Reflection on Blogging

To be honest I really didn't have any problems with the technology, blogging is not something new for me, however, it was really interesting writing about certain things because usually when people blog they basically write about whatever they want, this was kind of different because we had to answer specific questions. 250 words is a very easy amount to write, however, it all depended on the day. Sometimes I will go out on Saturdays and not be back on time to write the blogs, and other times it depended on the question that was being asked but overall writing 250 words was an easy task.

I think the deadline for the blogs could've been on a weekday, because I'm the type of person that leaves everything for the last minute so if you ask to write a blog before 4 am on Sunday, i will write it like around 3:30 am, sometimes it was difficult, other times was easy. reading other people and interacting with other people was really fun, it was interesting reading about their ideas and opinions. This course was interesting because I've never been asked to write blogs as homework before, so it was something different. I will like to keep blogging, however, I wont be posting blogs every week! more like every 2-3 weeks...

The Green Book

After reading the Green Book:

1- Water- this is kind of easy for me, I try not to let the water run when I brush my teeth or shave, however, is kind of hard not to let the water run when im brushing my teeth, I dont have an specific reason for it i guess is a habit.

2- Paper Towels- This is going to be extremely difficult to me simply because i use bountry paper towel for everything, for example: cleaning, drying things, sometimes i might even use them to clean my shoes.

3- Lightbulbs- this is something that I'm already doing, i switch all the lightbulbs in my house to the "Energy Star" ones and i kind of like them, except that they are not bright enough sometimes, but is a matter of getting used to it.

4- Bringing my own things- I try to bring my toothpaste, toothbrush, etc when im on vaction because im already use to it, and besides i dont feel comfortable using the hotel's things.

5- carrying less baggage- Now this has to be the easiest thing for me, im the type of person that doesn't like carrying, and doesn't like waiting in the airport for my baggage, is something that i got use to and that I will keep doing.

commit to one little thing- this will be saving energy, I have such a hard time turning off the lights when im not using them or even when im going out.

Evaluation

Paper Assigned: Lisa

- I believe that this paper is from the others, this was actually my first time reading about this issue in the Bronx and I believe is something that needs to taken care of. However, i noticed something about your paper and is that you don't have a thesis.

- As I kept reading i saw "Environmental Racism" obviously your paper has to with racism, but i think it will be better if you state this at the beginning of your paper so people will know what your talking about. and then you could state your thesis like why the government doesn't help this people.. and so on.

- I think you need some "Hard Data" on your paper because it seems that most of the time your stating your opinion about the issue you need some resources.

- Rather than that you paper is excellent written, very entertaining to read, your topic is very interesting so it makes want to read even more, I'm looking forward on reading this paper.

Paper Chosen: Rhodine

- I like the introduction of your paper because you state what your going to talk about and that it has to do with environmental racism, you also stated your thesis kind of, maybe you should give a reason of why these people are not being helped.

- Your writing is very creative, you know to keep the reader awake...

- Your paper is fine for a first draft, but it needs more work..

Choosing!!

Talking about my Research Paper, I had a hard time trying to find a topic simply because I want to do research on something that I’m really interested in. that topic was indoor pollution in the kitchen. This topic is about woman in rural parts of countries cooking with wood, leaves and dung. Cooking with this material can affect a person’s health like getting tuberculosis. This topic really caught my attention because even though so many people die a year due to indoor pollution, the government doesn’t really help or try to find a solution. Indoor pollution kills around 16 million people a year, that about a person every 20 seconds. I was very surprised when I saw that, and that’s what caught my attention to this paper.

Final Topic

I decided to change my topic to "indoor air pollution- the killer in the kitchen". Women and young girls coughing and choking as they cook food over traditional stoves that burn wood, leaves or dung is a common a sight in poor homes across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Nearly half of the world continues to cook with solid fuels such as dung, wood, agricultural residues and coal. Smoke from burning these fuels gives off poisonous particles and chemicals that bypass the body’s defenses and more than doubles the risk of respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis and pneumonia.

Over 1.5 million females die prematurely every year by inhaling poisonous fumes as they cook or heat their homes with these organic fuels but catch little attention from governments, policy experts, scientists and medical experts. my main goal in this paper is to talk about how these poor families especially woman and children are dying every year by this indoor air pollution that is produced by "Natural Ways" of cooking like using wood, leaves, etc. I'm planning to focused mainly on Asia and then talk about how the government neglect and forget about this people.

Reseach Paper

For my research paper i will do research on Polar Bears in the Artic Sea, and how there global warming is affecting their lives and what are the predictions towards Polar Bears. I decided to do some research in this topic because i saw a few pictures of how Polar Bears are drowning because the ice is melting, Polar Bears are also endangered, according to scientists polar bears will only live till 2040 if Global Warming keeps going the way is going.

Things I've Learned

Over the last few weeks in this course I’ve learned many things about the environment. This course made me think about all the effects of the planet and how humans are destroying it. Before I took this course and didn’t really care much about the environment and all this Global Warming stuff!! However, this course made me realize that people can change their actions in order to safe the planet.

Many of the things that I’ve learned in this course are included in the “Green Book” this book gives you details and tips of how you can change your life by becoming green. Another good source of information from this class has to be the movie “Inconvenient Truth” this movie shows that a person can make a difference. another source of information from this course are the PowerPoint presentations that all the students did, these presentations gave the chance to learn about other religions and how they are connected to the environment. And probably the best thing about this course is the Blogs because it gives me the chance to be creative.

Trying To Help

“The Sustainable Cities Blog”: I think this blog is focusing on keeping everyone updated in regarding to the environment, not just CUNY students but people in general; its purpose is to put the information out there.

“Gristmill”: This particular blog is similar to the Sustainable Cities Blog because both authors are trying to keep people updated with the latest information on the environment, however, in this blog the author state his opinion, and his personal beliefs on certain issues.

“Green as a thistle”: This blog is probably the best out of all them simply because the way she gives information. She gives important information but at the same time in a fun way, she has fun with her blog. I was very surprised about the “recycling just for kicks” post; it made me write her a comment.

“No Impact Man”: This blog is just very fun to read with great information in it, for example the post about products in the marketplace going green like “Clorox”. Even more surprisingly is him trying to be green in New York City, the man has a desire.

“Ego Geek”: I like this blog because it shows different types of new technology that are trying to help the environment, I think this blog is very cool..However, I did like the post about Mercedes-Benz on going Hybrid, wasn’t expecting that.

My Path !. And my Passion.

My passion!!. To be honest my biggest plan is not to make a better world, my biggest plan right now is to make a better me. My main goals in life is to become a successful business man, I’m not exactly sure of what I want to become, but lately I’ve been thinking of a “Business manager in sports/arts” those are the people who represent and manage athletes, actors and singers careers. However, I was also thinking of working in the real state field. Either way whatever I want to do is going to be focused in the business field.

I unquestionably want a better world and a better place to live in; I want every person in the world to be equal!!, for example I always wanted to help the poor and people that are struggling in other countries, so one day I decided to buy clothes from Gap (Red) which actually send most of the profit they make to the poor in Africa. I feel good about myself now that I started doing this, I just don’t want to look good, I want to look good and knowing that I’m helping others as well!!.

My long term goal when I become a successful business man is to start my own foundation to help people around the world. It is important to know that when an individual help others, that individual automatically becomes a better person. In overall, I will like to start by helping myself achieve all my goals in life, and then begin my path on helping others.

TV...technology

To be honest I don’t spend my time staring at the TV, but if I see something that I like ill be sitting there for hours, however, if I’m watching TV is always at night, I never watch TV during the day just because I don’t have time and because there really nothing that catches my attention on TV during the day. However, I’m addicted to movies, I enjoy watching movies, whenever I want to see a movie I turn on HBO, or I order a movie on Netflix. There are also a few shows that I like for example; Entourage which it used to air on HBO but the season is over so I’m waiting for the new season to come out, I’m also a big fan of Nip/Tuck; but the season ended as well!.

I do spend a lot of time on the computer, whether I’m checking my e-mails, or just visiting different web sites. I’ll be on the computer for hours, especially at night. I must say I am a big fan of technology, everything new that comes out, most likely I’ll buy it, whether it is a new phone, or video game system I’ll buy it. I do play video games on my Play Station 3, if I’m sitting in front of the TV most likely I’m playing a video game.

Don’t get surprised but I do read, I like to read the newspaper every morning, I’m not a big fan of reading books, it has to be really interesting in order for me to read it, and when it comes to school work I do study but it is very hard for me, I’m one of those people that actually do better in school without reviewing the book or the notes.

The Environment and Me

To be honest I didn’t realize how serious the issue about the environment/global warming was till last year. To think about there was very few things that I did to help the environment, everything that I did was pretty much to affect it, and sure that I wasn’t the only one. However, I decided to cooperate so I could feel good about myself, and also because I want this “earth” to be clean. I used to do all sorts of things to affect the environment, for instance letting the water run continuously, having the lights in the house on all day, driving even though it was next block, to be honest I just didn’t care about what was going on, I thought it wasn’t that big of a deal, I guess I was wrong. However, I am getting better at helping the environment, for example my latest plan is to buy a “Hybrid” car, I will feel very good about myself when I accomplished that.

When it comes to my house, we changed all the light bulbs and purchased the ones with energy star, I’m trying to get better at turning off the lights when I don’t need to use them, same thing with the water, I still leave the water running when I’m brushing my teeth or doing the dishes, I really don’t use a lot of paper for printing or writing, most of the time I just use e-mail, and because I don’t know how to cook, whenever I need to warm up some food I use the microwave instead of the stove or oven.