Final Post

     I have really enjoyed the course of study we have done throughout this year. I liked how we could incorporate several different entertaining movies into the class. The blog posts are a great way to get feedback and turn in our writing assignments. Our class discussions have also been very beneficial and entertaining. This class was very reserved at first and it was neat to see the escalation of secureness in the classroom over the course of the year. I loved ending the year on a good note by watching the movie "Thirteen Years." This movie was very entertaining and action packed. It taught good lessons such as communication being so important and that every problem has a solution if you work hard enough to find it. Thanks for a great year!!! :-)

Letter to the Future, Actions on Climate Change

Dear future,

     Climate change is a growing issue that is bound to cause major effects in the near future. I have done extensive research that supports the fact that action needs to be taken in order for our environment to continue to thrive and stay intact.

    Climate change may not have an impact on our daily lives in Huntsville, AL, but it definitely is already having major impacts of those around the world. Communities are already having to evacuate areas because of rising sea levels that are caused by the intense climate changes around the world[1.] Women from an organization called "Climate Wise Women" describe their experiences with climate change in a heart wrenching way in order to illustrate to others that climate change is already effecting area of the world today. Ursula Rakova, a writer from climate wise women, says "We are being forced from our homelands and having to start new lives. I would say to anyone who believes climate change is not happening, if you have the heart to feel your flesh and blood, start to think about those who struggle with this everyday."[2]

     There are countless things that we can do everyday in order to take action and help the growing climate change issue to stop. Simple actions such as reducing energy use, changing transportation habits, insulating our homes, conserving water, line drying clothes, recycling, and reusing items for different purposes around the house[3.]These may seem like little actions, but if every house hold took a few of these into consideration, it would make a difference.

    If action is not taken, the consequences are seemingly endless. There are everyday impacts such as higher food pricing, food processing and storage, and less availability to clean water[4.] There are also many effects that are of greater concern such as, increasingly warmer temperatures, sea level rise, drought, coastal erosion, and increased severity and frequency of storms[1.]

    Even though all of these impacts of climate change are relevant, the most important impact that is predicted to come in the near future is the concern with refugees. If there is no serious action being taken there is a very high chance of us being in a refugee crisis in the near future. There is already places in the world that this issue applies to. There are hundreds of millions of people across the globe that are already exposed to major environmental risk. If no action is taken, these numbers will only continue to grow. The sad part is that if there were to be an emergency caused by these environmental risks, most of the people in these areas lack the physical, financial, or social resources to be able to move or migrate. These people could be trapped in these hazardous places because of the lack of action being taken to prevent climate change from affecting the communities we inhabit. One of the major issues here is that refugees caused by the effects of climate change is being viewed as a future problem, even though it is happening today. Since 2008, one person per second has been displaced by weather. These statistics somehow get over looked and it needs to stop[5.]

     The United States is one of the countries that are least likely to get affected by climate change in the near future, so we seem to ignore it. If we take a look around to what is happening in other countries because of the climate change.. that will be us in the future if no action is taken. So, climate change should be viewed as just as much of a problem as it is for other countries in order to help prevent it from effecting us as severely. This being said, the US should also be worried about the effects if climate change and doing everything they can to begin to take action on this issue. The reason I say this is because if refugees begin to be considered a serious issue, many people from other countries will begin to relocate, causing over populated areas. These over populated areas could cause serious economic struggles, lack of employment, troubles with housing, and many other serious issues[5.]

     Climate change is happening, and if we don't begin to take action, even in our everyday lives, this issue is going to begin to effect us in ways we may not even understand yet.
   
Foot Notes:

[1] http://hir.harvard.edu/climate-change-indigenous-peoples-and-mobility-in-the-arctic/ This website is aimed to inform people of the dangers and effects of the global rising temperatures.
[2] http://climatewisewomen.org/ This is the site of an organization that is dedicated to hearing the women that deal with the trauma that comes with their daily climate change issues.
[3] http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=D27052CE-1 This page is dedicated to informing communities of actions they could be taking to help the issue of climate change.
[4] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/01/pictures/130115-climate-change-superstorm-atmosphere-science/ This site is dedicated to informing others on how climate change could effect their everyday lives, including how they spend their money.
[5] https://newrepublic.com/article/125073/climate-change-will-cause-next-refugee-crisis This page is aimed at informing people about the refugee issue that could turn into a crisis if action is not taken to help the climate change issues.

PS:

http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/07/five-groups-leading-the-charge-to-halt-climate-change/
http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/ I used both of these websites to get background information on what actions are being taken currently and how these organizations are helping the climate change issues we face today.

http://0-www.pbs.org.librus.hccs.edu/wgbh/nova/next/earth/crowdsourcing-climate-change-solutions/
I used this webpage to gather background information about how much communication is happening currently on how to reduce the risks climate change causes.

Climate/Action Research

     So far I have found many different ways we, as the human race, could take action to prevent further issues with the climate change. The climate is such a pressing issue because it has the ability to effect both the economy and the environment, which is why it is critical for people to begin to take action to stop it.  Making a difference will require intense collaboration, cooperation, and support of the community. An online "Climate CoLab" has been created in order to collaborate with people globally to exchange ideas and come up with solutions. This organization has grown to have 10,000 members from 100 different countries.
   There are many various solutions that are believed to be able to help in the future once they are put into action. These include removing carbon from the energy supply, increasing energy efficiency, and reducing consumption. Other innovative ideas that have been mentioned are forestry and waste management, finding ways to adapt to the climate changing, and geoengineering.

Sources:

http://climatechange.ca.gov/state/

http://0-www.pbs.org.librus.hccs.edu/wgbh/nova/next/earth/crowdsourcing-climate-change-solutions/

http://climate.nasa.gov/solutions/resources/

Climate Category Interest

     I am most interested in focusing on the actions category of this assignment. The reason this interests me the most is because it doesn't just focus on why the climate is an issue, but it also focuses on what we can DO to change/help these pressing issues about the climate. Studying this category would provide information on taking action to help the issues rather than just learning facts about it.

Climate

Words:

weather

unreliable

forecast

radar

channel

These words came to mind for several different reasons. Unreliable came to mind because of how much the climate in Huntsville varies on a daily basis. Forecast came to mind because we always look up the forecast for the upcoming week to see what kind of climate/weather we will be having, in order to plan out our activities for the week. I think of radar when I hear climate because when there is bad weather, meteorologists use radars to illustrate the weather that is coming. Lastly, I think of the word channel because we usually go to the weather channel to see the climates for the upcoming days.

Question: How do meteorologists predict the climate and how accurate are these predictions?

Readings about the 1930s

Read about the Great Depression (Links to an external site.).  According to this article, what was wrong with President Hoover's response?  Why did people blame themselves when things went wrong, and how valid or invalid was this response?

President Hoover's response was wrong because he under-estimated the severity of the Great Depression and assured people it would not last as long as it did. People blamed themselves because of the strong beliefs set in the 1920s that success was earned, it was also believed that failure was deserved. This response was partially valid and partially invalid. In some ways its valid because of the issues of personal debt, but government is also to blame for stock markets crashing and bank closings.

Read about Black Sunday (Links to an external site.). How would you have felt if you'd been there on that day? What kinds of fears, concerns, or questions would be going through your mind during, and after, the event described?

    If I were there on this day I would've been terrified. i can't imagine going through a normal day and then just out of nowhere a huge black cloud appearing, hiding every bit of light. I would be confused, scared, concerned, sick to my stomach, and many more emotions. I would wonder why everything went so black. I would also worry about where my friends and family were and if they were safe.

Read about The Drought (Links to an external site.)

.  What areas were affected by it?  What caused it.  The author ends this article with a pithy quote.  Do you agree or disagree with this historian's perspective? Why or why not?

  The areas affected by the drought were in the eastern part of the country. What caused the drought was drought issues and misuse of the land that caused the devastation. I agree with this historian's perspective because the use of the land during this time period was way beyond the technology and resources we had discovered at that point.

Read about Mass Exodus from the Plains (Links to an external site.).  Were does the migration of people out of the Dust Bowl rank in terms of other migrations in US History?  What made life hard for people once they arrived in California?

   The migration of people out of the Dust Bowl was the largest migration in the history of America. Life was made harder once arrived California because they did not receive a warm welcome and there was overcrowding.

 

Radio Research-Entertainment

    The 1930s was the prime time for radios and broadcasting. In fact, the 1930s was known as the “golden age” for radios. Radio broadcasting became a major inspiration to people and united different communities of people together. During the 1930s, radios helped to establish national broadcasting. Some of these broadcasting networks still exist today such as NBC and CBS. The 1930s also introduced the idea of advertising products with jingles and slogans. The main products that were advertised were things such as shaving cream, soup, cokes, hallmark cards, kellogg’s, cigarettes, and different breads.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma04/hess/slang/ads.html

http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/radio-in-the-1930s/

Speech

   The stage of adolescence in one's life, which originated in the 1920s, has shaped the world in countless ways since this era. In the past, some children had a job and started a family by the age of 16. Schools were not influential or viewed as important past the age of about 12. Colleges, high schools, and even middle schools were not a focus before this idea of adolescence was created. This enabled complicated jobs that required a certain type of education for the person obtaining the position. There was no space between childhood and adulthood. Some people were able to have a childhood for a greater amount of time, depending on their family's income.

    When the idea of adolescence began to play a role in society, many things began to change. Education and family began to become of more importance. The idea of “teenage years,” or adolescence being a specific stage in a person’s life caused higher level schools to be of more importance. Children began to stay in school for longer periods of time in order to obtain a higher education in order to get more advanced job positions, therefore providing a higher income. The expansion of specific training during adolescent years also began to play an important role. This helped a lot in the job industry by being able to have more advanced professions. In 1925, the government even began to pass laws on what could and could not be taught in schools. This shows how education took over the focus of this era and how we still go by some of the ideas of this time period.

    Today, education is a major focus in our society. Most of this education occurs between the ages of about 5 to 22. During the first 10 of these years the main focus is gaining a basic knowledge. After these years you begin to approach high school, which is created to prepare you for college. During high school years you begin to think about the profession you would like to enter once you get a college education, because this affects what you “major in” in college.

   The radios and telephones that were created during the 1920s also shaped the culture of adolescence as we know it today. Telephones led to the invention of cellphones, which has a huge hold over today’s teenagers. If the telephones/cellphone had not been created then the teenage culture that we live in today would be completely different. Social Media, late night texting and phone calls, facetiming, games, and mobile maps are key elements of daily life that most of us could not imagine life without. These things have become such a daily convenience that we forget that there wouldn’t even be this “teenage culture” we live in today if it weren’t of the adolescent stage that came about in the 1920s.

    Imagine going straight from elementary school and automatically being an adult and getting a job within the next couple years. Having a child at our age is viewed as being a nightmare in today’s society, but back before the age of adolescence was created it would’ve been viewed as normal. So, think of these inventions/ideas that came from the 1920s that impact of daily “teenage lives” the next time you think of important things that came from this era we are studying.

Little Book Review

Author: Sarah Margaret

  This book incorporates a lot of the new views that surface in the 1920s. The idea of the "new woman" and women being more independent. It lets the readers know that the woman is happy with her husband, but does not depend on him, therefore she can support herself.

Author: Raquel Scherlis

 This is a laid back story about the world of newspapers and magazines. It discusses all of the gossip and many different aspects that go into writing a newspaper article or magazine. The story discusses the consumerism aspect of the industry and the money that comes along with it.

Little Book!!

I did my little book on the fight for women's rights :)

WWI Poster Analysis

1. I'm not really sure what the word propaganda, but if I had to make an educated guess on what it means, I would say a proposal to something new or new idea.

2. Propaganda is information especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view google definition

WWI Posters, Set #3: link to posters

Poster 1: The author of this cartoon is trying to persuade the viewers to join the United States Navy. They communicate the idea that joining the Navy is a great life experience. The author uses bright colors to portray a feeling of happiness while the soldier is packing up and heading to the US Navy. The cartoon soldier also has a grinning smile on his face, showing that he is happy about heading to the Navy.

Poster 2: In this cartoon the author is once again trying to persuade people to join the US Navy. The Navy needs soldiers, and this author is trying to get the idea across that joining the Navy is the "manly" thing to do. They also portray the idea that the men are bettering themselves by joining the Navy. The colors seem to reach a more "serious" tone by bringing out the big dark tanks and men in uniforms. I feel this is because this is trying to attract men's attention to realize the seriousness of joining the Navy.

Poster 3: This poster is trying to get men to take action. The author says to stop reading history and to start making it. This shows the author's persuasive tone to get men to enroll in the Navy. It gives the allusion of the men walking toward the "enrollment station," so this is also another tool used to give men the idea that it is their duty to enroll in the Navy. The colors used here are patriotic and set the tone of serving the country.

Multiple Choice Answer Key

1. C

2. B

3. C

4. D

Progressivism Thesis

  Thesis for combined thesis of essays:
 
 Throughout the progressive era, the government attempted to protect society and make decisions that would keep the people healthier and happier.

Multiple Choice Questions Ch.20

1. All of these are described as turning into "passionate issues" EXCEPT:
a. women's suffrage
b. racial equality
c. prohibition
d. rights of labor

2. The Muckrakers were:
a. evangelists
b. crusading journalists
c. people who started riots
d. extremely against progressivism

3. The new middle class specifically placed a high value on:
a. money
b. religion
c. education
d. the less fortunate

4. Who had the most prominence in the progressive reform:
a. the government
b. men
c. the elderly
d. women

Living Essays About Progressivism

James, Kaisey and I talked about what we had researched and found commonalities in our ideas and created a thesis, introduction, and conclusion.

During the Progressive era, 1880-1920, many changes were occurring as society was attempting to advance and move forward. However, many challenges arose with this new freedom, and the United States realized that people needed a superior power to step in to keep everything out of control. For example, the influenza epidemic of 1918 could only be helped by enforcing strict quarantines. The production of Coke a Cola was hazardous to the health of drinkers, and in other cases the wealthy and careless put others in harms way with their rash decisions, such as the John's Town dam that was built poorly and killed hundreds of people.Through the progressive era, the government improved its level of aid on state and national levels, motivated by the notion of keeping people safe. 


The increase of government control was a good thing for the era. People’s new ideas and wealth, and health needed to be monitored in order to keep everything stable. By introducing reforms, quarantine standards, and bans on hazardous substances, the government was able to protect America's health and well being.

Progressivism Research

First coke bottle
early coke bottle

Coke ads have also evolved from newspaper ads, to more commercial ads on TV.
early coke ad

     In my research of this era of progressivism, coke played a fairly important role. Coke had a major part in the new craze over consumer goods and the elevation of consumption by the American population. I have discovered that coke made a huge impact on the culture of Americans.

     This new consumption of "coke" even changed the ways of the craze for consumption of alcohol. Alcohol consumption began to be a huge problem, hints the prohibition era that occurred during progressivism. The manufacturing of coke added to this and changed the ways of drinking by adding "mixed drinks" to the playing field. The new mass consumption of alcohol began to affect how society functioned as a whole. The men would come home after work hammered, leaving the wife to do all of the work at home and caring for the children. This began to severely anger the women of this society.

    The invention of coke and other soft drinks also relates to progressivism by taking a leap forward to what we have today. The entire point of progressivism was to make a reform. Before coke and other soda products, people only consumed water and juice as beverages. With the new variety of drinks came a sense of progressing towards a more advanced society. Coke began selling at 5 cents per bottle. This alone shows how consumer goods and progressivism has affected the coke and soda industry. Coke today sells for about $2, this is forty times the amount it cost when coke was first invented. The mass distribution of coke and how far it has progressed forward is amazing. It started out only being sold in one pharmacy located in Atlanta, Georgia. Now, coke is a global phenomenon.

    Americans began to use coke as a recreational drink. The commercials for coke began to center around fun, family, friends, and gathering together. This goes all the way back to the era of progressivism because of how much coke and other soda products have evolved since they were first invented in in the progressive time period.

  


sources:

coca-cola facts
learner.org

notes:

- the soda craze began in the late 1800s
- coke was invented by John Pemberton in 1886
- first offered in an Atlanta, Georgia pharmacy
- in the early years of cokes there were many lawsuits against the ingredients that is in coke
- contained cocaine from cocoa leaves, which was very questionable
- the use of cocaine in soda was changed in 1914 by the Harrison Act
- began using the image of Santa Clause in the 1930s
-coke started at 5cents a bottle

Coke has evolved from being purely coke, to having many different versions and flavors.
coke vs. diet coke image

3rd Quarter Evaluation

     I have improved a lot in my analyzation of videos/movies. I have gotten much better at applying things from what we watch to whatever we are currently learning in class. In the fourth quarter I would like to improve on managing my time better and taking better notes in class. I would also like to improve my reading comprehension skills, and be able to take away more from the work we do with the reading.

Progress

    1. In my opinion, progress is moving forward to better in order to produce the final outcome.
 
   2. The 1890s-1920s was known as the progressive era because of the social activism and political reform in the United States.  (google)

3.

•  Hired city managers for the reformation of each department.
• In 1920 the 19th amendment was passed, which granted women the right to vote.
• The progressive era provided many goals such as modernism, prohibition, a focus on family and education, and women's suffrage.
• The 18th amendment was passed, which prohibited the making, transporting, or selling of alcohol.
• Progressive republicans believed that the role of the government was to serve the people. 

progressive era research

progressive era research pt. 2

4. Most of the progressive reforms seem to have several things in common. Such as moving forward, bettering education, and focusing on the role of the government.

5. 

1. Essential: Women's suffrage 

2. Good: Reforming the government and trying to find a universal belief in the structure of government

3. Bad: Prohibition of alcohol

The Future

     1.  One hundred years ago people made many predictions about what the world would be like today. Many predictions were made that digital color cameras would be existent today, which obviously became true. Other predictions such as mobile phones, pre-made meals, television, tanks, rising height of Americans, and larger fruit also became true according to this article, 100 year predictions. Fifty years ago people made predictions such as aircrafts being controlled by a giant radar, cancer will have a cure, communism vanishing, and that cellphones will be small enough to carry in a hand bag.

2. Some of the predictions have a skeptical viewpoint on them, but some have a vey positive view. Things that better technology such as televisions, digital color cameras, and mobile phones were all viewed in a positive way. Other predictions such as the rising height of Americans were viewed in a more unsure way.

3. There were many predictions that came true, but also quite a few that did not. Larger fruit, television, pre-made meals, mobile phones, digital color cameras, and phones being small enough to carry in a handbag are all examples of [predictions that have become true. A cure for cancer, tooth decay, and the common cold are still not in reach. Also, communism completely vanishing and aircrafts being controlled by a giant radar have not surfaced yet.

4. A trend that I see is a prediction of a more electronically driven world, which has obviously happened. Technology use to seem out of reach about 100 years ago, and half of these predictions show the desire for technology to advance. I feel that people of this time period dreamed of a more technological world that made their daily lives easier, and that has definitely taken place.

5. Honestly, in this day and age it is very difficult to predict the future. We already have so much advanced technology that it's crazy to imagine it going any further than it already has. With that being said, in the future I believe that religious views will continue to be more and more of an issue. I also believe that hallagraphs and other advanced technology like this will be created for our phones and even in devices throughout our homes.

6. Sadly, us as individuals do not have very much control over the future. With that being said, we do have a decent amount of control over our own futures. We get to choose which college we attend, what career path we take, who we choose to marry, how many children we want, where we want to live, and many other exciting and scary decisions. The government has a lot more control of=ver the future and what it holds than we have as individuals. The governments could change at any given moment, or as an extreme.. begin World War III at any given moment. Our future being in the hands of this countries representatives is pretty scary, but at least we have the freedoms in this country that some in other countries do not.

How do you analyze a political cartoon?

2. I already knew that you need to connect the cartoon with events happening or have already happened in politics. I learned that it helps to identify techniques the author is trying to use to convey his opinion.

3. I will be able to look at political cartoons in a more constructive and critical thinking way. The guide I used (political cartoons guide) breaks down the process of understanding political cartoons in to steps in order to make them easier to follow. The three main steps they describe as being helpful to understand political cartoons are observe, reflect, and question.

cuba

Observe:  The large man illustrates America, and the smaller men represent other countries. The large man is obviously the dominant one, and the smaller men are intimidated because of the size and strength.

Reflect: This illustrates how America was viewed as being superior and more powerful than the other countries. It also illustrates how the other countries weren't very happy with America and didn't want to have respect for the US. 

Question: What is the bear suppose to symbolize? How did America become so superior?

Philippine War

Observe: There is an official looking man and a guard both opening gates to the Philippines. There are several men, looking like soldiers, moving towards the gates with heavy bags. 

Reflect: This cartoon aims to illustrate how the US took over the Philippines. This shows a fairly serious tone being set in the cartoon, which might show the artist's belief of the annexation of the Philippines as being immoral. On the other hand, the level of seriousness could show insight that the author thought this step was necessary to improve as a nation. 

Question:  what specific details could tell the author's views?

Philippine Foot

Observe: This political cartoon shows a large shiny shoe stomping and crushing the Philippines. There is also a tiny man trying to "poke" or fight back at the shoe. 

Reflect:  This cartoon was taking place within the Philippine conflict. The big shiny shoe represents the welath of America that is trying to invade and take over the Philippines. The little man represents how the Philippines wnated to push America back and didn't really want anything to do with them. 

Question: Why did the Philippines reject America? Why did America want the Philippines so badly?

Hawaiian, The Legend of Eddie Aikau

1. This documentary was called "Hawaiian, The Legend of Eddie Aikau" because he is truly Hawaiian and represents their culture.

2. The "angle" of this film was Eddie's embodyment of what true Hawaiian traditions are and what they mean.

3. The fact that this documentary was aired on ESPN shaped it's content by the focus around athletic aspects of surfing.

4. The focus of this documentary would have been very different if it was played on a different channel, such as the history channel, rather than ESPN's sports program. There would have been more of a focus on the history of Hawaii, rather than being centered around surfing.

6. Topic: Redstone Arsenal
    Focus: How it got to where it is today

    The Redstone arsenal is a United States Army base that is located here in Hunstville, AL. This relates to international conflicts in this area because it puts us on the map for if another war broke out since we have a base located here in Huntsville. I would do a documentary on how and why the Redstone Arsenal got to where it is today.