A social issue that resonates with me most is teenage mental health. Mental health in all ages is a serious and important topic to discuss but younger ages around 10-19, nowadays are going through a lot more than teenagers a couple of years ago. Teenage mental health is a personal issue that is close to my heart because I have seen people close to me struggle with it. One of my closest friends was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and it has been very difficult for her and her family. She has been switching medications, going to different therapists trying to find the one that suits her best but it’s been trying on her. A few of my friends have been diagnosed with depression and have all been struggling with the burden of dealing with depression and trying to have a normal life. It may have been because of the pandemic or because teens are under a lot more stress. Most mental health issues start as young as 14 and so many people have similar symptoms they hardly realize that they are depressed or have anxiety, etc. Feeling anxiety and hopelessness have increased by over 70% in the last couple of years. Teenagers being in the unknown can lead to many more physical and mental problems as adults. I want to go more in-depth with the statistics and the most common mental health issues in teens. I also what to figure out the cause of why mental health has spiked so much in the last couple of years, what has changed to change the mental health of so many teenagers?

Texas Abortion Ban

In a majority decision, members of the Texas House of Representatives voted to pass the Texas Heartbeat Act. This act would ban abortions if a heartbeat is detected. A fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, at this point many women do not even know they are pregnant yet. This law does not exclude rape or incest victims which has also caused an uproar in protests. This act contributes to the ongoing conflict between pro choice and pro life protestors. This act will make it difficult for women to have a long enough time period to even decide whether they would want to move forward with an abortion or not.

As a woman, I feel it is vital to have the ability to decide what I choose to do with my body. Donna Howard, a member of the Texas House of Representatives stated, “we’re the ones that carry the babies. We’re the ones that raise those babies… this legislative should not dictating what we do with our bodies.” I absolutely agree with this. If a pregnant women does not feel that her financial and emotional state or living situation can provide a healthy environment for a child, abortion should be an available option. Another thing to consider are mothers who are pregnant with a fetus with severe birth effects. This is both an emotional and financial toll on the mother especially if there is a short life expectancy for the child. Abortion is not seen as a consistent form of birth control, it is an option for women to make if they feel it is best for both their life and the life of the fetus.

I want to know how will banning abortion effect the rates women who seek illegal and dangerous abortions to avoid this issue? Who is protecting victims of rape and incest? If women are forced to keep children they do not have the means to care for, will this increase the number of children entering the foster care system?

A social issue that continuously garners my interest is racial inequality and discrimination. It is no secret that racism has always been prevalent in America; this country was fundamentally established through slavery and white power. These discriminatory roots have trickled into modern society, with police brutality, denied services, and racially-motivated attacks being common occurrences. I believe that this is what interests me so much about this issue; it has withstood the test of time, just in different forms. Although blatant segregation and slavery are not present anymore, there is still racial discrimination present in social settings based on how people of color are treated, and even in professional settings like the workforce, where people of color statistically have a lower chance of getting hired compared to white people.

I have always found it difficult to actually grasp the concept of racism, because I do not understand how an uncontrollable physical feature could possibly affect someone else. However, I have realized that the issue of racism has turned into a political one, which has caused it to become a debatable topic and has enabled people to defend it in support of their political beliefs. For example, the Black Lives Matter movement was created to bring an end to police brutality, but quickly became a political debate when Donald Trump vocalized his disapproval of the protests. This resulted in the birth of “Blue Lives Matter,” which is supposed to demonstrate support for the police, but has really become a way to mute Black Lives Matter. This highlights why racism has remained so prevalent in society; there is always backlash that turns any improvement on the issue into an extreme argument, which is an interesting concept to me.

There is so much more that I would like to know about racial inequality, because the unfortunate truth is that different racial groups face a variety of challenges everyday due their skin color. I would like to learn about more of the smaller challenges that these groups face, because they are still challenges that should not exist, and even simply being educated on them is a positive step towards change.

As the daughter of a Mexican- American citizen, who was only 16 and 19-year-old immigrants that work hard to became American citizen, faced many challenges to come to the United States to give their children a better future, support their families, and have a better life for themselves, just like any other immigrant in the U.S. Even up to this day many people from different countries come to America for a better future. An example would be the people from Afghanistan, leaving their homes because of the war. Another example would be Mexicans leaving their homes because of poverty because they have to help their families, their children to have a better future. Not just Hispanics but people from different countries who immigrated to the U.S are criticized, being called immigrants, dangerous people, terrorists, being stereotyped for our looks, where we come from, or even from the way we speak and dress. The treatment these people have is unfair and disrespectful to them as humans/people, being locked up in cages treating them as animals because “they do not belong in this country”. This social issue has been going on for many years and has gone from building a wall around the U.S so no one would come in, to giving people visas to stay in the U.S to have a career for themselves. Going on a rollercoaster, reaching a point where there are changes being made but also failing to keep promised made by presidents/U.S government. Yet there are still people who are willing to stereotype these people and make them live in fear of going outside. Listening to different people’s stories to watching Tik Tok videos to tv series of people being harassed shows that people need to take stands. Just because they are not from the same country doesn’t mean that they are a different species and just because one person from that country committed a crime doesn’t mean everyone from that country is the same. I would want to know what ways we can show awareness to these immigrants, to let them know that there are people who can help them, that can be who they are and not hide from those who stereotype them.

Mental health is something that is not taken as serious as it should be within our youth and even adults. Many children fear speaking up to their parents because their parents have not created a safe environment for them which then creates emotionally closed off and isolated adults who do not express or know how to deal with emotions. This topic interests me so much because I’ve known and still know people who suffer from mental illnesses and mentality issues who are doing that suffering in silence. I can only do so much when it comes to helping but I truly believe that every parent and every school should focus heavily on raising these kids of the next generation in a healthy, nonjudgmental, safe environment to voice their feelings. I believe that this issue hits men and women slightly differently. I really cannot speak for women because I’m not one but as a man I see how it affects young boys and even sometimes still affects me where we’re seen as unemotional, cold, and strong all of the time. It’s not healthy for someone to be held up to that standard because its very robot-like. We all have feelings that we should be able to express but in todays society if you’re feeling any kind of way you need to “suck it up”, “stop being soft”, “stop being a bitch”. Theirs parents who tell their children today that “boys don’t cry” and that’s a terrible thing to raise a child on. That mindset becomes embedded in a boys head so that they shut off all emotion so that they do not feel or be seen as weak. When in reality feelings are normal and being vulnerable requires more strength than being silent.

                A social issue I want to discuss is the racial issue in America. Discrimination of race, color, and ethnicity has been going on for centuries and I want to explore more of why race is still an issue in 2021. It fascinates me that the discrimination of race is still a thing because African Americans have already lived through the pain of slavery and segregation, why let them suffer more? Even in law enforcement, there is racial injustice through the legal system and of course police brutality. There are many court cases in which African Americans are the people first accuse just cause of their skin color and the stereotype that comes with it. Police brutality has been an issue for a long time but, from the recent issue of the George Floyd situation, people have been standing up against police brutality. The recent black lives matter protest in 2021 was the biggest protest in America ever. We need to keep pushing/standing for equality and justice for black lives and I want to research more ways to help push for that. There are many ways to help push for equality, including media coverage, newspapers, magazines, social media, protests, etc. Even in your schools, you can help by opening up clubs and expanding on ideas on how to expand the idea of justice and equality for African Americans. Overall, African American justice/equality needs to be pushed more because if not, racial discrimination will continue and will never be able to make progress.

A social issue that I find interesting is mental illness and depression within the united states. As time progresses in our current day society, there are often issues that still persist even with the rise of present improvements such as technological innovation. Depression is a prime example as people often find themselves with a negative state of mind or suicidal tendencies that may lead them to take severe risks and even self-harm. This issue impacts me deeply as I had dealt with issues with depression in the past and am currently being associated with individuals who seem to be having their own difficult circumstances. Thus, it’s important to me as someone who was once in their situation to help out in any way I possibly can, whether it could be mental support or even just simply someone to talk to. So when taking this issue into consideration, I hope to learn more about how to help out others who may be facing difficulties of their own as much as I possibly can. Even if the action may be small, it still helps create a big impact as I might be able to brighten up someone else’s life for the better. Another example of something I want to learn more about is methods to essentially create support groups for people dealing with depression. This is a pretty big issue as not everyone has access to therapy and help such as the suicide helpline don’t really help much as there are instances where they provide no aid or help whatsoever. Thus, it’s important for me to learn about it so that one day I could aid in support groups and individuals with mental illnesses more efficiently. After all, we live in an age where essentially anything is possible if we put our minds to it. So it’s up to us, the current generation, to help give a helping hand no matter what that could possibly be.

An issue that I find significant in today’s society is mental health. People are often suffering in silence when they are not feeling well mentally, and it’s ok to not be ok. Mental health is not something that should be put last, we tend to forget about our mental health when we are trying to focus on so many things at once. I  find this topic interesting because I’ve noticed that we as a society aren’t mindful of what people are going through on a daily basis. This issue has only gotten worse with the inclusion of the Covid-19 pandemic. Being at home for a long period of time quarantining has had a serious impact on the world. It changed most of us in the long run because we had to refrain from any social events and gatherings. To add onto that, many students today are very overwhelmed because of the pressure that is on them in school and the tremendous amount of work that they are given. Students tend to lose sleep getting work done because it’s difficult to mange your time when there is so much work to get done. I am interested in this topic because I want to shed light on the fact that so many people don’t give themselves enough time to make sure that their mental health is strong and steady. Having bad mental health can negatively affect you if not taken serious. Your mental health comes first before any piece of work or what you see others doing on social media. I want to know what others do to maintain good mental health and what can be done to keep this issue relevant.

According to the IPCC, net emissions must be reduced to zero in order to stabilize global temperatures. Any scenario that does not involve a reduction to zero, according to the research, will fail to prevent climate change. Because even little changes in the amount of CO2, methane, and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere cause the Earth to react so strongly, emissions of these gases must be reduced until the entire system is returned to balance. All man-made greenhouse gases must be removed from the atmosphere through reduction efforts after natural and manufactured sinks, bringing the Earth’s net climatic balance to zero. Humanity would be carbon neutral in this manner, and global temperatures would stabilize.

Heat waves, droughts, catastrophic flooding, and wildfires are shattering world records and inflicting devastation across Europe, North America, China, and India, which account for 58 percent of global CO2 emissions. This interests me since architects and designers play such an important and distinct role in developing and influencing the built environment across the world. Right now, they have the choice of designing and building to a zero-carbon standard. Building operations account for approximately 40% of total global CO2 emissions. If the world wants to stay below the 1.5 degree Celsius carbon limit set forth in the 2015 Paris Agreement, we must set an example and decrease CO2 emissions in the built environment by 65 percent by 2030, with zero emissions by 2040.

I’d want to learn more about zero-carbon design. Architects, engineers, and other building industry professionals continue to follow current code standards. All new structures, major restorations, and developments should be planned to use no onsite fossil fuels (gas, oil, or propane) and be fully powered by on-site and/or new off-site renewable energy. As a consequence, more renewables will be able to assist decarbonize the power business and, as a result, the present building stock. Because of the creative and construction community, we now have the knowledge, standards, techniques, and technology to build zero-carbon buildings in all climates across the world.

A social issue that I find fascinating is the refugee crisis, not just in the Americas but additionally in Europe aswell. Fleeing one’s home in search of a better life or better opportunity elsewhere is not something knew and was and, today to a lesser extent, is still considered as one of the bravest and most heroic act one can do, especially to improve your own offspring’s life. Today we see and hear, as Americans, the migration crisis on our southern boarder every day, the inhumane treatment and the desperate acts taken by the pilgrims traveling all the way from South America. As a Pole, I additionally hear about the Syrian refugee crisis where nations are either taking refugees by the millions placing the nations into not only financial but a social crisis as well; or nations deciding to limit or even close their boarders entirely to the migrants. During today’s age where we are all already connected  through the internet, are able to see the events taking place, speak to the people experiencing these conflicts first hand, why do we speak so lowly about them, where as we speak highly of those the immigrants during the last century, especially as New Yorkers, we or the people we encounter are more likely immigrants ourselves or even first generation than not. Why does the United States want to erect a border wall on the Mexican border whereas on the Canadian border we have nothing but green grass? Why does the Italian navy intercept and turn away people barely floating upon planks of wood and dirt; and why do the Slavic nations close their borders entirely?