unreasonable?

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

UNIDENTIFIED gunmen seized a busload of students and teachers near Manila's city hall while on the run after a holdup today, police said.

Hostage-takers scribbled on a piece of paper, visible through the bus window, that they were holding 32 children and two teachers and were armed with two grenades, an Uzi assault rifle police and a .45-caliber pistol, officer Mark Andal said.

They said they were demanding housing and education for 145 children in a day-care centre.

Is this really an awful request? Not at all.
I think this action speaks volumes to the state of affairs in our world today.
Would anyone fault Aladdin for stealing that loaf of bread because he was starving and needed some food to eat? No way! Especially not after he shares it with those hungry street kids.
Why was the movie John Q so compelling.
Because these characters speak out against injustices.

While they may not go about it in a moral way, can one fault them for their action?
If the intention is good, could the means justify the end?

If these gunmen never mean to harm the children, and only desire an education for their family, should this be considered a crime? Or is it a crime against humanity that millions of children are still illiterate and many will never recieve formal education of any kind. Which action is worse?

So in speaking out against this injustice, can these gunmen become heroes, or should they be locked away forever?

fat camp?

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

A recent article from CBC reports that about one-quarter of Canadians aged two to 17 are overweight or obese, and they are expected to live shorter lives than their parents.

The excess weight puts children at risk of a myriad preventable health problems, including Type 2 diabetes, susceptibility to heart attack and stroke, joint problems and mental health issues.

"It has been said that obesity outranks both smoking and drinking now in its effects on health and health costs," said committee chair Rob Merrifield, a Conservative MP for the Alberta riding of Yellowhead.

"For the first time in recorded history, today's younger generation will live shorter lives than their parents. Yet parents, and this is, I believe, the most alarming statistic that we found, do not recognize the problem."

According to a survey by the Canadian Medical Association, nine per cent of parents identified their children as being overweight or obese.

Rates among aboriginal children are worse, with 55 per cent living on reserves being overweight or obese, compared with 41 per cent for First Nations children living off reserves, said the report.

The report calls on the federal government to immediately:

Start a comprehensive public awareness campaign.
Mandate standardized labels on the front of packages.
Remove trans fats from the Canadian diet and replace them with an alternative low in saturated fat.

Full Report

Canadian Food Guide!

Bird Flu

Monday, March 26, 2007

Interesting article.

my global footprint

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Thomas Malthus estimated that human population would eventually outstrip its ability to sustain itself directly causing poverty...
Since 1900 the world population has quadrupled and could easily reach 9 billion by mid-21^st century.
In fact, some scientists relate the human species to a cancer, invading the planet.
But in addressing the issue of population, Malthus failed to account for consumption patterns.
Carrying capacity is the maximum population of a species that an environment can support.
Paul Ehrlich estimates in his video ‘Population Bomb’ that the Earth’s optimal carrying capacity may have already been exceeded. Thus, I=PAT (impact = population x affluence x technology) proves that a focus on resources is critical to understanding effects of population.
Although economic models believe that larger populations can be beneficial leading to larger tax potential and more creative brains to solve problems, they are not equitable with reality. Developed nations are huge consumers. Specifically, a globally projected ecological footprint developed from North American consumption patterns, would result with the need for 4 planets to support the same population.
On a global scale 20% of the developed population uses 80% of privately consumed resources while the poorest 20% consume 1.4% of resources. Does this make sense to anyone???
An even more sobering fact is that although food production has kept pace with population growth, millions continue to suffer from food insecurity.
The average citizen of a developed country creates 2kg of waster EACH DAY as landfills are becoming full to capacity. Our planet is full of waste.

Until global efforts are put forth to equalize consumption of resources, within and between countries, poverty will perpetuate.
Increases in consumption of resources cause both direct and indirect health complications!
Population health research suggests that the healthiest societies are ones in which there is an equitable distributuion of wealth. In fact, studies show that poverty pockets among the urban wealthy ultimately affect the health of the rich as well. So, even the most selfish of humanity should care about poverty, if only to impact/preserve their own health!

Poverty should not exist in our world.
It breaks my heart to know that my selfishness is hurting other people.
I'm going to strive to reduce my own ecological footprint:


	CATEGORY	GLOBAL HECTARES

	FOOD	1.2

	MOBILITY	0.2

	SHELTER	0.6

	GOODS/SERVICES	0.6

	TOTAL FOOTPRINT	2.6

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 8.8 GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 1.8 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE GLOBAL HECTARES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 1.4 PLANETS.

Calculate your own ecological footprint...

glow worm?

Friday, March 23, 2007

This was on my professor's office wall...

I wish I was a glow worm.
A glow worm's never glum.
How can you be sad
When light shines out your bum?

Hilarious.

8 days til I'm done working for free as a student nurse...

Can't wait.

Two Happy, One Sad

Monday, March 19, 2007

HAPPY

1.
Nathan and I have a place to live.
We'll post pictures soon.
We paid first and last months rent and are super excited to have a home.

We get to have our townhouse April 1st, a month sooner than we hoped, but it will work out perfectly for organizing life.
That way we can transition for a whole month verses a crazy move in four days before the wedding.
2.
I'm officially done school April 10th.
My exam time was posted today.
I can't wait to be a graduate.
A real nurse.

sad

That means that my time in Hamilton is almost up.
If I'm home for Easter and then back for my exam...
my last Sunday will probably be either April 8th, or maybe the 15th? I dunno.
But all I do know is that it is coming up :(

Sorry to end off on the sad note.

Two months today

Monday, March 05, 2007

and we might have a place to live.

cross your fingers...

Jillian Drouin

Sunday, March 04, 2007

My sister's childhood best friend is a track and field superstar.

It's funny that they say "All American" when she is Canadian.

Way to go Jilly!