Author: Alli S

Where did they go?

Alli S 2 Comments

I have teamed up with three other people from the class for the final project. We are also writing a children’s book but ours has a different approach on how the message of climate change will be portrayed. We came up with the idea that a group of kids are going on a trip to the zoo. They are eager to see the animals but soon realize that majority of the cages are empty and the animals are gone. Each person in our group will focus on one animal to write and illustrate on. The layout with be similar to IDP:2043 where there will be a continuous story line but each page will have its own unique style.

I chose research sea turtles for my portion of the final project. I lived on the beach in Florida for around 10 years so I am familiar with sea turtles and their habitat. I learned that the seven existing species of marine turtles are critically endangered. Sea turtles can produce around 100 eggs but very few survive, mostly due to natural causes. While living in Florida, I learned that when baby sea turtles hatch, they migrate towards light-usually the moon light. Sometimes, the babies take street lamps as the natural light and therefore never make it towards the ocean.  “Most marine turtle species spend much of their lives in continental shelf waters. Males do not leave the sea and females only come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches during the appropriate season. During the nesting season, mature males and females migrate from feeding grounds and mate near the nesting beach.” In one of the smaller discussion groups in class, the rising of sea levels was mentioned. If sea turtles are not able to reach the sand to lay eggs, then the entire species will become extinct.

In a few articles we have read on adaptation, building sea walls to protect from flooding was one of the top choices to prepare for the future climate. Sea walls “change long-shore drift patterns and can cause erosion or destruction of entire beach sections” therefore making it harder for the sea turtles to rest upon shore. Also, the feeding habitats for turtles such as coral reefs are being destroyed by “sedimentation, insensitive tourist development, destructive fishing techniques and climate change.”

The main influence that climate change has on the life of sea turtles is that “increase in global temperatures could change the proportion of female and male turtle hatchlings and could result in marine turtle populations becoming unstable.” With sea turtles, the outside temperature controls the sex of the egg. For example, the colder temperatures produce male offspring, while females tend to hatch in warmer weather. If the temperatures continue to fluctuate, one sex may possibly overpower the other making it difficult to reproduce.

The book will close with the zookeeper telling the students why most of the animals are gone thus introducing climate change and global warming to the reader.

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/marine_turtles/

Athabasca Break Down

Alli S 1 Comment

I became very interested in “An Athabasca Story” mainly because I was confused on how Cariou wanted the last few paragraphs to be portrayed to the reader. I did a lot of research which I used for my close reading but I broke down almost every aspect of “An Athabasca Story” to be able to picture it better.

Cariou grew up in Saskatchewan and when he heard that his community and northern Alberta were under the threat of oil sands, he traveled to Alberta to create a documentary on the natives who have been dealing with these fears. While he was there, he spoke with an elder who told him some stores. Cariou said that his stories started to blend in with what he saw there(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmZ-ej_Sx5Q). I viewed Elder Brother as a Native American who lived off the land in the forest. There was some discussion in class on whether he was human or not but it stated that he wore moccasins, had fingers and toes, and spoke English.

Contine reading →

Public Unawareness?

Alli S 3 Comments

Global warming is a word that is thrown around is today’s language. A few weeks ago, I thought it was self-explanatory; it has warming in the name. It’s a very ignorant answer but I’m probably not the only one who thought this. It brought to my attention that why I am not concerned with global warming and why haven’t I been informed?

Most of the population is probably not well informed on the topic of global warming. They are most likely just as oblivious to the significance it has to the Earth and the population as I was. For example, I have seen the Hollywood movies based on the near destruction of the world. World War Z, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow have the underlying message that “the world is coming to an end” but used that thought and made it into entertainment. They fanaticize it, focusing on one character and then, like most movies today, someone comes in and, literally, saves the world. Global warming is usually not the main headline on social media and gets swept under the rug; people are uneducated and blinded to the distresses it has already caused. The “information” people are getting about global warming from these movies may make an unconscious impact in the back of their mind. In most stories, there is shown to be this continuous pattern that everything in the end will be fine and that someone will always be there to save the day. Is that why people aren’t doing anything? That sounds almost absurd but for me, almost every movie, TV show or book I have read or seen ends on good terms. We expect things to go right; we expect things to go our way. If things don’t go our way, is it really true? If we look at the world today and see all our great innovations and history we have created over the past few decades, it’s extraordinary and shows tremendous progress. When we hear the talks on devastation and are told that it is happening but all we see is progress, then is it really happening?

Almost all of the stories we have read in class have used scare tactics to try and persuade readers to change. After retaining this information, the reader is informed on what the impacts look like but not told how to help. After the recent “Climate Change” reading, I now know ways that I can save energy. The thought I have in my head, which I’m sure most people do too, is that I am only one person, how much can I do? Social media and social networking have an enormous impact on almost everything. I feel that that may be the biggest factor that could help or hurt us. People  glorify celebrities so if more celebrities start posting about using solar panels, electric cars and  wind mills, would that encourage more people to do it? Would making movies with realistic possibilities of the future have an impact? What would happen if we as students branched out to people now that we are more educated and have found ways to help? Even though I didn’t elaborate much on all of the readings we have done, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the massive impact that social media has and could do.