Blog 3

I looked at Colleen's final slide show on the Growth of Education. I didn't actually know a lot about this topic and I thought it was a very well done blog. It took on an interesting perspective of how the government has failed its children in terms of providing a common education. I never realized that this could be a problem. I suppose that's because I'm surrounded by privileged districts, where students are able to get a decent education. I thought that Bush's no child left behind act would have helped this problem, but it seems that this problem stems from our history; the seperation of blacks and whites. After the blacks and whites were integrated, it still didn't do much because the blacks were significantly less wealthy than the whites. This created schools that were also very poor and did not provide a good education. As always, we need to look back at where our roots are to fix the problem. The government needs to find a way to level out education for those districts that have less funding. I think this issue is very relevant to today still because even in Chicago there are schools that are very poor. I thought her thoughts on what it means to be an American after learning about education was very thoughtful. The fact that different classes think of themselves differently so they define what it means to be an American differently based on what class they are in. I also really liked how she compared the issue of not getting an equal education-to how being an American means getting an equal oppotunity. AND how America does not give this in terms of all its promises. In general, I thought this slide show was well done.

Blog Response

I looked at the Thoughts of Kolis blog. I didn't know much about the connection of violence and rap and how it affects the person that listens. I like rap, so this was interesting for me to read about. Initially, rap was was credited for reducing violence. I have never heard of this before. It demonstrates how many good things can evolve into a negative influence. A video on the blog talked about how rap glorifies guns as a part of masculinity. This is clearly a problem. In wsome ways, rap is the reason why some many young people are dying because of school shootings. Rap has changed what it means to be an American-by changing the culture of America. It has created a culture that tolerates violence and profanity at much higher levels than ever before. It presents woman as "pieces of eye candy" which is sexist. Rap today seems to be a bigger problem than I ever thought. The slideshow also talked about rappers that rap about today's isssues and how they are against problems in society. This presents rappers in a positive light. In the end of his presentation, he brings up a good point of how rap is not the only thing out there that shows violence to young people. Movies and video games all exemplify war and guns as being a good thing and supposedly give ideas to young people. This seems to be his main focus, but it makes a lot of sense because people today seem very concerned about how the music culture is changing what it means to be an American.

Blog Post

Gays and Lesbians is the topic I decided to look at. Although it's not the topic that I wrote about, I still know a lot about it and I think it's interesting. The struggles that gays and lesbians go through is very sad. I did learn a few things from the blog I visited- Favorites of Today. It seemed like the "Don't ask Don't Tell" policy is a huge controversy today, and it was focused a lot in the slide presentation. I actually wasn't aware of this policy, and I think it's very unfair. This was initially thought of as progress for the GLBT community. I don't think this is progress at all. Gays and lesbians are still largely discriminated against, and this policy still allows that to happen-which is not progress. Soldiers that aren't straight carry the burden of keeping their sexuality a secret. The opposing view of this is that the army will get "out of control." This could not possibly be true because gays and lesbians live everywhere, and the earth is not out of control.
Another issue I thought was interesting was how this person defined what it means to be an American, after researching the topic of gays and lesbians. This blog highlighted the fact that America is a hypocrisy. The fact that the constitution preaches equal rights, but does not give equal rights to gays and lesbians. That is definitely a point that needs to be addressed. It's good that there is a good tolerance at our school. There is a club called SAGA that is dedicated to making things more comfortable for GLBT and straight students, it's like a community of safety. I don't know if any of those students are planning on going into the military, but hopefully that won't happen because they will be very discriminated against. Also, I'm sure this club is great for students that are gays or lesbians because in the Favorite's of Today blog final I learned some facts about students in school that were shocking. Reportedly 97% of students hear homophobic comments made by their peers, and 53% hear those comments from their teacher as well. I can't imagine how hard it would be to hear these comments made by your peers. It's probably difficult to live in a society that discriminates against gays and lesbians to begin with, but when your teacher starts discriminating against you- I think that's just outrageous. That's probably why 28% of GLBT students drop out of school, the harassment is just too much. I hope as a nation we can fix this problem.

Sources

Bailey, Ronald. "U.S. Air Quality Has Improved Since the 1970s." Current Controversies: Pollution. Ed. Debra A. Miller. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 9 Feb. 2010
Bass, Rick. "2001 Greatest American Short Stories." Days of Heaven. 19-31. New York, New York. 2001
Eng, Monica. "Chicago Schools Pile up Lunch Waste." Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune. 7 Feb. 2010. 8 Feb 2010. <http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-met-school-lunch-waste-20100207,0,5604002.story>

"environment." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010.

"Rachel Carson." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.

"pollution." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010.

"global warming." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Harding, Ann. "Drop in U.S. air pollution linked to longer lifespans."CNN. 21 January 2009. 7 February 2010.

"Jimmy Carter: State of the Union message (1981)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Leslie Kaufman. 12 Dec. 2009. http://nytimes.com/asarco/relatedtopics-123=r_01=csc
Schaeffer, Eric. "Market-Based Air Pollution Laws Will Increase Air Pollution." Opposing Viewpoints: Pollution. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. San Diego: Green

Analytic

The environment has had its fair share of problems. Pollution in the past has created many problems, and while none of the polluting we did in the early era of the industrial revolution was on purpose, the polluting we did later in the 20th century is what is creating permanent damage to the earth. Because people were not aware of what they were doing to the environment, their actions in a sense, were justified. The problem is it became largely undeniable of what people were doing to the earth once Rachel Carson projected the truth out into the public with her book Silent Spring. She is the one that told people of the real harmful effects of DDT, and the fact that it hurts more wildlife than what it was designed to kill. This is one of the main events that sparked the environmental movement, and then the conservation movement as people realized that, “for the first time…every human is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals from [birth to death]..” Around this period in time is when people also came to the realization that natural resources are not going to be around forever, and that they now had a responsibility to protect those resources and use them wisely. Responsibility. This is what was thrust on Americans as they realized their obligations to the environment and that their actions affected everything. Rachel Carson is definitely a person that made the issue of the environment more important and prevalent for the whole nation to hear. What she wrote is still an issue for Americans today as the struggle to reduce pollution in order eliminate green house gases is on. Global warming is the side effect of pollution from the population. The government, like in Jimmy Carter’s State of the Union Address, tried to instill laws and programs to stifle pollution. There is much debate about whether these did anything, as well as the ethics behind creating these programs. For example, it was rumored that Jimmy Carter only created the Alaska conservation act to boost his popularity. Regardless, as much as it did help, it did not fix everything as it still allowed a lot of natural resources to be pumped out continuously. This continued a present problem. In his speech he realized that earth is an important place and it supports the lives of humans. "...we shall protect the habitat and the existence of our own species on this earth." Although it took a while, people began to notice what was going on around them and this helped back up what Rachel Carson had to say. Around the time of his acts, more groups were producing environmental actions that helped the earth. These programs need to constantly be put out and created to fix dilemmas that are produced because of our lifestyles. The environment and the problem of pollution still play an important and prominent role in American society. The environment is where we live and function, it is very important that it is taken care of as a connotation of the negative effects on the human race that occur because of pollution.

Analytic

Current Events--Humans are trying to clean up and fix the earth. Whether these programs have been working or not is up for debate. Efforts are great, especially because of the current climate crisis. As in Prosser High School, the students stated, “We decided that this [garbage] was disgusting and unacceptable." These students had an excess of garbage in their school and they realized that if they put a little effort into it, they could reduce their impact on the earth. In general, people believe they have lowered levels of trash and waste because of what happens to the air and land when it is composted and doesn’t disintegrate. The converse is actually true; the output of waste has increased so the waste output is actually relatively close to the waste output 20 years ago, not better. According to the pollution debate, the rate to which garbage is created needs to decrease significantly. As for the pollution debate, it is argued whether or not pollution has improved or not in the past few years. The reasons for the largely different opinions on this matter occur because of data. There are always studies that support all different types and kinds of viewpoints, and it is hard to decipher which are accurate and unbiased. How data is interpreted, the optimism of the person doing so, and the range of samples taken (small or vast ) leads to the thought of whether or not pollution has increased or not. Some view the subject of pollution as getting better because, with all of these programs that are put out-how could the earth’s climate not be improved? As well as a study indicating that pollution has decreased and that the, "areas studied, between 1980-2000 have appeared to have added nearly five-ten more months to people's lives as pollution decreases.” The article indicates within it that not all areas are studied, and there is a possibility that other areas could have decreased lives. Other perspectives are created because of the limited knowledge people have about the subject area and the opinions are created off little knowledge people have of the subject-or even if people are given a one sided view of whether pollution is getting better or not- is why different opinions form. Still, the two current events that were produced indicate pollution getting worse. Asarco polluted the earth with irreplaceable damage, and public schools like the students from Prosser High School struggle to find a way to help the environment in terms of decreasing waste output. The fact that only these two articles were presented, demonstrates how different opinions form, because if another article were presented refuting the idea of pollution increase, then a reader could create an informed opinion about pollution. New themes seem to include group efforts. Schools, students, and communities banned together reduce their environmental impact. This occurred in a situation close to home, Chicago. Group and community efforts also reached Los Angles and in New York. The idea of bonding and helping to save the earth is catching on.

Literature Analytic

Days of Heaven By Rick Bass is a piece of nature fiction. There are three dominant characters that are in the midst of deciding what to do with the valley- a piece of land that Quentin owns. Quentin is the big guy in charge and has the most say over what happens because of his power as owner and wealth from being a stockbroker. He has a nasty temper and causes a lot of destruction in his surroundings and the environment outside the house on the valley. He also has children that follow his violent actions and every time they visit the valley, havoc ensues. Quentin’s business partner is named Zim. Zim’s role is nothing, except that of an accomplice, and a man who wants to make money no matter the consequences. He has no regard for others or nature, which is evident in his willingness to destroy the valley with his idea to bulldoze it. The plan is to bulldoze the entire valley and create a lake out of it to make money off of rich people. A third party that has been taking note of the bulldozing plans has the thought, “…how narrow the boundary is between invisibility and collusion. If you don’t stop it, if you don’t single-handedly step up and change things, then aren’t you just as guilty?” This means that if a person watches the environment being hurt or destroyed in a way that is legally or morally wrong, they are just as guilty. By simply watching this go by without doing something about it, puts some of the blame of the problem on the third person. This matters because this happens often in the world and that’s why the environment is so messed up. The good thing is that this person overhearing the plans did try to do something about it. This third character that is unnamed is the narrator. The narrator is the caretaker of the ranch and stays there for a couple years; he is extremely fond of nature and aims to keep the valley the way it is meant to be-tranquil and not disrupted. The narrator manages to find a way to save the valley by giving Quentin and Zim an idea that guaranteed them money, and one which saves the valley from complete destruction. Basically this entails Zim and Quentin renting out the house that’s in the valley for a lot of money during the winter and summer months. This idea of his is actually sacrificial because the narrator has come to think of the ranch as his own and resents whenever anyone. Essentially his idea to save the valley destroys his chances of staying in his home and the environment he loves. The story concludes with the thought that this idea is going to take place and the valley will be safe for a while, free of threats.
There is a lot of symbolism in this short story. The characters represent the different roles and views of people in the real world. Quentin is the citizen who doesn’t know what is right and is easily convinced of what is wrong and right by Zims. He is destructive-to the environment, and often destroys without knowing so. He raises ignorant children who imitate his destructive behavior in and toward the environment. Zim represents the business man and businesses that only want to make quick money, with no regard for the destruction they create while doing so. He has no regard for what it does for the environment and is only concerned about his current propositions. He is unable to change his ideals. The last type of person that is on our earth are those who can identify with the narrator. This person is one who sees the destruction of others and tries to do something about it. They also care about the environment. Those are the type of people that coexist in the same environment. Unfortunately, there are many Zims and Quentins out there; uneducated, ignorant, and willing to do anything for money. Especially in the current economy there are many people willing to sacrifice their morals for money and don’t acknowledge what it does to the environment. Ideally, this book suggests that it would be best to live like the narrator, because it would best for the environment to keep things simple.

Cleaning up their Act

Chicago Schools Pile up Lunch Waste


Chicago Public Schools throw out almost a quarter of a million lunch and breakfast trays made out of polystyrene foam, that's almost 1 million a week. The problem is that none of these trays are being recycled, and the school is polluting the earth with 5 million of these trays-a month. Well, the kids at Prosser Career Academy decided to do something about this. They realized the problem with sending all of these trays to the land fill, the fact that they will never disintegrate. That means that even as these kids continue to graduate and move on, their carton that held their nachos from a Thursday will still be sitting in a landfill. The Prosser students decided that their district needed to do something about their impact, but what they do is up for debate. There are also is more than one reason for getting rid of the tray. A group called No Foam Chicago asked the district to eliminate the trays for health reasons as well as the environment. Styrene, which is in the tray, can come out of the trays and into heated food. Districts in other states have also tried to address this problem by eliminating the trays once a week, and this helps save 820,000 from the landfill each time; while others found that their city was willing to pick up the trays and recycle them each time. These programs have not been instituted in Chicago, and the option of using reusable trays is too expensive, even though the school pays a fee of about 5 million dollars each year in waste management fees. Another option is to buy biodegradable trays, but this too is very expensive. The article never articulated what Prosser High school and other Chicago schools chose, but hopefully they are making a change to better impact the earth.

The fact that students initiated this realization shows that how impacted our generation is by pollution. We are trying to fix problems created by past generations. We're lucky that our school has trays and a recycling program that helps our school be more eco friendly. I didn't realize though, that our cafeteria doesn't really have a recycling plan. We have garbage bins and garbage bins to recycle cans- no plastic or paper of any kind. For the most part though, those cans go into the garbage with the rest of our lunch. I think that we should look into being more eco friendly within our own vicinities. Hopefully our own school can create a program that is too, entirely environmentally conscious.
Eng, Monica. "Chicago Schools Pile up Lunch Waste." Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune. 7 Feb. 2010. 8 Feb 2010. <http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-met-school-lunch-waste-20100207,0,5604002.story>

Schaeffer, Eric. "Market-Based Air Pollution Laws Will Increase Air Pollution." Opposing Viewpoints: Pollution. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. San Diego: Green

Pollution is not improving:

Pollution is getting worse as we progress; it its a problem we all face, and it is a problem we are having a hard time conquering. Man-made goods are increasing in popularity and because of this, more chemicals are emitted in the air because of their production. "A study of six cities has found that air pollution, even in areas that meet Federal air quality standard, can shorten people's lives..."' The article states, and supports the fact that pollution is an endangerment to one's health. Much like the other article, this one uses health as a central thing that pollution affects. One of the articles talked of Bush's Clear Skies Act, and how as good of intentions that it did have, has only made pollution worse as it invades some of the good that the Clean Air Act bill did. It weakens many areas that were improved, for instance, the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) program. By doing so, it actually creates more environmental havoc by increasing the amount of emissions which once again degrades air quality further-and endangers the public's health. The EPA estimates that particles from pollution plants cause 20,000 premature deaths yearly. The public should be much more concerned than they are about their own health. Alternative power sources must be found as well because the amount of pollution being brought about is unacceptable. According to this article, what the Bush administration has done is undermine any type of progress that was available-and released more pollution than ever. Loopholes is how companies manage to get around the "laws" of air pollution, if you could call them that anymore. The public needs to take their own initiative and fix this problem. In addition, the article drives home the point of time. Our environment does not have that much time anymore. Each second that pollution is being put out, is another 2 seconds taken off our lives. Each second passing is more irreparable damage being put into the earth. While this article is very one sided, it does put out this one point-that no matter whether pollution is increasing or decreasing, it is still being put out into the environment and that needs to stop. We need to cut back our pollution and altogether try to repair what we have done to the earth.

Asarco

Asarco is an American Smelting and Refining Company.

This company paid the government $1.79 billion fore polluting over 19 states. One company, 19 states. What I don't understand is why the government allowed this to happen in the first place, and I certainly wonder how many other companies are out there doing the very same thing. One of the many environment misconducts that this company did was burning hazardous waste instead of proper disposition of it. I personally believe that it would be easier to dispose of it. Sure it would be expensive, but the bankruptcy that occurred in the end would have never happened had they disposed properly. Greed is definitely one of the underlying themes of pollution-as people like to make the most money and cut corners frequently when it comes to recycling. Although money does make the world go around, if you don't have a safe world to live in, what is the point of having money? Anyways, this burning ended up in the river, and it carried down stream which polluted soil and other waterways everywhere. Not only did this company burn illegally, it burned according to the wind's direction, and if it face Mexicon it burned more. This is because Mexico's air law are not as strict. They created chaos in more htatn 19 states, and they created chaos in another country-one that was not even theirs. As I said before, the money paid will help only a small portion of what was polluted, because the rest is just a large chain effect that brought about pollution where it should not have gone; even though this company literally paid their dues, it still does not fix the problem they created. The pollution they compiled and spilled across 19 states. This is what truly should be fixed and modified. The slap on the wrist and payment the company made did not fix anything. In fact, it almost puts out the message that pollution is okay-if you can get away with it, because then you just have to pay money and everything will be okay. Well, it is not okay because the effects that came from this single company will be lasting into several future generations. And just to think, that's only one company...what will happen to the environment as the other companies cut corners like Asarco. The future looks bleak from here as companies have no morals or ethics when it comes to the environment and the world they themselves live in. Asarco kind of represents how many Americans in society behave toward the environment, if they don't acknowledge it- it's not there. Well, hate to break it you America, it's there and you gotta care a lot more if anything is going to change.

Leslie Kaufman. 12 Dec. 2009. http://nytimes.com/asarco/relatedtopics-123=r_01=csc

Air Quality/ pollution Is improving

Fact or Fiction: America's air quality is improving and pollution is decreasing. This is definitely up for debate and I read two different views on the matter. One definitely had me convinced, which one will you side with?

Air quality is improving/ Pollution is decreasing:
America is reportedly experiencing trends of improvement in urban ozone quality, and toxic air particles have decreased in the past three years by 31%. This benefits Americans because these air particles can prove to be dangerous to one's health as well as cancerous. The article talked a lot about how the government and environmental group's claims are exaggerated and are not relevant to what is the true case. In fact, pollution has been decreasing as we keep progressing because of our advancements in technology have created more efficient ways to process and create energy. CNN reports too, that Americans are living longer lives because the air they breathe clearer. According to a new study, the drop in pollution across metropolitan "areas between 1980-2000 appears to have added nearly five-ten more months to people's lives." This was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Five more months is almost half a year, or even almost a year, longer with your friends and family and enjoy life. So evidently pollution causes more of an impact on humans than people initially thought, not just on their surroundings. Most of this change is brought about by the Clean Air act of 1970, which set air quality standards that the government regulates in an effort to have a better quality of life. The negative effects of pollution include: Increase in blood pressure, risk of heart attack; as well as other research has concluded that a nonsmoker living in a polluted city has about the same risk of dying of heart disease as a former smoker. There is a lot of research out there that presents the facts of increased mortality and worsened health to pollution.
According to this article, and newspaper, air quality is improving as our pollution control is getting more strict. We are on the right track for creating an environment that is more Eco friendly and less invasive to other life forms; as well as more healthy. The articles talk about data and interpret it as positively supporting the hypothesis of air quality improving. There are many convincing studies that were made, and I have to wonder about the authenticity of them. As always, the data that is presented in articles always supports the theories, but they never show any evidence that shows other possibilities. For instance, the articles highlighted 51 towns that had improved pollution numbers, in one state. The articles did not acknowledge any other towns that may have suffered with more pollution. It did not give us a wider view of how pollution affects the other towns nationwide. And it only gave one town in the country, which may have proved their point, but that may be their only core evidence. The article needed to provide more statistics to completely back up what they were saying and to block the many holes in their evidence that they left.

Bailey, Ronald. "U.S. Air Quality Has Improved Since the 1970s." Current Controversies: Pollution. Ed. Debra A. Miller. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 9 Feb. 2010

Harding, Ann. "Drop in U.S. air pollution linked to longer lifespans."CNN. 21 January 2009. 7 February 2010.

How I'm Doing Now

The environment of our country has change a lot, as our views of the importance of being eco friendly change. I have not really narrowed down a certain topic or time in history that I would like to focus on for this project. As far as history goes, most of the things that occur or are created are due to a chain of events; all connected making the early 19th century events important as they pertain to amendments and bills created later. I find this topic rather interesting and am looking forward to pursuing it further, possibly looking further in depth into the topic of how our increasing population has been affecting our efforts in terms of being more proactive in the environment. I have also learned a lot about the efforts that single people put in to better our earth, and how one person really does make a difference. On the other hand, a lot of the general overviews that I have researched I already knew a lot about,and it did not really help me narrow down anything. Hopefully I will find more information in the future that can help me better. I definitely look forward to finding more material.

Jimmy Carter: State of the Union Address (1981)

In Jimmy Carter's State of the Union message he talked directly about the environmental situation, and based on what he said, the problems of the earth are about the same then as they are now, but now we have better ways of limiting the amount of damage we do-but it's still there and there's a lot that still needs to be fixed. I do think that during Jimmy Carter's era a lot got accomplished in terms of helping the environment and changing people's bad habits. He helped lead America in the right direction by Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. This act helped to preserve the natural beauty that is Alaska. The Act added 97 million acres of new parks and refuges, tripled the national wilderness system, as well as added free-flowing rivers. And as he stated, "The Alaska Lands Act reaffirms our commitment to the environment and strikes a balance between protecting areas of great beauty and allowing development of Alaska's oil, gas, mineral, and timber resources." This is what I don't like about this act. He contradicts himself when he says that he wants to preserve Alaska's beauty, but he still wants to pump oil, chop down lumber, and get minerals; all of which include invasive ways of retrieving-and that causes a lot of damage, not beauty. I think that creating acts to justify destruction of an environment and ecosystems is not the way to go. As much good as this act was, it still didn't address the other problems in the big picture such as the oil pumping and destruction of land.
Another topic concerning the environment in Carter's Address is one of water conservation. This includes the government supporting programs that are only environmentally sound. Because the government is such a large and influential force, its support of these helpful programs really helped extend the message of the importance of a clean and healthy environment. I definitely think that the government's actions reflect what the majority of the people in America want, and it also changes people's opinions so that they start being proactive in what the government is doing. This means that Americans were and are ready for a positive change in how they treat their earth. This also demonstrates that I was mistaken. In one of my previous blogs I spoke of how our society was in a downward slant in terms of environmental improvement and awareness. On the contrary though, our conditions and attitudes have apparently improved tremendously sine the Carter administration-which is good news to me and the earth.
Here are some good points/snippets that Jimmy Carter talked of during his Address:
-Our children, and our children's children, are dependent upon our maintaining our commitment to preserving and enhancing the quality of our environment
- That we shall protect the habitat and the existence of our own species on this earth.
**This shows that the government is starting to truly realize that if we damage the earth, we will eventually negativly impact ourselves in many ways.

"Jimmy Carter: State of the Union message (1981)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

Global Warming

Global warming is the overall increase in the atmospheric temperature of the earth. It is believed that this was brought on by the green house affect; ie. the gases that accumulate and allow solar radiation to enter the atmosphere, and then become trapped. All of which cause more heat. The main green house gases are carbon dioxide, fossil fuels, and animal waste. These are caused by pollution. Global warming is a side affect of this, which we are to blame. This is one of the biggest problems to date with our pollution, and eventually it could lead to humans dying because of the extreme heat .Of course, that won't be for a while, but there is no telling especially at the rate humans are increasing their carbon footprint. This problem is going to be more prevalent in the future unless we decrease our waste and carbon output, which in turn will slow down our future death. This is more than an issue of being too hot as well, global warming can lead to excess flooding, the disappearance of countries because of the floods, and crops and wildlife would also be affected. All of which affect us because obviously, we live on land, and we eat crops and wildlife. We need to take immediate action to reduce pollution, and keep the future in mind. Because everything we are doing in the present is going to affect our future and whether it is healthy or not, and if we are going to have one.

"global warming." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

Pollution

Pollution began to really impact the environment during the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution started to crank out some solid goods that helped our country's economy, but with this many hazardous byproducts were also made, and then disposed of in ways that polluted the land, water, and air of the earth. Waters became so polluted, that you could no longer tell if water was flowing, or if it was just another public restroom. One river, Cuyahoga, caught on fire because the chemicals polluting it ignited. It was disgusting-and then things got worse. I think that this is a terrible thing. The fact that people thought they could dump their waste and byproducts into a river, and not have any negative consequences, is just bad. People complain about global warming, and unclean waters, but really this is all product of their own wants and needs. Consumers buy things to make life easier and products that do more harm than good. A large part of our pollution problem is due to consumerism. As our numbers increase in spending and in population, he amount of hazardous waste has increased from 1 million ton in the 1940s, to 250 million tons annually in 1980s. Wow that's a huge jump in only 4 decades. With this upward trend, we should realize that it needs to stop. We need to do something so that we start producing significantly less hazardous waste.

Pollution not only affects our rivers, but it also affects the air. The quality of the air we breathe is getting lower and lower. The smog in the air is sometimes considered so dangerous in San Fransisco, that it is warned not to exercise outside for fear of getting toxins too deep within lungs. This is clearly not good. Not only are we becoming a fat country, the pollution we put out is another excuse not to exercise. We are at the point where pollution is not only affecting our environment and other animals, but it is now affecting us and poisoning us. There must be a stop to this pollution.

"pollution." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .

Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson is an author who is credited for helping to launch the environmental movement. She was an ecologist and ecology writer, and wrote several books that helped impact the way people looked at their surroundings. In 1962 she wrote a book called Silent Springs which sparked a shift in people's opinions toward the use of pesticides and DDT. I think that books like this are important because the provoke a necessary wake up call and awareness to people. It causes people to realize that they should question more things because everything affects them. Prior to her publishing, people were not aware that pesticides like the DDT caused harmful affects on wildlife other than the bugs they were designed to kill. Once people found this out they became outraged at the government and that it had regulated this. This shows that people need to be proactive and once again, question what is going on in their world. As she put it, "For the first time in history.. every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death." This also brings about the issue of how future generations are to be affected directly by the actions of the current one , and this also must be addressed. What Rachel Carson brought to the public's attention, is still an issue today. The fact that we as a society still struggle with making choices that have less of a negative impact on the environment. Our current generation seems to be making the most effort in terms of research as our resources are starting to dwindle and more animals are getting harmed and added onto the endangered species list. Obviously we are getting a lot better, but we still a lot more to get done in order to have an ideal balance between progress and a healthy environment. Overall we have Rachel Carson to thank and her willingness to take heat and publish the ideas that helped change the way Americans thought. She definitly is one of the key people to consider when talking about the environmental movement that helped make the world a little better.

"Rachel Carson." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .

Environmental Actions

During the 20th century people became more aware of their own environmental impact. They also became more concerned about how the government should be involved in protecting it. There were many movements that came about including the National Park, environmental, and conservation movement. All of which started to show the necessary concern toward the environment. The article "Environment" talks about how initially, Americans thought that natural resources within America were inexhaustible and when told that they were disappearing with the frontier of America, they were shocked. This demonstrates how ignorant Americans were and that the government should inform their people better. At least they started to care more about the environment-which was good, until they became carless again. But on the contrary, as history progressed, more environmental programs were created such as the U.S. Forest Service Act, Soil Conservation Act, Endangered Species Act,Clean Water Act, and Earth Day. The difference these programs made was tremendous because it helped helped the environment as well as remind Americans of the issues they lived with. The problem is that it took disasters to occur for these programs to be created. It took an oil spill, a nuclear plant explosion, many species to be threatened of extinction, and the dust bowl for any of these acts to be thought of -which is just careless. Once the enviornmental issue was brought about, it should have been thought of with every action we made. When urbanization occured we should have been less carless with the land instead of causing permnanent damage to it. Generally speaking, as much progress that Americans have made to eliminate their environmental impact, there is still the history of land abuse that cannot be taken back. There needs to be more steps taken in the direction of restoration, so we do not have to make any more prevention acts for a problem we have made.

"environment." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

environment

The environment is important because the rate of its deteriation is rather fast. Most of the problems that the environment has been having is because of us. Our hurry to progress and become the biggest, and best country in the world has caught up to us, and the consequences of our past and history are now evident in the current climate crisis. In 8th grade I wrote a paper that talked about the infinite growth rate of the human race and whether or not our earth had the carrying capacity to support that growth. Because our technology advances in our rush to progress, we are able to alter our living environment as well as our own longevity. This is part of the reason why our population can become so large. In my research paper I found that it concluded that we must do something different -if we wanted to keep living on this earth- because what we are doing now is destroying it. That's why I wanted to pursue the topic of the enviornment, I wanted to see how the past leads to the current problem, and the different ways we can help and change our enviornment for the better.

State of the Union Address

State of the Union
Barack Obama made a lot of promises at his State of the Union. His initial start I thought was interesting because he went through America’s history and how it has progressed and digressed economically through the decades. The topic of our economy’s state I thought was accurate, and the plans he has to improve it I think are realistic. He stated that 1 in 10 Americans still cannot find work, but he is still hopeful for America’s future in terms of jobs. What the government has done to help struggling families thus far is make health insurance 65% cheaper, and the people of America have not seen a raise in income taxes. All of which, I believe are very helpful. They government has also created jobs for 2 million Americans, who otherwise would not be working right now. He proposed a New Job’s Bill yesterday night, in order to address the issue of jobs in 2010. This should help the foundation for long term growth. Another way to help with jobs and the economy is by creating clean energy jobs. I personally agree with this because our earth is our home, so obviously we should be taking care of it. These jobs will help promote environmental awareness as well help the cause.
Another promise that Barack Obama hopefully will fulfill is one that involves college. I would really like to go to college, but there is the issue of how expensive the enrollment is. In the north shore, the issue of money problems is not always prevalent, but for the rest of the country this promise will affect the process of college enrollment indefinitely. To make college more affordable the government might give families $10,000 tax credit, as well as call off all college debt if it takes more than 20 years to pay, and it will cancel the debt in 10 years if you go into public services. As he said, “No one should go broke because they chose to go to college.” This statement has a lot of truths to it and I hope that it can happen before I go to college. I definitely like the way that Barack Obama has run the country thus far.

cheese logs

I don't really like cheese that much, but I decided to write about it. Actually, I do enjoy swiss.