LAST POST

Hey everyone, I am moving my blog to wordpress. Check it out!

http://kaitimossdotcom.wordpress.com/

Make A Difference

Do you recognize this man?

This is Joseph Kony, the worlds #1 criminal.

 YES NUMBER ONE 

He has abducted more than 30,000 children in Central Africa and forced them to be soldiers.

For the last 26 years, he and his crimes have been essentially invisible. 

No one knows who he is and no one has stopped him.

Invisible Children is dedicated to making Kony famous, and stopping him. 

Please, go to this website and watch the video to find out ways you can help make a difference.

Step 1. Make Kony famous

http://invisiblechildren.com/share

                 

Finding a Minute to Breath

A new year a new start, I can’t believe it is February already! School has only been in for 1 month and has my arms and legs tied up already! This semester I am taking 16 credits, I am involved with I~Comm Student Agency again and I am a volunteer board member for Center Stage.

I love being in I~Comm and Center Stage, without them I wouldn’t enjoy school nearly as much as I do now. This semester in I~Comm my position is a public relations specialist, it is super fun because we get to plan all the events that the companies want. We are working with the police department again, the school news paper, The Scroll, and this week Smith Group in Idaho Falls has been talking with us to see what we can do. Everyone in the Agency has been working like crazy for Smith Group because they are South Eastern Idaho’s second largest car dealership and they want our plan book by Tuesday! Some of the events that my group came up with include: A classic car show and a truck pull! If they actually went through they would be super fun…we will see.

Center Stage is the campus organization that plans all of the performances that come to campus. It’s been a really neat experience and lucky for Clayton and I because we get free tickets to all of the events!  I am hoping to work for them again next semester as a board member and then maybe by then I’ll be experienced enough to be a director! They get paid, but I’m hoping I can use that for my internship.

Speaking of internships…I have been super stressed about when I am going to do mine! The only possible times I can are either during school or the 7 week break! A lot of people are telling me to do it after I graduate but I don’t want to have to worry about that I’d rather go straight into job hunting since Clayton and I aren’t graduating at the same time any more…He will graduate 1 semester before me also since he will be attending grad school the following fall! I know everything will work out I just hate not having it set in stone yet. I’m kind of an organized freak…I like to know at least 1 year in advanced where I’ll be and what not.

Also this semester in my intro to public relations class we were told to find a campus organization that needs help with their PR. My group and I have been working with the veteran association and it has been a great experience so far! I am really enjoying it and this Sunday they are having their first meeting/activity of the semester- a super bowl potluck! How fun! Other activities we are planning on having are a pool party, a care package drive for those over seas and a Military Ball! I am super excited! The best part about this organization is that even though their name is the veterans association (I am trying to convince them to change that...) it is for anyone! If your enlisted, if your in ROTC, if you have family in the military or if you just want to support them you can come! It is amazing...I love being part of this because I get to help those who fight for our freedoms.

Spring Semester 2012: I am hoping to get a higher position in I~Comm such as an account executive(paid position) if not then I really want to try and TA for one of my professors…I really just want to be making some sort of pay check next semester. I love volunteering and being a part of all of these great organizations but its hard to put so much time and effort without being paid.

7 week break: Clayton and I are really hoping that we can just take this time as a break from school and go visit both of our families for a couple of weeks…We will see.

Fall 2012: I hope to be a Center Stage director and be doing my internship also PRSSA nation conference will be in October and it is in San Francisco this year! I really hope to be able to attend. Clayton and my older brother Garrett Graduate!

Winter 2012: Paid position with I~Comm for sure by this semester. Also I graduate, yay!

Ready or Not Here it Comes!

Yikes.

FINALS

I just want them to be over with so that the Christmas spirit will come! 

{It is especially hard to welcome with a bah humbug hubby}

In other news I am recently lovin' Michael Buble and Adele-good stuff, I think they're what's gettin' me threw these last few weeks of the semester.

What keeps you going?

Ignorance is NOT Bliss

     OK, so I see that once again I forgot to do my OH happy day! Tuesday :( sorry friends, I might have to kick that to the curb until life calms down...so maybe by the time I'm a grandma? We'll see. 

     Now time for today's blog! One of my biggest pet peeves is when a person isn't educated on a topic and try's  to act like they are, and then tells the expert on the subject that they are wrong! What is so wrong with admitting that you haven't researched something enough to have an opinion on it? I'll tell you- NOTHING! 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with not knowing everything. 

With that being said, I wanted to share my thoughts and opinions on climate change after studying it this semester. I know that this is a subject that causes a lot of controversy, but it is important to me to try and find the truth within all the madness in this world. 

Climate Change: Finding the Truth

Kaiti A. Moss

Brigham Young University-Idaho

Climate change is such a sensitive subject because it affects each and every one of us. People are confused as to what to believe because they are constantly being fed contradicting information. The only way to know is to research the subject for one’s self and come to an answer. I am confident that by doing so, as I have, others will come to the same conclusion.

After careful study of the Earth’s climate I have come to the conclusion for myself that global warming is indeed occurring. In my paper I will touch base on what I have learned including, Earth’s climate, changes that are occurring now, what the future could hold and how to avoid it. I am no expert in this area, these aren’t my findings from experiments, but anyone can examine data and come to a conclusion. Mine is that global warming is occurring, what’s yours?

To know if the climate today is warming one needs comparable data from the Earth’s past climate. How would one find this data? First one would need to find a reliable source such as; an expert scientist who dedicates their studies to climate changes-not global warming.  One might ask, “What’s the difference?” A scientist who studies climate change will produce data that shows the Earth’s climate, where as a scientist who studies global warming has already confirmed in their own mindset that global warming is happening and the data would be more biased to that side.

The source I have relied upon is, Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). They do not fund new scientific work instead they focus on uncertain research about climate change. They publish reports about every 5-years, but before these reports can become official they go through an approval process. The process includes a line-by-line approval by governmental representatives from across the world. IPCC was created by the United Nations to, “…provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of knowledge in climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.” (Organization, 2011)

The thought of climate change occurring has been around for almost 200-years. In 1837, Louis Agassiz of Switzerland noted that the mountains there had once been covered in large amounts of ice like Greenland or Antarctica; from his studies later his hypothesis of the ice age was accepted. Then came orbital theory of climate dates, the reasoning behind ice ages is the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Ice age history has been recorded in ice sheets and deep sea sediments. With our advanced technology we are now able to take core samples and examine them for further data of the Earth’s past climate. The chart below is from the IPCC, the first graph shows climate changes from the 1800’s and the second shows climate changes from 1,000-years ago.

As one can see from the first graph for the majority of time the climate has been is what is considered a cooling period. From the second graph one can see within the last 150-years the Earth’s temperature has sky-rocketed. If that’s not proof right there than I don’t know what is. 

Now, the real question is what caused the climate to rise like this? Gases building up in the atmosphere, but these gases are different than what we have seen in the past. There has been an abundance of these gases that are more commonly known as greenhouse gases which includes, water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases. Greenhouse gases trap heat into the atmosphere. Without these gases the Earth surface average would be around 33c the problem is that there is too much.

When people hear the words “climate changes” or “global warming” we immediately think of the weather. I can’t remember how many times I have heard people say, “If the Earth is warming than why is the weather colder?” Drastic Change in global climate like we are experiencing has many different side effects. Mainly of which would be drastic weather changes that we are not use to nor prepared for. “…year 2020, up to 250 million people are projected to be suffering from increased water stress due to climate change.” (The Climate Crisis, pg. 180) Developing countries are considered at the biggest threat do to their extreme poverty, weak governments and a strong dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Developing countries are already suffering enough as is; “…3 billion people have less than 15% of the world’s wealth…” States, James Mayfield, co-founder of CHOICE humanitarian. What kind of impact would the extreme weather create for these striving countries?

With this data I have gathered that the Earth’s climate since the 1800s has experienced an increase due to increase of greenhouse gases. I have received my data from reliable scientists that dedicate their time and research to climate changes. I have looked over the data that they have created from evidence such as ice cores and coral reefs. While no one can predict the future, with the information that has been provided from comparing the past climate and present I do believe that this is not a natural Earth cycle and there have been human impact upon the Earth’s climate.

Bibliography

Archer, David, and Stefan Rahmstorf. The Climate Crisis: an Introductory Guide to Climate Change. New York: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.

"Figures and Tables." IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_figures_and_tables.shtml>.

"Organization." IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. <http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.shtml>.

"...my lonely days are over...{because} you smile..."

     I have noticed a lot lately that people in general are only focused on their lives and the people who are prominent in them. I find this to lead to a very sad and lonely life because I have many acquaintances but very few people I can share my deepest thoughts or opinions with.      

    This semester I decided that rather than just focusing on the people in my life I tried my very best to do so with anyone I came in contact with. Friends. Family. Acquaintances. Even strangers. I know that I still need to practice with this, and haven't perfected the concept yet but I will continue to grow with it in my life. I know that this trait will not only benefit myself but others around me too.
I love it when a person says hello sincerely or asks if you need help, ect. So why can't I be that person? I lived in southern Virginia this summer and like they say, you just can't replace southern hospitality. It is wonderful! Everywhere you go, people are smiling and asking, 
"how are you?" and the best part is...
they actually mean it!
It just makes a person's day to feel safe, loved and welcomed.

So I want to challenge YOU to give this a try, start out small and work your way up.

Good luck!

 

OH happy day!

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been blogging much the past couple of weeks...last week was crazy. Let's just leave it at that, but now I am home in good ol' SoCal!

My Birthday was also this weekend so that means....shopping spree! What more could a girl ask for?

Today I got to hang out with my friend for life and neighbor, Megan. It was great to see her after probably a year and a half. 

And of course, best for last, Clayton flies in tomorrow FINALLY! One thing I am not looking forward to is the crazy traffic at LAX...Then tomorrow night we'll be taking some family photos a.k.a an excuse for me to wear my new clothes and dress up. Yippee. 

I love these turkey nails! Too cute, hope y'all have a great Thanksgiving!

xoxo