kristinmcz-blog

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Supporters of strikes set for Thursday seek $15 hourly wage; opponents say increase would lead to fewer jobs

A labor union is a group of workers that acts to protect worker rights, this also relates to worker strikes. When people go on strike it is generally because they don't believe the work place is fulfilling all of their needs as workers. They will continue to be on strike until the work place agrees with them and gives them what they want or makes a compromise. This link is about a fast food worker strike. They are angry because they are currently being paid $7.25 an hour and they believe they should be getting paid at least $15 an hour. The National Restaurant Association said that a raise in pay this high "Would only lead to fewer jobs and an increase in automation of tasks." As of right now they have not reached a consensus. 

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Isabel M from Toronto asked "Why does your food look different in the advertising than what is in the store?" http://qmcd.ca/MOwwgV Our answer? An exclusive ...

A look behind the McDonalds burger and how and why it looks so different in the commercials. This obviously made by someone who works for McDonalds because she looks at the whole process as being positive! This is not a good thing they are using what advertisers call Glittering Generalities, where they lead the consumer into thinking they are getting something better than they actually are. 

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Merry Christmas! Yes, it is that time of year again, sales, joy, spending, snow flakes, credit card debt and candy canes! "(Canadians) Respondents plan to spend an average of $674 for gifts this year."  That's right, almost $700! These days love is about what is under the tree. Each child sees about 3,000 commercials a day through various forms of media.  That means they will have a very healthy list of wants! Once again Christmas is a time when the difference between needs and wants goes out the window and everything becomes NEEDS. Yes, because you need an Xbox and you need that new TV.  In this photo, I see the Grinch as consumerism and he has finally done it.  Christmas is no longer about spending time with friends and family, it is about getting gifts. The Grinch has done it, he has finally stolen Christmas, but not in the way we expected him to. 

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We have all heard that a handful of big food companies owns almost every small one and this film is an incredible example of that.  In this film they talk about the large grain and meat companies: Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods, Perdue Farms and Monsanto Company. "In the 1970s, the top five beef packers controlled about 25% of the market. Today the top four control more than 80% of the market" That means that unless you are a vegetarian, these companies will have processed at least some of the meat you consumed.  If you have watched this movie, that should make you feel sick. "Even if you don't eat at a fast food restaurant, you're now eating food that's produced by this system." Big companies are now the ones who decide what we eat and this is a big problem.  To them we are just sacks of money.  They honestly don't care what happens to us; all that matters is that our money ends up in their pockets. "In 1972, the FDA conducted 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted only 9,164." Now because these companies are so huge and  wealthy nobody can take them down, anyone who has tried to shut them down or sue them has lost. I will just let that sink in, the companies are abusing and torturing the animals, taking few safety measures, so their food potentially contains lethal pathogens and nobody can stop it. 

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Society tells us what is right and wrong, cool and not cool. Commercials are constantly telling us we should be unhappy with the things we have and to buy their products. We are led to believe that by having brand name products we would be happy! If we don't have these products, we feel inadequate. Often, this kind of thinking keeps us from doing the things that make us happy. Honestly, we need to break free and do the things we truly want to do. "I want to see you be brave" 

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Christmas has become about the presents and the sales. Here is my challenge for you: DONT BUY ANYTHING THIS CHRISTMAS! One of my posts was a quote, it was "Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want". So this Christmas don't buy any presents! This is the only way for this shopping-based society to stop. Make this the Christmas that changes our world! 

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Last week we did a little experiment called a "swapsity"! 50 of us came together with something to offer; a material item or a service and we traded with each other.  I started with a really big brownie that I baked and I ended up with all of the stuff shown in the photo!  Honestly, I think I got the better end of the deal.  I traded with several people and in the end I got tea, tattoos, a hair extension, perfume, key chain, a bracelet and a large decorative plate! I got all of that from a brownie that only took me a half hour to make!  I absolutely loved this project!!  It taught us about material worth, bargaining and I also got some really cool stuff out of it!  One connection I made during this project was to supply and demand.  I noticed this with my item and other people's too.  Some people had a bigger market for their product and others not so much.  This lead to higher and lower prices for those items. For example, one person brought a juice box and a granola bar and the other brought home made goods. There was a much higher demand for the baked goods, so in order to get one you had to trade something of high value. 

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If you think back to the very beginning of the consumerism unit when we looked at the week of groceries for families around the world, many of us were shocked. In Africa there was a very small amount of food for a lot of people. I believe this quote ties in with that challenge, people who have less will use it wisely but people with more than they need will waste what they have. Many of us don't realize how luck we truly are. 

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This picture is funny but at the same time has a very powerful and true message. With each generation our appetite for things we don't need has grown and grown. My grandparents tell me stories about what it was like when they were kids and the difference is astonishing. When they were kids they lived in Canada and were pretty well off but life was drastically different for them than it is for me. My grandfather would get up early in the morning milk the cows, make his breakfast and walk a couple of miles to get to school. At Christmas they would receive a single toy train and be very happy! Now a days people are trampled for the latest Xbox. It scary to think about what will happen to this earth and the human race if this continues. 

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"Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want"

Anna Lappe 

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Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed.

 ~Mohandas K. Gandhi, quoted in E.F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautifu

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Tally of all the unfortunate deaths and injuries that have ruined the holidays for Black Friday shoppers; violent shootings, pepper-spray accidents and shocking tramplings.

Shocking, right? Every year people die because of a sale. Seven people are dead, two of them were shot over toys! One worker at Walmart was trampled to death and nobody bothered to help him, nobody tried to step over him, all that mattered was that they got their half price Xbox or $10 T-shirt for $5. In other countries the fighting would be over water or food, but in North America it is over Christmas presents we don't need for the kids who have too much already. 

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This video starts off with Oprah's famous line "YOU GET A CAR AND YOU GET A CAR AND YOU GET A CAR!  EVERYBODY GETS A CAR!!" You may notice how happy everyone was.  It was like nothing in the world mattered anymore because, after all, everyone was getting a car! Today happiness seems to rely on material items. The video reinforces a very good point; most people in North America will see 3000 advertisements a day.  These advertisements are trying to make us feel dissatisfied with what we have.  This means we are told 3000 times a day that we are wrong, what we have is wrong and it could all be fixed by shopping.

(If the video does not work here is the youtube link) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsF_6YJp3Uw

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This is a movie called supersize me. It is about a man who embarks on a mission to eat McDonalds and nothing but McDonalds, for a whole month. He was a very healthy man when he started out, the perfect weight, everything was as it should be in his body, he wanted to see what would happen to him if he at McDonalds every day to prove how dangerous McDonalds can be. The results were shocking. I have pulled out some quotes from the movie that I found particularity shocking.

In 1972, we spent 3 billion a year on fast food - today we spend more than $110 billion

French fries are the most eaten vegetable in America

In the U.S., we eat more than 1,000,000 animals an hour

60 percent of all Americans are either overweight or obese

One in every three children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime

The average child sees 10,000 TV advertisements per year

Before most children can speak they can recognize McDonald's

Crazy right? Consumerism is a huge problem in our world today and I believe the amount of fast food we consume I think is the worst and most lethal part of it. I strongly recommend watching this movie it is shocking and eye opening. 

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https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/122072217

Daphne and I believe that the USA is still the best country to live in for the following reasons

citizens with low income will have funded health care provided by taxes

In USA the total tax and non tax revenue for every level of government equals about 28.2% while in Canada it is 38.4%thats almost half of each Canadians income 

people who can not meet their basic needs will be helped out by the government (funded by tax dollars)

If you are a generally healthy person (living in Canada) and you rarely need the hospital you are still paying taxes and paying for other peoples hospital bills

overall prices in the US are cheaper 

as we mentioned before in Canada you are paying other peoples hospital bills but in the USA if you cant pay for them you don't have to, why not pay for your health care if you have the money instead of taking the countries tax dollars. 

USA is the better and smarter place to live 

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Many people have lost sight of what life is all about. They think that the only thing that is important are their physical items.  When you are on your death bed are you going to be hugging your iphone, your fancy college degree or your expensive shoes? No, what truly matters are your memories, friends and family. You will ask yourself "did I get everything out of life that I wanted to?" We can tell a lot about a person and their values by looking at their possessions, if they have expensive cars and clothes you can see what they care about. At the end of the day you are going to be dead, even with all of your expensive "toys".  

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My book is called “Lunch with Lenin”.  It takes place in 10 different countries, so for this assignment I am going to focus on one story, “Pretty Flowers”. The story takes place in Afghanistan and it is about a family who is very poor and grows opium for a living.  Their life is dramatically different from life in Canada.  Afghanistan is stricken with poverty and is known for being a place where the needs of the people are not often met.  Food scarcity threatens 9 million people in Afghanistan.  A devastating drought in 2011 destroyed 80 percent of crops in northern, north-eastern and western Afghanistan. This lead to a serious food shortage.  Even their average life expectancy is lower than the average Canadian’s.  The average Afghan’s life expectancy is 60 years, while the average life expectancy of a Canadian is 81 years.  Quality of life in Afghanistan is not as good as it is in Canada. In Canada, most of us are used to having luxuries and getting the things we want, but do not need.  In Afghanistan many people live in poverty that most Canadians can hardly imagine. Their consumer identities and consumer priorities are very different from ours. Jobs are not as widely available in Afghanistan as they are in Canada and this results in different consumer choices. In the story, the family needs to pay off their debt and they tried to sell their oldest daughter to accomplish this. In Afghanistan life can be hard, they often have high levels of unemployment, as well as food and sometimes water shortages. Many people have to grow or sell illegal drugs just so they can have food to eat.