Don't touch my Facebook

“Don’t touch my Facebook!” This is what anyone concerned with their privacy on social media would say to others who look at their so-called private pages. But why would they be concerned? The National Security Administration is threatening to spy on your Facebook page. This revelation has been suspected for a long time but was revealed in documents to the New York Times on Sept. 2013. Karen Greenburg, Center for National Security Director at Fordham Law School, told CNN, “We assume as Americans that if somebody in the government is looking at your information, it's because they have a reason, because you're suspected of a crime,” (N.Y. Times, 2013, http://bit.ly/1bFHTDF). However, the article states that those specific documents leaked by former NSA agent Edward Snowden did not specify that if you were being spied on by the NSA meant that you were being suspected of a crime.

            Tufts University defines social media as, “The means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks,” (Tufts University, 2013, http://bit.ly/1bFI4yQ). Some social media sites that are widely used, such as, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. These social media sites are used amongst a large population throughout the country. The issue that I am debating asks if it is okay for the U.S. Government to have access to this kind of information.

            A storm trooper from Star Wars is threatening folks who look at his Facebook. These storm troopers are part of a larger army as is evidenced by the ship that carries them. This also represents the idea that the spying of social media not only applies to individuals, but groups as well.

            There is some gray area when you look specifically at Facebook because there are settings that you can use where much of your information becomes private. However, most people do not read the terms and conditions. Somewhere in the terms and conditions, it states that whatever you post becomes the property of Facebook. As technology improves and this practice by the government rapidly increases it will be interesting to see the response by Americans.  

REFERENCES

"NSA uses social media to map connections of Americans." The Economic Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-30/news/42536816_1_nsa-us-national-security-agency-americans-and-foreigners>.

"http://www.tufts.edu." Social Media Overview. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://webcomm.tufts.edu/social-media-overview13/>.

Save Our Bees and Save Mankind

Save Our Bees and Save Mankind

            It has become a growing concern that due to the increase in our global population that we are intruding on the processes of Mother Nature which could effect our future existence. Thus, it is crucial, that we start thinking of ways to implement alternative changes that will not alter the cycle of life that is essential in the way honey- bees give us life. Bees provide us with food with their pollination capabilities and without them we will soon be without many of the fruits, vegetables and nuts that are healthy foods for our diet. “This past winter, nearly one-third of U.S. honeybee colonies died or disappeared” (science.time.com, Aug.2013). “Einstein predicted that the human race could not survive without bees and the extinction of man would follow four years after the extinction of bees” (animal.discovery.com).

            “Most recently, beekeepers have been seeing fewer cases of CCD proper, but honeybees keep dying and bees keep collapsing. That is bad for our food system-bees add at least $15 billion in crop value through pollination in the U.S. alone, and if colony losses keep up, those pollination demands may not be met and valuable crops like almonds could wither” (science.time.com, Aug.2013). The Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) said the decline in bee population was due to “colony collapse disorder” (CCD), which is when the bees abandon their hives including the honey.

“Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques should be used to minimize pesticide use and risk to bees (NRDC, March 2011). Some of the leading causes to the decline in bee population is suspected to the growing number of telecommunication towers that disrupt the way bees communicate with one another in order to get back to their hives. Another predictor is the growing number of GMO’s that are being used worldwide and the scientists believe that these pesticides are making the bees ill and die off. The increase in global warming and the decrease in our farmlands are deteriorating the healthy habitat that used to exist. We should be aware of these rapid changes that are altering the way we are currently living. We need to ask ourselves how are we going to survive without food? What are the possibilities that the GMO’s making the bees die off will soon affect our health as well and that the effects are just taking longer to detect within us? We should be proactive about trying to learn more about what measures we can take to ensure that we exist in the near future. The NRDC says that more efforts should be made by the EDA and USDA to do further research on bees and possibilities of other pollinators to assist our ecosystem.

Bees are an important element for our striving economy. “U.S. honey bees produce about $150 million in honey annually. The global economic cost of bee decline, including lower crop yields and increased production costs, has bee estimated at as high as $5.7 billion per year” (NRDC, March 2011). There are many downfalls for overlooking the importance of preserving bees so that we can ensure cross-pollination happens. Thirty percent of our world’s crops and ninety percent of our wild plants thrive from cross-pollination. Therefore, it is imperative for policy makers and all the people in the world to take awareness of the chances that we may be facing the end of mankind if we do not protect our resources.

Works Cited:

Chavarria, Gabriella, “Pollinator Conservation,” Renewable Resources Journal, Winter 1999-2000.

Cox-Foster, DL., Conlan, S., Holmes, EC., et al. (2007). A metagenomic survey of microbes in honey bee colony collapse disorder. Science, 12:318(5848):283-7. Epub 2007.

Hamerschlag, Kari, and Jonathan Kaplan, “More Integrated Pest Management, Please: How USDA Could Deliver Greater Environment Benefits from Farm Bill Conservation Programs, “Natural Resources Defense Council, February 2007. Available online at http://ww.nrdc.org/health/pesticides/ipm/contents.asp

Web Sources:

“Diminishing Bee Populations” –by editors of Pure Health MD,

www.animal.discover.com/endangered -species/diminishing bee population1.htm.

Sass, Jennifer, “Why We Need Bees: Natures Tiny Workers Put Food on Our Tables, March 2011, www.nrdc.org/policy

Walsh, Brian, “The Trouble wit Bee Keeping in the Anthropocene”, August 2013, www.science.time.com/2013/08/09/the -trouble-with-beekeeping-in-the-anthropocene/