Kilowatt Ours

Do you know where all the energy we use comes from? I didn’t know all the sources of energy until I watched “Kilowatt Ours”. It is a documentary that helped me better understand different ways of energy and how to be more energy efficient.  Did you know more than 50 percent of the energy used in the US comes from coal. In West Virginia they found good quantity of coal under the mountains. Because of the use of coal to create energy someone decided instead of setting up mines to recover the coal it is better and faster to blow up the mountain. It is unbelievable how humans are tarring up the Earth by blowing up mountains and forests. One thing I do not understand is how the state will let a company do that. If politicians are allowing that kind of massacre towards nature the Earth is going to be destroyed. Then there is the problem about burning the coal to create energy for people to use. When the coal is burned it creates toxics that go into the air and into the ozone layer. That is one of the reasons why the planet is warming.

One way to help our planet is to save as much energy as possible. For instance they make appliances that are energy savers that use more than 50 percent less energy than regular ones staring from light bulbs to washing machines. One thing a don’t understand is if we are experiencing a problem so severe that is endangering human life why don’t they stop the making of those appliances and only allow energy saving appliances to be sold. Pass a bill that will make companies switch to only producing energy saving products. This documentary really made me think about our planet and how to preserve energy around my house and I am glad I had an opportunity to watch it. 

Human Footprint

I always wondered how much of a specific item like bread a person consumes in one life time. It wasn’t until I watched “Human Footprint” from National Geographic that I was able to literally see the amount that an average American consumes.  It was entertaining to see all kinds of foods and other items the average American uses in one lifetime. One of the many things I learned from the video was that when fruit is shipped from different countries it not only travels thousands of miles but also in some cases it takes up to 30 days for us to consume. That means it sits waiting to be shipped to a store where I always thought I was buying fresh fruit. One thing is to hear the number of oranges a person eats in one lifetime, but to actually to see it on the video was truly amusing. It must have taken a lot of time and energy to create the documentary just to prove a point. Another interesting fact I learned about is the Colton mining in Congo. Colton is a metal used to produce cell phones and the there has been human lives consumed by the mining of Colton. I never thought about that. For now on I will recycle all my old phones if possible to try to save that metal. The video was mainly to prove that everyone has a rational contribution to the world. Even bats contribute by eating thousands of mosquitos every night. Everything we do leaves a Human Footprint. Buying meat at the store has more steps than the average American would think of. Overall the video was very entertaining and informative. I would recommend this video to all my friends and family.

Consumer Report- Jijon

Severn Suzuki

I enjoyed listening to the Severn Suzuki's speech. She has a good point about how important it is to take care of our planet. She mentioned the facts that there are chemicals in the air and holes in the ozone layer that are dangerous for our health. Taking care of our planet is important by recycling and not using products that can cause those chemicals to fly out to the ozone layer.  There is other ways to take care of the planet for instance trying to use the least amount of energy at home or not littering. However; it bothered me that Severn Suzuki only criticized the problems. She wants change but she doesn’t mentioned what kind of change our how to change it. She is only a child and the speech was almost twenty years ago. If she was to give out another speech today, she should probably mentioned some kind of solution. Over all it was a great speech.

First Day of Summer B

Taking time off from school is always nice. Not having to take any classes during Summer A was super relaxing but I am ready to continue taking classes. I woke up early then made myself a delicious breakfast and packed lunch for school. Next thing was turn on my car to be on my way, however; the battery from my car was dead and none of my roomates were around to help me out. I was stuck in a bad situation but luckily I had plenty of time to figure something out. I was going to have to wait 30 minutes for one of my roomates to be home. Then next thing I know I see one of my neighbors leaving. I runned towards him and asked for help. I pushed my car out of its parking spot and got my car next to his to start it using jumping cables. Luckily, this time, I was leaving early because I do not like being late specially for the first day of class.
About University Colloqium I am exited about it. I have heard good things and bad things about it. I am loooking forward for the field trips and learning about the environment. I am not the best writer but I dont mind doing it plus I believe with practice I will get better. From what I understand about the course I will get pelnty of practice. The intructions giving by the professor covered everything I need to know in order to complete the course without difficulty.