Texas Blog One- Child Poverty Commentary

Darius Phillips, a fellow classmate of mine, recently published a blog entitled "Blog 7".  In it he described that the amount of impoverished children in this state has increased, specifically from 2000 to 2011 47 percent.  Phillips suggests that the reason why Texas has so many poor children is because of  its high unemployment rate,  and ultimately because the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.  At the very end of his post, he suggests that raising the minimum wage will not work.  My question to him  is...why not?  The minimum wage needs desperately to be raised.  It does not support the cost of living even a little bit.  Just because someone has to rely on a labor job paying minimum wage does not mean they do not deserve to live.  What we are seeing here in Texas is an increase in those that are uneducated with children and  therefore holding minimum wage jobs.  If this is the reality Texas has to adjust to, then raising their pay is the only way this state will survive in the big game of economy.  A good post for sure, but I intrigue Mr. Phillips to rethink his stance on the minimum wage.  Also I'm no one to talk really but use spell check next time. ;) No real big deal though, the reader still understands the message.

It's been a great semester, I hope the best for all of you!  This blog has now come to its conclusion. Fin.

Find his post here.

Going Green?

Austin likes to pride itself on its environmentally-friendly atmosphere and way of life.  However, a quick look around the city reveals many flaws within the city's productive use of energy and water.  For instance, our city's sprinkler systems for areas like dog parks and walking trails need serious rethinking.  It is true Texas's weather patterns are weird and unpredictable, therefore so are Austin's, but it is a failure on the part of the local government when more than half of the water coming out of the sprinkler head goes directly onto the street and dried up by the sun.  Our drought has gotten significantly better with the great, productive weather we've  been having, but that doesn't mean we as Austinites get to sit back and abuse our resources.  Such an example is exactly what I've seen personally at a dog park not far from my house.

I work in a big shopping area that contains a Whole Foods, Taco Cabana, and the like.  It experiences much traffic throughout the day.  However, the only place to recycle/ compost in this huge shopping area is Whole  Foods.  Everywhere else simply just has a trash can.  I can't even start to think about the shopping areas that don't have a Whole Foods in it and how much they waste in plastic a day.  For even where I work with a Whole Foods located near by, water bottles and coke cans are thrown continuously in the garbage.  So far, what I've heard from our local and  state leaders on these  sorts of issues is that it takes a lot of time and money to go as green as we need to be.  But we're Austin, aren't we?  Aren't we quite a bit...different than the rest of  Texas?   Why can't we lead this state in environmentally friendly establishments like we seem so inclined to want to do?

All in all, Austin is a wonderful city and I am very glad I was born and raised in it.  But it's about time we take a serious look in how we treat our environment.