August 2006

Picture of the Month

"Carefree Pollution"
By Mika Kunisaki
School of the Arts, San Francisco
Now On Display at the EarthTeam Office

A marmot is caught watching the photographer.
Water lilies float in Nymph Lake and elk guard
the ridge at the Estes Park, at the entrance to the
Rocky Mountain National Park.
by Allison Cooper, Albany HS, Albany, CA

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Dyan Main, St. Mary's HS, Berkeley:   I have a Rant about Recycling.  Whenever I’m at school and have something to throw away, there are no recycling bins to be found.  I think that really needs to change and we need to work with our schools and other people  to get more recycling binseverywhere.

Poetry

The Cry of the Sea Giant waves crash against rocks, Like the touch of a giant from the sea. Kelp floats like the ocean’s locks, While the sun sets down peacefully. A prickly crab scuttles here and there, And soft sand blankets my bare feet. A light breeze caresses my hair, As I close my eyes and feel my heart beat. The sky is painted in orange and red, Splashed with hues of purple in between. Trumpeting seagulls soar overhead, Their movement so swift, graceful, and serene. I stroll a few steps to a wooden fence, And lean over to gaze at this scene. A beautiful picture, felt with every sense, Like being caught in a lover’s dream. The cry of the sea is inviting and tempting, Its song brings back a memory. It begs me to rest here till morning, And stay to hear dawn’s reverie. The continuous rise and fall of the waves, And the colorful shades that bathe the sky. Leave me trapped in my heart’s deep, dark caves, Craving the sound of the seashore’s lullaby. I pine to be a swift bird, Like the seagulls that fly over the sea. Forever living in this landscape of nature, Moving with the wind, wherever it takes me. And while I continue to gaze and dream, Night falls and the world becomes darker. The world is drenched in the light of a moon beam, And my heart yearns to stay a bit longer. I drive away, back to my home, Far from this picturesque, sandy place. The seagulls have left too, the flock has flown, Yet one day, we’ll both come back to this same landscape. Natasha Gupta, Monte Vista HS, Danville Our Planet Our planet is not forever. If one day, when you open your eyes Streams in every state are sewers for industry waste and streets of every city are a sight of pity Then would you realize that our planet is not forever? If one day, when you open your eyes People are in toil to save sea otters from oil and they cut down all trees so now, it's hard to breathe Then would you realize that our planet is not forever? If one day, when you open your eyes Air pollution everywhere causes a bigger ozone hole to appear and global warming proceeds no more fresh water and too much heat Then you should realize that our Earth will not last forever. Tiffany Mao Monte Vista HS

Earth’s Eye  by Doug Scott De Anza HS, Richmond

Song of Autumn Never did a drop of rain hold so much meaning, Nor ever did stars in a dark, night sky. It feels like the world is always singing, When the trees whistle as I pass by. I feel my heart beat with the rhythm of the wind, As it swirls and gusts here and there. I can sense its cold touch on my skin, Inviting me to come and fly in the air. A squirrel scurries up a giant oak, Its graceful movements like a dance to the beat of the breeze. Its furry tail swishes smoothly like smoke, As it climbs onto the thick, strong branches of the trees. Water flows softly over rocks in the stream, While a golden lark begins to cry. Its light voice is the melody of nature’s musical theme, And touches my heart as I pass by. Never was the color of leaves so vibrant and fiery, Nor ever did damp soil smell so sweet. My heart has searched far and wide for such beauty, And now it has awakened me from a lifetime of sleep. Suddenly, the rain stops pouring down, And the lark’s song has flown far away from here. The tree branches are still, not a slight movement found, And the song of autumn seems to disappear. I walk away from the forest; start my car and leave, Saddened that the song has ended and gone. I can’t see the trees, the rain, the leaves, Yet the song of autumn continues to play on and on. Natasha Gupta Monte Vista HS, Danville The GoodBye Story Video by Joshua Martarella, Stone Valley MS, Alamo Click on camera to view video

What’s Up With Visuals &  Voices?

6 Easy Ways to Help Prevent Global Warming

Global Warming. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? True, global warming is a highly talked about subject now a day, but how many of us are actually trying to do something about it. Did you think about global warming when you were taking your 10 minute, extra boiling, “I’ll just stand here and let the water hit my back because it feels so good,” shower? How about when you hopped into your car to drive the two blocks to the supermarket because you needed that bottle of soda? You thought about it? Now, don’t lie, most likely not, right? Though they may seem trivial, the choices we make every day have a large impact. Americans consume about 26% of the world’s energy. This statistic concerns everyone, from the most Zen of all men; to the multiple T.V., refrigerator, washer-dryer, and car owning Americans. In fact, each household that would simply adjust a few everyday habits could save as much as $2,000 a year. And let’s face it, who wouldn’t want an extra $2,000? I know I wouldn’t mind having some extra Benjamin Franklins in my wallet.

When at Home:

1. Buy better light bulbs.

            Compact fluorescent light bulbs require only 25% of the electricity used by incandescent bulbs. If every household replaced one light bulb with an Energy Star fluorescent bulb, it would be equal to removing about 1.2 million cars from the road. If you ask me, Americans are being cheated. The majority of us are using the same light bulb dear Mr. Edison invented when we could be using one that lasts ten times longer, uses ¼ of the energy, and produces more light per watt. But hey, don’t listen to me, continue wasting your money and use those incandescent ones…yea right.

2. Showers Go for the natural vibe.

Showers account for two-thirds of all household water heating costs. If you minimize your shower time, you will cut down on energy. An 8-minute shower in comparison with a 10-minute shower will save about 200 gallons of water a month. Also, installing low-flow showerheads can save as much as 11,000 gallons for a three-person family. Low-flow showerheads use less water and less energy to heat the water.

3. Plant a tree. Not only do they make your house more beautiful, they can help the environment as well, can anyone say, double whammy?

Trees soak up carbon dioxide and generate clean air. Also, planting shade trees around your house will help reduce summer air-conditioning.

Cars: Going out and buying a Hybrid car is great (and everyone should bug their parents about doing it) but you can also:

1. Inflate those wheels.

Keeping tires on your car sufficiently inflated means burning less gas. Changing air filters and oil regularly also saves gas.

2. Two is company, three, four, and five are even better company.

Arrange carpools to get to work or events. Every passenger in your carpool means one less car on the street. Plus, it is more fun.

3. We all love junk in the trunk.

An extra 100 pounds in your car decreases fuel economy up to 2%. When traveling, put bags and luggage inside, rather than on the roof. This reduces drag and enhances gas mileage.

These are only a few very easy ways to help prevent the growing problem of Global Warming. Every little thing can make a huge difference.

Letters to Dr. Green
Dear Dr. Green

I am a Mexican-American and a strong supporter of environmental clean up.  My family comes from Merida, the capital city of Yucatan.  Recently, I have seen slow and steady progress in the US environmental community.  However, I don’t know anything about the recycling status of Mexico, or more specifically that of Merida.  As Mexico is only a country away, I find it exceedingly important that Americans are aware of its environmental recycling progress.

-Ecologista

Dear Ecologista,

As a fellow Spanish speaker and a fanatic about Mexican culture, I am reluctant to report some bad news. From visiting and reading, it seems as though Mexico’s recycling system has a lot of room for improvement. 

When I first landed in the Mexico City airport, however, I was ecstatic to see that there were bins labeled “organica” and “inorganica” everywhere. I was so impressed with my first environmental encounter that I was devastated to see something entirely different when I traveled to Merida. There was no easy recycling accessibility, but it was even worse in the villages outside of Merida.

Mexican residents go through more PET bottles than any other residents in the world (except the US—we already knew that), but only recycle a small amount.  Among all the rubbish that is created in Mexico, less than 1% is recycled--- one of the lowest recycling rates in the world.  To put this into better perspective, “only 17 out of 2,445 municipalities in Mexico deal properly with household waste.”   Where does it all go? According to Environment Minister Jose Luis Luege, it all goes into rubbish pits or is strewn along roadsides in makeshift dumps.

These facts are congruent with the time I spent in Motul, a little village an hour outside of Merida.  In the downtown area of Motul, it was almost impossible to find a garbage can.  The streets were covered in litter, and when I asked someone where I could throw some of my trash away they told me “obviously” to just throw it on the ground.  Moreover, I witnessed several occasions of people throwing their garbage outside of their cars into the surrounding forest.  With all the rich culture and excitement of Motul, I found the trash epidemic truly devastating.

Enough sadness, let’s end this letter on a positive note.  Despite current recycling trends, “Mexico has opened the first plant in Latin America to make new soft drink bottles from old ones, hoping to double its recycling of PET plastic and dent an atrocious record for dealing with household waste.”

You’ve uncovered the hidden gem of recycling; the object that one wouldn’t think to recycle yet has one of the greatest impacts on waste.  STOP before you go and dump your carpet in the garbage.  Carpets make up 3% of landfill’s incoming waste, in other words, four billion pounds a year.

Your carpet might be “funky,” but it can certainly save a lot of resources. For example, because 20% of today’s carpets are recycled, 200 million pounds of waste is prevented from being in our landfills. Even further, carpet is petroleum based, thus the 20% of recycled carpet saves “700,000 barrels of oil, or 4.4 trillion BTUs of energy – enough to heat more than 100,000 homes each year.”

Hopefully, I have convinced you that recycling is a worthwhile option for your woebegone rug.  To find out how to recycle your rug or turn it into useful material, check out CARE, the Carpet America Recovery Effort, at (www.carpetrecovery.org).

Fabric Frenzied,

Dr. Green

References:                  

http://www.buildings.com/Articles/detailBuildings.asp?ArticleID=2341

It’s probably true most students are not buying carpets themselves, but this really is an important issue – and you can have an impact.

Check out the video at  http://www.carpetrecovery.org/reading.php   

What really impressed me was the point even if we can’t find a place close to our homes that is recycling carpets, there’s still something important that we can do: make sure that when you or your family goes shopping for new carpets, you buy those that are made from recycled products.    

Letters to the editor  More about those plastic bottles

Dear Editor:

Just read your article on bottled water....  You did a great job explaining the issues....  Have you ever thought about what action you could take in your community on this very important issue??

For example, some schools sell bottled water in vending machines....  While this is certainly an improvement over soda, I would think that the school should be able to provide quality drinking water... you might even be able to promote the use of water bottles with the school name on it... how about surveying the youth and adults in your school about their bottle water usage.... you might be able to come up with some ideas to change their behavior...

Keep up the great work... please let me know if you need any help...

Best Regards,

Mike Brugh, CalServe Consultant
California Department of Education,

Dear Editor:

One key point is that plastic bottles are often coated with toxic chemicals that leach into the water and are dangerous to drink over time.

Lisa Johnson

China: Only a Minute’s Dig Away

by Christina Sun, Castilleja HS, Hillsborough

China has always seemed to be the furthest place possible; it only being surpassed by the moon or Mars. It is so far, that it has been credited with sayings such as “I’m going to dig all the way to China.” However, current discoveries have proven that China is in fact, a lot closer than one may imagine. Recently, research engineer at the University of California, Davis, Steven Cliff, has gathered evidence of particles from the Gobi Desert on Mount Tamalpais.

 I ask this, how far can China actually be if tiny dust particles are able to travel the distance from the US to China? What brings China dust all the way to California? US scientists have recently found that pollution from Asian countries is recurrently being carried across the Pacific Ocean on air currents. It can take anywhere from five days to two weeks for particles to go across the ocean, but Global Warming can change these movement patterns, either speeding them up or slowing them down. China is at the moment experiencing great economic growth. With the growing population and even faster growing economy, China needs to expend more fossil fuels, which cause pollution. If the many citizens in China and other Asian countries start to take on American-style utilization patterns, much of the U.S.’s air pollution will come from Asia.  Though it may seem like this is new news, in reality Asian pollution has already made a home in California. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approximates that on certain days, nearly 25 percent of the matter in Los Angeles skies can be trailed back to China. Some experts calculate that one day China will make up a third of all California’s air pollution.

Why does any of this matter? Who cares if particles from China are being found in California? Well, a severe increase in pollution can greatly affect human health. In China, air pollution is responsible for about 400,000 premature deaths each year, and I am sure no one wants to see those numbers reach the U.S.   This is not to say that China is doing nothing to help their current situation. Chinese environmental officials caution that pollution levels could quadruple in 15 years if the nation does not restrain energy use. Even though China’s pollution predicament is huge, Beijing plans to use $162 billion on ecological cleanup in the next five years.

The extremity of China’s situation can teach us just how important reducing the U.S.’s energy use and emissions can be.

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