Local Gainesville Tour Guide + Entrepreneur: LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES?

I don't consider myself an avid news reader, given my paranoia and general distrust for media, but I decided to look through my grandma's favorite newspaper and find some interesting stories that could be potential problems for me to solve.

1) David Godwin: Prescribed fire cultivates healthy landscapes

https://infoweb-newsbank-com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F17112F8D46BC2EA0

What's being said here is basically an opinion piece that controlled fires in the state of Florida will cultivate healthy ecosystems the same way rain flourishes life in the rain forests. I believe the problem being presented here is that regulated fire as a system of aiding the ecosystem is either in danger or suffering from a social stigma due to ignorance of the public. This is a problem that affects all of us living here in Florida, and should something radically change it could spell disaster for our home.

2) Incumbent judges not often challenged in elections

This is an interesting piece on local elections for the judicial system, looking at the trend of long-time, incumbent judges and how usually they manage to run unopposed or with little resistance. This is because most other local attorneys risk bad publicity and broken relationships in the community, and so generally they wait for the state-mandated retirement age for these judges. Basically the problem could arise from this is that the older judges, while still popular in their communities, they often do not rank highly in the categories of "listening to newer legal problems" and "treating all with equal courtesy". This problem could affect the younger generations who are facing problems that are brand new to this world, problems that likely older generations will not be patient to listen to.

3) Editorial: Stop the use of shady political tactics

Given the midterms and the 2016 Presidential election I would think most Americans are familiar with the kind of brutal conflicts that can arise from these political games. The article goes into some extremely amoral political tactics that went on during the midterm elections in Florida, including false claims, ads paid for and not run, and using odd forms of accounting and money moving to hide the original donors for certain campaigns. This problem in today's political climate has only worsened everyone's faith in the political system, and as such many people (including myself) do not partake in voting or any form of active involvement in the government. Some people view this as a threat to our stability as a country, which, to some, is bad.

4) Megan Hendricks: It's time to get serious about Florida's teacher shortage

In the article it is stated that state of Florida is struggling to keep its teacher count afloat, due to several reasons including enforced standardized testing, low teacher pay, and the rising responsibilities of the job. The problem here is that teachers are the foundation of all other professions and forms of education; without enough properly-trained teachers to educate each generation of children, there will be suffering in all fields overall. This problem affects mostly the children of Florida who will be faced with struggling schools and poor education as well as teachers who have to carry more weight to deliver education to these children.

5) Ella Bennett and Sami Gattshall: Keep our classmates from getting addicted to nicotine

According to this article (written by students currently in high school), 95% of all smokers started before the age of 21, and they are seeing this as more and more students pick up on new vaping products that could lead to nicotine addiction at a young age. Apparently some people think this is a problem. Anyway, many people find that the marketing techniques and flavors of these nicotine products are targeting younger audiences and victimizing them to the downfalls of using nicotine. Young high school students who use these products are really being targeted for this problem, specifically.

5 comments:

Chien Ting LanJanuary 22, 2019 at 12:09 PM
Hi! I very much agree with your third point., I believe that many countries have this issue. For instance, in my country, on the days before the election, we will always see how all parties are framing or attacking each other. These things have continued to happen from the past to the present. I think that these things will not be changed…
Megan's MinutesJanuary 26, 2019 at 1:01 PM
Point 4 about the shortage of teachers is so heartbreaking, My grandmother was a teacher for 20 years and nearly all of my friends here at UF are studying education. People don't really know just how much teachers do for all of their students until they are put in their shoes. I hope in the future the number of teachers increases.
Tiffany LuongJanuary 27, 2019 at 8:11 PM
Hi, I really liked that you included shady political tactics. I think seeing the opportunity from prior experience of the 2016 election is important and now using that information to then apply it into present and local opportunities. It's very important to pursue opportunities like this so that we can create a better environment around the political world and increasing numbers of participants.
Lisa CooperJanuary 28, 2019 at 9:46 AM
Point number 5, about the young kids and nicotine, is obviously an important thing to think about. However, I believe there are many movements out there about this already. They start teaching drug awareness at quite a young age so I'm not sure what else could be done? Maybe that's a reason to focus on it though! You could also speak about the rising problem of vapes.
Santino MiozziJanuary 28, 2019 at 10:43 AM
Hey I love all your points, but especially the one about shady politic tactics. It is essential to talk and argue about the structures use now a days by politicians and their way to get to the top. They are using anything they can just to fulfill their goals and not paying attention to peopl's need, it has become more of a game than a real career.

Monday, January 21, 2019

LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES?

5 comments: