Thesis


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Monday, November 23, 2015

The Greenest Province

We are all going to die; that is a fact and nothing I’ve heard of so far is going to change that fact. Does that mean living is insignificant? Should we all just give up? Is there a point in trying to slow global warming if the Earth is going to heat up anyway? There’s a reason people try to live as long as they can; there is always hope that one day we might succeed.
The world is so focused on curing people right now that it doesn’t have time to heal the planet. Very few places are trying to do what they can to give us a chance at a future. The province of British Columbia in Canada is trying to change. This province is taking all the essential steps towards a greener future.
One of B.C.’s main cities, Vancouver, wants to make the shift to renewable energy by 2050. Recently, they publicly set this goal. Steps toward reaching it are already being taken.
In West Vancouver, the University of British Columbia (UBC), is also doing its part. Their Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) is committed to reducing the University’s carbon emissions every year.
A little farther up north, even tourist areas like Whistler are setting themselves yearly quotas and long-term goals. Whistler 2020 is a well-known program, dreamt up to make Whistler sustainable by the year 2020.
The Whistler-Blackcomb tourist company has actually set it’s own assignment. They are on their way to successfully completing their mission to make Whistler-Blackcomb have a “zero operating footprint”.
There is even an Environmental Farm Plan Program in B.C. Agriculture, especially industrialized agriculture, has a huge impact on the environment. Sustainable farming could reduce and even in some cases reverse the destruction we caused over the years. And it can often be fruitful, profitable.
British Columbia is doing exactly what we all should. They came up with ideas with achievable long and short-term goals, and then put them into effect as soon as possible. No delays, no short cuts.
As the world is finally starting to realize, greener is better. And in Canada, B.C. is the greenest. They are the model; they’ve set the example. Now it’s our turn to follow.
We often hear people saying that we have to do something in the next 10 years or the damage to the environment will be irreparable. So why aren’t we doing anything? B.C. got the ball rolling; all we have to do is keep the momentum going.

There is so much that people can do to help out, and it isn’t that complicated. Everyone, every country, province, state, city, town, person… can do their part. It won’t kill you, quite the opposite actually.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

You've Got Mail: terrorist attacks on Paris


“I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I’ll go for the gross-out. I’m not proud.” – Stephen King
King has figured out that the easiest way to get to people is through fear. It engages, provokes, inspires, and above all else makes people think. Terror is the world’s greatest weapon.
Currently all the biggest headlines are about the ‘Paris attacks’. Articles are constantly being updated live with stats: number of dead, injured, suspects…
These hits were calculated; they touched as many people as possible. And they did exactly what they were meant to: send a clear message.
The IS (Islamic State) militant group targeted specifically places of leisure, where people relax. They did as much damage as possible in as little time as possible to instil chaos. Now they’re getting all the attention they need to spread their ‘message’.
They want people to know that they will do whatever it takes to defend and spread their values. They’re trying to scare the general population into following them. War is great for publicity.
Media today is all about the negatives; we focus on all the terrible things that are happening in the world. A sappy story about a dog saving his drowning owner will make you feel all warm and mushy inside, but terrorism stories leave you on the edge of your seat.
You want to know more.
We remember disasters for a longer time. Subconscious paranoia remains well after you’ve forgotten that dog ever existed. And that’s exactly what the IS group is counting on.
This event won’t go away any time soon, and it’s giving them the recognition they crave.
When trying to spread a message, fear is the fastest vessel. It catches and jumps from branch to branch until nothing can stop its growth. The only thing left to do is to wait for it to burn out.
Fear is a fire that catches in your heart. It leaves nothing in its wake save ash and charred remains. There’s no way to avoid responding to an attack like this because someone has to try to extinguish public panic. You can calm it, but it never seems to fizzle and die.
Fear takes hold the moment we’re born; people and groups like this IS group aren’t sparking it up, they’re simply throwing a fresh log into the pit; fuel to the fire.
Please link image back to http://pickacard6.blogspot.ca
Terrorism is a clean white envelope, signed, sealed, delivered with a stamp on. The medias are the ones who crack it open and read it aloud to the world, setting it ablaze.
What happened in Paris is awful, and my heart goes out to anyone touched in some way, shape, or form by these events. However, that doesn’t mean we should play right into terrorists’ hands.
If you don’t know what’s going on, inform yourself. Go to your favourite news site or the one I just linked (in my research I found it had the most information).

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Please link image back to http://wwwpickacard6.blogspot.ca
Picture warmth. It’s bright. Sweet, honey-like smiles fill rooms. There’s a constant low buzz of white noise from people moving and talking in a hive of activity. Suddenly, it turns cold, and dark. Silence falls where laughter once bloomed. The halls are dead and abandoned. Only ghosts roam them, carelessly. This is the bitter, albeit exaggerated, reality that the public schools of Quebec, Canada are facing before and after hours. The teachers in Quebec aren’t being as valued as they should and I think something should be done.
      Field trips, book club, school sports, photography club, concerts, extra-curricular bands, the improve team, and so much more is being taken away. An ECA (extra-curricular activities) ban has been put in place because the teachers are protesting their new contract. Basically, teachers aren’t allowed to do anything they aren’t paid for; which is a lot.
      I’ve always loved how open my school is. Almost every door was gaping when I walked the halls before, or after school, during lunch, or even throughout the day. Students flowed in and out of classrooms and offices like bees moving about their colony. A building often compared to prison was alive, buzzing with freedom and creativity. 
      Now school resembles prison more and more. All the doors are sealed. No one shows up early, or stays late. And it’s quiet, unfeeling. During class, people converse and shift around; it’s almost like there’s still some vitality left. I can just about make out a soft din. But that sound is just our marching in line, our wings have been tied down. Besides, the eerie silence always returns.
      There is so much more to school than going to class. We grow: we learn about each other, and ourselves in the time we spend together, teachers and students. The lessons we’re taught without realizing it are the most important ones; we carry them with us for the rest of our lives.
      Teachers do so much more than what we see. They teach us to reach for the sky so we don’t get caught up in the beat of the march. Instead we learn to to fly. Flying is random, spontaneous and free. Marching is organized, repetitive, and boring. I’m sick of it.
      Teachers don’t get paid for giving us flight lessons, and they don’t need to be because it’s what they love. They became teachers for a reason, and it wasn’t to become rich. They don’t need to make absurd amounts of money, just enough to live. The protests aren’t out of self-interest, but for the students.
      The main issues with the new contract the government cooked up are changes that affect us. Right now what’s being discussed is class size. More specifically, increased class size and the fact that children with special needs may no longer be taken into account in calculating class size. Slower students will have trouble following courses with larger classes because they will be given less individual assistance. Special needs students will also unintentionally be taking away learning opportunities from the other students.
      In the government’s eyes we will all be the same. A uniform sea of orange made to march to a strict tempo, regardless of personal abilities. But we have different skills and assets; we can’t all be worker bees.
      Canada, and Quebec as a part of it, is a democracy. So shouldn’t we have the right to voice our opinions, to fight for what we believe in? Don’t people get a say in the contracts they sign? Supposedly, negotiations have started between the government and teachers, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Neither side is budging. If something is to be done, the public needs to speak up. 
       I’m not usually one to tell people what’s right or wrong. I give my opinion and let you draw your own conclusions. I don’t want you to just agree with me. Take my knowledge, your knowledge, and all the information you can find; then just think. Make your own judgement. If you live in Quebec, and want your voice to be heard, contact your local MNA; tell them your thoughts.
      And no matter your opinion, keep that mind buzzing

Sunday, November 08, 2015

The Incurable Generation

           Science has been claiming to have ‘almost found the cure for cancer’ for over 50 years. There is a logical reason for this of course, but the problem is due to this, my generation grew up thinking of cancer as ‘incurable’. Once you’ve got it, you just accept it and do nothing until you die.
         As things stand, our generation is going to become known as ‘the generation that did nothing’ or ‘the generation that didn’t care. Almost everyone either doesn’t know what’s going on in the world, doesn’t care, or won’t do anything about it.
        There was a massive earthquake in Nepal and the only reason I found out about it was by doing research for an article in english class. No one talks about it, and those who do know what happened aren’t doing anything to inform people of it or help.
         It’s the same thing with almost every tragedy, big or small. People think ‘Oh that’s horrible…’, then move on with their lives. We could scream at them ‘DO SOMETHING’ and they would only look up from their phones long enough to see if we would do it again so they could post it on Vine.
        We spend so much time looking at the great, crazy, hilarious, awesome things that other people experience online that when something interesting is actually happening in real life we don’t notice.
         A few weeks ago, eighty students from my school, went to New York City and while we were there went to see an off-broadway performance. We must have been waiting outside for 20 minutes and yet none of us noticed the gaping hole of destruction, or the flowers, pictures, and letters surrounding it just across the street. The only reason we saw it at all was because after the show we were asked for donations to help repair the damage from a fire.
         We get our information from social media so unless Kim Kardashian just donated a ton of money to some charity, we don’t know it exists. Almost no one watches the news and even fewer people read the newspaper, especially the younger generation, MY generation.
         Even the events that do get a lot of publicity like the earthquake in Haiti a couple years back, after a month or two, they flicker out of everyone’s lives. Everything is so fast now that we never pause to just think. It’s forward, forward, forward, we have to keep going forward as fast as we can and no one knows why. There is no finish line, no trophy at the end of the course, there isn’t even a race, and yet we’re sprinting the ‘marathon’.
         Of course social media isn’t totally at fault, we’ve been raised to focus on us. Go to school, do well, get a job, get married, have kids, retire, die of cancer. That’s the basic average ‘life-plan’. In school we don’t learn about government, current global issues, anything that isn’t in our personal little career bubble.
        However, just like cancer has chemo therapy, there are exceptions to our generation of lazy people. There are people who take action, stay informed and help out. People who look up. Chemo isn’t a cure though it’s a treatment. It isn’t enough to have a few people take a glimpse every now and then.
         The real problem, our ‘cancer’, is that our actions don’t just affect our generation, they affect everyone, all future generations, and the fate of the planet itself. Most people think ‘well what can I do? I’m just one person.’, but that’s just it, you’re ALL thinking that. What would happen if everyone decided not to vote because they were just one person and couldn’t make a difference?

         Our generation is sick and you’re the cure, and so is your neighbour, and his/her neighbour, and every other human being on the planet. Maybe, the next generation won’t care, or the next, or the one after that, but eventually someone will and by then their challenges will be infinite. Make a difference and be more than just a treatment. It only takes one person to come up with a cure, but there’s no purpose to a cure you don’t use.
I wanna do my part to take a look around. This blog is going to be my way of sharing the information I've gathered with you so that you can share it with the people you know and so on. That way, even if I don't make a difference, at least I tried.