Big Foot

"Morality is often mistaken for science," states Michael Specter in "Big Foot." Humans wear the excessive carbon footprint that causes the horrible effects of climate change. The goals of carbon emissions are unclear and it seems that the biggest problem obesity now imposes is the carbon burden that they place on the environment. Greenhouse-gas emissions are at their highest level in the last six hundred and fifty years. Each of the six billion people on Earth account for one ton of carbon emissions. Carbon emissions must be reduced in order to prevent catastrophic effects. Michael Specter comments, "A person's carbon footprint is simply a measure of his contribution to global warming." Every human activity has a carbon cost attached to it. Food in our generation carries immense symbolic power. Michael Specter describes "food miles" as "the distance a product travels from the farm to your home." Climate change is directly linked to "food miles." Factories around the world are deeply impacting global warming. The food we eat is much more significant than Americans seem to notice. Iowa State University found that food miles connected to items one buys in a grocery store are twenty-seven times higher than those those goods bought from local sources. Ten percent of our red meat is imported from Australia or New Zealand and broccoli is shipped eighteen hundred miles in a refrigerated truck. This is absolutely ridiculous being that both cattle and broccoli are vast in the US. The carbon footprints of products are astronomical. "Food miles" put humans at great risk for climate change and global warming. Carbon emissions must be reduced before these "food miles" destroy the planet. My immediate reaction to Specter's inclusion of John Elkington's claim: "We are in an era of creative destruction," is that humans are in a death spiral created by our doing. Elkington deeply feels that people will not be able to address the problem of global warming. There is much denial and despair left to be seen. Things will begin to fall apart. Destruction is within our reach with the way humans treat the planet.

As a consumer I feel personally responsible for global warming. The devastating effects of global warming are quite visible. However, in a way I feel torn. If one were to ask me if I would give up my Hyandai Sante Fe for a more fuel efficient car I would say no. I am just like so many Americans who make their decisions against environmental protection. Knowledge of global warming has been instilled in my brain constantly by all different sources for years. The effects of climate change are real and growing. Then why do I not live a life focused on protecting the environment and the Earth? I am selfish. I love my big car. I do not plan on giving it up. Selfishness characterizes most humans. There is not doubt that my choices affect global warming. In a large scale, everyone's choices affect global warming. The steps humans decide to take will greatly impact the course of global warming.

Greed and Waste

There is a infectious virus sweeping the nation too small to be seen by a light microscope. Its symptoms are more powerful and and more mortifying than our generation has yet to witness out of the millions of different viruses known to man. The virus is spreading from person to person with such a ferocity that no one is safe. The virus can be found in every ecosystem on Earth being the most abundant parasite on Earth. The virus is a pandemic, worse than the Spanish flu that killed as many as 100 million people back in 1918. There is no vaccine available to cure the virus. No artificially acquired immunity will put a stop to the specific viral infection. This virus has evolved from narcissism, ego, materialism, pursuit of self, wealth and status. Humans are the host with the virus infection resulting in the death of the host cell. Deaths of the cells in the body are caused by cessation of their normal activities. Humans do not stand a chance. The virus will pass on genes throughout the species that survive and will ultimately play a central role in our evolution. This virus is known as greed. Greed is a deathly virus with its effects being waste. Everyone is greatly affected by greed. Greed can only kill leaving its harmful effects behind. After the damage is done, waste will fill the streets.

Animalcules and Other Little Objects

Mark Smith, a self-proclaimed "lifelong devotee of life," has had his fair share of pets, having a dog, a cat, white mice, tadpoles, toads, frogs, snakes, a painted turtle and a rabbit. Smith has an enchanting relationship with animalcules and other little subjects that he finds in pond water. Mark Smith is fascinated by life even if it be the smallest representative life. Humans too often neglect that there are other organisms living on Earth. Smith comments, "that there are worlds within worlds nearly everywhere we turn." He loves being able to explore deeper into these worlds. Looking through a microscope, the author embarks on a journey through different environments and ecosystems. Microscopes are Smith's prized possessions being considered everlasting. The activity of peering through a microscope brings Smith back to when he was a boy in his youth, caught up in his enjoyment while the afternoons seemed to just fade by. The animalcules captivate him. The organisms have everything required for life, hearing and swimming like humans. The activities of the animalcules are universal showing their direct connections with humans. By the time the author is done looking at these small objects, his eyes are dulled, with everything looking ragged and dilapidated compared to the worlds found under his microscope. Mark Smith states, "I have trouble explaining my satisfaction with the animalcules." He smiles just thinking of the endless knowledge that he is unable to fully grasp. There is so much life before him in the microscope that he has yet to experience. The excitement is almost more than he can handle. There is so much wonder when it comes to the animalcules and it virtually costs nothing to explore into their world. The questions of life are endless with nature being all around us. Children are able to appreciate nature unlike adults who grow ignorant of the marvels around them.

As a child, time seems to just fly by. Everything is a new world waiting to be explored. As one grows older this excitement lessens with newly acquired knowledge through the years. Everything is not unknown as it once was. Mark Smith recaptures his youth when looking at the animalcules. There is no end to the new life he may find. Questions are always waiting to be answered. Everyone could be as excited for life as the animalcules are for Smith. People need to be more open to their surroundings and take a minute to enjoy nature. There are worlds waiting to be traveled if one is smart enough to know it.

The Ethics of Climate Change

The question pertaining to climate change is an ethical one. Interests among differing people conflict leaving the question, "What Should We Do about climate change?" up in the air. There is no denying that the benefits of the present generation will be the hardships of future generations. Although the question of climate change is an ethical one, the question also relates to economics and the money market. The costs of climate change can be evaluated using the ethical basis of cost-benefit economics. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, written by Nicholas Stern and his colleagues at the UK, concludes that the cost of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases would be far less than the benefits that would be gained. However, some economists do not see the issue of climate change in an ethical view. Nordhaus of Yale University uses a lower "discount rate" in which the value of future goods are less than present ones. Future goods are discounted based on the logic that the more goods you have, the less valuable are further goods. The discount rate must consider ethical issues. After all, we are talking about the lives of millions in the future.

There are some philosophers who believe we should care more about people who live close to us in time than those who live in the distant future. This position is called pure discounting. Pure discounting makes for a high discount rate. Moral philosophy has to be considered when talking about climate change. Stern concludes, "the world urgently needs to take strong measures to control climate change change." Some economists object to Stern's ethical stance. However, how can the well-being of future generations be determined by money markets? Markets determine values by people's tastes. The well-being of future generations is not determined by tastes. The money market cannot be the deciding factor in declaring the value of future well-being. Debate and deliberation among economists must be involved when answering the question of climate change. John Broome states, "Once we have made our decisions through the democratic process, society can act. That is the job of economists." Economists are not the final mediators of the democratic process. They can only recommend and argue their stance. Climate change raises ethical issues, therefore the question "What Should We Do Now?" must be based on ethical judgments or else the effects to future generations caused by climate change will be catastrophic.

"How We Evolve"

Until recently, the thought assumed by many scientists was that evolution had all but stopped. Evolution had not been observed in humans. On the contrary, scientists today have proven that human DNA evidence shows that culture acclerates evolution. Since population numbers have swelled, our world has changed with our DNA still trying to catch up. With an explosion in the global human population, technology has risen to an all time high. The advent of human culture has caused a dramatic increase in intelligence levels. Benjamin Phelan affirms, "Increasing intelligence increases the complexity of culture, which pressures intelligence levels to rise, which creates a more complex culture and so on." Intelligence levels in humans are directly connected to increasing levels in techonology. Technology has turned the horse-drawn carriage into a vehicle that carried us to the moon, and the howitzer into a fifty-megaton nuclear weapon. Paul Ehrlich, a professor of population studies at Stanford, discovers in the twentieth century "a minefield of near misses with extinction." In this situation, a solution has created a problem.

Evolution will be unable to help us in the case of a nuclear disaster. The environment is changing violently with forests clearing out and food chains coming undone. Benjamin Phelan states, "Science must evolve new tools to raise us to such a commanding vantage as well as to avert a self-inflicted extinction." Humans evolve "in the face of hunger, disease, and a changing ecosystem." However, culture may drive humans into becoming conscious codirectors of evolution. Humans may one day regret inventing howitzers. The possibility of a nuclear war is not unlikely. Although techonology enables us to control certain aspects of evolution, techonology could ultimately cause the extinction of humans. Culture may be evolution's most powerful nemesis. There is no doubt that humans will one day no longer be on this Earth. However, it makes sense to try to stay here as long as we can. I agree with Benjamin's Phelan's philosophy on human's "self-inflicted extinction." By the time people realize the consequences of their mistakes it will be too late. Knowledge must be acquired and used in a resourceful way. The evolution of humans is quite frightening in the direction we are going in now. Hopefully, everyone will remain calm in the next few decades and now blow everything up. Culture does not need to be the enemy. Culture should become evolution's most powerful tool.

Writing Center Experience

I found my writing center experience to be both rewarding and unfavorable. At first, I established the room itself to be too small and open. I felt exposed, as if everyone was listening in on my conversation with the tutor. I did not take with me any sort of rough draft. All I brought was the assignment and my thematic strand located in the Shakespeare concordance. I was having difficulty with how I would actually embark writing my paper. I had so many ideas running through my head. I could not keep to one specific argument. I explained my issue to the tutor. I started to become frustrated with the way he/she kept repeating my questions back to me. At one point, the tutor actually took a phone call during my appointment. Feeling rushed, I became angry at the situation. Overall I found the experience to be useful. The tutor helped me to pick one argument and stay focused. I accomplished what I had come for. The conversation gave me the courage to stick to one topic. My tutor expressed how he or she felt my argument was clear and concise. What mattered in the comments was if my tutor understood what I was aiming for and trying to articulate. I was able to get feedback on my central idea for the paper.

Since I had nothing to begin with I would not say I revised anything. I was able to get something more useful than that. By starting the paper off with a solid argument in my head I was able to fixate greatly on connecting data from The Twelfth Night with my theme. I filtered my ideas to create a thesis that made sense. I feel I would have not been as successful with my paper unless I had gone to the writing center. I approached my paper with ease and less anxiety. I definitely recommend the writing center. The writer is able to receive the feedback they require to properly execute their paper.

A Writer

A writer is anyone that combines his or her ideas and thoughts together and shares them with the world. The thought could be simple. Everyone can be a writer. A writer does not necessarily describe a person who sits at their desk all day long writing for their profession. Everyone in some way is a writer even if the only writing they accomplish is through Facebook or Twitter. Anything that is written is a text. Without knowing it, one's words may influence those of another's. To be called a writer is not a job title. The dimensions of being a writer are endless.

I am a writer because I use words everyday to express my thoughts. I do not know how I would manage life if I did not write. Language is the foundation of one's culture. Without it civilizations would have failed and disappeared. Writing is the art that comes from one's language. Everyone should embrace writing.