Assignment 16: Horray for Hollywood

It's not quite Oscar season, I'm sure we'll get to that though, it is however that time when movie studios parade out their Oscar contenders.  So for this post I'd like you to go to the movies.

Actually you can just watch at home but I like the idea of you telling your parents that you HAVE to go for a homework assignment. 

Please pick one:

1. I'd like you to pick a genre or director and watch two films by that director and then compare/contrast the two in whatever way you deem appropriate.

2. Go see a film and submit a review of that film on rotten tomatoes.  Once you post, link the post in your blog so I can read it.
 

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, January 11 at 11:59 pm

speech Vincent Pisacano

Most people can probably agree that marijuana is a significant issue in today’s world, and especially in the United States. This is an issue that the government loves to ignore. They rarely address the problem, and even less frequently any solution. What they hate to admit is the most simple solution of them all is the best. To simply legalize it. 4 states have already legalized it recreationally, those being Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and most recently Alaska. These states are choosing to decriminalize a federal law. Better yet, the federal government has done nothing about it. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way complaining, and im sure the citizens of those states aren’t either. But the fact that such a silly law that is being nullified by 4 states already, and quite frankly being ignored by the other 46, is still in effect is an alarming fact.

What the government gets out of legalizing a relatively harmless drug I truly do not understand. In 2005, a University of Oxford study on marijuana concluded that even long-term marijuana use does not cause “any lasting physical or mental harm. Overall, by comparison with other drugs used mainly for ‘recreational’ purposes, cannabis could be rated to be a relatively safe drug.”  There is an overwhelming amount of studies to support the idea that marijuana is in fact safer than most other drugs and substances. In the mid 1990s, the World Health Organization commissioned a study on the health and societal consequences of marijuana compared to alcohol, nicotine, and opiates. It concluded: “Overall, most of these risks [associated with marijuana] are small to moderate in size. They are unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale to those currently produced by alcohol and tobacco. … On existing patterns of use, cannabis poses a much less serious public health problem than is currently posed by alcohol and tobacco in Western societies.” In 2002, a review of marijuana and health performed by a special Canadian Senate committee found that “scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue.” The studies go on and on, and I could cite many more, but I’m sure you get the point. To really bring this home, I would like to bring forward some alarming statistics. In our world today, there is about 2.5 million alcohol related deaths every year, as well as about 6 million deaths to tobacco. Both of which, may I remind you, are legalized substances in America. Well, marijuana is illegal, so it should be much worse than these numbers, right? Marijuana leads to a shocking 0 deaths by overdose every year. Most dangerous drugs, one would think, would allow for misuse, and a possibility to overdose and die. I mean you can even overdose off of ibeprohen, and that is probably in all of your medicine cabinets at home.

                The government is not even trying to enforce the laws on marijuana, while at the same time doing nothing to try and legalize it. 100 million americans have tried marijuana. That’s nearly a third of the entire population of the United States. An even more alarming statistic would be one performed at the university of Michigan in 2013, which showed that 36 percent of high school seniors report using marijuana in the past year. You can do the math, what is that, 9 or 10 of us in this classroom alone? I can tell you from personal experience that marijuana has been easily accessible to me since I was in sixth grade. Now, im not saying ive smoked weed since sixth grade, or smoked weed at all, but it was nonetheless accessible to me as a sixth grader. The government refuses to legalize it, leaving the incredibly huge marijuana market to remain underground. The government could regulate this market, and try and put a dent in this national debt, but no. they wanted to leave the billion dollar industry to the black market. I mean that’s practical isn’t it?

As I am sure most of you have seen, the movie super size me follows a man who eats nothing but Mcdonalds for a month, and alarming physical health deterioration were present after the 30 day period. A similar documentary, Super High Me, follows a man who smokes marijuana for 30 days. His physical and mental health was not deteriorated in any significant fashion, other than the fact that he gained a few pounds. This builds on the fact that marijuana is really not that bad for you, and the sad truth is having mcdonalds for a month is truly more deteriorating to your health than smoking marijuana for a month.

The president of the United States smoked marijuana. The greatest American Olympian in recent history, my man Michael Phelps, smokes marijuana. The fact of the matter is that it plays a profound role in American culture and history. My generation, our generation, will not stand for the government trying to regulate our lives. We will make our own choices, and decide for ourselves what is good and bad for us.  I see no problem with the government legalizing and taxing marijuana. it’s a win win for the government and for the citizens. Something needs to be done, and we are the generation to do it. I am not by any means commissioning a bunch of high-schoolers to go out and smoke marijuana, but the first chance we get to take action is the only chance we will need.

Works Cited

"DrugFacts: High School and Youth Trends." DrugFacts: High School and Youth Trends. N.p., n.d. Web. 14         Dec. 2014.

"NORML.org - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws." About Marijuana. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

"Marijuana Policy Project." Marijuana Is Safer Than Alcohol: It's Time To Treat It That Way. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Super High Me. Dir. Michael Blieden. Perf. Doug Benson. 2007.

Assignment 17: Speech

Post your speech!

Last blog of the year! Huzzah!

Full text of speech - due Friday, December 19th at 11:59 pm.

Final Speech Jacob Ferguson - Save Da Beez Man

“Bees?”, “Why bees?”, “Who cares about bees?”, “Oh no, we’re going to lose all our honey!”  These are things you all might be, and probably are, thinking about; and not without reason: I at first was skeptical about the importance of bees and the so-called “crisis” surrounding them.  But it is real, and it is important.

Watermelon, canola, onion, cashew, melon, cucumber, squash, raspberry, almond.  These are all crops pollinated by bees.  And the list goes on: 90 different commercial crops in North America are in this category.  The significance of that is hard to understand, so I will put it in terms of money: 15 billion dollars.  Honeybees pollinate 15 billion dollars’ worth of commercial crops in the United States.  And they are in trouble.  Since 1947, the amount of honeybee hives in the US has decreased by almost 60%.  That such a massive part of our national food supply is so drastically threatened; that, I would say, constitutes a crisis.

And where did this crisis start?  Well, when settlers came to Jamestown, Virginia in the early 17^th Century, they brought the honeybee to America.  That was not the first time honeybees would be moved about, because they have spread across the country, and are still moving.  It is now a frequent practice of beekeepers to migrate their hives across the country to pollinate crops; due to the scarcity of bees, they are paid to do this by farmers.  In order to minimally disrupt the colonies, these trips are made in day-long drives, where the bees must stay in the hive.  It is normal to lose entire hives of bees in this strenuous process and it is one of many contributing factors in their decline.

Amongst these many problems beekeepers face today, the most disturbing is Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD.  In CCD, entire hives of bees will disappear overnight, leaving everything except for bodies.  For such a dramatic phenomenon not much is known about it.  In a study done by the USDA no correlation was found between CCD and any common parasite, pesticide, or pathogen.  This ambiguity makes this problem even more disconcerting: if we don’t understand exactly what the problem is, it’s hard to find a solution.  A reasonable explanation for CCD and the decline of bee colonies is that it’s a combination of factors.  As Mark Winston from the New York Times says, it’s a “synergy” of problems, of parasites, pesticides, pathogens, and the entire environment we raise bees in today.  If this is true, then an end to this crisis will require a major shift in our approach to bees as a whole.

Not only is the bumblebee threatened by our agricultural system, but also all the bees native to North America.  The bumblebee was brought over because of its honey-making prowess, but bees that were already here have ample pollination ability to sustain crops.  As honeybees are on the decline, feral, or wild, bees could be picking up the slack.  But they aren’t.  Our land management practices have greatly destroyed their habitats and potential to assist farmers.  We have cleared great amounts of woodland and native groundcover to build cities and farms.  The irony is that in trying to increase productivity farmers have destroyed some of their most important assets, which has led honeybees to be stretched thin as they are hired out to work all these pollinator-deprived farms.  In a study, it was found that farmers who were willing to leave one third of their land undeveloped as a habitat for native bees made around $65,000 off of their land, compared to only $27,000 for those who cleared all their land for crops.  This kind of concrete proof should convince farmers to start replanting native shrubbery in available spaces, a somewhat simple method to help save a species and boost their business.

Despite its simplicity, that practice might take years to catch on, and our honeybees are still in dire straits.  This problem is one we have brought upon ourselves, like many other environmental problems today.  So, to really do anything about it, we must fundamentally reconsider the relationship between our society and nature: a relationship upon which hinges our very survival as a race. Thank you.

 

Bibliography

Kaplan, J. Kim. "Colony Collapse Disorder." Agricultural Research 60.6 (2012): 4-8. Business Source Premier. Web. 19 July 2014.

Levy, Sharon. “The Vanishing”. OnEarth. NRDC, Summer 2006. Web. 19 July. 2014.

"List of Crop Plants Pollinated by Bees." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Dec. 2014. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

More Than Honey. Dir. Marcus Imhoof. Netflix. Web. 19 July. 2014.

The White House. Office of the Press Secretary. Fact Sheet: The Economic Challenge Posed by Declining Pollinator Populations. The White House. The White House, 20 June 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

Winston, Mark. “Our Bees, Ourselves”, The New York Times. New York Times, 14 July 2014. Web. 19 July. 2014.

STOP - Charlie Blondell

Charlie Blondell

STOP

We all know that one kid. The kid who, by choice or by chance, wears old, off-brand sneakers, ripped jeans, a t-shirt that doesn’t fit, and broken glasses. His backpack is from K-Mart. He doesn’t use deodorant. He doesn’t speak much. When he does, it is because someone has spoken to him, or he is talking to himself. His acne medication must not be working. His teeth resemble those of a rabbit. His eyes are so beady you could put them on a teddy bear. Geek. Nerd. Loser. Weirdo. Sure, these names might fit him in the mind of any average teenager. And why shouldn’t they? That’s what everyone is calling him, right? Join the crowd. Fit in. Be popular. That’s what matters most. Or is it?

Hate to break it to you. Being “cool” in elementary school, middle school, or even high school, means nothing. Take your self-made reputation and throw it out the window. Trust me, I know how important it may be in one’s mind. You will eventually realize how little significance it actually holds in your life, though. With all of that being said, to pick on someone just to be a part of the crowd, or use that as an excuse, is completely ignorant and unacceptable.

For starters, odds are you barely know this boy. You know what he looks like, and under some circumstances, maybe how he smells. However, you don’t know why he owns the clothes that he does. You don’t know why his shoes are not Nike. You don’t know why his backpack is three years old. So, what gives YOU the right the judge him at all?

Again, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you do NOT have that right. There are hundreds of reasons why he might look and act the way that he does. His home situation isn’t great. His father recently got laid off. His family is budgeting their money for personal reasons. He may even choose to dress this way and barely speak a word because he refuses to buy into the social dichotomy that kids and adolescents have created throughout America’s education facilities. The system that has brainwashed millions of kids into wearing “cool” clothes and into believing that being overly social and brought into the “in-crowd” is what is needed to survive. So what happens to those who don’t make the cut? They are the victims of an epidemic in our nation: Bullying.

Bullying is, by definition, using superior strength or influence to intimidate someone, typically to force another to do what one wants. I think there are some loop holes in this definition. The crime can be committed, I believe, without the intent to get something tangible out of it, or to get the poor fellow to do something they desire. That the incentive may only be to put the person down, ruin his self-confidence. If that is your desire, then you must have a truly hateful spirit. In my opinion, most bullies do not victimize others because they intend to hurt, or because they believe their prey can get them something they need. I believe that the root of bullying lies under the covers of the bully themselves. When someone picks on someone else, I do not think it is usually a decisive attack. Because their own self confidence is so low, they must put someone down in order to rise above them, because their need for self-worth must be fulfilled. In the process, yes they do hurt the other person, but it is not their main goal. The victim is simply used as a scapegoat for the bully to feel better about themselves. The bully doesn’t take into account how the “dweeb” might be affected. It’s almost like war. A mighty soldier (the bully) takes down a weaker one (the victim) in order to gain territory (self-confidence) for their own country (desire to be on top). Is war ever really justified, though? Is killing human beings ever the only answer? Just as if one asked this question with bullying, “No” will always be the answer in my book.

What does bullying lead to? Walking through the door in tears. Hugs with one’s mother while she repeats “It will be okay. Everything will be alright.” Countless nights, staring at the ceiling with sleep out of the question. Thoughts of “Maybe they’re right. Maybe no one would miss me. It would all go away. No one would hurt me then” cycling through one’s mind. This was the story of 17 year old, Tyler Long. In the documentary Bully, the tragedy of the late young man was unveiled through descriptions and details by his parents. Year after year of being unaccepted (to the standards of his classmates), Tyler had had enough. He had to put a stop to it. But not to them. They won. They got the best of this boy, and he took the fall in the end. These bullies killed Tyler.

Suicide is the 2^nd leading cause of death among teenagers. According to the Youth Risk Behavior surveillance system, 2.6% of students reported making a suicide attempt that required medical assistance. About your class size. Probably between 500 to 700 students. If this statistic stays true, between 15 and 21 kids theoretically have tried to kill themselves. Homicide and overdose are behind this act of taking one’s OWN life. In this scenario, they don’t need drugs or someone else to do it. They’ll just follow through themselves.

This tragedy is not only in the top 2 causes of death for ages 15 to 24, but it is the number 1 most preventable cause. This massacre of teenagers could virtually be taken out of the equation of deaths among this age group. It could be ended. Right here. Right now. But that starts with you. You have to be the one to take a stand and promise yourself and your fellow peer that you WILL think about what you say BEFORE you say it. By simply not telling that one kid that he needs to get some new glasses or fix his oversized ears, you could possibly be saving his life. Think about what you COULD do by simply, not.

www.nami.org/Content/ContentGroups/Illnesses/Suicide_Teens.htm

www.medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001915.htm

Bully (2011) directed by Lee Hirsch

Lucas Soard- Finals Speech

We have a problem. You probably haven’t heard about it, but if you have, it was probably just in passing, and you've probably forgotten about it.  You may have seen the article headlines, “America’s Bees are dying? Why?” Who cares?

Why care about the bees? Bees are the bug that stung you while you were climbing that tree when you were ten. Bees are the thing you have to be careful of when you are mowing the lawn, bees are the things that produce honey. ‘Aw, well you’re just going to give a speech about honey’. You’re daily life probably won’t change with the absence of honey. But as director Markus Imhoof tries to tell us in his Oscar winning documentary, bees are much “More than Honey”.

The United States, according to the US House Agriculture committee, has a 14.6 Billion dollar bee industry per year, while some estimates go as high as 20 billion. Billion. With a “B”. (Get it. A “bee”? Never mind). Where does all this money come from, how are bees responsible for so much. The answer is pollination. We all know how pollination works. It’s basically plant sex. Except they can’t get it on without help. Some plants do this via the wind, but Bees pollinate any plant that flowers. Other insect do this too, but none are as effective as the bee. They go in search of the plant’s nectar, and pick up the pollen from that plant. When the bee next travels to a plant, the pollen is deposited, fertilizing what will become a seed. Any excess pollen is used as a protein reserve at the hive. Other insects can do this too, but not as effectively as bees. There are thousands of bees in a hive, and these are sent out daily to collect food for the hive. Just by sheer number alone, bees are more valuable to plants than any other animal. I’ll give the example that Imhoof does in “More than Honey”. He shows an almond orchard in California. California is responsible for 80% of the nation’s almonds, and a majority of the world’s. The owner of the orchard claims that his business is entirely dependent on bees, as in, he has no livelihood without them. He gets bees from a businessman, who owns thousands of hives worth in excess of $600,000. One man, and $600,000. Imhoof shows us a man who packs thousands of bee hives onto semi-trucks and ships them across the country.

A study I read said that bees are responsible for 1/3 of the food on our plates. They are valuable not only to the plants that we eat, but also to those that feed the animals we eat.

Hopefully, by now, you realize how important bees are to our lives. But these bees are dying and scores. Why? I don’t know. Really. Imhoof tells us the problem but really fails to tell us what to do. The problem is, there is no problem, there are multiple problems. These multiple theories and reasons for bee death are collectively known as CCD. One study I read over the summer said that a disease called Israeli Acute parasite Disease or IAPV. I sat terrified as I read the scientific study, thinking the bees were cured and I would have to forget about my bibliography. But the bees kept dying. A major cause of death for bees can be our growing cities, who take out the plants that bees need to live, and spewing out pollution that can kill hives. (Imhoof takes us to China, where people have to be hired to do the job the now nearly extinct bees can no longer do.) Varroa mites are a common killer of bees, growing on their bodies as parasties, but this doesn’t explain the absence of bodies with in a hive. An article on snopes.com claimed that GMO cornfields can’t be blamed for over 37 million bee deaths in Canada despite the widespread belief that they were. The Canadian Beekeeper’s Association blames certain pesticides. 

The point is, we don’t really know. All we know is that the bees are dying, and we haven’t stopped it yet. These small insects in their large numbers, despite what you would guess, are truly important to us.

Works cited:

·        Jacobsen, Rowan. Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis. New York: Bloomsbury, 2008. Print

·        Maori, E., and N. Paldi. "IAPV, a bee-affecting virus associated with

Colony Collapse Disorder can be silenced by dsRNA ingestion." Insect Molecular Biology 18: 55-60. Web. 29 June      2014.

·        More Than Honey. Dir. Markus Imhoof. , 2012. Film.

·        San Martin, Gilles. A Varroa mite on a honey bee pupa. Digital image. Michigan Beekeepers Association. N.p., 13 Nov. 2012. Web. 1 July 2014. 

·        vanEngelsdorp, Dennis, and Niko Speybroeck, et al. "Weighing Risk Factors Associated With Bee Colony Collapse Disorder by Classi     fication and Regression Tree Analysis." JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 103: 1517-1523. Web. 29 June 2014.

The Adderall Invasion - Final Speech - Charlie Grimes

As I sat down on the night of Tuesday, December 9 to begin writing this speech, I began feeling the first sense of urgency to make progress in preparing for the December 14^th deadline. Ready to produce my inspiring, eye-opening speech, I opened Microsoft Word and made my first attempt at an introduction. Then my phone lit up. “No big deal,” I thought to myself, “I’ll just quickly check to see what these people are saying and get right back to the speech.” Then it occurred to me: I was taking my driver’s license test the next morning, a frightening thought after already failing it once and facing the ruthless comments of my peers. Then I realized something else: I had a math test the next day as well that I had completely forgotten about! But wait… the speech. I had to focus on the speech, yet everything in the world seemed to be preventing this from happening.

We live in a time where distractions are everywhere we look. The digital age has brought about an onslaught of often irresistible notifications, and there is more pressure than ever on students to perform in this intensely competitive environment. With the rise in pressure and distractions over the years, we have also seen a significant rise in the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder, or ADD. According to TIME Magazine, nearly 12% of US children from ages 4 to 17 have been diagnosed with ADD, resulting in a 41% increase in diagnoses in the last decade. Recent statistics from the CDC show that 15% of high school age children are on medication for ADD. The statistics are startling.

The first question I will pose is “Why is this happening?” With the increasing number of distractions and “symptoms” being felt by American students in today’s world, an unacceptable amount of ambiguity and uncertainty has arisen in the diagnosis of these students. Whereas once an ADD diagnosis was more clear-cut and justifiable, it has become less and less clear in many kids’ cases as to whether or not a person is experiencing an actual disorder of the brain, or simply the side effects from living in an increasingly distracting world. As many medical professionals and TED Talks’ Stephen Tonti suggest, it could sometimes be a case of having a “difference in cognition.” On top of these environmental factors, aggressive drug companies can sometimes influence the medical world and push for more diagnoses to boost sales of their products. These problems have created a situation where obtaining a prescription to Adderall, Ritalin, and other powerful medications has become scarily easy.

The well-known effectiveness of these prescription medications, particularly Adderall, amongst ADD/ADHD patients has led to a dangerous attitude towards these drugs, an attitude that could very well lead to very hazardous health problems amongst non-diagnosed users of the drugs. This attitude involves Adderall being painted as a “study drug” that increases your academic performance through powerful stimulation of the brain – And, to be entirely honest, this has some truth to it. After both VICE news and TIME Magazine interviewed many university students around the country, they found an overwhelmingly positive sentiment towards the drugs. Students had high praise for Adderall after it had provided them with a heightened amount of concentration and efficiency in completing their work. As a result, usage of Adderall, Ritalin, and other related prescription stimulants are very prevalent in colleges in the US, as well as many high schools. But there is a notion that illicit use of ADD/ADHD medication has relatively few health risks - that it’s “not that dangerous.” This notion has to be stopped.

Several studies have shown the short-term and long-term effects of Adderall being eerily similar to those of Methamphetamine. Yes, Meth. After all, both Adderall and Meth are amphetamines. Sleep difficulties, headaches, irritability, and damaged teeth are among the less the serious side effects, yet more serious, intense side effects also exist. Dangerously high blood pressure, tremors, hallucinations, and feelings of intense depression can also result from usage of these stimulants. And on top of all of this, you have the inherent dangers of physical dependence on the drug. Now, excuse me for momentarily sounding like a drug commercial, but the dangers of these medications are REAL. By not immediately addressing this issue, we are creating an academic environment where students taking Adderall and other prescription stimulants without a prescription have an unfair advantage over students who choose to refrain from such behaviors. In fact, these medications have been described before as “academic steroids.” We are also letting thousands of otherwise healthy students be exposed to drugs that have serious health risks, and can be more harmful than helpful. The mere fact that it is illegal to obtain and take these drugs without a prescription isn’t stopping ANYONE, similar to the way that the drinking age has little to no effect on alcohol consumption amongst college students. However, the case of Adderall is different in a very important way. Our society has been successful in acknowledging the dangers of other substances like alcohol. Students know the risks, and know what they are drinking when they are drinking it. Adderall; however, doesn’t seem to have this awareness surrounding it. Thousands of prescription-less college students are consuming Adderall in high dosages without a prescription, with little to no thought about the potential harmful effects.

Despite the potentially damaging effects of taking Adderall without a prescription, I would like to make it clear that for people with serious cases of ADD, Adderall is a wonderful thing. It brings these patients’ brains back to functioning at a normal level, and greatly helps compensate for their neurological disadvantage. It is simply unfortunate that with the significant increase of ADD cases in recent times (many of which are questionable), it creates a situation where people are generally less sympathetic to the disorder as a whole, which is unfair for those who are truly struggling with it.

This issue is not being resolved right now. In fact, looking at the statistics and personal accounts from college students I know, and based on interviews by multiple news sources, it seems to be getting worse. More diagnoses are made every day, and more college students continue to mindlessly consume what they believe to be a miracle drug. So what can we do? Well, as Will McAvoy, a character in HBO’s The Newsroom states, “The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.” And that is exactly what needs to happen here. Both parties have to stop taking the easy way out. Doctors can no longer prescribe Adderall to our youth simply because it is the easiest thing to do at the moment, and our healthy students can no longer feel that the only solution to their tower of work is Adderall. The longer we let this trend continue, the more we perpetuate our student’s growing reliance on potentially harmful medication to stay on top of their work.

WORKS CITED

Mitchell, Philip B. "Bipolar Disorder: The Shift to Over-diagnosis." Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (2012): n. pag. Kentucky Virtual Library. Web. 7 July 2014. <http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.kyvl.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=47749f15-a783-4235-915e-165f8e94d390%40sessionmgr4005&vid=5&hid=4111>.

Tonti, Stephen. “ADHD As A Difference In Cognition, Not a Disorder.” TEDxTalks. 10 April 2013. Web. 7 July 2014.

Gray, Katti. "Are We Over-diagnosing Mental Illness?" CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 07 July 2014.

Moynihan, Ray, Jenny Doust, and David Henry. "Preventing Over-diagnosis: How to Stop Harming the Healthy." The British Medical Journal (2012): n. pag. Web. 7 July 2014. <http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e3502>.

The Editorial Board. "An Epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Hennessy, Angela. "Adderall Can Really Fuck You Up | VICE | Canada."VICE. N.p., 25 July 2013. Web. 14 Dec. 2014.

Assignment 17 Speech (Save Our Oceans) along with Works Cited - James Apo

SAVE OUR OCEANS!                                                                            James Apo

I get to spend every summer with my dad in Hawaii. You can’t be in Hawaii without spending time at the ocean, and I spend a good part of everyday there. I have come to love the ocean. I love swimming, surfing, fishing, boogie boarding, snorkeling, relaxing on the beach, and watching the waves and the sunsets.

As much as I love the ocean, I also respect it. Not just for its power, but also for what it gives us. Earth and humankind are dependent on the oceans. They cover nearly 75% of our planet, and hold almost all of the planet's water. Half of the oxygen in our atmosphere comes from our oceans and most of Earth’s carbon is absorbed by them. Our weather and our economies are influenced by oceans. Our oceans connect people from one continent to another, and they are a source of food and many other products.

No matter where you live, whether you are close to an ocean or not, our oceans still affect your life. We depend on them for the air we breathe, the water we drink, much of the food we eat. However, we are not being good stewards of this most important resource, and because of it, our oceans are in real peril.  

About half of the world’s population lives near an ocean, and ocean-based businesses contribute more than $500 billion to the world’s economy. We’ve always thought the ocean was endless, that we could never take too much out of it, or that we could put too much into them. Once thought to be an endless ecosystem, scientists now think that our own abuse has put upon the ocean into danger and that we could actually produce an environmental catastrophe unless we do something drastic, soon!

The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), a global panel of marine experts, issued a report in 2011 that finding the health of our oceans to be unsatisfactory. In fact, they said that we are "at high risk for entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history." So what type of things are we doing that are putting our oceans in danger?  Well, it's not just about overfishing or marine pollution or even climate change, though those are the ones I will talk about. It's all of those destructive factors working together and much more rapidly than scientists had expected, that have put us into a real crisis mode.

First, pollution:  Our oceans have become a dumping ground for every kind of human waste. More than 80% of marine pollution comes from such things as untreated sewage, plastic, urban and agricultural runoff like herbicides, pesticides, and chemicals. Those things have helped to create a giant ocean garbage patch, marine dead zones, and algae blooms. The “garbage patch” has accumulated plastic from around the world and become nature’s giant garbage dump. Dead zones are places in the ocean where nothing can live because chemicals promote the growth of plants that suck up oxygen (there’s a huge one in the Gulf of Mexico). Algal blooms, places where algae flourish, kill fish, mammals, and birds, and may cause human illness. Even nontoxic algae can clog the gills of fish, smother coral reefs and submerged aquatic plant life. Others discolor water to red, brown, yellow, green or white. They form huge, smelly piles on beaches; and can cause drinking water and fish to taste bad.

Scientists estimate that nearly 8 million items of marine litter enter the sea every day, threatening the health of marine mammals by poison, ensnarement, and destruction of their habitat. Tons of garbage find their way to shores every day, and what doesn’t wash up wind up on beaches ends up in the sea and in the fish.  Though coral reefs cover less than half a percent of the oceans' area, they host more than 25 percent of the oceans’ fish species. The first worldwide assessment of coral reefs, released in 2008, showed that a third of them faced extinction due to climate change, disease, pollution and overfishing.

Overfishing:  In the documentary Sea the Truth, marine biologists suggest that if we continue to catch and eat fish at our current rate that our waters will be vacant within 40 years!  Harmful fishing practices like bottom trawling drag heavy fishing net along the sea floor, clearing out ocean ecosystems, destroying marine habitats, and damaging the sea beds. Bottom trawling also destroys ocean plants like kelp, as well as coastal wetlands and mangroves. It can be likened to the kind of damage that was caused by strip mining in the coal fields of Kentucky, where topsoil was completely removed during the process of mining coal.  That damage was easily seen and caused the type of outrage that changed strip mining and required land reclamation. It also can be compared to the destruction of the rainforest, where the destruction is clear cut by the loss of trees. The destruction of the ocean isn’t as easily seen; maybe if it were, we would be more spurred to action.  

The oceans provide more than 2.6 billion people with at least 20% of their protein intake. Though the ocean might seem like an endless source of food, it too has its limits. A single trawling tow can catch over 100,000 pounds of fish. Long-line fishing is just as bad, deploying miles of line and thousands of hooks. In addition to the fish a trawling tow or a long line can bring in, they also bring in unintended species like sea turtles, seals, and sea birds.  Most of the world’s catch species – the ones you find on menus – are exploited beyond their capacity.

Climate change:  When it comes to climate change, it’s not just the air temperatures that are increasing. According to the United Nations Environment Program, more than 90% of the earth’s warming over the last 50 years have occurred in the ocean. Our oceans also serve as a major carbon sink, causing the ocean waters to become more acidic as carbon levels increase. These two things are causing more extreme weather events, changes in sea levels, coral bleaching, damage to shell organisms and coral reefs, and changes in marine life distribution.

In 1980, Jacques Cousteau said, “The very survival of the human species depends upon the maintenance of an ocean clean and alive, spreading all around the world. The ocean is our planet's life belt.” The United Nations Environment Program now warns that without significant changes our ocean ecosystems are in danger of collapsing! So what are we to do?

The documentary film Hawaii: Message in the Waves looks specifically at environmental challenges facing the people and wildlife of the Hawaii Islands, but its message can be much more globally applied.  The Hawaiian Islands are a unique microcosm of the planet and can provide a perspective on what we are doing wrong and how we can make things better. This documentary shows how scientists, surfers, environmentalists, and local Hawaiians are pulling together to address the environmental issues facing Hawaii as they try to clean up the oceans and save the marine life that are native to Hawaii.

From a surfing perspective, ocean preservation began in the 1960s with the Save Our Surf (SOS) organization in Hawaii. SOS created a grassroots movement that united surfers to protect not only their surf spots and waves but also the oceans, beaches, reefs, and marine life. The successes of SOS led to the formation of other ocean preservation groups, such as the Ocean Conservancy, the Cousteau Society, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Surfrider Foundation, and others.

An example of a problem affecting the Hawaiian waters is human pollution, like plastic bags in the oceans that can get clogged in a dolphin or other animals’ throat. Something that is being done to prevent this are Hawaiian regulations that require all paper products instead of plastic in grocery stores like Walmart and fast food chains like McDonalds.  When we go shopping at the grocery store, you have to bring your own cloth or vinyl totes to put your groceries in.  That’s just the way it is!  It’s not hard once you get used to it.

This summer, President Barrack Obama announced at an ocean preservation conference that he wants to create the world's largest ocean preserve southwest of Hawaii. He hopes to expand a national monument that George W. Bush established in 2009. “Protecting the world's oceans …. is a task that's bigger than any one country but the U.S. must take the lead,” Obama said.  

We have presidents, scientists, and governments that are beginning to take notice and that are trying to do something to reverse the damage that have already been done to our oceans. With that being said, there are still things we can do as individuals, things that the everyday person can do to have a positive effect on preserving the ocean and its inhabitants. National Geographic suggests a plethora of solutions: making sustainable seafood choices and only going to restaurants and grocery stores that primarily provide sustainable seafood choices, using as few plastic products that end up as ocean debris as possible, taking your own reusable bags to the grocery, taking care of the beach and waterways by picking up after yourself and not throwing things overboard when boating, reducing energy consumption, not buying things like coral jewelry or tortoise shell hair accessories, not flushing things like cat litter down the toilet, and above all else educating yourself about the ocean and marine life.

My Hawaiian ancestors had a principal called ‘kuleana’, which means “privilege and responsibility.” If you have the privilege of enjoying something you also have the responsibility of protecting it. What we do now is vital not only to the preservation of the Hawaiian ecosystem, but is necessary to preserve all our oceans and save all our marine life.  Hawaiian history has shown us that sustainable living is not impossible. If it has been done before, it can be done again, and we just need to work out what is important to us.

WORK CITED:

ð       Edgar GJ, Stuart-Smith RD, Willis TJ, Kininmonth S, Baker SC, Banks S, Barrett NS, Becerro MA, Bernard ATF, Berkhout J, Buxton CD, Campbell SJ, Cooper AT, Davey M, Edgar SC, Försterra G, Galván DE, Irigoyen AJ, Kushner DJ, Moura R, Parnell PE, Shears NT, Soler G, Strain EMA, Thomson RJ. “Global conservation outcomes depend on marine protected areas with five key features.” Nature, Feb 13, 2014; 506(7487):216-220. DOI: 10.1038/nature13022

ð       Hawaii: Message in the Waves. Prod. Tim Green and Rebecca Hosking. Perf. Iokepa Naeole and Morgan Hoesterey. BBC, 2007. Top Documentary Films: Environment. TDF, 2 May 2007. Web. 17 June 2014.

ð       Lederman, Josh.  “Obama setting aside massive Pacific Ocean preserve.” Honolulu Star Advertiser, 17 June, 2014.

ð       “Ocean preservation: a historical perspective.” Beachapedia website, sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation. Available at: http://www.beachapedia.org/Ocean_Preservation:_A_Historical_Perspective Accessed June 22, 2014.

ð       Sea the Truth. Prod. Alalena Mediaproductions, Linda Broersen, and Monique Van D. Armor. Dir. Karen Soeters and Claudine Everaert. Adapt. Dennis Van Kouterik. Perf. Marianne Thieme and Marianne Van Mierlo and Barbara Van Genne. Nicolaas G. Pierson Foundation, 2011. Top Documentary Films RSS. TDF, 19 May 2011. Web. 25 June 2014.

ð       “Ten things you can do to save the ocean.” National Geographic website.  Available at: http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/take-action/10-things-you-can-do-to-save-the-ocean/  Accessed 20 June, 2014.

Speech Corey McMullin

The prison system here in the United States focuses on the incarceration of millions of inmates, rather than focusing on the rehabilitation of inmates into society. Current incentives for prisons include retaining as many inmates as possible. This costs roughly $47,000 per inmate per year to keep in a prison. By keeping them locked away, separated from society, billions of tax dollars are wasted every year.
And these prisoners lose more than just their freedom, they lose their livelihoods. If a person is locked up, for any crime at all, they would lose access to jobs. A fisherman that collects too many fish will serve his time, but never be allowed to fish again. Not only would time be taken from them, their life would be taken.
Prisons, especially those in Texas, use the death penalty to literally take the life of those that commit heinous crimes, such as homicide. It costs, on average, $250 million tax dollars to execute just one prisoner. That same amount of money would pay for the inmate to be held in prison for over 5000 years, much longer than the inmate would live. Besides the financial problems execution brings, there is a clear moral problem. Michael Perry murdered three people for their car back in 2001. This gruesome crime earned Perry the death sentence, and he was murdered by the state of Texas in June of 2010. Did his execution bring back his victims? Did the nine years he spent in prison not change him, not make him into a better man? Did one wrong act merit the loss of his entire life?
These prisons, sometimes called correctional facilities, correct nothing at all. They focus on bettering the lives of those that run them. A former governor in California, Governor Wilson, raised spending on correctional facilities by 60%, and cut educational spending. He did all of this to appear “tough on crime” and improve his ratings. He got photo opportunities while hundreds got 25 to life. The prison system is used to earn money and power while keeping millions of Americans powerless for the rest of their lives.
Sentencing of criminals is extremely disproportionate. If you are arrested with 5 grams of crack cocaine you would receive five years in prison. However, you would need to have 500 grams of powder cocaine to get the same sentence. This makes no sense. Powder cocaine is more potent than crack cocaine, and much more expensive. This rule, the 100 to one clause, was put in place to protect the rich and powerful, that could obtain powder cocaine, while also filling their prisons with the poor.
The three strikes law sends away prisoners for life if they have previously committed two crimes. The prison system chooses to lock up criminals for life because they failed to rehabilitate inmates, and correct their behaviors. Rather than address the problem and help the inmates, the system tosses them to the side to be forgotten. And those that are eligible for parole can be denied parole by the governor. Governor Wilson turned down 1/3 of the requests for parole that a board had already passed. All of these laws have been put in place to appear tough on crime, even though studies have shown that crime rates had no changes with these systems, only approval rating polls changed.
But if prisons used assets to teach inmates, to rehabilitate them, the number of prisoners that return to prison within three years of their release would become radically smaller than the current 65%. An inmate with their GED is less likely to become a repeat offender. By training prisoners to use various trades, they will be able to improve their lives. There are many resources available for use thanks to the internet. Khan Academy is a free online class that covers a variety of school subjects.
If a prison were to train inmates in agriculture, they could work, producing food that could be used inside the prison, or even to help feed the poor. There are a variety of jobs that inmates would be able to do. This would then give them a new skill to use once they are released from prison, and would benefit them financially, helping to keep them out of prison.
By removing the death penalty, and thus removing the moral dilemma, tax dollars would be saved. These inmates would no longer be tossed aside, but instead used to benefit society as a whole. Prisoners spend their days idly locked in a cell. If they were instead put to work society would gain from the fruits of their labor, and the inmates themselves would grow into workers, capable of supporting themselves outside of the prison system.
To correct this inhumane treatment of inmates, it is those in charge that need to change the laws regarding prisons. Contact Mitch McConnell, speak out against the unjust treatment of inmates. Kentucky has 15 correctional facilities, housing over 14000 individuals. Help your fellow Kentuckians by speaking out against the cruel injustices done to them by the greed for money and power of those in office. America needs correctional facilities to focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Prisons should not receive benefits for the number of prisoners they keep, but for the number of prisoners that do not return to prison. Officials need to focus on helping inmates, not helping their approval rating.


Into the Abyss. Perf. Werner Herzog. Sundance Selects, 2011. DVD.
Gingrich, Newt. "Prison System Is failing America." CNN. Cable News Network, 22 May 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.
Aborn, Jon, Annie Van Den Toorn, John Hockin, Scott Jordon, Man Nayvelt, and Michael Finklestein. "The California Prison and Rehabilitation System." The California Prison and Rehabilitation System. Stanford, 26 July 1999. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.
Ex-top Cop Bernard Kerik: The Prison System Is Flawed. Perf. Matt Lauer and Bernard Kerik. NBC, 2013. Television.