Impact goes up the richer you are and the more you don't care

Me, being a liberal conservative and a seemingly lone environmentalist in my family of 6, have found the past weeks conversations in class quite interesting. My sister a die hard republican seems to think that global warming is made up. No matter how hard I try to present the facts, scientific and statistical, I can't seem to sway her to think any other way. So, to her I dedicate this post. My favorite part about the lecture on Wednesday was the formula that Dr. Burkett gave us: Impact = Population X level of affluence X level of technology. The only way that I can thoroughly illustrate this is from my senior year in high school, 2007. It was right before the election year and I was taking Government in a 100% George W. Bush loving school. My brilliant teacher decided to bring in a parent of one of the students who is a huge donor to the Republican party as well as a Republican activist. He was to come and talk to us on the main differences between the Republican Party and the Democratic party. Mind you that this man is probably one of the richest and most successful buisness men in Hilton Head and the surrounding areas and also one of THE most coservative Christian parents at my high school. He got to talking about policy and budgets and so forth when he opened the floor to questions. I realized that he hadn't bothered to talk about the environment at all so I asked him about it. He looked me straight in the eye and said well, "I'm a Republican, I drive a big fat Expidition, I can afford to fill it up, and I don't see anyone dying so I will continue to do so because global warming doesn't matter to my political party. Now, does any one else have any questions about issues that matter?" I was absolutely appauled. Looking back on it now I realize that your Impact actually = level of affluence which most of the time = level of caring. In his opinion he didn't need to give anything up because he would never be affected. I generally feel that that is the overall consensus of our nation.

A Good Ole SC Edumacation

I found it very interesting when the video was turned on in class on Wednesday to find the opening remarks from Pat Conroy to be about my county's school district. I went to public schools up until I was in the sixth grade and my mother taught in the public school districts for about 20 years. The way that my family came to the lowcountry was through my father's job, when my parents were newly weds they were living in Philadelphia while my dad finished up dental school. A good way to start off in that profession is in the military and my Dad enlisted and was stationed at Paris Island which is near Beaufort, SC. This meant that they would have to move down and my mother would have to get a job teaching down here. Well, she contacted McCraken Elementary School and got a job interview. When she called to get the directions she was informed to "drive down the road go through the only stop sign and turn down the only paved road, the school will be the only thing on that road." This was about 30 years ago. Sadly, the school systems, as shown in Corridors, have not changed much since then. My mother took the job and eventually they started a family and raised my family down in Beaufort County where we still reside today. She always tells that story because she said that it was such a culture shock because she went to one of the best public schools in the north east and went to a very esteemed college. Then all of the sudden there she was on a dirt road staring the next 20 years of her life in the face. Now, we live on Hilton Head Island a very affluent town and the schools are certainly better off than most of the schools in the video, however until the past ten years the quality of them was appalling. My heart truly went out for those students because it was like the mother said of her two twins: one is very bright but she knows that he won't go to Duke just because he went to Jasper County high. I have always been opposed to having to pay taxes on education if you send your children to private schools, however after seeing the video I have changed my perspective. I now strongly feel an obligation to pay those taxes.