The Week in Pictures -- Thursday

Chocolate tasting party.

The Week in Pictures -- Tuesday

 

The Week in Pictures -- Monday

Department of Earth and Biological Sciences Awards Banquet

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

En la celebración del día fui a Versailles. Es un restaurante del comida Cubano en Los Angeles y es ¡buenisimo! Tenía frijoles negros y arroz, plátanos dulces, fritos, y yuca adobado . ¡Que delicioso! Entonces, mientras que volvía a casa, escuché el salsa en la radio en me coche.

También, fui a un simposio del loro. Más en eso más adelante.

Estoy apesadumbrado para no responder a tus comentarios. Quizás, escribiré más mañana.

Saludos,
Bryant

Lavamatica Fantastica

 

Fast Food versus Good Food

I guess I’m still on the Earth Day theme. I think I need to write about this though, since it is perplexing to me. And I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks about these issues. (I have been thinking about more science and religion based posts, Mandy. So I’ll get to those soon.)

On Sunday I went birding with my professor and student/classmate. The birding was good and I made a significant start on my lifelist with 78 new birds. You can see the results at my new birding webpage. It’s very simple and I didn’t proof read it.

At one point we started talking about fast food and Walmart. If you’ve seen the “No War: Nebraskans for Peace” sign in my car you might imagine which side of the debate I came down on against these two Californians. Humanitarian issues aside, why would you want to buy crap just because it is cheap so you can afford to buy more crap? On a certain level I can understand the appeal if you are poor. Fast food and Walmart do make things very cheap and I can’t argue with that. But I make $6000/year and somehow I can afford to buy whole wheat bread. Sure I could buy two or three loaves of white bread for the same price but I guess I would prefer to eat less food of a higher quality, and I’m not starving. In the long run it might save money in health costs. Seriously, why should I go to Del Taco to eat some flimsy little taco of questionable appeal and support some millionaire CEO when I can eat the delicious Pablo special at Maria’s and support the local entrepreneurs?

Is there anyway to instill a since of pride in someone’s life?

PS. On a similar note, I would recommend to everyone to use compact florescent light bulbs instead of the incandescent bulbs. They may cost twice as much but they will save you about $200 in electricity over the 8 year life of the bulb. In the same amount of time you may need to replace an incandescent bulb 10-15 times so really you are saving quite a lot of money by using the compact florescent bulbs.

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day. I hope it is good for you.

Here are some picture of the earth that I have taken.

---

These are some more pictures I took of the Loma Linda Hills last weekend. The hills are in real danger from real estate developers.
















































We should remember that we are not independent of our environment but depend on the earth for our lives. It is more important than ever that we recognize the impact humans are having on the earth. In 1850 there were 150 glaciers in glacier national park in Montana while today there are only 35. Sea rise will effect the 70% of the worlds human population that lives on coastland.


Religious obligations
For those of you who are SDA and going to church today. I hope your pastor is giving a sermon about the importance of respecting God's creation.

It is the belief of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that humankind was created in the image of God, and is thus to represent God as His steward and to manage the natural environment in a faithful and fruitful way. Nature is a gift from God.

...

Seventh-day Adventists advocate a simple, wholesome lifestyle, where people do not step on the treadmill of unbridled consumerism, goods-getting, and production of waste. We call for respect of creation, restraint in the use of the world's resources, reevaluation of one's needs, and reaffirmation of the dignity of created life. (Statement on Stewardship of the Environment)

Many of the things we can do to protect air and water quality have direct influence on our health as well. Here are some suggestions of ways you can be responsible.

Be involved

• Purchase your food from local markets. Try making your own meals rather than buying processed foods.
  
• Recycle your old cell phones with Sprint.
  
• Simply print the pre-paid mailing label, put it on a box with your phone and mail it.
• Vote and be involved in your local and national government.
  
• Recycle as much as you can.
• Compost your kitchen waste rather than using fertilizer in your garden.
• With gas over $3/gallon it will save you money as well as your health to drive less this summer.
• Consider riding a bicycle and/or public transportation
  
• Economize your travel by making fewer trips
  
• Consider buying a fuel efficient car
  

Education

• Take a tour of the earth with environmental and climate lessons on Google Earth. If you don't know about Google Earth, it's freakin' cool, and free.
  
• Or watch videos about why polar bears should be on the endangered species list or melting glaciers in Everast National Park.
• Learn more about responsible living at the EPA webpage

Here are a few more pictures.

New Shoes!

I bought some new shoes yesterday.


They are the same as the ones I had before except that they are red and have about 500 fewer miles on them. There were also on sale because New Balance has changed the design. I'm hopeing they will give my feet more cushion so they will stop hurting.