We talked about the environmental and economic problem that thousands of dead fish at Rio de Janeiro rowing venue brought huge stench before the Olympic Games will start next year. Many people live in there suffer inconvenience, so we can expect not only some harms to ordinary people but also economic damage for the decreasing tourist because the river has the beautiful views. In addition, it is so doubtful the getting start rowing game on the time next year.
A specialist said ‘This situation is not man-made disaster but caused natural for example, changing temperature rapidly, and the increasing level of the water for frequent heavy rain falling.
But I don’ t think that it caused by only natural reason. The Guanabara Bay where will be the field of windsurf game next year’s Olympic game also reported that water quality is the worst nowadays. But, the style of the pollutions are not same. It was the trashes. I cannot agree with the opinion of a specialist that the situations were caused naturally.
There is not enough rest time until the Olympic game start. So, we have to expect some efforts and the result of Brazil trying to make water quality better.
Month: April 2015
Brazil was strongly criticized for its preparation of the 2016 Summer Olympic
We talked about a circumstances of the 2016 Summer Olympic in last class. The summary and my opinion is as follow.
1. Summary of the Article
Basically, Rio De Janeiro, the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games is known as the mavelous city because of its beautiful landscape. However, Guanabara Bay, the location of the sailing events is known for having contaminated waters. City officials have said that they would reduce the amount of sewage flowing into the bay, but it seems really difficult situation because the Brazilian sailing and environmental organization refused to cooperate to clean up the bay. Officials in Rio say that the Olympic event route will be safe, on the other hand, environmentalists say that if the events takes place during low tide, there may be dangerous consequences.
2. My opinion
I really enjoy Olympic games that take place once in every four years, so I strongly hope that the situation will get better. I personally think that the officials should change the location of the sailing events because little progress has been made cleaning up Guanabara Bay unless it has been a goal of government for many years and hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on cleanup projects going back more than 20 years. Moreover, few observer believe the situation will improve. These three reasons are why I think the location of the sailing events should be changed.
Latin America’s wake-up call on global school tests
<Summary>
There have been concerns that the quality of education has been stagnant in too many countries across Latin America.But we couldn’t measure the quality of education in Latin America against global standards. So, Pisa tests are conducted every three years by the OECD.In Latin America, the regional rankings of these international tests taken by 15 year olds . But most countries remain off the ranking completely. The Pisa exam has also generated significant controversy. It dose not adequately measure the quality of instruction. Or that it dose not truly capture the diversity of contexts facing such different school systems.(98 words)
<My opinion>
The theme of this article is the quality of education in Latin America. The quality of education in Latin America is low compared to global standards. I think that this problem is very serious. And I think it is impossible to solve this problem by Pisa tests.It is because there are a lot of problems they should solve before the quality of education. For example, crimes,the crimes by guns and poverty. I think those problems should be solved. By solving those problems, they can consider about the problem of education. I think that the countries around the Latin America should help. In conclusion, there are a lot of problems should be solved before the education problem in Latin America.(112 words)
Rio 2016 Olympic preparations damned as ‘worst ever’ by IOC
In my group, I read and talked about “Rio 2016 Olympic preparations damned as ‘worst ever’ by IOC”. The article has said five years after Rio de Janeiro became the first South American city to be awarded the Olympics, preparations for the 2016 Games have been damned by a senior International Olympic Committee official as the “worst ever”. I think Brazilian government cannot prepare enough to arrange a construction of stadiums, railways and so on. One of reasons is shortage of a budget to my knowledge. This problem may be serious because many people would look forward to Rio 2016 Olympic and come there. Moreover, Rio will be crowded with many foreigners and panicked, so Olympic committee in Brazil should make a specific regulation.
Olympic 2020 will take place in Tokyo. I support this event in Tokyo. This is because it can cause much influence on Japanese economy. Japanese government is able to earn sufficient money from tourists. They will spend much money on traveling expenses, food and tuition of hotels. We should make an enough arrangement to satisfy all spectators.
Eight Brazilian football fans shot dead
“Sao Paolo shootings take place a day before Corinhians clash with local rivals Parmerias.”
In the last class, we discussed the article about the incident of football fans in Brazil. The summary and my opinion are as follows.
1, Summery
Eight football fans were gunned down ahead of a semi-final match at the Corinhians fan club headquarters in Sao Paolo. According to the news site G1, at least two men stormed the headquarters and executed people. The team tweeted “Mourning” in white letters on black background, the team’s colors on the day before the match. The violence related football match is widespread in Brazil.
2, Opinion
I wish football lead an opportunity of exchange the nature all over the world. Then the problem must be solved immediately. I suggest two points of the reason why there have been frequent the cases in Brazil. First, football is more popular than any other kind of sports there. It is said that there are a thousand or ten thousands football teams. I think the teams tend to be connected with its community. Then sometimes it will cause the collisions of fans of each teams. Secondly, I think Brazilian are too become passionate for football. Therefore there is a gap between the rich and the poor, and there are discontent of society. In conclusion, I think the government should improve the peace and order in Brazil and develop the low about it first to solve the problem.
Greenpeace sorry for Nazca lines stunt in Peru
We read and talked about “Greenpeace sorry for Nazca lines stunt in Peru” in the last class.
The Peruvian government said the greenpeace which is a group of protecting nature entered a strictly prohibited area and left footprints in the area of the Nazca lines. The government is asking for the identities of those involved and threatening prosecution and six years in prison for the offenders. Greenpeace have issued a fulsome apology, saying they are deeply concerned about any “moral offence” and stating that they will speak to the authorities and explain what really happened. Finally, International Executive Director of Greenpeace Kumi Naidoo will travel to Lima this week personally to apologise for the offence caused.
After I read this topic, I think the government should protect cultural property or World Heritage Sites and keep them high quality. It’s because things people can do for cultural property or World Heritage Sites are limited. In this topic, Nazca lines were stunted but it is possible to happen similar case in Japan. There are many World Heritage Sites in Japan. For example, Mt Fuji, Himeji castle, Hiroshima Peace Memorial and so on. We must protect and leave them but things people can do is limited. Given that reason, I think the government should protect cultural property or World Heritage Sites and keep them high quality.
Two Cuban dissidents concede defeat in local elections
In the last class, we discussed the issue “The Cuban dissidents concede defeat in local elections”.
The two men, Mr.Chaviano, who is an independent journalist and lawyer, and Mr.Lopez, who is a member of an outlawed political party, tried to stand for places on local councils in Havana. In those days, people said that it was impossible because of the Cuba’s current single party electoral system.
Due to their accurate strategy, they were selected in a local neighborhood meeting after the first round.
The final round was a secret voting. So they thought “We have to take advantage. No one expects us to be nominated and become candidates.” And they emphasized that they will oversee the local matters such as water supplies. Because of their appeal, half of the members the National Assembly was nominated by the provincial assemblies. President Raul Castro was surprised by this result and they began introducing gradual and wide-ranging economics reform.
In the latest news, we can feel that Cuba is trying to improve their relationships with the foreign countries. Last month, the President of the US and President of Cuba shook their hands. It is said that this is a historical scene.
Or Cuban government started admitting the baseball players to play in Japan. I think the purpose of this aim is to obtain much money of the rich foreign countries. It is often said that most of the people in Cuba are very poor. The chief industry of Cuba is still agriculture, mainly sugar. It is monocultural economics, so it may be influenced by a recession.
I think Cuba’s government is bothered about this fact, so they are trying to change their Establishment. The issue indicated in this article is one of the beginning of Cuba’s “New Revolution”.
Eight Fans of a Football Team were shot dead
I read an article about a troublesome case in Brazil. It was a case that three fans of an football club attacked eight fans of another club. Eight people had died in the incident. This case was not a simple fight by the rival feelings between fans but a case that is connected with drug trafficking. Some fans of football clubs are involved in drug trafficking, and they charge falsely to other team’s fans. Violence in Brazilisn football like this case is a growing problem now. Gangs who trade drugs use fan’s allegiances to the club to organise criminal activity outside the stadiums. I think this is a disappointing problem that must be solved. I think that people in South America, including Brazil, are passionate and love sports. In addition, sports tend to have a strong connection between the club and fans. Therefore, gangs often use this connection and just an opportuity lead to a case like this time. To get rid of such a case, I think that the government of Brazil should work on a drug destruction all over the country and cut off the source of funds of the Brazilian gangs. This will lead to maintaining the overall peace of Brazil as well as this case.
A picture from Brazil’s subway system
Our topic was “Why this picture from Brazil’s subway system isn’t what it seems.”
In the last class, we talked about a picture which was taken by a Brazilian commuter in Rio de Janeiro and posted on his Facebook page. This picture showed Brazil’s subway system, and the post had more than 16,000 likes. It was because a couple of lesbian embracing on the platform was in this picture, and many people must have thought that the post was concerned with Homosexuality. However, actually, what he wanted to say was a man in the background who had his foot over the yellow line. He wanted to warn how this behavior was dangerous and irresponsible. Moreover, he advocated that it was not good for children to disturb social conventions.
From this article, I thought that many people have prejudiced views against Homosexuality. Although, waiting for the subway on the yellow line is too much worse than being a homosexual, all eyes were focused upon the embracing two women instead of the man violating a rule, unconsciously. It is because there is discrimination against Homosexuality.
I don’t have a sense of discrimination against those who are homosexual as this author does not. First, being homosexual doesn’t lead to anyone’s death. On the other side, disturbing social order may lead to a tragedy or someone’s death. Second, to behave as a homo in private is freedom of expression. In conclusion, for these reasons, I think many Brazilian should turn their eyes toward not those girls but the offender against the rules. Many people all over the world have to care about their social conventions more and more.
Rio 2016 Olympic preparations damned as worst ever by IOC
Our topic was about “criticism of preparations for Rio de Janeiro Olympic”. In this topic, preparations for Rio de Janeiro Olympic are criticized severely. The reason wasn’t written, but I can guess it. That’s why TV news and newspapers often say that construction of stadium, subway and other facilities is incredibly delayed. If this situation continues, it must be so difficult to hold Olympic normally. In this situation, pressure to organization of Olympic has been steadily growing. So, I think that organization of Olympic has to resolve this situation as early as they can. In 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil couldn’t improve infrastructure. So, it is expected that many countries have held ill feelings toward Brazil. Losing credit influences a lot of things (diplomacy, trade and friendship with other countries so on). That is to say, success of Olympic decides future of Brazil.
By the way, in 2020, Olympic game is held in Tokyo. Sometimes, news or newspapers say that organization of Tokyo Olympic has not decided operating budget yet. For example, national stadium was shut in 2014, but construction of new national stadium hasn’t been started. We have 5 more years before Olympic. Not to lose credit of this country, Japan has to be sure to success Olympic. Rio de Janeiro Olympic plays important role as negative example.
(219 words)