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1st hour, Ms. Burk
1st hour, Ms. Burk
By: Megan Walker and Julia Kupis Taiwan is a small, 13,974 sq mile, island off the coast of China with approximately 23.5 million people. Taiwan is divided into two climate zones, the North being subtropical and the South being tropical. It has a large amount of biodiversity. Sadly, despite being a pretty small island, Taiwan is the 22nd largest emitter of carbon dioxide, causing problems for the biodiversity around them.
Due to climate change, many problems are occurring. For example, Taiwan is finding that they’re experiencing fewer, but stronger typhoons. This increasing intensity of typhoons can spell trouble for the citizens of the country as well as many other countries in East Asia, as the typhoons can cause plenty of damage. One example is the 2009 typhoon Morakot, which was named the deadliest typhoon in Taiwan history. The typhoon caused a lot of floods and landslides, destroying homes and taking lives. One of the places affected is called Xiaolin Village, near Kaohsiung, which was buried under a landslide and resulted in 465 deaths. However it’s not just people who are experiencing these problems. With the climate rising, ocean temperatures are also rising, and the surplus of carbon dioxide we’re giving off is also getting into the oceans. This is causing many types of ocean life to suffer around Taiwan. Over the last three decades, the number of coastal fish species has dropped by nearly 75%. However this number is not only due to climate change, it is also due to human activity. Not only are humans creating a large carbon footprint with development and construction, but people are also over-fishing, attributing to the decline of biodiversity in the sea. One prominent issue is the “Black Disease” which is killing off the coral reefs in Taiwan. While scientists are not entirely sure if the cause is climate change or pollution, they both link back to human activity. This is especially alarming because coral is the largest living organism in the ocean. The ocean is not the only place affected by human activity. About 95% of the surface of Taiwan has been built upon and this development and construction can destroy biologically diverse hotspots. For example, a rare species of fern was almost destroyed when a road through a forest was built. Luckily, the citizens of Taiwan are aware of the worsening biodiversity through climate change and human activity. Many are strong believers that it’s their job to help lessen the carbon footprint they’re creating to keep the world a cool, healthy, and biologically diverse place for future generations. In fact, Taiwan is the first country to write a goal into domestic law in their Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act; where they pledge to cut the carbon emission levels of 2005 in half by 2050. Taiwan also helps developing countries by providing them with climate friendly tools such as renewable energy and green technology. Despite being excluded from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Taiwan continues to be dedicated to lowering their greenhouse gas emissions and helping their biologically diverse areas heal from the damage they’ve sustained so far, and maybe becoming even more diverse in the future.
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By: Megan Walker Human trafficking is a very prominent issue, and not just in other countries. It's also a big problem here in America. It’s important to put a stop to this as it's hurting so many people and putting them through things no person should ever have to go through. One way people help raise awareness and help the survivors is by forming pressure groups.
Some of these groups include Anti-Slavery International, Breaking Free, and International Justice Mission. These groups are formed with a goal to not only raise awareness for the rising problem of human trafficking and help put a stop to it, but also to help those survivors of the human trafficking trade. Anti-slavery International and International Justice Mission are both organizations dedicated to helping those who are trafficked for human labor and Breaking Free was organized to help those who have survived being trafficked for sex. Not only are all of them wanting to give these people back their basic human rights, but Breaking Free was formed more personally, by someone who had survived being trafficked for sex and wanting to help others not only get out but to readjust to “normal” life. As these groups main goals is to raise awareness, they have many ways to publicise their cause. All these groups first and foremost have their own websites where you can learn all you can about their specific organization. They also have other advertising tools such as PSAs, brochures and pamphlets, and speakers that can visit and spread the word of their cause virtually anywhere. Word of mouth is another powerful advertising tool. Those who find their websites and find their causes can spread the word to the people they know and those people can tell others, spreading the publicising their cause. These groups don’t just want to raise awareness. In fact, raising awareness is the first step to the bigger plan of bringing a stop to the human trafficking trade. As I mentioned before, these groups have speakers who speak on their cause. These speakers can not only inform the people that these problems are happening, but can also motivate them to help put a stop to it. The groups also take donations and volunteers, so that people can help take steps to putting a stop to human trafficking. For example, Anti-Slavery International occasionally holds campaigns to motivate people to take action, sometimes in their own communities. All three of these groups and their websites seem very well organized and professional. They also seem pretty up to date, Anti-Slavery International and International Justice Mission both having current events related to their cause on their websites. However, while it holds good information about their cause, Breaking Free’s website looks as though it hasn’t been updated in awhile. Despite the fact that the website hasn’t been updated, that doesn’t mean the problem has magically gone away. There are many other pressure groups out there dedicated to putting a stop to human trafficking but without our help, human trafficking will continue to be a growing problem. Do your own research, help out a pressure group against this terrible foe. You’ll be glad you did. Health Inequalities Prezi:http://prezi.com/_846o-fatxl1/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
By: Megan Walker, Cayla Vaughan, Paulette Rivera The Internet. It’s no secret its usage has increased in the past several years. Billions of users across the globe log on the internet everyday for a variety of different reasons. The main uses of the internet are entertainment, research, and communication. With the invention of the internet, users have access to basically everything. Research can be conducted in a blink of an eye, people can communicate with people on the other side of the world, and people can be updated on news happening around the world almost the second it happens. Everything is more accessible.
With more accessible internet, comes more social media platforms to be entertained on. Both the amount of entertainment medias and the amount of people on these entertainment or social medias have grown exponentially. Also, there are some learners out there that are using the internet for their own personal research for school projects and assignments. With all the easily accessible information, everyday life is made easier and more people use the internet everyday. Therefore internet use has skyrocketed and doesn’t seem to show signs of slowing down. With the technology involved in the functionality of the internet continually becoming “smarter” and more advanced, it attracts more people to go on the wonderful lures of the internet. The internet is all around the world and is growing almost everywhere at a constant rate, but of course there are some places that haven't taken up this new advancement. Many third world countries don't have access to the internet and even if they do it is very limited. Though it is not just these smaller countries that don't have the internet readily available there are some very developed countries like India that have rural areas that don't have the same access that the bigger cities do. So they would be less experienced with the benefits and uses of the internet. |
AuthorAn 11th grader in a global perspectives class. ArchivesCategories |