Blog #20: Making Change

As I move onto the next phase in my life, I will certainly be applying the knowledge I have gained through this course into all aspects of university! It will motivate me to join many clubs involved with community work and service and inspired me to educate people on how important it is that we put a stop to certain issues going on in our world such as sexualization, ending the circle of poverty, water shortage, etc! I will continue to participate in groups like Me to We and Free the children and may even go on another service trip similar to the one I went on to Kenya, but next year!

Blog #19: Important Skill- Voicing My Opinion

This course has taught me so many skills that can be used in and outside the classroom this year through out all the topics we've covered. I feel that the most important skill this course has taught me is voicing my opinion. Learning about such sensitive topics such as poverty, water shortage, abortion, sexualization and so on, it becomes very apparent as a student as to what your true opinion on the topic is. In fact it started to become more and more natural realizing which side I was on for debates and why. In doing this, it then became easier to voice my opinion on the topic and to support it with my reasons as to why with the push of some confidence. Being able to voice your opinion is a very important life skill to have in my opinion, because it can benefit you in so many ways such as: standing up for yourself, helping others, helping global issues become known, educating others on an issue, etc. Another thing voicing my opinion could strongly help me in is the fact that I want to be a lawyer when I am older! I think that this skill would definitely benefit me drastically when being a lawyer because it is necessary that you are able to voice your opinion in court.

Blog #18: Motivation

This entire year of World Issues has taught me a lot and helped me grow as a person in many ways. This course can positively affect so many people in so many different ways, through all of the general themes it covers inspiring us as students to make a difference in this world. I feel that the main theme of this course would be motivation. Every topic we covered, whether it be a tragic shooting or the rate of poverty over these years, all motivate each one of us to make a difference and a positive change. For example, being a girl, learning about sexualization and the negative impact it has had on mainly girls around our world, but even guys really shocked me and made me want to make a change. Its shocking how society can change over the years so drastically, from respecting the population of women entirely to making them feel so degraded and disrespected through the media. This is one issue I found myself to be very passionate about, especially being a woman myself. Another issue I found myself very passionate about, motivating me to make a change, was poverty. I find it very unfair that being born into the wrong country around the world, or the wrong family can so easily alter someones well being and wealth for the rest of their life. I think it is also unfair that there are many wealthy countries such as Canada and the United States that waste money on such materialistic things to develop our technology even further than it has to be, when we could be using this money to help out third world countries that don't have the money to help themselves. All in all, every topic we learned about this year, motivated me to make a change in this world.

Blog #17: Gun Issue

If I lived in America today, I feel that the government should be strongly enforcing laws regarding gun ownership in a more harsher manner. For one, the rate of gun ownership in the US is much higher than most comparable countries. About 42.8% of households in the states own firearms and when there are more guns, more casualties usually follow close behind. The death rate by firearms in the states was 10.2 per 100 000 people in 2009, as it is slowly going up. This is an easy problem to solve or aid, as long as the government is enforcing the laws they are placing down. If the government was more harsh with how they enforce their laws and the consequences that follow disobeying them, there would be less homes with illegal possession of firearms, lowering the casualty rate from firearms. While the strength of a states gun laws is just one factor in contributing to gun violence, there is a clear link to gun violence and gang related violence also. The gang violence in the US is also a lot higher than most comparable countries, resulting in more people feeling the need to own firearms to protect themselves, especially after the Connecticut shooting. If the government helped their country feel more protected as a whole, by enforcing other laws that can contribute to this feeling of security, there would be less need for people to buy firearms.

Blog #15: Religion and the government

I believe that yes religion has a place in the government in the sense that many laws based on religion are fair in terms of majority of people in that region having that same religion they are based off of. Any laws being passed by the government should not concern or affect those that are not of that religion, such as not being allowed to have more than one wife. However, I also believe religion does not have a place in the government considering many laws that are passed are biased based off of religion and can negatively impact those of a different religion. For example, passing a law that states you could not open your stores on Sundays due to Catholic/Christian religion could negatively impact those of a different religion, who own stores (maybe they want profit made on Sundays or family days?). In this sense, if many of the laws are going to start problems within a country, laws should be the consequence of debate and discussion. Also, since religions disagree even amongst themselves as to what the right policies are so the only sensible way to vote for elections is for what the candidates are actually proposing, not based on religion.

Blog #14: Food Dumping

4. One way that developed countries 'help' the less fortunate nations of the world is by offering aid in the form of food. This approach to aid has been criticized by some as ineffective at best, and criminal at worst. Read through the material posted here, then answer the question: "What is food dumping, and how does it contribute to the cycle of poverty and dependence among the world's poorest people?" Also, offer a solution to the problem.

There are certain types of food aid that can be considered destructive. For example, dumping food onto poorer nations can actually cause their economy to go down, instead of improve it. This is because local farmers cannot compete, so they are driven into poverty and out of jobs.  When the land that is having the food exported to it is capable of producing adequate amounts of food with their own agricultural land, it is extremely beneficial for the exporting country, but not for the country being exported to (many poor nations are rich in agriculture). Food dumping is a huge contributing factor to the cycle of poverty in this world. Far from ending hunger and promoting the economic interests of farmers in third world countries, agricultural liberalization has created a global food system that fits the needs of the powerful but is a detriment of poor farmers in our world. Instead of just dumping this "cheap" imported food onto third world countries land, if we were to give them access to land, industrial tools, protection from cheap imports, they could be more self sufficient when it comes to producing food for their country and bettering their economy.

Blog #13: Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist attack

An investigation led to the arrest of two men, from Montreal and Toronto for targeting an attack on a commuter train in the Toronto area. Both men were not Canadian citizens and police would not comment on their nationality. CBC News reported that the alleged plotters were reportedly under surveillance in Quebec and southern Ontario for more than a year. What does this mean to me? To me this shows that there are definite signs of concerns that should be coming out of this arrest because for even the casual observer, this Canadian flavored terrorist-takedown is not something that should be easily ignored. For one, this is the first instance of Al-Qaeda following through with supporting an actual planned attack on Canadian soil. While Bin Laden apparently named Canada as a target in papers recovered from his assassination, we’ve never been considered a prime objective for Islamic terrorists. This planned attack is a huge threat to us Canadians, as it could be a sign to "go into hiding" for once. This reinforces the stereotype behind the belief that all "Muslims are terrorists" just like things were right after the 9/11.