Author: Osborn Acquaye (Page 1 of 9)

Prompt 1 Good habits can improve our physical, emotional, and/or financial health. This semester, you’ve all sought to adopt new habits that will keep you strong in college. What habit would you tell an incoming freshman to adopt that you have also cultivated this semester?

Letter to a Freshman.

Dear,  Incoming Freshman.

Coming to college can be extremely terrifying and especially lonely when its happening in your room so I hope this  letter can bring you some light and some comfort.  Here are some things I did and learned along the way that helped me and I hope that they can be useful to you.  Firstly take notes. Majority of your classes you can take notes online. You can take notes using google docs which automatically safes your work as you type. You should also take pictures of your notes might need, this will help you learn if you don’t have your books or computer with you.  I wouldn’t blame you if 50 percent of  your phone gallery was filled with pictures of lecture notes because mine was filled too. Secondly, approach each class and lecture with positivity and optimism, to be honest, a big problem was that I got in my head, I felt like I already failed the semester if I got a bad grade on a test or missed a few minutes of the lecture. This was really bad for my mental health and definitely didn’t help my grade, so take each class at time and don’t beat yourself up for a bad grade its okay, and its not the end of the world. Thirdly,  go get in some for of physical exercise, class are a lot longer in college and sitting all day is not healthy. You can try doing yoga, going for walking or even dancing, it really does help relieve stress and its a lot more fun that studying.  Try your hardest to turn in if not all but, most of your assignments are on time. One thing I would encourage you to do if you want to have more free time is to do your assignments days before, even if you cant finish an assignment start it, this is good because if you can ask the teacher for help if you are stuck on a problem. Regularly check your school email and blackboard, some teacher post homework on there and other things they might want you to read before class. Another thing that help me was asking questions in class especially if you are confused on a topic because, most likely someone else is probably also confused.  Create a group chat with your class,  this is helpful if you have questions you forgot to ask in class or re-explanation of problems you didn’t get.  One great skill I started was journaling . Journaling  is really good, and personally helped me stay more organized with my classes. It also help me express my feelings on literally anything.  Another thing that help we was keeping my room clean.  Having a clean room is beneficially and helps keeps your things organized easy to find.  Another important habit that helped me was limiting my phone usage, I know its really difficult, but I promise its worth it.  Limiting the amount you send on your device allows you to have more time with yourself and what’s around you.  Practice meditation. Meditation was really helpful really courage me to be more Intune with myself and were I am.  At last take your take and enjoy the journey, you only get to be a college freshman once.

Climate Change.

The soul existence of humankind is based on our efforts to eliminate climate change. The issue of climate change has been an ongoing problem for centuries. Climate change is the result of burning fossil fuel and other harmful resources for energy plus deforestation of plants.  Fossil Fuels make up the majority of green house gasses because of its frequent use and how well it powers appliances.  During the industrial revolutionary most industrial facilities  burned coal to power machinery, these machinery were used to fasten the pace of work and to produce items at large rates. The introduction of industrial machinery caused a drastic increase in temperature  change overtime.  In 1750, “there were 280 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but by 2005, the levels of carbon dioxide had risen to 380 ppm” an  increase of over one-third ppm.  Scientists believe the trend of new machinery and an increase in fossil fuels will only cause temperatures to rise” (Shantel, Holly ) . The increases in temperature levels has and can cause serve problems.   As a result; global sea level has risen by about “8 inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 8 feet by 2100” (Shantel Holly). This is incredible harmful to species that thrive in water. Simply because a normal rainfall would bring up to the surface exposing them to more people which would make them more visible and easily captured.  In June of 2019  Australia experienced one of the worlds most brutal fires. The fire lasted for almost a year. It  killed over a billion animals and over 450 people (BBC Australian fires ). The fire was extremely dangerous and destroyed everything in its way.  Many family’s and animals lost there habitat due to the fire.

Researcher later found out that global warming had a significant job in the creation of the fire. “The researchers  looked at the influence of climate change using a measurement standard called the Fire Weather Index, which takes all those factors into account to determine the risk of wildfire in a specific area at a specific time” (NY times). They found out that temperature during the dates of June to May were extremely high.  Researchers mention that although, normally produce high temperatures . They experience unusually high temperature rates. Since then temperatures are still rising and new record continue to be broken.  Glaciers are materials that are incredibly useful to wildfire and also to researchers. Glaciers help researchers understand climate record  since it can absurd temperature levels this can be useful when researchers are looking to compare temperate data from a thousand years ago. Glaciers at as a barrier to protect wildlife such as pignus and other winter bound animals from they preys. Research found that, since the early twentieth century, with few exceptions, glaciers around the world have been retreating at unprecedented rates. “Some scientists attribute this massive glacial retreat to the Industrial Revolution, which began around 1750. In fact, several ice caps, glaciers and ice shelves have disappeared altogether in this century. Many more are retreating so rapidly that they may vanish within a matter of decades” (Glaciers and Climate Change). Scientists are discovering that production of electricity using coal and petroleum, and other uses of fossil fuels in the transportation industry, affects our environment in ways we did not understand before. “Within the past 200 years or so, human activity has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 40 percent, and other gases, such as methane (natural gas) by a factor of 2 to 3 or more” (Glaciers and Climate Change). As depicted in the information above the issue of climate change is serve and even deadly. However they are is good news.

Due to the rapid growth in clean energy. Humanity has started to bend the emissions curve. Current policies put us on pace for roughly “3 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100 — a better result, but still devastating”. Humans have so far warmed the planet 1.1 degrees Celsius “(2 degrees Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times, mainly by burning coal, oil, gas for energy”, and by cutting down forests, which help absorb the planet-warming emissions created by fossil fuel use.  The effect of climate change can be seen currently. This year alone, blistering heat waves killed hundreds of people in the Pacific Northwest, floods devastated Germany and China, and wildfires raged out of control in Siberia, Turkey and California. Although the effects of climate change is still present, new research shows that we can still do our part in helping the environment heal. The most common and simple things we can do is recycle and planting more trees. Planting more trees is imperative because it absorbs carbon dioxide and then produces oxygen.  Recycling  is the process of preserving old materials, and reusing them to create new things.  Recycling helps limit waste by over 50 percent so,  more we recycle the less waste we put in the environment.

Works Cited

Rosen, Julia. “The Science of Climate Change Explained: Facts, Evidence and Proof.” The New York Times, 19 Apr. 2021, www.nytimes.com/article/climate-change-global-warming-faq.html.

Shantel, Holly et al.  “Global Climate Change: Effects.”  Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet, NASA, 28 Nov. 2018, climate.nasa.gov/effects/.

“The Warming Effects of the Industrial Revolution – Global Temperatures.” Climate-Policy-Watcher.org, 2019, www.climate-policy-watcher.org/global-temperatures/the-warming-effects-of-the-industrial-revolution.html.

BBC. “Australia Fires: A Very Simple Guide.” BBC News, 3 Jan. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50980386.

Fountain, Henry. “Climate Change Affected Australia’s Wildfires, Scientists Confirm.” The New York Times, 4 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/climate/australia-wildfires-climate-change.html.

Glaciers and Climate Change | National Snow and Ice Data Center.” Nsidc.org, 2019, nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers/questions/climate.html.