Every morning students at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School listen to an Aboriginal Reconciliation before the national anthem.The Announcements mention the struggles that the natives had to endure and that we ask for forgiveness for taking their land. In my opinion the announcements are pointless, the apology is not sincere, no one attending the school caused the problem and it's not like we are returning the stolen land. In 1492 Christopher Columbus “discovered” a land mass that an estimated 2 million natives were already living on. Due to Columbus’s “discovery” the indigenous had to suffer through many waves of diseases, stolen Territory accompanied with relocation. The population receded to 10 thousand. In 2011 a little over 1.4 million people identified as an Aboriginal. Even in 2017 natives face many issues, a large percentage of natives are either jobless, homeless or live in poverty. Instead of trying to resolve these issues head on it was decided to put an announcement over the PA for teenagers in a high school. People from the ages of 13--19 attend JHSS and there is no way that any of the students played a role in taking away the land from the natives so why is the school asking for forgiveness. Anyone hearing the announcements probably doesn't understand the issue. When asking for forgiveness you have to at least know what you did or in this case did not do. The main issue was the stolen land, if JHSS is asking for forgiveness for stealing the land does that mean that Jacob hespeler was built on stolen land? Either way JHSS may be asking for forgiveness but doesn't mean we will ever be giving back the land. If this is the case it is completely pointless to ask for forgiveness. For example imagine if someone stole your phone then when you ask for your phone back they apologise but refuse to give the phone back because they are using it as their phone now. Don't you see how dumb that is, JHSS doesn't mean their apology firstly because they didn't cause the issue and secondly it doesn't matter to the school because they won't give the land back because it is already developed and in use. In conclusion, Although the JHSS native reconciliation is pointless in my eyes i don't think they should stop doing it. The reconciliation announcements may be important and mean something to someone and least they are acknowledging that their is an issue.
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In this blog i will be writing about the gender wage gap The three ways to calculate the wage gap are; 1. Compare the annual earnings of full time and part time workers women get 67 cents for every dollar that men get in this calculation 2. comparing full time workers in which women make 74 cents per dollar a man makes 3. comparing by gender including part time workers in which woman make 87 cents to the dollar a man makes all three of the calculations are from Canada This chart from Business Insider shows that women with children suffer a 3% loss in earnings and men with children are rewarded 15%. this shows how workplaces clearly favor men. It is clear that the wage gap does exist, many arguments against the existence is that women take jobs that pay less with less risk. Women are the minority in workplaces such as construction or trucking. Also, women are more likely to take sick days and years off to care for their children, men are more likely to ask for raises and seek promotions. these points can be proven wrong by the many study done in the same workplace showing that women still make less than men in every scenario. This Chart shows that even race factors into the wage gap. Showing that Hispanic women suffer the most. I observed that they didn't add the opposite gender for all of the races such as Asian men, which have been proven to earn more than white men. Another observation is that races: middle eastern, native american etc. were not added to this study.
In any sense, it is unfair to value men higher than women for the same work, As a parent would you value your son over your daughter or do you wish your mother should earn less for the same work simply because she is a woman. When people think of electric cars they think Tesla. Looks and technology is what Tesla is known for, Tesla cars are now associated with wealth, luxury and high class due to the high price point of their vehicles. Although Tesla is the go to company for electric doesn't mean they are the only cars out there, Tesla shadows over other traditional companies that have stepped into the electric car market, such as Chevrolet, Nissan or Toyota. The competition in the electric car market is quite an uphill battle for the standard car companies as their sales do quite poorly and are struggling to sell. Chevrolet's electric car the Bolt is sitting in dealerships everywhere, only selling 4384 units from January 2017 to April. Meanwhile Tesla’s newest model the model 3 has been sold out for years, The model 3 was sold out for before production had even started and there is a cost of one-thousand dollar to pre-order. Many might wonder why is Tesla so favored over the competitors, well their popularity has risen due to a few factors. Tesla’s are know to be fast, in fact the Tesla model S P100D is ranked the third fastest car in the world going zero to sixty miles an hour in just 2.28 seconds. For perspective a Bugatti Chiron, a 2.6 million dollar car has a 2.3 0-60 MPH time (Auto-News,2017).
Another reason to purchase an electric vehicle is the actual environmental impact that traditional vehicles have on the world. Cars are a large contributor to the 38.2 billion tons of carbon produced in 2011, the carbon emissions has only risen in the 5 years since the article was released . (CBC,2012). Some people are so oblivious to climate change they will buy a 4x4 giant pick up truck that gets 8 km to the litre. Most people that will buy pickup trucks hardly even use them for its purpose, more often than not if you were to glimpse inside an average Dodge Ram truck bed it will be spotless with no signs of use. There are some exceptions to where it is justified to own that type of vehicle, but it seems that in modern times people are more concerned with being the tallest or most expensive car on the road than fuel cost or the environmental damage. People will take any chance they can no matter how immoral, The Alberta Oil sands is a prime example of people not caring about their actions because they don’t have to face the consequences. In northern Alberta there is a huge deposit of fossil fuels in a large underground quartz sandpit. Once people discovered the oil the forest ecosystem above it was completely destroyed and thousands of animals lost their habitats and most their homes. The Oil sands is the second largest source of oil. By driving a traditional vehicle you are contributing to the problem and are paying these already rich major companies. Another issue with the oil sands is that in the process of excavating the oil from the source it creates large ponds of oil and muck that thousands of birds have died from. The birds will see the ‘tailings’ ponds as a place to rest and get stuck and drown in oil. Electric cars completely avoid this problem entirely. Scientist say that earth only has enough oil to support current human consumption for about 53 more years. Other than because of climate change Fossil fuels cannot be a long term energy source simply due to the quantity on this planet. The first wave to help stop vehicle pollution is modern day electric cars, these vehicles are most likely the pioneers for future transportation methods Although it might seem so, electric cars are not perfect. A common counter argument to electric vehicles is that producing the car itself is extremely harmful. This statement is only partially true, to make the car’s battery you must obtain lithium and mIning lithium is not environmentally friendly in the slightest. Producing an electric vehicle will put 25,000 lbs of carbon into the atmosphere, compare to the average oil powered car at only 16,000 lbs of carbon. Electric cars run on electricity and depending or your country it will most likely be powered by coal. A Tesla model S throughout its lifetime from production to scrapping will release 44 tons of carbon, only 5 tons less than a comparable vehicle an Audi A7 Quattro at 49 tons. The impact of owning an electric car really depends on where you are, In Canada more than 60% of electricity produced is by hydroelectric sources such as Niagara falls. Although Canada does contribute to oil consumption in a big way by having oil sands in alberta, Canada is a country that is taking initiative to become a greener and more sustainable country. An individual that has the funds to purchase a Tesla must have enough money to buy some Solar panels. Installing Solar panels has other benefits as well like never having to pay for electricity consumption and potentially even earning money from extra energy you didn't use that the government will buy off of you.
There are many pros and some cons with electric vehicles, but they are one of the coolest, most Eco friendly and practical cars on the road. Weather you like them or not they are the future of transportation and will help reverse climate change. Electric cars is a huge step forward for humans as a species.
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AuthorGrade 10 student, Blogging for English class. Categories |