The Ethics of Consumer Goods

I went to a Rose Cafe last week where we met with the CEO of Sun Coffee Roasters and we talked about the initiatives his company has been taking to make sure that the coffee farmers are paid fairly. He also mentioned that his company advocates for building schools for the children of the farmers that the company buys their coffee from. I think what Sun Coffee is doing is a really great thing and more companies should follow their lead. A lot of our products come from overseas, and a lot of those overseas workers aren’t treated very well. There have been reported cases of child labor, unsafe working conditions, and workers getting paid very little– some pennies a day. I think that we need to realize that we are very fortunate to live in a country with good labour laws, and do our part to ensure that everyone around the world also is treated fairly and safely. There are already a lot of companies that promise that they treat their workers fairly and ensure safe working habits. The one issue with this is that their products often cost more than their competitors because of the increase in operating costs. Many people might only look at the cost of a product before they buy it, rather than think about where it came from, and depending on their circumstances, it might be hard for them to afford the more expensive, but more ethical product. This is a major problem, but if we can get more people who can afford the more ethical product to buy it, then maybe we’ll be able to raise safety standards for consumer products worldwide

The Psychology of Torture

Last week I went to a Rose Cafe where we talked about torture in SE Asia. I think that torture is wrong because of moral reasons. A comment was made that torture was mostly likely to occur in places that had an insurgency because the groups engaged in “us vs them” thinking. This made me think of the psych classes I’ve taken over the years where we talked about how normal people can do terrible things. For example, in the famous Milgram study, a majority of participants gave lethal shocks to other “subjects” when they answered questions incorrectly. No one was physically harmed in this study because the “subjects” were compatriots of the researcher, and no actual shocks were given. The participants, who were all normal, average people, believed that they were giving lethal shocks though. This study revealed that even average people can do terrible things in the right situations. It showed that the situation has a greater effect on how a person will react than the person’s personality. That may be one reason why many people who are facing an insurgency may engage in torture. Again, I think that torture is morally wrong, and should not be done under any circumstances, but using some key elements from psychology may help us understand why and how normal people can do such terrible things.

The Rose Scholars Program

Last week I attended a Rose Cafe where we talked about the Rose Scholars Program. Dr. Hill asked us to reflect on the last year and to think of the things that we liked/didn’t like. I’m really happy that I decided to apply to be a Rose Scholar because I learned a lot of things that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I went to Rose Cafes that were about topics such as Cornell Dining, the Cornell tennis team, Flora Rose, Human Ecology etc. I really learned more about the University, and I think that being a part of this program has enhanced my time at Cornell.

One suggestion that I have for next year is to have more science/ math speakers come in for the Rose Cafes. A lot of the speakers have been in economics and liberal arts, and I think that it would be interesting to have a Physics professor come in and give a basic rundown of some of the more interesting parts of physics/ their research. A  lot of people do research here on campus, and I think it would be interesting if we could get a couple of speakers to talk about what they’re doing so that we not only know more about their subject, but also so that we’re more aware on what’s going on on campus. I think that a lot of people, myself included, live in a bubble where they only things that are going on in their major, so I think that it would be beneficial to learn more about the Cornell community at large.

The Transatlantic Series: Creating Peace

I went to a Rose Cafe where I learned about the Transatlantic Series, which is a track and field competition between members of the Ivy League and Oxford and Cambridge. I learned that the Series was the first “international” athletic competition that the US participated in. While looking through the pictures of the competition in the past, it occurred to me how cultural exchange between countries helps prevent conflict. If two cultures understand each other better, then they are less likely to fight with each other. Competitions like the Transatlantic Series and the Olympics create good will between countries, and they also give people an outlet to show national pride that isn’t war, for example, cheering on your team. In recent years there has been less conflict in the world than there has been previously, and I think that that is due to globalization. As people, food, ideas, and sports migrate between countries, people not only understand each other better, a global culture starts to appear. That’s why I think that international athletic competitions are good for world peace, and I’m really happy that I got to learn more about the first international competition that the US participated in

Brazil: A Diverse Country

I went to a Rose Cafe last Wednesday where we learned more about Brazil. The speaker spoke about the diverse climate in Brazil, from beaches to wetlands. This really surprised me because I thought that the majority of Brazil was rainforest. The speaker also talked about how the president recently got impeached, and that when I realized that I really did not know much about Brazil. It’s one of the biggest countries in the world, so it was a bit startling to realize how little I knew about it. I remember very briefly going over South America in 9th grade, but we spent 2 weeks talking about the entire continent. And now in college, as a science major, there really wasn’t any reason to take a class about South America or Brazil. It can be hard to teach students everything about the world, and the education system has to pick which pieces of information to cut. I really enjoyed going to this talk because I learned a little bit more about life in Brazil. I appreciate these Rose Cafes because I get to learn some things about the world that I wouldn’t have know otherwise.

Mad Max: A Mixed Bag

Last Friday, I went to go see Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome. I had heard a lot of good things about the Max Max franchise, so I was expecting great things. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the movie as much as I though I would. It was a post-apocolytic action film, so that might have had something to do with it. I don’t particularly like action films. The writers tried to make the violence humorous but I did not find it very humorous. But, compared to the other action movies that I’ve seen, this was one of the better ones. I did enjoy the character “Master”. He was quite funny. I really found it sad when “Blaster” was killed. He was mentally challenged and I really don’t think that he should have been killed. I’m glad that I went to go see Mad Max because now I know why a lot of people enjoy the movie.

Different Kinds of Fats

I went to a Rose Cafe where I learned about fats. One thing that I found really interested is that one of the reasons that some fats are preferred over others is because governments promote different kinds of fats. For example, the Malaysian government promotes the consumption of palm oil both domestically and abroad because they are one of the world’s largest producers of palm oil. Countries like Malaysia spend a lot of time and money to get us to consume, for example, palm oil over canola. Due to these different viewpoints, there is a lot of conflicting research about which types of fats are good, and just because something is considered to be healthy now, does not mean that it will remain that way in the future.

Before going to this talk I really didn’t think about the different kinds of fats. I tried to avoid saturated and trans fat, but besides that I really didn’t consider where I was getting my fat from. I think that because there is a lot of conflicting information out there, it’s hard to determine conclusively whether one kind of fat is better than another. I believe that the best thing to do might be to eat the different kinds of fats in moderation.

The American Diet

On Wednesday I went to a Rose Cafe where we talked about food during the Great Depression. One thing that stood out to me was that back in those times food scientists recommended a bland diet. They claimed that food that tasted good was bad for your health and should be avoided. I can see how they would think that, considering that they didn’t have much knowledge about nutrition. Food with an excess of sugar, or carbohydrates, or fats can taste good, and eating too much of it is not healthy.  Remnants of that philosophy can still be seen in American food today. Compared with the cuisine of other countries, American food doesn’t contain a lot of spices. I remember that when I had friends over for dinner back home, they would often say that our food was too spicy, even though my mom made an effort to make it more mild when my friends came over. Now that I live on campus and eat dining hall food everyday, when I go back home, I can see what my friends were complaining about. I can’t handle spicy food as well as I used to be able to, and my mom has to make an effort to make my food more mild now!

What I want from Life

Today I went to a Rose Cafe where Dr. Hill asked us to think about some goals that we might have that aren’t purely professional in nature. One of my goals is to travel to as many places as I can. I’ve been really lucky because my parents love to travel and take me on adventures with them, and I want to continue traveling as I get older. One thing that I love about traveling is that you get to see so many cultures. The US is a relatively new country; we don’t really have a lot of ancient ruins or palaces. It is so interesting to walk down a hall or road and think about all of the people who were standing where you are standing right now, but thousands of years ago. It’s almost like a window into the past, a glimpse of what life might have been like back then. Every country also has something unique  that you can’t find anywhere else, like the local flora and fauna, or authentic food, or ancient hidden cities. I really like traveling, and I hope to continue it in the future!

The Art of the Cover Letter

Today I went to a seminar where we talked about how to craft a cover letter. I’ve never needed a cover letter for anything that I’ve applied to, so what I really just wanted to get a basic idea about what you should put in a letter. It seems like the basic concept is just to elaborate on experiences that are especially relevant to the position. It doesn’t seem incredibly hard, and these tips will help me if I ever need to write if I ever need to write a cover letter. I’ve been really lucky that I’ve never needed a cover letter. All of the internships I’ve applied for needed a resume at the most. It is still really important to know how to write a cover letter or the future.

Women in Higher Education

Today I went to a Rose Cafe where we talked about Flora Rose and Martha Van Rensselaer. They were pretty important in advancing women’s education because they created a department, and then later, a school of home economics at Cornell at a time when very few women were lucky enough to get higher education. It is pretty easy to forget and not think about how different times were in the past. Back then, women had to rely on their husbands or fathers or other male relatives for everything. The women who attended Cornell must have been very brave to go to a college and get an education in home economics. Going to college certainly wasn’t the norm in those days as it is now, especially for women. I think that it’s really important that we remember these women and the work that they did. It is because of the advances made by these and other women that I am able to attend Cornell. It is because of their work that I have never been treated differently nor have I had opportunities denied to me purely because I am a woman. It is because of them that I am able to study topics that I’m interested in.