Earth Day..

In a world of fast pace, and technology. “Going Green” has become more innovative and is used as a marketing premise for many big corporations. According to Leslie Kaufman’s article in The New York Times, At 40, Earth Day Is Now Big Business, “the momentum for the first Earth Day came from the grass roots, many corporations say that it is often the business community that now leads the way in environmental innovation.” (para 14) Businesses say that they do not intend for people to purchase there items, because they are promoting a greener planet, its hard to deny to inevitable. Why would businesses throw the millions of dollars at a campaign to not reap the rewards?

It's a Great Time for Sports

This Monday may be the beginning of the best sports week/ weekend of the year. Donavan McNabb was traded from the Philadelphia Eagles after 11 years of being there starting quarterback. Also, college basketball is nearing its end, bringing us the frenzy called “March Madness.” Major League Baseball kicked off last night with the Boston Red Sox defeating the defending World Champions. On top of all that, the biggest story is that of Tiger Woods making his appearance back on the PGA Tour.
The Philadelphia Eagles brought us the biggest off-season move of the year. They traded star quarterback Donavan McNabb to a divisional foe, the Washington Redskins. The Eagles ideally did not want to trade him within the division, but they claim that they wanted him to go to a place he could succeed. The way I see it, it’s not going to matter anyways because both teams will be battling for last place.
This year was one to remember in sport of college basketball, along with the tournament. Although my bracket was busted within the first couple of hours of the tournament starting, it was definitely entertaining. This tournament has seen more upsets than ever before. The Butler Bulldogs were a 5 seed who face the likes of power houses; Syracuse, Kansas State, and Michigan State, to reach the Championship game against Duke.
Baseball is Americas Greatest Pastime, and its back. Although it’s a long season, every team starts out in first place, even the Pirates and Royals.
Finally, the five month wait is over, Tiger Woods is back on the course and off the tabloids. Even though It seemed like such a big deal at the time, I have a feeling that if Tiger is down one stroke going into the 18 hole, we’ll all be rooting for him. Tiger is a superstar, regardless of his off-field predicaments.

Education, what is it good for?

This guys point is very insightful. I argee with most everything he said. I think it's too bad that we go to school for 14 to 16 years and when we get a job they have to train us anyways, defeating the purpose of all that schooling. Obviously, schooling can't hurt and may be critical for occupations such as a doctor or a lawyer. But for a cop, salesman, or a recptionist, they should be able to get by with a short training course spcefic to that job.
Also, i agree with him that the most important education is taught in the younger years, and the best form of education is learning humanity before math, etc. If child is taught something at a young age, they are more likely to learn it easier and it will stay with them for longer.

Somebody Has to Say It

How can you increase your self-esteem? Self-esteem is defined as “a realistic respect for or favorable impression of oneself; self-respect.” So, what can you do to raise your self-esteem? In order to increase your self-esteem, treat others with respect and do not tolerate people disrespecting you. Treat people well.
There are many things that you can do to treat people well. Listen to them and try and understand them, be honest with them, be considerate of them, be kind and courteous to them, care about them and show concern for them. If you practice these things on a daily basis with the people that come through your life, your self-esteem will grow. Your life will become more fulfilled and you will feel like you have more purpose and that you are more important than you ever realized.
Today, it appears to me that lots of people are suffering from low self-esteem. We have a high divorce rate. We have many individuals and institutions that do not show integrity in their business dealings. We have teenage mothers abandoning or disposing of their babies. We have brutal attacks from both sides of our political parties. Is our whole country lacking self-esteem?
I think in order to save our economy and save our country’s future, all of us really need to start working very hard at increasing our self-esteem. The first step to solving a problem is to admit that we have one. So, as you go through your life trying to treat people well how do you handle it when you feel like you have been disrespected? When we are disrespected our emotions start kicking in we can feel anything from mild irritation to extreme anger. You should feel something when you have been disrespected. But unfortunately, lashing out and being disrespectful right back does not help your self-esteem.
Now of course nobody is perfect and we certainly cannot be completely available to everyone all the time, so some understanding is necessary. Realize what you can control and what you cannot. You can only be in control of yourself.

Its our Environment, Take a Stand

In a time where some people believe the world is near its end, due to global warming, there are many alternative ways to create energy without harming the earth natural resources. Since the world is now more electronic and electricity is used for almost everything unlike many years ago, our planet has paid is price. As a nation, we use the most energy of any per person.
One of the best ways, I feel, is wind energy. Wind energy is a clean alternative to coal power plants, which are becoming a thing of the past. Hopefully, one day power plants will completely disappear for good. Although expensive to build and put up they would pay themselves off in just a matter of years. Becoming more common is personal wind turbines. People in rural areas, typically on ridges or places of higher elevation use these as a lone source of energy and many times have power left over to sell back to the electrical company. The money one would save on electrical bills and the money they earn by selling power would pay for the cost of the turbine and installation in just a matter of years. With just one wind turbine, approximately 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide can be displaced in just one year which is a big help for planet Earth. Saving 2,000 tons of carbon is equal to planting a square miles worth of trees. Some complain about the sound they make, but personally I wouldn’t mind a slight background sound if it meant saving loads of money and a grant from the government to construct one. Also, in this time of recession, installation and maintenance of these turbines create jobs for many people. 1000 megawatts of electricity produced by wind energy is equivalent to almost 2500 jobs.
There are many more ways of alternative energy, not just wind. Solar, geothermal, and hydrogen are excellent ways of producing clean energy. One that is close to home for me, literally is methane energy. Within the next our family plans to install a methane turbine. Being farmers we produce a lot of methane gas that grouping in our manure pit. We would collect all of the gas giving from manure and use it as a source of energy. There are many things we can do a nation and also internationally. I hope that people start to realize that we must protect of natural resources or we one day won’t have these resources to feed from.

Keystone, CO

Every year since I was in 7th grade my family has gone out Colorado skiing. In general our family loves winter sports such as snowmobiling, snowboarding, and of course skiing. In certain parts of Colorado its snows almost every day, making the ski conditions merely perfect. Most of the time we go to Colorado in March so the temperature is typically above 35 degrees so that we can enjoy ourselves without being cold.
One of the best parts of going out there every year is that usually three or four other families go as well. One of my good friends and his parents come out there annually which keeps it enjoyable to me without getting too fed up with my own family for 16 hours in a car. Also, it is nice to have someone that is nearly the same skiing level so that we can do more difficult runs and not have to wait for stragglers. Before you ski in the Rocky Mountains it’s hard to know how big they are compared to Mt. La Crosse or other local places.
Typically at Mt. La Crosse, it takes about two or three minutes to get up the hill on a chair lift. In Colorado, it takes about 15 minutes in a chairlift that is twice as fast. Also, it is almost impossible ski to the bottom of a full run, without stopping to catch your breath or rest your legs. Another difference is that there are moguls on some of the harder runs, making it difficult to reach the bottom without wanting to pass out. We’ve skied at places such as; Breckenridge, Vail, Arapaho Basin, Copper Mountain, and Steamboat. The place I like the most though is Keystone. The resort that we usually stay in is directly at the bottom of Keystone, so it’s just a small walk away. Another reason why I prefer Keystone is because they have lights on certain runs making them available at night, which I feel is the best time to ski.
The winter months are definitely not my favorite but it makes it just a little bit better when you make the most out of it!

Peters Farms Inc.

My grandfather has been farming since he could remember. Although having other jobs throughout his lifetime, he has always maintained his passion, farming. Things have not always gone swell though. In 1988, a tornado ripped though the home farm, destroying most of what was once standing. While having to milk what remained of the cows at the neighbor’s farm, my grandpa decided that 1988 would be a great time for a change.
He and six other farmers got together with the same understanding. They wanted to change the way they farmed and change the health concerns of farming. The following year those seven farmers were known as the founding fathers of Organic Valley. A cooperation that would produce dairy products without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, or any other unnatural antibiotics. He now is the CEO of the Board of Directors for Organic Valley. He also, co-owns the farm with two of his sons, one being my father.
Previous to the tornado in 1988 Peters Farms Inc. was milking about 50 cows. After expansion throughout the years we now milk around 150 cows and employee ten workers. Nearly five years ago the decision was made to construct a high tech milking parlor, which would help us milk cows at a more efficient pace, allowing us to take on a bigger herd. It has been one other the best things that has happened to our farm.
This past summer we hosted the Vernon County Dairy Breakfast for the second time in 12 years. Our dairy breakfast set a new record attendance with 2200 people that came out. In 2004, Jim Doyle (the Wisconsin governor) gave a speech at our farm regarding the evolution of organic crop and what it did for the states agriculture. Then in 2007, Peters Farms was name Farm of the Year by Organic Valley, out of at the time, 700 farms.