Geonews

Topic: blood diamond trade.

The article go's over a definition of the topic, then states locations where it is prevalent. It then continues into describe how the trade funnels money to and from criminal and terrorist organizations, as well as supporting unstable governments in Africa. (Note I have sent a copy of  the presentation to you via email)

One of the last blog updates.

Geonews topic: blood diamonds. Summery and history and some videos


Power point  presentation coming along for the global goal. Just need to extend it so it fits the time frame.

We are nearing the final days of our project. As stated earlier by Rebecca, we have teamed up with Mr. Alexander's grade ten class to hold a colour run that will be this Friday, June 9th during period 3. Posters have been made by both his class and ours and students from his class have went around the school promoting the event as well as handing out permission forms. The 'paint' will be made from crushed up chalk and students are asked to bring their own white t-shirt/clothing they are willing to get colourful. TLSSHealthandWellbeing are in charge of a BBQ that will be held at lunch as well as the raffle draw that will be held at the end of the colour run. The plan is yet to be determined when the raffle will be held as well as back up plans for rain dates etc... However, we have come a long way and are excited to be holding our event!

Health and Well Being Final Update

My action plan is winding down so this is my final update for my health and well being global goal. To recap, I helped global health by fundraising for mosquito nets to stop the spread of malaria. The fundraising buy-out volleyball game raised $800 for Spread the Net. Next, I helped local well-being at Twin Lakes Secondary School by forming the Student Mental Health Committee to help mental health at our school. We started Wellness Wednesdays which later turned into Feel Good Fridays. We created a calm space in the Hub for people to de-stress. This endeavour was not successful however, because no one came, even after extensive promotion around the school. The SMHC decided to stop Feel Good Fridays but continued to help mental health by helping promote mental health week and encouraging people to sign the pledge to get loud about mental health. I still wanted to do something bigger to help the health of my local community, so I decided to help plan our school's Big Bike team. Big Bike is a giant bike that you ride to stop traffic for heart health and fundraise for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. I recruited our team members and on a bright sunny day we rode the Big Bike and raised $2615 as a team. I am super proud of our team. I am also proud of myself for all the ways I  supported my global goal. Throughout my action plan I was also tweeting ways to stay healthy. The only thing left to do for me is to keep tweeting, and help the SMHC create an action plan for next year. I had a great time helping people stay healthy.

-Rideau Haskins
@tlssglblhealth 

Colour Run & BBQ

This is an update on our groups project. A lot has changed and we have had a few difficulties but the colour run is still on. We have teamed up with Mr. Alexanders class to do the colour run as well as doing a BBQ at lunch. The funds are going to be split between Mrs. Shaw's baby's surgery and the organization Caring Partners Global. These two different events are both on June 9th and we are hoping for a beautiful day and a great turn out.

We are approaching the final days of the global goal project.

Recently I began the power point presentation on the global goal.
I have now collected six full garbage bags from my street cleaning.

I also had a small bottle drive that was not successful in the grand scheme. But on my garbage collecting walks I made $6 from littered beer cans.

Sarah C's Geo News: US teen died after drinking caffeine too quickly

BBC: US Teen Died after Drinking Caffeine Too Quickly

16 year old Davis Cripe of South Carolina USA Collapsed at his high school and later died after drinking a McDonald's latte, A large Mountain Dew and an energy drink all in under 2 hours. Experts claim it was not the amount of caffeine that killed Cripe, but rather the short time in which he drinked them. Cripe had no health problems prior to this occurrence. Those involved say people can learn from this to monitor their use of caffeine simular to how one would cigarettes or alcohol.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39932366

Big Bike Success

On May 10 a team of grade 12s and teachers from Twin Lakes SS rode the Heart and Stroke Big Bike across Orillia to raise money and awareness for heart health. We raised $2615 and had such a fun time. I organized the event as part of my global goal of Health and Well being. The Heart and Stroke Foundation helps the health of people locally and nationally and I was glad to support them.

Local: Locally I have picked up three more garbage bags full of trash over the last few weeks.

Global:
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2016/03/04/the-countries-winning-the-recycling-race-infographic/&refURL=https://www.google.ca/&referrer=https://www.google.ca/
An article I found about recycling various materials and how they are being implemented, how we could implement them.

Colour me Twin

Colour me Twin is slowly coming together. We sadly only have two schools that have said yes to come so far but we are hoping to hear from schools who have not responded yet, soon. We are in the planning stages of what is officially going to happen on May the 30th. We will have our 2.5 km run followed by a BBQ and a handful of activities for the students to enjoy. We are finding our final method for creating our powdered paint that will be tossed at people in order to make them colourful. We're really proud of what we have accomplished and are very happy with the businesses that have donated to us and super thankful. Thank you to everyone who is helping this come together.

Last week I participated in the Twin Lakes garbage pickup. The whole school participated in cleaning up the neighborhood around the school. I was able to fill one of the large garbage bags by myself.

Global connections:  http://www.livescience.com/58874-peoples-climate-march.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170427091732.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170425182132.htm
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/earth-and-environment/
I find it disconcerting that the first five or so articles in a supposedly scientific journal (above) are to do with the U.S.A's leadership trying to tear down every environmental law there is.

Sarah G's Media Review #2

How can people determine the factualness of the media? Is there bias involved with content portrayed in a television show whether it is meant to be fiction or nonfiction? Regardless of the genre, there will always be a form a bias behind every story in a television series because television is a form of media created by individuals who describe their own perspective and interpretation of an idea.

In the ever growing T.V. series, “13 Reasons Why”, teenager Hannah Baker is subjected to a number of different types of bullying and abuse following her move to a new school. The objectification, and series of unfortunate events eventually lead her to take her life. However, prior to her death she records 13 tapes explaining the 13 people who were the reasons why she committed suicide. The series has resulted in dispute over the accuracy of how the topic of suicide is presented, and is one
example of how the media is capable of altering reality.

Through its effect on the audience, especially teenagers, “13 Reasons Why” has become such a widely renown series, some describing it as “unflinching and raw”. On the other hand, the depiction of suicide is contentious and induces those who may not be well-educated in the topic, to interpret it exactly the way it is presented. Although it is only one television series and one small example of how effective the media can be at altering our own beliefs, it is continuing a snowball of media, mind control, and transformation people are going through on a daily basis, whether they realize it or not.

Geo News- Dog gets put on wrong plane

On Wednesday, April 19th a labradoodle named cooper got put on the wrong WestJet plane and ended up in a province.  Coopers owner were going to Jamaica for a wedding so they were sending there dog to Deer Lake N,L. WestJet accidentally sent Cooper on a plane from Halifax to Hamilton. When they were in Hamilton they let cooper go outside on a leech to do his business and he ended up getting lose from the WestJet workers. They put a search on for cooper and called the owners to let them know what has happened. Westjet flew the owner to Hamilton so they could help find there dog and get it back. Cooper was found by some locals and he was scared and hungry but other then that all safe. I would say this would fall under resource because the dog wasn't getting the basic needs when he was out in the wild. I feel that WestJet should of gave the owners of the dog a free trip to wherever they wanted because of the problems they went through.

 After he was found

Nicole's media review #2

             The Toronto Star wrote an editorial on ending child poverty here in Canada. This editorial highlights the fact that in 1989, the House of Commons were dedicated to put an end to child poverty in Canada by the year 2000, known as Campaign 2000.  28 years later, child poverty has gone up to 18.3% from 15.8% since 1989. Thus showing that child poverty did not end, but unfortunately has gotten worse. The Toronto Star sends the message of how Canada might be in the top ten wealthiest countries, but ranks 26 out of 35 wealthy nations for child inequality and is in definite need of change.

Sarah C's Media Review #2

             The newly published article in The Globe and Mail I’m a Syrian Refugee in Canada: This is What 2016 Meant to me written by Nabel Alali, is a personal story about journey of man and his family to Canada after fleeing Syria 5 years ago. Throughout the article he talks about the process, the struggles and his gratitude towards Canadians. This is recommended for anyone who is seeking more information, or for those who may be hesitant about the idea of Syrian refugees entering Canada. It shines a light on the positive, and promotes acceptance.

Eric- Media review 2

Hope for Wildlife is a rehab center for animals located in Nova Scotia. It is filmed and made into a documentary series on television. More than one thousand injured and orphaned animals every year are helped. This series captures the devotion of veterinarians, volunteers and staff struggling to save every animal they can. The purpose of the show is to educate the world about the problems in the environment involving animals and what can be done. This TV show wants everyone to be aware of this environmental issue, which is animals matter. Without them ecosystems will corrupt. Their message is one must care for animals, because every animal matters.

Media Review #2. Rebecca Burns

The children's book Little Things Make Big Differences is a very inspirational book with a huge message behind it. This book is about Rehema, she is a young girl who lives in the African country Tanzania. Rehema was infected with malaria when she was a baby, but she survived because her parents were able to get treatment for her. In her story, Rehema shares how children all over the world can help fight malaria. This book is based around the world issue of malaria and how it can be prevented.

Awesome read!

http://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
The link above is to a national geographic article that frankly shocked me.
It is about a massive floating pile of garbage in the Pacific. And no one seems to know how to clean it up. Or simply don't want to because according to the article it would "bankrupt any country that tried".  Hay here is a wacky thought how about a group of countries that contributed to the mess all chip in a little bit.

I also found a few more article that you may find interesting.
https://www.generalkinematics.com/blog/top-10-recycling-countries-around-world/
http://www.canadianrockies.net/banff/poaching.html
http://www.wwf.ca/

Geo News - Fort McMurry Wildfire Causing Evacuation For Local Hospital.

The issue in this article took place in Fort McMurry on May 3rd 2016, this article was written on April 18th 2017. In this article the author talks about how Mavis Ure was in a tricky situation on May 3rd 2016 just after giving birth to her two twin boys she was asked to evacuate the hospital because a wildfire was headed towards Fort McMurry. Mavis and her husband then got on a bus that was taking them to Suncor Fire bag Oilsands facility that was about 120 km northwest of Fort McMurry even though it was only 120 km away it took over 9 hours to get there because of the traffic. After getting there Mavis was cleared and was able to just relax, even though she was worried about the long term affects the smoke would have on her newborns. I think this article is environmental because of the effects of the wild fires as well as resource because there was the lack of medical attention available while they were being transported. I think that people have somewhat overlooked not only the physical damages of the fires but the health and emotional damages that the fires did cause.

The twin boys after Mavis Ure Had a C- section. 

One year later.

Geo News: Police Officers Start Project to Stop Street Racers and Stunt Drivers in Ontario

On Tuesday April 18th 2017 the Toronto Police Service, Halton Regional Police, York Regional Police and other law enforcement agencies from across Ontario started Project ERASE, or "Eliminate Racing Activity On Streets Everywhere." The project is a collaborative effort with the provincial government, and it aims to stop stunt driving and speed racing. There has been a major increase in stunt driving charges in Toronto this year. Over 110 charges laid so far this year. In 2016, around 200 charges were laid. One incident earlier this month involved a haul of luxury vehicles impounded for stunt driving on Highway 400. Officers funneled a dozen vehicles, which included a Lamborghini,
 a Porsche and a Rolls Royce to the nearby ONroute service center.

Donations

Over the past few weeks we have made big leaps towards the day of our event: We have received donations from Brewery Bay, Metro, Giant Tiger, Food Basics, Zehrs, and No Frills! We received multiple gift cards as donations and Giant Tiger donated hula hoops as well as soccer balls! We have also presented to two Harriett Todd classes and are still contacting the others. We are currently holding a bottle drive this Saturday April 22 from 9am-12pm outside the school in the parking lot and are also holding are in the process of contacting Boston Pizza for another fundraiser. Dominoes is busy for the rest of the year so we are unable to do Raise the Dough so we might go to other pizza restaurants and try them.

Follow us on Twitter for more recent updates as well as photos!

TLSS poverty awareness

In the last couple weeks we have made progress with our endeavours. The Teacher Bake-Off that we helped organized was a success! Approximately fifteen teachers participated by selling their yummy treats. The leftover food was then sold later that night at the annual Twin Lakes Volleyball-a-thon. By the end of the day we raised a total of 674.25$! The money raised was donated to the nutrition committee at Twin Lakes. The teacher who raised the most money, and won the award, was Ms. Racco and Mr. Cook with their cotton candy and other treats. By making all their treats pink they not only raised money but also raised awareness of bullying. Thank you to all the staff and students who helped make this fundraiser such a success!

 

Heart and Stroke Big Bike

To support the Heart and Stroke foundation in their goal to keep Canadians healthy, I am putting together a team of staff and grade 12s from Twin Lakes to ride the Big Bike. A team of 29 will power the Big Bike and literally stop traffic in support of heart and stroke research, while promoting healthy physical activity. The information meeting will be held soon and then we will be riding the Big Bike on May 11. This also supports my global goal of Health and Well Being.

Colour Me Twin

This is another update on colour me twin. last week we went to two public schools and gave them our presentation on the event. We have been giving out letters to different companies asking for donations and we have received a few donations from places like Giant Tiger, Brewery Bay, and a few others. We are just waiting to hear back from other schools so we can give them our presentation. Keep checking @TlssWellBeing for updates on fundraisers. #colourmetwin

Wellness Wednesdays

I am currently focusing on helping local health in my community, so I created Wellness Wednesdays to help mental health at my school. Every Wednesday at lunch, a room at my school will be a calm place for students to relax and de stress. There will be soft music, dim lighting, tea, and colouring. The first Wellness Wednesday is April 19.

Color Me Twin

Hey everyone! 

We are almost finished planning our fun day for the grade eights of our feeder schools that will be happening on May 30th. Unfortunately, two school have said that they cannot attend, but that has not discouraged us! We will be going to two of the schools today as they have said yes to our fun day (Uptergrove and Harriett). It has been a bumpy ride for us because a lot of the principals of the schools have not answered the email, but we are working hard to get in contact with the schools. We are hoping that this will be a big success and bring awareness to the need of education and health, especially in the countries around the world that need our help with those aspects of living. We hope that doing this fundraiser will encourage people to continue being involved with helping give underprivileged people the chance to education and a healthy life.

Thank you so much for any help that you may have given or will give in the future. 

See you on May 30th!

The is an update on Colour me twin. In our group we have been working on contacting different businesses and company's to get donations for our fun day! We have also been contacting the feeder schools to see is they want to come to this fun day and multiple have contacted us back to let us know if they can come and only one have said they can't. we have been tweeting and updating that account so follow @TlssWellBeing

Wye Marsh

The Wye Marsh field trip is a go!!

On Saturday May 20th, TwinLakes Ecoturtles is planning a field trip to the Wye Marsh in order to provide students with the opportunity to learn more about our local wetlands and their impact on the environment.

We plan to schedule an hour long guided canoe tour, along with other features such as a discovery hike, dip net activity, and bannock roasting.We will ask the biology teachers, green team, and outer club to help promote this trip, and hope it will be a success!!

Stay tuned to learn more about Ecoweek, which will happen the week of the Wye Marsh trip, and follow us on twitter for more freshwater fun.

@TLSSEcoTurtles

Litter test

While the grade ten students had their literacy test. I had a litter  test. While walking my dog I found sixteen beer cans one beer bottle and two empty newspaper bags. And naturally I had no bag to put them in. So after may drops I finally returned home to place it in a bag so the beer cans and bottle could returned to the beer store, thus furthering recycling.
Unfortunately I did not bring a cord today so I am unable to upload a picture at this time.

Local: On the last post I mentioned someone had thrown a large bag of garbage at the end of my street. I am happy to report that someone beat me to cleaning it up. But unfortunately that does mean I have no pictures to add. I also cleaned the backyard of a family friend.

Global: Still having trouble with an aspect that will effect the world, as I have no money to spend to try and help on a global scale. I have a back up plan though. When I am abroad I will help clean up at the events and places I visit. I am not sure if it is sufficient though. In case not I have found a few other possible sources of the global scale.
https://www.ontarionature.org/
 http://www.wwf.ca/?gclid=CL6O4ciU99ICFQwxaQodH_0Jmg

Tlss Good Health and Well Being

On March 24 our team talked about a new fundraising we are trying that we hope works. We are going to be asking stores for donations to contribute as prizes in our new fundraiser. The fundraiser is we are going to fill up balloons and put prizes in them. For $5 you can pop a balloon and win a prize. We are going to be holding this event very soon. We are hoping it will be a good turn out because nobody has ever done this type of fundraiser at our school before. Listen to the announcements for updates. Another thing we have started is our powerpoint for when we go to all the feeder schools and talk about Color Me Twin. We are also currently contacting bus companies to see if they will donate busses to our event considering the cost to bring all the schools to Twin Lakes S.S is over $1000 dollars. We hope to have some updates about all these new things on Monday March 27th.

Poverty Awareness Food Donation Contest

In the past week we have accomplished quite a bit of planning. Thanks to the support and generosity of the Twin Lakes S.S. Ministers of Charitable Affairs, Christian Wright and Holly Kehoe, we are now collaborating with the Twin Lakes Student’s Council spring food drive. Starting April 18th-27th/28th, students will be able to bring non-perishable food items into their classroom. These food items will be collected by Student’s Council and members of our team to be donated locally. Student’s who bring in donations will have their names put into a draw to win a 20$ Tim Hortons gift card!!

 

Status report.

On the local front: Have collected garbage on my street all week. And tomorrow I have volunteered to clean a friend of my parents backyard.  And once the snowbanks melt away more there is a spot by my house that is always littered with trash. Oh and my favorite piece of news(hint sarcasm) someone dumped a large garbage bag at the end of my street. I plan to get it today at dispose of it properly.


On the global front:Still trying to figure out how to impact on a global scale other than this blog. I have been unable to find any global organizations operating in the Orillia area. I have settled on the World Wildlife Fund ,but as I have no money to spend I am not sure what my impact could be.

Media Review - Bradi Moore

The Lorax is a children's movie based off the popular book written by Dr. Sues. The movie for most children is just a cute and fun movie with a happy ending. In real life look at the movie it is seen that it means so much more, it is a glimpse at what our environment could be looking like in the near future, the movie is trying to encourage people to start taking initiative in keeping our environment healthy and to stop taking it for granted and using it for our own benefit. 

ColourMeTwin

Today we planned out the roles for each member of the group. Bradi will be creating posters. Rebecca will be creating our presentation for the grade 8 students for our feeder schools. Sarah has talked different companies and stores about potentially donating. Kim is asking Laurie about buses as well as emailing principals. Tahya is talking to Harvey's and planning the activities for the grade 8 day. Anna will be working on permission Forms and we will be skyping the head of the sponsorship branch of the organization to interview him and include that video in the presentation that will be presented to the schools throughout April.

TLSS Good Health and Well Being NEW OBJECTIVE!!!

Hello, over the last few weeks we have changed our objective with our global goal project. We are now working on a fun day with @Edutlssglobal called Colour Me Twin! For this project we are bringing all of the feeder schools to Twin to boost positivity and promote physical activity. We are having multiple activities and a colour run. Stay posted with our tweets that are more regularly updated @TlssWellBeing & @Edutlssglobal.

Over the march break I began to implement my plan for the local portion of the global goal. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you want to look a it, I couldn't find that much garbage.  This will most likely change as the snow melts more. I was however able to gather some garbage and documented it below. Surprise surprise coffee cups were the bulk of the trash.

Media Review- 4.1 Miles

4.1 MILES - DAPHNE MATZIARAKI (2016)

The short film, 4.1 Miles, by Daphne Matziaraki was nominated for the Best Short Film Oscar in 2017. This film is an eye-opening and heart-breaking piece that follows the work of a coast guard captain on the small Greek island of Lesbos. Its shows the constant attempts the captain and his crew make to save the lives of thousands of refugees, crammed into boats by people smugglers, who are trying to escape from the war and destruction in their homeland. These people are desperate to make the 4.1 mile trip from Turkey to Greece, therefore this small island has been overwhelmed with refugee crisis. It views the community participating in helping those in need when they return to shore and shows that people will go to extremes to help complete strangers. This film perfectly displays the struggles of refugees and their rightful desperation to seek escape from their own country by risking everything, including their own lives. Hopefully, this film will lead viewers to be more welcoming towards refugees and open there eyes to what is happening to other people in the world.

ColourMeTWIN

We have joined forces with TLSSwellbeing and are currently working on a grade-eight day event that will be hosted at Twin on May 30th. We hit an obstacle with transportation for the schools (over $1000 for buses) but will be in touch with Lori in Guidance to see if any bus companies can donate some buses.

We are currently working on a Powerpoint that will be presented to the elementary schools  (Throughout April and May) so that we can get them jumpstarted on fundraising as early as possible as well as inform them about the actual day of the event and the organization we will be donating to.

The letters for donations have been made today and will be handed out to the organizations throughout the next couple days  and Kim is currently working on making posters as well as finding contact information for the elementary schools.

Tahya is working on contacting Harvey's to donate burgers for the day of the event and everyone else is working hard to brainstorm other situations that may arise and how we could solve them. We are looking into permission forms, advertising, the route kids will run for the colour run, and the day of the event will be split into two one hour events, beginning with the colour run and then the rest of the day filled with water-involved activities for the grade eights ran by Tahya, Anna, Bradi and Rebecca!

Global Health: Mosquito Net Update

On Friday March 3, there was a student vs teacher volleyball game to raise money for mosquito nets to combat malaria. Classes raised $25 to get out of class and watch the game. Over 800 dollars were raised! That means that we can send many mosquito nets to Africa and greatly reduce the risk of malaria. Now that our global goal has been reached, this Health and Well Being team is focused on our local goal of improving mental health at Twin Lakes Secondary School. Students are asked to donate board games because having fun with board games reduces stress. We will hold Wellness Wednesdays, where students can come to a calm room, play board games, colour, drink tea, and have time to chill out. We are preparing for Wellness Wednesdays now; the first one will be in the near future.

Povety Awareness- Twitter Challenges

Since we last blogged, we have challenged our twitter followers and supporters to donate non-perishable food items to their local grocery store drop-off box. This challenge was made to support the second global goal, to end hunger. We asked them to take a picture of themselves completing the challenge, and to tweet us the picture @TLSS_EndPoverty. We are in the process of creating more challenges!

This blog post will be short. I have decided on plan for the local change. Every week (most likely over the weekend) I will go out with a garbage bag and collect all the litter in my area. I will use pictures to document my work as per the requirements. I will spend the rest of the period researching the global aspect of the project.

P.S If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

Media Review-Kimberleigh

The Lorax on the surface just seems like a bright and colourful movie created for children so that they can be entertained and give their parents a break. In reality it is much deeper than that and deals with issues that we face. It may seem like a movie for kids since it is based off of the book by Dr. Seuss, however they would not get the message the movie puts forward, like their parents would. Deforestation is not an issue children would understand, they would just be confused on why there are no real trees. They may also not fully grasp the concept of pollution and how it is destroying our Earth. It also helps that The Lorax was a book that adults now would have read when they were children, so seeing this movie would, in a way, help them relive a part of their childhood.

Powerful Message Behind Yertle the Turtle

Do you love reading poems or short stories? Do large and colourful illustrations appeal to you?
Often times, when we enjoy what we read we learn more. Dr. Seuss' short story "Yertle the Turtle" is a fun and lighthearted children's tale that just might make you think. While the story is plenty of fun for kids, the real underlying message is truly targeted towards the parents. This story depicts a very relatable world where a tyrannical King named Yertle abuses his power, and a plain little turtle named Mack stands up for his rights. Mack's little spark of rebellion brings the King's throne toppling down, and the turtles are granted their freedom.
I believe that by writing this story, Dr. Seuss comments on the political injustice that is often felt by lower-class citizens, and highlights the importance of human rights. Just like Mack's burp, this little book has the power to create great change.

"I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down at the bottom we, too, should have rights."
-Mack

"And the turtles, of course... all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be."
- Dr. Seuss

Andrew Durnford Media Review

                                                        

                              I read a book called Fahrenheit 451 which is about an alternative future for the United States of America. The book revolves around the idea that after the Second World War the Americans started to burn books because they were supposedly filled with nonsense and were not necessary. Books help us to form opinions and taking that away from the public is a way of controlling them. In recent events I related this to President Donald Trump. The President has been filling the media with what he thinks are facts but are in fact just his own form of nonsense. I thought that this was his way of taking opinions away from the public because everyone believes what he has to say based on his position of authority. Another way it related to the novel was because he has started to ban media outlets which will give him full control of the news and what the public gets to hear about the world. To me this was basically the events leading up to the happenings in my novel.

Ecoturtles Events

Update on TLSS Ecoturtles!

This week we are looking into partnering with the Twin Lakes Green Team to organize an eco-week during May, and we hope to plan a school wide activity promoting a healthy 'green' lifestyle. Our goal is to promote action within Twin Lakes SS, and to encourage participation to help clean up the environment!
Also during the month of May, we are planning a excursion to the Wye Marsh to experience a guided canoe tour where we will be able to learn more about our local wetlands. At the moment we are encouraging members of Outer's Club, Green Team, and students enrolled in second semester biology classes to come with us to experience the natural beauty of the wetlands.
An important aspect of wildlife awareness is education. TLSS Ecoturtles is considering contacting public schools in the surrounding area to inquire about offering a wildlife presentation to their students.
Keep informed by visiting our blog and following @TLSSEcoTurtles on twitter!
Links to Kids for Turtles and Global Reef Alliance are below
http://www.kidsforturtles.com/
http://www.globalcoral.org/

Media Review Blog

I have recently read a children’s book called Chocolate Me! By Taye Diggs. This book shows that racism is happening everywhere in the world including public schools. Racism is a huge world issue that we have in this world that needs to be changed, the only way we can change it is if we educate the younger generations to change the future and make the diverse world we live in a better place. By showing children books that they will understand about world issues could potentially solve some of the issues we have in this world and educate them about world issues. I recommend that public school teachers and even parents should show their children and students books that involve world issues to hopefully solve some issues we have in this world. Overall children’s books about world issues like Chocolate Me! could really change the world one day by influencing children to change the world. Therefore they should continue to make children’s books about world issues to potentially solve them in the future. 

Media Review, Rebecca Burns

The show Quantico was written by Sharbari Ahmed. This show was based on eleven different characters, these characters were training to be FBI agents in the terrorist unit. They go through many different types or training including hacking, gun control, and other necessary things that are needed to be in the FBI. They had to change their game plan when they were accused of being terrorists themselves, they had to use their training and experiences to figure out who the real terrorist was.

This show is based around the world issue of terrorism. I would recommend this TV show to anyone that is interested in action. This show is very eye opening, watch it and find out why!

Nicole's media review- Erin Brockovich

The biographical film Erin Brockovich by Steven Soderbergh is a story of a woman who helped win the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in the United States. Erin Brockovich fought against the energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) who, as early as 1965, knew that the facility in Hinkley, California was contaminating the ground water with high levels of hexavalent chromium. This powerful film gives the viewers the message of no matter what education you might have or what economic state you are in, you should always work hard in what you believe in. Brockovich believes in the health of the environment and people.  The audience sees the affects of polluted water and what major harm it can bring to family, friends, and ecosystems; becoming aware of the world issue. To see what Erin Brockovich current projects are, visit her website at http://www.brockovich.com.