Trip to the Antarctic part 3

Today, Robert and Max took me to a spot where they usually fish. We were walking there when suddenly a huge piece of ice fell off. One more step and we would have fell. Max and Robert would have been fine but I would be in trouble. Falling into that freezing water would hurt me. We went to a different spot that looked safer. We did not find many fish for a while. Then we found a couple. The fish we found looked like a lot for me, but Robert needed a lot more. We stayed for a couple hours. Then Max started talking. "We penguins need to eat fish to live. I heard that humans have all kinds of food. Why don't they just eat that food instead of ours?"I told him "Humans like to taste different things. The companies that take the fish get as much as they can because they will always find someone to buy the fish. So the more fish they get, the more money they get." "Why do people need money?" Max asked. I replied "To buy food and other things". "That's stupid. Why don't they just find their own food? I f they did, we wouldn't have a shortage of fish" he said. "How" I asked. "No one would need a lot of fish if they were just trying to get their own food" He said. I replied “I guess you're right, but that would never

oil spills

I want to talk about oil spills today. They are very destructive to the ocean and the organisms in it.When oil spills in the ocean, many animals die and the ocean becomes polluted. In Russia, an oil tanker spilled about 2,000 tons of oil into the ocean. Thousands of birds are dying. The oil spills in oceans are disasters. Oil spills occur when an oil tanker cracks open. This can happen if the tanker hits a strong wave, runs ashore or it breaks down. Oil tankers are huge and can hold a lot of oil so one oil spill dumps a lot of oil into the ocean. Animals are highly affected by these spills. The oil that is spilled could have poisonous metals like lead in it. The oil kills a lot of birds, mostly sea birds. The oil gets all over the birds feathers. This will not allow the bird to fly. When the bird tries to clean its feathers, it will eat the oil and the bird will poison itself. If the oil enters the lungs, the animal has a high chance of dying. The bird can also die by hypothermia because it can’t fly out of the cold water with its weighted feathers. Sea otters are affected by the oil in many ways. The sea otters can also die by the means of hypothermia. The sea otters have air bubbles in their fur. These air bubbles help them float and keep them warm from the ocean. If oil gets into these air bubbles, the otters will have a low body temperature and they will die because of the cold temperature of the water. Killer Whales are affected by the oil spills. One of the reasons the killer whale are endangered are because of these oil spills. Whales eat small fishes. If the small fish swam through oil, the whale will become poisoned and die. The oil will also clog the whale’s blowhole. When the Whales come up to breathe, the blowholes are blocked so they can’t breathe and they end up dying. The oil in the water will make a thin layer so if a bird lands on the surface of the water it will be covered in oil and can’t fly. The animals that live in the water that live off of the plants become poisoned and can suffocate if they have oil on their fur or skin. The vapors are deadly too. Birds that are affected by oil will have eggs that have problems at birth. The eggs have pores which are covered in oil which causes the embryos not to develop right. This is a huge problem. One oil spill is devastating. I think that the oil should be transported with a safer method, but the oil companies are so greedy, that they bring the oil in huge ships. They should think of a safer method to transport oil even if it costs a lot.

Dream

I had a dream today. In the dream; the world was being struck by natural disasters. The sky had a disgusting color to it. All the people I saw had problems. Many of them looked like they had diseases, and most of them lived on the street. Nothing was being done to help them. Then in my dream i saw wars. They were everywhere. Huge army's were trying to take the Middle East while destroying it. I felt sad for all the people in the Middle East. They were being attacked when they didn't do anything. Then I noticed something. The U.S. was fighting for gas, while all the Americans at home needed help. The U.S.'s priority was to get fuel, not help it's people. That was the saddest thing. I was about to cry. We destroyed the earth with global warming, the humans were all dying; from war and from starvation. What was the point of all this? Why do we cause problems for everything and everyone? I have to do something about this. In my dream I went to the past. I thought I might be able to change something before the things I saw happen. I tried everything I could. But oil companies were causing too much damage. I couldn't do anything. The oil companies have too much power. The government supports the oil companies. They invade countries just to get the oil. We need to change everyone. But we have to do it soon. I just hope that in the future, my dream doesn't happen.

Trip to the Antarctic part 2

I just arrived at the Antarctic and Skii's brother, Robert came to meet me on his snow bike. It was entirely made of snow. We greeted each other and then went to his home. It was very small. "The ice keeps melting, and I can’t do anything about it" he said. I replied "I'm sorry; I just went to the arctic to meet your brother, Skii. He wasn't very happy with what’s going on there, but it’s the same here. Everyone looks thinner than usual. I'm guessing that you guys have a shortage of fish?" Robert looked down with a sad face and said "You guessed right. It is hard to find food now. The ice keeps melting and now its starting to break off." then i saw something hiding on Robert's back. He suddenly jumped out and said "my name is Max! Are you here to fix our fish problem? We need help. I lost a lot of friends because the seal have to eat penguins instead of fish because the fish are disappearing. Please help us. I heard it was easy for a human to get fish. They can get it everyday, but they stole those fish from us. They take too much. Please do something!" That was the most annoying rant I have ever heard, but whatever he said was true. "I'm sorry for all the problems the humans have caused you, but I can't help you with your fish problem. I can't stop the company's from stealing your fish." He looked sad, but he cheered up soon enough "let’s go home and eat some fish sticks!" We went home, ate some fish sticks then went to sleep.

trip to the antarctic

I haven't talked about him yet, but I have another friend that is a polar bear. He is also Skii's brother. I am going on a trip to meet him. I haven't seen him in a long time and I hope he is okay. He is very smart so I wouldn't be surprised if he lived in a high-tech castle or something like that. But i am worried about the ice. He may be in a lot of trouble from our mistakes. But i hope he is fine. When i met him last time, he was 12. At that time, he built a machine that would bring fish to him. The surprising thing is that he built it out of ice. We humans can't do that. He is a true genius and i hope he built a machine that stops the ice from melting. But if he did, i hope the humans don't find out about it. I think that they would just use that as an excuse to pollute even more. Those people over at the big oil corporations do not care about the environment. They just want to make more money. Why don't they think about what they are doing to hurt the earth, and everybody on it (Including the polar bears). They are just too greedy. They already have huge profits, but they just want to make more. I have also heard that whenever an oil company does something to help the environment, they make even more money! I think we need to educate them with the children.

Educating kids

Today, I interviewed a 12 year old girl about global warming. I expected her to know something about it, but instead, she told me that she knew nothing. I was shocked. How could you not know what global warming was? I became very mad. Why has no one thought this girl about global warming? I think that we need to educate every kid in America about global warming. Anyone can help educate. If someone doesn't know what global warming is, tell them about it. I also asked another person what global warming is and they said it was caused by cars. She didn't know that making the electricity she uses at home or anywhere else produces greenhouse gases. I told her to look at all her light bulbs when she goes home. She could not only save money by switching to energy efficient light bulbs, but also help the earth. Educating kids about small things like switching light bulbs will make a big difference in the future.

Cuban sugar

We get most of our oil from the Middle East. That is really far away and the oil tankers that bring the oil back to the U.S. use a lot of gas, but we could use more ethanol. All imported oil and ethanol have a 2.5% fee. Duty fees are placed most of the time but why do we have to make a duty fee for something that will help the earth? For every gallon of ethanol that is imported to the U.S, 54 cents is charged. That is a lot money if millions of gallons are imported. The U.S. does not use much ethanol. The ethanol that is produced is also made of corn, which is a very expensive process. We could use sugar but we first have to find a lot of sugar. The answer is Cuba. 75% of Cuba's lands are sugar fields. That is a lot of sugar. Sugar is also coincidentally the cheapest method to make ethanol. Why don't we trade with Cuba then? We would only have to pay half of what we pay for gas now. I know a lot of people that need that. I just went to the gas station today, and a gallon is 4.07. I consider that a crisis. If we payed 2 dollars for a gallon of gas that does not hurt the environment as much as gas, that would be a miracle. The problem, though, is that the U.S. forbids any business with Cuba. That is a problem. We could be helping the earth, but instead, we are trying to fight communism. I think that this is a very bad decision by the government. We could have a better economy if gas was cheaper, but the government still does not change.

Global warming also hurts humans

Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, a World Health Organization scientist says that about 150,000 people die every year because of global warming. If we don't want to stop polluting to help the polar bears, why don't we stop to help our own kind? By the next century, 15% Bangladesh will be under water. Melting the Polar ice caps and the Antarctic not only affect the polar bears, but they also affect us. I have never seen anything about this on T.V. though. I think that the media is keeping all of this from us. Some diseases thrive in warmer weather. Countries like Africa have people that can not treat themselves after being diagnosed by malaria or other diseases. Why do we hurt people and polar bears? I think that educating people that global warming also hurts other people will cause them to think twice about driving bigger cars around.

hydro power

Today is my last day in the arctic. I have enjoyed my stay with the polar bears, but I feel sad for them. They have a lot of problems that are caused because of us. I just hope I can do something about it. I stepped out of my tent to see all the polar bears sitting there. The little kid yelled "we want to hear about hydro power". I laughed and sat down to talk about hydropower.

"Hydropower is getting electricity from water. We don't change the water in anyway. We just get the water to turn a turbine that produces electricity. One method we use is dropping water on a dam. At the bottom of a dam, they put turbines. When they drop the water on the turbines, the turbines spin, making electricity. (I'm making it easy for the kids to understand)
The ocean is not used much to produce energy so it is an idea that is at its starting stages. The U.S and other countries are trying to use ocean current energy. Some of these countries include China, Japan, and some European countries. But ocean current energy is at a very early stage for most of these countries. There are no commercial grid turbines that are now being used but there are some test machines. The largest tidal power station in the world is in the Rance estuary in the northern part of France. It is also the only one in Europe. There are many places in Europe with large currents but the side effects of turbines are the reason there isn't more than one tidal farm in Europe. But there is a plan for Scottish power to make a three megawatt tidal farm off the coast of Orkneys. I hope they will go along with the plan to make this tidal farm. Every little thing we do to use alternative energy will help you guys. Many oil companies advertise that they are also using alternative energy. I used to think that they were barely doing anything to help the environment. After all, they are the ones that are contributing to global warming. But doing just a little is okay. It's more than doing nothing. We always need those little baby steps before we go big. I just hope we get to go big. That's it. I'm done with everything. I hope all of you learned something about alternative energy. Maybe you smart bears can make a method to make electricity in the arctic." It was time to leave. I had to rush to the port so I could make it in time. The lecture went on longer than I expected, but I needed to tell them our efforts on making the earth clean.

Nuclear power

Today was like any other day in the arctic for me. I ate some fish sticks, talked with skii and played some games. Today, we played tag. Playing tag with the polar bears is fun. After every one was done with what they were doing, they all came to me so I could tell them about nuclear power. "Nuclear power is very dangerous. If anything goes wrong in the reactor, it could explode and spew out radioactive material. But if you use it right, a nuclear reactor can produce a lot of energy. In a nuclear reactor, uranium rods are placed in water. The rods produce lots of heat which heats the water. The water vapors then power a steam turbine that produces electricity. One nuclear power plant can produce a lot of energy. That is why we use this dangerous method. There was this one incident that you guys might have felt here in 1986. Near Pripyat, Ukraine, a nuclear power plant became unstable and exploded. The radiation won't kill someone immediately, but will cause cancer. The material floated over many countries and affected many people. But nuclear power plants produce about 19% of the United States. Some countries depend more on nuclear power. 79% of Frances electrical production is from nuclear power plants. But another problem with nuclear power plants is that the uranium becomes waste after a while. This waste is radioactive so we humans bury the uranium underground. We don't have to worry about the waste affecting us because it is put into a very strong container but we have to take a lot of space to put these containers underground. There is also a worry that the waste will be used as a weapon. There have been incidents where plant workers tried to sell some of the waste. The countries have increased security so they can prevent this. Nuclear power is very efficient if you can make it safe" I finished my lecture and a small bear raised his hand and asked, "Does the nuclear power plant release any bad gases into the air?" I replied "no, the power plant does not release any gases into the air. I hope you guys know what nuclear power is now. That is it I think I am done with everything." "What about hydro power?" the little kid said "Oh, right, that is what I will start with later. Okay, I need to eat lunch now." At lunch, I was thinking about nuclear power. It puts too many lives in danger if something goes wrong. Radiation can travel very far, hurting other countries. It is, however, a method that does not contribute to global warming. I just hope that with our technology, we can use nuclear power with assurance that nothing wrong will happen.

Wind power

Waking up today felt different. I felt a little warmer that before. I also noticed that water drops were rolling off the ceiling. This is caused by global warming. I slid out of bed and went to see what the other bears were doing. Most of them were gone; probably looking for food. I ate my dinner while watching the northern lights. It was beautiful. Then the bears started coming back. After all of them were back, I sat down to tell them about wind power. "Okay, does anyone know what we use to harness the power of the wind?" Skii and a handful of other bears raised there hand. "That's not a lot of people. Don't worry, by the time I am done with my lecture, all of you will know what wind power is." The bears got comfortable and got ready to listen. "We use wind turbines to produce electricity. When the wind turbine turns, the generator produces electricity. Big turbines do cost a lot of money. I have seen a blade of these turbines; they are huge. You have to bring a huge truck to bring one of these blades to the wind farm. So the installation is not easy and it is not cheap. Wind turbines are commonly used by companies that produce energy. Regular people won't usually have a big turbine in their backyard. But they could have a small one. They are not as efficient as a big turbine, but they still produce electricity. One of the main factors of a wind turbine is the wind, of course. Wind turbines are set up in places with lots of wind. So the downside is that if there is no wind, you won't produce electricity." Wind turbines are a great way to produce energy, though. I hope we see more wind turbines and Solar panels in the future. All of you should now know what wind power is. Tomorrow, I will tell you about the deadly nuclear power plant but it is getting late and I would like to go to bed." "Why do you always sleep?" someone shouted from the crowed. I was too tired to say anything so i just went inside to sleep.

Alternative energy

That was a good breakfast. I had a couple fish sticks that Skii made for me. "They were very good" I told Skii "that was a big breakfast". "That food is a lot for you but it is not enough for us Bears" Skii replied. I felt guilty for saying that.

I then went back to those bears that I was talking to before. I wanted to tell them about our efforts on using alternate energy. "Fossil fuels aren't the only things we use to make electricity. We use the sun, the water, the wind, and a dangerous method called nuclear power plants. We use the sun by converting the light energy into electricity. We use things called solar panels that absorb the light. Solar power is good except the fact that it doesn't produce electricity in the night." "That sucks" One of the polar Bears said. "But the good thing about solar power is that the sun will always be there, so we will always be producing energy in the morning. Solar panels don't give off any carbon dioxide which is a lot better than fossil fuels. The government gives a rebate to people who buy solar panels so more people will use these solar panels. They are a great way to make energy. We humans have hurt the Earth, but we are trying very hard to fix it." Everyone looked content with what I told them. I just hope that we humans will help these polar bears. "I want to take a nap and i think you polar bears need to do your work. I'll tell you about other ways to produce energy after I wake up."

Day 2 of my arctic journey

I woke up today morning to a loud ruckus outside. "WHY IS A HUMAN HERE? His people are the ones that will ultimately destroy us!" I stepped out of my tent to find a bunch of Bears that looked like they were going to kill me. The only thing between me and the bears was Skii. He said "No, this human is trying to help us. He is one of those people called an "environmentalist". One of the other bears asked "what is a environmentalist?" Skii replied “An environmentalist is someone who cares for the environment and wants to help it". The bears calmed down and they weren't mad at me anymore. One of them walked up to me, "Is there anything you can do about our ice melting. We have to swim up to 60 miles to get our food. We are good swimmers but we are used to swimming next to the shore. The ice floes with our food on them end up floating away so we have to swim far to get our food and risk the chance of drowning". "Yeah" another bear said, "it is hard for us to find fish because the humans take a lot of it" I told them why the ice was melting "We humans drive cars for transportation. These cars put carbon dioxide into the air. Nothing will make humans get rid of cars but we can make cars better. Humans have a lot of technology and with what they have today; they can make cars that are fuel efficient." The bears understood a lot of what I said, then a bear asked "are these cars the only things that produce greenhouse gases? I know your "water walkers" called boats also release carbon dioxide." "Well, you see, humans use electricity to power their homes. Everything from computers to toys use this electricity" Skii knew most of this but he was listening intently. "What is wrong with electricity?" someone asked from the crowd. I replied "to get the electricity, we use coal power plants. We burn the coal which ultimately produces energy. But the negative part of this is that a lot of carbon dioxide is released into the air which collects with the other greenhouse gases and causes the ice to melt." "Can’t you use technology to find a different way to produce power?" Skii asked. "We have many alternate methods, and I would love to talk about this, but is it okay if I eat breakfast first?"

Day 1: meeting Skii

It is very cold at the arctic. I just landed at a port in the arctic that is about a mile from Skii. He was very happy to see me even though he despises humans.

I asked "how has life been going my friend". He had a sad look on his face and said "not so well". (I was born with the power of understanding and communicating with animals) He immediately told me his problems with finding food. “Me and my brother Robert are having a hard time finding food. You humans take a lot of the food we need to eat. I know you are a vegetarian, but you need to tell everyone that we starve because other people like eating fish." I wanted to change the topic, and without thinking, I said, "It's very cold here in the arctic isn't it?" Then he became mad. He stood up on his hind legs and roared "YOU KNOW THAT IT IS BECOMING TOO WARM IN THE ARCTIC. WHY DO YOU ASK SUCH A QUESTION?" His expression changed and he apologized to me. I apologized back. I could feel his frustration. He has many problems that are caused by us. Why can't we realize our mistakes? Why can't we change?

Arctic plans

I am sick of what we humans are doing to the evironment. So today I decided that I should go visit my friend Skii at the north pole. I would like to stay there for a couple days to observe their way of living and the problems they have. I hope they won't hate me for taking a boat.

My friend Skii

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine named Skii. He is a polar bear that is having some difficulties in his life because of us humans. One of his friends Joe was on a chunk of ice that fell off and drifted away. Their statue of Argok the Great melted because of us. That's like the statue of Liberty to them. That happened because we put those greenhouse gases into the air which melted the ice. Those Polar Bears are affected by our production of greenhouse gases but they are also affected by our overfishing. Has any one seen those huge ships that have a net attached to them? They take away too many fish from the Polar Bears and other organisms. We humans are too greedy. We take as much as we can so we make more money. Why don't we leave more fish for the Polar Bears? I feel sad for the Polar Bears. We are not only destroying the homes of the Polar Bears but we are also making them starve. I hope my friend Skii and his neighbors can survive our stupidity.

The pollution in the sky

Today, I interviewed a polar bear about humans. He thinks that they are very selfish people. He said "they take all our fish when they already have food. Why don't they just leave us alone? That is not our only problem. You guys are melting our ice. We are being hurt because of you humans. How would you humans feel if the polar bears did something that hurt your land? I think you guys would kill us to keep yourselves safe. But we can't stop you humans from polluting. That's why you guys don't care about hurting us." He got so mad that he punched me and walked away. I think that we humans don't care enough about polar bears. We just live like they are not there. I hope we could start caring about them soon.

Carbon Dioxide emissions from cars

Why do we drive cars that are fuel inefficient? The Hummer H2 gives you about 10 miles per gallon but only has six seats. The Hummers are based off of the trucks that are used in the army. Why would we need one of those trucks in a city? I have seen many hummers on the street and wondered "what made them buy that stupid car". There are no reasons to be driving a car made for tough terrain on the streets of Los Angeles. This car burns more gas for every mile it goes which releases more carbon dioxide into the air. This makes me so mad because people drive these cars without knowing that they are hurting the environment.

Global warming

Global warming is the increase of the average temperature of the air near the surface of the earth. The recent increase of temperature is thought to be caused by Greenhouse gases. The Greenhouse effect is when the sun emits energy from the sun and heats up the surface of the earth. 70 percent of the energy warms the surface and the oceans. The other 30 percent is reflected back into space. But the carbon dioxide and other gases we release into the air traps the energy bouncing back to space. Then the gases release the energy in all directions. Some of the energy is sent back to space but the rest is sent back to the earth's surface. This causes the earth to heat up but it's not bad. Our problem is the gases we release into the air. We release so much carbon dioxide and other gases that a lot of the energy that is going back to space is reflected back to the earth. This is why the polar ice caps are melting.

Contributing to Global Warming

Hello, my name is Siddharth. I want to educate all of you about global warming and other environmental disasters. We are already feeling the consequences of polluting our own world. The greenhouse gases that are released into the air are melting the polar ice caps and drastically changing our weather. Many of us do stupid things that contribute to global warming. One thing we do is drive cars that use a lot of gas. I know a car that gets 15 miles per gallon. That isn't much. But there is a car that gets 30 miles per gallon and costs three times less. Who would spend more money on a car that isn't fuel efficient? Driving cars that have low gas mileages requires more gas to be burned which will give off more carbon dioxide. This really impacts our environment.