Papers and Other Writings

Public Speaking: Current Issues Speech

Title: Overpopulation 

General Purpose:  Give the facts about overpopulation.

Specific Purpose:  Present factual and current information on overpopulation and ways that can help fix the problem and how we really shouldn’t worry too much about it.  

Thesis Statement:  In my more recent Geography courses, we’ve discussed overpopulation and the many issues that surround it.  In my own research I have learned that although it is a very negative thing and needs to be regulated, it is not something that I believe needs to be number one on the list of problems to tackle.  

Introduction:  The United Nations estimates 1 week, the Census Bureau puts it in March sometime, but either way the world is hitting a milestone of 7 billion people.  The first billion was slow to happen and took until the early 1800s.  The second billion took another 120 or so years, we reached three billion in 1959, four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, and six billion in 1998.  Now it’s 2011 and we’ve reached 7 billion and by the end of the 21^st century we are expected to add another three billion.  This is all happening during our life time as well.  We will be in out mid to late 50’s by the time the world population is expected to reach 10 billion.

Body:  Let’s back track a little…

• Thomas Malthus, was an English Clergy man and one of the first advocators for population control.  
• He published is Theory in 1798 in a pamphlet called “An Essay on the Principle of Population.”  In it he stated that “population would inevitably exhaust food supplies.”  To fix this problem he wanted to limit human reproduction among the poor.
• People today who share Malthus’s perspectives are called Neo-Malthusians and predict a population doomsday.  Basically, growing human populations with their potential to exhaust Earth’s resources pose the most dangerous threat to the environment.  
• These beliefs do have some truths behind them.  We humans are depleting natural resources like water, forests, and extinction of plant and animal species.  We are polluting the air, water, and soil, which effects the food that we eat.  If we continue to destroy these resources that we need to survive it could be very possible that there will be another plague or wars over the resources, which would have major affects on the world population.  

Coming back to the here and now…

• The average number of children in 1950 was 5, it’s now 2.5.  It’s good that this number has gone down, but the population is still rising because those 2.5 adults are having 2.5 children each.  
• The world’s growth rate has dropped from 2.2% in the 1960’s to 1.1%.
• There are more than 800million people worldwide that live in slums, so it comes as no surprise that in 2008 there were 33 million unplanned pregnancies, most likely from a lack of education and family-planning recourses in these poor people’s lives.  
• Having both men and women educated on birth control and the choices to use them or not has been successful in many countries, especially to those living on the island of Mauritius which in 24 years (1962-1986) has lowered their total fertility rate from 5.8-1.9.  
• Although contraceptives give men and women choice, in some countries they still choose to have more children.  Niger has had free contraceptives since 2002.  In 2006 women, who marry at age 15, wanted 10 children.  In 2010 women wanted 7 children.  This goes to show that to decrease population more needs to be done then just handing out contraceptives.
• Some countries create laws to regulate family size, like China, and this works for them but in America there would be another revolutionary war if our government started to tell us how many children to have.
• A more drastic approach to population control is compulsory sterilization, which countries like Sweden, Puerto Rico, Germany, and India have tried, but it doesn’t seem to work too well.
• Education seems to be the best route in lowering population.  Countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Cuba have lowered their birth rates through increasing access to social resources such as health care and education, particularly for women.  
• Globally, women who have access to education and employment tend to have fewer children because they have less of a need for the economic security and social recognition that children are thought to have, especially in poor countries.  For instance, women from Senegal with no education have an average of 7 children.  A woman with 10 years of education have an average of 3.6 children.  

Industrialization of countries:

• The Demographic Transition Theory
• Graphs

Conclusion:  According to the United Nations current data, the world populations will peak in 25 years (2036), but after it peaks it will start to go down and by the end of the century we’ll be losing 1 billion people every 20 years.  This year we hit 7 billion and in 75 more years we’ll hit it again.  

The Traveling Glass Artist

Unlike their fellow glass artist at the Worcester Center for Crafts Glass Studio Caitlin Vitalo, who likes to make intricate glass art to be on display, Eric Cruze and his wife Tomoko (Tomo for short) make vessels. Vitalo explains these to be “function glass pieces; like bowls, glass cups, or ornaments.”    

       The beginning of the interview took place in Cruze’s very small and crowded office, if you could call it that.  It was a room that was more like a closet; he had a table showing his current projects, a wall of shelves that jutted out into the limited walking space full of glass pulled into rod like shapes.  In the corner there was an odd machine humming away, spinning and mixing what looked like dirty water used to rinse a paint brush.   

       “I don't have a specific process when designing, although I go through a similar process, starting with an idea about the material, and then integrating function and form,” said Cruze. His process seems simple; he heats the glass, then pulls it and adds color as he pulls.  Once the glass has the desired look, he and his wife break it into smaller rods that are then allowed to cool.  Later on he will reheat these rods and mold them into the vessel he wants to make.   

       Vitalo stated that Cruze is a “very clean, precise, and hard worker.”  An example of this work is a fairly simple looking bowl with an orange color in a honey comb design.  The glass was exactly like Vitalo explained it, clean, but precisely made; it had a clear vision and such a simple and organic look that it would look good in any nature lovers home.  This particular honey comb bowl would go for $500.  Cruze explained that the glass industry is expensive, and the more you add to it the more it costs.  

       As a young adult, Cruze went to Virginia Technical College to become an architect.  After years of working as an architect he became discouraged.  He did not enjoy the constraints and lack of freedom involved with his job; so he started to take classes in glass art and never looked back.  With his new passion, he first travelled to the Czech Republic “because of their long tradition with glassmaking,” he said.  It is a place where he believed he could receive more training in the art of glass making.  The Czech Republic was also where he met, and fell in love with, Tomo.    

       At one point, Cruze and his wife were given the chance to teach glass work in Gifu, Japan, for a year, which they accepted.  “The Japanese students were excellent - serious, thorough, respectful,” he said.  Cruze and his wife moved back to America not too long ago to “set up our studio, and start our production lines of glass tableware, lighting and jewelry,” he said.   Although Cruze is happy here he and his wife plan on moving back to Japan in the future.     

       The studio that Cruze and his wife own is in New Hampshire, and it’s very small.  It does not have all the bells-and-whistles needed for their work.  So he has to also work out of the Worcester Center for Crafts Glass Studio, but this can be costly. Cruze and Tomo are paid for the time spent helping out and teaching at the Glass Studio or Craft Center; this money is almost always put toward renting studio time.  In a way, then, the glass studio is more like a co-op for Cruze and his wife; they donate their time and in return receive studio time for their craft.  

At one point while talking with Vitalo, she said that Cruze is, “The nicest person at the studio and a really great guy.”  It’s true he may be quiet and not very outspoken, but Cruze is driven and has a goal in mind.  He knows what he’s doing and where he’s going, but again he is not your average glass artist; He molds and shapes the glass instead of blowing it, he has only recently started a production line to sell his work, and he has travelled around the world to study and teach his trade.  Cruze truly believes in himself; as artist and a teacher and anyone who has the pleasure of talking to or learning from him will not only learn the beauty of glass art, but that it is never too late to start over and follow your dream.    

Contact Information:  
Eric Cruze - E_cruze@yahoo.com 
Caitlin Vitalo - cvitalo@gmail.com