My Inspirational Person

Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on the 29th of January 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi to unmarried teenagers Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey. Oprah lived with her grandmother until the age of 6 when she moved to Milwaukee to stay with her mother.
Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19.[ Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated
· Her mother, Vernita Lee, was a housemaid, and her father, Vernon Winfrey, was a coal miner and later worked as a barber before becoming a city councilman. Winfrey's father was in the Armed Forces when she was born. After her birth, Winfrey's mother traveled north and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee who was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, causing the local children to make fun of her. On the other hand, it was her grandmother who taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. When Winfrey was a child, her grandmother would take a switch and would hit her with it when she didn't do chores or if she misbehaved in any way.
· At age six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been, due in large part to the long hours Vernita Lee worked as a maid.[28] Winfrey has stated that she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old, something she first revealed to her viewers on a 1986 episode of her TV show, when sexual abuse was being discussed.[30]
· Despite her dysfunctional home life, Winfrey skipped two of her earliest grades, became the teacher's pet, and by the time she was 13 received a scholarship to attend Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Wisconsin[citation needed]. Although Winfrey was very popular, she could not afford to go out on the town as frequently as her better-off classmates[citation needed]. Like many teenagers at the end of the 1960s, Winfrey rebelled, ran away from home and ran to the streets[31]. When she was 14, she became pregnant, but the baby died shortly after birth.[24]Also at that age, her frustrated mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. Vernon was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, and placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. At age 18, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time.[32] She worked there during her senior year of high school, and again while in her first two years of college.
· That Oprah Winfrey chose a career in media did not surprise her grandmother, who once said that ever since Winfrey could talk, she was on stage. As a child she played games interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence of her family's property. Winfrey later acknowledged her grandmother's influence, saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and "gave me a positive sense of myself."[33]
· Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV. She moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the six o'clock news. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars there as well

Sustainable Societies

SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES
By Tanuja van Aarssen


A sustainable society is one that has thrived for 300 years or more until now, or one that has survived 800 years before leading to an eventual collapse. What makes a society sustainable is its potential to meet the needs and challenges it is faced with.

HYPOTHESIS
We can learn from past societies that have collapsed to ensure that the societies of today don’t. A sustainable society may have some factors of a collapsing society but it has the ability to overcome these problems and therefore survive.
There are many factors that contribute to a society’s sustainability. A society that has a functioning government, cares for its environment, manages its economy, protects itself from invasion and ensures that it will flourish in the future has the potential to be maintained for a long period of time, granted it is supplied with all the recourses necessary to do so. The main contributing factors I will focus on are ; management of the environment, social sustainability and a functioning economy.

FRAMEWORK
Managing the environment involves using the natural resources available and making sure they don’t run out. The society should take care of its environment too, because pollution is very dangerous not only to the environment but also to the people living in it’s health. The location of the society and its ability to survive in the habitat is also very important.
Social sustainability means the society has a functioning government that maintains order within the society and makes decisions that will help the society to succeed. Having a culture that is willing to adapt and change can be very important when it comes to what the society needs to do in order to survive. A well operating defence force is important so that the society can prevent invasion and if there is an invasion, the society will remain more or less intact. Having strong allies is also a good way to prevent invasion.

Having a functioning Economy involves the society’s ability to manage resources and handle currency. Also, having positive trade partners allows the society to gain vital resources by trading with neighboring societies.

Although, for a society to be sustainable it does not need all of these factors, just those that are relevant to that society’s particular situation.



ENVIRONMENT

Resources are very important to the society’s survival. If the society does not have enough resources or cannot maintain them well it is very likely to collapse. For example, the ancient Mayans collapsed due to extreme deforestation. Whether the natural resources in a society remain intact or not depends on the government’s decision or the society’s culture or belief system. Many past societies have collapsed due to poor resource management so it is important for societies today to balance and limit themselves as to how much of that resource they are using so that there will be some for the people in the future.

A good example of a culture managed their resources badly are the Easter Islanders. They deforested all their land leaving no trees and used all the top rock to build giant statues known as the Moai causing the soil underneath to erode. With no soil, there was no water and crops became a lot harder to grow. They believed that building the Moai would bring them good fortune and that was in their religion so they made no effort to change. This caused them to starve to death.

Another society that poorly managed their resources was the Sumerians. They were constantly irrigating their water for their farms and when it evaporated, it left salt and increased salinity levels in the soil. This made it impossible for the Sumerians to have a proper agricultural system and caused the society to collapse.

An example of a civilisation that adapted and made changes just in time are the Japanese in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They cut down almost all their trees from mining and logging . This triggered landslides and copper poisoning due to waste. The Japanese soon realised that what they were doing was wrong and developed a system of forest management that limited them as to how many trees they could cut down. Today, forests cover 70% of Japan.

The geographic location of the society also plays a big role in the sustainability of the society. The people need to know how to manage the resources available and adapt to suit the environment around them. For example, Australia has very limited water sources, unlike European countries where water is abundance. This means that Australia has to manage their water usage more wisely because of its geographical location.

An example of a society today that is slowly failing to succeed is China. China has a huge problem with pollution and it has heavily damaged the environment and the health of people who live there. The producers of goods there believe that income is more important than health.
If a resource runs out in a society it usually means that the people are very dependant on that particular resource and they need to be able to adapt in order to live without it.


SOCIAL

Culture is the beliefs and customs that a society follows and is usually what the leader uses to base decisions on. Although sometimes culture gets in the way of what the society really needs. If a society is in some sort of trouble (e.g. running out of a certain resource) the culture sometimes directs the society as to what they are going to do about it.

An example of a society where culture caused the society to make the wrong decision and lead to collapse is the Greenland Norse. Their culture is believed to be what stopped them from eating fish like their neighbours, the Inuit people. Even though they lived right next to the ocean, the Greenland Norse refused to let go of their Norwegian ways. They introduced horses, cattle and sheep to Greenland and this severely decreased the natural vegetation. Because of the climate, it was very hard for it all to grow back. Their livestock began to decline in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and so because their culture restricted them, they refused to adapt and their society collapsed.

A society where culture helped them to survive was the Incas. Their beliefs told them never to take more food than was needed and this ensured that their environment and resources would not be wasted and would be there for future generations.

To stop it from getting invaded, a society needs at least one of two things; a strong military or good allies. If a society is invaded they stand the chance of dying out completely either by disease or force. The people may also end up as slaves. It is very helpful for a society if it is surrounded by weaker societies, or if it has positive relations with stronger countries. The Ming Dynasty had a very powerful military with over one million soldiers. Any form of rebellion or invasion in their society was efficiently taken care of because of their military.
Another example of a society that is very unlikely to be invaded is modern day Australia. Australia has extremely powerful allies including the United States and the UK. Australia is also surrounded by weaker countries so if it was going to be invaded, it would have a very good chance of overpowering the invaders.
In order for a society to function properly, it needs a stable government. The government should make decisions for the better of the society and work to keep it under control and thriving. An example of where the government’s decision went wrong is the Romans. After they lost the battle of Adrianople they had problems recruiting soldiers. It was the government’s decision to recruit Germanic barbarians into the army. However, the barbarians revolted causing the society to collapse.

Governments also need to be able to adapt in order for their society to stay stable for long periods of time. A good example of a government that adapted and made changes to save their country was the Roosevelt government during the great depression in the United States. Because of the stock market crash, President Roosevelt came up with the “new deal”, a system of programs and promises to try and provide relief to the people, reform the society and recover the people and economy between 1933 and 1938.

ECONOMY
Good trade relations are important to a society’s economy. If a society trades their goods and resources with other societies, it can be very good for that society’s economy. Importing resources is very helpful when the society’s environment cannot supply them with it.

An example of a country that has very good trade relations is China. They manufacture and export billions of goods which helps their economy. Also, because of their good relationship with other countries they are able to import gas and coal which they need and cannot mine enough for themselves.
An example of a country with a very wealthy economy is Switzerland. Because it is so small, Switzerland has very limited resources for mining. It imports raw materials in order to produce quality goods to export.

An example of a country with a very wealthy economy is Switzerland. Because it is so small, Switzerland has very limited resources for mining. It imports raw materials in order to produce quality goods to export. Switzerland is also a neutral country. This means that it has no allies but also no enemies. This is very helpful because their economy will not be damaged by war.

CONCLUSION

For a society to sustain it needs to have a functioning economy, a strong government and care for it’s environment. These three factors all interlink because without a stable government, a society will not be able to make the decisions needed to control resource usage and care for the environment so there are available resources for the future. If a society does not take care of the resources it does have, it will not be able to trade with other societies for resources it doesn’t have and this is where a stable economy comes in handy. Also, societies now can look at societies from the past and learn from mistakes to ensure a longer lasting survival.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

“Why the Greenland Norse Collapsed”, [2008], Kate Duffhttp://kated6.blogspot.com/
“A Definition of a Sustainable society”, Kirvil Skinnarland,http://www.sustainableseattle.org/SustCommunity
"The Swiss Economy", [2008], Swissworld.org, www.swissworld.org/en/economy/?gclid=CKvEvsiutJICFQWiiQodrhcJjQ
"Collapse of the Easter Islanders", [2008], Harry Bird, exsephiroth.blogspot.com/
"Fall of the Roman Empire", [2008], Sean Ding, docs.google.com/View?docid=dccp4pm7_5cxmc6jgw
“Mayan Collapse”, [2008], Michael Mroz http://shadeseven.110mb.com/mayan_collapse.pdf

“Sumerians”, Chris Croft-Crossland
http://home.cfl.rr.com/crossland/AncientCivilizations/Middle_East_Civilizations/Sumerians/sumerians.html

"19 Century China", [2001], University of San Fransisco, www.usfca.edu/classes/AuthEd/immigration/chinainfo.htm


“Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation”, Yoichi Kuroda
http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/Asia/Japan.html

Collapse Of Rwanda

THE COLLAPSE OF RWANDA


The Concise Oxford dictionary describes collapse as a sudden failure of a plan, undertaking. Jared Diamond defines collapse as a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economical/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time. In reference to the collapse of societies, Diamond’s definition is more accurate although the basic idea of collapse in general is present in both descriptions.

A very unique society in central Africa was Rwanda, where three ethnic groups lived peacefully, shared the same language and culture unlike other parts where the different groups were constantly fighting. These three groups consisted of the Twa, the original inhabitants of the land, the Hutu, farmers, who arrived between the 7th and 10th centuries and the Tutsi, cattle herdsmen and warriors who arrived between the 14th and 15th centuries in much smaller numbers.
In the 15th and 17th centuries, a monarchy was established and the Tutsi gained dominance over the Hutu. When the Germans arrived, they sought to rule indirectly by enforcing this hierarchy and later, the Belgians did too, after they gained control of the country. The Belgians favoured the Tutsi which began the differentiation between the two ethnic groups and in 1994 , Hutu President Juvénal Habyarimana was assassinated starting a genocide.


Jared Diamond’s 5 point framework outlined in his book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive” helps categorise and further explain the collapse Rwandan Society. His framework consists of; Environmental damages, Hostile Neighbours, Loss of Friendly Trade Partners, Climate Change and the society’s response to crisis. The main issue in Rwanda was the ethnic violence between the Hutu and Tutsi and their whish can be categorised as Hostile neighbours but really the genocide was caused by the amount of people living in the country and the fact that there was not enough land to support them all.



Environmental Damages
As the Hutu began to expand over Rwanda, they deforested a lot of the land in order to grow crops and robbed the aboriginal Twa of their habitat. This contributed a lot to the decline of the Twa in Rwanda. The Germans forced the Rwandans to grow more tea and coffee crops for export rather than crops for food which caused famine and helped fuel the Hutu-Tutsi dispute over land. Rwanda became the most dense country in Africa with 760 people per square mile, this also contributed to the poverty and fighting over land.


Hostile Neighbours
This is a major point in the collapse of Rwandan society but not as much in the sense of neighbouring countries as neighbouring ethnic groups. The Tutsi- who had cattle, a symbol of wealth, and superior combat skills, gained dominance over the Hutu even though they were vastly outnumbered. A monarchy was established in the central region and in the 1600’s, absolute power was given to a Tutsi king called the Mwami. The Hutu were bound to the Tutsi by having to act as their labourers, tending their cattle and serving in their armies and in exchange they received use of the cattle and land protection from foreign enemies. Although this hierarchy was in place, the Tutsi and Hutu still maintained a fairly peaceful life together.
In 1894 the Germans arrived and decided to indirectly rule the country by enforcing the hierarchy system and forming an alliance with the Tutsi. The Germans also introduced western culture into Rwandan society. The first missions were sent over to convert the people to Christianity and educate the children in the western way thus destroying the majority of the original culture. When the Belgians gained control over the land, they also gained all the political power and favoured the Tutsis for their “European” features. Ethnic violence broke out in 1993 and UN forces were brought in to keep peace although in the 1994 genocide, the UN withdrew 90% of their forces leaving the Tutsi to fend for themselves.


Loss of Friendly Trade Partners
The Rwandans didn’t really loose any trading partners as their coffee and tea industry was thriving and their trade partners didn’t have much to do with the collapse of society.


Climate Change
This wasn’t really an issue as far collapse was concerned as the climate did not really contribute to the problems in Rwanda.


Response to Collapse
The initial collapse began when the Belgians took over and placed the Tutsi in higher regard. The response was the Hutu revolution in 1959, the civil war in 1990 and then the 1994 genocide. The constant ethnic violence over land caused by favour of one group lead this society into collapse more than anything. It was a battle between those who had land, and those who didn’t.

aAnother famous historian, Arnold Toynbee had a different theory on societal collapse. He believed that all societies are faced with a challenge that is either one of technology, or ideas. How the society chooses to respond to this determines whether they will survive or not.
Toynbee believes that the decay of civilisations is caused by the deterioration of the Creative Minority, who come up with ideas and methods for meeting challenges. The ideas generated by the minority are then copied by the majority and he believes that they are the two essential steps in facing a challenge, the generation of ideas and the adoption of those ideas by the majority. If either of these fails, then the society will collapse. When the creative minority looses respect from the majority, they become a dominant minority and force the majority to obey at all costs. He argues that when a civilization breaks down the society splits into three parts; the dominant minority, the internal proletariat ( the working masses that are part of the civilisation) and the external proletariat( the masses who are influenced by the civilization but not controlled by it.) He believes that the ultimate sign that a society has collapsed is when the civilization goes through a time of troubles and then the dominant minority forms a “Universal State” Collapsing civilisations were also characterised by a vulgar mass culture. The proletariat fight back against the dominant minority with fear, hate and violence. Eventually the Universal State deteriorates and then the internal proletariat forms a universal religion and the external proletariat becomes a migration of war-bands.

This fits in with the collapse of Rwanda in that the creative minority were the Tutsi, the majority were the Hutu and after the Tutsi lost respect from the Hutu, they and the Belgians became the dominant minority, the Hutu became the internal proletariat and the refugees who had fled to neighbouring countries were the external proletariat. The time of trouble was when the ethnic violence began and the universal state was when the Belgians and Tutsi ruled. The genocide was when the proletariat fought back and then the Universal State was diminished. A new religion was formed, Christianity; which came from the European missions and a lot of the cultural identity of the Rwandan people was lost.

When comparing the collapse of the Rwandan society to the decline of the Roman Empire a lot of similarities and differences appear. Christianity was brought into both cultures and while a lot of the original culture was lost, it was not the main contributing factor in the decline. The Romans had poor resource management and they damaged their environment by farming crops, like in Rwanda where coffee and tea crops were grown for export and the Rwandans could not grow crops they needed for food. There was also a division between the Romans living in Rome and the new Romans living in other places conquered by Rome and there was a lot of unrest between the roman citizens. There were different ethnicity groups within the Roman Empire that had different values attitudes and beliefs just like the different ethnic groups in the Rwandan society.


Comparing collapsed societies to societies today, people can learn from these past civilizations to ensure that theirs does not collapse. I think that now people are aware of their resource management and will be able to address any challenges regarding that. There is a lot more awareness of problems in societies today so people have more of a chance to not collapse. In Rwanda, the collapse was based on the ethnic battle for rights over land, and while another problem like this may arise somewhere in the future, I believe that the people in that society will have learned from past societies mistakes and will overcome the potential collapse.



Bibliography

Books
Koopmans, (2005) Rwanda, Mason Crest, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Barber,(2005),Central Africa Franklin Watts, London

Internet

Western Involvement in the Rwandan Genocide, (2008)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8189
Arnold Toynbee on Civilizations and Religions, (no date)
http://www.applet-magic.com/toynbee.htm

what history means to me

ummmmmmm
history is events that happpened in the past
and they make up what is here today
yep...
its green :)