Genius of Money Chapter 9 Part 1: Money and the Dance of Death

Chapter 9 Part 1: Money and the Dance of Death

The theme death was common for European art and literature of the sixteenth century due to epidemics and wars that occurred from time to time. Death itself was both frightening and exciting, as it was considered as an inevitable ending. Therefore, people of art and literature found inspiration in reminding others that existence is not everlasting. The culture of Europe, and Germany in particular, death was perceived as a powerful force of making people think about their actions and thoughts.

Hans Holbein the Younger shows death as a creature of bones and flesh that comes to people of different income and strata of life. It has its body language and can even dance. By mirroring a man and dancing, death is like mocking at him showing its power and mightiness. Actually, death can also be considered as the man's own shadow. The entire scene takes place in the man's most sacred chamber where he keeps his treasure. It reminds people what value money really has. He cannot protect all his money bags and coins as well as he cannot give them to death in exchange for his life. This money never brought him happiness, though he became inseparable from them. The man created a prison for himself with no chance of getting free. Money that he considered being his power, now became his vulnerability.

In my opinion, the message of Hans Holbein is clear: do not see salvation in money. At the end, you will not be able to take all your treasures with you, so it is better to care about your soul and spirit. Otherwise, a person risks losing something more valuable than money even before the life ends.

Growing A Farmer part 2

I had a good time reading this novel. It gave me a flashback of people’s life in my hometown. Having a land, then a farm, and creating a business from it, is a true and strong experience Timmermeister shared with us. “Growing A Farmer” is a book that could be read, and understand by different types of people. I was fascinated by the writing style of the author even though the crudeness of the tone used and scenes described without detour were numerous. This is what made this book unique. Kurt also explained the path of our food origin to what is presented to us as available. He addressed the reality by pointing numerous industries as unethical. He probably brought the attention of the animal defenders on him.

His way of presenting and narrating his experience made me appreciate his book. He over detailed most of the scenes, which made the reading a little bit difficult. Overall the Growing A Farmer’s journey was a special one, because it made me navigate through a subject very familiar. His business model gave me a good idea for old days to keep me active. I would like to pay a visit to his farm to put clear images on the long pages read.

We must solve the Global Warming crisis

Through the last century, industrialization has revolutionized the world, in all aspects of life. While this has had its benefits, it has also created a world that is almost entirely dependent on fossil fuel. It caused one of the biggest problem on earth known as global warming. The effects have been seen all over the world, and quickly became a major topic of concern. This issue has been fueling controversy all over the news and in the current presidential debate.

Global warming is the rise of the earth’s temperature on the earth’s surface. It is caused by the release of a gas known as carbon dioxide. It is released by the use of man-made fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and naturals gasses. Carbon dioxide traps heat inside the earth’s atmosphere that would usually be in outer space. As the earth’s surface heats it becomes too warm to live in and many people, animals and plants will suffer. (EPA) The earth’s temperature naturally changes over the years, but over the last half of century, the record high temperatures drastically increased. Scientists have even warned us that in the last ten years we have had record high temperatures, which means the average temperatures in the United States could increase up to nine degrees. (NDRC) 

Major consequences of global warming that scientists have noticed are the hurricanes, tropical storms, drought, and floods. Every year, the US and countries around the globe get hit by hurricanes and tropical storms, but during the last five years their damages have really increased. Global warming makes the ocean water warmer, which makes the storms much more powerful. Another frightening effect of global warming is the rising of the sea level. Scientists have discovered that this could eventually lead to coastal flooding. Areas in the United States that could be heavily affected are all of the eastern sea board, areas of Gulf of Mexico, and almost all of Florida. A beautiful place like the Florida Keys could soon be underground if we do not put a stop to this. (NRDC) Couples islands will disappear in the next 50 years. Population living on the coast in Bengladesh have been forced to relocate due to the sea level rise. The rapid melting of ice is also a consequence of global warming. When the ice is melting and flouting, it affects animals’ survival. Polar bear researchers predict that the number of bears will decline almost by 30 percent in the following 35 to 50 years. (Harden) Nature has means of restoring and repairing itself, much like a wound that the body heals. But too much is too much.

Science is making great leaps and advances towards predicting future correlations between nature and human events. Carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere once again exceeded 400 parts per million Monday November 9, 2015, but this time they may never fall back down, according to scientists…While not a tipping point that signals climate catastrophe, the 400 ppm mark is an important symbolic threshold in the fight against climate change. It represents a 43 percent jump in greenhouse gases since pre-industrial times and underscores governments' inaction and worsening global warming impacts. (Bagley) At this level, we will assist to the worst case scenario of catastrophes on the planet. This should be a serious matter for all candidates to the next presidential election. We unfortunately observe very indelicate ones refuting this evidence. They are trying to elaborate schemes that climate change is a scam in order to secure electoral financing by powerful lobbies. We cannot cheat with the nature. Man-made disruptions on nature have finally taken its toll and are coming back to haunt us. We must accept the truth and do something now. Sacrifices we need to make range from giving up or reducing their use of various carbon dioxide products, to paying new taxes such as carbon taxes.

Our world is changing whether or not we want to admit it is our fault or not. It is evident that global warming has a profound impact on the earth we live on and each of our daily lives. The temperatures are increasing and so are our energy bills. We need to ease our earth’s pain of the threatening oil dependence. We must commit ourselves to constantly researching energy and environmental impacts of energy to come up with innovative information. Policies need to be thought of, created, passed, and put into action properly. It will be necessary to create a sustainable environment and economy for the US. We owe something to future generations in terms of conducting energy and environmental research and coming up with various energy policies that are forward thinking. To people already disproportionally affected by global warming, we owe constant research and effort to show that we will be helping them and helping to mitigate global warming impacts in the future. "For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Now, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods—all are now more frequent and more intense. We can choose to believe that super storm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science and act before it’s too late." (President Barack Obama)

Works Cited

Bagley, Katherine. "As CO2 Passes 400 PPM, What Goes Up Might Not Come Down." As CO2 Passes 400 PPM, What Goes Up Might Not Come Down. Insideclimate News, 11 Nov. 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.

EPA. "Greenhouse Effect, Climate Change." Global Warming: what it is. 23 Oct. 2006. 4 Oct. 2008.

Harden, Blaine. "Global warming threatens polar bears." Global warming threatens polar bears. 5 July 2005. 3 Oct. 2008.

NRDC. "Issues: Global Warming." Global Warming Basics. 2 July 2007. 4 Oct. 2008.

USA. White House. Briefing Room. Remarks by the President in the State of the Union Address. By Barack Obama. Briefing Room, 12 Feb. 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.

Growing a Farmer Part 1

Growing a Farmer Part 1

Growing a farmer by Kurt Timmermeister is abook about a living off the land, and self-discovery. Overall, the book is a personal narrative about going back to one's roots to a more holistic way of living.

Some years ago, around 1990, Timmermeister, aformer chef, purchased around four acres of land for his family. He sought to buy an affordable piece of land that wasn't to far from the city of Seattle. As he started to make their newly purchased property a home, he discovered that there was a lot more potential there than he first tought. Growing a Farmer takes the reader on a journey through his frustration, and success while establishing a small home-run farmin modern America. Growing a Farmer is peppered with anecdotal humor that engages the senses.

Coming from a country where you don't have to struggle in your food choice, or only looking for organic food, Growing a Farmer was not unpleasant to read. I found many of his stories about his farm very interesting. He presents the reality of the food industry. As well as I enjoyed this book, I struggled with the reading few times. He mades some parts really longer than it should have been and give the impression of just filling pages.