The Giver Issues Project –Getting Started
You will research the following questions. Be sure to state quotes, statistics, sources, etc., in your research presentation to make it strong and valid.
a) Why does this problem exist in our culture? What caused it? Where did it stem from?
b) How does it affect our society? Who is affected? What other problems does it create?
c) How have people in our society tried to change or solve the problem? Have any of these solutions been successful in any way?
Ideas for Subtopics:
· Food insecurity
· Reasons/Causes of Hunger and Poverty
o Natural disasters such as famine, drought, storms, etc.
o conflict/war/government (political)
o education, unemployment
· U.S. Hunger/poverty
· World Hunger/poverty
Learn About Hunger
http://www.secondharvest.org/learn_about_hunger/ Poverty and Hunger Statistics
http://www.firstfoodbank.org/downloads/advocacy_and_education/Poverty_Facts0905.pdf
Poverty Facts and Stats
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp
Hunger Facts: Domestic (in USA)
http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-domestic.html
Hunger Facts: International
http://www.bread.org/learn/hunger-basics/hunger-facts-international.html
Causes of Hunger are related to Poverty
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty/Hunger/Causes.asp
Causes Behind Hunger in America
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5021812
Hunger: Facing the Facts
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/ites/0907/ijee/bell.htm
Share our Strength
Tonight, over 12 million children in America will go to bed wondering if they will eat in the morning…
http://www.strength.org/
Fast Facts about Hunger
http://www.centeronhunger.org/facts.html
FREEING THE WORLD OF HUNGER
From the World Food Programme
http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/introduction/index.asp?section=1&sub_section=1
Food and Water: Enough for Everyone?
http://ecohealth101.org/whats_left/eat1.html
Children in Poverty
http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/chusa_06/popchar/0203cp.htm
Basic Facts about Low-Income Children
Published by the national Center for Children in Poverty
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_762.html
Child Poverty
Published by the national Center for Children in Poverty
http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html
Understanding Poverty
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/EXTPA
/0,,contentMDK:20153855~menuPK:435040~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430367,00.html
Poverty Reduction Framework
Pillars and Themes of the Enhanced Poverty Reduction Strategy
http://www.adb.org/poverty/pillars-themes.asp
Oxfam's aim is to get rid of poverty - everywhere. Mission Impossible?
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/oxfam/index.htm
Ideas for Subtopics:
· All biases:
· Racism
· Sexism
· Ageism
· Class-ism (economics perhaps)
· _______-ism
· religion
· Hate crimes
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2440
Facts About Age Discrimination
http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/age.html
Discrimination from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Discrimination
Prejudice and Discrimination
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=J1ARTJ0006458
Origins of Prejudice
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=J1SEC887260
Ideas for Subtopics:
· Elderly abuse, mistreatment, neglect
· Ageism
· Health issues of the elderly and how it impacts the family/the individual
· Cost of or Lack of healthcare/health insurance
· Price of prescription medication
· Who is caring for the elderly?
· Who pays to care for the elderly?
· Cost of assisted living facilities
· Costs for a family to care for the elderly at home
Dementia - our society's forgotten victims
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/03/06/cmdem06.xml Depression in the Elderly
http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/depression/elderly.asp
Taking Care of Elderly Family Members
http://dde.carlisle.army.mil/tcefm/tcefm_main.htm
Diseases of Aging
http://www.biorap.org/rg/rgagemostcommon.html Suicide Fact Sheet about the Elderly from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm
Seniors With Late Life Depression May Not Recover http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/depression/elderly_4.asp Assisted Suicide and its Dangers
http://www.geocities.com/ram9872002/Adrdeath.htm Community Helps Elderly Live Longer
http://www.personalmd.com/news/a1997031409.shtml
Nursing Home Facts
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/nursinghomes/facts.html
Living Old: Cost of Care
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/livingold/cost/
Ideas for Subtopics:
· Pollution
· Global warming
· Green house effect
· Overuse of fossil fuels
· Littering
· Recycling
· Alternative fuels
· Laws about the environment/enforcing those laws
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/
The Pollution Problem:
The causes and effects of the land, air, and water pollution problem
http://wiwi.essortment.com/pollutionproble_rmnb.htm
State of the Environment: Facts & Figures
http://www.unep.org/tunza/youth/What_you_always_wanted_to_know/State_of_%20Environment/index.asp
Environmental Awareness: Knowing Your World
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/world/
Environment and Society
http://www.enviroliteracy.org/category.php/5.html
Environment 101
http://www.channelone.com/news/2005/04/22/cleanup/
Global Warming: What it is
http://www.tramline.com/tours/sci/green/_tourlaunch1.htm
Pollution Solutions
http://www.deq.state.va.us/kids/solution/solution.html
Major Air Pollutants
http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0004695.html
Our Earth
http://www.grida.no/geo2000/pacha/earth.htm
Ideas for Subtopics:
· Youth violence/Juvenile Delinquency
· Weapons
· Gangs
· Drugs
· Law enforcement agencies/shortage in law enforcement
· Legal system/prisons—prison overcrowding
The Disaster Center: United States: Uniform Crime Report:
State Statistics 1960-2005
www.disastercenter.com/crime/
Juvenile Delinquency
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenile_Delinquency
The Nature and Causes of Crime
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/society/A0857632.html
About the USA, Society, Crime & Justice
http://usa.usembassy.de/society-crime.htm
Key Crime & Justice Facts at a Glance
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance.htm#Crime
Bureau of Justice Statistics Home Page
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/
Bureau of Justice Statistics Firearms & Crime Statistics
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/guns.htm
Common Sense about Kids and Guns, Gun Violence Prevention, Gun Safety
http://www.kidsandguns.org/
Health/Sickness
Ideas for Subtopics:
· Physical Health/sickness
· Health insurance costs; people who are uninsured
· Pregnancy
· Disease
· Especially long term diseases such as cancer, AIDS, etc.
· Mental Health
· Genetics
· Addiction
· Alcoholism
· Drug addiction
National Center for Health Statistics
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
Types of Illnesses and Disabilities
http://www.4woman.gov/wwd/conditions/?style=module
CDC: Diseases and Conditions
http://www.cdc.gov/DiseasesConditions/
War
Ideas for Subtopics:
· Violence, injury, death of soldiers and civilians
· How the war has changed people, who the war effects the most
· The aftermath of war (soldiers coming home)
· Cost of war on nations/governments/taxpayers
Three World War Statistics Compared
http://www.threeworldwars.com/overview.htm
U.S. Veteran Statistics
http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/memory/statistics.html
Education
Ideas for Subtopics: · Literacy/Illiteracy
· Drop outs
· Learning disabilities (such as Dyslexia, Processing Disorders, Memory difficulties)
· Cost of education—private school, college, taxes for public education, etc.
· How poverty or low income effects a person’s education
· Racial imbalance in education
· Equal educational opportunity
· Teacher shortages
· Overcrowded or unsafe schools
· Unequal access to educational technology
Literacy from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy Common Causes of Illiteracy
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112734/page1.htm
Facts about Illiteracy
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112734/page5.htm
Illiteracy on the rise in America
http://www.wsws.org/news/1998/oct1998/ill-o14.shtml Problems of Education
http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_socialprob_sprsite_1/0,7829,773954-,00.html
The Silent Epidemic — The Health Effects of Illiteracy http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/355/4/339
Animals
Ideas for Subtopics:
· Animal Control
· Animal Rights/Laws protecting animals
· Overpopulation
· Stray animals
· Transmission of disease
· Lyme disease, rabbies, etc.
· Cost to care for a domesticated animal or a pet
· What it takes to be a responsible pet owner
· Animal abuse and neglect
· Loss of habitat for wild animals
· Extinction
Pet Care Costs http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=adopt_petcarecosts
Unemployment/Low Wages
Ideas for Subtopics:
· Causes of unemployment
· The outcome of being unemployed; how unemployment effects daily life
· Poverty
· low wages
· minimum wage jobs
· welfare benefits
· unemployment benefits
· compare the cost of living to the unemployment benefits a person receives or to the amount of money a person makes working a minimum wage
· relation of eduation/illiteracy to unemployment
Some Links that May Be Helpful:
Gcse economics - the big picture: unemployment – causes http://www.tutor2u.net/economics/gcse/revision_notes/big_picture_unemployment_causes.htm Four Main Causes of Unemployment
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~smith097/articles/A%206.%20%20%20.pdf
Unemployment from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment
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