Plastiki

When I heard this word I was perplexed, and you might also feel this way, but wait till you read this. Plastiki is a catamaran made from plastic bottles. Guess how many plastic bottles they used....... (Guess before you look)

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They used 12,000 plastic bottles!!!! It took them 3 and a half years to complete this expedition, just in time for the "World Water Day". Which was on the 22nd of March. On Saturday they set sail for a 100 day venture from San Fransisco to Sydney, while crossing the Pacific Ocean. They call this a little voyage. The reason David de Rothschild (creator of the Plastiki) why they made Plastiki is to see the problem of plastic waste and how it can be reduced in new and healthy ways. You might think this is just a boat made of bottles, and that's it. Well it's not, the Plastiki is a very high tech boat!!!

Hope For Haiti Now!

This song was written by Taylor Swift. (Famous country singer). When she found about the disastrous earthquake that harmed Haiti, she took control. She dedicated this song to everyone who suffered from the earthquake in Haiti. When people heard this song they donated a humongous amount of money. To buy AID, water,food, and many more supplies for the victims!

To watch this video click on the hyperlink below! Please do watch this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQak8Lk_7EM

10 reasons why Haiti is poor

1. One reason why Haiti is poor is because in 1934 the U.S. withdrawed Haiti leaving them with the Haitian Armed Forces, in charge throughout the country.

2. Another reason why Haiti is poor is because International Aid Agencies declared that the Haitian pigs were carrying African swine flu. The pigs were killed leaving the country with hunger.

3. There were protests against "Baby Doc". Baby doc arranged his family and him to be exiled to France.

4. Army leader General Henri Namphy heads a new National Governing Council.

5. President Avril leaves on a Trade Mission to Taiwan, he returns empty handed with no food or money.

6. A small reason why Haiti is poor is because of the horrible nature crisis's that happen to them.

7. Haitians were discriminated by the U.S. and all of the European powers.

8. Many people in Haiti were not able to apply for a job, since many of them didn't know how to read or write.

9. France, U.S, and Canada refused to notice the new government, and stopped the trade with them.

10. Haiti was a French colony, and the french don't do very well. When the Haitians stole property of the French they had no more help from the French.

Haiti Earthquake (Update)

About 1 week ago, there was a horrible earthquake that destroyed the entire capital city of Haiti. 5 days later the US army came with a couple of rescuers to save the trapped people. There are still about 300 residents trapped under buildings! 16 rescuers passed away during their mission. The US department sent Haiti survivors aids/food/water. They knew that many people didn't have enough money to buy supplies, so they gave them out for free. They also had a couple of doctors fly over to Haiti. They mostly cared about the patients that had head injuries!

There were many families separated from their kids, because the earthquake struck while the children were still in school! 2 days ago the rescuers pulled out a child from the school that collapsed. The rescuers took 8 hours till they finally found the 2 year old alive girl. The watchers clapped while the rescuers reunited the mother and child. They still didn't find all the residents! The rescuers search for survivors from 5 am to 9pm. It's a really long day for them!

Haiti Earthquake!!! Disaster!!!

2 days ago (12,January 2010) there was a terrible earthquake in Haiti, Caribbean! The earthquake destroyed several buildings, and crushed the National Palace! Haiti is one of the places that doesn't have much money. This earthquake made all the people of Haiti sleep on the streets! For 2 days now. America is sending the U.S army to help some people escape from the buildings that fell from them. About 1,000 people were able to get hospital help, but they only had basic things to help them. The people that were mostly helped were the ones with head damage!

Many of the local residence's helped the people that were stuck under buildings. The picture on top is the view from a helicopter. You can see that the earthquake destroyed the entire capital city! On the first day the phone connection was done! Many interviewers on BBC have interviewed people who's family lives in Haiti. The family still hasn't gotten in contact yet! There are many websites on the Internet (even YouTube) that give you an option to donate some money to the residence's, to help them. Please do think about it!

Bintaro Lama Video

This is a movie I made that is based on the field trip that we attended on the 12th of November 2009. Enjoy the video!

Water Questions 2

1) List the main reasons for water scarcity.

The main reasons for water scarcity are Land Degradation, Variations in climate, Water pollution and Population growth.

2) What is a drought? What type of hardships do you think that a drought could cause if you were living in a village in a poor country such as Ethiopia?

A drought is a time of less average precipitation.

3) How does land degradation affect the supply of fresh water?

Because land degradatoin infects the fresh water, so we can't drink it.

4)

(a) What is El Nino?

El Nino is a warming that developes every 3-5 years.

(b) Why does El Nino often cause drought in Australia?

Because El Nino is accompanied by reversal of air pressure across the Pacific Ocean, resulting high pressure building up over most of Australia.

5) Observe the map showing the global effects of El Nino 1982 - 83.

(a) What effects does El Nino have on the availability of fresh water?

It blows all the water on land.

(b) Name the countries and describe the problems that acrose from decreased rainfall caused by El Nino.

Bintaro Lama Field Trip

On the 12Th of November all of the 6Th graders went on a field trip. Some of them went to the water treatment plant, and some went to the Kampung, we went to the Kampung. What really touched me was that, we don't have to worry about water. It just comes to our homes, but for the Kampung people they have to get the water from the dirty river, and clean it themselves! It never occurred to me that how lucky we are to have access to fresh water whenever we want, with no trouble! We split in about 6 groups, and each group saw a station at different times, it really taught how to clean dirty water to clean water. We went to stations 6, 2 and 4.

Station 6 -

Station 6 was adding and shaking chemicals. In this step they add the chemicals, which can be held in a small tablet or a liquid, so that the water is clean.

They shake the water for 30 seconds, non-stop so that the liquid or tablet has spread through out the water. The tablet will begin to dissolve the lounger you have it in the water. Once youfinish shaking it for 30 seconds the water should look see through, and is now SAFE to drink.

Station 2 -

Station 2 is Public Health Promotion.This is where they teach the children how to stop water disease transmission. This step is broken into pieces.

This is how you stop water disease transmission -

1. Wash your hands with clean water. Make sure you rub your hands with soap, then rinse yourhands with clean water. And dry it with a towel.

2. Make a toilet, people need proper toilets with septic tanks.

3. Cover your food, if you don’t cover your food flies will come land on it, and who knows where they’ve been.
4. Use aqua taps and Rah mat air.

What is Aqua taps? Aqua taps is a tablet. You can use 1 tablet for 20 liters of water in normal condition, and in extreme condition you can use 1 tablet for 10 liters of water.

Station 4 -

In station 4 you do Flocculation, Sedimentation and Filtration. Flocculation is when you mix the flock with a chemical and then mix it. Sedimentation is when the flock sinks to the bottom, and filtration is when the water filtrates through the clay pot

The ride back to Cilandak was hilarious!!! I bet Val and Maya that I could finish a whole Isotonic bottle with out putting my mouth of the bottle, and of course I succeeded!!! Then Maya tried and Val played the "Peanut Butter Jelly Song"and Maya bursted into laughter! All of the water that she spat out landed on my knee... Eeeewww!!!

I've learned that not everyone around the world has access to water, and I've learned how to turn dirty water into to clean water.

Water Questions

1. What percentage of the world's supply of water is fresh water?

There is 2.5 percent of fresh water on earth.

2. Where is the world's supply of fresh water found?

I think the world's supply of fresh water is mostly found in the United States.

3. Even though the supply of fresh water is abundant it is still a problem. Why?

Yes there is a problem, because water is the most abundant thing on earth, but people need fresh water. And only 2.5 percent of fresh water is on earth!

4. Observe the map of world average annual precipitation (opposite).

a) Describe the changes in rainfall occur as you move from the southern to the northern tip of of Africa.

On the bottom of Africa there is a little more rain than the top of Africa.

b) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the western to the eastern tip of Australia along the the Tropic of Capricorn.

On the eastern side there is much more rainfall than on the western side.

5. Observe the map above of water availability per person.

a) Which parts of the world appear to have a large amount of water available per person?

Most of the northern side has a lot of water per person.

b) Which parts of the world appear to have a small amount of water per person?

On the west side there's not much water available per person.

6. Observe the diagram of water use.

a) What are the main uses of water?

The most use of water is on Reservoir losses from evaporation and seepage.

b) Which uses have increased the most over the last century?

The Industrial, Community and Reservoir losses from evaporation and seepage seem to have increased a lot over the century, because they are very steep.

Water Treatment Steps

You can really see the difference between clean water, and dirty water. First of all clean water is tasteless and odorless.... And dirty water is yellow! Plus you can totally smell the dirt that's in there, and it tastes disgusting!!! SO DON'T TRY IT!!!

STEP 1 - Taking the big pieces out of the water

In this step they have these huge things that block the big trash from getting in. Now this step ONLY stops the BIG pieces. When there is a big piece it will get caught in one of the things that dig into the ground and then just stay there. It won't just go away. Someone has to take it out, otherwise it'll just stay in the water, until someone takes it out. It looks really grouse, because all the other stuff just flows into there, and let me tell you, there's some really nasty stuff flowing in there!

STEP 2 - Aeration

Aeration means that they have to poke a hole into the ground so it allows air and water penetrate the surface of the soil. The area is top dressed afterward and sand fills the holes to prevent closure.

STEP 3 - Adding Chemicals

This is an important step of the process. This step is when they have to add all of the chemicals, so that the dirty stuff floats up to the surface.

STEP 4 - Sedimentation

Sedimentation is used to settle out solids in water under the influence of gravity. In sedimentation there are 4 steps.

Step 1 - Is when every particle settles independently.

Step 2 - Is when the particles flocculate as they settle.

Step 3 & 4 - Is when the sludge is thickening.

STEP 5 - Filtration

Filtration is when is passing through a filter.

The trip to the Water Treatment Plant was very cool. I got to learn so many more things about water than I knew at the beginning. In all there are 5 steps.

I thought this trip was really great. Although I must say everyone had sweat dripping down their chins. Sorry that there's not so much of an explanation for filtration. But I think everyone should understand.

The Water Cycle

Evaporation is when the water is transfared up into the air. In this picture the small bubbles are water vapor, which carries the water up into the sky.

Condensation is the process which creates clouds, and so it's necessary for rain and snow formation as well.

Precipitation is when there is too much water in the clouds that the cloud can't hold on to it anymore. So then the cloud has to let the water out which causes rainfall.

Infiltration is when the rainfall drops onto the ground, and then sinks into any hole or crack there is in the ground.

And then the Water Cycle starts all over again!

Earthquake Strikes Indonesia...

It was shortly before 3pm when it happened. The Earthquake struck Indonesia. it killed 38 people, but was a strong hit on the Richter Scale!!! Which was 7.6!!! I was at school when it happened, but why would a big fat snake surrounded by 650 Middle Scholars, and why would it go under the ground. There could be a slight possibility that the Snake could feel the small title waves forming the Earthquake.

There has been a Tsunami warning on television. Could this be because of the Ring of Fire??? The Rinf of Fire is an arc of intense seismic. .How can the people interact with the environment? Well it could be that when the Earthquake shakes, something could fall from the ceiling, and could kill someone. But when I was in school, I fell from the chair, and when I was on the ground face up my back could REALLY feel the title waves, that were present during the Earthquake. I didn't know that something so short could have scored such a high score on the Richter Scale. But it occurred to me that there could be another Earthquake, because of all the signs that have been connecting with the environment.

Typhoon Morokot

Three mindless days of water, crashing buildings and mudslides that fill the city of Taiwan. The city is trashed with rubbish, cement, from crashed buildings, and trucks which the Morokot(typhoon) blows away within five seconds... In the picture on the right is a red building which is collapsing, because of the water. The water digs into the ground so deep that it ruins the ground of the building which it stands on, which causes it to colapse. On the picture to the left, is a bridge which has already collapsed, because the water came in so strong in one sudden move that the bridge couldn't hold it anymore.

Why do Typhoons never hit Indonesia? Well you see all of the Countries that are placed very close to the equators never get hit. The relationship between the natural causes of the Typhoon, and people. Well you see when rain falls it goes on the mountain, and then the water rolls down into Taiwan, and floods the city. And then it effects the people. Sometimes there are mud slides, and then it rolls all of the mud down into the city!!!