What are you thankful for this year?
I am thankful for having enough money to do everything I do in life. Im an expensive child and I am thankful that my mother makes enough money to support our family and let me do what I want to do.
Post three specific things that you will accomplish for this project before TG break is over! Then, bring those things to school on Monday Dec. 2.
-I will definitely have my rough draft of my article near completion
-I will also have mostly all data that I want to have in my article
-I will try to go do different beach locations and get good photographs
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Blog #21
What are you discovering so far?
I am discovering that the project deadline is closer then I think, so I really have to start working, and collect my data and get this thing done.
What surprises you about this project?
As of right now, there are no surprises
What are your next steps to have a cool product and great piece of writing?
My next steps are to really get good research, and data, because with that I can really answer my research question. Also if I go to that beach clean up at OB on Saturday, I could probably get so many good interviews. So those are my next steps
I am discovering that the project deadline is closer then I think, so I really have to start working, and collect my data and get this thing done.
What surprises you about this project?
As of right now, there are no surprises
What are your next steps to have a cool product and great piece of writing?
My next steps are to really get good research, and data, because with that I can really answer my research question. Also if I go to that beach clean up at OB on Saturday, I could probably get so many good interviews. So those are my next steps
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Blog #19&20
A was looking at the surfider foundations website, and I really like it. Here are three aspects of why I like it
Three groups, in particular, were excluded from the process: blacks, women and the young. The history of American democracy can be read in good part as the struggle of all three to become fully included in the process.
Three groups women blacks, and the young have made a monumental impact on the 2008 election. Through history these three groups voices have not been heard as loud as they should have been until now. All of those silenced voices weren't shy to speak out in this election. We shan't forget about all other races, but these three groups are the ones who have struggled the most to gain their voice in elections, ever since the 1700's.
The process is ever evolving. In other words this means a foundational change, and something new. The edition of a specific group to the vote population is something new, a foundational change. The addition of groups to the voting population is all part of the ever evolving process. Groups will keep being added because of these processes. The background of these groups goes back to the first presidential election of George Washington in 1787. Since that election these three groups have worked their way to become part of the voting population in America. It's funny to think that the three groups that were excluded from the voting population had the most impact on the 2008 Presidential Election. Black actors of high stature such as Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey who were pro Obama had a huge impact on the black community persuading them to go vote. In this election women also played a part in this election. The women voted 13% more in favor of Obama then McCain in this election. We can't forget about young voters as well. In this election, Obama won 2-to-1 because of the young voters.
I found a great article about how these three groups impacted the election and more!
Here is a link to that article called Hey Barack, Don't Forget: "You Gotta Dance With Them What Brung Ya"
Three groups, in particular, were excluded from the process: blacks, women and the young. The history of American democracy can be read in good part as the struggle of all three to become fully included in the process.
Three groups women blacks, and the young have made a monumental impact on the 2008 election. Through history these three groups voices have not been heard as loud as they should have been until now. All of those silenced voices weren't shy to speak out in this election. We shan't forget about all other races, but these three groups are the ones who have struggled the most to gain their voice in elections, ever since the 1700's.
The process is ever evolving. In other words this means a foundational change, and something new. The edition of a specific group to the vote population is something new, a foundational change. The addition of groups to the voting population is all part of the ever evolving process. Groups will keep being added because of these processes. The background of these groups goes back to the first presidential election of George Washington in 1787. Since that election these three groups have worked their way to become part of the voting population in America. It's funny to think that the three groups that were excluded from the voting population had the most impact on the 2008 Presidential Election. Black actors of high stature such as Will Smith and Oprah Winfrey who were pro Obama had a huge impact on the black community persuading them to go vote. In this election women also played a part in this election. The women voted 13% more in favor of Obama then McCain in this election. We can't forget about young voters as well. In this election, Obama won 2-to-1 because of the young voters.
I found a great article about how these three groups impacted the election and more!
Here is a link to that article called Hey Barack, Don't Forget: "You Gotta Dance With Them What Brung Ya"
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Blog #18
Part 1:
How do you feel about the election? What are your hopes for America and your community in the next few years? What are your concerns for America and your community for the next few years?
I felt very good about this election. The night of the election, as soon as I saw that Ohio and Florida were leaning democrat I was leaning on the edge of my seat. When they had announce that Barack Obama was going to be the 44th president I jumped up and yelled in joy. I could not believe it!
My hopes for this country are that we get through this financial crisis, and that the United States will become less segregated and all people will come together and live as equals. The financial crisis even though I am worried about it, well will be able to recover. The other thing i was talking about is through Obama being president anything is possible. If this country can come as far from black people being slaves to 200 years later being elected the president of the US then I am pretty sure our country somehow will learn how to come together as one.
I only have one concern about Barack Obama being president, and that is assassination. There is no doubt that Obama will try to be assassinated throughout his term as president. If we our so mis fortunate as to loose Barack, then Joe Biden will do a wonderful job filling in for him.
Evaluate your own level of civic knowledge. What have we done well as a class to build your understanding of current events? What can we improve as a class (or you as an individual) to better build your understanding of current events? How do you feel in the numerous conversations about current events that take place outside of class?
I feel that throughout these past weeks I have learned so much about these elections that I could sit someone down and explain the whole thing to someone. I actually understand what the news is talking about now when they say things like California got 55 electoral votes. I don't feel left out of the conversation, I feel like I am part of everything.
I think everything we have done so far has helped me understand current events. I mean going back to the beginning of the year we learned about the bases of American politics. But I think the one thing that has really given me the upper hand and is helping me understand things a lot better are the blogs that we have been doing. In every blog we have to write about something we have been doing in class. These last few blogs have been helpful, especially the one about ACORN and the voting scandal. Before that blog I had no idea there was vote suppression and I didn't even know what ACORN was. But after having to do the blog and getting all the research. I could fill someone in on every aspect of ACORN. So like I stated earlier, everything that we've done so far in class has helped me get a better understanding of current events.
Honestly I don't think there is anything we need to improve in this class
Having learned everything that I have in this class, when ever there is a olitical discussion Im like bring it on. Now a days I can actually be involved in a political conversation and not be the one in the back listening to everyone and laughing when appropriate. I would be the one leading the conversation because of my background research on American Politics.
Part 2:
So for my project my new and revised research question is: What government programs in San Diego have been effective in the cleanliness of beaches?
So my proposed product is an online article with all of my research on it. What I am thinking is having all these different acts and laws that have been passed in San Diego to ensure beach cleanliness.
With these acts and laws I have interviews from city offcials and how effective they think these programs are. Not only that but I will have or try to have interviews of people who actually construct these programs and if they think they are effective. Now I also want to do one more thing and that is to interview people at the beach and ask them questions dealing with what they think the governments effect is on the beach. Along with these interviews I will have comparison data. I will have my water data that I have collected at beaches around San Diego and compare them to the standards of what the government is asking for. I will most likely represent my data in graphs because that is most representable of what I am researching.
In order to get to my final product I am going to need quite a few things. First I will need to come up with a set of interview questions for each with a set of interview both for city officials and the people. I will also need water testing results before I do these interviews (preferably) because When I ask the questions I also want to know if the results I got from the beach shocked them. To Be specific
Here is a Time line of the next 2 weeks
How do you feel about the election? What are your hopes for America and your community in the next few years? What are your concerns for America and your community for the next few years?
I felt very good about this election. The night of the election, as soon as I saw that Ohio and Florida were leaning democrat I was leaning on the edge of my seat. When they had announce that Barack Obama was going to be the 44th president I jumped up and yelled in joy. I could not believe it!
My hopes for this country are that we get through this financial crisis, and that the United States will become less segregated and all people will come together and live as equals. The financial crisis even though I am worried about it, well will be able to recover. The other thing i was talking about is through Obama being president anything is possible. If this country can come as far from black people being slaves to 200 years later being elected the president of the US then I am pretty sure our country somehow will learn how to come together as one.
I only have one concern about Barack Obama being president, and that is assassination. There is no doubt that Obama will try to be assassinated throughout his term as president. If we our so mis fortunate as to loose Barack, then Joe Biden will do a wonderful job filling in for him.
Evaluate your own level of civic knowledge. What have we done well as a class to build your understanding of current events? What can we improve as a class (or you as an individual) to better build your understanding of current events? How do you feel in the numerous conversations about current events that take place outside of class?
I feel that throughout these past weeks I have learned so much about these elections that I could sit someone down and explain the whole thing to someone. I actually understand what the news is talking about now when they say things like California got 55 electoral votes. I don't feel left out of the conversation, I feel like I am part of everything.
I think everything we have done so far has helped me understand current events. I mean going back to the beginning of the year we learned about the bases of American politics. But I think the one thing that has really given me the upper hand and is helping me understand things a lot better are the blogs that we have been doing. In every blog we have to write about something we have been doing in class. These last few blogs have been helpful, especially the one about ACORN and the voting scandal. Before that blog I had no idea there was vote suppression and I didn't even know what ACORN was. But after having to do the blog and getting all the research. I could fill someone in on every aspect of ACORN. So like I stated earlier, everything that we've done so far in class has helped me get a better understanding of current events.
Honestly I don't think there is anything we need to improve in this class
Having learned everything that I have in this class, when ever there is a olitical discussion Im like bring it on. Now a days I can actually be involved in a political conversation and not be the one in the back listening to everyone and laughing when appropriate. I would be the one leading the conversation because of my background research on American Politics.
Part 2:
So for my project my new and revised research question is: What government programs in San Diego have been effective in the cleanliness of beaches?
So my proposed product is an online article with all of my research on it. What I am thinking is having all these different acts and laws that have been passed in San Diego to ensure beach cleanliness.
With these acts and laws I have interviews from city offcials and how effective they think these programs are. Not only that but I will have or try to have interviews of people who actually construct these programs and if they think they are effective. Now I also want to do one more thing and that is to interview people at the beach and ask them questions dealing with what they think the governments effect is on the beach. Along with these interviews I will have comparison data. I will have my water data that I have collected at beaches around San Diego and compare them to the standards of what the government is asking for. I will most likely represent my data in graphs because that is most representable of what I am researching.
In order to get to my final product I am going to need quite a few things. First I will need to come up with a set of interview questions for each with a set of interview both for city officials and the people. I will also need water testing results before I do these interviews (preferably) because When I ask the questions I also want to know if the results I got from the beach shocked them. To Be specific
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Here is a Time line of the next 2 weeks
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Water Quality Project Question Summaries and Reasearch
One of my questions that I am thinking about researching is : How much does the government enforce beach cleanliness? Now for this question I want to research how much the government has been involved with this whole issue of pollution on beaches. I mean yes I know they have signs on the beach but the real question is, what are they doing behind the scenes? That is what I am trying to figure out in my research.
In an article that I read called National Clean Water report cites ways to cleaner water they were discussing how the government has been involved in beach cleanliness around the San Diego area, in this specific instance, Coronado beach. According to this website the main goal is to strengthen the Clean Water Act. By doing so San Diego beaches pollutant levels will go down. The Clean Water Act was a law passed back in 1972 that would protect water quality in the United States. This includes "a variety of regulatory and nonregulatory tools to sharply reduce direct pollutant discharges into waterways, finance municipal wastewater treatment facilities, and manage polluted runoff."
For about 24 years San Diego government hasn't really done a good job with regulating Coronado's pollutions levels. Coronado has failed to comply with the water quality regulatory standards of the city. This is when a re-enforcement of the Clean Water Act came into play in 1996. Since 1996 the County Department of Environment Health and the City of San Diego has been examining storm drain runoff and have been working to discover the sources of the pollution. The San Diego government even used about $500,000 dollars to begin re-directing polluted runoff into the storm drain systems.
More recently a bill was passes called "The Right to Know Bill". This bill will allow for statewide water quality standards of all beaches that will protect the health of beach visitors. Another idea in the brainstorming process by the San Diego government is the protection of wetlands. According to Eric Bowlby who is Co-Chair of the San Diego Chapter, Sierra Club Coastal Committee "Wetlands help absorb and filter out pollution. This helps keep our water supplies clean and makes our oceans safer to swim in,". This is just the beginning of my research on goverment involvement with San Diego beaches.
Another question that I am thinking about is: Do different food vendors effect pollution levels at beaches? Now with this question it seemed really interesting to me. When I am at the beach I always see food vendors selling their foods. I wonder though if they are complying with the standards that the city of San Diego has set for them. I want to research how much ( if any) do food vendors expel their waste into the ocean because I am pretty sure that there are least a few vendors who don't care about properly disposing of their waste and just dumping in the ocean. Also I am thinking about what the vendors actually sell to the people. I mean not all the wrappers are going to end up in the trashcan, some are probably going to end up on the beach. This is what I hope to find out through my research.
I an article i was reading ( Doesn't have a name and I can't link it because it is microsoft word document) they were discussing how food vendors effect pollution at beaches. One these causes is urban runoff which is usually caused by poor business practices. Another way that restaurants have an effect on beach pollution is by not cleaning up food or chemical spills by just washing down the storm drain. The main issue with food vendors though is that of plastic and Styrofoam manufactured products. These products are filled with toxins such as dioxins and organochlorines that are harmful to animal if entered in the water. One las thing I want to mention is the actually use of foods. The food vendors at beaches usually tend to use foods with a lot of oil in them. If disposed improperly (which it most likely will) the oil in the food can block off oxygen in the water, therefore killing off all the fish.
In an article that I read called National Clean Water report cites ways to cleaner water they were discussing how the government has been involved in beach cleanliness around the San Diego area, in this specific instance, Coronado beach. According to this website the main goal is to strengthen the Clean Water Act. By doing so San Diego beaches pollutant levels will go down. The Clean Water Act was a law passed back in 1972 that would protect water quality in the United States. This includes "a variety of regulatory and nonregulatory tools to sharply reduce direct pollutant discharges into waterways, finance municipal wastewater treatment facilities, and manage polluted runoff."
For about 24 years San Diego government hasn't really done a good job with regulating Coronado's pollutions levels. Coronado has failed to comply with the water quality regulatory standards of the city. This is when a re-enforcement of the Clean Water Act came into play in 1996. Since 1996 the County Department of Environment Health and the City of San Diego has been examining storm drain runoff and have been working to discover the sources of the pollution. The San Diego government even used about $500,000 dollars to begin re-directing polluted runoff into the storm drain systems.
More recently a bill was passes called "The Right to Know Bill". This bill will allow for statewide water quality standards of all beaches that will protect the health of beach visitors. Another idea in the brainstorming process by the San Diego government is the protection of wetlands. According to Eric Bowlby who is Co-Chair of the San Diego Chapter, Sierra Club Coastal Committee "Wetlands help absorb and filter out pollution. This helps keep our water supplies clean and makes our oceans safer to swim in,". This is just the beginning of my research on goverment involvement with San Diego beaches.
Another question that I am thinking about is: Do different food vendors effect pollution levels at beaches? Now with this question it seemed really interesting to me. When I am at the beach I always see food vendors selling their foods. I wonder though if they are complying with the standards that the city of San Diego has set for them. I want to research how much ( if any) do food vendors expel their waste into the ocean because I am pretty sure that there are least a few vendors who don't care about properly disposing of their waste and just dumping in the ocean. Also I am thinking about what the vendors actually sell to the people. I mean not all the wrappers are going to end up in the trashcan, some are probably going to end up on the beach. This is what I hope to find out through my research.
I an article i was reading ( Doesn't have a name and I can't link it because it is microsoft word document) they were discussing how food vendors effect pollution at beaches. One these causes is urban runoff which is usually caused by poor business practices. Another way that restaurants have an effect on beach pollution is by not cleaning up food or chemical spills by just washing down the storm drain. The main issue with food vendors though is that of plastic and Styrofoam manufactured products. These products are filled with toxins such as dioxins and organochlorines that are harmful to animal if entered in the water. One las thing I want to mention is the actually use of foods. The food vendors at beaches usually tend to use foods with a lot of oil in them. If disposed improperly (which it most likely will) the oil in the food can block off oxygen in the water, therefore killing off all the fish.
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