The Most Important Issues

The three most important issues that we have addressed this year are child soilders, the AIC and the declining environment and biodiversity. Child slavery is something that has been in the news recently due to the amount of awareness raised for Koney 2012 and since we watched the movie invisible children in class it has even more prevalence. Though we didn't spend much time looking over this issue it is something that has stuck in my mind as an issue that has no immediate solution. Other issues such as world hunger have the goal of providing food and water but child soilders has to be stopped with the help of the government of that country. This becomes a difficult situation as most of the governments involved are corrupt and make the problem worse by not allowing aid to the children and families that are effected. The AIC took us half the year to complete including a simulation and various write ups. We each were assigned a country and tried to problem solve real life issues that have been taking place. It was important to see how complicated the issues were and as well how childlike some of the leaders were acting. The problems aren't just cut and dry because for every solution there is another problem that seems to accompany it. Some people just wouldn't co-operate which would also happen between disputing nations in the real world. I learned a lot about the root of some of the problems effecting the AIC and how much religion really does play a part. The environment and biodiversity were topics that often came up due to other issues. They are a huge problem and although the course wasn't particularly about this topic it is a world issue and and I believe it is one of the most important. 

How to Effect Change in the World

Raising awareness is how you get a cause to be known and without this step it is impossible to get people to donate time or money if they don't know about the cause. We talked a lot in class about education as a joke but education and raising awareness are the same thing. You are informing people of a problem that they might not have known existed. The next step is to donate. Donations don't always need to come in the form of money as time is just as valuable if not more so. With problems such as global warming there is so much to be done such as fundraising for solutions, raising your voice to parliament, and donating money for habitat restoration. For other problems, particularly ones that involve other governments such as child soldiers, it is difficult and dangerous to intervene and in these situations raising awareness is possibly the only thing that can be done. By educating people, many will pressure governments to do something and they will intervene peacefully (hopefully) to protect the people. It is unrealistic to believe that all things wrong with the world will be solved but small steps definitely make a difference. 

The Biggest Threat Facing Canada in the Next 50 Years

Canada in terms of government is stable and although we may be in debt, we have more immediate problems to be dealt with. The first thing that pops into my mind is global warming. I would say yellow stone but no one knows how immediate that danger is. Climate change is something that is effecting the globe , not just Canada, but it has a great impact on us. We are one of the world largest wheat and logging suppliers and because of global warming, these products are being effected. Due to the change in temperatures habitats can't keep up with these rapid changes and species die leaving many other species without predators. Insects now can eat what they please which is a huge problem for the wheat. For lumber, pine beetles have now taken over and are killing many forests. This forces us into change as our environment and our economy are effected by this problem. Fossil fuels, which we are dependent on, are causing the weather changes as well as depleting as a resource. Maybe this is the earths way of telling us we need to stop. Switching to more environmentally sustainable methods of living is something that needs to happen quickly and hopefully with innovation, in the net 50 years.

Self Reflection

I always knew that I was generally good at arguing with people on topics that  I was passionate about but to be marked on my ability to do so was a new experience. Debating wasn't something I had done a lot of formally in other classes, as  I didn't take many social sciences. I learned that he most important thing when it came to debates was being prepared. It's impossible to predict what the other person is going to say but if research is done it shouldn't be difficult to determine a response. The hardest challenge that I found this year was to debate for or against a certain topic that  I didn't believe in. FOr the Abortion debate I was put on the team that wanted to make abortion illegal. This was difficult, as I think it would be  for many women, to say that abortions shouldn't be allowed. The upside was that I could think about what arguments that I would make and and think of counter arguments ahead of time. I have also learned to speak up if I have a point to make and sometimes it's ok to be wrong.

ISU Reflection

Water is seen, under the UN as a basic human right, but why is it that so few people have access to fresh and clean drinking water? This was something that I didn't quite understand in countries such as Australia where they are a developed nation. In developing nations it would make sense as they don't have the money or the tools to provide themselves with water, but countries that do have the money still don't have access.  De-salination was a process that I knew worked but what I didn't realize was that it is so inefficient and very costly. Canada has the largest supply of fresh water and yet we don;t outsource this product. We keep it for ourselves and this actually made sense to me. The cost and fossil fuels that would be burned in order to transport water around the world in massive quantities seems silly. Someone made the point in class that why should we ship our valuable resources to countries where people are living on inhabitable land? It doesn't make sense. Though technology is advancing we haven't advanced enough to be able to create life's most valuable resource. Water. And why should we have to create it when it is already available for human beings but they are in the wrong location. It also isn't a logical solution to move half of the worlds population to areas that have water as the resources in these areas would then become sparse as the areas would overpopulate. It is a catch 22 where neither situation seems to make sense and what we thought of as a band-aid fix before has a whole new meaning to me. Ending the cycle of poverty with education won't end poverty if there is no sanitation and clean water as money that these educated children are making will always be spent on health care. There is no logical answer and this is a concern that I never even recognized before.

Austerity Rejected in Recent European Election

Greece and France have recently had elections where, in France, the Socialist party won and this means that the people are standing up against austerity measures. In Greece the May 6th election didn't leave a party with a majority and another election will be held later in the year but the party with the most votes was one that was against the austerity measures that were put in place in order to get Greece out of their financial situation. From these elections it is clear that austerity measures are not going to be put in place for the time being. Hollande, who is the Socialist elected in Frances most recent election, prides himself on the fact that he is a normal person and can make the right decisions as he is ordinary and understands what the people want. Unfortunately without these measures taking place debt will not be repaid. France may be better of on the Debt front then Greece but they are not Debt free. Without the austerity measures I see no way that the countries will be able to move on from this situation. In my opinion Austerity measures are a necessary evil and in the end they will be implemented or Greece will default. 

AIDS and Disease

AIDS and other fatal diseases are ones that have just started occurring in the last 50 years. Though there is no cure for many diseases like AIDS and Cancer, awareness has become the primary tool for support. Run for the cure and pins of Red and Pink are symbols that most of us recognize as AIDS and Breast Cancer. HIV and AIDS particularly effect developing nations as the access to contraceptives and sanitation isn't readily available. This disease leaves children parentless and is a major contributor to poverty. Children are not able to go to school and access education, which is essential to ending the poverty cycle, because they are often left with parental duties due to death. HIV and AIDS is something that has learned to be prevented and in our society rarely leads to death. However, cancer is something that effects us greatly and has an unknown cause but HIV is preventable and we could stop it. Charities and organizations have donated contraceptives to developing nations in order to stop the spread of this disease. I'm not saying we shouldn't continue to raise awareness for cancer but when the availability to prevent HIV/AIDS is available this should be a primary concern.

Globalization

The world now is connected more then it has even been before and although it benefits trade and developed nations there are many negative benefits which mostly effect developing nations. Companies like Walmart which are large corporations benefit from globalization as they now have the ability to import products form around the world. This allows them to purchase products that are cheaper by outsourcing the purchased products from countries such as china and thailand. This is possible because of of poor wages and work conditions which allows for cheap labour. This may seem beneficial as products are cheaper and more affordable but it greatly effects the small businesses that can't compete with the cheap products. For example if a farmer grows produce and sells it in his own store and Walmart moves in next-door and sells that same product at a fraction of the price customers are less likely to purchase the farmers produce, putting him out of business. In countries such as Italy they have recognized the problems that are associated with these large superstores and haven't allowed them to take over. Developing nations will never get out of the cycle of poverty if these large successful superstores are continuing to buy cheap labour induced products and cutting out he little guys. If farmers in developing nations are paid fair wages for their products it will not only benefit them but our people as well. An initiative that I have already taken place is fair trade (sold at Starbucks) which provides farmers in developing nations a fair pay for their coffee beans and cocoa beans. Think about where your product came from before you buy it and buy local when possible. 

Racism

Question: 
Should a teacher parent or guardian be permitted within their freedom of expression to convey discriminatory thoughts to their children against a certain age, race, religion or belief? 


Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms it states that: "Every person have the fundamental freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication" but initially the Charter states that "the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." By inflicting racist thoughts onto younger generations, it is leaving the "reasonable limits" of freedoms as you are causing harm to others. When parents vote for a certain political party and force these beliefs onto a child it is very likely that they will vote for the same party their parents did when they become of age. A similar effect can happen with racial beliefs as they are often influenced through family members or influential people. It should not be allowed to influence personal thoughts or beliefs on to any child whether it be about an age, race, religion or belief. 

Declining Biodiversity

Species of animals that once inhabited our earth have slowly declined and many are because of human impact in the last 150 years but previous to that, ice ages and other environmental factors have been responsible for many species deteriorating previous to human beings on the earth. There are several factors that have caused the change in biodiversity such as deforestation, global warming (which is a big one), pesticides, and hunting. Global warming is the biggest contributor in my opinion as green house gasses cause climates to change. Animals have taken millions of years to adapt to these environments and with the climate changing so drastically so quickly it is impossible for them to adapt to the changes. Without these animals the web of life is altered and all animals on earth are connected in some way, including human beings. If one species dies off the rest suffers. There is a way to reduce and eventually stop this decline in animals but it involves governments, consumers and producers all to contribute to making it happen. The governments can play a part by protecting areas such as parks and campgrounds. This prevents deforestation and land development from taking over natural habitats and will ensure the preservation of species and fresh water. Consumers can make difference by reducing the emissions of green house gasses that are emitted in our daily lives. Electric cars and solar panels are already in progress but the efficiency and convenience of these products are making them difficult and expensive to obtain. Producers are a large part of declining biodiversity as well because of the emissions and mass amounts of land mass that these factories consume. For example car companies need lots of space to store cars that are produced. A solution to this could be looking to Asia for some of their land conserving ideas so we don't need to keep developing land farther and farther north.

Violence in Society

Over the last few decades the violence in society has increased and it stems from many areas such as the media, the government, social environments and the home. Media can be associated with video games, television shows, movies and even music where violence is very popular. Supply and demand is how many companies make their fortune so if consumers have a demand for violence, the company is going to supply it. Video games television shows and movies do have age restrictions that make it easy to tell whether the program is suitable for the child or not. However, there is no age limit on watching the news, and in our world today, you only hear about the horrific and violent events that take place around the globe. This is because our society wants to watch disasters happening in other places. Just like movies and games humans watch these things in order to feel better about themselves. It is a way of releasing emotions and this was seen in Shakespeare times when his plays were very popular and still are today, but they are all tragedies. In the end the main characters die. Eliminating violence is not realistic but putting parental controls on certain programs and watching television with your children will help reduce the exposure.

The government is another source where violence is used. Police forces, military and regimes are a common sight in the news paper and on television. Sheltering children for what is happening in the world ins't necessarily the best idea. I would say the best solution would be to make sure they know that what many counties are practicing, isn't ethical or acceptable. Too much sheltering can cause social barriers and a lack or worldly culture. too much of anything isn't good for anyone. Too much violence isn't good for children, but neither is too much ice-cream. Small of everything is the solution.

The Millennium Development Goals- Quality and Empowerment of Women

Empowerment in women has come along way from WW1 in Canada but in terms of the world there is much more work to be done. North Africa and Western Asia in specific has fewer then one in five paid jobs outside of agriculture held for women. Meaning that their isn't much, other then farming and tending, that women can do. The completion date of the Goals is by 2015 meaning we only have 3 years left to go and with economic problems facing the entire globe, I can see how these haven't become a large priority. It seems that developing countries are ones that have much trouble with gender equality and for what reasons? The environment and is a large part on what makes them developing as the climate contributes to poverty. The jobs that are available other then agriculture are minimal and because of their culture men are traditionally the workers and women are the care takers. Culture is something that is a difficult hurdle to get over and considering most areas that have the most severe gender inequality are ones that have strong religious ties. In order to move forward, I believe that education is the only way, as educating younger generations will help for improvement in the future. Many religious beliefs are instilled from a young age, so change is very difficult with adults. My person belief that to abolish the inequality problems is to change peoples cultures and methods of thinking.

CARE

C: compassion

A: action

R: responsibility

E: equality

Compassion is a trait that is admirable but I don't believe that it's a sign of a leader. Being compassionate allows for unbiased opinions but in order to be a leader you need to be passionate about your personal beliefs. Responsibility doesn't allow for spontaneous actions which may not be responsible but will get your ideas noticed. Equality is important to maintain in all situations but should be a second nature not a goal to achieve. Action is the quality that I would personally say is most important to being a global citizen. Taking what you believe in and turning it into an initiative takes risk, passion, and spontaneous action. To take action it involves raising awareness and making plans as part of being a leader and a global citizen.