Here are two articles from the Washington Post. Read both. While they are clearly both taking part in the larger dialogue that surrounds the environment, they have several substantial differences in their perspectives and scales. They also address two different levels of consciousness about the environment. Where do these articles intersect and where do they diverge? What is your contribution to the two conversations going on here?
They are both obviously talking about the environment and what kind of impact each of us have on our surroundings. The first article, "The Great Mexican Gum Gambit: Capital City Cleans Up," workers are trying to make the environment healthier by urging citizens to clean up after themselves. To start this off they have set up a plan to clean up trash found around the city and set up trash cans not miles apart from each other but only a block or so away from each other so people don't find the urge to just throw trash on the floor just because they weren't able to find a trash can near by. In the other article, "Faster Climate Change Feared," the whole world is discussed rather than just a large city. In this article they discuss the potential dangers of what can come in the near future. Although both articles are discussing very different settings, they are common in the sense that they point out problems seen in the environment and what could be done to help protect the environment from further damage. I do give credit to those workers who think they can change people's minds about recycling and cleaning up but living in such a largely populated city, I'm not sure their efforts will go as far as they hope they would. For the other article, I was in a magnet program all through high school that was dedicated to the environment and we learned more than enough information on "global warming." I don't believe that the change is due to us because if you look in history there are findings that are similar if not identical to what we are seeing nowadays.
ReplyDeleteBoth articles include very strong opinions about the environment. In the first article "The Great Mexican Gum Gambit:Capital City Cleans Up" it speaks about Mexico City's big plan to change there environment. The article claims that there is thousands upon thousands of pieces of gum every where, as well as, litter. So there plan is to get hundreds of workers to slave all day (literally)picking up this gum and trash. They stated that one piece of gum takes about ten seconds to remove. Another problem was the trash cans, their are not many, therefore the people resort to throwing their trash on the ground. In article two, "Faster Climate Change Feared", it looks at climate change from a global perspective stating, that the ice sheets that are melting from the north are causing methane gases to release which ultimately contributes to global warming. The article also goes on to say, "We dont know how much methane is coming out of the world, We have to act very fast, by understanding better and by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, because it's a large-scale experiment that can get out of hand." Well in my opinion if acting fast is the solution to prevent global warming, then were in deep shit. The reason I say this is because we have screwed up the environment way too much for anything to happen over night. Just take the Mexican article for example, they have enormous Bordo Poniente dump, which produces 15 percent of the area's greenhouse gas emissions,the city awakes each morning to scrub the polluted grime from its collective windshield, and they even state that it will take FOREVER to clean up the gum because people are always adding new pieces. And this is just one city, think about the rest of the world, and places who are not even trying to change their poor environmental decisions. It seems as if in order to prevent global warming everyone would have to change their lifestyles, which many people are not going to do. Obviously these problems are ones that will take too much time to even try to reverse. Therefor, by article to saying that these problems need to be solved quickly is impossible, so its like they are just hoping to prevent the inevitable.
ReplyDeleteWow Ashley I was not aware that in earlier history findings of global warming were pretty much identical to what were are experiencing today. That just proves my point even more that, nature is going to take its course no matter how hard we try to prevent it.
ReplyDeleteObviously, both of these articles are talking about the environment and human effects on it. I think that the clean up in mexico city is a great idea. Although very tough and expensive, it would make the city itself a stronger tourist attraction. But cleaning the city will take alot more than just hiring people to clean it. It will take the inhabitants of mexico city to change their lifestyle and beging caring for the environment. The second article, also speaking about the environment, also talks about a required lifestyle change. Unfortunatly most people in the world are unwilling to go through with this lifestyle change and dont see the whole picture. They just seem to see the smaller picture of the effect of the changed on their own life, and not lives down the road. If people continue to look at the smaller picture we could have a serious problem on our hands. Overall, the lifestyle shift is completely unlikely and as much as i would like to see it happen, i dont think it will. As ashley has said, history repeats itself all of the time. But not only in evironmental patterns, but in most aspects of human life on earth. From dramatic climate shifts to the rise and fall of empires these cycles have repeated many times. But unfortunatly, nothing we can do will change it, but the things we do can and will speed it up, and not only can we speed it up but we can make the changed worse than they would be without our help.
ReplyDeleteAriana,
ReplyDeletenature will definately be making its course either way whether we like it or not. But the things that we do can very well speed up the process and make it a much stronger change than it would have been it moving along its normal course. but i definately agree that this quick fix is impossible no matter what we do. I think we need to start working to help slow it down as much as possible. ASAP
Their perspectives and scales differ drastically. One is talking soley about Mexico City and how it is having problems with cleanliness, more specifically excess gum that covers sidewalks all over the city. The other is talking about how the habits of the world are affecting the melting of the polar ice caps and how they are, even now melting faster than expected. The two levels of consciousness about the environment are also quite visible. Mexico City's state of consciousness is directly related to their citizens. Evertime someones throws a piece of gum on the ground or sticks it to a bench they consciously know that they are littering and causing pollution. They might not necessarily care or they might just not see any trash cans in sight but they are consciously chosing to litter. The state of consciousness in regards to the quickened melting of the polar ice caps is a little harder to evaluate. It is a broader area and is therefore affected by and affects a larger spectrum of people. Greenhouse gases are widely acepted as the main problem for melting ice caps. But, for those who have no knowledge of our current predicament and are only focusing on making that fire to keep warm it is not a conscious descision to pollute.
ReplyDeleteKevin
ReplyDeleteEven though the clean up of Mexico City will be a hard one it will not necessarily be an expensive one. I think that they said that they bought 10 cleaning devices valued at $10,000 each. The city is paying for those and can clearly afford it seeing as how it is a city and the citizens pay taxes. Also not everyone is unwilling to change, some just dont know the effects that their decisions make and others have no choice but to continue living how they do if not just to survive.
Kevin I agree with your statement about how it cleaning a city will take alot more work than just hiring people to clean up gum and empty trash cans more than once a day. I also believe it will take alot more work to change what has already become a normalcy to us human beings.
ReplyDeleteEnvironmental awareness has been drawing a lot of attention lately, both on small and large scales. Mexico City's garbage problem is conceptually similar to the climate change problem we all face. Each has its own cause and necessary solution. In the article "The Great Mexican Gum Gambit: Capital City Cleans Up" the leaders in Mexico City are struggling to come up with a way to not only reverse the accumulated garbage, especially gum, but also to change how people treat the city. The leaders of environmental committees talked about in "Faster Climate Change Feared" still need to figure out the exact cause of global warming, discover what, if anything, can be done to stop it and then find a way to apply to this globally. The two cases do have comparable aspects. However, there is too much ambiguity for climate change. There are still many people, myself included, who don't even know what to think about the whole thing. It is obvious what can be done in Mexico City, but as for global warming, it seems we are still years from having any definitive information that allows us to make decisions.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kevin that a lifestyle shift is out of the question for now, mainly because there are no direct effects from global warming on the average person, especially in the US. Hopefully we don't ignore this for too long, if indeed we can actually do something about it.
ReplyDeleteThe articles "The Great Mexican Gum Gambit: Capital City Cleans Up" and "Faster Climate Change Feared" both discuss the environment and our effect on it. In "The Great Mexican Gum Gambit: Capital City Cleans Up," William Booth discusses how Mexico City plans to clean up the city and put an end to littering.
ReplyDeleteRicardo Jaral Fernández, the city government's executive coordinator for the conservation of public spaces has come up with a plan to clean the gum from the streets. Claiming that there is an average of "70" pieces of gum every square meter, the city plans to start on February 1st to scrub clean the central historic district of Mexico City.
The plan will only work, however, if those who are in the city make a conscious effort to stop littering. Thus, the city plans to place garbage cans every block throughout the city to make littering less of an option.
"The capital and its surrounding metropolis, home to 20 million people, is in danger of being buried in its own garbage" (Booth). The city is just not seeing results in their previous efforts to recycle and greenhouse gases have gone up higher and higher.
To clean the historic center, 700 workers, including 530 street cleaners will work to empty "each of the new 1,200 trash cans not once, not twice, but 11 times a day. They will manually sweep the streets and sidewalks eight times a day. They plan to clean with soap and water the area around the trash cans once a day" (Booth).
"Francisco Padrón Gil, director of the Mexican Initiative for Conservation and Learning, said the project in the center of Mexico City 'could be a great way to teach people about consumption, recycling and reduction'" (Booth). Afterall, if we are capable of making the mess, we should take responsibility to clean up the mess we have caused.
Contrastly, the article, "Faster Climate Change Feared," by Juliet Eilperin claims that the United States is facing the possibility of a much more rapid climate change by the end of the century than previous studies have suggested but are unsure whether or not humans are the cause of these changes.
"It is impossible to determine yet whether human activity is responsible for the drought the Southwestern United States has experienced over the past decade, but every indication suggests the region will become consistently drier in the next several decades" (Eilperin).
While predictions remain uncertain, Steffen said cutting emissions linked to global warming represents one of the best strategies for averting catastrophic changes.
"We have to act very fast, by understanding better and by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, because it's a large-scale experiment that can get out of hand," Steffen said. "So we don't want that to happen."
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteI am impressed how blunt you are when you claim that nothing we do will stop the inevitable cycle of the Earth's patterns. Although I agree that there is nothing we can do to stop the cycle in its entirety, I hope that both of us are proved wrong :)
Both of these articles, though very different, seem to discuss the same topic, just form a different angle; the environment and the roles we play in it. Though we may not realize it, the things we do have a serious effect on our environment. In my opinion, i feel like many people think on more of an individual basis rather than as a whole. When i say this, i mean that many tend to think along the lines of "well if i toss this piece of gum on the floor, its just one piece of gum, so what's the harm?" What we tend to leave out is that, what if every other person has this same mindset? That just leaves a great deal of society who litter, dont recycle, etc. Also we need to start preparing for the generations to come. Though we may not see the effects of global warming and all the harm we do to the environment now, our children's children and maybe even our children will certainly see the effects. Though there isnt exact proof that we are the sole cause of such environmental changes, we definitely due contribute to the increased speed of such changes. In regards to the articles, i think that the idea Jaral and other officials have is a great one. Though it will be undeniably time consuming and a strict effort, in all they are merely bettering the planet. If people continue to be educated on the harm that their actions cause to the environment, im sure more and more people will at least be able to manage to do simple tasks like keeping a piece of gum in their mouths long enough to reach the next garbage can. The second article seemed to discuss some of the things that our environment is already going through today. Though we will not be able to see nor be affected by such changes now, in the near future we will be. Though people aren't the sole cause for these changes, it's time now that we at least attempt to slow them down.
ReplyDeletearianna,
ReplyDeletei agree with you when you say that "we have screwed up the environment way too much for anything to happen over night." There has been so much damage done to our environment, both from our doing and from natural doings for anything to occur immediately. All we can do is start now to slow down the process. It doesnt look like there is anyway to ultimately stop global warming because it has already begun to progress. What we can do is start now to prevent any further progression. This will be a long process, but definitely a process that is a worth it.
There was a time when humanity didn't have to worry so much about the state of its environment. Before the time of established city states space was nearly unlimited and people did not have to spend as much time worrying about their trash. Not to mention that all of it was organic back then. As soon as people started to join together and live in towns the matter of what to do with waste was obvious. Trash of all types is unsightly and if left unmanaged, it helps to spread diseases. It destroys our environment.
ReplyDeleteThe environment, the space that we live in, this is what the two articles are talking about. That is what they have in common. They share the mutual feeling that it is our duty to ensure that the world that we live in is taken care of. While this underlying principle is the same in both of the articles, the scope of the articles differs greatly. The "Great Mexican Gum Gambit" is more oriented to small scale environmental concerns. It deals with the health and aesthetic issues of living in a polluted environment, and stresses the small day to day steps that should be taken in order to make the world a more pleasant place: activities such as recycling and throwing your gum/trash in the proper place.
The other article, "Faster Climate Change Feared", while also talking about the environment is dealing with an altogether different scale. This article is talking about worldwide climate change. The fact that the polar ice sheets are melting and what affects that will have on our world, such as rising water levels, changing ocean currents and weather patterns.
The articles both have the same tone however. Both articles stress the importance of our actions to preserve our environment. I think that ultimately humans our responsible for the predicament that we find ourselves in. True, the world has gone through many climate shifts but it is undeniably true that our emissions of greenhouse gasses have at least accelerated if not caused this one. I was watching the Discovery Channel the other day and they proposed that the reason for major climate shifts in the past was also due to greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gasses emitted due to large amounts of volcanic activity.
We also should put more effort into developing alternative energy sources purely for the fact that coal, petroleum, and natural gasses are definitely not renewable resources. They have been developed over millions of years and once they are gone we cannot change that, only time can produce more resources. Therefore, if we change our habits to depend on energy sources such as the sun, wind, or geothermal activity we theoretically have an endless supply of energy. (Until of course the sun cools down, expands and swallows all of the planets out to Jupiter or Saturn) But hey, hopefully by then we can planet hop to the outer edges of the Solar System, or even further perhaps.
Even with all that said, and assuming that you don't believe in Global Warming, which is understandable, you can go wrong by cleaning up the environment. It can't hurt right? At least we will have a cleaner, more enjoyable place to live.
Derek,
ReplyDeleteI think you made a good point about the differences in consciousness of the two articles. People who choose to litter are obviously doing that consciously without regard with their surroundings. On the other hand, like you said, someone who is making a fire to keep warm isn't trying to produce greenhouse gasses, they are simply trying to keep warm. You can say the same for people who are trying to drive to work or turning on lights to see at night. I think there is a big difference. Hopefully in the future we will have the means to take care of ourselves without wrecking our environment.
These articles both have interesting point on the enviroment and how to clean or prepare for the future by being aware of the effects we are having on it in longterm. In "The Great Mexican Gum Gambit: Capital City Cleans Up" it talks about its cleaning up efforts in Mexico City. It refers to thousands of pieces of gum that are all over the city and how cleaning them up takes a lot of effort. They have hired people to clean up the city and help with the major litter problem they are having. This article also stated that some of the problem could be due to the lack of trash cans around the city so people throug trash on the ground. I can understand this issue because Mexico City is one of the most populated cities in the world, so if in this city's history there has been a limited effort in comfronting the issue of litter then is going to be a big problem now that they're trying to clean the city. In "Faster Climate Change Feared" this article looks at global warming and climate change around the world. It talks about the ice that is melting from the artic that's causing methane gas to being release into our enviroment. The sciencist say that they're not sure how much of this gas is being release, which really worries them. They talk about different theories about what could happen by developing a model for the future. Both these article agrue similar issues. One article focuses on one city and the other focuses on the entire world; they both talk about the effects of litter and global warming have on our enviroment.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part I think that we all agree, but I see some people don't believe that man causes global warming. It's been a big debate in the world and I believe that it's true that the world natually cool and warms-up, but I also believe that humans could be speeding up the process due to our popluation. We don't excatly know what are the effects of our popluation but I do think that it has a negative one.
ReplyDeleteThe two articles main differences are the earth and how healthy it is. Besides that the two different articles go into two very different directions. "The Great Mexican Gum Bandit" refers to the pollution in Mexico City. The article goes over the effects that trash are having on the city. From just making it ugly to leaving a layer of smog over the city. The article "Faster Climate Change Feared" goes into the effects of global warming and all that other stuff. It tells the reader that the world is going to go through climate changes sooner than expected. Personally, the Mexico article I agree with and encourage. I have personally been to Mexico City a few times and, yes it is the dirtiest city i've ever been to. I hope the Mexican's take more pride in their culture and try to preserve and keep their historic buildings beautiful. The other article, I dont really agree with. I am not a firm believer of that the changes our earth is going through is human's fault. The world went through an Ice Age without us there is no reason it can't go the other way. I am in no way denying the changes that are occurring, or saying humans aren't the reason for them, but there is nothing to say that we are the sole reason for everything that is happening.
ReplyDeleteJavain,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%. I am not real big on the idea that the world is going through these changes solely based on how humans are treating it. With that being said I am not shooting that idea down either.
I thought it was interesting to read about how people are trying to effect the environment on two different scales: almost in the same sense as in micro and macroecnomics. A larger scale (like the global climate change) vs. the smaller scale (being the changes the Mexico City government is trying to enact.
ReplyDeleteBoth situations, people are making efforts to affect and better the environment either in their city or in the whole world. I think the plan by Mexico City to rid their streets of the gum and litter is a fantastic idea though it may have economic consequences initially in order to pay for the cleaning services. However, Mexico City might also experience an increase in tourism due to their cleaner streets which in turn increases the city's revenue. There is also the plus of creating jobs for a struggling working class.
On the other hand, the issue of a global climate change is definitely a macro concept. I think that there is reason for concern surrounding the idea of a global climate shift though I don't think people should panic despite these new models showing the increasing rate of change. I think it does however call for more hastily made changes in people's lifestyles to prevent or decelerate this rate of change. The effort generally seems to be made in little ways like increasing the number of recycling bins around campus and such or the government subsidies to automobile companies to manufacture eco-friendly cars but it may not be enough. Apparently more actions need to be made in order to protect the environment for future generations. Exactly what those plans are I really don't know. I suppose ti has to start with lowering the amount of Co2 released into the atmosphere because that essentially seems to be the source of the issue alongside the slashing of the rainforest.
The idea of global warming and how we are trashing our earth is so overworked. Hey, here's an idea.. let's be positive. Instead of going around saying gas pollutes the air, people are wasteful, people are disrespectful towards nature blah blah blah. Focus on the positive, ways to fix the problem that is presented. Despite popular belief I don't think that people are the CAUSE of change in the environment, they just kind of help speed it along.
ReplyDeleteIt's great when you see fuel companies searching for alternate ways of power in order to lessen emissions out into the air. Recycling is also receiving a lot more attention in order to try and make use of the materials we already have made instead of making more, and increasing waste.
As far as the articles, I think it's great to see one person making such a small effort as scraping gum off streets to try and make our living space more clean. People are always going to be spitting out there gums on streets so its a bold thing to master. The gum will never run out, but it doesn't seem that person's spirit and drive will either.
The other article? Typical. We've all heard it before.. the dangers, the risks, the statisics. Tell us something we don't know.
It is evident that both articles are talking about the environment and how our societies are treating it. I believe much like everyone else that the Mexico City cleanup is a great idea, however this is going to take a lot of effort from not only the government but the people living there. Things aren’t just going to change over night and people aren’t going to stop throwing their gum on the street. It takes everyone doing a little here and a little there to get where we need to be. The second article also talks about the environment and how the things that we do in our everyday lives are affecting how quickly global warming is approaching us. The two articles offer an abundance of information and ideas of how we can change, but I see it highly unlikely that we see any changes in the near future because people aren’t really sure yet what to believe. This is where both articles intersect, they both have issues that surround how our environment is going to look like in the next century if we don’t fix some loose ends.
ReplyDeletekevin,
ReplyDeletei would have to agree with you on your point that anything that we do is most likely not going to have an affect on our enviroment. people arent going to pick up a hand an help or do what the governemtn says when talking about global warming and our enviroment.
both of these articles are commenting on the state of our environment around us. the article about the gum chewing mainly focuses on the the country of mexico and how they are taking little steps to remove gum i found it interesting the amount of gum they remove and that is such a big problem there. they also want to help put more garbage cans to prevent this littering. an addition like this can help push you in the right direction. it shows their concern for the environment which connects to the second article which shows our environment at a much bigger scale involving global warming. the seriousness that our actions are having on our environment is unimaginable and i believe many people are still in denial. i am actually reading a book for my ethics class and right now we are watching the film an inconvenient truth. the scientific facts that have been brought up to prove that global warming is real should be known. when i first heard these facts i was shocked and wish it was something untrue. i know the main point of these blogs is to focus on the articles but id like to bring up something i read in this book. the author says that we need to change our lifestyles in many ways, not putting down in any way the recycling or picking up gum in mexico but that there is more that needs to be done. this can't only be happening in mexico we all need to pitch in and start doing more more things in mexico need to happen to help make a lasting effect on the environment it needs to happen all over the world and we need to work together as a whole to prevent ourselves from destroying the world God created for us.
ReplyDeletei agree with trents statement where he says people arent going to do anything until the government says something and in this case it would be inforcing it. the author of the book im reading mentions this as one of the steps towards action that needs to be taken on our climate change/global warming issues. the reason why many people dont believe that global warming exists is that they are in denial due to the fact that they arent seeing any effects of it on their lives right now which is selfish. although you might not see the effects now it will be happening to our kids and their kids and so on. but it also effects the third world countries. since we have the money we are able to provide ourselves with protection where these countries have notihng and get the worst end of the situation because of us. we have created most of the greenhouse gases in the environment due to our lifestyles. the author argues that we need to live not as good but not as selfishly as we do and we definetely need to help out the other people of the world. this book so far is pretty good and has been making some great statements and so is the movie an inconvenient truth.
ReplyDeleteThe articles "The Great Mexican Gum Gambit: Capital City Cleans Up" and "Faster Climate Change Feared" both discuss one community, the environment. The first article, "The Great Mexican Gum Gambit: Capital City Cleans Up," deals with this community in a small area. The second article deals with Earth as a whole. It describes the effects we have on the environment and what they believe may happen in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe first article goes into detail about what they plan to do in order to make the Mexico city a cleaner place. Their plan is to scrub clean the entire city. This plan will work very well as long as everyone puts effort to stop littering. This task will be completed by adding garbage cans every block. Many workers will also be hired to empty all the new trash cans, as well as manually sweep the streets and sidewalks multiple times a day. I believe that in order for this to be successful people have to be willing to change. It will be hard to get everyone to comply, but it is much easier to have change when the change it not asking much of each individual.
The second article also discusses changes that people need to make in order to help the environment. This article is talking about the large community, Environment and the globe. It argues whether these issue that we are having with the environment are even in our control. The real issue is that we are contributing to global warming. Maybe we cannot stop it but we can slow it down. The problem is we are not just dealing with a city or a state, we are dealing with the whole world. This is much harder to get everyone to comply. Especially if we have to give up things out of our own lives in order to preserve Earth for the future.
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you say. Maybe we can not stop global warming but what we do on this Earth makes a difference. We just have to believe that we can make a difference and put forth effort. If we do this we will be surprised with what we are capable of.