- A Price Too High
1. It seems counterintuitive that people support nuclear power to counteract global warming, but fail to see the cost in both safety and budget concerns. Nuclear power, as efficient and safe as it is, still arises concerns with it being built close to cities and towns. The massive 9.0 earthquake that happened in Japan, led to a nuclear meltdown in one of its plants. These natural disasters could easily trigger a meltdown in the United States, and have in the past led to plant shutdowns due to safety concerns. The waste product from these plants are not very environmentally friendly either. When plant officials are questioned on how the waste is disposed, they often try to avoid the question. Not to mention the cost to build these plants, as nuclear power plants are quite expensive to build. Not only that, but ratepayers will have to pay for the rediculious cost-overruns, which today totals up to 200 billion dollars from previous plants. As great as reducing CO2 emissions would be, nuclear power might not be the best answer.
2. Polio Vaccination Campaign
2. It seems counterintuitive that Northern Nigeria denied the polio vaccine when its one of the most infected areas in Africa. In 2003, three states in Nigeria boycotted the GPEI immunization campaign to eradicate polio. Due to the political powers in Nigeria at the time, vaccination was abruptly silenced. There reasoning was that the vaccines had contained carcinogenic agents and parents should not let their kids get vaccinated. The Governors even got political figues to get up and speak about how America is corrupt and trying to mess with the vaccines. Some of the reasons Nigeria showed little support for vaccination could be due to its low health care utilization rates. In 2003, their ultilization rate was about 8% in Southern Nigeria. At the time, a majority of control over health care was led by each state government. Northern Nigeria was colonized by Islamic Jihadists, and the South Nigeria was colonized by Britain. The differences between southern government and northern government caused issues, as their attitudes toward medicine were vastly different. The Trovan Trial, a drug in the past the brought up how western health intervention was using unethical means, testing new drugs on patients. This led to people dying due to dangerous means of vaccination. Nigeria had its concerns, and there was nothing that the GPEI could do about it.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1831725/
3. Is Walmart Really Going Organic and Local?
3. It seems counterintuitive that walmart is claiming to go Organic and Local when it can’t even sufficiently supply its stores from local farms. Because walmart is such a large business, going local and organic is hard to do. Walmart makes up about 18% of all grocery sales in the United States. When questioned about which farms walmart gets its local produce from, the response led to other ideas. The three farms, located in North Carolina, Washington, and Arkansas, are non-organic. In order for walmart to become organic, it would have to buy from smaller farms at a higher price, and these farms could’nt fill the demand walmart requires. Walmart is not a charity, it is a business, therefore i’m doubtful it will spend more money and go through the hassle of buying from local farms. Walmart will continue to sell its produce, however they will continue to make a profit. So next time you go to the store and look for organic food, you might not be getting exactly what you asked for.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/03/walmart-groceries-organic-local-food-deserts/
Rowan Counterintuitive 