I recently went canoeing with my family down the little Niangua.My family and another couple took the weekend to do some camping and some canoeing.The drive was short and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day playing around the campsite and in the river.We woke up early the next day to set off canoeing.
My daughter is just about 4 and this was her second time canoeing.She sat in the middle of the canoe and had a blast just watching the water go by.Every time we stopped, she would get out and play in the river, trying to catch little fishes or tiny turtles.
About halfway through our journey, we came to a spring flowing out of a cave.We stopped here and followed the spring up and into the cave.The cave was dark, but we had brought flashlights to help guide us through the cave.At first the cave started out small, but as we got deeper into the cave it opened up into a giant cavern.All around us were bats asleep, waiting the night.The air was cool and the smell was a bit dank.
After a few minutes of enjoying the cave we got back into our canoes to finish our journey back to our campsites.It was a wonderful day and my daughter had a great time.
My favorite thing to do is cook food, whether it is on a grill, a smoker, or in the kitchen. When cooking in the kitchen I tend to cook with an Italian flare. Anything Italian I try and do cook. When cooking outdoors on the grill or smoker, I show my Kansas City upbringing of great barbeque. One of my favorite dishes to cook on the smoker is pork steak. The cut of pork steak soaks up the flavor of the wood and spices and delivers a rush of flavor to the senses. On a day when I am cooking for more then my family, I tend to cook ribs and stuffed pork lion. Both of these dishes I have perfected over the years, and everyone gets a full belly and a look of contentment. When cooking in the kitchen I typically will cook small Italian dishes, usually with sausage or chicken or both combined. One of my favorite things to cook is my Sunday Italian meal. It takes a whole day of preparation and cooking to turn out perfect. When it is all done and everyone has dug in the day feels complete. Finishing it off with a petite desert then relaxing on the couch with an espresso, lets the contentment settle on your body. Cooking is truly the way into a person’s soul. With great food comes great company and they both compliment each other and make the day complete.
The technology generation has just started.My daughter is 3 almost 4 years old and can already operate my wife’s’ ipod touch and both my smart phone and my computers.She can sit at a computer and guide her way to children games from my shortcut links. And she is only three.I keep imagining what more she will be able to do once she can read coherently.There will be no end to her mischief on a computer.
She already knows how to download apps and play the Wii.She has her own game console like a Wii and you can see her mind understanding that technology responds to her will already.
I was about 8 before I played on my first computer.It didn’t take me long to understand that my future is rooted in electronic technology.And it hasn’t taken my daughter long to figure out that my computers are too slow, even though they are top of the line products.
What is technology going to be like when she is my age?How is her schooling going to change to incorporate all the advances we have taken?I can only imagine and continue thinking that Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek and other “future” like shows is the path we are on.
Texting and driving is one of my biggest pet peeves.Everyday I see someone around me texting and driving, swerving in the road or just not paying 100 percent to what is going on.My friends and I texted or gtalk from our smart phones just as much as the next person; yet when it comes to driving we are all 100 percent on avoiding killing someone or ourselves/friends.Instead we will call each other or wait on responding until we are at a stop or not in the car.
I drive back and forth from Warrensburg and Kansas City during the days I have class.I notice that even on the highway you can see people using their phones to text with.This is not safe nor is it legal.The state of Missouri has banned texting while driving, yet most people still attempt to kill themselves.
How can we stop this?That is the question of the day.Maybe make some kind of device in the phone that when it feels itself going faster then a person can walk does not allow people to type on it?But, this would upset the majority of teenagers and young businessmen.Maybe we just need to advance technology to a point where the phone knows what you want to text and who to.There is multiple ways we could go about resolving this issue and it is the future generation that will get to see.
Facebook. Facebook itself has helped spur on multiple forms of Internet satire sites, one of my favorites being Lamebook. Lamebook uses “lame” posts from Facebook to make about how people post everything they should not and then some. People read through the posts and leave their comments on the lame post. They also take uploads from people, helping Lamebook cover as much area of Facebook and its lame posts as possible. Other sites that have taken Lamebook’s idea and developed their own spread all forms of life. From religion to politics, sappy couples to sappy parents, and from ugly to nerdy websites take posts from Facebook and give people a reason to hate on other people. I am not condoning nor am I in favor of these sites, but the Internet has given people another way to bully one another. This all started from Facebook posts. Obviously Facebook found a way to connect people in every single way, either from past connections or from people being able to use posts to help sites such as Lamebook live on. The future of Facebook and similar satirical sites is unknown; anything is possible with the Internet connecting so many people together. If you have not seen Lamebook or other such sites, take a moment and Google them. After a while they all seem to be the same a way for people to relax at others lame posts. What happens when you read one of your own lame posts on Lamebook?
Brazil and the Amazon have had a love-hate relationship for most of its life.When we see economic growth we usually see an increase in deforestation.When the growth starts slowing down or even reversing, we see a slowdown in cultivation of the Amazon.Let us look at the reasons these seem to have a similar supply and demand flow.Let us exam the question: Is Brazil able to keep economic growth while maintaining a reduction in deforestation?
First lets explore how these two are linked.Multiple policies surround the Amazon and it’s land.When we see an increase in deforestation for roads or graze land or agriculture, we can trace this back to an upswing in the economy.We see that the government has money to spend on policies to increase infrastructure and money to lend; Companies and farmers have the liquid capital to continue expanding their lands.Here we see that when the economy is booming, deforestation is in its prime.However, what happens when the economy takes a detour south or environmental policies are enforced?
Over the past few years, Brazil has been trying to reduce their deforestation radically.They have passed laws that make it illegal to buy farm products grown on illegal deforested parts of the Amazon, restrictions on companies that have broken the countries environmental laws, and a crackdown on people that cannot prove they own the land.We can follow this more closely by examining what the land turns into after it is destroyed.Over 60% of it is used as cattle grazing land followed by another 30% used for either big or small agriculture farming.With the large economic crisis that hit the world markets hard, we can follow the sharp decline in the purchase of meat and agriculture products affecting further deforestation. There is no more money coming in to continually employ those needed to help raze the Amazon. This also affects the government in enforcing their policies and lending to potential “green” companies that could help make a difference.
Brazil has a high percentage of their GDP in manufacturing goods.Parts of these goods are produced with materials from the deforested area.The logging industry is used for multiple types of materials, from steel to soy production.Any lasting effect that would put a damper on these markets would in turn help drop GDP.Brazil is heavily dependant on their export market, and if the companies you export to be against using products from illegal deforested areas, we see another area where the two are linked.
Throughout the upward and downward swing of Brazils economy in the 80’s and 90’s is the same image in the mirror.In the late 80’s, Brazil’s economy was in a slowdown motion.Guess what? So was the farming of the Amazonian Rainforests.Then throughout the 90’s we see an increase in deforestation and a rapid growth of the Brazilian economy.We see that even during the hard times, the use of deforestation is used as a band-aid.Large tracts of the forest are cleared and simply used for future investment.
One bonus to deforestation is the “slaves” freed when the government enforcers come through the illegal farms and ranches.Many of those still living in the forested areas about to become a farm or ranch are forced into servitude in helping these companies clear the forests.
Deforestation is still happening for the same reasons today as it was yesterday.The top main reasons being:
1.Cattle grazing land
2.Small and Large agriculture
3.Infrastructure and Colonization
4.Logging
And, if you follow the market swings for these products and the Brazilian economy, an easy line is drawn matching the ups and downs. And so, the answer to the question asked must be no, Brazils economy is closely mirrored by its deforestation.One cannot happen without the other.
