Mother nature is the solution

Hi folks,

Another week of 7Speaking has past. Let me tell you about the 2 articles I’ve read last week: wind power and market forces.

My first article was very interesting. It was about the ‘Pickens Plan’. Thousands of wind turbines constructed across America’s wind belt which will produce 20% of the nation’s electricity needs. The article also discussed the difference between the solutions proposed by Obama and McCain. McCain wants 45 nuclear plants, whereas Obama emphasizes the use of renewable fuels. In my opinion, we really have to develop renewable fuels (so I’m glad Obama won the elections), because oilfields will eventually deplete. Nuclear plants aren’t a good solution either, because they are expensive and dangerous. The use of wind, water or the sun to produce electricity will cost a lot in the development phase, but will also be regained easily after a couple of years. We owe it to our children and grandchildren.

The second article was about the market forces and how difficult it is to survive during these times of financial uncertainty. The text told the story of British Airways (airline company), Green King (beer brewer), Global Radio (radio station) and Thomas Cook and Tui (both travel agencies). Their shares have fallen drastically over the last couple of months. I guess it’s a worldwide problem and there aren’t many companies who aren’t affected by the crisis. Let’s just hope 2009 will be the year of the resurrection.

CU next week

ST

Life's expenses

Hi folks,

As you can see, I have not been abducted by aliens…so I’m still able to write on my blog :-)

So this week I read two articles on 7Speaking. One was about the high prices and the other one about Leonardo Da Vinci. The Da Vinci-article wasn’t very interesting so I will concentrate on the price issue.

Everyone noticed that the prices jumped to a level we’ve never seen before. The article I read, pointed out two reasons why prices are so high: speculation and bad harvests because of flooding. These are both true. Excessive speculation is certainly a reason why we now have to pay so much for gasoline or food products. Also the climate change, resulting in flooding and other disasters, is responsible for the increasing prices.

But these aren’t the only reasons I think. I’m working on a thesis about high food prices and I divided all the reasons into three groups: demand-factors, supply-factors and intermediary factors.

The demand-factors are:
- Increase of the world population
- Growing wealth and demand for meat in the BRIC-countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
The supply-factors are:
- Bad harvests (due to climate change)
- Biofuel production
- The high price of petroleum
The intermediary factor is speculation

Which of these factors is the most responsible for the food crisis? I don’t know yet, I haven’t finished my thesis. But I guess it will be a combination of (in order of importance) biofuel regulations, climate change and the developing BRIC-countries.

I don’t want to go too much in detail, maybe I’ll bore you with this subject but I’m really interested in this matter. After all, this crisis reaches every one of us. Next week, during our English class, I'm gonna give a presentation about the high prices. Everybody is invited.

See you guys next week

ST

Sweet Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!

Today we celebrate love and friendship. There is too much hate and anger in the world and hopefully this day can bring some positive energy to all the people all over the world.



For those who don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend yet...let's hope cupid will do his work.

The sky is the limit!!!

Hi folks,

Who wants some clean air? I guess everybody. In the United States, the new president wants the states to set their own limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. For some states, this will result in tougher standards. The car industry is against this proposition of course, because the price of a car will go up when it has to meet these tougher standards. Despite the protest, I really hope this law will become reality. You can’t do enough for the preservation of the environment.

Who believes in aliens? Personally I don’t know. I don’t think we are the only living creatures in our universe. It’s so huge that it’s not realistic to say that we’re alone. But I really don’t have a clue how these “other things” look like. Do they look like humans or do they have another shape. Are they more like animals? Plants maybe? Do they live under water? Do they breathe like we do?
I tell you this because Britain has just released 1500 pages of secret (until now) files of UFO-related topics. UFO means Unidentified Flying Object. The files and witness reports describe Royal Air Force attacks on a UFO back in 1957. They also include first-hand accounts of people claiming to be abducted by aliens. Is all this true or not? I don’t know the answer. Do you?


CU next week … if I’m not abducted by aliens in the meantime ;-)

ST

Heroes and diamonds

Hi folks,

This week I read two articles. And I can assure you, they both have a happy ending ;-)

Last week, a US Airways pilot did something amazing. To avoid a plane crash, Chesley Sullenberger landed his damaged aircraft into the Hudson River. Shortly after takeoff the plane hit a flock of geese. The pilot didn’t have another option than to land the plane into the river. Ferry boats rushed to the passengers who had climbed onto the wings. Amazingly, all of the one hundred and fifty five people survived. In America, Sullenberger is now a big hero. He even received a medal of the mayor of New York. I guess he deserves it, after all he saved all those lives. It isn’t easy to land an airplane on water.

‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ they say. Scarlett Johansson, a 23-year old actress showed off her big diamond ring she got from her fiancé Ryan Reynolds, also an actor. Reynolds proposed and apparently Johansson said yes. I hope they will be happy, but I guess they will also have a lot of problems with the paparazzi. After all, they’re a celebrity couple. I agree that if you’re famous, you’re a little bit ‘public property’. But sometimes the photographers want too much and they follow – even stalk – the celebrities.

CU next week
ST