Wednesday, January 29, 2014

State of the Union Address Analysis on Presidential Environmental Goals

" Now, one of the biggest factors in bringing more jobs back is our commitment to American energy. The all-of-the-above energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today, America is closer to energy independence than we’ve been in decades. One of the reasons why is natural gas – if extracted safely, it’s the bridge fuel that can power our economy with less of the carbon pollution that causes climate change. Businesses plan to invest almost $100 billion in new factories that use natural gas. I’ll cut red tape to help states get those factories built, and this Congress can help by putting people to work building fueling stations that shift more cars and trucks from foreign oil to American natural gas. My administration will keep working with the industry to sustain production and job growth while strengthening protection of our air, our water, and our communities. And while we’re at it, I’ll use my authority to protect more of our pristine federal lands for future generations.
It’s not just oil and natural gas production that’s booming; we’re becoming a global leader in solar, too. Every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar; every panel pounded into place by a worker whose job can’t be outsourced. Let’s continue that progress with a smarter tax policy that stops giving $4 billion a year to fossil fuel industries that don’t need it, so that we can invest more in fuels of the future that do.
And even as we’ve increased energy production, we’ve partnered with businesses, builders, and local communities to reduce the energy we consume. When we rescued our automakers, for example, we worked with them to set higher fuel efficiency standards for our cars. In the coming months, I’ll build on that success by setting new standards for our trucks, so we can keep driving down oil imports and what we pay at the pump.
Taken together, our energy policy is creating jobs and leading to a cleaner, safer planet. Over the past eight years, the United States has reduced our total carbon pollution more than any other nation on Earth. But we have to act with more urgency – because a changing climate is already harming western communities struggling with drought, and coastal cities dealing with floods. That’s why I directed my administration to work with states, utilities, and others to set new standards on the amount of carbon pollution our power plants are allowed to dump into the air. The shift to a cleaner energy economy won’t happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did. " - President Barack Obama`s State of the Union Address, January 28, 2014
For starters, I really love that our very own president is going green, especially how I want to be in  that field of work. Second, the fact that he is bringing in more international jobs back to the USA is even more rewarding because my parents can look for better jobs and so can I, once I have all my school finished. The one concern I have is, will Mr. Obama be including all the forms of renewable energy or the kinds of energy that can be massively used? If so, I am really safe because my future job will be secure. 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Environmentally Friendly Connecting the Dots

We, as humans tend to connect the dots for everything, from finding the solution to a crime and trying to find the things in common. With that, the paper that we are supposed to write has to link somehow to our future careers and majors to racism, one of the issues facing our world very often. 

The career that I want to pursue is being an environmental engineer. Environmental engineering, in general, is the integration of science and engineering principles to improve the natural environment, to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate pollution sites. The engineers are also concerned with finding plausible solutions in the field of public health, arthropod-borne diseases, and to implement laws to remediate and adequately place correct sanitation in urban, rural, and recreational areas such as playgrounds or national parks. Female and male engineers also are in charge of waste water and waste disposal management, the control of air pollution, recycling anything (especially shipping containers), radiation protection (for those citizens that live next to the nuclear plants), the rights to industrial hygiene, environmental sustainability (energy efficiency, water and gas conservation, waste reduction, etc.), and take care of public health issues. You should have some kind of environmental engineering law  school degree with you before you leave college. It is basically the same thing. The only difference is that the law degree gives that person the right to be the lawyer for the better future of the envionment. The "green" lawyer protects any of the above laws if they are broken. The "green" lawyers have to have both environmental engineering and law school to address complex environmental problems, most frequently include land transactions. 

I chose this career as my main career because I am concerned for the environment, that we are burning off tons of fossil fuels and that our present leadership doesn`t seem to look at that. I do believe that renewable energy is the future for the United States, economically as well. We already have some electric cars coming out of motor companies such as Ford, Chevy, Nissan of America, and Tesla Motors just to name a few. The United States could once again be the the giant powerhouse of the world. All we need is for someone to believe in this type of future and implement it into everyday life. 

The way that it fits into racism, profiling and discrimination is how some people are placed in categories depending on the location of their home, either being from a dirty farm or coming from a sleek, industrial-designed megacity. Also race has to do with how sanitary an ethnic group is and how I can help them meet sanitation codes, as the engineer that I will be in the near future. Race and ethnicity has to do with  environmental sciences in general because we tend to segregate those that we think are filthy and don`t pick up for themselves to those that want to leave a pretty, clean, and manicured park the way it is. Also it can be on the city funds, too. Maybe some cities have money to keep the city clean but it is just not enough to keep up with the city`s demand for more street-sweepers and rainstorm drains. 

What I am Wondering and Asking Myself

My question depends on our nation`s future. The questions are -Will there be ways to eliminate the use of petroleum altogether so other nations aren`t fighting about it? and Can we find a way to not keep the Earth from being covered in so much trash, despite the population growth? If we find a solution, then my next question is about the economy. What are some ways to decrease the national debt? Many people have many questions about this topic and the government doesn`t seem to tackle it any way possible.
From the Pixar film WALL-E

Saturday, January 18, 2014

California Drought One of the Worst in Three Consecutive Years

California Governor Jerry Brown has issued a state emergency to reduce water usage by 20% until some sign of rain water arrives. 


This has been one of the driest winters in three consecutive years. Once where the Sierra Nevadas were blanketed in snow, are dry as a bone and the ski resorts and local sports shops are selling and renting mountain bikes, and any other kind of spring and summer gear. Many reservoirs have been depleted and all the records taken couldn't compete with this year. This environmental disaster is also going to threaten a $45 billion dollar agricultural industry, sending lots of farm workers home permanently or temporarily. San JoaquĆ­n Valley is experiencing lack of precipitation in the agricultural business. In addition to this, when there is no water, there will be a lack of jobs or no jobs at all for the fieldworkers. Cattle ranchers have had to make cuts on their herds because they just can't afford the amount of water they need to grow and the amount to graze off the grass. In some ranches, the farmers have even bought hay. 

A Gold Rush ghost town once flooded has now receded from the lake since the 1950s. Some very severe water restrictions were imposed such as not watering the grass. There is even a program called Cash for Grass that will give any homeowner cash for changing their landscape into a water wise one. Wildfires are popping up around Southern California,  when they shouldn't be happening in January. Bears and other wild winter animals are rising from hibernation and tree leaves are sprouting out as if it were spring time.  

SOURCES:
NBC News 
The Sacramento Bee
New York Times
Accuweather News