Ellie Arens

Block 3

Article 1: Dear Future Generations: Sorry

By: Prince Ea Publication: Stand for Trees Pages: (video) Date: April 19th, 2015
This was a video I watched that explained how future generations wont get to see
the world how we saw it because we destroyed it. We cut down and burned down the trees
and rainforests to make profits and to make money. The authors purpose for making this
video was to raise awareness for what is happening in the Amazon and forests all over the
world. He witnessed tree cutters first hand in Africa and wants to raise awareness because
they are being cut down. He says that when all the trees are gone and the rivers dried up,
man will realize he is not able to eat money. I learned that over 50% of the Earths trees
have been cut down in the last century, that thousands of peoples homes in Bangladesh
were washed away due to rising sea levels, and that kids in Beijing are being forced to wear
pollution masks to go to school due to increases of air pollution around the world. My
questions for this problem are the following: could we reverse these effects or only slow
them? How many years do we have if we dont do anything? How can we change our
ways? This video is great for my portfolio because it shows how we are using energy to
destroy the world, and what we could do to save it.

Ellie Arens
5-10-15

Article 2
Speaker: Alex Steffen
Ted talk: The shareable future of cities
Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/alex_steffen
This video tells us how we need to eliminate our emissions and that it is, in fact, possible.
We are ourselves up not to solve the climate change energy problem because we arent looking
in the right places for the solution. The video explains that we should be looking to other cities
for help. After all, the most sustainable trip is the one we never had to make in the first place.
Alex Steffen tells us that we need to focus more on eco districts (like greenhouses in
neighborhoods), infill (smaller living spaces that fit into small places) and urban retrofitting
(making use of spaces that are unique but were already there). He says that we can and need to
start giving up our cars, take public transport or bikes or walk. We need to make better use of the
energy we are overlooking: for example drills. We can use them so so much more than the
purpose they are sold for, like cooking. I learned that if we think differently, we can build cities
with zero emissions, and that it is possible. I also learned that cities can benefit each other
through energy conservation. My questions go along the lines of how do we use other cities to
benefit each other? How can we implement energy conservation to entire cities? This video is
good for my portfolio because it tells us how we can use cities in a partnership to save energy
and achieve zero emissions.

Ellie Arens
5-10-15

Article 3
Ted Talk: How behavioral science can lower your energy bill Speaker: Alex Laskey
Source:
https://www.ted.com/talks/alex_laskey_how_behavioral_science_can_lower_your_energy_bill
This video explains how we arent paying attention to how much the energy we use is
hurting the climate. It tells us that although coal is the most common form of energy we burn, but
only ten percent of the potential energy is lost in transfer to the thing we want to power. For
every unit of energy we use or save, we waste or save the other nine. However when social
pressure is put into place, people tend to want to save their energy much more. In fact, in a
behavioral experiment, when social pressure was put into place, the subjects that were tested
saved two terawatt hours of energy. Thats enough energy to power both Salt Lake City and St
Louis for an entire year! The video also explained that the Prius (by Toyota) is efficient because
behavioral science is employed. The dashboard displays how much energy is saved, turning
speed demons into safe and energy efficient drivers. I learned that competition is a better drive
for people than almost anything else. I also learned that I could be saving a lot more energy than
I am, as well as the fact that showing people how much they have saved could inspire them to try
to save even more. I question as to which companies are trying this? And on who? Which age
group seems to display the most results from the experiments? How much energy could we all
save as a nation or even a world? This article is useful to my portfolio because it explains exactly
why people dont save as much energy as they could.

Ellie Arens
5-10-15

Article 4
National Geographic: 5.25 trillion pieces of trash in the ocean and counting
Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150109-oceans-plastic-seatrash-science-marine-debris/?source=maps

Four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer are littering the deep sea. 269,000 tons of
trash float on the surface. Scientists have known about the trash build up in the ocean for
decades. That is the shocking part; how people can know that things are destroying the ocean and
not doing anything to stop it. Perhaps they just dont know how or want to study it to see how it
is affecting the world and climate change. Obviously not everyone is going to change their ways,
but there are a lot of people who would help stop the trash build-up but are just starting to find
out about it. With how much trash there is now it is going to take a long time to clean up, but the
ocean will ever be able to be the same as it was before the trash. I learned that the amount of
trash in the ocean is not only hurting biodiversity, but that people know about it and are doing
nothing to change it. My questions are how can people not be doing anything to help clean up the
ocean or at least stop adding to it? How can we clean it up? Where will we put all the trash if we
manage to get it all out of the ocean? This is good for my portfolio because it shows how the
things we as humans are doing is bad for the planet, and how people know what is happening
and refuse to do anything about it.

Ellie Arens
5-10-15

Article 5
Author: Mayill, Bobby
Climate not a factor in Colorado Floods
Source: Climate Central Date: September 29, 2014.
The authors purpose of this article is to inform the audience of various studies which concluded
that climate change was not a primary factor in the floods in Colorado in 2013.The BAMS
analyzed climate changes effects on global weather events in 2013, stating Climate change
made the rains neither more likely nor more intense. The study used one computer model and
other studies used one computer model and other studies had not yet confirmed the data. A
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist said that climate change will
lead to an increase in rainfall intensity globally. Northern Colorado is expected to receive less
rain on average. I learned that seventy-five millimeters of moisture was recorded in the
atmosphere. I also learned that at the same time, the waters south of Baja California were the
warmest in the Western Hemisphere, and that similar flood events were recorded in this area at
least twice in the twentieth century. My questions are; if climate change didnt have any effect on
the flood, then what caused it? Is this just how nature is or is it something were doing? This
article is good because it tells how the climate is changing because of what people are doing.

Ellie Arens
5-10-15

Article 6
Speaker: Bill Gates
Ted Talk: The next Outbreak? Were not ready
Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_the_next_disaster_we_re_not_ready
In this video, Bill Gates tell how weve invested very little into a health system that will
prepare us for the next epidemic. We had no system for the Ebola outbreak, no medical teams in
place, no research teams ahead of time, and no treatment approaches ready to go. However, we
were actually lucky with Ebola because it is not a virus that is spread through the air, but rather
passed by bodily fluids such as saliva. Other viruses will not be so easy to contain. Viruses that
spread through the air, like the Spanish Flu, are infinitely more dangerous. Gates also said that
with the benefits of science and technology today, we can build a great health system, but only if
we put our energy and money into it now. My question go along the lines of what will the health
system involve if we start preparing now? And what is the next danger in our midst? This is good
for the portfolio because it shows how people are not ready if there is another outbreak of virus.

Ellie Arens
Block 3

Article 7
Ted Talk: A Plug for Smart Power Outlets Speaker: John Lagrou
Date: February, 2009
Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/john_la_grou_plugs_smart_power_outlets_1

In this video, John Lagrou spoke about how many people are injured or die in household
electrical fires, and how the main cause of these fires is faulty, overuse or misuse of outlets and
appliances. Over eighty percent of all household electrical fires start below the safety threshold
of circuit breakers. Lagrou spoke about how he believes electrical appliances should and must be
able to communicate, so he and some co-workers invented a data tag for both the plug and the
outlet, so that now both appliances can communicate in the sense that when the plug uses too
much current, it can tell the outlet Im taking too much current, turn me off and the outlet
will be intelligent enough to turn off the current. With this communication, thousand of electrical
fires could be prevented. This would be better for child safety because the power would always
be off except when a smart plug is plugged into a smart outlet. Another great benefit would be
the energy savings, because the smart appliances would reduce global energy consumption
immensely. I learned that these data tags are very inexpensive and that they can help prevent
electrical fires from happening, along with the fact that they can save billions of dollars in energy
savings. A question I have for this is when can we make a law that all plugs and outlets be
required in homes? This video is great for my portfolio because it explains about how energy and

technology are changing and evolving with humans and accelerating into a new age of
technology.

Ellie Arens

Article 8
Ted Talk: Reach Into a Computer and Grab a Pixel Speaker: Jinha Lee
Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/jinha_lee_a_tool_that_lets_you_touch_pixels
Date: February 2009

In this video, Jinha Lee talks about how we should reach into technology and how
technology has the power and energy to reach back out at us. The power of computing has
become accessible to everyone these days, and the gap or boundary between us and technology
has grown smaller and smaller. But what if there was no boundary? Lee explains how he actually
created a tool that looks a lot like a pen, but it can transfer its body into pixels and put them into
the electronic device when pushed onto a touch screen. But he wanted to take it a step further, so
he created a 3D computer where a little space above the keyboard can be used as a digital
workspace where you can actually touch a pixel with your bare hands. He then tells how he
thought about how technology should be reaching us as well, so he (along with a large
collaboration group) created a digitally programmed real life pixel. It looks like a marble, but it

can be controlled with a magnetic field and it can copy human actions. I learned that technology
is advancing much more quickly than I originally thought, that tech like this can be used for so
much more than the mundane activities it is used for right now. Also, I learned that smart objects
are getting smarter and Im a little worried about how much smarter theyll be than us one day. A
question I have for this is how can this real life pixel be duplicated and used in other things like
architecture? This piece is great for my portfolio because it tells how technology and energy can
be used to further human evolution and improve life for us on earth.