Alan Tran Blog

A little bit of background info on how I got interested in Environmentalism. Environmentalism was not an issue for me when I was growing up. I lived in a suburban area in Maryland (DMV area) and the property was mostly full of grass and a couple of trees. My backyard was a small green field that was surrounded by fences. The animals were mostly consist of small birds, rabbits, and squirrels (even occasionally foxes and deer). My neighborhood was mostly clean and healthy. There was rarely any piece of paper, plastic bottle, or metal cans on the ground. Of course, there are a lot of leaves on the grass, but they come from the trees that change during the season. For the last couple of years, the weather has been strange. It has not been snowing a lot (if it has it would usually be late in the season) and there has been drastically hot and cold temperatures. I knew there was something going on. I did not have any interest in science until high school. I took Marine Biology in high school and watched films such as The Cove and Blackfish. I saw how horrible it was for marine life to live in such polluted waters. Whether the pollution is oil spills, human involvement, and plastic trash. I also took AP Environmental Science (unfortunately did not pass) and learned a lot about renewable energy, invasive species, the ozone layer, and nonrenewable energy. Renewable sources such as solar and wind power. Nonrenewable energy such as coal and petroleum. Invasive species such as kudzu vines and zebra mussels. I also read a lot about worldwide pollution in the news: countries such as USA cities, China, India, Mexico, Russia, Japan and many others. It makes me a little sad to see lots of negative greenhouse gases emitted around the world. Right now, I am taking Asian Studies as my major and I want to somehow incorporate my knowledge of environmentalism and mix it with information about East Asia (China, Korea, Japan). Whether if I have to translate languages, look at foreign policies, think of possible solutions, or travel there myself. I won’t deny that climate change is happening and there is no way to go back. Though, I am very optimistic that if all humans come together as a community, then we can change the world.

sources (movies):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cove_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackfish_(film)

14 Replies to “Alan Tran Blog”

  1. There was drastic shift from mentioning that it rarely snows in the DMV area to polluted waters for marine life. I thought the transition could have been better. Maybe introduce more statistical info on the overall topic of climate change before going into specifics. I did enjoy the ending, when he wrote his plans of connecting this class to climate change issues in East Asia.
    Throughout the blog, there was no logos. Therefore, I think the pathos and ethos was not made blatantly clear. I would refrain from the word “sad”. To strengthen some of his arguments in learning about “renewable energy” and invasive species, provide some examples from class like China or India resorting to wind and solar energy. I mean bamboo is an invasive species. However, I did like the idea of including previous classes we have taken in relation to climate change and wildlife.

    1. Thanks for your feedback! I definitely should have given some facts and real world examples in my post. I’ll keep it in mind in the future.

  2. Your blog is interesting. I know a lot of your experiences from your blog. I also know the environment problems when I’m in high school. Environment problems are serious now, it really need somebody to stand out. I believe you could overcome difficulties. Everyone will be together, and we can change the world

  3. At the start of the post, I really enjoyed the description of the nature that surrounds you. I could picture exactly what you were talking about. I think it was a good choice to explain how you saw your environment changing because everyone can relate to that in one form or another. I am also glad that you brought up many aspects of environmentalism because it is not purely about climate change, which I think most people only see it as climate change.

  4. I really enjoyed reading this blog post and related to it on a personal level because I am from the DMV as well, Northern Virginia to be exact. I have also noticed many changed in recent years to our climate and that has been one of my reasons for wanting to take this class as well. I liked how you started off with a personal connection to climate change and admitting that you were not always into this topic until recent years. To make your points stand out, you could include some evidence or facts to back up your claims about the changing environment but other than that I think you did great. I also liked the ending because you related what you know and will learn with possible solutions for the future.

  5. I really enjoyed how you made the topic of climate change personal to you. I think it is very easy to get caught up in such a vast problem and only talk about how it affects the world in a whole, but I think it is important to go back to the individual level and discuss how it affects actual people which I could really see in your post. There were a lot of visual details that strengthened your post as well. The only improvement I would make is to consider adding some evidence from actual studies to support your claims when you talk about things like air pollution.

  6. I really enjoyed reading your blog because you were very honest about your opinions of how you see the climate changing and that there is hope if people come together. I think it is vert interesting how you would like to incorporate environmentalism into your major of asian studies and somehow combine the two to work together. The description that you use to describe where you live and the things you enjoy to read and learn about is very interesting as well. I am glad that you believe there is hope and how you mention solutions at the end.

  7. I like how you showed us your background on environmentalism through stories and personal experiences. I think most of us can relate to how whether or not we knew much about climate change, we could experience it in one way or another. My own knowledge on environmentalism started out very similarly to yours, hearing about these big events growing up and clearing trash with organizations too.

  8. I liked how you talked about where you grew up and your personal experiences with climate change. The change from not being affected/seeing the results of climate change to suddenly experiencing it was very relatable. I also like how you will continue to learn about how climate change affects certain areas and how that ties into your major.

  9. I agree with a lot of the other comments on this post. The imagery of your story has strong appeal to ethos. You really paint a picture of a pretty healthy environment, but despite that you have found passion within your outside knowledge of environmentalism. I also like how you brought together your personal passions (major), familial ties, and formal education to create this comprehensive view of what has made you care about environmentalism. Thank you for your story!

  10. I like the natural environment comparison you wrote about in your blog. Our environmental situation is getting serious, but we all know that we are facing more and more environmental problems. As the British student said, we all ignore the root of the problem. You also wrote a lot of facts, and I think you could add some shocking statistics. Can let the audience better understand, at the same time point out the importance of the environment is urgent.

  11. Thank you for sharing your personal experiences and movies with us. As we grow up, we can literally see the damage that pollution does to our living environment. What’s worse, we haven’t noticed any improvement in our living environment in the past few years. Your last thought is very interesting. I think it’s very useful. Mankind needs a community. We need to face this challenge together. Perhaps when I feel tempted to use a disposable product in my daily life, I will restrain myself when I think that if I stop using it, I might save the planet.

  12. I really agree with your idea that if people all over the world work together for environmental protection, it will definitely improve environmental pollution. Due to the development of science and technology, many countries are facing pollution problems, such as the greenhouse effect and non-renewable energy consumption. These issues needed people to work together to change.

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