PS 124 Community Website

Hi, I’m Ossam with environmental facts about over consumption and what I think about it, too.  First, the United States of America holds just 4% of the world’s people and consumes one-third of the world’s resources.  We would need 3 to 5 Earths if everyone used that amount of resources, but we only have one Earth.

We should stop thinking about cutting trees and oil and coal, and we should start thinking about recycling, renewable energy, and more.  In the video, Story of Stuff, the arrow to consumption is so important that, a few days after 9/11, George Bush told the people of the United States of America to start to SHOP – instead of helping donate money and sending people to rebuild or anything else.  I thought that was weird.  We should have donated money to rebuild it.

Now, something else crazy is happening in the Amazon Rain Forest – 2,000 trees are being cut down every minute.  I think that I should join a group that is trying to save the Amazon Rain Forest.

Hi, my name is Amadou.  I am going to be talking about lots of things, such as the black market, solar panels, and wind farms.

When I was a child, I heard adults talking about the black market, but never knew what it meant.  What I know now by watching videos of the ”the black market” is that the U.S. buys most of the endangered, and almost extinct, species.

Now, I will be talking about wind farms.  When I was young, I thought the wind farms just made the air cooler.  But, when I watched the video on Monday 6/1/09, I learned that they spin to give electricity to many homes.  They are spun by wind, so they use wind as a power source.

Next, I will talk about solar panels.  When I was young, I saw them on TV, but never knew that you could light up a whole house with one panel and that those blue cells use the sun’s energy, then turn it into electricity.

Hi, my name is Reggie and my class is studying about the environment.  My class watches videos because we have to know what’s happening around the world.  I knew animals were endangered, but I thought it was not a big deal.

After all, it is a big deal because more animals than ever are dying.  They are losing their homes and being over-hunted.  Pollution and global warming are also affecting animals.

Animals, such as lemurs, polar bears, kangaroos, buffaloes, birds, prairie dogs, and wolves are dying real fast!  I sometimes see animal fur in furniture stores.  I will work to make this all stop, you will see!!

Hi, my name is Erick, and I want to study more on solar power for our environmental study.  I did not know that in California FedEx started using solar power in the year 2005.   FedEx saves money by using solar power because 80% of their energy comes from the sun and just 20% is regular electricity.  Did you know that solar power is measured by mega watt?  Also, I never knew that only 40 solar cells are in 1 solar mirror or that 1 solar mirror can give electricity to one house.  That’s amazing!

Solar mirror is so powerful that if you put your hand on top of the solar mirror, it would make a hole through your hand – ouch!  Solar mirrors can power up an air conditioner, a car, or a factory!

In Texas, they use solar power to pump water.  They use solar power to pump and heat water.  The gas you see coming out is not toxic, it’s just made up of water particles – steam.

This is a great idea because we can decrease pollution and we’re saving the Earth.  If we can only come up with ways to make everything like this, like a solar powered computer.

Hello, my name is Richard.  I have learned a lot of things about the environment by watching videos, reading books, and by asking my friends more things about the environment.

One of the things I did not like about what I learned by watching a video is that people sell endangered and rare animals in places called black markets. In the black markets, people sell animals from Madagascar, Africa, and North America. Some animals they sell are endangered, such as lemurs and tortoises from Madagascar.  I also saw that people from the black market hunt tigers to sell their fur or skin.  Animals from the black market are kept in cages and they often die because they get too hot.

I also learned that the ice in Greenland is melting and the polar bears are drowning.  Polar bears also eat each other because they do not have enough food.  By reading a book, I realized that animals are dying out because people burn and cut down their trees or homes and replace them with different types of vegetation. That is called DEFORESTATION.  For example, pandas feed on bamboo, but people cut them down to use it.  Now the pandas are endangered.

I also learned about air pollution.  Air pollution is also called dirty air.  Sometimes polluted air can be invisible and can burn your eyes, make your throat itch, and make it hard for you to breathe.  Pollution can trap different types of gases and make the temperature rise.  High temperatures can cause bigger storms, hotter summers, and rising water levels.  This can cause the beaches to be smaller and hurt animals and plants.

Electricity is also important. Electricity is made at power plants that burn fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas. When we waste too much electricity, we cause fossil fuels to get burned.  This also causes air pollution.

My class and I learned a lot of things about the environment and it was fun – especially watching videos because some of them had cartoons to help us understand.

Hi, my name is George.  I am an 11 year old and I am a 5th grader.  Today I am going to talk about factory farms, the secret behind our food.  Did you know that, in the US, 35,000,000 cows are raised for our food in factory farms each year? One slaughterhouse kills 250 cattle each hour, or 1 every 15 seconds.  Factory farm workers overfeed the cattle so that they produce more meat.

Before they are slaughtered, chickens are cooped up in small cages for about 12 to 18 months with 5 or 6 other chickens.  There are only 67-87 square inches of living space for each animal.  Now that’s INCREDIBLY SMALL!

If I were you, I would never buy from factory farms.  Instead, you should buy organic and cage free foods.  Be a hero and save Earth and our animals.  Thanks for reading!