The Underlying Effect of Watching Movies

Movies have invaded our homes. A first glance to this fact may not cause one to be alarmed, for what can a silly movie do against us? This is the conventional thinking of almost everybody, until studies were made regarding the effects of watching movies to people. Most of our homes own a CD or DVD player and every household watch an average of 2-3 movies a week, and that doesn’t include TV series and soap operas that are being aired everyday on television. At this rate we’re going, it is only natural that this habit would have a considerable impact on our lifestyle and culture.

Movies serve well in the form of documentaries, because they serve as a source of information. But other than that, it’s all entertainment which is probably the worst of its kind. Regular movies tend to singularly focus on a particular or very few characters and have very little to say on the effect to other characters and their families affected by the actions of those in the starring role. Have you ever wondered what will be the reaction of the wife, the children, or families of those bad guys killed by the flashy guy on the lead role? Movies certainly do not show that, which brings me to a conclusion on just how bias movies can be.

One notable effect of watching movies is; it force people’s creativity to go into hibernation at a certain level. Unlike reading a novel where the reader’s imagination is actually the one supplying the sceneries, the costumes, verbal and non verbal reactions; a movie has already determined them, and the whole direction has already fixed for us what should be there to see, all we have to do is sit back and enjoy. It won’t need the movie goers’ imagination to process those details; the film makers have already resolved that for them. In short, what we actually see in movies are the unspoken opinions of the filmmakers, their views regarding a particular script or story. Actually there’s nothing wrong with that; after all, an artistic interpretation is what wins awards and appreciation of critics and patrons alike. But the real danger lies when people accepted their views as facts, and let those “facts” influence their decisions and actions. Let us remember that majority of movies commercially available are full of immorality, violence and lies. As a result, we are being exposed to a lot of garbage which our minds tend to adopt.

This reminds me of a sermon I heard; the preacher use the Lord Jesus as the perfect example of what kind of mind can be developed into someone whose daily toils and nature’s lessons are his teacher. Maybe we have overlooked this fact, we have the greatest natural library and it’s all around us. We can learn a great deal about our nature, as well as our Creator through his creations; and by doing so, maybe we can learn to love and value our environment.

Plastics: Here, There and Everywhere

What was once thought as a bright invention, is now causing a major concern not only from environmentalists but from almost every waste management bodies in the world. I am talking about man’s discovery of plastics and its current threat to our environment. There is no doubt that plastics are very useful to people because of its durable and light property; they made up more than 50% of products we use at our homes, from containers, furnitures, home appliances, electronic gadgets and even our cars. According to businessmen who manufacture plastic products, “it’s easier and cheaper to mold products from plastics than from wood or metals”, this refers to the malleability of plastic to be cast, pressed, and extruded into variety of shapes. Plastics can also be recycled, giving the assurance of sustainability of raw materials for future plastic needs.

Environmental Issues

Plastics are durable and degrade very slowly; the molecular bonds that make plastic so durable make it equally resistant to natural processes of degradation. It is estimated that an ordinary plastic product will take about one hundred to a thousand years to degrade, and at the rate we are producing plastic products, it would have covered our entire planet many times over before we can even see the first batch of them degrade back into a biomaterial. Critical to this present generation is how to address the piling garbage mostly made up of discarded plastic products; another is the health hazards that they pose on human beings and other living organisms on this planet. Manufacturing of plastics often creates large quantities of chemical pollutants while burning them can release toxic fumes, this is the reason why incinerators were never considered as a solution to the plastic garbage problem. At present, there is no full proof solution yet discovered for the plastic garbage menace, what we can do right now is to abstain or regulate its use.

Our Role

Environmental organizations such as the Green Peace are admonishing governments to regulate the production of plastic products; they are pushing the use of substitute materials for products that can dispense with plastics, so as not to aggravate our present problem with plastic wastes. Our world does not belong only to us; it also belongs to our children, our children’s children, and the next generations to come. So let us preserve and protect it with utmost care, we can start now by practicing the least at our very homes. Are you willing to consider this advocacy the next time you buy your groceries?

Sign of the Times: Earthquakes Are Getting Stronger and More Frequent?

First it was Haiti, then Chile; two devastating earthquakes that occurred both on the first quarter of 2010. Only less than two (2) months apart, these two earthquakes measuring magnitudes of 7.0 and 8.8 on the Richter Scale respectively, surpassed the record of the past decade, in terms of number of deaths and damage to infrastructure. In Haiti alone, about a quarter of a million is the estimate for human death casualties, less than half a million were injured, and about a million families were left homeless.

Earthquakes as we all know is a natural occurrence, these involve movements on the earth’s crust as a result of our earth’s effort to relieve itself from pressure. The epicenter of the earthquake registers the strongest magnitude, and usually is more fatal inland. The area where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur is called the “Pacific Ring of Fire”; it is a horseshoe shape region that stretches 40,000 kilometers in the pacific, and home to about 452 active and dormant volcanoes. About 80-90 percent of the world’s strongest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.

According to the records of earthquakes registered during the last one hundred years, the earthquakes that occurred during the last twenty years are more frequent and stronger. Some are attributing this to the sad state of our world especially of its environment. Mother Earth, they say is now exhibiting signs of wear and tear, and humans are largely to be blame for this; we have over exploited her resources and severely damaged the very environment that sustains us. Most of the environmental issues that we are facing today are man-made, but the efforts we are exhausting that should solve them are not being seriously taken.

Many believe that the sad state of our world is irreversible, that the only direction it is headed is from bad to worst. We can’t help but remember what the Bible is telling us regarding what occurrences there will be before the coming of the Lord. Probably, in the mind of God; He values the lives of His creatures and this planet; that He will make sure to be here to save us and our world, before we destroy ourselves and our home. Have you made yourself ready for the worst?