont do anything that we're just going to go into more turmoil!! Well if you know this then do something about it duuh!!!! Dont just tell us so we can mope about it and then forget it even matters thatr much anyways. I swear at the rate we take to better improve our economy there will be more damage than any improvement ever!! ;-P
ReplyDeleteEnergy Transition definitely is a good idea considering all technology that we have today it’s about time that we use some of it for the better of everyone. Wind and solar power especially could be used in several ways without a severe life change people would be living a healthier life for everyone. If people are less dependable on their old ways of life they will be able to help the environment and within their own families.
ReplyDeleteJack's point about politicians making up crazy things is exactly what the whole buzz is about. The serious issue about using alternative fuels is overlooked and the popularity contest is the primary focus of elections. Face reality; politicians don't give a damn about your needs except your vote.
ReplyDeleteKristian brings up a good point about climate change. Hippies and activists try to bring this issue to government, but the fact remains that nobody will listen. The alternative methods of getting around are always present, but in American society, there's always that certain conservative group that just doesn't favor change. If we switched everything to electric cars, the entire Republican party will be in an uproar; they wouldn't know what to do because "real american" and "real manly" vehicles wouldn't become available anymore. America would have to suck it up.
i agree with kristian that it is imperative that people change now to better the earths state.if we do nothing then we will overall destroy the only place we have to live.
ReplyDeleteon reducing global poverty we should make a deffinet and immediate change to only take what we need and give back a equal. many only view te world as a source for our demand and not for a exchange. without it we wouldnt be here. without us it would thrive. we need to know where we stand.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Gleason
ReplyDeleteIn response to Willie Jones
It is true that over history family sizes have reduced throughout history. The issue of food consumption is not going to be solved by limiting family size. The world’s population will continue to rise mostly as a result of better medical care. Saying we should limit family size is comparable to saying we should stop vaccinations so that disease can control to population. The food problem needs to be solved through advancements in agriculture and land management not through limiting family size.
In response to Taaqia.
As is mentioned above to Willie, the problem of food shortages in the future will be solved by new more efficient agriculture techniques and through environmentally friendly efficient land management. The problem of factory foods can be solved right now by allowing smaller individual farms to replace the large factory farming operations in this country. You, right now can reduce this problem by buying fresh produce and locally produced foods from places such as the public market.
Savannah; Energy Transition:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you with the gas prices. I think when the gas prices were much higher there was more of a motivation to move from gasoline to alternative fuel.
For Rachel;Engergy Transition:
The idea of gas prices lowering and the talk about changing to alternative energy I think are hand in hand like Savannah had said. I agree that the price for the change doesn't seem like that much compared to the other money the government spends. Wind power is a good idea and the longer term affects will be appreciated.
In response to Meredtih
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that family planning has improved dramatically. Birth control is such an easily accessible thing now, and is important to keep the human population reproducing only when they are ready to. I think that it is important for families to be ready and able to have children and to be able to bring them up in a supportive family.
response to celia
Global warming is a real issue that people need to understand. although the sea level won't rise enough to cover california, a few inches can, and will dramatically effect the rest of the weather patterns. Global warming needs to be taken seriously, and pollution needs to stop in order for our world to not be totally destroyed. planting trees would help our world in different ways, but wont reverse the damage already done.
~Family Planning
ReplyDeleteI'm am fully behind the fact that everyone needs an education because of course with out it your getting no where in life and your cheating yourself from the knowlege that everyone deserves.I feel like it's not the governments decision to tell the people how many kids to have or to use birth control thats is not there domain to touch and it's too dictative in my eyes. To inform the people of the benefits to our country by having smaller families and using more protecttion is absolutely acceptable, but to make us is not. Everyone should be informed on the pro's and con's of these circumstances but in the end it is their decision to oblige or not.
~Caramel ;)
response to Brianna:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. if people actually wanted to, it would be very simple for them to switch to solar or wind power, and make their energy much cleaner. It may be expensive however, and that might be a problem for a lot of families. Many people probably think that since they already have energy, they do not need to switch, but they need to be educated that it is necessary to save their planet.
I think it’s a little too late to try and reverse the effects of global warming. However it isn’t too late to change the way events with the environment are handled for this point on. If it were possible to restore anything that has be destroyed by previous mistakes it would defiantly be worth every effort. Simply changing the way people are living now would be an improvement especially in the way resources are used on a daily basis. Land Planning could help transform demolished cities into restored parks or something, new housing systems, and ways to have less use of products that are unnecessary.
ReplyDeletei highly agree with molly on reducing insustrial waste to help the planet, overall the use of these chemicals as well as dumping sites is absurd.
ReplyDeleteAt Celia's response to my response,
ReplyDeleteTrue, but the bigger point I’m trying to make is that if you research (as i did) and i find evidence that something as a hoax just as much as you find evidence as its true then who’s right? If there is evidence from a group of scientist backed by political power saying one thing, then a contrasting theory from scientists who have no financial motivation (as do the other scientists) then why not believe people doing their job in its rawest truthful form. And you asking me “Do you believe everything you hear on TV?” is the same as me asking you do u believe everything you read or see? Just because the media feed’s you a bunch of B.S doesn’t mean u believe it, I suggest you read the opposing arguments instead of shooting down an idea because u may not want to like it, take more time to research things other than the usual.
Land Use Planning:
ReplyDeleteSeeing that Earth has already lost a lot of it’s “green", we should do our best to preserve what’s left of nature. It makes no sense trying to fix the environment while cutting down forests at the same time. It’s best to preserve what’s left and restore what capable of being restored, that’s the only way we’ll ever restore and maintain our diverse environment. While we are building homes for human beings we shouldn’t take away the natural home of other animals. Perhaps the increase in population is what’s causing the cutting down of forests and expansion of cities and human habitat. But in expanding land for homes and factories to produce food and such, the environment is being degraded even more.
In response to Spencer I completely agree. Everyone dreams of leaving behind a legacy for their family and all its generations to come. So some people want big families but in attempts to manage population you can hinder them from attaining that dream. Family planning takes away a lot of the rights of the people and that’s not fair. I also agree with Joe G. when he says family planning is “immoral and wrong” and the better tactic would be to educate families on children about raising children and all its pros and cons. I’m not saying that population doesn’t play a major role in pollution. But it isn’t the number of people but how the people use or misuse the resources available. We should focus more on educating people on how to use resources when necessary and other alternatives.
ReplyDelete-Nautica Lawrence
The gases of the greenhouse are affecting the world drastically. The changes of the climate are affecting people everyday more and more. The sea and animals are being hurt and destroyed more and more everyday because of the carbon and the gases. The gas that come from cars and buses are polluting the earth more and it is also as bad as the big businesses.
ReplyDeleteHannah
ReplyDeleteClimate change is a issue that has an impact on everyone in the world. It is a growing issue that needs to be address. You can see the effect climate change has on the environment, Haiti, the earthquake in china on April 13, 2010. The increased flooding that has taking over Pakistan and Australia. These are all effects that climate change has. These events is the way the earth is telling us we need to change the way we live to make it better for the earth. This is a problem that is often pushed to the side, there are people who do not even think climate change is a real thing. I think people do not realize how much effect they have on the earth. I think this issue should be at the top of our governments agenda, changes need to be made and fast.
I consider family planning and poverty to fall into the same category. In order to eliminate poverty in certain areas we must first focus on the families involved. By making contraception easy to acquire, lower-class women can control whether they are ready to have children, and the chances of having undernourished families are lowered. If these families are educated they can better make decisions based on their well-being. Even if the wealth in the world is distributed more fairly, uneducated citizens will not be able to take on the responsibility of creating a balanced life. If people understand the basics of the economy they will be able to stabilize their families and avoid poverty.
ReplyDeleteIn response to land use, preservation is crucial. The obvious reason to protect our wildlife and uninhabitable land is to allow humans to have resources to survive. If it remains undisturbed we can count on these areas to be natural and clean. In addition, the biodiversity found on this land is an important part of our species as a whole. We need to be sure to keep their habitats natural and favorable for their survival. The beauty of nature is something we are going to want to enjoy for years to come.
In response to Kristian: I agree that environment friendly vehicles are the best way to introduce the severity of climate change to ignorant people. If we can change something that people do everyday (driving), we can put the idea of a greener world into their minds. From there people will begin to take other steps to helping the environment. Sadly, that will take time, seeing as how unaware most of us are.
In response to Elena: Nature is a large part of many lives and the nostalgia it holds for them is being destroyed as natural areas decrease. I agree that it’s depressing how our beautiful land is being replaced by unnecessary buildings such as shopping malls and movie theaters. When will people realize how serious the problem is? I also liked how you noted that humans aren’t the only animals on Earth. It seems like most of the population believes that they are superior and entitled to all of the resources.
In response to Sage: I think it’s interesting that many of the problems that we’re trying to fix are ones that we created in the first place. We’re slowly killing off species yet we continue to complain that the species are gone. Women are having babies like crazy yet they hit rock bottom and wish for a better life. We are all adding to the problem and pretending that we’re helping the environment. I recently read a quote that perfectly fits the situation: “No individual raindrop ever considers itself responsible for the flood.”
In response to Erin: I agree that more developed nations should help less developed ones to get onto the same level. These poor countries have potential to become educated and nourished, yet we sit on the sidelines and watch. Educated citizens around the world can provide more skills for new environmental jobs. It could be a beneficial cycle, but someone has to start it. You’re correct that these issues should be one of the highest priorities.
Energy transition:
ReplyDeleteI think that this is one of the most important topics in our society. People have started to realize the effects of actions made by the un-green generations that preceded us. The return to things such as electric cars (seen in Europe years ago) is a good step forward, but really it is going to take a long time. Some people are naive to the consequences that come from their actions and are unwilling to give up their hummer, that they see as big and powerful, for a more environment friendly prius. Perhaps we all need to make more of an effort in our society to make people realize that what happens to the environment (and impacts future generations) is more important than what happens to their reputation for having a “wimpy” or “girly” car. Maybe the new market for things such as energy efficient cars of all styles, and the popularization of solar panels for even basic things such as a phone charger will creep on people and make the most effective change on mindset. Peer pressure for the sake of the environment. See mom, peer pressure isn’t always bad!
Family Planning:
Making sure the population of the earth doesn’t exceed the proper capacity is an important issue, but we need to be careful in approaching ways to prevent this. We do not want to act as China does, and limit the number of children that people have. Instead we must make sure to educate people on how hard- mentally and financially- raising kids is. We need to advocate adoption, so that all those kids without families can find homes, at the same time as those who want children can also get what they want. In some ways it seems (as bad as this may sound) that the earth has some ways of keeping the population down by creating natural disasters. Also we keep down the population of our country and others through war. (Think about all the people in places like Mexico and Brazil that have been killed in the drug related wars… By ourselves and our own human actions, without even realizing it, we keep the population down.)
Family Planning
ReplyDeletethe population of children these days is getting out of control , like many young girls are having babies at young ages and are having kids that they cant afford to take care of. the death rate is lower than the birth rate and that is really sad since most of the kids are being born from babies them selfs. parents should talk to their kids about sex when they're entering their teenage years and that would probably prevent many early pregnancies.
Climate Change
Climate change basically in my point of view is due to pollution , factories releasing harmful chemicals into the air causing the change , people littering in the streets allowing their trash to go into the sewer and eventually end up in the ocean , killing fish and such. people tearing down trees to build offices and such , taking away from the animals and oxygen.
Topic1: Climate Change- The way that we as people live today strongly opposes the idea of stopping, let a lone slowing the process of green house emissions. We can look to other energy sources for our factories, which are talked about most often when mentioning green house gases, however, we are too comfortable with the way we live now to want to change, especially since the change from fossil fuels to whatever other kind of energy source will be that of a slow one. On top of that, just as there is much criticism about using fossil fuels, it is more than likely that the energy sources that replace it will be criticized the same, if not more than fossil fuels.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Hannah Snarch:
ReplyDeleteHannah:
I really appreciate your comments on climate change. One thing you didn’t mention is that in Australia all last year there was a terrible drought, and farmers and others were praying and hoping for water so that they could survive and support their families, now however they are seeing the opposite side of the climate change with all the floods. It is crazy to think that our actions could some how make all these natural disasters occur-what if it is all OUR fault that all these horrible things are happening, and destroying countries and the lives of their many inhabitants.
Shana Harris
ReplyDeleteEnergy Transitions Response
This is one of the biggest problems that we have today in the world. Many people are not acknowledging that in the future things are going to get worse if people continue to ignore this problem. I think that if scientist find other ways to function cars instead oil, that will be a big relief for many people. I believe that they should find anything that is safe for the environment and something that will last long. Many fossil fuels that are polluted in the air is not only damaging the environment, it is also damaging people health. It is not safe for others to breath in many chemicals that travel through the air. We as Americans don’t take time out to think about the important things in our world. We our starting to forget about our environmental challenges and it will eventually catch up to us.
Land use Planning Response
This is a great idea and something that needs to be done. It should not be an option at all. We need to save all the natural resources that we have before the bad environmental challenges that we are facing now damage our natural resources. If we make this possible it will give all of a big relief because if something is to happen we will have a stock of our natural resources to support us. I think the government should set aside a plan not before things get worse. Such as housing and green space like the article stated.
The energy transition has been a major topic of debate for a while. Gears of change can been seen most in the automobile industry. The electric cars, and rechargeable models coming out soon are a step forward. Their concept is respectable but the amount of change is only marginal compared to the industry and our society overall. Converting from generic gasoline powered cars will be very gradual. Developers are continually looking for more efficient ways to better the latest model. Hopefully their optimal best source of energy can be reproduced and supplied to every form of fuel requiring machine within the reasonably quickest amount of time.
ReplyDeleteLand planning is also crucial to our environments productivity. Much of the natural resources we have are pointlessly depleted. If we could eliminate the use of landfills, for one, then the space would be more beneficial for numerous uses. This idea of eliminating landfills also ties in with reducing dependency on fossil fuels because burning waste also releases many harmful elements into the atmosphere. The other problem with this issue is the fact that cities and populations grow. Confining cities to a certain amount of space would ideally isolate more areas for agriculture and natural resource restoration deposits. If this can be done then trees could be replanted and there would be more oxygen circulating the earth providing for a healthier environment.
This is one of the most interesting topics for me in the article. It is interesting to see how since our very recent existence so much has changed on our planet. Millions and millions of years before we began creating and producing things that the earth didn’t grow or produce things were relatively simple. Now that we have taken over every piece of land imaginable it’s going to be very hard to resurrect the biodiversity and ecosystems that we have demolished. If we are able to actually do this we will have effectively been able to control almost every part of our environment on earth. Well almost everything except the weather.
ReplyDelete@Dominique (on family planning)- I agree, too many young girls are getting pregnant at too young an age, when they can just barely, and most times not at all, take care of themselves. Also, I agree that parents should be talking to their children about safe practices and abstinence, however many times, a parent cannot always control how their child takes the information in or what the child does with the information. As surprising as it is, although it seems there are a large number of deaths each day, it is no where near the amount of births that occur each day.
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning is something that looks good on paper. It is a good idea and something that should be done. But the issue is how can you really control the population. In China families can only have one child, but in China it is better to have a son because he can carry on the family name. This caused people to leave baby girls on the streets, because the one child they could have they wanted it to be a boy. Now this is not going to happen in every society and in China the issue is dying because times are changing. My point is that although population control needs to happen its not going to be easy. Usually the places with the largest populations are nations that have less money and resources. This would make population control very difficult. I think the earth is bursting at its seams and something needs to be done, but I think any thing is going to be very difficult.
ReplyDeleteReducing Global Poverty:
ReplyDeleteThe idea that poverty can be reduced through universal education is common knowledge. So why does it not exist? It is frustrating that developed nations do not provide aid to developing nations where public education does not exist. Struggling countries in Africa, for example, are hindered from moving forward because of government prevention, whether its that particular nation’s government or developed country’s. Providing nations with the means to provide an education, such as money to build a school and hire teachers, should be a priority. With an education people can get solid jobs, provide for their families and lead sufficient lives.
Family Planning:
Though I do agree with it, this is such a personal topic, because a family is such a “sacred” unit in our society. It is up to the family to decide how many kids they want. When a couple is sexually active for the pleasure of it, they should use contraception, birth control and condoms, the simplest forms. I don’t think going to the extreme like China, putting a price on every child you have after the first is necessary, but if families are conscious of the population growth, it is for the better. Our food supply isn’t necessarily the most concerning issue; technology is always progressing, its becoming easier to grow food in different environments and produce alternate foods.
Response to Joseph: I disagree that solar power isn’t sufficient, yes it is costly, but that’s part of every transition in technology. The “new thing” is always expensive until it is in everyday households, which it has yet to be. I agree with your point that we need to work toward creating cheaper and more efficient solar panels and government support through subsidies and tax breaks.
Response to Justin: I concur.
To be continued…
Energy Transition: My concern with this is establishing how long it will take for scientists to figure out how to replace polluting finite fossil fuels, with the clean renewable energy nuclear fission. Then actually calculating and figuring out how to make transportation more innovative where the dependency of oil is no longer needed. This will be an awesome break through, but seem far fetch because of cost. Even if one person is able to obtain cleaner natural gases to make their automobiles go, then its less likely for the rest of the world to follow suit as quickly. just a thought.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Linh:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the increasing population has a huge part in the disappearance of much of the green space in our world. The urban sprawl and need for more homes and stores is disgusting, and we need to remember that we need things such as fields for our food, unrelated: we need more fresh foods in order to help prevent obesity, we also need trees for our survival. We need to work to preserve jungles, and the many forests around our country. We need to make people more aware of the importance of nature, and appreciate the small things more.
Energy Transition: People are finding creative ways to reuse energy or just different sources of helpful energy. Just how in the first paragraph about the climate changing things have found ways to use this climate in a positive manner. Now they have thing such as smart cars that does not run on fuel but energy they have houses that doesn’t use electricity only at night because it has the solar power roofs. They are now even looking in making solar power rollercoasters well that’s what the television says.
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning: Now families are getting smaller no more of the white fence with 2.5 children because if the population expands the resources go down..well at least that’s what I think it means. Now more families are saying they can’t have any more children or pets because they can’t afford it but now newlyweds are saying they will as how many kids as they can afford.
Land Use Planning: This seems as to people are now using unused land or finishing products that are just there. They would use more resourceful products. A lot of forests and other open land area are being destroyed due to the fact of trying to find other things to build on. Like huge companies that are polluting the cities.
@ Morghann- scientists have come up with a variety of ideas on new fueling for cars that include electric cars, hydrogen-based fueling, air, and even more that not many know about. The problem is taking that idead and putting it on a larger scale. For some ideas, scientists only calculate enough for one or maybe just a dozen cars. Well we have to think, there are probably about 10times more cars than that in the U.S. alone and even more times that in the whole world. Some of the problems that scientists face is continuing to create these fuels at a fast enough pace to reach the consumer while also making sure that that fuel isn't a pollutant, and so on.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Mr. Talented0793-
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that you should take the term Global Warming so literally. The issue as far as I understand goes a bit deeper than temperature. The issue is the hole in the ozone layer that allows sunrays to penetrate the earth directky warming the inner core of the earth causing water levels to rise and plates to shift. That’s just some of the things I’ve gathered I’m making no attempt to claim any sort of expertise on the matter. But I don’t think Global Warming is some world plot to control spending. Incessant rainfall, Melting icecaps and idiosyncratic weather across the Globe is a bit too big of a coincidence to be labeld under conspiracy.
Response to Eliza
I agree with you fully on education but as far as availibilty I have to disagree. There are far to many resources available but people are either unaware of them embarrassed or far to selfish to go out and get them. Too many girls are shy and embarrassed to go and ask questions or get contraceptives. And boys are bold enough to go without them thinking that they can just “pull out” or they can’t get anyone pregnant it won’t happen to them. In Rochester alone I know of three places right now that teens or anyone else for that matter can go to and receive counseling, contraception and std screeming and that’s just downtown. If people were to know better I believe they would do better, so education is definitely the key.
Topic#2- Family Planning: Its sad but its a serious topic that must be talked about, because our population is getting out of control. The death toll is far behind the birth rate and its been an issue for quite some time. More people equals more space being taken up, and ultimately more pollution. I don't believe that there should restrictions on how many children someone should have, but they should have rules for those who have a surplus of children who cannot properly support them and such. Also, there are many children still waiting to be adopted and many people should take that into consideration.
ReplyDelete@Shana on Land Planning- I agree completely, it shouldn't be an option. I think we've taken enough out of nature, right? It's an excellent way to keep both us humans and nature in tact so that we may conserve the little natural resources we do have. The whole "don't cut down trees becuase you wouldn't want someone to cut down your house," speech isn't going to work anymore because this is a life-or-death situation; not only for ourselves but all animals and plants on this planet.
ReplyDelete@ Elena- I agree, it seems that the more people talk about being more environmentally friendly, the less is being done, and the more harm keeps bringing down our natural resources. It takes me back to my statement that at this point most people are just plain ignorant on the matter, not on purpose, but it is the comfort level that we have set for ourselves that makes us think this way. How long ago did we begin the movement on recycling, and yet there are millions of people that still don't do it? Some will be up for the challenge to break this comfort zone, but for the most part , not many will be willing.
ReplyDeleteReducing Global Poverty:
ReplyDeleteI think the outrageous problem of poverty is a problem of distribution. There is no doubt enough food and money to circulate to every single person in out world, yet there are still people going hungry and people without shelter. There is, sadly, no way to eliminate poverty..but there is a way to reduce it. Widespread education, redistribution of wealth, and technology transfers to third world countries are just three of the ways poverty can be reduced. I have seen poverty first hand, I have seen the malnourished stomachs of hundreds of children. Poverty is very much a present issue and for all of us fortunate bystanders, reducing this issue is essential to out world and enviroment.
Family Planning:
Overpopulation is for sure a major issue in certain areas of the world and is seen as an environmental issue due to the amount of natural resources present. I think education is the most important factor to consider when dealing with the issue of overpopulation. If people are educated on how much the average person consumes in their lifetime, they will be more apprehensive about having an extremely large number of children. Yet, I do not believe an adequate food supply relates to overpopulation. I believe there is more than enough food in our world, it is just wasted and not distributed in an efficient way.
I agree with Sara in that energy transition is going to take a lot longer than people are predicting. A change in how our whole world transfers energy is going to take hundreds, even thousands of years. Even as cars are taking a shift towards more "environmentally friendly", there are still going to the Hummer that emits an enormous amount of fossil fuels and there is little to be done about it.
ReplyDeleteIn response to family planning: I think that this concept makes sense in theory. If we truly are running out of natural resources then we should be more “responsible”, if you will, with reproduction. With more people comes an increase in the demand for food which, when you think about it, pretty much everything that we eat takes some sort of preparation before we can consume it. The more preparation required in factories the more pollutants we send off in the air thus speeding up the loss of our natural resources. On the other hand its kind of ridiculous thinking about the idea of telling people that they cant have more than two kids or something.
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning:
ReplyDeleteThere are over 6 billion people in the world right now and frankly we aren't dying fast enough to even out how many babies people are having. To be honest, we spend so much time trying to help people stay alive we are eliminating natural selection. Every other species in the world lives by one cordial rule; survival of the fittest. We care so much about people needing to have the right to live that we don't realize that through over-population we're probably going to kill way more people than we've helped when everything is said and done. If there were less people in the world, would we even be having an energy crisis?
Global Poverty:
In my opinion, having a healthy relationship with Earth’s biological system and all that is bull. It would be nice to help out those in poverty and provide them with an education but the real question is whether or not that education will include a class on how to save the world over a class on how to build bigger and better machines that can do more work for us. I don’t believe that poverty is truly an environmental issue because reducing poverty will not ensure that the Earth’s conditions will improve. It would improve the economy and help even out the social classes but pollution makes money, as well as technology and just because an education is offered to someone does not mean that they will take what they’ve learned and help the planet. In the long run most will pick a profession in which they will make money and help themselves over a profession that might help the planet but would be less profitable. Unless they're going to teach how to not be greedy, people are going to try to make as much money as they can whether it pollutes the Earth or not.
In response to reducing global poverty: I am a huge supporter of universal education but that said I don’t think that implementing this will solve global poverty. I realize the author mentioned other solutions but honestly they are all unrealistic. A redistribution of wealth through foreign aid?? No country in their right mind would ever agree to that. Even if you decided to nickname it a “hand up” it is my belief that countries would still expect some sort of repayment down the line.
ReplyDelete@ Corinne
ReplyDeleteI don’t think energy transition will take hundreds of years but it is a slow transitional process. We have a lot of energy saving technology out now but the problem is that people aren’t buying into it. We have energy efficient cars out now but so many people would still rather buy a gas guzzler over an electric vehicle when buying a new car. Energy efficient light bulbs are quickly becoming popular but in most homes you will still see old school light bulbs under lamp shades. I think that if more of the population actively pursued this technology then there would be more incentive to produce and advertise it.
In response to Hannah Snarchy :) on family planning: I completely agree, all of these solutions sound great on paper but are completely unrealistic. While I agree they are all valid problems there really isn’t anything we can do. They’ve been saying this kind of thing for a long time and so far things are ok. Putting a cap on the number of children a family is allowed is ridiculous. I think the focus needs to be on managing what we do have more efficiently.
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning
ReplyDeleteIn countries such as the United States you can not really control the number of kids a person has and their family size or else our society would turn into something resembling the society in the book The Giver. However it is not unreasonable to use family planning as a way to help protect our environment. The way to do this is through education. If people are educated about contraceptives and the positive ways planning one’s family size to what one can personally handle financially and a family size that will not greatly contribute to the world’s overpopulation is an idea that would help. Our planet only has a certain amount of natural resources and people need to be responsible and understand that the little the can contribute adds up and makes a difference.
Energy Transition
The omissions of green house gasses is rapidly increasing and contributing to the issue of global warming. Human beings have many inventions and machines that give of the gasses and add to the issue of climate change and global warming. It is extremely important that the issue is acknowledged and we find solutions to at least slow the process of climate change. By replacing fossil fuels with better alternatives such as using solar power, wind power, and cleaner natural gasses. Although they are working on these new alternatives it still seems like it is not coming quick enough and people live their lives constantly relying on things that pollute the earth and are greatly contributing to global warming.
Response to Ashley Stevenson’s family planning
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that our population is getting way out of control. I would also like to add that our media is glorifying it. People who have way to many kids that they can’t handle and contribute to the over population of our world get reality television shows or major attention like this. It’s like the Dugger family or the Gosselins or even octomom. Because they are reckless about their family size and their family planning they become celebrities and sign contracts for millions of dollars to put their families on television. This is giving the wrong impression to people about the importance of family planning and how it effects the environment.
In response to medina. The point of energy transition is that we become independent of limited resources, I agree with this. Though most people’s motives are not focused just on the prices of oil but they are also focused on ending the dependence on countries that provide us with oil.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Linh. I agree with the fact that we will eventually develop something to end our reliance on fossil fuels. Though wind and solar are available, I think that they are not as widespread and available as an alternative yet.
In response to Nita on Land planning.
I agree that the plots of land we have to focus on will start from small to large. The real beneficial way to address this problem would be making more aggressive laws in communities then countrywide. Just urging people alone to do their part would be relatively ineffective.
In response to Cady's Energy Transition: I completely agree, while i understand it is going to take a long period of time to do this i still believe that there is something we as a nation can do to slow climate change. I also agree that we can be putting in a better effort to find alternatives to the current procedures that have proven to be unsuccessful. It again comes back to educating the public...if they are not informed you can not expect them to make the right choice.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Energy Transition: I agree that other methods of fuel need to be used in order to make the world less polluted and in the process lower oil prices. Gas prices are ridiculous these days and they just keep getting worse which puts a lot of strain on a lot of families. Families who have parents that work far from where they live or families that have children that do multiple activities and need to be taken every which place are taking a pretty substantial hit in their wallets these days. As well as companies that frequently use trucks and it also affect airline travel because of the fueling prices. New fuel alternatives and less air pollution is the way to go.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Climate Change: I agree that the amount of greenhouse gases needs to go down drastically. Slowing down global warming and stabilizing the climate in the environment would be a great dream but realistically I feel like it would take a lot longer and a lot of effort to make this come true. There are people in this world who believe that global warming is a myth and those are going to be the people who are going to be the hardest to jump on to this band wagon, as well as the people who really just don’t care. Accomplishing this goal would save a lot of animals for extinction and it would save our earth from the drastic changes that global warming is already causing.
Response to Meredith:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely. Politicians are so focused on things that hold more heat that they then look over the smaller things that are just as, or even more, important. It would be great if by the time we are buying houses and whatnot most things are environmentally friendly, but unless people really dedicate the time and money to create them, it won’t happen.
Response to Brianna and Malka:
Some people think that if everyone else is switching to solar or wind power, then it wouldn’t be an issue if they didn’t, because what is just one person going to do? The problem with this is if so many people think this way then it is more than just one person and the effect of those people not transitioning isn’t going to help those who are.
Response to Eliza:
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, humans may have advanced a lot, but that doesn’t necessarily make us “better” than any of the other animals in the world. Many animals are a lot smarter than humans give them credit just because we can’t understand them. Destroying natural habitats for new malls or movie theaters and stuff that we don’t necessarily need, especially when we already have a lot of them, is selfish in my opinion. People need to learn to appreciate what we already have.
Response to Linh:
You made a really good point. No matter how much people talk about trying to fix the environment, if they do this at the same time as destroying what natural environments we have, they’re just contradicting themselves. If we continue destroying all of the “green” that we have, then soon there will be nothing to fix because there will be nothing left.
@Cady about Family Planning:
ReplyDeleteI agree that the media is making things worse and unnecessarily glorifying baby making. Its not just those "I have 134 kids watch me struggle and be a bad parent" shows, but it's also all the Nanny shows and even those certain segments on the news about New Years' babies and whatnot. There isn't anything difficult or special about a person making a baby unless they have fertility problems. Its just one more couple recklessly contributing to the world's problems. Personally I think that we are teaching girls that its ok to get pregnant and have children despite what they learn in school. Why would you give a little girl a toy that cries, eats and poops like a real baby then expect them not to go out and have real kids? When we’re little kids playing house is a fun game but when you try to bring child’s play into reality, you end up with Octomom.
In Response to Sara:
ReplyDeleteThere is a possibility that people have stopped caring about fields and trees because they figure that technology will be able to provide that in the future. We are genetically engineering fruits and vegetables and successfully selling them. We can bottle air and use it in our tires, in space and under sea. Some sports fields don’t even use real grass anymore. Technology is coming pretty close to being able to replicate nature and people think it’s great. Fortunately for us, we can not perfectly re-create nature and hopefully that will be reason enough for humans to want to keep it around and make sure that we start taking care of it.
Energy Transition
ReplyDeleteAmerica needs to be transformed to use a cleaner energy. As days continue to pass we continue to loose are fossil fuels like coal and oil. School, hospitals, buildings need to be transformed into using solar power and even using wind as an energy source. This being the greatest country in the world some how needs to realize that its time to use a new and cleaner type of energy that this nation can survive on in the future. We need to focus on building in a sense greener cars, like GM has introduce an electric power car called the cruze and Nissan has also created there own electric car. I know together this country can come up with a plan to preserve and protect our natural resources.
Deidre Grogan
ReplyDeleteStabilizing the population is an absurd notion. The basis of the idea is a good one no doubt. A perfect little world where 2.5 people per every household and enough food to go around twice, but it seems like a unobtainable utopia that will come with more then enough disagreements. What would be the approach of telling some one that they have to go to school, have children on their time , and how many they allow? It is way to late in the game of life to try and establish this idea at all. Between teen pregnancy and high school drop outs, it would take decades to institute. And what would be the consequences for not abiding by these regulations? Jail time, abortions, isolations??? It is best to leave the world how it is, letting it take its natural course when it comes to human nature of that kind.
Reponse to Shaniqua
ReplyDeleteEnergy Tranistion
Using alternative energy will help slow down our influence on global warming. Pollution is what’s causing the changes in temperatures. The air will be cleaner and everything will seem better. Cleaner air might actually help with some illness. People do yet sick from drinking bad water or breathing polluted air. As for what forms of alternative energy would be best, there are plenty. I say we should use everything available. Water power, wind power, solar polar, hydrogen and whatever other sources we can get a hold of.
In response to "Precious Caramel"
ReplyDeleteThe government has to tell people how many kids they can have because shit I barley got food for myself, now a have to food another nappy head baby, hell no, not no more. Its not enough space left on this earth for the people in china who live on top on each other, so I believe that for the people in china they need to stop having children for the next six to ten years just to get caught up ion things. You have no problem with people having babies so we are going to drop them off at your house!!!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSebasatian Ospina
ReplyDeleteResponse to Climate Change & Energy Transition:
Over the years more and more people have increased the talk about Global climate change; and honestly it used to interest me very much. Unfortunately, little or no change has allowed me to grow annoyed of this constantly baffled about subject. Yes WE are the ones who can change the effects of Carbon Dioxide, and other greenhouse gas emissions by minimizing their use. Unfortunately, how seemingly possible does that seem? Countries and Governments are so involved in competition that they are not willing to take one step back and fix these unnecessary and damaging subjects. If they were to do this they would run the chance to, for a short amount of time, not be able to globally complete to, not knowing that that is a preset step in order to come out on top; eventually.
Then comes the subject of transferring energy, which is the most immense contribution to carbon dioxide. But once again this change is costly. This could be costly both in time and money. Resources some or most governments aren’t putting their full attention on. There is one good aspect to look at and that is the concept that producing these new technologies can cause our economy to grow. Which in a time of uncertainty would be a fortunate thing.
Deidre Grogan
ReplyDeleteI think it it is absolutely necessary to help control the climate. We as human being all help destroy it, fossil fumes, pollution, and so forth, so then in turn isn’t only right that we help assist it? Global warming is obviously becoming a big problem in today’s world. The diminishing ozone layer, the alarming melting of the Antarctica, all effect us whether we know it or not. So we should definitely do our part to help so we don’t get to the point when everything has gone so completely wrong that the best we can do is point fingers.
In response to Corinne and her "Global Poverty"
ReplyDeleteYes you are correct we do need to distribute technology to other but instead of sending it to people in third worlds countries, lets send right to people here at home. You cant say you haver seen poverty up close because you haven't you come from a great family and live in a great neighborhood and a huge house but you don't know whats its like. Have you ever went across town and seen the poverty that resides on the Joseph Aves and Clinton, Jay, Avenue A, B, C or even D now thats poverty. Why don't you go see how those people live, lets clean up our own crap before we try to clean up others.
Micah
ReplyDeleteThe issue of greenhouse gases throughout America during the past century is now coming to the forefront of people’s minds. As climates have kept changing our country as a whole has taken note and the calls for more environmentally friendly cars have also increased. If American producers begin to put more emphasis into creating fuel efficient or alternative energy sources two pressing issues will be solved in America. The first is obviously that the environment will begin to stop changing and fewer fuels will be burned, but the second and possibly the more immediate help would be in the economy. The American economy is still in a recession and if more cars are to be built more workers will be required thus allotting for more people to get out of the unemployment line.
James Lowery
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning:
I find this topic interesting. I never seem to hear it being discussed by individuals. I feel like a lot of people would disagree with this and feel like people should be able to have as many kids as they want, whenever they want. But I feel there are many pros to family planning. Our population is going to continue to grow and grow, and our resources are not endless for the use of future generations. While helping the planet, I feel it is also helps create a good family relationship in the long run.
Response to Celia regarding global warming and climate change:
ReplyDeleteWhat first caught my attention in your comment was the statement that the signs of global warming are “so clear”. Allow me to first say that I am not someone who automatically denies that climate change is occurring. However, I am innately skeptical, and I don’t see the clear signs that you see.
About a year ago, I read into a very interesting news story regarding one of the world’s top scientists studying climate change in England. He had come forward stating that much of his information showing that global temperatures were rising, etc. was actually falsified. I read deeper into this and listened to various news programs on the radio when it happened, but it seemed that many people were actually disregarding the events. That was interesting all its own- how people now seem to root for global warming’s existence as if it gives them a sense of responsibility. Have global temperatures been rising? I haven’t noticed anything, and I don’t think that I (or anyone) would, year-to-year, be able to see significant increases in the temperatures of my winters.
To go further into this, how can we be sure that we are a direct cause of such climate change in the first place? The earth has gone through various natural cycles of warming and cooling before, and will continue to do so. (I am certain that we cause a great deal of pollution, however.) We do plant trees, too, incidentally. We plant them mostly for paper resources, but there’s always an increasing supply of trees. Further increasing them to combat CO2 is a daunting idea.
Once again, I am not outright disregarding arguments that claim global warming is a problem today, but I am not a scientist, and so I have no reliable research to reference nor do I know enough about this whole thing to automatically jump on the side of immediate action against possible rising temperatures and sea levels.
Climate change is a very serious topic; that thankfully is being recognized and slowly but steadily taken care of. Some people may not take it seriously and say it’s not their problem and let someone els take care of it. The truth is: it’s everyone’s problem. We need to take action now not only for ourselves but for our future generations, and the overall well being of our planet. We can set an example and lay the stepping stones for our children and grand children to follow in to preserve our planet.
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning
ReplyDeleteFamily planning is a very genius idea. It helps to stabilize the usage and depletion of the natural resources. I believe that it might also help lessen the teenage pregnancy rates that are steadily rising in today’s societies. This will also help decrease the over population issues that many countries are facing due to unplanned and sometimes planned births. It will also hopefully lessen the amount of children dumped in foster care. Orphanages and that are left homeless and neglected due to their parent’s instability to handle the needs and wants that a child has. To stabilize the human through family planning would be very beneficial to our natural resources as well as our living conditions.
Reducing Global poverty
The reduction of global poverty is an issue that is constant and filled with many excuses and solutions. To make the pay of everyone and living circumstances equal is not going to solve the problem. There will always be dirty people who do not know how or care whether or not their home and personal space is cleaned. There also will always be slackers, people who do not work as hard as others so in turn do not deserve the same as others. But then again who are we to judge what someone does and does not deserve. Whether or not it is seen as a hand up or a hand out is not the case in most matters because the natural resources of the place may not be able to support a non-impoverished people.
James Lowery
ReplyDeleteEnergy Transition:
The people of this planet really need to figure this one out. This topic seems to be discussed quite often. Progress has been made and that is good. I feel like what stops it from taking off, is certain people that for some reason are not fans of the whole hybrid and eclectic car thing. Cars like that sometimes seem to be laughed at. But I feel if they got the whole using cleaner natural gas thing down, we’d be good. People who use solar and wind power seem to love it, so basically it should be everywhere!
ZACH M.
ReplyDeletePreventing the introduction and reducing the presence of industrial produced toxic chemicals in the environment: Over the past years, industrial produced toxic chemicals have become more and more in abundance, being disposed of in irresponsible, haphazard, and almost completely nonsensical ways. The ozone layer has a hole in it. We put a hole in the ozone layer. More recently however there have been efforts to reduce this toxic supply, electric cars are actually on the market again, and more and more companies are becoming all about being carbon neutral. It’s a hot ticket item at the moment, but it’s not a bad thing in the least.
Family planning: I understand the practicality. And I think that over time, if it's planned correctly and gradually enough, it can work. But I would hate for the country I live in to be in any way similar to what happened in China. I don't really like the idea of babies being left in woods. I do think that contraception and education should absolutely be pushed closer to the top of the "country priorities" list, for reasons other than simply keeping the population down.
Angelee Ortiz
ReplyDeleteResponse to Shaniqua: I agree with what shaniqua with the fact that families need to be planned. Someone should know when they want to have a baby, how many kids they and, and especially with who. If a person knows how many kids they want, they can plan out there spending budgets more on how much stuff to buy for them. Unplanned families or children are a surprise and there’s no time to figure out a plan for their future. After you have one child, give it time so you can figure out another plan for your next child. Also if you have children back to back, it can be kind of hectic and you might accidentally not pay attention to your other children.
I agree with Shaniqua that our environment would be better if we were to use friendlier sources of energy. It would be healthy for the entire planet and the humans in it as well. The things we use today are killing our natural resources that we need. Global warming is taking effect as we destroy our natural resources for, basically “fake” sources. With using our natural sources from our earth, it could heal illnesses that we have now and prevent future ones from evolving. Solar energy is a good idea, because that specific energy will be here all the time.
Response to Taaqia: I agree with Taaqia that the environment will appreciate newer better cars that won’t create pollution. The car that plugs into the wall is cool and smart. This car can travel pretty far, on just energy, no gas. This will definitely be nice to someone’s wallet, as you don’t have to keep filling it up with gas every week. This will help people who are still struggling in our economic crisis today. The oil and pollution that gas creates will destroy our planet, slowly but surely.
I agree with Taaqia on that if you have fewer kids, it’s a less of a demand for food; which means less money to spend and more to save. If the population were smaller then the world wouldn’t need to spend so much money on a lot of food that has to be prepared. This food sometimes doesn’t get touched in weeks, then it eventually gets old and no one will eat it. It’s a waste of our money that we could save for ourselves. Reducing the size of families could be better for the environment, because we won’t run out of our natural resources that we need to survive on.
In response to Sage:
ReplyDeleteI agree this planet has got so deep in the hole I cant imagine how we will get ourselves out. The things created over time, the things that have made the earth the natural beauty it once was are slipping away. We must step up and change our world together. Lets save our environment or we will loose ourselves.
James Lowery
ReplyDeleteRegarding energy transition, I agree with Tyrese completely. Our country is the greatest, and should have gotten this down by now. I feel we are making progress though, and in the years to come all this being talked about should be reality.
In response to Tyrees's response to Corrine
ReplyDeleteTo say that we need to help our own before we help others is just plain stupid in many cases. Why would we help our own on avenue a, b, c, d, and e when they have been given what others have not in other countries already? Why continuously put food, shelter, freedom and many other things out there for your own when they are unappreciative and it could help someone a lot more appreciative.
Micah
ReplyDeleteIn most cases I am of the opinion that what happens within a families’ home should stay within the family’s home until it begins to effect those around and outside of the family itself. Over crowding in America doesn’t seem to be a problem in Rochester but that is not to say it isn’t an issue in other parts of the world. The answer isn’t necessarily telling people how many children they can have but there is some validity in trying to aide people in their decision making in regards to having children. People should first off be given more access to free contraceptives as well as increased understanding of the costs financially of having multiple children. Although this will not ensure children will stop being made in excess by some people it should certainly make some parents think before they have their 9th children when they are already on welfare.
@Corinne:
ReplyDeleteI think that we, as a species, have relied to heavily on technology. I would hate to think that our evolution is complete, in the state we are now. So maybe we should work on bettering ourselves as people, and rely less on technology to do things for us.
James Lowery
ReplyDeleteRegarding family planning, I feel Zach is absolutely right. I agree a hundred percent. If we handled it in a civilized manner, it’d work. I mean it work if we did the same as China, but that’d be terrible.
BLACK PEOPLE ARE OVER LOOKED! when i look out out my Enviroment we don't even have grass. clean water?? for get that! i don't even remember the last time i had a full cooked meal that was actually good. problem is were always feeding to the needy and the greedy insted of the deserving
ReplyDelete@Tyrese responding to Sage:
ReplyDeleteamen brother
In Response to my BOO MOLLY H.
ReplyDeleteYou are right we do need to create laws to change things around us, but what will these laws do in 20-30 years another white man will come up with something else to make the world go round. Instead of laws we need people to be SAVED BY JESUS he is the only one that can heal and transform his world because this is his earth. People must be SAVED or we will continue to loose GODS earth.
response to Stephanie:
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Stephanie, that green house gases are jeopardizing the lives of millions of animals even to the point of extinction. The depletion of the ozone layer has many negative effects on the environment. Such as, the melting of the polar ice caps and excessive flooding destroying many habitats
I WOULD LIKE TO SAYBIF YOU SEE ANY COMMENTS BY THIS ACCOUNT IT IS (AMANDA THOMAS) I AM USEING HER ACCOUNT MINE DOESNT WORK OK BYE =)
ReplyDelete@willie: i agree i don't think family size will ever really get too large. It probably with stay moderate and until it becomes an issue i don't think measures should be set in play to prevent it, just yet. if it starts becoming like china then we absolutely should take measures here in the u.s.
ReplyDelete@zach: like i said electric cars may seem great on the surface. Oh cool no gas is used, but coal also has adverse effects on the environment, therefore you are trading one evil for the other.
ReplyDelete@james: Regarding solar and wind power...Hell yeah that is great but more people need to adopt this mathods and use them correctly, then maybe things would begin to turn around.
ReplyDeleteIndia Gunn
ReplyDeleteCLIMATE CHANGE
I think the climate change is really becoming to be an effect on many states.Such as unexpected weather like snow storms in the southern states for an example.As each year goes by, It rather seems like the climate gets worser.The reason for this is because all the carbon dioxide,burning fuel,and oil that enter the atmosphere traps the heat which causes the earth to be a much warrmer climate at times.In the summer time it the climate makes it difficult for families to make a decent vacation with out a major storm coming in because of the humidity.The climate changes are getting to a point that the government needs to find a solution to reduce the pollution of gases rising to the atmoshere.
FAMILY PLANNING
Family planning should be one of the worlds top concern.The reason for this thought is because with the lack of food, and natural resources thats left.People should really start planning pregnancy because the children that are produced the more shortage of resources.Also with family planning, it will help the world be able to have more food to go around for everybody.I think the government should really take a step in and make a solution so things can really balance out.People also need to step in and start making wiser decisions about having unplanned pregnancys.People need to start thinking about these major issues and help make a difference for the sake of everyone.With the shortage of food,natural resources,and most important water,Everyone needs to start making a plan to stop this fatal problem.
@corinne: redistribution of wealth is wrong and socialistic. If one man has great wealth that he has earned, there should be in no wa an attempt to take that from him or her for that matter. Poverty is those countries problems, America needs to stop trying to be a Global superman and start worring about itself. America has a foot in way too many doors and should spend time trying to fix it's own problem rather than something that was caused by an African civil war, so to speak. Unless of course, America becomes threatened or attacked then, war might have to be pondered. I agree that poverty is awful but the U.S. can't go into debt trying to get another country out of debt. The U.S. maybe could trade with them or The U.N. could help them find an export to make money on, but in no why should wealth be redistributed to an equal amount to everyone for different jobs and careers...thats socialism, thats ALWAYS works...NOT!
ReplyDeleteIn response to Cady on Family Planning: I completely agree that the media is out of control in regards to making having multitudes of children seem cool as well as having kids at a young age. Shows like “Teen Mom” and “16 and pregnant” make it seem cool. Yes, they do show the struggle but I think it still sends the message that it is ok to make that choice. Now I’m not saying that this is the sole reason for over population or that eliminating shows like this would be the solution. However it is my belief that this plays a role.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Shanay,
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you.Unplanned pregnancy is defineatly a cause in this situtation.If people plan the lives out,their would be least shortages to important supplies we need on the daily.The government really does need to step in and make some changes,and the people really need to also take part by planning ahead,and taking conciteration into this topic and really look into it.
In response to Sage,
ReplyDeleteI defineatly agree.The government should find different solutions to stop polluting are air.The pollution is really killing the natural beauty of the earth.The earth once looked like paradise,but now it looks like Hell.=]Thats a shame how we slowly destroying the one thing we need.EARTH!!!!!Can live with it, and cant live with out it.
I don’t agree with the family planning idea. I think it’ll just lead to chaos because you can’t really regulate how many kids someone has. They are doing that in China and its just awful because the abortion rate has sky rocketed. Also what happens if someone has more than the allowed number of kids? I understand that overpopulation is occurring; however regulating this will just be extremely difficult. Take the number of teen pregnancies for instance, the teen pregnancy rate has been sky rocketing and most of the pregnancies are accidental. This being a perfect example of how unexpected or rather unpredictable it can be. In other words I give the family planning idea two thumbs down.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Chris’s Response to Corinne on Redistribution of wealth: I completely agree we have to stop worrying about helping other people and for once take care of our own people. Plus the idea of redistribution of wealth is ridiculous no foreign aid is given without some form of “strings”. As I said before in regards to this topic no country in their right mind is going to allow someone to say “hey since you have all this wealth we are going to take some of it and evenly distribute it amongst those in need” and be like “alright man no problem!”…It’s just ridiculous…it has never worked like that and it will NEVER work like that
ReplyDeleteResponse to Deidre
ReplyDeleteYou’re right we are responsible for the things we’ve done to the environment and theirs no one else that can fix what we’ve done besides us. There’s this saying that the only person that can undo the knot is the person that tied it. After all, if we don’t solve the problem with the ozone layer and carbon emission we’re the ones facing the consequences. We’re basically digging our own graves here. We can’t let our actions threaten the lives of our children and grandkids and if it comes quick, our lives too.
Reducing global poverty would be a great thing to do. There are a high percentage of people that live in poverty. I think that it would be nice if people didn’t have to live in that manner. I think that if there were more caring people that are willing to help others, the poverty level will begin to decrease. Hopefully other people follow in those footsteps to help make poverty level very low. I think that the main reasons that people are forced to live in poverty are lack of education, money and resources. There should be programs to assist the people that do live in poverty. There should be something that they can do to further educate themselves so that they can make some type of progress. Those that live in poverty should be given governmental assistance in certain situations. It’s bad enough that they don’t have the resources to live a decent life; they should get help in the process. There should be a system in which other people help out. The wealthy should be able to give a little to help the less fortunate people in this world. I think that poverty is ridiculous and a lot should be done to decrease or even prevent it.
ReplyDeleteFamily planning is a smart idea, but I disagree with it. I do agree with the fact that it can stop the population from going over the capacity of the earth’s natural resources. But, I don’t think that anyone should have to be told how many children to have or when to have their children. Parenthood means a lot to most people. Who wants to be told what size family you can have? It’s not fair. I do think that there should be an age limit on when you can start having children. A large amount of the population stems from young adults having children. If there weren’t so many people having children, when the resources that are needed are unavailable, we wouldn’t have this problem. It is a smart thing to do though. I’m torn on this one.
response to corinne:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. There is enough wealth in the whole world for every person to be okay, however, people are extreamly greedy. Although it would be WONDERFUL to take all the money and wealth and distribute it evenly, it would be very difficult to organize that, and it simply would not happen. Maybe countries would be able to redistribute their federal wealth, but it would be impossible to do it with the whole population. I think that the way to help global poverty is through education. If children were taught about other kids in other countries, they would be a lot more willing to help each other out. Worldly education is one of the most valuable, and the way to improve the future is by educating the youth.
@ willie
ReplyDeletewhile family sizes may dwindle at times i highly doubt that people taking full time jobs will completely stop some parents from having lots of children. I know plenty of parents who have multiple children and both parents work full time jobs. while some may feel that because parents have full time jobs they aren't around enough for their children i disagree as i think that being able to support your children and still making time to spend with your kids is what makes a successful parent.
I agree with the idea of reducing global poverty. Global poverty is a major problem facing the world today and the numbers are vigorously increasing. I believe that if we all come together as a whole we can effectively combat this issue. We should lend out a helping hand to undeveloped countries that’s suffering. However I think we are doing a fairly well job with this. There are people going to different places in Africa giving their help through educational and medical means. Also many others help in various other places. With this being said we shouldn’t totally handout loads of money to foreign places when we as America are suffering. While being helpful to others we got to keep in mind that we also need to help ourselves.
ReplyDelete@ thomiqua
ReplyDeleteYour sighting of increased abortion rates in china as an issue makes no sense to me, there is nothing wrong with abortion. It does not "kill babies", it merely saves the chances of children who more likely than not will be born into difficult situation, although in China the use of abortion is to try and keep down birth rates, which i do not necessarily agree with i feel that a woman should feel free to get an abortion for whatever means they feel are necessary.
Response to Medina
ReplyDeleteEnergy Transition
It’s truly the way to go, if we want to reduce our influences on global warming. It’s healthy for the earth and people too since there wouldn’t be pollution and such. It’s overlooked sometimes that pollution does a lot more than hurt the environment; it hurts us too, both directly and indirectly. Eventually if we don’t reduce carbon dioxide emissions we’re going to be in a lot of trouble. Not many people are seeing the warnings that the environment is sending to us, and some do but aren’t taking it seriously. The temperature is rising; the sea level is rising, etc. Eventually we’ll be too deep in trouble that there’s no way to turn back.
Deidre Grogan
ReplyDeleteResponse to Shaniqua:
Shaniqua makes a really good point. Planning families would be a good idea. It would definitely make the world a more organized place. Although the truth of the matter is that is very unlikely to happen. For most people pregnancy is a surprise. Not a lot of couples sit down and say “hey we should make a baby”. And it’s very true that those who do do this are more likely to provide a better life for their child simply because they know what they that a child will be on the way and they know that they are ready for it: mentally, financially, etc. But sadly, as I said before, life just doesn’t go that way, so hopefully those who do have kids unexpectedly do their best to get ready for it.
@ corrine @ stephanie
ReplyDeleteCorinne saying that animals are being effected by global warming was something i completely failed to think about or acknoweldge, but it is still a very important thing to be aware of. although i do not find it to be the most important issue in regards to to global warming, if animals are lost it would still be a terrible thing but i dont find it as significant as the loss of human life.
Joseph Gleason ENERGY TRANSITION
ReplyDeleteIn response to taaqia
Cars like the Chevy volt are a fantastic development in the auto industry. What will make the volt successful is the small gas engine that allows it to go for 300 more miles after the charge runs out. In order to make fully electric cars a viable option is to invest in an infrastructure of charging or battery replacement stations, to allow longer trips.
In response to Shanay
I agree that we need to make a shift from Oil. However natural gas is not a viable alternative. Although it is cheaper and cleaner than Oil or Coal it has the same problems as those other resources. Gas still needs to be drilled out of the ground, the most popular method for this is High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking). This causes noise pollution and disrupts the environment where it is performed, There is also strong evidence that the process causes drastic and cataclysmic changes in the water table. Some people who live near hydro fracking operations have even reported being able to set their tap water ablaze! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEtgvwllNpg . Gas is also a limited resource like Oil. We as a country need to invest in renewable resources such as wind, solar, and geothermal energy. Energy that is universally available and provides an indefinite power source.
In response to Celias energy transition blog, not everyone should be trying to get their hands on electric cars. they are produced in a fashion that cars have never been mass produced in, as well as use a new and very expensive technology. I agree that we all must work together to help clean the earth atmosphere but people have bigger things to worry about, than saving for a electric car. this isnt a personal problem its a problem in the goverment. Holding a country with single moms who work 9-9s to support 3 kids, no one can expect anyone to put money aside for a 300 dollar per month car payment, with a high insurance rate. keeping food on the table and your family in a house is top priority. The goverment needs to make renovations to our citys to produce a cleaner atmosphere. Hybrid RTS buses and school buses are one step.
ReplyDeleteFamily Planning:
ReplyDeleteI agree with the person who wrote this article. I feel that families who are producing more children will have a harder time with maintaining food in their households as oppose to families with fewer children. Spacing out the birth of these children is also a good point. Having children back to back makes it harder for the parents to support their kids. It may also cause one child to gain more attention than the other. Reducing the size of families can also reduce the population. The chance of running low on natural resources would reduce if the family size were small.
Energy Transition:
Transferring clean renewable energy sources in place of fossil fuels is a good idea to better our air. The problem to this solution comes from pollution and manufacturing companies releasing fossil fuels such as coal and oil into the air. The use of natural resources is more friendly and healthier for the earth and us living on this earth. The use of natural gases can also stop global warming from occurring. I feel that we has humans are the ones who have to make this happen. The start to a clean and healthy environment begins with less pollution and more recycling. If we all play our role, we can make our world a better place.
Response to Elaine
ReplyDeleteIn many ways I agree with you and in other ways I don’t. While family planning if effective would be great because the amount of children in orphanages and the overpopulation in many countries would decrease enormously. However I don’t believe the family planning idea will work. I truly believe that the amount of kids someone has won’t be regulated. There are too many accidents, most pregnancies are accidental. Also I guess it may lessen the amount of teen pregnancies but I feel as though kids are going to do what they want to at the end of the day. However if there’s a penalty for having over the exceeded number of kids then it may be effective.
Molly Howe;
ReplyDeleteEliza: I agree that global poverty is tied to family planned.
Erin: Family planning; I agree with you, people need to be more responsible with their sex lives but the measures taken by China should not be taken in the United States, fear shouldn't enforce family planning. If education was universal, especially sex education then this wouldn't be as much of an issue.
Well, I believe this topic is addressed to often. Everyone knows what the end result is. If we continue to pollute this planet then we probably won’t be here for very long. I know this probably sounds really cheesy and end of the worldish, but if we don’t take action soon then the end result will actually be the end. People may take what I’m saying literally and assume that what I am saying is folly, but look at it from the outside. People very often lose their lives due to the lack of care for our planet. I don’t understand how many natural disasters it may take for people to wake up and realize that we have to attack this problem aggressively but in an organized manner.
ReplyDelete@ tyrese
ReplyDeletethe energy crisis is certainly something that we will not be able to overcome in small groups but rather it will only be conquered by a united front. Tyrese has an excellent point and people must work together for instance, the Repbublicans on the capitol hill must begin to work better with president Obama if we really want to see and valuable changes in fuel use.
Family Planning.
ReplyDeletein response to Willie, I agree with what you and Chris had both said. I agree that the family size will not grow to a large rate, but it may not shrink for all families. There are some families that have a lot of kids, but make the mistake of having way too many kids.
In response to James Lowery, i also agree with you about what you said, but do you really find this topic interesting? but really, i do agree with what you stated. there are many pros to doing this.
Energy Transition
in response to Brianna, i agree with you that, overall, everything will change and the world will become a better place. But, it will take a long time. hopefully this is seen in our lifetime.
In response to Sara, i agree with most of what you had said, but i, personally, would like to have a faster car so that i can hit the speed limit on the highway. i dont want to be one of the elderly people or bad drivers who drive at 15-20 mph on the ramp getting into faster traffic. i feel like driving slower may cause more accidents. if there was a way to go a bit faster but, also be environmentally friendly, that would make everyone happy.
In response to India :
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. The population growth has a lot to do with unplanned pregnancies. Due to the growing population, there is becoming a lack of natural resources for the population. Many pregnancies are unplanned teen pregnancies. Eventually, the resources will be lower than they are now and then some people will be in a bad situation. So, there should be family planning to stunt the lack of natural resources. The government should help out. They should find a way to evenly distribute the resources to everyone. Everyone should make wiser decisions and plan so that it doesn’t end in tragedy for some people.
JAYE:
ReplyDeleteI completely understand where you’re coming from. I don’t understand what the big deal is. These people that complain about using an electric vehicle are just stubborn. There’s no other reason for it. It doesn’t harm anyone and it betters our environment… what’s the big deal???
Response to Taaquia
ReplyDeleteReducing family size will be highly beneficial to the environment and our society as a whole. There would be much more food because the demand wouldn’t be so high. Also the lessened demand for food would have a ripple effect in the sense that factories that make food won’t be as needed which will reduce pollution. However I don’t totally agree with this. The abortion rate will have a horrible increase. People are going to have sex and in return get pregnant, that’s not going to change. Then due to the new family planning system they’re going to turn to abortion if they exceeded the number of kids they’re allowed to have.
Deidre Grogan
ReplyDeleteResponds to Thomiqua:
I completely agree with Thomiqua. Global poverty is a very sad thing to witness, especially sitting on the other side where the grass is greener. I think there is vast amount s of help given from human beings as a whole. There are so many people out there who go to third world countries to help anyway they can. They put their life on hold and make the self-less decision to help someone that truly needs it. This also applies to more wealthy people who donate. I think that it takes a very caring person to give up their money to a cause and not be able to see direct results. As Thomiqua said I think we are doing a very good job.
I agree with elizabarnes, it's common sense that if you use birth control you can prevent pregnancy. If you have a smaller family household you that's less food. But no matter what someone will always get pregnant even with these contraceptive options and there will always be some form of starvation in this world. You can not prevent poverty by having less babies!! This is not a communist Country people!!!! No matter what there will always be poverty and always be others that's filthy rich in the in this country! Thats why we are the Damn United States!
ReplyDeleteIn response to Katie Q
ReplyDeleteLand planning
I agree, lots of our natural resources have been pointlessly depleted. If we keep continuing to do this, reversing the damage we’ve already done will be nearly impossible. It makes absolutely no sense to attempt to fix global warming and pollution if we keep tearing away at what’s left of nature. There has to be other alternatives and there has to be a way to fix these problems. We figured out ways to build cities, find cures for some illnesses, the least we can do now is figure out a way to “cure” global warming. The growth of cities and the population is a big concern also because we will eventually have to trade in the well-being of the environment for the well-being of people… which won’t last long after the environment “takes revenge”
Boston
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think if we are too lazy to take action and do something about this than we should at least set stepping stones for our children and the generations below us. Then maybe there will be some hope for our future. For some reason we just can’t get the job done. Even though we take this on slowly but surely, “slowly” is not enough. There is not enough time to take this whole situation slowly.
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ReplyDeletePeople you ever think that maybe not everyone can afford to get a new car! Yes it's more beneficial to get an electric car, it's probably gonna save money in the long run but at the end of the day not everyoine can pay for that. If it was that easy than alot more problems would have been settled financially dont you think? I just wish you would see it from everyone else's point of view but your own. Not everyone is in the same predicament as bill gates or the rich man next door. Open your eye's and stop complaining about how people wont do thid and refuse to do that because maybe they just CANT!!! duuuh....
ReplyDelete~Caramel
Response to Nautica
ReplyDeleteI agree that energy transfer should take place immediately. The oil and fossil fuel is very harmful to the environment and it’ll be better if we use a healthier substitute in place of it. This will have a totally positive effect on other things such as, gas prices. At this point in time gas prices are ridiculous a healthier substitute may lower this. However I also agree that if we depend too much on our natural resources it may back fire on us. For instance, solar powered things aren’t always effective. I think energy transfer should definitely be looked into more because in the end I believe it’ll be helpful.
Response to Stephanie about Energy Transition: I agree that the advancements that people are making are pretty great. The fact that there are even eco smart houses that are be built that reduce the amount of energy houses use with things such energy efficient windows will save a lot of families money. I agree that flipping the climate change problems into something positive and trying to stop it in its tracks is a very smart thing that inventors and environmentalist are doing for our earth. There are so many ways that our climate can be saved and these suggestions are a great start, if they can be carried out by a large amount of the human population.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Morghann about Energy Transition: I agree that cost of carrying out all these great ideas will be through the roof and with our country and many part of the world going through all of these economic issues will be easier said than done. I also agree that not everyone is going to be on the same page when it comes to changing the habits that many people have gotten into when it comes to energy wasting. We’ll just have to sit back and do our best to try to contribute to saving energy and hope that a lot of people do the same.
Response to Hannah Snell about Climate Change: I agree that the issue of the insane change in climate that our earth is going through needs to be the top priority of the government. People who don’t believe in climate change need to step back and look around and see, as you stated, all the natural disaster that have been happened for the past couple of years. Our earth is going through a lot of changes and it affects not only the human population but the animal population also. Things are just going to keep getting worse unless the government states taking this issue seriously and starts to do something about it.
Response to Justin about Climate Change: I agree that the effects of climate change are irreversible but the great efforts that are being put in are helping to put it to a halt. Energy saving cars and other gadgets are defiantly going to contribute the helping the earth stay as healthy as it possibly can at this point. Non-believers just need to wake up and see that this is happening and if nothing is done about it we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.
Dear Everyone who comment about the environment,
ReplyDeleteCalifornia is on a plate, therfore we are lssong parts of it because of plate techtonics (earthquakes) NOT because of global warming , not emissions and things of that nature.
Response to Daniele
ReplyDeleteEnergy transition
The start to fixing something is to stop doing what we are doing and then fixing about what we’ve done too. You’re right; we have to find better alternatives that are healthy for people and the environment as a whole. We, as humans are responsible for keeping out habitat clean and safe. We caused the pollution and now that we’ve discovered more ways to reduce our negative impact on the environment, we have to go through with it. Even if it’s pricey, we have to slowly transition to better things. This is life, we grow and change for the better… hopefully.
Energy transition goes hand in hand with climate control. If we can stop using fossil fuels, and convert to renewable, cleaner resources, we can help the overall health of the planet. Like I said with the climate control right now we are laying the stepping stones for future technology that will eventually be advanced enough were we will drastically reduce our impact on the environment. If we can change the fuels we use and use them more efficiently we can help our planet and also save money. Imagine not having to pay for fuel for your car, or power to your home, some of these can be achieved just by harvesting the power of the sun.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Deidre
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you because your absolutely right. Our climate and environment is going through a lot as a result of us, so the least we can do is try to help out and make a difference. We should come together as one and reduce using things that are going to be harmful to the climate and the environment. Many of us don’t realize it but the harmful things we do harm the environment and ultimately will harm and destroy us. So I say we all recycle, find alternatives for oil etc. and shape because the way were headed we’ll be destroyed.
In response to Willie :
ReplyDeleteI think that most families are smaller in size. Of course, there are a few that have big families, but not everyone is going to do that. Your right, parents are working more because of the economy and they need to provide for their family. If they’re kind of struggling to make ends meet, they probably won’t bring another child into the equation. That would make the living situation much worse. Eventually, there will be no more natural resources. That won’t be due to the population that would be due to some earthly issue. So, with the economy being the way it is and parenthood changing, I don’t think that there would be a big need for family planning.
Deidre Grogan
ReplyDeleteResponse to Willie
I agree with Willie. I believe that the transition to energy transition will take a fairly long time. Although I do believe it is a very good idea. Fossil fuels are doing quite a number on are environment and we should try and do something to change that before it is too late. I also agree with Willie when he said not to waste so much money on trying to find this grand “innovation” that will save us from all the harm we are causing. Technology is at such a high right now, I’m sure that we could put on our thinking caps and create a machine that could help us with our problems.
Response to Merique
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opinion. Gas prices are entirely too high and it has the greatest effect on families. Being that my mom is a single parent she is facing that issue now with having to run me around with all the activities that I do. She spends more money on gas than anything else.
Response to Taaquia
You are so right, now I do see a lot of commercials advertising cars that run off electricity. I think in the near future all cars will be mad like that. It’s a good idea because it helps the environment and keeps it clean.
Response to Shaniqua
You made a good point when you said the families who have kids that are close in age; the younger one will receive more attention than the other kids. I think that is so true. I always wondered why that happens; why not pay attention to all of your kids equally.
Response to Willie
I like the point you made about the stay at home mothers. Now there are more parents working and if we as humans have large families it’s hard for that family to communicate because the parents are always at work.
Family Planning:
ReplyDeleteI don’t quite believe in this plan, it seems way to far fetch. Like really, who will be that one person to make it known all over the world to start stabilizing the human population. I mean by the time we even try to start the whole world would be blown to pieces. Humans do not enough self-discipline to align themselves to do right, it’s just not possibly, no matter how optimistic the future may seem. I would admit that it was a cute idea, but I mean why spend your time trying to make it official? And I might sound crazy but how can gaining adequate food supply help the world from global warming?
In Response to Precious Carmel:
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point, money seem to be the only huge issue when it comes to saving the world from all its trouble. That’s why I decided to one day tell the president that we should stop using money. YES SIMPLY ELIMINATE IT! This may sound insane, but take your time and think about this. I mean way back when, people didn’t have money to receive items that they needed, they only traded. I believe if we eliminate all our sources of currency then maybe we should trade things around. No more debt, it’s easy as that. I mean of course if this plan was to be put into action it probably will be hard for people to trust the government enough to just get rid of their money ,thinking that in the future that we would need money again. But in a perfect world, and if everything went right, all we would need it items to trade with other items, I mean it’s basically the same thing dealing with money, trading one thing for another.