My favorite foods consist of ramen, miso soup, medium-cooked picanha, chocolate-dipped strawberries... so on and so forth, but that's to name a few top favorites lately.  As for hobbies, I don't really have as many as I used to compared to a year or two ago, I used to play piano and draw, but that's stopped as of recent. I suppose I just spend my free time with my dog now, or watch a show when I can. 

What is most important to me is my family, I hope to become successful in my career path and hope I can be able to support them in the future just as much as they're supporting me and my studies right now. I want to be able to spoil my mom as much as she tries her best to spoil me and give my dad a break from his rough job-- construction. So in the future, I see myself earning my degree after years of hard work (in the middle of a pandemic..), getting a job as a therapist, and be able to financially support my family and myself. I also plan to move to Germany once I have my degree possibly, if all goes well. 

     The topic I chose to research and write about is littering in Florida--Miami. I have written on this topic for our City several times in the past already, so I did consider researching into a new topic-- however notice how no matter how many students voice out their concerns over those very same topics in their essays, the littering issue remains the same. I'm more content continuing to voice those concerns again nonetheless anyway, because I think the littering issue in my neighborhood or area, sometimes all of the city of Miami in general, is no joke. It's important to take care of our city, our roads, our waters and general environment-- we need to keep things clean so our Wild Life can have an easier and safer time and so can we. 

This article explains the reasons why it is crucial that we put in our efforts towards restoring the Everglades. I changed my topic to this becuase the Everglades takes up a good portion of our state and is right next to us, on the left side of Miami. It is where a grand part of our natural habitat, environment and wildlife resides. Therefore, this article lists reasons why this place is so important to us and our state, and the poor qualities of it we must pay attention to fixing first. It states that the Everglades is home to dozens of endangered species, has shaped the natural heritage and economy of Florida and is a unique mosaic of praries and etc.

This article is to read into how investments and plans have been created with the purpose of restoration efforts. However, recorded data and scientific information inform us that the progress has been lacking. Restoration of the Everglades is a multi-billion dollar state-federal partnership that entails restoring the flow of clean freshwater from Lake Okeechobee to the remnant Everglades, while ensuring flood protection and water supply for millions of people. 

But besides the MDC Library that is accessible through the mdc website, Professor Duque introduced us students to Kanopy, which is a streaming video platform for public libraries or schools and it offers films and documentaries for any subject you’re researching on. So this website is really helpful when you need an additional place to search for more resources or more information on a topic. It’s benefitted me a lot not only in assignments for this class alone but for different classes as well like English or Psychology, if I ever need to type out an assignment. 

Moving on, assignment SP3 was a good experience for me, I chose to talk about the Everglades and the important goal of restoring it and protecting it. What I felt while completing this assignment was determination. For previous assignments alike to this one, I took on the role of discussing the problems of things such as pollution or littering, with the purpose of bringing awareness to it. This time around, I decided to research something along the same lane but different subject. I visit the Everglades at least once every year, and I truly appreciate its scenery, its wildlife, the home it provides to many different species, and the perfect tour spot on a hot summer day. 

However, I only ever saw the nice parts of it every time that I would visit there. So when I decided to look into the state of the Everglades, my research informed me that there have been programs made with the purpose to restore the Everglades years ago, but efforts have been futile or very little, therefore the progress is slow. It shows that its situation needs to be taken much more seriously. The two biggest threats to the Everglades ecosystem are water quality and water quantity. With rapid development on both coasts and an expanding agriculture industry, the human demand for water is increasing rapidly while the supply is not changing. This ecosystem has provided us many benefits for years such as providing our drinking water, protecting us from our near-yearly hurricanes and floods, supports Florida’s $1.2 billion fishing industry and more. 

Hence, this task was very informative for me, as I learned the hardships that one of our most important ecosystems go through, what makes it so important to us Miamians or the general state of Florida, and the campaigns or programs started to help this ecosystem out. 

Last but not least, as for the CAS assignments; doing the research for these assignments was just as helpful and informative for me as a person on the general things. For assignment CAS1, I learned about the ingredients in cosmetic products I or any person would commonly buy with the manner they are advertised as safe, only to realize that that may not truly always be the case. This assignment was particularly helpful to me because one of the products mentioned in this research was a shampoo I always preferred: Pantene. And one of the films I watched during completing this assignment surprised me, as they mentioned this product and how it contains a chemical that can cause or lead to cancer in the long run. This actually shocked me, and I’ll be hesitant on ever wanting to purchase any more Pantene branded cosmetic items in the future. Not only do I stray away from Pantene shampoo and whatnot now, this research also encouraged me to research the products I purchase often to know if things are truly safe and healthy for me to use. Although, I will also be careful not to overspend or overbuy, as that can lead to unnecessary product waste on our planet, which we really need to reduce. And for CAS3, the TED talk videos I chose to watch and talk about were things I thought I was already familiar with and informed rather well in, things such as climate change and ocean pollution-- but it is assignments like these that lead me into a very informative research that helps me be more knowledgeable on things and reminds me how bad the situation of something really is, because through time, you tend to forget. 

In conclusion, these assignments all came together to change me as a person and my habits or how I will look at things from a different perspective. They were good reminders to watch out for the things I buy or do on a daily basis in order to make our planet healthier and better.

The Story of Cosmetics  https://www.storyofstuff.org/movies/story-of-cosmetics/ 

In this story, the author shares her researched experience about cosmetics, mostly the ones they use from day to day. This film expresses the state of the environment, customers, and workers being affected due to the ingredients in the cosmetics most popular in being purchased and used. These kinds of cosmetics include things such as shampoos, body-soap, make-up, etc. The author, Annie Leonard, then voices about the usage of one of her preferred shampoos, "Pantene Pro V", which through her research, she looked through the ingredients used to create this product. To her surprise, one of the chemicals are toxic, because it can lead to cancer or is at least linked to it. After making this discovery, she made the effort to research the ingredients used in the rest of her cosmetics that she uses. A shock and unfortunate, she found that most chemicals used in the rest of her products all lead to different health risks other than just cancer. These products can terrifyingly lead to disabilities, cancer, asthma, and more. Annie then explains how most of the products that most consumers likely use contain 12 ingredients/chemicals or more, yet not all of the chemicals are assessed for safety. It's also then discussed how most companies' tactic is to label their not-so-safe products as "natural" or "organic" to make it sound safe, pleasant and hook a customer to purchasing it, but it's a trap. Any company can call their product natural or whatever may catch someone's best interest if it means making profit. We are then informed that in order to avoid falling into any of these sorts of traps any longer, we are encouraged to research resources online to figure out which products truly are what they say they are, safe, and good to use. 

B. After watching both of the videos I listed above, I am always enlighted and informed further on things I think I'm already well-informed on, only to be surprised negatively by the damaging effects. For "The Story of Cosmetics", I was stunned to learn that Pantene, a brand I have favored for a while now, turns out to not be as safe as I had assumed it to be or the way it's advertised. This made me curious about the rest of the products I purchase and use on myself, and begin to research them and make sure I am not causing myself any further harm in the long run. I now have a goal to always research a product in the store before I buy it, the ingredients in it and make sure I make the safest choice. However with that in mind, "Story of Stuff" has taught me about the waste our planet and environment is facing due to over-consumption from society. So along with wanting to make the best choices for my purchases either with products or services, I want to also keep in mind to keep it to a minimal amount or not buy more than is necessary. This way, I hope I am contributing to a less polluted and trashed planet.

Burning sugar cane pollutes communities of color in Florida. Brazil shows there is another way. https://www.propublica.org/article/burning-sugar-cane-pollutes-communities-of-color-in-florida-brazil-shows-theres-another-way

Citation: https://www.ted.com/talks/mary_robinson_why_climate_change_is_a_threat_to_human_rights?referrer=playlist-why_climate_change_is_a_human&autoplay=true

Citation: https://www.ted.com/talks/david_katz_the_surprising_solution_to_ocean_plastic