Obesity

  Obesity is a medical condition where excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have a negative effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. In Western society, people are considered obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person's weight by the square of the person's height, exceeds 30 kg/m2, with the range 25-30 kg/m2 defined as overweight. On the contrary, some East Asian countries use stricter criteria.

  Obesity may increase the possibility of various other diseases, like heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, cancer, osteoarthritis, etc. The factors which cause obesity include a combination of excessive food energy intake, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility. However in a few cases, it is also caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders, medications, or psychiatric. On average, people who have obesity have a greater energy expenditure than thin counterparts because the energy is required to maintain an increased body mass.

  For obese people, dieting and exercising are the main treatments. Diet quality can be improved by reducing the consumption of energy-dense food and by increasing the intake of dietary fiber. With a suitable diet, anti-obesity drugs may be taken to reduce appetite or decrease fat absorption.

  A gastric balloon may also assist with weight loss, or surgery may be performed to reduce stomach volume and/or bowel length, leading to feeling full earlier and a reduced ability to absorb nutrients from food.

  

  In modern society, obesity is considered as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21^st century by authorities. It attracts more and more concern of people in recent years. So there are increasing number of people, especially in western countries, doing exercise to enhance the health of their body and to prevent obesity.

Picture from the following website:

http://www.modvive.com/2014/11/20/worldwide-obesity-costs-rise-2-trillion-annually/

Who should be responsible for the sexual harassment?

Who should be responsible for the sexual harassment?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dzgqXjhTA8

  Sexual harassment is very prevalent in India. There is a news that a woman was gang-raped on the bus and nobody showed the intention to stop this violence.

  Actually, sexual harassment is a kind of bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. And there is an argument in India that the molesters in that case thought that the woman should take the responsibility for the sexual harassment. Because the woman wears so hot and attractive, so they cannot control to savage the woman.

  It is ridiculous that the woman should be responsible for this case. We female have the right to choose what to wear, but this is not the excuse for those men to do bad things on women. The adverse impacts of sexual harassment result in psychological effects as well as physical effects. 

  I don't know why those molesters have those absurd thoughts, but the government in India should take some measures and implement the policy and law to regulate the behaviours and to protect the women's right. 

Wildfire

Wildfire

  A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation that occurs in countryside area. It also has other names, such as brush fire, bush fire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and veldfire. These names may be used to describe the same phenomenon relying on the type of vegetation which are being burned, and the regional variant of English being used. The standards of distinguishing wildfire from other fires include its extensive size, the speed at which it can spread out from its original source, its potential to change direction unexpectedly, and also its ability to jump gaps such as roads, rivers and fire breaks. Wildfires are characterized in terms of the cause of ignition, their physical properties such as speed of propagation, the combustible material present, and the effect of weather on the fire.

  Forest fire are a common occurrence in Australia due to the generally hot and dry climate, they pose a great risk to life and infrastructure during all times of the year, though mostly throughout the hotter months of summer and spring. Fossil records and human history contain accounts of wildfires, because wildfires can occur in periodic intervals.

  Wildfires can cause extensive damage, both to human life and property, but they also have various beneficial effects on wilderness areas. Some plant species depend on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction, although large wildfires may also have negative ecological effects.

  Strategies of wildfire prevention, detection, and suppression have changed and varied over the years, and further development of technology and research are encouraged by international wildfire management experts. One of the more controversial techniques is controlled burning: permitting or even igniting smaller fires to minimize the amount of flammable material available for a potential wildfire. While some wildfires burn in remote forested regions, they can cause extensive destruction of homes and other property located in the wildland-urban interface: a zone of transition between developed areas and undeveloped wilderness.

Picture from the following website:

http://www.kcwy13.com/todayinwyoming/headlines/We-Review-Wildfire-Prevention-and-Safety-266587201.html

Light pollution-A cause of eye diseases

Light pollution-A cause of eye diseases

  In my blogs, I talked about several different pollution which are air pollution, visual pollution and E-waste. And in this blog, I want to talk about the other pollution which is called light pollution. According to Wikipedia, the light pollution also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excessive, misdirected, or obtrusive artificial light. Pollution is the adding -of/ added light itself, in analogy to added sound, carbon dioxide, etc.

Light pollution compares with starlight in the night sky for residents, interferes with astronomical observatories, and like any other form of pollution, disrupts ecosystems and has adverse health effects, and the pollution can be divided into to major categories:

• Unpleasant light that intrudes on an otherwise natural or low-light setting
• Excessive light (generally means indoors' lights) that leads to discomfort and adverse health effects

  The consequences of this kind of issue can be seen as the following:

• Energy waste
• Effects on animal and human health and psychology
• Disruption of ecosystem
• Effect on astronomy
• Increase in atmospheric pollution
• Reduction of natural sky polarization

  The reduction of this issue includes many things such as reducing sky glow, reducing glare, reducing light trespass, and reducing clutter. And some possible solutions include (Wikipedia):

1. Utilizing light sources of minimum intensity necessary to accomplish the light's purpose
2.  Turning lights off using a timer or occupancy sensor or manually when not needed
3. Improving lighting fixtures, so that they direct their light more accurately towards where it is needed, and with fewer side effects
4. Adjusting the type of lights used, so that the light waves emitted are those that are less likely to cause severe light pollution problems. Mercury, metal halide and above all first generation of blue-light LED road luminaires are much more pollutant than sodium lamps: Earth atmosphere scatters and transmits blue light better than yellow or red light. It is a common experience observing "glare" and "fog" around and below LED road luminaires as soon as air humidity increases, while orange sodium lamp luminaires are less prone to show this phenomenon
5. Evaluating existing lighting plans, and re-designing some or all of the plans depending on whether existing light is actually needed

  I hope that we can mitigate this kind of issue and help to protect our planet to let we human beings live in a beautiful and environmental friendly earth.



Picture from the following website:
http://blogs.plos.org/citizensci/2013/05/10/two-new-citizen-science-apps-to-measure-light-pollution/

Cultural Conflict-one obstacle of globalisation

Cultural Conflict-one obstacle of globalization

  
  As the world is becoming more and more small, people can communicate with each other easier than before. This is the globalization which is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture. From the definition of the globalization, we can indicate that our world would be narrow and we can learn more from other countries. 
   

  The positive aspects of globalization are that we can share our technologies, our thoughts, our cultures and our productions. In the ancient time, it was hard for people who lived in different countries to communicate and exchange things. The reason for this is the technology. Because of the high technology, we can fly to wherever you want by taking a flight; with the high technology, we can talk to people wherever they are via the internet. The globalization provides us more chance to live a better life, it also could stimulate the economy across the world.

  However, there are also some disadvantages of globalization. One of them I am concerned about is the cultural conflict. The impacts of cultural conflict is enormous, affecting 'name, frame, blame, and attempt to tame conflicts'. And different people who have different cultural backgrounds would be hard to communicate with each other. This also may effect the global economy. So this kind of issue should be solved in the future.




Picture from the following website:
http://www.sociologydiscussion.com/globalisation/globalisation-social-dimensions-of-globalisation-explained/977

http://www.qnatrainings.com/Cross-Cultural-Management-Master-Class.html

Would advertisements pollute our daily life?

 Would advertisements pollute our daily life?

  There are large amount of advertisements are filled in our daily life, and it is also a kind of pollution called visual pollution. Visual pollution is a kind of an aesthetic issue and refers to the impacts of pollution that impair one's ability to enjoy a vista or view.

We can see from the picture above, the huge advertisement cover the whole wall of the building, we cannot enjoy the beautiful architecture, but only the advertisement. And this kind of pollution distributes the visual areas of people by creating negative changes in the natural environment. Billboards, open storage if trash, space debris, telephone towers, electric wires, buildings and automobiles are forms of visual pollution, and it is defined as the whole of irregular formations, which are mostly found in natural and built environments.

  Although this kind of pollution can not be as equally serious as other kind of pollutions such as air pollution and water pollution. However, this issue also would impact our quality of life, and we should find some method to solve this problem. And I think there are several solutions that could mitigate the situation:

• Policy

  Implementing a policy to regulate the advertisement industry is an effective way to control the issue. Advertisement companies should follow the policy and thus the size and the locations of the ad can be limited, and which in turn may help to solve the pollution.

• Education

  This could be more focus on the environment management, planning and advertising students. Because they design the advertisements, so if they have the sense of protecting visual view, that pollution could be mitigate.

• Management

  This method is similar to the first one, the policy. It also need the cooperation between the government and advertisement companies.

  I think, through those methods above can we mitigate the visual pollution in the future, and this could not be a pollution anymore.




Picture from the following website: http://www.brainsonfire.com/blog/2012/04/30/visual-pollution/

 

How to prevent from school bullying?

How to prevent from school bullying?

  If we want to live in a high quality of life, we cannot just focus on the external environment, but also we should care about the internal situation which is the psychological health. Bullying is a kind adverse impact on individual health.

  

What is bullying?

  Bullying is the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominant others. The bullying is divided into four basic types of abuse:

1. emotional (or can be called relational)
2. verbal
3. physical
4. cyber

One of most serious kind of bullying is school bullying which is a type of bullying that occurs in an educational setting. The school bullying may be more specifically characterized by five aspects as the following:

• An intention to harm
• Victimization distress
• Repetition
• Power inequity
• Provocation

How to prevent this kind of problem?

  Many parents may concern more about this issue for that they are afraid of their children would be treated like that. First of all, parents should stay connected with your child. The more you know about his or her friends and the details about his or her interactions eith classmates and peers, the more likely you are to spot any changes in your child's social interactions. If you communicate well with your child, when they get in trouble, they may ask you for help at first.

  Secondly, you should explain to your children what is school bullying, especially young children, they may not understand that hitting someone is bad. And parents also should tell your childern other kinds of bullying behaviours.

  Then, the children should be aware of how to deal with a school bullying. Children should understand what is school bullying, and should be educated that they cannot do the bullying behaviours. However, when they face the situation, they also should know how to deal with this issue. Asking teachers for help is a effective method, teachers have the right to protect children and provide a healthy study environment.

  Children need a healthy and positive circumstances to study, and we adults should provide them this kind of surroundings.

Pictures from the following websites:

https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/bullying

http://www.devrylaw.ca/education-law-bullying-in-schools

Human Overpopulation

Human Overpopulation

  The sharp rise of world population growth rate is the current situation. An important symbol is the short time of population expansion. The world population increased from 5 billion to 10 billion using 200 years while it increased from 10 billion to 20 billion using only 100 years. It is clear that the resources on our earth are limited, that means more people would consume more resources. Thus, one day, the resources would be run out of, and our planet would be destroyed earlier.

  The reason for this rapid population growth is  the improvement of living conditions and medical technology leading to the reduction of death rate. The life expectancy continues to increase, which is the main reason for the overpopulation.

  Currently, there is more than 50% of the world's population which is under 25 years old, the structure present typical growth type. It would decide the continuously growth of population in the future for a long time. As the earth's space and resources are limited, controlling the population expansion is an urgent task.

   In China, the government implements a policy called 'one-child policy'. China, it is known as the biggest country in term of population, which now has almost 14 billion people living in the country. This policy was first introduced in 1978 and enacted on September 18th, 1980 to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems in China. The positive effects of this policy can be seen as the following:

• Reduce the overall population
• Change the demographic structure including age structure, sex structure and ethnic structure.
• Increase the family deposit

  However there also has several negative effects. The most contentious one is human right violations. Many experts hold the viewpoint that one-child policy has been challenged for violating a human right to determinate the size of one's own family.

  

  Whether this policy could help to mitigate the overpopulation effectively is a question.

Picture from the following website:

http://wakingupwisconsin.com/shattered-lies-overpopulation/

Desertification-one of ten threats to our earth

Desertification-one of ten threats to our earth

  There is sixty percent global area is land, including 29% of area of deserts and desertification. It is said that 6 million hectares of land would transfer into desert each year with $423 billion of economic losses. The global arid and semi-arid lands are 5 billion hectares, of which 3.3 billion was threatened by desertification, leading to 6 million hectares of farmland and 9 million hectares of pastoral land lose their productivity. The cradle of human civilization, the Tigris and Euphrates have been turned fertile into desert. In China, the Yellow River basin also faces the serious situation of loss of soil erosion.

   You cannot imagine that how big is the desert area on the earth. For example, the Sahara, the largest desert, except Antarctica is also one of the largest desert. Although we may not be able to imagine the Sahara, and you may think that it is not caused by human beings. However, it was a shock original river alluvial plain in a few thousand years ago. So how big is it now? The length of this desert is 4800 kilometres from east to west, and the width is 1300-1900 kilometres from south to the north, the total area is 9.06 million square kilometres which is almost same as China's area.

  

  The immediate cause is the removal of most vegetation. This is led by a number of factors such as drought, climate shifts, tillage for agriculture, overgrazing and deforestation for fuel or construction materials. Vegetation plays a dominant role in determining the biological composition of the soil. 

  The urgent situation should be mitigate, or we will lose our land one day. Although we are not experts, but we should gain the awareness to protect our environment, to protect our vegetation.

  

Picture from the following website:

http://www.edie.net/news/4/UN-leader-calls-for--global-response--on-World-Day-to-Combat-Desertification-/

Who should be responsible for our polluted air?

Who should be responsible for our polluted air?

         Full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTsxx1KZwlM

  This video emphasize a emergent global issue which is air pollution. Just as the picture said, we cannot wait 20 or 50 more years to start caring about the environment. The air pollution is the introduction of chemicals that harm human, animal, and plant health. One of the major causes of global warming is air pollution and it also could lead to many serious health problem-cancer.

   From the video, we can see many polluted air released to the air without purification. It also tells us the causes of this adverse issue.

• Smokestacks of factories and powerplants
• Motor vehicles, cars, buses and aircrafts
• Chemicals, fires and volcanoes
• Fumes from hairspray, paint spray and nuclear weapons

  The effects of air pollution can be seen as following:

• Global warming
• Cancer, asthma and respiratory diseases
• Melting of our glaciers
• Millions and millions of deaths

According to this video, it provides some solutions for this serious problem:

• Eliminate internal combustion engine in car and instead carpool or ride a bike
• Adopt different energy sources like solar or wind energy
• Industries should install filters on smokestacks to purify the harmful gases
• Use perfume or sprays containing no CFC's
• Join in with friends everywhere by taking the pledge to make a difference

Conservation Biology

Conservation Biology

  There are billions of species on our earth, and we human being is one of them. If we want to protect our planet, we should protect these variety of species. The term 'conservation biology' is derived from this reason. The conservation biology is tied closely to ecology in researching the dispersal, migration, demographics, effective population size, inbreeding depression, and minimum population viability of rare or endangered species (Benton and Ferry, 2010). 

  Conservation biology is concerned with with phenomena that affect the maintenance, loss, and restoration of biodiversity and the science of sustaining evolutionary processes that engender genetic, population, species, and ecosystem diversity. The biologists should work hard to protect those aspects by research and education. And in my opinion, there are not too many biologists, so we normal people should be involved in to this activity.
   Education is a good method to make our younger generation to be informed that the biodiversity is very important. We cannot live without those different species, and only all these creatures including our human beings live in harmony, we can make our planet become better.
   The approaches that we can do are simple. First of all, especially women should reduce to buy furs which are made by rare animals. There is a word, 'no business, no massacre'. If we restrict to buy them, those animals won't be killed. Second one is that we shouldn't involve much more in the wild animals, such as catching them into zoos, we should just leave them on the wild environment, and do not destroy their habitats.
   Although, we are not experts, but we should and we can do something indeed to protect our friends-other species, and our planet-Earth.





Picture from the following website:
http://www.conservationjobsuk.com/conservation-biology-jobs.cms.asp

Who kills Our Communication Time?

Who kills Our Communication Time?

  With the increasing technology, people have more chance to buy a private phone. And those phones are smart phones which would help people to live a convenient life. 
  In the modern time, almost everyone processes a phone no matter he or she is a children or old person. We have to admit that those smart phones could help us to do much things. And I believe that in the future, the artificial intelligence could occur. However, there are some disadvantages of this kin of technologies. The first one comes to my mind is the loss of communication between persons. 
  

  Just like the picture above, we can see that two people site opposite to each other, but they are playing with their phones instead of talking to each other. This kind of phenomenon is very prevalent across the world. More and more people cannot live without phones. They ignore the importance of communication and social activities.
  As my experience, my boyfriend likes to play his Iphone 6 when we eat at the restaurant. I'd like to chat with him about my life and things that happened to me. When I see that he plays the phone, I just feel that I am ignored and he do not care about me. Over the time, people may be hard to communicate with others, and people may be easy to become strangers.
  Yes, technology could help to improve our life quality, however, we may lose many happiness on the phone.



Picture from the following website:
http://tech.sina.com.cn/zl/post/detail/2012-08-20/pid_7524766.htm

Could we save our habitat-Sea Level Rise Problem

Could we save our habitat-Sea Level Rise Problem

  Accelerated sea-level rise is one of the more certain consequences of greenhouse-induced climate change and would have many adverse impacts on the world’s coastline. The main reason which contributes to this phenomenon is the melting of ice sheets and glaciers (generally due to the global warming). 

  Nowadays, the argument of a global issue— sea-level rise constantly exists among the world. Because of the global climate change, the global temperature increases causing the melting of ice sheets and glaciers. However, there is a fact that should be noticed, the melting of marine surface ice do not directly contribute sea-level rise, on the contrary, the sea-level could fall because of the high marine salt concentration.

According to the 2013 IPCC report, it indicated that there is high possibility that the rate of sea level rise has increased during the last two centuries, and it is expectable that GMSL (Global Mean Sea Level) has expedited since the early 1900’s.

  As the increasing concern of this problem, we should find the solutions to mitigate the sea level rise. First we should understand the causes which lead to the issue. It is acknowledged that climate change is the major reason which may be responsible for the issue. If we can mitigate the climate change which focuses on the global warming, thus we can mitigate the sea level rise. How to solve this issue? There are some possible responses to global warming:

• Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions

  There are many activities which may help to reduce the emission including: energy conservation and increased energy efficiency; the use of low-carbon energy technologies, such as renewable energy and nuclear energy.

• Policies to reduce the global warming

  Our government or international organisations should implement the related polices to limit the industry to release less polluted air which may increase the air temperature.

• Climate engineering

  This is also known as 'geoengineering' which is the deliberate modification of the climate.

  From those methods above, we could save our habitat from sea level rise. 

Picture from the following website:

http://www.coolaustralia.org/finding-a-way-to-slow-sea-level-rise/

Picture from the following website:

http://www.coolaustralia.org/finding-a-way-to-slow-sea-level-rise/

The Green Building

The Green Building

  The Green Building also known as sustainable building refers to both the structure and the procedure that are environmentally responsible and resource efficient throughout a building's life-cycle. 

  The similar concept is Natural Building which means the material comes from the neighbouring area. Modern green building does not simply mean the building, but includes materials and construction methods. The definition of green building expands from the past 'Earth consumes minimal resources, manufacturing minimal waste building' to 'Ecological, energy-saving, waste reduction and healthy buildings'. It is clear from the definition, we can find nine indicators:

• Increased biological biodiversity indicators
• The amount of green building index
• The water-base indicators
• The daily energy-saving targets
• Carbon dioxide reduction index
• The use of automated waste reduction indicators
• Indoor health indicators
• Water indicators
• Sewage and waste reduction indicators

  From the above definition, we can indicate that the green building is a kind of sustainable building that may be beneficial to the urban development. As we know, the sustainable development is organizing principle for sustaining finite resources necessary to provide for the needs of future generations of life on the planet. And the green building may save energy, so it must be helpful for the urban sustainable development.

  If all our designers and planners would use green building concept to construct, I believe that our earth will be more clean and beautiful.

Picture from the following website:

http://ecoopportunity.net/2013/03/the-complex-issue-of-green-building-certifications-is-leed-no-longer-relevant/

Please Appreciate What We Have-Food Security

Please Appreciate What We Have-Food Security

  Food always is a global topic that many countries concern about the supply and demand. And the food price increases which draw attention of the world's policy-makers and news media to food security. How serious the situation is, we should understand this first. This blog will focus on this and provide some probable solutions for this global issue.

  

What is food security? 

  Food security has a various meanings, and the most common one is that food security is a condition related to the supply of food, and individuals' access to it. To be more specific, the food security does not mean that food which may be poisonous, but means food shortage. Concerns of food shortage have existed throughout history. At the 1974, World Food Conference defined the term 'food security' as an emphasis on supply. 
  This kind of global issue even occurs in the ancient China which was a large country of grain production. Food insecurity is not necessarily a lack of food, but is underpinned by a lack of accessibility to diverse produce, and the implications that has. In another words, the food shortage should include the diversity of food and nutrition.

Why there is food security?
  One of the reasons is agricultural industrialization. Using pesticide or chemical fertilizer may deteriorate the soil texture and pollute the underground water system. Increasing reliance on chemical fertilizers in agricultural production leads to declining crop yields, exacerbating global food crisis.

How to mitigate this issue?

  In order to mitigate this issue, we should find another way out to replace the agricultural industrialization. Some think that genetic engineering is a method to solve this problem, however there are also some drawbacks of this method. In contrast, there are some methods called 'Intelligent Farming' which includes the tillage methods may be beneficial to the biodiversity.

http://www.odishanewsinsight.com/odisha/odisha-launch-food-security-mission-soon/
http://www.safefoodltd.com/Pesticide-Residue

We Need to Embellish Our City-The Urban Landscape Architecture

We Need to Embellish Our City-The Urban Landscape Architecture

The most important role of a city is to provide shelters for people who live in the city. And there are other three basic functions of a city;

• Political                                                         
  

         -Security 
         -Stability
         -Relative Calm

• Economic

         -General Commerce

• Social Welfare

        -Religious
        -Learning
        -Health
        -Recreation
        -Overall Quality of Life

  The urban landscape architecture is a kind of recreation for a city, and it is very important in the urban development. Although the basic function of a city is offering shelters for residents, people do not only need a house to live in, they also need some nourishment for the mind, and some spaces for entertainment and relax. The urban landscape should provide this kind of role for residents.
  Industrial Revolution brought a new design aesthetics, which focus on the machine. The machine was thought as a universal thing, therefore, coming out the Le Corbusier's rapid urbanisation model holding that a city was designed for the machine, and eventually turned into a machine. However, city is not a machine, it is a container. People who live in the city need space to entertain and relax after hard works. So the city need to provide some places which is open space for this reason. The only open space is not enough for residents, the space need to be decorated with trees and landscape.
  Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, it contains botany, art, design, and even some policies. A successful landscape design not only can improve the visual standard of a city, it even can improve the quality of residents' lives. The people who live in this city will feel comfortable and enjoyable.



Pictures from the following websites:
http://www.landezine.com/index.php/2011/08/mediacityuk-landscape-architecture/

Solar Car-A New Method of Transportation

Solar Car-A New Method of Transportation 

Solar car of the University of New South Wales

Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYtWl0TtaKU

  

  As the video shows, the solar car made by the University of New South Wales is called Sunswift. The shape of the car is similar to a normal private car with four wheels and a steering wheel. And this kind of new car is used for land transport.

  Solar cars combine technology typically used in the aerospace, bicycle, alternative energy and automotive industries. There is a severely limitation of amount of energy input into the car. It depends on a solar array that uses photovoltaic cells (PV cells) to convert sunlight into electricity. Like a electrical car, the solar car also uses the electricity as the power.

  In this video, the UNSW students build the solar car with the solar array on the surface of the car to catch the sunlight. This must be a environmental friendly design for the future transportation. The conventional cars use fossil fuel as the power, the emission of these cars are harmful to our environment. Although there is another kind of car named electric car, the solar car can create electricity during its running, while the electric car need to be charged before it runs on the road.

  However, there are some drawbacks of solar cars that the designers need to find out the solutions. First of all is the efficiency. It is acknowledged that the efficiency of solar panels is not very high, to be more specific, the rate of the converting is low and the power provided by the electricity is lower than the burning the fossil fuel. Secondly, the speed limitation is another problem should be solved in the future. If the speed is too slow, the solar cars may lose its competitive power. As the result, the consumers won't choose the solar car as their transport tools. Thirdly, if it is easy to recharge the solar car?

  Only when those limitations are having been solved, the solar car can be the best choice of a land transportation. And I know that in the future, the solar car will replace the conventional car because of the environment and energy resources.

The Ghost City

The Ghost City

  As a planner, I am concerned about the whole plan of a city if its aggregate planning is appropriate. And I just heard of a news which attracted my eye on it which is the Detroit Bankruptcy. The city of Detroit, Michigan, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on July 18, 2013.

  In my opinion, the city of Detroit was famous for its automotive industry, and it is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the largest city on the United States-Canada border. 

  Because of the federal bankruptcy, the Detroit became a ghost city with few people lived there. The housing price in this city is extremely low same as the social security. This kind of issue obviously has adverse impact on the whole country's development, and it violates the sustainable development.

  The reasons for abandonment can be defined as the following aspects:

• Economic activity shifting elsewhere
• Human intervention
• Disasters, actual and anticipated
• Disease and contamination

  The city of Detroit became a ghost city because of the economic activities. And I think this is the main cause of forming a ghost city. In China, there are also some ghost area which are caused by the economic activities such as real estate transaction. 

  In many Chinese cities, especially those second-tier cities, the governments do not consider the practical situation of the demand of housing, they just want to gain more political achievements in their official careers, so they construct more houses which exceed the demand of the city. Those houses or apartments are abandoned. 

  This kind of issue is also a result of unsustainable development. This phenomenon is a social issue that impact citizens' daily life. The specific reason why the Detroit bankruptcy is the shortage of manufacture. Without manufacture, people have no chance to get jobs, so they move to another cities to find jobs, the city of Detroit bankruptcy. Similar with the Detroit, Chinese cities which lack the industries providing jobs and necessity of daily life, the city is easier to become a ghost city. Another factor is infrastructure. A developed service system can help to attract people to live in the city and provide a better life quality.

  From the case study of the city of Detroit, the elimination of ghost city is not complex. If the government can provide the factories which means the job opportunities, thus the people can live, the city won't be a ghost city then.

Pictures from the following websites:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/18/detroit-bankruptcy_n_3618572.html

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1975397_2094492,00.html

Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuel Energy

Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuel Energy

  Recently, the conflict between renewable energy and fossil fuel energy becomes more and more intense. Some argue that renewable energy needs high technology and the production of these energies may be harmful to our environment. The other hold the viewpoint that renewable energy has high efficiency . As my opinion, I think that renewable energy may replace the fossil fuel energy someday.
  There are several benefits that I insist on renewable energy. 
  First of all, from the resources of these energy, renewable energy is generally defined as energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat. However, fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. We can find that renewable energy, to some extent, is inexhaustible, and we can find those resources from anywhere. 

Secondly, from the efficiency aspect, renewable energy has the domination. 

  According to the graph, we can see that the solar energy is the highest efficient. Renewable energy replaces conventional fuels in four distinct areas: electricity generation, hot water/space heating, motor fuels, and rural (off-grid) energy services.

  Thirdly, the renewable energy is more environmental friendly than fossil fuel energy. Most of the production of fossil fuel energy are harmful to our environment such as carbon dioxide which may be the main cause of greenhouse gases. However, the renewable energy can mitigate this problem with its production is clean.

  Although, today, the most of the energy such as electricity and other power come from the burning of fossil fuel energy. Fossil fuel energy has its limitations. As we know, fossil fuel energy may run out of someday and it may have adverse impacts on our environment. For our future generations, we have to find the way out to solve the energy crisis by using renewable energy. And the renewable energy has the potential to help human beings to live a clean life.

Pictures from the following websites:

http://www.farmertronics.com/actueel/renewable-energy/

http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/fossil.htm