Malawi is a country in south eastern Africa. Lately they have been having so much rainfall it has caused terrible flooding. As of right now they believe that more than 170 people have died. Thousands have been evacuated, either with helicopters or on boats. Despite the many warnings from the government to evacuate many people do not want to leave. They have been seen to be sleeping on roof tops or even in trees. So many people have been assisted that there are not enough supplies to go around. For example they are in need of tents, food, medicines, and much more. More reports from the government says The flooding has destroyed everything, from homes to crops. The people's biggest fear is that after all the rain fall no one will have anything left. To make matters worse has a population of 13 million people and is still considered one of the poorest countries in the world. What can people that don't have really have much to begin with do when they lose everything else? It is really sad to hear all of this stuff going on. In situations like this it seems like there isn't really much the people can do until all the water is gone. Then they have to work together in order to build everything back up. They will face a lot of problems and struggles, but like J.Cole says "There is beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success." Eventually from all of this bad they can work together and with help from other countries, can get back to where they were or even better. Hopefully the UN will also be assisting them as much as possible after all the rain. I also wonder why after all the warnings people would still want to stay? Could it be they are afraid to come back to nothing, so they would much rather stay with their things and go with them? If so it seems like a really sad way to live but then again how else would you live when you don't have much else to live off? (Full article)(Article from UN)
Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a Kenyan 90,000-acre reserve that specializes in protecting
white and black rhinos, has teamed up with San Francisco-based tech company
Airware. This company develops drone autopilot systems. Rangers at the base can operate the drone from two laptops, one showing a map
tracking the flight path, the other showing the UAV's point of view through a
camera.
Thermal imaging cameras meant the drone could also fly at night, with the
operators clearly differentiating the shapes of animals. They could even see how the elephants' trunks changed temperature as they
sucked up water from a trough. With a wingspan of less than a metre, the catapult-launched drone flew at an
altitude of about 500 feet. you can barely see it. It doesn't bother the wildlife or the tourists. Killing elephants for their tusks and rhinos for their horns has become an
illicit multi-million dollar business, with demand particularly high in
Asia and the trade is threatening Africa's lucrative wildlife tourism industry. Even though this seems like a good and effective idea, developing an airframe that is both light and strong
enough to withstand Africa's rugged landscapes is still a challenge, especially
when cost will be an issue for many game reserves. The airware estimates that drones for anti-poaching will ultimately cost
$50,000-$70,000. I believe that this idea is a very good one. It seems challenging but maybe soon in maybe about a decade this can be a lucrative business as well as a savior to Africa's wildlife.
This short documentary was about a Kenyan activist named Boniface Mwangi asking american students why they leave the US and go to place like Africa wanting to help. He was invited to Duke university to talk to students that volunteer. These students leave the US and go to another country for like 2 weeks to help build houses, help people, help animals etc. Throughout the documentary he tells his story of how violence first touched his life. Like how violence touched Ishmael in the story A Long way Gone. Through the violence and the fear that came with it he started a group of young artists and activists called PAWA254 in Kenya. The main thing they try to do is promote social change. Mwangi's main reason for asking people why they go all the way to another country to help is because Mwangi believes people should start creating change locally. He doesn't like how everyone looks at Africa like such a needy country, when their own countries aren't in good shape. He believes that by making a change locally it will take more of an affect because they are people from that place helping that same place. He says the other countries should be used as examples of mistakes that shouldn't be made. At the end Mwangi says "Africa doesn't need a savior, America needs a savior."
I really like this documentary. I agree a lot with Mwangi because I believe its true that if you want to know about another country for example Africa why ask an "expert" who stayed in africa for 4 weeks than asking someone actually is from Africa. I also agree that we should stop looking at Africa or any other country smaller than us because of the problems they have. As if our own country doesnt go through things as well. Although I don't agree with what he thinks about helping other countries. Yes it is true we should probably help the people around us first before trying to help save the world. But I think if you can and it is possible, why not help another country? (NY Times article)
This picture was from a post on Pennsylvania Frack, which is a website about the things happening in Pennsylvania. They were reporting about New York holding a hearing on elephant poaching and ivory trading laws. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) reported that 96 elephants are killed everyday in Africa so that means one elephant every 15 minutes. And in Central Africa 64% of it's elephant population is gone. Assemblyman Robert K. Sweeney, Chair of the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation said that "poachers have been illegally killing African elephants for years, bringing them to the brink of extinction." It's sad that these smart , harmless animal are being killed and now almost extinct.But now it seems like things may be changing. I hope these laws get passed and they will stop elepahnts and pother animals from being killed.
Have you ever thought how fruits get to our supermarkets and then end up in our houses? Well getting fruits delivered to a supermarket is only one of the many things that happens in this process. (Easiest way to grow fruit trees.) In the Western Cape in South Africa, the many people that live there are very familiar with the long process, They specialize in growing plums.
In the Franschoek Valley they have summers much cooler than that of the surrounding areas, which makes it a perfect place to grow plums. Mother nature and its weather play one of the biggest roles, all throughout the harvesting plums need cooler temperatures but if it rains many of the tress wont grow plums and if it is too dry than plums grow out to be smaller. The plums that do get picked are put in a cooler room to cool down for a day then get packed up and shipped off overseas. Because of this the growers have to make sure the plums are picked just right. They cant pick them too early and they cant pick them too late or else when they get to their destination they wont be right. What most people don't know is that this fruit has become a large and important part of South Africa's economy. The plums have sold more than their peaches and apricots. In 2013-2014 16 million cartons of fruits were sold, 10.5 million of them being plums. As you can see the plums are most popular, and for South Africa to be taking advantage of this business is really good. In the long run they could possibly take over the farming industry and make it a lot bigger and better.
Similar to the poaching of elephants is shark finning. Shark finning is the removal of shark fins, and after the shark has it's fins removed it goes back into the ocean. But because they don't have their fins they are unable to move and will sink down to ocean, then die of suffocation or they are eaten by others animals in the ocean. The demand for shark fins have been for shark fin soup but now the demand for shark fins is going down. In the video below Yao Ming, a retired Chinese basketball player, has been working to bring attention to the killing and harming of the worlds iconic animals. Yao and the WildAid had a victory for bringing down the demand for shark fins. Sales in China have dropped 50-70%. Yao also hopes that this victory will help stop other animals from being killed.
This work that Yao Ming is doing for these animals shows that people care. He is a famous basketball player which is an even better way to bring attention to the issues of keeping our animals safe. I hope that from this work and the work of others that we can save more of the worlds animals from danger and a tragic life.
Half a million dollars is how much it cost Osama Bin Laden to perform the most deadly attack on U.S. soil. Even though Osama Bin Laden is dead there threat from Islamic extremists has never been higher. Everything they need to pull of these attacks and threats cost money. Some things they need include surveillance equipment, training, food, lodging, and travel. The most recent organazations are ISIS and the Boka Haram attack, who kidnapped hundreds of girls and sold them for $12 a piece. But there has been a new funding for terrorism, and that's poaching. The illegal wildlife trade makes 7 billion to 10 billion per year and most of the trade is located in Asia. There are many reasons why people want ivory and rhino horns. For instance, in China they believe that rhino horns and ivory have special healing powers. In Vietman they believe that having them is a status symbol and can cure a hangover. A rhino horn can sell for $65,000 a kilogram in Asia. That's more expensive than silver, gold, and diamonds. South Africa is home to 80% of the worlds rhino population. In 2007 the number of rhinos poached was only 13 and in 2013 the number rose to 746. And in Central Africa two thirds of it's elephant population has been wiped out in the last 10 years. Now terrorist are finding the killing of African animals as a way of income. In 2011 an al Qaeda associate, Al-Shabaab, made $200,000 to $600,000 a month from tusks. The article also states that poaching is not only a source of income but there is no punishment for it and people usually dont get caught for poaching.
We need to find a way to stop this from happening. Not only are terrorist groups killing innocent people now they are killing innocent animals. It's also sad that animals are being used for a way of income. I hope we can find way to stop terrorist all around.
Malawi is a country in south eastern Africa. Lately they have been having so much rainfall it has caused terrible flooding. As of right now they believe that more than 170 people have died. Thousands have been evacuated, either with helicopters or on boats. Despite the many warnings from the government to evacuate many people do not want to leave. They have been seen to be sleeping on roof tops or even in trees. So many people have been assisted that there are not enough supplies to go around. For example they are in need of tents, food, medicines, and much more. More reports from the government says The flooding has destroyed everything, from homes to crops. The people's biggest fear is that after all the rain fall no one will have anything left. To make matters worse has a population of 13 million people and is still considered one of the poorest countries in the world. What can people that don't have really have much to begin with do when they lose everything else? It is really sad to hear all of this stuff going on. In situations like this it seems like there isn't really much the people can do until all the water is gone. Then they have to work together in order to build everything back up. They will face a lot of problems and struggles, but like J.Cole says "There is beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success." Eventually from all of this bad they can work together and with help from other countries, can get back to where they were or even better. Hopefully the UN will also be assisting them as much as possible after all the rain. I also wonder why after all the warnings people would still want to stay? Could it be they are afraid to come back to nothing, so they would much rather stay with their things and go with them? If so it seems like a really sad way to live but then again how else would you live when you don't have much else to live off? (Full article) (Article from UN)
