The Projector Magazine - Semester 1, 2017

Projector Elephants r

Semester 1 2017

The

and other endangered species

The Olympics Ancient and Modern

Deforestation in the Amazon

Nuclear Power

Plus

A Pandora’s Box

Visiting Pompeii Edison & Tesla Child Marriage

The Black Death Medieval Responses

Signing Up For WWI

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The

Projector is a selection of independent projects by students of Years 710 History and Geography at Redeemer Lutheran College.

Cover image: Dead Elephant by Russ Allison Loar; Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Franklin Institute, Philadelphia by technolibrary; Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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Contents Features Copenhagen UNFCCC: Amerique by Pierre Marcel; Licensed under CC-NC-ND 2.0

01 Pompeii: a city frozen in time

A reflection on a visit to the world famous excavations.

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School books, not weddings The solution to breaking the child marriage – poverty cycle is in giving girls an education.

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Unleashed

The use of atomic energy to end WWII opened a Pandora’s Box of nuclear proportions.

20 Tainted games

Looking to the ancient Greeks for Olympics free of controversy may leave us disappointed.

23 Wise or whacky?

The medieval response to the plague wasn’t as whacky as we might think.

28 Thief v genius

Accolades for Thomas Edison rightly belong to Nikolai Tesla.

32 Forced to volunteer

Australians who enlisted in World War I were pressured into a war that their country should not have been involved in.

39 Elephant in the room

The pressures on elephants and other endangered species

48 Collapsing lungs The ‘lungs of the earth’, the Amazon rainforest, is shrinking.

Regulars 26 Every Project 36 Snippets 0

Pompeii: a city frozen in time

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POMPEII by Heleen Kwant; Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Lucy Dunster (Year 7) reflects on her visit to the worldfamous excavations.

“…broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasised by the darkness of night”, which explains what this phase of the eruption must have looked like. Pliny described the events of the second day saying “… you could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives”.

The population at the time was estimated to be between 6,400 and 30,000 people who were a mix of Oscans, Etruscans, Pelasgians and other groups. The story of the eruption is so devastating, to think that one eruption could kill so many people, as well as bury a whole city to be forgotten over time.

Travelling through the Italian countryside of the Campania region on a tour of great archaeological sites in Italy, I realise how lucky I am to be visiting the next city. Our next stop is Pompeii, a town that is twenty-three kilometres south-east of Naples. I’m ready to see what all the fuss is about. The town of Pompeii was first settled in the sixth century BC, possibly by Greek traders from either Cumae or Parthenope, which were both Greek colonies in Italy. Visiting Pompeii, as I came to find, was not just another stop on the tourist route; what I discovered was a thriving ancient civilisation preserved and frozen in time.

Pompeii gives an insight into ancient life and how the threads of ancient Roman life have been sewn together to form part of modern society.

The rediscovery of Pompeii is rather interesting and took place over many years. Domenico Fontana, an Italian architect, discovered architectural blocks in 1594 while digging a water channel but didn’t think much of them and continued building the channel. Years later in 1689, workmen were building an aqueduct when they found ruined buildings and an inscription. The site was called ‘Civitas’, Latin for ‘city’. ‘Civitas’ was left alone until 1748 when Rocco Gioacchino de Alcubierre decided to start excavations. After starting excavations and finding remains of buildings, he thought he had discovered the ancient city of Stabiae. A block with the inscription ‘rei publicae Pompeianorum’ (the commonwealth of Pompeiians), was discovered in 1763 indicating that the site was Pompeii, not Stabiae.

Excavations continued and Pompeii was ‘reborn’ so to speak. I couldn’t believe it when the tour guide explained it; it’s such a great discovery story.

“Visiting Pompeii, as I came to find, was not just another stop on the tourist route.”

Walking through Pompeii on the exact same stone streets that the Pompeiians would have walked on, you realise why Pompeii is so famous: it has a great story of colossal destruction and miraculous rediscovery and it provides a direct example of Roman life in 79 AD. Pompeii allows people to step back in time and understand ancient life through physically seeing the buildings and artefacts that have been uncovered by archaeologists; more than they could learn from books or videos. Apart from providing a great insight into Roman life, Pompeii has a great legacy: evidence of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed and entombed Pompeii, wiping out its population and removing it from the map.

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii on 24 August 79 AD. The eruption consisted of two catastrophic phases that buried and demolished the city. The first was a cloud of unusual size and shape which appeared, dispersing ash and pumice into the air before it fell over Pompeii carried by the wind. Pliny the Younger, an ancient Roman magistrate, lawyer and author, wrote letters to his friend, Tacitus and he described the cloud as “...like an umbrella pine, for it rose to a great height on a sort of trunk and then split off into branches”. The second phase was a hot pyroclastic surge (composed of rock fragments from exploding volcanic eruptions), that incinerated everything in its path. Pliny wrote,

The 1763 inscription (Source: B. Dunn, HGW05 Pompeii. Cippus of Suedius Clemens. Retrieved from Pompeii in Pictures @ www.pompeiiinpictures.eu/Tombs/tombs%20hgw05.htm)

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Pompeii provides a detailed insight into the ancient Romans’ way of life and it is a place where people can visit and see how the ancient civilisations have helped form the life we know today.

As you walk through Pompeii, you see so many things that were used in 79 AD that resemble things that are still used today. This just must be seen to be believed.

Funerary Practices: The funerary practices were similar to those that we have today. In Pompeii, it was believed that the soul of the dead should be commemorated by family and the bodies were cremated in urns. This is much like the practices that exist today. Funerals are held for the deceased person. Family and friends attend; sometimes people are cremated as well.

Urns have been found in the columbarium, an underground vault where cremated remains were stored. (Modern day Romans continue to lay their deceased to rest in crypts either above or under the ground).

Pompeiians would place a coin into the urn to pay for the soul’s passage to the underworld.

In Pompeii, it was forbidden to bury people inside the town walls, which is why tombs have been discovered outside the city gates.

Family tombs (Source: Pompeii – Tomb of the Flavii;

by Greg Willis; Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

“Isn’t it cool how we continue to do things that were done almost 2,000 years ago?”

Fullonica tub

Occupations / Industries: There were various occupations held by Pompeiians, including farming, cloth making, fulling, baking and potting. Farmers had sheep and crops of olives, grapes, fruit and vegetables. To this day we have farmers that provide us with food that is similar to that eaten then. Isn’t it cool how we continue to do things that were done almost 2,000 years ago? Cloth making and dyeing were done in a fullonica, which was a Roman washing and dyeing workshop; fullonica were excavated in Pompeii. A fuller washed and shrunk fabric to be made into togas which were garments worn by the citizens of Pompeii. A similar person to a fuller or cloth maker and dyer that exists today is a tailor.

(Source: Bath for the Dyeing of Fabrics, Fullonica of Stephanus, Excavations of Pompeii; by raffer; Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

The excavations of a bakery tell us that another occupation was baking. Some men became gladiators and fought in the amphitheatre in Pompeii; swords and armour were discovered in the gladiatorial barracks. Potters made

Pompeii bakery (Source: Bakery & Mill, Pompeii; by bengal*foam; Licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0)

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pottery for the citizens of Pompeii. Pompeii was predominantly based on agriculture and fishing because it was located close to water and fertile regions. As a result of this, fruit and vegetable production became prominent, much like it is today. As you can see, there were quite a few jobs in Pompeii and guess what, there are still occupations like these today (maybe not the gladiators though).

amphitheatre is like a cinema before it evolved over time with technology and more advanced seating.

“…there are still occupations like these today (maybe not the gladiators though).”

Commercial Areas: The excavations of Pompeii uncovered remains of commercial areas in the forum, like we have now. Market remains were found; there was an open-air market where traders would have sold their goods. The open-air market was similar to street markets that we see today. There was also a large covered market area called the macellum, where the Pompeiians sold provisions such as meat, fish, dry foodstuffs and fruit and vegetables. There was a large circular area which contained a fish tank, fountain and workbenches. The workbenches were for the public to scale and prepare fish.

Modern day supermarkets or grocery stores reflect an ancient macellum.

Pompeii macellum (Source: Lucy Dunster)

The eumachia was a building that had an open courtyard for trading cloth and the building of the fuller’s collegium that was used for the wool makers, dyers and launderers to hold meetings.

Pompeii amphitheatre (Source: Amphitheatre, Pompeii; by Peter Stewart; Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

Food and drink outlets have also been excavated. This is where locals could have come to eat regularly. These food and drink outlets may have been much like a take-away shop or food court today.

Entertainment: Spaces provided for entertainment in Pompeii included the amphitheatre, large palaestra and odeon (small theatre). Public entertainment was a strategy that emperors used to guarantee the loyalty of the population.

Emperors would relay messages about their achievements, divinity and greatness in these areas. Locals watched gladiatorial shows, gymnastics, wrestling, musicals, mimes, poetry and plays, just like events we watch today (minus the gladiatorial shows).

The

Pompeii odeon (Source: Lucy Dunster)

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Food outlet (Source: Lucy Dunster)

Plaster cast of eruption victim (Source: Lucy Dunster)

Pompeii amphitheatre (Source: Amphitheatrum Pompeii (Pompei); by B.B.Wijdieks; Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Excavated city section (Source: Lucy Dunster)

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Infrastructure: The infrastructure of Pompeii is amazing given that it was built more than 2,000 years ago. The fact that much of the town is still standing is astounding and demonstrates the complexity and strength of the infrastructure 2,000 years ago. The streets are paved with volcanic stones and a structured channel has been created through the middle for rainwater, animal manure and general waste to flow down. Stepping stones were placed across the channel so people could cross to the other side without dirtying their feet or clothing. I guess this was like a zebra or pedestrian crossing.

the centre of the entrance hall that collected rainwater from an opening in the roof. Once the water was collected, it flowed through openings that resembled pipes to an underground holding chamber that allowed it to be cooled. The water could easily be accessed from the holding chamber with a bucket and rope as there was a circular stone opening for this reason. The water that did not go to the holding chamber, evaporated and allowed part of the house to cool during hot seasons.

Pompeii is a wonderful place to travel to because it provides a detailed insight into Roman life almost 2,000 years ago. Pompeii is a place where modern day people such us ourselves, can step back in time and experience and understand ancient life more than we ever could from any book or video. You can see the artefacts and buildings and imagine how the Pompeiians lived and how much they must have suffered as a result of Mt Vesuvius’ volcanic eruption. Modern life has been sculpted by the people and civilisations before us: they thought of the ideas and invented many practices and processes to sustain themselves, and in turn, we developed these practices as our society has evolved. Pompeii has a great legacy that will never be forgotten.

“…like a zebra or pedestrian crossing.”

Pompeii street (Source: Pompeii street; by Francis Norman; Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Sources

Britannica School, 2017. Herculaneum. [Online] Available at: http://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/Herculaneum/3 26173 [Accessed 20 May 2017].

Britannica School, 2017. Pompeii. [Online] Available at: http://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/Pompeii/276498 [Accessed 20 May 2017].

Gale, World History in Context, 2012. Pompeii Destroyed

by Vesuvius, August 24, 79 c.e.. [Online] Available at: link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/BT2359070304/WHIC?u=uq_re deemer&xid=7a426f55 [Accessed 20 May 2017].

Sheldon, N., 2014. Human Remains in Pompeii: The Body Casts. [Online] Available at: http://decodedpast.com/humanremains-pompeii-body-casts/7532 [Accessed 23 March 2017].

Solia, O., n.d. Excavations. [Online] Available at: http://mtvesuvius-oliviasolia.weebly.com/excavations.html [Accessed 20 May 2017].

Wikipedia, 2017. Impluvium. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impluvium [Accessed 1 March 2017].

Wikipedia, 2017. Plinian Eruption. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plinian_eruption [Accessed 14 May 2017].

Wikipedia, 2017. Pompeii. [Online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii [Accessed 20 May 2017].

Zarmati, L., 2005. Pompeii and Herculaneum. Melbourne: Harcourt Education.

Remains of public baths throughout Pompeii were excavated and often contained an exercise area for men and hair dressers and beauticians for women. Obviously, men and women bathed separately. These public baths are basically pampering parlours for women and gyms for men.

Pompeiians were able to build complex structures, like their temples, the forum and all the public buildings that withstood a volcanic eruption. Yet, we can barely make a road that doesn’t get potholes in it after it rains.

Housing: The houses in Pompeii had bedrooms, living and dining rooms all situated close to the atrium (open-roofed entrance hall) and the kitchens were located furthest from the entrance. Poorer people lived in upper storey apartments and corner shops that functioned as both working and living residences. An amazing feature of some Pompeiian houses was an impluvium, which is a square basin in 6

School Books, not Weddings Piper Gates (Year 10) says the solution to breaking the child marriage–poverty cycle is in giving girls an education.

In Australia, most ten year olds would be playing with dolls or kicking a ball around with friends in the back yard. Unfortunately, not everyone is this lucky. In many countries across the world including Niger, The Central African Republic & Chad, girls are forced to marry before they’ve reached adulthood. This practice is called child marriage which is defined as any form of marriage or informal union where one or both parties involved are under the age of eighteen (UNICEF, 2016).

Child marriage is rooted in gender inequality in the belief that girls are inferior to men.

are significantly older than their partner technically own their wife because they buy women from their families. This leads to a relationship with unequal power and ends with young girls being sexually or domestically abused. Premature marriage denies girls access to education, reducing the possibility of girls getting jobs or becoming aware of possibilities, which continues the vicious cycle of child marriage (UNICEF, 2016).

There are many systems implemented throughout the world in attempts to prevent child marriage. It is already illegal in 158 countries but the law is rarely enforced as child marriage has been around for centuries and is considered to be a cultural / social tradition, which is one of the factors that prevents legal action from being taken. Families also choose to marry girls off because they are worried that premarital sex will bring dishonour on the family, so they marry the girl off before that can happen. Many organizations such as CARE, Girls not Brides and Save the Children are working towards empowering women, gender equality and the prevention of abuse.

Being forced into marrying presents numerous issues. Firstly, it denies a girl her rights to health and basic human rights as it takes away opportunities such as education, the potential to work as well as freedom of choice.

Australians live in a part of the world that provides us with access to health care, education, safe places to live and food to eat.

Many girls married before the age of eighteen are denied these basic rights. Secondly, girls married young are more vulnerable to sexual abuse and domestic violence. Often men who

It comes as a surprise to many that child marriage is still an issue in the developing world. One in three girls in the developing world are said to be married before the age of eighteen. It is also estimated that 700 million girls alive today were married before the legal age. On a more personal level, that means six of the girls in an Australian classroom would be forced into child marriage if they were living in a third world country.

(Source: created by the author using data from Girls not Brides, 2017; UNICEF, 2016)

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Child Marriage Rates in Africa N

Child marriage is predominantly an issue in third world countries. All of the top twenty child marriage countries are developing countries that have a low GDP. For example, Bangladesh has a GDP per capita of $US1,211.40 and Niger has a GDP per capita of $US358.96 (Trading Economics, 2017). Niger has the highest rate of child marriage in the world (78% of girls marry before the age of eighteen). Generally, Sub Saharan Africa and East Asia have the highest rates of child marriage. Many of the top twenty countries with the highest rates of child marriage are located in Africa. There is a band from the north-east to the north-west of Africa with high rates of child marriage. Rates are also high in south-east and south-west Asia. Central America also has areas with high rates of child marriage.

Legend (Source: created by the author using data from Girls not Brides, 2017)

Child Marriage Rates Around the World

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Legend (Source: created by the author using data from The Womanstats Project)

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In a survey that was conducted (by the author), it was clear that not nearly enough people were as educated as they should be on the matter of child marriage. Only 66.7% of the people surveyed knew what child marriage was. Along with that, only 6.7% of people surveyed claimed they knew a substantial amount about child marriage. 86.7% of people surveyed have never met anyone forced into marrying before the age of eighteen, however 77% said they believe child marriage is a considerable issue.

It is extremely important that people are aware of child marriages so that prevention methods improve for the future. If child marriage is not stopped, more young people across the world will lose their freedom, education and the right to be a child.

The solution is to educate girls in an attempt to make them independent and confident.

Educating girls will in turn break the cycle of child marriage because girls that have more potential to get a job or make money for their family will have more chance of marrying when they are ready as well as establishing a supportive career for themselves. It is also important to protect girls from potential harm.

Crime rates in developing countries are extremely high, so the protection of young girls from abuse, rape or even murder is highly important. In developing countries, walking to school is often unsafe for girls so they stay home, meaning their only real option is to marry. If girls feel safer when performing basic tasks such as these, marriage rates will automatically decrease (Girls not Brides, 2017; Baxter, 2017; Britannica School, 2017).

The issue of child marriage is continuous unless something is done to stop it. Initially, families become too poor to look after all of their children so they marry off their young daughters as they aren’t able to contribute to the family if they haven’t been educated enough to get a job. The girl is forced into marrying and living with a man much older than herself which means she has no hope of getting an education or a life of her own anymore. The girl is then forced into having children at a very young age. If she survives pregnancy and child birth she is forced to look after the children. Eventually her children grow up and the strain on her family grows so she will marry off her daughters in hope of a better life (World Vision, 2017).

(Source: author survey)

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(Source: created by the author)

more likely. Child brides are also more likely to be subject to domestic abuse, sexual abuse and rape – underage rape renders a girl impure for the rest of her life because it is interpreted as unmarried sex which is unacceptable in most developing countries. Finally, girls often leave friends and family behind as well as their life aspirations, causing girls to lose the ability for their life to be fulfilled (International Women’s Health Program, 2017).

The current best prevention method for child marriage is providing girls with an education.

Statistics show that 81% of girls living in affected areas with no education were married at the age of 18 or younger whereas only 17% of girls living in affected areas that were educated were married before the age of 18. Many girls in developing countries are subject to minimal time in school (typically only one or two years) whereas boys in the same countries have the opportunity to go to school for up to five or six years. Clearly, access to education is directly related to a child’s gender. The question that needs to be asked is “how is this fair?” Would you want that kind of inequality in our country? It is important – so important that people’s lives depend on it - that work is done to increase equality so that girls living in developing countries can go to school, get an education, have a future and break the child marriage cycle (Girls not Brides, 2017; UNICEF, 2016).

If the girls happen to survive pregnancy and child birth (822 women living in developing countries die during child birth every day) they will be forced to look after many children with little support from their husband. The children will likely be forced into marrying as soon as possible. On the other hand, a girl with an education of three plus years (preferably six) may be able to support herself when she leaves school. This will make her an assistant to the family and will prevent forced marriage. The girl may later choose to marry and have children when she is ready, which means she will be able to support the child and will be less likely to contract HIV. Education empowers girls so they can achieve the life they want. It also increases the productiveness of the country because female workers are just as important as male workers. Education is the solution to the cycle of child marriage (World Health Organisation, 2017; Girls not Brides, 2017).

Girls that receive as little as zero to two years of education have the highest risk of being forced into marrying before the legal age. The younger that girls marry, the less likely they are to be educated about contraceptives which makes pregnancy followed by a very unsafe birth more likely. But it also makes HIV followed by death 10

Relationship Between Age of Marriage and Education Levels The average age of marriage in Norway is fairly old, which corresponds with the high amount of time spent in school.

The average age of marriage in Afghanistan is young, which corresponds with the low amount of time spent in school.

(Source: adapted by the author from Gapmider, 2017)

Education is the best current option for child marriage prevention, however, other options are still available. Although child marriage is illegal in the majority of countries, people that break that rule are rarely punished.

Governments should look into punishing people that force girls into child marriage; it is less likely to happen if people feel threatened.

Maybe you’re wondering what you can do more personally. Some options include:  - Get a sponsor child - supporting children at risk as well as families would mean that families can look after their children for longer, preventing girls from being married off.  - Donate to charities such as Australian Lutheran World Service, World Vision, CARE, Girls not Brides and Save the Children – all of these organisations are working towards a healthier, happier future that can provide equality for girls.  - If you ever get the opportunity to go on a mission trip, do it. You may not think your impact would be significant but one person alone is capable of educating and looking after people in need.  - If these solutions don’t seem valid to you, think of your own! All of the organisations working towards prevention of things such as child marriage would be open to suggestions that could make the world a better place.

Child marriage doesn’t only affect the people directly involved, it also affects the rest of the country. If child marriage isn’t stopped the

Education in Afghanistan by Jawad Jalali, Global Partnership for Education; Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Portrait of Pakistani Schoolgirl by John Isaac - United Nations Multimedia; Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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Youth to Youth Education by Jessica Lea, DFID – UK Department for International Aid; Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Sources

Child marriage doesn’t only affect the people directly involved, it also affects the rest of the country. If child marriage isn’t stopped the cycle will only continue, which will make countries fall further into poverty and inequality for its people. The process of child marriage prevents women from having significant roles in government and other areas and therefore stops the country from advancing. These countries have a lower GDP because of the poverty cycle. Their advance will be slowed unless child marriage is stopped and equality is promoted (Gapminder, 2017).

Baxter, I., 2017. Britannica School - Family Law. [Online] Available at: school.eb.com.au/levels/high/article/familylaw/109413 [Accessed 11 May 2017].

Gapminder, n.d. Gapminder Tools. [Online] Available at: https://www.gapminder.org [Accessed 5 April 2017].

Girls not Brides, 2017. Child Marriage Around the World.

[Online] Available at: http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/where-doesit-happen/ [Accessed 10 May 2017].

International Women's Health Program, 2009. Early Marriage. [Online] Available at: http://iwhp.sogc.org/index.php?page=early-marriage [Accessed 2 April 2017].

The Womanstats Project, n.d. Maps. [Online] Available at: http://www.womanstats.org/newmapspage.html [Accessed 1 June 2017].

Trading Economics, 2017. Bangladesh GDP. [Online] Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/gdp [Accessed 30 March 2017].

Trading Economics, 2017. Nigeria GDP. [Online] Available at: https://tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/gdp [Accessed 30 March 2017].

UNICEF, 2016. Child Marriage. [Online] Available at: https://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58008.html [Accessed 28 April 2017].

World Health Organisation, 2017. Maternal Health. [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/topics/maternal_health/en [Accessed 22 April 2017].

World Vision (Hong Kong), 2017. Child Marriage. [Online] Available at: https://www.worldvision.org.hk/en/learn/childmarriage [Accessed 1 June 2017].

Child marriage prevents girls’ access to education, independence and safety as well as their ability to lead a generally happy life. The destructive cycle of abuse, sickness, unwantedness and death can be stopped. It is important that girls everywhere are provided with the opportunities to have the life they deserve.

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Unleashed

One of the greatest assets of and threats to humankind is technology. Whilst technology has broadened humanity’s knowledge, connections and opportunities, it has also brought about one of the most dangerous weapons the world has ever seen, the nuclear bomb. Its origins and creation stem back to World War II, purely for the desire of destroying the enemy. This desire manifested itself when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in 1945, marking the end of the war. It was also the start of the nuclear arms race between the communists of Russia and the capitalists of the US. The development of nuclear weaponry carried on throughout the Cold War and is still present today, with

dangers that can be likened to a modern Cold War of the 21st century. Nuclear technology developed further than military use and is being used for domestic consumption, bringing more complications with it. With many instances of disaster due to the nuclear threat throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a modern day Pandora’s Box. Pandora’s Box is from an old Greek myth with many different versions. The story tells of a woman named Pandora (meaning “all-giving”).

Zeus ordered Hephaestus to craft a woman out of the earth to counteract Prometheus, who stole fire from the heavens and bestowed it onto 13

Nuke by blueforce4112; Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The use of atomic energy to end WWII opened a Pandora’s Box of nuclear proportions, according to Bethany Thiele (Year 10).

The box is opened

the humans. Pandora was given a gift from each god, some that were good, such as beauty and talent for music, and some that could be used for ill-intent, such as curiosity and persuasion.

Pandora was also given a jar (later mistranslated to a box in the 16th century), which contained all the evil and cruelty of the world. Zeus knew that she would open it due to her curiosity, and indeed she did (some say that Zeus did this on purpose, to punish the humans for disobeying a god’s instruction). All that remained in the jar was hope for humanity (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017).

On the 6th of August 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. The second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki just three days later. The world would never be the same.

Development of the atomic bomb had started in 1939, when Albert Einstein signed the approval papers to start the research. He expressed his concerns in a letter to US President Franklin Roosevelt that Germans had the capability of building nuclear bombs. He urged the US to build a similar weapon. Roosevelt agreed to the funding of what became known as the Manhattan Project in 1941. After Roosevelt died and Harry Truman became President, the first nuclear bomb was detonated on the 16th of July, 1945. This was on an uninhabited desert area in New Mexico, the “Trinity Test Site”, and was a success (Top 5s, 2016).

This myth tried to explain why there was evil and grief in the world. Modern use of the term ‘Pandora’s Box’ is a metaphor, meaning that we do not know the consequences of our actions, and that sometimes we allow the unknown and feared to be unleashed onto the world. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the opening of the jar. Once this devastating weapon was released, a new and terrible power was born in nuclear technology.

The US had dropped more than 63 million leaflets across Japan, warning them and telling them to surrender. This was several months before “Little Boy” (the bomb used on Hiroshima) was dropped. When it was dropped, it yielded approximately 15 kilotons of TNT, and had a temperature of 6000°C. It destroyed 90% of the city and killed 80,000 people. Apparently, there is evidence to suggest that the emperor of Japan did surrender, but did not officially announce it, and so the second bomb, “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki.

Due to the mountainous terrain, there was a lesser death toll, but still, another 40 000 people died in the first few seconds, and those who had survived were left to wander the ruins with no hospitals. Thousands of people had significant burns and other health issues due to the bombs. The radiation exposure that followed lead to sickness, blood loss, tumours and cancer. 65% of those affected from each attack were under ten years old (Top 5s, 2016).

These horrifying effects lasted for decades after, and the world still feels the gaping loss of all those lives.

Nuclear power brought about three main longterm effects. First, regardless of the intent of the bombs, they were clearly a demonstration of power that Russia (along with other countries such as Britain, Pakistan and China) therefore wanted. This lead to a nuclear arms race in the Cold War. This arms race peaked in the form of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Second, as the development of nuclear technology escalated, research devoted to using it for electricity also progressed. Nuclear power plants were built all over the world for domestic consumption, and have brought about negative effects on the environment and human health, as well as costing billions of dollars. Events such as Chernobyl and Fukushima showcase this.

Finally, even though there has been more advancement in nuclear technology for electricity, it is not as if the threats of nuclear weapons and atomic bombs have ceased.

Countries such as North Korea and Iran are still pursuing a violent path in this regard, and though the world appeared to have common sense in stopping the Cuban Missile Crisis, how can one be sure that something similar can’t happen again?

When questioned about the decision to use the bomb, president Truman said, “When you have to deal with a beast, you have to treat him as a beast” (The Decision to Drop the Bomb, 1965).

However, J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the directors of the Manhattan Project had a very different perspective. One of his most famous quotes was “We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people 14

cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita... ‘Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds’” (The Decision to Drop the Bomb, 1965).

People also questioned the decision at the time.

In 1945 the author Sidney Shalett pointed out that “the ‘age of atomic energy,’ which can be a tremendous force for the advancement of civilisation as well as for destruction, was at hand.”

The Cold War Arms Race Shockingly, as early as the 1950s, the US had formulated plans to launch a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union. Strategic Air Command (SAC)’s Curtis E. Lemay pushed for an “entire stock piling of atomic bombs… in a single massive attack,” that being 133 atomic bombs on 70 Soviet cities (Maus, 2003). By 1953, America had close to 1000 atomic and hydrogen bombs, as well as tactical nuclear weapons. In 1962, the same year as the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy’s administration funded a 60% build-up of strategic nuclear forces and ‘battlefield’ nuclear weapons (Maus, 2003). But this was only one side of the nuclear arms race. The USSR knew they needed to keep up, and they actually exceeded them by demonstrating the power of the Tsar Bomba.

The Nagasaki Detonation

(Source: “US Air Force Drops Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki, Japan” Gale World History in Context)

The Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear bomb ever detonated. It was tested at Mityushikha Bay in 1961. This hydrogen bomb had 58 million tons of TNT, ten times bigger than all WWII explosives put together. It was four times bigger than anything the USA ever exploded and 1,570 times more powerful than the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Atomic Heritage Foundation, 2014).

The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cold War was one of the most dangerous, unpredictable chapters of history. Both sides kept making more powerful bombs until it reached its closest confrontation: the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Hiroshima Destruction

According to Simon Adams (2001), “the world held its breath as the two powers appeared to be on the brink of nuclear war…The greatest threat to world peace during the Cold War

(Source: “Hiroshima, Japan, was decimated…”

Gale World History in Context)

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ALBERT EINSTEIN: THE GRANDFATHER OF THE BOMB Albert Einstein encouraged the US to construct the bomb in fear that the Germans would make one first. It is no wonder then that he is known as the “Grandfather of the atomic bomb” (Rowe, 2013).

Although Einstein once supported the bomb, saying that it was not an issue with the advancement of technology, rather warfare itself, he later changed his views. On many occasions, he compared the US political atmosphere with that he had seen in Germany in WWII. In November of 1945 (only 5 months before his death) he concluded his opinion of the bomb, stating (in Long, n.d.):

Einstein with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Director of the Manhattan Project (Source: “Albert Einstein with J. Robert Oppenheimer” Gale World History in Context)

“I made one great mistake in my life... when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that the atom bomb be made; but there was some justification – the danger that the Germans would make them.”

Only a year before that, it is almost as if he predicted the future when he said to physicist, Niels Bohr:

“When the war is over, then there will be in all countries a pursuit of secret war preparations with technological means which will lead inevitably to preventative wars and to destruction even more terrible then the present destruction of life”.

He was right. After America demonstrated the nuclear bomb on Japan, other countries, such as Russia set out to make similar technology, leading the world deeper into war and danger.

Einstein never used Pandora’s Box as an analogy for modern nuclear warfare, but his statements show that he predicted that the use of the bomb would escalate evils. Although he did contribute to the research behind the bomb, he realised that should such a weapon be used, it would only bring about destruction and devastation.

came from the island of Cuba, just 140 km off the southern coast of the USA. For two weeks in 1962 the world stood on the brink of nuclear war.”

playing with fire. Fortunately, an agreement was made to end the blockade and to remove missiles from both sides. In 1963 J.F. Kennedy signed a ‘Nuclear Test Ban Treaty’ with the USSR and Britain, ending the test of nuclear weapons (Adams, 2001).

When Fidel Castro signed a trade agreement with the USSR, the USA cut off all trade and communication. This left Cuba completely dependent on the USSR. In 1962, an American spy plane photographed construction of a Soviet missile site, which would allow missiles to reach US soil. Eight days later President Kennedy announced a full naval blockade in retaliation. He demanded that the USSR remove the nuclear missiles and stop supplying new ones. The USSR refused unless the USA removed their missiles from Turkey (Adams, 2001). Political leaders knew that they were

Though a terrifying catastrophe was averted, the Cuban Missile Crisis was and still stands as a reminder to humanity about the dangers of nuclear power. While Kennedy stated in 1962 that they were prepared for the first launch (Adams, 2001), those were frivolous words.

The world knew that should the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be repeated, the world would see nuclear war.

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Current Threats: North Korea

ships and submarines. Some countries rely on nuclear power, with 16 having a quarter of their electricity being nuclear powered (World Nuclear Association, 2017).

Nuclear arsenals have always been a symbol of power and prestige. Something that has been concerning the rest of the world is the rising aggression of North Korea, one of the stricter communist countries. Are they getting closer to successfully producing a nuclear arsenal?

But throwing all these numbers at people won’t make them understand the dangers that come with it. These dangers include nuclear waste and the possibility of terrorists gaining access to nuclear technology. Another problem, radiation accidents, are illustrated by the Chernobyl and Fukishima disasters.

News reports say that “North Korea has warned the US not to take provocative action in the region, saying it is ‘ready to hit back with nuclear attacks” (BBC News, 2017).

Chernobyl

Choe Ryong-hae, believed to be North Korea’s second most powerful official stated, “We’re prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-out war” (BBC News, 2017). This was as recent as April of this year, so clearly, nuclear dangers are not a thing of the past.

One of the most famous nuclear accidents occurred in Chernobyl in 1986. It was the largest radiation leak in history, as all of the xenon gas, half of the iodine and caesium and 5% of the remaining radioactive material in the reactor core was released, and that core had about 192 tonnes of fuel (World Nuclear Association, 2016). It was estimated that immediately after the explosion, 300 Sv was leaked, causing death in minutes. While there are still some theories focusing on the cause, it is believed that it was due to a flawed design and serious mistakes made by some of the workers (Park, 1989).

Marking the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, parades of soldiers and traditionally dressed citizens marched through Pyongyang. This was an opportunity for Kim Jung-un to broadcast to the world his current military capabilities, including a submarine that can launch ballistic missiles with a range of over 100 km and two new types of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Apparently, their aim is to attach a nuclear warhead on these missiles that can reach targets around the entire world. Tests have already been run in pursuit of these goals (BBC News, 2017).

Two workers died that night, and a further 28 throughout the following weeks (Park, 1989).

200,000 people were involved in the clean-up process and received high doses of radiation.

The radiation contaminated the food and water as well. Radiation leaks were not the only problems though, as there were also steam explosions and fires that engulfed the station.

Resettlement is still ongoing (The Chernobyl Gallery, n.d.), and images of the abandoned area are haunting.

With North Korea being only one example, it is clear that history is repeating itself. It seems that people cannot learn from the past.

Countries are still pursuing nuclear power and are making a modern cold war, tracing back to the original Cold War, and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Fukishima

Current Threats: Domestic Nuclear Power

In 2011, an earthquake 130 km offshore Japan caused a devastating tsunami, claiming 19,000 lives and extreme damage to coastlines, ports and towns (World Nuclear Association, 2017).

What followed was another disastrous nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Another danger of nuclear power comes from nuclear power plants and waste. Nuclear energy is used for electricity, radioisotopes, health services, industry and domestic uses.

There are over 440 commercial nuclear reactors operating in 31 countries and approximately 60 under construction (World Nuclear Association, 2017). They provide over 11% of the world’s electricity. 55 countries operate about 245 research reactors, and a further 180 nuclear reactors power about 140

This accident released high levels of radiation over four to six days. A nuclear emergency was declared and required an evacuation of people within 2 km of the site, becoming 20km the next day. Over 100,000 people were evacuated to ensure no deaths or radiation sickness 17

Abandoned fair ride in Chernobyl

Abandoned school in Chernobyl

(Source: Chernobyl 19; by Stefan Krosowski; Licensed under CC BY 2.0)

(Source: Chernobyl 24; by Stefan Krosowski; Licensed under CC BY 2.0)

(World Nuclear Association, 2017). Eleven reactors at four plants were operating at the time and were shut down when the earthquake occurred, but they were more vulnerable to the tsunami. Due to the flooding, hundreds of people worked on the cooling process to prevent the release of radioactive materials. Emails from these workers were featured in the The Wall Street Journal (2011), and included one man pleading to “please watch out for the strength of nuclear power”.

1997). With rising panic, 150, 000 people gathered with banners saying things such as “No Nukes in space”, “Stop Cassini”, and “We’re here to save the space program from itself” (Grossman, 1997).

Although the Cassini Space Probe Mission was a success, with the expansion of the nuclear space programs, an “unprecedented nuclear catastrophe – is inevitable” sooner or later (Grossman, 1997). Even if this is literally rocket science, it doesn’t take a scientist to realise the dangers of nuclear powered space technology.

As the saying goes, “What goes up, must come down.” Both Chernobyl and Fukushima, along with the advancements in nuclear power in outer space, show how terrifying domestic use of nuclear technology can be.

Nuclear Technology in Space In 1997, the Cassini Space Probe Mission was set in motion to survey Saturn’s rings and moons. It involved more than 72.3 pounds of plutonium, which at that time was more than had ever been used on a space device, costing $3.4 billion (Grossman, 1997).

Hiroshima: a Modern Day Pandora’s Box

There was a high risk that the probe would release its plutonium in a scenario called ‘inadvertent re-entry’ (Grossman, 1997). This could have rained down on populated areas, and was even estimated to potentially expose 5 billion people to radiation (depending on wind, for example). Publicly, NASA stated that the plutonium would be contained, but Dr Horst Poehler (a veteran working for NASA at Kennedy Space Center) voiced the reality of the situation: the shielding would be a “fingernail thing. It’s a joke.” Dr Michio Kaku (Professor of Nuclear Physics at the City University of New York) also expressed his concerns saying that “This thing coming down into the earth’s atmosphere, will vaporise”. He explained that should it affect populated areas, cancer would likely occur over several decades (Grossman,

The days of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saw nuclear developments that have destroyed cities, killed thousands and cost billions. Nuclear technology was a symbol of power that the USSR and others sought during the Cold War. This escalated a nuclear arms race that peaked when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. Nuclear technology then took a different path that saw the construction of power plants. In doing so however, it brought about a multitude of problems with human and environmental effects, as well as nuclear disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima. It also cost billions, with high risks of radiation as seen with the event of the Cassini Space Probe Mission. Even though domestic consumption is still plaguing our technology, nuclear

18

Nuclear power station (Source: central nuclear de Trillo; by Tnarlk Innael; Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

weapons and countries pursuing nuclear arsenals are still a major menace, as seen by North Korea’s threat. All these branches of nuclear technology can logically be traced back to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the root of this modern evil. Had this bombing never occurred, it is likely that this dangerous form of technology wouldn’t have escalated the way that it did in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The bombing was the gateway to nuclear technology, and the modern day Pandora’s Box.

Park, C., 1989. Chernobyl. s.l.:Routledge.

Rowe, D. et al., 2013. Einstein on Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Shalett, S., 1945. First Atomic Bomb Dropped on Japan; Missile Is Equal to 20,000 Tons of TNT; Truman Warns Foe of a 'Rain of Ruin'. [Online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/080 6.html [Accessed 22 April 2017].

The Chernobyl Gallery, n.d. Radiation Levels. [Online] Available at: http://chernobylgallery.com/chernobyldisaster/radiation-levels/ [Accessed 16 May 2017].

The Decision to Drop the Bomb, 1965. [Online] Available at: Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2W9CxVVM [Accessed 17 May, 2017].

The Wall Street Journal, 2011. Letters from Fukishima: Tepco Worker Emails. [Online] Available at: https://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/03/28/letters-fromfukushima-tepco-worker-emails/ [Accessed 24 May 2017].

Top5s, 2016. Hiroshima & Nagasaki Nuclear Attacks - First Atomic Bombing In History. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_IR50DIVKQ [Accessed 18 April 2017].

World Nuclear Association, 2016. Chernobyl Accident 1986.

[Online] Available at: http://www.worldnuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-ofplants/chernobyl-accident.aspx [Accessed 2017].

World Nuclear Association, 2017. Fukushima Accident.

[Online] Available at: http://www.worldnuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-ofplants/fukushima-accident.aspx [Accessed 9 April 2017].

World Nuclear Association, 2017. Nuclear Power in the World Today. [Online] Available at: http://www.worldnuclear.org/information-library/current-and-futuregeneration/nuclear-power-in-the-world-today.aspx [Accessed 10 April 2017].

Works Cited Adams, S., 2001. The Cold War. London: Franklin Watts.

Atomic Heritage Foundation, 2014. Tsar Bomba. [Online] Available at: http://www.atomicheritage.org/history/tsarbomba [Accessed 30 May 2017].

BBC News, 2017. North Korea 'ready for nuclear attack' amid show of force. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-39604361 [Accessed 2017 April 2017].

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017. Pandora. [Online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pandora-Greekmythology [Accessed 8 April 2017].

Grossman, K., 1997. The Wrong Stuff. Monroe: Common Courage Press.

Long, D., n.d. Albert Einstein and the Atomic Bomb. [Online] Available at: http://www.doug-long.com/einstein.htm [Accessed 22 May 2017].

Maus, D., 2003. The Cold War. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.

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Essay

Tainted Games Looking to the ancient Greeks for Olympics free of controversy may leave us disappointed, writes Mia White (Year 7).

The Olympic Games is one of the most prestigious events held every four years. There are over 150 nations from around the world all speaking different languages, all having different political ideas and all having different religious beliefs. It is not a surprise that all these put together is also going to bring problems. The modern Olympics are also faced with cheating and commercialism.

held in the same place every four years from 776 BC to 393 AD. Although the games were said to have started in 776 BC, archaeologists who have excavated the Olympic site believe the games were 500 years old before the official start.

Bronze tripods have been found by archaeologists at the Olympic site dating back to the 9th century BC. They say these tripods may have been prizes given to competitors at early Olympic events.

The ancient Olympics are said to have been held for religious reasons, bringing people together in peace. Athletes competed for the honour of their gods. However, were the ancient Olympics as pure as they seemed? The modern Olympics are very much like the ancient Olympics and although the problems faced then may not have been as prominent as the ones faced today, David Romano says in his article ‘Boycotts, Bribes and Fines’ that they certainly were not without problems.

The people who competed in the ancient Olympics came from every corner of the Greek world. They spoke the same language and shared the same religious beliefs and were all male. Women were not allowed to compete in the games, however Pausanias, a 2nd century Greek traveller, says “a woman looks on at the Olympic Games, the priestess of Demeter Chamyne, which office the Eleans bestow from time to time on different women. Maidens are not debarred from looking on at the games.” He also spoke of virgins attending the games. It is believed that married women could not attend, only unmarried women. There was another festival that was held for women to worship Hera (wife of Zeus). The festival held foot races for unmarried women. Little is known about the festival other than what Pausanias has written. He said the festival was organised and supervised by a committee of sixteen women. It was definitely an advantage to be unmarried as you not only got to compete in this festival but you could also watch the male only Olympic festival.

The Olympic Games originated long ago in ancient Greece and are said to show the values and beliefs of a Greek society. The Greeks believed that mental and physical fitness was the way to honour Zeus, the greatest of all their gods. There are many different ideas as to how the games started and what lead to the first games is uncertain, however one legend revolves around Zeus. It was said that Zeus fought his father Kronos as they both wanted to control the world. The battle took place at the top of a mountain overlooking a valley in Greece. This valley was named Olympia. Zeus defeated his father and a temple and statue were built in the valley in his honour. People came to worship Zeus in the form of a religious festival and it is said that these festivals soon became what were known as the Olympics.

The first games consisted of a stadion race, a foot race 600 feet long. It was won by a cook (Koroibos) from the city of Elis. They say that this race may have been the only event for the first thirteen Olympics. Over time more events were added and by the 5th century BC the religious festival consisted of a five-day programme.

History shows that the ancient Olympics started in 776 BC in a place called Olympia, south-west Greece. The ancient Olympics were 20

For almost 1200 years the ancient Olympic Games continued without interruption. After the Roman empire conquered Greece, the games still continued but the standard had declined. Roman Emperor Theodosius, who considered the games a pagan festival, ordered them stopped in 393 AD and the Olympic Games came to an end. It was another 1500 years before the games were reborn.

Politics was a big part of the ancient Olympics.

It brought together citizens from Greek citystates. They came together to discuss important political issues or sometimes celebrate military victories; however, the Olympics would also cause political conflict between the Greek cities.

To control the Sanctuary of Zeus brought many economic benefits, political influences and prestige. Pausanias talks about the town of Pisa and the city-state of Elis fighting over control.

An army of well-trained soldiers from Pisa marched in to take control. They were successful but by the next year Elis had regained control. The town of Elis designed the Olympic truce to protect against this kind of military attack. In the lead up to the games a notice was sent out warning that the truce had started. This helped protect athletes and spectators from becoming involved in conflict while travelling to the Olympics. Anyone who broke the truce was punished. Large fines were paid to Zeus and the city involved was banned from attending the next Olympic Games.

The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. There were 280 competitors from 13 nations competing in 43 events. The Olympics continued to grow every 4 years to become the prestigious event we know today.

There are many problems faced in today’s modern Olympics. The games are grounds for power and politics. They are very commercialised and sporting success becomes a means of selling products. To win gold brings sponsorship and a way of making money. The games are extremely competitive, only having a few top winners. Athletes struggle for years and may still not reach their ultimate goal (gold medals). With high competition like this it brings out the win at all cost attitude, causing athletes to cheat, use drugs, train when injured and do anything to make it to the top. The modern Olympics also face the problems of war, boycotts and the worry of terrorism. The modern Olympics definitely present greater challenges than the ancient Olympics.

However, even though the ancient Olympics were founded as a religious celebration they were much like the modern Olympics and not without problems.

Commercialism plays a big part in the modern Olympics. Trademarks of manufacturers are all over athletes’ uniforms and equipment.

Olympics advertisements are on every household cereal box. Athletes not only receive medals, they also receive large payments for endorsing certain products. Athletes are paid for commercials to advertise sporting equipment or clothing brands and the list goes on. Were the ancient Olympics as commercialised? They certainly had their fair share of wealth made thanks to the athletes and their victories. Athletes from Athens who won at any of the games after returning home were assured wealth. In the year 600 BC, according to Roman author Plutarch, an athlete who won would receive a cash amount of 500 drachmai, which was an absolute fortune. Athletes were not the only ones to benefit from the games.

Poets were commissioned by athletes, athletes’ families and rich political leaders to write about their victories. In 476 BC, a famous poet, Pindar, wrote about Hiero who won in the horse race. While he was writing the ode, he lived in great luxury. This was the main way to pay the poets.

The ancient Olympics were about bringing the Greek city-states together in peace. Pausanias talks about the oath that was sworn by athletes.

They stood before a bronze image of Zeus known as “Zeus the Oath Giver.” The athletes swore they would compete fairly and not cheat, bribe or take a bribe and would follow straight training regulations. However, this was not always the case. The ancient Olympics did have at times cheating, bribing, commercialism and political problems.

Controversy has followed the games from the beginning. The first recorded publicly disgraced cheat was Eupholus of Thessaly who, in 388 BC bribed three boxers to lose intentionally.

Sculptors were employed to build statues of athletes to be put up in their home town. They also had statues built to go on the Olympic site to celebrate victors. Pausanias spoke in great

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In 1988 at the Seoul Summer Olympics there was the controversy over illegal drugs and Ben Johnson. Carl Lewis was the favourite to win the 100 metre dash. Ben Johnson won and broke the world record. However, Johnson’s gold glory soon ended when he was tested positive for illegal drugs. His medal was stripped and he was banned for two years.

Unfortunately, he did not learn his lesson. After returning to running from his ban he never quite got to the level he had been in 1988. In January 1993 he was again caught using illegal drugs and he was banned for life.

detail about the many statues he saw in Altis.

They also had sculptors build statues along the road leading into the stadion. These statues were built to bring shame to the athletes who had been caught bribing or cheating in the games. These statues were the cause of a boycott by Athens in 332 BC. Pausanias talks about an athlete, Kalhippus, who competed in the pentathlon. He was caught match fixing by bribing his opponents. He was fined a large amount of money. Athens refused to pay the fine and said they would boycott if the charges against Kalhippus were not dropped. The Olympic officials would not drop the fine and in the end Athens had no choice but to pay.

Pausanias said that the statues that were built to shame the athletes had an inscription that told who the athlete was, what crime they had committed and a moral to warn off any other athlete who might be thinking of taking this path.

The ancient Olympics are very much like the modern Olympics. Controversy has followed the games from the beginning and will continue to follow the games into the future. Even though history shows both the modern and ancient games have had problems, the Olympic Games can and always has united athletes.

With a variety of different cultures, religions and political views from countries all over the world it’s hard to imagine the Olympics without controversy. The Olympics may bring out the worst in some people but it can also bring out the best which is why it is the greatest sporting event in the world.

As the ancient games came to an end and the modern Olympics began the controversies just kept coming. In the 1904 St Louis Summer Olympics Fredrick Lorz won the marathon.

After finishing the race, it was later found that he covered most of the marathon course in a car.

Sources

During the 1956 Melbourne Summer Games Russia’s and Hungary’s water polo game ended up in a fight. Kicking, head butting and punching started between the two teams, causing the water to turn red from blood. Not long before the games, Soviet tanks had invaded Hungary, causing a lot of tension between the two countries.

Butterfeild, M., 2012. The Olympics History. London: Hachette Children's Group.

Cartwright, M., 2013. Olympic Games. [Online] Available at: http://www.ancient.eu/Olympic_Games/ [Accessed 2017].

Foster, J., 2009. The Olympic Games. London: Harper Collins.

International Olympic Committee, 2017. Ancient Olympics - History. [Online] Available at: https://www.olympic.org/ancient-olympic-games/history [Accessed 2017].

Middleton, H., 2007. Ancient Olympic Games. USA: Heinemann Educational Books.

Penn Museum, 2017. The Real Story of the Ancient Olympics - The Games. [Online] Available at: https://www.penn.museum/sites/olympics/olympicorigins.sht ml [Accessed 2017].

Romano, D., 1985. Boycotts, Bribes and Fines. [Online] Available at: https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expeditio n/PDFs/27-2/Boycotts1.pdf [Accessed 2017].

In 1972 there was a terrorist massacre. This was one of the worst days in Olympic history. It happened during the Munich Summer Olympics. Terrorists entered the Israeli area in the Olympic village. A coach and a weight lifter were killed and nine others were taken hostage.

The terrorists wanted 200 Arabs to be released from an Israeli prison. In the end a police officer, eleven terrorists and nine athletes were dead.

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Report

Wise or Whacky?

Maggie Xie (Year 10) argues that the medieval response to the plague wasn’t as whacky as we might think.

In the mid fourteenth century a wave of death passed across Asia towards Europe. In the autumn of 1347 the plague had reached Europe, managing to kill off a third of the continent’s inhabitants within three years (Nardo, 1999). Today, with superior knowledge of the workings of plague we deem the medieval inhabitants of the time ignorant in their deliberations, yet evidence shows they were more aware of the working of the plague than we had ever conceived.

bacterium was from rodents to humans by flea bites. Apart from the plague theory, modern scholars have suggested alternative causes of the Black Death including anthrax, haemorrhagic fever and typhus (Christakos, et al., 2005). It is noted by Waley and Denley in 2001 that “historians are less clear about what caused the Black Death than they were 30 years ago.”

MODERN INTERPRETATION OF MEDIEVAL KNOWLEDGE

WHAT WAS THE BLACK DEATH?

Despite the existing disagreement in modern medicine around what truly caused the Black Death, attitudes towards medieval knowledge remains derogatory. The medieval population are portrayed as ignorant and religious fools in the eye of modern medicine but as a matter of fact their knowledge and practice appear to be more valid than considered. It is not a comparison or equalisation of modern and medieval medicine but simply a rectification of unjust opinions regarding medieval understanding of the plague.

The Black Death was an epidemic of the bubonic plague which ravaged Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East during 13461353. As stated by Nardo in 1999, the plague decreased Europe’s population by around a third. The devastating pandemic originated from Asia and spread to Europe with the aid of trade routes such as the Silk Road and was further distributed to the population by fleas living on rats, which were commonly found on passenger ships. Although the Black Death is commonly associated with devastation, which was true in the manner that most of Europe had not experienced a pandemic as such, it allowed the advance in medieval medicine and the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

These advances were demonstrated in the improvement of public health, physicians being challenged and the collapse of feudalism which further allowed the procession of the Renaissance (History.com, 2010).

EXTREMES Due to the extremes that were taken by the medieval population at the time of the Black Death such as blaming the Jews for causing the plague and the flagellant movement, it is believed that their understanding of the plague was limited and implausible. However, these were just extremes that were heavily influenced by the culture and beliefs at the time.

It was of popular belief at the time that Jews caused the plague by poisoning Christian wells which led to events such as the burning of 2,000 Jews in Strasbourg, Germany 1349. The acts of anti-Semitism were inexcusable but do not reflect the medieval understanding of the plague itself, instead exposing the ‘centuries of

The modern explanation for the Black Death is the Bubonic Plague Theory, which is the spread of the bacterium Yersinia pestis. The discovery of the pathogen Yersinia pestis was made in 1894 by Alexandre Yersinia in Hong Kong.

Further investigation by Paul-Louis Simond in 1898 suggested the transmission of the

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of which is tucked into the breeches. The hat and gloves are also made of the same skin…with spectacles over the eyes” (Vidal, et al, 2007).

ingrained prejudice’ that existed amongst the population (Tuchman, 1978).

The flagellants were ‘religious fundamentalists’ who were convinced that the Black Death was an epidemic of sin that God had bestowed upon them. They believed that by beating themselves with whips, singing hymns and saying prayers they would convince God to forgive humanity’s sins. However, not only were their actions extreme, they were also opposed by religious and secular authorities. The influence of the church prior to the plague was immense, but along with the major role superstition played in medieval life, excessive actions like the flagellant movement were taken. These movements do not accurately portray medieval understanding (Friedrich, 1982).

Although the physician had no understanding of germs, the design’s function is similar to the one of modern-day biohazard suits, as suggested by Towey in 2015.

The garment was invented for protection against miasma but theoretically would’ve also halted the transmission of a possible airborne plague. The use of a garment akin to the modern-day biohazard suit would be approved by modern medicine, further proving that medieval knowledge was not as finite as considered.

ANTI-PLAGUE MEASURES Unlike the extremes of the medieval period, a number of ideas during the Black Death were of some veracity. The extent of medieval knowledge can be seen in their understanding of contagions, the possibility of an airborne plague and the actions taken to combat them.

The miasma theory proposed that the cause of the Black Death was due to “bad air” that emanated from rotting organic matter.

Although now obsolete, this theory suggested an airborne transmission of disease which correlated with the actions the medieval population took (Karamanou, 2017).

A distinct characteristic of the plague was the plague doctor garment; worn by physicians of the Middle Ages to ensure they were protected from the miasma. In the words of its inventor, Charles de Lorme, the garment consisted of: “a nose half a foot long, shaped like a beak, filled with perfume with only two holes, one on each side near the nostrils, but that can suffice to breathe and carry along with the air one breathes the impression of the [herbs] enclosed further along in the beak. Under the coat we wear boots made in Moroccan leather (goat leather) from the front of the breeches in smooth skin that are attached to said boots, and a short sleeved blouse in smooth skin, the bottom

Plague Doctor’s Garment From a 1721 engraving by Paul Furst (Source: Wikipedia [in the public domain])

The belief in miasma also affected public health, which can be seen particularly in the anti-plague ordinances of the city Pistoia.

However, the effect was also prominent in other locations as it encouraged the separation of corpses and clean-up of waste.

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In Pistoia, a city in Italy, a number of antiplague ordinances existed such as the burial of all corpses in a wooden casket at least two and one-half arms’ lengths deep into the ground.

This was taken into action “so that no fetor (rotten stench) could escape”, reflecting the beliefs in miasma (Carmichael, 1986). In addition, no dead bodies could be transported into the city for burial.

CONCLUSIONS Paradoxically, the Black Death allowed medieval knowledge and medicine to exceed the modern perspective of knowledge in the Middle Ages. Modern perspectives insinuate that medieval knowledge was farfetched rather than reasonable. Although this is accurate when applied to extremes that occurred during the plague such as the Flagellant Movement and execution of minority groups, they were just anomalies influenced by the religious and intolerant nature of the 14th Century.

Furthermore, the demonstration of the depths of their knowledge is evidential in their response to miasmas and contagions. The knowledge attributed to people from the Middle Ages is not an accurate representation of the extent of their understanding, but merely a fragmented interpretation.

Although appearing only to be crisis measures, their implementation of these ordinances gave further insight into the extent of medieval knowledge. The miasma theory had caused slight improvements in the devastating public health and hygiene prior to the Black Death and in extreme cases such as Pistoia, would have alleviated the intensity of the oncoming plague.

It has been proven by modern medicine that corpses and waste are a contributing factor to diseases due to the large amounts of germs and bacteria they hold. Thus, the actions taken by the medieval population were not misguided but rather sagacious.

Sources Carmichael, A., 1986. Plague and the Poor in Renaissance Florence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Christakos, G., 2005. Interdisciplinary Public Health Reasoning and Epidemic Modelling: the Case of the Black Death.. Berlin: Springer-Verleg.

Friedrich, O., 1982. The End of the World. New York: Aaron Priest Literary Agency.

History.com, 2010. Black Death. [Online] Available at: http://www.history.com/topics/black-death [Accessed 28 June 2017].

Horrox, R., 1994. The Black Death. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Karamanou, M., 2012. From miasmas to germs: a historical approach to theories of infectious disease transmission.

[Online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223957556_From_ miasmas_to_germs_A_historical_approach_to_theories_of_in fectious_disease_transmission [Accessed 2 May 2017].

Kelly, J., 2005. The Great Mortality. London: Fourth Estate.

Lavelle, P., 2004. On the trail of the Black Death. [Online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/01/22/2857189. htm [Accessed 27 June 2017].

Nardo, D., 1999. The Black Death. California: Greenhaven Press.

Towey, J., 2015. Hazmat Protection from Head to Toe. [Online] Available at: https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2015/03/01/HazmatProtection-from-Head-to-Toe.aspx [Accessed 27 June 2017].

Tuchman, B., 1978. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. Maryland: Alfred A. Knopf Inc. Vidal, P. T. M. &. G. J.-P., 2007. Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases: Modern Methodologies. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Waley, D., 2001. Later Medieval Europe 1250-1520. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.

MEDIEVAL UNDERSTANDING OF CONTAGIONS Although medieval medicine could not identify the cause of the plague, they had an understanding of contagions and human-tohuman transmission. As stated by Michele da Piazza in 1347, “if anyone so much as spoke with them he was infected… and could not avoid death” (cited in Horrox, 1994). Due to their understanding of contagion, a majority of the population sought to isolate themselves, whilst others fled. In fact, the number of people fleeing in Venice was so immense that the authority issued an ultimatum that encouraged civic workers to either return or lose their job (Kelly, 2005). In addition, other authorities enforced isolation as well such as the ones of both Milan and Mantua where additional measures were taken to isolate sufferers of the plague. The origin of the word quarantine is derived from the plague; Venice expropriated all vessels that were wishing to enter the city for forty days, ‘quaranti giorni’ (Carmichael, 1986).

In addition to the response of isolation and fleeing there was a decrease of trade during the plague years due to the risk of attaining the disease by travelling to infected areas (Lavelle, 2004).

25

EVERY PROJECT Eiffel Tower, v Statue of Liberty - Leila Koppens Y7 Elephants, African - Yaqi Zheng Y7 Elizabeth II - Jessica Lin Y7 Endangered animals - Ella Richardson Y10 Energy, green - Bhavraj Thind Y9 Energy, pollution - Karl Ropelin Y10 Eureka Stockade - Ammon Jennings Y8 Europe, tourism - Elizabeth Ducke Y7

Agriculture, sustainability - Alex Craze Y9

Alesia, Seige of - Rhys Thurstun Y7 Animal conservation - Ryan Park Y9 Animal testing - Taylor Pashen Y10 Animals, black market - Aubriana Jeffery Y9; Olivia Pedrosa Y7 Animals, historical significance - Samuel Hetherington Y8 Apollo II - Emily Korenromp Y10 Apple computers, v Microsoft - Ashton Froes Y7; Zoe Trimble Y9 Arctic fox - Vanessa Wong Y7 Australia Day, Indigenous perspective - Ella Scheiwe Y8; Grace Raven Y9; Dayna Ekundayo Y8

Factory farming - Piper Young Y10

Falklands War - Robert Blakely Y8 Fashion industry, impacts - Taylor Drake Y7 Ferdinand, Franz - assassination - Alex Smith Y8 Forbidden Palace, v White House - Sunny Du Y9 Frank, Anne - Bayleigh Head Y10; Caitlan Taylor Y8; Emelie Ly Y8 French Revolution - Mykaelah Ludcke Y7 Frogs - Maverick Christiansen-Danby Y9

Beethoven - Joanna Chang Y8

Berlin Wall, fall - Elena Horichi Y10 Biosecurity, Australia - Joshua Drake Y9 Black Death, medieval response - Maggie Xie Y10 Breeding programs, zoos - Kane Broderick Y7 Brisbane, v Melbourne - Klemen Pong Ying Y9 Britain, Battle of - Jaimyn Seeto Y7 Building design, climate - Aiden Ericksson Y9 Bullecourt, Battle of - Bailey Aslander Y10 Bushfires - Anastasia Baveas Y9

Galileo - Nikhil Kumar Y9; Ryan Kim Y8

Gallipoli - Jack Harris Y7; Jamieson Zillman Y7 Gandhi, Indian independence - Ryan Famularo Y10 Germany, touring - Clare Neill Y7 Glaciers - Pacey Mazzer Y9 Gold Rush, Australia - Madison Andress Y7; Nichaela Meyer Y7 Great Barrier Reef - Cade Linde Y7 Great Barrier Reef, bleaching - Andy Xin Y7; Isaac Georghiou Y7 Great Wall of China - Mitchell Laurens Y7; Tim Yu Y9 Great Wall of China, v Colosseum - Alice Shiaw Y9 Green buildings - Katrina Lee Y7

Caligula, v Nero - Jordana Wenke Y7

Canada, touring - Monica Svarc Y7 Cane toads - Angel Wang Y7; Nicholas Korenromp Y10 Cave art, prehistoric - Erin Bradshaw Y7 Chickens, caged - Debenjamin Chou Y9 Child labour - Emma Bures Y9 Child labour, Somalia - Kosta Vouloukos Y9 Child marriage - Piper Gates Y10 Cinema, history - Ryan Brown Y7 Cities, future - Thomas Ryland Y7 Civil War, American - Maddie Vela Y7 Clarinet, history - Izzy Black Y9 Cleopatra - Christina Perriman Y8; Jasmine Cox Y7; Paris Koppens Y9 Climate change - Bethany Liu Y9; Kiaan Gordon Y9; Sue Lee Y9 Climate Change, President Trump - Ella Wenke Y10 Computer games, historical impact - Josiah Laurens Y9 Cook, James, impact - Daniel Choi Y8 Coral bleaching - Heirene Kim Y9; Jacinta Willmot Y7; Jasmine Chen Y10; William Fung Y9 Corday, Charlotte - Chelsea Andress Y9 Criminal justice, change - Shanice Timotius Y8 Crusaders, charcter - Sam Eivers Y8 Cultural behaviours, differences - Nicola Puttock Y10

Han Dynasty - Rylee Richardson Y7

Help, The - accuracy of movie - Imogen Wernick Y9 Henry VIII, wives - Keira Knijnenberg Y8 Hiroshima & Nagasaki - Johanna Kaye Y7; Josh Ludcke Y9; Julie Lee Y10; Kade Dupere Y9 Hitler, blame for WWII - Nick Boon Y7 Hitler, hatred of Jews - Beatrice Lau Y8; Bronty Lacey Y8 Hitler, positive policies - Andy Ly Y10 Holocaust - Isaac Clarke Y8 Holocaust, racism - Navraj Nijjar Y9 Hurricanes - James Laboo Y10

Inchon, Battle of - Sean Chiang Y9

India, British conquest - Ranveer Gill Y7 India, independence - Naureen Soofi Y9 India, partition - Namreetha Arulprakash Y7 Iron, history - Georgia Adams Y7 Ivory trade - Ava Connors Y7; Georgia Dunster Y9 Iwo Jima, Battle of - Elijah Oxford Y8

Dance, national differences - Tamsyn Karppinen Y9 Darwin, Charles - Emma van Genderen Y8 Death penalty - Timothy Ja Y10 Deforestation - Zander Shepherd Y7 Deforestation, Amazon - Rachel Chiong Y9 Disney princesses, sanitisation - Georgia Draper Y9 Drama, history - Ella O'Neill Y8 Dubai - Flyn Wain Y9

Jesus Christ, lifestyle - Yasmine De Vere Y8 Julius Caesar - Alastair Chow Y8

Kennedy, JF - assassination - Ryan Taylor Y10; Sarah Ward Y8 Knights Templar - Joshua Spyropoulos Y10 Korean War - James Jeon Y9; Jun Koh Y7

Earthquakes, Nepal - Tom Son Y7 Ebola - Harry Sun Y9 Eiffel Tower - Daniel Blest Y9

Leopards, endangered - Erin Gec Y10 26

EVERY PROJECT LGBTI rights - Alex Childs Y10 Lincoln, Abraham - assassination - Jake Stower Y7 Lions - Jonathan Foo Y7 Litter, Moreton Bay - Piper Mackay Y7 Logging, Amazon - Timothy Hughes Y7 Los Angeles Riots, 1992 - Sean White Y7

Samurai, v ninja - Sohini Kundu Y9

San Andreas Fault - Jordan Tartaglia Y9 Sea level, rises - Jack Sendall Y7 Sejong the Great - Lilly Lloyd-Jones Y8 September 11, conspiracies - Kareen Haddad Y10 September 11, effects - Joseph Yeh Y9 Simpson, OJ - trial - Jesse Fluerty Y9 Snowy Mountains scheme - Liam Slade Y9 South China Sea dispute - Isabella Suominen Y10 Space race - Christian Kemp Howlett Y9; Divya Khatri Y9 Stalin, v Hitler - Jordan Gross Y9; TJ Lancaster Y10 Steam engine, Industrial Revolution - Sam Tobin Y9 Stolen Generation - Josh Smith Y8 Stonehenge - Hamish Sayers Y8

Malaria - William Eivers Y10

Mandela Effect - Erika Sorensen Y8 Mandela, Nelson & apartheid - Emma Kelly Y10 Mariana Trench - Catherine Ju Y7 Meiji Restoration - Jackson Leadbetter Y7; Tahni Eaton Y8 Mining - Michael Garbutt Y9 Minutemen - Liam Green Y7 Monroe, Marilyn - Sophie Garbutt Y7 Moon bears, farming - Sonal Chand Y7 Motocross, environmental effects - Rudy Czerner Y7 Munich air disaster - Hannah Jung-Cotton Y9 Mythology, Greek - Vivienne Lu Y9

Tasmanian devil - Dan Reid Y9

Ottoman empire, achievements - Besa Adzanela Y9

Tasmanian devil, tumours - Will Draper Y7 Tea, production & consumption - Jack Thurstun Y10 Terracotta Warriors - Yanni Chan Y8 Tesla, Nikola & Thomas Edison - Robert Taylor Y10 Thermopylae - Caden Bardell Y8 Three dimensional printers - Sean Cosijn Y10 Tigers - Ethan Cho Y9 Tigers, Sumatran - Anjlee Suri Y7 Titanic - Olivia Kerridge Y8 Titanic, conspiracies - Jazmyn Davidson Y9 Titanic, contributions to safety - Annalise Buddle Y10 Tornadoes, USA - Jade Rowland Y10 Torture, history - Alex Nguyen Y10 Trojan War - Josie Bartlett Y7 Tsunamis - Irene Drake Y10 Tsunamis, Japan - Nathan Wong Y9

Pandas - Jiabo Tan Y7

Uluru, climbing debate - Nina Cincovic Y9

Napoleon - Hannah Seeto Y10

Newton, Isaac - Joshua Laurenceson Y8 Night of the Long Knives - Gabe Silva Y7 Night Witches, bomber regiment - Jacqueline Salles Y8 Nike, corporate responsibility - Simarleen Kaur Y7 Nuclear power - Alex Hunt Y9 Nuclear, weapons and power - Bethany Thiele Y10 Nursery rhymes, history - Hannah Rowland Y7; Mackenzie Cuthbert Y7; Mikaela Clark Y10

Ocelots - Emma Ward Y7

Urban sprawl - Rylan Malcolm Y9 Utopia, Australia - Keziah Mojica Y9

Pearce, Alexander & cannabilism - Anthony So Y8 Pearl Harbour - Lachlan Bligh Y8 Piracy, east Africa - Emma Routledge Y7; Sophie Monsour Y9 Plastic, pollution - Jemimah Ventnor Y9; Lachlan Wormwell Y9; Samantha Wong Y9; Sarah Lee Y9 Polar bears - Angela Gong Y7 Pompeii - Lucy Dunster Y7 Poverty - Isabelle Bunker Y9; Sarah Mayne Y9 Printing press - Ojas Munjal Y8; Sharolyn Wong Y9 Pyramids, Egypt - Erik Ropelin Y8; William Lee Y9

Vanuatu, ecotourism - Tiarna Georghiou Y9 Vietnam War, & PA Boys - Rebecca Reid Y7 Volcanoes, Italy - Daniel Yuan Y7

Whaling, Japanese - Charlie Harris Y7; Claire Kenny Y10

Witchcraft, targetting women - Monaita Cheng Y9 Wollstonecraft, Mary - Megan Kelly Y8 Women's healthcare - Abi-Kay Herbert Y9 Women's rights, Afghanistan - Emersyn Morris Y7 World War I, aircraft - Byron Speldewinde Y9 World War I, voluntarism - Connor Hogarth Y9 World War I, women - Ella Hughes Y8 World War II - Griffin Howlett Y7; Petek Hatmann Y7; Rebekah Atkins Y7 World War II, Australia - Grace Gannon Y7 World War II, causes - Carol Wong Y9

Qin Shi Huang, v Alexander the Great - Nancy Shi Y9 Queen's Wharf, Brisbane - Sariah Suter Y9

Red pandas - Ellena Ericksson Y7

Refugees - Sofie Kilah Y9 Renaissance, Greco-Roman influence - Evelynne Lee Y9 Robin Hood, fact or fiction - Hannah Dreghorn Y8 Robinson, Jackie - Hunter Hasegawa Y9 Roman empire, legacy - Max Sendall Y9 Romanovs - Sarah Rasi Y10 Roosevelt, FD - Claudia Birrer Y8 Russian Revolution - Elizaveta Leach Y9

Yellowstone, volcano - Cam Suter Y7 Zika virus - Lucy Boulus Y10

27

Essay

Thief v Genius Accolades for Thomas Edison rightly belong to Nikola Tesla, writes Robert Taylor (Year 10).

Thomas Alva Edison (born in Ohio) and Nikola Tesla (born in Serbia) are often regarded as men who were both incredible inventors and who massively influenced modern understanding of engineering and electricity.

from and attempt to discredit Nikola Tesla, who possessed an intellect that fathomed ideas far ahead of his time. Edison himself is credited with inventions that were the creations of greater minds. Tesla was unarguably a genius, and Edison was instrumental in ruining Tesla.

Edison himself is given credit as being one of the greatest inventors of all time, patent records showing that he holds as many as 1,239 patents outside of the United States of America, with 1,093 patents approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Dyer & Martin, 1910; cited in Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, 2016). Of these many inventions are the phonograph, incandescent lightbulb and telegraph; however, the true origin of such devices remains the debate of sceptics. As a young boy, Edison suffered from scarlet fever and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) like symptoms, leading to his eventual deafness and home schooling (Hartmann, 2015).

A certain degree of conflict and rivalry certainly occurred between Edison and Tesla, due to Edison’s selfish desire for economic gain and superiority. Tesla worked for Edison for a brief period of six months, employed at “Edison Machine Works” as an electrical engineer (Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, 2016). During his time of employment, Tesla’s ideas were mocked by Edison for being “utterly impractical”; however, he was well known to have been extremely passionate for his work, working long hours late into the night, becoming so engrossed in his work he would go without sleep and food. He even remained celibate for the entire eighty-six years he was alive, for fear of love interfering with his work (Coller & Chamberlain, 2012) (Sandford, 2012).

Tesla however, possessed an eidetic memory, which allowed him to recall in explicit detail his memories as well as picture intricate designs and ideas in his mind, negating the need to record his ideas or inventions on paper (Borowski, 2012). His mother, Djuka Mandic, invented small household appliances, an inspiration which, when coupled with the short period he spent working at the Central Telephone Exchange, likely gave birth to Tesla’s wonder and awe for electricity (Cheney & Uth, 2001). It was during this period that he first theorised the induction motor, and then went forth to work for Thomas Edison, and later George Westinghouse. To this day, around 300 patents are registered under his name, including the AC induction motor and AC energy distribution, although it is believed that other patents may have been lost in patent archives (Tesla, 2002) (Šarboh, 2006).

At the time of Tesla’s employment, Edison was experiencing many difficulties with his direct current (DC) motors and generators. Aware that Tesla’s previous supervisor had written a letter of recommendation considering his employee’s and Edison’s intelligence to be on the same level, he proposed to Tesla that he would pay him $50,000 (a sum equivalent to one million $USD) if he could resolve the mechanical issues in his DC generators and motors (Graham, 2009). The device in question featured extremely long electromagnets that laid sideways and extended outwards, which Edison named the “Long-limbed Mary-Anne”, a perverted reference to how he disturbingly perceived the two coils as if they were bare female legs (Beaty, 2015) (Panoramic View Aisle B., Westinghouse Works, 1904).

Throughout the courses of their lives, Thomas Edison’s malpractice of ethics lead him to steal 28

filament for a lightbulb) (Bellis, (National Park Service, 2001).

Tesla used his engineering knowledge and “geek-like” obsession for electricity to transform Edison’s long electromagnets into short, compacted and efficient cylindrical coils, a design still relied upon today. Upon requesting the payment promised, Tesla was laughed off by Edison, who replied: “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humour” (Murty, 2008). Despite being offered a marginal salary rise, Tesla refused to continue working at Edison Machine Works, moving to work for George Westinghouse. Edison not only neglected to pay Tesla the agreed sum of money, but also chose to continue using his own designs, despite their far lower efficiency, and Tesla’s constant push to use AC power.

2016)

It is quite true that many great inventions were not the product of one inventor, as Mark A. Lemley highlights in his paper “The Myth of the Sole Inventor” (2011), which explores the work of previous inventors on the incandescent lightbulb, its use prior to Edison’s tinkering, and the myth that it was his invention. The verb “invent” is defined as “(to) originate or create as a product of one's own ingenuity, experimentation, or contrivance” (Baum, 2012), meaning that despite patent records and common belief, Edison was not the inventor behind most of the devices and patents under his name. Aside from the lightbulb, he is also credited with inventing the record player, telegraph, telephone and fluoroscope (an x-ray photography machine).

Each of these inventions are known to be the intellectual product of another inventor entirely, or that Edison (or at least someone working for him) simply made advancements in the existing technology, only for journalists and historians to associate the entirety of the work with Edison (O'Brien, 2008) (Dyer & Martin, 1910; cited in Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, 2016).

Tesla later used these ideas while working for George Westinghouse, who was also involved with Edison during “The Current War.” The war would be better viewed as a rivalry between Edison’s concept of DC power distribution, and Westinghouse and Tesla’s application of AC power. Edison was driven largely by financial gain, and Westinghouse and Tesla by the knowledge that AC power could be transmitted over large distances with few losses. During the campaign, Edison attempted to prove AC power to be extremely dangerous by electrocuting dogs, cats, horses, an orangutan and most famously, Topsy the circus elephant (Electrocuting an Elephant, 1903) (Engineering and Technology History, 2017). For any man to warrant causing such intense pain to an animal in their last moments (animals such as Topsy the elephant, and even a man that was electrocuted, did not always die immediately) is unimaginable, but to do so for financial advantage is incomprehensible (American National Biography, n.d.). Thomas Edison repeatedly did so to gain wealth, while showing little remorse, despite the costs of his actions.

To put things simply, the only idea that is certain to be original to Thomas Edison, is the use of the word “hello” as a form of greeting; prior to this, the word “hullo” was used as an expression of surprise, and hello was not used (Koenigsberg, 2006). This is something we certainly have Edison to thank for, as the telephone’s true inventor, Alexander Graham Bell, wished “Ahoy!” to be used as a standard over-the-phone greeting (Grimes, 1992).

Apart from this, all that can be certain was that the “Wizard of Menlo Park”, as Edison was known, was an expert business man. He was obsessed with financial gain, and went as far as to sabotage his competition (such as George Westinghouse and Tesla’s AC power generator) and manipulate the perspective of the media and public to promote his products.

His use of invention factories and disregard for ideas he believed to be commercially unviable has been compared to business methods of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, but he was certainly no Steve Wozniak (Israel, 2011).

Myths and doubts surround the many inventions associated with Edison, and it is now known that these ideas and inventions were the intellectual product of others; inventors, engineers, designers and experts, each employed by an expert business man.

Edison employed huge numbers in what were known as his “invention factories”, where individuals possessing considerable intellect or knowledge in their field worked, often of their own accord, at other times simply to test thousands of tedious differences in a design (such as when testing for the best suited metal

Nikola Tesla was a genius possessing a mind far ahead of his time, but was certainly ruined 29

in part by Thomas Edison. Without Tesla’s influence in “The Current War”, AC power would almost certainly have never been chosen to supply all of America with electricity, and later the entire modern world. His method of AC transmission made the use of the current far more practical and efficient, without the need for a power plant every square mile, which Edison wished to implement should his DC power system be used (Alevo, 2015).

from lesions that lead to the amputation of his arms, and eventual death, also due to radiation poisoning (Hrabak, et al., 2008) (King, 2012).

Once more Edison clearly hindered Tesla, and medical science as well, as his misuse of the technology delayed its further experimentation and application.

However, of most significance was Tesla’s loss of funding towards his “Wardenclyffe tower”, a structure designed to transfer electricity wirelessly, similarly to radio (Cooper, 2015).

Having displayed proof of the concept for the project on a smaller scale, J. P. Morgan agreed to provide financial backing, however later refused to continue largely due to the reputation Edison had built for Tesla, and the inability to accurately measure the power consumption of those using the system (Olsen, 2013). Edison’s influence once again resulted in Tesla losing much needed faith in his ideas.

Despite the potential for any level of application behind Tesla’s inventions, Edison took part in ruining the Serbian inventor.

Tesla was also known to have a deep hatred for war and opposition to violence; such was the motive behind his development of radar technology and a “death ray” of sorts. Tesla’s invention of radar (although not called it at the time) was reported in 1917 by “The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette”, and was intended to detect German U-Boats submerged underwater, for them to be destroyed by above sea battleships (The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 1917).

Despite its promise (and proof of Tesla’s idea when the same mechanism was later used to detect warplanes in 1934 (Willis, 2005)), the idea was dismissed by the board responsible for the inquiry and rejection of inventions with military application in WWI, which Edison was a member of (Public Broadcasting Service, 2001). Tesla’s death ray, or more correctly a charged particle beam reliant upon a vacuum chamber, showed massive potential for wartime application given a suitable power supply (Tesla, 1934) (The New York Times, 1934), its use to be made available globally, allowing each nation to ward off any wartime threat, theoretically creating an equal and unquestionable means of defence, rendering almost any attack pointless (Public Broadcasting Service, 2001). Each of these ideas were rejected due to Edison’s influence, the former because of his direct say in Tesla’s rejection, the latter due to Edison’s constant slander of Tesla to form the idea that his ideas were impractical and unrealistic.

Thomas Edison not only stole from Nikola Tesla, but cannot be credited with the many inventions associated with him, and consistently displayed a higher value of economic gain than the consequences of this obsession. Furthermore, Tesla most certainly possessed a mind far ahead of his time, and the inventions he gave form to remain invaluable to modern day engineering and technology.

Where Edison was a business man void of true innovation, Tesla was a 19th century genius, and had he lived at a more modern time, he would certainly be rightfully recognised as such.

Works Cited Alevo, 2015. Edison’s 1882 Pearl Street Station. [Online] Available at: http://alevo.com/edisons-1882-pearl-streetstation/ [Accessed 4 May 2017].

American National Biography, n.d. Southwick, Alfred Porter. [Online] Available at: http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01919.html [Accessed 1 May 2017].

Baum, P., 2012. Thought Forms - The Structure, Power, and Limitations of Thought: Volume 1 - Introduction to the Theory.

1st ed. s.l.:BookBaby.

Beaty, W., 2015. Did Thomas Edison steal the inventions of Nikola Tesla and ruin his career?. [Online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/Did-Thomas-Edison-steal-theinventions-of-Nikola-Tesla-and-ruin-his-career [Accessed 30 April 2017].

Bellis, M., 2016. What was Menlo Park?. [Online] Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-menlopark-1992136 [Accessed 1 May 2017].

Borowski, S., 2012. The brilliant and tortured world of Nikola Tesla. [Online] Available at:

Further proof of Tesla’s genius is his early experimentation with x-rays, having produced the first x-ray image in the United States, an image of the famous author, Mark Twain. Even more impressively though, Tesla had the common sense to realise the damage caused by the electromagnetic radiation and to cease his research of its nature. Edison however, proved to not share this sense, and his overuse of the then primitive technology led to his near loss of eyesight. Even more seriously, his lab assistant, Clarence Madison Dally, suffered 30

http://www.aaas.org/blog/scientia/brilliant-and-torturedworld-nikola-tesla [Accessed 30 April 2017].

Cheney, M. & Uth, R., 2001. Tesla: Master of Lightning. 1st ed. s.l.:MetroBooks.

Coller, J. & Chamberlain, C., 2012. The lives, loves and deaths of splendidly unreasonable inventors. s.l.:Infinite Ideas.

Cooper, C., 2015. The Truth About Tesla: The Myth of the Lone Genius in the History of Innovation. New York: Race Point.

Dyer, F. L. & Martin, T. C., 1910. Edison: His Life and Inventions. New York: Harper & Bros..

Electrocuting an Elephant. 1903. [Film] Directed by Edwin S Porter, James Blair Smith. Coney Island: Edison Manufacturing Company; [Online] Available at: YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoKi4coyFw0 [Accessed 2 May 2017].

Engineering and Technology History, 2017. AC vs. DC. [Online] Available at: http://ethw.org/AC_vs._DC [Accessed 1 May 2017].

Graham, J., 2009. Shapers of Our Age. s.l.:CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Grimes, W., 1992. Great 'Hello' Mystery Is Solved. The New York Times, 5 March. [Online] Available at: The New York Times @ http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/05/garden/greathello-mystery-is-solved.html [Accessed 3 May, 2017].

Hartmann, T., 2015. ADHD and the Edison Gene: A DrugFree Approach to Managing the Unique Qualities of Your Child. 3rd ed. s.l.:Inner Traditions / Bear.

Israel, P., 2011. Was Jobs an Edison for our time?. [Online] Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/06/opinion/israel-steve-jobsedison/ [Accessed 2 May 2017].

King, G., 2012. Clarence Dally — The Man Who Gave Thomas Edison X-Ray Vision. Smithsonian, 14 March [Online] Available at: The Smithsonian Magazine @ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/clarence-dally-theman-who-gave-thomas-edison-x-ray-vision-123713565/ [Accessed 3 May, 2017].

Koenigsberg, A., 2006. The First Hello!: Thomas Edison, the Phonograph and the Telephone Part 2. [Online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20061116211033/http://www.colle ctorcafe.com/article_archive.asp?article=800&id=1507 [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Lemley, M. A., 2011. The Myth of the Sole Inventor. The Myth of the Sole Inventor, p. 108.

Letters of Note, 2010. Tesla's Death Ray. [Online] Available at: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/07/teslas-death-ray.html [Accessed 4 May 2017].

Murty, K. K., 2008. 50 Timeless Scientists. s.l.:Pustak Mahal.

National Park Service, 2001. The Gifted Men Who Worked For Edison. [Online] Available at:

https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/kidsyouth/the-gifted-men-whoworked-for-edison.htm [Accessed 28 April 2017].

O'Brien, D., 2008. 5 Famous Inventors (Who Stole Their Big Idea). [Online] Available at: http://www.cracked.com/article_16072_5-famous-inventorswho-stole-their-big-idea.html [Accessed 29 May 2017].

Olsen, B., 2013. Future Esoteric: The Unseen Realms. 2nd ed. s.l.:Consortium of Collective Consciousness Publishing.

Panoramic View Aisle B, Westinghouse Works. 1904.

[Film] Directed by G. W. "Billy" Bitzer. United States: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. [Online] Available at: Youtube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP4aIUeQnt4 [Accessed 5 May 2017].

Public Broadcasting Service, 2001. PBS: Tesla - Master of Lightning: A Weapon to End War. [Online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_wendwar.html [Accessed 30 April 2017].

Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences, 2016. Edison & Tesla The Edison Papers. [Online] Available at: http://edison.rutgers.edu/tesla.htm [Accessed 30 April 2017].

Sandford, M. R., 2012. AC/DC: The Tesla–Edison Feud.

[Online] Available at: http://mentalfloss.com/article/30140/acdc-tesla-edison-feud [Accessed 30 April 2017]. Šarboh, S., 2006. Nikola Tesla's Patents. Belgrade, Sixth International Symposium Nikola Tesla. [Online] Available at: Research Gate @ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310651136_Nikola_T esla's_Patents_Sixth_International_Symposium_Nikola_Tesla_ 2006 [Accessed 5 May, 2017].

Tesla, N., 1934. My dear Mr Kintner (Proposition for Charged Particle Beam). New York: Nikola Tesla. [Online] Available at Letters of Note @ http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/07/teslas-death-ray.html [Accessed May 14, 2017].

Tesla, N., 2002. Nikola Tesla on His Work with Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, Telephony, and Transmission of Power: An Extended Interview. s.l.:21st Century Books.

The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 1917. New Yankee Tricks to Circumvent the U-Boat. The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, 19 August. [Online] Available at: Inventions & Experiments of Nikola Tesla @ https://teslaresearch.jimdo.com/articlesinterviews/new-yankee-tricks-to-circumvent-the-u-boat-thefort-wayne-journal-gazette-fort-wayne-indiana-sundaymorning-august-19-1917/ [Accessed 10 May, 2017].

The New York Times, 1934. Tesla, at 78, bares new 'deathbeam'. The New York Times, 11 July. [Online] Available at: Inventions & Experiments of Nikola Tesla @ https://teslaresearch.jimdo.com/articles-interviews/newyankee-tricks-to-circumvent-the-u-boat-the-fort-waynejournal-gazette-fort-wayne-indiana-sunday-morning-august19-1917/ [Accessed 10 May, 2017].

Willis, N. J., 2005. Bistatic Radar. 2nd ed. s.l.:SciTech.

31

Essay

Forced to Volunteer Connor Hogarth (Year 9) argues that Australians who enlisted in World War I were pressured into a war that their country should not have been involved in.

It is difficult to imagine someone risking everything to engage in a war that wasn’t theirs.

This is however what Australians did in 1914, when the nation gallantly risked it all to play second fiddle to the almighty British Empire and their war with the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.

Imagine living with the cruel consequences of something and discovering there could have been a choice. The Australian support for World War I was promised on the people’s behalf without public consultation and the suffering was great. While the war did result in the birth of the ANZAC legend, there was no true victory for Australia and as peace was a long time coming, Australia lost more than they gained from the war that wasn’t their conflict.

conscription, the forced enlistment of able men to serve in the war, was put forward not once but twice to a public vote. The then Prime Minister, W Hughes, was quoted in 1915 as saying “in no circumstances would I agree to send men out of the country to fight against their will” yet by 1916 he stated “Don’t leave the boys in the trenches. Don’t see them butchered. Don’t leave them below their strength or you will cover Australia with shame” (Museum of Australian Democracy n.d.). Once again, it leads to the question of what the Australian people would have felt knowing there was a choice on whether to enter the war or not. The issue of conscription became a much debated topic in the public arena and it lead to the formation of many anticonscription groups. These groups referred to the conscription vote as a blood vote (Gammage, 2010). Luckily for the men of Australia, the conscription debate was narrowly voted against in both referendums.

Even though the presumed duty to the empire was one of the main reasons for Australians’ support of the war, it was not the only reason for voluntary enlistment.

It is easy to understand Australia’s initial reaction to the announcement of the war in early August, 1914. At the time, Britain was considered to be the mother land of Australia.

Even though Australia had been a federation since 1901 and therefore self-governing, they were still considered part of the British Empire so it, along with France and Russia felt compelled to join the war. This duty was symbolised in a speech by the then Labor Leader Andrew Fisher who assured the empire that ‘'Australians will stand beside our own to help and defend her to our last man and our last shilling” (Curtis 2014, p. 2). But it should have been up to Australians to decide for themselves if they would participate in the war, rather than a forgone conclusion. This optional participation was never disclosed or discussed in the public arena and one can only assume that this optional capacity was never a consideration.

There were several other reasons that the Australian people supported the war. There were those who believed it was not only their duty but honour to support Britain in the war.

There were also the Australians who enlisted as a result of their strong urge to fight German militarism and those who saw the war as an adventure with their mates (RSL, 2015). 1914 was also a time when the prospect of war seemed like a way for the average Australian to increase their utility by means of enlisting, which gave them a job in times of high unemployment.

The minimum wage the government paid of 6 shillings a day was therefore incredibly attractive. Lastly, it was commonly assumed not just by Australians, but many others that the war would be over

The government hypocrisy didn’t stop there; it changed its stance on forcing Australians to fight against their will as well. A proposal for 32

quickly. If truth be told, countless Australians believed they would never actually have to see the battle ground (Gammage, 2010).

The varied reactions of the Australian people to the war has been widely attributed to peer and community pressure as well as expectations placed onto them through the use of propaganda aimed at appealing to their pathos.

they should have been given a choice to support.

The effects of the war were not only seen during the war, but for many decades to come.

Let’s firstly consider the economic impacts.

The war effort was said to have cost Australia to the tune of ₤275 million. However, that doesn’t include the long lasting financial impact that was felt at home by not only the government but also the average Australian.

Australia not only borrowed heavily from Britain to finance the war, which took over 20 years to pay back, but they were also forced to acquire money from the public (Keneally, 2016). Income tax was introduced to aid in meeting the expense of the Australian war effort as well as several war loan schemes which encouraged Australians to loan their own money to the government to help with the increased costs of war (Wilcox and DVA, 2011).

In fact, it was even ingrained into children that average Australians should financially support the war, as seen in a child’s school paper that stated ‘we should contribute our savings to the Commonwealth War Loan’ (Wilcox and DVA, 2011). The loan schemes continued well after the wars through the “Buy Peace Bonds” campaigns (Wilcox and DVA, 2011). Both during and after the war, inflation increased dramatically and Australia saw the cost of living increase by 50%, which made life all the more challenging for Australians (Keneally, 2016).

This feeling of pressure was seen in many forms in Australian society, particularly through the use of the propaganda which encouraged moral, emotional support of the war.

For example, there was a widely publicised campaign by the Win the War League: “It is nice in the surf but what about the men in the trenches. Go and Help” (Wilcox and DVA, 2011). This type of campaign was meant to elicit feelings of guilt that would push men to enlist. There were even campaigns like “Stand by your own”, which was aimed specifically at women, to persuade them to stand by their men just as the British women had done and vote yes to conscription (Wilcox and DVA, 2011). In addition, Australia implemented a compulsory military training system in 1911 for all Australian males aged between twelve and 26, which only added to the pressure on Australians to support the war (Gammage, 2010).

It is incredibly sad to consider the burden that must have been felt by Australians at the time.

For instance, a headstone of an Australian soldier that lost his life overseas read, “It was men of my age, single who are expected to do their duty and enlist” (RSL, 2006). The purpose of a headstone is to memorialise the life of the deceased, yet this poor soldier’s memory was focused only on his duty.

The great strike in 1917 further demonstrated this struggle. The working class men held a major strike in response to the worsening work conditions and increased cost of living they faced, but this proved futile, as school boys who had been taught through propaganda the positives of the war, picked up tools and helped to end the strike. Furthermore, the Australian welfare system was tasked with the enormous financial burden that was needed to support both the returning soldiers and the families of those lost.

Interestingly, the future Prime Minister (19391941 and 1949-1965) Robert Menzies, chose not to enlist himself. His decision was often brought up during both his election campaigns and Prime Minister terms. One such instance occurred when he was questioned by Country Party Leader Earle Page. He responded by saying that it was a personal and family decision and not for public debate (House of Representatives Historic Hansard, 1939).

While it is important to discuss why the Australian people felt obliged to support the war, it is also equally as important to consider the repercussions of the war. The Australian people sacrificed significantly for a war that

The true cost of the war though, wasn’t in financial terms, it was in human terms.

Statistics from the Australian War Memorial reveal that Australia suffered 61,720 lives lost and 155,000 wounded.

These wounded figures, however, only include the physically wounded; there were also countless returning soldiers with both mental and emotional

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World War I Enlistment Poster (Source: D.H Souter, 1917; accessed from World Digital Library @ https://www.wdl.org/en/item/244/)

34

Following all the sacrifice by Australia and the lack of choice given to the Australian people, it would be hopeful that the Australian leaders had, as they say, “learnt their lesson”.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Even today, Australia finds itself in the supposed “firing line” if America, one of Australia’s closest allies, goes to war with North Korea. This conflict once again is not technically our conflict and it has the potential to bring significant loss and suffering to the Australian people, and with what reward? (Toohey, 2017).

The sheer loss of life and the disabled servicemen was horrible and left a legacy of sorrow for many families. The flow on effect to the economy was hard and made life for Australians all that more challenging. It would be a perfect world if there were no further conflicts, but that is not likely to ever happen.

Therefore, if Australia promises its support it should be through true public support and not just the government making the decision on the people’s behalf. Nobody ever really wins a war and sometimes the right decision should be not to fight.

wounds. The effects were witnessed by a Victorian doctor who reported in 1938: “I fully realise the terrible effects of the Great War on the physical and mental conditions of the solders…There is no doubt that those who served and their immediate relations bore the brunt of the strain and will carry it to their grave” (Garton, 1996). Australian nurses who were on the front line of caring for the returned soldiers felt that following the war Australia was mainly full of broken men who came back emotionally and physically scarred (Wilcox and DVA, 2011; Baker, 1989). The sheer magnitude of loss and suffering is deepened by the fact that Australians may not have chosen to go to war if they knew there was a choice.

It would be remiss not to at least consider the few positives that did come out of the war.

Firstly, the war saw the birth of the ANZAC legend which brought the Australian people together as a culture, but the spirit of Australia would have found a way to shine at some point in the last century anyway. The war is also quoted as a reason for the increase in women’s rights, largely as a result of the need for mothers and daughters to keep the country running while the men were away fighting the war (Wilcox and DVA, 2011). While this was definitely a positive outcome of the war, once again it is more than likely to have occurred anyway in time. Similarly, it was during the war that particular industries were forced to expand out of necessity. One such example was Australia’s development of its own version of Aspirin called Aspro as the German Brand Aspirin was banned during the war. (Keneally, 2016). Australia was also able to gain some respect from their allies, however, there was still the common feeling from many allies that Australia was still insignificant. This was revealed at the Peace Conference that assembled at the end of the war, where the Australian Prime Minister’s authority to intercede in the affairs of the world was questioned by US President Wilson. Wilson referred to the Australian Prime Minister as ‘speaking for only five million people’, to which Hughes replied ‘I speak for sixty thousand dead. For how many do you speak?’ (Museum of Australian Democracy n.d). Clearly even with all the Australian sacrifices during the war it was still not considered on equal footing.

Even more ironic is that Australia eventually became more independent from Britain anyway.

“What lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do” - Aristotle.

Works Cited Australian War Memorial, n.d., accessed 5 May 2017 <http://www.awm.gov.au/>.

Baker, M., 1989, Nightingales in the Mud, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

Curtis, J., 2014, To the last man—Australia’s entry to war in 1914. Parliamentary Library Research Paper, Research Paper Series 2014–15, Canberra.

Gammage, B. 2010, The Broken Years: Australian soldiers in the Great War, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton, Vic. Garton, S., 1996, The Cost of War: Australians Return, Oxford University Press, New York.

House of Representatives Historic Hansard 20 April 1939, 15th Parliament – 1st Session. (Accessed via https://historichansard.net/hofreps/1939/19390420_reps_15 _159/) Keneally, T., 2016, Australians: A Short History, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, N.S.W Museum of Australian Democracy n.d., Billy Hughes at War, accessed 17 May 2017, <http:// billyhughes.moadoph.gov.au> Returned and Services League, 2006, Studying Decades: 1910s/1920s, Ryebuck Media.

RSL Commemorative Program – Serving Australia, 2015, Investigating the Australian Home Front During the First World War, Ryebuck Media.

Toohey, P., 2017, ‘Australia will be forced into a war against North Korea should it attack or invade South Korea, experts say’, News Corp Australia Network, 20 April 20, accessed 17 May 2017, <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/world/australiawill-be-forced-into-a-war-against-north-korea-should-itattack-or-invade-south-korea-experts-say/newsstory/253fc0930a258f93a5a47787dc5c2e8b>.

Wilcox, C. and Department of Veterans' Affairs, 2011, Home Front: Australians in World War I, ACT Department of Veterans' Affairs, Canberra.

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SNIPPETS Anne Frank was accepted into society as a famous figure of hope and faith.

Her diary, proven to be one of the most valuable historic resources, has spread around the world and been recreated into many other forms that portray the story of her life. Although Anne’s experience was cruel and tragic, she continues to carry incredible importance and value in the world.

This shows us that Anne was indeed a good influence, even to this day, with her powerful words and bubbly personality.

Although others may argue that she didn’t necessarily win a war, have a Anne Frank statue by Thomas; Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 large impact on an event, or make a new invention, Anne remains to represent many unfortunate stories untold by other Jews who suffered during the Holocaust. Her perspective and insight provided from her diary not only highlighted the harsh discrimination laws and the mistreatment from the Nazis based on her own experience, but also on those of many other victims. Due to Anne and her diary, historians and researchers to this day have a clearer and further developed understanding of that time period of the Holocaust.

The diary was shared and the story of Anne Frank has reached many people’s knowledge for many generations after. Memorials and projects were created to commemorate the loss of Anne and millions of other victims during the Holocaust. An example would be a project launched in 2009 by the Anne Frank Centre in the USA, called the Sapling Project. The basic idea was to plant saplings from a 170 year-old chestnut tree that Anne had loved dearly for years, as written in her diary, at eleven different stations worldwide.

Anne’s words and feelings have not only shaped our society’s knowledge of the Holocaust, but they have also spread awareness of how cruel the endings of children and others, like Anne, were. It gives a clear understanding that even a young girl, who did not live to see her influence on the world, may give future generations the greatest gift of knowledge.

- Emelie Ly (Year 8)

My Wardrobe 2% 3%

3%

China Bangladesh

42%

50%

Vietnam India Australia

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As part of her investigation into issues concerning the fashion industry, Taylor Drake (Year 7) discovered the origins of the clothing in her wardrobe.

SNIPPETS

Her grandfatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s service in the Vietnam War gave Rebecca Reid (Year 7) a context for her study of the conflict.

According to Alex Childs (Year 10), one of the less known groups of people in Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s off-shore detention centres consists of people fleeing oppression from countries with harsh laws concerning the LGBTI community.

Concerned about the capacity of rainforests to regenerate after clearing, Zander Shepherd (Year 7) conducted his own experiment on a much smaller scale.

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SNIPPETS Shanice Timotius (Year 8)

Monika Svarc (Year 7)

“Throughout history, the justice system has adapted in many ways to fit the needs of our society.”

Besa Adzanela (Year 9) “The ending of the Ottoman Empire created the present Middle East.”

Falkland Islands…

…or Las Malvinas?

Abi-Kay Herbert (Year 9) “Somalia and Iraq are in desperate need of female doctors and nurses.”

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Dear Mr Trump: “You must have been talking to the 3% of environmental scientists that don’t think climate change is real, not the 97% that do.”

Robert Blakeley (Year 8)

Ella Wenke (Year 10)

“Mozart was the composer that supposedly blew life into the clarinet.”

Izzy Black (Year 9)

“Much of Canada’s appeal lies in the vast range of physical activities such as skiing, hiking, fishing and canoeing.”

The Elephant in the Room

macro_elephant by Theo; Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Georgia Dunster (Year 9) investigates the pressures on elephants and other endangered species.

What is an endangered species?

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talk about the elephant in the room.

Believe it or not, people actually do have elephants, or at least parts of elephants, in their rooms, whether that is the ivory carving they admire in their home, the bracelet they wear around their wrist or the pet elephant they keep in their homes. These items all come at a cost, not just economically but environmentally as well. The elephant is an endangered species and like many animals, elephants are at risk of being eradicated from the earth. So, how does a species become endangered and what can communities do about it?

There are thousands of different plant and animal species all over the world but unfortunately some are at risk of extinction.

Plants and animals such as these are known as endangered or threatened species. It has been found that one in four mammals on the earth are at risk of extinction and the populations of half of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mammals are in decline. In addition, one in three amphibians, one in eight bird species and 70% of all plant species are threatened (Smith, 2008). There are specific 39

criteria against which a species must be analysed in order for them to be categorised as either extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened and least concern (Dublin, 2017).

Figure 1 provides examples of these animals.

Figure 1: Categories of Species Categories Examples of Animals Near - Jaguar Threatened - Narwhal Vulnerable

Humans Impacting Declining Animal Populations There are quite a few reasons why animals are becoming threatened and endangered, but the main reason is the actions of humans. In fact, approximately 99% of threatened and endangered species are at risk of extinction because of human activities (Dublin, 2017).

When people poach animals for their body parts (tusks, skin, horns), cut down trees causing habitat loss and degradation, or take the animals themselves from the wild, they drastically decrease the population of the species, causing them to become threatened or endangered.

Endangered

Critically Endangered Extinct

-

White Rhino Yellowfin Tuna Sea Turtle Savanna Elephant Polar Bear Dugong African Wild Dog Asian Elephant Bengal Tiger Blue Whale Amur Leopard Black Rhino Bornean Orangutan Hawksbill Turtle Dodo Sabre-toothed Cat Tasmanian Tiger West African Black Rhino (Source: based on Active Wild, 2017)

plays a major role in decreasing animal populations around the world (Dublin, 2017).

Poaching is a terrible crime against animals, where poachers kill innocent creatures to generate money from the sale of their body parts. Humans use these animal body parts to make medicine, jewellery and furniture.

Unsustainable or illegal hunting and trade

Another threat to endangered species is habitat loss and degradation which are caused by humans who cut down trees and use the

(Source: created by the author using Nearmap, 2017)

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environment in other ways, not acknowledging the effect that it will have on the ecosystem and its wildlife. When people destroy environments, they remove vital food sources and shelter and they also disrupt food chains (Dublin, 2017).

Destroying habitats and forcing animals into smaller areas makes it easier for animals to catch and spread diseases, which then decreases the population of that animal dramatically. This is not just happening internationally but in our local area. Figure 2 depicts a local residential estate which has recently been developed from what used to be bushland. The image demonstrates the loss of habitat in this area and animals would have been negatively affected by this development through a loss of food sources and shelter.

countries with the most threatened species.

Indonesia has the most threatened species, with a total of 184 species. Australia is 9th on the list with a total of 55 threatened species (Woollaston, 2015). Most of the countries listed in the table and in the map are considered to be developing countries that might not have money that they can spend on saving their wildlife. Also, the fact that people in developing countries do not have much money means that they will consider poaching animals to generate an income, even though it is illegal. For example, in the developing countries of Africa, they are not wealthy enough to prevent poachers from killing elephants or to educate the communities on why conservation is so important. This may lead to the population of some species declining rapidly.

Global warming and chemical pollution also affect the degradation of animal populations around the world, because animals are forced to live in environments which they havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t yet adapted to. Adaption takes millions of years and because ecosystems are changing so rapidly due to human activity, animals are finding it hard to keep up.

A biodiversity hotspot is a large region of the earth which is biodiverse or contains a large variety of plants and animals, although, these areas are also prone to habitat loss or destruction. There are 25 of these areas around the world and they have lost about 70% of their original habitat (Science Daily, 2017). Some of these areas include east and south-west Australia, the east coast of Africa, South America, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Iran and Turkey (UN-WCMC, 2014). As we can see in Figure 4, many of the biodiversity hotspots also have many threatened or endangered species. This indicates that one of

Locations of Endangered Species and Biodiversity Hotspots Figures 3 and 4 present data detailing where endangered species are found around the world. The table documents the top ten

Figure 3: Where Endangered Species are Found Around the World

(Source: created by the author using data in Woollaston, 2015)

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Figure 4: Top 10 Countries with the Most Endangered Species

Country

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Indonesia Madagascar Mexico India Brazil China Malaysia Thailand Australia Peru

Number of Endangered Species 184 114 101 94 82 73 70 55 55 54

Examples of Endangered Species

Sumatran Elephant Ruffed Lemur Jaguar Musk Deer Tapir Giant Panda Malayan tiger Javan rhinoceros Koala Yellow Tailed Wolly Monkey

Is this country in a region that is a biodiversity hotspot?

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

(Source: created by the author using data in Woollaston, 2015; UN-WCMC, 2014)

the main reasons why the creatures in these areas might be endangered is because of the habitat loss caused by humans and this is why the country is categorised as a biodiversity hotspot. Also, biodiversity hotspots contain wildlife that is only found in one particular area of the world (also known as a hyper-endemic species) and this could also be a reason why animals could be threatened or endangered.

Overall, it seems that money is the key to protecting biodiversity hotspots and the wildlife that they contain. In a developed country such as Australia, the government has created a $36 million dollar â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Maintaining Australia's Biodiversity Hotspots Programmeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which entails conserving hotspots of private and leasehold land, land salinity programs and water quality. The program aims to implement preventative measures to protect biodiversity hotspots now instead of waiting until it is damaged (Australian Government, 2017). This is different in developing countries where their governments are investing money in stopping current poaching activity. For example, in Botswana a large portion of their military budget goes towards funding large purchases like aircraft to patrol poaching activities. This will ensure tourists will continue to visit Botswana to observe endangered species on safari (which brings money to their economy) (Nkala, 2016).

countries of Africa and the data demonstrates that apart from Botswana and Zimbabwe, there are relatively low populations of elephants in Africa. It is clear that Botswana has the most elephants with 130,451 and Mali has the least, with 253 elephants. The elephant populations in eleven of these fifteen countries are either just stable or declining, making it obvious that people need to help save the African elephants and do what they can to increase the population of these animals (Steyn, 2014).

Figure 5: Population Ranges of Elephants in Africa

N

An example of an endangered animal that is found in a biodiversity hotspot is the African elephant. Figure 5 displays data about the population of elephants in the different

(Source: created by the author from data in Steyn 2014)

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Poaching and Elephants in Ivory Trade

Once the ivory has been illegally transported from Africa to these locations, people carve the ivory into jewellery or sculptures as per practices which have been a part of their culture for centuries. China is said to be ‘the world’s villain’ in ivory trade and this is for three reasons. Firstly, China has had a long history of ivory consumption; secondly, its government holds large sums of money to buy illegal products; and thirdly, the Chinese citizens say that they express their values and beliefs through the ivory (National Geographic, 2013).

This demand in China for ivory has caused many savannah and forest elephant populations in Africa to decline dramatically (World Wildlife Fund, 2017). Although elephants are being killed for the ivory and the trade of ivory is illegal, China still intends on

The African elephant is an animal which is commonly poached and used in illegal wildlife trade. Poachers hunt down and kill the elephants mainly for their ivory tusks. Figure 6 details which parts of an elephant are used by people and what they are used for.

Several reports have shown that between 50 and 80 elephants are being killed every day for their ivory and they are being traded, even though the international trade of ivory is banned (World Wildlife Fund, 2017) (Roberts, 2016) . The best known ivory markets are in Hong Kong, China and Vietnam. The ivory trade is run by criminals who are of the middleclass (Christy, 2012).

Figure 6: Body Parts of Elephants Used by Humans

(Source: created by the author; based on EleAid, 2017; image by Huska, 2015)

expanding its ivory market because researchers have found that 83% of China’s population will want to purchase ivory products in the future.

The fact that in 2012 more than 12% of the entire elephant population was killed for ivory has caused people to think that in ten years, African elephants could be extinct (National Geographic, 2013).

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is an international agreement between 80 governments that introduced a ban on illegal wildlife trade in 1975. At this time,

around 100,000 elephants were being poached per year and 80% of all herds were lost.

Illegal Trade of Ivory and Sale Prices Most of the ivory in the black market and other illegal wildlife trades is sourced from countries in Africa such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and Tanzania (Steyn, 2014) and they are transported secretly to Asian countries such as China, Vietnam and Hong Kong (Christy, 2012). In China, most ivory trade is 43

Figure 7: Locations of the Best Known Ivory Markets

Figure 8: Prices of Elephant Parts in Asia Elephant Parts Tusk Whole Elephant Ivory

N

Carved Ivory

Prices on the Market in Asia $2429 in Vietnam $38 056 $1147 per kilogram $4048 per kilogram

(Source: created by the author from data at Havocscope, 2017)

(Source: created by the author; map base creator unknown)

legal and this encourages the poachers to continue to kill. The people of China find it hard to tell the difference between the illegal and legal ivory trade because there are such large quantities in China. This is hard to believe considering ivory trade is illegal in parts of Africa such as Dar es Salaam. The reason that the African people continue to kill elephants is because the ivory is of such high value (National Geographic, 2013). If they find and collect the ivory, they will earn very large sums of money in return (see Figure 8). The wholesale price of ivory rose from $5 to $2361 per kilogram in approximately 25 years (Christy, 2012). The fact that the prices for ivory and elephant products are so high, causes people to not worry or think about what they have done to the elephants and the effect it will have on the environment; they are only motivated by the profit and income the illegal sales will generate.

Impacts of Removing Endangered Species from Habitats

dry riverbeds; their footprints form dents in the ground which hold water from which other animals drink, they create trails which can act like fire breaks; elephants create openings in forests or long grasses for other animals to use and they produce dung that provides other animals with vitamins, through seeds and nuts found in the dung (Amara Conservation, 2013).

Local communities of humans would also be affected if elephants or any other species were stripped from their habitats. Animals in the wild attract tourists and clients who are willing to go on safaris to witness these great creatures in natural habitats. This in turn creates income generating occupations such as tour directors and park rangers (Estrada, 2014). Tourists bring money into local economies (for example, they spend money at hotels, markets, restaurants) and help to keep local markets thriving. Without the animals, the tourists would be less motivated to travel to these parts of the world and the economies of these nations would suffer.

There are significant impacts and effects on both humans and the environment that people cause by taking animals from their natural habitats. There are a great number of activities that elephants perform which assist the environment and the other animals in it. For example, elephants help to dig waterholes in

If a predator was to become extinct, their prey could become over-populated and eat plants to extinction. On the other hand, if prey became extinct, predators would be over-populated and they could starve because they have lost an efficient source of food (Estrada, 2014). Figure 9 demonstrates the role that elephants have in 44

the food chain, and which animals would be affected if the elephant were to become extinct (Young 2015). For example, the second and third order consumers (hyena, cheetah and lion) would lose a valuable food source if the elephant were to become extinct. These animals would have to primarily source their food from zebras and warthogs. This would put pressure on the zebra and warthog species which may lead to them becoming vulnerable or endangered. In addition, if the hyenas, cheetahs and lions do not have access to enough food, their populations will quickly decline as well.

The Black Market and Punishments for Traders The black market is ‘an illegal traffic or trade in officially controlled or scarce commodities’ (Paper Dragon, 2017). The black market trading of money and goods occurs without the government knowing and it occurs ‘under the table’. This means that the government does not find out about the wealth of these traders and therefore they avoid fines and punishments. In fact, it has been found that the biggest black markets exist in areas that have a strict currency control and this is most likely because the citizens want to gain wealth that the government denies them (Investopedia, 2017).

The people involved in the black market participate in activities such as charging people more than the legal prices for goods, stealing, counterfeiting, or selling fake products and making side payments. The items that people

These impacts demonstrate that environments and ecosystems are very sensitive and they need to be looked after. If too many species are killed out, ecosystems will no longer be healthy and balanced. This could become a problem in the near future, meaning that this needs to change now, before it is too late.

Figure 9: African Elephants Food Web

(Source: created by the author; based on Young, 2015)

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trade in the black market consist of items such as illegal drugs, animals and human organs that are used for transplants (Dublin, 2017). Most of the time when members of the black market trade animals, poachers do not just kill the targeted animals, they kill everything in their paths. Once the poachers have killed the animals, for example elephants, they sell the ivory to the wealthy people of China and the

buyers use the ivory for carvings, jewellery, or guns (Onyango, 2012). If the government happens to catch any members of the black market trading goods or participating in any other activities, they are required to pay a fine that is three times as large as the value of the items they are trading. They could also be subjected to jail time (Paper Dragon, 2017).

How to Increase Animal Numbers Below is a checklist that the average person can use to make sure they do as much as they can for the environment and to protect endangered species.

Individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Checklist: Have you made a financial contribution by donating money to a worthwhile wildlife fund?

Have you signed a petition to help increase animal numbers?

Have you shared vital information on this topic through social media?

Have you adopted an animal to improve their living conditions?

Are you reducing, reusing and recycling in order to take care of the environment?

Are you purchasing and consuming less meat and products which consist of palm oil?

Are you reducing the amount of fuel you use by travelling by foot, bike or public transport? (adapted from World Wildlife Fund, 2017) However, as an individual, the power to protect endangered species is limited. Governments have more power to make changes and below is a checklist that a government can use to guide them in the right direction towards a more sustainable environment and to protect endangered species.

Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Checklist: Destroying habitats forces animals into unknown environments and most animals are not able to adapt to changes in habitat (Wildlife Journal Junior, 2017). Have you limited the amount of land and trees which are being destroyed?

Have you drastically reduced the amount of poaching which is happening around the world by setting punishments or consequences for these people?

Have you invested in programs which prevent wildlife poaching and instead encouraged the conservation of plants and animals?

Have you reduced the value of animal products, so that they are not so attractive and beneficial to ivory traders? This can be done by introducing harsh punishments/penalties for poachers and traders. This will need to be closely regulated and policed.

Human behaviour has a huge effect on the environment and its plants and animals. There are several ways that people can positively contribute to increasing animal numbers and preventing illegal wildlife trade and poaching. By protecting animals and their environments today, we will be improving sustainability of the world now and into the future.

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Elephant by s.lmeon; Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Active Wild (2017) List of Endangered Animals @ http://www.activewild.com/list-of-endangered-animals/ Amara Conservation (2013) Amara Elephant Blog @ http://www.amaraelephantblog.com/2013/06/why-we-needto-save-the-elephants.html Australian Government (2017) Biodiversity Hotspots; Retrieved from Department of the Environment and Energy @ http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/conservation/ho tspots Christy, B. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; National Geographic (2012) Ivory Worship; Retrieved from eLibrary @ http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/australia/do/document? set=search&searchType=natural&dictionaryClick=&secondary Nav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_australia&resultid=3&edition =&ts=1120A8DD9B277198FD9736B594FB9BC2_15013082142 60&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3B BCLib%3Bdocument%3B211848934 Dublin, H. (2017) Endangered Species; Retrieved from Britannica School @ http://school.eb.com.au/levels/high/article/endangeredspecies/32604 EleAid (2017) Elephant Poaching @ http://www.eleaid.com/elephant-conservation/elephantpoaching/ Estrada, O. (2014) Devastating Effects of Wildlife Poaching; Retrieved from One Green Planet: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/thedevastating-effects-of-wildlife-poaching/ Havocscope (2017) Prices of Exotic Animals and Wildlife; @ http://www.havocscope.com/exotic-animals-for-sale/ Huska, I. (2015) How to Draw an Elephant @ http://www.easy-drawings-and-sketches.com/draw-anelephant.html Investopedia (2017) Black Market @ http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blackmarket.asp National Geographic (2013) Episode 1: The Plight of the Elephant - Battle for the Elephants; Retrieved from YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNjb9uvurTU Nkala, O (2016) Botswana acquires 14 Bat Hawk aircraft to boost anti-poaching operations; Retrieved from Defence Web @ http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content &view=article&id=44050:botswana-acquires-14-bat-hawkaircraft-to-boost-anti-poachingoperations&catid=35:Aerospace&Itemid=107

Onyango, P. (2012) The Ivory Wars - Elephants Dying in Epic Frenzy as Ivory Fuels Wars and Profits | The New York Times; Retrieved from YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PMdd2NNm3M Paper Dragon (2017) Crime and Punishment @ http://www.paperdragon.com/2026/crime_and_punishment.html Roberts, G. (2016) Fifty elephants killed each day for last decade, study says amid key talks on ivory trade; Retrieved from The Telegraph @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/25/fiftyelephants-killed-each-day-for-last-decade-study-says-amid/ Science Daily (2017) Biodiversity Hotspot @ https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/biodiversity_hotspot.ht m Smith, L. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The Times of London (2008) Within our lifetime hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions; Retrieved from eLibrary @ http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/australia/do/results?set =search&source=&maxresultsperpage=0&start=1&secondaryN av=# Steyn, P (2014) African Elephant Numbers Plummet 30 Percent, Landmark Survey Finds; Retrieved from National Geographic @ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/wildlife-africanelephants-population-decrease-great-elephant-census/ UN-WCMC - United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Centre (2014) Biodiversity A-Z @ http://biodiversityaz.org/content/biodiversity-hotspots Wildlife Journal Junior (2017) Population; Retrieved from New Hampshire Public Television @ http://www.nhptv.org/wild/population.asp Woollaston, V (2015) Animals on the brink of extinction: World maps reveal the countries with the most endangered mammals; Retrieved from Daily Mail @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article3037027/Animals-brink-extinction-World-maps-revealcountries-endangered-mammals.html World Wildlife Fund (2017) African Elephants @ http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/elep hants/african_elephants/ World Wildlife Fund (2017) Get Involved @ http://www.wwf.org.au/get-involved#gs.eWGItVA Young, C. (2015) African Elephant Food Web; Retrieved from Thinglink @ https://www.thinglink.com/scene/522840236963659777

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Collapsing Lungs The ‘lungs of the earth’, the Amazon rainforest, is shrinking. Rachel Chiong (Year 9) takes us through deforestation problems and solutions.

According to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund, 2017) 31% of the land area on this planet is forest. But sadly, forests have been threatened by deforestation, the permanent destruction of forests in order to make the land available for other uses.

(Source: created by the author, based on Sawe, 2017)

The Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world; it spans over 40% of the South American continent (Butler, 2017), covering 6.7 million km2 of land (WWF, 2017). The rainforest is spread amongst nine South American countries.

The wet, broadleaf rainforest, is often known as the “lungs of the planet”, as it produces more than 20% of the earth’s oxygen. One in ten known species on the planet are found in the Amazon rainforest (Butler, 2017).

Figure 1: Map of South America & the Amazon Rainforest

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I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’ by John Maier – BBC World Service; Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

What is Deforestation?

Cattle Ranching

Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests on a massive scale, in order to make land available for other uses. It often results in damaging the quality of the land, and its effects are permanent on the natural landscape.

According to the National Geographic Society (2017), it is estimated that “18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are destroyed and cleared every year”. Rainforests could completely vanish within a hundred years, based on the current rate of deforestation.

Unfortunately, deforestation has greatly affected the Amazon rainforest, having lost more than 18% of its land coverage (National Geographic Society, 2017).

As shown in Figure 2, half of the shrinking of the Amazon rainforest is due to cattle ranching.

This is because farmers needed more room for grazing livestock. Amazon Brazil is home to approximately 200 million head of cattle, and is the largest exporter in the world, supplying about one quarter of the global market. For farmers and cattle ranchers, using land from the Amazon is an attractive method of making money, as there is a low input cost and transportation in rural areas is cheaper. Around 450,000 km2 of deforested land in the rainforest is due to cattle ranching (Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, n.d.)

Small and Large Scale Agriculture

What causes deforestation?

In the 20th century, most of the deforested Amazonian land was used by farmers to sustain themselves and their families through agriculture and cattle ranching. This is still the case, however, with large companies joining in, the amount of the rainforest cleared each year is much larger. Crops such as coffee and cacao, often known as the ‘cash crops’ are grown here, due to the rainforest’s temperate climate. As well as these, masses of corn and soy are grown in these areas by large industrial companies.

These crops are often native to the area, however, are grown excessively over large areas of land, and grown by farmers and large companies. Often, if the soil in a particular area is overused and is therefore deemed unusable, farmers move to another area of land to grow their crops, leaving their abandoned land behind. The effects of this is permanent as the rainforest cannot thrive as well as it once did in these used and deforested areas of land (Bradford, 2015; Rainforest Alliance, 2012).

Tragically, deforestation happens everywhere.

Approximately 80,000 acres of rainforest are lost every day. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (2012), ‘Forests have been cleared to make room for cities and farms and to produce timber, food and fuel for domestic and export markets, with the goal – if not always the result – of producing a higher standard of living for humans.’ The main causes of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest listed here also apply to rainforests across the world.

Figure 2: Causes of Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest

CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST Large-scale agriculture 5%

Logging 3%

Other 2%

Small-scale agriculture 24%

Cattle Ranching 66%

(Source: created by the author using data from Butler, 2017)

Slash and burn agriculture in the Amazon by Matt Zimmerman; Licensed under CC BY 2.0

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Logging and Industrialisation About 3% of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is due to the logging industry. This is for both wood and paper products. Some of the logging in the rainforest is done legally, however most is done illegally. Loggers often build illegal roads to go further into the Amazon rainforest, thus affecting the amount of deforestation more. Due to industrialisation, many developing agrarian (farming) societies have been pressured into being part of this growing business to support the demand for their goods (Bradford, 2015).

20090725 Deforestation by Wagner T. Cassimiro “Aranha”; Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Figure 3: Logging and Wildfires

(Source: created by the author)

Urbanization

Wildfire Deforestation

Urbanization is not a major threat to the Amazon rainforest (as of yet), being part of the small 2% ‘other’ sector in Figure 2. However, it is an increasing threat. Cities are expanding into the rainforest regions. Eventually, more forest will be cleared to help to sustain the growing population of cities such as Sao Paulo.

Being the other part of the ‘other’ sector in Figure 2, wildfire deforestation is not currently a major threat to the Amazon rainforest. These hinder the growth of young trees. Although rainforests typically have enough moisture to not face the threat of wildfires, “human activities are making them much more flammable,” says Professor Jos Barlow, a leading researcher in this field (Gill, 2016).

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Unfortunately, the fire season in the Amazon rainforest is growing longer and more intense every year. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Between 1979 to 2013, the annual fire season increased by 18.7%â&#x20AC;&#x2122; (Greenpeace USA, n.d.). This means that wildfires are becoming an increasing threat to the rainforest.

Although naturally occurring wildfires are a threat, most of them are indirectly started by humans, such as through tree logging (Gill, 2016).

What are the Effects of Deforestation?

These causes of Amazon deforestation can also be related to other rainforests around the world.

(Source: created by the author)

Approximately 17% of all the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s carbon is stored in the trees of the Amazon rainforest, making slowing down deforestation in that region particularly vital (Van Der Werf et al, 2009).

Climate Change Possibly the most significant negative effect of deforestation is that it negatively effects the carbon cycle and therefore, climate change.

Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic (human-caused) source of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, ranging between 6% and 17% (Van Der Werf et al, 2009). Trees play a vital role in absorbing greenhouse gases.

Figure 4: Deforestation and the Carbon Cycle

Carbon is not the only greenhouse gas affecting climate change. Water vapour is also considered a greenhouse gas according to Michael Daley, an Associate Professor of Environmental Science (Lallanilla, 2015).

Global vapour flows have decreased by 4% as a result of deforestation. Changes in global vapour flows would disrupt natural weather patterns and change the climate in places (Gordon, 2005).

There are also some indirect effects from the causes mentioned before that impact climate change heavily.

Logging, and therefore, the drying up of vegetation and consequently the wildfires, all affect climate change.

Habitat Loss The Amazon rainforest is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. It is home to more than 400 types of mammals, 1,300 sorts of birds, 40,000 plant species and millions of insect variants (WWF, 2017).

(Source: created by the author)

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cleared to make way for more land, but even after the land is clear, the soil composition changes and it is harder for new seeds to grow in them as the soil is more compact due to human activity in the area. This then impacts the natural landscape, causing more erosion as the soil is not as protected as it once was. Cash crops such as coffee and cacao also negatively impact the soil and cause further soil erosion.

This is especially the case for soy plants, which are very commonly grown in the Amazon region (WWF, 2017).

This accounts for about 10% of known species to man. The loss of habitat can threaten the population of species, making some of them endangered, or worse, extinct. Their extinction not only affects the overall biodiversity in the world, but also research efforts. Many species have been and are currently being studied for medicinal reasons and having these species going extinct can really hinder this research.

Local tribes who rely on hunting in the rainforest for food are also disadvantaged as there are fewer animals for them to hunt (WWF, 2017).

Disruption to the Water Cycle Trees naturally absorb rainfall and convert that to water vapour which is then released into the atmosphere, through a process called plant transpiration. The average tree releases 7001700 litres of water into the atmosphere every day through the surface area of its leaves. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;In the Amazon, more than half the water in the ecosystem is held within the plantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; (National Geographic Society, 2017).

Due to deforestation, there are less trees to keep the water in the rainforest and not end up in the rivers. This makes the rainforest drier and could cause permanent drying. A study by the North Carolina State University shows that trees also help to lessen the amount of pollution in waterways, by reducing run-off (Rowe, n.d.).

(Source: created by the author)

Research has shown that once a species loses its habitat, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t die off immediately, but after several generations. Animals are very instinctive and intelligent. But with the destruction of their habitat, many animals are not able to care for their young and protect themselves. When wildlife is moved forcibly, away from their habitat, their instincts are no longer useful and it changes their entire way of living, often threatening their survival.

Different habitats mean that they would have to make or live in different natural shelters and face new types of predators. This further threatens their population (WWF, 2017).

Once these lands are dried up and become barren and unusable by the farmers who cleared them, it gets left and the farmers clear another plot of land, continuing the deforestation cycle. The abandoned land is no longer fertile and good for growing and consequently, gets flooded more easily. The soil is compact and cannot retain water as well as it once did (Rowe, n.d.).

Destruction of Homelands There are approximately 350 native Latin American tribes living in the Amazon rainforest. Due to deforestation, their homelands are being taken away and they are being forced to move to other regions. It also means that the soil which they grow their food on or the trees which they gather it from are not as accessible as they once were and could greatly disadvantage their way of living.

Deforestation means that their sources of meat food decreases as animals move, become harder to find or go extinct (Zuckerman, n.d.).

Climate change, one of the other effects of deforestation, would also impact habitat loss.

As more trees are being cut down, more carbon is released and therefore, temperatures are warmer. Organisms cannot cope or adapt properly to the warmer temperatures and eventually die out.

Soil Erosion Plants are also heavily affected because of deforestation. Not only are they cut down and 52

Action to slow deforestation Dr. Yenny Tjoe, author of the unpublished thesis “Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Livelihoods: An analysis of Selected Subsistence Communities of West Timor, Indonesia” gave her insight to this topic during an interview specifically for this report.

“We cannot stop deforestation,” Dr. Tjoe said.

“We need land because the human population is always increasing so every year we would need new land.” Greedy companies will only get greedier and there is no way that we can stop deforestation. However, deforestation can be slowed down. If the world’s net forest area continues to decline by 5.2 million hectares per year (the average net annual loss between 2000 and 2010), it will take 775 years to lose all of the world’s forests. This would seem to provide enough time for action to slow or stop global deforestation (United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, 2012).

(Source: created by the author)

Anyone can help: whether it be on a large scale where the government helps to slow it down, or it being as small as every person planting a tree in their garden. Every act, whether big or small, helps to slow down deforestation.

What governments and NGOs can do Government Monitoring and Law Enforcement According to Dr Tjoe,“deforestation can be slowed down by having a more systematic way of using the land, so, instead of letting the individuals clear the land, we should let institutions monitor the land.” Stricter government restrictions, laws and monitoring will definitely help to slow down deforestation.

Since 2004, there have been declines in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest (which takes up roughly two thirds of the whole rainforest). This is because the government, as recommended by the United Nations, enforced stricter laws surrounding deforestation, with better patrolling systems such as satellite monitoring and on-ground rangers. This was further aided by the strong campaigning of NGOs, as well as more protected areas and reserves (Butler, 2017).

Together, about 80% of all deforestation in Brazil has been reduced since 2004. This is represented in Figure 5.

Seedling planting by USFS Region 5 Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Figure 5: Brazil Deforestation Rates

(Source: created by the author from data at Butler, 2017)

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Unfortunately, not all countries and governments are following in the path of the Brazilian government, with some Amazonian countries having an increase in deforestation, which is devastating. These include countries such as Peru and Bolivia (Butler, 2017).

What Everyone Can Do Plant a Tree Just planting one tree, or several trees in the garden or in a pot can do so much for the environment. Trees store carbon and breathe out much needed oxygen, helping to lower the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere.

There are plenty of tree plantations that sell tree saplings at a low cost. Although they may look small at first, over years they will strengthen and grow into beautiful, environment-saving trees. There are approximately 7.5 billion people living on this earth, and if every single person plants a tree, that’s 7.5 billion more trees combating climate change, 7.5 billion more trees able to increase biodiversity and provide a place for animals to live.

Reforestation Due to the severity of deforestation that has already occurred, reforestation will not help with the extinction of species. Michael Daley believes that “unfortunately, we have already diminished the population of many species to such an extreme that they might not recover, even with a massive reforestation effort” (Lallanilla, 2015). This is a plausible argument, as we cannot recover what is already dead, and what is dying out cannot be re-populated as soon as the new trees are planted. Animals have already been displaced and endangered, and just because a certain area suddenly has more trees, it doesn’t mean that the animals will migrate to that place and thrive in it. After all, it is another change in their habitat, another lengthy adaptation process would have to ensue once more. Although reforestation may not aid the endangered species, it will:

Go Vegetarian Although to most, the idea of not having a meatbased diet is quite daunting and impossible to imagine, moving to a more plant-based diet can help to reduce the amount of deforestation.

This is because one of the leading causes of deforestation is cattle-ranching. Consuming less meat means that there is a lower demand for meat, so less rainforests need to be cut down to make way for ranching. The book “The Cowspiracy Cookbook: The PLANeT BASED DIET’ written by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn provides a detailed 30 day plan to help people switch from a meat based diet to a plant based one (Cowspiracy, 2017).

rebuild wildlife habitats (though it may take a while for animals to relocate and adapt to these regions); help store carbon from the atmosphere, therefore slowing global warming and ultimately, climate change; and help to restore the carbon and water cycle.

Figure 6: How Cattle Farming Impacts the Environment

(Source: created by the author, based on Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, n.d.)

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https://nirantaradrusti.wordpress.com/2009/07/25/majorenvironmental-problem-deforestation/ Forest International. (n.d.). FSC Controlled Wood. Retrieved from FSC International: https://ic.fsc.org/en/what-is-fsccertification/controlled-wood Friends of the Earth Australia. (n.d.). Take Action.

Retrieved from Friends of the Earth Australia: http://www.foe.org.au/take_action Gill, V. (2016). Amazon fires: Humans make rainforest more flammable. Retrieved from BBC News UK: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36656443 Gordon, J. (2005). Human Modification of Global Water Vapour Flows from the Land Surface. Retrieved from Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7850138_Human_ Modification_of_Global_Water_Vapor_Flows_From_the_Lan d_Surface Greenpeace USA. (n.d.). Amazon Rainforest. Retrieved from Greenpeace USA: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/forests/amazon-rainforest/ Kukreja, R. (n.d.). 15+ Phenomenal Ways To Stop Deforestation and Protect Our Planet. Retrieved from Conserve Energy Future: http://www.conserve-energyfuture.com/phenomenal-ways-to-stop-deforestation-andprotect-our-planet.php Lallanilla, M. (2015). Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Causes and Sources. Retrieved from Live Science: https://www.livescience.com/37821-greenhouse-gases.html National Geographic. (n.d.). Deforestation. Retrieved from National Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/deforestation/ National Geographic Society. (2017). South America: Resources. Retrieved from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/southamerica-resources/ Rainforest Alliance. (2012). Coffee. Retrieved from Rainforest Alliance: http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/species/coffee Redman, L. (2013). Deforestation Impacts on the Earth’s Water Cycle. Retrieved from 3P Learning: http://www.3plearning.com/deforestation-impacts-earthswater-cycle/ Rowe, J. (n.d.). Trees and the Water Cycle. Retrieved from (Perma)Culture and Sanity: http://permaculture-andsanity.com/pcarticles/trees-and-the-water-cycle.php Sawe, B. E. (2017). Countries Sharing the Amazon Rainforest.

Retrieved from World Atlas: http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/countries-sharing-theamazon-rainforest.html Scientific American. (2009). Measuring the Daily Destruction of the World's Rainforests. Retrieved from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earth-talks-dailydestruction/ Tjoe, Y. (2017). Interview by R.Chiong United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation.

(2012). State of the World's Forests. Retrieved from United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation: http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3010e/i3010e.pdf Van der Werf, G.R. et al. (2009). CO2 emissions from forest loss. Retrieved from Nature Geoscience: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v2/n11/abs/ngeo671.htm l World Wildlife Fund. (n.d.). Deforestation. Retrieved from World Wildlife Fund: http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation World Wildlife Fund. (2017). About the Amazon. Retrieved from World Wildlife Fund: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/amazon/ about_the_amazon/ Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. (n.d.).

Cattle Ranching in the Amazon Region. Retrieved from Global Forest Atlas: http://globalforestatlas.yale.edu/amazon/landuse/cattle-ranching Zuckerman, A., & Koenig, K. (n.d.). From well to wheel: the social, environmental, and climate costs of Amazon crude.

Retrieved from Amazon Watch: http://amazonwatch.org/assets/files/2016-amazon-crudereport.pdf

Buy Sustainably Sourced Wood and Wood Products When purchasing wood and wood products, look for the FSC logo. The FSC (or Forest Stewardship Council) is a non-government international organisation founded in Bonn, Germany, but is recognised all over the world.

They work to protect forests from illegal logging of trees for wood. Products that have the FSC logo are certified as being logged legally and in a sustainable way (Forest International, n.d.).

Figure 7: FSC Logo

(Source: Forest International, n.d.)

Get Actively Involved Another way to help to fight deforestation is to be in the front line and become part of a nongovernment organisation such as: Friends of the Earth – help to save and create parks to conserve forests and rainforests.

World Wildlife Fund - Nature – serve as a member of this organisation.

Greenpeace - volunteer or work for the organisation, attend campaigns and marches to raise awareness.

Donating to these NGOs is also a way to help, but being part of an organisation and consciously making decisions to slow down deforestation is more effective and rewarding.

Sources Bradford, A. (2015). Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects.

Retrieved from Live Science: http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html Butler, R. (2017). The Amazon Rainforest: The World's Largest Rainforest. Retrieved from Mongabay: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/ Cowspiracy. (2017). The Facts. Retrieved from Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret: http://www.cowspiracy.com/ Drusti, N. (2009). Major environmental problem – Deforestation. Retrieved from Nirantara Drusti:

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Deforestation by Eugenia Loli; Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

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