Araina E's Blog (21)

I think EVOKE should tackle the issue of exploitation of poor workers by corporations. We have all heard about people in Asian countries being exploited, but in one of my cla**** we learned about the poor workers in Jamaica who were being exploited as well. I am sure there are many workers in other countries being exploited that are not known. I think we should learn more about this issue and pressure corporations to operate under fair and just rules. New EVOKE communities should be built in…

The "secret" that I found most interesting was hidden in the article, "How do People React in a Pandemic." The article mentions that during a time of crisis, the current practice is to instruct people to react, while attempting to remove fear or panic from their minds and actions. In doing this, the media and experts tend to lead people into "denial," which is described as worse than the act of panicking. Now here comes the fascinating part...the article suggests that instead of saying,…

I found the case study of the Gengenlilas Preschool in the Campbell River First Nation on Vancouver Island, Canada extremely fascinating. The preschool was built by the First Nation people and offered free of charge for those in the community. The First Nation uses support from its Bingo operation and other "outside sources" to fund the new addition. Members of the community, including elders, teach the children about the First Nation culture by using First Nation toys, traditional dance,…

My city's resilience or disaster plan consists of 3 parts: prepardness, initial response, and recovery. The city works with other agencies (depending on the emergency) to effectively tailor the response to the situation. However, the most important element of the plan involves educating the residents on how they should respond. Because I live in southeast Texas, disaster plans tend to focus on what to do in the event of a hurricane. In…

Living in southeast Texas is lovely, except for one minor problem...hurricanes! Hurricane evacuations are pretty complicated, with most people having to leave the city without knowing when they will come back. Ushahidi could help tremendously during such evacuations. The program would definitely steady my nerves during an evacuation. Local law enforcement and others who stay behind, using Ushahidi, could share minute-to-minute information regarding the damage, if any, and what the next steps…

During International Women's Day, Afghanistan women celebrated by having an all-female football match. The Bamyan women, between 12 and 20 years old, have overcome violence and emotional distress at their homes, but now they are bonding and empowering each other through sport. They were trained by UNICEF and YICC "as youth advocates for preventing domestic violence against women." After their training, they have become women's rights advocates, promoting their cause in their neighborhoods.…

My favorite clean water initiative program is the program at www.randomkid.org. I really like this project because it allows kids, and adults, to do something about the global water crisis. With this program, groups of kids (mainly schools), or adults, can create and develop their own bottled water product, complete with their own original label.The proceeds from the sales go toward clean water technologies in developing countries. For example, several…

There is little I can do to eradicate the global water issue on my own. However, I do believe that the first step in combating such an issue should be awareness. So, I visited www.waterforpeople.org. This site has a wealth of information about the harmful effects of not having clean water. To inform people about the issue, I sent out the e-cards the site provides to all my family and friends that included information about the site and why clean…

If I were having a party in the year 2020 and I had to use sustainable energy, I would like to use piezoelectric floors to harness the energy from dancing all night long! These floors turn feet movements into energy that could power the venue. Tokyo already uses this energy to power their subways.

Some foreign funeral homes have found a way to harness energy from the wasted energy produced during cremation. The Halmstead funeral home in Sweden harnesses enough energy from cremations to warm up the entire town! There is also a funeral parlor in Manchester, England that uses the process as well. Although a bit creepy, it is a creative way to harness energy. It goes to show that energy can be harnessed from virtually anything! Check out this idea as well as others at…

For a future meal I hope that I am consuming the best of the best. That is, the food that is grown locally by urban farmers. The vegetables would be fresh and delectable, with no added ingredients needed to "keep them fresh." The fruit would be as sweet, or sour, as nature intended them to be. Of course the farmed animals would be free from harmful steroids or other chemicals normally used to hasten their growth. Hopefully this would reduce carbon footprints and make everyone's earth a…

The major threat to food security in Houston is the decline of local farming. The Last Organic Outpost is fighting to preserve local farming and decrease reliability on outside foods. Imported foods often decrease in nutritional value and increase fossil fuels. So I believe we need to support our local farmers and encourage our neighbors to eat locally grown foods.

Check it out at…