In August, Merit Academy hosted TEDxMeritAcademy at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.
Pascal Costa was a featured speaker, and her TEDx Talk is embedded below.
“How to stop overpopulation before we reach 10 billion people on Earth”
Overpopulation is a huge problem. We have too many people, and because of our immense growth experienced in the last century, we are experiencing new problems. Because of overpopulation, we have recklessly produced dirty energy and destroyed fertile land to meet the needs of our ever-expanding population. Forests have been decimated in order to make room for farmland and to produce lumber. We have exploited natural resources such as soil, water minerals, oil, and coal because we have grown dependent on them. As a result of our growing numbers and exploitation of natural resources, we have caused the extinction of 130 mammal species, and have endangered 250 species. Today, about 1000 species are now threatened. Through overpopulation, we have increased pollution, consumption, and the deterioration of land. There’s a simple way to reduce the world’s population and I’ll share my idea with you.
About Pascal: Pascal Costa founded Preventing OverPopulation, a non-profit organization that educates child-bearing people about how their decisions to have children directly affect the world. She has presented her project at the Earth Day Santa Cruz festival and she was interviewed on Earth Watch Radio. Pascal recently graduated from high school and plans to continue to advocate for population control in college.
In August, Merit Academy hosted TEDxMeritAcademy at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.
Pascal Costa was a featured speaker, and her TEDx Talk is embedded below.
“How to stop overpopulation before we reach 10 billion people on Earth”
Overpopulation is a huge problem. We have too many people, and because of our immense growth experienced in the last century, we are experiencing new problems. Because of overpopulation, we have recklessly produced dirty energy and destroyed fertile land to meet the needs of our ever-expanding population. Forests have been decimated in order to make room for farmland and to produce lumber. We have exploited natural resources such as soil, water minerals, oil, and coal because we have grown dependent on them. As a result of our growing numbers and exploitation of natural resources, we have caused the extinction of 130 mammal species, and have endangered 250 species. Today, about 1000 species are now threatened. Through overpopulation, we have increased pollution, consumption, and the deterioration of land. There’s a simple way to reduce the world’s population and I’ll share my idea with you.
About Pascal: Pascal Costa founded Preventing OverPopulation, a non-profit organization that educates child-bearing people about how their decisions to have children directly affect the world. She has presented her project at the Earth Day Santa Cruz festival and she was interviewed on Earth Watch Radio. Pascal recently graduated from high school and plans to continue to advocate for population control in college.
In August, Merit Academy hosted TEDxMeritAcademy at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.
Logan Cononver was a featured speaker, and his TEDx Talk is embedded below.
WHEN natural disasters start to happen is the real question behind climate change, not IF they will happen. People have already started to see the consequences of rising CO2 levels, with the 2-degree temperature rise and global CO2 levels passing 404 parts per million (ppm). Let’s discuss an easy and practical solution that we can all embrace.
About Logan Conover: Logan Conover founded When, Not If…, a non-profit organization that educates people about their carbon emissions, the positive feedback loop, and easy solutions to reducing CO2 in the atmosphere. He stumbled across climate change when he learned that many congressmen/women were denying its existence. This frustrated Logan because he couldn’t understand why people wouldn’t believe 99% of the scientists who state with proof that climate change is real. Logan realized that he needed to do something fast and he needed to make it easy, so he created When, Not If… to share facts with people and get the world to take action against climate change.
In an era of fake news, it comes as no surprise to me that a thousand or a million likes on social media platforms are actually fake. Celebrities and politicians buy fake followers to boost their popularity and to move political agendas. Yup! Companies like Devumi offer Twitter followers, views of YouTube, plays on SoundCloud, and endorsements on Linkedin – often for as little as a few cents per follower. It doesn’t just stop here in the US, this is happening in China, Ecuador, and all over the world. According to Rami Essaid, founder of Distil Networks, a cybersecurity company that specializes in eradicating bot networks, “Social media is a virtual world that is filled with half bots, half real people.” What you see on social media may not be what you think it is.
What’s wrong with insecure people buying followers – kind of like buying friends? It makes the rest of the population feel insignificant by comparison. So many young people suffer in silence as they see how popular others are. Aspiring artists and musicians feel depressed when their follower stats are low.
I hope cybersecurity companies can reveal true numbers and shame abusers of the system so we can establish some sort of semblance of real facts and real news.
We take an annual ski trip in January to celebrate my daughter’s birthday. The timing was always perfect because we knew there’d be snow on January 7th. Except for last year’s blizzards that brought us powder and so much snow it actually closed all Tahoe ski areas for several days, our weather patterns have changed.
This year, we skied on 100% man-made snow. It seemed odd to ski down tightly-packed and carefully-groomed runs carved out from the green shrubbery and dirt that surrounded each run. To plan future ski trips, do we need to go to ski areas much further north – like say, Alaska? As of Feb 1st, we’re at 27% of normal for California… Hmm.
Climate change is happening and we need to stop using fossil fuels now!
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The Iranian oil tanker, Sanchi, sank on January 14th, after colliding with a Chinese cargo ship in the East China Sea. Over 135,000 tons of condensate, a ultralight crude oil, has been pouring out and burning for over a week. This may be the worst oil spill in 35 years, and it comes at a time when the Trump Administration is trying to open up drilling for oil on the east and west coasts of the United States.
IS ANYONE LISTENING?
Why are we drilling for oil when there is a finite amount of crude oil left in the world and it wreaks havoc with air quality, pollution, and climate change?
Better question: Why did Trump slap a 30% tariff on solar panels produced outside the US?
Answer: Trump is supporting the oligarchy by protecting the oil and coal industries’ bottom line — PROFIT.
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Do GPAs and SAT/ACT scores reflect a student’s ability to succeed in college? Umm. NO! We’ve known this for decades, yet schools keep ramping up pressure to get good grades in AP classes and colleges use rubrics that heavily weight GPAs and SAT/ACT scores when admitting incoming classes each year. But, this is beginning to change now that over 100 elite private high schools plan to replace traditional transcripts with competency-based, non-standardized documents without grades using the Mastery Transcript Consortium.
The goal here is to change the way colleges admit students by eliminating the traditional transcript. Yup! The Mastery Transcript Consortium will evaluate students based on levels of proficiency in various areas:
1. Analytical and Creative Thinking
2. Complex Communication: Oral and Written
3. Leadership and Teamwork
4. Digital and Quantitative Literacy
5. Global Perspective
6. Adaptability, Initiative, and Risk-Taking
7. Integrity and Ethical Decision-Making
8. Habits of Mind
By creating portfolios to demonstrate projects, experiments, and works of art produced by students, colleges would get a more comprehensive look at the student. But this movement intends to eliminate grades and standardized test scores completely, which I doubt colleges will accept or adopt anytime soon. I think that a combination of GPAs, SAT/ACT scores, and projects would be the better option because it checks to see if students have the academic foundation (skills needed to enter college) and the creative and entrepreneurial prowess (skills to think outside the box and become innovative leaders) to become successful students in college.
I believe that students who do independent projects (ProjectMERIT) become confident innovative thinkers – the kind of young adults we need to solve the many problems we as a society face today. I am pleased to see other high schools challenging the institutional evaluations and hope that colleges welcome new ways to efficiently select their new incoming class of students.
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Check out what one of our ProjectMerit students is doing!
He created a company called Bubble to provide safe rides for children in the Bay Area. He was interviewed by a local radio station — check out his website at www.baybubble.com!
I have renewed faith in humanity. Albeit, I’m grabbing for straws, but, when I hear terrifying stats on melting ice caps, sinking ocean floors, and rising sea levels, I’ll take it! A year ago (can’t believe it’s only been a year since Trump took office – it feels like four!), the Trump administration FIRED the top climate scientists in the world. Seriously? But the amazing news is that Richard Moss, the former member of the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment, has pulled together several of the scientists who were fired last year to continue their research.
MUSIC TO MY EARS!
Even though the team is not funded by the federal government, they are banding together to continue their research to find solutions to our climate change problems. New York’s Governor Cuomo plans to help fund this research, and others will hopefully follow suit! I think that their research will probably find “real” solutions quicker because they won’t be fighting an uphill battle with a president and administration that doesn’t believe climate change is real.
Watching the crowd’s reaction to one of my student’s artistic political message was both humbling and inspiring to me.
Nathan Decena meticulously painted a dollar bill, but instead of putting George Washington’s face in the center of the bill, he placed Martha Washington’s, his wife’s image. Then, instead of placing a “1,” he placed “79” – to show that women make .79 cents to the dollar that men make. He wanted to symbolize society’s historical disparagement of women. Wow!
Nathan was just 17 years old when he painted this. He has vision and wisdom that I wish our current administration would have. I love the fact that he is a young man with such respect for women (has great parents!) and he uses his art to send poignant messages to the world.
Nathan is launching his inspirational website with a gallery of his art collection. Can’t wait to see what he produces next!
How our youth can solve climate change
It’s not surprising to see the mudslinging between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials. After all, who’s to blame for the insidious state of affairs that have developed over the decades? Is it the selfish and indulgent Boomer who made tons of money on real estate (when it was nearly impossible not make huge financial gains buying houses in the ‘70s and ‘80s) or the entitled lack-luster Millennial who is strife with student debt, housing crises, and low-paying jobs? I’m not going to enter this contentious arena, but instead offer a solution that may bring everyone together – and could possibly save human civilization.
We need people who are not part of a government that has fired the scientists in our EPA and stripped funding from all climate-related research. We need people who aren’t controlled by special-interest groups whose hidden agenda is to make colossal profits and creates environmental degradation. We need people who realize that we need to drastically reduce carbon emissions NOW and are willing to do the research, make personal changes, and promote community action.
To do this, WE NEED OUR YOUTH! Yup, it is going to be the Millennials who are going to bare the brunt of climate disasters and they are the ones who will pull us out – and yes, save the Boomers. But the beauty here is that the Boomers are going to support the Millennials with their knowledge, experience, and funding, and the Millennials are going to do the work, spread the word, and ultimately save us all.
Here’s how:
- Every high school and college student needs to do a project.
- Projects can be as simple as promoting alternative transportation or as involved as building energy systems or carbon sequestration solutions.
- Retired professionals will mentor the students as they complete each phase of the projects.
- Other Boomers will fund these projects and support/buy the products when they’re rolled out.
When 4 million students enter high school every year in the United States, just imagine how many problems they can solve before they graduate. Besides, these projects will help them get into top colleges/grad schools and win scholarship dollars! To learn more about how to do projects, check out ProjectMERIT. I’ve also written Beat the College Admissions Game: Do a Project! to guide students through the entire process of doing a project.
So, let’s encourage our youth to find innovative solutions to climate change by supporting and guiding them through the process. Stop the name calling and start working together. It’s going to take the Millennials to lead the 99% to save human civilization.