Virginia Ocean - Powerpoint

The purpose of my action project was to choose a city that has already begun to feel effects of the climate change. The city that I chose to study was Virginia Beach. I chose to study Virginia Beach because, Ice caps are melting, and short waves are staying in the Earth's atmosphere causing molecules to expand and oceans. Ice caps are melting because of our actions. Global warming will turn Virginia Beach into an ocean.

One Challenge that I faced during this action project was reading about global warming and how it's going into full effect. Knowing global warming is going into effect is really hard for me to read because I really care about our Earth. If we keep polluting Earth, we will not have a healthy world to live in! I created this Powerpoint on Virginia Beach to show that pretty soon it will not be a city to vacation on. The whole city will be an entire ocean.

The most enjoyable part about this action project is going to inform others to take action. If we all want to live and have our family live on a healthy Earth, and not experience disasters like global warming. We need to work together and show that we can take care of our planet.

            Photography JV Cumulus clouds 2013*

       Cline, Seth ( 2012) Global Warming. U.S. News.

Poison Berry - Poem & Poster on MDG 7

The purpose of my action project was to choose a issue that covered Millennium Development Goal number 7, which is to Ensure Environmental Sustainability. I chose deforestation because I was interested in a type of plant called buckthorn. This type of plant relates to deforestation, because it kills native plant species. Buckthorn takes away nutrients, light, and moisture, not allowing other plants to grow. 

For my external investigation I talked to my uncle Dan. He was a former Archaeologist for the forest preserve district of Cook County. He explained to me that buckthorn was like a cancer to forest preserves. That inspired me to take action, by writing a poem and showing that buckthorn is a disease. 

The picture below shows my drawing of buckthorn "cancer". I drew a cancer ribbon (which is yellow and dark green) to symbolize "forest cancer". I drew buckthorn coming out of the ribbon to show that it spreads. Behind the ribbon there are trees to represent forest preserves. A challenge that I faced was drawing my picture.  I overcame it by really taking action and expressing how I feel about invasive species. What I enjoyed about this action project was doing research. I improved a lot on research.

                                                  Photography JV Forest Cancer Awareness 2013*

Looks like berries but feels like poison, grows and grows but never ends

The way it curves and grows up in to a leaf, this plant bears fruits which are black and red berry like a drupe 

The name is due to the woody spine of each twig, it grows 25 feet tall, the fruits are like dye used for silk or wool

Comes from Europe, over 150 species this invasive plant called buckthorn

Looks like berries but feels like poison, kills native plants

takes away nutrients, light, and moisture, never dies during winter

Make animals sick, threatens the future forest 

Like cancer that can’t find a cure, growing repeatedly without end

Looks like berries but feels like poison, buckthorn is like a disease to forest preserves 

will never stop growing, let's help stop planting buckthorn for privacy 

help Cook County forest preserves from its, sickness it could work

Looks like berries but feels like poison, help deer and birds stop getting stomach pains

let's not make them think it's a fruity berry, let trees grow healthy without getting replaced from buckthorn

let's follow Chicago Wilderness, people volunteering to take down buckthorn this cancer can get cured

Citations

"Corporate Council". chicagowilderness.org. 2012. Web. October 16, 2013.

Melone, Dan, personal interview with former Archaeologist from the forest preserve district of Cook County. 13 October. 2013.

"Forest Preserves of Cook County". fpdcc.com. Thornton C. Ralph. N.P. N.D. Web. October 11, 2013.

Tukea Teini Raskaus

The title for my project means Support teen pregnancy. The purpose of this MDG's action project was to choose an indicator that focuses on Millennium Development Goal. I chose target 5 which is to improve maternal health-women caring for children. The topic I chose was pregnancy care before and after a baby is born to a teenage mother. I had to pick a country who has a better example than the United States. I chose to compare Finland to the United States because their teenage pregnancy rate is 9.1%. The United States pregnancy rate is 29.4%. What I learned in this action project was that the United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate out of many other developed countries. A challenge that I faced during this action project was finding sources. How I overcame this challenge was by doing a lot of research for my statistic. What I most enjoyed about this project was learning more about another country. The one thing I am most proud of is my graph. I think I represented my data in a unique way.

                                         Photography JV Bottle percentages 2013*

The Honorable Mark Kirk

230 South Dearborn

Suite 3900

Chicago,IL 60604


Dear Senator Kirk,

I am JV and I attend Global Citizenship Experience High School in Chicago. I’m writing to you to ask for your support for pregnancy care before and after a baby is born to a teenage mother in the United States. As a high school student studying maternal health, I want to draw your attention because the United States has the highest teenage pregnancy rate out of many other developed countries.

The United States current data for teenage pregnancy is 29.4%. Births for every 1,000 females 15-19 in this age group give birth to 305,420 babies each year. In 2011 the rate for teenage pregnancy was 31.3% for every 1,000 females. The rate dropped 6% which lead to 29.4%. About 82% of teenage pregnancy is unwanted with this rate for teenage pregnancy young girls get lower educational levels, higher rates of poverty, and poorer life outcomes. (Hamilton, 2010) Teenage mothers end up being on welfare with a low pay job or no job at all living on family support.

For this issues I did some research and came across Finland. I choose Finland to compare with the United States because I think Finland is doing a amazing Job with controlling teenage pregnancy. Finland's rate for teenage pregnancy is 9.1% for every 1,000 female in Finland. (A Nation’s Gift) Finland's teenage pregnancy rate is really low and I think as a country they really care about teenage education. In Finland schools they demand sex education for ages 12-19. I think that is one reason why their rate is low. I think that the U.S. gives sex education too late. Finland teaches young girls and boys about sex education and what could happen. I think by teaching at a young age about pregnancy and STD’s can really influence them not to have sex. Finland also cares about teenage mothers and expecting mothers by giving out baby boxes. The boxes Finland gives out is filled with baby clothes, bottles, wipes, and all baby essentials. Finland government office offers the baby box or 140-euro, the mothers choice.

The graph above shows the percentages for teenage pregnancy In United States and Finland. Each bottle shows the percentages in milk. The left bottle shows the United States teenage pregnancy rate which is 29.4%. ( Hamilton,2010). The right hand bottle shows Finland's teenage pregnancy rate which is 9.1%. (Hamilton 2010). On each side of the bottles are labels showing various statistic: births for every 1,000 females, age groups that get pregnant, and the number of babies that are born each year from a teenage girl.

My desired outcome is to see teenage pregnancy rate drop in the United States. This high rate for teenage pregnancy in our country makes the United States look like they do not care about teenage education. As a teenage girl I would like girls my age to have the same education that I’m getting. I will also like to see the United States help teenage mothers with the example of the baby boxes. I think that would really help teenage mothers especially mothers who can not afford to buy baby essentials. I think if Finland can send out baby boxes and they are a small country the United states can too. 

Thank you,

JV

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• "Teen births rates". thenationalcampaign.org. Martin, J.A. Hamilton, B.E. Web 2010. September 26, 2013.

• "U.S teenage birth rate at a new low,government report show". .reuterscom . Lisa Maria Garza. September 6, 2013. Web. September 30, 2013.

• "Finland’s Baby Boxes Expectant Mothers": A Nation’s Gift.

           apartmenttherapy.com. N.P. N.D. Web. September 26, 2013.

Pure Action

The purpose of this H20 action project was to build a homemade water filter. My water filter had to turn local, non-potable water into clean drinking water. What I learned in this unit was the purity and complexity of water. I learned how to test the pH level of water and how to solve logarithmic equations. My challenges in this action project was trying to figure out where I would get all my materials. Luckily for me I had all my materials at home that I did not know about. This made my project an inexpensive one all I had to buy was a plastic pop bottle which was $2.10! The most enjoyable part for this action project was making the water filter. I liked getting my hands a little dirty with the sand, and dirt. I like that I had an experience making non-potable water drinkable. I am really proud that my water filter actually worked!
                               

                                                                   Photography JV Water Filter 2013* 

We just finished the unit which was studying the purity and complexity of water in my science/math class. For our action project, our class was asked to build a water filter that would turn local, non-potable water into clean drinking water. I am really proud of my water filter working. I did not think that the filter would work because it was homemade, but it worked! The image above is a sketch of my water filter.


                           
                                                             HT. (2013); Build Day, Water Filter

To start building my water filter, I had to gather all of my materials. Luckily for me, being resourceful made the project an inexpensive one. All I had to buy was a plastic pop bottle, which was $2.10, and my teacher provided the activated carbon and coffee filters. The materials needed were: Jelly jar, sand, dirt, gravel, plastic bottle, activated carbon, coffee filters, and small a glass beaker. The steps that I took to build my water filter were: 1) Gather all materials and test the pH of the outdoor water source. 2) Poke holes in the bottom of the plastic bottle, so the water can get through. 3) Layer coffee filters on the bottom of the bottle so it will trap all contaminated particles. 4) Layer the plastic bottle with sand, dirt, and gravel, in that order from bottom to top. 5) Pour dirty water over the top of the layers. 6) Collect filtered water in a Jelly jar. 7) Add a small amount (1 gram) of activated carbon to the newly filtered water and swirl to mix the water and carbon. 8) Filter the water a second time through coffee filters to remove the carbon. 9) Test the pH of the water.

                                         
                                                                      Photography JV Water Filter 2013*

The kind of water I used was River/pond water. Before I filtered my river water, I tested it on litmus paper and it came out to be a pH of 4, which is acidic. After filtering the water, I tested it again, and it came out to be a pH of 7.2, which is slightly basic, but still drinkable, because it falls in the “safe” range of our bodies. I calculated the pH difference, which was 2.8 (7.2-4). I also know that the equation for pH is -log[H+]. If you convert to a power form and plug in pH, you get 10^2.8 = 631. This number means that my water was 631 times more basic than before filtering. In other words, the number of hydroxyl ions increased. I would expect the water to taste refreshing. 

My filter worked because I used natural resources. Each layer contributed to cleaning the water. For example, the coffee filter seemed to be the most important part of the filtration system, because it caught the dirt particles. My filter is similar to groundwater because groundwater gets filtered naturally. The water filtered through my system goes through the exact same layers (sand, dirt, and gravel). I packed my coffee filters at bottom of my bottle. I placed the sand as the middle layer and the gravel was the top layer.The most compact layer was the bottom because the coffee filters were the base. The rest of the layers were weighing the coffee filters down. When the water goes through these layers it gets cleaned. I chose this design, because it looked like the simplest way to filter water. I also chose this design, because I like how the lighter materials went on the bottom and the heavier went on the top. I like this design because the heavier materials pack down the lighter ones. This made the filter work faster because the water was pushed down and cleaned faster. The similarity of my design to groundwater filtration is what I believe made my filter work.

Citations

• "Practical Primitive". practicalprimitive.com. Starnater, Eddie. Martin,Julie. LLC. 2012. Web. 27 September 2013.