Why is the point of being ignorant?
The thing that gets under my skin is ignorant people. When people are ignorant about topics that are affecting them. Smoking, polluted air and etc. People that smoke are aware of the cause of smoking but they make the decision to ignore it. Second-hand smoking. Secondhand smoking can cause cancer. Secondhand smoking is when other people inhale the smoke that comes from the cigarette without even smoking the cigarette. This means that not only the people that smoke cigarette is running their health but they are also ruining everyone else’s health. We are all exposed to the same air. Secondhand smoking can cause heart attack, brain damage, bladder problems, cancer, depression and etc. Most kids have parents that smoke. Most of the kids are toddlers, which put their health risk in high demands. Like I said before, smoking is one of the topics that people choose to ignore.
Climate change is one of the biggest problems on Earth. Most people have known that the Earth is getting warmer, of course. On Earth, people are producing coal which helps us with producing energy. We are realizing so much greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that is causing our planet to warm up. Let me explain the science behind it. The Earth’s atmosphere is consist of five layers. The stratosphere, troposphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. Those layers contain greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are gas that absorbs the sun’s radiation and reflects it back into the atmosphere. Whenever they are absorbing the heat, they are heating us up. The greenhouse gases are closer to us and really good at doing their jobs. That is how they keep us warm. Carbon, Nitrogen, and Methane are greenhouse gases that we seem to release at our atmosphere. Carbon camos from fossil fuels, coal. Nitrogen comes from agriculture and waste. Seventy-eight percent of our atmosphere is made of nitrogen. The more waste (nitrogen) we are producing, the warmer our planet will get. Based on Vermont’s Disposal report, “ In 2015 Vermont generated 602,617 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW)”. We need to decrease the amount of waste we are producing. From all the waste we are gathering, most of them end up in the ocean. Based on Headstuff.org, “ In 1975, the National Academy of Sciences estimated that 14 billion pounds of garbage was being dumped into the ocean every year. That’s more than 1.5 million pounds per hour”. Most of us are aware that we are the cause of climate change but decide to not be educated toward that issues and contribute to the problem.
To conclude with, most people become ignorant when they don’t educate themselves about a problem. Other people become ignorant when they decide to contribute to the problem instead of being the solution. I am judging people based on their actions because that is what’s getting other my skin. It might sound easy to be part of a solution but it’s very easy for us to be part of the cause. To eliminate second-hand smoking, don’t smoke around your kids. Everyone has control of their own health. If you make the health decision to smoke it’s your problem but don’t make that same health decision for others. There are things in life that we have control over. Our health is the biggest variable that we have control over. Our environment is the biggest variable that we have control over.
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Stephie,
You have two interesting topics certainly have a direct correlation. at the heart of both, as you say, is an ignorance on the part of individuals. Do you see this ignorance as a choice or is it more of a belief that there is not a problem? The way that we think about answering that question might direct us in better directions to solve perceived problems. Do you lean more toward one topic over the other? Which one do you think you could most effectively change?
Hi Stephie,
You’ve started to broach two great topics–both of which shine a light on human behaviors and their impact (on others’ health/on the planet). While your lens is on ignorance, whether that is willful or benign, there are at least as many layers within these issues as there are atmospheric layers around our planet! One example of this is looking at the economics and politics that drive various points of view on a topic and understanding how ignorance can be used to manipulate people’s behaviors toward particular economic or political ends. No matter which way you slice it, you’re sure to find a lot in either topic.
That being said, while you apply logos–or an appeal to logic–across both of your arguments, you do make at least one statement that appears to be unsupported (most children have parents who smoke). I’m curious if there is a statistic you found somewhere that led you to this statement and, if so, if you could include that source. Also, I teach high school students who vehemently differentiate between regular cigarettes and e-cigarettes or nicotine vape pens. The science is out on this issue, but I wonder if this matters in your thinking about the issue of second hand smoke at all.
It was fun to see your statistics about waste and waste management in terms of how it affects our climate and our environment. I took a group of students to the waste management organization’s transfer station this afternoon as part of an ecology unit focused on human impact our our ecosystems. We learned so much about how our garbage is sorted and processed! I learned so much that actually made me feel like Vermont is doing many things right, and leading our nation to be more responsible and more thoughtful about its energy consumption and disposal.
In case it’s relevant to you, Middlebury College is a carbon neutral campus with a massive facilities operation that helps them convert their waste into energy for the campus. Might be cool to contact Mike Moser there to learn more (http://www.middlebury.edu/sustainability).
I can see your wheels turning and wish you luck as you put that curiosity to work to find something that compels you forward.
Stephie,
Thanks for writing! My apologies for being slow in responding.
Ignorance is troubling. This is especially so when there is a sense of urgency associated with dispelling that ignorance, i.e. climate change and nuclear weapons. Or when the consequences of the ignorance touch others, as you touched upon. I wonder if the most effective way to combat ignorance is to confront the systems that cultivate it. I find media supported by advertising revenue particularly insidious. I feel that it makes the integrity of the information shared questionable, at best. I advocate for listener supported media, such as Democracy Now.
I guess I feel that combating ignorance via a think globally, act locally model is most effective and sustainable. Read some Edward Abbey if you haven’t!
All the best,
Peter