9/11 thoughts and memories

9/11 is on my mind often, not because I’m bursting with knowledge on the subject or because I have personal connections with someone physically affected by the tragedy, but rather because the whole prospect that a group of human beings could actually end the lives of not only the twin towers, but also thousands of people completely shocks and frightens me. I have to admit, I have absolutely no memory of the actually day the planes were taken over and crashed: I was 5 years old and I imagine that day seemed like any other in my eyes. But since then I have definitely learned some, if not a good amount, of information about this significant event from studying it in classes and seeing images and footage in newspapers and on television. This includes photos of the twin towers being smashed, the planes engulfed in fire, people jumping and waving flags out of the buildings windows, and, the most memorable account, a TV program with actual audio footage from inside the plane and a detailed account of what happened.

Though I am not overflowing with knowledge by any means on the topic of 9/11, I do know that a lot of people hate Americans. I can see how some view the citizens of this country as greedy, self-centered, and uninformed about the views and conditions of others in the world. How ever, not every American is like that and I find it completely unreasonable and evil to take that anger out on average citizens who have done nothing wrong. I know the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia and that 5 (?) planes were taken over, one headed towards the pentagon, (which was taken over by the passengers and crashed in an empty field), 2 headed for the twin towers, (which both crashed into the towers), and the other two I think crashed somewhere in Washington DC. The immediate consequences were obviously the death of several thousand people and the destruction of the twin towers, but many things have changed because of the tragedy that affect our everyday lives. For example, when you go to the airport, you have to leave yourself more time because everyone and their luggage goes through excessive security before being allowed on a plane. The overall security of our country has been considerably tightened, for example, I was in New Orleans these past few days and when I attended the Mardi gras parades these helicopters would fly overhead, which my uncle told me has happened at every parade since 9/11. And, something everyone knows about, we invaded Iraq, which makes absolutely no sense considering the terrorists were from Saudi Arabia (Bush was president at the time.) Though these are just a few examples, I think the events of 9/11 have altered the way Americans think of their country and the way America operates.

Note: Though I’m interested in this class, I also have an intense fear of terrorism, flying, and 9/11 in general. I know it’s important to learn about this but I am concerned seeing as only a year or two ago I slept with my mom almost every night because of my fear of being bombed by terrorists, and I still hate flying and cry almost every time I have to get on a plane. I just thought I should let you know because I’m not sure what kind of affect this class will

Children Inspiring Hope: Report on Affects of Diet on Water: Leah and Helen

Water and Your Diet

It wouldn’t be completely correct to say that there is a limited amount of water, but there is the problem that water is one universal need and it must be shared between all living organisms on this planet. Humans are—so to speak—hogging a lot of the water that there is. An average American uses about 100 gallons of water a day. Just that is quite a lot. Then you must factor in everything we consume and exactly how much water was used in production. For breakfast, today, I only had an orange. Something as simple as an Orange on average takes 13 gallons of water to be produced. This number is surprisingly large, but oranges aren’t the only foods that use up so much water in their production. In fact, many things we eat on a day-to-day basis use a surprisingly large amount. For example, one pound of rice uses roughly 350 gallons of water, while on cup of coffee takes around 36 gallons and for every one-fifth gallon of milk there are 264 gallons used in its production. If I added up all my consumptions today, I would have easily used over 300 gallons of water, even if the only water I remembered consuming was two glasses during the day and a splash to brush my teeth.

The point is, everything you eat uses up water, whether it’s hundreds of gallons or just a teaspoon: but nothing requires more water to produce than meat. To simply produce the amount of beef in one hamburger, it takes 634 gallons of water. To compare, the average hot tub holds around 450 gallons of water. Now to produce a single pound of beef it has been estimated around 2500 gallons of water. That’s quite a lot. But you have to track that beef. Before it was plain old beef, it was a cow. The cow needed something to drink—water—as well as something to eat. The grass that was chewed upon by the cow must be watered so it can be pleasantly delicious. This is why your numbers get so high in the production of one pound of beef. And that’s when the question comes up, “Is using so much water for a lavish food item such as meat really worth it?” The answer is different for everyone, but it’s easy to lead a life without meat (however tasty it may be) and in doing so, lower your daily water usage immensely.

I (Leah) have been a Vegetarian for nearly four years, and I (Helen) have recently become one as well on account of a bet made with Leah. Vegetarianism is a life style that can be chosen by anyone, anywhere. No one is kept from going vegetarian because of where they live, how they live, who they live with, etc.; besides, it’s the best, and easiest way to reduce your water footprint or, in other words, to ‘go green’.

Before our research in this topic, neither of us knew the extent to which water is used in the food we eat. When people talk of reducing their water footprint, they focus on things such as taking shorter showers and not watering the lawn, when they should be focusing on what they eat and how much water is used in their foods production. The best way to change the way you eat and consume water through food is by being educated about it. Hopefully the word will get out and people everywhere will start taking into consideration their diets affect on water usage so we can move along in solving the issue of water in the world.

Sources:

Dunn, Collin. "Measure Your Food's Water Footprint - Planet Green." Planet Green : Sustainable Living, Energy Conservation, Earth Day. 23 Apr. 2008. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/measure-your-foods-water-footprint.html

"News Headlines." CNBC Mobile Home. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.http://www.cnbc.com/id/39156898/There_s_How_Much_Water_In_My_Hamburger

"Water Footprint: Introduction." Waterfootprint.org: Water Footprint and Virtual Water. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home

Berger, Eric. "How Much Water Does It Take to Make ... ? | SciGuy | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle." 02 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2010/04/how_much_water_does_it_take_to_make.html

"Save Water And The Planet By Going Vegetarian." Free Articles Directory | Submit Articles - ArticlesBase.com. 18 Aug. 2008. Web. 13 Feb. 2011.http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/save-water-and-the-planet-by-going-vegetarian-526278.html

Nelson, Jeff. "How Much Water to Make a Pound of Beef?" Vegsource.com. 01 Mar. 2001. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. http://www.vegsource.com/articles/pimentel_water.htm

Water Crisis Awareness

1. What are some of the major water issues facing the world today?

The Earth changes every day. Sometimes those changes add to the beauty of the world in which we live, and other times they create problems that we are challenged to find the solution to. Climate change, war, and natural disasters are all big issues we are working on as I type, but possibly the biggest and most important is water. Today, around one in every eight people, roughly one billion human’s, do not have access to clean water of any sorts. Only about 2.5 percent of water on Earth is fresh, and around two-thirds of that supply is stored in snow cover and glaciers. Water might be a renewable resource, but it’s not an immeasurable one, and though lack of clean water is a big issue, for the millions upon millions of people who don’t have any, the problem they face is about accessibility rather then scarceness. While we often take for granted the fact that clean water is accessible to us at the push of a button, so many people don’t have that luxury and are forced to travel to streams or rivers miles away to retrieve water that is not the cleanest by any means. To put this issue into perspective, I have collected some tragic facts on the affects of the lack of clean water on people all over the world. Because of water-related sickness 443 million school days are lost each year. The Earth’s largest cause of infection is lack of sanitation. Because of water-related disease, 3.5 million people die each year, 84% of which are children and 98% of which are in the developing world.

2. What are people doing to help?

Although water is a very big concern throughout the world, there are luckily many things being done to help. For example, Ryan Hreljac, the creator of a foundation known as “Ryan’s Well”, learned about the need for clean water in developing countries when he was in the first grade. With help from his friends and family, Ryan was able to save enough money to build a water well in Africa, which went up in 1999, when Ryan was seven. He continued to save money and build wells until his project became a foundation in 2001, and to this day “Ryan’s Well” still serves water deprived areas. So far, “Ryan’s Well” has brought safe water and better sanitation to more then 705 thousand people by building more then 630 wells and 700 latrines. This is just one of many organizations set out to improve the way people everywhere live by giving them access to the clean and safe water they deserve.

3. How can the problem of water allocation and safety issues be resolved?

The issue is not that the water situation is helpless and there’s nothing we can do, the issue is that we have to buckle down and do the things the earth and our fellow human beings require of us. If a well was put up in an area facing a water crisis: 1. People could save 2 hours and 45 minutes getting water 2. You could use the extra time to start a garden with your new water source and can feed the family 3. Your children spend more time in school opposed to getting water. (Scenarios from charitywater.org) Also people are sent into developing countries suffering from lack of water to educate citizens about the importance of hygiene and sanitation. When people are educated they’re more likely to do something about the situation, or demand help from places that do have water. If people get in those areas and work to supply them with fresh water and education on the issue, this whole water crisis would be a lot less complex.

4. How can we, as a class, contribute to these solutions?

Though different foundations and projects are doing a lot to help with the world’s water crisis, there are also many things individuals (or in our case, a class) can do. For example, fundraising! If we ran a bake sale, car wash, or something along those lines we could raise money and donate it to a place like “Ryan’s Well”. Also, spreading the word and educating other about the lack of clean water in developing countries all over the world can do a lot of good for the cause. When people are really informed about something they’re more likely to take action and work to better the situation. Finally, we could try to preserve our own water and be thankful for what we have instead of using it for things such as 30-minute showers and watering the lawn. If we cut back on our own supply we would be saving more water for everyone to enjoy and not just using it up greedily. As you can see, there are many things to be done as individuals, and as a class, to end the water crisis and provide safe, clean water to those who don’t have it, but desperately need it. We just have to do them.