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.