I Am Malala

This final project comes from  the book we read over the summer, I Am Malala. Our final project is a slide presentation to make to explain who Malala is and what she has done for people's lives. The presentation helped us go over this amazing person and helped us grasp how different people want equality. Though it was pretty difficult to recall specific events in the book it was quite fun to see other people's reaction to what Malala has done. I also enjoyed making a list of songs that are about struggle and getting through just as Malala Yousafzai has done so beautifully already.

The Climate of Sydney, Australia

In the third unit of our H2O class we made a slide presentation that shows the climate of different cities in the world and their predicted climate. Throughout the unit we learned about different types of clouds that form and the type of climates that they form in. We also learned what it means to deal with the affects of the climate change, like how certain places deal with long term effects and others are irreversible. I enjoyed doing this unit because it helped me get a good understanding of what major effects climate change can have on certain areas and how it can change the way we live and how much it can crush the ecosystem if we don't solve this problem.

The U.S and Namibia- Gender Equality

On our second unit in our MDGs & You class we focused on grasping a total understanding on gender equality and inequality for women all around the world. Whether the inequality is women getting an education, getting paid the same as men, or having an equal amount of representatives. I really enjoyed this unit because it really helped me see that the United States can be considered one of the most developed countries in the world and yet its gender equality can't compare to lower developed countries that have existed for a shorter amount of time.

"Rosie-the-Riveter" (SBT4NOW) October 2011

50.8% of the the United State’s population are women, and yet women take up only 19.3% of the House of Representatives and 20% of the Senate(catalyst.org). All genders should have equal rights all over the world whether its employment, education, or being in government. Women and girls all over the world are treated unfairly and don’t have the same resources and opportunities as other people because of their gender. The United States is one of the most “developed” countries in the world but doesn’t have nearly the same ratio of women to men in government compared to a country like Namibia. Namibia also focuses on completely equal opportunities for both genders that aren’t divided in anyway like education and equal pay. I plan to teach you about how different and alike Namibia and the U.S takes on the idea of gender equality in the ways of Employment pays, and Government positions.

Being a woman in a government position can really help people see the difference in the way the two genders live and help make a lot of decisions like fixing the gender pay gap really affect women and girl’s lives. As of 2015 the 535 members of Congress consists of 104 women and 431 men (Catalyst.org), which seems pretty little to make life changing decisions to be fair and strong compared to one side. Women need better positions and more room to make decisions that will change the country. There is a very clear pay gap between genders in the U.S, for every dollar that a man makes a woman makes 20 cents less (Kevin Miller). The pay gap happens for a lot of reasons, but they all mostly rely on the idea of a woman's work is less useful than a man’s, especially when it comes to age. The gender pay gap grows with age. Women earn about 90 percent of what men are paid until they are 35, after the age of 35 women are paid 76–81% of what men are paid (Kevin Miller). Most people can agree that the pay gap is a completely unfair way to pay different genders and a man and woman doing the same job should be paid the same amount.

Namibia is a very different country than the United States, from the non existing pay gap and the completely non gender related constitution. The large South African country is home to over 2.4 million people and 51.47% of the population is women (tradingeconomics.com). When Namibia became a country in 1990 a constitution was written and had no words related to any specific gender to sustain national equality. This constitution seems to be working so far considering In August 2001 there were 94 males for every 100 females in the government system (Brigitte Weidlich). That is a pretty close number, especially when it comes to comparing it with the United States. The equal amount of women to men in the Namibian government is quite equal, and is the perfect amount to get and effect decisions of both genders if one is experiencing more inequality than the other. Like the lack of education, which is one of the biggest issues facing the world today, Education is a right for all people in Namibia and isn’t separated in anyway.

The U.S and Namibia are two very alike countries, they both have complete equal opportunities for both genders, but still have major differences in many ways. The U.S and Namibia share the idea of equality between both genders but express it in very different ways. The U.S has a huge pay gap for women compared to men because apparently a woman’s work isn’t valued the same as a man for doing the same job. Namibia pays both genders the same amount without any extra pay for one job over another for doing the same job. The United States also needs to even out the amount of women to men in the government just like Namibia. The U.S’s congress has 535 members any yet only 104 of them are women. While Namibia has an amazing 94 males for every 100 males in the government (Brigitte Weidlich) . Women in the government can help be the voice and make sure there is more equality if there is more equality in the their own government.

The U.S is one of the most “developed” countries in the world and has been a country for 240 years and yet has less gender equality in the government than A 20 year old country in southern country of Namibia. The U.S has a lot to learn from Namibia, from the equal education to the equal better gender positions in the government and how important it is to maintain equality. Namibia doesn’t have much to learn the other way around in the terms of gender equality.

Works Cited
Aauw.org Accesed 10/17/16
http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/

Catalyst.org Accesed 10/17/16
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-government

flickr.com Accesed 10/21/2016 https://www.flickr.com/photos/midgro22/6299926854

Genderindex.org Accesed 10/18/16
http://www.genderindex.org/country/namibia

Ipsnews.net Accesed 10/18/16 http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/12/politics-namibia-numbers-of-women-in-government-declining/

Iwpr.org Accesed 10/17/16
http://www.iwpr.org/initiatives/pay-equity-and-discrimination

Theguardian.com Accesed 10/18/16
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/05/america-growing-educational-gender-gap

Tradingeconomics.com Accesed 10/18/16 http://www.tradingeconomics.com/namibia/population-female-percent-of-total-wb-data.html

Wikigender.com Accesed 10/18/16
http://www.wikigender.org/countries/sub-saharan-africa/gender-equality-in-namibia/

Creating Clean water

In unit 2 of my Water class I had to make a water filter that would clean water in any way. My water filter is the one below, and I used a few materials to make the filter. Using only small pieces of activated carbon, large gravel rocks, small gravel rocks, and cloth I was able to change the original water’s pH from 3.8 to 4.6 which are both very acidic. I originally thought that the water filter was going to go worse than it did, because the first time I tried to make the filter all the materials mixed together which is not what you want when making a filter.

I built my water filter using the materials I listed earlier, bottle, and scissors. First I cut a hole in the top of the bottle and cut the bottom off, then screwed the top of the bottle back on. Then I filled it with the needed layers with the charcoal first, small gravel rocks second and large gravel rocks third. Next I put the cloth on the top of the bottle covering up the hole and one at the top covering up the cut. A water filter that simple had the highest pH difference in my class. I was really pleased by how the filter turned out. I had the perfect amount of materials and the wrong and right plan to get the job done. It’s pretty rewarding to fail and later get such a big success from a mistake.

To test how well my water filter would function I tested dirty river water from the Chicago river, and to really test how well the filter worked I added even more dirt to the water than there already was. The top layer caught all the large pieces and chunks of dirt that were in the river water, while the gravel and carbon caught the rest of the small pollutants. Once again, to my surprise there was a lot of clean looking water left over in the flask. The water that had gone through the filter was at a 4.6 level on the pH scale and was still pretty acidic and personally was not worth drinking nor would it be worth tasting. The water was still really murky and turbid which is another hint towards not drinking the water. Though the water did end up smelling much more close to tap water than dirt. 

A lot of water filters work like groundwater filtration, were the water travels through a lot of materials through the ground. First the filter collected large pieces of contaminants and the smaller pieces of gravel collect small contaminants throughout the water. Acidic water tastes like metal most of the time so I imagine the filtered water tastes like metal.

Before pH test: 3.8 pH           -log x =.8           10^.8 = x           x= 6.31
After pH test  : 4.6 pH
pH change      : 0.8 pH

IF (2016) Before filtration

IF (2016) After filtration

IF (2016) Water filter

IF (2016) Sketch of filter 

IF (2016) Sketch of pH scale

Education is a Right for All People

South Sudan suffers from the lowest literacy rate in the world with a 27.0% due to the high poverty rate in Southern Sudan lots of children can’t afford to go to school and are suffering disease and Hunger. But education can help people get out this situation, Everyday people are stuck in the the same routine and don’t have education on the list. All people should have the right to a good education, no matter what health, poverty, gender,or mental situation. Education is right to all people and shouldn’t be denied under any circumstances.

If people go a life without an education then they suffer the lack of security from having a job and having a home. A good Education for children would be on the second level which is the safety level on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Because a good education is securing these children a good safe life so they aren’t doomed for life. If people don’t have a good education they won't have a good life, because so much opportunities rely on education to living. People who don’t fulfill the need of living in a life without education don’t secure themselves with any type of security and cant get a good job to support themselves, without education you can’t secure anything in life. You won’t be able to secure a family, property, nor will you be able to secure resources and employment. Women with a primary school education are 13% more likely to know that condoms can reduce their risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, meaning less disease will spread which will save even more people who just get a primary education.

Everyday people live without an education fight everyday to survive. When a person has an education they can secure a position of not living in poverty and living with disease. In low income countries, for every year that a person attends school their future income will be increased by 10%. If people in South Sudan they will be able to attend school they can live life without much struggle, have more knowledge on how to keep safe from disease, and can start supporting themselves and their community.

Most people who live in poverty cannot support themselves and need outside effective and sustainable ways to support themselves. People living without education can receive grants of money from charity groups like oxfam so they can start supporting themselves. Like Oxfam we need to create sustainable ways people can support themselves so they have more time to go to school and have enough money for classes. On average parents in South Sudan earn about 2$ per day to support their families, which is not a lot when you’re a single parent in a poor country who needs to support 4 children. Poverty is the biggest factor affecting if children go to school or not, because it’s pretty clear that going to school is going to be a really big trouble when it comes to 2$ per day or less. Donating to outside sources that will help the inside communities flourish can help the most unfortunate people get an education, and give people a chance to support themselves, while also bettering their lives.

Education is a right for all people no matter what financial, health, and mental situation people are in. People who don’t have an education get stuck in an endless hole where people can’t get out without help.Poverty is the the biggest factor in why people can’t get an education. If a person gets an education they can then survive and have an overall better life away from poverty, helping them support their families. People all over the world who don’t have an education suffer from poverty, sickness, and are illiterate. Think to yourself, where would you be in your life if you were illiterate?

 Edwards, Ali. (2007) books.  Web:Flickr

Works Cited

World Atlas.com Accesed 10/1/2016 “25 Most Illiterate Countries”http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-lowest-literacy-rates-in-the-world.html

Humainium.org Accesed 10/1/16 “Right to Education”http://www.humanium.org/en/world/right-to-education/

Dosomething.org Accesed 10/1/16 “11 Facts About Education Around the World” https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-education-around-world

Savethechildren.org Accesed 10/1/16 “ South Sudan”
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6150459/k.96D1/South_Sudan.html