Overall, I feel that the decolonization of Hawaii is one of the biggest factors that lead to Hawaii’s hunger problem. Once Hawaii became colonized, it was very dependent for food. Before colonization attempts came to Hawaii, Hawaii was an independent country that could produce enough necessary resources to survive. After colonizing countries came in, Hawaii became less independent and more dependent. Once Hawaii was decolonized, we had trouble getting resources and prices went up. All of this contributes to the homeless and hungry problem in Hawaii.
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It has been predicted by Johan Galtung that America will soon fall out of power. At first, this may seem like an irrational accusation, but after further inspection, Johan's prediction seems logical. Johan has already been credited with many predictions, like predicting a Trump-like president, the Iranian Revolution, Tiananmen Square Uprising, many economic crises, and even 9/11. Johan has now based a prediction of America's downfall on the downfall of communist Russia, and of the Soviet Union, another one of his predictions. It might seem impossible for such an exalted nation like the U.S. to fall from glory, but this would not be the first time. The U.S. fall could end up repeating history in the fall of Rome. Rome used to be a world power and it is often said than Rome should have been the most successful world power ever. However, because of a variety of debated factors; Rome ultimately fell from power. Although it wasn't instantaneous, the fall of Rome was quick compared to the longstanding empire. The Roman empire was undefeated for almost 800 years before a chain of events brought the empire down. This is very similar to the U.S, who came out victorious in recent wars. The recent wars are the reason why the U.S. is such a powerful nation, just like how Rome came into power. Now, Johan's prediction warn us to pay attention to history and the fall of the Roman empire to prevent another great fall from power.
Feeling of Globalization and Imperialism
I feel that globalization was a positive idea for mankind, but harmful to the environment and many native cultures. When the Europeans decided to colonize native peoples, they didn’t realize just how dramatically they were hurting native cultures and how many people they were killing. The colonization idea was too radical of an idea to carry out because the Europeans should have aimed to unite indigenous people, not take control over them and put them under one reigning monarch. They thought that Imperialism was the way to get power (and to a certain extent it was) but it would have been more positive for mankind if they had treated others as equals and gone with only peace on their mind. Overall, the technology and widespread settling that resulted from globalization helped us advance as a human race, but had detrimental effects on the environment and environment promoting native peoples. As a Hawaiian, the topic of colonization and globalization are very relevant to my research. The Hawaiian people were once wayfinders who relied on their natural resources to come to our islands and inhabit the Hawaiian archipelago. The Hawaiians lived peacefully until 1778 when Captain Cook came to Hawaii and brought disease, modernized weapons, and new intellect. The changes that the Westerners brought influenced the Hawaiians greatly. Eventually, the Westerners colonized our people and overthrew our government in a false act. Now, this overthrow is only remembered through the story, but at the time the overthrow really changed Hawaii; if for the better or for the worse, no one really knows. This colonization is very similar to the colonization of other indigenous peoples like the Native Americans. Now, the UNDP hopes to bring peace to all and keep our planet safe. They also hope to bring equality of gender, race, etc. about in all countries. The problem of racial inequality itself springs from colonization issues with slaves for one example. With the recent knowledge I have acquired pertaining to colonization and globalization I realize that the spread of the human population, ideas, goods, etc. helped shape the world we have today, so now I can look back at the past to learn about today’s issues and why they are pertinent in society today.
My group chose the topic of hunger in the first place because it is one of the leading world problems, but also very relevant in our island archipelago. Many people see examples of hunger in their community without even recognizing it. Homeless people are one example of the hungry. Homeless often rely on bits and scraps of food to survive and sometimes go for long periods of times without food. The poor class of society in the islands also struggle with hunger. Sometimes parents go hungry in order to feed their starving children. The poorest families in Hawaii struggle to survive with the high cost and maintenance lifestyle of Hawaii. Because 90-92% of Hawaii food is shipped, raising prices dramatically. And, because so few of our food is cultivated in the islands, local food costs are very high.
These problems are so terrible to deal with. My sympathy for the hungry is what drives me to want to help them. I know that I would never want to go hungry because of how weak it makes me feel and how it affects my mental state. I really would never want to starve, so I know that no one else would want to starve either. I always see hungry people in the community, which makes me feel bad for them. One of my uncles actually struggled to make money in Hawaii and needed support from my family in order to stay fed. Today, he has moved away from the islands to seek a better lifestyle and my family and I do not know how he is doing today. I know that the problem of hunger is too big of a problem to solve alone but I know that if I can make a small difference, my actions can help. If everyone around the world who has resources contributed, our small individual efforts would coalesce to help eliminate world hunger like the UNDP aims to do. I think that this project will really teach me to be a service leader all the time. I need to learn to lead by example in order to be a better person. This project will improve the Hawaii we live in because it will help to eliminate hunger one step at a time, and solve the problems that are associated with hunger like homelessness, mental illness, and malnourishment. My group chose the topic of hunger in the first place because it is one of the leading world problems, but also very relevant in our island archipelago. Many people see examples of hunger in their community without even recognizing it. Homeless people are one example of the hungry. Homeless often rely on bits and scraps of food to survive and sometimes go for long periods of times without food. The poor class of society in the islands also struggle with hunger. Sometimes parents go hungry in order to feed their starving children. The poorest families in Hawaii struggle to survive with the high cost and maintenance lifestyle of Hawaii. Because 90-92% of Hawaii food is shipped, raising prices dramatically. And, because so few of our food is cultivated in the islands, local food costs are very high.
These problems are so terrible to deal with. My sympathy for the hungry is what drives me to want to help them. I know that I would never want to go hungry because of how weak it makes me feel and how it affects my mental state. I really would never want to starve, so I know that no one else would want to starve either. I always see hungry people in the community, which makes me feel bad for them. One of my uncles actually struggled to make money in Hawaii and needed support from my family in order to stay fed. Today, he has moved away from the islands to seek a better lifestyle and my family and I do not know how he is doing today. I know that the problem of hunger is too big of a problem to solve alone but I know that if I can make a small difference, my actions can help. If everyone around the world who has resources contributed, our small individual efforts would coalesce to help eliminate world hunger like the UNDP aims to do. I think that this project will really teach me to be a service leader all the time. I need to learn to lead by example in order to be a better person. This project will improve the Hawaii we live in because it will help to eliminate hunger one step at a time, and solve the problems that are associated with hunger like homelessness, mental illness, and malnourishment. Over break I worked on researching the problem of world hunger globally and locally. I used cites like the UNDP and Hawaii Foodbank to educate myself on the topic.
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