In the early 1940s, there was a great famine in India. Crops were failing, and the result was people starving. The Green Revolution started as an idea to make sure there was enough water to irrigate crops, inorganic fertilizers to fertilize crops, and so that at the end of the season, they ended up with much higher yields than before. Now, to the point, was this “revolution” truly revolutionary? Did it really change lives? I think it did.
The Green Revolution occurred so that the population of the Indian Subcontinent could be fed, and they have been fed, so isn’t the problem over? Well, after the Green Revolution, there haven’t been any famines in this region, but because of a major population growth (which probably resulted from the thought that now that there is enough food, we can have more people), there is a higher demand for food once again, so people think we are at a point once again where in a few decades, we might need another Green Revolution, and so people are now discussing whether the last Green Revolution was truly revolutionary or not.
Mostly because of the technological advances that came from the (last) Green Revolution, there is enough food on the earth to feed 9 billion people. The earth is populated by less than 9 billion, so why are we still worried about famines and people starving? Well, the problem at the moment isn’t about the amount of food we have (though we will end up needing more to ensure sustainability), it’s the amount of money people have, and without money, distribution of the food, will never be equal, and so if business isn’t good within the country, the food will simply be exported. But because of the Green Revolution, and higher yields of crops such as rice and wheat, prices for these products have been able to stay pretty low. Also because of that, many farms stopped producing, or started producing less of the other products, such as pulses or legumes, because they could earn more money by producing rice and wheat. This meant that the prices of the other products have been raised, and therefore many people especially those under the poverty line aren’t able to purchase these anymore, that is the reason for many deficiencies.
The Green Revolution might have decreased crops of other types, but the idea of genetically modifying plants will be the future of agriculture. This will mean that rice and wheat crops can have the nutrients that are missing from them added on, and so almost all the problems that the Green Revolution might have caused will have solutions, and that’s what the Green Revolution was about, it was a solution.
People were starving, crops were failing, so scientists and farmers took a step to cultivate farming. They solved the problem by genetically modifying crops to make higher yields. People around this region are benefiting from this, and it was a revolution because it changed the lives of the people who needed it. Ever since the Green Revolution, there have been no famines in this region of Asia. Because of all this, I can say that the Green Revolution was truly revolutionary because it solved what it was put out there to solve.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Pre Population and Resources Unit Answers for Essential Questions
Essential Questions:
1. What are the population trends around the world and what factors are influencing those trends?
The population all around the world has grown excessively during the past century. For example, if you have four kids, and then they each have four kids, that would mean you have sixteen grandchildren and all together, you would be a family of twenty six, in just three generations, and that’s not including your parents’ families. This is the way that the world has grown over the past years, as population increases, families are growing as well, and so the world gets more crowded.
2. What is being done to stabilize global population growth?
To stabilize population growth, there are many courses being offered all around the world, to make sure every child born will have an equal chance of survival and an equal chance of education and success in the world, and to make sure the parents can afford to keep their child. This not only covers economy issues, but can convince people not to grow their family just yet as well as global population.
3. How are resources distributed and utilized?
Resources are not distributed equally among the people of the world. At the moment, there’s enough food for every person in the world, but only some people have the privilege and the money to afford their food and eat every day. Most of the world’s population doesn’t have that privilege. Also, if the world’s money were shared equally per person, then our school would be too expensive to go to because the tuition would be almost triple the amount that each person would have. The way that the resources are distributed at the moment, not everything is being utilized, there is a lot going to waste, or a lot which nothing is happening to. But oil or petroleum is a resource that the world is using up at an incredibly enormous rate, and people are panicking over what they will do in the future since that is our main source of energy at the moment, and almost everyone depends on those products in one way or another.
4. What are the effects of humanity’s consumption of the world’s resources?
The effects of our use of the world’s resources is that we might one day run out of what we treasure most. Many of us take electricity, for example, as granted, but as soon as the world runs out the resource that powers our houses and lights and computers, we’ll be without what we treasure the most, and if we don’t think about it and create an alternative resource now, then we’ll never be prepared for what is coming up in the future.
5. What are possible solutions to problems associated with population trends and use of resources?
There are many solutions to problems associated with population trends and use of resources. One is to cut down use of a certain resources because we are running out of it, or finding an alternative resource, but in the case of electricity, gas and oil being the main resource, it is not possible to do overnight, because the alternative resource first has to be found, tested and then there has to be enough machines made so that they can replace the number of oil consuming prodcts that there are in the world, and then actually have people come out and switch their old enviromentally unfriendly items with the new and improved technical advancements.
1. What are the population trends around the world and what factors are influencing those trends?
The population all around the world has grown excessively during the past century. For example, if you have four kids, and then they each have four kids, that would mean you have sixteen grandchildren and all together, you would be a family of twenty six, in just three generations, and that’s not including your parents’ families. This is the way that the world has grown over the past years, as population increases, families are growing as well, and so the world gets more crowded.
2. What is being done to stabilize global population growth?
To stabilize population growth, there are many courses being offered all around the world, to make sure every child born will have an equal chance of survival and an equal chance of education and success in the world, and to make sure the parents can afford to keep their child. This not only covers economy issues, but can convince people not to grow their family just yet as well as global population.
3. How are resources distributed and utilized?
Resources are not distributed equally among the people of the world. At the moment, there’s enough food for every person in the world, but only some people have the privilege and the money to afford their food and eat every day. Most of the world’s population doesn’t have that privilege. Also, if the world’s money were shared equally per person, then our school would be too expensive to go to because the tuition would be almost triple the amount that each person would have. The way that the resources are distributed at the moment, not everything is being utilized, there is a lot going to waste, or a lot which nothing is happening to. But oil or petroleum is a resource that the world is using up at an incredibly enormous rate, and people are panicking over what they will do in the future since that is our main source of energy at the moment, and almost everyone depends on those products in one way or another.
4. What are the effects of humanity’s consumption of the world’s resources?
The effects of our use of the world’s resources is that we might one day run out of what we treasure most. Many of us take electricity, for example, as granted, but as soon as the world runs out the resource that powers our houses and lights and computers, we’ll be without what we treasure the most, and if we don’t think about it and create an alternative resource now, then we’ll never be prepared for what is coming up in the future.
5. What are possible solutions to problems associated with population trends and use of resources?
There are many solutions to problems associated with population trends and use of resources. One is to cut down use of a certain resources because we are running out of it, or finding an alternative resource, but in the case of electricity, gas and oil being the main resource, it is not possible to do overnight, because the alternative resource first has to be found, tested and then there has to be enough machines made so that they can replace the number of oil consuming prodcts that there are in the world, and then actually have people come out and switch their old enviromentally unfriendly items with the new and improved technical advancements.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
MSN Blog
Blog Scenario and Question:
In the novel, The Revealers, the students of Parkland Middle felt connected through SchoolStream or as the students called it KidNet where they were able to chat or instant message. Most of you do this nightly through MSN Messenger. With KidNet and MSN nobody could break into or eavesdrop on your conversation without it being known. Not anymore. Today’s technology allows you to assume the identity of another person. Do you really know whom you are talking to in the cyber world?
It is 10:00 pm on a Wednesday night; you have finished your homework and you are chatting on MSN with three other friends. After 10 minutes two more friends ask to join the chat. By 10:30 pm five more people have joined and it is fun; however, there is a joke said about one of the people, rapidly followed by an insult. At first, no one knows how to respond, then seconds later a message pops up stating, “I didn’t say that! It isn’t me saying these things. Someone is using my name. What is going on here?”
What is the issue involved in this scenario? Why is this serious?
What would be a responsible way to handle this situation?
How could a situation like this be resolved? How would one of the three main characters from The Revealers deal with this situation?
Blog Answer:
The safe thing about MSN is you have the choice of accepting or declining who you talk with, but even if you do know everyone you're talking to, there are softwares that enable you to hack other people's accounts, or to change your name into someone else's while you're in a group conversation and talk as if you are them, and no one apart from you will know who actually said it. This situation is serious because someone is taking over someone else's identity, and you might say something that may be harmful for the other person, or they might be doing it using your name. A responsible way to handle this situation is to first of all believe the person who said "I wasn't the one doing this", and try and figure out who it was that actually said those insults, but not to blame someone without knowing. This situation could be involved by talking it out, or if you yourself is the person, then say sorry (even if it is in that hidden identity), and say it wasn't the person that you are labeled as. The main characters from the Revealers would solve this by asking for an anonymous posting, or the person who was affected could send an email saying they weren't the one who said all this and that it was a huge misunderstanding.
In the novel, The Revealers, the students of Parkland Middle felt connected through SchoolStream or as the students called it KidNet where they were able to chat or instant message. Most of you do this nightly through MSN Messenger. With KidNet and MSN nobody could break into or eavesdrop on your conversation without it being known. Not anymore. Today’s technology allows you to assume the identity of another person. Do you really know whom you are talking to in the cyber world?
It is 10:00 pm on a Wednesday night; you have finished your homework and you are chatting on MSN with three other friends. After 10 minutes two more friends ask to join the chat. By 10:30 pm five more people have joined and it is fun; however, there is a joke said about one of the people, rapidly followed by an insult. At first, no one knows how to respond, then seconds later a message pops up stating, “I didn’t say that! It isn’t me saying these things. Someone is using my name. What is going on here?”
What is the issue involved in this scenario? Why is this serious?
What would be a responsible way to handle this situation?
How could a situation like this be resolved? How would one of the three main characters from The Revealers deal with this situation?
Blog Answer:
The safe thing about MSN is you have the choice of accepting or declining who you talk with, but even if you do know everyone you're talking to, there are softwares that enable you to hack other people's accounts, or to change your name into someone else's while you're in a group conversation and talk as if you are them, and no one apart from you will know who actually said it. This situation is serious because someone is taking over someone else's identity, and you might say something that may be harmful for the other person, or they might be doing it using your name. A responsible way to handle this situation is to first of all believe the person who said "I wasn't the one doing this", and try and figure out who it was that actually said those insults, but not to blame someone without knowing. This situation could be involved by talking it out, or if you yourself is the person, then say sorry (even if it is in that hidden identity), and say it wasn't the person that you are labeled as. The main characters from the Revealers would solve this by asking for an anonymous posting, or the person who was affected could send an email saying they weren't the one who said all this and that it was a huge misunderstanding.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Bullying: The Right of Passage?
Blog Assignment Question: Is bullying a rite of passage of childhood and adolescence? Is it apart of the maturation process one needs to go through to reach adulthood? Explain. Mrs. Hogeboom brings up this topic on page 108.
Bullying should not be a right of passage from childhood to adolescence, and it should not be part of the maturation process one needs to go through to reach adulthood, because it itself is not mature.
Bullies most probably become bullies because they feel they didn't have enough power or control over people, and after beating other people up, either physically or mentally, they finally feel like they have gained the power and respect that they "deserve". That is why Russell (from the Revealers) named them predators, because after some time, they basically live off of the "prey's" suffering.
Victims of the bullies, or the prey of the predator, mostly have done nothing to affect the bullies. Most of the time the ones that are attacked are the quietest ones, without any friends to stand up for them, or the ones that are just a little different from the ones they are bullied by, they're the ones that stand out just a little bit in the hazy, busy crowd of school life.
Bullying has nothing to do with maturation. It's just another way of passing time when you're busy with your school life, and that gets boring after some time. I can honestly say, every single person has been either a bystander, victim or bully, but that hasn't made them mature or feel like they know any more than they did before the incident. Maybe after reflecting over the matter, we could think about how such a petty incident made us be so cruel, but that's the only maturing bit in the whole process. But to make the person mature, they must understand and learn that bullying is not right, but it's not fully avoidable either.
Bullying should not be a right of passage from childhood to adolescence, and it should not be part of the maturation process one needs to go through to reach adulthood, because it itself is not mature.
Bullies most probably become bullies because they feel they didn't have enough power or control over people, and after beating other people up, either physically or mentally, they finally feel like they have gained the power and respect that they "deserve". That is why Russell (from the Revealers) named them predators, because after some time, they basically live off of the "prey's" suffering.
Victims of the bullies, or the prey of the predator, mostly have done nothing to affect the bullies. Most of the time the ones that are attacked are the quietest ones, without any friends to stand up for them, or the ones that are just a little different from the ones they are bullied by, they're the ones that stand out just a little bit in the hazy, busy crowd of school life.
Bullying has nothing to do with maturation. It's just another way of passing time when you're busy with your school life, and that gets boring after some time. I can honestly say, every single person has been either a bystander, victim or bully, but that hasn't made them mature or feel like they know any more than they did before the incident. Maybe after reflecting over the matter, we could think about how such a petty incident made us be so cruel, but that's the only maturing bit in the whole process. But to make the person mature, they must understand and learn that bullying is not right, but it's not fully avoidable either.
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