Thursday, October 7, 2021

Friday, October 8. 2021

 

Today's schedule is DCBA 

D/C Blocks - Social and Environmental Sciences - Today we have the learning commons/library booked for you so that we may begin work on your first project of the year.

Water is our most precious natural resource. It is essential to life on Earth, for human populations and all other living organisms, for the survival of natural environments and ecosystems. It is also vital to human economic activity and industry. It is a finite resource insofar as there is a fixed amount of cycling and recycling on planet Earth. And this set amount is under constant threat of mismanagement, overuse and pollution, effectively reducing its availability, while worldwide demand for it increases. Like other natural resources, water is unevenly distributed around the globe, thus leading to unequal access to it and competition for it. 
Poor management of this resource allows rivers and lakes to become squalid dumping grounds for wastes ranging from untreated sewage, mine leachate, chemicals and other industrial discharges to the contaminated fecal, pesticide and herbicide run-off from agriculture. Groundwater supplies are also subject to contamination, overuse and mismanagement. Global warming threatens regional water supply, but increases the demand for this resource. There is a world water crisis. 
The UN Department for Policy Co-ordination and Sustainable Development believes that water should be seen as: 1) a vital element, necessary for survival; 2) a natural resource, of economic value; 3) an environmental resource, of common heritage to all, and 4) a cultural and spiritual resource.

So, if clean water is a scarce resource that could be considered a commodity and has also been deemed both a natural and a human right, what can be done to ease and even eliminate the conflict associated with clean water? You or you and a partner will need to research a case of water conflict around the world. Your task is to use available resources to answer the following questions, to be displayed on a poster board:

  1. Why is there a crisis over water in your area? What social and environmental factors do you think are contributing to the water crisis? What are common factors that go along with the water disputes, such as political instability, social unrest, economic downturn, heavy unemployment, civil warfare, etc.? 
  2. Who are the “players” or "stakeholders" in this conflict? What are their motives and interests in the water dispute?
  3. What is the water source in question (river, aqueduct, canal, watershed, tributary, reservoir, dam, etc.)? How large is the water source, and how large is the area through which the water source flows? Approximately how many people use this waterway as their main source of water?
  4. Where in the world and in the country and/or region is the water source? Identify the waterway on a map, and highlight areas of the map involved in or affected by the issues in dispute (locations of villages, industries, crops, next closest water source, other water sources, country/clan borders, etc.).
  5. How would the water source be affected by different outcomes of the water dispute? Use different colors or a symbol to indicate how the water source would be diverted, dammed or re-aligned. How would the items you highlighted in the previous question be affected by these changes?
  6. How, if at all, would this water conflict be resolved? What is the current state of the dispute, if it is ongoing? What are solutions to the water crisis? Can you come up with ways that would provide the basis for a water-sharing plan?
 

B Block Physical Geography - Today....Oh today we look at Tsunamis and the west coast of North America. We'll watch sections of the Discovery Channel documentary "America's Tsunami: Are we Next?" and the CBC video (below) Japan's Tsunami: Caught on Camera. You will have some questions to work on tonight in your week three package which are:

Why can tsunamis cause such damage and devastation? What are some characteristics of the wave that factor into how much damage it could cause? How do coastal or shoreline features factor into the extent of damage? What role could a warning system play? How effective would a warning system be for the west coast of Vancouver Island? Why?

 

A Block Criminology - To start, I would like you brainstorm a list of all the entertainment you can think of that is based in violence. Think of video games (HALO), television programs (CSI), books (30 Days of Night comics), movies (Saw), music (ONYX, Biggie, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer), sports (MMA, WWE), and other forms of entertainment. You'll get into two large groups and on chart paper I'll have you list out your top 10 most violent forms of entertainment (be specific). We'll share our lists and ask, "Why is violence entertaining"? I'll have you work on the following:

  1. What is the attraction of violent films and video games?
  2. Is there more violent imagery in media now as opposed to the past (think graphic, realistic visceral)? Why / Why not?
  3. What kinds of people are drawn to violent imagery and what kind of violent images draw them to that form of entertainment?
  4. What is “morbid curiosity”?
  5. Are there any equally satisfying substitutions for violent entertainment?
  6. What draws our attention to violent media events (news) that are not intended to entertain?
Check out the BBC Podcast "The Why Factor" that asks the question "Why are we so drawn to violent entertainment?" From the BBC...

Why are we so drawn to violent entertainment? Violent films, video games and stories are very popular, as were brutal gladiatorial Roman contests and gory 14th Century jousts. What explains this enduring attraction to violence? Helena Merriman talks to the Mexican director of Heli, a professor of fairy tales and joins one of London’s most gruesome serial killer tours to answer this week’s question.

After that we'll watch some Warner Brothers cartoons with all the glorious violence in them and we'll have a discussion about the acceptance of violence in our modern culture. We'll look at: Bully for Bugs; Rabbit Seasoning; For Scentimental Reasons; Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century and lastly The Ducksters. Criminal Harassment (Stalking), Sexual Assault, Assault, Attempted Murder, Aggravated Assault (torture), and Unlawful Confinement are just a few of the crimes in these cartoons...all violent crimes.

Is Bugs Bunny bad for kids? Comedy and violence are intermingled into a typical or formulaic narrative story.....Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner, Elmer Fudd chases Bugs Bunny, Sylvester chases Tweety Bird and they inflict carnage on each other. The end is always the same....someone wins, someone loses, the loser is humiliated and we laugh at them (good clean wholesome fun). While we watch the cartoons I want you to think about the implicit and implied messages that each cartoon sends to kids (rather than the explicit and obvious messages) and then we'll talk about what those messages do even if kids understand the difference between cartoon and real violence.

So now compare the violence in the Warner Brothers cartoons (from the 50's and 60's) with that of the Happy Tree Friends. Check out the following video: Happy Tree Friends A to Zoo . Let's be frank here, the cartoon is not meant for children but because of the "cute" characters what would it be like if we just let young children watch that cartoon unsupervised?

Consider the following:
Media Violence: Psychology
Cartoon Violence Project
Gender and Comm. Kids Cartoon Violence


Posted by Geo Teacher at 8:04 PM

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