Month: February 2009

Ecological Footprints

picture-11Religious Studies 35

As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. (Genesis 8:22)

All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it’s here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster. BARACK OBAMA, speech, Apr. 3, 2006

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday that Canada “must act” to curb global warming after a newly released report that warns humans are “very likely” the cause of the problem.

“The problem is enormous. It’s large, it’s long-term and there are no quick fixes to this,” Harper told reporters in Ottawa.  Feb. 2 2007, CTV.ca News (full article)

Global climate change needs global action now.  The alarm bells ought to be ringing in every capital of the world.

John Gummer, British Environmental Secretary, quoted by Roy Greenslade, The Observer, 21 Jul 96

Climate change is no longer a doomsday prophecy, it’s a reality.

Astrid Heiberg, president of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, quoted in Gist Magazine, 23 Jul 99

The following are links to websites with ecological footprints.  Go to one or two of the links and calculate your footprint.  For the footprint to mean anything, you MUST answer honestly.  Then write a paragraph whereby you indicate your footprint(s) and explain what effect your footprint says you have on the biological ecology.  You also MUST react to one of the quotes in your paragraph.  You may disagree with a quote, but clearly indicate why you disagree with it and provide something concrete to support your point of view. The rubic used to grade this paragraph is on the page titled ecological rubric (right side ).  Once completed, print your paragraph and hand in.

I would recommend the following two links

Royal Saskatchewan Museum (short and easy to use)

University of BC (also short and easy to use)

Global Ecological Footprint (very short, probably too short and not as accurate)

Earth Day Network (This is a fun site.  It measures in numbers of earths.  You just slide the bar to indicate your answer.  You can also select basic or more detailed answers.  It will, however, take longer to do.)

Best foot forward footprint (short and easy to use)

The Last Supper

At the Last Supper, Jesus met with his disciples for the last time before his death. He knew that he would be betrayed by Judas Iscariot and denied by Peter, two good friends. Nevertheless, he promised them his eternal love. Jesus said that a Holy Spirit would guide his followers.

All people need guidance. Where do you get your guidance from? How do you decide when to take guidance from a particular person?

Facts about Judaism

Here are some facts about Judaism. Write a post about this ancient religion in your blog.

  • 3,500 years old
  • Founded by Abraham and Moses
  • Jewish people are specially chosen by God.
  • Followers worship in synagogues; their spiritual leaders are called rabbis.
  • Has twelve million followers, most of whom are in Israel and the United States.
  • Six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust in an attempt to wipe out Judaism.

Biblical Phrases

Many everyday phrases were first used in the Bible. Match phrases to meanings.

1. a drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15)
2. At their wits’ end (Psalms 107:2)
3. A man after my own heart (I Samuel 13:14)
4. Give up the ghost (Job 3:11)
5. As old as the hills (Job 15:7)

a. Unable to handle anything more
b. A kindred spirit
c. A small amount of a plentiful commodity
d. Very, very old
e. To die, to cease working

Jewish Names

Jewish history and culture have affected many aspects of Western civilization: it literature, its art, its philosophy. One small measure of this is the use of traditionally Jewish names. Abraham Lincoln was named for a Jewish patriarch. So was Noah Webster. Many people today have traditionally Jewish names, such as Adam, Luke, Joshua, Rachel, Sarah, Deborah, Naomi, and Nathan.

List as many well-known people as you can who carry Jewish names.

Monotheism and Polytheism

Monotheism is a belief in one god alone. Polytheism is a belief in many gods. Around 2000 BC.E., most peoples in the Mediterranean region believed in many gods. They saw each force of nature – the wind, the sun, the rain – as a separate deity. This was a way of explaining the world in which they lived.

Unlike most of their neighbours, the Jews believed in one god, not many. Think about what you know about the history and geography of the region. How do you think the Jewish belief in one god affected their interactions with the other people?

Jewish History: Part 1

The history of the Jews goes back thousands of years. Below are some important events in the years before the Common Era (B.C.E.). Use your knowledge of Judaism and the history of the region to determine their correct order. Number them 1-10, with 1 as the earliest event.

a. Cyrus, king of Persia, allows the Jews to return to Judah.
b. The kingdom of Israel splits in two. The northern kingdom continues to be called Israel. The southern kingdom is called Judah.
c. Abraham, to whom the Jews trace their ancestry, is told to leave Mesopotamia and settle in Canaan, which is now Israel.
d. When King Antiochus tries to force Jews to worship idols, a group of rebels overthrows the king.
e. The kingdom of Israel is founded.
f. Judah comes under the control of Alexander the Great.
g. Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt and receives the laws of God.
h. The Babylonians conquer the southern kingdom of Judah.
i. Persia conquers Babylonia.
j. The Assyrians conquer the northern kingdom of Israel.

Jewish History: Part 2

The history of the Jews goes back thousands of years. Below are some important evens in the first thousand years of the Common Era. Use your knowledge of Judaism, and the history of the region to determine their correct order. Number them 1-8, with 1 as the earliest event.

a. After the Jewish expulsion from Jerusalem by the Romans, Jewish oral law is written down in a book called the Mishnah.
b. Jews in the Roman Empire are repressed.
c. The Romans reconquer Jerusalem and destroy the Temple.
d. The Muslim Empire expands to cover southwestern Asia, northern Aftrica, and Spain
e. Jews rebel against Roman rule and seize Jerusalem.
f. The Jews begin to scatter around the world.
g. Christianity becomes the primary religion of the Roman Empire.
h. The Romans crush the rebellion and prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem.

Jewish History: Part 3

The history of the Jews goes back thousands of years. Below are some important evens in that history between 1000 and 1900. Use your knowledge of Judaism and the history of the region to determine their correct order. Number them 1-8, with 1 as the earliest event.

a. Jews from Eastern Europe begin to emigrate to Israel, then called Palestine.
b. One hundred thousand Jews are massacred in Poland.
c. The Crusades, intended to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule, begin; they result in the deaths of many Jews.
d. A series of massacres of Jews, called pogroms, begins in Russia.
e. Much of Europe blames the Black Plague on Jews; hundreds of Jewish communities destroyed.
f. French Jews are granted full citizenship for the first time since the Roman Empire.
g. Russia requires thirty-one years of military service for Jews, beginning at age twelve.
h. Jews of Vienna are forced to move into a ghetto called Leoplodstadt.