Blog Twenty: As you move into the next phase of your life, how will you try to affect change in the world regarding these issues?

The transition from high school to university is definitely as phase in my life that I will never forget. I will take many things along with me that I have learned, whether these are mistakes I have learned from or goals I have accomplished through my life. Regardless, they will be things that have changed my life, so I have decided the next step I can do is give back to change the world. The million-dollar question is how! Well, I definitely have half that question answered.  Essentially I can start off by altering my lifestyle to fit the needs that are more compromising to the rest of the world. After all, I was born onto this planet, not the other way around. Another way I can affect change in the world is through what we have been given the opportunity to do here in Canada, voice our opinion. Owning up to my own morals and beliefs will not only change me but will change the world around me as well. The youth have become a very influential part in our society today, and I believe as long as we keep voicing our opinion, we will continue to have this affect. As for the other half of this answer, there are some parts of this change that I will have to wait and see what happens. Our world is constantly changing good and bad, so in order for me to make a positive change I will have to wait for what is thrown at me. As long as we are educated well, we will be able to improvise our knowledge to seek the best solution. 

Blog Nineteen: What is the biggest threat facing Canada in the next 50 years?

Let’s face it, we Canadian are some of the luckiest people to be living in the country we do today. With one of the strongest democracies, the highest percentage of available fresh water and are generally respected around the globe. Yet, within the next 50 years there are some issues we could potentially face if we do not try to fix them today. I believe the threat Canada will most likely be effected by in the next 50 years is the way we are treating our environment. The way we treat our environment now does not have instantaneous effects but rather will affect us with time. Since us human do not see any drastic problems at the moment, we fail to realize that we will see effects down the road.  For example, the basic standard green house gas affect, primary seen through the excessive use of vehicles on the roads. We do not see dramatic affects right now, but until we see extreme changes I don’t think Canadians wont do anything to alter their lifestyle. As sad as it is, it seems to be the reality of the situation and us world issues students need to continue to educate others on these issues. This is because education has a long term affect on individuals, and if we start to educate young child, they can bring it through their primary and secondary education experience. If we put that into perspective, that’s almost 20 years of influence! Being seventeen years old, there are certain things in my education that I never seem to forget and those are primarily the basic things I learned from a young age. So if we make these environmental concepts as simple for a young person to interpret I believe we will be set for 50 years down the road when they are the leaders of today. To plan ahead we have to target the individuals who will be living then. 

Blog Eighteen: What have you learned about yourself during the course?

Throughout the course, I have found that my learning experiences have not happened sporadically but instead as a process. The first step that I have learned is to put proper research in discussion and topics we are focusing on in class.  Not only do I learn topics from a more accurate standpoint, but also it allows me to analyze world issues with a fact-based foundation. From there I am able to base a true opinion that has evidence to back up my thoughts, beliefs and at times, morals. The second step to this process was vocalizing my thoughts with my peers, family and friends. The knowledge I had acquired from my research helped me to have useful and insightful conversation with other individuals about important issues. By enlightening others on my outlook, educated others around me, which I have learned is a very important step in spreading the word about international dilemmas we face. Lastly, the third step to this process was, of course brainstorming for solutions. As a young adult there are realistic measures we can go to, to solve these international problems and in order to find solutions, education is the only way we will be able to make it there the safest, rational way. By following these simple steps, has taught me this year to not follow the crowd or believe everything that the news says because there are many misinterpretations were are swayed to believe, especially through the media. 

Blog Seventeen: What are the 3 most important issues that you’ve learned about during the course?

Although everything we have learned this year is always related to each other in one way or another, there are three particular events I believe hold much significance today, in 2012. These three important issues are:

1.  Arab-Israeli Conflict:

This conflict has been occurring for decades now are particularly highlighted still in our news today as a huge problem in our world. The Arabs and the Israelis are the primary rivals in this issue and have been struggling to find a solution or compromise to the correct land ownership. The problem is difficult to find a solution primarily because of their religious views, which has caused a considerable amount of tension and violence. This continuous political friction has not only caused tension within the specific desired land but has become an international conflict as well. This is where I believe it is one of the most important world issues of 2012. For example, America’s involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict has caused a lot of citizens within the country as well as other citizens who’s country is allied with America to question their bias and future decisions America could step in on.

Hopefully we will see peace between the Arabs and the Israelis within the next few months or years but until then we need to continue to brainstorm solutions so this issue will not be ignored.

2.  National and International Disparity: After discussing many issues in class, such as poverty, debt, violence etc, I have realized that a central reason to this is the disparity we have in our world today.  This division of the rich and the poor has been happening for centuries, and yet it only seems to be getting worse. On a national scale we can see it in our communities, as some people only get paid the minimum wage while others get paid the ten times the minimum in one hour. On an international scale, we see countries like Canada and America who are culturally, socially, and economically rich from the resources and opportunities we have been given while they’re countries such as the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that face extreme poverty and are in endless debt from the lack of resources and a successful economy. Although many people have tried to speak up for this issue, such as the Occupy Wall Street protests, there is still a huge gap in our world. This will be a very tough issue to fix in our world because we will want individuals to work hard and be rewarded for their hard work (through income) but we also need to ensure individuals are not being taken advantage of by these higher paying individuals. (e.g. sweatshops)

3.  Global Supply of Fresh Water: After I did my presentation on this topic, it has come to my attention as one of the most important problems our whole world faces. Considering one in six people do not have access to a fresh water supply really sparks my attention that we need to fix, considering water is one of the essential elements to survival. As Canadians I believe we need to firstly recognize water as a human right, and secondly considering sharing our water with countries in the world that do not have the access to it. It is essentially luck of the draw that Canada ended up with this amazing resource and it should be our duty to share it with the rest of our global community.

Blog Sixteen: ISU Reflection

When reflecting upon the ISUs, although I was aware of most of them, I was most impressed by the solutions our class brought to the table. Of course, some of the solutions were at times a little far fetched, most of them were very realistic in then sense that we considered the country’s reactions on a global stance rather than a viewpoint of a Canadian. As the days of presentations went by, I would walk out of the classroom with a new piece of the puzzle that makes up our world and the issues we face today, here in 2012. This was and still is a huge impact in the way I think about simple concepts from taking shorter showers, to realizing that within a few days, I will be legal to vote and can start voicing my opinion to the general public. I also took from the presentation that no matter what, conversation and opinion is one of the most valuable ingredients to finding a solution. As I continue to even write this blog post, I am re-reminding myself of the issues we have talked about in class and thinking of solutions on the multiple topics we covered. This clearly displays the impact these presentations have had on me and hopefully they have impacted my peers just as much. 

Blog Fifteen: European Elections - Austerity Rejected!

For the past decade European countries have felt a tremendous amount of pressure regarding the levels of debt, and deficiency of the Euro. In particular, Greece has taking one of the hardest hits in this crisis, as it is close to default with roughly 165% Public Debt to their GDP. They have tried many strategies to put austerity measures into effect however; they are not approved by the citizens of Greece and other countries in the European Union facing this debt dilemma.  Specifically France and Germany have been the highest influence on the union’s hope for survival. Although they are experiencing debt themselves they have given money to countries that are in extreme need. Eventually these countries will not be able to lend out these favors and because of this countries like France and Greece have both had government elections to sort out there debt issues.

            France’s election was a presidential election. Former President, Nicolas Sarkozy has been one of the main assistants, along with Angela Merkel during the European debt crisis. Nevertheless, Sarkozy did not win his election, being replaced by Francois Hollande. Even though France is not facing as drastic debt problems such as Greece it still has debt problems that cannot be ignored. If it is ignored, and austerity measures are not made, they will see problems in the near future.

            On the other hand, Greece has faced elections as well but it is a more drastic election. This is because the two parties in the election were pro austerity (Radical Left) and anti austerity (New Democracy). In the end, the New Democracy Party won, with the leader Alexis Tsipras. Since it is a democratic country, one could say that the people’s voice came across very strong in the election, however negative consequences have resulted with this new form of government since they are not planning on finding appropriate solution against the Greek Debt. It will be very interesting to see what happens…

Blog Fourteen: Biodiversity

How has biodiversity changed on earth in the last 150 years and what can we do to fix this trend in the next 150 years?

Over the past 150 years, abrasion has been increased immensely. This is due to the unsustainable ecological practices we as global community take part in. This negative change is predominantly evident through our habitat loss is due to deforestation and urbanization, and other human activities. However, as humans we cease to realize that biodiversity benefits humans in many different ways. For example, many medicines are created from our natural environment such as the Madagascan periwinkle for leukemia or willow for aspirin. Other natural resources we continuously neglect to preserve are all of the foods we consume. As the population exceedingly grows, we do not keep in mind that the balance we should support for the next 150 years. However, there are ways to fix the current direction we are progressing to.  As simple actions such as, buying organic foods to avoid pesticide usage, insulating homes to reduce unnecessary heat loss and reduce fossil fuel consumption and pollution, and cycling or walking or use public transport to reduce your carbon footprint. As a global community, there are more drastic steps in changing this trend. This can be done through the help of the UN Convention on Biological diversity as well as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The pressure of global trade can also be targeted to ensure that only the countries that treat their environment properly can be benefited through the global economy. Instead of taking advantage of our natural environments we should call attention to how crucial our biodiversity really is and make it a “two way street” in every action we undertake. 

Blog Thirteen: Violence in Society

What are the leading causes of violence in society and what do you think could be done about them?

Violence is not a one step action but rather a cycle that affects everyone in society in one way or another. However, they’ re many causes to this cycle. Some of these causes that lay the foundation to violence in society are: biological, sociological ad psychological causes according to John Monahan a Psychologist and Professor at the University of Virginia.                                                                         Biological in regards to violence affect our society through biological factors such as hormones (testosterone, transmitters in the brain like serotonin), blood abnormalities etc. However, many of the biological factors are not hereditary. For example, this could be causes such as a head injury, poor nutrition, environmental events such as exposure to lead paint. The National Academy of Sciences did many studies on the relationship between biology and violence and they came to the conclusion that there are no patterns with the two variables. Nevertheless, these factors do indeed correspond with violence significantly in society. Next are sociological affects. These are factors such as demography, poverty, race etc. This fuels how statistics of certain communities have higher rates of crime and other illegal activity. For example, in America the murder rate is almost twice as high in the South as it is in the Northeast but the robbery rate is almost twice as high in the Northeast as it is in the South. Poverty and race for example are similar to not only to violence but to each other as well. If impoverishment is considered, the effect of race on violence diminishes substantially. It is not entirely comprehensible to whether or not unemployment leads people to commit crimes or if they’re violent acts lead employers to not want to hire them.  However the reasons why sociological effects takes place is due to the community an individuals is brought into. Psychological causes are the final component. This does not necessarily refer to as people with mental disorders. In fact, at most, 3% of the violence in American society is through individuals that have major mental disorders. Instead, it is through developmental processes that we all face. The sociological and biological affects together make up the psychological affects. For example, our families; the sociological standpoint would factor in a parent’s being unemployed and many of the biological factors such as poor nutrition would affect a family as well. Together this would affect the child growing up and how they form their morals. 

These three factors shape violence in society and in order to attack this cycle we must approach this issue through small steps, not only looking at society as a whole but the focusing on individuals that make up a whole. This will allow no barriers or stereotypes to occur when analyzing violence in society.

Blog Twelve: Racism

There are approximately 17,000 murders in the U.S. each year in which 60% of them are with weapons. However one of the most powerful weapons encouraging fear or hatred of others, and affects all of us in one way or another is racism. According to Globalissues.org, racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply on the basis of their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. This is a serious issue. Racism has been prominent since the beginning of civilizations and is still seen in our society today and yet, we still do nothing to stop it. I realize that society will never be able to control ones personal thoughts on racism, but we should definitely advertise and support the idea of rationality within our global communities. As our world becomes more interconnected, racism is definitely a factor that needs to be eliminated for the success of our local and international communities. By raising awareness, it has and will continue to create a bandwagon and new stereotypes of not being racist. This can be seen specifically through many advertising companies. They ensure that every race is in the picture or video to imply that everyone is accepted. I believe this is very important just as long as people are being genuine and honest about their outlooks to make sure seeming ‘non-racist’ is an undiluted, powerful and wonderful view.

Blog Eleven: Gender Equality

“Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015,” states Goal 3 of the Millennium Development Goals to promote gender equality and specifically empower women worldwide. Currently, living in the year 2012…we could say there is still a long way to go. Being a Canadian we must first focus on the gender equalities we face now here in Canada. Canada is a world leader in the promotion and protection of women’s rights and gender equality. These issues are central to Canada’s foreign and domestic policies. According to these policies, Canada is entrusted through their views on gender equality not only as a human right but also a key element to sustainable development, social justice, peace and security within our communities. This is protected through the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women as well as the Universal declaration of Human Rights. Canada was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women, which set international standards for eliminating gender discrimination. However, why is it that the gap in income between men and women in Canada is 21 per cent? Personally, I believe it is because of the stereotypes our society as had on women for decades. These stereotypes do not only cause dampers on women physically getting a respected job in society but also cause mental self-esteem issues on women of actually feeling accepted in society. This is not an issue that each gender can figure out by themselves but rather an issue that both genders need to work together to build equal grounds. 

Blog Ten: AIDS and Disease

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. A virus called HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, causes it. Since AIDS can be fatal, spreading from person to person, many individuals in society tend to place a barrier on those who carry the virus and the disease. Many social consequences are ignited in correlation to those that are directly related to those who suffer from the illness. These social barriers may include, loss of contacts with friends, family and other relationships, appearance and employment.  For example, society has been confused to treat people with the disease as a ‘bad’ person in society and because of this many individuals with AIDS don’t have the same opportunities as others who don’t suffer the disease.  In order to fix this discrimination there are many different ways we can approach this global issue. One option is to continue research on finding a cure for the disease. This could save millions of lives across the planet. Another solution is continuing to raise awareness about protection, but when advertising about this, commercials and the media should inform that this is a disease that anyone, from all walks of life can get AIDS. We must approach this issue from a sensible standpoint or else we essentially feeding two problems, a growing disease and well as discrimination. 

Blog Nine: C.A.R.E Model

In order for individuals to respect others and they must respect themselves. For this to be successful, one must set goals that are ethical yet realistic to the world we live in today. Many people in the room you may be sitting in, to the world we share have different opinions. To make the best decision those compromises to other, a step-by-step process should be put into place. And what do you know, the 

C.A.R.E model does exactly that!

C:ompassion
-Understanding an individual’s perspective is a very important element on the basis of recognizing their what is right and what is wrong. By respecting other people’s outlooks, we can meet the needs of everyone, whether it is emotional needs or just general concerns, it is important to incorporate every person’s image of the correct decision. 

A:ction
-To take action, an individual must feel as though they are free from any potential peer pressure or difficulties. As a global community, we must provide others with the intentions that it is acceptable to have courage around anyone. If these notions are executed respectfully, it will provide perseverance in reaching goals individuals may have in mind. To ignite these goals, we must be optimistic towards others and allow opportunities to lead you to where your biggest aspirations may lie.

R:esponsibilty
-Trust, loyal, faith and confidence are many of the characteristics that feed responsibility. For one to be responsible we must provide rational suggestions and solutions that cannot only help you but help others.

E:quality
- Although achieving a perfect balance is next to impossible, striving for it in your everyday actions can seek solutions in other needs you or others may have. Showing respect others is one of the many ways to do this. This is because it will provide a ripple effect that others can admire and do as well. Accepting and honoring an individual’s personal and cultural difference is one of the many ways to allowing equality to flourish within our communities. 

Blog Eight: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (NSA)

The good, the bad and then ugly I must say describes the simulation well.

THE GOOD: Our NSA responded with good intentions to our group and how we worked skillfully together. It was through our background information and precedent of our countries decision-making that made us successful in setting up alliances through our private communiqués. Furthermore, our group was able to provide feedback well to our NSA that was beneficial to us because it allowed us to receive feedback from her viewpoint as well. Overall, my group (Victoria and Ramya) received excellent comments back from our NSA. Good job Girls!

THE BAD: Personally, representing Palestine Fatah was although an interesting task; was also challenging at times. Understanding how my country formed decisions but more importantly reacted to other countries decisions was something I had to build my knowledge throughout the simulation. This was probably because they did not have similar opinions as a democratic country such as countries in North America.

THE UGLY: Even though my group was able to accomplish many goals to help solve the problem, it is unfortunate it could not run this smoothly in the real world. This simulation has helped me realized that you have to be very rational and always be thinking of the future in every move you make, big or small.

Blog Seven: Margaret Thatcher

“In politics if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.” –Margaret Thatcher

The quote is important to me because it shows the confidence women can have, especially in politics. Margaret Thatcher held years of power as Britain’s first woman Prime Minister. She reshaped the social and economic outlook of the country. What I love about this quote is the fact that it is possible for woman to rise to the highest office in politics and more important, to stay there. She accomplished this with a level of assertiveness rarely equaled by her male predecessors. As global citizens this is very crucial to point out because it is highlighting the fact that although countries have to treat each other equally, we need to treat both genders equally as well. Since governments lead countries, it is important to ensure that both genders have the chance to be apart of the government. I believe Margaret Thatcher has created a huge precedence for active female global citizens to feel confident and not be afraid of trying to be a true leader. 

Blog Six: Respond to the Quote

"All that it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." - Sir Edmund Burke, 1769.

Reading this quote, really made me stop and think about how this is sadly so true, yet realistic in our world today. The first example that came to mind is the tribulations that are occurring at the Douglas Creek Estates (DCE). It is atrocious to see how our government and other Canadian citizens are not doing anything to help what is going on, at these reserves. As Canada being one of the most praised countries for being a peacekeeping nation, yet when it comes to our own problems, we cannot achieve the same peaceful state. This is shown specifically seeing that the Red Cross committees helping out in Haiti traveled to these reserves to help the citizens. This is a shining example of how Canadian citizens-healthy and willing are not helping to contribute to solving this situation. Thus, this corrupt dilemma is escalading.  As living in the 21^st century, I believe this needs to stop. Not only are we more accessible then ever to travel around the globe and help problems around the world but we also have the technology to create solutions to our problems. Although we have done a lot to help our world, we need to continue more of actually ‘walking the walk’ not just ‘talking the talk.’

Blog Five: To Act or Not to Act

Choosing between whether your going to act, I believe is affected not only by your emotions in the moment but also by your morals. An individual’s moral regarding their religion, where they were brought up, their culture, their occupations etc helps to shape how an individual may treat a situation.  Essentially to even act upon a situation, one needs to feel obliged to feel as though it can be accomplished. These factors previously stated contribute to the outcome immensely. For example, an individual of a wealthy background, living in a fully developed country, may or may not decide to help people in a developing country. This could be because the individual feels as though they could not make a difference or because they are in fear of their own life. Although this does have adequate reasoning behind it, in reality this occurs frequently. Nevertheless, there are many scenarios in which an individual can help, but choose not to because of some form of negligence. As a global citizen we need to step back and realize that any global scenario should be helped whether or not your particular country is being affected by it. The question is, how? There are many different ways in which individuals can help to act upon a global situation. I think a very influential choice to take action is making our government aware. This is because on a national scale, the government can educate their people through commercials etc and on an international scale; our government can make awareness at meetings such as the UN.  A personal example I choose to act upon is helping the environment. Little acts such as sorting my garbage to see how much I can compost and recycle to hang-drying my clothes to avoid using the dryer. These little undertakings although make me feel as though I am taking action, if everyone took part in this, it would create a huge, positive impact on our world. 

Blog Four: Human Rights

“At all times, day by day we have to continue fighting for freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom from want-for these are things that must be gained in peace as well as in war.”                                                                                                                        

This was a quote said by Eleanor Roosevelt who was famed as a First Lady and campaigner for human rights in the United States and worldwide. Specifically, Eleanor’s anti-racist views were well known. A particular striking story was when the black opera singer, Marian Anderson was not allowed to sing in the Constitution Hall in Washington in 1939 because of her color and Eleanor arranged an alternative performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorials. As a result, Marian Anderson had an audience of 70,000 people that was broadcasted nationwide on the radio. She also spoke at civil rights workshops in Tennessee despite threats from racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Following this Eleanor then swayed her husband (Franklin Roosevelt) to sign a series of orders omitting discrimination against blacks in his ‘New Deal’ programmes in the South. Furthermore, Eleanor was elected in 1946 to be the Head of the United Nations Human Rights Commission where she not only drafted the Declaration of Human Rights but also started the pressure group Americans for Democratic Action that mainly targeted domestic and social reforms to Russia and the Cold War.                                             

Although there are other innumerable achievements Eleanor Roosevelt accomplished throughout her lifetime, the examples above give a basic outline of the impact she had on our world. Eleanor Roosevelt has personally motivated me because not only did she fight for human rights regarding different races, but also for women’s rights. I think this is important to note because at the time when Mrs. Roosevelt was first lady, both issues needed tremendous support and she was able to accomplish them both.  What is so significant is the fact that Eleanor Roosevelt was able to fix the problem by examining the global picture. She was able to link the spectrum of issues to solve the fundamental core conflict occurring. The result of her initiatives had a cascading domino affect on solving even wider issues. She was able to synthesize and multitask many different components into her goal, leading to a compassionate result to advance human rights for all. I believe Eleanor Roosevelt is a very influential role model. This is because her accomplishments can be brought to focus in both personal and public ways. From managing workloads and stress at school to focusing on world issues such as the European Debt Crisis, Eleanor Roosevelt is a true role model for achieving balance even in difficult times. 

Blog Three: Interdependence

" We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations, far away.... We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former US President, 1945.

                   Although global peace is a very complex topic, it can be understood through simple scenarios. To put global peace into a basic comparison, let’s compare it to a food chain. Food chains are primarily a food pathway that links different species in a community. Energy and nutrients are passed from one organism to another. In order to achieve balance in the environment, all parts of the food chain must depend on each other to perform their specific roles. If one organism decides to act against their role, chaos will occur. This is similar to our global community. Almost all countries in our world depend on another country. Specifically, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s quote is extraordinarily accurate to the world we live in today. Not only does he reflect upon the concept that our world is a global community, but he highlights that countries could not achieve this peace or happiness without interacting with the rest of the world.  We no longer live alone at peace. This is visible in many events in our world today. For example, the disparity in African countries is a major obstacle that countries around the globe are trying to fix. From the conflicts in certain African governments (e.g. Libya, North/South Sudan etc.) to the lack of nutrition and education provided amongst the African people, many countries are trying to volunteer themselves to assist in achieving peace and solutions. Even though Africa is not necessarily economically interconnected with most countries around the world, in time of need many countries connect with countries to achieve tranquility. However for the countries outside of the continent that do rely on Africa economically feel this ‘ripple effect’ that conflict has on our global community. This shows a true illustration of countries depending and interconnecting with each other. This interdependence uniting countries provides both pros and cons regarding events that take place in our world. As our global community continues to shrink we must learn to engage in times of trouble and success to reflect on our preceding steps into the future. Steps I believe our global community has done well is the international organization, United Nations which was also founded in 1945. Other organizations that have helped make our world more interconnected and aware is Amnesty International. This is an organization that raises awareness in protecting human rights around the world. I think this is a very important aspect we should keep in mind as our world continues to become more interconnected because it allows individuals to be educated on conflict in their global community and shows us how others can help them to live in peace. 

Blog Two: Europe Crisis-What's Up With Italy?

AIC Simulation Reflection
In the Arab-Israeli Conflict simulation, I am a member of Palestine Fatah. Specifically, I am Marwan Barghouti. Marwan Barghouti is a political figure in Palestine Fatah and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Over the past few weeks, my group representing Palestine Fatah has created many objectives. For instance, in our goal statement we exhibit intentions such as establishing complete liberation of Palestine. This is because due to the Palestine being paralyzed from all economic, political, military and cultural movements, liberating Palestine would allow the nation hold freedom from not receiving or initiating services. Another primary goal we established was hoping for an independent democratic state, and the inclusion of Jerusalem for our capital city. This would allow Palestine to thus become a recognized state and would allow us to expand our connections with other Arab nations. Keeping this in mind, our next step after completing our goals statement was to secure alliances. We collaborated with our group and decided difference roles would concentrate on creating alliances with different countries. I was assigned the roles of creating alliance with Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Although I have not made formal alliances with them yet, I will proceed to do so in the near future. However I have not created alliances yet due to press releases and observations I have noticed regarding these countries. For example, I have noticed Saudi Arabia is stressing they are very neutral so I am waiting, hoping to see if they have any alight biases.  However, if they do not in the next couple of days, I will compose and alliance regardless of their neutral opinion. Furthermore, Palestine Fatah and Lebanon have a very meandering past. Thus I would like to develop a better understanding in how Lebanon is placing them in this particular simulation before I try to request an alliance.



With Italy at a deficit of 4.6% GDP in 2010, has accumulated debt at almost 119% of GDP and economic growth. This has induced investors to view Italian bonds as a perilous affiliation. However, Europe still being 25-30% of the global economy, this crisis in Italy and throughout Europe has an extreme impact on our world.            
Italy is Europe’s fourth-largest economy and that being so; potential bailouts would be extremely expensive. In addition, millions of American jobs depend on the stability and growth in Europe. The global economy is more interconnected than ever. With that being said, there is every reason to be concerned about Italy’s future. Recently, it has been costing more for Italy to raise money and pay its debt because of the rise in bond yields. This means that interest rates for bonds are increasing and because of this Italy’s debt has also been exponentially increasing.  Other European debt has significantly affected Italy, specifically Greek debt. Having said that, Italy’s debt at 2.6 trillion dollars is five times than what Greece owes and with Greece’s bailout being so difficult, it is hard to see how European leaders could bail out the Italian Government.                                                                         
Recently, Mario Monti has been appointed Prime Minister of Italy to form a new Italian government to tackle this debt crisis, which brought about the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi.  It has been said that Mr. Monti’s has a said to have a very strong financial and economic background that could help with Italy’s crisis. According to Mario Monti’s press release he made this November, he suggest that he wants to restore Italy’s reputation financially to match the size of its economy rather than bash about the credibility it has had over the past few months.
Personally, I believe the only rational option at this point is to seek international aid. But with both Italy’s political disorder and financial crisis, there is every reason to be concerned about what lies ahead for Italy. Mario Monti’s appointment has somewhat provided a new opportunity for Italy to hopefully regain back its reputation of being a primary leader in the European Union. Monti has promised his people to be a steady hand in a time of the market turbulence, but before Italy gets to certain of themselves they must keep in mind that actions speak louder than words. 

Blog One: Summer Event

In early August this summer, I went on my annual camping trip for ten days on Eagle Lake. Eagle Lake is located in the town of South River, Ontario that is roughly about four and a half hours north of Hamilton.  During this trip I took part in many activities such as hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, swimming and of course, relaxing and taking in Ontario’s natural environment. Since I was with my family, I had a lot of time to reflect and take in the true natural environment. In fact, I actually kept a journal of particular things I truly notice on my camping excursion. Looking back at it now, I realized there were a lot of observations that came to my attention when I was there. For instance, I mention how noticeable the air quality was and how much cleaner it actually felt to breath. I also took into account how much wildlife was actually there and surprisingly how much they interacted with us.   Nevertheless, reflecting back on my trip in general, has made me aware of how sustaining environments and creating good habits is so crucial to our planet.  Returning to nature made me realize that all the activity I do in an urban setting uses an overture of higher energy sources including fossil fuels and production of green house gases. In this environment I was able to enjoy the reconnection with nature and did activities that did not expend copious amounts of green house gases. I realized that these non-carbon footprint recreations still resulted in just as a delightful experience.                                                                                                             From a sociological standpoint, it provided an opportunity to interact with my family members on a one on one communication level by simply sitting a around a fire or taking hikes through the woods. This also made me realize that although fires do great a small carbon footprint, it burns a lot less green house gases then driving through a urban setting to find entertainment.
            On a global standpoint, this can relate to many issues occurring in our world. For example, the proportionality of global warming to growing carbon emissions are our fault. We take for granted what seem to be such simple tasks in our everyday lives and we do not think the outcomes of it for the future. From basic things such not sorting your garbage and recycling properly to idling in traffic for hours. Many of these actions are spiraling affects that create issues as big as global warming is to us right now. We need to start asking questions like “why isn’t the air around us as clean as it is four hours north of us?” and act upon finding a solution. Many of the solutions are easier then we think. For instance, changing to more efficient running light bulbs.  It saves money, saves energy, and preserves our planet from high CO2 levels (by not running factories etc).