We use electricity to power almost everything that we use and we can’t really do anything to change this unless you were to make your entire house run on solar power. But there are little things that we can do to limit the amount of money we spend on this bill, turn off all appliances whenever they are not in use and you could also unplug them as well because even if the appliance is not on it is still using stand by power. This can really make a difference on your bill as well as switching you light bulb to the low energy fluorescent bulbs.

Another bill that is often high is our phone bills. Now almost everyone has a cell phone and most of the time we have unlimited cell phone to phone minutes. As well our landlines normally have unlimited landline to landline calls, strictly use you cell phones only to call cell phones and your landline only to call landlines and this should drastically reduce both your phone bills. These few tips along with using a few coupons and buy some store brands at the supermarkets can save you over $1000 a year on household bills.

                Electroshock therapy, also known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT, is seen by many as a “barbaric” form of treatment. This may owe itself to the fact that it was abused in psychiatric hospitals, where it was used to “subdue and control […] troublesome patients”, implying that the treatment has a frightening ability to overpower and suppress patients. Also contributing to the mystic atmosphere surrounding ECT may be its side effects, the most prevalent of which is memory impairment. Brain damage is also a known side effect, with some even proposing that brain damage and memory loss are the very mechanism by which ECT works.

                However controversial, the usefulness and effectiveness of ECT is supported by statistics. The American Psychiatric Association cites its success rate as 80%, clearly beating out the rate of 50-60% of most medications. And despite the controversy, ECT is still widely used today, although strict rules for obtaining informed consent of patients have been implemented, meaning that patients wishing to have ECT must be properly educated on both the benefits and risks of the treatment and must be of proper mental state to make an informed decision.

                Although controversial, ECT has shown much success in treating patients with mental disorders. While many decide that the side effects pose too great a risk to warrant the treatment, and others shy away from the alarming idea of deliberately inducing a seizure by means of electricity applied directly to the brain, several patients have had their mental conditions cured by this exotic treatment. Raymond Carver did not seem concerned at all by the treatment, as it was only given a brief mention in his essay. Carver’s father’s experiences with ECT may be seen as a success story, as he did get back on his feet and back in the workforce, exactly what a patient wants after mental care.

We actually think our homes the safest place and that’s why we recall our homes with words like “Home Sweet Home”, then how it can be the most dangerous place for children. In fact for elders home is really a “Sweet Home” but since children are insensible and if not kept an eye on them or properly cared, the same “Sweet Home” becomes insecure for them.

According to a research 1 to 5 years age of children pass most of their time in the boundaries of their homes. But there are many things in the homes, which can be dangerous for children and may even put their lives in danger. These are the things placed at different places of a house, ups and downs places, stairs, home furniture, electrical equipments, gas stove, the cooking food and other similar things.

It would not be wrong if we call these things “Child Trap”. Children blindly run and play across the house and sometimes they put things into their mouths and likewise these things becomes quite dangerous for them.

Every year in the world, the reason for injury or death of the 1 to 5 years children becomes their home, whereas most of the affected children belong to the third world countries. A great number of children become handicapped for good due to these reasons. Children can also cause irreparable losses to themselves while fighting each other. What things can be dangerous for children are discussed below separately?

KITCHEN

Kitchen is the most dangerous place for children, since there are eating items in the kitchen, which tempt children to reach their easily, whereas smaller children can reach kitchen without any good reason. Now it is not quite difficult to be conscious of things that can cause them harm.

In the kitchen normally food is being cooked, water is being boiled or tea is being prepared. Besides cooking times, stoves are normally left on fire without any reason. The things being cooked, boiling water or curry if God forbid fall on children, which can cause them severe harm and the whole house would get disturbed.

If children start making mischief in the kitchen, they can fall on these things or these things may fall on the children. Fire can also spread in the kitchen due to children’s mischief.  The burning incidents of children are normally occurred in the kitchen. Besides above, there are other innumerable things that can cause children harm. For instance, knives, forks and glass ware utensils etc. if more than one child is playing in the kitchen, they can hurt themselves with knives etc.

They can also harm themselves by making heavier things fall on them. The sink washing acid, utensils washing soap, caustic soda, chilies and similar daily usage things can also affect children. In America in 2001 a child was brought in a hospital that burnt his chest severely by making sink washing acid fall on him. In India falling chilies incidents on children are norm.

PRECAUTIONS

• Smaller children should not be allowed to enter the Kitchen.

• Kitchen should contain door which must be kept locked for the protection of smaller children.

ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENTS AND SWITCHES

Electricity is the second most dangerous thing for children. Here electricity means equipments and switches run by electricity. In many houses electrical switches are present very low, and thus becomes “Trap” for the children. Smaller children can put fingers into these switches while playing or they can give shock to children on just touching in case they are “short circuited.”

PRECAUTION

• Such downside switches should be closed or put some thing in front of them. Do not trust on tape because children can take the tape off too.

IRON

Iron can harm children in many ways. Children can burn themselves in case it is hot or they can receive severe shock if switch is plugged on. Children can also injure themselves by falling on its pointed edge.

PRECAUTION

• It is necessary to remain nearer while ironing.

• After ironing, it should be folded properly and kept at a safer place, where children can not reach.

REFRIGERATOR AND PEDESTAL FANS

Refrigerator can also be a big trap for children. Normally there is enough space at the back of the refrigerator where a smaller child can easily reach and receive a deadly shock. Sometimes smaller children make the refrigerator fall on themselves while attempting to enter into it.  

Pedestal fans are also dangerous for children. They can not only receive current but also injure themselves by putting their hands into it.

PRECAUTIONS

• It is necessary to keep the refrigerator in the kitchen too and if it is not possible, do not allow children to go behind it.
• Pedestal fans should also be kept away from the reach of the children along with other necessary measures.

SAFETY RAZORS

Safety razor is used in every house for shaving and it’s like sharp edged tool which can cause harm to the children. Normally children watch elders making shave and you know they copy elders. If children get razor anyhow, they can hurt themselves in seconds and their lives can be put into danger in case of cutting of any tender vein. Normally, people put razor at any place in carelessness after shaving, which can easily be sought by the children.

PRECAUTION

If possible, keep the blade out of the Razor instead of putting razor at some safer place. It is even better to destroy the blade and use the new one for next shave, so that there is no chance left of forgetting blade into the razor.

STAIRS

The stairs in the houses are also very dangerous for children. Normally children do not care while going up or down on the stairs, especially smaller children are not at all conscious of it. They can get themselves fall from the stairs or make others fall by pushing them.

PRECAUTION

• Smaller children should not be allowed to go nearer the stairs and if any part of the house is not leveled, children should not be allowed to go nearer to it too because children can get themselves hurt severely by it as well.

WINDOW, DOORS

In a hospital in America a child was brought whose fingers were badly damaged, because his hand was come into the gate of his house. Therefore, windows and doors of the house should not be thought harmless as well. These can also give children severe pain or make them handicapped.

WARES KEPT AT HIGHER PLACE

Normally, useless wares or things which have no other place to be kept are kept at some higher place. It can be any thing such as VCR, sewing machine, glasses of tables, Attaché case or some trunk etc. If any of these things are placed wrongly, there is a risk of its falling, which is not only harmful for children but also for elders.

ROOFS AND TERRACES

Roofs and Terraces are also very dangerous for children. First of all smaller children should not be allowed to go on the roofs, especially such roofs which have no safety walls or their height is not adequate. Such roofs are not only risky for children but also for elders. Terraces are also dangerous for children, safety measures should also be taken in this regard too.

MEDICINES

Everybody knows about medicines, and there are clear instructions written on them as well, “Keep all the medicines away from the reach of the children.”

There are hundreds of types of medicines; some of them are harmful for children while others are given in limited quantity to the children. Whereas children are insensible, they can pour full bottle into their mouth. It is therefore, important to keep all the medicines away from the reach of the children.

PRECAUTION

• Keep all the medicines away from the reach of the children.

FIGHTING AMONG CHILDREN

If there are children in the house of similar ages, such as cousins etc, keep an eye on them too. Some years back an incident took place in Britain where an insensible child spoiled another child’s eye by putting pencil into his eye, whereas in Indonesia a child injured another child severely by pushing him on the burning stove.

PRECAUTION

Remember that if there are children of similar ages (especially around 3 to 4 years of age) in the house keep strict eye on them and do not allow them to pick any thing by which they can hurt others. Especially keep an eye on those children, you know are not on good terms and there is greater chance of their fighting.

In the end it must be noted that when a child is born, a huge responsibility comes on the shoulders of the parents. It is there responsibility to take full care of his safety and prevention, otherwise not only his life would be put in danger but also make him handicapped for whole life in case of any injury. Its responsibility would be on parents then.

By Muhammad Irfan Zafar

Content Writer

1. The law of darkness.

                The law of darkness state that if you ware to do anything g in the darkness, you will probably do the opposite and get the negative results.

2. The law of electricity.

                The laws of electricity states that you will have a blackout when you are doing something important with the electricity.

3. The law of education.

                The law of education state that the person who becomes number one during the first test in school will never become last and the last will never become first forever.

4. The law of food.

                The law of food state that if come home and find there is food ,the hunger goes away, but wait until you come and get  there is no food, you become 4times hungry.

5. The law of class assignment.

                The law of class assignment state that the teacher will most likely check your class assignment when you haven’t done it.

Aircraft carrier needs electricity on larger scale to run its machinery. There is installed a ghostly Air-condition system that keeps the crew and equipments safe from heat. There is also a desalination plant that treats half million gallon water daily and there is also a big refrigeration system. This Ship keeps food which is enough for 6 thousands people for 70 days.

The purpose of all this technology is the creation of floating Airport. The flight deck covers about 4.5 acres. Underneath is a vast hanger where 100 Aircrafts can be parked. There are four ghostly lifts to shift Aircrafts from hanger to the deck. The single lift of this ship can lift around 150,000 pounds weight.

For such a large ship, certainly it needs fuel on larger scale and the same amount of space is required to keep this fuel too. Therefore, the American’s Aircraft Carriers use nuclear reactors. These reactors keep as much fuel in a smaller space that can run this ship for a decade. These reactors create steam that is run by different steam turbines. These turbines also run electric generators that provide electricity to remaining parts of the ship.

If we talk about the runway of an Aircraft Carrier, it is comparatively smaller than normal land runways. That’s why it takes support of the complex technology to overcome this lacking. When an Aircraft starts engines to take flight from the flight deck, the crew joins the steam power catapult to the front wheels of an Aircraft and as soon as the Aircraft engines pick thrust, the crew runs the shooter of the catapult. Due to which the big Aircraft gets the speed of 165 miles per hour in a distance of 300 feet. All this procedure takes only two seconds time and an Aircraft reaches the air. A new Aircraft can fly from the Aircraft Carrier after every twenty five seconds.

When landing turn comes the mentioned technology fixes the enormous cable in the hook of the Aircraft’s tail, which compels the plane to stop within 300 feet. And if cable doesn’t fixes in the hook the Aircraft takes flight again.

The above mentioned all the Aircrafts need fuel. An Aircraft carries keeps three million gallons fuel while journeying, but it is still short, therefore, Aircraft carrier never travels alone, but other smaller ships also travels with it, which is called sea fleet. This sea fleet contains Guided Missile, Cruise, two destroyer, two submarines and one frigate.

The American Aircraft carriers are of stunning capabilities. Likewise following America other countries of the world have also tried to make their sea fleets. Britain is trying to make many sea fleets, which will be operational till 2017. Russia has planned to make twelve sea fleets. China and India are also desirous of making sea fleets. It seems that in the next decade many sea fleets will be seen floating in the sea, which will change the shape of the sea altogether.

By Muhammad Irfan Zafar

Content Writer

Thomas Alva Edison, a walk through time.

Thomas Edison with his phonograph ; 1877

Thomas Alva Edison (more commonly known as Thomas Edison) was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio, United States but grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. He was the seventh child of Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. And Nancy Matthews Elliott. In school, young Edison’s mind often wandered and his teacher called him addled. Much of his education came from reading R.G. Parker’s School of Natural Philosophy. He had some hearing problems at a young age which was caused by a scarlet fever during childhood which left him with an untreated ear infection. In the middle of his career his chemical laboratory in a boxcar caught fire which then he was thrown out of the train for. He sold candy and newspapers on trains, and he sold vegetables to supplement his income. Thanks to this, he gained experience and talents as a businessman with eventually led him to founding 14 companies including one of the largest publicly traded companies in the world; General Electric; which is still in existence.

Thomas Edison 1878

Edison became a telegraph operator after saving 3 year-old Jimmie MacKenzie from being stuck by a runaway train which then led Jimmie’s father to training Edison as a telegraph operator. He was working the night shift when working with a lead-acid battery when he spilled sulfuric acid onto the floor, he was fired the next day. Thomas Edison began his career as an inventor, but the invention which first gained him notice was the phonograph. This accomplishment made the public thought even magical. However, it had poor sound quality and the recordings could only be played a few times. He gained money for his inventions through selling them hoping to get $4000 – $5000, in which he got $10000.

It is a common misconception to say that Thomas Edison invented the first electric light bulb, but instead invented the first commercially practical incandescent light. By 1879, Thomas Edison produced a new concept which was a high resistance lamp in a very high vacuum which would burn for hundreds of hours. He first tried many experiment with platinum and other metal filaments but returned to a carbon filament. In 1878, Edison formed the Edison Electric Light Company, and made the first public demonstration of incandescent light bulb on December 31, 1879, in Menlo Park. He even said that “We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles”.

Thomas Edison 1889

On October 8, 1883, the US patent office said that Edison’s patent was based on the work of William Sawyer and was therefore invalid, but until October 6, 1889, a judge ruled that Edison’s electric light improvement claim for “a filament of carbon of high resistance” was valid. He did not want another court battle with Joseph Swan, whose British patent had been awarded a year before Edison’s, he decided to form a joint company called Ediswan to manufacture and market the invention in Britain.

With knowledge that he gained from working as a telegraph operator, he learned the basics electricity. This made him able to make his early fortune with the stock ticker which was the first electricity-based broadcast system. He was also granted a patent for the motion picture camera or “Kinetograph”. In 1891, Thomas Edison built a Kinetoscope, or peep-hole viewer and this device was installed in arcades which people could watch short, simple films. His favorite movie was The Birth of a Nation which is one of the most racist movies ever created, and it was produced by the Ku Klux Klan. President Woodrow Wilson also favorited this movie.

Thomas Edison died of complications of diabetes on October 18, 1931, in his home, “Glenmont” which was in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey, which he purchased in 1886 as a wedding gift for his wife Mina. He is buried behind his home. Edison’s last breath is contained in a test tube at the Henry Ford Museum. Ford reportedly convinced Charles Edison to seal a test tube of air in Thomas Edison’s room shortly after his death. A plaster death mask was also made.

He died on October 18, 1931 in West Orange, New Jersey, United States.

         According to the the “experts” on ancient alien encounters, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, found in Exodus, they had a manna machine. This machine would make manna out of the moisture in the air, and certain types of algae. It would use a type of laser and heat to make the algae and moister merge, and age faster.

        This picture is of a re-creation of the “manna machine” they believe the Israelites had. They say the power supply would have been stored in the arc of the covenant. According to them, this would explain why people often died when they touched the arc, because the power supply would have been radioactive. ”Ancient Aliens” claims this machine would have been given to the Israelites as a gift by extraterrestrials, or that it was stolen from the Egyptians when they left.

        These stories seem a little far fetched, and are made just to explain why it might be possible, for these amazing events in history, to have happened without divine intervention.

         ”Ancient Aliens” often challenges Christianity, and Christian beliefs, to learn more click here.

Matthew West

Spring 2008

Perspectives and Initiatives for Energy Efficiency and Combating Climate Change in Guanajuato, Mexico: A Report

Imagine that you live in Bangladesh and that your family’s livelihood has for as long as anyone alive in it can remember, been fishing. Naturally, you might live near the coast. Now imagine that for the past five or six years your family has had to relocate farther inland two or three times due to rising sea levels; your country is essentially on the verge of disappearance.

The facts and evidence are out there, global warming is a problem. Our planet, at least as far as we know at the moment, is not an unlimited reservoir of resources. We are beginning (at the very least) to understand what happens when we are not careful, responsible stewards of our planet. The effects are not always obvious to identify, but we can notice plenty by following what is now more or less basic science. When we burn excessive amounts of fossil fuels, the release of greenhouse gases contributes to rises in global temperatures, which greatly affect living conditions around the world, some regions so much that it pushes people to the breaking point, like Bangladesh and tiny islands in Indonesia. The existence of these islands is increasingly threatened by rising sea levels, caused by the melting of polar ice caps, itself caused by the rise in global temperatures.

Some maintain global warming is still just a theory, that we cannot be sure humans are the principal cause of this global trend in temperature increases and climate pattern alterations. However, when large numbers of expert scientists from several different countries, who have more or less devoted their lives to the study of our environment, tell us that we are causing a great deal of the damage, I can only conclude that it would be foolish to ignore their warnings.

Beginning from the most basic logic, we can say that if a global problem exists, a problem that either now or later will affect just about everyone on our planet, the best way to combat it and maybe solve it as soon as possible would surely have to include the participation of just about every part of the world. Therefore, we can apply this logic to our world’s looming climate crisis. If we really intend to curb greenhouse gas emissions and begin to stabilize and eventually lower the temperature of our planet, it is going to require initiatives from all parts of the globe, from the largest cities to the smallest villages. Any progress in this department is often attributed solely to large cities and states, but we must not fail to acknowledge what actions people are and are not taking in smaller communities either, and give them credit where it is due. And although we can certainly say the most immediately effective changes will be made only by the actions of the largest states and cities, there also must exist a certain mindset among our world’s people about the problem and what each individual can do to contribute to its resolution. For without the mindset, there can be no initiative to change. This means raising awareness, developing institutions, organizations, clubs, etc devoted to this purpose, in order to engrain in the minds of citizens that we must all participate if we truly want to fight this problem.

And so it is with all this in mind, as well as my interest in what everyday working people and small towns can do towards global collaboration, that I intend to examine what is being done towards and what mentalities exist about the climate problem in one moderately-sized town of about one hundred thousand in south central Mexico, Guanajuato, Guanajuato. An examination of climate-change mentality just might point us in the right direction as to where we need to take people mentally, so that climate change contributions become a part of everyday concerns. Additionally, such an examination will hopefully reveal to us what is being done and what more needs to be done in Guanajuato and places similar to Guanajuato, as well as what sort of things are inhibiting further and more effective action, the effect that is having on the climate, and how we can help these places to do more. In order to gain this information and perspectives, I resolved to shed light on some of the more informed perspectives on what is being done about climate change in Guanajuato, speaking with officials at any local environmentally-related organizations I could find. To complement this with an idea of what action is currently visible and what the average citizens observes, I spoke with a few randomly-chosen, ordinary citizens here in Guanajuato, in order to try to get some sort of sample of how Guanajuatans view things, what they do to combat the problem, and what their perceptions are about larger scale efforts to combat the problem in their area. We can reasonably infer that significant government efforts at combating climate change and the energy crisis, if they exist, would be visible to ordinary citizens in Guanajuato, as the problem affects all and in almost all arenas. In short, we shall see what the citizens see.

Several miles northeast of the city of Guanajuato lies a rather secluded environmental and outdoor recreational park by the name of Las Palomas. The facilities and grounds are designated an ANP by the local government, which stands for Area Natural Protegida, or Natural Protected Area. This designation by the government and the fact that the Guanajuatan state government itself posts its Ecological Institute sign on the bulletin board at the entrance to the facility might suggest that the government here is actually doing the protecting. However, those that work at the facility do not exactly attest to this. The park at Las Palomas is run by several workers, most of whom are young and some of whom are studying for future environmentally related careers, who rotate in weekly shifts at the facility, performing various tasks other than mere facility maintenance. They assist in the provision of the main activity at Las Palomas, environmental education. While the intricacies of basic, long-known environmental science may not seem immediately relevant here, the majority of what Palomas does is hold workshops to educate children about the fragility of our environment and how we must act responsibly regarding our everyday use of environmental resources. We must not underestimate the care for the environment that is almost always engendered into human minds upon a greater understanding of it.

One of the first things I noticed when approaching the entrance at Las Palomas is that virtually all of the acreage leading up to the facility itself is carved up into small canals, which are used for retaining water so that at least a decent level of moisture may be retained in the generally dry soil around the area. This attempt to conserve rainfall is reflective of the general state of things here in Guanajuato: water is scarce and most citizens are used to this problem. In addition though, the water detainments at Las Palomas do not just help to maintain the conditions of the soil, but in turn naturally provide a more fertile base for the trees planted on their grounds for reforestation projects. Many of the names of the trees are labeled on the trees themselves with wooden planks for educational purposes. The principal activities at Las Palomas are as follows: environmental education of children, reforestation/soil conservation, and the separation of organic and inorganic trash. Organic trash is used to develop compost to put back into the soil.

The use of natural gas is far and away the principal means used here in Guanajuato for heating water and cooking in general. General electricity comes from the local power plants, which a local engineering student told me were some of the nicest he has seen, obviously implying how much the local government here puts into them. Guanajuato has historically been one of the richest states in Mexico. At Las Palomas, natural gas is only used for cooking; all other electrical power is solar. As you make your way up the pathway that leads to the entrance of Las Palomas, you immediately notice two large solar panels on your right and left, each with alternating positive and negative energy converters attached to the under-side of the panels. Las Palomas runs camping grounds as well, any electrical power for which is also provided by the sun. It is generally quite sunny for most of the time in Guanajuato, especially during the dry season when I was there and consequently, the manager at Las Palomas, whom I will refer to as Amelia, told me that the solar panels they use could not really be more useful and effective. She says they are reliable, and although sort of expensive to purchase at the outset, last for very long periods of time and require little maintenance.

It is obviously recognizable that a significant effort at preserving natural resources and combating climate change should include the implementation, at least as the next step, of these types of alternative energy sources, like solar power. Since Guanajuato is often so sunny, one might assume it could easily implement and benefit from solar power. Theoretically, it could. But according to Amelia, who is twenty-eight years old and studying to be an environmental engineering professor, the local government in Guanajuato will not permit the widespread commercial selling or distribution of alternative energy sources, like solar and wind power. All of these initiatives must be private. At the same time, Amelia, who has been the manager of the ten-year-old park for three years now, says the local government provides very little financial assistance to the park, despite basically claiming it as a part of one of its divisions. Las Palomas relies on donations and the small entry fees it charges for visitors in order to maintain its facilities and practices. Amelia considers the environmental education that takes place at the park to be essential to any effort at ingraining climate change awareness, or simply environmental preservation, into the minds of little ones. But the amount of children Amelia receives at Las Palomas is not a lot, she says, and the ones that do come do not come often. She knows of no other environmental education/preservation program or facility similar to hers in the immediate Guanajuato area. Nor did Braulio, the other worker I spoke to.

Amelia seems to think the government is afraid to implement alternative energy technologies, even when the potential benefits are obvious- the frequent sun and wind in Guanajuato could generate much power- at least partially because the current energy provision is provided by the government itself here. So, if this is a source of revenue for the government, one might understand the reluctance to abandon any solid source of income that already exists and is already providing jobs and energy for citizens who need it. Supposedly, according to Amelia, some governmental programs do exist in the area and are largely devoted to what she thinks are the government’s only three environmental priorities: recycling, reforestation, and water conservation; the first of which is quite basic and the last of which is essential and unique to the area. She is not convinced the government does much of this out of a concern for the environment rather than the simple need to conserve water so that people can live, keep the city relatively clean, and prevent the surrounding area from becoming a barren, tree-less wasteland. Her research and experience has not revealed to her any kind of collective, consistent commitment on the part of the local government to maintaining the health of the trees that are planted in reforestation projects, trees that likely represent our planet’s principal carbon-vacuum like process. For instance, she suggested that for the most part, when trees are planted the planter regard their work completed and do not return to check the health of the tree.

For Amelia, the problem is one of enforcement and education. She feels that greater enforcement mechanisms are needed to more or less threaten citizens with forms of punishment for failing to comply with environmental regulations that need to be in place. It may even be necessary for the government to sponsor programs to raise awareness or, as she put it, to almost frighten people into fearing for their own existence or the existence of their children in the future with daunting displays of the potential catastrophic effects of rising sea levels, droughts, air contamination, etc. This may be the only way to truly move the problem from the back of people’s minds to somewhere near the middle, at the least. And this is what Amelia feels is another large part of the problem: our mindsets. We here warnings about the problem, but then we routinely forget about it and go on about our everyday lives, possibly leaving the presentation we just saw about climate change by getting in our SUV’s and driving home. A consistent message might serve to bring the concern to the forefront of our minds each day and eventually affect our actions.

As regards her own private efforts, Amelia claims to do the things that we all need to be doing at this point, the simple things that add up to big differences: refraining from using lights unless they are greatly needed, keeping electrical devices off when they are not being used, utilizing public transportation when possible, recycling plastic, glass, paper, etc. But she does not observe similar activity among her peers, who seem to hear about the problem, express concern, but then continue living seemingly unaffected or unmoved to significant action. Nor does she give much credit to the generation older than her, of whom many seem to be stuck in their old, traditional, inefficient ways. Supposedly and hopefully, these enforcement mechanisms of which I spoke earlier could serve to motivate these types of people.

Guanajuato seems to be promoting an extensive campaign towards recycling and the proper disposal of trash. Simply walking around the city one notices signs reminding people how to dispose of different particular kinds of trash, and the Ecological Institute issues pamphlets detailing its activities in recycling. The trash problem might not be something obviously and directly related to climate change, but upon further inquiry it can teach us what kind of environmentally harmful and atmosphere-warming chemicals are released into the air and the land when say, for instance, a plastic bottle is left lying around in a field for several months at a time. Secondly, the trash problem can give us an idea about the city’s general concern for the environment and just how big a priority it is. Guanajuato is a city of twists and turns and hidden alleys and hidden spaces and while walking a good ways away from downtown, one frequently stumbles upon large heaps of trash piled up in spaces the sizes of the plots for moderately-sized houses. Essentially, hidden garbage reservoirs.

Anita is an elderly woman who teaches yoga at a local gym in Guanajuato. She has lived in Guanajuato all her life. She remembers when winters were actually cold here and when she was a girl how it did not become so hot so early during the year, telling me how around spring time the temperature used to hover in between twenty-five and twenty-eight degrees Celsius. She regularly observes it to now rarely drop below thirty. The host father with whom I have been living here for the past four months has told me more or less the same thing. The citizens who have been here a long time have noticed significant long-term temperature increases. Although Anita believes this process of global warming to have been occurring since the creation of our earth, she recognizes how the process is largely evolutionary, how at certain points in time we cross certain temperature thresholds and the problem eventually reaches a point demanding significant human action to curb the effects. We are only now being warned about the problem because its effects are only now glaringly obvious to even an almost environmentally-apathetic individual. According to Anita, our earth is not yet contaminated, but will be soon if we do not act. Contamination is what she focuses on to be a great portion of the problem, namely, air pollution from factories and water pollution from contaminated rivers and other water sources. She sees the abundant factories in the nearby city of Leon and resource processing plants to be some of the greatest contributors to the local problem. At least this is likely the manifestation of what she also, like Amelia, believes to be the root of the problem: our minds.

Anita however, views the mind problem as one largely related to consumerism. In short, we are an overly-consumerist society that simply out of ignorance thinks it is perfectly acceptable to continue consuming unnecessary amounts of products, products whose creation at this point in time stem from traditional manufacturing methods (not renewable ones) and that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Or on the other hand, plenty of us are aware of the effect our consumption has on the environment, but simply do not care out of selfishness. She simply pin-points material greed as an enormous part of the problem. And she is right; we can learn to do without excessive amounts of irresponsibly-produced products, especially if we are convinced it means the continued well-being of our lives on earth and those of our children. Hopefully, though, we can motivate people to altruistically care for the environment that we are largely in control of, instead of merely keeping it from going to waste so that we can use it again in the future.

Again, a citizen points to increased education when it comes to possible remedies. But more specifically, Anita and Amelia both feel the education needs to start from a very basic level in young children (whose minds are sponges), so that upon growing up, these children will have environmental care and maintenance engrained as an increasingly important priority in their daily lives. And fortunately, a proposal Anita supports, largely amounting to fining trash polluters and replanting what one destroys, is already in the works. In the April nineteenth edition of one of Guanajuato’s newspapers, a.m., there appeared an article listing the functions of a newly-passed law within the city, some of which included the punishment of institutions, businesses, and individual people for the improper disposal of waste, a mandate for those who cut down trees to replant more, and the creation of an additional committee devoted to the restoration and preservation of ecosystems in the surrounding area. 1

One of the biggest concerns regarding clean energy today is an economic one. We simply cannot ask poverty-stricken people to invest in alternative energy technologies in the name of preserving the environment, when they are in large part more concerned about the preservation of their families. This is only human. The poor are the ones generally buying the cheapest, most inefficient, polluting vehicles. This is particularly evident in Guanajuato, as the most popular cars are old, cheap, gas-guzzling, inefficient American models. The poor are also the ones more or less dependent upon cheap but dirty energy provided by the government. But the government has an argument here as well: it helps provide cheap energy to its struggling citizens. However, this is where gradual change and implementation play a role. Guanajuato is a windy and sunny place. Solar panels are expensive but can be subsidized for and wind turbines are cheap. Hence, the government would not have to charge so much for this type of energy, in turn making it affordable for middle to lower economic class citizens. And at the very least those of us who are already financially capable to make such energy shifts are the ones who have to start and eventually spread the practices.

Some of the good news is that these sorts of proposals for wind energy have already been made and are at least in the midst of the stage of transforming the idea/proposal into visible, effective action. The Catholic monument and frequent tourist destination in the Guanajuato area, Cristo Rey, is one of the highest points in the area and consequently would serve as “the principal potential to install wind energy generators” for the cities of Guanajuato and Leon, as some of the steadiest horizontal wind currents take place up there.2 The proposal I speak of also includes the collaboration of a Leon-based business and el Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas in the creation of an experimental, enormous wind-energy generator at this location. They have also proposed to map out the areas on tops of hills in Guanajuato where other significant wind currents could give significant basis for the construction of more of these experimental machines. What about wind mills? The ideas are out there, as well as those who support them and would have them implemented. The next step is implementation.

Additional, but at the very least hopeful developments may be found in the local government’s official statements and occasionally, hard laws like the one previously mentioned over waste disposal. On the state government’s website(the city of Guanajuato is the capital of the state of Guanajuato), one can find general statements that are referred to as “advantages” of running an environmentally-friendly, limited energy using, innovative, and globally-minded business.3 Upon further exploration one notices governmental “recommendations” for ways in which the city as a whole can act to protect the local environment, in the hopes of maintaining a healthy place to live for current Guanajuatans and those of future generations.4 Not surprisingly however, the vast majority of these environment-related postings center on care for the surrounding environment and especially, the conservation of water, which is likely the most threatening problem at the moment for the people of Guanajuato. There is no shame in this, as humans simply need water to survive, but we must not overlook the great effect this has of diverting the concerns of many Guanajuatans to simply their own state’s well-being, if not just their own individual well-being. Local water conservation likely has positive implications for the globe in general, but in this case does not seem to be directed towards or motivated by a larger-scale concern for our globe’s climate problems.

A further student I spoke with named Bris, who is nineteen years old, living in Guanajuato and studying at The University of Guanajuato, offered a shockingly honest account of her own patterns of action-provoking thought regarding global climate change. She first told me that she simply does not do much to combat the problem, but then later, perhaps from a sense of guilt, mentioned she did do some basic things like making sure unneeded electricity was turned off. But she said she does not really notice the government doing anything either. This might have been what lead her to then mention the outlooks of many of her friends, who are aware of the problem, but do not really act to mitigate its effects because they simply feel their efforts would be of no avail, as they also observe little large, institutional, or just collective action. She even conceded that a great deal of pessimism exists among her friends that reside at an increased level of awareness of the problem and are more familiar with its effects. Bris’ impressions of governmental action in the area towards combating climate change seemed to resemble that of previous interviewees, largely consisting of admissions that governmental officials here simply have more pressing priorities. This primarily includes the well-being of the citizens of the city, which in Guanajuato, and Mexico in general, boils down to economic, job related concerns. So logically, the contribution of the city of Guanajuato towards diminishing the effects of global warming is a bit farther down their list of priorities. The trash collection, reforestation, and energy efficiency related programs (that were few) that she said she noticed seemed to always be cut short, likely due these more directly alarming priorities of economic well-being.

We might pinpoint time and money as the root of the problem here in Guanajuato, the underlying reason that more is not done to initiate large-scale climate change mitigation efforts. For starters, three people I spoke to all emphasized to me that the city government officials here only remain in power for four to six years. During their time in office, they supposedly want to secure for themselves an excellent reputation in the eyes of their citizens. They want to get re-elected. This means making changes that take effect quickly and on large scales. Our planet’s climate crisis does not lend well to this pattern. Actions towards combating our climate problem naturally must start small and slowly accrue to have a long-term positive effect. And no governmental official wants to do just a little. Theoretically, they would not want to spend their time contributing to efforts that will take the equivalent of at least five or six of the time periods they could be in office to come to fruition. At the same time, any reason that there might not be sufficient funds within the government here to mandate large-scale climate-savvy action is difficult to justify when one receives information from people who have lived in Guanajuato all of their lives regarding excessively high salaries for government officials. Anita specifically mentioned that the government here also continues to send much money to retired governmental officials. The other, and arguably more legitimate side of the economic problem, has already been mentioned but resides in the fact that many citizens rely on the cheap energy the government currently provides and in a larger sense rely on the cheap(but often inefficient and dirty) provision of energy in all respects. Their concern for their own economic well-being naturally precedes that of the well-being of our planet.

So, what can we conclude from all of this? A number of things. The city of Guanajuato is not completely devoid of well-managed, properly guided initiatives to do its part, or what it can, to contribute towards the alleviation of our planet’s climate crisis. But it is not full of them either. The ones that exist range from mere suggestions or recommendations to hard governmental laws that threaten to punish businesses and individuals for insufficient consideration of the environment amidst their regular practices to recycling projects to reforestation efforts to predominantly privately lead alternative and clean energy initiatives. Some of Guanajuato’s own unique factors, principally economic, seem to have a great affect on climate change action, as we have already seen. From what I have gathered myself, there does seem to exist some sort of gap in between what the government says it supports and does, and what the citizens in the city observe the government doing. The governmental initiatives that do exist tend to be mostly geared to benefit a specifically Guanajuatan population, while the majority of globally-minded efforts in the city seem to come from individual, private efforts. These often take the form of simple action within people’s own homes, ranging from utilizing the bulgingly popular and more efficient compact-fluorescent light bulb, limited use of products made from non-renewable sources (plastic, styrofoam, etc.), keeping lights and other electrical devices turned off when not being used, use of public transportation and natural light, and more.

Fortunately, we also see ideas being proposed to install solar and wind energy receptors around the Guanajuato area. But these will be hard-pressed to take positive effect unless the government here embraces them by allowing them to be sold on a large scale or simply by beginning to provide them themselves.

Regarding the mentalities that exist among citizens in Guanajuato when it comes to the problem, it is obvious that there is no lack of awareness. The town in general may be described as fairly progressive, although somewhat conservative, and more or less informed, as it holds the liberal University of Guanajuato and retains some intellectual figures. The problem however, seems to reside in the importance and priority the problem takes in the minds of citizens here, as well as the government. This translates directly into an issue of degree. Things are being done, but they simply do not seem to be enough. This is not just from what I gathered in my own investigative and observational experience, but judging from the words of citizens in Guanajuato as well. The inhibitions to this further action seem to be particularly strong, especially when one considers the great potential this area has for wind and solar energy, like we have already discussed. One might think environment and energy related concerns like these would be nearer to the front of people’s minds and therefore priorities, especially given the fact that the area already has significant problems with water scarcity, erosion, dryness of land, and deforestation. But unfortunately, much of the formal concern and initiative to action stop at the local level. This helps, but our mindsets need to grow to include our planet on the whole, if it is in fact the planet we want to help. It is not unreasonable to propose that harsh threats of punishment are in order to force people to comply with climate protection laws, as well as the implementation of some kind of display of the potentially drastic consequences that will ensue if we do not take more effective action. According to the citizens I spoke with, increased, regular and routine education about climate change are things that need to be put into action here.

My own role in this exploratory process was not intended to be one of judgment, although a certain degree of that is unavoidable. I wanted to observe, analyze, observe some more, let thoughts settle, and then analyze a bit more. I feel this was what I did. I certainly am a bit removed from the real inside situation here in Guanajuato, including that of climate change combat, and forever will be simply because I am not a Guanajuatan. But the fact remains that I can still retain some legitimacy in analyzing what efforts are being put forth in a city I have spent four months in and whether or not those efforts seem to be effective.

What has been invaluable to me about this process has been the chance to speak with real people who experience the real events, problems, and successes in the city. I have had a vested interest in climate change and our natural world for several years, but it was only until this process did I learn to appreciate the every-day realities for those who have to combat the problem, and specifically t

Between Savery’s and Watts’ time, the power of a horse was defined inconsistently by different engine makers. Watt estimated that the amount of weight a horse could pull over a given distance in a given period of time was 33,000 foot-pounds per minute, which has been the accepted definition of 1 horsepower ever since. Power is also now measured in watts, and 1 horsepower is equivalent to 746 watts.

Sources differ on how Watt came up with his definition of horsepower. Some say he based it on how quickly a draft horse could turn a mill wheel. According to another account, he based it on ponies lifting coal at a coal mine, but he increased the number by 50 percent to estimate the power of a horse, rather than that of a pony. Another source claims that Watt based it on the power of a horse but deliberately overestimated a horse’s power by 50 percent so that he would not be accused of exaggerating the number of horses his engines could replace.

In pulling contests, draft horses have been observed to have a peak power output of nearly 15 horsepower for a few seconds. The average horse cannot work at a rate of 1 horsepower over long periods, but a fit draft horse can sustain 1 horsepower for hours.

Although the definition of horsepower was standardized more than two centuries ago, the method of measuring an engine’s power has varied. For example, before the 1970s, American automakers measured and advertised their engines’ gross power—the power at the engine’s crankshaft with no belt-driven accessories. Since then automakers have quoted net horsepower—remaining power output after losses caused by standard power-consuming accessories.