Industrial farming

Although the agricultural advances we have made help produce large quanities of food, they are harmful to the environment. It takes a lot of energy, water, and other natural resources to produce the crops. Also, many fossil fuels are burned causing a lot of polution that can cause many health effects. Also pesticides that are dangerous to humans could leak out into rivers and streams that are used for drinking water. These trends are very risky, but they are risks we have to take. Too many people rely on these industrial farms for food to stop these methods of production.

Soy

I do not know much about soy except that it contains a lot of protein. So for vegans or vegetarians soy can be a useful way of attaining proteins that they lack from not eating meat. After researching I have learned that soy can prevent various health issues including: high cholesterol, heart diseases, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. The common misconception about soy is that these health preventions are not applicable in all soy products. Only products containing whole soy will prevent the health issues listed above.

Conflict Resolution

One type of conflict resolution is negotiation. Negotiation is a dialogue between 2 people that helps them settle a dispute. This can be very useful but also has some flaws. If the people involved do are angry they will have negative results. Sometimes no one wants to resolve the issue and nothing ever gets solved. If the people involved want to get the situation resolved, negotiation can be a quick easy way of conflict resolution.

War on Drugs

The war on drugs is an ongoing issue in our nation today. I believe that some good would come from legalizing some drugs. Some countries have legalized marijuana and the crime rate in those countries has decreased. Some people just use the drugs because they like to rebel against the law. No matter what the law is these drugs are going to be used. If the drugs are going to be used, why doesn't the government legalize the drug and get a monetary gain out of it like tobacco? Some negatize affects that legalizing drugs will bring up. There would be more deaths from people using cars or other heavy machinery while under the influence. In almost every major problem in the world today, there are positive and negative affects. These issues will never get resolved.

Tobacco

Tobacco is an addictive drug that has ruined the lives of numerous people, but it is still legal because of the monetary gain. If it were legalized, I beleive that many people would rebel against the law and use tobacco anyway creating even more problems. If we knew the health effects of tobacco before it became popular it could have been illegalized before everyone knew what they were missing. Now approximately 21 percent of US adult citizens smoke and the affects of illegalizing tobacco would be worse than tobacco being legalized. We all remember what happened during the prohibition, it was total chaos when they illegalized alcohol. I think that illegalizing tobacco would worsen the problem.

Your Ideas

Mandatory Gym ClassShould Gym be a mandatory class? Some people say that if they particpate in a school sport that they should be allowed to use that class for an academic course. What do you think?

My name is Nick O'Dell, I attend Fairview High School. I play Soccer and Basketball for Fairview. I also enjoy skiing when I get the chance to. I like playing almost all sports so I am looking forward to this class. My past blogging expierience was in Mrs. Hurt's English class and I did not enjoy it. We responded to questions asked about a book we read. In this year's Wellness class I hope to learn more about staying healthy and to have fun. After High School I plan on attending college and pursuing a career as a lawyer.