Abstract Letter

This specific resource management project is studying the issue of human overpopulation. It is a growing controversy that is affecting the global community. The official definition is often mistaken to be the amount of people on Earth, but in fact it is the amount of resources consumed by the increasing number of people. With the human population growing, the amount of resources necessary for life grows as well. An imbalance has been created because the Earth cannot replenish the resources at an equal or higher rate than its use.
The anarchy system in the global community makes it impossible to implement an international policy of population control, which leads countries to address the issue within their own borders. China created the One Child Policy to reduce the growth rate the country was experiencing. The policy stated that married, urban couples were restricted to have one child. Since the One Child Policy was enacted in 1979, more than 250 million births have been prevented. India passed legislation requiring poor citizens (determined by job, financial aid and governmental loans) to have involuntary sterilization surgery. After the backlash of the coercion used to force citizens to undergo surgery, India has resorted to softer methods to control its population.
Through research, the project started to focus on three countries handling the issue of human overpopulation: China, India and The Philippines. By examining the policies used to support or devastate each country’s population it was easy to form a holistic view of this prevalent issue. China implemented the One-Child Policy in 1979 to control its growing population. The policy states that married urban couples are only legally allowed to have one child. China created this policy to mitigate social, economic and environmental problems facing the country. The Chinese government supports the policy change by reporting that the implementation of the One-Child Policy has prevented more than 250 million births since 2000. With a quarter of a billion people less in China’s population, the country has had the opportunity to focus on addressing the original problems. The One Child Policy is considered to be successful because 76% of citizens support it and the policy allows for China believes the One Child Policy is still effective in controlling their population and won’t consider changing the policy for at least another decade. India has also taken measures to address the country’s growing overpopulation problem. The first initiative began between 1975 and 1977 when the country forced thousands of poor men and women to undergo sterilization procedures. When citizens applied for government loans, jobs or aid they were required to consent to sterilization procedures. The negative backlash convinced the government to talk a softer approach to tackling the problem. As a result, by 2050 India will become the most populated country with over 1.8 billion people. The Philippines have outlawed any type of abortions and made contraceptives virtually unavailable. Fueled by traditional religious values the Philippine’s government is forcing women to take alternative measures of abortions such as falling down stairs and taking dangerous concoctions of drugs just to terminate pregnancies. Families are unable to provide for multiple children causing women to have unpredictable actions to end their baby’s life. Legislation has been presented numerous times to legalize abortions and increase the availability of birth control, but each attempt has been denied.

There are two possible solutions to take away from each of these countries: one emulating successful policies, such as the One Child Policy, as a way to address overpopulation in our respective country and putting pressure on the government to see the consequences of their behavior. The only way to accomplish either one of these goals, is writing a letter to support the passing of legislation related to human overpopulation. By using your voice, governments will see the importance of the issue, understand that it is even important on the “main street” level and maybe learn more about a predominantly unknown issue.

Government's Role in Food Justice

Questions I responded to in a discussion related to the government's role in food justice after reading "In Defense of Food" (H.R 1523)...

1. Why do people choose to eat products that are unhealthy for them?

I think people choose to eat foods that are unhealthy because these foods are usually readily available and pretty cheap. Also the food is manufactured with ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup that makes the taste better and more addictive.

2. What roles and responsibilities does the government play in framing your choices?

In framing our choices the government should not have any control as long as the consequences of those choices do not have a direct effect on others. The government should be responsible for providing unbiased, informative facts about food. They should also ensure that a monopoly is not created so the people have an equal opportunity to have access to the food that they choose to eat.

Sociology Experiment

Mexico's drug laws, America's future legislation

Since the inception of our country, America more notable its government, has possessed an elitist, arrogant attitude when the topic of international policy is addressed. Consider the American revolution, while it luckily ended quite nicely on our behalf, troops were going against a force to be reckoned where conceivable we should have lost. Fortunately, the arrogance paid off and with a little help from our allies, we won. Consider instances where America intervened in Iranian or Cuban affairs based on our beliefs that "we knew better" & "we want to save the world," America caused conflict and major violence that could have easily been avoided had our desire been suppressed. I can not recall one instance where we have humbled ourselves to look at another nation to emulate their policies to help solve our own problems. Maybe following Mexico's and many other Latin American country's ideas will be the place to start. It is fact that the "war on drugs" on our continent, and I will even take it as far as to say our world, sees no borders. It doesn't see race, gender, sexual orientation let alone specific government. So why, when there are close bordering nations that are addressing the same if not worse drug problem we are, is America not looking for a new solution? Why do we view ourselves as better than to look at other country's changes and see if they can help us? Obviously the current plan isn't working because drugs are increasing everyday in our country. This might be the time to prove our humility and look to Mexico and other Latin American countries as they decriminalize drug possession and ask ourselves if this might be the best solution for us. Who knows it might let other countries know that when the last administration left, they took their arrogance with them.

Bruce's Hero

Bruce and Barder were best friends, more than the usual man and his dog. They did everything together; they laughed, played, slept and even cried with each other. Bruce had other friends but he didn't like spending his time with anyone but Barder. Obviously as a child Bruce was susceptible to sickness but when he was six years old he became really, really sick. As usual Barder was by Bruce's side to comfort him as he became well but this time Bruce did not get better. Bruce's parents decided that the best idea would be to take him to the doctor's office. As soon as the doctor's began running tests everyone knew something was wrong; two days later reports came back that diagnosed Bruce with Leukemia. There was nothing more Barder could do, his warmth and cuddling only helped Bruce with his pain of radiation. The symptoms were still there and Bruce wasn't getting any better. He eventually lost all of his hair and a significant amount of weight during his treatment. After months of battling the cancer it was obvious Bruce was losing the war, his doctor only gave him days to live. Bruce's last wish was to go for a final ride with Barder around the park outside. Eager Barder jumped at any chance to help, so he threw Bruce on his back and they went for the best ride either of them have ever had. Bruce was laughing and smiling just like he used to. Everyone knew it was the best way for him to spend his last day, unfortunately he passed away peacefully in his sleep that evening.

Creative Writing

"Charlie, Charlie come back!"Helena yelled after him, but she was to late Charlie was already gone.

Charlie is a struggling adult in the heart of New York City, as many are at his age. At night he is completing his degree in architecture at the prestigious New York University, during the day he is working at Williams & Co. design firm. Williams & Co. is the most powerful design company in the nation and Charlie is the bosses assistant. A million designers would kill for his job because with the reputation of working at Williams & Co. he could land a job anywhere. Charlie was being worked to his limit, he was sent on extraneous tasks and errands that would break the normal person. Charlie was determined to last at least a year, so he wouldn't let anything stop him.



On the morning of September 8th, 2009, the boss summoned Charlie into his office. "As you know," the boss started, "the French office is having their annual design exhibition here in New York this afternoon. They are displaying these new white, gold wheels. It is the ugliest item i have ever seen but the whole exhibition is revolving around the wheels so it must be a big deal. I need you to take them, you need to sabotage that exhibit. I hate the French office! You need to hide the wheels in a place no one from the french office staff would ever look. That is all, you're dismissed."

Charlie was confused by his new task but definitely not surprised. The boss was notorious for assigning him random errands so by all means sabotaging the French exhibit wasn't out of the ordinary.

With the label as the bosses assistant at Williams & Co., Charlie had no trouble entering the exhibition during the assembly period before the opening that evening. Using his mesmerizing charm, Charlie skated right by without anyone suspecting he was up to any trouble. When the main room was empty, he quickly grabbed the wheels and walked out the same way he came in. As easy as that, he had just ruined the entire French exhibition and no one would ever know he did.

The boss was always vague with his instructions but he insured that he had all of the bases covered when giving an assignment. Charlie recalled that his boss told him to, "... hide the wheels in a place no one from the French office staff would ever look. " Charlie, being a New York veteran, knew that there was only one place that the high class French workers would never go, and that place was the subway.

Charlie made his way to the underground platform just as the next train was pulling up. He was leaning over, to place the wheels inside, when he looked up only to see the entire French staff to get off of the train. Charlie stuffed the wheels behind him to greet his co-workers at they departed the train. Then it dawned on him, the French were celebrating their environmental week which meant the use of public transportation. Charlie turned and ran away as fast as he could, pushing through crowds and stampeding up the stairs to reach the surface. One of the French worker, Helena, noticed what he was carrying and began to yell at him just as he was running through the exit of the train station.

"Well, he's gone." Helena said turning around to her workers....