Blog #14

          China’s population growth was massive. China had enough food up until the speed of population growth exceeded that of agricultural production. During this time China experience starvation corruption, famine, and loss of central power. China wasn’t able to keep up with the population growth and they are to blame. The reason China is to blame because of their lack of industrialization and their beliefs that they had little to learn from Europe. They cut off their trade with Britain. There’s not a lot of food to go around and eventually China lost its power of internal trade. Officials and the elite took advantage of peasants because of the corrupt system in China. People worked in harsh conditions, including children. They were over worked and underpaid. Because of this there were uprisings in china. People were tired of being abused and wanted change.

          Japan was an aggressive power during the nineteenth century. Japan had a major change and turned into a powerful industrialized united nation. They became imperialist and created an empire in Asia. Japan never wanted to get involved with other nations. They refused trade with several countries. However, eventually they let other countries in and expanded their opportunities. With its new trade routes, Japan grew and grew in technology, like ship building.  They had many social and political changed. Japan united and prospered. 

Call to Action Day- San Bruno

Call to Action Day- San Bruno

  On Call to Action Day I participated at the San Bruno Mountain. Prior to this trip, I had never been to San Bruno’s Mountain and I was happy I chose this activity. At San Bruno Mountain NDNU students were separated into two groups. The groups that I was split up with chaperoned 5^th graders. The NDNU students and the 5^th graders each introduced themselves and told the group something they liked. We rode up to San Bruno’s Mountain and hiked back down. The view on top of the mountain was amazing. We were able to see the Bay and lake Merced. The sun was shining at the mountain but the Bay looked foggy. During the hike down the teacher of the 5^th graders showed us many plants and there uses when the indigenous people were at the mountain. For example, there was this lavender color plant that she said the indigenous people would use as soap because of its scent. She also told us about how the root of a poppy flower was used as a tooth ache reliever. Also, along the trail the kids played bingo and marked off the critters and plants they spotted. I was in charge of leading the kids along the trail and to make sure they did not go too far away from the group. The kids were fun and energetic; they seem to know much about the plants found in San Bruno Mountain. We also got the opportunity to see three endangered blue and grey butterflies. When we finally got to the bottom we ate lunch and got a chance to play with the kids.

  I really enjoyed my day at San Bruno’s Mountain. It was a beautiful morning and we got to enjoy the view from atop the mountain.  I chose this activity to begin with because I knew we were going to hike and I enjoy hiking. Also, I chose this activity because I love working with kids and I hadn't volunteered to work with them in a long time. Many people didn't participate in Call to Action Day but I feel as if they missed out. It feels good to do something productive and I personally don’t believe this activity was a waste of time. From this experience I retouched on the side of me that likes to volunteer. Since I stared college I haven’t had time to do any volunteer work so this was a good experience. Next year I plan to participate for Call to Action Day in a different activity just because I want to explore the options that are given. However, I am not going to wait for Call to Action Day to volunteer, I am going to try to participate in any opportunity given to volunteer. 

Extra Credit Guest Speaker

            Paul Brockmann’s presentation was based on some of the social issues in developing countries today. More specifically, he talked about his experience in Sierra Leone and the organization MSF. MSF is also referred to as Doctors without borders and is international organization that provides medical assistant to 67 countries as of 2013. They provide assistant countries that have suffered from natural disasters, have been excluded from health care, and have suffered from diseases. Paul talked about the Ebola outburst in developing countries and his part in helping to aid this issue. He mentioned that people believe that Ebola is not a threat anymore. However, Paul said that although the epidemic is not as bad as in August 2014, it is still a threat and in the first two weeks of March, 150 new cases of Ebola came up. He talked about the effects that Ebola has caused like Orphans. I really liked that he mentioned the Survivor Stories and talked about hope. Paul’s presentation made me consider volunteering as MSF. I liked that this organization doesn’t just bring medical aid, but psychological aid as well. This organization gives patients and their families hope. It brings life to people and makes them want to continue to live aside of their states. Paul also talked about the suits they had to wear and the treatment centers. He talked about the precautions they took, like changing their “street clothes” before entering the center. He also mentioned how the suits were not used all day because they were too hot to handle. They would use them for an hour and wouldn’t let anyone exceed that time for the fear of someone fainting. In the end he talked about the estimated costs of giving these countries basic health care. Paul said that the estimated amount would be $1.6 billion. He also gave us tips on what we can do to help the cause. 

Blog #12

            Imperialism in Europe was so popular in the nineteenth century because of the growth in nationalism. Europeans thought themselves superior and this mind set can be seen in the 20^th century as well. In the  twentieth century during WW11 most of major dictatorships arose from Europe and these European countries were very racist and thought themselves as superior and even tried to extinguish those who were thought inferior. In this case some European countries were creating democratic states and other countries were creating empires. In the first wave of conquests, Europe concentrated in conquering the Americas and in the second wave Europe concentrated in conquering Asia and Africa. European countries have always been greedy countries always looking for land to conquer. Europeans are also greedy when it comes to money and profits. They can never have enough of anything. European countries are abusive to the vulnerability of other counties and that is what they did in second wave of European Conquests. However, European conquests were not going to left without consequences. Europeans would burn, shoot, and mistreat the people in their conquered lands. People soon started to rebel against European rule.  

Blog #11

            There were 375 million people in 1400 to about 1 billion in the early nineteenth century. Like today, the population dramatically increased. Population grows when death rates are outnumbered by birth rates. People are living longer and still continue to today. The Industrial Revolution changed peoples need and the things they relayed on. Before the revolution, people relayed on air, water, wood, and animals. After the revolution, people relayed on oil, coal, and natural gas, which are nonrenewable fossil fuels. The industrial revolution caused much harm to the environment and still continues to harm Mother Nature. It is not surprising to see that the industrial revolution took place in many parts of the world around the same time. Most likely societies influenced one another and gave each other ideas. It is not surprise that the industrial revolution began in Europe. Europe has always seems to be successful. The Roman Empire came out of Europe and the Renaissance did to. The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain. They economy was really successful and they were the most highly commercialized of Europe’s countries. Latin American countries tried to make their countries resemble European countries and the United States. I don’t believe that they would truly be like those countries but the matter is a positive thing. United States is the land of the free and European countries were giving more freedom to their citizens, so it is good that they would want to resemble some of these qualities.