More world in balance

     In class today we continued watching the video we have been watching. Japan is struggling to produce enough food for itself. If it surpasses the 2 child per couple, the population could double to about 11 billion. There is a class of one child due to such a low birth rate. There are more older aged people then kids. It was predicted that in 2050 1 out of 3 Japanese will be over the age of 35. This can be fixed by brining in immigrants, 6,000 a year. But, Japan refuses to do this. In the U.S we have taken a large number of immigrants and they help to support our economy. Japan can only thrive if more babies are produced. Japan's fertility rate is 1.4 and adults are having a hard time caring for their children because they work long hours, thus causing the population to drop fast. The number of older people is much higher then the amount of kids. This is because they have such high life expectancy, 84 for women, and 78 for men.

World in the balance continued

      Today in class we started off watching the most recent JC TV news on YouTube. They talked about the varsity football team and the international students dorms. The news is very entertaining and helps you learn more about your school community. Then we discussed the video we had started watching during our last class. We were asked what we think the country should do about over population. Some said there should be a limit on how many kids you have but that isn't fair and can't always be controlled. We watched more of the video. It talked about how parents in that part of India would get a sonogram to find out the gender of their child. If the gender wasn't what they wanted, a boy, then they would get an abortion. The women usually disagreed with these decisions but the men overpowered them. Even if they didn't want anymore children their husbands could force them into it, just so they have boys. Boys are wanted so that they can care for their parents when they are old. Also to carry on the family name and legacy.

Kiva Extra Credit

      Kiva.org is a website where you can loan $25 to a person or business in need. "Loans that change lives" is their slogan showing that by lending just $25 you can make a difference in someone's life. Kiva has been awarded charity navigators highest rating, showing they are a helpful and trustworthy charity. After lending $25 to a person or group they have a specific amount of time to pay you back. There is 98.42% your payment will be refunded at the right date. This way you don't lose money, or you can lend it out to another cause. Just this week there have been 8,562 borrowers funded. 100% of your loans go straight to the borrowers. Kiva does not take a part of it. The loaners are from 83 different countries in the world. And for those countries there are 1,346,136 lenders.

       On Kiva.org I found, Juan Carlos. He is a farmer, and he and his family live in El Salvador. He has owned his own business for 10 years, growing and selling corns and beans. He is asking for a loan of $1,025 for agricultural supplies, such as, fertilizer, herbicides, and improved basic grain seeds. He is currently 0% funded but is a worthy cause of the money. El Salvador's total income is $7,500 which is very little. Thus showing why Juan needs a loan. Living there is hard to hold up business.

         The next borrower I found was Anzhela from Armenia. She has one day left to fill her request of $2,900. This lone will help her to buy 400 chickens, food for feeding the livestock, and for transportation costs. She hopes to start agribusiness and receive more income for her family. This is Anzhela's second loan and it is 20% funded. She has a bad credit history because during her first loan she had financial hardships and couldn't refund the loan. Now she is able to repay the loaners and had been approved by Kiva. Armenia has only $6,300 total income. This shows that Anzhela lives in a poorer area and doesn't receive much money thus needing the loans.

      People should loan money to people on Kiva. It only costs you $25 to help make a difference in someone's live. You most likely won't even lose money because of the high percent of repayments. Kiva's slogan "Loans that change lives" is true. Each time a loan is filled people or groups can rebuild or create a business, or just help themselves survive. It won't take you much time and doesn't cost much. Go and help those in need by loaning to Kiva.org.

       

World in the Balance

In class today we watched "A world in Balance: The People Paradox" It was about a place in India called Utterpradesh. In Utterpradesh the amount of kids was a lot more than the amount of adults. Women were forced into marriage and having kids. We learned that 95% of their marriages were arranged and that women were forced into marriage at the ages of 15 and 16. The men always wanted boys. If a women did not give birth to a boy, the family, or husband, would be angry with her. 25,000 women are killed a year because they don't have boys. The men are over the women, there is even 35 million more men than women there. Developing countries like this are producing the most babies. India's population will soon surpass China's because of it's birth rate, thus holding the highest population.

More on Kiva

Today in class we talked more about Kiva. Then we had a free period. I worked on my math homework and finished it. Then I worked on a vocab story for English and submitted it. After that I wrote this Blog.

Kiva

Today in class we found out that we could do extra credit for class. We have to blog about this website called Kiva and possibly donate money. Kiva is a website for giving out loans to people all around the world. If you or a group is starting a business and needs a lone you can be added to Kiva. A page will come up about your business that people can read about. Anyone who wants to choose you can donate 25 dollars to your loan. There is a specific time frame that you have to pay them back. So anyone who donates will most likely be paid back. Then if you'd like you can re-donate that money to someone else. If we complete a blog explaining Kiva we can receive 5 extra credit points. If you donate money you will receive 10 extra credit points. Then the class with the most donators will receive 15 points.

Geting Our Tests Back

    Today in class we got our tests back. Nobody received a "ding" meaning nobody got an A on the test. It was a hard test and most people did an ok job. Hopefully the next test will be easier. We then went over all of the answers. We went around and had everyone read a question and give the answer. A few times people wouldn't have the correct answer, including myself, so you would have to guess what it was. It took the entire class period to go through the test and discuss each question.

Test day

     Today in class we took a test on population, settlement, migration, and the world factbook. We only had 10 minutes to find answers to the questions on the world factbook. I didn't get enough time to find everything. I couldn't find where it said the percentage of people in the United States that lived in a city. The next part was pretty simple. As long as you studied or at least went over your notes then you would know most of the answers. I couldn't remember what GDP stands for though. The next section was the toughest part. There were questions about all kinds of different things and I didn't know the answer to most of them. We did find the answer to many of those on the CIA world factbook during class though. But I didn't remember them. Hopefully I did well but the last part of the test was rough.

Test reveiw

     Today in class we were told that we would have a test on Thursday. We learned that we would have to use the world factbook to answer some questions, then we would answer more questions on the paper. The following terms will be on this test: Globalization, life expectancy, crude birth rate, crude death rate, developed and developing nations, rate of natural increase, net migration rate, migration, immigration, and infant fertility rate. Hopefully during the test I will be able to find everything quick enough on the world factbook because we only have about 10 minutes to finish. We have gone other all of these terms in class so I think I know them well. As I learned from the first test it is a good idea to study because I did forget a few things. We also talked about the PSAT. This is just a practice test to help us for the real one, so we shouldn't stress. I'm definitely not excited to take the test because it is long. But I'm not scared or stressed about it either.

Factbook

    Today in class we asked questions about facts on the World Factbook. We were given questions and had to search the website to find them. The website is very helpful. It gives you facts about any place in the world. It provides statistics and charts and compares all of the different countries together. This way you can see how countries are ranked and listed. It is easy to find things on there. You search for the right country and locate the right category. Then the next thing you do is narrow the category down to the right topic you are looking for. It was interesting to find out so many new things about our country and the other countries of the world.

World Factbook questions

Question 1.  Which 3 countries have the most people under weight, under the age of 5?
                    Timor-Leste 45.30   India 43.50   Yemen 43.10
Question 2.  Which 3 countries have the most deaths to HIV/AIDS?
                    Nigeria 174,300   South Africa 138,400 India 127,200
Question 3. Top three total longest road networks;
                    United States 6,586,610 km  India 4,689,842 km   China 4,106,387 km
Question 4. Top three total longest waterways;
                    China 110,000 km   Russia 102,000 km   Brazil 50,000 km
Question 5. Which three countries consume the most electricity?
                    China 4,831,000,000,000 kwh    United States 3,883,000,000,000 kwh                         European Union 2,798,000,000,000 kwh
Question 6. Which three countries cover the most area?
                    Russia 17,098,242   Canada 9,984,670   United States 9,826,675
Question 7. Total dollar amount of exports;
                    China $2,252,000,000,000   European Union $2,173,000,000,000 
                    United States $1,610,000,000,000
Question 8. Total dollar amount of Imports;
                    United States $2,334,000,000,000 European Union $2,312,000,000,000
                    China $1,949,000,000,000
Question 9.  Top three highest death rate?
                     Lesotho 14.89   Ukraine 14.46   Bulgaria 14.44
Question 10.Most cell phone buyers/users;
                    China 1,300,000,000   India 944,000,000   European Union 632,500,000
              

World Factbook

      Today in class we found answers to many questions using the CIA world factbook. We examined how different countries compared to each other. I had thought that the U.S would have the most internet connection, but we found out that it is actually China. On the factbook you can search for one certain country or just compare all of the countries together. We looked for the top three countries for the topics. One thing we noticed that the U.S is not even in the top three for the amount of cell phones. That is surprising because you would think that a lot of people here have and use cell phones. We also looked at a list of  8 basic needs. If you don't have 2 out of the 8 needs met then that means your community is in poverty. Many of the facts we learned today were surprising but also cool to find out

Population and settlement continued

    Today in class we continued talking about population and settlement. We learned what a TFR is the average number of children born per women. For a population to remain the same the TFR must be 2.1 (replacement rate). If the rate is higher than 2.1 then the population rises. If it is lower the population will fall. The world TFR is 2.42 (it was 2.54 years ago and 2.47 last year). The TFR for the United States is 2.01 (it was 2.06 last year) The TFR for Nigeria is 6.89 and Japan's TFR is 1.40. We also went over the push and pull factors we discussed last class. Some pull factors are; better economic opportunity, better health services, religious freedom, and political; freedom. Some push factors are; civil war, environmental degradation, unemployment, and religious or ethnic persecution. Later in class we went on the CIA world factbook. We searched up different facts about countries and compared them to other countries.

Population and Settlement

    Today in class we discussed population and settlement. There is over 7 billion people on the planet right now, and its increasing by over 73 million people per year. 90% of this population growth takes place in developing countries of Africa, South and East Asia, and Latin America. We then talked about Life Expectancy, which is the average number of years to be lived by a group of people born in the same year. A Crude birth rate is the number of births per 1,00 of the population. And the Crude death rate is the number of deaths by 1,000 of the population. Then by subtracting the death rate from the birth rate you get the Rate of Natural Increase. Then with that you get the Annual Natural Growth Rate for a country or region. Then we talked about Migration. The Net Migration Rate is the difference between the number of persons entering the country during the year. If someone is entering the country it is called immigration, if they are leaving its called emigration. 

Is Globalization good or bad?

Today in class we talked about the pros and cons of Globalization.  For a place like America Globalization is great, but for developing countries like Indonesia globalization is not so good. One Pro is, it is logical, "natural" expression of modern international capitalism. Also wealth will trickle down from rich to poor countries and that new ideas and technologies will spread around the world. However globalization is a policy promoted by core countries. It results in inequalities between "haves" and "have nots". Also it is just not working; In the last 20 years, rich countries have grown richer, while the poor have become more impoverished. This all shows that globalization only works for some countires.