Reflection: Weeks 3 & 4

Hey everyone!

During the third of I finally started getting the hang of blogging; having spent hours at Dr. V’s office. So thanks Dr. V! I finally learned how to post a blog, add pictures/links and comment on others. I was very excited to learn all these because I never thought I would get the hang of them. Though I am still at a basic stage with blogging, I am glad I learned how to something that’s going to be of great use for me in the future and also for the environment. I’m hoping to get more creative with it! I am even thinking about do having a few friends create one. It’s a very good tool for communication and it is fun and colorful, and more creative that my web-source communication right now I think. In week three we discussed chapter one of the book on “The Chanlenges We Face”, it was basically an introduction on the earth’s condition and what’s going on around the globe. We also talked about article 27 in the book “Knowing and Saving the Enverironment on Film”; which was basically focused on choosing the right documentary on environmental topics, and what’s hidden from documentaries for marketing and entertainment sake.


I found week four was very interesting; we finished watching the film "An Inconvenient Truth", a documentary by Al Gore. It was a documentary to raise awareness about global warming. It was a very long movie but it worth every minute; I was very drawn by the facts. It was really touching, and Al Gore had a very sincere tone. I was astonished by the research of this film. I liked how we made it personal; it could’ve been just a piece that poured all the facts about global, but it was filmed in a sense where pretty much everyone could relate to it. I've always had doubts but,I think I am officially convinced about global warming; I was even thinking doing a research paper on it for my writing class. Unfortunately it's too broad. Overall weeks 3 and 4 were very educational; I learned a great deal of things and some eye openers about our environment and what we could do to save it. I am hoping to become more conscious about my environmental daily choices; for instance leaving the light in my room before I head out to school just because I am in a rush, due to the fact that I don’t get a bill in the mail since I live on campus and already paid for it anyways.

~Val~

Review 15: Feeding the World

Hey everyone!

"Feeding the World", the first thought that came to mind as I read the title of this article was world famine; which of course led to think about Africa, mainly because of the way the media portrays and focuses most of its attention of Africa when it comes to world hunger, but also because I am an African origin. It makes me sad because I see the media doing its part about portraying famine in my continent, but misses a whole other part of Africa that most people, in my opinion, greatly fail to see. I wasn’t surprise that Africa was mentioned after all, even though it was at the last couple paragraphs. I am not saying is not a good awareness., besides I appreciate it. Anyways I found this article easy to read. I understood it for the most part.

The article "Feeding the World" introduced society’s four transitional stages; which are based on demographics, economics, agricultural productivity and technological advancements according to economist, ranking from bad/ok to better socio-economics status. The first stage called the traditional society; the second stage is the developing stage. According to the article, at the third stage, the rise in agricultural and production bring economic surpluses that allow growth in capital per capita income. Stage four, the final stage where every country is preferably to be at, is referred as the mature stage.

This article was divided into four other sections. One of them was Evidence for Negative Population Growth; which basically talked about fertility rates. It projected rates from different regions of the world but focused mainly on the UN. It stated that the UN has a low/medium scenario that predicts fertility; averaging 1.9 children per woman for all regions by 2025. The low/medium scenario also projects a peak world population of 7.9 people in 2050, declining to 6.4 billion by 2150. The next section was Future Food Supply/Demand Balance. The “Alternative Scenarios for Global Food Supply and Demand” shows limited food demand projections from 2000 to 2150. Also projects food supply based on a continuation of 1961-1999 yield trends with no augmentation in crop are. The other section was Protecting the Environment. I didn’t completely agree with the theory in the section. It stated that lower-income consumers don’t take into future considerations about environmental protection; on the other hand higher-income consumers demand more efforts to protect the environment. I think it’s somewhat sensible, but they shouldn’t assume that about everyone.

The last section was basically a sum up of the other ones, which shared the challenges ahead. One thing that I came to my attention was that Africa’s population will continue to rise, even under the UN’s low/medium scenario, approaching 2 billion people in 150 years, which to me is kind of ironic to me because of its death rates.


This is a global food supply and demand graph from 1998-2008

I liked reading this article; I wasn’t really moved by much.It was predictable for the most part I think , well except for the Protecting the Environment section.

I didn’t really find any words that were challenging or didn’t know.

Thanks for reading!

Eye Opener: Ecological Footprint

The quiz I took was EarthDay Footprint Quiz. While taking the quiz I thought I would have a decent score because I don't have a car yet, and walk to school since I live on campus, also I consume less processed food. I was astonished when my results said if everyone lived like me we would need 3 planets to provide enough resourses! Here I am thinking I know plenty other people who live like me; or even worse. What does mean to our poor planet? It also said it would take 13.5 global acres(14.1 tons of carbon dioxide) of earht productivity area to to support my life style; that struck me aswell. I was also suprise I ranked highest on service, I thought I would rank highest on food and shelter instead. I ranked lowest in mobity since i dont have a car. It got me thinking my results are bad enough righgt as it is; when I get a car how worse are the going to get? This quiz was definitely an Eye Opener for me. I don't really know how I can adjust my behavior but to reduce the amout of trash I produce.