Monday, October 21. 2019

Today's schedule is A-AG-BCD

A Block Physical Geography - Today is your Tectonics Unit Final Test. I hope you come prepared and if you did study (you did have all week) then I'm sure you'll do fine. You'll need the entire block for the test. Your first order of business is to relax; I'm certain you'll do fine. Make sure you understand what is being asked of you and if you don't know ask. Don't leave any question blank...try to answer everything. Dazzle me with what you know. Good Luck!

B Block Human Geography - Today you have your first test in the course and it will be on weeks 1-5 (Geography Fundamentals, Population, Development and Migration). There are 30 Multiple-Selection questions, 15 True/False questions and 1 short answer question (worth 10 marks) for a total of 55 possible marks (with a bonus drawing question). Your first order of business is to relax and read each question carefully. Make sure you understand what is being asked of you and if you don't know ask. Don't leave any question blank...try to answer everything. Don't forget you may use your weeks 1-6 note packages for this test and you have as much time of the block as you need. When you finish you may work on your week 7 package (or you know that week 5-6 one that was due this past Wednesday).

C & D Blocks Environmental and Social Sciences - During C Block with Young we'll begin a look at Borneo and the palm oil industry. Here's the question I will start with...

Is a plantation a forest?

So what is a plantation? Plantation agriculture can generally be defined as the growing and processing of a single cash crop (mono-culture) on a very large scale for the purpose of export sale. So, planting a forest of palm oil trees so that palm oil (an edible vegetable oil derived from the reddish pulp of the fruit of the oil palms) can be harvested is a Palm Oil plantation...Is that a forest? What are the impacts of clearing rainforests to make way for palm oil production? From the Global Oneness Project

Some palm oil producers put profit before social and ethical responsibilities. As corporations create oil palm plantations, huge swaths of primary forests are decimated, including rainforests that help mitigate global CO2 emissions. Habitat for the Sumatran tiger and orangutan in Southeast Asia are being destroyed, threatening the survival of these and other species. Palm oil production has also had significant human costs. The clear-cutting of forests for plantations have displaced indigenous residents. Human rights abuses against migrant farmers are not uncommon, as men, women, and children have been trafficked—coerced against their will—into low paying jobs with no rights due to their immigrant status. Amnesty International, an international human rights organization, claims some of palm oil's top producers engage in child labor, forced labor, gender discrimination, and do not protect their workers from exposure to toxic chemicals.

So this is a human and environmental rights issue. Check out what palm oil plantations look like in Myanmar through the work of photographer Taylor Weidman.





I will have you look through the Guardian Interactive on Palm Oil and work through a handout (courtesy of Geographypods) that I will give you today and Thursday. For more on palm oil check out:

Rainforest Action Network Conflict Palm Oil
Yale Environment 360 Vanishing Borneo Palm Oil
Orangutan Foundation International The Effects of Palm Oil
World Wildlife Fund The Heart of Borneo
National Geographic Palm Oil is Unavoidable
Takepart The Pervasiveness of Palm Oil (interactive quiz)

In D block, again with Young, we'll head to the Multi Purpose Room to hear Dr. Evelyn Voyageur talk about her experiences as a residential school survivor, which will serve as a meaningful accompaniment to the ReconciliACTion walk taking place on October 29th.