Carol asks…
Is my school doing this to prepare us for college?
I took this from my school’s site:
“Community Service Program
Participation in the Community Service Program is mandatory for all Secondary School students. Students select two community projects per year, ranging from helping to raise awareness of environmental issues, volunteer at orphanages, and centers for the aged, infirmed and disabled.”
Does this count as extra activities that will help our acceptance to college? Or is this a thing every high school does?
The Expert answers:
Yes-this will help you gain entrance to college. There will probably be hundreds of students with SAT scores and GPA similar to yours, so admissions staff look for something extra in applicants. Community service shows that you multifaceted and willing to give back to the community.
Sandra asks…
Why should I care about environmental issues?
I’m asking this from a devil’s advocate viewpoint. Suppose someone doesn’t care about global warming, or doesn’t believe that it’s happening, and doesn’t see evidence about climate change. Suppose someone believes that the earth’s resources are fit for human’s use (for better for worse) so why should we care if there are long-term environmental repercussions? Or for that matter, since these consequences aren’t estimated to have an impact for decades to come, why should people in the present care? If their children have to deal with it, shouldn’t they deal with it as a consequence of their time? After all– if something bad isn’t going to happen for another 40-50 years, why should young people care about it NOW when most of us might be dead in that time anyway?
Why should people care about saving water, forests, recycling, sustainability, clean air, etc., when many of these things impinge upon people’s freedom to choose? Or interfere with businesses being able to function within an already tight economy? When Bush was president, he did not want to sign the Kyoto agreement because he wanted voluntary participation.
Regardless of your political views, religious views, etc. I’d be interested to hear your opinions, the evidence you present, etc.
I would like SERIOUS answers.
The Expert answers:
Because the environment provides our air, food and water. If we pollute or destroy our resources, we kill ourselves. Also, what about future generations? If anyone has kids, grand kids, nieces, nephews, etc…why not leave something behind for them. Of course if someone does not value life at all, and are totally self absorbed or egotistical they might not care about future generations. You say saving the environment impinges on rights…well if you are dead from eating poison food, drinking polluted water or no water at all, and breathing toxic air…I think your rights would be pretty non-existent then too.
Linda asks…
Didnt nature intend us to be buried rather than to be cremated?
Environmental issues
Although cremation was promoted after world war II as environmentally preferable to burial, modern thinking is challenging this. Gas is consumed in the process – and trees (in the form of coffin wood) destroyed. Natural resources are used up, carbon dioxide is produced, adding to the global warming problem and harmful pollutants are released into the atmosphere. Natural decomposition after burial seems less harmful to the environment, especially when a shroud rather than a coffin is used. And if the graves are reused, no land is lost to the living but rather a community amenity is brought back into use.
The Expert answers:
We fall down and rot away ( or be eaten) unless there is a social structure or religion
Helen asks…
Why are so many conservatives such diehard free market capitalists?
I agree with conservatives on many issues but it seems like many of them try to oversimplify economic issues. For example, I don’t think many people disagree that we need some form of healthcare reform, but I don’t see why conservatives are so opposed to government-run healthcare when it works well in other countries. Obviously some government regulations and agencies such as the EPA are also necessary in today’s modernized society and we can’t expect the free market to magically protect us from pollution and environmental issues and whatnot.
The Expert answers:
It’s because people in this day and age don’t really know what real Free Market Capitalism is. Free Market Capitalism means businesses can pay workers as little as they want, lets say 2 cents an hour. Businesses could also charge as much as they want, so while you are payed your two cents, prices for basics for human survival could be jacked up. For example, $25 dollars for a loaf of bread.
In that society, we are no better off than in a communist country where elites in government control us, and quite honestly the private business owners would probably run this government too. So, Communism and True Free Market Capitalism can end up the same way. We tried Free Market, we stopped because IT FUCKING SUCKS!!!!
Sharon asks…
Cons why do you oppose government regulation of environmental issues?
I can tell that if littering wasn’t a crime everyone would be doing it, so why shouldn’t this be the exception that government gets involved in? I don’t like government telling me what I can do with my personal body, and they shouldn’t get involved in social issues, but I do think the environment does need an advocate who has power, don’t you? Considering the history humans do have at handling species in the long run, most humans even in the last century didn’t give a crap about animals or the earth and look where that got us. So answer me this: Why not let gov enforce policies regarding a better earth?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLoBCCsj_dM
The Expert answers:
Republicans have a pretty good record on environmental issues.
1. Among Abraham Lincoln’s vast contributions to the betterment of humanity, one of the lesser known is his conservation record. In 1864, the first and greatest Republican president signed legislation deeding Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to California for public enjoyment and recreation.
Lincoln’s unprecedented action was the seed from which our national parks grew.
2. Benjamin Harrison is one of those obscure 19th century presidents who wore a lot of facial hair and didn’t leave much of a mark on history. Give Harrison credit, however, for signing into law the 1890 Forest Reserve Act, which authorized the establishment of national forests for public uses rather than pell-mell exploitation. The federal government’s forest management record has been checkered, but imagine what would have happened in the law’s absence.
The next time you go snowshoeing in the White River National Forest or rafting in the Monongahela, thank Harrison for his foresight.
3. In 1906, a Republican Congress passed legislation to stop looting of historically significant artifacts on public lands. The law authorized the president to establish national monuments to protect “objects of historic or scientific interest.”
4. Theodore Roosevelt signed the bill into law and ran with it, establishing monuments protecting Devils Tower, the Grand Canyon, Mount Lassen and other rather large “objects.” As president, Roosevelt established 155 national forests, two-thirds of the present system, five national parks, 18 national monuments and 55 bird and game preserves, the cornerstones of our national wildlife refuge system.
5. 1970 was a banner year for Nixon’s environmental achievements. On New Year’s Day, Nixon signed into law the National Environmental Policy Act. Six weeks later, he put a sweeping legislative program of clean air and water, waste reduction and open space acquisition before Congress. Six months later, Nixon established EPA
6. John Saylor represented Pennsylvania in Congress from 1949 to 1973. Saylor kept dams out of Dinosaur National Monument and the Grand Canyon. He crusaded for protecting wild rivers and expanding national parks. And, he was the Republican co-sponsor of the Wilderness Act of 1964, one of the great conservation achievements of the 20th century.
7. The Alaska Lands Act is the single largest land protection achievement in U.S. History. Protection of an overpowering wild landscape of remote mountains, vast forests and free-flowing rivers was secured for future generations in 1980, thanks partly to Senator William Roth of Delaware. Later, with the bill safely passed, Roth sponsored legislation to designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain as wilderness, a cause he championed throughout his remaining years in Congress. Roth is perhaps better known as the author of the Roth IRA retirement plan.
8. Gerald Ford started the U.S. Down the long road to a rational energy policy, by signing, in 1975, a bill containing his proposal for motor vehicle fuel efficiency (CAFE) standards.
9. Reagan championed the1987 Montreal Protocol, which Reagan called a “monumental achievement,” It was the most important international environmental agreement in history.
10. Bush…those four national monuments that he established out in the Pacific Ocean are not easily forgotten either.
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