How will I affect change in the world

As I turn new page in the story of Brittany I remember a lot of what I have already been through but I still look forward to the future. As I said in my previous post I have found once again my passion for changing the world and is there a better place to take this on than a university? No! At university I will be meeting many new people and have the opportunity to join new groups and committees that will allow me to go explore even deeper into the issues I feel strongest about. I hope to educate people about the forgotten issues such as human trafficking and water scarcity. These are the issues that so wrong;y but so often get pushed to the side. I hope to take classes where I will learn about these issues and talk to the professors who are already experts on them. I guess I will just try and educate my self as much as I can and take every opportunity to pass my knowledge onto others. Education, I believe, is the key.

What have I learned about myself

Through out my world issues class I have learnt a lot about a lot of things but what have I learnt about my self?  I learnt that over the years I lost a lot of my "lets-go-change-the-world!" attitude in the past few years. In fact the only world issues that was constantly on my mind for Grade 10 and 11 was climate change and global warming. But in years before that I used to be a lot more into learning about other world issues like HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, water scarcity, poverty, and gender inequality. I guess you could blame it on high school. I started to care less about reading the news and more about friday night. In fact, I stopped caring so much that I didn't even notice that my life was taking a superficial turn for the worst. That is what I learnt about my self. Even though we didn't go into a lot of detail in some of these topics it was just enough for me to remember how much I care. I remember how angry I got when my parents used water lawn in the middle of the day in the summer and then leave it on all day. I remember how disgusted I am when I read articles and facts on human trafficking and how much I want to promote gender equality. So long story short I didn't learn anything new about my self through out this course, I just remembered something I shouldn't have forgotten.

Three Top Issues (I Have Learned About In Class)

Greece. Iran. Stereotyping. These are the three things I have learnt most about in my world issues class this year.
    Greece, or more widely - the EU,  has been the centre of attention for the past year because of their debt problem. Greece has dug them selves into a deep, dark, debt filled hole. The Greece government has not been regularly collecting taxes but they have been giving out pension to people who, in some cases, don't even live in the country anymore. It does not take a rocket scientist to do this math. Lots of money leaving + no money coming into the government = big problems. And that is exactly what Greece has, big problems. However, they are not the only ones on the verge of default, Spain and Portugal  are also walking a fine line. Also other countries who have been managing money a little better don't want to let Greece default and they can't really kick Greece out of the EU so they have been throwing money at Greece. But, wait, pump the brakes. With Greece going down and foreign investors losing confidence in the whole economy would this pose problems for the countries giving out the loans? Why, yes, yes it is. EU countries are getting tired of piggy backing Greece around so with these latest loans comes with a few strings attached. I could go into the whole thing but I won't because i can summarize it like this. The EU(especially Germany and France) are saying, "Greece, get you act together." This means big cuts in spending which the Greece people aren't to happy about. In fact, they are down right livid. Protesting in the streets have been taking a more violent turn in the past months. But hey, life isn't fair and in this world nothing is free.
      To all those people who praise themselves on being really smart, I have a question for you. Close your eyes and pretend you are running a country and you find out that another country with potential nuclear power plans on "wiping you off the map". What do you do? Get angry? Attack them first? Give up? Run around screaming bloody murder? It's a thinker isn't it. In fact, it is all Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been thinking about because it is his country that will be at the blowing up side of the nuclear bomb. Iran has stated that they wish to "wipe Israel off the map" and with there growing nuclear facility this crazy plan might actually happen. Iran is "claiming" that their nuclear program is for "energy purposes only" but if that is the case they have a very large need for energy. Sanction have been put on Iran to try and stop or at least slow there progress in their program but they don't seem to be doing the job.
      The final top issue I learnt about it is one that may seem small, irrelevant, useless, stupid, silly, petty and trivial in the grand scheme of things, especially in comparison to the other two issues I previously talked about but that is not true. Don't get me wrong Greece's ergonomic downturn is a very big deal and Iran's nuclear program is nothing to be taken lightly (even though that may be how I made it sound. But that is what I do, joke about things to early to try and reduce tension. Rarely does it work). But this issue is one that has been laying behind the scenes and has been the cause of larger issues for years. The mother of examples is 9/11.  Everybody, without a doubt remember and knows about 9/11 I was only in grade 2 when it happened and I still remember big shuffled into the gym, confused and scared. Before 9/11 Islamic religion wasn't on anybody radar. Then 9/11 happened and now everybody knows about it. But what people don't know is that it was not that every Islamic person had a hand in the terrorist attack. The terrorist attack was done by Islamic extremists. Big difference. But now when ever anybody brings up Islam many people cringe, usually sub consciously. A majority of people know that it is wrong to lame an entire religion of the actions of one extremist group but we can't help it. The United States of America was a jewel of the world, untouchable. Then suddenly they were hit by an attack that rocked the world. The entire world stood and awe as the towers fell. Millions cried about the thousands lost. Because of this a majority of Islamic people have been wrongly judged. There daily lives they have to deal with hurtful, racist comments and stares and looks that show people distrust. Because of the actions of a relatively small group an entire religious community has been segregated. Now a decade later things are getting better but they are no where near perfect. This is one example of stereotyping. So now you see how stereotyping is a large issue.

ISU Reflection

      My world issues class has now finished all of the ISU presentation. Through out the presentation weeks we learned about a variety of issues that deserve attention including global warming, racism, biodiversity, economic downturns, conflict, and many more.  The one I found most interesting was human trafficking. I have researched about it before but I found that I got a deeper understanding when hearing it though the presentation. I think that human trafficking deserves more media attention than it has ever gotten. People constantly forget about human trafficking because it is not something we see in our daily lives. It is not an issue that is often reported on the news or put into newspaper articles because of this it is often a issue that is forgotten. Also because we do not see the effects of human trafficking in our daily lives we often over look it. The presentation gave me a deeper understanding of the issue and the discussion allowed me to see other people points of view, which I also found informative. 

What Is The Biggest Threat Facing Canada In The Next 50 Years

    The bigest threat that Canada will face in 50 years is water scarcity. This will be a big problem not only for Canada but also the world. Due to pollution and contamination drinkable fresh water is decreasing but because of rising population and increase in global temperature the demand for fresh water in increasing. This will have a huge affect on the world. Landlocked countries and countries with limited or no fresh water will face the biggest challenges. This will affect Canada largely because we have the most plentiful source of fresh water than any other country. Most of the rest of the world considers fresh water as a basic human right but Canada does not. This means we do not think that it is necessary to share water with other countries even if they really need it. But because the rest of the world does this may make us a target   for other countries who are desperate for water. What we can do to try and stop this is to find alternative ways to collect fresh water. For example, instead of taking water from the ground communities in certain areas are turning to cloud harvesting, also known as fog catching. Communities that are able to will put large nets on places of high altitudes, such as mountain peaks. Then when fog and low clouds roll in the moisture of captures on these large nets and runs into large water tanks. But there are many things that you can do here at home. Some of these things include talking shorter showers or scatter showers. Scatter showers are when you turn the water off as you are putting shampoo and conditioner in your hair then turning it back on to rinse. Better yet you can take baths. Baths use less water because you are using the same water but when you are showering then the water use is continuous. Also you can water your lawn later in the day or at night. If you water your lawn in the middle of the day then all of the water is evaporated. Also low-flow toilet and shower head are another popular solution to conserve water. Finally, don;t pollute the water. The less pollution means less contamination of fresh water. It doesn't matter what you and and the more the better. The important thing is that you do it.

Interesting Fact: Many scientists say that it is possible the the next world war will be fought over water.

European Elections - Austerity Rejected

     Big things are happening in the EU. Greece is reorganizing their government and France is taking a backwards approach to solving their economic issues to the chagrin of Germany. Lets start with Greece. They received a bail out earlier but it came with a few strings. Greece must demonstrate major cutbacks and raise taxes, both must be accomplished by mid-June, and time is running out. Greece's president tried to unite the parties to create a collation, which failed, so the Greece people are heading back to vote once again. Greece has to clean up it's act because they are running out of time and eventually other countries are going to stop giving out money. Uh oh. Greece you are running out of bridges.
     Now lets move a little to the north and west and come upon France. What do you do when you are in an economic downturn? Well the first thing that comes to mind is to cut spending and raise taxes. Not France. France's new president Francois Hollande went to Germany to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and said that he was taking different handle, he called for government spending to try and "jump start" the economy. The only catch is France is already in debt if this plans doesn't work then France will be even deep hole. Crazy? Maybe...not? Greece raised taxes and cut spending and the people protested like their world was ending (which it was).
      So in conclusion things are going a little backwards. But who knows, sometimes an upside down outlook on the world is the exact outlook you need.

Biodiversity

   Biodiversity is the variety of plants and animals that live in the environment of a habitat. Biodiversity also includes the relationship between the plants and animals living there. In our world everything is sitting in a delicate balance, where everything relies on each other in order to survive. The tree grows from the earth and the bug eats the leaves or fruit from the tree. The bug is then the prey of the bird and the bird's eggs can be the prey of a racoon. When that racoon dies it eventually decomposes into the earth again where the tree was once born. That is basic, but effective, example of biodiversity. Everything is in balance and needs to stay in balance. Human's have had a large impact on biodiversity and this is why we are seeing animal populations either grow greatly or greatly decline. Remember the example that I just used, imagine what would happen if a city was put there. This would cause many of the trees to be cut down. Without these trees the bugs do not have the leaves or fruit to eat causing them to die and without these bugs it would cause a decrease in the birds that relied on the bugs for food. Or another possibility that could happen is that the urban sprawl would cause the racoons to have to move habitats. Without the racoons then there would be more birds causing a decrease in bugs. See how quickly things get out of control. That is biodiversity. This is why we as humans must take it upon our selves to make sure that things don't get out of hand because we rely on these habitats for food.

Racism

       "Let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring." Those are the words said by the one and only Martin Luther King Jr in his famous and powerful speech "I Have A Dream". His speech is one that invoked passion and inspiration into the hearts for black people wishing to be free and white people who saw that every person, no matter the colour of there skin or where they are from, should be given the rights and freedoms they deserve. Martin Luther King Jr. was fighting a battle that unfortunately is still continuing today. Racism is still present today though not in the same way it was all those years ago, it is still here. Racism takes a different shape then it did when Kings delivered his speech in 1963. Today racism comes in whispered and hushed jokes between friends. Snide remarks where people say the "N" word that I will not repeat, even on a blog. The funny part (not ha-ha funny, but ironic-funny) is that many people don't really mean what they are saying, consciously at least. There are dumb blonde jokes, your-mamma jokes and racist jokes. When many people repeat these jokes to each other they often don't mean what they say they are just repeating something that they found humerous. But the question we should be asking is why do we find them funny. The sad truth is that we, as a general population, have not completely rid our selves of racism. We hear the "N" word in hit songs and in most movies it is always the black person who dies first or who portrays the bad guy. Also, many teenager's parents are still slightly racist. Many people know it is wrong and they do not intentionally try to segregate anybody that is just how they were raised. If you go back only a few generations then you have people who grew up being taught and told by everybody they really met that black people and white people are different. To us this seems ridiculous but to them it was the way it was. That doesn't make it right it just means that for many they didn't know any other way of living. Those people had kids and taught them the same thing. Of course those kids grew up when people where starting to realize the stupidity behind this way of living, but no body can forget what their parents taught them so many still believed in even a little bit that they were superior. This "diluting" process has continued and will continue. 99.9% of our generation know and believe that black and white people are the same. We all have two eyes and a nose. We all need oxygen to breath and food to survive. We all feel pain, happiness and compasion. We all have a voice. But, unfortunately, the .1% exists.
    I believe that we will eventually leave racism behind but I think it will take a few more generations. However, I think having things such as Black History Month will not help. Remember our history is never a bad thing but if we make a big deal of it then it will show a difference between black people and white people and that isn;t what we want. I am not saying don't talk about it, I am saying remember it. Fighting racism is not a hard and fast solution is will take time but as the Martin Luther King Jr. said, "the whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges."

Gender Inequality

       It is no secret that the relationship between women and men has been a little rocky. Through out history men have almost always been given the upper hand and women have been given the short end of the stick. If one were to look up the definition of woman in the English Oxford Dictionary they would a definition that states, "An adult female human being." This is true. But if you were to scroll down just a little you would find another definition that is quite different. "Woman: A woman considered with reference to qualities traditionally attributed to the female sex, as weakness, fickleness, vanity, etc."  In short, the word women, as well as womanly, can be in context a derogatory term. If you were to look up man in the exact same dictionary you would find, "a man engaged in or excelling in activities considered to be typically masculine". The difference is obvious. A man is stated as somebody who is strong and independent where a woman is usually seen as somebody who is dependent. This difference is changing in our lives. Women who were once not even considered a person now have the same rights as men in many countries, but not all. What I find most disturbing is that these changes had to be made. At one point a women had no rights and were dependent on men because they had no other options. They were forced to be dependent not because they wanted to or didn't have the potential to live for themselves but because they were never given the option. It is still believed that if the second world war hadn't happened then women would not be thought of how they are now. During the second world war women took control of the jobs that would usually be held by the men that were fighting in war. Here women showed there strength and that when given the option they too can excel at any job or task that would have been reserved for the men. But should it that really been a war that caused the change. In order for women to get the same rights as men was it truly necessary that the world had to go to war. I guess we will never find out but if that is the only way, well to say the least, it is a disturbing thought.
     However, don't go blaming ever man you come across because in many ways it is not there fault. History has an outstanding affect  on present day and future. Looking as far back as the classical civilizations, such as the Romans, men have always been the ones to rule. They have been the ones who fought in all the battles which directly corresponds to why they would still be considered the strong and brave gender. Not to mention that men are naturally built differently which allows them to take more physical trauma. In many ways men can't be blamed for the inequality between the genders.
     Just because this was the way back then does not means it has to be the way right now or the way for the future. Genders should be treated as equal because for things that the men have over the women the women have something else. Women are just as capable as achieving any goal and finishing any task that men can do. Anyone who thinks differently has a almost ancient mindset. In closing I have one last thing to say. Someone once told me a saying that has stuck with me for years and it is this: Girls can do anything boys can do. And we can do them in heels.

AIC NSA Reflection

      Now that our AIC (Arab-Israeli Conflict) Simulation project it is over it is time to reflect. Like all things I had up and downs through out this project. I had to interact with people posing as world leaders in a way that would be true to life. Of course, I had the help is my NSA but the fact that I never did nor could I have met my NSA it was hard to contact them. Not to mention all of the other people that they had asking them questions.
      Lets start with the good things. The AIC was very effective in achieving it's purposes: allowing students to realize how complicated and urgent the conflict is. The conflict is based upon over a century of history. Religion and pride take the front seat in controlling the issue. I never even began to imagine how complicated things are. Learning about the conflict in a text book or discussion cannot compare to how much I learned in that simulation. The experience I gained in simply being able to talk to anybody in a respectable, mature and professional manner is already invaluable and is something I will need for the rest of my life.
      Now, like all things in life, with every good thing there is always a down side. And in this case it was the time. Though in hindsight I could see why the simulation needed to take months (because the conflict is so complicated) it did grow tiresome by the end. It came to a point where no matter how hard I tried in and out side of class I could not bring my self to put in the same effort and enthusiasm that I did in the beginning. This is not because I have blatant disregard for the entire conflict but it is because it got to the point where is was more of the same. If you were trying to find a peaceful solution then things would start to get boring. The second thing that I would advice to improve on is the website its self. For the tech-savy people in the world navigating through that website was probably a walk in the park but for the furthest-thing-from-tech-savy people in the world, like me, navigating through that website in the first few weeks was like a walk to the  moon. And back. That being said by the end of the simulation I was able to get around fairly easily, only bumping into a few hitches when I tried to navigate into uncharted territory.
       Over all I would say that teachers should continue using this as a learning tool. The things I learned through the simulation can not be matched - even by the best of text books. Teachers, continue to put up with the complaints about how brutally long the simulation is because in the long run I remember more about the conflict than I do of most  other things that I learnt that early in the year. So in conclusion, keep up with the simulation and hope for students who know there way around a computer better than I do.

Globalization

      Globalization is the relationship and increasing dependence between different countries and cultures. Gone are the days where the effects from the actions of one country, no matte the size, are limited to their own nation. Now our actions are having a greater affect on other countries in the world. Craig Kielburger put it well when he said, "the kid next door has become the kid in Latin America or Asia." 

      Take the economic downturn in Greece for example. When it comes to helping Greece get out of the hole they have dug for themselves the first solution that comes to mind is another bailout. This means that other, more economically stable, countries in the EU would have to put money together to help Greece get back on their feet and running. That sounds all well and good but this means that Greece will have more debt that they will have to pay off. If history serves are a good predictor of the future, which it usually is, that means Greece will be right back to square one in a few years. This leaves the second option: kick Greece out of the EU. Easier said than done. This is where globalization takes a role. If Greece were to default it would cause other "in trouble" countries like Portugal and Spain to lose confidence in their own economies. On top of this foreign investors would have seen the unraveling of Greece and assume, rightly so, that this could happen to other countries. This would mean that they would no longer invest money into these countries causing less money to be pumping their economy and just like  that we have another Greece on our hands. Other EU countries would feel like they need to throw more money at the problem putting those countries who received money even more in debt and the countries who gave the money would be down a few billion. 

      See how quickly things can spiral out of control because of globalization. The actions of one country, in this example it was Greece, effect many other countries. However, globalization isn't always bad. Globalization has upsides as well. It allows people to travel all over the world and stay in contact with loved ones when they are on other sides of the planet. Globalization means that we can have foreign investors! Foreign investors means more money going into everybody's economies. As long everybody keeps their economies in check then everything should be fine. 

       Globalization is something that needs to be balanced. Connecting with other countries is not a bad thing. Globalization is not the reason for Greece going under, globalization is the reason that Greece going under sent a scare through the world. But globalization is also the reason that we, here in Canada, can connect with people in Greece, or Italy, or Spain, or England, so easily. Globalization allows countries to help one another in times of hardship. Globalization is the reason that the EU and, most likely, other countries will help Greece pick them selves up.

AIDS And Disease

In life it seems that all the bad things happen to the people who don't have the means to deal with it. This rings true when it come to HIV/AIDS. Yes, it is present in Canada and other first world countries but the number of people affected here don't even begin to compare to the number of people affect in most third world countries. Why is this? Why is HIV and AIDS spreading so much more  quickly in those countries not here? There are a number of different reasons.
The first is lack of education. Women and girls are not being educated in there rights. They don't know that they have other options. If they went to school they would open up so many opportunities that they would be able to see that they can control their own lives.
 The second major reason is gender equality. Women in third world countries don't have the same opportunities that the men do. They are forced to do what ever the man tells them. Not to say that this is all blamed on men. The fact of the matter is that this way of living is their culture. For many of them, women and men, this is how it has always been. Looking from the outside in this seems strange and sickening but to some of them that is the normal. They do not know anything different.
Lastly, the spread of HIV/ AIDS can be linked to poverty. The people do not have the money and therefore the opportunities that we do. I mentioned earlier that many girls can not go to school. This isn't always just because of gender inequality but because the parents can not afford for their daughter to go to school. Pens, pencils and uniforms still cost money and many times the families can not afford to buy these things. Also, the culture in most of these countries is that the girl finishes her jobs of helping the mother collect water, make food etc. and then she may go to school. If something were to happen then this would all change. The girl must leave school to help her family. Things that might cause this would be things such as a natural disaster/climate change.
All fo these reason are linked and connected to one another. To fix HIV/ AIDS we will need to fix all of these problems. All the issues are connected in a complicated web and you can not solve one without solving another. This makes the task harder and means that it will require help from many people and organizations.

Violence in Society

What are the leading causes of violence in society and what do you think could be done about them?

Much of the violence in society is rooted in conflict between different ethnic groups. One only needs to read the daily news to notice that at the core of much of the civil unrest in many parts of the world stems from different ethnic groups fighting and trying to assert their beliefs over another group. Hate and disrespect for another person's values and customs proves again and again to be the source of conflict throughout history.

Education and knowing more about other peoples values is key to fixing this. The more you know about a neighbour the less likely you are to demonize them. Without education I see no improvement in social violence. 

Hard Decision? Think C.A.R.E. Model.

Decision making is not always black and white. With many things there is a grey area where you don't really know what the right answer is. There are pros and cons that you have to take into consideration and no matter which way you decide to go, you end up 'closing a door'. This is when decision making gets complicated, especially when other people are relying on you to make the decision that is best for them. The CARE model is a good way to think about decision making.C-compassion
A-action
R-responsibility
E-equality
Compassion, action, responsibility and equality make very good check points when is comes to making a tough decision. Compassion is empathy. Try to relate to the people involved and see things from all perspectives even if it isn't the perspective that you want. Trying to look at it from another perspective won't do you any harm. Take into consideration the needs and values of others around you. The values that aren't important to you might be the ones that they hold dearest.
Action is need to make any kind of decision. Even just being ready to act and showing that you are prepared to make a decision, even if it is a hard one. Action also means determination and perseverance. In other words don't give up if it gets tough because in more cases than not it is going to be worth it.
Responsibility is a word thrown around in a lot of situations but that is because there is so much that goes into being responsible. For example, honesty. Being honest is important because honesty breaks down barriers and allows for new and pure friendship to be born between people, groups and even countries. Also be trustworthy and relieable, if you are a leader and you are not reliable or trustworthy you will lose followers. This means only make commitments you can keep.
Finally, equality. Eqaulity is important because it includes everyone and makes tham feels as if they are not under someone or less important. It makes poeple feel that their ideas are meaningful and everything they bring to the table is valued. Boosting people's self esteem will also come from a equal and comforatable atmosphere and when people are confident they step out of there comfort zones and interact with the people and enviroment around them. Listen to what people have to say because you never know, it might be the "million dollar idea" and you might learn from them.
If you are faced with a hard situation and a large "grey area" think of the CARE model because it will help make the situation more clear allowing you to make the best decision for everyone.