podcast

Today during my English 101 class, we had a podcast session. This podcast was everyone's overall take from the class and how we felt about climate change This podcast session was pretty interesting because i really got to hear everyone's input on the class. I loved hearing about James's story on what he went thru after hurricane sandy. This was the first time i really had gotten a chance to hear everybody's feelings on climate change and what they believe we should do to help climate change. Fatima's statements were so strong and clear. Fatima really wants to raise awareness of climate change and her idea of posting up banners in the subway was a very smart idea. I also believe we should have a better awareness strategy in new york city. I really enjoyed learning about this topic in my english class. I have always heard about climate change and global warming but now I'm more aware then ever. This class was one of the most interesting classes i have taken this semester and i have learned so much. I feel like now that i have received so much information on this important topic, i will raise awareness myself. Even if the awareness does not reach as far as i would hope it too. i still will spread the word. thank you professor for an amazing semester and i really did wish you taught 102 so i could have had you for fall semester as well. This podcast was a great way to hear everyones thoughts as this semester comes to a conclusion. I am happy to have met everyone in my eng 101 class.

divine purpose

Zeitoun felt a sense of a "divine purpose" to stay back and help during Hurricane Katrina. Divine purpose is a reason behind your actions that is influenced with god. One example of divine purpose would be how Zeitoun had saved five elderly lives and felt "compelled to stay by a power beyond his own reckoning"(Zeitoun 106). Zeitoun felt a higher power leading him to stay back while his family left New Orleans. Zeiotun thinking he has a higher purpose is understandable. Saving someone's life im sure will take your mind to places where you think you were meant to be there at that very moment. If Zeitoun had not been there when that elderly woman was dangling in her apartment then just maybe she wouldnt have survived. He did have a purpose to save her life. Another example of divine purpose occurring in the text is when Zeitoun's brother Ahmad tells him to go back to his family but Zeitoun feels that "They need me here more"(Zeitoun130). In other words, Zeitoun feels that New Orleans needs him more than anything during Hurricane Katrina and he had an obligation to he there and help whoever he can help. Zeitoun's family did need him but he felt New Orleans needed him more. That's a heroic thing to do in my opinion. Most people say family comes first but he  knew his family was safe and he wanted to save lives. Is there something really wrong with that?

Zeitoun

In my English class we are now reading a book called Zeitoun written by Dave Eggers. This book revolves around Zeitoun and his family's experience with hurricane Katrina. Zeitoun stays back in New Orleans while his family decides to leave due to the warning of the category 5 hurricane. While Zeitoun had stayed back he saved lives. I believe Zeitoun is a selfless man. He's saving lives of people. He is saving lives of some that he does not even know. That to me shows a sign of selflessness. The book talks about how Zeitoun rescues the eighty year old woman(page 103). He lifts the eighty year old woman who is over 200 pounds while she is on the ladder and while Zeitoun is under water. Zeitoun gets her on the motor boat safe and sound. He did not give up on that eighty year old woman and did whatever he can to help her. He seems like a very heroic person who would save a life to his best extent. If Zeitoun had not been there then that lady might have not survived. Zeitoun is a normal man who saved plenty of lives. He is selfless and heroic.

Hi my name is Nazneen and i believe one adequate response New York City had in affect after hurricane Sandy was setting up the rescue centers for victims. I would call this accommodative setup because New York City organized rescue centers near areas that had gotten hit hard by hurricane Sandy. So that way victims can be provided with food and water. Accommodative setup is when something is organized to help and supply others with help. In Sandy Storylines Sheri states that she'd get up and "go to the rescue center for food and water, there were no stoves to cook on"(waiting for daylight). Setting up rescue centers for victims was a very accommodating thing to do because it helped out a lot of people with no power or water after hurricane Sandy. New York City was not fully prepared for this hurricane but the rescue centers were very a good source of help. If there were no accommodative setup then during Super storm Sandy, a lot of people would have to struggle with not having items they could not get right away. Rescue centers were very essential to victims of hurricane sandy.

I believe New York's response to hurricane sandy was adequate because privatization schemes did not occur. Privatization schemes are when a project, land or anything else that can be privatized are handed off to private companies or individuals. In the passage Blanking the Beach from The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klen takes the tsunami in Sri Lanka and mentions how after the tsunami the government had privatization schemes in effect. She states "The newly elected government would need billions from foreign creditors to reconstruct the homes, roads, schools and railways destroyed in the storm"(Naomi Klen74).  This clearly states that after the Tsunami in Sri Lanka, the government handed out contracts to foreign companies to rebuild from the storm. This keyword can also relate to Naomi Klen's passage Super storm Sandy from The Shock Doctrine. During hurricane Sandy, Naomi Klen talks about certain individuals in New York City suggesting "many of those public works project shouldn't be public at all"(Naomi Klen129). A lot of New York City's officials believed that the reconstruction after hurricane sandy should have gone to private companies and not public companies but the law did not let them proceed with this idea. This statement is a direct relation to privatization schemes. Some government officials attempt to use a crisis like hurricane sandy and turn it into a privatization scheme is ridiculous. But thank god we have law in this country to prevent them from doing so.

I am writing this blog about some Sandy story lines for my English 101 class. One of the sandy story lines revolves around the Turner family and their struggle to get back into their house. Mrs.Turner was 8 months pregnant when sandy hit and she had to deal with the pressure of finding a rental home for her family as well as a load of paperwork to fix the damages to her house. She calls it the "hamster on the wheel"(sandy storyline; Mrs.Turner).  She believes they're just going to keep running and "eventually maybe we'll get off the wheel"(sandy storyline). It is like a constant run when you have to go back and forth trying to get paperwork done. Living in a rented place and still having to pay mortgage on your home. Mrs.Turner can't even walk away from the house because she still owes money. Imagine being stuck with something you don't even want. It will take up to a year before she can actually move back into her house. It must be harsh to deal with so much when you have a new born son and a daughter to take care off. I'm sure there a plenty of families who still don't have a proper place to stay after hurricane sandy. My question is why? The clean up after hurricane sandy should not take this long. Mrs.Turner and her family should not have to wait a year to get back into their homes. If just a storm like hurricane sandy can have such a big impact on Mrs.Turner and her family then just imagine when climate change really occurs and we will be having more severe storms. Just as Nordhaus William describes in his book The Climate Casino. Climate change is occurring and the worst is yet to come.

Doreen Willem ,in the sandy story line "We're Still here", is another victim of hurricane sandy. She witnessed the storm with her own two eyes. She states "I never seen anything like this in all my years"(Doreen willem sandy storyline). She describes the storm as a frightening event. The tree in front of her house was rustling back and forth and she was scared the whole entire time that the tree will fall straight into her house. Doreen had no heat or electricity for three weeks. But she decided she won't be going anywhere and she will keep cleaning her house in and out. Doreen is such a strong willed woman who stands her ground. i can interpret this because she does not complain about the fact that she has no electricity or heat but she rather states that her and her family are preparing thanksgiving at the moment. People like Doreen are good to have around because it makes everyone have a much stronger will to get thru hard times. Going thru a storm which you do not know the outcome is pretty scary. Doreen's boyfriend swam out to the front of the house to try to save the cars but was not successful. A lot of their processions had been ruined. Hurricane sandy affected people like Doreen and now she is more aware. Maybe due to hurricane sandy people can be more aware about climate change and give attention to the details. In the Climate Casino, Nordhaus talks about more awareness of the people is needed to help prevent global warming. I'm sure the victims of Hurricane Sandy can be some out of a bunch that would be willing to learn more about global warming.

I think New York City's idea on building sea barriers to stop flooding can really work. In the New York Times, Mireya Navarro wrote an article called New York Is Lagging As Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn. In this article it talks about sea levels rising and what steps New York are taking to help flooding and other risks. A lot of New Yorkers think we should concentrate on preventing floods, "like armoring city waterways with the latest high-tech barriers"(Navarro). Its smart to plan ahead and build sea barriers because its not only a good investment for our future but it might just be a big help. If we can spend so much money on the after effects of a storm then why cant we spend money to prevent flooding of New York City. It is better to prepared.

The feedback I have received from my peers really helped me understand what i needed to work on. They had told me to work on my citations. I have quotes in my essay but i did not cite them properly. Another feedback they had given me was about my thesis. My thesis can be a stronger thesis if i work on it a little more. My peers certainly liked specific information i provided in my essay from the book The Climate Casino. I gave details on what can be done to help get New York City prepared. I defiantly want to concentrate more on my thesis and conclusion. I think i should plan out my structure more and really work on the flow of my essay. My biggest concern on this essay is the overall message I'm trying to portray. i want my letter to the mayor to be very informative on why I think New York City is not ready for climate change. Also I'm concerned on whether or not i will get an A. I feel as if in class we can maybe learn more about the structure of the essay and how each detail can flow into the next detail.

Hi my name is Nazneen Chowdhury and i just read the New York times article, New York Is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn. In this article it talks about whether or not New York city is prepared for sea levels rising and flooding due to storms. A lot of people can argue that New York city is not yet prepared for such impact and the progress is taking forever. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's administration are expanding wetlands to accommodate surging tides, installing green roofs to absorb rainwater and prodding property owners to move boilers out of flood-prone basements, but is it enough? If flooding were to occur, it can paralyze our whole transportation system which can lead to the loss of billions of dollars. During the time of Hurricane Irene, 370,000 people were ordered to evacuate as well as New York city's subway systems being shut down. Hurricane Irene did not hit us as hard as we thought but if it did then it could have been really bad. A lot of researchers and engineers believe the best option would be to create sea gates that can close during a storm and prevent water surges. In Douglas Hill's words "They lack a sense of urgency about this". Douglas Hill is one among the many who want sea gates being built. He believes, instead of planning to be flooded, New York City should prevent the flooding in whatever necessary means it takes. Sea levels have been rising roughly an inch a decade in New York City over the last century. This pretty much means that within a few more years flooding can become more frequent and even the littlest storms can flood the city. New York city is taking a few steps and incorporating flood protecting measures in certain projects. In Brooklyn, porous riprap rock and a soft edge of salt-resistant grass have been laid in to help absorb the impact of a storm surge. Consolidated Edison have already spent about 24 million dollars since 2007 in raising submersible switches and moving high-voltage transformers above ground level. Discussions on barriers to be built to block sea tides have been going on for a while. To build tide blocks will cost roughly 10 billion dollars. There are more talks on how to protect the subway system. New York City still has not come up with a set plan on how to stop flooding.
Jim Gordon left a comment regarding this New York times article stating that we should really start using clean and renewable energy. He mentions "Spending billions of dollars to build sea gates without an Apollo like effort to stem the flow of carbon pollution currently accelerating rising sea levels, warming oceans and more intense an frequent storms is like treating the symptoms without curing the disease". He is technically saying we are trying to prevent floods in New York City but what about the main problem that is causing the rise of sea levels so rapidly and these torturous storms. The main problem should be looked at first before we start settling for anything else. And that main problem is global warming!!

Hi my name is Nazneen Chowdhury and I am learning about climate change in my English 101 class. we are reading the book The Climate Casino by William Nordhaus. In this book, there are a lot of graphs that portray information about climate and weather change over the years. On page 46 and 47 in the book, there are two graphs that both show temperature rising from the nineteenth century to the near future. On page 46, figure 8,  the graph shows temperatures that have been measured by thermometers by three different research groups from the year 1860 till 2012. The three groups in this graph are Hadley Centre, National climate data center and GISS. This graph shows the rise in temperature over the years and predict that the temperature will keep rising. Its amazing to see how all three research groups came out with similar results. This graph has lines going up and down, over lapping one another and showing the rise of temperature.  The second graph on page 47, figure 9, show the estimated temperature rise from year 2000 to 2100. This graph shows the temperature rise for standardized emissions, regional rice models and EMF-22 models.For this graph the results are similar for all the categories. Lines overlap each other and go in a straight diagonal line. The graph estimates, from 1900 to 2100 the global temperature will increase between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius. Both of these graphs signify that temperature levels are rising and predictions are already being made for the next ninety years. Both graphs are similar in displaying temperature rises but one is a prediction while the other has to do more with facts.

In "The Climate Casino", William Nordhaus states that raising the price on carbon is one of the steps that can be made to stop global warming, on location 146 on the kindle app. I agree with William Nordhaus idea of boosting up the price on carbon. Raising price on carbon would be a big step towards preventing global warming. It seems a bit ridiculous to raise the price on something that us Americans use everyday but if the prices do raise then I'm sure that low carbon based technologies will be invented. If and when we do start using less or no carbon, it will be that first step in making a change for our near future. Raising the price on carbon will not just influence producers on creating none carbon sources of energy but it will influence us to use carbon more sparingly. I believe we use oils and carbon so much now a days because we are not all aware of what is to come. But when the step to raise price on carbon are in process, I'm sure people will most defiantly not be so careless on the use of oils. This step will also aware everyone on the severe measure of global warming. If America raises the price of carbon it will effect the economy drastically and people will realize that what must be done should be done for our planet. If we set an example then maybe other nations will follow and that would be an even bigger step for Earth. Raising the price of carbon in my opinion is a pretty interesting idea and it might just work.