Breathing Earth

This page I found is just a simulator where you can found the carbon emissions of each country and their born and dead rate. Why is this important to know this information? So that we can grow out consciousness of what is going outside our little world and notice how big the world is in reality and the way we are impacting on it. We have to take in consideration that this page is just a simulator, so it's not 100% accurate, but still I think it was a nice and creative idea to start with what can later be a more real simulator. As I entered the page, the first thing I noticed was that China and India are have a really high born rate and death rate, as well. Overpopulation can be a real big problem in the future, if our species continues growing in such a fast rate as it had been. However, that's the worst-case scenario, changes can still be made. For example in China, now there is a "One Child" policy, which the government is keeping an eye on closely. As resources are being used, more people are coming to the world, so how will we be able to sustain the human race if resources are scarce? That's a global problem that I think we should pay more attention to. Education and being informed are two powerful tools that can be used in order to combat overpopulation. If we had to go to extreme cases, we can apply policies not only to China but to India as well, which has a bigger birth rate.

Other important aspect that this page shows is our environmental impact each country made on the world. In each country we can see in how much time each country produces 1000 tonnes of CO2 emissions to the air. When I checked the data, I think that this simulator was lying, since for me the data it showed was too much. There's some information below on the page which says that the CO2 emissions that show the page were more probable to be too low than too high. Well, maybe the page is not 100% accurate, but sometimes truth is hard to swallow. Some of the countries that emitted more CO2 were China, Russia and the U.S.



In conclusion, I just thought that this page was a great idea to start with. I hope you have a look and decide for yourself if it's useful or not. I totally like it since it put things in perspective and one more thing: reduce has to become part of our culture so that we can continue living in this world with no side effects.

Family Planning and Economics

Today I watched a pretty interesting video in YouTube. It was about how planning a family can help you save money. Moreover, it was hilarious : a condom with a shrill voice was explaining it.

The video started with a couple (Hank and Debby) in univeristy as an example. They were very in love and decided to take their relationship to the next level. Then, the narrator explained that some universities in the United States provided condoms in their vending machines though students are not buying them. This results in loss for the universities. For example, Brown University loses $6 per each condom that is not sold. Later, Debby got pregnant and the narrator talked about the marginal cost; a 3-pack of latex condoms is about $5 and abstinence is pricelss while early pregnancy abortions unfortunately can cost from $350 to $600, but if it is a late second trimester procedure it can cost up to as much as $3'000 and going through with having the baby and raising the baby , it would cost at least $410, 848 ! Now, $5 does not seem like much money, does it?

Now, if they decide to have the baby, and Debby leaves school, she is giving up the opportunity to continue in her education to earn a degree and become a successful doctor or whatever she wanted to be. Therefore, she won't have a enough challenging job. If she had not quitted school,had finished university and had found a good job, she could have earned (in average) $22, 218 per year.

Furthermore, a country's economy may be improved as well with the production of any birth control method. If people started to think beyond and decided to spend $5 in condoms, they will save a lot of money and time. Also, if some teenagers had not quitted school because of pregnancy, the world would have more prepared people to contribute in many jobs, there would be more competition and people would try hard to do more and be the best they can be.