Session 8 readings (workshop, 4/7 morning)

[Sandra Soltero-Torres]

Lucy Hornby addressed China's huge pesticide pollution crisis during her lecture.  She spoke about the danger of  brownfield sites  being used for new building sites.  Hornby wrote about such an example in her article abnout hundreds of pupils falling ill due to pesticide pollution.  This situation ocurred because a foreign language high school was relocated to an industrial city in China.  Soon thereafter students started complaining of symptoms such as nosebleeds, rashes, and strange smells.  Some students were even diagnosed with cancer.  China is planning an action plan for soil pollution, but it can't come soon enough.  The existing brownfield sites are plentiful and most of them are only superficially rehabilitated before being repurposed for residential and other uses. The value of these brownfield sites is so little that it is not even weorth it for the development investors to invest the money to rehabilitate them.  My understanding is that this pollution crisis is so extensive that it will take plenty of money and  years of careful planning to eradicate some of the long term effects that this pollution crisis is having on the people of China.

[Laura Gonzales]

Lucy Hornby’s lecture was insightful and offered a glance to what China is experiencing in the 21^st century.  It was eye opening to learn about pollution in air, water and soil. I know I live in a polluted city such as LA and I know what it looks like to look out of my window and not be able to see the tall LA buildings from far away as well as to see a ring of smog around the mountains but I do not know what it is like to not be able to see the building directly across from me or to live under very dangerous levels of smog conditions such in the case of living in Beijing.

 

Hornby mentioned that the school  in Beijing emphasized on the quality of air when enrolling her son in a Beijing school instead of focusing on the quality of education first. Another growing trend in China has been placed on organic food because of the pollution that exist. However even if people are willing to pay more for organic the source could sometimes not be truly organic.

 

Hornby did in excellent job in explaining how the air, water and soil pollution in interconnected and that in the end there is not quick fix to the problem instead she said that the solution will be expensive and slow.

 

[Stella Castro]

It is devastating to know and learn how much pollution there exists in China. A couple of the readings,,”China pesticide pollution blamed as hundreds of pupils fall ill” and “China to unroll nationwide soil pollution survey”, both articles by Ms. Lucy Horny, who was a guest speaker at one of our seminars’ meeting days stated how students started feeling nauseated and then they got sick and then finally they were diagnosed with cancer, when in one of the articles mentioned that a high school was built on an former pesticide factory. Those students at this high school start to get nose bleeds and also started to get rashes, and then they were diagnosed with cancer. What an outrageous audacity. Then the government wants to cover this up and keep it a state secret, how they can be so thoughtless. They want to keep this a secret so that people will not know how mean and corrupt China can be. Not only is their soil polluted but their water supply is also polluted, in this article it states that more than 80% of the groundwater it jihad tested was polluted. That is just an enormous amount, and to think that these people of Chinas have to use this water to cook with, drink, and bathe in. I feel sad for these people. I also found it interesting about how some the people in China like to eat the seasonal delicacy of hairy crabs. Just the words," hairy crabs", makes me shudder, but according to the article they are sweet and tasty because of the lakes/ water they come from. However the article stated that in testing some of these crabs, they are found to have high levels of cancer causing chemicals. The worst part of this is that these crabs come from a city in China that had a multibillion clean-up against pollution. So that means that there is so much pollution in China, and the people who are eating these crabs don’t know this. So they keep on eating these cancer casing hairy crabs. In reading all the articles pertaining to session 8, it is noted that there is much cancer due to all the pollution, where it is soil contamination, water and air pollution, or industrial pollution.

The lessons that I can teach my students would be about pollution. I will teach /tell my student’s hat one way to reduce garbage is by recycling. That recycling helps the earth. So my lesson/s would be on recycling

[Laura Gonzales]

Simba the wild life conservationist mentioned that he considered himself to be a global citizen and not from China or Africa. The remarked made me think of what it meant to be a global citizen especially in a world that is now more connected through technological advancements and even pollution. As a teacher that teaches high school I think it is important to teach my students about being civil minded individuals. It could be challenging since many students only think about their immediate surrounding and it might be difficult for them to think beyond that.  To create awareness to this issue I could partner up with other high school students from different nations, it would be like a  pen pal exchange. Through the pen pal program the students could start off discussing their likes and dislikes as teenagers and later venture out to know  more about each other cultures and  perhaps even politics and how they are being affected by it. This is just a general thought but it would be a stepping stone to get students to learn beyond their hometown. It would be great if anybody could share of any programs that already exist that can help facilitate the pen pal program.

 

[Stella Castro]

 Genaro you are totally correct in your last sentence of your writing where you state., “We are all responsible to teaching our students respect to all types of life. This is so totally true. All forms of life matter whether it is a human, an insect or an animal’s life, lions to be precise. Mr. Simba is doing a well and excellent job of helping preserve the lions from becoming extinct and being put on the endangered species list. It is a good and courageous thing Simba is doing to help protect the lions. Mr. Simba had to teach the villagers to try and not harm/kill the lions as the lions are hungry and want to eat and if they are losing their prey, then the local livestock will have to do. So the locals/villagers have to build stronger fences to help preserve their livestock from demise by the hungry lions. While Mr. Simba needs all the help he can get to keep funding his organization to help the lions survive, and we all should help out. Again you are totally correct when you say we need more  brave people like Mr. Simba.

A final note, it was awesome watching the video clip of Mr. Simba’s work. It was interesting to see how so up close and pwrsonal Mr. Simba got to those lions.it was also very interesting to see how at one point, the lions did not even try to attack Mr. Simba, but just looked at him and kept walking around, as if the lions knew that Mr. Simba was there to help them out and not hurt them.

[Laura Gonzales]

The reading assigned were quite interesting. China’s hairy crab scandal made me put a lot of things into perspective. For example the fact the crabs could be linked to causing cancer because of the pollution and the environment they find themselves in.. This reminded me of all the news segments that I have heard since I have recollection of the thousands and thousands of product that have been linked to causing cancer. It is scary to think that many of the things we are consuming are not safe. One of the things that stood out the most is that the pollution is in the air, water, soil, plants, animals it is just everywhere. Another thing the article touched upon was the regulation that were almost non existent and were allowed by local government the late 1990’s. I got a sense that people are more aware of the pollution and the government is taking small steps to try to fix the problem. I usually incorporate a section of environmental issues in my lesson. This would be a good read for my students in which they would have to come up with immediate solutions as well as long term.

 

 

[Donna Jamshidnejad]

Part of the curriculum that I usually do not go over in class is the Green Revolution. My textbook dedicates one page to this, yet recent AP exams have asked a few questions related to the topic. This is most likley the College Board hinting at us teachers to cover the topic. The Green Revolution is also known as the Third Industrial Revolution and is related to the increased use of pesticides and high yield of crops in the 20th century. Looking at the readings assigned this session, I think it could be interesting to introduce the Green Revolution as a debate or argumentative essay, and ask students to look at the effects of the third industrial revolution. This way, I can work in the documents related to pollution in China, as well as sources on increased productivity and positive outcomes. Students can then weigh the benefits versus the pollution and negative consequences of the third industrial revolution. 

[Tanish Fortson]

I to enjoyed Simba’s presentation. His documentary was eye opening. I watch in awe as he dedicated his life to a dream he once had as a child. The documentary was informative in letting us know about the crisis with the lions. The population has declined by an estimate 43% over the last twenty years. Simba mentioned that It is estimated only 20,000 lions remain across the continent. The decline is due to habitat loss, poaching for bushmeat, and conflict with livestock owners are the primary source of the lions decline. Lions have become extinct in 26 countries. Simba introduced us to a Community Based Conservation Model, which simply states that if you help a community first then, the community will join them in saving the lions. He has been successful in his efforts. Simba left his family to live among the Maasi and his wife and daughter are completely understanding of his dream to do this. He gave up a good job with benefits to live in the wild that is brave thing to do. I have also infomed my students of his bravery and hope it will inspire them to follow their dreams. 

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