Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Jamir Lopez
www.thinkgreenrecycle.com
"I bought the rights for the domain name and paid for the hosting. This was my first time creating a website (I hope is not to obvious). The contents are legit I am planning the creation of a company. The website wont remain like that I will add information and I will improve it along the way."
"I bought the rights for the domain name and paid for the hosting. This was my first time creating a website (I hope is not to obvious). The contents are legit I am planning the creation of a company. The website wont remain like that I will add information and I will improve it along the way."
Angela Smith
Shark Finning
The following is a fictitious apologue, or a narrative intended for moral figurative paralleling through an example that is equally as shocking and inhumane as shark finning.
A tall man with dark brown hair looks down at his watch to check the time. He taps his foot absently as he waits for his wife to come downstairs. 'Beep Beep' the sound of the horn outside reminds him that the impatient taxi driver has been waiting for several minutes. His beautiful wife gracefully moves down the stairs and he quickly grabs her coat and holds it open for her to step into. “We've kept the taxi waiting, shall we go out now?” he asks in good humor, winking at his smiling wife. They step out of their house and walk quickly through the rain and get inside the taxi. “To the Mystique Royale please,” the man says to the taxi driver as he dabs at the droplets of water from his shoulders and hair.
The Mystique Royale is the finest restaurant in Paris, and is known for serving only the most trendy and fashionable cuisine. As of late the Mystique Royale has been highly praised and publicized for its latest cuisine miracle – the tender and savory Blanquette de cheval. The couple is seated at their table, which is in a prime location, overlooking the Seine and a beautiful garden. With a self satisfied smile the man puts his menu down and whispers their order to the waiter. His wife looks at him with a playful smile causing a dimple to form on her right cheek, suggesting that she might know that he is surprising her with the dish that everyone has been talking about. A few minuets later their waiter brings out a covered dish and sets it down in the center of their table. The cover is removed and the steaming aroma wafts up and overtakes the couples senses. Both of them stare for a moment at the beautifully displayed Blanquette de cheval, as their mouths water in anticipation of the delectable dish. Neither the man nor the woman are aware of how the dish is prepared, or how much effort or time it takes; though they both will enjoy the dish and most likely come back for more.
What they do not know is that the dish is prepared using only the legs of Equus ferus, or wild horses. The culinary creation, Blanquette de cheval started out much like many other popular dishes, with only a few individuals ever having the opportunity of tasting it. However, as the dish grew in popularity its demand grew until the price of regular bodily horse meat was so low that it had to be given away. Once the horse-meat market reached this low point, it became more cost effective to only harvest the part(s) of the horse that could bring in the most revenue (the legs). What the couple at the Mystique Royale didn't know was that the dish that they paid many Euros for was actually made from horses whose legs had been cut off while they were still alive. They also didn't know that the most cost efficient way to produce this dish was to simply round up wild horses, cut off their legs and leave them to slowly bleed to death.
The apologue of the inhumane slaughter of horses is a fictitious story that draws paralleling lines to the problem that the world faces today in shark finning. The paralleling lines can be traced between the couple who ignorantly eats the desirable dish Blanquette de cheval, that kills hundreds of horses simply for their legs, and those who eat shark fin soup. Some people go to expensive restaurants in order to consume bowls of shark fin soup, all while blissfully unaware of the many sharks who are thrown back alive into the water, to slowly asphyxiate and die as they sink into the depths of the ocean.
These stories contrast the ignorant negligence of people who promote shark finning through their actions, either inadvertently or with purpose, by eating shark fin soup. All people who eat shark fin soup support the finning of sharks and their unnatural and cruel deaths, even if they are ignorant to the ways that the sharks are butchered alive.
Dainel Quick
In the city of Provo, Utah there is a new superhero, sponsored by Provo City Power, on the streets intent on increasing the energy efficiency of the citizenry, Switch It Man.
Switch It Man is still relatively new in his community, but he has begun to have a more noticeable effect on the city. He is now offering rebates to the general public for weatherization and for adding insulation to their attic/ceiling and outside walls. Rebates are also available for upgrading outside windows and central air conditioning units. In each case, the upgrade needs to meet particular energy standards. Switch It Man also is offering rebates to upgrade your old appliances with new ones that use energy-efficient technology. To participate, you need to be a Provo Power customer in good standing, complete the application form, and submit documentation (sales receipts, etc.) within 90 days of purchase. Got an old appliance? Switch It Man says, “Switch It!”Switch It Man also offers substantial rebates and incentives associated with energy audits. They offer two different kinds of audits, a cheap one for 15$, valued at 150$, or a slightly more expensive and extensive one for 30$, valued at 700$. Interestingly, the city of Provo will reimburse the 15 or 30 dollars if you take any of the suggestions offered by the auditor.
The Energy Audits for the city of Provo are performed by ProEnergy Consultants. I was given the privilege of shadowing an energy auditor, Zachary Parduhn, as he inspected a house in west Provo. At 10am on April 12th we arrived at the home of Mr. Buttars on Lake Shore Dr, Provo, and unloaded the gear. It was truly remarkable how Zach was able to fit everything into the back of his VW, but somehow he managed. Mr. Buttars was ready and waiting for us to begin. So we donned our booties over our shoes and got to work. In general a home energy audit usually takes about 2-3 hours to complete. Before we could actually began the energy audit, Zach, officially known as a home energy consultant, had to gather as much information as he could about Mr. Buttars, his family, and his home. Their home was built in the year 2000 and has a floor space of about 3,500 square feet distributed into 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The home has eight foot ceilings and is generally kept at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. At this point Zach expounded on the benefits of a programmable thermostat, which when used properly can save as much as 6% on an energy bill. Zach said that home energy conservation is different in each case, because every family in every home has unique needs and unique expectations.
Once he had gathered enough information, he installed a blower door into the front door frame. It was a red canvas that was expandable in order to fit the door frame perfectly. There was a circular hole in the bottom where we placed an industrial strength fan, which we set to blow out the door. This acted like a giant vacuum in order to amplify the home's natural air flow. The door was pretty cool it measured the air coming in and going out, and could fairly accurately predict how large the house was in square feet by the speed of the airflow. So it was pulling air from the inside, which forced air to enter the home through “leaky” spots. Place where air and energy can get in, it can also escape. This is not just an issue for energy, but also it can let in unwanted dust, allergens, moisture and other contributors to your family's discomfort. In other words, if you do have big holes in your home, you're probably suffering from a lot more than just needlessly high energy bills. ProEnergy Consultants claims that most of their energy audits not only improve the energy efficiency of a home, but dramatically increase your family's comfort as well.
Next, we walked around the home using an infrared camera. It was pretty sweet. When pointed at walls you can see clearly the effects of the insulation and where heat was escaping. When pointed at the wall you could see the studs where there was no insulation. I mean it can't see through walls but it did allow us to see streaks of where there were issues, when with the naked eye it would have been impossible. It was interesting to see in the pictures where energy can escape. In most every case the corners of rooms were leaking energy through the exterior walls. Windows and doors without fail were leaking through the corners of the frames. An interesting discovery to me was how much energy is lost through power outlets. I didn’t realize that since all electricity is run upwards and into the attic to one spot and then run to the grid, that the air flow from a poorly insulated attic can just vacuum warm air up the outlet and out of the house. The moral of the energy audit story is that the attic needs to be well insulated at all costs.
David Law
"I thought that something important for a blog is content that is interactive. I am a communications major and I think that one of the best ways to learn and keep an audience interested on the Internet is by giving them the opportunity to explore. That is why I came up with a quiz as a media element that could engage the audience and also teach at the same time."
"At first, I didn’t know what the best subject to give a quiz on would be. I eventually came up with something I thought would hit home for the average person. I came up with a set of questions about common activities that cause pollution. These were things like what to do with left over oil, how to use pesticides, and how to dispose of paint. I think that everyone comes across these activities during some part of their life and often times they don’t know how to tackle them. This quiz gave some scenarios and asked how the person might act in these situations."
"The quiz is set up as a multiple choice quiz. After each question, the answer is displayed along with the reason that was the best answer to the scenario. This is the part that gets the teaching across. The scenarios and questions all have an element of humor in them to keep it interesting. It is also short so as to avoid fatigue."
Heather Finch
When given this assignment, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. I knew that I needed to do something that interested me and involved the environment. As I contemplated on ideas of what to do, it hit me. I needed to do something about trails. As I searched madly online to find any indication of a law that had been created about trails, I found that it was actually quite difficult to find anything that was even remotely to do with their protection. Either my searching skills were off, or I just plain stunk at finding anything… but in the end, I did find a law. I decided to try and hike some nearby trails… but hiking at the end of March in the state of Utah isn’t the greatest idea unless you have snowshoes. And, for that matter, while driving to the area I was planning on hiking, I got a flat… which made life even more interesting. (Luckily, I do know how to change a flat!) Anyway, as I hiked in some areas closer to the valley, I felt like something was missing… like I needed to make this even more personal. So, back to the Internet I went, when I found this AWESOME act: The National Trails System Act. This act was actually first made in the 1960’s. It was created as a means of protecting trails across the United States that were historically beneficial and educational to people. Over 45 trails were named, and in that group, the Mormon Trail was listed as a trail that should be protected.
That’s when I knew. Never before had I been to the Mormon Trail. Too many times I had heard stories about it, but I wanted to go there myself. Turning this moment into a date, I actually ended up going 3-wheeling to Emigration Pass and to a couple sites in which the Mormon Trail was located. I was able to take a lot of awesome pictures! Because of the awesome Utah weather in the spring time, I was able to take pictures in over a foot of fresh snow… but even better, it gave me an opportunity to imagine more what the pioneers must have faced when coming to Utah. As I took many pictures and ended at “This is the Place” monument, I had a sudden desire to research more of my own family history to determine if I had any ancestors that had come across the trail. I knew I had a couple, but I was interested to know during what times they came.
I took this opportunity to meet with my grandmother to go through the family history. I found out that I had many ancestors that came on the trail, but that actually I had one that came with the first group with Brigham Young. His name was Thomas Bullock. Bullock acted as a personal scribe to Joseph Smith, as well as Brigham Young and eventually became a church historian. I really enjoyed reading about him and others who came across the trail.I’m grateful for the opportunity that I had to research more about my genealogy, and for the opportunity that I had to be educated not only about the Mormon Trail just as the purpose of the National Trails System Act desired, but for the opportunity to appreciate my own history. The point I really wanted to get across to people was that Environmental Policy can be in place for other means besides protecting the health of people, or protecting endangered species. Environmental policies, in the case of this act, can be means of education and in my own case, a chance for me to connect not only with the environment, but with my past as well.
Caschjen Atagi
"In this piece I wanted to portray a BYU graduate not being well educated about the importance of
the environment. The culture on campus is enter to learn, pass GO and collect a degree, and go
forth without a care in the world…about the world."
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