George Carlin

George Carlin was saying that as a species we will cause our own downfall. The Earth will naturally survive without us as it did before us.Carlin says that the Earth simply tolerates humand and "will be able to shake us off like fleas". If necessary, we will reach a point where we will be unable to live on earth either due to causes by our own hands or by the earth itself.

Mark Smith's "Animalcules and other Little Subjects"

Smith poetical describes the microscopic world in "Animalcules". In reality there is an entire universe in a jar of pond water. This notion places our existence into perspective. Is it possible that to some other form of life, we are nothing more than small creates thriving in a pond somewhere? This idea reminded me of the film "Men In Black" where, at the end it is reviled that our Universe is inside of a marble.
Some of the small creatures smith describes remarkably possess the same parts as humans "eyes, heart, brain, muscles, stomach..."(258). This also shows in many ways all organisms are alike and are connected by a common history

Bejamin Phelan's "How we evolve"

It makes sense that human evolution has slowed down. As Phelan states, in our society "the fit and the unfit equally flourish"(192). As a result, the concept of "survival of the fittest" may have taken a backseat. I think its undeniable that our technology has overtaken our natural evolution. In a matter of a century we created atomic bombs and space shuttles. The fact that our population has boomed may also hinder evolution. As the article states genetic drift contributes to evolution. It is difficult for a single gene to spread through a species that is 6.8 billion strong in number. It is a natural rule that organisms must adapt to their environment. However, the environment must now adapt to humans. I feel that as a whole humanity is reaching a critical point where will decide if we will destroy ourselves or continue to thrive.

Connection between "just add water" and "Ethics of Carbon emissions"

The world would resemble Trona Californiaif pollution and global warming becomes worse. Similar to modern society the people of Trona rely on gas stations to power their society.
Ray's neighbor is depicted as being lazy and always sitting on his lawn chair, yet he wants to help ray with his problems. Similarly, modern society wants to help stop global warming but rarely do people take serious action to combat against it. In regards to global warming, most of the western world wants to help, yet does nothing.

John Broome's The Ethics of climate change

I like philosophy too, but I found that John Broome's The Ethics of Climate change was too speculative. Is climate change killing people and harming the enviornment? Yes. But I found that Broome simply ranted and never truly reached a conclusion or gave a solid solution to any problem. He mentions the concepts of Utilitarianism and Prioritarianism which are only two ways of viewing the problem from many different angles. Perhaps I simply didn't understand his article or I missed something.
When it comes to climate change, the only people that can make a serious difference are world governments. Governments can pass laws that cut down on waste/carbon emissions/green house gases and whatever else is destroying the environment. A single person can make a difference by "going green" such as buying organic food riding a bike instead of driving a car etc.

how do I feel about blogging

I like being able to read other people's opinions about the topics that we discuss in class. I do like the fact that one can comment on someone else's blog so we can have some type of conversation. However, I do view blogging as a chore. Take this post for example, I forgot about it until I went on blogger and read that other people posted it. So I just wrote this up really quick.

Just add water questions. Recall

1. What's inside the box that Ray keeps in his car?
2. Does Ray still consider Ed (Jonah hill) to be his son even though he is not the biological father.
3. Why is the Lemon meringue pie recipe so special?
4. Is Ed really apathetic and angry or is that an act?
5. What gave Ray the inspiration to finally stand up to Dirk and his gang.
6. Does Ray's turtle has an actual purpose in the film?

Recall: the movie does remind me of Little miss sunshine because of the dark humor and tone.