Environmental Blog

It's the Planet, Stupid!

So, while I was looking through dozens of environmental blogs, It's the Planet, Stupid! stood out as a very interesting and well informed forum. The post that I concentrated on was one that talked about how nuclear power could be safe and an incredible alternative to the traditional coal and oil power plants. The title of that post is called, "Safe Acceptable Nuclear Power? Heres a way..." and was about how nuclear power is still a very good alternative and to only real viable means to kicking our dependency on fossil fuels. The thing that really struck me about this blog is that it was very organized and well thought out when describing how nuclear power can be used to provide safe power. The other thing that struck me as interesting is that the blogger felt that it was also important to point out the disadvantages of building nuclear power plants with questions that would need to be answered by someone working out the costs of such a facility. Although the costs would most likely be high it seems as though the blogger feels that it is worth it to build such plants in order to tide us over until renewable energies are more advanced to be economically plausible.

I feel that this post is a great example of how someone who is concerned with the environment would present their thoughts on the topic. The argument is strong and the solution is a good idea but what this article is lacking is hard facts and statistics that would make it a legitimate news story. This could never make it to a page of a newspaper just because even if the idea is a valid one it lacks substance to defend the stance of the blogger. I have to address that even though this blog would not be considered a work of journalism it is actually a great example of what a blog is expected to be. It raises the concerns of an individual and it addresses a problem that is constantly talked about. It allows the reader to remain open minded and consider an idea that might not have been. I feel that after looking through the rest of this blog that it does make some good points and that it has forced me to think about alternatives to our current energy concerns.

Huffington Post

Content of Huffington Post

This was my first visit to the Huffington Post and I was not sure what to expect when I finally got the chance to look at it. In appearance it actually seems to be like a regular news site and the articles that appear there are much different than what one sees at CNN or the New York Times. I read an article about how Obama has lifted the ban on having the media cover war dead arriving back in the U.S and about another about how Alexrod, one of the Presidents advisors, is firing back at Dick Cheney for his comments about the War on Terror and how he feels that the President is inviting attacks on the American people. Its also interesting to see that many different articles are posted on the main page and that they are viewpoints that are not commonly seen in the mass media. Many of these articles are based in opinion but they use facts to back up their arguments and validate their messages. This format is a great way for people who want an outside opinion to come up with their own opinions on what is happening in the world around them and lets the break free of the bonds of the agenda that the big news organizations try to push on their readers. The cool thing about this blog is that at the very bottom of the main page there is a section just for the display of all of the news sources cited in their articles and I was surprised to see Al Jezeera as one of them. As I was saying before its a great place to get insight on issues that we either never heard of or have only heard of from the basis point of view that is seen on T.V or read in newspapers all the time. This site also uses Twitter and RSS as a way for people to get more involved and keep them informed in the content of the site. The most interesting part of this site is that it is open for anyone to leave a comment or write about anything that is important to them. This lets people get involved in the events that interest them and if someone is passionate about something they are able to get an enormous audience to share their thoughts. Blogs like this have changed the way people are able to obtain information and share their viewpoints in a mass forum. It seems that blogs are going to be a huge part, if not already, as legitimate places to obtain information and come up with opinions of your own on important issues.

The quality of the posts was surprisingly informed. I felt that some of the articles could have been written by people who were journalists. The one thing that is not great is that the writing was not consistent and some articles were very intelligently written and others were lacking in comparison. If that is the price that one pays for getting a broader opinion on events it seems like this may be a double edged sword. If someone makes good points but isn't at a standard educational level it is much more difficult to take their argument seriously. At the same time sometimes a good point is a good point. It really lies in the readers hands to decide for him/herself if an argument is valid and if the journalist really knows what they are talking about.

Front Page of Traditional Paper

U.S offers to Cut Nuclear Arms

In the article that I selected from the Wall Street Journal which was on Obama and his recent trip to Prague. He spoke to about 20,000 about his aims to decrease the amount of nuclear weapons that the United States has in its stock piles and wants the countries that currently have the largest amounts of weapons to also decrease their supplies as well. He talked about letting countries develop their nuclear programs in the name of energy and wanted to have the U.N to take on a larger role in helping moderate and watch developing nuclear programs in the name of peaceful energy research. The President also spoke in response to the missile firing in North Korea and stated,

"Rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something," Mr. Obama told the crowd, calling the launch a provocative act that violated United Nations Security Council resolutions. "The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons. Now is the time for a strong international response."

Obama is trying to rekindle the idea of using diplomacy in order to take down rogue nations like North Korea so that future wars can be kept to a minimum and that international intervention, if used carefully, can be our strongest weapon against those that threaten not only Americans but the world. He also wants the disposal of the old weapons to be controlled so that they will not find their way to the black market.

Some opponents to Mr. Obamas ideas on disarmament feel that this may leave the U.S vulnerable and that we may be distracting ourselves from issues that are pressing us. The President also brought up the idea of no longer investing in the missile shield that the United States has spent billions of dollars developing during and after the Cold War, under the terms that Iran would stop building nuclear arms.

The impression one gets from this article is that many people realize that a world without nuclear arms is destined to be a world that is more peaceful in nature. It is interesting to see that even in countries like the Czech Republic people really care about the security and safety of the world they live in and the important role President Obama plays in international policy. I feel like this is a smart move because he is actively trying to get countries like Russia and China involved and wants to open up relations with countries that we have had mixed relationships with. Hopefully in the future the U.S will be able to have open dialogue that will help us in promoting peace and communication with our international neighbors. On the other side of things, one can see this words as just another ploy by Obama to try to boost his popularity and gain more power. It is dangerous to have a president who is so popular just because people may stop questioning Obama policy decisions. Only time will tell but it does seem like a good idea to limit the amount of nuclear weapons world wide.

Op-ed of the New York Times

Larger Than Life in London

This article talks about President Obama and his trip to England for the G-20. It speaks about how the President is very different from the "old" leadership in Europe who is stuck in the old class structure and how even saying hello to a servant is considered classless. When Obama landed in England he shook hands with one of the guards who stand outside of of 10 Downing Street. Prime Minister Brown ignored the handshake from the guard because out of English habit the guard is nothing more than a fixture. The article also talks about how the leaders of Europe wish to obtain some of the popularity that Obama possess and so desperately want to emulate him in some way. The article even goes into how Ms. Obama went to a school and was genuinely interested in the activities of the students and was very conscious of the role that she plays as the First Lady.

This article is an interesting piece and not only is very pro-Obama but also very harsh on the leaders of Europe and how they are dealing with their decreasing popularity. It seems like the author is taking the events that he saw at the protests in England and the manners of the politicians as skin deep and a Europe that is not what they seem to be. He even talks about how French President Sarkozy was a man of Napoleon syndrome and how the French do not understand how the United States and England have become such Allies even though the French have done so much for the Americans. Similar was said about the Germans and how they are not a closer ally with the U.S with their large economy and strong ancestral ties in America.

I feel that this author is playing very much into the fact that the European people have a fascination with President Obama and his charisma has not only captivated Americans but also our Western counterparts. He makes it seem as if the image and rhetoric of change that Obama has used for his American political career has also caught the attention of the people of Europe who are also looking for change in their nations. From this article it seem like America is finding a new popularity with European countries and it will be interesting how this attitude will shape the coming years as we are well into the 21st century.

For more information visit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/opinion/05gill.html?scp=5&sq=op-ed&st=cse