Daily Commute: 50 miles. But my parents who work at UAB and I take the same car almost everyday therefore 50/3 is ~16.7 miles. Carpool can significantly reduce your energy impact.
Annual Commute to school: ~3116.7 miles.
Annual Gas Consumption: 129.9 gallons. My parents drive a 2001 Toyota Avalon which has a fuel efficiency of ~24MPG. It's pretty energy efficient, but I'm hybrids and smaller cars are even more efficient. Also the car is getting old, therefore it's MPG might not be as great.
Annual Energy Impact (Oil Consumption): 3.1 barrels
Annual Green House Gas Emissions: 1.7 tons of carbon dioxide emitted.
Vehicle Air Pollution Score: 2. VAP Score is based on how much smog-forming air pollution is emitted. It's on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 is the worst and 10 is the best). So a 2 is pretty bad. I looked at other cars produced in 2001, they all have VAP score of 1 to 3. Then I checked out the 2009 Toyota Avalon, its VAP Score is 6!!! Obviously people are more conscious now. Technology has enabled us to reduce impact on the environment. Of course this over production of green house gases started with the Industrial Revolution.
Next year, school year, I will be in college. I hope my commute will be less. I'm going to UAB so I do have the option of living at home. But more than likely I will dorm and will walk/bike to class more. I probably will only go home once or twice a week so my commute should decrease by about 50%.
I did this same energy audit in APES a year ago. My transportation distance did not change at all in my 5 years at ASFA. Cost of commute has since oil prince fluctuates. 2007-2008 school year had the most expensive gas.
Again carpooling is one of the best ways to reduce transportation energy. Carpool will also save you parking money. Too bad Birmingham doesn't have public buses/subways every where. Everyone wants to live out so they can have big houses and lands. Another way to decrease transportation energy is to get a more fuel efficient car. I drive a 2001 Toyota Corola which is more fuel efficient than the Avalon my parents drive. So next year my energy impact will also decrease since I will switch from driving a 24MPG car to a 30MPG car!!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Friends
A friend is someone whom you feel comfortable going to a bar with wearing sweatpants. A good friend is someone whom you feel comfortable going to a bar with wearing no pants.
Lol, my mom read that quote somewhere yesterday… then I guess I don’t have any good friends since I’m not going to go to a bar wearing no pants. Chinese people have a similar saying. We say “穿一条裤子都嫌肥” which means best friends are so close that there’s still room if they wear the same pair of pants.
How do you define a good friend?
In movies, there’s always the popular girl whom everyone wants to be friends with. But how many real friends does she have?
How can you make friends and keep them?
Seniors will leave and move on to college soon. How many of the people I call friends now will I keep in touch with? How many new friends will I meet at college?
Maintaining a friendship takes a lot of work. Technology has made it easier (facebook, e-mail, text message, etc.). But to truly keep a friendship going, both parties need to put in effort. One of my best friends in the world lives in China. We met when we were in the 3rd grade. Maintaining a friendship over the Pacific Ocean is difficult. It means I have to give up at 6:00 A.M. on a Saturday so I can call her. It means I have to stare at a dictionary so I can write a letter to her (yeah, for a while, I forgot how to write in Chinese. I had to look every other word up in the dictionary).
I will work very hard to keep in touch with my good friends at ASFA. I don’t need many friends, but I need the ones I have to count.
Anyone wants to give me tips on how to keep up with friends?
Lol, my mom read that quote somewhere yesterday… then I guess I don’t have any good friends since I’m not going to go to a bar wearing no pants. Chinese people have a similar saying. We say “穿一条裤子都嫌肥” which means best friends are so close that there’s still room if they wear the same pair of pants.
How do you define a good friend?
In movies, there’s always the popular girl whom everyone wants to be friends with. But how many real friends does she have?
How can you make friends and keep them?
Seniors will leave and move on to college soon. How many of the people I call friends now will I keep in touch with? How many new friends will I meet at college?
Maintaining a friendship takes a lot of work. Technology has made it easier (facebook, e-mail, text message, etc.). But to truly keep a friendship going, both parties need to put in effort. One of my best friends in the world lives in China. We met when we were in the 3rd grade. Maintaining a friendship over the Pacific Ocean is difficult. It means I have to give up at 6:00 A.M. on a Saturday so I can call her. It means I have to stare at a dictionary so I can write a letter to her (yeah, for a while, I forgot how to write in Chinese. I had to look every other word up in the dictionary).
I will work very hard to keep in touch with my good friends at ASFA. I don’t need many friends, but I need the ones I have to count.
Anyone wants to give me tips on how to keep up with friends?
Sunday, April 5, 2009
North Korea
When we had the War on Terror discussion in class, Clint/Sadie/Steven talked about North Korea. They said that North Korea was about to test their long-range missiles. The paper said something like even though North Korea said they are just sending a satellite, US believed that they are actually testing weapons. The few days later, Russia came out and said that North Korea was just sending a satellite.
Personally, I don’t understand why the US is so paranoid about North Korea sending stuff into space. How come US can have nuclear weapons and other countries can’t? So US will use weapons for a good cause and North Korea will use them to destroy the world? I don’t buy that. The US has not right interfering with other country’s business. If the US is the only country that has nuclear weapons, then it will control and may be even hurt other countries. Check and balance is needed. So other countries need to have nuclear weapons too. I think the world will be at peace if every country has nuclear weapons. Then we will all be on equal ground. Again, balance is very important, like Lao Zi instructed.
China’s position on this issue is very important. The Chinese government never came out and formally pressured North Korea to abandon its nuclear and/or space programs. Based on Chinese history, China does not like to interfere with other country’s business. China went through similar pressures. Under Chairman Mao, China developed space and nuclear technology. China/Chairman Mao was pressured not to do it. Also China/Chairman Mao was criticized for starving the people to develop technology that will not directly improve the standard of living. But China did anyways. In my mom’s and my opinion, China won’t be where it is now if it weren’t for those developments. Because China has nuclear weapons and advanced space technology, China is more respected and “feared” on the world stage. The US is way less likely to go to war with China than with most other countries. Of course military strength is only one of the reasons. So China understands why North Korea is doing this now better than any other country on earth.
The US government really should not interfere with other governments. If another government is corrupted, leave it for the people to over throw. US also doesn’t have the right to decide who can have nuclear weapons. If you want to win, then just get stronger. It’s like if I wanted to go to Harvard I should work hard and make better grades. I shouldn’t go destroy Avo’s homework and spread rumors about her.
At the end , I want to include an interesting fact. At Suju’s concert, they sang a song titled “Luxemburg.” The lyrics describe different countries. For example, it said China has many people and Maldives is the best place for honey moons. Surprisingly, at least to me, it describes Korea using the phrase “will be united soon.” I guess Koreans, at least South Koreans, really want to be re-united with North Koreans. I thought it was interesting.
Personally, I don’t understand why the US is so paranoid about North Korea sending stuff into space. How come US can have nuclear weapons and other countries can’t? So US will use weapons for a good cause and North Korea will use them to destroy the world? I don’t buy that. The US has not right interfering with other country’s business. If the US is the only country that has nuclear weapons, then it will control and may be even hurt other countries. Check and balance is needed. So other countries need to have nuclear weapons too. I think the world will be at peace if every country has nuclear weapons. Then we will all be on equal ground. Again, balance is very important, like Lao Zi instructed.
China’s position on this issue is very important. The Chinese government never came out and formally pressured North Korea to abandon its nuclear and/or space programs. Based on Chinese history, China does not like to interfere with other country’s business. China went through similar pressures. Under Chairman Mao, China developed space and nuclear technology. China/Chairman Mao was pressured not to do it. Also China/Chairman Mao was criticized for starving the people to develop technology that will not directly improve the standard of living. But China did anyways. In my mom’s and my opinion, China won’t be where it is now if it weren’t for those developments. Because China has nuclear weapons and advanced space technology, China is more respected and “feared” on the world stage. The US is way less likely to go to war with China than with most other countries. Of course military strength is only one of the reasons. So China understands why North Korea is doing this now better than any other country on earth.
The US government really should not interfere with other governments. If another government is corrupted, leave it for the people to over throw. US also doesn’t have the right to decide who can have nuclear weapons. If you want to win, then just get stronger. It’s like if I wanted to go to Harvard I should work hard and make better grades. I shouldn’t go destroy Avo’s homework and spread rumors about her.
At the end , I want to include an interesting fact. At Suju’s concert, they sang a song titled “Luxemburg.” The lyrics describe different countries. For example, it said China has many people and Maldives is the best place for honey moons. Surprisingly, at least to me, it describes Korea using the phrase “will be united soon.” I guess Koreans, at least South Koreans, really want to be re-united with North Koreans. I thought it was interesting.
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