Responding to stories about economic inequity

For this story, I have decided to read some articles from different websites about economic inequity. Some were a little challenging to understand and not because of comprehensive issues, but some of these topics I found to be surprising, to say the least. Especially the first article.

For the first article of many that I have chosen to read, I read an article titled “Children’s voices must be heard on climate crisis,” which, if not given away by the title, is a story about the thoughts of children be conveyed through the perspective of the three child advisors from the United Nations committee on the Rights of a Child. Although, it was a pretty nice story to read through, I had some small irks about it.

The main idea of this article is to present the dangers of a climate crisis involving the destruct ion of Nature itself for profit. The three child advisors, their names being Aniva, Esmeralda and Kartik (full names aren’t mentioned), present their cases, explaining why child of today have voiced their opinions on the matter. They also take into account of Eco-anxiety and depression, following up with the fact that there is a link between a child’s mental health and environmental harm.

What sort of catches my attention in this article is that they don’t really dive into the facts or the effects of how environmental destruction causes a child’s mental state to waver. It’s a well built article, however, I think it fails to grasp my attention completely when ignoring these important statements and just stating their opinions. It would’ve been especially nice to have one of the children there as well actually giving their opinion on knowledge on the topic as well instead having advisors speak for them.

This article was written by Allison Bramblett, the title being, "Should nature have rights?"

I’m not going to lie, I was actually interested in this one from the title alone. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but that single question alone makes a power enough statement already.

Starting off with Orange County in Florida and their bill to pass for the protection Wekiva’s right to exist, this article dives in with the what’s, where’s, and why’s right out the gate. I really liked hearing of the actual effect they’re going for when it comes to this bill being passed. I really liked the concepts of Bramblett explaining the fact that Western Civilizations aren’t quite used to preserving areas, especially those bound by nature.

The Cincinnati NAACP is a civil rights organization whose mission is to positively affect the lives of people of color. They prioritize the wellbeing of Black spaces all while helping out the state to decrease discrimination as well as ensuring equal rights to all. The topics and issues they explore range from Racial, Social, and Political problems to Economic and Educational views. They even go out to support the Biden’s Administration in the hopes it destroys the bridge that links our present day world to racial hatred.

The final article I’ll be addressing is made by Denise-Marie Ordway. It is titled “The four-day school week: Research shows benefits and consequences,” on journallistsresource.org.

Let’s just say… I got really happy at the subheading that but was then again sad due to the fact it doesn’t involve me. It reads “To save money and help recruit teachers, many U.S. schools are taking Mondays or Fridays off. We look at research on how the four-day school week affects student test scores, attendance and behavior.”

Would’ve loved to have had this back in middle and high school. To keep it brief, over 2,100 schools across 26 states have switched to four day weeks (I’m crying). Apparently, the results they were looking for blew their expectations. Teachers and other job seekers have been applying to these schools left and right, which most likely was at least one of the goals for the board of education around these areas. The statistics in this one are pretty tame, showing the numbers for nationwide shortages due to covid 19 cases as well as deaths. I also like the addition of bullet points when they mention the impact of cutting the school week by one day. I can truly say that these bulletin notes seem legit and are probably my favorite part of the article.

Collectively, I think these articles served their intended purpose in the fact that they seem like they're driven to or supposed to reach a targeter auidience. The story about the civil rights organization seems more inclined to the community affected by it the most, attempting to be a safe haven for African Americans in the nation.

The children's voices must be heard article goes to mostly adults but also seems to encourage students at a young age to look beyond their life and current state of mind to focus on a crisis, one idea I can't seem to agree with fully. That's what these articles all have in common.