The Voting Youth in Gerneral Elections

            Voter turnout directly affects which government will be elected to parliament and whether that government will form a majority or not. In recent years, the voter turnout of ages 18-24 has been declining with each federal election, to the point where this age group has the lowest voting turnout out of all eligible voters. According to Elections Canada, “voter turnout fell to an all-time low in the 2008 federal election, with only 58.8% of eligible voters actually voting. In addition, the Canadian Parliamentary Review points out that “in the 37^th general election, only 25% of ages 18-24 voted, while voters 58 and older had a turnout of nearly 81.1%”.

 Although these statistics may seem shocking, it is of greater importance to know why the voter turnouts of 18-24 year olds are the lowest in the country. There are many factors that contribute to low voting turnout, such as access or proximity to voting stations and disinterest in party platform or leadership. According to the Canadian Parliamentary Review, many people did vote in the last election because “ the polling stations were in an unfamiliar neighbourhood or section that was unheard of to the voter,” as well as the “availability of transportation, such as a bus route, to the voting station” have caused many voters to opt out of the voting process. In respect to disinterest in leadership, the Canadian University Press points out that “recent and ongoing attack ads and generally negative exchanges between parties is something young people simply don’t want to see in politics”. This can be said for a lot of people my age, because we would rather see parties present platforms that would benefit the country, instead of bashing other parties to gain voter apathy. However, many organizations, such as Elections Canada, are trying to persuade young people to vote. According to Canadian University Press, voter turnout can be increased by “reaching out to voters, either on campuses or through social media, because that is where most young people are located nowadays”.  In addition, many young voters believe that the government doesn’t care about young people and the topics that concern them. If we don’t get young voters to start voting now, then this trend of decreasing voter turnout can be adopted by the older generations as well, which could lead to even a lower voting turnout than 58.8% in the last federal election.

The earthquake that hit Japan

           I am sure you have all heard about the devastating earthquake and tsunami that have struck Japan. With the largest earthquake ever recorded( 8.9 on the Richter scale),there is no doubt a lot of damage that has resulted, as well as many tens of thousands of Japanese people either missing or dead. Fortunately for the Japanese, they were well prepared for an earthquake, despite the high death toll. Japan is the one nation in the world that is most prepared to handle an earthquake. Many of its buildings, such as skyscrapers and office buildings have shock absorbers built beneath the buildings, so it can absorb the majority of the shock, thus keeping these buildings upright. Many students and businesses have safety drills that they regularly perform, such as hiding under a desk or table, just in case a sudden earthquake was to occur.  In addition, Japan is one of the wealthiest and efficient nations in the world, which has driven Japan to probably be the most technological advanced society on Earth as well. All these factors helped to prepare Japan for an earthquake, otherwise the death toll and destruction of the country would be far greater than it is today. Japan is also one of the nicest countries in the world, because it has always been to help when other countries experienced turmoil and natural disasters. Therefore, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Japan has received help from nations all around the world, trying to help relieve Japan from the effects of the largest earthquake ever recorded in history. Since Japan’s earthquake preparedness has saved a lot of potential lives, its economy didn’t suffer as bad as it would have if Japan wasn’t prepared. This in turn, saved the global economy from dipping further down into our current recession, which has saved many jobs from being lost. Although Japan has experienced one of the worst disasters since the second world war, it has quickly responded to the earthquake, and with our help, Japan can rebuild itself and prosper in the world as it did just a few months ago.

Did we lose focus on the environment?

Did we lose focus on the environment when the current recession started over 2 years ago? This is just one of many questions that I worry and interest me about the environment. Ever since we have been struck by this current recession, many environmental efforts promised by many governments, such as lowering C02 emissions, have either been delayed or abolished. It is understandable that the recession has affected everyone around the world, causing an increase in unemployment, but that doesn’t mean we should give up trying to repair the damage we have caused to the environment. Fortunately, we do have technology out there that can fully replace fossil fuels, but in the end it all comes down to the cost of renewable energy. The equipment used to produce renewable energy is costly, mainly because the supply is a lot scarcer than fossil fuels, yet fossil fuels are a non-renewable resource that is disappearing at a fast rate.  Many environmentalists believe that we will only have crude oil for the next 150 years, but since the global population is constantly increasing, the consumption of crude oil will go up and our oil deposits will deplete faster than the current rate.

More important is the effect that fossil fuels have on our planet. Carbon dioxide emissions naturally cause the greenhouse effect that warms our planet. However, we are emitting more emissions into the air than can be recycled by plants. This runaway greenhouse gas effect, if left untouched, will drastically change our environment that will cause a massive extinction of many different organisms that we rely on to live. Many of our own species will die as well, which may lead us back into the dark ages. If we don’t start to act now, then our planet and many species will struggle to survive and also make current situations, such as poverty, worse than they are now. Unfortunately, our governments can only do so much, so it is also up to many individuals to do their part in improving the environment. Even the little things, like using fluorescent light bulbs or using less water, can increase the conservation of energy and decrease our reliance on fossil fuels. Although a complete switch away from fossil fuels to renewable energy isn’t practical, a progressive switch or the combination of both renewable energy and fossil fuels is most likely the best place to start. Even though a mass extinction caused by global warming is quite unlikely, our environment is changing, and we need to slow down this change, in order to prevent the loss of habitat, species populations and our way of life.

Out with the Old and In with the New

The need for change in Northern Africa and the Middle East is evident because the citizens of these countries are tired of being oppressed by these brutal dictators that have been in power for many decades. The citizens of these countries have experienced widespread poverty and violence that has caused many people to revolt against the government in hopes that a change in leadership will result in a brighter and more prosperous future. Since we are in an age of information, many of the citizens in the Middle East and Northern Africa, most being around my age group, have become educated enough to realize the extent of brutality these dictators have forced upon their citizens, which has lead these citizens to form a united front and revolt against the government . Unfortunately, a monarchy or one-party state is only as good as its leader.  The majority of these one-party states and monarchies have brutal dictators that use fear and violence to keep control of their citizens, while they take from the poor and increase the wealth of the nobility.

Yet, the most important question that concerns us is- how will this conflict in northern Africa and the Middle East affect us here at home? To begin with, we have already seen and are currently experiencing negative effects from these conflicts, from increased tension between the western powers and the Middle East as well as rising gas prices from the conflict in Libya. Although these are minor changes that affect our lives, I believe there are more changes to come, both good and bad. In the global economy today, every nation’s economy is interconnected with each other, so when one economy collapses, it will negatively affect many other nation’s economies as well. If this conflict in the Middle East escalates and spreads to other nations in the Middle East and Africa, it will cause further problems with our economy, and this could possibly stall our struggle to escape from this recession and may even affect food prices here at home. On the other hand, this conflict in the Middle East may result in new governments with new leaderships that may improve their current economies, which in turn would benefit many other economies around the world. Hopefully, all of these revolts in the Middle East are successful and result in a government that the people or citizens strive to have and ultimately have the potential to change the world in a good way.