PSAs

     All of the public service announcements were informative and impacted me in different ways. I thought Lauren had one of the top three public service announcements. I liked the mixture of pictures, video clips, and texts. Her video was well put together. You could tell she really cared about saving the whales and did a lot of research to make such a good video. I never really realized how big of a problem whaling is, and now I am more aware. I also thought that Halie had a good video. I thought that she picked good pictures and had good facts. Halie seemed to know what she was talking about. Her video made me more aware of how global warming is affecting animals, and made me want to help stop it.  Jacob B’s public service announcement was also very good.   It seemed well organized and had a lot of good facts and information.  It looked professional and creative.  I thought Jeff, River, and Alex needed to fix some of their public service announcements.  They were all good, but things could have been done to them to make them better.  I thought Jeff needed to add some more information and make it a little longer.  River’s public service announcement had a lot of text and was a little hard to follow.  I think he could have made it more interesting.  Alex could have put more information in his and made it longer too.  Overall, I thought all of the public service announcements were good and I really learned a lot about different environmental problems.

Blog Reflection~Deforestation

     For the Earth Interactions Project, I researched and preformed a lab on deforestation.  I read the book Bella Coola: The Rainforest Brought Them Home to help me get some research and background information.  This book helped me get a bigger understanding on deforestation: where it happens, why, and causes and effects of it.  It also gave me an understanding on some peoples views on this topic.  Reading this book was a good way to get into doing this project because it really helped me get background knowledge on deforestation.  For my lab, I measured the amount of carbon dioxide in an environment with grass (forest) and and environment with cut grass (deforestation).  Doing this lab really helped me prove the points I was trying to make in the final project.  It also was easier to understand than an article online.  Seeing the carbon dioxide change on the graph was a more visual way of looking at my information.  Before researching deforestation, I never realized what a great effect it has on the environment.  I already knew it had a big effect on animals because of them losing their homes and not having as many food sources.  I didn't know that 70% of the earth's land animals live in the forests, so there is a great amount of animals that could go extinct.  I learned that deforestation causes global warming because not as many trees are there to absorb CO2.  Also, I learned that there could be droughts, deserts, and less rain because trees play a big role in the water cycle.  They bring water vapor into the air, which causes rain.  I think this project went and is going very well.  Along the way, there were times when I was confused how we were putting all of our information together, but I understand it now. 
     Learning about deforestation hasn't changed me or my family directly, but it makes us more aware of what is going on.  There isn't anything my family can change to end deforestation.  We could maybe try to use less paper, but one family doing that out of the whole world isn't going to make a huge difference.  I feel that this project was good for me.  It made me aware of what is happening in the world and what could happen if deforestation doesn't end.  Not only am I now aware of deforestation, but other environmental problems that other people are researching.  The results other people have found could impact my life and make me live "greener".  Overall, after researching and learning about many different problems in the world that effect our earth, I think I will work harder to be more green.  I will turn off lights and unplug appliances when they are not being used.  Basically, I am more aware than I was before this project started.  I hope that everyone can take this information and try to make our community, maybe even the country or world, a better place.

Promises

                In the movie Promises, children with different religions lived near each other in Israel.  Some of the kids were Jewish and others were Palestinian.  Both religions believed the land was theirs because God gave it to them.  They didn’t like the other religion for taking it away from them.  It is sad that most of these kids never want to meet the other kids from the other religion.  They think they are terrorists or would kill them.  All of these kids believe the other religion is wrong and bad because that is what their parents told them.  Their parents learned from their parents, and it will keep being passed from generation to generation if these religions keep fighting and don’t talk to the other religion.  I liked what one of the boys said at the end of the movie.  He said something about how if they never meet each other, they will always keep fighting, but if they could meet and become friends, they could end the conflict between their religions.  The environment these people were living in wasn’t always a safe or good place to live in.  Some of the kids had to worry about terrorist attacks and if they were going to survive the bus route they had to take.  Other kids had to worry about being shot by soldiers for something like throwing stones.  I don’t think these kids should have to live in a place like this, I know I wouldn’t want to.  I would get tired of always fighting with people and worrying about whose land is whose.  I wouldn’t want to see my friends and family die because of this conflict.  Living like this must be really scary.  I think all of these people should live in a mixed community with both religions because they all think this land, Jerusalem especially, is theirs and has important meaning to their culture and religion.  I think they should find a way to end this conflict and live where they want to.

Riddles

1. Roosters don't lay eggs.
2. ?
3. Tom
4. Bring the grain over while the chicken flies and the fox swims.
5. Beulah and Craig were hurricanes.  Beulah wasn't harmful because it was in the mountains.  Craig could have eventually came to land.

Native American Poem

     The native americans really had a lot of appreciation for their earth.  It seems like they respected their land too.  They depended on the earth and it influenced their life.  They made their supplies from natural things.  The native americans liked nature.  It seems like the native americans were relaxed when they were alone watching nature.  They never overused nature because they appreciated it so much.  I do have appreciation for the earth, but not nearly as much as the native americans.  I wish that everyone had the same appreciation for the earth as they did.  Then, we probably wouldn't have as many environmental problems. 

Earth Interactions Project

     So far, I have finished my calendar and proposal.  I am halfway through my book and have all the supplies needed for my lab.  I started to grow the grass already, so I can start the lab soon.  Next, I want to finish my book and start the lab.  The only question I have is what are we going to do with the information we collect or how are we going to present it?  Other than that, I understand what we are doing and am happy with what I have done.

You Tube Going Green Video

     I agree with the people that made the video, we should do something to help the environment.  We could start with little things like turning off lights, unplugging cords when we are not using them, or using less air conditioning and heat.  Then, we could do bigger things like making people aware of how to help the environment or using different energy sources.  I think this video was really good.  It is a good thing that teenage kids care about our environment and want to help.  I think a lot of effort was put into making the video and it probably took a long time to do.  I think after learning how to make our own videos with Mr. Brester, I could do something similar to that.  Hopefully, people realize how helping the environment is important after watching this video, and want to do something to help.