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This has been a very eye opening semester to me to learn about a lot of stuff like this in every one of my classes in a range of subjects. In light of all this I know that this semester is one I wont forget as I move forward with my schooling and my life in general. 

School can be a big stress in your life if you let it but there are so many ways to beat it. Getting a bad grade isn't the end of the world which is important to remember even though sometimes we think it is. If you do everything you're supposed to then things usually turn out fine. And good luck to everyone with their end of the semester stuff!

On Tumblr you can find a range of post share by people from all different backgrounds and you never know about the author until you get into their blogs. People can share images videos and writings that really show what they are all about. You can be anonymous or you can shout out your name. Some people want to share their inner thoughts and being anonymous allows them to get it all out there without any fears. Whatever helps you to get your blog going can work. There is so much out there on Tumblr you just have to explore a little to find something new or something you like.

In project three my topic will focus on concerns with the environment specifically regarding desertification and how one of its biggest contributors, deforestation, is a man made cause. The question I have is why do people continue to knowingly damage the land they live on causing desertification through deforestation and why do we allow these practices to continue to happen every day. For my information I will be looking for scholarly research into why people do this and what benefits they get out of it in order to determine whether it is beneficial for the individuals to change their practices to more sustainable methods or to continue as they have been with destructive methods. In looking for this information I hope to determine the cause for why people are detoured form switch practices that destroy the world’s forest. This will give in-site into the minds of how people at the lowest level of deforestation affect this problem and will hopefully show that we can get them to switch their practices and show that we can guide them in the right direction if they are just shown how to switch to new land management practices. I will be showing my research through an essay in which I will provide pictures in the essay that are related to specific triggers and ideas that will hopefully answer my question. I feel a written piece will provide the project the serious tone that it needs to convey such a topic. This is a topic to be studies because we know how people affect desertification and we know how to prevent as well as reverse the process but we need to look closer at why it is so difficult for people to change their practices. A written piece with pictures will hopefully convey the thoughts behind these people and allow other to understand where they are coming from whether it is good or bad so that we can do something to stop desertification at its lowest and most direct source. I also think a written piece with some pictures allows the audience to comprehend the problem as well as actually visualize it. This way of presenting my project will allow for a fully cohesive understanding of these people and give in-site into their lives. I hope to provide a well written piece that clearly identifies this problem and shows a possible solution or at least a better understanding of how to move forward with a way to use incentives to motivate change in these regions of the world. 

My second project will be focusing on desertification and more specifically the man made causes of this process such as deforestation. This has become a growing concern all over the world. Its affects reach many countries with many negative impacts. Desertification adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere every day contributing largely to climate change. Deforestation and poor land and farm use are the biggest contributors to desertification. It starts when farmers cut down forests and then set the land on fire turning everything to ash. This fertilizes the ground allowing crops to grow on the land but after several harvest the land loses all nutrients and is no longer useful to these farmers. They move on to the next area and then start the process all over again leaving behind a dry arid land that almost no species will inhabit. This farming practice is called slash and burn agriculture and it is destroying good lands, environments, and natural habitats every day. Deforestation is also a result of heavy logging for various products, to create farm land for crops and livestock, or for other valuable resources. We usually hear about desertification in far off place and never think it will directly affect us. Well actually you may be surprised to know we have some of this desertification stuff going on right here is the United States! When we look out West we can see a growing desert. This is a real problem that we are experiencing first hand. The good news is we can reverse the affects but it takes time and much needed knowledge. An ecologist names Allan Savory has found a successful way to bring back these arid lands. Through the managed grazing patterns of live stock land can be fertilized and vegetated again through natural means. Although it isn't completely “natural” because of the human influence, the imitation of herds in a natural process does achieve the affects needed. I chose this topic after seeing a TED Talk by Allan Savory on this topic. I already loved learning about the environment but learning how to fix the environment is even better. I was so interested in the idea that real changes can be made that can greatly affect climate change in a positive way that I felt this was the perfect topic for my project two. And with any luck I’ll help get the word out about just how big this topic really is. People do not always see the importance of these problems and think its a problem we can put off. Well we have the solutions ready and proven that can be applied today! 

Transferring from college to college isn't always so easy and can be hard to deal with until you figure everything out. Personally I have transferred schools twice now, making Buffalo State my third college. Originally I went to SUNY Potsdam right after college but I really wasn't even sure if college was right for me yet. I wanted to know what else was out there so I left Potsdam and got a job doing welding. Although it was a good job it was a dirty profession, so I began to looked else where. I have worked in a few different factories since then, at the same time exploring various professions through job shadowing. I believe that this experience was truly the best way to see what kind of jobs are out there. I just wish I had started doing this before I went to college in the first place. Job shadowing is when you follow someone around for a day or even a few hours who is in the profession of your interest, to get a feel and real sense of what they do at their jobs and how they do it. If more kids in high school were able to go through processes like this it would make finding out what you want to do in life just that much easier and less stressful. A lot of people go to college with out really knowing what they want to do just like I did. I found this to be a stressful and overwhelming struggle to pick the perfect major with out really being able to know what I was getting into. People often pick a major because the description sounds interesting but once their in it they find out that its not for them and then waste time flipping around between new majors. This sets a lot of students back and forces them to pay for classes that they now don't even need or want. If students were informed about career paths early on such as in high school it could do wonders for finding the right job and making smooth and easy transitions to their next steps in life. I was always told through out high school by teachers and guidance counselors that you need to follow the traditional path and take all the general courses like math, science, foreign language etc. Turns out I wasn't very good at subjects like math and foreign language. With a set up like that it doesn't surprise me that I had no idea what I wanted to pursue as a career. Which is why it was such a great experience to job shadow at so many different place. I had learned more about what was out there in less than a year than I did in my entire high school career. So if I could tell any one who is either in high school or college that still doesn't know what kind of job they want, I would tell them to contact as many different types of companies they can and go physically see what they do. Experience is key in discovering what you like.

Vinyl is making a comeback among the younger generations of today. People are actually buying records and record players again with the industry growing every year. Current artist are actually putting out their new albums on vinyl again, new record players are being sold in stores as well. This old technology and media has become a new part of our media experience now. Vinyl can actually sound much better than a lot of what you get online if all the equipment and records are kept in good condition. The quality of sound can change for both. Downloaded music can come from bad sources and bad recordings. Vinyl can get worn down and get scratched over time. But there is just something different about having a collection of vinyl compared to a digital music collection or even a CD collection. There is just something about flipping through your box of records finding the one you want and setting the whole thing up to play. It’s a totally different experience to go down to your local record store and search for either that one you want or stumble upon one you didn't even know was out there. It’s something you can get together and do with your friends as you build your record collection. As a listener I found myself much more engaged when listening to the music because it became a hobby and an activity all in its self. I have had a record player for about a year now that was given to me by my dad. He also gave me a bunch of his old records to start out. It’s a great way to discover old music that is out there and it’s so different from what is out there today. Not that there is anything wrong with today music. It’s just good to be able to listen to all different types and a record player helps to do that by bringing in music of old generations with its own styles. Its great to be able to sit down and really listen to a record play. It gives the music its own characteristic completely different from how we stream music today. It’s nice when you don't have your music interrupted by an ad every couple of songs. Although streaming music is a lot cheaper than collecting vinyl its not the same. Some of the new records can go for around thirty dollars or more for just one album. That is why when you do buy a new one you make sure it’s one you really like and will enjoy being able to continue listening to it. But there are also records you can find that are less than a dollar. Whether you find them at a garage sale or in the random bin at a record store its interesting to try new albums for so cheap a price. I think every big music enthsuest of even just someone who wants to switch things up should get them selves some vinyl and a record player.

I have a passion for persevering our world. Global warming is a fact in which I have a passion for persevering in our world. Global warming is real and is enhanced by man made creations that make up our world and preserve our way of live. I believe we need to change our live styles and I want to talk about how I think green energies are currently available to us right now and how most Americans today do not realize that the technologies for sustainable energies are already available to us today in many forms other than the conventional means we have today. Most people don't realize that clean energies are all ready so widely available today and are actually practically in use in many other countries already. In the United States today we depend on oil for about forty percent of our oil consumption today. The majority of the rest of our oil we as a country import comes from countries such as Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and  Nigeria. This is not a ratio in which we as US citizens should depend on. We all contribute to our dependence on oil both foreign and domestic oil consumption, when in reality we should be focusing on switching to clean energies that come from wind turbines, hydro electric power and  solar energies. We already implore some of these methods but we need to do more. luckily in New York we have Niagara Fall which is one of the largest major energy generators in the country do to the volume  that the river provides. Niagara Falls is a clean energy provider which is beneficial to the entire state and supplies not only New York but its neighboring states as well as Canada which we split the energy created from it fifty fifty. But even with such a major energy provider in our back yards it is not enough. We should be looking at countries like Germany that get approximately seventy percent of its energy from green energies primarily from solar and wind power our dependence on conventional energy that has been occurring before our life time and continues to be a problem for our generation and future generations to come, and is enhanced by man made creations that make up our world and preserve our way of live as we know it. I believe we need to change our live styles and I want to talk about the how I think green energies are currently available to us right now and how most Americans today do not realize that the technologies for sustainable energies are already available to us today in many forms other than the conventional means we have been using in today's society such as oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy. Most people don't realize that clean energies are all ready so widely available today and are actually practically in use in many other countries already. In the United States today we depend on oil for about forty percent of our oil consumption today. The majority of the rest of our oil, we as a country, import comes from countries such as Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, and  Nigeria. This is not a ratio in which we as US citizens should depend on. We all contribute to our dependence on oil both foreign and domestic oil consumption though our own habits of driving cars and factory practices, when in reality we should be focusing on switching to clean energies that come from wind turbines, hydro electric power and solar energies. We already implore some of these methods but we need to do more. Luckily in New York we have Niagara Fall which is one of the largest major energy generators in the country do to the shear volume that the river provides. Niagara Falls is a clean energy provider which is beneficial to the entire state and supplies not only New York but its neighboring states as well as Canada which we split the energy created from it fifty fifty. But even with such a major energy provider in our back yards it is not enough. We should be looking at countries like Germany that get approximately seventy percent of its clean energy from green energies primarily from solar and wind power. This proves that it is possible for clean energies to actually and fully provide for a country such as the US.

I have never been one to write like this in the past. To me writing has always been about finding the right words that capture my exact idea. A word that is close to the meaning of what I want isn't good enough so I would stop and try to correct it searching my mind for the right words. But what I am now realizing is that this stops the writing process in its tracks. I now see that it doesn't matter and that when I go back to revise that part of my writing I'll know what I meant it to be and can change it later on instead of stopping in the middle of an idea and losing my train of though. This is defiantly a guide to better writing that I will be attempting in the future.