Access to clean drinking water is the issue I have decided to investigate.

There is a great limit in drinking water, all around the world. About 884 million people in the world do not have proper drinkable water. This limit in drinking water is a very extreme and life destroying problem. There are many people that need the international community to step in help with this problem that is killing. If the international community will not step in, there will be innocents lost. These innocents are the people that do not have the access to water that is anywhere close to being drinkable. They need every body's help.


This picture is showing the international community coming together and working together.





The limit to the access of drinking water is horrible. The 80 percent of diseases, which come from unsafe waters and lack of basic sanitation, kill 42,000 people each week. These amount of deaths are very devastating. They are even more devastating because 90 percent of the deaths are children. These children's immune systems that are taking in the infected waters are not well enough to fend off the infections and illnesses. Adult's immune systems are much stronger and can fend off the viruses. Even worse, these diseases would never even have the chance to come in and contact with anybody if everybody would be able to have clean water.

This picture shows a girl that has been able to have the access of clean water.






There is a largest cause of the limited access of clean water. This is that the population growth rate is rapidly increasing. The population growth rate increasing is defiantly not a good thing for the fact of that there is a lack of drinking water for people. As there are more people in the world, there is less water for everybody to drink. This means that as long as the population growth rate is increasing, clean water is going to be harder to divide up and distribute. The population growth is the greatest cause of the limited access of clean water. This is cause that can be easily prevented, if everybody actually worked together to solve it.


This picture is showing the drastic increase of population growth over the last few years and a prediction on what is to come.





There is another cause of the lack of drinkable water, though. When we use water and resources from the water, we do not return then water the same way we received it. We put a kind of stress onto the environment. This stress onto the environment may be pollution or any kind of disturbance. This is water stress. The water stress levels are increasing over time and are becoming very dangerous. When the stress levels become too high we will not be able to use it as drinking water because it will become too infected. The water stress is not the greatest cause for the lack of drinking water but certainly is a cause and it should be lessened.












This is a map of the world, showing the water stress levels around it.





The lack of drinking water is a huge international issue. There is no reason that this issue should not be international. International companies are dumping waste, which hurts the entire international community. The water stress levels are being increased all around the world and the population is growing across the globe as well. This means that it is going to take everybody contributing to help get rid of this issue. This world would be such a better place if we all worked together. Together we can get rid of the pollution of water and the causes of death from the diseases in the water. This is going on internationally and is an international issue no matter how you look at it.


This picture is showing children rejoicing that they have clean water.

I've learned leaders in many nations of the world face complex problems that they feel can't be solved without international action or cooperation.

There are many international issues in the world. Every country, in the world, has its problems. What seems to be the main problem in the world, today, is pollution. Pollution in and of countries affects the air, land, and sea. It is destroying populations and increasing poverty. This is happening because the pollution areas are infecting people. These people then die of pollution caused diseases. Some of these people that die are parents, their young children can not fend for themselves. Then these children become poor and start to live on the streets and die of poverty.

















Pollution is a deadly aspect of our present way of living.




There is more than just one large global problem in this world though. Another very large global issue is poverty, which can go along with unemployment. Poverty is a destroyer of communities. When poverty strikes, it hurts everybody in a community. Poverty can lead an awful life and can end in a death that no one will remember. Being poor does not just effect someone physically but can demolish someone's mental capability. When someone looses their job and becomes poor; they can go from a completely sane person to that weird, crazy person you try to avoid on the street.
















Children are exposed to poverty too often to comprehend.

I understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed through analysis of primary sources of many kinds.

Primary sources are great, reliable sources. Primary sources are very reliable because they are written or made during the certain time period. Someone can provide great evidence to a topic when they have primary sources. Primary sources can, sometimes, be documents or speeches. Primary sources are great because a person can learn a wide assortment of information, about a certain time period, with one.

The British Empire is portrayed as a giant monster that is taking land from other countries in this primary source. This site is credible because the site is an educational site (it is .edu).

This is a primary source, of propaganda, of Cecil John Rhodes. This site is credible because the author, Mark Weber, is the director of the Institute for Historical Review. Rhodes was a great man of business. This image of propaganda shows that Rhodes was spreading his stride over all of Africa. Cecil controlled much of the diamond mines in Africa. The diamond mines produced a great amount of wealth for Rhodes. To continue the growth of his wealth, Rhodes wanted locals to control the government instead of London. This strategy of Rhodes did not sit well with the British, thus this propaganda was born.








This is a piece of art and a primary source of China being divided amongst other countries. This site is credible because it is a trusted travel cite on China. This artwork shows the leader of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria, the leader of Germany, Wilhelm II, the leader of Russia, Nicholas II, the leader of France, Marianne, and a samurai from Japan, cutting into China, with an upset mandarin in the background. This artwork shows how the UK, Germany, Russia, France, and Japan wanted to start to take pieces of China, without China's consent. China did not want what Britain had to offer in manufactured goods. China had better produced goods due to the restrictions on trading because of the government. Britain thought that their goods were the greatest but China disagreed.























This photo was taken during World War I. This site is credible because it has many genuine World War I items. This picture is a primary source of the fact that machine guns were definitely used during this time period. New Imperialism helped to the causes of the First World War. The high tensions between the countries came from the land grabbing. What I mean by the land grabbing is the countries just wanted more land and would just take it if they could. These Germans are, also, a great source of the fact that soldiers were always on the alert. From this picture, someone can obtain that soldiers underwent an enormous amount of stress. Stress on the physic and on the physical aspects of a soldier.

























This picture is a mind blowing artifact. This artifact shows how trench warfare took a big role in World War I. This site is credible because it came from the Harris Academy. World War I was a prolonged effect of the New Imperialism. High tensions, between countries, were made during the New Imperialism. This is because countries were taking land form other countries. In the artifact, the soldiers are wearing gas masks. These gas masks were because of the gas bombs that were devastating. The gas bombs would destroy tissue and was deadly if inhaled. These soldiers are just some of the many that endured this pain.

I have become more knowledgeable about the world.

I am more knowledgeable about the world because of many things I have learned about the world. One of the global issues that I have learned is about the drug trafficking in Poland. In the European country of Poland, there are trade routes for Southwest Asian heroin and Latin American cocaine. These trade routes go through Poland to get to Western Europe. As these synthetic drugs, travel through Poland there is violence that is following them. These drugs are a very big problem in Poland.

The poliThis cocaine was confiscated, by the police, in Warsaw Poland.

The twentieth century is another thing that I have learned about. In the twentieth century, there were many different trends and many important events. One major event that I have learned about, that was during the twentieth century, was World War I or WWI. During World War I the Allies were fighting against the Central Powers. The Allies and the Central Powers built tension between nationalist. These two opponents in the Great War used propaganda and exaggerations to increase nationalism in their own countries. This nationalism built up the war and made people fear for their life. They began to believe that if they did not kill their enemy their enemy would kill them. Many people did die but not all died from the bullets, bombs, or poisons. A great amount of casualties came from the pandemics that would sweep across the lands. Many people thought that WWI would be the end of all wars. This Great War would not be the end to all wars but the beginning to many new wars.
This is a machine gun from World War I.



Another major topic that I have learned is about this semester is human diversity. That race is a non-scientific to category. Race, I learned, is a sociological nature when people use it as a category. This means that race should not separate us into groups. What we see in people can be clouded by what we see on the outside. When we look at people, we should not see what is on the outside but instead what is on the inside. This means that we should not have any racial boundaries. We should not have any discriminating boundaries, at all. We should love everybody and not segregate people.
This picture shows everybody in the world, getting together.


Earth is my favorite planet. It has so many amazingly different places in it. One of these amazing places is Poland. Poland has very beautiful mountain ranges, in the southern area of it. Poland, also, has very nice beaches. This is just one great place in this great world. Another amazing place in the world is, Mt. Everest. Mt. Everest is an extremely different place! Mt. Everest is different in an awesome way. Mt. Everest has very harsh winter conditions and very high altitudes. Mt. Everest is the highest mountain range in the whole world. This makes it extremely interesting and extremely beautiful.
This is a picture of the mountain range in Poland.

In this great world of Earth, there are many unique cultures. These different cultures are usually comprised of many different techniques of building and foraging. The different types of cultures usually depend on where that society is located. In Africa, the way of life, is not too similar to the life in America. This is because of the different growing periods of resources and different season's times. Just because a culture is different form, yours does not mean that it is better or worse. Through these amazing differences, we experience different cultures in different areas of the world.

This picture is showing the different places that are in the world.

In Uganda there has been a war going on between the OBO, or the Central African Republic, and the L.R.A., or the Lord's Resistance Army. For the last twenty years, Joseph Kony, the leader of the L.R.A., has been on the run. Mr. Kony is ruthless and always is able to disappear right before his capture. Some of the people that were kidnapped as children, then forced to fight for the L.R.A., have surrendered. I believe that it is a great idea have these solders, such as Commander Makasi, leading the way to the rebels. The Ugandan Officers are taking great, point-full risks that somebody has to take. Some of the risks are very harmful pants, mud, and definitely the heartless rebel fighters. The Ugandan Officers are taking these risks because the rebels must be stopped. If the rebels are not stopped they will just continue to pillage and slaughter the innocent.

POLAND'S AMBASSADOR

Hello. I am Andrew Weaver, the ambassador of Poland. Today I am presenting to the committee a major issue in Poland. Polish authorities have had repeated attempts to subdue this problem, but there continues to be another trade route. The product, that is the issue at hand, is synthetic drugs. There are a few minor transportation points for Southwest Asian heroin and also Latin American cocaine through Poland, to Western Europe. Always when there are drugs involved, there is also violence that goes along with it, for the safety of the communities in Poland the drug trafficking must be stopped. Poland has not been able to completely eradicate this large issue, we need the help of the international community.















these pictures are from here

Topic of the Japanese culture project

My topic of the Japanese culture project is based on the samurai. The samurai was a powerful and fearless warrior in Japan. The samurai had a warrior code of conduct that the samurai would have to hold himself to, to be a "true warrior". This warrior code of conduct is called Bushido. Bushido is what I will be doing this project on. I will try to take the Bushido, warrior code of conduct, and create a high school student code of conduct. That is what I am planning do have my Japanese culture project on.

Exploring Extremes

The South Pole was reached by the expedition of Amundsen and four others on December 14, 1911.

http://www.south-pole.com/p0000101.htm

The North Pole was reached by an expedition by Robert E. Peary in April 1909.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com

Edward Norton set a world altitude record on his second attempt. On his third attempt George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared. The Summit was finally reached for the first documented time in 1922.

http://www.everesthistory.com/time3.htm

The reasoning behind most of these people wanting to risk their lives, I believe, would be because of the fact that almost everybody wants to be famous, they just found a way that they could. Either that is the reasoning for engaging in such extreme of activities or for the adrenaline rush. They just want to have a way to have an amazing high on life feeling. I would defiantly not blame these people for wanting either one of those. I would love to be famous for something that I love to do. I, also, love the adrenaline rushes you get from engaging in these tasks. I would defiantly climb Everest for the rush. Also, I would do it to just see Everest.

More Than 100 Years Later, the World I Live In Still Displays the Impact of the New Imperialism

McDonald's in China (Western Influence)

One hundred years after the European conquests of Africa, China, and India there are still impacts of the New Imperialism. These impacts can be found in any of the three conquered areas. One of the impacts of the New Imperialism that can be found in Africa is the conversions to Christianity. One of the impacts of the New Imperialism in China is the fact that much of the original tradition has been deteriorated because of the European influence. In India, one of the impacts of the New Imperialism can be found in its governmental issues. These issues are usually do to control and different opinions in religion. These are just some of the impacts of the New Imperialism that can be noticed today, one hundred years after it.

Positive Effects of the New Imperialism

There were positive effects of the New Imperialism. The positive effects of the New Imperialism were mainly one sided, like the negative effects. One of the positive effects of the New Imperialism on the European side, the conqueror side, was the gain of natural resources. Some of the natural resources the Europeans gained were rubber, petroleum, manganese for steel, and palm oil for their machinery. The Europeans were able to map all of Africa. The Europeans, also, were able to map out courses of African rivers. Some of the African rivers that were mapped were the Nile, the Niger, and the Congo. One of the positive effects of the conquered side were that they were shown the glory of God so that they may be saved. The missionaries were the ones that accomplished this, though. The explorers and conquerors were not very concerned with helping them out in anyway. The explorers thought they were better than any of the Africans. These were some of the positive effects of the New Imperialism.

Negative Effects of the New Imperialism

There were many negative effects of the New Imperialism. There were negative effects for both sides, too. Mainly the negative effects were for the conquered and not the conquerors. The conquered were the Africans, Indians, and the Chinese. When the Africans were conquered the main important thing that was taken from them were their cultures. Other things that were taken when the Europeans conquered the Africans was the Africans freedom in their own religion. The Chinese and the Indian's religions were attempted to be converted as well. The Europeans tried to convert the Africans, Chinese, and the Indian's religions into Christianity. One of the negative effects on the European side was the fact that some of their men were killed, not nearly as many men as the conquered side, though. Those were some of the negative effects of the New Imperialism.

What was "the New Imperialism?"

Imperialism is the over powering of one country or region. The over powering would be done by a single country. The single country would over power the political, economic, and/or cultural life. "The New Imperialism" was the need and desires of the European manufacturers. This was during the end of the 1800s. The Europeans wanted the natural resources that India, Africa, and China had. They, also, wanted to make influences in India, Africa, and China.The Europeans, also, wanted to have more markets to sell more products at. The Europeans pretty much just wanted to be able to make more money and become more powerful. Some Europeans wanted to convert the Africans to Christianity, though. They believed that African religions were wrong and that Africans needed to be shown God. That is what "the New Imperialism" was.

Results of Sorting People Quiz

What I have learned in this little quiz of diversity is a lot. The categories I placed the pictures into ended me up in a sixty percent correct. I believed that I had the people in the right races but apparently I was wrong. This just tells me that you sometimes can not tell the race of someone by just looking at their face. Diversity is an amazing thing. I love not looking like anyone else but my brothers.

Post 5, Summary

This first semester in this world history 2 class has been a amazing learning experience. I have learned so much that I did not know before. I now know how to make write descriptive postcards from places outside of the country, this was a very exciting experience because I have never been outside of the Eastern United States. Also, I know how to make a child's book, on the politics in Afghanistan. Before the Afghanistan chapter, I learned about myself that I did not know any politics. I now know so much more about politics in both Afghanistan and the United States. I, also, now know how to make paper puppets, how to do a puppet show, and how to incorporate it into the chapters teachings. Another thing I learned how to do is to make a flip book. I learned so many different fun ways to learn about the chapters we covered, through interesting projects. I enjoyed everything we have done this year and I would love do have every history class like this.

Post 4, Nationalism

Nationalism is a strong feeling of pride in one's country. Also, nationalism a strong devotion to one's country. This being said, there has always been slight notions of nationalism. Nationalism did not emerge in a full form until the early 1800s in Europe, though. Nationalism had a positive effect on Europe. Nationalism had a positive effect on Europe in the fact that the German states were unified because of it.




My group, I believe, did a fine job about effectively communicating the role of nationalism, in Section 2, Strengthening Germany. My group discussed, in are puppet show, how Bismarck had many foreign policy goals. We discussed how Otto von Bismarck led Germany to becoming a industrial giant. Also, we discussed how Bismarck did not trust the Catholic Church. Bismarck, mainly, did not trust the clergy, because he believed that they were first loyal to the pope and not Germany. My group might not have discussed enough about how Bismarck's campaign against the Catholic Church backfired on him, though. Bismark's backfired and the Catholic Center party gained strength. Bismarck, also, campaigned against the socialists. Bismarck saw the growing socialism as a threat to the new German empire. This is what are group may have missed and what we covered especially effectively.

Section 2, of chapter 10, is the section in which that my group studied and preformed a puppet show upon. Section 1, of chapter 10, is a section in which another group studied and preformed a puppet show upon. Section 1 and section 2, of chapter 10, were similar. These two sections were similar in the fact that they both describe Otto von Bismarck through his actions and ideas. In section 1 they talk about how Bismarck was first made King William I's chancellor. The section then talks about how he strengthened the Prussian army. Prussia then annexed many of the northern German states. After that, Prussia fought in The Franco-Prussian War and won against Austria. Bismarck then set up a two-house legislature. In section 2 they say how Bismarck is pretty much giving his opinions. Section 2 talks about how and what he tried to have gotten rid of. Section 2, also, talked about how Germany grew to be a strong united nation. This is why and how my group and another group did their puppet shows differently.

I believe nationalism is an ideology. Nationalism is an ideology, in the fact that it is the people's thoughts. What I mean by this is that nationalism is their own personal affections and actions towards their own country. I think that nationalism is an ideology because of this. Nationalism could be reinvented for global use. It could be reinvented as a humanity thing not just a country thing. Everybody in the world would get together because we are all humans.

Post 3, Urbanization and Industrialization

I think urbanization and the industrial revolution are both good and bad things. Urbanization is the movement of people to cities. The reason I believe urbanization is a good thing is that cities provide new jobs for the growing population. Urbanization, in ways, can also be a bad thing. Urbanization can be a bad thing because the way of living was completely changing. People that moved from the farms into the cities grew up as farmers. The farmers did not have experience in the harsh working conditions of the factories and the even worse conditions of the coal and iron mines. In this industrial revolution, there were great inventions, though. There were improved methods of farming, like the seed drill, that was invented by Jethro Tull. The seed drill helped farmers by; instead of wastefully scattering seeds across the land, it placed them in rows. In addition, new sources of energy, such as James Watt's steam engines, and materials were discovered. Those are just a few of the things that happened in the industrial revolution and they are why I believe urbanization and the industrial revolution are both good and bad things.



In my opinion, I believe Tokyo would be the most interesting city, in the world, to live in. I believe that Tokyo would be the most interesting city to live in because it is a busy and bustling city. It is a great bustling city, even though it has been nearly completely destroyed twice. The first time it was nearly destroyed was by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the second time was in the bombing of WWII. I got this information from http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/tokyo/index.html. I see myself as always busy and I like the enormous cities. I, also, love the quiet and peacefulness of the outdoors. Tokyo has many different areas that interest me and that I would be able to go to everyday. The areas that interest me, I found on http://www.tourism.metro.tokyo.jp/english/tourists/spot/purpose/index.html. One of the areas I would enjoy to live around is around an Onsen. The Onsens are the hot springs, that you can relax in the naturally heated waters, which I believe would be an amazing relaxation or leisure time. Another relaxing area of interest to me are the mountains, because I adore their outgoing display of beauty. There is only one down side to this whole amazing life. The one down side is I do not know what kind of job I would have in such a city in Tokyo. I do not know if I would be able to afford this amazing life without a well paying job. I would still live in Tokyo, even if I did not have a wealthy paying job. I would still live there, because you do not need much money to go hiking on a mountain by yourself.

Post 2, Guns, Germs, and Steel

The Earth's geography is a wondrous and wonderful planet. The Earth has so many different climates because of its rotation. Also, the different season timings are control by the rotation. The animals that live on Earth are effected by the rotation too. Most animals are adapted to their environments so if the rotations were randomly changed all the animals would most likely die. Animals help humanity in many different ways. Without animals we would probably not have meat, milk, clothing, and fertilizers. The latitude and longitude of an area effects almost everything. It effects crops, animals, climates, seasons, and especially lifestyles. Some places do not have the right conditions to produce the resources that would give you high carbohydrates but you do not have to burn many carbohydrates to make them, because of the different climates, so these areas were left behind in the inventions of newer technology. This is why the Earth's geography is so wondrous and wonderful.



One of the countries that is located in an area that did not have the correct climate or seasonal changes for the resources that give someone high carbohydrates and a low burn of carbohydrates to produce is Angola. Angola is a country in the East Africa. Angola's first encounters with European colonizers is from Borgna Brunner, in his article "Portugal: End of an Empire" from http://www.infoplease.com/spot/macao.html. Angola's coast was first explored in the late 15th century by the Portuguese. Colonization did not begin until 1576, though. When colonization was started a settlement called Luanda was established, Luanda is today's capital of Angola. Angola, then, became a source of great slave trade. Now, Angola is has a great poverty rate. Angola's efforts to eradicate this poverty comes from the government of Angola on http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0001037/index.php and from the United Nations Development Programme ANGOLA in the article "Strategic Framework for UNDP Operations in Angola" mirrior.undp.org/angola/LinkRtf/Management-strategy-2009.doc. The government of Angola came up with a way to possibly combat poverty. Angola's government decides to focus on the the education and the health of the people. The government, also, decides to focus on the development of the basic infrastructures and employment. Another effort at eradicating poverty is the human development paradigm. These are some of the ways they are planning to eradicate most of the poverty in the country of Angola.




My opinion on the impact of the "geographic luck" is this, I do not believe it is fair. I do not believe it is very much fair because some countries have so much but other countries have nothing. The global inequalities that are the result of the "geographic luck" are the only factors holding some countries back. I believe that if all countries had the same "geographic luck," they would all have had the same result in the advancing periods of time that most countries went through. Since all countries are not all on the same longitude, they all do not have the same "geographic luck." The countries that are on the same longitude do, however, have similar advancements in technologies and cultures.

Post 1, Afghanistan.

My research, I believe, was in depth in most parts but in others, I might have possibly been able to research a minuscule amount more. I am pretty confidant that my research on Afghanistan was more than a basic learning of the Afghanistan community. One thing I could have done better, than more research, was if I would have been able to find sources, the first time through, that had the information that I needed to do my project. In my research, earlier in the year, I have learned that Afghanistan is a country with many problems, but what country does not have problems? Besides the problems in Afghanistan the country is not bad. The problems in Afghanistan used to be greater, in the ways of the Taliban, but have changed and lessened greatly. Now, the problems focused on in Afghanistan are the very harsh conditions, like their problems with pollution.


My follow up on this subject of the recent election in Afghanistan is this. According to Jon Boone in Kabul and Mark Tran guaudian.co.uk, in their article "Hamid Karzi declared winner of Afghanistan's presidential election" from, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/02/hamid-karzai-afghanistan-winner-election, on, Monday November 2, 2009, Hamid Karzai had been declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election. Hamid Karzai had won for the reason that Abdullah Abdullah had dropped out of the election. Abdullah Abdullah stated that his reason for dropping out was "The vote would not be free or fair." Abdullah Abdullah, also, said he had to do what he did "because of the action taken by this government and the action taken by the IEC." According to Yaroslav Trofimov in Kabul and Zahid Hussain in Islamabain, form, http://online.wsj.com/public/page/afghan-elections.html since Abdullah Abdullah had dropped out, the second round of voting was cancelled.




This wide cultral learning was an all around amazing exerience for me. The reason for the amazing experience is that before this project I did not have a clue of anything happening outside of the United States. I did not even pay close attention to what was accuring in the United States but at least I knew we have elections. One of the main reasons I did my project on the elections in Afghanistan was that I did not even know that Afghanistan had elections. When I began to research the most current election in Afghanistan, I diid not know what to expect. I see now that I have been completely bling to everything happening internationally and I regret and am ashamed of this.