Global Warming
I am taking a class on Major Environmental Issues this semester in order to fulfill a gen ed. I was hoping this class would help me make sense of the crazy winter we are having or more appropriately not having.
As of now I know how ozone is created and much to my surprise it is not the hole in the ozone that is the main contributor to this crazy heat wave we’re having in the middle of winter. In fact the ozone layer is recovering now a day and is expected to be back to its normal condition by 2050. This recovery is due to the international ban placed on the production of CFCs, an element used in cooling systems and aerosols.
I also have learned the difference between global warming and global change. Global warming is an increase globally averaged surface temperature. According to my professor, Robert G Keesee, the level of Carbon Dioxide in the air increases the risks of global warming. The majority of this Carbon Dioxide comes from burning coal and raw fuel. One of the largest fears of global warming is its ability to cause a global change. If this occurs the ecology and or social environment would change which would change the world as we know it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I wore flip flops when I walked my dog today and loved every second of it. I definitely don’t miss trudging through the tundra in order to get to class either. But I would miss blue skies and green grass if carbon dioxide continues to be emitted into the air.
ring in the cash cow scam
A month after the ball dropped in Time Square, festivities being held in Albany for the Chinese New Year have been brought to my attention. For fifteen days the local Chinese population will be ringing in the year of the dog. It is customary during this time to dress in red because in Chinese culture this color represents happiness and joy. The Chinese Community Center is holding a large performance in The Egg at The Empire State Plaza. According to the Times Union this show is sold out and apparently it has the largest attendance in the show’s history. So “Guey hay fat choy” or may you have wealth in the year to come.
Speaking of wealth or lack there of, some guy in Altamont is being accused of purchasing a cow with cash advances he got illegally on the internet. This is scam is being punned off as a cash cow scam. Personally, I feel bad for the cow. This guy scammed the cow, brought him back to his farm, the cow thought he had found a new home. Now the cow has to turn right back around and go back to the auctioner’s block. Poor cow will probably end up on someone in the Capital Region’s plate.
“First Job Contract” protests in France
French students all across France protested the new employment law recently passed in response to high unemployment and the disadvantaged youth of the suburbs. More than half of France’s universities were closed on Tuesday because of demonstrations.
Tens of thousands of youthful and liberal members of the French population stood up and protested this law being passed! With that said I can’t help but wonder what it would take for the American youth to rally together for anything other than Black Friday.
As a student in a University in the United States I can’t help but wonder why more students haven’t gotten involved in protesting various laws passed that affect us as students. This last fall there was a march to the capital to protest the reform that has been proposed for the TAP program offered to students in need of financial aid. This protest attracted at most 60 people. It has been said that our generation suffers from a plague of apathy and I can see truth in that. I tip my hat to French students and to their perseverance in their pursuit of using peaceful protest to push an agenda they find important.
