As to how I overcome this challenge and aid my friends and peers in doing so as well, I have a few ways. Firstly, I have a 30 minute commute to work every day, which I car pool with a co-worker; this saves one of us driving 58 kilometers in a separate car everyday. I also drive a compact car which has very good fuel mileage compared to the trucks that are the norm around my area. This saves me money along with being not as bad for the environment compared to what my friends drive (I have four close friends, and all of them drive trucks). I say ""not as bad for the environment as trucks"" because it is not ""eco friendly"" like advertisements say because it is still burning fossil fuels that contribute to Global Warming, just not as much fossil fuels.

Also my family recycles all our bottles and cans, along with newspapers, tin cans, cardboard, etc to reduce our household wastes. We also cut down on our energy usage through the summer by using screen doors on our front, and side/deck door which allows a breeze to go through our house, cooling it off to acceptable temperatures. I take homemade lunches to work everyday which reduces my waste associated with eating fast food everyday for lunch like my Journeyman does (I work for an electrical company). That is how I do, and plan to do my part to fight Global warming and help my friends and peers do the same.

The world's tendency to move fast is shown in our favour of fast foods. Every early morning, fast food restaurants are full of people lining up. People don't even go into the restaurants but line up outside at the drive-thru for the fastest way. This tendency to pursue fast foods has led to the increased occurrence of disease like obesity. In my home country, Korea, our traditional foods are called slow foods because it takes a lot of effort and time to make them. It also takes time to eat them because they are usually served as an abundant meal with many side dishes. With the tradition to enjoy foods slowly, Korean people are generally healthy. This suggests how sometimes it is important to stop pursuing the fastest way. While people prefer fast foods in busy life, I will prefer homemade foods that require time and effort to cook. Also when I become mother, I will try to serve slow foods to my family.

Another example of the tendency to move fast is shown in our social relationship. When we get to know people, we tend to judge people by their appearance and status. Since it takes a long time to get to fully know a person, people try to make themselves look better by cosmetics, luxuries and social position to appeal to others in a short time. This eventually leads people to be hypocritical. However, it is important to take time to know about the inner side of the person. Not to be swayed by this tendency, I will not judge people by their appearance but try to get to know their inner side first even though it would take a long time. Through a deep conversation and experiences, I will get to know people more carefully. We need to care about inner beauty more than outward appearance.

Although what I suggested as solutions to this world's tendency might seem very small and ineffective. However, I believe that this little effort from one individual is the most important thing that we need. Rather than planning on a large scale and failing to realize it, it would be more effective to start one by one and little by little. Therefore, to overcome the lack of perseverance and composure in our fast-moving society today, I as one of the members in our society will initiate the change.

Since then, we have become good friends with a lot of the youth and have been personal mentors to different individuals. We have gone back to speak to various classes at the high school every year since then. We have spoken to over 1500 students in the past few years giving them advice on dating, relationships, ""adult industry films"", and substance abuse. Since 2006 I have been working at a summer camp where I am a leader and mentor to hundreds of youth and young adults every year. I have talked to these individuals about similar topics. The topics I discuss and the depth of the impact that it has is life-transforming, not only on my peer group, but also on those who hear me speak and those who get to know me personally.

In the future I intend to help my peers even more. I am very passionate about helping them overcome obstacles that I either struggled with or had family members overcome. Many different individuals have used me as a support, an accountability partner and a friend to overcome obstacles in their life relating to alcohol, drugs, and chastity. I intend to continue talking to the students at the High School level here in Central Alberta as well as the summer camp I work at. However, I want to broaden the number of people that I am able to help by extending myself into other high schools across Alberta and maybe even Canada.

There is such a need out there for youth to see other youth as leaders and friends overcoming similar struggles and living a life that is different than main stream. I stand up for what I believe in and try to live a life based on integrity and solid moral ideals. I give hope to youth that may not have any and I believe in them, so that they can overcome their struggles. Most importantly, I pray for them and encourage them in their everyday life to be better individuals, strong leaders and incredible people.

As our world becomes more and more technologically advanced, we occasionally lose sight of where we are getting our resources from. For what do manufacturing companies care if their industrial plants are releasing wastes that taint a nearby town's drinking water, or if the greenhouse gasses they emit are eating away at our protective ozone layer? What to business men and women care if the exhaust from the cars they drive travels into the lungs of a child? It seems like it will only take a highly publicised devastating event such as the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, where approximately five million barrels of oil gushed into the waters, to call attention to the environmental risks of our current way of life. United States President Barack Obama said, ""The millions of gallons of oil that have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico are more like an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for months and even years."" With lasting effects caused by the spill, one can only hope that people will start to realize that we cannot remain putting the environment at risk by prioritizing industrial processes. If we didn't rely so heavily on crude oil, perhaps oil bearing ships would not be traveling the waters so often, thus reducing the chances of a spill. Now is the time for young people to take a stand against the destruction of the environment, and to try and reverse the damage.

Steps like such can save a generation and make a difference in the world. There is still hope and there are still chances. All that is needed is people who are willing to take the chances. I am willing. Let's make a change.

I challenge myself to develop these skills through formal and informal education. Formally, I am an Environmental Engineering student. My courses challenge me to methodically work through problems. Usually, the correct result is not achieved on a first attempt and I practice persistence and the ability to see a problem from various perspectives. Informal education through involvement in a variety of activities also challenges me to be a critical thinker. As a member of the University's concrete toboggan team, I am constantly challenged to learn new skills, and to be inventive and innovative.

My passion and work allow me to travel to communities across Alberta and the Northwest Territories, teaching engineering and science camps. Though curriculum content is important, the real value of this work is fostering self-confidence in youth. By showing them they are capable and by developing the skills of trouble-shooting and persistence, this is achieved. The youth I work with are developing the critical thinking skills they need to find success in life. This is particularly significant as many of the communities I teach in are very isolated, and youth need to have a great amount of self-confidence in order to leave their community to further their education or pursue their interests. Similarly, throughout the school year I volunteer as a mentor of the Girls Engineering and Mentorship Club. Sometimes girls especially lack problem solving and critical thinking skills because they have not felt encouraged to show these attributes, for fear of being viewed as less feminine. By having strong positive female role models who exemplify these skills, the girls embrace these qualities within themselves, and are able to find success in many aspects of their lives.

Taking the time to challenge ourselves, and put ourselves in a state of discomfort where we don't know the answer is something my generation does not do well. Through practicing problem solving, and encouraging persistence and curiosity in others, it is a challenge that is surmountable.

Driving while distracted is related to slower reaction times, accordingly by up to 35%*1. It negatively influences lane keeping, and navigation ability. Most importantly cell-phone use while driving increases the probability that you will be involved in a collision by four to six times that of driving without using a cell-phone.

It is no surprise that driving distracted, in any form, is a hazard to personal and another persons safety and it thus seems reasonable that government legislations are doing their best to reduce distractions and risky behaviour by banning all usage of cell-phones while driving. Also, enforcement of these legislations are further supported by publicized enforcement to increase awareness of the risks of driving distracted such as Students for Cellphone-Free Driving.

However, in my opinion, as cell-phone use becomes more incorporated into our everyday lives a new demand will be enforced foremost on our youth. As a result of human learning and neuroplasticity cognitive resources will allow the youth a biological capability of successful multitasking. If over generations our attentional abilities increase as a result of an increase in available information streams byway of technological developments, then it would seem reasonable to incorporate such technology into our everyday lives.

Therefore, I propose that instead of banning the use of cell-phones while driving, they should be safely and efficiently promoted into our driving lives as well. Specifically, there could be driver's training courses that teach an individual how to safely and efficiently use technological devices in all types of driving situations.

Technologically literate instructors could teach these courses and focus on efficiency methods that could teach an individual to avoid the most dangerous types of cell-phone behavior such as lane changing, following distances and lateral vehicle control. And safety methods could be taught to teach how and when to correctly direct attention using a cell-phone in specific situations such as at a stop light, or on the highway.

We all drive distracted regardless of cell-phone use. Whether it is looking at yourself in the mirror, or taking care of a child in the backseat. Safe driving however, is not about eliminating risky behaviour it is about using our immediate environment to indicate a subsequent appropriate behavior. Whether in the classroom or on the road, combining technology and driving could allow more room for information to be absorbed by knowledge and enhance, expand, and stimulate the minds of our youth.