Absent

I wasn't in school today and couldn't do a blog post. :(

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Hans Rosling: 200 Years in 4 Minutes.

In class, we watched a video by Swedish global health teacher Hans Rosling. Rosling used visualization to show the difference by nation in life expectancy and GDP per capita between 1810 and 2009, when the video was made. In 1810, life expectancy was below age 40 worldwide, and GDP per capita was below $400 worldwide, but this didn't take inflation into consideration. As time progressed, western, particularly European, nations had a significant increase in GDP per capita because of the industrial revolution. The better economies led to better healthcare, and longer lifespans in these nations. Meanwhile, colonized countries in Asia and Africa were doing poorly both in life expectancy and GDP per capita because they were not impacted by the industrial revolution. In the video, we saw how WWI and the Spanish Flu epidemic impacted the world's population as nations all over the world had great decreases in the life expectancy. Seeing these countries recover and come back stronge...
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How Maps Can Lead to Racism

In class, we learned that the world map we use in school is actually very inaccurate. The map makes Africa and South America look much smaller than they actually are, and makes Europe look larger. The outdated map should probably be replaced with a Peter's Projection Map. This map is accurate in representing a 3D subject (the Earth) on a 2D surface by adjusting longitudinal lines. This more accurately shows the continents in correct proportions. We also learned that in Oceanic countries, the map is displayed upside down by American standards. This is so Australia is in the top left and therefore, the first thing that we see, rather than on the bottom right and nearly out of sight. Schick connected this to nationalism and patriotism, as we thought it was proper for America to be the first thing on the map, because in each person's eyes, their country is the best/ most important. (I'd like to add that, on a personal note, I think that the U.S. isn't really that great. ...
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Presentation Day Cont.

We watched the final presentation today in class, and then we graded ourselves and our fellow group members. Everybody in my group did a really good job, so I gave them high scores. We also talked about the pros and cons of cannibalism and how to solve world hunger. Personally, I think cannibalism is unreliable. Humans weren't meant to eat other humans, so it's unhealthy and hard to digest. Also, while overpopulation and world hunger would both go down, quality of life worldwide would go down, which isn't better. I've found a reliable solution, although some would find it controversial: worldwide veganism. Studies show that around 90% of the world's crops go to feeding livestock, and the meat, eggs, and milk from that livestock only feeds a small percentage of the population. By cutting out the middle man and eating the crops we grow for livestock instead of the livestock itself, there'd be much less starvation in the world. Im researching this now, and I...
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