Blog Topic #4

Dharavi Slum


The Dharavi slum in Mumbai, India is one of the largest slums in the world. The slum covers an area of 535 acres. It is estimated to have a population of 600,000 to 1 million people. This computes to around 1,500 people per acre. (an acre is slightly less than a football field)



The Indian Government has developed a plan to demolish the slum and turn it into a more modern part of the city. Included in this plan is the relocation of "registered" families to free apartments elsewhere. There are around 51,000 registered families in Dharavi. The number of families not registered is somewhere around 100,000 more families. There is also no plans to relocate the thousands of successful businesses run out of Dharavi, which is the home to some of the cities "best leatherworkers, as well as textile and furniture factories, potteries and bakeries." The cost of this project is estimated to be in the range of $1.3 billion. This project would be very expensive and leave a very large amount of people homeless. If the Indian Government has enough money and can find housing for a large majority of the Dharavi residents, the project would be a good change for the city of Mumbai. 

http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501060619/slum.html

Blog Topic #3

This video is showing a underwater volcano of the coast of Indonesia. Since volcanoes usually are located along plate boundaries, this shows that Indonesia is located next to a plate boundary. Having a plate boundary near Indonesia can show that the country is very mountainous and also has many volcanoes located on and around it. The underwater volcano is said to be  more than 10,000 feet off of the ocean floor. At the boundaries of tectonic plates, there can be deep water trenches that form. I would say that a 10,000 feet underwater volcano would have to be in a deep water trench.

I selected this video because the thought of having found new animal species, on this underwater volcano, to be very interesting. Adding to my curiosity was the fact that this volcano is 10,000 feet off the ocean floor, yet is still under water.

Blog Topic #2

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/australia-day-to-showcase-national-spirit-20110125-1a404.html


January 26th is very important and celebrated day in the country of Australia. This is the date that is known as Australia Day. For Americans we can relate to this day very well. It has much of the same feel as July 4th does. Australians celebrate this day in many of the same ways that July 4th is celebrated. There are many festivals throughout Australia on this day, with different kinds of activities. According to the article posted above, "History buffs may take to Sydney Harbour to commemorate the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788." Just like on July 4th in the U.S., fireworks will fill the Australian sky at nightfall, to cap off the very eventful day. Overall this is a day for Australians show pride in there country. This pride is shown in our textbook on page 647, "Many American television programs appear down under, although the Australian media are mandated to show at least 50 percent local programming from 6 A.M. to midnight in order to "keep the Australia in Austrailian television.""




http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/big-benefits-from-immigration/story-e6frg71x-1225995723499


Immigration in Australia is a very important and hot topic right now. The above article explains how Australian people are split into 2 groups. One believes that business would greatly benefit from more immigrants. They believe this because the only reason the country is showing increased revenue from exports is because of higher prices not increased volume of exports that more workers would bring. The other side believes that more immigrants would take jobs away from Australians. From what I read this issue will probably never be resolved, but will continue to be around for awhile. The impact that migrants have on Australian society is a very large one, with " around 25 percent of Australia's people now immigrants,.." (Page 646 of our text book) That is a very large percentage of the population being foreign born. While reading through the article I understand both sides of Australia's immigration debate, yet i can not say that there is a certain side that has a better argument. All I can say is good luck Australia on trying to figure this one out.