Earth Day

I am not a big fan of this day because I think that people don't value it or that people act responsibly on this one day but then dont for the rest of the year. I am a proponent of doing what you can to save the environment. I believe in global warming and I think that it is real. We should do everything in our power to prevent it. However, If it is as bad as the IPCC says it is then chances are it is inevitable. Personal actions to prevent it can make a big difference even if they are merely symbolic. One person may not make a difference but everyone acting together would have a profound impact on the entire world. We as an industrializd society consume way to much energy and abuse our priveledges. We become beholden to the Saudis for our oil. We need to get our fix or we begin intervening on our struggle to keep the war machine going. We strive to exert imperialism to keep our lifestyle going and to maintain the status quo.


In closing I think that we should all think locally and make decisions with the environment in mind.

Motivations

For some classes I am motivated and for others I am not. I really enjoy English/ Social studies class but I am really not a fan of math or of chemistry. It doesnt really click with me and I have a bit of difficulty with it. I take the class merely because I have to and I am motivated solely by getting an A or sometimes just maintaining a B. I would really like to go to the University of Berkeley for college and I recognize that grades are necessary for admission to some of the more presitgious universities. I also wish to debate for either Berkeley, Michigan or Northwestern in college but a pre requisite to achieving that goal is receiving decent grades and excelling on standardized tests. For English. Social Studies and Debate I am motivated. I enjoy writing and thinking outside fo the box. I hate being constrained to the realm of a correct answer. Life isnt about one correct answer. It is about getting from point A to point B and enjoying the ride. there is an infinite amount of possibilities for how to get from point A to point B. Another motivation for chemistry that I recognize is that I can grow as an individual. I am not a fan of the topic, however, new modes of thought are necessary to grow as a person and as an intellectual. Like it or not I choose to make the best out of school and try to find new wholesome motivations isolated from my selfish objectives.

Grades

I found this post to be very insightful and that really mirrors how I feel about grades.Personally I don't think they are a determinant of how smart you are. I feel if I really applied myself their is no reason I couldnt receive a 5.0. I would really like to achieve this but that isnt where my priorities lie. I choose to focus more attention on debate and tend to sort of get by when it comes to grades. I feel that our knowledge at school is constrained and we cant make our selves greater as intellectuals. We are told what to learn and how to learn it. I feel like going to school is a choice. If I wasnt forced to go I would choose to learn certain subjects on my own separate from the established academic structure. I love to learn but I would rather learn about things that interest me and learn about them on my own terms. School is taught in a vacuum and isnt compared to real life. English is the best example of this. We read meaningless texts and we learn about them in a vacuum. I feel like a sheep going along with the sheep herder at times. I recognize that this is the best way for a school to work and is probably the only way. So I willingly choose to be a sheep until the day where I no longer have to be a part of the academic system. School opens doors and I would really like to open doors for myself. School is almost like a game and so are grades. People who get A's are either A)talented in the subject or B) they play the game well. I used to play the game a lot more than I do now. Reluctantly I play the game. I have been afforded with many opportunities and it would be a shame for me to waste them. Learning is fun but the process of grades makes it stressful. What does that letter really mean? Why do people want A's? Most of these motivations are selfish and for some they are for a genuine yearning for knowledge. Personally if I want to learn the material I am going to learn it regardless of the motivations of grades. Grades don't make me a productive citizen they merely open up doors to college and to a job later in life. Who is to say that a Nobel Laureate is smarter than a homeless man of the street. Knowledge is measured in our society by grades. That process doesnt seem right to me. if I want to learn a topic I am going to do it regardless of what people tell me. I am geuiniely curious person and I love to read about anything. Work ethic is of utmost importance to me. It matters more than grades or anything. If I say to someone that something will get done then come hell or high water it will be done. I value my word and my hard work and determination over anything else. When I receive an A I view it as a symbol of my work ethic. In practice school gets you nowhere in the real world. Once you are in the door all that matters is your work ethic. Whatever grade I received my work ethic shall propel me forward to wherever I want to go. At times i feel like I should be a more subervient sheep and at times I choose not to be. I am very fortunate to be afforded many opportunities in life and I want to make something of them. Grades dont determine intelligence. I intelectually pursue things seperate from school. I presume that half of the people who receive A's choose to spend their time elsewhere trying to game the system in their favor. This doenst apply to everyone. For some grades are an area or an outlet to demonstrate what they perceive as success. I dont mean to sound like a pessimist or a non conformist at all. I am happy to go to such a wonderful school and I want to make the most of it. Hopefully the system will change as time progresses. hopefully people will want to learn for the right reasons and not for faulty motivations. I seek to learn for I think are the right reasons. Bettering myself as a person. If grades dont propel me anywhere in life then my work ethic will. School is a stepping stone and one I hope to utlilize for the sake of my well being. Whatever I choose to do in life can be accomplished if I set my mind to it and invest all of my time and effort. Grades wont pose a hinderance to that goal.

Science and Politics

I think that science and politics are connected on a large scale but I dont think it should be that way. I think science should always be funded and should always be continuously expanded. The right wing tries to block funding that could potentially save lives. While I am morally opposed to harvesting embryos for stem cell research I don't think that as a whole the practice is bad. My grandfather died of Parkinson's and if that type of research found a cure then I would have been eternally grateful. I hope that the research yields useful information that will help the millions who suffer from these debilitating diseases. Science is a force for good but also a force for evil. Guns or Medicine? The Atomic Bomb or the Pacemaker? The USFG should continue to fund science projects and things like NASA that help us to explore our human potential. Absent this devotion these programs will inevitably wither and with it we shall lose our technological dominance on the world stage. Other countries like China and India shall surpass us. Personally I dont want to look to China for leadership I would much rather look at the United States. People should cry out against science when it poses a hindrance to a basic code of ethics or morals. Those two principles come before all else. This is a debate that could go on for years but that is just a brief synopsis of my opinion.

Nuclear Power

Well, this happens to be part of the debate topic for the year so I am pretty well researched on this question. I definitely think that nuclear power is a safe alternative. As it stands today it is the best alternative. Although in the coming years hopefully their will be alternatives such as concentrated solar power or wind power. These alternatives would be a lot less harmful and their wouldn't be the the issue of waste. The risk of a terrorist attack is low and the risks of a meltdown are overstated. All of the qualified people on this question conclude that it is safe. Harold Bengelsdorf former director of energy wrote, "a policy that significantly strengthens U.S. civil nuclear infrastructure will not only help the United States to build new nuclear power plankts, but will also enhance the ability to advance its non proliferation agenda."There are benefits to nuclear power that go beyong juse Global Warming. US leadership on nuclear power allows us to worry about the NPT and CTBT. We can form global coalitions to solve the current crisis that we are in. John Ritch elaborates on how global warming is a problem for humans " Carbon fuel emissions -- 900 tons each second -- continue unabated, even as science warns that we are fast reaching a point of irreversible global warming with consequences for sea levels, species extinction, epidemic disease, drought and severe weather events that will disrupt all civilization" He continues that " Humankind cannot conceivably achieve a global clean-energy revolution without a rapid expansion of nuclear power to generate electricitY" Also in regards to the risks associated with nuclear power, " In the two decades since Chernobyl, the global nuclear industry has built an impressive safety record that draws on 12,000 reactor-years of practical experience". Ritch is a general of the World Nuclear Association and former U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The list goes on in terms of research. As far as Chernobyl and Three mile island they were horrendous accidents but just exactly that accidents They were using the old soviet reactors. And the sarifice of a few thousand lives to provide electricity for millions. The benefits massively outweigh the risk. As for storage, there really is no long term solution. For now Yucca seems like a fine alternative. It wouldn’t provide storage for that many years but if we believe the Mayans we will all be gone in 2012 anyway so we may as well secure our prosperity in the short term.

I normally am quite liberal and usually like deontology but in this case nuclear power necessitates a conservative and utilitarian framework.

Happy New Year,

Alex Pappas