Hello all, I see that you’re back again to check out my blog post #3. If you’ve forgotten, my YATW topic is Alzheimer’s And Dementia. In my previous two blogs ( Blog #1 & Blog #2 ), my blogs were all based off of research. Blog #1 consisted of research that I searched for and found, Rather than in blog #2, which consisted of original research that I specifically made myself. This blog is the total opposite of the two. After all of the extended research that I conducted, it’s time to now share my Agent Of Change.

Hey guys, welcome back to my third and final blog on a heart touching topic, autism! Now if you have not seen blog #1 and #2, feel free to click on the link or read more for the summary. As I had talked about in my previous blogs, I’ve been researching on autism but mostly focusing on kids with autism. It is such a huge problem, not because the children are affected by autism, but how they are not given the attention and help they deserve. Autism is not just a diagnosis or disabilities, it’s someone’s lifestyle, they are overcoming their struggles every single day. Imagine how kids are doing in school, are the teachers giving the extra help they need and are they getting bullied?

As it shows, this topic is very important to me and all the families who are affected by autism. I had cover the topic autism from head to toe, on what it is, who are affected by it, how it’s important to me, and now are you ready to hear about the fun part of this? I figured I needed to do something to help make a change, a change  to help spread autism awareness, and I did! As a way to give back to what I support and a way to end my project.

Before I begin to tell you about what I had done, I want to just talk a little about what I had seen others do or are currently doing to help spread autism awareness and research. There are fundraisers happening, volunteering for a walk, donations, etc. Money raised are going to help researchers research and understand more about autism. With better understanding and research, doctors will have better view on autism itself and on ways to help a child who are diagnosed.

I believe that any type of way, or even the smallest effort to help spread awareness have such huge impact for better understanding and change towards autism. Yes, fundraising, donating, and walking are very helpful and amazing, but remember  being supportive of the cause, knowing it’s real, and being mindful is a way to start a change from the heart.

I had made autism awareness ribbons, but with the help of the idea from my amazing English teacher, Mrs.Dunn, and the help from my mom, sister, and boyfriend. The ribbons were sold during both lunch periods for $1 each. It was fun and had went great, because there were so many supportive peers, from 9th to 12th, buying the ribbons and wearing them to support the cause.

It was so heart touching when I saw them wear the ribbon and was just being as supportive as they all can be. $83.00 was raised from the fundraiser! I felt so happy, no other words to describe my feeling. It was a moment where I had realized I can help make a change, even if I am teenager, and not to forget the help from loved ones. I learn a lot about myself through this journey in making a change. Although this was not my first plan, which was to actually be able to help out kids with autism for a day in a real classroom, I am still very happy. It had made me put myself outside my comfort zone and be out there talking to others.

I felt like I could have done better with the fundraising part, I have to admit, there were some points when I was selling the ribbons where I did not socialize to the people buying it as much as I had wanted to. It was something new for me, and because I am not the most out there type of person. I will learn from this experience and push myself further the next time! This is not over, there are still many things others and I can do to help keep up autism awareness spread, and make it worldly known.

I would like to acknowledge Mrs.Dunn my English teacher for helping me throughout my process with this project. I never felt once that I was alone doing this. Also, my mom and my sister, they had helped me make the autism awareness ribbons, otherwise I would not have anything to sell. Last, but not least, my boyfriend, who was so supportive during my project, from blog #1 to #3 and even helping me sell the ribbons at lunch. Hold on, don't think I forgot, I acknowledge everyone who had read my blogs, who had bought my ribbons, and just supporting me along the way, thank you.

Click here for my annotated bibliography.

Hello again, fans of activism. My name is Cameron Samodai and I’m here to talk to you about buying domestic and locally made products. If you are the type who eagerly reads blog posts, you may know that I have posted about this issue twice before. In my first post, I pointed out the disturbing labor conditions occurring in electronics factories, along with the damage you are doing to the economy by buying imported goods. In the second post of the trilogy, I revealed my independent research on the subject. I released a survey to my classmates, many of whom answered the questions I posted.

Since that post, I have put my money where my mouth is and purchased American made goods in place of imported ones. I have three examples of purchases I made to show you.

Imported Shirt

American Shirt

Rather than buy shirts from the above company at $15 each, I decided to support a smaller business and buy shirts from the below company at $19. Not only was I supporting a domestic business, all of their shirts are American made from American cotton.
Imported Switch Plate

American Switch Plate

Both wall plates are made of the same material. Unlike the shirts, the American made switch cover is less expensive than the Chinese one. We bought 5 of these. The difference in cost is enough to choose one American-made shirt over one foreign-made shirt.

Imported iPhone

American Moto X

It may be hard to find the actual prices of these phones (typical cell phone company sneakiness), but if you look on the right you will see that the 16gb iPhone is $550 without rebate and the 16gb Moto X is $400 without rebate. That savings of $150 is enough to cover the difference between 30 of those shirts we looked at before.

While my project did not necessarily involve directly changing others, I utilized my role in the global economy to support what I believe. Think of every purchase as a vote. By buying their products, you are telling those corporate executives that “Yes, I wholly condone your business practices.” If a product is suddenly $0.13 cheaper to make and that causes more people to buy it, the company sees that as an endorsement of whatever unsavory business practices they used to save those 13 cents. Don’t underestimate the power of your money.

Welcome back to my third and final blog post!  This blog post will focus on my agent of change which was a presentation to my advisory.  In my first blog post from way back when I introduced my You and the World topic, Women in Engineering.  I talked about some possible reasons that there was such a large difference between the men and women in this field among other things.  In my second blog post I used quotes that were said in my original research to see what others thought about the problem.  I also included new research I had found.  For instance, how more girls participate in physics in single sex schools than in co-ed schools.

When we were asked to think about our agent of change projects I didn't know how I wanted to go about it.  Finally, I decided that the best way to help my issue was to make people aware of it.  From doing my original research I saw that there were a lot of facts and people having to do with women in engineering that weren't known.  While making my slide show for the class I included the information that more people in my survey were unaware of, like who Ada Lovelace is and even the percent of women engineers worldwide(13%)  I also included the song, Rosie the Riveter, which explained about the fictional character during WWII.  You can learn more about her in my first blog post.

By doing my agent of change project I brought more awareness to my YATW issue.  I think that that’s the most important thing to happen for women in engineering.  Many people don’t know the number of women engineers worldwide to men.  There are also girls and women who are under the impression that they can’t enter into certain careers because of gender bias.  It’s important, for young girls especially, to not feel as though they don’t have the opportunity to be what they want to be and do what they want to do.

Although I am proud of the presentation I gave to my advisory there is definitely some things that I could have done better.  Being a high school student, I know how boring presentations with just a person standing there talking can be.  The videos I included made me just speaking slightly more interesting but I think that it would have been better if I included a more indepth activity to do with everyone at the end.  When teens and kids can get involved with something it sometimes stays in their minds longer and makes it more interesting.  Hopefully the people who saw my presentation will still remember it and will spread the word about the difference between the number of men and women in engineering.  

Había una vez una escuela llamada SLA. Era un nuevo tipo de escuela a donde los estudiantes aprendían de una nueva manera. Todos los niños recibían  computadores personales que podrían traer a casa. Era el primer día cuando mudaron todas los sillas al edificio nuevo. Mudaron todo de los pasillos y lo pusieron dentro de los salones de clase. En ese día también empezaban a pintar las paredes de colores diferentes. El día fue muy emocionante para todos. Los maestros estaban alegre por tener un edificio tan bello para su nueva escuela.También está ban alegre de que el edificio de tenía personas ocupando el espacio, fui un largo hacía mucho tiempo de que no habían ocupantantes.

Después de que fueron todos los humanos, las sillas empezaron a hablar juntas. Hablaban de todos los maestros, cuáles fueron sus favoritos y menos favorito, cuáles fueron los más interesantes. También se dieron cuenta de que todos eran muy similares. Todos eran del mismo color, tamaño, no se podía distinguir uno del otro. Esto no les gustó a la silla. Decidieron cambiarse de forma. El problema fue que también no sabían cómo cambiarse. Ellas decidieron que era una buena idea pintar uno y otro. Había pintura en el pasillo que usaban los maestros para pintar las paredes. Todos ayudaban a hacer diferentes diseños y figuras con diferentes estilos y colores. Dejaron que se secara durante el noche y cuando vino la mañana todos despertaron con alegría. Cuando vieron que hacía falta la pintura, no se alegraron tanto.

  Hi, my name is Ali. I am doing a project for English called you and the world. It is a project where we find a topic we are passionate about, and I chose to do bullying.  The reason I did is because it is causing suicide. So I made two blogs (Blog 1 and Blog 2). The first on was about the statistics of bullying and suicude, and how it will grow if we don’t stop it. On the second blog, I explained the effects of bullying and suicide, and talked about why some of these bullies are killers. i just did something called the agent of change. For my agent of change project, I did a presentation to my advisory about bullying. I talked about how it was the cause of some of the U.S suicides.

  The amount of suicide bullying caused is beyond ridiculous, and I wanted to let people know about it. I do have ways this can be changed. I feel good about doing this presentation because I did show my advisory the effects of bullying. One way I did that was that I showed my advisory a CNN story about a girl that commited suicide because people not only spread innappropriate photos of her, but they called her nasty names and cyberbullied her. People got emotional after seeing that. We, as an advisory, discussed the effects of bullying and suicide. When I presented, I did stutter a lot. I also chose a video before completing. The result was excellent, but it could have been bad. Also, I wish I practiced before I presented. Those are things I would change. But I did cause some change because I opened people to the facts about bullying, and discussed that with my advsiory. That put the topic back in everyone’s head. Not only that, I shared a young victim’s story. That hit the advisory hars, as they were sad too see that. So, that is how I made change

    These pictures are of me doing my presentation about bullying and it’s effects. During this presentation, I asked the students for their answers for the questions. I liked all of the answers that I got from the students. In these photos, I am either speaking or taking answers to the questions I am presenting. I wanted to get the group’s answers to questions such as “Why is suicide important?”, and then give my reason.

     The thing left for us, as a nation, is ending bullying for good. It still exists, and I need to do all I can to make bullying extinct. No kid should go through this, and no person should feel suicide is needed in order to escape the pain caused by bullying. It is ridiculous that such a thing is even happening. So far, Cartoon Network has a special called “Stop Bullying”, which encourages anti-bullying to the youth. Also, WWE has a partnership with Be A Star, which is an organization that encourages and promotes anti bullying. And because of it’s partnership with WWE, this message is presented to millions of people, many whom are children. Even better, the wrestlers themselves are speaking against it constantly. I love the things being done. Sending anti-bullying messages to millions of kids is very important. Kids need to know that verbal and physical harm is unacceptable, especially since it is literally murdering today’s youth. Not only that, there are thousands of websites going against bullying.

      I do want to thank Ms. Dunn for giving the class the oppurtunity to make these projects. If it weren’t for that, this project would not even exist. I also want to thank my advisory and the other students that joined that day. They were very polite as I left them a reminder that bullying is awful and sending kids to the graveyard. I also must thank my mom. She was a huge help during the process of this project’s creation. There is still bullying. But luckily, this nation is doing it’s best to stop it. And that is an amazing thing.

Bibliography

Hello again, My name is Brandon Jones and I am writing for a third time on African American students and standardized test scores. Since my last 2 blog posts, here and here, I have relentlessly be following this impending issue. I have been looking for what can or is being done about the Black and White Test Score Gap and I feel as though my efforts have been prosperous. According to this website, closing the test score gap would do more to promote racial equality more than any other tactic the United States has ever used. Also by eliminating the gap, there would be an increase in black college graduation rates, thus making them equal to white rates. Absence of the gap would also discourage colleges from using racial preference as a means of admittance along with racial disparities in both men’s and women’s earnings.

Closing the gap would require the endeavors of both blacks and whites. Sadly however, it is estimated that this would take more than one generation to accomplish. I agree wholeheartedly that we as Americans can achieve this goal. Though I disagree with the problem taking a whole generation to fix. If we actually try and work hard, I am optimistic that the elimination of the gap can be seen in the near future.

For the Agent of Change aspect of my project, I wanted to raise awareness around my school. Me and another student created a series of posters that had information such as graphs and positive messages to grab the attention of all of the school and faculty passing by. I thought this was a great way to inform people of my issue. Though being subtle, they can have a very powerful impact. Creating these posters informed me that in 2004, it has been proven that black males have been the least likely to earn a regular diploma.

Although I created the posters, I feel I could have done more. I believe that I could have taken action myself and helped out children who were struggling in any subject by tutoring and giving advice in any subject. Even though I didn’t get to it, I planned on reading to a group of younger kids at my local library. I wanted to do this so I could get kids reading at a young age so that it would be easier for them to succeed on standardized tests and in life. What we as Americans can do, is to get all of our children to develop a craving for knowledge so that doing well in school is a desire instead of a struggle.

Closing the test score gap goes much deeper than a competition between races. Closing the gap will unite all of us as a whole and destroy any boundaries between skin colors that our ancestors have so desperately put up. What we are doing now is doing nothing but setting a bad example for future generations. We need to change and we need to act.

In conclusion, I’d like to thank my parents and Ms.Dunn for giving me guidance on writing this blog post. I’d also like to thank my friend and classmate Damir Hunley for helping me designing and putting up our posters. As the late Mahatma Gandhi said, “ You must be the change You wish to see in the world.

* Student looking at the poster

Hi.  I am Aaron Watson-Sharer and  I attend Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia,PA. I am writing about what I have learned and done to support the fight against head injuries. You can see my first blog post and my second blog post now! In my first  blog post I wrote about my research.  I found facts and statistics on head injuries and good tips on how to stay safe. I warned people of the real life damage head injuries can cause. I expressed my feelings for the victims who still live with side effects of head injuries. For my second blog post, I wrote about my findings from research; for example,  today NFL helmets are roughly 20% effective towards injuries rather than 100%. I also conducted original research that I used for my second blog post. I wrote about today’s efforts to  prevent head injuries.

During my research, I have found many things that had been done and more importantly what is being done in order to prevent head injuries. Today there have been improvements in awareness and equipment.  Recently  a fundraiser at the White House raised $86 million dollars to  treat and prevent concussions. There is also new equipment.  There are kevlar in helmets to prevent head injuries. Kevlar is commonly used in bulletproof vests. For example, they used kevlar in the helmet of James Harrison in 2012. He said it helped him feel better during and after games.

Previously, the problem was people never batted an eye at a problem.   This is probably human nature; we are not aware of a problem until something happens. This is  the issue with concussions. We don’t care until another victim comes along and then we become more cautious.  Before  people are aware of injuries, they have the mindset “I won’t get hurt”.   Nevertheless, people  must act earlier rather than later to prevent serious injury. All that has been done to prevent concussions will be for nothing if we just wait for the next victim then bring out the heavy artillery to prevent these injuries. Today’s research must be applied to everyone so another  person is not injured or possibly killed.

- In this Image, you see James Harrison, showing off his new helmet, with more lining to protect himself.

Based on my research, I agree with what is being done to prevent head injuries. I’m actually proud of our progress. I have faith that new technology will make a difference. Fundraisers are also important as well as holding organizations responsible. The fund raising can support research  on superior helmets and decrease the cost.   Fundraising should also be used for education to make children and young people aware of the dangers of head injuries.  Together, prevention, education and research can save lives.

For my agent of change duty, I made a prezi to present for my advisory. I presented causes and effect and much more. I spoke about  today’s efforts to prevent head injuries. Then, students made comments and asked questions and I responded. It was a fun process. I’m working on my teaching skills and research skills. I really enjoyed what I did even though it was my back up plan. Original I wanted to do a documentary but I need more experience with the software.  Either way, I hope I helped other students in being more cautious and careful before something bad happens.

I think I’ve made change perhaps for others but mainly myself. This  change is huge. I am an athlete.  Now I focus on how to stay safe. It’s a factor in my playing attitude. In the long run, I not only helped myself but hope I informed and helped others. While I learned important information,  I hated worrying about it all school year long. It was not very difficult if you kept organized and cared about your topic.   I was reminded that one hour of hard work pays off rather than five hours of mediocre work. I also believe this is one of my best projects for my freshman year.

I could have done plenty things better like teaching better than I did. I could have spent more time preparing for my agent of change. I would like to continue pursuing head injuries as a topic of interest. I want to follow up on current changes in both improving equipment and educating kids about head injuries.  Hopefully, more companies will conduct research and the government will require  the public to be  informed about develop of treatment for  head injuries and technology that prevents injuries. As an athlete and teen, I am ready to learn more and help prevent head injuries.

Also “We can’t change the world unless we change ourselves” - The Notorious B.I.G.

Acknowledgements:

- Ms. Dunn for aiding me throughout this project.

- Ms. Siswick for making time for me to present my agent of change work.

- Others

¡Hola! Are you at least partially ready to embark on the psychedelic journey that is my You and the World Blog Post #3? I know that I am at least partially ready to embark on the psychedelic journey that is my You and the World Blog Post #3! You’ve heard me here, researching online and discussing green energy and the necessity for it; you’ve heard me here, introducing original data revealing portion of the population’s view regarding green energy. This blog post will regard my “Agent of Change/Action Piece,” and will involve me jumping on a solar-roadway powered bandwagon. Welcome to the final blog. Welcome to the  Post of Change!

The Action Piece was a simple assignment: do something to support your issue. In my case, the Piece found itself being a presentation to my advisory. If you wouldn’t like to click that link because you’re lazy and because you have very little motivation, that’s ok, as I can easily describe it: it references this infographic with information relating to the economic aspect of installing solar panels from 2011 and it mentions that panels have gone down in price by 60% since then. I had a great time in advisory, and I’m hopeful that I successfully brainwashed them into supporting my agenda!

A picture of me presenting to my advisory. They are clearly enthralled.

In researching for that presentation, solar roadways were easily the most important thing I found. They are hexagonal plates with photovoltaic cells, pressure sensors, heating systems, and light emitting diodes in them to replace roadways. They take the pressure off of the individual for installation of panels, and instead relate to the community as a whole. They not only capture light energy, they also remove and filter snow and ice, warn about when vehicles/pedestrians/animals are are coming. 

Electric cars could be charged with them, therefore eliminating the need for gas-burning cars. Houses could be charged with them, therefore eliminating the need for natural gas/coal burning energy plants. The future is now, and only you can prevent wildfires.

Hello readers and welcome back to my blog! Back in my blog post #1, I spoke about what sex trafficking was and how it was affected the Southern Asia region. Organizations were listed that support victims of sex trafficking. In blog post #2 original research was conducted via email with the help of Free the Slaves organization. In addition a news story on CNN connected sex trafficking to the U.S. Today  the project will be finalize by explaining my “Agent of Change” and reflecting on information gained through this process.

In my prior research I have been in contact with various organizations that support victims of sex trafficking in providing them homes and shelters along with counseling. It is noticeable that when money is donated to these organizations they use it to enhance their campaign in order to educate others about sex trafficking. The actions that have been taking place are exactly what needs to be done to inform the inhabitants of this earth of the misfortunes that exist in this world. For my “Agent of Change” I created a slideshow presentation to present my advisory about sex trafficking in India.

To make change happen I took part in enlightening the minds of my peers on the horrors of sex trafficking, especially in the country of India. After completing this project I feel satisfied as an adolescent that has not only informed herself but others on a topic that not many are addressed about.

Although I am proud of the work that that has been produced It was possible I could have added to my “Agent of Change” or even done better . For my Agent of Change awareness could have brought  to a larger audience through a fundraiser. The money would have gone to an organization that I have been in contact with in order to thank them for information that they have provided for me for my previous blogs. However this can still be fulfilled because change still needs to occur in the world and I can personally promote change on the issue of sex trafficking.

I would like to begin with acknowledging and thanking Ms. Dunn for presenting us with the You and the World project allowing us to get involved with real world issues that we are interested in. I would also like to give thanks to Free the Slaves organization for providing me with key information in order to speak on this issue with more insight. As well as Ross Kemp for creating an insightful documentary entitled “Extreme World Series 3 1 of 6 India”  that granted me a new perspective on the struggles of the women in India.  In addition I would like to thank my advisor Mr.Reddy for allowing me to present to my advisory and my own advisory for being attentive while I was presenting and participating when I asked questions. This project has made me realize that change needs to happen and I hope that one day it will take place.

Well, hello again. It’s me, Quinn Grzywinski, back for my English project YATW: a journey that began over 5 months ago, when we chose a subject of importance to us, and were to write three blog posts about it to raise awareness. For those not in the know and who haven’t read my previous blog posts, I recommend for you to check those now. My first blog: “Arbitrary Future” detailed the current situation of overpopulation and what it could mean for the possible future, along with statistics and predictions of the coming decades. My second blog: “Why I’m Wrong” focused around survey I sent to get data on how aware people were of overpopulation, and how much they considered it a problem. In spirit of the name, that blog mostly told of how unexpected my results from that blog were, and that people do know of overpopulation, so I consider that survey a failure seeing that it really didn’t pick up how much people knew about it. But it’s time to put those two behind us now, as I turn my weary opinion on overpopulation to here: my third and final blog. I’ll be talking about my Agent of Change project, a little about how the world seems to be taking notice, and making a final statement about, for humanity, what lies ahead.

Let’s begin talking about how overpopulation is being taken from various people and places around the world. And with any study of various options, it depends on who you talk to and who you listen to. If you listen to to Alexandra Paul: an environmental activist, the solution is simple.  

According to her TED talk, she’s been interested in overpopulation since a young age, and for her, all you need is to educate woman, something that appears to be running trend for when I try to answer for myself how this issue can be dealt with. Something so simple, so simple perhaps it’s overlooked; that’s a mindset that needs to change. 

You needn't even listen to Reuters: a global photography website, for they show you 14 haunting pictures of the overcrowded world, perhaps hoping that the seeing the issue face to face will have a greater effect. Personally, I urge to check out these pictures, they’re truly eye-opening and may really make you realize what overpopulation looks like. I don’t pretend to be an expert on overpopulation, it’s just something I became interested in, but I’d like to make a presumption on how overpopulation is taken by the public. If I may draw a slight parallel to global warming(though I think overpopulation is less widely considered); the problem isn’t that some people aren’t talking about it, it’s that we the media don’t listen to it. Why? Maybe because it’s scary. Scary to think that less than a century from now we could be caught up in a resource war, run out of wheat and bread, and have a planet of shouldering over 10 billion people. I don’t mean to be prophet of doom, but as I said in my first blog, it won’t be a gradual thing, it’ll be more like falling off a cliff. We need to just turn and face this issue, even though it might be frightening to talk or even think about, because no matter how much we deny it, it’s not going away. It’s getting nearer, and alarmingly fast too.

For my Agent of Change project, I wanted something a little more personal something that would get people actually interested in the issue. I couldn't have fundraised even if I wanted to, since I wasn't exactly sure which organization I would benefit, and even if the money I raised would actually be spent helping stop overpopulation. I didn't have anywhere in particular I could volunteer either, so the answer was to grab people’s attention and leave it to them how much they wanted to find out about this issue. I just needed to make sure the message was compelling enough.

The images you see above and below that I've posted onto this blog are snapshots of the posters I made for my Agent of Change project. The posters are hand-drawn, using images taken from the internet, with my own tagline to go with each of them, along with a list of links to check out. I made sure that the images I chose were either uncomforting or surreal enough to grab passer by's attention, and it took a lot more work than you would first think. Why posters? I just like the idea of instead of someone donating to a nameless charity and forgetting about it the next day, they would see these attention-grabbing posters, day after day, until they finally considered the message they were trying to convey.

I like to think that through both my survey that  was done for blog #2 and these posters that I have created, a small faction of people are more aware of overpopulation. I explained thoroughly in blog #2 how my survey was a failure; which also leads back to the presumption I stated above. I may have made people be reminded that overpopulation was, you know, a “thing”, but that was it, and it would soon leave their minds without the grim facts to keep them focused on it. So all in all, even as I made these posters, I felt like whatever I did, it simply wouldn't make an impact, and be in the end, purposeless. Maybe I shouldn't be over-thinking this, but even these blogs I doubt will make an impact on anything. I guess I really can’t get out of this somewhat depressing mindset, fortifying my final opinion on this project.

So what would have kept people wary of overpopulation for my Agent of Change? I don’t know. I wanted posters, something personal and attentive, but if I were to do this project over, I would want something with a bit more impact. Yes, seeing the posters day after day may have attracted a few curious peers, but seeing the short amount of time they were actually up on the wall, I doubt it. A redo would put the “Rueter theory” into effect, remember those photo guys which I mentioned? They showed without telling, letting the reality of overpopulation sink in through just a few photos. Surrealism is good, but I feel like using real life photos of the problem may have been better, and also, a longer duration of how long the posters were on the wall would have helped too.

Now I feel kind of bad. I’ve let this final blog post turn into some sort of grim rant on how nobody takes this issue seriously, the reality that the world will be extremely different in the next 60-80 years, and my own uncertainty on the impact of this YATW as a whole. Sort of a downer of a finale.

But maybe that’s for the best. I don’t want to act like this whole thing is no big deal. I don’t want to sugarcoat the facts, to leave readers with a “yeah, everything’s fine” attitude. Because it isn’t fine. These are the facts. I’m not going to hold back as I say this. Overpopulation is currently one of the greatest threats to mankind, and needs to be dealt with immediately. Not leave it to the next generation. Not wait 50 years. Now. This isn't going away. This isn't some distant horizon to look upon. The future, our future, is in our hands, and if we all act like it doesn't exist, it will tear our society and our planet apart.

So please, tell your friends. Tell your friend’s friends. Tell your grandparents. Tell your crazy uncle, your 7-yr old niece, your gym instructor. I can’t promise anything. I can’t say everything will be OK. I can’t decide for you what you will do about it. All I can do is leave you with some words of warning and a choice about how you’ll take them.

This next decision is yours.