Sly FOX

The other day on Facebook, someone posted a photo of a gas pump with a piece of paper stuck to it, which read something like, high gas prices, vote anyone, but Obama. Well… yes, Obama is in fact the petro dictator of the world and set in motion his evil plan to raise gas prices before the 2012 elections to once again promise “change.”

Ha! Just kidding. He is not. He actually has very little control over gas prices, but that was a sly one FOX. Gas prices are mostly based on the monetary value of crude oil, which is then refined to produce gasoline. World markets, just like the value of gold, set the value of crude oil, not Obama!

This value then changes depending on global demand and domestic supply. And the demand for gas is high. The United States is the largest consumer of oil, but not far behind are the growing economies of China and India, then you have to add Europe into the mix. This increased demand skyrockets prices… on a global scale, not domestic. So the next thing to consider is the domestic supply. Because of the growing costs, states such as Texas and Oklahoma have begun drilling even more. The Keystone Pipeline would tap oil reserves from Canada; however, the negatives greatly outweigh its positives. The environmental impacts could be colossal. It could affect drinking water and biodiversity. It would take years to be constructed, which reinforces our dependency to dirty fuel as oppose to researching other clean alternatives sources. All for what, the possibility of lowering imported oil, when it is uncertain that costs will go down because demand is steadily increasing?

I really stress, this ideology that the United States needs to either stop consuming so much, or find clean energy that is renewable. Denmark gets 21% of their energy from wind turbines! Yes, the United States is a lot bigger, but jeez why can’t we get on board with renewable clean energy. Our focus should be on a solution that is sustainable, not finite. You may argue that the United States needs to focus on bigger problems such as the economy and foreign policy; however, the solution to our energy crisis will not only create jobs, innovation, and technology to stimulate our economy, but it will also stop funding the enemies we continue to fight abroad.

Yes, like a lot of liberals and conservatives, I am upset at Obama. I want him to do more, but the alternatives? Romney? Santorum? Gingrich? – That’s terrifying.

Ron Paul

All over campus I’ve seen students tabling in support of Republican candidate Ron Paul. I don’t have a problem with it, but I don’t think the students fully understand Paul’s political platform.

Throughout Ron Paul’s campaign he’s been consistent, honest, and really quite normal and genuine. There is no wonder as to why university students like Paul; he supports legalizing marijuana, and he’s against war. All sound good to me.

However I think there are major flaws in his arguments regarding energy and the environment. (Well, and a few other things).

First of all, Ron Paul would like to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and settle pollution control by property owners in private courts. I greatly feel as though a central governing body on environmental issues such as the EPA is vital to the nation’s health and safety. Also, reverting back to common law will create even more chaos. In Madison v. Ducktown (two private entities), which involved a private nuisance case against a smelting copper plant, the courts ruled in favor of Ducktown because the economic value of the corporation outweighed the economic value of the land that was destroyed from the smelting. Fast-forward to today, imagine the aggregate amount of environmental and private property damage that could result.

Paul said, “The freer the market is and the more respect you have for private property, the better the environment is protected.” I disagree with this quote. There needs to be some type of regulation to protect drinking water, hazardous waste, or air pollution. Especially for something like air and water, which travels beyond state lines.

Paul doesn’t quite agree with scientists who say that man contributed factors add to climate change and global warming and opposed the Kyoto Protocol to lower green house gas emissions.

Also in 2009 Paul said, "Can't help the economy. It has to hurt the economy and it can't possibly help the environment because they're totally off-track on that. It might turn out to be one of the biggest hoaxes of all history, this whole global warming terrorism that they've been using, but we'll have to just wait and see, but it cannot be helpful, it's going to hurt everybody"

I completely disagree with this. I feel environmental protection protects both the environment and commerce. An example of this is hybrid cars. People choose hybrid cars because it emits less CO2 and lowers the dependency on oil (costs). And when Paul says, “it’s going to hurt everybody,” it kind of shocks me. How can protecting the environment “hurt everybody?” Really!

So please, before voting for any candidate, do your homework.

My Garden

Spring Awakening: A Musical Drama of Sundresses and Kleenexes

The Ides of March, also my brother’s birthday, Happy 24^th Birthday Jared, ushered in the start of a beautiful spring; the time of blossoming flowers, vibrant yellows and reds, gorgeous sundresses, and unfortunately, like myself, a case of terrible allergies.

The other day, I went to a beautiful spring wedding reception; and as a gift the family gave away flowers to represent the growing relationship of family and friendship. The flower in front of me was the Primrose, a beautiful yellow tint flower. This happened to be the same name of a character in the popular book, The Hunger Games, which I thought was pretty cool. It’s a cool book; you should check it out.

This flower made me think about gardening and my own green thumb. I don’t really have much experience in gardening but a couple of springs ago, I took care of some tomato and bell pepper plants. I didn’t really do much, just water them every once and a while.

In return, these plants produced tasty medium sized tomatoes and peppers, which I put on bagels, salads, and sandwiches. They tasted fresh and healthy, but the best thing about them is that they came from my backyard. I felt accomplished and rewarded.

I think it is really important to support local farms and, if you’re ambitious, try gardening. By buying local seasonally grown produce, you support produce that doesn’t need to be stuffed with pesticides and preservatives; you help maintain the quality of land use and soils; you get to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, it can be expensive to do this, and realistically, you’re probably going to buy the $1.50 per pound tomatoes from Giant over the $2.50 ones from Whole Foods. It’s ironic and sad that to buy from your backyard can be more expensive than buying from a farm miles away.

Frozen Planet

Last week, Discovery Communications and Animal Planet released its premiere of Frozen Planet, a journey through the world’s Arctic and Antarctic regions. From the producers of Planet Earth and Life, this next series, Frozen Planet, explores the world’s most undiscovered and mysterious lands.

Frozen Planet follows the immense life that inhabits the great North, and South. For example the adorable polar bears who must reach the coast to find food to feed the mother’s two cubs, or the wolves who utilize team work to bring down a buffalo for dinner or the great Empire penguins who fight off the extreme cold winds.

This beautiful display of life beyond anything imaginable is simply incredible. The camera work and footage is breath taking. What really makes this series special and different from Planet Earth and Life is that these parts of the world are so foreign to humans. From the series, I learned that it was not until the late 19^th century that humans even knew much about these regions. Considering, that is only a hundred years. Imagine what else we can learn?

However, these beautiful vast lands are greatly threatened from climate change and rising sea levels. Well essentially the Earth’s temperatures are rising and that is seen all over the globe. One place in particular is the poles. The global temperatures may have only risen fractions of a degree higher, but that slight increase can create lasting effects on the environment. As an example, higher temperatures lead to a higher acceleration of melting ice caps, which lead to higher sea levels, which greatly effects biodiversity!

Those polar bears, Empire penguins, and wolves that the series, Frozen Planet, made us fall in love with are threatened from changes in their biodiversity. And, unfortunately, humans cause much of that change from CO2 emissions and pollution.

Let’s take a step back and analyze our lifestyles. Maybe we can preserve these incredible life forms. Check out Frozen Planet on Animal Planet on 8 p.m. on Sundays. Also check out Animal Planet’s Too Cute that features little tiny adorable puppies and kittens. It’s awesome.

Reusable Dinning Containers

A couple of days ago the Diamondback reported a story about the reusable dinning containers used by University of Maryland students. The article looked at the growing popularity of the reusable containers and the university’s plan moving forward.

As stated in the article, students pay a one-time fee of $5 for the first container, and then receive tokens for the following containers. Eventually, the $5 is paid off because students pay an extra 25 cents for each time he or she uses non-reusable take-out containers.

According to the article, there has been more of an effort by students to use the containers. Since implemented last semester, “officials said they saw a few hundred OZZI containers used each week, but last week, students used more than 1,300 containers in the North Campus Diner. On average, officials said, the number of containers in use has increased by about 200 per week since the start of the semester.”

Also, to keep in mind, there are more than 8,000 students on meal plans. Hopefully, the number of students using the reusable dinning containers will continue to rise.

What’s great about this initiative is that it is efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable. It’s important to enact programs that have these qualities because people are less likely to change behavior unless they are saving money, time, and the Earth.

And it really gets difficult to have all these qualities. Yes, we ideal would like a green lifestyle, but if it greatly effects time and money, people would be less willing to accept it and change.

I don’t have all the answers, but I strongly feel that it is important to take these chances on initiatives that have the potential to be very beneficial for everyone and of course, Earth. I hope the University of Maryland aggressively continues their green initiatives and continue to lead a great example to other universities.

Pride Rock

The Mayan Calendar

The Mayan’s predicted the world’s end in 2012. But how will the world end? Or maybe it is not a question of how, but of whom? RICK SANTORUM… dun dun dun… but, seriously this guy is a little imbalanced.

Beside from Santorum general craziness and love of sweater vest, one particular issue that is worrisome is his views about the environment. Santorum firmly denies man-contributed climate change, supports oil drilling in the Arctic, and wants to get rid of energy subsidies.

One of Santorum’s more infamous quotes, “We were put on this Earth as creatures of God to have dominion over the Earth, to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit, not for the Earth’s benefit.”

This quote reminds me of Pride Rock during Scar’s reign as king; a barren wasteland, littered with corpses, dead grass, dried up rivers, and overrun with hyenas. I wonder what Santorum’s evil laugh would sound like.

But the bigger problem I have with Santorum and other republican politicians is making environmental issues a partisan issue, which can only be seen as red or blue. Santorum said about global warming, there is a “lack of real scientific evidence” and it’s “not climate science but political science.”

Why can’t it just be science? So many issues over the economy, social rights, and the environment are all so polarized. As I recall it was a republican president, Richard Nixon, who passed the Clean Air Act, and who established the heavily criticized Environmental Protection Agency.

We are at a point in time when environmental concerns don’t just effect republicans or democrats, but everyone and everywhere. So please politicians don’t make this just another debate topic.

Maryland Food Collective

Last weekend my Australian mate Sally came to visit me in College Park. We gave her the true American Experience – McDonalds (6 cheeseburgers, 2 double cheese burgers, and 1 big mac), Chipotle (2-pound chicken burrito with extra cheese), Taco Bell (big box), and Dominos (1 chicken, 1 pepperoni, and 1 cheese pizza). At the time, they were all great ideas, but as so many of us have felt before, that next day your decision weighs you down. Devo!

I would like to think that most people don’t normally eat this way. I know I personally do not. And there are alternatives to processed fried space food (exception to Chipotle) and unfortunately our friend didn’t get the chance to try them. One of those places is the Maryland Food Collective, or the Co-op.

The Co-op, located in University of Maryland’s student union building, provides food options that are nutritious, derived from local organic farms, and free of corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, or MSG. The Co-op has excellent sandwiches, salads, and lunch specials.

Beside from their delicious and healthy foods, they are environmentally conscious. You may have heard the term, “think globally, act locally.” This phrase simply encourages individuals to be aware of their environmental impact by supporting and assisting local communities.

Take meat production for an example. From the Scientific American magazine article, “production levels of meat contribute between 14 to 22 percent of the 36 billion tons of CO-2 equivalent green house gasses the world produces every year.” Which are the same green house gasses that contribute to global warming.

It is important to understand the environmental impact of our lifestyles. So please, be conscious about what you’re eating and definitely check out the Co-op for healthy, environmentally friendly food options.

Even the Rain

Yaku

About a couple months ago, I watched the 2010 Spanish film También la Lluvia or the English title, Even the Rain. The movie follows Mexican director Sebastián and his cast and crew, as they travel to Bolivia to shoot a film about Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the Americas. However, while they are in Bolivia, they learn about a much more pressing concern, water privatization, which because of its high costs, has forced hundreds to go without clean drinking water. In the film, you learn water in Quechua, a native indigenous language, means yaku.

This movie resonated with me. These issues, something as basic as drinking water, are prevalent today and often over looked. In a time of scramble for natural resources, we tend to disregard water as a limited resource; however, it very much is. All the metals, gasses, and gold would mean nothing without water.

According to water.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing safe drinking water, “884 million people lack access to clean water” and “3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.”

I’m not asking anyone to drastically change the way they live. I simply just hope to bring light to an issue that is not often talked about… And maybe consider a 5-minute shower to a 15-minute one.

Needless to say, I highly recommend this film. You will not regret it. Watch the trailer here: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/eventherain/

This blog tries to offer a new perspective to the umbrella term of sustainability and the environment. It will look into both local and global issues.