WE NEED WATER!

I have no idea what I would do if one day there was no access to fresh water. For one thing I would rush to the grocery stores and buy as many water bottles as I could. After watching the movie, “American Future: American Plenty”, it really made me think about my water usage, and hopefully it did to others as well. I am usually water conscience when I am using water, except for when I am in the shower. I am just like Mr. Bolos when it comes to wanting the water at a certain temperature. I will then take a long shower. Ironically yesterday, while I was in the shower, our hot water stopped working. I was just thinking, if I had actually listened to the movie in class, I would have been done already and I wouldn’t be in cold water right now. But it is not even close to not having water at all.

Luckily the water crises probably won’t hit home completely with our generation because there are enough resources, hopefully, for us to outlast but it is the future generations to worry about. One of the main topics in class was about watering lawns and being obsessive over it. The water being used to water the lawns, in my mind, is useless and should be used for more important things. One of the main questions is if new technology should be made for desalinization and use the salt water rather than the already fresh water, once it runs out. When should the process start?

What do you do or don’t do to save water? Did the video and discussions in class change your view?

fair pay? womens rights?

Although equal rights for women and men have come a long way in the U.S. there are still aspects of this country that women do not have as fair of a chance. A major discrimination towards women that has continued is that women make 78 cents to a male colleague’s dollar. There have been many acts passed to make it closer, but it is still not equal. There are two bills that are trying to be passed within the very near future, The Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act. If employers do not follow the laws the penalties will be greater than before. The question of this all is, are the employers aware that they are paying the men more than the women, and is it intentional? If it is intentional, can it be justified?

"we're gonna be in the hudson"!

Think about if you were on a plane and just took off. Within a minute after take-off, you looked out of the windows, saw the engines on fire and hear the captain say, “we’re going down, brace yourself.” This is exactly what happened a few days ago to the U.S. Airways flight 1549 flying out of LaGuardia Airport in New York. The flight ended up landing in the Hudson River. The reasoning for the plane to go down was because it flew through a flock of geese and they got caught in the engines, shutting them down. The pilot flying the plane happened to be an expert glider pilot, which is a plane with no engines; this was a miracle for the passengers. The pilot used the Washington Bridge as the land mark to guide the plane into the river, and landed smoothly into the river, not crashed. Nobody on the flight was killed, there were only a couple of wounded people, and this was amazing.
This whole experience must have been extremely shocking for everyone on the plane, but even more so for the people who already have fears of flying. If this was happening while you were on a flight, or something similar, what would you do with your remaining time, in the case that you have a chance you may not survive? Would you text someone, would you pray, would you hug the people around you, would stay silent, would you talk as much as you could in the time you had, what would you do?

WAR!

There are multiple wars going on that the U.S is involved with currently. My family happens to have close friends who are in both wars, who have recently been in harm’s way. Jeremy is part of the psyops at the outpost cobra in Afghanistan, where he has had the dangerous mission of searching for Osama Bin Laden for more than a year. He has to deal with the tribal leaders and try to bring them to our side and have them give us information about the movement of the Taliban. The goal is to show them we are doing more for them than the Taliban. Ian was just deployed to Baghdad. His mission is to protect the commanders of the U.S army. He follows them wherever they go and protects them. He is a gunner/ body guard.
Do you know anyone who is fighting in any of the wars right now or did?
It is unbelievable that the American citizens would put their life on the line and go through all of the hardship in this way, just to protect our country. They have a lot of courage, and it is an honor to know some of the people who are out there doing this. How many of us would be willing to sacrifice as they do?
There are a lot of ways to show support of the troops. My family sent a care package with cigars, and homemade cookies. We got a letter back from Jeremy saying that they really appreciated it and they also really enjoy receiving, magazines and books for their down time and even wipes because showers are considered a luxury.
Since these men and women are doing so much for our country, I think that everyone, whether they agree with the reasoning for the wars or not, should support the troops in some way! Maybe our class could do something all together.

definitely materialistic!

During this holiday break the materialistic views of the U.S. have really shown. Instead of the celebrations of the meanings of the holidays and the coming together of family, the main focus is the presents. On many of the commercials I heard and saw the people would be saying how the presents and where you get the presents from is more important than the holiday itself. The focus is on the retail sales and what stores are doing the best, worst, and what types of things are being sold. As the years have gone on the buying and the gifts have become more prevalent rather than the notion of giving. Although the economy was considered to be the worst in decades this year, people were still shopping all day on the days of the sales and even on the days with no sales.
What does giving really mean? Is it about monetary things, sharing time, sharing love, sharing friendships, sharing talents, sharing appreciation? The real question is where do you have to go and what do you have to do to realize the real meaning of it all?