Climate Change Commentary

     Over the past month, numerous areas all over California are being destroyed by the massive wildfires that continue to burn and wipe everything in its path. I believe this has a direct correlation to global climate change and has become a major issue in our country that we should be focusing on. Unfortunately, climate change has not been taken seriously since President Trump’s position in office, since he claims climate change is a myth.

     Most recently, President Trump took a trip to California to observe the damage caused by the fires and used his social media platform to publicly mock the science of global warming, tweeting, “Whatever happened to Global Warming?” and blamed forest management for the deadly fires. However, NASA provided statistical evidence regarding climate change on their website, mentioning that the atmospheric carbon dioxide level has not been this high in centuries. This causes Earth’s temperatures to be significantly higher than the usual, which can play a significant role when it comes to the cause of wildfires. 

     Not only has climate change had a drastic impact on our environment, it also has a huge impact on our economy, which gives us more of a reason to draw our attention to the honest reality of the subject. A recent CNN study shows this by explaining how our economy could lose billions of dollars, but more specifically, 10% of its GDP by the end of the century due to the impacts of climate change. This will have a serious impact on the production of food; the quality and quantity of crops will decrease because of high temperatures and drought, while also decreasing the production of dairy due to heat stress.

     In conclusion, I believe that climate change in our country is a serious issue we should not be ignoring. It is crucial for American citizens to realize the devastating economic and environmental impacts climate change has on our country today and will have in the future. If we do not come together to fight for this issue, millions of people and the beautiful planet we live on will be at stake.

Critique - Blog 6

In this blog, my classmate wrote about why We Should Not Build A Wall Between The United States and Mexico. First, she strongly provides her opinion on the topic which was a perfect way to begin her argument and an even better way to let her audience know how she feels on the subject. My classmate also does an amazing job of using the pathos appeal in her introduction by providing the effects this will have on numerous people to back up her argument. 

In the first body paragraph she gives factual statistics regarding the economic effects this would have on our country, providing things such as costs and other governmental examples to persuade her audience to believe her side of the argument. 

In the second body paragraph, she talks about the people who will be drastically affected by this, including all U.S. citizens. This is a great tactic to use in an argument because it allows the reader to put these effects into perspective and will also give them a better understanding of the issue in general. In the concluding paragraph she re-states her thesis and backs up her claim by summing up all of her main points. 

Overall, I think this was a very sufficient, strong, and informative argument brought on by one of my classmates and I completely agree with her opinion. She did a great job of answering the question, giving background information, and providing statistics to support her argument. I did not find anything to fix or critique, but was able to observe how a strong persuasive argument should be structured.

We Should Not Build A Wall

     Since President Trump won the election in 2016, immigration has been the animating issue of his presidency thus far. More specifically, building a wall to keep those immigrants out of the United States has been a constant raging topic with many opinions. I do not think the wall should be built. If the U.S. follows through with this idea, billions of dollars will be added to our debt and our country could be in deep trouble regarding our economy, foreign affairs, and the environment.

     

      First, our country cannot afford to build this wall. The nationwide debt is still on a constant increase and the wall would only add more damage to that number, which could potentially bite us in the butt very soon. If President Trump is strongly advocating for lower taxes and the money for the wall is not coming from our taxes, I am not sure where it is coming from. I think that instead of wasting billions of dollars to build a completely ineffective wall, we should consider using the money for better border control security, which would be so much more effective and a lot cheaper. 

     Secondly, our relationship with other countries could go down south. No matter the height, length, or materials used to build this wall, people are always going to find a way to outsmart it. However, just because the wall is ineffective does not mean it symbolizes something hateful and racist. I also believe that even if the wall is just put up, people will think of America differently than they have before, which could lead to an increase in war, violence, and hatred between our country and another.

     Finally, the U.S-Mexico border is the most biodiverse area in North America and building the wall would devastate wildlife habitats and could run a few of its species to endangerment, while also potentially cutting off access to the river. Despite the horrible endangerment of species, Congress would still allow the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ignore all compliances regarding the Endangered Species Act even though over 100 species would be impacted by the construction once the process for the wall begins.

   Although my three arguments are not equally important, I still believe that each of them holds something different that could prevent our country from following through with this plan. If I had to list my arguments importance from least relevant to the most, this is what I would say; foreign conflict, wildlife habitats, and economic issues. I am sure that opposers of my opinion would say there is no other way to keep illegal immigrants out of the United States territory, but there are multiple other ways, like if we made border security significantly stricter. I can assure the opposers that if we follow through with building the wall, we will still have the same illegal immigrant issue than we did before.

     In conclusion, I do not think we should build the wall because it would not only be a waste of time, but a waste of money, and could easily backfire on the United States due to the destruction of wildlife, economic bankruptcy, and violence. I formed my opinion by realizing how determined the immigrants are and that if there is a will, there is a way, and just because a wall is built in place of a fence does not mean they are going to re-think their decision and turn around. I believe that we should consider an alternative motive for keeping illegal immigrants out and throw away the idea of building this wall as it comes with multiple aspects that could backfire on our Nation.