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Reflection of environment reading, Humanity and the Environment:

Although many events in history are not due to the environment, 

 humans’ interactions with the environment play an essential role in many of the major historical events. Our

 interaction with the environment seems to change rapidly and very frequently.Whether it is native Indians trying to sustain a life with little resources besides the environment to major natural disasters, it all comes down to the environment. The life we have around was a gift by g-d, and as citizens on this earth we either use it to our full advantage, or take it for granted, (the right amount, or too much, where is the in between?) I once read an analogy that stated, “The human species are like a virus” (‘Dirt’ The Film). We produce an excess amount of waste, we drive unnecessary cars which pollute the air, we throw litter on our land and in bodies of water, we initiate smoke coming from factories and from millions of cigarettes- all these harmful activities are seemingly getting worse. However, what responsibility do we have to maintain a healthy and abundant living environment for future generations? Maybe the government can create more laws prevalent to sustaining a more “green” life. I think that the government and politicians do not stress this issue enough, and the more people educated and aware means more time and care to this dilemma. We are not exactly aware of the effects that might come along with continuing to treat the environment like this, yet this does not mean we should give up on changing now. If we keep putting it off, matters will only get worse. Taking the earth for granted is just like taking a loved one for granted. If I am blessed with an amazing friend and I don’t really treat her with respect, and I act however I want towards her and then one day she unfortunately dies, I can never have that person back in my life. If we continue to disrespect the earth and take it for granted, it could be gone before we know it, and the world might cease to exist. I believe that more severe natural disasters are happening lately because of the way the globe is being treated and reacting. Something with the heat of the equator is creating global warming, and these earthquakes, tsunamis, and such might not happen as often and as intense if the world was in better shape. I am not saying that people can’t make mistakes and I am not saying that maybe one hundred people should try their best to take care of the earth, because that will not do anything in the long run. We need to make better choices regarding our interactions with the environment.

 

10-12-11 blog 1

Initial question:
Give that there was already plenty of poverty in Haiti, how much more poverty did the earthquake cause?

Initial thesis:
Although there was already poverty in Haiti, one of the poorest places in the hemisphere, when the earthquake hit it caused even more poverty due to the unstable government, unemployment, and lack of resources.

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Primary-article

Fox, Robert. “Citizen Special- Haitians can't wait any longer.” Ottawa Citizen. January 12, 2011: A11. eLibrary. Date accessed: October 5, 2011.

Keywords: Haiti, Poverty

Quotes:

Fox, “The earthquake struck a country that was already the poorest in the hemisphere, caught in a cycle of bad governance, violence and dependency on foreign aid. The quake seemed a curse on women and men, girls and boys, who had already suffered too much. Yet, incredibly, Haitians still had hope.” This tells us about Haiti before the earthquake, which is essential to know when studying the earthquake because we need to know about the land and the citizens  before all of this happened. This website answers the questions, why then and why there.

Fox, “They need investment in health, education and small-holder agriculture. They need a functioning government that can lead the process of reconstruction.” This quote reveals what we can do to help now and in the near future. Haitians need to make some progress by organizing themselves and their community, staying optimistic, and believing in the government.

Keywords: earthquake, Haitians

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What responsibility did the rest of the world have on this whole issue regarding Haiti and the earthquake? George Bush was president of the United States at the time, but what rights did he have to contribute to the situation? He was the president of a different country all together, not of Haiti, therefore his views were controversial. Some said that any help at all no matter from whom was useful and others said that it was not his business. Various countries such as the Dominican republic were truly trying to help the people of Haiti, and they allowed for them to temporarily cross and settle across the border into the Dominican Republic. The United States and many other countries started funds and organization in which they raised millions, rather billions of dollars to help Haiti. It was/is also common sense to help those people whose hearts were torn apart from deaths of families, or destruction of houses, and all the traumas of the earth quake. If this was a political or economic issue, would the international affairs and interactions have been completely different? I think that this is just as complex, if not as difficult, than more difficult because the number of deaths combined with the number of decisions needed to be made was simply overwhelming. The land and the mind sets of the people could never be the same again, and that is a tough fact to deal with. Could the other countries have done anything sooner or to prevent this tragedy? Once they knew the earth quake was going to hit, the nearby countries could have helped take in people or donated some resources. Haiti was able to survive both mentally and environmentally with the help of outside countries. Haiti initially relied on the support of government because they were the authority- the leaders. The citizens of Haiti were eventually required to believe in the government if they wanted to make any progress. One easy way to assure people have faith in government is to show that citizens have a voice. When people did not want to turn to other people for support, they turned to singing, dancing, art, the idea of community, and the beauty of life. Foreign communications and assistance was essential in rebuilding Haiti and its' people.

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Given that there was already a lot of poverty in Haiti, how much more poverty did the earthquake cause? To address this question I went to proquestk12.com and then I clicked the library resource. Once I clicked a broad source I went to advanced search and searched poverty in Haiti earthquake, and clicked the third link, which was a written document mostly written by a Haitian citizen. This information tells me about poverty before Haiti and how the government was not at its' best, the country as a whole was the poorest in the hemisphere, and they relied a lot on foreign support. This document tells me that shortly after the earth quake had swept away homes and every day essentials, there were problems. The number of toilets went down, fresh water quality and quantity decreased, and disease spread. It states that now in 2011, Haiti still needs to fix the hygiene problems, and sustain a stable and helpful government, and continue to have hope. This would apply to my topic and would help me write an essay because  it tells me about before the earth quake which is essential to know because you need to have some knowledge about why an earth quake would specifically happen then and there. It also has a first hand experiencer updating us about what is happening in Haiti in this year, 2011, and what we can do for the near future. What they and we need to do now is reconstruct, employ workers, maintain faith, and not only do other countries need to aid and create organizations, but the Haitians need to act themselves! I chose this source because it was reliable (had a true bibliography) and it was in an advanced search under library documents. It would certainly help me write an essay about poverty in Haiti, and it is a reliable and informative cite.

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Given that thousands of people died, how did the idea of community play a role in rebuilding a sustainable living environment in Haiti? Because of the earthquake and the environmental impacts, people needed to resource to something. Moreover the deaths and the destruction of people's homes was very devastating.  To help the country as a whole, the idea of a community came through. When they lost their optimistic lens, they turned to the people around them for support and confidence. The idea of community helped when it came to rebuilding houses, rebuilding neighborhood monuments, sharing necessities, and overall helping one another. Not only communities within Haiti, but throughout the rest of the world as well. The entire world is one big community, so what role did other countries have? I think that the rest of the world should definitely have a responsibility to help Haiti. Just because something does not happen to you personally, does not mean you can't help. It would be a different situation if it was a political issue and they did not want other countries involved. However here anyone could help, and all that help was needed, and there was no debate about that. Given that thousands of people died, and the earthquake distrubed the lives of so many people, the idea of community seemed to play a role in the rebuilding of the country and its' spirits.

Blog 3 week of 9-26-11

Once everyone was told to evacuate, did those who were unable to evacuate blame the government? Did they blame them for evacuating  themselves and not helping or saving their own people? Was it their responsibility? I wonder how many people during the actual hurricane saved others before themselves. Leadership is always something that plays a role in situations like these.  Is there a perfect leader? If there were better leaders, would this not have happened? Who were the scapegoats in this catastrophe? Citizens leadership skills really showed through in this situation. There were those who were pessimistic, and there were those who calmed everyone down. How do you define a leader? Does it depend on the situation?