Kate Braumuller 2/9/14
Even D Mr.
Ippolito
Cardwell,
Diane. "Caribbean Islands Agree to Swap Diesel Power for Renewable
Sources." New York Times. New York Times, 6 Feb. 2014. Web. 9 Feb.
2014.
I read an article called, Carribean Islands Agree to Swap Diesel Powerfor Renewable Sources, in the New York Times on 2/6/2014. The Carribean islands have very high
electricity costs. Many islands like Turks
and Caicos, St. Lucia, and the Virgin Islands have recently been switching from
diesel generators to wind and solar energy to reduce costs and help the
environment. This transformation is
because of the Carbon War Room. Richard Branson established the Carbon War Room
organization, which is meant to help the environment. Its goal is to help 10 islands in the
Carribean switch from diesel to natural resources. David Crane, chief executive
of NRG, said, “What we’ve learned in the renewable world is everyone wants to
save the world, but very few people want to pay more for energy.” St. Lucia has put up solar panels on
buildings; Aruba has built wind farms; the Virgin Islands are going to use
plants to turn waste into energy. The
Carbon War Room hopes to not only influence the Carribean Islands but the US
also.
If every country switched from
diesel to natural resources, our environment would improve significantly. The reason that changes like this have not
developed in other countries is that it is expensive to switch. In the
Carribean, unemployment is high, and the change from diesel to natural
resources provides more jobs. Not only
will the switch help the environment but it will help the economy as well. We see more of the attempt to help the
environment every day, with solar panels and wind farms. If we could increase the use of natural resources
to produce electricity and move away from the use of dieselfuels, the world’s environment
would change.
I thought the article was very well
written and understandable. It was a
very interesting how one man, Richard Branson, had the idea and interest to
help the environment and start a foundation.
He influenced 10 islands to help the environment, and probably more to
come. The article gave good examples of
what the foundation had achieved, like how St. Lucia put solar panels on
buildings. I think the article could
have been longer and described a few particular instances in which the switch
to natural resources was made, how much it cost initially, how much pollution
decreased because of the change and how many actual jobs resulted from the
change, but overall the article was very interesting and well written.
This article was very interesting to read. I liked how Kate was very descriptive and provided lots of detail, and made it easy for the reader to understand what is happening. I also thought her opinion of the article was very descriptive and well said. Kate did a great job summarizing the article.
ReplyDeleteLike Kate said, it would have been nice to know things like how much pollution decreased because of the change and how many jobs resulted from the change. I also think Kate could have stated the authors name in the beginning sentence when she named the article.
I was not aware of how much of an impact changing from diesel generators to wind and solar energy would have of the environment and economy. I think it is very impressive that doing things like this is changing the world we live in, and making it a better place.
Kate did a good job of showing the practicality the article told of in the swapping of diesel for renewable energy. She covered all of the main points on the that switch to renewable energy. She also included the part at the end which linked the article to the United States which connected this article to all of us and was not simply about these 10 Islands within the Caribbean.
ReplyDeleteI think Kate could have included more about whether or not this initiative in the Caribbean has worked so far in each of these countries. She also could have included some more about whether this actually saved the people money or not to better understand why this has not been adopted in other places.
This article made the use of natural renewable resources seem so accessible and it seems weird now that this has not been put to use within the United States since it seems to work well within these countries. It was an interesting article to read and I hope that renewable resources come to be used in the United States.
Kate did a very good job on summarizing the article, Caribbean Islands Agree To Swap Diesel Power for Renewable Sources. I liked how she mentioned how different islands like Aruba are making the change. In their case, they built wind farms. In addition, she also stated why other countries are not making the change because it's so expensive. Finally, Kate did a good job at mentioning Carbon War Room, the organization responsible for making this happen and also their plans for the future, expanding so other countries like the United States will eventually switch.
ReplyDeleteI think Kate could have included more details on what happened after the change of energy sources occurred. She also could have mentioned stats of how switching would be beneficial. Finally, she could have stated why the environment would change and be a little more clear on why not as many countries have switched.
This article gave me more insight into different places around the world that are making changes to help the environment. I also think this was a interesting article because global warming is becoming a bigger and bigger issue around the world,
I like that Kate chose an article on the environment. I thought the did a good job of summarizing the article. I read her summary before the actual article and had a clear understanding of what I was about to read. I also thought she did well in incorporating and picking quotes that were significant to the article. Then she did a good job of stating why the article is important to society, with well thought out details.
ReplyDeleteI think Kate could have backed up some of her details with examples, like why is it expensive to switch to wind and solar energy? Also, she could have said why the environment would change, at the end of the second paragraph.
Before reading this article, I had no idea how expensive it was to get electricity to these islands.It makes sense though, as they are not a big source of income for companies supplying energy, since their population is small, as the article stated.
Kate, you did a great job incorporating a lot of facts from the article that made your summary compelling and detailed. You also did a wonderful job expressing your personal opinion on the topic. I enjoyed that part of your article review the most. Within this opinion, you once again added facts to back up your opinion. I really felt like I was reading a distinguished scholar's writing here. You really did a great job Kate.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would recommend doing is following up your quotes a little better. You incorporated one very good, very significant quote into your review, but you left it hanging. Another thing I would suggest is more on how this could connect to us, in the United States, but in the short run and the long run. Is this a logical solution to our energy source problem, or does this only apply to islands? I'd like to know more.
I learned a lot from this article and your review of it. A lot of people have put global warming and the subtopic of renewable resources in hindsight given all the other stuff that's going on in the world, like all the chaos in Ukraine, gay rights, etc. Your review really put global warming back in the front of my mind.