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My name is Eliany Santiago and I am 20 years old. I was born and raised in Homestead, Florida, but my family is Puerto Rican on both sides. My current major is English Literature & Education because I hope to one day become an author or an editor. I also wish to transfer to FIU in order to further my educational pursuits.

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Hello, my name is Eliany Santiago and this is my second year at MDC. I’m 19 years old, turning 20 in November, and I’m currently majoring in English Literature and Education because I have always been interested in literature, reading, and writing stories. I hope to one day base a career off of writing, like being able to publish my own work or, at the very least, becoming an editor. My family is from Puerto Rico, but I was born here in Florida, and I am the youngest of four sisters. In terms of work experience, I’ve worked in an office setting over the summers of 2021–2022. During high school, I was studying to become a certified cosmetologist, but over the years, I realized that I had a deeper passion for literature and writing, so I decided that when I went to college, I would follow that passion. So far, I’ve loved almost all of the English/literature classes that I have taken throughout the past semesters, and I look forward to learning more in order to enhance my skills. Something that I would say is unique about me, would be that I partake in multiple hobbies such as embroidery, sewing, and art (to name a few). I look forward to this semester and getting to know each of you better!

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For my proposal, I decided that I am going to interview individuals that work for the Miami-Dade County transportation system and get more in-depth information about the changes being made around or within the buses that are traveling their assigned routes day by day. I will also provide information about how they train their bus operators and technicians and anyone related to the mass transportation system.

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During the interview, I will gather information from the individuals working in the Miami Dade County transportation system and sharing the following information:

How the changes of bus routes will affect the training process of both operators and technicians.

What kind of buses will be improved on

ETC.

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Miami-Dade's free bus rides will see fewer routes

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For my interview, the person that I will be interviewing will be someone who works for Miami Dade County Transit systems.

My main interview participant will be someone who trains both the bus operators and mechanics/technicians . I will also be interviewing a few of the technicians to be getting their perspectives and opinions.

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Introduction: Please state your name and what your job is/entails!

Question 1: How do you prepare/train bus technicians for the job?

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Question 2: What are the benefits and challenges of the industry?

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Question 3: What are the differences between the new buses and the old buses, and why were the changes made?

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Question 4: What specific changes are being made to the buses?

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Question 5: What will be kept the same about the buses that are serving the public? Or instead, please explain what you are trying to do better for the public!

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More electronic features will be implemented into the buses such as cameras showing live footage being placed inside of the buses in order to ensure safety and comfort to all passengers.

More complex controls are put into the buses in order to allow the driver to have more control over the vehicle.

In order to be more environmentally friendly, buses will have cleaner exhausts.

Bus engines will be changed from a combustion engine into an electrical engine, making it 100% cleaner.

A communication system called CLEVER is used to monitor the buses such as checking the engine and giving out a warning if anything needs to be updated.

New brake system.

Overall, buses are being made to be more environmentally friendly and leave less of a carbon footprint

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Example of Updated Metrobus System Routes

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Example of Updated Metrobus System Routes

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Route 2

DOWNTOWN MIAMI – EL PORTAL VIA NW 2 AVE

Route 3

AVENTURA – DOWNTOWN MIAMI VIA BISCAYNE BLVD

Route 7/7A

DOWNTOWN MIAMI – DOLPHIN MALL –AIRPORT VIA 7TH ST

Route 8

BRICKELL – FIU – SW 152 AVE/26 ST VIA SW 8 ST

Route 9/9A

AVENTURA – DOWNTOWN VIA NE 2 AVE

Route 11

FIU – DOWNTOWN MIAMI VIA FLAGLER ST

Route 12

NORTHSIDE STATION – MERCY HOSPITAL

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While working through this project, I learned a lot of different things about how buses are constantly improved on in order to give passengers the best and most comfortable experience possible. In order to get them to where they need to safely, it is important to see the impact that these changes are having on passengers, technicians, and drivers alike.

They are not only making the experience of transportation more convenient and comfortable for their passengers, but also for their drivers! By implementing new safety features such as cameras inside of each bus, it allows both passengers and drivers to have a sense of safety and calmness as they go about their days. Implementing these features will also allow technology to not only get better but also become normalized in order to ensure safety measures while allowing people to feel even safer while traveling alone or with children on buses!

It is also important to note how significant each person's job is while working for the transit system! Without qualified trainers, the technicians and bus drivers would not be able to earn their qualifications in their respective role and would not be able to drive in or fix the buses. The same can be said for technicians! With how important a technicians job is, if they aren't qualified to make or fix buses, then there would not be any point to the transit system. And just like technicians, bus drivers are also an essential job. Without drivers, then there would be no one to pick up passengers that aren't able to get from point A to point B!

So to summarize, after doing this project I am able to say that I have learned so much about how technicians are trained, how new buses are being given new safety features, how buses are being upgraded, and how buses are becoming more environmentally friendly!

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Coral reefs are massive underwater structures that are made of limestone deposited by coral polyps. What surprised me about learning of the coral reefs in Florida is that there are about 1,400 different species of marine life like fish and plants, that live within the Florida Reef. And most coral reefs were formed after the "Last Glacial Period," a period in which melting ice had caused levels to rise and flood continental shelves, or the edges of a continent that lies underneath the ocean water. It’s also an interesting thing to note that most, if not all, coral reefs that have been formed are all less than 10,000 years old. The main issues that are arising with coral reefs are how we, as a species, are speeding up the process of killing the homes of hundreds, if not thousands, of different sea life species by taking away their home, the coral reef. We are causing the coral reefs to be killed off by the changing climate, pollution like greenhouse gases, and even sewage or wastewater. Because of these things affecting our coral reefs, a phenomenon occurs called "eutrophication." Eutrophication is when there is an overabundance of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus. They mostly appear in the water and it is a big problem because it causes algal blooms, which can be summarized as an algae that eats the nutrients and kills off the fish and plants that live in those nearby waters. However, what we can do to fix this issue would be to cut carbon emissions and prevent garbage from going through the water systems and out into the ocean, like bottles and trash bags.

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The video that I chose to watch was SHEIN and its impact on fast fashion. One of the interesting things that I had watched in the video included a segment that mentioned the workers who make the clothes. In the video, it was said that the workers are not in the “Social Welfare System,” which is a system that offers assistance to individuals and their families. So, instead of being offered assistance, the workers have no rights or guarantees. Instead, their wages are actually much lower than that of a normal employee in order to remain in the competition with other online stores. There's also a thing called the “Fashion Transparency Index,” which is an index that rates companies based on how transparent companies are about their use of supply chains. SHEIN ended up being at the very bottom of the list. This was very insightful to me because I had never heard of the Fashion Transparency Index before this video, and because of that, I was able to look into it more, and I learned a lot more about different companies and their use of supply chains.

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One thing that I learned from the lecture that seemed very helpful and insightful was about how we release food energy through chemical reactions by both the processes of combustion and respiration. There are “newly” made chemical structures that some energy gets stored in as well, but sometimes those bits of energy are lost to the surroundings, like through body heat, which is emitted after the process of digesting food. And it is also mentioned that within the food chain, energy gets passed down to the next creature that eats the one previous to it, but the percentage of that energy decreases with every pass down the cycle. Energy is only able to flow in one direction through the food chain so it is much more difficult to divide that energy amongst multiple animals. The cycle goes from one to another, but because it is said that energy decreases with every animal that eats the one before it, the animal that eats lower on the food chain is actually more efficient than the animals that eat it further down the food chain.

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Alaskan Native Elders Tell Their Climate Change Story

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The lecture that I decided to watch was “Alaskan Native Elders Tell Their Climate Change Story” by PBS Terra. The reason why the lecture captured my attention was because of the personal stories that were provided within the video. Learning about how climate change has affected a group of people personally now has been something I actually haven’t heard about because the news would only cover what could happen in the future if climate change were to persist rather than what’s happening right now. The main idea of the video involves how a group of indigenous people in Nome share their experiences with climate change as well as how its impact could affect them and their future generations. And one thing about the video that provided me with new information was about a thing called the “Arctic Report Card,” which is an annually produced and reviewed report of the state of the Arctic in its current condition, and the news actually reports on it every year to share information about the Arctic in order to tell us if it’s improved or declined in terms of climate.

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In my personal experiences, I’ve never felt the need to use ChatGPT for any of my classes, and since I’m an English Literature major, even if I wanted to use it, I wouldn’t really be able to use it to its full extent. I’m always too lazy to even think of using it, and I usually procrastinate anyway. But if I were to choose the “when and how” we use ChatGPT in this class, it would probably make sense to use AI when we have an assignment that would closely relate to the topic of AI use like this one. And my favorite AI to use is the Photoshop generative fill AI. I like being able to add more to a picture with just the click of a button and mess around with all of the features provided within Photoshop.

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Free Public Busing to Counteract Inequity

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After watching the video, I really think that the rise of free public transportation is something to be happy about, even if there are only a few places in America, such as Washington, D.C., and New York, to start doing it. It shows that we are headed in the right direction to make public transportation even more accessible to all types of people, especially in the state of New York since most people take the bus from place to place on a daily basis!

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Jack Black Explores Miami's Climate and Sea-Rise Challenge

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The video that I ended up watching was Jack Black Explores Miami's Climate and Sea-Rise Challenge. This video caught my attention mostly because of the fact that Jack Black was in it, but regardless I still learned from the video. Jack Black mentioned that out of the 3 million people who live around the Miami area, more than half are lower income families or immigrants who will most likely be affected by the rampant flooding problem plaguing the area. The water floods through the limestone and starts to flood the streets even though the main land is miles away from the beach. It is a big problem for those who live in that surrounding area because there is nothing than can do other than to report this issue to the governor, however, he doesn't seem to be listening to what the citizens have to say.

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Food waste is a big issue in America, more than people actually realize. It’s such a massive problem that it contributes to about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Some contributing factors to food waste involve farmers, who pick their crops based on their best looks, but when some crops aren’t up to par to be sold, they are labeled "Grade B” and lose their value in terms of price and edibility, so they are thrown away. And the consequences are worse! Once they are thrown away, they are put into landfills, and when they rot in landfills, they produce methane, which is a more potent greenhouse gas, which worsens the quality of the air and the environment. But we can still prevent the worsening condition of food waste as a community by adopting a more healthy and sustainable diet, properly storing perishable items, properly storing leftover foods and eating them rather than throwing them away, preparing the food for the homeless and the needy, and even setting up and using compost bins!

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Summary: This summer, Houston officials dramatically restructured the route of municipal busses to streamline service reflecting where people live and work -- all for almost no additional cost. Now, the system may be a possible model for how other cities redesign their public transportation. Special Correspondent Karla Murthy reports.

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How Houston's bus system became a model for mass transit

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Summary: Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means.

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How super corals could help save our reefs

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Summary: Coral can be found in tropical ocean waters around the world. But how much do you know about reefs and the tiny animals—polyps—that build them? Learn all about coral and why warming waters threaten the future of the reef ecosystem.

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Summary: Jack Black explores the challenges facing Miami as global warming raises sea levels, causing inland as well as coastal flooding thanks to the porous limestone under the city.

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Jack Black Explores Miami's Climate and Sea-Rise Challenge

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Summary: As more and more the population migrates to urban environments - the urban population of the world has quadrupled since 1960. In fact, unwanted noise has become an increasingly critical problem.

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Summary: The drive for free public busing is speeding up. Several cities are moving towards offering 100% free service on public buses as a way to counteract inequity.

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Some cities turn to free public busing to counteract inequity

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Summary: Car dependency, restricted use of public space, and lack of safety for cyclists and pedestrians contribute to physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles, which increase the risk of noncommunicable diseases and obesity. Yet, healthy and sustainable transport IS possible, and can improve our health and well-being while also protecting the environment.

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Transport, health and environment: do you know the effects?

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Summary: Explore the environmental impact of three types of bags— plastic, paper, and cloth— to find out how they’re made, used and disposed of.

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Which bag should you use? - Luka Seamus Wright and Imogen Ellen Napper