New Energy

With all the hustle and bustle of Mt. Redoubt errupting, you think we could turn this eventful occurance into something positive. Mt. Redoubt did remind me of all the possible renewable sources of energy that we could attain from such a huge natural deposit of energy. Geothermal energy could be a potentially huge source of energy to the world if it was harvested. Not to mention it does not contribute a largescale amount of harmful gas emmisions to the atmosphere such as cars, buildings, and factories do. It amazes me that there are so many pollutants dispersed into the world's airstream just because we have no other methods to decrease that dispersion. Or rathere, we are not using those other methods. There are renewable energy sources around us everyday. Wind, water, solar, and geothermal are all types of energy that are not harvested in large quantities and used to their potential. Instead, the people of this world are stuck in a routine of using pollutants to power their cars. It is astronaumical the amount of pollutants and greenhouse gases that get dumped into the atmosphere every day that could be prevented. Just some food for thought.

Children

Recently all of the tabloids, news stations, and magazines have been making a big deal about the lady that had octuplets, not to mention her already 6 children. However, this woman is unemployed due to previous injury and living off of compensation which will not be enough to take care of 14 children. She is also a single woman raising these children. She has been quoted to say that she just wanted a lot of kids and a large family. Our class has discussed the issue of bringing a child into the world and the costs of it. I do not believe individuals should bring children into the world if the person/people cannot support that child. If you cannot even afford a home, food, and bills for yourself you have no right to bring a helpless child into the world. Granted somethings are unplanned. But to plan to have a child under less than adequate financial circumstaces is sad. I do believe this increase in the worlds population may tie into this topic im speaking of. It puts the child in a bad circumstance to begin with and that child may not get adequate nutrition, care, education, or a chance at a bright future. Our world cannot support a continuous expantion of population or anything for that matter. Also, if we want to invent ourselves out of bad situations and the road we are headed down, giving children a fair and sufficient education is highly needed.

Windmills

Upon driving back from Helena, Montana to Seattle, we crossed the Columbia River. I looked up and saw these massive 3 pronged windmills specled over a rolling hill/ small mountain. I have to admit i was more fixated on the windmills and there seemingly huge sturdy white structure , standing out on the mountain, than the massive river flowing under me. It just amazed me that there were these huge structures collecting power from the wind out in the middle of nowhere. But why can't we have these more throughout the U.S. Obviously, it would be a wonderful advancement or rather change from the Taker lifestyle to the Leaver lifestyle. We would conserve energy and be able to harvest it naturally taking the huge amount of power from the wind and use it instead of electrical power. I am a firm believer in using more reliable earthfriendly and completely renewable energy source rather than the wasteful methods for energy used today.

The Lion King- Cirlce of Life

Everytime I attend class and we discuss how we are ruining our world by pollution, damage to the ecosystem, and by the rise of industry in general, i cannot help but think of the movie The Lion King. The conversations the class has about us destroying our world through the Taker lifestyle and hurting the world through pollution and having food under lock and key reminds me of the conversation between Mufasa (i think the dad) and Simba about the circle of life. About how everything that dies just continues the circle by providing for another creature or the grass/water/earth. That story reminds me of how we take take take from the earth and build it up with technology and highly advanced innovations, in turn, destroying the world we live in. If we all just took what we needed, instead of taking everything that we think we need, perhaps there would be enough for everyone to be satiated at the end of the day.

The Lady Who Had Everything.

A funny thing happened the other day. I was getting my nails done for my birthday, haha , don't worry, im not a regular. I was eaves dropping and couldn't help but overhear the woman sitting next to me. She was talking to another lady about a friend of hers who had everything she could of wanted: a wonderful family, nice home, good husband etc. etc. She left this life of everything, her husband, her job, her responsibilities and moved into a little tiny house/shack in the middle of the woods with no electricity. Apparently, this lifestyle made her happier than she has ever been before. Even when her children came to visit, at first they were bored without television and the things society of the takers thinks we need, but they adapted and became more content than in the previous Taker lifestyle. When they were bored, they would spend time together, go out to the garden which provided food to them, or go on a walk and just enjoy the scenery. The lady had never been happier.
While i was hearing this story, I couldn't help but relate it to Ishmael and the leaver lifestyle. Why was she so much happier without her so called "perfect life, job, and family?" She was able to drop all the hustle and bustle of the Taker lifestyle and repetativeness. I believe the Taker lifestyle has the possibility to posses and does incorporate a high stress level with it. You have to worry about having a good paying job so that you can buy gas, pay rent, buy food, and all the daily amenities one needs to survive. With the leaver lifestyle, you have a role. A role in which you provide yourself with only the things you need and nothing is under lock and key. There is a lot less stress because one is not worried about money and everything related. It seems cash rules everything around us every single day. It scares us if we don't have money. It makes us work harder, (which could be a good thing: a hard worker), but not if it requires busting your butt just to make rent. It amazes me some people that work so hard but never get ahead. The leaver lifestyle seems to eliminate this, as well as positions of high athority in society.