Regional Geography

This video shows ingenuity of a persons mind and plastic bottles. This is a use of something that seems to useless but plays a very large roll in daily life of the people. This plastic bottle filled with water and placed in thecut out of tin roofs created natural sunlight for the the people in the poorest communities. This cut power bills and it also created a safer living situation for the people. It shows the use for something so useless in our area of the community but so usefull to other areas of the world.

this is a great invention, however the use of these light bottles would be restricted to environments where water never freezes. however, in regions which are economically in trouble where it is generally warm, it can be a cheap source of light in a normally dark building.

people making the best of their situation and being inovative and creative is insperational and the rest of the world should follow suit

The United States influence is delining in an area it called "its back yard". Along the financial crisis causing this, it has also begun to declin Spains influence in there former colonies as well. I think this could be a good thing as far these areas finally getting out from under other countires control even though they have been free for so long. But it could be bad because know that they are doing things on their own what will they do   

This temple is amazing because it is not only a place of worship but also a huge free eatery. This temple plays a role in the poor relief of the area because all poor people are welcome to come and eat. The fact they welcome those of different faiths as well into this temple of worship is something that is really remarkable because of the fear and distrust many faiths seem to have of one another. If only more places of worship acts as this one.

Watching this video makes me glad that I live where I do, it also makes me feel bad for those that are not as lucky as myself and other students of colleges and universities. these students in South Africa's schools are not getting a proper education, the teachers sometimes do not show up, so in some cases the students will assume position and teach those who do not understand the material. It is also sad to know that there are so many out there with great ambitions for their lives and because of their poor education and understanding of subjects, they are failing and might not be able to reach their goals for life. It is good to see though there is a teacher that gets the kids engaged everyday  as a morning warm up to sing. 

what i dont understand is how south africa can be on such an upward trend which motivation and nationalism but the rest of africa just refuses to get on the same track. the success of south africa and their constantly improving country should be motivation and a model for the rest of the continent.

This is some really cool stuff! This is a good showcase of human ingenuity. We have no need to create our own helicopters here in the United States in our backyards, but this shows that with the technical know-how, a lot of savings money, and raw supplies, it's entirely possible for anyone to build one. The impressiveness in this article lies in the ability for these individuals to make something extremely complex on their own rather than rely on pre-built, expensive models.

This is a big deal for me, as I'm always interesting looking into the far future for humanity as a whole. It's very important that a mistake is not made with the vast agricultural power that lays in the soil of Africa. Experiments with hybrid seeds and new technologies can yield a higher production, but at a cost we are not yet fully aware of. Many years down the line it's unclear as to what the result of this sort of farming will be, and I believe the last thing we want to do is to put all our eggs in one basket with this situation, as it could yield a worst case scenario where most of earth's farmland becomes useless for the purposes of growing due to an unforeseen long-term consequence of artificial seeds and the like. We should pursue technology with all haste and push forward without fear, but we need a reliable backup in case things go wrong.

This article first tells us about the different regions in Africa agriculturally, dealing with famine, economic, and distributive conflicts. It then tells a story about the famine killing 36 million in Chins, and how they would strategically select crops from the West in attempt to produce another "Green Revolution". Experts are saying that Sub-Saharan Africa should follow in their footsteps, but the two nations have many social, economic, and especially agricultural differences.

This write-up says a lot about how nations react to situations such as famine, and the distribution of goods aside that. Different nations have different abilities agriculturally and use these toward their peoples and social crisis's.  

Intense flooding occurring in December 2010 left 2,000 people dead in Pakistan. The flood waters left both the people, and the insects, with no where to go. Spiders, trying to escape from the flood waters, climbed into trees and bushes in order to avoid drowning. Almost every type of vegetation was covered in webs, making the landscape appear as though it was planed in cotton candy trees. While definitely peculiar, the massive amounts of spider webbing averted a mosquito crisis. While something positive did come from this occurrence, most of the trees were killed since their leaves were smothered by the webbing and unable to collect sunlight. Now the landscape contains little to know shade for the people living their. 

When observing geographies, it is important to understand not just the people, but the other organisms that affect a place, and how they too can make an effect. 

These floods damaged the ecosystems in Pakistan. It also manipulated the natural order of things. With he heavy floods lots of mosquito were attracted by the water and then millions of spiders followed for food. What resulted are these remarkable images. For those who suffer from arachnophobia this may their worst nightmare but it has an odd beauty to it.

After floods devastated Pakistan many of the animals and people had to adapt to some new surroundings. Spiders took to the trees and made webs of massive size. The spiders created a better environment because not only were the spiders eating the mosqitos and the bugs but they were also eating the disease malaria contributing to a more healthy and stable environment.

This video is so sad because HIV/AIDS  in the DRC and other African countries is definitely preventable and treatable but due to the immense amounts of poverty and the lack of information about contraceptives and protection, millions are infected every year.

The man featured in this video mentions that the government does nothing to help fund medical centers or any other assistance and it is truly shameful.

Unit 2

One thing that stuck out to me in this video is when he spoke about the making sure the children’s basic needs are met so they can concentrate on school. That is such a problem in our education system today that people don’t wish to address. I wonder how our education system would be if we made sure our children also had their basic needs met.

Ojambo has founded a project that addresses the extremely sad issue of orphans who have lost their parents to AIDS. These children need help because they do not have parents to support them, leaving them with their Grandparents who struggle to support these children. This video made me think of AIDS in Africa in a different way. When I thought of AIDS in Africa, I always focused on how many people were dying and how tragic that was. I seldom thought of the people they were leaving behind and what their death would mean to those still living.

Maathai is an incredible woman. Her efforts are improving the environment and agriculture in Africa. Another interesting note on her story is that she partnered with a Norwegian group to start the greenbelt movement, showing how globalization can also apply to shared efforts to do good.

This is an incredible peace of Wangari Maathai, who is from the same country i am from Kenya, and she had a powerful movement from a simple act of planting trees in hope of helping her environment, and women was looked at as a fool and looked down upon, she is an icon and vision able leader amongst most Kenyan women today. She created a path for most of the young girls and had her clear message was to protect your environment, create paths and a future for yourself, she is an icon and her movement will continue to impact not only my life but others globally.

Land is a pretty valuable thing. As are civil rights. When a women, a gender traditionally looked upon as inferior in Kenya, takes a bunch of other women and starts a movement to plant trees so they could better the lives of all in the country, she tends to be looked down upon by the government. Maathai even attracted the attention of the Kenyan President who dismissed her as just some women. Her tree planting initiative eventually lead to nationwide movements that lead to demise of that very president that dismissed her movement as a waste of time and effort.

When we watched this clip in class, I was amazed by not only her bravery to stand up to such a ruler but by her devotion to something so simple as wanting to plant trees so the people of Kenya had food to eat and fuel to cook with.

Unit 2

Many of these countries share similar backgrounds and cultures, as well as flags which is seen above.  The color patterns show red, black,  white, and green on almost every flag except Israel's which is blue and white.  It shows that most of the countries within the region are all linked somehow whether it be through language, identity, or other reasons, though there is still room for conflict and change as time passes.  After looking at flags from other countries such as Iraq and Iran, the graphics on them change, sometimes reflecting government changes.  It is sometimes difficult to remember and notice so many flags, yet some of these flags have changed within the last 2 to 3 decades to accompany the change of government.

This goes to show how a flag is supposed to represent the people who live in their country. And the flag of Israel really does stick out like a sore thumb. We have the crescent moon, the typical Arabic colors of green, red, black, and white, and the blue and white really doesn't have much to do with the history of the people who live in Israel, only the new Jewish community who live there, but not the Palestinians. 

Representation of middle eastern flags,