Month: February 2018

I was able to find two articles that could help me write the team overview summary. In an article by the New York Times, I read that Penn State has threatened to exterminated Greek Life as a whole, resulting from the tragic death of young Tim Piazza last February. Piazza was a pledge, working hard to do well in school and make it through the pledge process of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. On the night of his would be induction into the fraternity, Piazza drank too much, endured several falls that gave him severe internal injuries, and eventually died in the hospital early the next morning. The Beta house was immediately expelled from Greek life, and several members were given numerous charges that threatened lengthy jail time. These charges included manslaughter, negligence, and obstruction of justice. The police were able to recover deleted text messages from the fraternity brothers involved in Piazza’s hellish night, and video tapes were obtained to provide evidence of what happened.

President Barron placed Penn State Greek life on a moratorium for serving alcohol after several fraternities broke most alcohol regulations during a parents weekend. During this weekend, fraternities held open parties where just about anybody could attend and have access to alcohol, and hosted the fraternity members’ parents, providing them with alcohol. After this incident, President Barron wrote that there would be “heavy conversation” about the future of Greek life at Penn State University Park.

Something interesting that I read was that President Barron became upset over an email that he read. The email was written by a Penn State Intrafraternity Council member, and it read that fraternity members should keep their alcohol on the upstairs levels, where university social checkers did not have access. To the pleasure of some and dismay of others, Greek life is still prominent at Penn State University Park, and should remain constant as long as nothing serious happens in the near future

Another interesting article that I read was one by the Chicago Tribune. This article was very shocking to read as a Penn State student. A sophomore female described her experiences at the Penn State Kappa Delta Rho fraternity house. Her main point was, “don’t go upstairs,” hinting at the inevitable sexual activity that would take place. She described the parties as being filled with alcohol and fraternity members looking for female mates. The KDR house was kicked off in 2015 for a huge hazing scandal and a Facebook page filled with naked photos of women whom the fraternity had taken advantage.

Each of these articles are going to be very helpful for me in writing the summary for team overview. I can use the examples give in each article to make and support key points regarding Penn State party culture. I don’t think that the entire Greek Life system should be punished for the irresponsibility of a few chapters, but I do believe that regulations should be put in place to restrict the fraternity system to negative and harmful behavior towards women, members, and pledges.

Water is the most important resource in the world, providing uses for drinking, irrigation, hygiene and cooking. The issue of waters sustainability is growing every day. Not only is water the most important resource, but clean water is a necessity of life. In a developed nation, such as the United States, clean water might be the most available product, but in third world countries and developing nations, clean water that is both available and safe to drink is an extreme problem.
According to National Geographic, about 880 million people don’t possess access to clean water. Dysentery and cholera spread from consumption of contaminated water, causing roughly 5,000 children to die each day, while trachoma alone has blinded six million people. Families living in poverty are affected the most by a lack of access to clean water. Many of these people become and stay sick and are forced to travel miles in order to obtain water, which prevents them from making money and going to school.
This struggle for water has greatly increased demand and depleted the worlds source of groundwater. Agriculture takes up about 70% of the worlds supply of freshwater, and industries use about 22%. Sandra Postel, head of the Global Water Policy Project, says that, “we’re going deeper into debt on our groundwater use, and that has very significant impacts for global water security. The rate of groundwater depletion has doubled since 1960.” Postel’s statement sums up the water issue perfectly.

The major cities of the world are another proponent of the universal depleting water source issue. According to a 2014 study by the Nature Conservancy, cities use 504 billion liters of water daily, causing a major overuse of watersheds. Bogota, Columbia is home to about 7 million people whose lives rely on the neighboring mountain wetlands for water. The GEF has stepped in to preserve these wetlands by implementing the Special Climate Change Fund in order to reduce global warming effects, and sustain Bogota’s water source.

A great amount of the earth’s water supply comes from rivers and floodplains. These ecosystems provide mankind with our main source of water, which humans will permanently have demand for. Postel says, “when we take from rivers, floodplains, and watersheds, those ecosystems bear the brunt of water scarcity and begin to be degraded or disappear. And that also creates a cost to us not just to nature, because we also depend upon those ecosystems.” Her statement paves the way for future water sustainability solutions.

When considering possible solutions, the most helpful scenario would be to be more productive when using water. The first step is to develop a system of effective water use. Regulations must be placed on the agriculture industry, which uses almost three-quarters of earth’s water supply. Postel recommends “drip irrigation,” and “growing crops that are more suitable to the local climate.” She also says that farmers lack proper incentives to productively use water. When provided with the proper incentives, farmers will act on them.

According to National Geographic, the United National General Assembly finds that clean and safe drinking water, along with sanitation is a basic human right and “essential for the full employment of life and all human rights.” The Environmental Protection Agency has implemented three projects: the Water Infrastructure Challenge, Building Sustainable Infrastructure, and Managing Sustainable Utilities. The Water Infrastructure Challenge project focuses on policy on water infrastructure sustainability and infrastructure needs. The Building Sustainable Infrastructure project concentrates on water and energy efficiency, alternative technologies, and asset management. Lastly, the Maintaining Sustainable Utilities project centralizes on effective utility management, finance, and pricing and affordability. Each of these three projects are good examples of what it takes to save the earth’s clean water source.

I found these articles so captivating because I believe that water that is both safe and clean is a necessary human right, and one that should be available to everyone. Before reading this National Geographic publication I was not aware that 5,000 children die each day from consuming contaminated water, which is all the more reason we need to come up with solutions to both use earth’s water supply more efficiently, and to provide everyone their right to have clean and safe drinking water. Every human being on earth deserves clean water to drink.

 

https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-water-infrastructure

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/sustainable-earth/water/

https://www.thegef.org/news/importance-water-sustainability