2. A total of about 25 skiers plunged from a malfunctioning ski lift at a resort in Western Virginia on Saturday morning, February 20th. According to authorities, two people were injured as a result. The more than two dozen people fell 30 feet from the lift at Timberline Resort in Davis when it was halted by a mechanical failure, as reported by Joe Stevens, a spokesman for the West Virginia Ski Areas Association. Also, around 100 more people were left stranded on the lift for nearly two hours before they were rescued. According to a statement from Timberline, nine of the people who fell off the lift were evaluated, however only two were sent to the hospital with minor injuries. The police statement said that local fire departments as well as helicopter ambulances responded, but the helicopters were not needed. Finally, the broken lift was shut down for the…
After times of famine, war and economic dislocation, poverty increased with close to 80 percent of a region’s population was faced with possible starvation each day while almost 50 percent of Europe’s population were living on the subsistence level, barely having enough food and shelter to survive. The attitudes of those in the middle class and the more elite ranged from pity to distaste, proposing different solutions like punishing the poor, regulating them, or giving them help out of sympathy.…
While obtaining food seemed to be the entire purpose of life for the people imprisoned in the camps, it often killed more people than it saved. Though focusing on food seemed like a logical thing to do when you are being starved, it was not always very effective in helping people survive. There are many situations in the book illustrating how living for the sole purpose of acquiring food—under any condition—could turn out to be lethal.…
2. How the effects of the lack of land available was the cause for immigration.…
Awhile before the horrendous events of the Black Death occurred, there was The Great Famine of 1315. I had not previously heard of or known about this period of history before writing this paper. At the beginning of the 14th century, the population in Europe had steadily been growing so large that there was no room for any crop failure or shortage. However, climate change in the spring of 1315 gave them a wet spring that proved to be harsh on the people until the summer of 1317. The people were weakened in health and shake up quite a bit after this. About 10-15% of the population had died from pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis, or other similar illnesses due to a weakened immune system. They were able to recover, slowly, afterward (“The Great Famine 1315-1317”,…
In his article “Famine, Affluence and Morality” Peter Singer gives a seemingly devastating critique of our ordinary ways of thinking about famine relief, charity, and morality in general. In spite of that very few people have accepted, or at any rate acted on, the conclusions he reaches. In light of these facts one might say of Singer’s arguments, as Hume said of Berkeley’s arguments for immaterialism, that “… they admit of no answer and produce no conviction.”[1] While I do think that Singer’s considerations show that people should do considerably more than most people actually do, they do not establish his conclusions in their full strength or generality. So his arguments admit of a partial answer, and once properly qualified may produce some conviction.…
When in 1845 a combination of massive crop failure in a mainly agricultural subsistence economy and a overproduction followed by an underconsumption of goods typical of the early industrialization led to a destructive economic crisis and recession. That year the "potato blight", which was a vegetal desire that affected tubers such as potatoes, struck Europe making entire countries which their whole agriculture, since the Spanish brought the potatoes in Europe in the late 1400s, was based on the growth of this crop. Because of this disease, countries such as Ireland and Germany faced a great lack of food. The following year also a grain failure made the situation, if possible, even worse. This lack of food caused the prices of aliments to rise incredibly to the point where the daily pay of a factory worker wasn't enough to buy food to feed his family, of corse supposing that the factory worker didn't get fired because of the fall in demand of industrial products. With such an economical situation riots and acts of violence soon broke out. In 1846 the peasants in the Austrian provence of Galicia revolted against their landlords burning the documents regarding their feudal dues and attacking wealthy people. Similar hunger-driven acts of violence occurred in all of Europe. Soon the Austrian army put down the revolt but no actions were taken by the government to solve the problems that made it happen. The combined…
There are a number of key health issues for developing countries, especially in Africa. They include malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis and avian flu. HIV infection, leading to AIDS, is a major world problem. In addressing the problem of HIV infection, there have been major concerns. This page provides current developments on these issues as well as background. This article of worldhunger.org provides comprehension which integrates ethical, religious, social, economic, political, and scientific perspectives on the issue. With this, I can describe the nutrition, health, and diseases linked to world hunger.…
Around 1835, three quarters of Irish labourers had no regular employment of any kind. Because of this, the only way a labourer could live and support a family was to get a patch of land and grow potatoes. Potatoes were unique because large numbers of them could be grown on small plots of land, potatoes were high in nutrients, vitamins, minerals and was easy to cook, and they could be fed to cattle and pigs. Also, potatoes could grow…
Famine seen in the 1800 as described by Blainey (2001) is near non-existent in first world countries and due to how accessible information is society is aware of the plights of third world countries and assistance is given where possible. This is a major improvement on the societies of the 1800’s who had to deal with famine within their own community and very little could be done. Today the improvement in information access and education has improved society in many ways in regards to mental health, education for the majority and equality. There is still inequality in gender when it comes to pay but it is vastly improves from the 1800’s and we can hope to see more improvement in this arena as more information is shared and process by the masses that will affect…
The Irish left their beloved country in order to escape a terrible potato blight that occurred from 1845-1852. (Constitutional) The blight later known…
“The famine began…The dead were all around; on the roads, near the river, by the fences…Altogether 792 souls have died in our village during the famine, in the war years – 135 souls” (Kuryliw, p. 2). This is how Antonina Meleshchenko remembers the Holodomor, or the Ukrainian genocide famine. This famine took place between 1932 and 1933 in a country in Europe called Ukraine. Although many survivors wish not to remember, this event needs to be recognized. The Ukrainian genocide famine killed hundreds of thousands of people; this tragic incident occurred because Stalin wanted to convert the world to communism.…
“Irish Potato Famine.” The History Place: The Past Into The Future. Updated 2010. Web. 28 October 2010.…
During the 1800 's, the Irish population relied heavily on the farming and eating of potatoes grown on land that was not owned by them. The land they cultivated and grew their crops on was owned by strangers. In 1845, a catastrophic blight struck potato crops all over Ireland. The sudden wilting of all potato crops lasted five years and brought about starvation, disease, and death. This also brought massive immigration to North America. These immigrants from Ireland came not only to Ellis Island in New York, but also to Gross Isle near Quebec, Boston, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. They settled on the east coast of the United States and in the British North America, which became modern day Canada. With them, the Irish brought their heritage, customs, and religious backgrounds.…
The greatest number of emigrants was from around 1850 through the late 1870’s. The Irish had learned to farm potatoes, because of the productivity and market prices. Towards the end of 1845 the potato crops caught a fungus which destroyed the crops in the ground and also in the storage bins. This turned them into a blackened putrid mass.(Immigration and Immigrants, 2000). By the year 1846 the entire crop was destroyed. In the interim, more than a million people died from famine and poverty. This began the greatest influx of emigrants from Ireland.…