Hunger Games M103
Factors of Production: Labor, Capital, Land and Entrepreneurship.
What is economics: Throughout this simulation I learnt that economy functions by what the country produces. In our case, Yooya was our enrepreneurship because he took charge of organizing the duties. The capital was the stapler because people all fought for it in order to proceed their task.
My strategy: Although the rest of people in our class worked as a team, Feridinand, Sakurako and I decided to work as a group. I was in charge of making the fish and I kept all the resources I needed. After I was done, I distributed resources.
Propsal: Since I am good at making the fish now, I promise that I will make a lot of them and distribute them equally if I get something back in return.
TED TALK
Bjorn Lomborg: Global priorities bigger than climate change
Summary & Message: The bottom line is there are a lot of problem in the world which includes, starvation, lack of sanitation and so on. What Bjorn Lomborg focused on through his speech was the importance of having a straight list of priorities to prevent global issues. In the ideal world, we would solve them all but if we don’t, we really have to start asking ourselves what to solve first. The point he tried to make through his speech was to not prior to problems but to prioritize solutions to problems. Even if we had UN for 60 years, they never actually made a fundamental list. As a result, the economists came up with a prioritized list and put prices on the issue. In the Kyoto protocol, it was issued that 150 billion dollars would be invested in global issues. However, it resulted in little good. UN said that with half of the honey (75 billion dollars), we can solve major basic problems in the world such as, education and clean water.Lomgborg states that the world should invest in the following problems..
1. Control of Malaria – invest 30 million dollars, we can save billions of infected people.
2. Malnutrition- invest 12 billion dollar
3. Subsides and Trade Barrier- Free Trade
4. Control HIV/AID- invest in prevention.
Lastly, Lomborg said “It’s not about making most of media, it’s about making places we can do good in”.
OPVL:
The TED talk was given by Bjorn Lomborg who is a Danish author. The purpose of his speech was to inform people about his perspective towards global issues. He believes that it is important not to prior to problems but to prioritize solutions to problems. His talk was very meaningful because he listed all the global issues and how he thinks it should be solved. Not only did he talk about the solutions for the future, he also stated the things that has been done but not fully succeeded. Example, the solutions that have been made at the Kyoto Protocol. Despite his belief in the prevention of global issues, he did not mention much about how others (such as, UN) thought about his idea. Adding to that, he did not refer to any opposition or disadvantage towards his theory.
My thoughts:
I completely agree with Bjorn Lomborg and the way he sees the world. With the world carrying many issues such as, Global warming, nothing has really been achieved. The nations invest billions of dollars in ecology and like Lomborg believes, “most of it is about the media”. Through his speech, I learnt that it is important to create a list of priorities towards prevention. When Lomborg talked about the major four issues that should be done initially, he talked about the fundings of prevention and treatment. He beliefs that prevention is much more of a priority than treatment because the number of patients grows every year. I believe in this because it is harder to fix things that have been harmed so, preventing the future will be more successful.
Environmental Sustainability and Scarcity
First of, what is sustainability and scarcity? Sustainability means when something can be supported physically or mentally for an extended period of time without interruption. In this case, we are talking about water and the act of sustaining fresh water for drinking purposes for people all around the world. Scarcity on the other hand means the complete opposite. It is the sate of being in short supply and relating it to water, it means the insufficient of water supply for people in undeveloped countries.
WATER
Clean water is essential for life, it is something we rely on everyday. In developed countries, clean water can be found anywhere. However, in poor countries, it is very difficult to search for safe drinking water.
Around 5,000 children die each day due to preventable diarrheal diseases sich as cholera and dysentery. These diseases are contagious and is spread through contaminated water. In some places, it takes in distance average 3.75 miles (6 kilometers) a day to collect water. This can limits the opportunity for education which unable the people to get hired for well-paid jobs.
If this situation continues, it can lead to a decrease in population as well as, wars between people for water. On the bright side, solutions has been made according to Sandra Postel, director os the Global Water Policy. In order to distribute clean water to everyone in the world, the policy is going to restrict the amount of water use for agriculture.
The United National General Assembly has announced that by the next few decades, our goal is to provide each person on the planet with affordable access to the 20 to 50 liters of water to sustain life.
FOOD
- Sustainability: Foods are provided to each families and to make sure that no one goes to bed hungry.
- Scarcity: Limited amount of food supplies to feed the population.
- Sustainability: To provide access to power such as modern electricity to each homes.
- Scarcity: Limited amount of accessible fossil fuels for energy.
- Sustainability: Sustain clean oceans while providing resources for the population.
- Scarcity: Lack of sea mammals.
- Scarcity: To make sure that cities do not overpopulate.
- Scarcity: Lack of people living in the rural areas. Also the job opportunity in the rural areas.
Electrocity
Definition of “Scarcity”: insufficiency of shortness of supply; dearth
My strategy: I personally did not have a strategy but I kept on clicking the “Next Turn” button and the population automatically increased. I also tried to buy things such as, ski fields and beaches but it was almost close to impossible because I did not have enough money. I also tried to prospect everything and if I find a coal, I built a coal mine on top. I decided to not care too much about the population, instead I made sure that everyone was happy to live on my town.
What I learnt about scarcity: What I learnt about scarcity through this game is that when you are out of supplies, other factors get malfunctioned. It is hard to make everything go the right way.
Expanding: I would want to expand my town into an empire because it results to more income such as, taxes. The town would become so much developed and richer with people working for the ruler.
Discuss the consequences the movements of Syrian refugees are having on the host/bordering countries.
As the current situation in Syria gets worse, more and more Syrians are moving to bordering countries. This affects not only Syria but the bordering countries such as, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. The origin of the current conflict began in March 2011, when there was a popular uprising against the Syrian government. The president, who is still in power, is Bashar al-Assad and people claim he is responsible for the deaths of key figures who were opposed to him. Due to this, many Syrians must depend on the bordering countries. This provokes many obstacles to overcome and negative consequences that must be dealt within the bordering countries.
One of the bordering countries that support Syrian refugees is Jordan, but it is currently facing financial problems as well as their own issues over population. Jordanian demographics clearly illustrate the problem. The BBC News reports that Planning Minister Jafaar Hassan estimates that the number of Syrians would soon increase to 240,000 up from 180,000. There are also problems of scarce water and the country’s energy sources, which are under increased strain. He made it clear that government cannot shoulder the hardship anymore. In addition to Jordan, Turkey is also facing the same adversity.
Not only are the demographics changing but the economy is also being affected. The Telegraph reports that UN predicts number of Syrians who needs humanitarian aid will increase from 1 million to 4 million. Such diplomatic issues stem from social problems. According to TheDailyStar, due to the lack of shelters and camps, 180 Syrian families are staying in six schools in Lebanon. This may become a burden for the learning students since their schools are used as shelters and can affect their studying space. The picture below is the refugee camp in Jordan.
In conclusion, the bordering countries face burdens in taking in refugees for many reasons. The demographics show great numbers of refugees increasing at a rapid pace. Due to this, there are diplomatic and economic problems. Finally, the ethnic and social differences further contribute to the Syrian crisis.
My Thoughts on KONY
When I first watched the video, I was very moved and was very determined that I had to do something. I instantly shared it on facebook and twitter. I wanted to buy the emergency kit and if I think about it now, It’s amazing how a 30 minutes video can really change you. I think the reason we were so moved is because of how advanced the video was. The editing of the video was outstanding and interesting. It talked about Joseph Kony in detail and really made us hate him. I also thought it was very successful how Jason Russel showed her son which gave a compassionate effect. However, after I talked to my friends and teacher about it, I noticed the negative part of this. If Joseph Kony is in the number one criminal list, why didn’t I know him before? The video involved a lot of action that they expected us to give away money. Since the Kony project is part of Invisble Children, how can we be sure that our donation will go to the children in Uganda. There were so many questions I had. So, I decided to not believe in Invisible Children but to understand that Kony is a very cruel guy and his actions has to be stopped.
Goals: End of Grade 9
What have I achieved so far this year?
So far, I was able to achieve serval thing. My goal was to get a better score on my english essay. Two weeks ago, when I got my essay back, I got a better grade than I expected so I was very proud of myself. My other goal was to listen carefully in class. Now, I don’t get distracted often and I try to pay attention to what my teacher is saying.
What are my goals for the last quarter?
Try to get good scores on my test and assignments and enjoy class as much I can.
OPVL and The Corporation
Origin: The Corporation is written by Joel Bakan.
Purpose: It was made to show the modern corporation and considers its legal status as a class of person and evaluates its behavior towards the society.
Value: I found the film very useful because it showed how the corporation was created from scratch and how it developed. It also showed the negative parts of the past corporation which is good for reflecting history.
Limitation: Since this film is very biased, it might affect the corporation which were shown negatively.
My view of corporation and CSR after watching The Corporation
My view towards the corporation and CSR changed immensely after watching The Corporation. I thought that CSR brought up good things about the company and helped the environments and other factors. However, this film taught me that not most of the corporation, tries to achieve their promise and uses CSR just for fame. Also the fact that some corporation such as, IBM was had connection with the Nazi really surprised me. The IBM produced a permanent writing machine that was craved to the skin to show the identification number of the people. I thought that corporation were first built not so long ago but this video proved me wrong. It was actually created before Industrial Revolution.
Pre Parent Teacher Conference Reflection
What is my best subject now? Why?
My best subject now is Geography and Japanese. In both of the subjects, I am getting decent grades and I understand what we are learning. I think this is because I am very interested in Geography and want to discover more about my language.
What subject do I need to improve? How?
It would be English and Physics because I find it very difficult to understand and I am not fully satisfied with the grades I get. So, what I will do is to pay attention in class and ask questions, when it’s necessary.
MacDonald CSR
Click here for our MacDonald CSR website
Q1. Do you think your website is effective in teaching people about CSR? Explain your answer.
A1. Yes, I think our website is very effective in teaching people about CSR because we tried to include all things that MacDonald is doing. We also included our opinion towards their CSR so that people will know how we thought of it while researching.
Q2. Do you think your website is fair and balanced or is it biased? Explain your answer.
A2. We think our website is unbiased because we stated some negative things about MacDonald’s CSR. Such as, how most of their foods they serve are unhealthy.
Q3. How effective was working in a group in creating this website? What was easy and what was difficult about working with your group?
I think working in a group was very effective. We all had parts we had to cover so we were all doing work equally while communicating. It was easier because the works were done much faster and people in my group helped me a lot. The difficult part was that since the time we were together were limited, when we worked at home we didn’t know what we had to do.
Is CSR an effective strategy for a corporation?
I believe that CSR is an effective strategy for a corporation because by this, the companies are gaining respect and sympathy from the customers. If a corporation is helping the environment by reducing the amount of plastic used, people would want to go there because they are doing something good. By this, the company may grow due to the success. Also by CSR, it can give positive message to people. For example, as part of their commercial, in MacDonalds they advertise about how all of their cups are recycled and how they care about the greens. With this, children can watch the commercial and receive the message about helping the environment.
Do you think YIS engages is CSR? Can you give examples.
Yes, because as part of our community service, YIS helps the homeless shelter and provides foods for them. Also YIS collects 1 yens for a foundation and currently donating to the Tohoku relief. I find it effective because when I first came to this school, the first thing I noticed was how much they helps the environment and people.
