Plastiki

Plastiki......plastiki... it's the hot topic these days. But what exactly is the Plastiki? Guess what it is! Yes, it reminds you of the word plastic...c'mon, use your imagination, people! You can't guess? *Huff*. Fine. I'll tell you. It's a boat made out of plastic bottles. Right, it sounds like a tacky little sailboat but no-no-no! It's a super high-tech boat with solar panels, propeller turbines and a bike generator for backup. Cool, huh? The plastiki is made out of 12,000 plastic bottles, full with gas. It took 3 years to build the actual boat from the sketches. What is this boat for? It's on a mission, of course! David de Rothschild, and his team are planning to sail off from San Francisco(March 20th,2010) all the way to Sydney. They It's a long journey, all on a boat.

So why are they doing this mission? They planned this mission to notify the world about the plastic waste we are throwing away this minute. They want to show people that if they can sail around the world in a boat made from plastic, then plastic can be recycled and turned into household appliances as well. To sum it up, they want to stop throwing away plastic waste and recycle it. Help planet Earth!

It'd be very, very cool if Project Plastiki worked. It would leave a great message about recycling all over the world, since the Plastiki is world-wide famous now.

Cross my fingers-hope they can make it!

Haiti History & Why so poor?

Haiti History

1. Before Haiti was discovered, Taino/Arawak Indians were settled in Haiti. They were the original people of Haiti.

1. Haiti was discovered by Christopher Columbus, December 5th, 1492. Colombus declared Haiti as Spain territory. Then Spain killed almost everybody living at Haiti.

2. In 1697, the Spanish gave some of Haiti to France. Haiti was fashioned a new name: Saint Dominigue.

3.  The French brought the first 100 African slaves to Haiti, making them work day and night and treating them harshly. 

4. In Jan. 1, 1804, Haiti declared independence, becoming the first independent black country. 

5. Jean-Jacques Dessalines named the new nation Haiti in 1804. 

Why so poor?

6. To get a good job, you must be well educated. Haitians are rarely educated, not being able to read or write. So they can only get poor-paid jobs, earning one or two dollars a day.

7.Haiti was once the richest colony in the world. Haiti was once called the Jewel of Antilles, due to the fortune they made by exporting sugar, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, cotton and lots more.

8. Haiti chops off lots of trees to make charcoal to export for money, but when hurricanes and storms hit, it destroys the houses and buildings, especially without the trees, which sometimes help stop disasters.

9. One reason Haiti is so poor is because Haiti was forced to stop exporting some of their goods. Haiti used to export coffee until the 1960s when the price of coffee had dropped lower. Haiti couldn't compete with the rest of the coffee exports so they had to stop exporting coffee.

10. Another reason Haiti is so poor is because two-thirds of the citizens earn money farming crops, which could be destroyed easily by a storm or a drought. Which leads to no money.

Haiti Earthquake Update Post

Last week, an magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. Haiti was in serious condition. But now, help is at hand.

Aid trucks, convoys and planes are sending medical supplies and food from all over the world. This truck, is carrying relief supplies. Even though medical supplies and food are being sent to Port-au-Prince(Capital of Haiti), it is never enough for all the patients. An emergency communications officer describe it as "Patients who were not critical only three days ago are now critical. It's horrible." Hopefully, more will be delivered quickly so the patients could be treated.

The Haitian embassy collected baby formula, diapers, toiletries, vitamins, medicines, batteries and clothings and are sending the truckfuls of supplies to Haiti. U.S. paratroopers also gave some 70,000 bottles of water. 40,000 high-energy biscuits were delivered to the citizens as well.

The Haiti earthquake was devastating, and hopefully more aid will be on the way sooner or later to help the victims.

Haiti Earthquake

Why are these people from the picture screaming and running away?

On the 12th of January, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, around 5 p.m. Lots of buildings and houses collapsed, falling on people, injuring or even killing them. Schools fell down as well, killing the teacher and most of the students. People were running and screaming in all directions, trying to survive. Loads of people were stuck in the building, the debris blocking their way. They have been trying to squeeze out of cracks in buildings, but it hasn't been very successful. When the earthquake struck, no telephone connections could be made. When the earthquake stopped, the citizens of Haiti dug through rubble and debris with their hands or shovels, hoping to find survivors. Dead bodies were all over the streets. People were running around, screaming for their kids, wives, husbands. How sad would it be, not being able to see your loved ones forever. Not enough medical supplies, foods and clothes could be provided. Hospitals collapsed too, so the injured weren't able to get a proper treatment. This earthquake was a nightmare. A big, big tragedy, something that we could relate to, since we are living in Jakarta, where earthquakes are a problem.  

Questions for Social Studies 2

1. List the main reasons for water scarcity.

 The main reasons are low rainfall, variations in climate, land degradation, population growth and water pollution.

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 the opposite of a flood-it's when there is precipitation below average. If I was living in a poor country like Ethiopia, a drought would be terrible. Nobody would get enough water, and because Ethiopia is poor, they would not have very good dam systems and stuff, which would cause to lack of water for everybody. People could even die if a drought continues too long.  

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

When land is degraded, the soil loses its ability to absorb water. So, when rain comes down(fresh water) the fresh water will run off a lot, because the soil cannot absorb, due to land degradation. The fresh water run-off would go to rivers and seas, and we would be losing our fresh water.

4.
a) What is El Nino?

El Nino is the Pacific Ocean getting warm every 3-5 years. 

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

During El Nino, the wind going across the Pacific Ocean changes its direction. There is also reserved air pressure across the Pacific, which leads to high pressure systems over Australia. This pressure stops moist air from coming into Australia for a long time, which can cause droughts.

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

a) What effects does El Nino have on the availability of fresh water?
El Nino causes droughts, which cause rarely any rain. Rain is fresh water.

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

Africa-decreased corn crop. China-Agricultural under serious problems from small amount of water and floods. Philippines-Decreased rice harvest. Indonesia-Forest fires and air pollution. Papua New Guinea-Failure of food crops. Australia-Wheat exports failure. Peru-Fishing problems. 

Bintaro Lama Movie

Hi, this is a video I filmed back in my field trip to Bintaro Lama last week. It shows what kinds of station I went to and how the local people cleaned water. Hope you enjoy!!

Trip to Bintaro Lama

On November 12th, the P module went to Bintaro Lama, to see how local people cleaned water. I went to station 2, 4 and 6. Even though the local people didn't have all the filters and machines like the water treatment plant, they could still make it clean. I thought that was pretty smart.

Station 2.

Station 2 was where the people taught us why we had to wash our hands. The water was mostly contaminated by open-waste, and people who drank and used the contaminated water afterwards got diarrhea. The WatSan people told us that babies under five would die in two days after getting diarrhea, and that millions of babies die every year because of contaminated water. They showed us a diagram of how the water was contaminated, and how people became sick. Washing our hands is important!

Station 4.

Station 4 was where the WatSan people demonstrated how they cleaned the water by using Pur, a packet of chemicals they put in to clean the water. It was really quite simple. All you had to do was pour in the Pur, then wait for 30 minutes. Between the 30 minutes, sedimentation happened. Then, you pour the water through a filter made out of a handkerchief, and voila! The water was drinkable. But the Pur was only for emergencies, like when there was a flood. The other way to clean water was through this filter, but it took 12 hours to clean water using the filter.

Station 6.

Station 6 was where AquaTabs and AirRahMat was introduced. AquaTabs were these tablets to put in the water. The tablet dissolved, and cleaned the water while dissolving. The tablet was used to clean flood water. One AquaTab can clean 10L of flood water, and 20L of ground water. The AirRahMat was a liquid. You would put in a few drops of AirRahMat, then shake it for 15 seconds. Then it was drinkable. AirRahMat was 3,000 Rp., and AquaTabs were 1,000 Rp. per tablet. 

The way of cleaning water was really smart. I learned how to clean water three different ways. From both trips to Bintaro and the water treatment plant, I thought how fortunate I was to get clean water so easily. After the field trips, I think I now know a bit more about how important clean water is. 

Preparation for pg.227, no. 1-6

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

Only 2.5% of the Earth's water is fresh. 

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

Fresh water is found in ice on land, groundwater, soil, atmosphere, rivers and lakes.

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

It is a problem because water and people are unevenly distributed and some people don't get as much as they would need and want to.

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

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

There isn't much rainfall at the southern and northern parts, but there's a lot of rainfall between the southern and the northern tip. There is more rainfall as you get to the middle of Africa.

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

There is more rain at the eastern part of Australia than the western part.

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?

Mostly the Northern parts. Russia, Canada, Australia, Africa, South America

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

Some parts in Asia, a couple of Northern tips in Africa, the southern tips in Australia and the Middle East

6. Observe the diagram of water use.

a) What are the main uses of water?

Agricultural use

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

Reservoir losses from evaporation and seepage

Trip to the Water Treatment Plant

On November 5th, all the P module went to the water treatment plant for a field trip. There we had a quick tour around the treatment plant, and learned they cleaned the water. Then, we watched a movie about the steps.

1. The first step was taking out all the floating garbage in the water. Often garbages like plastic bags and diapers flow in with the water, and they need to be removed. There are big iron gate-like fences, which lets the water flow in, but not the garbage. It hooks the garbage, removing it from the water.

2. The second step was adding minerals and oxygenating, once the garbage was removed. This was done for aeration, letting some oxygen mix with the water. Adding good and healthy minerals for us was also done in the second step.

3. The third step was adding chemicals, which also included allum. Allum was put in, and all the big pieces of dirt floated upwards, making a hay-and-water sort of gooey mixture called floc. It was the first step of removing dirt from the water, and to clean it. 

4. The fourth step was taking out the floc. A lot of people just think floc as a waste and throw them away, but the water treatment send the floc to a waste tower, where they make a paste using the floc. The paste is used to build houses and stuff. So, the water treatment plant was being nature-friendly! 

5. The fifth step was filtration and disinfection. The remaining water passed through a layer of very fine sand for last removal of any dirt left, and then more chemicals were added for disinfection for one more time. This was part was one of the most important step, because they had to make sure the water was clean.

I had a pretty fun time at the water treatment plant. It was really cool how they transformed the murky, dirty brown water to a perfectly drinkable water. I never knew this much steps were done for my shower water and stuff. I think I'm really lucky to get all this clean water quickly, whenever I want it.  

Water Cycle

1. Evaporation

This picture shows evaporation. As you can see, the water on the ground is heating up. Soon, this water will become water vapor, and will evaporate into the sky. Evaporation is the first step in the water cycle.

2. Condensation

This is condensation. Condensation is when water vapor changes back to liquid. Condensation might appear as fog, mist, and other things. The water droplets on the picture is when the water 

 evaporated, and then came back down as the form of liquid. Condensation is the second step in the water cycle.

3. Precipitation

An  example of precipitation is rain. Precipitation is what happens when the water vapors meet together and form a cloud. As more water evaporate, more water vapor is added to the cloud. Once there is too much water vapor together, it will get heavy and the water vapor cannot hold itself together as a cloud. Then, the water vapor falls down, and according to the temperature, it may come down as rain, snow or hail. Precipitation is the third step of the water cycle.

4. Infiltration

Infiltration is when water soaks down into the ground. When rain starts, the water falls steadily to the ground. Mostly the ground soaks up the water. But when there is a flood, a lot of water doesn't get soaked up by the ground. This water just stays around, because it has nowhere to go. When the flood stops and the sun is up again, evaporation will begin and it will be the start of a new water cycle. Infiltration is the fourth and the last step of the water cycle. 

Earthquake

A 7.3 earthquake hit Indonesia on September 2nd. In Indonesia, earthquakes happen pretty often because Indoensia is in the Ring of Fire, where the plates underneath gets a lot of pressure, which leads to volcanoes and earthquakes. Although there was no landslide because of the flat landscape of Indonesia, there was a tsunami warning. Indonesia is surrounded by water, so if an earthquake hit Indonesia, there are certain chances that a tsunami might happen. Although people were really surprised by the sudden earthquake, there were signs that an earthquake could happen. For instance, before the earthquake happened, a big snake came out from its underground shelter. Why? The animals could predict the earthquake coming, so the snake came out, trying to escape.

A lot of people got hurt, or even died because of this earthquake. There are a lot of tall buildings in Indonesia, and when the earthquake hit, the buildings were damaged, and things like chandeliers or objects on shelves fell down and broke, possibly hurting somebody. There were also some cracks on the walls too. There were especially a lot of damage at the Kampung village near the epicenter. 

Typhoon Morakot

This picture shows the damage the typhoon Morakot did. Houses were crushed and was floating on the flood. Morakot sweeped away all the buildings and bridges so easily. These houses in the picture were one of them. Because of this typhoon, Taiwan had lost so much of their country.

I think this picture shows the component and the process of this natural environment. If it hadn't rained in Taiwan, this would've never happened, and if they weren't so much thick dirt on the mountanis, there wouldn't have been a mud slide.