Money Used for Economics and Food

On average every day about 50 million dollars are used on pet food.
also about 150,000 TONS of food are wasted every day. . Also about 90 percentage of the hungriest nations on earth are net exporters of food to rich nations. Plus over 10 million dollars are spent on food purchased and then tossed by US households today. That is a lot of money spent on food that has been tossed away.

For more information go to http://www.stopthehunger.com/

Save the Electricity! It Helps the Planet!

By looking at the title, you can already tell what this post is about. You might think, "Of course, I know I have to conserve energy. Or, "I already save energy! Don't need to tell me twice!" Probably most of you are thinking that. If I had to read this, I would too. I know we all had a lesson on this. Haven't you seen your mom, dad, sibling, and other waste electricity once? Maybe. I know I have. Sometimes, they don't notice. You can help them and turn it off for them. That's okay. But, instead of just doing that. You should remind everyone to save energy. Think about it. You might waste energy even when you don't think you are. For example, if you were charging your computer, and you're done, you should unplug the charger instead of just unplugging it from your computer. Just turning it off doesn't mean it is COMPLETLY off. Just remember. Help out and help save the world! If everyone does these little things that help conserve the Earth, it can make a big difference. :)

To See the Sun

Read the title? Weird, right? But there is something behind it. Animal cruelty. Did you know that many chickens that are hatched on farms never see the sunlight, from the minute they peck out of their shells to the moment they are butchered? Why? Because if they see the sun, they will hop about and have more energy. They will then lose weight. The farmers keep them out of the sun so they will become as fat as possible, and will bring as much money as possible. What says animal cruelty louder than that? Nothing.

But that isn't where they stop. Cows are fed unhealthy hormones, such as rBST(click on it to learn more), to make them give more milk. (Again, this brings more money. Or should I say moo-la? Yeah, I know it's corny.) Dangerous pesticides are sprayed on crops so insects stay away or die. If a farm animal was to accidentally nibble on some crop or the other, they could get seriously sick and even die. Even likelier, the pesticides are washed away to nearby rivers, and are taken in by fish and other animals living there. These creatures will almost surely die because of the harmful chemicals.

Some of these things are shocking, right? What can we do to stop it? The first step would probably be to start near Cupertino. I was trying to find out about animal farms near Cupertino where we get our meat and veggies, but I couldn't find anything online. If anyone can, comment on this post, and let the rest of us know. The point is to kind of brainstorm ideas on what we can do to stop animal cruelty. Remember, the idea is to change the world by starting at home.

Solutions to World hunger

Here is our solutions to World hunger:

* Reduce poverty by helping poor people get jobs and/or teach them ways to make money.
* Help make agriculture more efficient to be able to give enough food for the growing world population.
* Have effort and volunteer time to help hungry people in the community. It includes cooking at a homeless shelter or donating cans.
* Have information drive by making websites that inform and aware people about hunger issues in the community.
* Have or sign up for a group that help the hungry and poor people.

Give us some feedback.
Thanks =D

Why is there world hunger?

Charissa, Julie and I are doing our project on world hunger. Poor countries are so poor they only get 1 meal a week! Why? They are poor, is the main reasons of the news websites.

Addition to Mira's post

Next time you go to Target, Bring a canvas bag! It saves 5 cents!

Response to Rohit's post---free rice

Maybe we could have a competition and see who donates the most rice? The teachers could award group points? Also to prove that number, you have to take a screenshot(that Prt Sc button on top right corner aka print screen).

Save a pet

Save a animal could...well, let you save an animal! All exciting, right? Right. Pets are adorable, but so are homeless pet. Stray cats and dogs are now a global issue. In my old neighborhood, I could see about 5 different cats every day! So right now, go save an animal! Or help them!

Eco-friendly Tea Drinking?

During cold winter days like these, I often drink several cups of tea at night. My latest favorite brand is Numi. Their tea is organic (if you're not sure what that means --- look it up!) and it just taste great! I looked at their packaging and noticed that it said something about the packaging being from solar-energy origins. It turns out that that's just one of the few "green" practices they have for their business. They even participate in a carbon offset program. If your topic is climate change, you might want to look at Numi's Green page to see what they're doing to help the environment. You can do your solutions on eco-friendly tea drinking!

canvas bag vs. plasic/ paper bag

when you are going grocery shopping you should bring a canvas bag to do your grocery shopping, instead of taking paper or plastic bag(s) home. When using a canvas bag you are not only saving the environment you are also saving some money. Some stores give discount if you bring a canvas bag ( whole foods, Trader Joes, etc. )

So next time you go grocery shopping consider taking a canvas or any other reusable bag.

Trouble with Finding Exact Values

Hey guys. Do you know any good sites to find information on car pollution with exact values. I saw something in the book and it said "about 130 billions gallons of gasoline per year". Is that specific enough?

A Beautiful Lie

If you're stuck on the research part of this project, you can go to A Beautiful Lie to get news, photos, videos, tips, and links. There's also a message board if you want to talk to other people about what's going on.
*Created by 30 Seconds to Mars (:
**This is where I found the Click to Donate website. There should be more links to help you with the project (:

Simple Ways for you to Help Stop Global Warming

How many of you are on a laptop right now? How many of you have a screen saver set for your laptop? These tiny things make a great impact on our environment. After you are done using your laptop or desktop... shut it down! It saves 200 pounds of CO2, every time you do this (and some battery :D). Even a screen saver takes up extra unneeded energy, after all it IS still turned on; just let it go to sleep mode. Blank screens are the best kind of screen savers and ENERGY savers!! :D

Want to know more ways you can help the environment? Go to: http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/take-action/action-items/

You can also join an organization that is stopping Global Warming. Though, it does need you first and last name, email, and a few other personal things; but it's all for a good cause!! :D

Response to Grant's idea +My solution

I think that instead of getting iPads, although they are harder to type on, I think we should get netbooks. Although it pains me to say it, netbooks are a better option for three main reasons. The first is for the price factor. A netbook (including 3-G) is around $80, unlike the iPad, which is currently $500(+). Second, you can access CDs and CD-Roms on a netbook, whereas there is no CD drive on an iPad. Third, you can run Adobe flash on a netbook, whereas you currently can not on an iPad. For these three reasons, I feel getting netbooks instead of iPads is a better option for all of us.

Help hunger by... ...studying?

At this website, you can feed people by studying. Each answer you get correct you donate ten grains of rice. When they add up, the sum is huge! I got 1,000,000 grains in about 45min of studying. The site may be a little slow on windows PC, but it's faster on macs. Enjoy!

www.freerice.com

Wild Life Adoption

Is your favorite animal dying because of global warming or any other global issue? Here's your chance to save them!!! :D

https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_polarbear&s_src=3WEW1100AXXXX&s_subsrc=polarbeardirect&JServSessionIdr004=yzsaobeof2.app223a

Global Warming

If anyone is doing there science project on climate change--- global warming, this site might help a lot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

The Meaning of a Gift

How many of you really need a gift for Christmas or your birthday? Isn't there anybody that would rather have someone buy something in your name for a poor family in a third-world country? Wouldn't you feel good if, instead of getting something you'll use once then throw away, you gave a priceless gift to someone who really needs it? Wouldn't that be a better present?The best one of all?

925 million people in the world are hungry. And not for a hamburger. Or even just a milkshake. They're hungry for anything they can get, because they're truly starving. Why? Because more than one thousand million people that live in third-world countries live below the poverty line, at $1.25 a day if they're lucky. They can barely afford to live.

The last sentence just sounds wrong, doesn't it? They can barely afford to live. Doesn't everyone deserve a chance to live? I think they do. And if you do too, comment on this post, and promise that, next time someone asks you what you want for your birthday, you'll give them this website: www.worldvisiongifts.org , and tell them that all you want, is for everyone in the world to have a bite to eat.

Click to Donate

For those of you who have dedicated your project to the rainforest, you can also donate to rainforests with just one click. It's actually pretty easy. All you have do is, every day, just click on the button ONCE (and ONCE only), and sponsors with donate money for every click that comes in.
Like today, I clicked the button ONCE, and apparently I saved about 7.4 acres of trees in rainforests.

And if you're focusing on Global Warming, like me, you can click to donate to Global Warming also.
There are more things you can donate to. Just click on the links. (:

Donating Things That Last

People in the U.S. donate things to poor countries like water, food, and sometimes money. When we give poor people supplies like that, they use it up very fast and the next thing we know, we are sending them more supplies. Instead, people should donate things that can last like goats or chickens. Goats can provide milk and chicken can provide them with lots of eggs. Chickens can lay up to 240 eggs a year! That should be able to last longer then regular food and water we donate to them. The goats and chickens don't cost a lot but it will last for a long time and after the chickens don't have eggs anymore the chicken can be used as meat. Goats can also be eaten after they don't have milk to provide anymore.

~Zachary_Awsumniss

recycled products

A lot of people don't buy recycled products(including me) eventhough they know it helps our world! Some people don't even know there are recycled products( really, did you know there are tissues made of elephant poop?)! Isn't that weird?

Eco-friendly Fundraising

How would this help the environment?

Terracycle Brigades

Since Shuge expressed interest in this, I thought that maybe I'll just open it up to volunteers to see who will step up and take the lead on this.

Terracycle is a major company that takes used material and makes cool reusable "stuff" that people use. For example, the stacks of paper (made of banana peels, elephant poop, etc.) and the biodegradable corn-based pens I showed you guys in class are all made by Terracycle.

They also take old "trash" and make it into new usable objects like bags, bottles, notebooks, etc. But they get all the trash from brigades around the country. Most brigades exist at schools where the kids choose to help collect common types of trash, clean them up, and send them in to Terracycle by mail.

For example, two years ago I did this with my classes where we collected drink pouches from Lawson students and sent them to Terracycle. However, it's a lot of work because we had to cut the pouches open, wash them, and dry them. By the end, only two girls invested their time into collecting drink pouches. From then on I haven't done the brigade with any other classes because there have not been kids that care enough to take on this big challenge! (It's almost like being a trash collector --- cleaning up after other people). But of course, if you think about it from a different perspective and think about how you're helping the environment by not letting these objects end up in landfills, then the job won't sound so undesirable!

Here's the link to check out the various brigades we can participate in. If you really have the passion and would like to put in the time and effort to help a brigade get started at Lawson, let me know and I'll sign us up! By the way, Terracycle also donates a few cents to Lawson per item of trash we send in!

Cycle

If you really think about it, the ways to prevent pollution are actually not really helping, because you will still be using excessive resources. For example, people try to stop using plastic bags and then switch to paper bags. The plastic bags use petroleum, and paper bags use trees. So technically, you aren't really helping the earth. Well, technically, you are helping use less petroleum, but trees give oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, so technically your not. Also, if you use a cloth bag, it is made out of polyester, which uses petroleum, so technically you aren't helping, but technically you are helping because you aren't getting a new bag every time. Anyway, my point is that sometimes, when you try helping, it gets kind of confusing because your just helping one side of the stopping pollution and helping the polluting side.

Carbon Offsets

Today at home while doing research i came across carbon offsets !!!

Carbon Offset is a reduction in emissions of carbon or greenhouse gases made in a order that we understand which is called to come down for or maybe to offset an emission made somewhere else in the world.

Watershed

The Water sheds in SFO and LA are usually impaired by trash , zinc , algae and lead.

And the sheds near us and usually impaired by sedimentation or low dissolved oxygen.

And there is one common cause in impairment which is coliforms

Coliforms are something pertaining to the bacteria that usually inhabit the intestines .

Terracycle

Hey teachers,

I know the school is earning money by collecting box tops and I found a similar organization called terracycle(I am not sure if Lawson is in this organization yet). Many people in Lawson drinks caprisun and throws them into the waste which fills landfills; however, they could use them to make products and earn money for the school. You just send them empty pouches(they pay the postage), they make it into unique product, earn profit, gives us 2 cents per pouch. That may not sound a lot, but I believe if everyone in the school starts saving pouches, it would be a lot. Here is their website: http://www.terracycle.net/.

--
Bye
and
best regards


This is an email I send to the teachers.

Ms. Alford says:

Shuge,

This would be an interesting idea to bring to your Student Cabinet representative.

Ms Alford

So Sanika, could you ask the school?

Ms. Sun says:

Hi Shuge,

I actually signed up Lawson and did this with my kids two years ago but it was only two kids collecting everything and washing them (it takes a lot of time). If you're interested in getting this up and running for your Natural Resources project, that would be a great idea!

-Ms. Sun

So friends, could you sign up?

This is related to landfills which relates to global issues.

Grant's idea+My solution? part 2

Looking at all of these comments, I have some new ideas.
It doesn't have to be Ipad, does it?
Maybe it could be an e-book like kindle which melinda says, that only costs like $100+.
If the school purchases a group of them, they might even give a group descount, that might be less than $100.
If we calculate like this:
1 textbook- $50
2 textbooks- $100- 1 kindle
1 kindle- several textbooks for cheaper price
several textbooks for cheaper price- lasts a lifetime
So it saves much money.
Also, like Impana said, we could just bring laptops, couldn't we. A lot of the people probably already have one of them.
:)

uneven distribution of global resources

I think that USA should donate food to poor countries like Africa, I really think someone should do something about it. It isn't fair and just because USA is a wealthy nation doesn't mean we can get SO MUCH MORE (Resources) than the poor countries. I think America should have some kind of huge food drive for Africa. Or we can ask some of the markets, or restaurants for food that they don't need.
compare...
in the u.s. as long as we have enough money to buy food from the market or enough money to eat at the restaurant we don't have to worry about starving!We get 3 meals a day
HOWEVER, in Africa, they only get one meal per week!!!!!!
....I know...very very very sad..,:(
~Jazzy Till
:)

My Group's Project Idea

Elizabeth Duan an I are doing our project on the following topic:

Topic: Why aren't people using renewable energy resources (solar panels, wind turbines, etc.)?

I would like feedback on this topic!

I came up with a possible hypothesis and possible solutions:

Hypothesis: Renewable energy resources are too expensive, undependable, and take up too much space.

Solutions:
Taking Up Too Much Space:
-Put solar panels and wind farms on oceans.
-Put wind farms in the middle of landfills.
-Put solar panels on top of wind turbines to maximize space.
-Put solar panels and/ or wind farms in deserts.
Undependable:
-Put solar panels where it's sunny year round.
-Put wireless solar panels on other planets. <requires more technology>
-Create an artificial sun. <requires more technology>
-Put small wind farms in huge wind turbines.
-Mount wireless solar panels or short-stemmed wind turbines on airplanes. <non-polluting airplanes?>
Too Expensive:
-Make solar panels or wind turbines out of recycled or reused materials.
-FInd less expensive way to manufacture wind turbines and solar panels. <requires more technology>

I just hope Elizabeth likes these... ^^"

Over packaging contacts

My group is probably using over packaging as our topic. At the end of the project we're supposed to convince somebody to try our solution. I really don't know who we'll contact. Colgate? And if we do, they might not even read our suggestion, and if they do, how will we know if they acknowledge? I'd appreciate help for our problem

Thanks,
Dan

Recycling

Did you know that 23% of the Americans don't recycle? That is a lot of people. What is preventing them from recycling? Some cases might be poverty, no recycling program, and no bin. What makes it so hard for people to buy a bin? And if there is no program, you can simply just reuse. If you are in poverty, why don't you just reuse as well? That way you save money. All of those scraps may become useful sometime. And it is possible to make a difference if everyone recycles.

We aren't efficient

Ithink the reason that we have large ecological footprints is because we aren't smart about our actions. For example, a student goes back and forth to different places to do some errands. Since he uses alot of energy to go back and fourth, he'll eat more, using more land to grow the food. We also are lazy and leave the lights on as we go back and forth to put away the laundry. Being smart helps us to be more efficient( that's another reason to go to school and listen to all these hardworking teachers remind you to use common sence).

Grant's idea+My solution?

Hello,
Ok...I sit next to Grant and I heard his idea and I think that it's pretty good and has thought of a solution to go with idea.
His idea: How to reduce paper usage in education.
We all know we use ALOT of paper in education, not just on textbooks, also there are worksheets, notebooks, planners, binder paper and also alot outsuide education. This causes a serious problem---deforestation and trees are really important.
My solution: I know that in Scotland, there is one school where students like don't really bring backpack, they bring Ipads. That is really high tech!
Good qualities:
Less deforestation
Stylish
No more slouching
Overall save money, because ebooks are so cheap since they don't require publishing
...
Overall I think it sounds good, but if I use Grant's idea, wouldn't it be like plagirism. Also, I don't know if I could do a group work with Grant?
And I don't know whether I would be able to convince teachers to allow students to bring Ipads and parents to buy one.
Still, isn't this like an awesome idea?
-Shuge

Rules About Blogging

• stay on topic (only thoughts relating to Natural Resources or Global Issues)
• be respectful to others when commenting on their posts (do not just try to prove they're wrong and you're smarter --- there is a gentle and kind way to correct others if they're misinformed)
• do not use chatting language like "lol" and other abbreviations
• whether or not you agree with someone's thoughts or opinions, you should not give people a hard time (either by making fun of them or making them feel bad) online or in person