Back to 1983 for a Day !

Back to 1983 for a Day !
The going back to 1983 project , was assigned to us by Lia Muller my environmental science teacher for a day during the thanksgiving break. When Lia first discussed the assignment I was slightly excited to see how it would actually turn out,and if it would change my view on communication items(i.e cellphones, laptops, house phones)etc. But as we were let out for break I continuously pushed back the day on which I would actually complete the assignment. I would always counter up some excuse as to why today wasn't a good day , and maybe tomorrow would be better. By the time I knew it it was thanksgiving day and I figured it would be the best day to complete the assignment seeing that there are tons of things to keep me busy throughout the day. I believe the hardest thing to get rid of for a full day was my cell phone, in between cooking and cleaning I would always reach for my phone to do a quick Facebook check before it was time to take the cakes out, or reply to a few text before I was instructed to do something else. But NO I was phone less , and felt disconnected from the world. Although, I never seen myself as someone addicted to there phone, I seen myself fening for just 5mins of talking to someone, or reading someones status. I found myself having to hide my phone just so I wouldn't be successful in picking up my phone if I couldn't take it any longer. The most difficult part of this assignment and picking to do it on that specific day was that everyone was at my house enjoying there different conversations via, text msg, phone calls, Internet, etc, and all I could do is wait until Friday to catch up on everything I missed the day before. The entertainment part came easy for me at first I began reading my book , then talking to my family but quickly that turned boring. I began helping out more around the house and in the kitchen , but that became boring also. I tried napping but it didn't take up enough hours for the day. I reluctantly began at 8am Thursday morning and couldn't take it anymore by 9:34pm. Thursday night.

An Inconvenient Conversation

This assignment was one that I found to be more exciting than I would have expected it to be. My family tends to have daily conversations throughout the day about tons of different topics so when I decided to sneak this topic up in one of them there where alot of mixed emotions. The conversation included my grandmother Charlotte Jackson who grew up somewhere in the 50's back in the south , my father Charles Jackson who was born and raised in California, My mother Lashunda Jackson who was also born in California but lived in different parts of the States, my oldest brother Elliot Jackson who was born in Texas, but raised her in California and I of course was included in the conversation. The reason I decided to include my family's background is because it came up in their opinions through one of the reasons they agreed with one side or another. The question I asked to start the conversation off was something along the lines "How does climate change?" My dad was the first one to answer and he explained how there is a ozone layer above our planet and since we are emitting more and more things into the air such as pollution like smog , carbon monoxide, etc it is messing with the ozone layer and it is causing what people like to call global warming, or "Climate Change". A few of my family members chimed in with small comments such as "That's why its been so cold in California lately, its never been this cold in San Diego." "I know right the other day when I got in my car there was ice on my windshield" There were a few in between convos around the topic said but not really hitting the topic. Then we go on the subject of how factories back in the day seemed like the best idea back then to help the economy get better and also a more efficient way to make the different things that were in demand after the Enlightenment period started up with the new inventions. We also touched bases on how oil was something that made the machines work more effetely , and we looked at it as a "blessing" in a sense because it fuel so many different things back then and even now such as air planes , cars , machines . But in today's day and age it is seen as one of the number one causes of air pollution a main role in the "Climate Change" and even in water pollution. We also bring up how it was crazy to think about how we are after so many years of having oil be a main priority in our economy that they are trying to actually find alternate ways to get the machines and transportation running. Of course in the mist of the conversation George Bush came up in how much of a demand that oil was in our country , that it was one of the reasons for starting up the War in Iraq . The topic of the prices of gas prices going up and how it was somewhat of a chain reaction, my mom was the first to speak up on how the grocery items prices went up in price as well as well. My grandmother chimed in added how the entire economy was going to be effected by the increase in oil prices because it is a item that contributes to everyone's businesses. My grandmother bring up the fact that when she lived back in Memphis there weren't factories yet , she use to go out in the fields and pick cotton and corn and whatever else the farmers had out in the fields to higher workers. She said it gave them jobs , and also something to keep busy by. The conversation stayed on the topic of "Back in the days" and how our ancestors used to be the ones supply all of the cotton for clothes , the food , etc. That topic pretty much ended our conversation about the Energy topic, because we jumped into a different subject.

Study Guide Multiple Choice Questions:

Water & Agriculture:
Question 18: Compare point-source pollution and nonpoint-source pollution.

What are the benifits of Nonpoint-source pollution?

A.
B.
C.

Food & Agriculture:
Question 5: "Explain what is involved in integrated pest management. "

Integrated pest management (IPM) is an integrated approach of crop management to solve ecological problems when applied in agriculture.These methods are performed in three stages: prevention, observation, and intervention. It is an ecological approach with a main goal of significantly reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides while at the same time managing pest populations at an acceptable level.

What is the point of Pest management?

A.To give nutrients to the plants

B.To solve ecological problems

C.To help plants grow tall

Food Inc Articles.

Another Take; Fields of Poison:
So the Fields of Poison article explains how the farmers are getting sick from working with these different pesticides in the fields. When the "Agricultural Workers" as the article refers to them as work closely with these pesticides on a daily bases when mixing and applying the pesticides to the plants, by planting,weeding,harvesting,and processing the crops. They are also inhaling these different pesticides airborne causing illnesses. Some of the illnesses reported from the pesticides were nausea, dizziness, numbness, death and harder side effects to connect back such as cancer, developmental disorders, male infertility, and birth defects. The article states that this has been an increasing problem that many states and countries have been ignoring.There have been 3,000 reported cases of illnesses due to these different pesticides yet no one seems to be doing anything about the problem. California has been doing research on the topic and has been trying to get there act together since the release of an article about the issue in 1999. Some of the main pesticides reported as a poison case include Metam-Sodium with 646 cases, Adjuvant with 604 cases, and Sulfur with 453 reported cases.


The Scope Of The World Food Crisis:
So the "World Food Crisis" is caused by the increasing prices of food prices in crops such as Soybean,Wheat,Rice,Corn etc.Since 2006-2008 the crops like I listed above prices have doubled the amount they were set to be in the beginning of 2006 by the end of 2008.Some of the defects of this food crisis is that more people are suffering from world hunger.In the article it quotes"the figure of those that suffer from hunger has now increased to more than 900 million people." The article also read that "eighty percent of hungry people in the world live in rural areas where food is produced" A example of this would be countries like Asia, China, and Africa.One of the causes of the World Food Crisis is because of the rise in oil prices which increases the prices of the "industrial inputs" such as fertilizers, pesticides and food transportation which all need oil to be transported around to each destination.
Cheap Food; Workers Pay The Price:
The Financial Crisis and World Hunger: