This is indeed true. Ever since the industrial revolution which occurred and affected countries all over the world, humans almost could not care less about the environment. Humans abused the environment and took advantage of it as they pleased and now there is a sudden diversion of attention to the environmental problems we are facing.
This raise in awareness of the damage done to our environment, namely Mother Earth, is being brought up worldwide in many countries. This is especially significant in countries who can afford to take action to salvage Mother Earth. Technology and resources in these countries put them in a very beneficial role because they can easily do their part to help the environment with what they have. However, how the technology and resources are being used in countries is solely the decision of the country. Every country has to play their part as a member, as a citizen of the Earth. Some countries that do not have the resources or the same advancement in technology which we have are probably those which do not produce as much harmful gases as we do. Technology can be used for both good and evil. All along, technology had more or less been used to damage the Earth rather than to save it.
This is a global problem which every country worldwide will face in the near future. Countries have to help each other out to do something about this problem and take action. Our global problems can affect us very badly and there are many areas which we need to work on. Still, we should strive for the betterment of the environment which is constantly being tortured, destroyed and harmed by humans. A global effort is needed, something like the Kyoto Protocol, it just has to be more successful and with the cooperation of major countries in the world like the USA.
Health and Environmental Expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
Sunday, May 6, 2007
ARTICLE: Aren't We Contributing to the Global Environmental Problems?
Aren't We Contributing to the Global Environmental Problems?
In this country of ours, everyone knows that there has been a transition from a focus on individual problems to a broad emphasis on preserving the global environment. That is because, from comparatively localized problems of pollution, environmental problems which must be dealt with on an "earth-wide" scale have arisen as a more important issue.
The "global environment problem" includes: depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, acid rain, deforestation (destruction of tropical rainforests), land becoming desert-like, ocean pollution, pollution in developing countries, transportation of hazardous waste across borders, extinction of wildlife species, etc. The "global environment problem" is characterized by a larger scale in terms of both space and time-regarding the latter, its effect may extend across generations-and by the increasing complexity of cause and effect. Thus, its character is quite different from local environmental problems such as pollution.
Along with researching the global environment problem and proceeding with study of countermeasures, the relationship with the activities of companies has become more and more clear. Due to the nature of the global environment problem, the faster countermeasures can be implemented, the more effective they will be. In Japan, due to efforts on the government side, recently, a variety of countermeasures have become law in quick succession.
One major example is work to halt depletion of the ozone layer by stopping the manufacture and use of certain freons and undertaking measures to recover freon from existing products. Likewise, to arrest global warming, emission restraints on carbon dioxide, methane, sulfurhexafluoride, etc. are necessary.
In this country of ours, everyone knows that there has been a transition from a focus on individual problems to a broad emphasis on preserving the global environment. That is because, from comparatively localized problems of pollution, environmental problems which must be dealt with on an "earth-wide" scale have arisen as a more important issue.
The "global environment problem" includes: depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, acid rain, deforestation (destruction of tropical rainforests), land becoming desert-like, ocean pollution, pollution in developing countries, transportation of hazardous waste across borders, extinction of wildlife species, etc. The "global environment problem" is characterized by a larger scale in terms of both space and time-regarding the latter, its effect may extend across generations-and by the increasing complexity of cause and effect. Thus, its character is quite different from local environmental problems such as pollution.
Along with researching the global environment problem and proceeding with study of countermeasures, the relationship with the activities of companies has become more and more clear. Due to the nature of the global environment problem, the faster countermeasures can be implemented, the more effective they will be. In Japan, due to efforts on the government side, recently, a variety of countermeasures have become law in quick succession.
One major example is work to halt depletion of the ozone layer by stopping the manufacture and use of certain freons and undertaking measures to recover freon from existing products. Likewise, to arrest global warming, emission restraints on carbon dioxide, methane, sulfurhexafluoride, etc. are necessary.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
RESPONSE TO ARTICLE: Drug 'mends' muscular dystrophy
This drug can really cause a change to the lives of people all around the world, especially those with genetic disorders. However, this drug has not been proven to be a cure in humans. Even though people with DMD are much lesser in number than those infected with HIV and TB, there is currently no cure for DMD. If this drug works as a cure, people with DMD would be able to live normal lives again without having to suffer from the treatment of this genetic disorder and living with its symptoms. Even though this drug might not be able to cure all people with DMD, it is certainly a start and there will definitely be more cures to come in the future.
This, again, is closely related to globalisation because DMD is a genetic disorder which happens to people all around the world. In Singapore, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDAS) helps those with DMD. Many other cases of muscular dystrophy also occur all around the world, causing people to be unable to live their normal lives, having to live painfully with this genetic disorder all their lives. If this drug can be used as a cure, it creates hope for many people to live a normal life all over the world.
This might be a start to finding cure for other currently incurable diseases. However, every country has to play their part in contributing whatever they can, whether in terms of resources, manpower or equipment. This way, cures can be made accessible to people all over the world, not just in the place which it has been developed but also anywhere where the disease exists. It is definitely a good progress to promote better and more easily accessible healthcare worldwide.
Health and Environmental Expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
This, again, is closely related to globalisation because DMD is a genetic disorder which happens to people all around the world. In Singapore, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDAS) helps those with DMD. Many other cases of muscular dystrophy also occur all around the world, causing people to be unable to live their normal lives, having to live painfully with this genetic disorder all their lives. If this drug can be used as a cure, it creates hope for many people to live a normal life all over the world.
This might be a start to finding cure for other currently incurable diseases. However, every country has to play their part in contributing whatever they can, whether in terms of resources, manpower or equipment. This way, cures can be made accessible to people all over the world, not just in the place which it has been developed but also anywhere where the disease exists. It is definitely a good progress to promote better and more easily accessible healthcare worldwide.
Health and Environmental Expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
ARTICLE: Drug 'mends' muscular dystrophy
Drug 'mends' muscular dystrophy
An experimental drug may be able to compensate for the genetic error responsible for some cases of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, US scientists hope.
In rodents, the drug PTC124 was able to restore the muscle function normally lost in this disease, Nature reports.
Trials have already begun in humans, although the results will take years.
The drug works by allowing cells to read through certain mistakes in the genetic code for a protein - dystrophin - missing in 15% of patients with DMD.
Muscular dystrophy is a group of genetic disorders that cause the muscles in the body to gradually weaken over time and mobility to be lost. It shortens life span and there is currently no cure.
DMD is the commonest and most severe form. Around 100 boys are born with the condition in the UK each year.
There are treatments that can help alleviate symptoms, such as muscle spasm, and enable people with MD to lead a good quality of life.
But scientists are striving to find a way of reversing or preventing the muscle damage.
PTC124 binds to a cell component called the ribosome, whose job it is to read genetic code and translate it so proteins can be made.
In mice, the drug helped override the mutation in the dystrophin gene that tells it to halt production of the protein. Instead of stopping, the full-length dystrophin protein was made.
It did not prevent the ribosome from reading correct "stop" signals in genetic codes for other proteins.
Encouraging findings
Lead researcher Dr H Lee Sweeney is on the scientific advisory board for PTC Therapeutics Inc, which is testing the drug.
Dr Sweeney said: "This new class of treatment has the potential to help a large number of patients with different genetic diseases that have the same type of mutation."
Dr Marita Pohlschmidt, director of research at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, said the results were "very encouraging", particularly in the light of the ongoing human trials.
She said: "This drug appears to have the potential to become a treatment in the longer term for some people with DMD.
"We look forward to the publication of the full results of these clinical trials so that we can see more clearly what the prospects and possible timescales are for treatment."
Source of article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6573267.stm
An experimental drug may be able to compensate for the genetic error responsible for some cases of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, US scientists hope.
In rodents, the drug PTC124 was able to restore the muscle function normally lost in this disease, Nature reports.
Trials have already begun in humans, although the results will take years.
The drug works by allowing cells to read through certain mistakes in the genetic code for a protein - dystrophin - missing in 15% of patients with DMD.
Muscular dystrophy is a group of genetic disorders that cause the muscles in the body to gradually weaken over time and mobility to be lost. It shortens life span and there is currently no cure.
DMD is the commonest and most severe form. Around 100 boys are born with the condition in the UK each year.
There are treatments that can help alleviate symptoms, such as muscle spasm, and enable people with MD to lead a good quality of life.
But scientists are striving to find a way of reversing or preventing the muscle damage.
PTC124 binds to a cell component called the ribosome, whose job it is to read genetic code and translate it so proteins can be made.
In mice, the drug helped override the mutation in the dystrophin gene that tells it to halt production of the protein. Instead of stopping, the full-length dystrophin protein was made.
It did not prevent the ribosome from reading correct "stop" signals in genetic codes for other proteins.
Encouraging findings
Lead researcher Dr H Lee Sweeney is on the scientific advisory board for PTC Therapeutics Inc, which is testing the drug.
Dr Sweeney said: "This new class of treatment has the potential to help a large number of patients with different genetic diseases that have the same type of mutation."
Dr Marita Pohlschmidt, director of research at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, said the results were "very encouraging", particularly in the light of the ongoing human trials.
She said: "This drug appears to have the potential to become a treatment in the longer term for some people with DMD.
"We look forward to the publication of the full results of these clinical trials so that we can see more clearly what the prospects and possible timescales are for treatment."
Source of article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6573267.stm
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
RESPONSE TO ARTICLE: The False Promise of Financial Liberalization
By definition, globalization is the freeing of flow of trade and investments across the countries in the world and the gradual integration of the international economy. Many economic experts suppose globalization can raise productivity throughout the globe and increase the living standards of people through the expansion of economic freedom as this would create competition. In addition, globalization promises the access to foreign capital and advanced technology which would result in an accelerated economic growth, potentially reducing poverty, as well as increasing the standards of living in less developed countries. Globalization also promises individuals greater freedom, allowing them to have more liberty to speak in today's society.
However, most of the promises that globalization ought to have fulfilled are not seen in action today. It is tough to find countries which have experienced economic growth as a result of the freeing of capital flows. Furthermore, many emerging markets have experienced a decrease in investment rates. China, for an example, probably a notable role model by now for most emerging economies, has experienced a phenomenal rapid economic growth. It has consistently avoided huge surges of capital inflows and is thus able to maintain high domestic currencies, which explains why it has a huge surplus of finances as its profitability and investments are kept high. Even in countries such as Argentina and Brazil, there has been a comfortable amount of surplus in recent records.
Undoubted are the dangers of globalization. The integration of world economies could result in a country’s economy being more vulnerable to the impact on other economies. The financial crisis in Southeast Asia in 1997 is a good example. Beginning in the debt-ridden economy of Thailand, the financial crisis spread to economies of South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Eventually, the financial crisis rocked the global economy. This projects how the globalized economy could be so volatile.
Despite that, there are evidential materials that point towards how globalization has aided the world. Through the developments that come with globalization, the percentage of people in developing countries throughout the globe who live below US $1 per day has halved in just twenty years, and there are also massive improvements in these developing economies and also the reduction of barriers to trade and investments, which could in turn lead to further economic improvements through foreign investments.
Also, the life expectancy has doubled in the developing world and infant mortality has decreased in every developing region in the world. Globalization has also brought about a dramatic increase in democracy, from almost no nation with universal suffrage in the 1900s to 62.5% of all nations in year 2000.
Overall, it is inappropriate to baselessly condemn the idea and concepts of globalization because there are many areas in which globalization has brought about useful developments. China still had to depend on the world to a certain extent of foreign investments, and without the tools of globalization-such as the internet, the use of ships, air-craft or even cars, China would not even be close to her current position on the global stage today.
PANG YI XIAN.
By definition, globalization is the freeing of flow of trade and investments across the countries in the world and the gradual integration of the international economy. Many economic experts suppose globalization can raise productivity throughout the globe and increase the living standards of people through the expansion of economic freedom as this would create competition. In addition, globalization promises the access to foreign capital and advanced technology which would result in an accelerated economic growth, potentially reducing poverty, as well as increasing the standards of living in less developed countries. Globalization also promises individuals greater freedom, allowing them to have more liberty to speak in today's society.
However, most of the promises that globalization ought to have fulfilled are not seen in action today. It is tough to find countries which have experienced economic growth as a result of the freeing of capital flows. Furthermore, many emerging markets have experienced a decrease in investment rates. China, for an example, probably a notable role model by now for most emerging economies, has experienced a phenomenal rapid economic growth. It has consistently avoided huge surges of capital inflows and is thus able to maintain high domestic currencies, which explains why it has a huge surplus of finances as its profitability and investments are kept high. Even in countries such as Argentina and Brazil, there has been a comfortable amount of surplus in recent records.
Undoubted are the dangers of globalization. The integration of world economies could result in a country’s economy being more vulnerable to the impact on other economies. The financial crisis in Southeast Asia in 1997 is a good example. Beginning in the debt-ridden economy of Thailand, the financial crisis spread to economies of South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Eventually, the financial crisis rocked the global economy. This projects how the globalized economy could be so volatile.
Despite that, there are evidential materials that point towards how globalization has aided the world. Through the developments that come with globalization, the percentage of people in developing countries throughout the globe who live below US $1 per day has halved in just twenty years, and there are also massive improvements in these developing economies and also the reduction of barriers to trade and investments, which could in turn lead to further economic improvements through foreign investments.
Also, the life expectancy has doubled in the developing world and infant mortality has decreased in every developing region in the world. Globalization has also brought about a dramatic increase in democracy, from almost no nation with universal suffrage in the 1900s to 62.5% of all nations in year 2000.
Overall, it is inappropriate to baselessly condemn the idea and concepts of globalization because there are many areas in which globalization has brought about useful developments. China still had to depend on the world to a certain extent of foreign investments, and without the tools of globalization-such as the internet, the use of ships, air-craft or even cars, China would not even be close to her current position on the global stage today.
PANG YI XIAN.
ARTICLE 1 BY YI XIAN : )
(This is a really long article by the way.)
The False Promise of Financial Liberalization
By Dani Rodrik *
Project Syndicate January 22, 2007
Something is amiss in the world of finance. The problem is not another financial meltdown in an emerging market, with the predictable contagion that engulfs neighboring countries. Even the most exposed countries handled the last round of financial shocks, in May and June 2006, relatively comfortably. Instead, the problem this time around is one that relatively calm times have helped reveal: the predicted benefits of financial globalization are nowhere to be seen.
Financial globalization is a recent phenomenon. One could trace its beginnings to the 1970’s, when recycled petrodollars fueled large capital inflows to developing nations. But it was only around 1990 that most emerging markets threw caution to the wind and removed controls on private portfolio and bank flows. Private capital flows have exploded since, dwarfing trade in goods and services. So the world has experienced true financial globalization only for 15 years or so.
Freeing up capital flows had an inexorable logic – or so it seemed. Developing nations, the argument went, have plenty of investment opportunities, but are short of savings. Foreign capital inflows would allow them to draw on the savings of rich countries, increase their investment rates, and stimulate growth. In addition, financial globalization would allow poor nations to smooth out the boom-and-bust cycles associated with temporary terms-of-trade shocks and other bouts of bad luck. Finally, exposure to the discipline of financial markets would make it harder for profligate governments to misbehave.
But things have not worked out according to plan. Research at the IMF, of all places, as well as by independent scholars documents a number of puzzles and paradoxes. For example, it is difficult to find evidence that countries that freed up capital flows have experienced sustained economic growth as a result. In fact, many emerging markets experienced declines in investment rates. Nor, on balance, has liberalization of capital flows stabilized consumption.
Most intriguingly, the countries that have done the best in recent years are those that relied the least on foreign financing. China, the world’s growth superstar, has a huge current-account surplus, which means that it is a net lender to the rest of the world. Among other high-growth countries, Vietnam’s current account is essentially balanced, and India has only a small deficit. Latin America, Argentina and Brazil have been running comfortable external surpluses recently. In fact, their new-found resilience to capital-market shocks is due in no small part to their becoming net lenders to the rest of the world, after years as net borrowers.
To understand what is going on, we need a different explanation of what keeps investment and growth low in most poor nations. Whereas the standard story – the one that motivated the drive to liberalize capital flows – is that developing countries are saving-constrained, the fact that capital is moving outward rather than inward in the most successful developing countries suggests that the constraint lies elsewhere. Most likely, the real constraint lies on the investment side.
The main problem seems to be the paucity of entrepreneurship and low propensity to invest in plant and equipment – what Keynes called “low animal spirits” – especially to raise output of products that can be traded on world markets. Behind this shortcoming lay various institutional and market distortions associated with industrial and other modern-sector activities in low-income environments.
When countries suffer from low investment demand, freeing up capital inflows does not do much good. What businesses in these countries need is not necessarily more finance, but the expectation of larger profits for their owners. In fact, capital inflows can make things worse, because they tend to appreciate the domestic currency and make production in export activities less profitable, further weakening the incentive to invest.
Thus, the pattern in emerging market economies that liberalized capital inflows has been lower investment in the modern sectors of the economy, and eventually slower economic growth (once the consumption boom associated with the capital inflows plays out). By contrast, countries like China and India, which avoided a surge of capital inflows, managed to maintain highly competitive domestic currencies, and thereby kept profitability and investment high.
The lesson for countries that have not yet made the leap to financial globalization is clear:
Beware. Nothing can kill growth more effectively than an uncompetitive currency, and there is no faster route to currency appreciation than a surge in capital inflows. For those countries that have already made the leap, the choices are more difficult. Managing the exchange rate becomes much more difficult when capital is free to come and go as it pleases. But it is not impossible – as long as policymakers understand the critical role played by the exchange rate and the need to subordinate capital flows to the requirements of competitiveness.
Given all the effort that the world’s “emerging markets” have devoted to shielding themselves from financial volatility, they have reason to ask: where in the world is the upside of financial liberalization? That is a question all of us should consider.
About the Author: Dani Rodrik is Professor of Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
(This is a really long article by the way.)
The False Promise of Financial Liberalization
By Dani Rodrik *
Project Syndicate January 22, 2007
Something is amiss in the world of finance. The problem is not another financial meltdown in an emerging market, with the predictable contagion that engulfs neighboring countries. Even the most exposed countries handled the last round of financial shocks, in May and June 2006, relatively comfortably. Instead, the problem this time around is one that relatively calm times have helped reveal: the predicted benefits of financial globalization are nowhere to be seen.
Financial globalization is a recent phenomenon. One could trace its beginnings to the 1970’s, when recycled petrodollars fueled large capital inflows to developing nations. But it was only around 1990 that most emerging markets threw caution to the wind and removed controls on private portfolio and bank flows. Private capital flows have exploded since, dwarfing trade in goods and services. So the world has experienced true financial globalization only for 15 years or so.
Freeing up capital flows had an inexorable logic – or so it seemed. Developing nations, the argument went, have plenty of investment opportunities, but are short of savings. Foreign capital inflows would allow them to draw on the savings of rich countries, increase their investment rates, and stimulate growth. In addition, financial globalization would allow poor nations to smooth out the boom-and-bust cycles associated with temporary terms-of-trade shocks and other bouts of bad luck. Finally, exposure to the discipline of financial markets would make it harder for profligate governments to misbehave.
But things have not worked out according to plan. Research at the IMF, of all places, as well as by independent scholars documents a number of puzzles and paradoxes. For example, it is difficult to find evidence that countries that freed up capital flows have experienced sustained economic growth as a result. In fact, many emerging markets experienced declines in investment rates. Nor, on balance, has liberalization of capital flows stabilized consumption.
Most intriguingly, the countries that have done the best in recent years are those that relied the least on foreign financing. China, the world’s growth superstar, has a huge current-account surplus, which means that it is a net lender to the rest of the world. Among other high-growth countries, Vietnam’s current account is essentially balanced, and India has only a small deficit. Latin America, Argentina and Brazil have been running comfortable external surpluses recently. In fact, their new-found resilience to capital-market shocks is due in no small part to their becoming net lenders to the rest of the world, after years as net borrowers.
To understand what is going on, we need a different explanation of what keeps investment and growth low in most poor nations. Whereas the standard story – the one that motivated the drive to liberalize capital flows – is that developing countries are saving-constrained, the fact that capital is moving outward rather than inward in the most successful developing countries suggests that the constraint lies elsewhere. Most likely, the real constraint lies on the investment side.
The main problem seems to be the paucity of entrepreneurship and low propensity to invest in plant and equipment – what Keynes called “low animal spirits” – especially to raise output of products that can be traded on world markets. Behind this shortcoming lay various institutional and market distortions associated with industrial and other modern-sector activities in low-income environments.
When countries suffer from low investment demand, freeing up capital inflows does not do much good. What businesses in these countries need is not necessarily more finance, but the expectation of larger profits for their owners. In fact, capital inflows can make things worse, because they tend to appreciate the domestic currency and make production in export activities less profitable, further weakening the incentive to invest.
Thus, the pattern in emerging market economies that liberalized capital inflows has been lower investment in the modern sectors of the economy, and eventually slower economic growth (once the consumption boom associated with the capital inflows plays out). By contrast, countries like China and India, which avoided a surge of capital inflows, managed to maintain highly competitive domestic currencies, and thereby kept profitability and investment high.
The lesson for countries that have not yet made the leap to financial globalization is clear:
Beware. Nothing can kill growth more effectively than an uncompetitive currency, and there is no faster route to currency appreciation than a surge in capital inflows. For those countries that have already made the leap, the choices are more difficult. Managing the exchange rate becomes much more difficult when capital is free to come and go as it pleases. But it is not impossible – as long as policymakers understand the critical role played by the exchange rate and the need to subordinate capital flows to the requirements of competitiveness.
Given all the effort that the world’s “emerging markets” have devoted to shielding themselves from financial volatility, they have reason to ask: where in the world is the upside of financial liberalization? That is a question all of us should consider.
About the Author: Dani Rodrik is Professor of Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Globalization: In Transport
Globalization can be defined as the process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world.
A key concept in the process of globalization is to lessen the amount of time taken to travel from place to place, so as to quicken the communication and transportation process. The advent of the automobile was as crucial to the industrialization and modernization process in the 20th century as it is to globalization today.
We’ve taken automobile transport for granted, which is why we don’t appreciate its value as much as it is really worth. Should we have to forgo automobile transport for a day, we would take much more time to reach our destinations, which effectively shortens the amount of time spent on work, which in turn leads to decreased productivity rates, and the loss of billions of dollars all over the world. Some industries in particular would be heavily affected, especially those pertaining to the delivery of products.
And that, is the importance of automobile transport in globalization.
NG YU HANG.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
RESPONSE TO: Global Tuberculosis Epidemic Levelling Off
This article is an example of the success of the world working together to solve a global epidemic. Even though the results may not be as optimistic as the world would hope for, any progress is still an improvement and a testimony of the world's effort to work as one. Unlike AIDS which has no cure at present, TB is one which can be cured and global effort has been put in to make use of this factor. The fact that a vast majority of people infected have been successfully cured from TB shows that global effort can really make a difference. Even though with increased treatment the number of infected patients are still on a slow increase, with continual effort to spread the treatments all over the world to various governments and partners, I believe that the situation can be contained and less people will have to die from TB.
This epidemic affects people worldwide, very much related to globalisation. The cooperation of various governments and partners has made effective TB treatment possible all over the world. However, more work is still needed to be done. Still, there are third world countries which need help for the world to bring effective TB treatment to them. The global aim now should be to bring effective TB treatment to every part of the world, even to places which are not as advanced in technology. These places are even more in need of basic TB treatment because of the health conditions they live in. The WHO has been doing its part to improve the health and medical conditions all over the world. Every government should do the same for the world even if their own country already has effective TB treatment. Countries should always help one another if problems need to be solved. With the cooperation of the governments of the world and a clear aim of increasing access to primary healthcare services worldwide, health epidemics like TB can be brought to a stop.
Health and Environmental Expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
This epidemic affects people worldwide, very much related to globalisation. The cooperation of various governments and partners has made effective TB treatment possible all over the world. However, more work is still needed to be done. Still, there are third world countries which need help for the world to bring effective TB treatment to them. The global aim now should be to bring effective TB treatment to every part of the world, even to places which are not as advanced in technology. These places are even more in need of basic TB treatment because of the health conditions they live in. The WHO has been doing its part to improve the health and medical conditions all over the world. Every government should do the same for the world even if their own country already has effective TB treatment. Countries should always help one another if problems need to be solved. With the cooperation of the governments of the world and a clear aim of increasing access to primary healthcare services worldwide, health epidemics like TB can be brought to a stop.
Health and Environmental Expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
ARTICLE: Global Tuberculosis Epidemic Levelling Off
GLOBAL TUBERCULOSIS EPIDEMIC LEVELLING OFF
XDR-TB, HIV/AIDS and other obstacles still thwarting progress
22 March 2007 Geneva/New York/Paris -- The global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic has levelled off for the first time since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB a public health emergency in 1993. The Global Tuberculosis Control Report released today by WHO finds that the percentage of the world's population struck by TB peaked in 2004 and then held steady in 2005.
"We are currently seeing both the fruits of global action to control TB and the lethal nature of the disease’s ongoing burden," said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Almost 60 per cent of TB cases worldwide are now detected, and out of those, the vast majority are cured. Over the past decade, 26 million patients have been placed on effective TB treatment thanks to the efforts of governments and a wide range of partners. But the disease still kills 4400 people every day."
Although the rate at which people developed TB in 2005 was level or even declined slightly compared to 2004, the actual number of TB cases continued to rise slowly. The reason for this difference is that world population is expanding. The pace at which new TB cases developed in 2005, however, was slightly lower than global population growth. The number of cases in 2005 was 8 787 000, up from 8 718 000 in 2004. An estimated 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2005, 195 000 of them people living with HIV.
Despite signs that the epidemic may be slowing, there are major impediments to rapid progress against TB - prominent among them, uneven access to diagnosis and treatment within countries. "We need to tackle this problem as part of the larger challenge of increasing access to primary health care services. All people, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to TB diagnosis and treatment as part of a package of general health services that bring multiple health benefits," said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General.
Other major barriers to progress include:
HIV/TB. TB is a major cause of death among people living with HIV/AIDS, and HIV is the main reason for failure to meet TB control targets in high HIV settings, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV/AIDS is dramatically fuelling the TB epidemic. Collaboration between TB and HIV programmes is key to reducing the burden of TB among people living with HIV/AIDS and HIV among TB patients. The Report finds that HIV testing for TB patients is increasing rapidly in Africa, but few people living with HIV are being screened for TB. "In the last year, we have seen unprecedented collaboration between the TB and HIV communities, but much more is needed if we are to achieve our goal of universal access to quality TB and HIV prevention, diagnostic, treatment and care services", said Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB). The spread of XDR-TB poses a serious threat to progress and could even reverse recent gains. "We have a clear plan on how to control XDR-TB, but countries are moving far too slowly on implementing this plan. Funding is an issue as well -- it will take an additional US$ 650 million globally to implement control of both XDR-TB and multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in 2007 alone," said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Stop TB Department. "Beyond that, because of the threat of XDR-TB, research to identify new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines is more vital than ever."
Overall funding gap. Although funds for TB control have risen substantially since 2002, reaching US$ 2 billion, an additional US$ 1.1 billion will be needed to meet the 2007 funding requirements set by the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015). A total of US$ 56 billion--half of which should be funded by endemic countries and the other half by donors--is needed for the 10-year plan, but current funding commitments indicate a gap of at least US$ 31 billion.
Lack of infrastructure and capacity: In most countries with a high burden of TB, efforts to fight TB are impeded by inadequate laboratory facilities and critical shortages of health staff.
Should a sustained downward trend in the TB epidemic develop, it is likely that the Millennium Development Goal of achieving a decrease in the number of tuberculosis cases per year will be satisfied years in advance of the 2015 target. But much more rapid progress is needed for countries to meet the targets in the Global Plan to Stop TB: to halve 1990 TB case numbers and deaths from the disease by 2015.
The Report finds that the WHO Regions of the Americas, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific are now on track to meet their 2015 Global Plan Targets; while the African, Eastern Mediterranean and European regions are not. WHO's 2005 targets of 70% case detection and 85% cure were narrowly missed globally: case detection was 60% and treatment success was 84%.
Source of article: http://www.who.int/tb/features_archive/wtbd07_press/en/index.html
XDR-TB, HIV/AIDS and other obstacles still thwarting progress
22 March 2007 Geneva/New York/Paris -- The global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic has levelled off for the first time since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB a public health emergency in 1993. The Global Tuberculosis Control Report released today by WHO finds that the percentage of the world's population struck by TB peaked in 2004 and then held steady in 2005.
"We are currently seeing both the fruits of global action to control TB and the lethal nature of the disease’s ongoing burden," said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Almost 60 per cent of TB cases worldwide are now detected, and out of those, the vast majority are cured. Over the past decade, 26 million patients have been placed on effective TB treatment thanks to the efforts of governments and a wide range of partners. But the disease still kills 4400 people every day."
Although the rate at which people developed TB in 2005 was level or even declined slightly compared to 2004, the actual number of TB cases continued to rise slowly. The reason for this difference is that world population is expanding. The pace at which new TB cases developed in 2005, however, was slightly lower than global population growth. The number of cases in 2005 was 8 787 000, up from 8 718 000 in 2004. An estimated 1.6 million people died of the disease in 2005, 195 000 of them people living with HIV.
Despite signs that the epidemic may be slowing, there are major impediments to rapid progress against TB - prominent among them, uneven access to diagnosis and treatment within countries. "We need to tackle this problem as part of the larger challenge of increasing access to primary health care services. All people, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to TB diagnosis and treatment as part of a package of general health services that bring multiple health benefits," said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General.
Other major barriers to progress include:
HIV/TB. TB is a major cause of death among people living with HIV/AIDS, and HIV is the main reason for failure to meet TB control targets in high HIV settings, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV/AIDS is dramatically fuelling the TB epidemic. Collaboration between TB and HIV programmes is key to reducing the burden of TB among people living with HIV/AIDS and HIV among TB patients. The Report finds that HIV testing for TB patients is increasing rapidly in Africa, but few people living with HIV are being screened for TB. "In the last year, we have seen unprecedented collaboration between the TB and HIV communities, but much more is needed if we are to achieve our goal of universal access to quality TB and HIV prevention, diagnostic, treatment and care services", said Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS.
Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB). The spread of XDR-TB poses a serious threat to progress and could even reverse recent gains. "We have a clear plan on how to control XDR-TB, but countries are moving far too slowly on implementing this plan. Funding is an issue as well -- it will take an additional US$ 650 million globally to implement control of both XDR-TB and multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in 2007 alone," said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Stop TB Department. "Beyond that, because of the threat of XDR-TB, research to identify new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines is more vital than ever."
Overall funding gap. Although funds for TB control have risen substantially since 2002, reaching US$ 2 billion, an additional US$ 1.1 billion will be needed to meet the 2007 funding requirements set by the Global Plan to Stop TB (2006-2015). A total of US$ 56 billion--half of which should be funded by endemic countries and the other half by donors--is needed for the 10-year plan, but current funding commitments indicate a gap of at least US$ 31 billion.
Lack of infrastructure and capacity: In most countries with a high burden of TB, efforts to fight TB are impeded by inadequate laboratory facilities and critical shortages of health staff.
Should a sustained downward trend in the TB epidemic develop, it is likely that the Millennium Development Goal of achieving a decrease in the number of tuberculosis cases per year will be satisfied years in advance of the 2015 target. But much more rapid progress is needed for countries to meet the targets in the Global Plan to Stop TB: to halve 1990 TB case numbers and deaths from the disease by 2015.
The Report finds that the WHO Regions of the Americas, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific are now on track to meet their 2015 Global Plan Targets; while the African, Eastern Mediterranean and European regions are not. WHO's 2005 targets of 70% case detection and 85% cure were narrowly missed globally: case detection was 60% and treatment success was 84%.
Source of article: http://www.who.int/tb/features_archive/wtbd07_press/en/index.html
Friday, April 20, 2007
RESPONSE TO "AIDS Around the World"
As the article has mentioned, we live in an "international" society and HIV is an "international" epidemic, affecting every single country on the globe in one way or another. This problem is not one which each country can solve on its own. It is a global problem which requires the cooperation of many countries to solve. Even though there are ways to prevent it, countries need to help one another to implement these ways to control the rate which HIV is spreading. Some countries do not have enough resources to reinforce these prevention methods and if their neighbouring countries can lend a hand, I am sure there would be some effects on the condition of HIV in that country.
One way which HIV can be prevented is through the education of the public on this issue. With raised awareness on how it is spread and the consequences of HIV infection, I believe that the public would certainly take actions to protect themselves against this infection. Not enough effort is being put in to salvage the situation which we are in now. This global epidemic is infecting and killing millions of people all over the globe and as part of the human race which all of us belong, we should be working together to save our fellow members.
This global issue cannot be any more related to globalisation. As the article mentioned, HIV easily spreads across oceans and borders. Being different countries do not separate us anymore. Borders and boundaries are no longer in consideration and this is where a global effort is required. It is time to help one another through this epidemic and close up the gap between the rich and the poor, working as one human race.
Environmental and Health expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
One way which HIV can be prevented is through the education of the public on this issue. With raised awareness on how it is spread and the consequences of HIV infection, I believe that the public would certainly take actions to protect themselves against this infection. Not enough effort is being put in to salvage the situation which we are in now. This global epidemic is infecting and killing millions of people all over the globe and as part of the human race which all of us belong, we should be working together to save our fellow members.
This global issue cannot be any more related to globalisation. As the article mentioned, HIV easily spreads across oceans and borders. Being different countries do not separate us anymore. Borders and boundaries are no longer in consideration and this is where a global effort is required. It is time to help one another through this epidemic and close up the gap between the rich and the poor, working as one human race.
Environmental and Health expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
ARTICLE: AIDS around the world
AIDS Around the World
When AIDS first emerged, no-one could have predicted how the epidemic would spread across the world and how many millions of lives it would change. There was no real idea what caused it and consequently no real idea how to protect against it.
Now we know from bitter experience that AIDS is caused by the virus HIV, and that it can devastate families, communities and whole continents. We have seen the epidemic knock decades off countries' national development, widen the gulf between rich and poor nations and push already-stigmatized groups closer to the margins of society. We are living in an 'international' society, and HIV has become the first truly 'international' epidemic, easily crossing oceans and borders.
Just as clearly, experience shows that the right approaches, applied quickly enough with courage and resolve, can and do result in lower national HIV infection rates and less suffering for those affected by the epidemic.
Globally, we have learned that if a country acts early enough, a national HIV crisis can be averted.
It has also been noted that a country with a very high HIV prevalence rate will often see this rate eventually stabilise, and even decline. In some cases this indicates, among other things, that people are beginning to change risky behaviour patterns, because they have seen and known people who have been killed by AIDS. Fear is the worst and last way of changing people's behaviour and by the time this happens it is usually too late to save a huge number of that country's population.
Already, more than twenty-five million people around the world have died of AIDS-related diseases. In 2006, around 2.9 million men, women and children lost their lives. Many more than have died so far - 39.5 million - are now living with HIV, and most of these are likely to die over the next decade or so. The most recent UNAIDS/WHO estimates show that, in 2006 alone, 4.3 million people were newly infected with HIV.
It is disappointing that the global numbers of people infected with HIV continue to rise, despite the fact that effective prevention strategies already exist.
Source of article: http://www.avert.org/aroundworld.htm
When AIDS first emerged, no-one could have predicted how the epidemic would spread across the world and how many millions of lives it would change. There was no real idea what caused it and consequently no real idea how to protect against it.
Now we know from bitter experience that AIDS is caused by the virus HIV, and that it can devastate families, communities and whole continents. We have seen the epidemic knock decades off countries' national development, widen the gulf between rich and poor nations and push already-stigmatized groups closer to the margins of society. We are living in an 'international' society, and HIV has become the first truly 'international' epidemic, easily crossing oceans and borders.
Just as clearly, experience shows that the right approaches, applied quickly enough with courage and resolve, can and do result in lower national HIV infection rates and less suffering for those affected by the epidemic.
Globally, we have learned that if a country acts early enough, a national HIV crisis can be averted.
It has also been noted that a country with a very high HIV prevalence rate will often see this rate eventually stabilise, and even decline. In some cases this indicates, among other things, that people are beginning to change risky behaviour patterns, because they have seen and known people who have been killed by AIDS. Fear is the worst and last way of changing people's behaviour and by the time this happens it is usually too late to save a huge number of that country's population.
Already, more than twenty-five million people around the world have died of AIDS-related diseases. In 2006, around 2.9 million men, women and children lost their lives. Many more than have died so far - 39.5 million - are now living with HIV, and most of these are likely to die over the next decade or so. The most recent UNAIDS/WHO estimates show that, in 2006 alone, 4.3 million people were newly infected with HIV.
It is disappointing that the global numbers of people infected with HIV continue to rise, despite the fact that effective prevention strategies already exist.
Source of article: http://www.avert.org/aroundworld.htm
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
RESPONSE TO "Be worried, be very worried"
This article clearly states the situation which our Earth is in right now. Global warming is a situation, as its name suggests, which affects the entire world population, every single country all over the globe. It is an environmental problem which has to be dealt with throughout the world. Global warming is caused by the whole world, and now we are suffering from it. Its effects are not just seen in some countries but all over the world. In Australia, the Cyclone Larry storm; in Indonesia, drought-fueled blazes of fire; in the Arctic and Antarctica, the rapid melting of polar ice caps, disasters are occurring everywhere.
This is very much related to globalisation. This problem is not only affecting the entire mankind but the animals and plants, in fact, all living things are suffering from what humans have caused. It does not just affect parts of the world but the entire globe. Because of how the Earth is turning out to be now, countries are constantly blaming one another for actions they have or have not taken, either to harm or to protect the Earth from suffering even more from it. However, this is not a situation where the blame should pushed upon one another. It is a problem which the world has to face and solve together, if we want to save our Earth from being further damaged. The rapid decay of our Earth, once predicted, is now true.
Actions like the Kyoto Protocol have been taken in an attempt to salvage the Earth's condition throughout the world. This operation requires the whole world to succeed. This was not the case. Major countries, responsible for highest amounts of emissions, did not sign the Kyoto Protocol. Withouth the cooperation of these major countries, the impact made to save our Earth would not be as great. Countries have to join hands to solve this world crisis to make a global impact to save our dying Earth.
Environmental and Health Expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
This is very much related to globalisation. This problem is not only affecting the entire mankind but the animals and plants, in fact, all living things are suffering from what humans have caused. It does not just affect parts of the world but the entire globe. Because of how the Earth is turning out to be now, countries are constantly blaming one another for actions they have or have not taken, either to harm or to protect the Earth from suffering even more from it. However, this is not a situation where the blame should pushed upon one another. It is a problem which the world has to face and solve together, if we want to save our Earth from being further damaged. The rapid decay of our Earth, once predicted, is now true.
Actions like the Kyoto Protocol have been taken in an attempt to salvage the Earth's condition throughout the world. This operation requires the whole world to succeed. This was not the case. Major countries, responsible for highest amounts of emissions, did not sign the Kyoto Protocol. Withouth the cooperation of these major countries, the impact made to save our Earth would not be as great. Countries have to join hands to solve this world crisis to make a global impact to save our dying Earth.
Environmental and Health Expert: Lee Chi Hang Angel
ARTICLE: Be worried, be very worried
Be worried, be very worried
The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame. No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth.
Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.
From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us.
The problem -- as scientists suspected but few others appreciated -- is that global climate systems are booby-trapped with tipping points and feedback loops, thresholds past which the slow creep of environmental decay gives way to sudden and self-perpetuating collapse. That's just what's happening now.
It's at the north and south poles -- where ice cover is crumbling to slush -- that the crisis is being felt the most acutely.
Late last year, for example, researchers analyzed data from Canadian and European satellites and found that the Greenland ice sheet is not only melting, but doing so faster and faster, with 53 cubic miles draining away into the sea last year alone, compared to 23 cubic miles in 1996.
One of the reasons the loss of the planet's ice cover is accelerating is that as the poles' bright white surface disappears it changes the relationship of the Earth and the sun. Polar ice is so reflective that 90 percent of the sunlight that strikes it simply bounces back into space, taking its energy with it. Ocean water does just the opposite, absorbing 90 percent of the light and heat it receives, meaning that each mile of ice that melts vanishes faster than the mile that preceded it.
This is what scientists call a feedback loop, and a similar one is also melting the frozen land called permafrost, much of which has been frozen -- since the end of last ice age in fact, or at least 8,000 years ago.
Sealed inside that cryonic time capsule are layers of decaying organic matter, thick with carbon, which itself can transform into CO2. In places like the southern boundary of Alaska the soil is now melting and softening.
As fast as global warming is changing the oceans and ice caps, it's having an even more immediate effect on land. Droughts are increasingly common as higher temperatures also bake moisture out of soil faster, causing dry regions that live at the margins to tip into full-blown crisis.
Wildfires in such sensitive regions as Indonesia, the western U.S. and even inland Alaska have been occurring with increased frequency as timberlands grow more parched. Those forests that don't succumb to fire can simply die from thirst.
With habitats crashing, the animals that call them home are succumbing too. In Alaska, salmon populations are faltering as melting permafrost pours mud into rivers, burying the gravel the fish need for spawning. Small animals such as bushy tailed rats, chipmunks and pinion mice are being chased upslope by rising temperatures, until they at last have no place to run.
And with sea ice vanishing, polar bears are starting to turn up drowned. "There will be no polar ice by 2060," says Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation. "Somewhere along that path, the polar bear drops out."
So much environmental collapse has at last awakened much of the world, particularly the 141 nations that have ratified the Kyoto treaty to reduce emissions. The Bush administration, however, has shown no willingness to address the warming crisis in a serious way and Congress has not been much more encouraging.
Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman have twice been unable to get even mild measures to limit carbon emissions through a recalcitrant Senate.
A 10-member House delegation did recently travel to Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand to meet with scientists studying climate change. "Of the 10 of us, only three were believers to begin with," says Rep. Sherman Boehlert of New York. "Every one of the others said this opened their eyes."
But lawmakers who still applaud themselves for recognizing global warming are hardly the same as lawmakers with the courage to reverse it, and increasingly, state and local governments are stepping forward.
The mayors of more than 200 cities have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging, among other things, that they will meet the Kyoto goal of reducing greenhouse emissions in their own cities to 1990 levels by 2012. Nine northeastern states have established the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for the purpose of developing a program to cap greenhouse gasses.
Source of article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/26/coverstory/index.html
The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame. No one can say exactly what it looks like when a planet takes ill, but it probably looks a lot like Earth.
Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.
From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us.
The problem -- as scientists suspected but few others appreciated -- is that global climate systems are booby-trapped with tipping points and feedback loops, thresholds past which the slow creep of environmental decay gives way to sudden and self-perpetuating collapse. That's just what's happening now.
It's at the north and south poles -- where ice cover is crumbling to slush -- that the crisis is being felt the most acutely.
Late last year, for example, researchers analyzed data from Canadian and European satellites and found that the Greenland ice sheet is not only melting, but doing so faster and faster, with 53 cubic miles draining away into the sea last year alone, compared to 23 cubic miles in 1996.
One of the reasons the loss of the planet's ice cover is accelerating is that as the poles' bright white surface disappears it changes the relationship of the Earth and the sun. Polar ice is so reflective that 90 percent of the sunlight that strikes it simply bounces back into space, taking its energy with it. Ocean water does just the opposite, absorbing 90 percent of the light and heat it receives, meaning that each mile of ice that melts vanishes faster than the mile that preceded it.
This is what scientists call a feedback loop, and a similar one is also melting the frozen land called permafrost, much of which has been frozen -- since the end of last ice age in fact, or at least 8,000 years ago.
Sealed inside that cryonic time capsule are layers of decaying organic matter, thick with carbon, which itself can transform into CO2. In places like the southern boundary of Alaska the soil is now melting and softening.
As fast as global warming is changing the oceans and ice caps, it's having an even more immediate effect on land. Droughts are increasingly common as higher temperatures also bake moisture out of soil faster, causing dry regions that live at the margins to tip into full-blown crisis.
Wildfires in such sensitive regions as Indonesia, the western U.S. and even inland Alaska have been occurring with increased frequency as timberlands grow more parched. Those forests that don't succumb to fire can simply die from thirst.
With habitats crashing, the animals that call them home are succumbing too. In Alaska, salmon populations are faltering as melting permafrost pours mud into rivers, burying the gravel the fish need for spawning. Small animals such as bushy tailed rats, chipmunks and pinion mice are being chased upslope by rising temperatures, until they at last have no place to run.
And with sea ice vanishing, polar bears are starting to turn up drowned. "There will be no polar ice by 2060," says Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation. "Somewhere along that path, the polar bear drops out."
So much environmental collapse has at last awakened much of the world, particularly the 141 nations that have ratified the Kyoto treaty to reduce emissions. The Bush administration, however, has shown no willingness to address the warming crisis in a serious way and Congress has not been much more encouraging.
Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman have twice been unable to get even mild measures to limit carbon emissions through a recalcitrant Senate.
A 10-member House delegation did recently travel to Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand to meet with scientists studying climate change. "Of the 10 of us, only three were believers to begin with," says Rep. Sherman Boehlert of New York. "Every one of the others said this opened their eyes."
But lawmakers who still applaud themselves for recognizing global warming are hardly the same as lawmakers with the courage to reverse it, and increasingly, state and local governments are stepping forward.
The mayors of more than 200 cities have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging, among other things, that they will meet the Kyoto goal of reducing greenhouse emissions in their own cities to 1990 levels by 2012. Nine northeastern states have established the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for the purpose of developing a program to cap greenhouse gasses.
Source of article: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/26/coverstory/index.html
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
A SIGN OF GLOBALISATION: FOOD!
This is a picture of the Western food stall in TJC canteen. This picture is related to globalisation because of its origin. As can be seen by the name of the food stall, the food sold here is originated from the West. Globalisation, as mentioned in our introductory post, is increasing global connectivity and cultural spheres etc. The culture of food in the West being brought over to the East is a means of globalisation. Western and other cultures can be seen in Singapore and is how Singapore can appear to be more of the world today.The culture of food being brought over to Singapore gives people a chance to taste the food in the West and learn to appreciate it. Even though the Western food sold in Singapore may not be as original as that in Western countries, Singaporeans can still get a taste of food from other parts of the world. This is a form of exposure to globalisation.
This is a very good way of bringing people to learn more about other cultures in the world. Without globalisation and bringing of cultures from all over the world to one country, people who cannot afford to travel overseas would not know anything about the rest of the world. On the other hand, in some countries, cultures are changed or distorted to fit the way of life of people in that country and this, I feel, defeats the purpose of globalisation because it would not truly represent the country which the culture came from. Exchanging cultures through food is a simple way to allow people to get to know more about other cultures because eating is something everybody has to do so this is probably a very effective method of bringing across cultures.
Lee Chi Hang Angel
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
GLOBALISATION!
Globalisation refers to increasing global connectivity, integration and interdependence in the economic, social, technological, cultural, political, and ecological spheres. Globalisation is how our world is becoming more and more like one country each and every day.
The pictures we have taken show some elements of globalisation in TJC. The relevance of globalisation in these pictures will be further elaborated upon in our write-ups.
The pictures we have taken show some elements of globalisation in TJC. The relevance of globalisation in these pictures will be further elaborated upon in our write-ups.
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