Elephants in the Sky

Imagine 6.5 billion female elephants in the sky every year. Now imagine that every person in the US was responsible for 5 of those elephants up there while people in third world countries each put up 5 baby elephants.  This may be a farfetched thought, but now imagine each of those elephants being made out of carbon dioxide. This is how much CO2 is in the sky. Let me reiterate: every year, twenty six billion tons of CO2 is put into the atmosphere each year. And Americans put an average of twenty tons of this noxious smog there, while each person in a third world country puts about one ton. This is a severe problem, as we have climate change occurring so much to the point that the Dead Sea may be completely evaporated by 2050 (Deal Could 'refill' Drying Dead Sea.)  The world still needs energy, however, and third world countries need it even more than anyone else in the world in order to have a good future. So how do we solve this dilemma?

Recently, hydraulic fracking has been on the news for giving us a great amount of oil and it is great that there is more energy available, but this is causing people not to worry about energy problems. On the down side, oil can last for only so long and shale oil may only last until 2020. Even further, oil itself may only last until 2040, giving us less than 26 years to put our act together and find a solution. (Dimick, Natural Geographic) Along with this, communities surrounding oil fracking areas have reports of poisoned drinking water, polluted air, mysterious animal deaths, industrial disasters and explosions. (Fracking Across the United States)

Looking at this prospect, we have to find a solution to lower the amount of carbon dioxide put into the air as close as we can get to 0. This can be found through simple multiplication; the formula is the amount of people times the amount of services used, times the energy each service takes, times the amount of CO2 released through the service. (Gates, TED)

In the formula, we first have the amount of people on the planet. We know that we cannot somehow rid the Earth of people, so this number will either stay the same or go higher. Next, we have the amount of services that each person receives. These services may be having enough drinking water, being able to have light at night, or even being able to cook food. We could remove these services, but it would be harmful toward society, especially to poorer countries where having simple pleasures such as food or light are difficult.

Thirdly, the amount of energy services are taking is generally going down, which is a good thing. We have cleaner cars, televisions that use less power, and more cleaner forms of electricity coming out, such as solar or wind power. At the same time, we have services that are using too much energy such as making fertilizer or burning coal.  Therefore, this may lower the overall number, but it is going to make a small difference.

Finally, we come to the last variable in this problem: the amount of carbon dioxide released by the service . Inside any multiplication equation, in order to have a result of zero, it is required to have a zero in the equation. What’s great is that it is possible to bring the amount of carbon dioxide required down to zero! However, in order to accomplish this, we need to have energy breakthroughs, and we need it fast. There are many possibilities, but the ones that seem to have the most promise are nuclear energy and renewable energy. However, if there happens to be more successful sources of clean energy, then the better it will be. But once again, at this time, these sources seem to be the most promising.

In the field of Nuclear Energy, many major innovations are being made as a company called Transatomic Power, founded by 2 graduates from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have possibly found a more efficient method of energy creation. Nuclear energy creates a lot of toxic waste. What Transatomic Power has done is find a way to convert this once thought useless sludge to an abundance of energy. In fact, Cofounder of PayPal, Peter Thiel has invested more than a billion dollars to Transatomic Power. (Kim, Business Insider) This is the kind of action that we need in order to move forward in society.

In the field of renewable energy, there is an abundance of potential for success. However, compared to oil, these renewable energies only give a fraction of power. Research needs to be done in order to increase efficiency of this type of power. For example, wind power generates less than 5% of the energy that oil provides us. There is much work that can be done in this field, but if it works then, it will be very beneficial toward the future of energy.

In the end, we need to reduce the amount of CO2 in the air. Along with that, we need innovations that can take us there. We may find more ways to obtain oil, but there must be a better method that can be found in order to not only help this country, but the whole world. And we have to do it fast. We cannot have anymore elephants in the air. Not even one.

Bibliography

"Bakken Shale Oil." The New Oil Landscape. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

"Deal Could 'refill' Drying Dead Sea." BBC News. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

Dimick, Dennis. "How Long Can the U.S. Oil Boom Last?" National Geographic. National

Geographic Society, 19 Dec. 2014. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

“Fracking Across the United States." Earthjustice. 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.

Gates, Bill. "Innovating to Zero!" Bill Gates:. TED Talks. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

Kim, Eugene. "Billionaire Investor Peter Thiel Now Wants To Disrupt The Nuclear Energy

Industry." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 5 Aug. 2014. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

SeaWorld. "Elephants." SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment. SeaWorld Parks and

Entertainments. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

"When Will Oil Run Out?" When Will Oil Run Out? Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

Lone Survivor: A Tribute, and Analysis

Lone Survivor: A Tribute, and Analysis




Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 is a non-fiction book written by novelist Patrick Robinson and former SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the only survivor of a mission in Afghanistan in 2005. Seal Team 10 was tasked with three other SEAL members to kill a high-profile Taliban commander . His story eventually became the basis of his book, which has now turned into a movie.

The book starts with Luttrell describing his childhood in Texas training to become a Navy SEAL, with Billy Shelton, a neighbor and former Green Beret. After joining the U.S. Navy, and finishing BUD/S training to become a SEAL, Luttrell heads to Afghanistan, undergoing several operations around the country before heading to the Hindu Kush mountains of the Kunar province for Operation Red Wings. He and his team, consisting of Lieutenant Michael “Mikey” Murphy, Gunner’s Mate Second Class Danny Dietz, and Sonar Technician Second Class Matthew “Axe” Axelson, were tasked to gather reconnaissance on a village and capture or kill a head Taliban member, who was said to be affiliated with Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attack.

On a night during their mission, while hiding out, the team was discovered by three sheepherders, including a boy. The team debated killing the shepherds silently and hiding the bodies, which was the most millitary sound way to not compromise their mission. However, after considering the rules of engagement, they decided to let them go (the shepherds were unarmed and not posing a threat currently). However, the shepherds notified their presence to the Taliban, and about an hour later, SEAL Team 10 was surrounded by dozens of armed warriors under heavy fire. Three of the four men were killed, leaving Luttrell the only one to survive the firefight, but not after one of his attempts to contact the SEAL combat operation centers succeeded. A quick-reaction rescue team consisting of 16 special forces soldiers were sent to extract SDV-1; however, their Chinook helicopter was shot down by the Taliban with a RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade to the chopper’s rear rotor assembly, leaving no survivors. Luttrell was left unconscious and sustained a number of fractures and other serious wounds. After he regained consciousness, he was rescued by local Pashtun villagers, who treated his wounds and ultimately saved his life.

One of the main motifs shown in this book is Luttrell’s frustration at the rules of engagement (RoE) which, indirectly, resulted in the death of 19 American lives. These rules state that no force should be used against unarmed civilians, if they are not presently posing a threat to your safety. When SDV-1 was discovered by the sheepherders, Team Leader Mike Murphy decided to hold a vote in which SDV-1 decided to let them go, since the team may have been considered violating the RoE and possibly being sentenced to life in prison for their actions. If the team did kill the shepherds, then at the very least they would have been ridiculed and criticized by the media, even in the circumstances they had. When describing the situation and his vote, he states, “I had turned into a f-----g liberal, a half-a----d, no-logic nitwit, all heart, no brain, and the judgement of a jackrabbit… At least, that’s how I look back on those moments now. Probably not then, but for nearly every waking hour of my life since.”

Marcus Luttrell’s story also shows that war is not glorious but evil, no matter which way you put it, and people will die on both sides of the conflict. He also makes a point that when you try to make war “clean,” and “civilized,” you won’t win. Terrorists will stop at nothing to achieve their cause, we can see that everywhere from the acts of ISIL to the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Were it so easy to make that decision, for SDV-1 to be sure with the fact that the most militarily sound option was also the “right” option, this book would have been very different. Luttrell believes that if there was no fear of what may happen to them back home in the United States, SEAL Team 10 would have made it out alive, mission accomplished. However, nothing can change the fact that his team is gone, and so, deeply rooted in this book is his deep sorrow for his friends and his guilt as the sole survivor. Going on a long journey across America, Luttrell visited every family whose son, and in some cases, father, died to honor him and tell them of his last moments. The book closes with a word from Luttrell, saying, “I will never give up on the memory of those nineteen men who lost their lives on the mountain that day, because they never gave up on me.”

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, is a stirring tribute to Axe, Mikey, Danny, and the rest of the fallen soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and I would recommend this book to anyone who has relatives in the military services, or is aspiring to join the military. It’s very well-written, yet easy to read, and is very powerful. The only problem some people have with the book is regarding the actual numbers of Taliban forces (it’s disputed whether there were actually 120 to 200 Taliban, or if that was an exaggeration. Nevertheless, Lone Survivor is an amazing and riveting book. Hospital Corpsman Marcus Luttrell went back into the tour of duty in Afghanistan after he recovered from his wounds until he was medically discharged from the Navy in 2007. Mohammed Ismail, the target of Operation Red Wings, was killed during a firefight in 2008.

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Sarah Hough

Mr. Koch

English 9h

March 12, 2015

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From the beginning we have been trained.

Taught to think a certain way.

To take,

To abuse,

Until nothing is left.

We take and take and take,

But rarely give.

We are thieves.

Stealing from our home,

Until nothing is left.

There is no purpose.

Need and want,

Have become,

One and the same.

We constantly need,

More.

But once the novelty is gone,

Nothing can replace it,

But more,

More and more.

We are drowning,

In an ocean of uncontrollable want.

We choose to ignore.

To simply look away.

To give into our addiction.

The addiction of more,

Until one day there may not be more.

Hunger Games stop animation Heroes/Villain project - Sarah H.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSB8yCHyidk

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