Film Review: The Age of Stupid

 

 
RIGHT NOW, WE ARE IN


 

           “We could have saved ourselves. But we didn’t.” Why not? That’s because we are living in an “Age of Stupid”. We know about melting Arctic, rising sea levels, and various climate changes. However, what do we, people proud of the developed technology, do about them? Simply, nothing. We are aware of global warming, but we aren’t at the same time. It’s a paradox. The film, “The Age of Stupid”, gives us the answer for what we should do NOW. Looking from 2055, in the Global Archive, the answer seems very simple. We should take our chance, maybe the last chance, to stop the global warming.

         

        The film was astonishing in various ways.

          Firstly, countries are having ‘war for resources’. To full their greed, humans kill each other, and try to dominate other territories. In the past, European countries colonized over many continents to get natural and human resources. However, the trend has changed recently. Now, people are fighting for oil. There’s great conspiracy that the Iraq War happened because of oil companies who wanted to pursue their profit. (By the way, Iraq has a large amount of oil). As these rich countries get control of oil industry in the developing countries, they cause another environmental pollution there. Barrels of oil are produced each day, “But instead of we (developing countries) being rich…we are getting more poorer.” (0:22:33)

                            "War for Resources" -from "The Age of Stupid"

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This leads to another point that I found shocking, which is about unfair distribution of resources. The countries are racing to the bottom. The countries are so much focused on economic development rather than the environment. The rich countries are very selfish, and the fact that the United States didn’t sign the Kyoto Protocol well explains it. When these countries keep using the energy and keep polluting the earth, the situation will not get any better. The allocation of the natural resources are very unfair since the US and many other European countries are taking more than majority of them, leaving little drops for African and other developing countries to use. When the film showed about dividing the cake, I realized that the status quo is quite serious than it seems.

                              Neighbors against the Wind Spin -from "The Age of Stupid"

  In addition, I was shocked by the unawareness of the people. A man named Piers Guy appears in the film “The Age of Stupid”. He supports the wind farm, and also develops the wind turbines himself. Piers Guy promotes the windmill project in Central England, but he cannot overcome the severe opposition by other people in the town. The people know the seriousness of global warming, but they simply don’t want that because it will destroy the view. Then, why aren’t people not being active to develop a new alternative energy and hence prevent the global warming? According to Mark Lynas, it is not that we are not aware, but that we just don’t do. Our efforts to save the environment do not show up in a short term. Rather, it usually takes about 40 to 50 years. It is now time to wake people up from their dull attitude toward the environment.

           I think what this film tried to show us was very clear: we need to take our chance to save ourselves from the global warming. It is such an inconvenient truth to find out that seven to ten meters of ice on Mon Blanc are melting every year, and climate changes occurring. A family visits Mon Blanc, and finds endless ladders to the bottom. Fernand Pareau is a living witness of the melting glaciers, and the ice is melting in an astonishing rate. Also, climate changes are occurring, and Hurricane Katrina is a good example. It was such a catastrophe to the USA, and the main reason for the climate changes is global warming. More ice will melt, and more climate changes will happen if we just let everything be.

          We need to choose. Should we keep developing our  technology, or should we now start preventing global warming? We seriously have to care about global warming. Countries are racing to the bottom, and people living daily life are doing nothing to prevent the global warming. We need to be more alert, and save the earth. We don't want our Earth to melt. We don’t want to make a big storage in 2055. Then, another question appears. What should we do to stop global warming? The answer is simple. Do ACT.

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Speech: Birth of my Younger Brother

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Greetings everyone! My name is Jiwon Park. I have a brother. He is now a third grader in his elementary school, and he was born when I was eight.

On April 20^th, 2004, my aunt woke me up. She was in a great hurry, and made me to dress up. She drove to the hospital, and we got off. My sibling had finally come out to see the world.

I wanted a sister, and I was very sure that the baby was she, not he. I had prepared Hello Kitty dolls and pink blankets for both of us, and I was in a very hyper mood to see my sister and do all the things that I have wanted to do.

However, there was a great surprise waiting for me. The nurse said that the she was a prince, not a princess. So, he was the prince. I got really confused because what I had imagined for the past year was a younger sister, not a brother. I wanted a sister because sisters have a closer relationship with each other, and most of all, I thought that they won’t fight much, which is of course not true. After I saw my expected sister called as a prince, I was angry, and I cried all the way home.

             After I returned home, my mother took away my room. I became roomless person. On my bed, all the baby clothes and towels were on it, and my dolls and cushions were used for the fortress of the baby, and I had to sleep in an empty room with a mattress and my pillow. Everyone was being too mean to me. I never wanted a brother, and they took away everything. My mom didn’t have time to tie my hair every morning, and I always had to walk very quietly inside the house to not wake him up.

             I really looked forward to see my sister because people will buy many gifts for her. Since she is an infant, she will never know even if I take her presents away. That was my original purpose. However, nothing went to where I thought to be.

             I had a younger brother whom I never expected, I lost my room which I also never expected, and everything was going somewhat wrong. The baby sometimes cried all the night long, and disturbed my sleep. Also, I was very sad about the fact that people paid more attention to the baby then they did to me. I wasn’t the star of the family anymore, and as a young girl, eight years old, it was a great shock. I still remember it.

             I was always jealous of my brother, so one day, I planned a small revenge on my him. I sometimes pinched him when adults were not around, and when he started to crying, I called my parents and made my brother seem like an irritating person who cries a lot. I rolled him down his little bed, and sometimes shook him by holding one of his legs. Also, when I got my chance to give him meal, I hid it so that he would starve and become hungry. When he cried, I didn’t feel guilty at all because it is “eye for an eye.”

             After about a month, I got used to everything, and felt a little better toward my brother. As everyone got used to a new family member, my mom also had more time to spend on me just like before. I simply realized that it was a temporary problem, not an everlasting one. Time, was what mostly mattered.

             Looking back at myself almost ten years ago makes me a little embarrassing. I did all the childish things to revenge on my brother, who actually had done no harm to me intentionally. The most shocking thing is that my parents knew why my brother cried. They knew what I had done to him, and I was abashed. However, I now go along with my brother quite well, even though we fight a lot on very small issues. Still, I sometimes wonder what could have happened if my brother was a princess, not a prince. Thank you.

Now, he is 10 years old!

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Holidays Solely Created For Marketing

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What should we do with holidays solely created for marketing? Pepero Day, White Day, Black Day, Rose day, Black Day, Valentine's Day.....There are numerous unofficial holidays that we cannot even count them nor celebrate them all. Are those holidays beneficial? Or should we erase all of them?

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