Today is September seventeenth two thousand and eight, we just got done watching a movie in English class, and the movie is called “An Inconvenient Truth” . What the movie is called really isn’t important it is what the movie or I guess you can call it a documentary is what it entails. The opening scene is of a beautiful stream that could be right in your backyard that’s how common it is. I guess that really isn’t important either. What really is important is Al Gore opening statement he makes to this entire room of people. He says “It isn’t isn’t what we don’t know that gets us into trouble, it is what we know” which struck me as odd. I think here is a former Vice-President of the United States of America the most powerful country in the world telling me that our knowledge will get us into trouble. I find that troubling in itself, I’ve always thought that knowledge was power, the more I knew the better I would be for my family and the better a life I would have for the future, now I’m just not so sure anymore, and here is why.
What is Global Warming? That is a common question these days in the classroom, and to many people it has different meaning, most know the same facts but it means different things to people. Some think it is just a government conspiracy while others see it as a real threat. What does it mean to you? To me Global Warming is a bigger problem then I ever thought it to be, I mean I knew it was a very bad thing that the people of today’s world were trying to fix but never did I see it to be this big of a problem. Just a little fact that I’m sure everyone already know what it never hurts to hear more then once, you know that co2 makes the ozone thicker correct? Well I bet you didn’t know that because of the admissions of our cars and trucks the co2 levels are going up and up they are actually almost off a chart that we have used since 1970, or the start of this becoming a big problem, and due to that the ice caps are melting, I know you’ve already heard that, but it is true. The western ice shelf in Antarctica is supposed to be one of the largest in the world yet it is slowly becoming smaller, and it keeps breaking off into the waters of the ocean. We can’t afford to have all that ice that is stored down there to melt and drain into the ocean, that will cause ocean levels to rise more then 25 feet, that is over half the cost of Florida and San Francisco, yah that will not be there anymore it will be under water, not to mention New Orland’s which already has most of its city under sea level.
We keep having worse hurricanes then the year before last, have you ever stopped to think why? I know our scientist have, they knew how bad the storms will get, and they told us what the damages would be. The storms keep getting stronger because the oceans are becoming warmer, they are getting that way because the suns uv rays are going right into the water instead of reflecting off and back into space, thus causing the water temperatures to rise. In India the summer of 2005 was the hottest summer that they had ever had in recorded time it was 122’F that was also for a period of days, and that was the average, not just the day. Which wasn’t even that past two years, I would like to know what the record is now?
I guess what I’m trying to say is something needs to change, we have the technology to make the world a better, more efficient place, why aren’t we? Also if we are one of the smartest nations why are we the biggest contributor to this problem we emit over 30.3% of the earth’s co2 levels and we don’t even have the biggest population. They say that old habits and old technology isn’t a bad thing, but what happens when you have new technology and you are still fighting old habits? We should all do something to help the planet, and I’m not a tree hugger but this is home, we only have one planet people. So what will you do? Are you going to change. Here is a website that you should check out if you care at all about the place you live, willyoujoinus.com . If you believe in pray, pray that people find the strength to change.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
An Inconvenient Truth
To be honest, before watching “The Inconvininent Truth” I did not know very much about global warming. If someone came up and asked me what I thought about global warming, I would probably have nothing to say about it. After watching this documentary, it has really opened my eyes to global warming. I can now see how big of an issue it is in our world. It is actually very scary to me. It just makes me wonder if most everyone just ignores this issue, what is going to happen to the world? It makes me wonder throughout my lifetime what is going to happen? Not to mention if someday I have kids what are they going to go through?
One of the points that he brought up really sticks out in my mind. He was saying that polar bears have been found dead. Some of the polar bears have been drowning because they have had to swim so far that they could not make it. That is very sad to me. So much ice is melting that they are having to swim a lot more. Does this mean that one day polar bears are going to be extinct? From the sounds of it yes. The sad thing is that it’s not just polar bears that rely on the ice and the cold weather. Many other animals need the ice. If the glaciers are melting everyday, then eventually we will have no glaciers on our earth. I can’t imagine the earth without any glaciers.
He also said that we have had more natural disasters that have been caused by gloabal warming. When the water temperature gets warmer the storms get worse. The water temperature is rising so does this mean the huricanes and other storms are just going to continure to get worse? I can’t even imagine the weather getting much worse than what it is now. The hurricanes in the past few years have wiped whole cities out. If they keep getting worse I can not even imagine the tradgedies that are going to occur.
He also said that the ten hottest years occurred during the last fourteen years. He said that 200 cities in the west hit all time record highs. I don’t know what people are going to do if it gets much hotter than what it has been. If it gets much hotter there are going to be more droughts and possibly more wildfires in the west.
It just seems like our country is worried about so many other issues that this one is overlooked. I guess I was guilty of this too. I just wish everyone could watch this movie and realize how big of a deal this really is. This really scares me.
I think that there needs to be more awareness on global warming. Before I watched this documentary I did not think that global warming was that big of a deal. Now I realize if something is not done about this issue, its going to continue to just keep getting worse. I would encourage anybody that I know to watch this movie. It is a very serious issue that people need to know about. If everyone could come together and work against global warming we could put a stop to it.
One of the points that he brought up really sticks out in my mind. He was saying that polar bears have been found dead. Some of the polar bears have been drowning because they have had to swim so far that they could not make it. That is very sad to me. So much ice is melting that they are having to swim a lot more. Does this mean that one day polar bears are going to be extinct? From the sounds of it yes. The sad thing is that it’s not just polar bears that rely on the ice and the cold weather. Many other animals need the ice. If the glaciers are melting everyday, then eventually we will have no glaciers on our earth. I can’t imagine the earth without any glaciers.
He also said that we have had more natural disasters that have been caused by gloabal warming. When the water temperature gets warmer the storms get worse. The water temperature is rising so does this mean the huricanes and other storms are just going to continure to get worse? I can’t even imagine the weather getting much worse than what it is now. The hurricanes in the past few years have wiped whole cities out. If they keep getting worse I can not even imagine the tradgedies that are going to occur.
He also said that the ten hottest years occurred during the last fourteen years. He said that 200 cities in the west hit all time record highs. I don’t know what people are going to do if it gets much hotter than what it has been. If it gets much hotter there are going to be more droughts and possibly more wildfires in the west.
It just seems like our country is worried about so many other issues that this one is overlooked. I guess I was guilty of this too. I just wish everyone could watch this movie and realize how big of a deal this really is. This really scares me.
I think that there needs to be more awareness on global warming. Before I watched this documentary I did not think that global warming was that big of a deal. Now I realize if something is not done about this issue, its going to continue to just keep getting worse. I would encourage anybody that I know to watch this movie. It is a very serious issue that people need to know about. If everyone could come together and work against global warming we could put a stop to it.
Global Warming- "An Inconvenient Truth"
Global Warming is something that every person is required to learn about or at the least be taught while in school. Personally, this never caught my attention; I always looked at Global Warming as something that will eventually go away or something that people would eventually forget about in 5-10 years. This is not the case; in fact the complete opposite has happened.
Al Gore, former year 2000 Vice-President of the U.S has made a movie called “An Inconvenient Truth”. This movie includes all about the effects that Global Warming has had and will continue to have here on Earth. Some things that have resulted from this, to me, are making absolutely no sense. It is not natural for the animals that have lived in and belong in warm or cold climates to move closer to the north or south poles because their homes are too hot or too cold for them to survive in! Think about it! Polar Bears are dying because the distances they have to swim to get to “shore” are growing everyday. Gore also explained that due to Global Warming one country could be flooded and at the same time its’ neighboring country could be experiencing a drought. The only thing I could think of was how this is physically possible.
Watching this movie really made me stop and think about the things that make global warming possible and also made me realize that the people who live on and call Earth “home” are the real reason for global warming. Deforestation (the cutting down of forests’) is one of the many things that are making Global Warming. When a single tree is cut down, carbon dioxide is released into the air causing the temperature to raise a fraction of a degree. However, cutting down a whole forest or two, results in a major change in temperature and the amount of carbon dioxide (not meant to be inhaled) in the air. If this movie was seen by at least ¼ of the amount of people here in the U.S and everyone did something like buy a vehicle with a higher MPG or something as so simple as to changing a regular light bulb over to a fluorescent bulb, a very large amount of carbon dioxide would be decreased.
Changing the filter on a furnace or air conditioner saves 350 pounds of carbon dioxide in one single year. - http://climatecrisis.net/takeaction/whatyoucando/ viewed: 9/17/2008
Al Gore, former year 2000 Vice-President of the U.S has made a movie called “An Inconvenient Truth”. This movie includes all about the effects that Global Warming has had and will continue to have here on Earth. Some things that have resulted from this, to me, are making absolutely no sense. It is not natural for the animals that have lived in and belong in warm or cold climates to move closer to the north or south poles because their homes are too hot or too cold for them to survive in! Think about it! Polar Bears are dying because the distances they have to swim to get to “shore” are growing everyday. Gore also explained that due to Global Warming one country could be flooded and at the same time its’ neighboring country could be experiencing a drought. The only thing I could think of was how this is physically possible.
Watching this movie really made me stop and think about the things that make global warming possible and also made me realize that the people who live on and call Earth “home” are the real reason for global warming. Deforestation (the cutting down of forests’) is one of the many things that are making Global Warming. When a single tree is cut down, carbon dioxide is released into the air causing the temperature to raise a fraction of a degree. However, cutting down a whole forest or two, results in a major change in temperature and the amount of carbon dioxide (not meant to be inhaled) in the air. If this movie was seen by at least ¼ of the amount of people here in the U.S and everyone did something like buy a vehicle with a higher MPG or something as so simple as to changing a regular light bulb over to a fluorescent bulb, a very large amount of carbon dioxide would be decreased.
Changing the filter on a furnace or air conditioner saves 350 pounds of carbon dioxide in one single year. - http://climatecrisis.net/takeaction/whatyoucando/ viewed: 9/17/2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Blog 1 Freedom -vs- Equality
There will always be a long standing conflict between those that have equality and those that have freedom. I personally think that freedom and equality are two things that can coexist, but not to the extremes that everyone would like them to be. There are conflicts that always arise between the two when you try to have them both. So you would have to ask yourself what is more important to you and then you would have to go from there. To really understand the conflict between them; you really have to look at the two extremes of both freedom and equality.
People that have all the freedom they need don’t have as much freedom as they think. Humans are animals and we do find ways of governing ourselves; even if it is through a fight to see who is a stronger person. By doing this they have unknowingly caused inequality within the group. The persons that end up in the governing body will have more power than those that are not. They might take more for themselves and their families, because they are the leader or part of the ones in power. If they don’t like someone in their group; they can have that person picked on, removed from the group, or just ignored within the group. This takes away from the equal treatment that everyone else had once shared.
Then you have the next extreme of everyone being equal; which is slightly impossible because someone will always be in power. As I said before, we are animals and we will find ways to govern ourselves. The best way to look at an extreme like this is to give you an example of this extreme; and the best examples that everyone knows are Russia and China. These people are “equal”, but they have no real freedoms. They are told how they are to run their lives, how many children to have, how much they are going to get to eat, etc. Having a government that tells you how to do all these things would be the only way to keep the equality that one would desire.
So now I am back to the beginning question; what happens? Usually there is a fight between the two groups. Both sides believe that their way of thinking is correct and that no one else is right. We have actually seen this conflict many times in our history and it won’t be our last. World War II is (sort of) an example of these two sides conflicting. Adolf Hitler wanted the world to be full of his Aryan, making everyone equal and the Allied powers were opposed to this and wanted freedoms. This is only one example of many. There is the Revolutionary War, Vietnam, the Crusades, and many numerous wars in Africa between the tribes. This is a conflict that usually has bloody ends because no one is willing to compromise. That is what happens when these two values, freedom and equality, collide.
People that have all the freedom they need don’t have as much freedom as they think. Humans are animals and we do find ways of governing ourselves; even if it is through a fight to see who is a stronger person. By doing this they have unknowingly caused inequality within the group. The persons that end up in the governing body will have more power than those that are not. They might take more for themselves and their families, because they are the leader or part of the ones in power. If they don’t like someone in their group; they can have that person picked on, removed from the group, or just ignored within the group. This takes away from the equal treatment that everyone else had once shared.
Then you have the next extreme of everyone being equal; which is slightly impossible because someone will always be in power. As I said before, we are animals and we will find ways to govern ourselves. The best way to look at an extreme like this is to give you an example of this extreme; and the best examples that everyone knows are Russia and China. These people are “equal”, but they have no real freedoms. They are told how they are to run their lives, how many children to have, how much they are going to get to eat, etc. Having a government that tells you how to do all these things would be the only way to keep the equality that one would desire.
So now I am back to the beginning question; what happens? Usually there is a fight between the two groups. Both sides believe that their way of thinking is correct and that no one else is right. We have actually seen this conflict many times in our history and it won’t be our last. World War II is (sort of) an example of these two sides conflicting. Adolf Hitler wanted the world to be full of his Aryan, making everyone equal and the Allied powers were opposed to this and wanted freedoms. This is only one example of many. There is the Revolutionary War, Vietnam, the Crusades, and many numerous wars in Africa between the tribes. This is a conflict that usually has bloody ends because no one is willing to compromise. That is what happens when these two values, freedom and equality, collide.
Freedom vs. Equality
Today, it seems to me that all people want is to be treated equally yet be free to do as they please. What does it mean to be “free”? Some may say it means that a person can do whatever they want, whenever they want. However, I would have to say that being free means being under a democratic rule where everyone gets to voice their own opinion and it actually matters. What does it mean to be “equal” or have equality? I would say that to be treated equally, everyone would have to be treated the exact same way, no questions asked. How is this possible? How will this work?
When these two come into contact all it starts is conflict. Freedom and Equality to me, are two totally different prospects. People who work hard to become who they are today deserve everything they have and continue to get. There are also people out there who do absolutely nothing with their lives and get everything they want. Those are the people who make me sick to my stomach. I dont understand how anyone could just sit around, do nothing and expect everything they want when they want it. Those people are all about equality. Thinking that all people should be treated equal, whether it is worked for or not.
Those who are for freedom...well. I look at them the same. Believing that everyone should have unlimited freedom. If that was the case, how many people do you think would be left on this Earth? I can honestly say that if everyone had unlimited freedom i would not be writing this blog today. Im not sure where I would be, but I definitely would not be in school. I would probably be in the same situation I was 3 years ago when I still lived in Florida. Not wanting to get into that so just take my word that it was not the place anyone should be in.
I think that freedom and equality should be added to the list of the seven deadly sins. Anyone who acts upon having unlimited freedom will end up in prison or worse dead, and those who act like they deserve everything everyone else has and don't have to work for it, well they are just going to end up very unhappy people. No sane person would want to be associated with anyone who thinks or act like that. I sure dont, but that's just me.
When these two come into contact all it starts is conflict. Freedom and Equality to me, are two totally different prospects. People who work hard to become who they are today deserve everything they have and continue to get. There are also people out there who do absolutely nothing with their lives and get everything they want. Those are the people who make me sick to my stomach. I dont understand how anyone could just sit around, do nothing and expect everything they want when they want it. Those people are all about equality. Thinking that all people should be treated equal, whether it is worked for or not.
Those who are for freedom...well. I look at them the same. Believing that everyone should have unlimited freedom. If that was the case, how many people do you think would be left on this Earth? I can honestly say that if everyone had unlimited freedom i would not be writing this blog today. Im not sure where I would be, but I definitely would not be in school. I would probably be in the same situation I was 3 years ago when I still lived in Florida. Not wanting to get into that so just take my word that it was not the place anyone should be in.
I think that freedom and equality should be added to the list of the seven deadly sins. Anyone who acts upon having unlimited freedom will end up in prison or worse dead, and those who act like they deserve everything everyone else has and don't have to work for it, well they are just going to end up very unhappy people. No sane person would want to be associated with anyone who thinks or act like that. I sure dont, but that's just me.
Blog 1: Freedom vs. Equality
Freedom in America is something our country fought very hard to achieve. We are a free country, but we still have our limits to freedom. We havefreedom, but you cannot abuse the freedom that we have.Equality is saying that everyone in America is being treated equal. It issaying that everyone is going by the same rules. These means citizens aregoing by the same rules that the government are. It is also stating thatone man is not richer than another man.I think when freedom and equality come into conflict it is taking awayfrom one or the other. It seems to me like freedom and equality areopposites. If you are free, you are free to be who you have worked to be. If you have worked to become wealthy then you deserve to be wealthy. Ifeveryone is equal it is taking away from freedom.I think that if we lived in a country that was about equality it wouldsolve a lot of the problems that we do have. There are wealthy peoplethat are throwing away food every day, and then in other parts of thecountry you have people starving. If everything was equal it would makeour world a better place. I don’t see America ever being completelyequal. Americans worked hard to get the freedom that we have and that isnot something that would be given up in anyway.
Americans value freedom and equality. What happens when these values come into conflict? (For example: When free people are against equality or when equal people want to limit freedoms.)
Well first of all I should probably tell you what freedom means to me before we go into talking about what would happen if someone decided to take it away from me. Freedom to me is being able to wash your car in your own drive way wearing anything you would like to wear. There are no rules that say girls can’t wear short shorts and a swim suit top, or having someone say that she is showing too much skin for someone her age. There’s no rule that says by a girls twenty-first birthday does she have to be wed with two children. No, we live in a free state that clearly says in the bill of rights we have the freedom of: Freedom of speech, press, religion, and petition.
If I had grown up in a country were these freedoms aren’t allowed I’m not sure it would bother me too much, yes I’m sure I wouldn’t like them. But I don’t agree with things now! No one is going to agree with everything, or go along with the way our unique government thinks it should run. There will always be that one person who is willing to make waves. The problem arises when an emperor comes in, starts taking charge of everything. Making new rules, religions, and appoints himself head of state! Every normal person with a brain is going to know that isn’t right, and if he has any say in what his life should be like, they will use their voice, I mean after all you might as well use it…Thus I give you the birth of a revolution!
Since the dawn of written word people have been having revolutions over one thing or another, most of it over land and freedom! The ordinary man doesn’t like to be told what to do especially by an outsider. For example: Rome and Egypt. Caesar thought he could come in take control of everything and claim it was for God and country. But in the end we all knew what happened to the mighty Caesar, “Et tu Brutus?” He was betrayed by his “so called” best mate! It just goes to show that no matter what, the human man or woman will not give up freedom for anything in the entire world.
The last part would be equality. The normal person wants to be considered the same as everyone else no matter what color, where you grew up, what side of the tracks they grew up on, or how much money they make in a financial year. They want to be the same as the Joe Blow right next door! My opinion in that is if they can talk, walk, and are breathing, they can do whatever that man down the block can. A person is only held back by themselves, and I truly believe that you are your own worst enemy. Just like Martin Luther King Jr, he was a black man who had a dream that one day our kids would walk down the street and see nothing but people. They would look past what was on the outside and see only what was just like them on the inside! Yet that was how many years ago, and we are still fighting to see that dream come true… So as a closing to thins topic which I’m sure I could go on and on about equality. I leave you with this quote for a very wise man of color proving that not only white men know what they are talking about. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”
Well first of all I should probably tell you what freedom means to me before we go into talking about what would happen if someone decided to take it away from me. Freedom to me is being able to wash your car in your own drive way wearing anything you would like to wear. There are no rules that say girls can’t wear short shorts and a swim suit top, or having someone say that she is showing too much skin for someone her age. There’s no rule that says by a girls twenty-first birthday does she have to be wed with two children. No, we live in a free state that clearly says in the bill of rights we have the freedom of: Freedom of speech, press, religion, and petition.
If I had grown up in a country were these freedoms aren’t allowed I’m not sure it would bother me too much, yes I’m sure I wouldn’t like them. But I don’t agree with things now! No one is going to agree with everything, or go along with the way our unique government thinks it should run. There will always be that one person who is willing to make waves. The problem arises when an emperor comes in, starts taking charge of everything. Making new rules, religions, and appoints himself head of state! Every normal person with a brain is going to know that isn’t right, and if he has any say in what his life should be like, they will use their voice, I mean after all you might as well use it…Thus I give you the birth of a revolution!
Since the dawn of written word people have been having revolutions over one thing or another, most of it over land and freedom! The ordinary man doesn’t like to be told what to do especially by an outsider. For example: Rome and Egypt. Caesar thought he could come in take control of everything and claim it was for God and country. But in the end we all knew what happened to the mighty Caesar, “Et tu Brutus?” He was betrayed by his “so called” best mate! It just goes to show that no matter what, the human man or woman will not give up freedom for anything in the entire world.
The last part would be equality. The normal person wants to be considered the same as everyone else no matter what color, where you grew up, what side of the tracks they grew up on, or how much money they make in a financial year. They want to be the same as the Joe Blow right next door! My opinion in that is if they can talk, walk, and are breathing, they can do whatever that man down the block can. A person is only held back by themselves, and I truly believe that you are your own worst enemy. Just like Martin Luther King Jr, he was a black man who had a dream that one day our kids would walk down the street and see nothing but people. They would look past what was on the outside and see only what was just like them on the inside! Yet that was how many years ago, and we are still fighting to see that dream come true… So as a closing to thins topic which I’m sure I could go on and on about equality. I leave you with this quote for a very wise man of color proving that not only white men know what they are talking about. “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”
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