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Earth’s Ethics Podcast

Soundcloud link: Earth’s Ethics

@alianasblogposts @sundrysanvidge

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This is one of my favorite movies so naturally I loved your post. I agree with you  its extremely important to be truthful and honest in the world of business. In this world your reputation could be the difference between failure and being successful. One of the things that makes this movie so great is watching Belfort grow overtime and come to this realization. 

Jordan Belfort - Stock Broker

Cocaine and Hookers

All I need to get me by

Emptiness inside

  Jordan Belfort is the main character in the Wolf of Wall Street. In the movie, you see him go from a modest penny stock salesman to the creator of one of Wall Street’s most lucrative brokerage firms. At first, Jordan is eager and tries to sell stocks on the up and up. He starts as a humble and truthful person. As he starts making more and more money, he turns down a dark path of immorality. Drugs, hookers, and partying start to consume his life. Eventually he gets caught up in his greediness and is arrested for fraud. Belfort swindled hundreds of millions of dollars from stock buyers as he inflated stock prices and then dumped his shares to make millions. At the end of the movie he comes to realize that he has made a mistake by living this superficial life. His life had no true sustenance and he drove away the people that meant most to him. His wife and family resented him for the pain he had caused so many people. As someone who desires to become an investment banker, this story resonates with me. Even though there are many get rich quick schemes, the only way to be truly successful is to be honest. This character could learn a lot by looking at what we have learned during this course. In the business world you can not cheat others without consequences. All of your writing and projects must have truth in their content. When presenting results, one should not lie for their own self interest as this will only make things bad. People will not respect you and your word will be meaningless. Jordan Belfort was a very persuasive person and during this course I have also learned many persuasion tactics. When I look at this course through the eyes of a professional in my field of study, I can see how we must be accountable for what we write and say.

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I loved reading the poem that you created! Even though I have only seem criminal minds once your poem gave me a good understanding of Dr. Reid’s personality and background. I also liked how your post addressed ethical dilemmas that Dr. Reid may face in his career. 

Dr. Spencer Reid

In the television show, Criminal Minds, Dr. Spencer Reid plays a Supervisory Special Agent with the BAU. Dr. Reid is a socially awkward, genius. He is able to remember key historical facts and details that help his team analyze symbolic clues. For example, in “Aftermath”, Reid seems to be the only team member who notices Elle’s odd behavior, and confronts her; he gets her to open up to him but it does not stop her from spiraling out of control. Dr. Reid’s life and career is far from normal. From his action packed career to his mentally ill mother, Reid has very eventful days. This is a poem written from Dr. Reid’s perspective:

My name is Dr. Spencer Reid,

I do good deeds for those in need.

I am very intelligent, have three Ph.D.’s,

you probably didn’t know that about me.

But my life is quite unusual,

The crime senses I see are very visual.

I analyze the crime scene and people’s mind,

Sometimes the unsub has DNA and clues that they leave behind.

I enjoy reading all types of books,

They help me catch the crooks.

As you can tell my career is far from normal,

My personal life is even more abnormal.

I can be awkward at times,

I have trouble fitting in with the society norms oftentimes.

My mother is schizophrenic,

I am worried because I was told it is genetic.

I want to help her get better,

There are many medications that I have to get her.

The medication doesn’t seem to help her at all,

Thinking of her condition makes me sad and want to bawl.

All in all my life may not be perfect,

But I would never trade it.

A Supervisory Special Agent has many ethical rules that they must follow. Ethical dilemmas is an issue in the professional field that we have discussed. Dr. Reid and his team have been in numerous ethical dilemmas throughout the seasons. It is important to deal with ethical dilemmas in a professional way.  

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Letter to the president from Broadcaster/Naturalist Sir David Attenborough

I choose to write my post for this discussion on Broadcaster/Naturalist Sir David Attenborough. Attenborough is mostly well known for his narration of the Life collection, and is nationally beloved by many environmentalists and animal lovers. I wanted to engage with themes central to this course by writing a persuasive letter to the President of the United States from Attenborough’s point of view to convince him to rejoin the Paris agreement. 

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Its very interesting how news report can influence their readers with the title and tone of their articles. In this case the title of the news report conjures up an image of researchers backing iguana’s heads in with a hammer. This is obviously a very startling image, and it makes readers believe that the researchers are being inhumane with the iguanas, even though this isn't the case. In order to prevent having a misconception about a topic readers of news articles should read the whole article and not just draw assumptions from the title. 

Invasive Iguana Reports

An issue in the wildlife field that has been misreported is the euthanizing of invasive iguanas in Florida.  There are high numbers of non-native green iguanas in the state of Florida that are destroying our native vegetation.  As a result, wildlife biologists are going out to trap and euthanize these large lizards. The best way to euthanize an iguana is with a captive bolt gun, however, not everyone has one on hand.  Therefore, the next best way to euthanize them is through blunt force trauma, which involves striking them in the head with a hard object.  If done correctly, the force will instantly kill the iguana.  This method has been approved by the American Veterinary Association and well as Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  Biologists have been using this method to remove invasive iguanas for years so it shouldn’t be an issue.

The problem is, that news companies have been titling their articles as something along the lines of “scientists are bashing iguanas’ heads in Florida.” USA Today even titled their article “Bashing iguana heads: Florida Researchers smash reptiles for project.”  These titles are completely false and make the situation far worse than it seems.  Wildlife biologists are not bashing the iguanas’ heads in, they are hitting them in the head only once and the lizards shouldn’t feel any pain as they will be killed instantly.  They are also not doing this for a project, they are doing this because green iguanas are an invasive species and are causing harm to our ecosystems.  These articles have triggered attacks on wildlife biologists and other scientists by animal welfare/rights groups.  The attacks have made it harder for those in the wildlife field to do research on animals, and has put the University of Florida under fire because fifteen of the researchers work in UF.  People read the titles instead of reading the whole article and believe that this is a very inhumane way to treat animals. In reality, blunt force trauma is the one of the most humane and common ways to euthanize a lizard, and should not be unnecessarily controversial.

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I agree with you about the fact that the Florida Panther population has been increasing leading to more human encounters but I do not think that this is an indication that the population is thriving. I believe that the increased encounters in Florida can be attributed to the perennial increase of the human population. Because the population is always increasing, it is constantly requiring the development of land that used to be the Florida Panther’s habitat and this leads to the increased encounters. 

Florida Panther Population Misreported

For years now people still believe that the Florida panther population is still an endangered species. When people think of the Florida Panther they think of this beautiful puma because it is has been our state animal since 1981. The fact is, that this large cat is becoming a problem to Southwest Florida as the population keeps rising. Just last week on June 5th, a panther was caught on a security camera killing a family’s pet cat from Naples, Florida where I am from. This could have been someone’s child being mauled by this beast. Now neighbors are terrified and on the alert because of their kids and pets that play outside. Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission needs to do a better job of controlling the panther population to designated wildlife areas such as Big Cypress National Preserve or Everglades National Park.

If FWC wants to save the panther population they need to keep track of the panthers to make sure they stay away from rural areas that cause fatalities to cats by vehicles hitting them. Last year in 2017, twenty-eight panthers died while 23 where by road kill and in 2016 the record was set with 42 overall deaths with 34 being vehicle kills. These deaths just prove that the panther population is thriving and eventually will get out of control because the Florida Panther has no predator to control its population. Panther crossings could also benefit the panther population and the problem of the interaction with people and their pets. Designated wildlife crossings could save panthers from being hit by cars and family pets being killed. I myself have seen two panthers in one day on my friends farm in Labelle, Florida.

The Florida Panther is thriving and needs to be controlled to wildlife conservation areas. Panthers also attack farmers livestock such as baby calves which is how most farmers make their living by raising cattle. Panthers are not endangered and if you’re from South Florida you can see the significance drop in population to other wildlife such as hogs and deer. I myself have seen two adult panthers in one day on the farm.

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Keep your Cats inside!!!

Discussion post 4: News Report

Keep your cats inside!

Of all the invasive species that affect wildlife, few do more harm than free ranging domestic cats. In the wildlife field, the effect that free ranging domestic cats on bird and small mammal populations is well known but drastically unreported. These cats are generalist predators, meaning they hunt for a variety of prey, and can thrive in various environmental conditions.

The ability to be highly adaptive to a variety of environments is the main reason that domestic cats can be found just about any place in the world today. This makes them extremely dangerous for most small mammals and birds, especially those with isolated and small populations. Cats have a greater effect on local wildlife in these populations because they have not evolved together and thus do not have any defense mechanisms for this new predator. It’s well known that cats kill household rodents like rats and mice, but many people don’t realize just how proficient they really can be at killing. Most outdoor cats will go out of their way to kill anything they can, even when they have access to food and water. This type of killing for sport decimates local wildlife, as cats have been shown to be responsible for numerous animal extinctions.

Cats are an especially difficult pest species for wildlife managers to deal with. Unfortunately, most domestic free ranging outdoor cats are people’s pets and wildlife managers are unable to use traditional methods to control their effect on wildlife. Instead, managers have been turning to education to try and teach cat owners the effects that their pet is having on the local environment. This is done in hopes that owners will choose to keep their cats indoors instead of keeping them outside and allowing them to destroy the local wildlife.

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I know exactly what commercials you’re talking about! To me they have always seemed very similar to toothpaste commercials and how they say that nine out of every ten dentists would recommend their brand. With these types of commercials its important to read between the lines to get a better picture of what the advertiser is really saying. When taken literally, these types of claims can be misleading and confusing. 

Mouthwash

In the dental industry, there are not really many things to advertise about other than oral hygiene products. Oral hygiene product commercials are always on TV, but I am never really bothered by any of them except for mouthwash commercials.

Mouthwash commercials are very good about placing a high importance on the use of mouthwash. Most of the mouthwash commercials do a great job describing the benefits of using their product, such as enhanced teeth cleaning, removal of bad breath, enamel preservation, protecting against gum disease, and more. All of these benefits of using mouthwash are excellent and should make you want to go out and buy it, but the way in which they describe the enhanced cleaning ability of mouthwash leaves a bad taste in my mouth ;). Many of these commercials say their product is able to remove upwards of 99% of bacteria from your mouth that you missed while brushing. The commercials always make it seem like brushing your teeth is never enough to have good oral hygiene. In some commercials, the companies even go on to say that brushing your teeth only reaches  25% of your mouth and that by using their mouthwash you will be able to clean almost 100% of your mouth. Some commercials do mention the benefits of using mouthwash as a pairing with brushing your teeth rather than brushing alone, but a lot of the commercials just talk about how much better their mouthwash is at cleaning your mouth than brushing.

I chose to use this meme because it is typically used to describe the way in which something should be done and it is easy to understand. I thought this meme was funny because it puts the mouthwash commercials into perspective because the commercials are painting the image that it is impossible to have good oral hygiene without the use of mouthwash.

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I really enjoyed reading your post, it was both well thought out and informative. I think that many people are angry about this topic because they don’t consider  health as a luxury, they consider it as a necessity. Organic foods are inherently harder to produce compared to processed foods, which is the main reason they are more expensive. People who might not be able to afford these higher prices might place a different value on the health benefits associated with them compared to people that can afford the higher prices. 

As a food and resource economics major, most of the debates that we take a look at are based on food pricing, consumer behavior and the allocation of food. We take into consideration that, like in all other businesses, there is a certain amount of supply coming from companies and a demand from consumers. 

In the past few years, prices for organic food have risen, while fast food chains keep lowering their prices and increasing the number of franchises. In some cases, people may think the solution to fixing issues in America, such as obesity, is just by lowering the food prices of “healthier alternatives”. However, as any economist would say, there is much more to it than just that. Considering the physical work, time and resources it takes to produce and manufacture organic food or fresh food, the resulting price will be higher than that of frozen “beef” patties and other fast food elements. While this does seem like a decent solution, fast food restaurant franchises have taken over a huge part of the food industry already and it would take some time to modify this issue as these franchises don’t want higher expenses. 

I chose this meme because it reminded me of a friend that was angry about this topic as well. She was wondering how obesity rates would ever decrease if we continue to raise prices for ‘healthier’ alternatives and keep opening more fast food restaurants. The man in the meme is angry and calling out a contradictory point. In this case how do you expect obesity to end if healthy food is basically getting more and more expensive. He is representing all those that are bothered by this situation, but are not aware of all the economics and food allocations that play a role in this.

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Smokey the Bear

I choose this image to illustrate how the longest running public service campaign in US history has been used to change public perception on human environmental impact. Created in 1944, the Smokey the Bear campaign has been teaching the public for several years about the role they play in preventing forest fires. My meme illustrates the wide spread influence of this campaign, and how it has increased public awareness about the effects of wildfires and how they can be prevented.

From 1947-2001 the campaigns slogan, “Remember… Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires” caused the public to falsely perceive all forest fires as bad for the environment. This slogan was wildly successful, and lead to fire disappearing from most ecosystems that had grown to depend on it. The disappearance of fire caused these ecosystems to be drained of vital nutrients, and filled with plant debris. A drought in these areas would cause all the excess plant debris to act as a powder keg, making it much easier for wildfires to start, and much harder to keep them contained. Forrest managers have learned over time that some types of forests, for example Florida’s Pine Flatwoods, require fire to maintain a healthy and balanced ecosystem. Leading to fires being prescribed in many national parks and forests. The idea of prescribed fire was not received well by the public at first because they had been conditioned by Smokey the Bear’s old Slogan to think that all fires were bad for the environment.

In order to change public perception that all fires had a negative effect the environment, the campaigns slogan was changed in 2001 to “Only you can prevent Wildfires.” This new slogan helped to better convey the National Park Service’s message of preventing unnecessary and unplanned outdoor fires, as opposed to all fires in general.

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Freestyle Swimming in Competition

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I did not know that CALS had a twitter page before reading your post! As a student who’s also a member of CALS here at UF this site does seem perfect for the “on-the-go” student looking to Network with professionals and get updated on current events. I like how active this account is on twitter as well with over 6,500 tweets, which shows a commitment to getting information out to its followers. 

Platform: Twitter 

Handle: @UFCALS 

The twitter account run by the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences department has nearly 4,500 followers and 6,500 tweets. It serves as a platform to update students, professors, alumni and all those interested on current events related to the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences as well as other main school events. 

Posts are made on a day-to-day basis, both text and graphics. Since the text per post is limited to 140 characters per tweet, all posts are concise and straightforward. Posts that are indicated to show more information often have either an informational graphic or video attached with news, facts, congratulatory remarks, and more. 

The account also makes use of hashtags such as #UFAnsci for Animal Science related tweets, #UFABE for UF Agricultural and Biological Engineering, #UFAEEO for UF Field Ecology of Aquatic Organisms and a variety of others. These hashtags allow the reader to navigate easier through their platform as it allows them to narrow down the tweets if they are looking for specific information.

UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences’ twitter account also comments back and retweets tweets from other platforms such as other UF Clubs or organizations that relay or contain relatable and important information. All posts appear in chronological order of when the account holder; in this case UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; posts, quotes or retweets a tweet.

In summary, this site does an impressive job of keeping students, professors and those other interested, updated on current events and relaying both important information and interesting facts. With the use of hashtags and concise text, a student could find it easy to navigate through the substantial amount of information that the account holds. It serves as a perfect platform for students to use, as students are usually “on-the-go” and this site can be easily viewed through a mobile application on almost any smart phone or tablet. One does not even have to have a twitter account to access this information, it is just quick access information and quite simple to use.

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I had never heard of this club before reading your post! I really like the profile picture that the club uses for its Facebook page. I requested to join the group but because I’m not yet a member I cant see any of the event postings or photos yet. How long does it usually take to be approved?

UF Exotic Animal Club

Platform: Facebook

Handle: UFExoticAnimalClub

The UF Exotic Animal Club is a great way for students who love animals and wildlife to get involved on campus.  The UF Exotic Animal Club’s Facebook page makes meeting dates/times and other opportunities readily available for students.  The page also uses visuals to grab a reader’s attention and encourages people to get involved in the club.

On the left side of the Facebook page, there are links that direct students to information about the club, its members, photos, events and more.  When you click on the event tab, you can see all the meetings, social events, and service events.  The calendar makes finding event dates incredibly simple.  The club officers will also post reminders about meeting dates in case people forget.  The individual event pages give students information about event times, locations, and a synopsis about what the event is about.  The event summary is short and only gives the information the students need to know about the event so they don’t get bored.  The event pages also include a funny picture to get students interested in going to the event.

The Facebook page has many other ways that students can get involved with the club apart from the events themselves.  There are frequent polls which allow members to choose what event dates and times work best for their schedule.  This increases member participation and helps students feel like they have an impact on the club itself.  There are posts that link students to outside information that might interest them.  For example, one of the club officers made a post about Ellen Degeneres’ Wildlife Fund T-shirts and included a link to the webpage, which would help raise money for the conservation of endangered gorillas.  In addition, the club also allows some students to post their own information if they find something exciting related to exotic animals or even if they have a question about college in general.

The UF Exotic Animal Club’s Facebook page is a great platform to find out more about the club and to get involved.  

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UF Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society

Name: Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society

Social media platform: Facebook

Handle: @ufwildlifesociety

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The ethical dilemma that Dr. Karev finds himself in is very interesting. On one hand, it is part of his job to save lives and cure patients. On the other hand if the patient, or in this case the parent or legal guardian of the patient, has religious believes that conflict with the treatment strategy they have a right to refuse treatment. What changed things was when the boy decided to take his health into his own hands by coming into the emergency room again. This showed that the boy did not agree with his parents beliefs, which gave Dr. Karev the justification to fake the chart and preform the surgery.  

Grey’s Anatomy S13 E22

Grey’s Anatomy is a television show that has been running for fifteen seasons now and every episode faces a different ethical dilemma. This show has faced everything from cyber hacking of the hospital, to deaths due to wrongdoings, to breaking laws to save a person’s life. The episode I decided to look at is the episode that Alex Karev, the pediatrics attending at Grey Sloan hospital, and Stephanie Edwards, a resident at Grey Sloan hospital, must decide whether to help a child that comes into the emergency room or let him die because of his parents wishes. The child came into the emergency room without his parents and when Dr. Karev is talking to him he begins to have a seizure. After the seizure, they were able to determine that the boy had a brain tumor and would need surgery to remove it and save his life. His parents decide that the surgery would not be performed on their child and that if God wanted him to get better then he would. This left Dr. Karev with no other choice even though he did not agree with the parent’s decision since he would need consent to perform the surgery. The next day, the boy comes back to the emergency room again deciding he wanted to take his health in his own hands. This is where Dr. Karev is faced with the ethical issue. He decides to fake the chart saying that the boy had had another seizure, so he could perform the brain surgery without parental consent since it would be considered an emergency. When the parents came to get their son, the mother was thankful, but the father was threatening to sue the hospital and Dr. Karev could be sent to jail for performing the surgery without consent. The ethical decision Dr. Karev had to make was to listen to the parents wishes because of their religion and let the boy die or perform the surgery that the boy wanted to save his life but break the law to do so. In the end, Dr. Karev decided to put the boy’s life over the ethical issues presented.

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I also agree that it is unethical for the tobacco company to completely ignore recent medical research pointing to the adverse health effects that their products cause in pursuit of profit. If everyone actually loves smoking to much to care as the bartender suggests, than including the information found in this new study will only serve to educate consumers and should not negatively effect their profits. 

Mad Men, Season 1, Episode 1 “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”

Although the first season of Madmen contains many office dilemmas overall, they happened most frequently in this episode. It all begins in 1960, at the prominent advertising firm, Sterling Cooper in Manhattan, New York. The term “mad men” itself was inspired by the advertising executives on Madison Avenue, due to their money-hungry, corrupt, and unethical advances.

Don Draper, the chief advertising executive of Sterling Cooper is faced with the task of advertising a cigarette brand, Lucky Strike, despite new medical research showing tobacco’s correlation with lung cancer. He goes to a bar and observes the lives of everyone around him - everyone is seen to be smoking with their companions. He attempted to convince the bartender to switch to his smoking his brand and asking him what he thinks of the new medical research. The bartender maintains that it is a silly article posted in a magazine that only women read (as women were unethically treated as inferior), and that everyone loves smoking too much to care. 

There is a central ethical dilemma between utility and the right to live. Although all executives wish to ignore it, there are medical risks that endanger the lives of the consumers they target, while utilitarianism would argue that the majority of Americans would prefer to keep smoking and enjoy the tobacco company’s cigarettes. Rights of life and health take precedence over utility, but since the executives are corrupt, they are more inclined to look for a new slogan that will distract consumers and motivate them to buy Lucky Strike. The implication that Americans secretly have a death wish, was changed to make a new tagline “It’s toasted!” which was very successful for the brand at the end, the breach in ethics continued.

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Lone Star Law: S03E10 Poachers and Liars 

In this episode, Game Wardens from multiple county’s in Texas are shown reinforcing the professional ethics of their position through their handling of a variety of different situations. In one of the situations, the wardens drive by a vehicle with several crab traps in the bed of the truck. Since it is illegal to own these kinds of traps without the proper licenses which must be displayed on the back of the vehicle as required by Texas law, the officers decided to pull over the truck. When the driver steps out of the car, the officers smell marijuana and upon a further search they find a small amount of the illegal drug. The wardens tell the man what they have found, and the man responds saying he is a hard-working family man with five children who made a mistake. He asks the wardens to cut him some slack. After taking this into account the wardens decide to charge the man with possession of drug paraphernalia which is a lesser charge than possession of marijuana. 

The officers face an ethical dilemma when deciding how severely they should charge the crabber. On one hand, it is their responsibility as officers of the law to convict wrong doers for the crimes that they commit. However, while laws exist for a reason, not every person who violates the law deserves to be punished equally. In this case, there are several considerations that needed to be made. One of which being, how a drug possession charge would affect the man’s family in the long term. 

In my opinion, the wardens made the right choice. By deciding to charge the man with a lesser charge they ensured that he was accountable for his actions, while lessoning the devastation to his family.