Ishmael Discussion/ Reflection #2

I found the reading in chapter 8 is very confusing. I have to read it many times in order to find out what are the message they want to convey. The last paragraph in section 6 confused me the most: "In brief, human settlement isn't against the lasws of competition, it's subject to the lasws of competition." So is it saying the the law itself made humans to establish settlement that will grow bigger and bigger and eventually come to a point that the humans are destroying the world?!

Competition is happening in not just humans but also animals, so why don't the animals dominate? Why can't some other species be the Takers and act like what the humans are doing now? When I was reading this paragraph, I relates to what Ishmael said earlier that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with humans.

The class discussion last Friday about "we should only take what we need, and leave the rest to others" is related to our GEI class. In GEI class, we are talking about if there's any ways to maintain a better lifestyle even if we reduced the ecological footprints. The solution I came up with that question was "take only the amount you need". If we only take what we need, then we are able to maintain the sustainability of this whole community and have a peaceful relation with the nature, the animals, and even the whole "planet".

High Cost of Low Price - reflection

At first when I heard we are going to watch a film about how Walmarts are effecting the whole consumer population, I wasn’t very interested; because I thought the only effect Walmart is bringing to the society is that they threatened shops to close down. After I watch the film, I found very surprising that Walmart is affecting not just other competent but also the whole economy, society, and the labor system.
It is very sad to see how the people who worked there often don’t get the salary as they were promised, they have to work overtime, and some of the workers are even locked inside the market. They’ve sacrificed so many and time working for Walmart things but Walmart gives no return or whatsoever back to them. I was angry by the fact that none of the people in the Walmart’s leadership stood up and be responsible for the water contamination they made and they really wants to commit what they’ve done.
The part that I had the most impression on is the young Chinese girl who worked in a factory for making products that sells to Walmart. What shocked me the most is that, the situation of cheap labors and workers having unfair working and living condition has once occurred in Industrial Revolution in the US and Eastern Europe, and now, it is happening in China. In China, there are still so many people work for long hours and are forced to live in a tiny crowded department. China had just begun their industrial development in recent years. I personally do not want to see any tragedy that occurred during Industrial Revolution (around 18th and early 19th) to occur in the 21 century again. Not just the pollution China is making that contributes to the disruption of this world but also the cheap labor system they are using now may cause harm to their people, environment, and economy. Therefore, indeed we must do something to stop potential problem Walmat may cause, not just for the economy and environment, but also the humanity.