Final Abstract

"For the U.S. to survive, the country will need to strictly reduce 1/3 of its population in order to be considered sustainable and avoid disasters."

The aim of this study was to discover the issues attributed to overpopulation and the associated problem of over consumption of oil, energy, food and unnecessary items. With all these concepts, I have found that it is necessary for us to drastically change our ways, although many are afraid to change our customs we are going to have to adjust quick.

Oil, is an over consumed resource that produces lots of energy all over the world. U.S. demand for oil has increased at a rate of 2% yearly (Churchill 2000). By year of 2020, peak oil will decrease and will cause a decrease in cars by 2050 (Strahan 2009). As many have seen, oil has lead the way for U.S. citizens to prosper for years, but yet we haven’t measured the future costs.

Food consumption is another issue we all need to be aware of and regulate. It is a worldwide issue and is highly driven by young kids and teens. For instance, the “Perfect Burger” contains days off CO2 emissions that derive from grain fertilization, to beef-feeding, to beef-transport and lastly to the consumer.

Material consumption should be controlled to an extent of purchasing necessary goods in contrast of consuming insane amounts of unnecessary material with credit. Material over consumption always ends up with hidden costs that are paid later by the health of our environment.

The fact that the population has expanded exponentially and consumption has become such a way of life. The human carrying capacity can’t truly be estimated. Sustainability is the key to our continued survived and the health of our planet. Therefore to ever be in a sustainable state, something has to happen in order for a change.

Recipe

Mexican Green Bean Salad Recipe

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Make sure to use the freshest green beans you can find. Good green beans should feel firm and should snap in half, not bend, when you try to bend them.

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh green beans, strings removed, ends snapped off, cut in half into about 1 1/2 inch length pieces
• 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp lime juice or white vinegar
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano if you can get it)
• 3/4 cup packed, chopped cilantro
• 1/3 cup canned, pickled jalapeño chili peppers, sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese (salty Mexican cheese that resembles feta)
• 1/2 avocado, sliced or cut into inch long pieces
• 1 medium tomato, cut into 8 wedges, or a cup of halved cherry tomatoes

Method

1 Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and simmer until just crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Drain the beans and run cold water over them to cool them quickly. Drain completely.

2 Place beans in a large bowl. Gently mix in the the lime juice or vinegar, olive oil, 1/4 cup onion, sliced pickled jalapeños, sea salt, oregano and cilantro. Let sit for half an hour.

3 When ready to serve, gently mix in the chopped red onion and cotija cheese. Serve the avocado slices and tomato wedges on the side or mixed into the salad.

Serves 4.

Elise. " Mexican Green Bean Salad Recipe | Simply Recipes." Simply Recipes Food and Cooking Blog. N.p., 13 July 2008. Web. 3 May 2010. .


What I Think?

First, all the vegetables here in the recipe, are found to be grown locally and produced by a nearby produce store like Vons, Ralphs or Albertson's. Above all, I feel that combinating all the vegetables in the recipe would break out a new experience to building a great potluck delicase. I believe remaking this recipe will be a huge success to appeal consumers, yet draw people closer to the history of a mexican green bean salad.

Abstract!!

Pull Quote:
"For the U.S. to survive, the country will need to strictly reduce 1/3 of its population in order to be considered sustainable and avoid disasters."

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to discover the issues attributed to overpopulation and the associated problem of over consumption. This study focused on consumption of oil, energy, food and unnecessary items. With all these concepts, I have found that it is necessary for us to drastically change our ways, although many are afraid to change our customs on the reasons why we are going to have to adjust quick.

Oil, is an over consumed resource that produces lots of energy all over the world. To compare, the U.S. is profit driven by establishing agreements and invasions to withdraw oil from many other countries’ natural resources. Our demand for oil has increased at a rate of 2% yearly. By the year of 2020 the peak oil consumption will decrease and there won’t be much oil to exploit by 2050. As many have seen, Oil has lead the way for U.S. citizens to prosper for years, but yet we haven’t measured the future costs.

Food consumption is another issue we all need to be aware of and regulate. It is a worldwide issue yet, it is highly driven by young kids and teens. For an example the “perfect burger” contains many days of farm picked vegetables from all over the world, moving-vehicle CO2 emissions which pollute our air, and carryout many trans fats that can cause obesity.

Material consumption should be controlled to a certain extent, and should be used for purchasing enough supplies, in comparison to purchasing insane amounts of consumer goods with credit cards. Material over consumption always ends up leading to debt but also leads to many hidden costs that are paid for by the health of our environment.

The fact that the population has expanded exponentially and consumption has become such a way of life. The human carrying capacity can’t truly be estimated. For the U.S. to survive, the country will need to strictly reduce 1/3 of its population in order to be considered sustainable and avoid disasters.

Sustainability is the key to our continued survived and the health of our planet. Therefore to ever be in a sustainable state, something has to happen in order for a change.

Morality vs. Ethics, Can They Both Be Good?

Purrrrfect!!! Burger!!! Yumm... =)

Stephen Xavier Pineda
4/27/10


In comparing my thoughts before and after the movie, I happened to be stricken by the last moment in the documentary where a mother spoke about her deceased child and how the meat company decided not to take blame. Noticing her eyes and over-whelming self esteem, I happened to acknowledge that in every word she spoke she felt strongly in letting this out to aware everyone. Therefore she could have escalated the issue to its full extent, instead she chose to reminisce on his memories and speak out about this issue to prevent it from ever happening to anyone else. I’ve never been a mother and I’m pretty sure I’ll never be one, yet if I was a parent I know damn well, I would bend back and forth to get vengeance for my child regardless. A change in direction, I’m not here to criticize on the situation and how the issue was handled, yet I’m writing about how it opened my eyes.

It opened my eyes with the thought that one of my favorite fast-food burgers originates from days and days of animal captivity and slaughter. I admit I’m a meat eater but I feel strongly about meat, even through the gruesome scenes I witnessed in the video, It’s not that I’m afraid to re-accustom myself but I don’t want to change who I am and what I eat. I strongly agree, I am upset of viewing slaughter, so one thing that I can try on my part, I could start consuming of free-range animals. As I seen all today how the meat process works, it does file under the difference of morality and ethics. Morality, I can see that it is cruel to captivate animals and then kill them with no remorse, though Ethically, if we don’t sacrifice them, how would we eat well? How would we enjoy eating our custom dishes? How would food culture be diverse within all races?

See, there’s no straight answer or result how to solve this problem or enhance this survival skill, but it’s up to every individual to base off from the film and create their unique actions.

2 peer-Reviewed Sources and why I picked them!

Overpopulation Project

1. Birth planning of youth: Concern about overpopulation and intention to limit family size.
Fischer, Edward H. American Psychologist. Vol 27(10), Oct 1972, 951-958.m http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/amp/27/10/951/

I chose this source because it interested me in the angle of how to begin my project by explaining limits and restriction in how to began a nation from a drop like Easter Island devastation. This brief information speaks about how to bio diversily establish culture but as well limit options for family expansion such as over population.

2. Reuveny, Rafael . "ScienceDirect - Ecological Economics : Easter Island: historical anecdote or warning for the future? ." ScienceDirect - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.

-Referring back to my last Eastern Island entry, I have to say that I am highly pleased to really look forward presenting a Easter island type of project on how the U.S. country can outcome to a drastic ending. I feel reading this peer-reviewed source I can really take in lots of information and analyze it to the point of making a complete prediction.

Nathan Lewis Reflection

As in John's Environmental Science class we've been working on the study of becoming Eco-friendly. As the leader from the Lewis group performs his speech in front of many people, he happened to angle his view towards the issue of energy. To society, energy seems to be a taken for granted type of resource which we do not think about. yet, the truth is that energy is a scarce source when the whole world is polluted with lots of carbons.

Hearing Lewis' propose his solutions of how to conserve energy or loop-hole around energy issues, I started thinking of what I can do in order to support his beliefs. As I placed the statistics aside, I thought about his belief that if roads were energy efficient that the world would be in better hands, I strongly agree with that. If the road played an important part at all, most of the buildings an objects in life would have a purpose to fulfill causing a less complex world. We as a nation have thought of making the world a better place, but we were not aware about the certain fundamentals to follow in order to construct a Eco-friendly better place.

For renewable energy, Lewis stated that there would not be much opportunity to really get put into play. The reason behind that would be the fact until technological instruments are achieved to convert renewable energy for a cheap price, energy will not be a good resource. Something similar to Lewis' ideas, I strongly enforce that the nation for a change forget about to cost of the process, yet instead be encouraged to help for the sake of the world. Mr. Nathan Lewis is a really smart man, as long as he does what he does, sooner or later the world is bound to give in whether is a good time or a bad one.

Population Growth and Climate Change

Population Growth and Climate Change

Throughout our lives we had always experienced many smaller scale issues, for example increase in termites when a home is not clean and another time when we spill soft drinks on a table, then in couple of hours later we find ourselves with a horrifying trail of ants. In the globe we have found ourselves in an issue that will take deaths and murders of free for all to survive in a immorality condition. The population growth has put many minds in the notion to try to come up with a solution to lessen the growth but I believe that we are too far in...

"human population grew from 1.6 billion to 6.1 billion"

Finding this interesting stat in the "Scientific American", has displayed a interesting trail to thought, because how could this be a drastic change of then to the 20th century. But today I stand here knowing that the reason why the change took place because of the worries of the flaw of man education and the beginnings of technology. As the people from the beginnings (Our ancestors), weren't properly educated with the fundamentals of awareness and future expectancy, they must have felt okay living with a "Today" attitude and having children. Its not that it is a flaw to society, but in every generation before us, there was only much one knew and can do, as for us we had the technology extent to "think outside the box."

"More people means more demand for oil, gas, coal and other fuels mined or drilled from below the Earth’s surface that, when burned, spew enough carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere to trap warm air inside like a greenhouse."

Economically, the population growth changed the climate by having more busy bodies roaming back and forth around the world and making pit stops by releasing CO2. As well as demanding the source of oil, by burn of fossil fuels and polluting the air we breathe in. In the nation we live in complexity is the passion to solved, yet life can be simple if we weren't too attracted by the constant devotion to expand in technology.

"Educating women about birth control options and ensuring access to voluntary family planning services, women will choose to limit family size."

The answer lies above everything, as for past generations women lacked with the information of awareness of pregnancy and the options it limits one. As that experience marks a great example of growth and how far humans have gone with morals of keeping the family tree going and going forever. As for solving the issue over population made the climate change dramatically for a neutral direction by marking history but now putting human beings in a state of mind that there is only so much resources. As history marks a path of understanding and learning, its only best to move forward and cope with issues, than to pout and stay the same. Population growth wont' be able to controlled but its up to us, to get into the works of distributing enough resources for everyone.

Best 3 Annotated Sources

LeDoux, Larry. "Does Population Growth Impact Climate Change?: Scientific American." Science News, Articles and Information | Scientific American. N.p., 29 July 2009. Web. 11 Feb. 2010. .

Mock, Brentin. "Population Growth Divides Climate Change Advocates | ReligionDispatches." ReligionDispatches. N.p., 17 Dec. 2009. Web. 11 Feb. 2010. .

Schmanski, Sonia. "Population and Climate Change: Relationships, Research, and Responses." Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. N.p., 20 Feb. 2008. Web. 11 Feb. 2010. .