Save Our Planet? Only If It Yields Profit

The fragile balance between corporate profits and making a change in our culture is a very fine line to walk. American business is all about profit. They have taken this movement and twisted it into a marketing technique to sell more products, but in order to make a big impact on consumer waste you must use the corporate giants. The corporations are on board with making eco-friendly products as long as in the end it equals profits.
Author Leslie Kaufman of the New York Times, states these same ideas in her article, At 40, Earth Day Is Now Big Business.She states,” Forty years later, the day has turned into a premier marketing platform for selling a variety of goods and services, like office products, Greek yogurt and eco-dentistry” (Kaufman Para 2) and here she quotes Denis Hayes, who was national coordinator of the first Earth Day and is returning to organize this year’s activities in Washington.“This ridiculous perverted marketing has cheapened the concept of what is really green,” “It is tragic” (Kaufman Para 6)
Overtime, the focus on doing what’s right for the planet has been modified to include profit making. It is a shame that we can’t do right by the planet that has done right by us. This makes me fear for my daughter’s future. Our carbon footprint is getting bigger and deeper and there is no true sign that this trend will slow.
Like everything else in America Earth Day has now been altered from its humble beginnings to support the needs of greedy corporations (ex. Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and Valentine’s Day).


Web Article:
New York Times
Author: Leslie Kaufman
At 40, Earth Day Is Now Big Business, Published April 21 2010

Teens and Sex GoTogether Like PB&J (ROUGH DRAFT

Teen pregnancy is on the rise in the United States. “Of the 4.3 million births reported in 2006, around 435,000 of the births were to mothers from 15 to 19 years old, an increase of approximately 21,000 more teens having babies than in 2005” (Hajek).
The cause of the current rise is uncertain, but I feel the reasons for the rise are very clear. Many factors play into this trend such as single parent homes, religious influence in the home, businesses relying on sexual pictures or thoughts to sell products, lack of education to the youth about contraceptives and sexual transmitted diseases, the parents not providing birth control and condoms to teens, and the parent(s) of the teen not being open to discussing sex and the consequences.
Single parent homes in the United States “According to Families and Living Arrangements: 2006, there were 12.9 million one-parent families in 2006 — 10.4 million single-mother families and 2.5 million single-father families”( US Census Bureau). I am a product of a single parent upbringing and all too often my house was full of chaos and kid-parent disconnect. My mother was preoccupied with financial stability and therefore certain parental duties were put on hold. I never received the “ birds and the bees” conversation nor did she keep “tabs” on where I was during the day and or night.
Religion is a double edged sword it can play a vital role in preventing teen pregnancy and it can also add to it. Religion has base rules that promote good morals and ethics. One of these rules is no sex before marriage. Another one of these rules is no contraceptives. These rules can add to teen pregnancy. If the teen comes from a religious family and wants to engage in premarital sex they will be afraid to approach their parent(s). Thus, leaving the teen to have sex and to have it without contraceptives.
Businesses in America thrive on the image of sex to promote and sell products. How many times have you been in the checkout lane at your local supermarket and are visually assaulted with half naked images on magazines? Turn on your television and see a commercial promoting body soap or hair products with the underlined message of sex? Open up the internet and take a quick look around, it is estimated that blank percent of the internet is porn/sex related sites.
I also believe there is a lack of sex education to teens in this country. The education of the human body and how it reproduces will help prevent teen pregnancies. It would show the teens how to properly use contraceptives. It will also show them the negative consequences of their actions, such as sexually transmitted diseases, the stress it will have on their education and future and of course the chance of an unwanted pregnancy.
Parents are not talking to their teens about sex. They do not want to recognize that their teen might be or want to be engaged in sexual activity. They are not taking the appropriate steps to safeguarding their teens from sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy. This is due to the parents religious stance, unwilliness to approve of premarital sex or just plain clueless to the fact that little Johnny or Suzzy is going to have sex regardless and should take precautions.
In the end, if your teenager wants to engage in sexual activity there is little you can do but educate and protect them. If you choose not to address this with your teens you are playing a dangerous game with your kids future.


Web Article:
Heather Hajek
Published: Friday, January 9 2009
http://www.healthnews.com/family-health/pregnancy-childbirth-parenting/teen-pregnancy-rate-is-on-rise-2409.html

Web Article:
US Census Bureau
Page Last Modified: January 15, 2010
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html

Santa Claus Is Fake, but STD’S are Real

5 hours earlier I had just gotten off the plane from a 22 hour flight from Kuwait back to the USA. I had spent the last year celibate in the middle of the desert in a daily sausage fest. You guessed it; I was deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was finally a free man.
A couple buddies and I decided to go out on the town to celebrate our new found freedom. We ended up in a dance club pounding back the drinks (drink of choice: Grey Goose and Cranberry). I had finally reached the liquid courage stage of my alcoholic binge and found myself hitting on the shot girl who seemed to be around whenever my cup was empty. She amazingly mirrored my affections and after a short conversation, I found myself engaged in an intense battle of tongue war right in the middle of the club.
She finally comes up for air and leaves my side to continue making her rounds. Leaving me intrigued.
At last call she grabs my hand and leads me to a stock closet where we continued our high school make out session. Finally, the bar cleared out and the doors were locked for the night.
This particular bar had 4 different floors of music. The first floor was country, the second was popular, the third was disco and the top floor was rap. She was responsible for cleaning up the top floor that evening.
We headed to the top floor running up the 4 sets of winding stairs like two kids in a candy store. We reach the top floor and the music is still going. She precedes then to give me a private showing, which I was much obliged. The showing was then followed by rated XXX material not suitable for all audiences.
After the bleeped out portion of this story I thanked her and showed myself out. The next morning I awoke to a situation in my boxers I did not appreciate. It seemed that the prior nights activities had consequences, which I did not consider.
I feared to urinate for it was already in such pain. I called a local doctors office and made it crystal clear this was an urgent matter which could not wait.
I arrive at the doctor’s office and was seen right away.
The doctor asks what the problem is and how he could help. I inform him of the situation and I believe that I have a STD. He then begins to pull out this long Q-tip looking tool and says he will need to insert this to test for STD’S, but first he would need to ” just take a look”.
I release my death grip from my pants and give him permission to begin the exam.
My anxiety has reached its capacity and my fear of the Q-tip insertion is making me sweat. I begin to run through questions in my head. What disease did I catch? Is it curable? Did she know? How bad is all this going to hurt?
During my internal breakdown the doctor has caught my eye. I see him reach for a pair of tweezers and I ask him what he is going to do. He reassures me and tells me he thinks he found something. He reaches down and I feel a slight pinch as he pulls out a thin piece of red string. It seems that a piece of string from my boxers had somehow gotten stuck and caused this incredible irritation and swelling.
I used to believe STD’s were right up there with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I used to believe that they did not exist.
That day I learned firsthand that they do exist and not to take them so lightly. Take this story for what it’s worth, it is just an eye opener that all actions have consequences and some consequences can last a life time.