Blog Feed

The countries that I selected were Costa Rica and Luxembourg. Both are countries that I believe will not collapse. I didn't know they both had two extremes though. Costa Rica is the most green planet on the planet, and Luxembourg has the largest carbon footprint. It was a nice realization and made the process of comparing them a little easier too.

The five point framework was fine. Climate and environment were a little difficult to distinguish between. Also, this system gives equal weight to each section, when in reality, I think that some might be more important than others and should hold more weight.

I like my final product, but I think if I could go to these countries and visit them (or visit them again) and take my own pictures with this project in mind, I could come up with a lot more useful graphic images.

I am very pleased to inform you of your recommendation to continue the interview process for the 2011-2012 City Year Greater Philadelphia corps year.  You have been selected to complete the second interview.

I heard her cough from upstairs.

The only thing that went through my mind was, "Die already, die."

A vulnerable species is an organism that is on the brink of being extinct. When they go extinct, they stay that way. However, we humans ignore this fact. We focus on the temporary positive effects of killing animals for their desirables. Yet, we are blind to the long-term consequences of this practice. The time has come to dig deeper into this major issue.

            This tradition began in the early days of human occupancy on Earth. Animals were required for food and clothing. Yet, the difference is that at that time we only took what we needed. We killed living creatures only when it was required. This was because we lacked the technology to simply pull a trigger to kill a specimen. Each slaughter at that time meant sharpening spears, gaining momentum, grouping together, and a higher risk of failing. This very fail could in fact be fatal. Thus, we avoided these risks as often as possible.

            Today, humans take the necessary amount and more. Many would think that there isn’t really a problem because the main source is from an abundant species. One of the most widely used animal products is leather. It is believed by some that leather comes exclusively from cows: an animal that is thought of as being less by a large population. But, this is misleading. Some leather is also made from the threatened zebra, among others. It is clear that the zebra is what one would call a “favorite animal”. Yet, the companies that produce them don’t express this. Their one priority is to make more money.

            As horrid as that may seem to the already threatened animal species, it get’s much worse. There are consequences to those that manufacture the goods. Although leather makers often claim that their products are “eco-friendly”, the process of tanning it stabilizes the protein fibers. This results in the biodegrading process actually stopping. Along with this, today animal skin is turned into leather with a combination of dangerous substances. This included formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and different types of oils. To make the bad even worse, the resulting waste usually contains chromium. The Environmental Protection Agency claims that all wastes containing this substance are hazardous.

            But, it doesn’t end here. There is more harm done to the environment. In order to make the pastures that contain the animals being bred for their skins, trees must be cut down. That means less oxygen for we humans. In fact, the dairy itself is harmful to the environment. A recent study found that a single cow released nineteen pounds of volatile organic compounds a year, surpassing the amount of smog made by cars and trucks.

            At this point, one must realize that a change is required. We humans must sacrifice a temporary pleasure for a lasting one. One possible solution to this conflict is using an alternative. Instead of leather, one can use cotton, linen, or rubber. Although these efforts do indeed increase the chance of a species survival, only time will tell if even this option is too little, too late.

Op Ed

Big Business and Inventions

When you were growing up, didn’t you think by 2011 we’d live like the Jetsons? Didn’t you think we’d be beyond worrying about trivial things like what fuels our cars and homes? Of course not! But in 2011, we still worry deeply about what fuels our cars. Why? Even though we don’t have basic things like flying cars; we have things like microscopic computer processors. We have the technology to solve this problem, so where are the 1000mpg cars? Oh, they’re here but they’re not welcome. 

Though we have the technology for 1000+ mpg cars, they have yet to be seen on the public market. Maybe it’s just because no major car companies have produced them. That makes sense, I guess. But now Ford Motors has created a 300mpg electric/hydrogen hybrid and I don’t know about you but I haven’t seen any on the roads. The car is standard size and can go up to 85mph. It runs on a lithium battery until it depletes to 40%, once it hits this point it switches to a hydrogen powered fuel cell and with this change goes from 25mpg to 280mpg. Pretty neat, huh? But I still don’t see any. That’s probably because oil companies have made it just about impossible for any car that runs over 60mpg to be commercially produced. 

In the past, people have claimed to have invented cars that run 1000mpg, cars that run on water, and just about everything else. Most of these claims can obviously be seen as propaganda but a few claims do seem plausible. There is one claim of a water-powered car(it’s more like a dune-buggy but for the sake of the argument) by Stan Meyer. It achieved an amazing 100mpg but never became popular due to Meyer’s somewhat suspicious brain aneurysm at 57 years old. There are many theories that say oil companies ordered him assassinated, though that is unlikely, the fact is he created a water-powered vehicle that worked. That means we have the technology and it isn’t being used. 

The list goes on and on about other people who have invented things like 2000mpg cars and simple, emission-less, energy that have supposedly been killed by big time energy companies. These claims are probably propaganda but that doesn’t change the fact that even if the inventors death wasn’t the fault of the companies, they certainly benefitted from it. If these people hadn’t died or been put into jail, the companies would be in jeopardy of losing billions upon billions of dollars and in the past, companies like this have shown that they will do anything for another dollar and will go very far to do it. 

So whether these inventions are publicly available is due the the inventors misfortunes or companies preventing them from getting there or not, the truth is the technology to make them exists. This technology is available and we’re going to need it if we actually want to affect global warming and keep this planet able to sustain life.