Ocean

Marine Ecosystem

Marine ecosystem is the largest aquatic ecosystem, including oceans, lagoons, coral reefs, deep sea, and the ocean floor. This ecosystem, which covers 2/3 of the Earth, houses Earth's richest source of biodiversity of marine life.

There are a lot of human benefits that the marine ecosystem offers. Tourism is one of them. Millions of tourists travel to coastal area and island states for sight seeing, to dive into nature itself. One of the world fastest growing industries, tourism offers great revenues especially for coastal areas.

The ecosystem also provides a global connection from countries to countries. The shipping industry has grown significantly since 1995. By 2020, it is expected that 90% of the international trade would be conducted by sea.

The ocean also offers a rich source of natural resources such as oil and natural gases. Furthermore, a wide range of food could be obtained from shrimps, lobster to crabs and octopuses.

A recent study estimated that ocean services have amounted to $23 trillion a year.

Humans however, take advantage of the things the ecosystem offers. Overfishing is one of the main problem. people exploit the diversity of marine species. Not enough time period is given for the populations of fish to regain their usual amount. The amount of CO2 that we are producing is being absorb constantly by the ocean. The pH level of the ocean is being tipped over, turning more acidic. This is called acidification, causing many species which could not adopt to the constantly changing living environment to succumb to disease and death.

Moreover, as tourism grows, more trash is being dumped into the ocean . Water bottles, paper bags, these tourists seem to care about beauty only, not to preserve it.

If the marine ecosystem has offered us so much, why are we treating it so badly? it is our duty to protect the environment, terrestrial or marine. We must reduce our use of fossil fuels by switching to healthier energy sources such as sunlight energy and wind energy. By doing this, we would significantly reduce the amount of CO2. We should help repopulate the marine species that we overexploited. We should have stricter regulations and laws on the littering of tourism. All of these are for the bettering of our beloved marine ecosystem. 

Tobacco use

Tobacco Use

In my old school, St. Laurence High school, I would often walk to the bus stop through an alley. There would be 3 or 4 sophomore kids secretly smoking cigarettes behind one of the houses. To be honest, I even know one of them. I asked my best friend why these morons would harm themselves with something as stupid as cigarettes. Do you know what he told me? He said they thought smoking made them look cool, made them look mature. Does social acceptance in high school worth one of your lungs?


It is estimated that each day, 3,000 under 18 individuals smoke their first cigarettes and 2,100 of young adults become frequent smokers. Relating to my story, 18% of high school students are smokers. That's a huge number.

Yes tobacco is bad. 440,000 US citizens are claimed by tobacco each year, more than alcohol, illegal drug use, homicide, suicide, car accidents, and AIDS combined. Cigarette can harm nearly every single organ of an individual's body. Let's start with our lungs. 9 out of 10 lung cancers have been linked to cigarettes. 90% of documented lung cancer cases are a result of cigarettes. Also, smoking has also been linked to numerous other cancer such as cancer of the mouth, esophagus, bladder, and kidney  and the most dangerous one of all, leukemia. Other than cancer, cigarettes can cause chronic bronchitis and asthma in some adults. Some research also indicate that smoking increases one's risk of heart disease, stroke, and vascular disease.


Smoking is also harmful to others. An estimate of 88 million of non smokers are exposed to second hand smoke. This phenomenon increases their risk of heart disease and lung cancer by 20 - 30%. That's a lot for not smoking. 

It is also detrimental to one's financial. A pack of cigarette can cost between $10 to $20. Taking my father case, he smokes about 1 pack a day. He told me that he even knew people who smoked 2 - 3 pack a day. That's almost $40 worth of cigarettes a day. That's $1,200 a month wasted on something that would eventually decrease your life span significantly.  


It is important for everyone to understand completely how detrimental smoking is. There should be more school speeches on the bad effects of smoking. If your friends have taken the habits of smoking, it is your duty to convince them that smoking is terrible and not cool at all. It carries too many health risks. For frequent addicts, it is important to help them go through the period of no nicotine. It would be difficult but trust me, it would be very worth it. Ask Chandler. For those non smokers out there, just don't alright?

Gender equality

Gender Equality

This is the view that either sex, male or female, should be treated equally in a social context and economical context. There should not be any discrimination based on gender. Gender equality is measured by the representations of women and men in different social roles.

Since the dawn of time, women had been mistreated. In the old England in the 13th and 14th century, women's duties were limited to the home. They were expected to stay at home, to regulate the household chores, to take care of infants and children, to provide education for children. It was the men's duties to provide for the family financially, to participate in any political events or meetings, and to hold any property. Since the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620, women of America were often not disqualified from any town meetings and petitions. 

Not until after the event of WWI did women's suffrage began to ignite. In the period of 1918 to 1920, thanks to women's participation in raising support for the war effort, they received voting rights in the UK, the US and Austria. During the war, men left the home and join the army. Jobs at home which were usually held by men were taken up by women. Jobs such as ammunition workers or any industrial jobs could be done as efficiently by women as men did. 

Since then, women had began to speak out their minds, voicing their political stands. Even back in the day, many abolitionists were women (Harriet tubman, etc.). In the war for black equality, women also pioneered movement. 

In political grounds, women could also operate as well as men could. Elizabeth the first of England became one of the strongest ruler of England in the 16th century. She became famous for her speech that rallied her troops to defeat the spanish Armada. More recently, England's first female Prime Minister, the Iron Lady - Margaret Thatcher was a strong leader though some of her policies were questionable. 

Statistically, women get paid 10% less in a full time employment and 35$% less in a part time employment comparing to men. Women only make up of 17% of board directors in over 100 companies. Moreover, 33,000 women are released of their employment every year due to pregnancy and 440,000 women lose out on promotions due to pregnancy.  

Therefore, if women could function as well as men in many aspect, would it be logical that they be treated equally to men? 

We are the new generation and it is our duty to change archaic social ideas. We must support the gender equality campaign. Spread the words guys. This is a new dawn of human society. 

Domestic violence

Domestic Violence

Any pattern of violent behavior or abuse of one individual toward another in a domestic context such as in marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence can also happen between a spouse or a partner to another in an intimate relationship. This phenomenon can happen in either a heterosexual  relationship or even same sex relationship.

Domestic violence can exist under different masks: physical, emotional, verbal, economical, and sexual. The extent of the crime ranges from subtle forceful behavior to martial rape or physical abuse that result in injuries or even death.
Statistically, 80% of the victims are women. However, there are also other possibilities: the male could be the victims; or both individuals in the relationship could engage in violence toward one another; or the victim's retaliation toward abuse.




Let's talk more statistics to provide a better perspective of domestic violence. It is not true that domestic violence does not happen to many. It is recorded that every 9 seconds, there's a woman beaten in the world. It is estimated by the  American Medical Association (AMA) that 3 to 4  million female victims check in with abusive and violent-related injuries.

If these women face such dangerous living conditions with their partners, why won't they just leave? Yes, almost 50% of these female victims leave their husband or boyfriend. However, "the women are 70 times more likely to be killed by their spouse or boyfriend after leaving the relationship for 2 weeks comparing to any other time of the relationship". There was a report from AMA that said: every 5 years, there are as many women are killed by their spouses or partners as the amount of female casualties in the Vietnam war : 54,000.

The organization "Advocate to End Domestic Violence" notes a pattern in domestic abuse. These crimes under many masks have a similar pattern which could be divided into 3 phases. Phase one is the tension building. More arguments happen between the victim and abuser. The abuser would yell at the victim for no apparent reason. The victims are often accused of committing acts that they did not do. Phase two is the Abusing incident. This includes physical violence such as kicking, hitting, shoving,grabbing,etc. The abuser screams and yells violently. There could be cases of objects being thrown across the room. The abuser could also coerce the victim to sexual intercourse. Phase three is the honeymoon stage. The abuser would apologize for his or her wrongful behaviors and promise the victim that it would never happen again. The abuser would attempt to buy jewelry or gifts to make up for the abuse. These three phases make up the Cycle of Domestic violence.



Therefore, how do we react to domestic violence? It is important for the victims to speak up. Make the abuser's actions known to your friends and gain their support to fight this war with domestic violence. If your friend shows any signs or injuries related to domestic violence, offer help and say you'd always be there. Tell them to report it to the police. Restraining orders are often issued in these cases. However, in many cases, the abusers could be persecuted and incarcerated.  

Orphanage trip

On February 9th 2015, the 21st century class along with Mr and Mrs. Swansons and Mrs. Van Anh  traveled to 3 destinations on a charity mission. Gathered over 1000 USD worth of gifts and money, we came to the first destination, ___________, an orphanage for about 20 homeless children from age 4 to 16.
 I myself can be seen as the pale boy in the blue ISHCMC-AA Sunbear shirt. That was a great experience for me. As soon as our group walked in the door, the kids with their smiles surrounded us, their eyes puzzled about our presence. One particular boy called Khoa "Fat Boy". Coincidentally, his name is also Khoa. That hilarious incident made my day. I sat next to a quite little girl when we circled up to prepare for the group games. Well, I helped her introduce herself  in front of everyone. On my right were two little demons, A 5 years old and a 4 years old.
They keep stealing each other's gifts. When the 5 years old was about to climb onto the poor little defenseless 4 years old, I had to interfere and break up the heated fight. it's those small little things that i'd remember the most from this trip.


Our next destination was a safe haven for kids with family issues. The women in this house took in these children for the day, teaching them necessary skills to survive in this society. They do everything they can to help these children obtain a much better future. However, when we started to explore their home, we walked upstairs through a spiral stair cased into a bed rooms with about 6 or 7 bunk beds. On the walls were drawings of cartoons and animated characters that to me seemed a little terrifying. More noticable was a stain on the wall opposite to the staircase. The women in charge could not afford to fix the leaking roof. This created a safety violation to the children and the people in charge. Therefore, we had decided to raise money to help them fix this roof ever since.


In the end, I had a nice day with Mr and Mrs Swanson and my fellow classmates. More importantly, I had learnt to feel more empathy toward the less unfortunate. It is our duty to help and support our fellow humans since we all bare the same genetic make ups. We would do everything we can to alleviate the pain and suffering these individuals have to go through everyday.

Solar And Wind Energy

SOLAR ENERGY

How does a solar panel work? A panel allows photons,  or particles of light, to knock out electrons from atoms, creating flows of electricity. Plus, a panel is divided into smaller units call photovoltaic cells. 

Advantages:

Yeah we all know that light energy is free. It also slows down significantly or even stops global warming. Solar panels are designed so that no bad chemical or influence can accelerate global warming.

Solar energy also saves a lot of homes to an average of 20,000 dollars a year in NYC. In sunny states, such as Hawaii, the projected saving is 50,000 DOLLARS! While on the saving money issue, solar energy is much much more cheaper to extend to remote areas comparing to extend the electrical grid.  Comparing to fossil fuel which would last for only 40 more years, solar power is infinite. 

Another unlikely advantage is that solar power helps conserve water. Nuclear power plants and Coal power plants used up tons of water. With the current situation of global warming, many states are suffering from extended droughts, including the U.S Southwest, West and Great Plains states. On the other hand, Solar power hardly consumes any water at all.

Finally, with the money invested in the advancement of solar power, solar power company employers are creating 3 times more jobs than employers of the coal and fossil fuel industries.

Disadvantages:


The only disadvantage of solar power that I could think of is the fact that the sun does not shine 24 hours a day. However, taking from that perspective, we humans are most active during the day. When we are active, our demands for electricity are at the highest. And the solution? Solar power, since it is the most reliable source of energy during the day. At night, the need for energy decreases. Therefore, the amount of solar power stored during the day in a solar battery should be enough to sustain a household through the night.

WIND ENERGY: 

Similarly, How would a wind turbine work? well, it is the opposite of a fan. A fan consumes energy to create wind power in those scorching summer days. A wind turbine is span by natural wind power. As the blades spin, they also spin a shaft connected to a power generator, creating electricity.

Advantages:

Let's start with the most obvious advantage. Wind power is friendly to nature. It does not consume fossil fuel to create electricity. Again, similar to solar power, wind power is free and abundant.



Comparing the a power plant, a wind power plant is much smaller. A wind turbine only takes up a few square meters. Moreover, the land around the turbines can be utilized for other purposes, such as agriculture.
Another strong advantage is that wind turbines are great sources of energy in remote location. These turbines can be situated on mountains or rural areas. The size of the wind turbines can be appropriated according to the population sizes.

Disadvantages:

Wind turbines are not always a reliable source of energy. In many areas, wind power is too low to be able to support a population. Therefore, more wind turbines are built to supply the electricity needs. Or, we can use solar power as a substitution in these areas.



Relating to the previous problem, constructing a wind turbine is costly, financially and environmentally. Many wildlife such as seagulls are injured or killed by wind turbine blades.