Near Earth objects

Imagine: One day, you are happily walking on a street, and the last thing you see is the sky getting dark. Why do you die?
Probably, there things above your head that can kill you. Those things are called "Near Earth Objects".

"Near Earth Objects. Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are comets and asteroids that have been nudged by the gravitational attraction of nearby planets into orbits that allow them to enter the Earth's neighborhood."

NASA

According to "Earth Impact Effects Program", an 7-meter-diameter asteroid can hit the Earth with energy of Little Boy, an atomic bomb dropped during Word War 2. NEOs hit the Earth everyday. However, since most of asteroids are not really big, they get broken during their way.

-Why should we care about it? 

-None of us will survive if struck by a NEO that is large enough to pass through the atmosphere.

- Why should we care, since we can do nothing because NEOs are far away from our reach and too many to destroy?

- Well, there is always something you can do. First, pray. In case praying doesn't work, there is a temporary solution. Spacecrafts can be sent to calculate and deflect the path of NEOs. However, there is no permanent solution. We are safe, for now.

"It’s simply a question of when, not if, a NEO collides with the Earth."

Professor Monica Grady

Racism

What define people? Their actions or their skin colors?

Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another race. Where does this belief come from?
Xenophobia is one natural factor. People are afraid of who are different from them (different skin or hair color for example).
Another factor is the history of colonization. For instance, Africans used to be colonized by Europeans. Although black people have gained their freedom, the "idea" of colonizing is still around in modern world as an excuse for white people to classify themselves as "superior species".
The racial "stereotypes" have horrible effects.

"Racism can have a lot of effects on a victim. Victims can become angry, bitter or violent. It can destroy a person’s self esteem. It can destroy communities and creates divisions within society."

Catholicism and Racism

 

If you are a victim of racism
What you SHOULD do:
1. You can report that to someone who has authority because racism is not legal in modern world.
2. You can stay calm and relaxed.
3. You can ignore them because the more angry you are, the more happy racist will be.
What you SHOULD NOT do:
1. Get angry and pay back.
2. Get depressed.

Corruption

"You drove on the wrong lane," says the man in pale yellow uniform, "Show me your license!"
"Oh," the smiling short man hands his license, "Here, officer."
The officer takes and looks at the license, then put some green paper under the license into his pocket. "Ok", the officer gives the man back his license, "I'll let you go this time."

The short story above may be true, may be not. However, corruption is an obvious issue around the world. Although there are many types of corruptions (petty, grand, systemic), defined based on situations, corruption, in general, is the use of money to illegally obtain something, whether in large scale or small scale.

1. What are the causes?
I don't know. Why are we people so greedy? It's in our nature! There is always something wrong with people! Prosperity is never enough. People want MORE money and power, and some of them don't mind getting their hands dirty. Those people are supported the immoral governments around the world. Despite the fact that corruption occurs everywhere, corruption seems to have higher rate in developing countries, such as Somalia, North Korea, and Afghanistan. As a consequence, poverty becomes both cause and result of corruption, and the vicious cycle begins, pulling the country down.

2. What are the effects?
Effects of corruption are both economically and socially detrimental. (Source: Transparency Ethiopia)
a. Economic effect: Corruption will lead to depletion to national wealth by conversing public wealth into personal wealth. It will also raise the costs of goods.
b. Social effect: Due to dishonesty, corruption "discourages people to work together for the common good." It also leads to inequality, increases gap between rich and poor.

3. What are the solutions?
- Change the government system: reduce monopoly and increase competition. The more centralized power is, the more likely corruption will happen.
- Report corruption: A hotline for reporting corruption should be held. Citizen should not be afraid to speak for themselves. However, reporting only works in a democratic government.

Natural Disasters

Many people were, are, and will be killed by the children of Mother Nature. Usually, they sleep. However, once they wake up, no one is safe from them - they will crush everything with their destructive forces without mercy. These deadly aggressive children are called "Natural Disaster".

 That was a pretty nice story for a children book, right? Let's get serious.
Natural disaster, according to Basic Planet, is "any catastrophic event caused by nature or the natural process of the Earth." Some examples are ...
Earthquake is sudden movement of the Earth's crust (outside layer) and followed by vibrations (seismic waves).

Volcanic Eruption: a disaster in which volcano releases gas, lava, and volcanic bomb. Volcanic eruption is caused by decompression of gas and magma-building process deep inside the Earth.

Drought is a abnormally prolonged dry season in which land loses water, causing damage to agriculture and ecosystem.

As the name describes itself, natural disaster is damaged cause by NATURE. However, HUMAN can actually worsen the situation, fostering the development of natural disaster. Blogger Ben Dennison highlighted six cases of human-made "natural" disasters. Here are example 3 cases from those 6.
#1 The Draining of Lake Peigneur 
in 1980, a group of ignorant drillers dug a whole on the salt mine, creating a whirlpool. Fortunately, no one died.

#2 The Boston Molassacre
In 1919, a molasses tank leaked. However, the worker ignored it. As the fermentation carried on, carbon dioxide began to build up. Under pressure, rivets eventually shot out of the tank, resulting in a disaster.

#3 Vajont Dam
In 1963, due to the stubborn ignorance of SADE (an Italian energy company) who built a massive dam, the dam was broken by landslide and rain, creating 750 foot-tall wave that wiped out the villages of Erto and Casso.

These 3 case are disasters that were caused by human stupidity and damaged as much as a natural disaster could do. As the famous Einstein said, "two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity".

Well said, Einstein!
So, how can people stop or at least alleviate "natural" and "human made" disasters?
For natural disaster, we cannot stop it since we do not actually "cause" it. However, we can reduce the damage in several ways:
1. Staying away from disaster-prone areas. It is common sense: people see danger, people run away.
2. Preparing for the disasters. It is obviously stupid to live in places where disasters definitely occur. However, sometimes, we don't have choice. For example, Vietnamese who live in middle of the countries have nowhere else to go. It is their homeland where they are born. Therefore, to survive in such a place of flood, they must have some ways to protect themselves. For instance, they built lake to contain extra water from flood season to use later in dry season. Also, they are used to the flood, therefore survive easily: it's the amazing gift of adaptation!

For disasters caused by human stupidity, well, what is the solution? Get smart, I guess...

Clean Water Crisis for Human

Do you know that ... 

1. "884 million people in the world lack access to safe water supplies.

1. 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease.

1. Almost 2 in 3 people who need safe drinking water survive on less than $2 a day.

1. In many developing countries, women and girls walk on average over 3.5 miles each day to fetch water. Women often spend more than 15 hours per week gathering water.

1. Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease."

DoSomething

Clean water crisis is a truly serious problem that modern world has to face. The name itself describes the problem: many people around the world do not have access to water, a fundamental element of human needs. According to DrinkingWater, 

"Each person on Earth requires at least 20 to 50 liters of clean, safe water a day for drinking, cooking, and simply keeping themselves clean."

Unprocessed (dirty) water is cleant through sanitation.

However, in some poor areas, the sanitation is not effective or not even available. Those "poor areas" include...

... Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, and many other African countries. People, especially children and women, in those areas experienced severe diarrhea and even death because there are a lot of bacteria in the water that are not sterile.

What can we do to help? Governments around the world are trying to improve the sanitation systems and make them available for everyone. In small scale, each of us can help alleviating the clean water crisis by saving water:
- Turn tap off while brushing teeth, shaving,...
- Take short shower
- Do not overwater the garden

Deforestation

What is it that destroys human lungs? Smoking. What is it that destroys world lungs? Deforestation. According to LiveScience, deforestation is the "permanent destruction of forests". In other words, deforestation appeals as the form of malicious vapor of nicotine to forests, the world lungs.
1. Where are this vapor going to? Everywhere.

"Deforestation occurs around the world, though tropical rainforests are particularly targeted. Countries with significant deforestation currently or in the recent past include Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa, and parts of Eastern Europe"

LiveScience 

2. What are the causes of deforestation? Why are we killing ourselves? AGRICULTURE! Areas of forests have been decreased for farming land and daily consumption of goods (such as paper)

Basically, we are killing ourselves to feed ourselves. Such a paradox! Another cause for deforestation is desertification in which sand blown by wind stops trees from growing and expands desert area. Simply put, desert "eats" forest.

3. Why is deforestation a serious problem? According to LiveScience, there are 5 effects:
Loss of species: Without habitats, animals will go extinct.
Water Cycle Disruption: Without trees holding back water, land will become drier.
Increase in Carbon Emission: Without natural lungs, amount of CO2 increases,
Soil Erosion: Without roots anchoring soil, loss of soil is inevitable.
Degradation of Life Quality: Without trees providing oxygen and holding water, human life will be damaged.

4. What are people doing to help?
Governments are establishing policies to protect the forest.
New farming method is developed to save space - Vertical Farming.
5. What can YOU do to help?
Save paper.

" If every US home replaced just one roll of paper towel with recycled paper towel, we would save 544,000 trees."

" Did you know that recycling one ton of paper saves 20 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, three cubic yards of landfill space, 60 pounds of air pollutants, and saves enough energy to power the average home for six months?"

GoingGreenToday 

Human Trafficking

What is the difference between a person and a box? What is the quality that distinguishes humans from things? CONSCIOUSNESS. Humans have the ability to think and feel. A "thing" that has intelligence and emotion should be appreciated, not sold around like piece of good. In the American Declaration of Independence and Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, 3 basic human rights are clearly stated: Liberty, Equality, and Pursuit of Happiness. However, there are devils around the worlds, in the form of humans, reaching their dirty sordid claws to innocent people. Those dirty hands are called HUMAN TRAFFICKING. People, just like you whoever is reading this, are being sold all over the world, like goods.

United Nations provides a closer look at human trafficking:

How is current worldwide situation? According to Combat Human Trafficking...

In 2012, in East Asia, about 1200 cases of Human Trafficking were RECORDED (even more cases were NOT recorded or remained unknown). How ignorant I was! When I was doing ordinary things of an ordinary life, many innocent people around the world was captured, beaten, and treated as sex slaves.
So why are these problems still around even when there are security forces?
Reason #1: Human trafficking is super lucrative.
Reason #2: Criminals are getting stealthier and adapting constantly to the regulation of laws and security.
Reason #3: Human trafficking is international, using the difference in laws as an advantage.
What are the solutions?
Solution #1: Donate to non-profit organizations to free slaves. This solution only works temporarily, and cannot put an end to human trafficking.
Solution #2: Use forces to oppress human trafficking. As mentioned above, criminals always becomes more clever and eventually find a way to hide from laws. Therefore, this solution is not an absolute one.
Solution #3: Educate people. Yes, smart people are harder to be tricked. However, knowledge only is not enough to fight against human trafficking. One still can be kidnapped no matter how smart she is since there is always someone smarter.
What are other solutions? What do I offer solutions to prove they don't work efficiently? I want to stress the point that human trafficking is based on human nature. The ugly truth: Humans are motivated by sex and money. Human trafficking offers both. If human nature doesn't change (which I personally believe is cannot change), human trafficking will still exist, known and unknown. It's all about HUMAN. Period.