ARC students save the world, again...

Thursday, July 19th, Day 26

“People often say that in democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote—a very different thing.”

Greatest accomplishment of the day: Everyone finished their projects for science.

Here's an example from Juan & Kenia:

TALKING TRASH!

One of the most visited places on Earth is our beaches. Millions of people like to enjoy the sites, the sounds, and the beauty of the ocean. Many of those people are unaware of how they are making a huge impact on it. The cruel reality is that we are killing ourselves by destroying our oceans.

One of the main issues concerning us is trash, but we are not making conscientious decisions about it. Animals like birds, sea turtles, fish, and other kinds of marine life are being found on the shores of our beaches, DEAD! They die because they mistake our trash for food. Most of the trash and debris is glass, plastic, metal, and paper.

A photo in the October 2005 edition of National Geographic showed a Laysan albatross chick with the following found in its stomach: cigarette lighter, pump-top sprayer, nut shells, shot gun shell, broken clothespins and hundreds of plastic bits. It died of starvation because its stomach was full of trash. “Starvation associated with marine debris is a significant cause of death in chicks that don’t fledge,” the caption stated. Locally, cigarette butts are the most commonly collected item on our beaches. According to www.surfrider.org, on September 16, 2006, 395 volunteers cleaned up Santa Barbara County beaches for three hours. In that short amount of time, they picked up approximately 1,158 pounds of trash and 764 pounds of recyclable material from our neighboring beaches, stretching some 30 miles along our coastline. A minute portion of all the garbage and debris that still remains in our oceans. Now, do you still think that a minuscule piece of trash is not an enormous problem?

The daily human activities not only impact the marine life, but your life too, making the ocean less enjoyable for us and more hazardous. For example, when swimmers or people are walking on the beach shores they can get injured by stepping on glass, cans, needles, or many other types litter. Divers and swimmers have unfortunately found objects that are dangerous to our health such as condoms, tampons, and hospital syringes. Isn’t that sad?

In addition, the reason we should care about oceans is because oceans provide important benefits for humans such as oxygen and food. Not only that, the ocean provides food and shelter for 97% of all life on earth, according to www.santabarbaraca.gov. We also should care because this is an important portion of life. It is our responsibility to try and mend what we have done.

However, a way to regulate the problem is by using the 4 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Refuse. Did you know that a fourth R(refuse) existed? The first “R” stands for reduce: reducing the amount of trash by not buying unnecessary objects that will cause plenty of trash, buy only quantities we really need and buy better quality items so they last longer. The second “R” stands for reusing: reusing products like plastic bags or anything that can be use multiple times over or maintaining items so that they last longer. The third “R” recycling: recycling plastics such as water bottles, glass, metal, and paper. According to the research done by www.beachclean-up.org, almost 90% of all floating marine debris is plastic, plastics that could have been recycled to make furniture, bottles, or insulation. And finally the fourth “R” refusing: refusing a styrofoam coffee cup by taking your own, or refusing plastic bags in the grocery store by taking your own bag, which will make a difference.

In conclusion, as humans we can make a difference, but we need everyone’s involvement. Some ways to support the oceans is by disposing our trash properly, always trying to recycle, practicing good house keeping, encouraging to pick up trash, etc. Remember that by just picking a simple wrapper of a granola bar or a cigarette butt, it will make an immense change on the ocean, you are saving the planet! And if you want to conserve our oceans, do it for your children, and the children of your children, and for the health of the marine life. Don’t think about it, ACT!


La basura en nuestros oceanos es un problema que no se a podido radicar, pero todo eso se debe a la falta de educacion de parte de nosotros. Nos estamos matando nosotros mismos. Al contaminar nuestros mares con metal, plasticos, papel y vidrios, estamos acabando con la vida marina como: algunos pajaros, tortugas marinas, pescados, y muchos otros mas. Estos confunden nuestra basura por comida, y como eso no los nutre, mueren de hambre. Con tan solo depositar la basura en su lugar, reciclando plasticos(con el plastico se pueden hacer muebles), educando a otros, o con tan solo recoger una pequena basurita como una envoltura de un chicle o una colilla de cigarro, haria una gran diferencia.