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

OH happy day!

Hey friends! I know that last week I totally forgot about my first blog promise! {Shame on me} But I didn't forget today. I know that the day isn't over yet but something major happened already.

Clayton, my brother Garrett and I have all been planning since July to drive down to California for Thanksgiving. Leaving Saturday 11/19 resulting in us missing two days of school, no biggie right? Well some professors thought other wise. Turns out the school encouraged professors to have exams, presentations or whatever those two days so students wouldn't skip! 

Well, I haven't been home in almost a year. It's not home that even really matters, it's the people. I haven't seen my older sister, Sarah or my other older brother, Jay since last December. I haven't seen my grandparents since then either and before that occasion I have no idea how long it had been. Haven't seen my aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends and church family...I think y'all get the point, or should I continue the list? I am sooo sorry for wanting to go home and see my family since if I don't now it would probably be an other year until I did.

Last night over dinner Clayton had mentioned that two of his teachers were still debating on when to give tests  {before or after our "break"}. So we were a little worried but not freaking out since nothing was set in stone. This morning when Clayton got home from his first class he dropped the Atomic Bomb. If he doesn't stay until Tuesday 11/22 for a presentation then he would not pass his class.

I was more than devastated, but would not give up. I immediately went online and began to search for flights on Tuesday or Wednesday. To my luck I found one- at a decent price too! 

I am so grateful that we will get to spend Thanksgiving together as a family. A lot of plans have changed/been cancelled now, which makes me sad. But over all the most important thing is that we will all get to be together. 

New hair!

Poverty

            Over one billion people in the world live in poverty, according to the World Bank to be considered living in poverty a person is living off of $1.25 or less every day.

What does itreally mean to live on $1.25 a day? Often, people living in poverty have more than one job consisting of day labor, small businesses and agriculture. These people spend 50-80% of their earnings on food. More than often indoor plumbing and electricity are unavailable and the families can rarely afford to have productive assets such as; sewing machines, bikes, tractors, ect.

The struggle in any rural area is to live. My question really is why are there rural areas still? The people who live in rural areas are by no means lazy. What they don’t have though, is an education. In India 95% of children go to school until 8^th grade, but 9^th through 12^th grade only 40% attend. So why it that between 8th and 9th grade so many children are dropping out from school? The problem is that the older and stronger children are needed at home to work and help the family. The families are losing sight of what the future for their children can be, they need motivation and the learning has to be productive. “…so it improves learning levels and cognitive skills. Also, India still faces challenges in providing quality Early Childhood Development programs for all children…”

Many of the families think of the situation like this:  if the families and children are living in poverty and are working at home so that their family can survive, why would they leave work for school? By working they can provide needs for the family right away. But down the road, the educated person will be able to obtain a better career and be able to provide more efficiently for the family. They are losing sight of the larger picture. School will give the children tools they need to obtain and or create a better job(s).

In developing countries where ancient traditions still thrive, the importance of an education is not a high priority. While the younger generation knows the importance of receiving an education they struggle with family and work so that they can go to school. Without a proper education one cannot succeed in life, but with one the possibilities are endless.

We have heard the quote, Today’s children are tomorrow’s future, over and over again and yet it still hasn’t really caught on. Currently 121 million children are not receiving any sort of education. These are real facts, and real people. Education is the key to freedom, having an education opens one’s mind to greater options in life. The educated person is able to participate in their country; politically, economically and socially.

Many people are tired of hearing these things especially if they have their minds set already thinking that there’s nothing they can do to help. We are all born with different talents that can be put to good use not only for the better of these developing countries but for the better of our world.

There is hope for those in developing countries. In 2000, 189 leaders of the world came together and created The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals are targeted towards reducing poverty throughout the world and hope to achieve these goals by 2015.

There are eight goals which are, eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality rates, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and to develop a global partnership for development. Usually when one thinks of reducing poverty you think of the necessities and might think that with these 8 goals we have bitten off more than one can chew. But in reality the goals all go together and affect one another.

The solution is obvious but difficult. Education is needed among all people but just like the situation they are struggling with today, how do they become educated while working and trying to survive at the same time? There has been so much support going towards education funds that it’s easy to forget what is important to the people. We need to first educate the parents of what is available to them and their families. Every year there are more jobs available and as more people become educated, soon one will need an education so that they can work! If the parents understood the potential an education carries I think that they would feel better about sending their children to school.

It is important that after the parents are taught about what could be available, that in every possible way we make it happen. Many people know of the value that an education holds but do not have access to it. It is also just as important to consistently remind them that with an education will come a better job and that there are new jobs available every day. When times get tough it is normal to lose sight of the big picture. It is easier to just quit trying and go for what is convenient. The problem is big because the people make it big. When doing what is right, by sending their children to school, there will only be positive outcomes and the country will only become that much closer to being a developed country.