Task 7 - Problem and Solution

There are a lot of things happening around us like disasters and wars, and global warming is one of these things. Many studies have been conducted in order to identify the consequences of this major problem that everyone in the world need to do something about. We are facing some of these problems in our time and many other major problems will come in future.

The main problem is the ice is melting and the sea level has increased, which has started to have an effect on some islands around the world some islands like Wine Island after Hurricane Gustav have disappeared (houmatoday.com) . As we already witness, small changes in temperature can make massive differences to the environment around us. Chris Oxlade wrote ‘Global warming will create climate changes. But a change in the weather is a minor problem compared to other problems that global warming and climate change might cause. Humans, animals and plants would all suffer’ (Oxlade, 2008).Our consumption habits can make a huge difference. The main problem comes from burning fossil fuels and our daily consumption of food and energy. When we measured our carbon foot print we found that many of us need more than two planets to live in. My foot print was 4.39, so I need 4.39 planets to live my life style and my class mates were almost the same as me; they need more than 3 planets to live in. However, my class had a score of 3.86(footprint.wwf). Most of us contribute to increasing our carbon foot print by buying stuff, eating and travelling.

"It's impossible to have hurricanes in the South Atlantic.”(www.oppapers.com). However, in 2004 there was a hurricane in Brazil. There are many people, who said that there are some places that won’t be affected by global warming, but they are wrong and we are all facing this problem. There are many ways to reduce the effects of global warming, but it needs some time no one can fix it in one day. First we need to reduce our consumption of energy by using new technology like renewable energy. Renewable energy sources need to be used everywhere in order to reduce the amount of gases emitted into the atmosphere. Recycling is a good way to reduce the effect of global warming because it saves a lot of energy needed to make new materials. Everyone needs to decrease carbon and greenhouse gas emission in the atmosphere and stop depending on fossil fuels and look for renewable energy which can be the real substitute of the energy.
In my opinion everyone needs to act immediately in order to reduce the future effects of this problem. Global warming can change the way we live and damage our earth seriously. We have only got one earth so we have to take care of it because if it’s gone we are gone too.


Bibliography:

1- http://books.google.com/booksid=cCS4FfkO1lgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#PPA4,M1

2- Oxlade, Chris. Global warming. Illustrated ed. Mankato, MN: Bridgestone Books, 2003.

3- http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Problem-Solution-Global-Warming/106870


4- http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20080915/HURBLOG/809150956.


5- http://footprint.wwf.org.uk

Task 6 - Cool City

Cool City is a city that has made a dedication to stop global warming. The idea has been made to reduce the emissions and to solve many other problems. However, the video said if we don’t reduce our CO2 emissions we will need another earth to live in and that’s impossible.
The video mentioned that the most emissions come from traffic delays, energy consumption and the increase in population. We have to decrease the carbon dioxide emitted into the air by one half. During the past 30 years Japan has improved the energy efficiency by 37% and decreased the oil consumption by 8%.

Over 90% of carbon dioxide emitted into the air of cities comes from buildings and transportation. The Cool city has been built by a group of Japanese companies called SDCJ. Cool City has brought the united technology and knowledge into one ideal city in order to reduce the CO2 emissions. The Cool City contains many facilities like sports zone, resort zone and residential zone. It has been built and organized to be accessible easily by foot. In that time they will be using hybrid cars that don’t emit emissions into the air. However, they expect that carbon dioxide will be reduced by 60%.

In my opinion this goal is hard to achieve and they need too much time and technology in order to build this city. It looks promising but who would live in this city and who will contribute in delivering this message to the world in order to do something about carbon emissions.

Traditions weigh on China’s women

Summary:

China is the only country where suicide is being committed by more women than men. The problem is that women commit suicide in rural areas more than cities by three times. The ready availability of the venomous pesticides in the rural areas and farms is one of the reasons that increase the number of women who kill themselves in China. Tradition is one of the reasons that affect the women because she’s being sold like an item and she needs to fit into the husband’s family. The women are being forced into another foreign environment; completely strange to her original family and she needs to accept this. When it comes to the planned marriages even the husband may feel that his wife doesn’t like him, she doesn’t suit him and that leads to fights and many arguments. Xie Lihua says that if women live in a friendly environment and they feel safe there won’t be any suicide and hey will live happily. Women in China often find that the best way to get away from misery is to commit suicide and leave everything behind. Arranged marriages are illegal but the traditions are hard to change. There is another problem that increases the danger which is that women are less numerous than men in China. This problem where women are less than men could lead to abduction of women, trafficking, prostitution, sexual violence and rape. Xu Rong's organization is trying to reduce these horrible numbers of suicides by offering women jobs and giving them some information on mental health. Xu Rong’s organization has decreased the number of women suicides in many rural areas and they are trying to spread nationwide to help other rural places.

Main idea:

Women in China are committing suicide because of the strict traditions of their families. The ways of suicide are easy in the rural areas where poison is easy to reach. Government is trying to reduce the number of suicides but it’s still hard to do that because of the birth control and the number of women to men. Xu Rong’s organization started to help women since 1998 and it has already helped a lot of women to continue their lives naturally.

Opinion:

In my judgment its China’s government’s responsibility and they have to lend a hand to all the families in China to reduce the number of women suicides. There are some organizations that are eager to help out the Chinese women and it’s effective for the Chinese women. They must maintain these organizations and support them.

Task 5 - My carbon footprint

The definition of carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by human activities directly or indirectly. In other words when I drive my car from home to work and it depends on my car type when the petrol burns it creates a certain amount of emissions and that’s called CO2. There are many other things that affect our footprint and that’s the way of producing food and goods which also creates CO2 during the process.

My own carbon footprint was 4.39 planets that means if all people were living like me we will need four more planets or more. I measured my own carbon footprint at (http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/). My main contributors on my footprint were traveling, stuff and food respectively. The class total average was 3.86 while our teacher Hedley had 4.10. I think most people would be around 3 and 4 since most of us use and do the same things.

I could reduce my carbon footprint if I bought a car that works on electricity but this technology is not yet released for the public and it’s expensive. My car uses a lot of petrol and I drive a bit too fast and I need to reduce my speed in order to reduce my car emissions. I don’t spend a lot on goods and food. I only buy goods when it’s running out and have time to go shopping. There are many things that we can’t stop using it like electricity since we have hot weather in the UAE and that does contribute a lot to my carbon footprint. I myself and most people are shocked when we see the amount of CO2 our activities create!

Reviews of 'An Inconvenient Truth'

A favorable review:

Brandon Fibbs, http://brandonfibbs.com/2006/05/24/an-inconvenient-truth , says Al Gore is correct and that all the scientists agree about global warming. Al Gore supported the movie with graphs, charts, time-lapsed photographs and scientific studies to make people believe. The movie showed that the evidence is everywhere in the world and every part of the world is already starting to be affected or will be affected by global warming. In addition he said that all the skeptics will be convinced from the evidence that Al Gore represented in his movie. In my opinion he made his points clear and he presented his scientific evidence in simple graphs and statistics.

An unfavorable review:

Scott,http://www.threemoviebuffs.com/review.php?movieID=inconvenienttruth%23Scott, criticizes the movie because it’s talking about Al Gore more than global warming and climate changing. He showed the audience some parts of his life and he told that his sister died because she had lung cancer. He made some jokes about Bush and some politicians. However, another criticizer called Eric asked if the pictures were original and wasn’t it in different seasons of the year. In my opinion why would someone take pictures of mountains that are covered on ice all the year to fool the audience? There would be some geologist sitting in the audience who would disagree with him.

Global Warming

Riches await as Earth’s icy north melts

Summary:

Canada and Denmark are fighting to claim Hans Island which is very hard to find on the map. The reasons are to get oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes. However, global warming took a part in this race by warming the ice cap faster than any other part of the world. This would help a lot of countries by making their shipping routes shorter. Another reason is that the Arctic holds almost 25% of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas. These are all reasons which have made governments use advanced equipment to drill for oil and gas. At the moment the Norwegians are building innovative vessels that will sail on water and ice. The climate is changing as old studies said that the ice in the North Pole will take 100 years to melt, but recent studies said it will melt in 10 - 15 years. The article ends by highlighting the degrees of exploiting the Arctic, e.g. oil spills, and pointing out the rights of the indigenous people of the Arctic.

Main idea:

Countries are fighting to claim lands for making profit and on the other hand they are ignoring a bigger issue and that’s global warming. They started to introduce new technology to get to the North Pole and get the resources. They say when the ice melts it will open new routes for trading and traveling for shorter distances.

Comment:

These countries are fighting over land while the entire world is dying slowly because of global warming instead of solving other issues. In my opinion Hans Island is for everyone in the world and most importantly there are many people living in the Arctic already and we should think about them.