China...

Quote: During the first three years of the plan, China's energy intensity-its energy consumption per unit of GDP-fell y just over 10 percent, saving 290 million tons of coal equivalent (tee) and reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 750 million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent. This pace of energy conservation has rarely been achieved by the rest of the world.

Question: Why is that?

Comment: So my question is a bit vague but the who regards China naturally, and the why is directed as almost another question entirely. Why is it that China has been able to do this when many other countries which posses in a sense almost a better position in which to cut down coal usuage and have not? China has a huge populating, and is a vast country within itself, which again brings up the simple question that if they can do why can't we? There has been more and more talk of lowering fossil fuel consumption in the US, talk of alternative energy sources to help the transition, but there is still very little talk overall of the United States energy consumption shrinking. Granted some of the states have made some headway in manner of producing laws which regulate smog outputs from cars, but these can only do so much.

An Inconvenient Conversation

I have to be honest, I was not looking forward to having this conversation with my mother. To put it easiest, we do not see eye to eye on many political or sociological happenings. I was also not sure what we would be able to discuss without getting into an argument, we both happen to be very passionate about what we believe. So from the list of prompts we both decided to discuss prompt three. This prompt was “How can we provide the energy we need while maintaining ecological balance?”.

For my view point on this subject, it has been one that has changed little in the last couple of years. Energy sources should try and be as ecologically safe as possible. The reason behind this is that we can always develop new energy sources, but we cannot redevelop what is destroyed by current energy sources due to negligence. My examples a definitely not few and far between, they range from the Alaskan Oil line failure, to just a couple of years ago the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill. My mother believe that on those standpoint our country needs the energy created by deep sea drilling and that although she would like it to be monitored more closely, to avoid spills that it is a good ecological source of energy. I am whole heartily against deep sea drilling until regulations are completely remade to be stricter and more in debt.

My moms view point on this question is that it all revolves around economics, to make the energy source cheaply so that everyone has access to it. I responded with the question that what if energy can be created cheaply but cause an ecological disaster. Her response was that we have to start up the economy first before we can create new sources. Also that the energy needs to be able to be recycled, such as being able to bring water through a hydro dam multiple time, or making a fountain a source of energy. Trying to look at things we use every day, such as plastics, that could be transformed into clean and green energy. I listened to these things and I do agree, but there is still a part of me that holds back. While I agree in what my mother says I do not agree with how she wants to get there. To be able to have the type of economy that would be able to sustain this type of energy research, firstly you would have to continue the energy sources that are already going which are not ecological. This means that more damage will be done to the environment than is being done now.

Day without Technology

I was not sure which day would be best or to put it bluntly easiest for me to go a day without technology I had no clue what day to pick. It wasn’t until we headed up on the train ride for Santa Barbra that Brynn suggested we should do a day on the bike trip. I thought that this idea was brilliant for a number of reasons. So for my day without technology I actually did not notice that much of a change. This was probably due to which day I chose to complete this assignment. The day I chose was the third day of my bike trip. The best part about this was, even though automobiles were around before 1984, I didn’t even use one all day. I was for the most part on a bicycle, or walking on my legs.

Communication led, for the most part ok for the whole day. This was the one day although, that I was not able to contact my parents which was slightly frustrating. Other than contacting my parents communication was not a problem. This had to be the most frustrating part of the day. Not having my phone, which for the most part is my lifeline to the world, was difficult. This little gadget has my link to friends, news, family, entertainment, everything that I could think of is held in my phone. Not being able to use it as a flash light to read my book before bed was the most troubling because I had to then borrow a flashlight.

I was with all of my friends on the trip to begin with and any that were home were either in another country (Thailand) or in school still. Another great thing was that we didn’t have any gaming systems with us, no Play stations, Wii’s, or GameCube’s. In fact, the only ‘gaming’ system, if you would like to call it that, was a deck of cards. So that night we played a couple of different games, BS a classic, psidos which was new to me, and of course go fish! We kept each other entertained with stories about the day and things that have happened before we had all met. This was neat because I learned more about the people I had been biking with for the past three days.

Most of the day was spent biking, and considering that I do not listen to music when I bike, technology free. Once we are at camp, we have to lock the bikes, set up tents, and get bags out of the van, again no real technology. We eat dinner late at a restaurant that we biked to, and then biked back to camp. And sadly to say I ended up turning in early almost every night from the amount of biking we had done. So my technology free day was not that difficult to complete and really fun.

Rough Draft

Farmer’s Markets

The sun hangs high above your head, on either side the street stalls line the pavement, and new smells assault your nose around every corner. You see, on any given week, flowers, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, herbs, spices, crafts, old guys, young guys, girls with jewelry, girls pouring crepes, and even more things than you can imagine. If you are wondering where you are, you are in none other than the San Diego Ocean Beach Farmers Market, or the OB Street Fair as it has been happily renamed. Since the first farmers market in July of 1934 in Gilmore Island, farmers markets have become immensely popular. They have grown from just the farmers pulling up their trucks in an empty lot to community oriented meetings to sell not only locally grown produce but also artisan crafts and food. Lately farmers markets in San Diego have been growing like weeds, and have also become some of the most popular markets in Southern California.

Under a full sun, with wooden stalls lining chalk painted slots and a 50 cent per day rent, farmers gathered onto a plot of land known as Gilmore Island. This gathering was the brain child of Roger Dhlhjelm and Fred Beck. These two men wanted to create a place where “artisans would sell handmade goods - pottery, furniture, textiles… farmers would sell their produce to housewives”. This was the first farmers market, and to this day is known by the same name as the day of its creation simply, the Farmers Market. This market, which was started at the corner of Third and Fairfax, still exists and is known as one of the United States most popular farmers markets. It seems though that the tide of favor is shifting. Slowly but surely San Diego farmers markets are starting to rival the original in popularity,

One of the most well known farmers markets in San Diego happens to be the Ocean Beach Farmers Market. This market is held on Wednesdays from 4-7 during the winter months and 4-8 during the summer months. Similarly to the original Farmers Market, location was and is everything. Located down Newport Avenue between Cable and Bacon Street, the Ocean Beach Farmers Markets’ location has become synonymous with freshness and a good time.

(I still need interviews)

Introduction

The sun hangs high above your head, on either side the street stalls line the pavement, and new smells assault your nose around every corner. You see, on any given week, flowers, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, herbs, spices, crafts, old guys, young guys, girls with jewelry, girls pouring crepes, and even more things than you can imagine. If you are wondering where you are, you are in none other than the San Diego Ocean Beach Farmers Market, or the OB Street Fair as it has been happily renamed. Since the first farmers market in July of 1934 in Gilmore Island, farmers markets have become immensely popular. They have grown from just the farmers pulling up their trucks in an empty lot to community oriented meetings to sell not only locally grown produce but also artisan crafts and food. Lately farmers markets in San Diego have been growing like weeds, and have also become some of the most popular markets in Southern California.

Thesis Statement

San Diegian Farmers Markets have been sprouting up like weeds, even becoming some of the most popular markets in Southern California.

Blue Gold

It is not until recently that we, being us the people that live on this planet we call Earth, have even acknowledged that there is a water crisis. Many have kept themselves in their self made bubble of ignorance, never asking the simple question: Where does the water I am drinking come from? Such a simple question, that most would assume has a simple answer which could possibly be the reason that so many of us have never given much thought to this important question. We just assumed that like the question itself the answer must be just as simple but unfortunate this is not so.

If the answer was that simple we would assume that no matter where we lived, regardless of climate, that the water we drank would come from a nearby source. Whether that source be a lake, river, or aquifer. Blue Gold demonstrates that this is how we began. But since this beginning has drained dry any chances at water sources that could keep themselves sustained. Blue Gold plasters hard fact of these areas, with up to date aerial views of lakes drained dry as well as aqueducts that lure away precious water.

While watching this documentary I was continually wondering if this was one sided. And the true answer to that question is that yes, Blue Gold is one sided because there is no other side anymore, we drained it dry. What Blue Gold does that makes it believable, not in the Hollywood sense but in that we really need to deal with this problem sense, is the raw data that is shown. Not data based on opinions of experts but instead in actual footage and facts. So because of this I approve this documentary.

Annotated Bibliography

Entry Two

"Farm Bureau History :: San Diego Farm Bureau." San Diego County Farm Bureau. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

This website is a great source on when certifications and the first's farmers markets were started in San Diego. Also a great resource for anything related to the first implementations of anything farming in San Diego.

Entry Three

Best, Elisabeth. "Farmers Markets Offer Benefits Beyond Efficiency." Smart Journalism. Real Solutions. Miller-McCune. 20 Feb. 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2011. .

This article gives an overview of the pros of farmers markets. Also the growth of these markets over the years. It goes into detail about the stages a farmers market can go through in relation to the type of foods and or products it will sell.

Annotated Bibliography

Entry One:

"The History of Farmers Market." The Original Farmers Market. Web. 23 Feb. 2011. .

This history describes the beginning of the first farmers market at Gilmore Island, Los Angeles, in 1934. Starting with Arthur Fremont Gilmore and his ranches turn car racing/ baseball tracks, to his son Earl Bell Gilmore being approached by Roger Dahlhjelm and Fred Beck who had the 'idea'. This idea covered the initial creation of the first farmer markets and still lives on in farmer markets today.

QQC: Cart a la Carte

Quote: "This is not necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, street food's very modernity is why it could play a role in the fight against globalization."

Comment: This is an interesting thought for several reasons. First, is that many people assume that what is commonly known as 'street food' has been part of a culture for hundreds of years. That the Chinese, Thai, Mexicans have always sold food in little stalls at market. That this food is just part of the culture these consumers are visiting. But in reality street food has only become more common because it is quick and easy, oh lets not forget cheap. But to think that street food which can, for the most part be found in every country on this planet can help fight against globalization is a bit ironic. When you think about it though the idea makes perfect sense. Bring food from the surrounding area to a centralized location, make it cheap and easy to eat and wah la you now have local street food.

Question: The question that arises when we think of this phenomenon in relation to San Diego is essentially: Does San Diego even have 'street food'? And if we consider the food sold at Farmer's Markets street food then when did San Diego's Farmer Markets start and gain popularity?

The Cove

Through out the documentary The Cove, I believe that the camera does take a side but not in the sense that it is trying to manipulate you. The facts just lead that way. By just following the progression of this group of activist who portray both opinion but also documented facts the audience receives the chance to create their own opinion. An opinion not based on manipulation by way of drastic footage or non-factual bias. The evidence and facts presented are the basis of the bias this documentary contains with transfers to the audience.

Throughout the Cove there is in a way a battle being waged between good and evil. The evil being portrayed as the Japanese Whaling community, and the hero being of several groups. The activist who are risking imprisonment, and danger, of course but also in a way those that are creating the change in this system from the law side. I do think however that it is very hard to look at some of the footage or even for that matter some of the audio (ex. the audio of the dolphins dieing, and footage of the killing cove) to immediately villainies whomever is doing this without wanting to regard the details that could make this justifiable. Now I am not suggesting that whaling is ok by any means but the Cove fails to show why these men work there, or why the government is still doing this. They do touch upon it, but briefly as they could get no straight answer. In the end I believe that the Cove does present factually and dramatically that whaling is a horrible thing that currently has not been justifiable in Japan.

Questions

Question 1:
How much does the industrial farming community actually impact the environment?

Question 2:
How much the resouces used through the growing/harvesting process is recycled?

Question 3:
How much of the world makes use of corn grown in the United States?

Global Food Chain Stretched to the Limit

Research Topics:

Weather throughout the last year
Global food supply
Food riots three years ago
Tunisia
Tunisia's president fleeing country
Food riots in North Africa
Food riots in Haiti, Kenya, and Somalia
"Supply/demand" structures
Hot, dry weather in South America/cut in soy bean production
Flooding in Australia/wheat crops
Higher oil prices-shipping-ethanol production



Chosen Topics

"Conley estimates that more than a third of the corn produced in the U.S is now used to make ethanol."

Article One

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/datablog/2010/jan/22/us-corn-production-biofuel-ethanol



The author argues with factual data that in fact one forth of the US's production of corn is used to create Enthanol. And his interest lies in the want to inform that this was instated by President Goerge Bush , and that it is impacting the world food supply. The author was not bias becuase he displayed pure fact and data sheets. My question is that since this data was collected in 2009, what is the percentage of corn used today for the creation of ethanol and how is that in relation to the production of corn that is used to feed poeple?



Article Two

http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm



The author of this article argues that the space needed to produce the corn used for ethanol is the same space that could be used to produce corn for several poeple to live off of for a year. The main idea of the article lies in the explanation of this idea said by David Pemental, an argraculturist at Cornell University, "It takes more energy to make ethanol from grain than the combustion of ethanol produces". I'm not sure if this is necessarily bias because it displays pur facts but the facts are displayed in a way that has a negative effect upon the reader. The question I a have after reading this article is that if the end result does not outway the production cost then why does the US still do it?



"This month's flooding in Australia wiped out much of that country's wheat crop."

Pictures: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/01/australian_flooding.html

Article One

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-19/flood-destruction-in-australia-may-propel-wheat-crop-to-record.html



The aurthor tries to demonstrate that the destruction caused by the recent rains could actually create a record wheat growing season in the year to come. The main idea of this article is that when flooding has swept through the remaining areas that had previously been parched, left huge amounts of water for irragation in dams, and saturated soil for the coming year that Australia could become one of the top four producers of wheat.

What I want to Grow :)

Organic Purple Bell Peppers

http://www.groworganic.com/ltd-pvfs-pepper-sweet-purple-beauty.html

For Honors Mushroom Project

http://www.groworganic.com/white-button-mushroom-kit.html

Top Three Choices

The three items that I would be really interested in continuing research in are:

1. Lambswool

2. Lactose Free Milk

3. Cough Drops

Wednesday Journal Reflection

So for about two and a half days I have been either on my couch or in my bed trying to 'rest'. On either occasion, I had an afghan in which I was wrapped up in. These afghans are crocheted by y mum for different occasions (Christmas, a birthday, etc). The one I had been wrapped up in the last two days was one made for Christmas. Today though I was using my favorite afghan. This afghan has stripes the color of various blues, browns, and off whites. It is made of all sorts of different blends of yarn. I bring this up because the reason this afghan is my favorite is because of its texture. My mum washed the afghan after she finished, which is pretty customary, but she accidentally put it in the dryer. Which would normally be OK, but not when some of the yarn she used is made of 100% lambswool. When you run wool of any sort through the dryer, it has a tendency to 'fuzzy up'. Meaning that instead of being completely wound yarn it has become undone slightly. In this case 'fuzzing up' worked out pretty well. But noticing this got me thinking about where we had ever gotten the wool yarn to begin with. Considering that wool is something that most of the year is not used or needed in San Diego. I then remembered that we had bought the skeins of yarn on a family trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. I also looked at on of my scarves that I had worn the week prior and found out that it was also made of 100% wool.

So I know this yarn is made in Scotland because the scarf had said made in Scotland. And in thinking that, probably more Northern Scotland because that is where most of the farming resides. But are these farms commercially run or family run? Are the lambs this wool is collected from strictly used for their fur harvesting or are they used for their meat as well? If theses farms are family run how much does that fact impact the price once the yarn has gone through processing? Is the processing done on sight? Done by hand or machine? Another aspect that jumped into my mind was if these farms are commercially run does this impact the environment more so than those that are family run? Or is the affect the opposite?