A Young Geographer's Insights into the Modern World

The media uses the same techniques time and time again to appeal to our emotions and instincts. It is their professional duty to entice people to read stories and frequently exaggerate to do so. Stereotypes are an easy way for the media to communicate using categories that we already have an immediate reaction to. Journalists know it is almost inhumane to look away from a person in pain or in need. The media picks up the negative and disastrous stories and rarely reports the good. In fact, our surveillance of suffering has improved making us more likely to see these events occurring in the past. Stories of gradual improvements would not make the headlines so statistics are often used in a dramatic way for political purposes. The media provides us with important news and information but is very selective in the stories it chooses and the way it reports.

Thankfully, one of the many small environmental problems is beginning to improve. All thanks to Sir David Attenborough. 14.01 million people tuned in to Blue Planet II , narrated by Sir David Attenborough. The series particularly brought to light the issue of plastic in oceans. Inspired, many people began to campaign and protest leading to large changes in public perception. People demanded improvements yet the government are still slow to do anything. England's 5p plastic bag charge was introduced in October 2015, a year before Mauritius began to fine the use of plastic bags at around £250 per use. Plastic bag use in England has dropped by 83%, yet still, 8 million tonnes of plastic are being dumped in oceans each year. The world needs to do more. Not just about this small issue but about the countless number of other environmental issues if the world aims to be sustainable . Small changes can have massive impacts.   “One planet, one people. As long as we remember that we ...

'Love Island' is undoubtedly one of this summers most watched programmes, but what is the philosophy behind it? 'Love island' is a reality show where people compete to be the best couple to win money. Although the idea is to find love, few apply for this reason alone. In philosophy this is called means to an end. You apply for a popular show to find love, to become famous, to win money and eventually to have a better life. This may be for some the supreme Good or eudaimonia.  Utilitarians foundation of their consequentialist moral theory is psychological hedonism. Psychological hedonism is the empirical idea that humans persue pleasure and strive to minimise pain. This in turn is the utility principle which is what contestants on 'Love Island' persue.  The contestants are often accused of playing a game in order to win the show and to discuss this we must first understand Kantian Ethics. In Kantian Ethics the emphasis is on the motive of the acti...

Many politicians adopt 'green' policies to achieve mastery over nature and subdue it for their own purposes. Environmentalists are uneasy about any anthropogenic premises and suggest that the eco-centric approach is an arrogant form of speciseim which seems to suggest we have the right to be in control. Nature needs to be nurtured, preserved and protected for its own sake, not just out of concern for our own interests. A famous response made in 1855 by a Red Indian, Chief Seattle expounds an environmentalists views: ''How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?  We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The  Earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on....

http://worldwaterday.org/ In July, 'Day Zero' will come to Cape Town, South Africa where millions of homes will no longer have running water. The 22nd March was World Water Day and the UN's focus was on 'The Answer is in Nature'. Cape Town is not the only city facing a water crisis, in the UK, one day we will face one too. The future of water will soon be the main issue in our society so we need to prevent it before we too have a water deadline of day zero. Our consumption of water is increasing due to our ever growing population and the developing nature of our industries. There is a strong correlation between water consumption and affluence and as UK citizens we use an enormous excess of water. I'm not saying we need to change major factors of our daily life but simple things like turning the tap off when we brush our teeth, installing dual flush toilets or using the eco-wash on dishwashers and washing machines. By changing these few simple things in ...

'A street cat named Bob' is an inspiring film that follows a true story of a homeless man from poverty to success. It makes you realise how bad conditions living on the street are and how we need to give as many people emergency housing as possible.

When is enough, enough?   The  Amendment Right to Bear Arms in the USA was created to prevent the new Federal Government  (1789)  from disarming the state militias and ousting them with a Federal standing army.   So far, in 2018, there have been 18 U.S. school shootings.  Trump's plan is to force some teachers to be armed with  guns  in classrooms to prevent further  occurrences   such as  the shooting in Florida High School.  Why is the solution to  gun  problems to arm  more  people with  guns ?  Who's to say the  teachers  will be  more  sensible with  guns  than anyone else? As a student I would feel  more  unsafe going into school with an armed  teacher  than the fear of a school shooting.  Teachers would have to have gun training meaning more people would learn how to wield a gun.  Some blame the use of guns as a solution...