Luxury vs. Environment

Every family imagines of having a luxurious car like a Lexus, BMW, Mercezdes or an Audi. These luxury cars come with many benefits. Luxury car owners can drive down the street in style and have more options to their cars like touch-screen navigation, heated-seats, power-windows, and a bluetooth machine. Although driving in style is what many look for, these cars are far from being environment friendly, not to mention the money that goes into oil changes, and maintence checkups. With numbers reaching the high 3-4 dollars a tank, gas prices are now a highly discussed problem in modern society. As new technology, such as phones, internet, navigation start rolling in- people have now searched for a better way to save money and to help save the environment. The mass of the average personal vehicle in the U.S. has gone up 29% since 1987. There is a misconception based on a common assumption of: "heavier the car, the safer it must be". SUV's put out 43% more global-warming pollutants (28 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon of gas consumed) and 47% more air pollution than the average car. In life, many wrong turns always end up with a single right and that's where fuel-efficient cars were created.

Fuel-efficient cars are more costly, in the long run, however it can save gas money and it can also help the environment. For a person that drives long distances, fuel-efficient cars may be the answer to their gas price prayers. Companies like Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen take the lead in the top 10 fuel-efficient cars, if you're interested in buying one.
But times are changing, and many newer models are now equipped with fuel-economy computers that give information for the driver to do a better job in saving the environment. Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan and others are planning to add fuel-economy features to all new models in the next few years.

What's newer than a fuel efficient car? Now, there's a submarine car invented that was once never imaginable. So what's next? A car that can soar through the sky or a car that can launch into space? What newer inventions do you think will be likely to come next, and will they be successful in the long-run?

Is Globalization really flattening the playing field?

The commencement of globalization, its effects and adverse effects are something we have been reading in the book “The World is Flat” for the past few weeks now. The effects of globalization are something that we are learning about everyday from all the aspects of our life. How is globalization affecting the middle class? Is it making rich people richer and the poor poorer? It maybe collaborating and connecting people and companies around the world. But at the same time is it creating a social hierarchy of class more prominent? When you think about it computers and the usage of internet is so common in the world. It is used for almost everything. We are so dependent on internet. It has minimized the time we need to finish any job. Answers to our questions can be found at our finger tips with the help of an amazing piece of hardware called “mouse” and a search engine called “Google.” Literally all answers are found between the letters “g” and “e”. Sometimes I wonder how I/we ever lived without internet. It has made the global market a competitive market. This is the story of one side of the world. All though the usage of computers is fast spreading, there is a majority of the population who still don’t own a computer and some percentage who don’t even know how to use a computer. These people do not have an opportunity to compete in the global market. There are so many people who are being deprived of this opportunity. No doubt globalization is making people rich and economies stronger. What about the people who are not able to take advantage of this boom?

Is the fast paced growth of globalization, ever going to strike the balance between the economies of class? Is it having a positive effect on people? Is it making the existence of class system more prominent in the society?