Helping the Children of Tomorrow

 'Old men can make war, but it is children who will make history.' (RAY MERRITT) This quote shows us how important children are. We, children, are the future but so many of us are suffering and have disadvantages and this quote tells us that at the end of the day, kids will be the ones making history. Not the adults of today, but the kids of tomorrow. So how can we 'make history' if we are just being left to live our insignificant lives that many before us have lived? Around the world there are several associations that help disadvantaged children reach the level of intellectual and the happiness they deserve. For example there are two charities that I know of, the first being Children in Need, the second is the Make a Wish Foundation. Children in Need generally focusses on the UK alone, whereas Make a Wish Foundation goes global. However, a small change is better than no change at all.

Children in Need is a British association that raises money and donates the total amount to children around the UK that are disadvantaged. They create small or long skits to play on the television and by doing this they are advertising the cause.The Children in Need association allows children to grow and help them live the lives that they deserve. They allow children to live up to their full potential and  hope that every child in the UK will be:

• Happy and Secure 
• Safe

Pudsey Bear

  Children in Need is one of many telethons in the UK and has helped thousands of kids in Britain. Children in Need is famous for on key thing. Pudsey Bear. Pudsey Bear is Children in Need's mascot. He was created to advertise the cause and was successful in doing so. He appealed to the kids around the UK and is now a well known character in British society. 

Event	Broadcast total	Final total
2005	£17,235,256	£33,200,000
2006	£18,300,392	£33,600,000
2007	£19,089,771	£37,500,000
2008	£20,991,216	£38,500,000
2009	£20,309,747	£40,200,000

 Above you can see the money raised in each year from 2005-2009. As you can see each year the amount increases, showing that people are becoming more and more aware and because of this are donating money to help the cause. This shows that if more people in the world were aware then as a whole we could collect enough money to help the cause. And to the right of that is an example video of the kind of skits that they do to raise money for the cause. In the end Doctor Who's suite was sold for £50,000 and all funds went to the Children in Need association. 

 The Make a Wish Foundation is an organization that gives hope to children around the world with medical conditions that are life-threatening. It began in 1980 when a 7 year old boy, Christopher Greicius, with leukemia had a dream to become a police officer. A police officer who had befriended Christopher and his mother, named Tommy Austin, helped Christopher live his dream for one day. Christopher died on May 3rd but he had in a way lived his dream and all because of the that one police officer that wanted to help. After that Frank Shankwitz,  Scott Stahl and Linda Bergendahl-Pauling, Christopher's mother, saw how happy it made Christopher & his family when his wish came true and how it took the pain and anguish away. They decided to create a foundation that helped children with medical conditions have their dreams come true. Frank Shankwitz, Linda Bergendahl-Pauling and Scott Stahl are now the official founders of the Make a Wish Foundation. 

 In this picture you can see a photo of Christopher Greicius in his police officer uniform specially made for him. 

You can read more about this story here; The First Wish. 

 In today's society it is important that the children of today are being given the chance to live safe and happy lives, no matter what their environment may be. It is imperative that children are given the health care that is necessary for them to live healthy lives. Thanks to the foundations like Children in Need and the Make a Wish Foundation they are able to. If more people take action and help then our society can be a better place. I believe that every child should be given the right to live safe, happy and healthy lives. 

Equality between Men and Women is the Way to Go

'You don't have to be anti-man to be pro-woman.'  ~Jane Galvin Lewis. This quote tells us that if you are proud of being a women then it doesn't mean that you have something against men, it just means that you believe in yourself. Women have been discriminated because of their gender in past years, this is because a lot of men think that that they are superior to women. But really this is not the case, we (as women) shouldn't be put down or judged because of who we are, we should be given the same chances and the same rights as men.  There are cases of when women were discriminated because on their gender all throughout history, even in our society today. I would be a disappointment to our race if in the future women are still being treated in the same way as they have been in the past and present years. We have to fight for our rights, as women. Equality between men and women is the way to go.

 Before, in the United States and in other countries, women didn't even have the right to vote. They were stuck at home as housewives, waiting until their husbands returned from work and they would then wait on their families needs. Though women fought for the right to vote for several years before, on the day of the elections of 1920 millions of American women exercised their right to vote for the president. This idea was called the Women's Suffrage Movement, it was all activities/protests to change laws that stated that women could not have the ballot or hold office. To this day there has been no female American President but then again Barack Obama was the first black president, so why is it so hard to believe that a women could be president? It is evident that women are being treated with more respect nowadays than before but that doesn't mean that women aren't being discriminated in present times. 

 In this day and age its upsetting to hear about how women in Saudi Arabia are being treated. They are not allowed to drive, in fact it is forbidden for women to drive. The only way they can get around town, other than walking, is if their relative, family or friend drives them. However, this relative must be a man. That means that they can't take taxis, buses or get rides from people they don't know. This year a women was found driving and was sentenced to be lashed 10 times, as you can see they take this law is taken very seriously and some believe that they take it a bit too seriously. I agree with these people. There is actually no written law stating that women can't drive its more of a religious view that if they give freedom of movement to women then they would be vulnerable to sins. But this is just an excuse for the government to stay in their regressive ways and not change for the better. I think that if we are to be moving into a more developed society then we have to give equality to all, no matter their race, gender or culture.

 Amelia Earhart is known to many as the Women's Rights activist, she believed that women should be treated equally to men. Earhart proved her point by showing America, and the world, that women could, as men did, handle machinery, other than the day-to-day house hold appliances. She first found her passion for flying at a flight show that her father took her to. She then had lessons and soon learned how to fly a plane alone. Though she wasn't the first women to fly a plane she was an inspirational women that took pride in her beliefs. As you could probably tell, she was doubted and shot-down by many, but she stood firm in her convictions and went on to bring change in society. She inspired others to take action and pursue their dreams and by doing this proving to the world that women are also capable of adventure, that they are capable of doing the things that only men, in that time, were doing. 

 In the future I imagine a society in which women are treated equally among men. They are given the same rights and are allowed to do what they want when they want to. They shouldn't be forced to live up to the expectations of society and go with the flow of things. As women, we need to take a stand for our rights. If we are to become a society in which men and women are treated equally we must respect each other and show the same amount of respect to both genders. But we can only do this if men and women and treated equally. Men are usually seen as the superior gender or the stronger gender, however, people are not seeing that it is a known fact that women can multi-task and men can't, so why should we be treated as we are being treated? The women in Saudi Arabia deserve the same amount of rights as any other man in that country. But still they are discriminated, we need to stop thinking in such regressive ways, we are always talking about moving forward in technology but we must also move forward as a society and the best way to do that is to collaborate with each other. We have to work together and women shouldn't be discriminated for being weaker or having less potential, our society is moving forward at an alarming rate and so we have to realize that equality between men and women is the only way to go. 

Reduce the Amount of Food Wastage

As a child my parents raised and taught to me never waste my food. My mother strongly believes you shouldn't waste food because think about all the children who are poor and left hungry. I am not allowed to simple ask if I can eat my dinner later or keep it for tomorrow and so I have grown accustomed to making sure all my food is eaten before I put my plate away. Some children, however, are brought up in a completely different way. They are raised by parents that have little to no appreciation for the food that they are given, this causes them to act in the same ignorant way that the parents have. After they have learnt the wrong way their future generations are affected as well. This continuous cycle will go on for several years unless they are taught and influenced by another to value the food that is placed on their plate and treat it with respect.




A news article that relates to this topic is Food Waste On Staggering Scale, BBC. Did you know that 3.6 million tons of food is wasted every year in England and Wales alone. The Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP) discovered that the most common food that was wasted were fruits, breads and salads. However that was not the only interesting part, 60% percent of the all the dumped food was untouched. This was because they were either out of date or they were just unwanted. Liz Goodwin, the chief executive of WRAP was shocked by the amount of food wasted by the British, not only was this an environmental issue but it was an economic one too. Liz Goodman said "It highlights that this is an economic and social issue, as well as about how much we understand the value of our food." In this last part of the quote she describes how people are not respecting the food that they are paying for with well-earned money. This links back to what I said before about the value food in the Introduction. If people were more aware of how valuable food is then the amount of wasted food would decrease drastically.





                         Christopher Haskins


However, ignorance to the amount of food we waste on a day to day basis is not the only reason we end up wasting a lot of our food. Lord Haskins, the government advisor of food and farming, claimed. 'We are risk averse. We're obsessed with sell-by dates, so much so that we throw away perfectly good food which happens to be out of code.' Most families are cautious of food poisoning, this isn't bad, however, if we buy or cook too much food and don't eat all of it, we end up throwing away the either untouched food or leftovers. Sell-by date and best before dates only give the customer a better idea on when the food will stay fresh or taste its best. These labels are mandatory in most countries so that people aren't eating rotten food or buying it either. So if you see that there is a food in the supermarket that is 'out of date' do not be hesitant in buying it, just because it is out of code doesn't mean it's bad for you.



In July 2006 an article was written by Sean Coughlan named Food for Thought. This article explains ways out of wasting leftovers and untouched foods. The simple way would be to only buy or cook what you will eat. But most people can't gage the amount of food their family and they will eat. Coughlan explains to the reader that wasting food isn't so bad if you were to compost the leftovers. Millions of tons of edible food are thrown into landfills everyday. We can reduce this number by composting our food. You can compost your food in almost every country in the world, even in small towns it is possible. Last year Mr. Housego introduced to the families and staff of ISKL the idea of composting. He set up a system and it worked as follows; the family or staff member fills their compost bin and brings it to school, every week Mr. Housego would send the compost to a farmer that gave back, in return for the compost, soil. Mr. Housego then passed on the soil to the supplier and the cycle continued. But that is not the only thing that ISKL does to reduce the amount of wasted food, in the canteen you may have noticed the Waste Food bins that are placed near the trash can and where you put your dirty plates. This is yet another example of how ISKL is doing their part in reducing the amount of wasted food. If more schools and families followed this regime the millions of tons of food would be reduced.


So the next time your not hungry but you still have food on your plate consider any of the following solutions, composting, eating it later or asking someone else if they want it. We can also remind our friends and families not to waste their food, even such a small thing can go a long way. Remember, there is always a way out of food waste!



What is Composting?

The Forth Resource Management describes composting as '...a natural process by which organic materials are broken down by micro-organisms, effectively cooking and breaking down the ingredients. Many materials can be composted, for example grass cuttings, leaves and branches. When done properly, composting will kill harmful bugs and bacteria and produce a safe, sterile end product.'







Picture URLS:


http://palscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/food-waste-stop.jpg


http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/media/Lord_Haskins_of_Skidby2.jpg


http://www.shetlandrealnappies.org/images/WRAP.gif

Taking A Stand

We strongly believe that you should go out on a limb.
We implore you to cleverly oppose society.
To challenge with determination the manner that has somehow tragically infected our generation.
We have walked with conviction, yet nothing has happened.
By actually talking we have noticed that somehow
the challenge of wisdom has aggressively frightened society
and disguised conviction.

By Rachel McKinley and Georgina Irvine

What is Worth Fighting?

Abolish Slavery.

Throughout history many brave notables have stood up against slavery. However, today I will only be telling of two. The first being Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery in America. Next I will be talking about is Harriet Tubman, who helped over 300 slaves escape from the United States to Canada. Noth of these people helped abolish slavery around the world.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, who served from 1861 to 1865, when John Wilkes Booth assassinated him. In 1863 Lincoln abolished slavery. He once said ‘I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly, those who desire it for others.’ I think this quote implies that nobody should be forced to become a slave against his or her will. Those slaves should be given the chance to live freely among all other people, no matter what nationality, religion, rich or poor, skin colour, and others, everyone should be treated equally and have the same opportunities. However, if, for some reason, there had to be slaves, Lincoln believes that the slaves should be those who want the slaves purely for self-desire or for desire of others. They should have to go through what millions of other human beings suffered and worked hard for, just so people around the world can have appliances and products. People shouldn’t be able to use and control others for their own selfish reasons, and if they really need someone to work hard for them, they can either find someone who actually wants to work for them or they could just do it them self because it is unfair for others to have to do the tasks that you should be able to do yourself. Abraham Lincoln was a fair man and he died for trying to help all those poor slaves who were starving, tired, and poor because of others who treated them like animals, but people should all be given the same opportunities and chances, not just be working unnecessarily all their life for some other person who gets to relax and get paid for when the hard working people are basically getting nothing for all the work that they do.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman is recognised as the ‘Moses of her people’ because of her brave act against slavery. She was named this because from 1850 to 1858 she lead over 300 slaves from America into freedom. Harriet Tubman was born into a life of slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1820. In 1848 Tubman decided to runaway from her plantation, leaving her husband and the rest of her family behind. Later she decided to return to Maryland to free her family and friends. Tubman would free the slaves by transporting them through the underground railways. She would take them to St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada. This was the perfect place to take black slaves because in St. Catherines white and black people lived equally in comfortable houses. 
“If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there's shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.” This inspirational quote was said by Harriet Tubman. She believed that however hard things get, however difficult things may seem, don’t stop trying. Keep going. Tubman never gave in, she had so many chances to stop and live a comfortable life, to live in peace. She had hundred of chances to surrender, to let the people who enslaved her kind win. But she never let them. She stood firm in her convictions and went on to freeing hundreds of slaves in America.

  Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln’s actions inspire us to fight for what we believe in. They stood firm in their beliefs and went on to bring change in their society. Because of Tubman and Lincoln many people have fought for what they think is or isn’t right, or what they think should or should not be happening. The actions that these significant and brave men/women have done has had an enormous impact on our world today. They have stood up against slavery and have inspired others to fight for what they believe in.

I believe in abolishing slavery because people should not be forced to work against their will for little pay. They should at least get a chance to be free and live normal lives. I think that it is wrong for people to be treated the way that slaves are being treated because they are ones doing the actual work, but they are ones being payed less and treated worse, when it should be the other way round. The slaves should be payed at a higher rate, they should be treated as equals and not as animals.

Picture URL's: 1) http://gonzoreality.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/slavery.jpg

                      2) http://thestudentreview.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Abraham-Lincoln.jpg

                      3) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Harriet_Tubman_cropped.jpg

The Utopian Society

  Maurice Strong once said ‘After all, sustainability means running the global environment - Earth Inc. - like a corporation: with depreciation, amortization and maintenance accounts. In other words, keeping the asset whole, rather than undermining your natural capital. ’ I believe  that this quote by, Maurice Strong, means that in order for us to have a sustainable society we must value our resources, instead of trying to defy them. The Oxford Dictionaries describe the word sustainability as ‘conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.’ If I were to create a new world I would hope that it would be environmentally sustainable.  

 Sustainability is important for it allows for growth and development because it gives the new civilizations and generations a reliable future, allowing them to thrive in their natural habitat. In this day and age, the human race is multiplying at an alarming rate, and we are consuming more and more of our natural habitat. This may not seem as a problem to many, however, while the human population grows our natural resources are lessening. If we are to keep consuming at this rate, then in the future our supplies will be limited. What we do now has a huge effect on how our future will turn out to be.  

In my ideal world, everyone will value and encourage their children to sustain the environment and their natural habitat. People in this society will work towards reducing their carbon footprint. They will also seek to increase their positive impact on the environment, as well as decreasing their negative impact. Many societies have endeavored to achieve this characteristic, and unfortunately have failed. However, this does not mean that we should give up hope, sustainability is worth the effort.          

IMAGE URL: http://goldschmidt.info/2008/sustainability.jpg 

Hunger Games Assessment Blog Posts

Identity Charts:

 We chose to do the Identity Charts for our project because throughout the book they introduce many new characters that are very important to the book. We decided to do Cinna, Effie Trinket and Peeta Mellark. These characters are significant to the book because they had a vital part to Games. Peeta Mellark, helped Katniss create the 'star-crossed lover' effect on the Capitol, it helped her and Peeta get sponsors while they were in the arena. Without Cinna Katniss wouldn't have had so much of an effect on the Capitol, and the people who lived there, because Cinna made Katniss memorable. Effie Trinket helped Katniss, she told Katniss about what she should and shouldn't do, and if she wasn't here Katniss may have done something really bad. The book describes the personalities of the characters and we thought that the best way to show the personality traits would be through an Identity Chart. 

Here are the Identity Charts:

Cinna Above, Effie Trinket Bellow :)

Key Symbols:

We decided to include Key Symbols in our project because through out the book there are many repeating symbols. Some of they were significant to the story, but others were not. We chose to do the Mocking Jay Pin, which was considered a sign of rebellion and District 12. We also chose to do the Dandelion, which for Katniss represented Hope. Another symbol we chose to do was the Cannon. The Cannon blew when a tribute had died in the Games. The Tracker-Jackers, another key symbol, signified the fact that the Capitol will do anything to have control. We also chose to do Rue's flowers. These flowers were the ones that Katniss chose to do, it represented rebellion and Rue. Last but not least we chose to draw a banquet, food from the Capitol, it represents the Comfort and Wealth of the Capitol, and the difference between District Twelve and the Capitol.

Tickets:

We decided to do the tickets because we thought that it would be fun to and so we decided that we should make a ticket.