Looking Deeply at a Social Problem
environmental
Ocean Blues
By Miles Mahowald
I will never forget the first time I went free-diving in Laguna Beach, California. The water was crystal clear, the ocean floor was covered in beautiful rocks and kelp that supported an army of fish. Everywhere you looked underwater there were beautiful fish to be seen. This was like heaven to me, being able to escape into this underwater world that was flourishing with life and color was something of immense value and importance to me. As I began to grow older, my love and passion for the ocean grew with me. My understanding of the importance for ocean conservation is something that I knew needed to be a part of societal importance.
Waking the World for War Against Climate Change
By Anonymous
The smell of the soot that blanketed my room conjured before me, and memories of driving through my battered town came forth. What would he say to the families who had already been hurt, who’s homes had been destroyed in similar disasters? Global warming has taken no prisoners in its quest to lay waste to our planet. When the first plumes of industrial smoke filled the sky, it declared war on humanity. And in decades since, civilization has continued industrialization, strengthening our enemy as we continue to burn the very fuels that hasten the planet’s demise. Even as we consumers awaken to our role in this war, learning to recycle and carpool, what we can do alone is not enough. Instead, we must turn to the corporations, to those who continue to aid and abide global warming.
The House that Neoliberalism has Built Cannot Handle Climate Change
By Loc Nguyen
It was a Sunday morning two weeks ago. My phone rang while I was sitting, looking out the window, enjoying a cup of hot coffee, listening to my favorite ballad song, and feeling the warm California sunlight creeping into the leaves in my backyard. It was a call from Thanh, my childhood best friend, who is living and working in Houston, Texas. He shared tremblingly that electricity is back in his area but I believe I can feel sorrow, hope and worry are mixing together in his voice. Those past days were the worst days since he came to America. Moreover, rolling blackouts, lacking safe water, several days of sub-freezing temperatures.
Street Address and Health: A Relationship That Should Not Exist
By Annsana Biju
My family as well as many of the Porter Ranch residents had been seeing the air grow thicker and some felt sick with symptoms including dizziness, abnormal coughing, and difficulty breathing. All residents who felt affected were asked to pack up and move out in the subsequent days. Due to the near unlivable environment in my hometown, my family as well as many others were encouraged to reside elsewhere for around half a year while Aliso Canyon Gas Company worked on fixing the leak and restoring the environment to what it once was. What this experience of mine highlights is that when air quality conditions are poor, people are not expected to live in that area as it could lead to short-term as well as long-term threats to an individual’s health.
An Issue for All
By Anonymous
These are issues that require society’s effort to change, so that we can be more educated and that the energy industry can become cleaner… To execute the above ideas, we would need to get the public on board. We need the people to be willing to make changes in their lives, such as changes in their jobs, and their support for funding projects on sustainability. As I said before, some doubt climate might worry that changes in regulations and policies might negatively impact their lifestyle, but we should help them realize that the fallout of climate is the actual threat, for we need to get past this issue as a group.
A Revolution to Take Back What Was Never Theirs
By Alan Willey
It’s easy to point fingers and disparage those that believe that global warming is false. I myself made this mistake, and in doing so, had unknowingly given the masters of doubt exactly what they wanted: thoughtless, incendiary reactions that go nowhere and perpetuate an unfocused attitude, blinding me and others from the true source of conflict. To break the pattern, we need to unveil our own complicity in the system… Instead of blaming others, look to understand the ideologies that have shaped their views, and from there, help peel back these views and show how their ideologies have impacted their own lens. There needs to be a shift from looking across, to looking up, up at the corporations who have wrought the inequality and exploitation and perpetuated its existence.
The Collapse is Happening Now
By Nicole Yegorina
In the South Pacific, island countries like Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, which are only a few meters above sea level, are starting to disappear. Hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to keep the sea out of their homes. Residents are forced to build barriers of rock and coral to protect their livelihoods but there is only so much they can do.
The Price of Meat
By Lap Nguyen
For millions of Americans, meat is the main source of protein and a staple part of their diet. The food system involved in creating this common resource consists of practices and infrastructure that produce, process, transport, and eventual consumption of that resource. Within this system, factory farm institutions are responsible for creating almost 95% of the meat that Americans consume. However, if we begin to closely inspect this institute, we can see that it is one of the worst, most disgusting, dirty, awful, cesspools of despair that prioritizes money over people and the planet.
Factories of Destruction
By Madeline Russell
[Factory farming] is a point of convergence for so much unnecessary violence that affects already vulnerable communities, destroys the environment, and is encouraged by our capitalist economy because it maximizes profit. Because factory farms are solely focused on saving money and time, it is no surprise they don’t treat animals properly… while it might seem obvious that factory farming hurts livestock and other animals, what isn’t so obvious is its negative effect on humans.