Jan 18

“Farmer in Chief” was an interesting, thought provoking read. I’ll be honest, before reading it I didn’t really think twice about where my food came from. Being a student on a budget, all I cared about was the cost of my delicious food. The cheaper the food was, the more likely I was to buy it. After all, I didn’t know that there was a negative correlation between cost of food affecting environmental problems.

This text went in depth describing what needs to be done to mitigate the environmental problems. One of the biggest cases it makes is the need to decentralize the food industry.

Let’s face it, businesses all around the world are doing whatever they can to keep costs low during this time of economic uncertainty. Even the airlines are charging for items that should be included in the fare, such as checked baggage and soft drinks. They are forced into taking these measures in order to stay profitable, or at least break even. The same goes for the food industry. Centralizing works very well from an economic standpoint, they can focus solely on one product (such as bananas) cheaper than if they processed the product in local distribution centers.

Reading about how inefficient and how environmentally harmful these practices are actually made me think about the positives of globalization. We should be lucky that we live in the age of being only 20 hours (give or take) from anywhere on the globe. While it may seem inefficient shipping products from NorCal to SoCal via Alaska, it is important to realize that centralization allows for faster distribution with the resources given to us (i.e. not local farms). It is amazing to think how produce can be literally moved to the other side of the world overnight.

The text also gives an interesting resolution of bringing farming to the White House, with the Executive Chef preparing food from locally grown farms. I found it interesting how the author recommends for the chef to post where he got the daily ingredients. One of my original thoughts were, “Who would actually read this?”  Then I realized it would be interesting for incentives for the farms such as “White House Featured Farm” to boost the moral of farmers and the consumers who buy from those farms. It is also an interesting proposal to have the first family do gardening to try to encourage more Americans that “farming isn’t dead”.

Along the lines of listing sources, another resolution is putting an auxiliary barcode on food to track it’s origins, even showing pictures of where the animal is slaughtered. At this point, who would even considering buying the food, when they see the gruesome steps it took to get to the supermarket.

After reading this, I can’t look at cheap food (such as Fast Food, “snack food”, etc.) the same as I did before. I don’t want to admit it but by purchasing the food and supporting these companies I am contributing to the problem, reminding me of the phrase “if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem”.

This all seems to come down to economics, this could only happen if everyone, both producers and consumers, has money in order to “invest” in this. Economics will trump environmental concerns as more people are concerned about their personal finances than the future of the planet and everyone as a whole.

Lastly, I find an ethical dilemma regarding having the government pass regulations on food to consume as well as changing the definition of “food”. Ethically, can the government regulate what people put in their body? Giving incentives to purchase locally grown, nutritious solar food makes sense, but redefining what “food” is going to far.  They have good intentions, but ultimately it is limiting freedoms.

I wish I could have attended the Socratic Seminar on “Farmer in Chief” as I had a lot of observations and connections to make and wanted classmates insight, however, I was out of the class due to an interview with British Broadcasting Corporation. If I were to attend the Socratic Seminar, I would have used these prompts in order to spark discussions:

1. Whose decision is it to what citizens of a certain country put in their body? Is it ethical for congress to pass laws banning certain types of food?

2. Would changing the definition of “food” be beneficial to the decentralization of the food industry? Can we really change the definition of something millions of people are accustomed to?

3. Apart from educating the youth (as the text says through nutrition classes, lunch programs, etc.), how will the public be made aware of this campaign to decentralize the food industry?

4. In the interim, what can global agriculture leaders (such as Dole and Chiquita) do to mitigate their carbon footprint?

5. Will economics trump environmental concerns in implementing a plan to decentralize the food industry?

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Jan 10

I just talked to my mom and found out that my grandparents (on my mom’s side) parents and grandparents have a rich history in agriculture. They resided in Calabri, Italy and farmed everything from grapes for wine to wheat for bread. It was interesting talking to my parents about this as I didn’t think any of my close ancestors were farmers.

I guess being half Italian, I should have known. The Italians like their food!

This discussion with my family sparked curiosity in finding out more about my ancestors, I want to learn more about where I come from and the rich history of my family.

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Jan 07

Today in Environmental Science we explored how big the universe is. Some may think that the world is a huge place, however, it is a merely a tiny speck. There is a lot out there far away from us. The stars, for example, are so far away that we are seeing the light that the emitted many many many years ago. Looking up in the sky is like looking back in time, and it is trippy considering that they are really huge, they are just far far away. The universe is so vast, and our society of mankind is not in control. There is a good chance for life other than us in parallel universes, and it is hard to comprehend.

Tonight, I am going to look at the sky and post a blog reflecting on what I saw.

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Jan 05

One thing that has always struck me as interesting is the EPA. My understanding of them is that they are a government agency that has the ability to fine individuals and corporations for infractions such as polluting the environment or discharging waste (e.g oil, batteries, etc.) improperly. I am curious to know what are these standards and how can the EPA enforce this. Does the EPA enforce actively or passively (do they rely soley on tips or do they conduct their own investigations)?

Throughout Environmental Science this semester, I am hoping to get a better understanding of the standards in place in the US as well as worldwide. It will be interesting to compare these standards to pollution data to see if countries without enough enforcement are more polluted that countries with ample enforcement.

Oct 15

Advisory Olympics was cool. It was a good bonding experience, and allowed me to get to know my advisory more. Shelma and I are the only Seniors in our advisory and we only have two Juniors so it was nice to formally do team building with the freshman and sophomores.

They got rid of the duck fetus event, and Charlotte was counting on me for that. Ohh well we still had fun…

My favorite part was when we were against Darren’s advisory and for the rock/paper/scissors-esque game I told my advisory I thought it would be funny just to charge at them at the count of three instead of showing our symbol. Haha, they actually went through with it. We caught Darren’s advisory off guard, it was great (take that for owning us at Dodge Ball).

Oct 02

Yes, we made it through our first month as Seniors at HTHMA! We’ve written numerous essays and almost finished the prototype for our Rescue Helicopter.  We are already 1/8th done with the school year.

We just came back from senior retreat, it was an amazing bonding experience and I feel closer to all my senior friends as well as our teachers. Yes, I am glad I went on Senior retreat 🙂

On a more personal note, over the next couple of days and weeks I need to make a decision. A decision that I didn’t want to have to make, but I need to make it now in order to move forwards. I need to move forward with life and although I was hoping I could just keep the status quo, it has become apparent that I need to make a decision.

I know… I will make the right decision, one that I can live with and be happy and finally “move forward”

Hello October.

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Sep 17

Ahh yes, I am finally done with the first Analysis paper. It took a total of 4 drafts over about 7 critiques. I am ready to turn it in tomorrow, I just have to wait and then go pick it up from the Kinko’s in Mira Mesa.

After I turn it, I’ll be more than happy to upload it to dp.ericharmatz.com for your viewing pleasure. I was really excited in this paper, and hope it shows through the language and  overall format of the paper.

By the way, week 4 feels like it just flew on by. I don’t know about any of you, but this week definitely felt shorter than all the other ones. Next week we begin reading a novel, and finalizing the documentation phase for our Engineering senior project.

You can visit our engineering senior project at www.robotrescue.us
-E

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Sep 14

Just so you can see… here is my Honor’s Timeline for engineering. It is gonna be a long Semester!

Honors Timeline
Semester 1

*Tentative


Week 1 8/31 – 9/4:

Back to school

Regroup after MASEI

Week 2 9/7 – 9/11:

Assist in ordering parts for senior project, eBay, etc.

Week 3 9/14 – 9/18:

Google Site Optimization
Google Apps Accounts for Honors Student/Student Mentors

Week 4 9/21 – 9/25:

Google Site Optimization
Buffalo Check-In (organization)

Week 5 9/28 – 10/02:

Senior Retreat (no internet access)

Week 6 10/5 – 10/09:

Evaluate GoogleAdsense for HTHMAengineering.org

Work on the backend to HTHMAengineering.org (FTP accounts, subdomain settings)

Buffalo Check-In (RAID Check/Organization)

Week 7 10/12 – 10/16:

Joomla Reinstallation

Reread Joomla Manual

Week 8 10/19 – 10/23:

Set up Joomla Backend

Week 9 10/26 – 10/30:

Set up Joomla Backend

Week 10 11/2 – 11/6:
Populate Joomla Site

Buffalo Check-In (Organization)

Week 11 11/9 – 11/13:
Joomla Site Population

Week 12 11/16 – 11/20:
Joomla Site Population

Google Apps Refinement for Semester 2

Buffalo Refinement for Semester 2

Thanksgiving Break

Week 13 11/30 – 12/4:
Joomla Site Population (if necessary)

Refresher Training to Karl on using Joomla

Week 14 12/7 – 12/11:

“Book of Passwords”

Assist students with updating Google Site

Week 15 12/13 – 12/18:

Assist students with updating Google Site

Senior Exhibition IT

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Sep 10

My computer’s Hard Drive died. It’s knocking, so data recovery is expensive. About $2500. Honestly, I’d be happier with a new computer because all the data that I don’t have backed up I do have back ups in hard copy forms (maybe I’ll hire a data entry person, heh) and I can just spend a weekend or so doing that.

With that being said… I believe I’ll get a new computer for second semester (I’ll have Marget’s class so I’ll actually need a MacBook Pro). Christmas gift, maybe?

Now to retype up my engineering proposal. Fun…

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Sep 03

Enginnering is starting off interesting. Basically I have 10 weeks to build an autonomous radio controlled plane and program it so it flys by itself. Flys by itself…. And it needs to have an altimeter and proximity sensors and all that fun stuff and the onboard computer needs to know what to do with that information.

Interesting… This will be an interesting first semester. Ohh well, at least it’s a plane! 🙂

I’m staying optimistic. At least for now. Kelvin and I can do this.

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