South Pasadena Bike Counts

I counted pedestrians and bicycles for the City of South Pasadena

APA Student Conference

I attended the APA LA Student conference where the topic this year was active transportation.

Assignment 10

I was very surprised by the way that Karl Polanyi described where capitalism emerged from. No one ever thinks about where our current systems developed from or why there are in place today. The method he used to describe our capitalism is perfect, comparing it to the Medieval ages and their form of hierarchal power. The very fact that this system was adopted to form our modern economy should raise some red flags. Capitalism is not all bad, but there are areas where it is extremely unacceptable. The fact that only a select few people that can reach the top, stay at the top and each more than everyone else combined in the economy, is just not fair. Some of the people at the bottom have to work many hours or even two jobs or make a fraction of some of the people at the top, and even then, they may never earn as much as them in their entire lives. It is a very unequal system that must be tweaked and played with so that these injustices are weeded out of the system and more people are allowed to reach a great quality of income, which will translate to a better quality of life for them and their families.

Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone bring up such great points on the status of the current American person. There are so many distractions everywhere now that keep people from interacting with each other. It is very frustrating that people don’t take so much time to meet the people they live with everyday in their own neighborhoods. I myself am guilty of this, and it is a bad way of continuing our existence. Because of the internet and our mobile phones and television, we have made it very easy for people to just leave and hide in a  place where they won’t be bothered and they can distract themselves from others. I have seen full rooms of people and not one person is looking up and interacting with people that are right next to them! It is very dissapointing. Older generations are also noticing this and become frustrated with the younger people that do not look up and see what is going on around them. This problem has become such a great problem that is now fatal. People cannot even drive without leaving their phones one second, because it is the place where they can be comfortable, and they take this comfort and use it in situations they are not supposed to be using them. People need to start putting their phones away and looking up and realizing what is around them.

Assignment 9

In the Nature of Economies, Jane Jacobs continues her discussion about how nature is just left out of everything in our modern world. She does remind us of Darwin’s second theory, and this was surprising to me. It is very much forgotten that there is another theory of evolution. We are never taught this in school, and it might be because of the more explicit nature of the subject. I believe that it should be something that is important to teach in school because it is not just half of a thought, it is the whole thought together. One we open our eyes to this new theory, we can begin to understand exactly what it is that Jacobs is trying to tell us. I believe she is trying to say that we shouldn’t model our economy like we do today. We forge that there are other methods that are just as important or even more important that what we use or believe today. It is something that is needed and must be researched in order to accomplish more though our understanding. Once we have this new method of thinking, we can then begin to solve the problems that arise in our economic, and especially the divide between the economy and the environment. We have for so long separated the two from each other that we might have grown stagnant to the thought of them being separated. We don’t think that this is even bad or something to worry about. When we are given the choice that we might be able to bring the economy and the environment together, it always causes an uproar because of the separated nature of both and the conformity that we have gotten used to already.

I like what Richard Wolff says about our economy. Many people in the country do not even think twice about changing the way the economy works, just the approach that people use to interact with it. So many different media outlets and other commentators are always looking out to criticize the way that people interact with the economy, whether that be though investing, financing, or other things, they are always saying how it is wrong to do it this way or right buy this other way. It is never about how the economy isn’t really looking out to charge consumers the real costs of building that house or operating that car. It is always about how each person interacts with the present system, We should be asking how it is that we should be fixing problems of inequality or other economic disadvantages around the country or world.

Visit to the Lyle Center

The Lyle Center at Cal Poly Pomona is a great place to see how regenerative practices can be brought to life. I was amazing at how many different things are going up on that hill that no one on campus tends to visit. The solar panels alone are massive, and are one of the few things the rest of the campus can see.

The buildings themselves are wrapped in different plants and integrate well with the landscape. Those same buildings use their surroundings to cool and heat themselves, all without any power or use of outside energy. These are the exact things that regenerative practices are trying to make possible.

Assignment 8

In the Jane Jacobs book Cities and the Wealth of Nations, Chapter 2 discusses the way that the current economic system came to be and what some of the challenges are. One of her main points is the way that GDP is currently measured. I have to agree with her on this issue because there are so many elements that are left out of a nation’s calculation of GDP that must be accounted for in order tor realize the true cost of producing and consuming products. When manufacturing anything, only the economic costs of that production are taken into account. There are no costs whatsoever of environmental damage or what that damage costs and what those costs cause down the line. Pollution is something that is not taken into account and must be. Its one of the most important aspects of manufacturing and production that has to be accounted for.

Pollution causes so many side affect. One of those effects is the health risks associated with pollution. These health problems that are harmful for humans make people sick and they have to spend money on doctors and into the healthcare system. This is something that no GDP calculation takes into account. When making a computer for example, no pollution costs from factories and the healthcare costs that the pollution brings to people living or working near that factory are not taken into account. This must changed so that we know the true costs of producing something, so that the economy will change the way it works. If producing that one computer brings so much cost, the “invisible hand” of the economy will not choose that computer because of its new costs. Once the country takes these forgotten elements into its GDP calculations, then it will be able to truly show what the costs of certain products are and stop the waste.

I also watched Another World is Possible from the 2002 World Social Forum and I am very pleased to see that there are now not only forums on economics, like there have been for so my years, but there are now these new gatherings by global leaders, activists and other people who are interested in these topics for both their local communities but also for the globe. I was surprised by the way that globalization was described by many people. It was something that was not good, it was something that threatened their jobs, their local communities, and their livelihoods. Globalization for economic purposes is one of the best things that can happen to any company. The customer base is unlimited after a company goes global. It is something that the global economy looks at and says is a good thing, while community leaders, local neighborhood groups and other activists see as something bad. It was something that opened by eyes and changed the way I see globalization. It changed my perspective.

I also watched The Zapatista Uprising (20 Years Later) and was taken aback by what happened in Chiapas in 1994. Even though my parents are from Mexico, by this time they had left the country and were living in Los Angeles, and I had never heard of this story before of this separatist community that fought for the liberation of the people in Chiapas. I think that it shows an example of what can be accomplished when people unite together for a common goal. Even though their acts were in defiance and war against the Mexican PRI led government, they banded together and showed the country that they wouldn’t stand for more federal abuses. The PRI party in Mexico is well known for its corruption and incompetence, and this was one of the final straws for this small community in Chiapas. Its also very interesting how Zapatista communities are still alive and well with their own schools, healthcare, and other aspects. It shows that an idea like theirs can become and stay alive, despite any abuses from ideals of any government.

Intellectual Property? Economics? Remixed! – Assignment 7

After watching the RIP! A Remix Manifesto, I have to agree with what was said in the documentary. The truth about ideas that are opened up for people to explore and built upon to progress our culture is very important and a concept that can be seen as a vehicle to the future. Ideas that people have come up with and shared with others are the way that new generations have come up with other ideas that are in our society today. This is the way ideas have been passed through generations before and how it has happened until now, that intellectual and copyright property laws are in place that don’t allow others to use their work and make it better, different, change it, and make something new, that might become that something that becomes popular. Even if it doesn’t become popular, it can become something that still affected the culture in which it is, and those ideas are worth not blocking by lawsuits and corporations.

Another idea that has come into the national spotlight and has gained attention of not just the public but of economists as well is the matter of the minimum age. I agree with California’s minimum wage raise because inflation has been rising the costs of living for all areas of a person’s life, and wages have not risen at the same rate. This is a problem and has caused many people to not pursue or do things that they might have otherwise done. This is a form of social control and has to be eased or stopped as much a possible. If economists think that there shouldn’t be an externally messing with the invisible hand that drives economics, then there also shouldn’t be any inflation that also messes with that hand and what it could or would do. If people don’t have enough money to buy things that the need or would otherwise buy, then that is also a problem, and that problem needs to be corrected. In this case, that problem is inflation and when corrected through minimum wage raises, then it will be a more stabilized method of commerce.

Dolores Huerta: A Labor of Rights

Dolores Huerta visited Cal Poly Pomona and it was a great inspiration for many of us students. It was right before the mid term election too, which was one of the topics that she spoke about. The evening began with some mariachi music that was played by a trio.

Her story is an inspiration to many students who are trying to get their ideas across to the public and to other minorities and groups who might feel like they’re unheard or don’t matter. What happened to her and the course of her career has been such a great part of how her character has developed and how she continues to conduct everything she does.

Ms. Huerta also spoke on the importance of voting and voting rights. She explained how she was others along with Cesar Chavez, were able to work and bring to the attention of President Reagan, the issue of immigration and farm workers. They were able to introduce a bill that helped give farm workers a chance to continue to do their work, without fear that they might be deported and not be able to feed their families.

She was a great inspiration to me personally, coming from a person who is a first generation college student. She gave me new insight and will to continue to do my studies and prepare for the future career that I will have.

Growing Trains

I attended the New Urbanism Film Festival and watched “Trainsforming America”, which is a documentary on how people in Europe and other regions in the world use trains, especially high speed rail, to move about and not drive to whatever place they’re going to.

I liked that the film explored how the US used to have such great and extensive rail network that people used to move about, even inside cities. Los Angeles used to have at one point, the most urban rail in the entire world, even more that New York. That was torn out and replaced by miles of freeway as the automobile became prominent across the country. The social and cultural changes that came with the car are still with us today, and this is the reason why rail is taking so long to be adopted by the American public today. After watching the movie, I became excited about the future of rail, at least in California where the California High Speed Rail is already under construction in Fresno.

I also watched the Democracy Now! Maui Vs Monsanto video. I was very glad to know that Hawaii passed this anti GMO bill. The fact that Monsanto is allowed to do this patented seed technology to charge farmers to get seeds with their information is outrages. They can sue farmers into bankruptcy because they used “their” seeds. The fact that any company can say that all seeds around the world of one type are their property is ludicrous. No company or person can own all of nature in that manner or specific plants. Companies shouldn’t be allowed to do this and this law is the perfect example.

Natural Technology

When we think of anything technologically based, we rarely associate that with anything biological or natural. The two worlds are far apart and one might think they don’t have anything to do with each other. However, in Steven Johnson’s Introduction: Here Comes Everybody, he proves some points that contradict just that. Biology and technology can actually become categories and share many similarities. Even mathematics can be related to biology in some ways. I thought it was very interesting how these different categories can be interconnect and can relate one to another. One doesn’t think in that manner most of the time and isolates one field, like biology, completely away form technology. The two seem to be so distant and have nothing to do with each other. Biology tends to replicate and recycle and not waste anything. Technology seems to renew itself but not recycle its hardware and thus, leaves great amounts of waste and toxins to be thrown into landfills. The way the intro chapter introduces the methods to relate these things to each other opens up a new path to thinking how these different, “unrelated” topics actually correlate with each other.

In the video How to Fight Desertification and Reverse Climate Change, Allan Savory presents a method that one might think has elements that would not be relatable to each other. His suggestion that we fight desertification by mimicking what nature already does makes perfect sense and falls into the category of biomimicry. Biomimicry is something that stands as one of the solutions to climate change problems. Nature has a way of always taking care of its own “problems” which it somehow solves without hurting other systems within itself. It always recycles materials and gives them to another system that needs to have them, which it uses for good. In this same way, I agree with Savory that herds moved along fields and preserve and protect land from turning into deserts. Its a great idea and something that mimics what nature would do. Anytime we mimic what nature has done to recycle and regenerate systems, we are also finding solutions to problems what will not hurt others and will recycle “used” materials and move them to other places for the benefit of all.