Writers Column

Plastic Should Be Banned

As David Suzuki said,”If we have any hope of finding ways for seven billion people to live well on the planet with finite resources, we have to learn to use our resources, we have to learn to use our resources efficiently. Plastic bags are neither efficient nor environmentally friendly.” I agree with him very much, plastic bags are very bad for the environment, and it would be much better to just ban them altogether. I agree with him for a few reasons. 1, It is harmful to marine and wildlife, 2, they are toxic, and last, they use up a lot of energy. 

 

My first reason is that plastic bags are harmful to both animals on the earth and in the ocean. Unfortunately, lots of animals make the mistake of thinking that plastic is food and they eat them. In fact, according to a report by National Geographic, nearly every single seabird is eating plastic, as plastic that’s thrown away is found in 90 percent of them. And another study found that about 35 percent of turtle deaths is because of plastic waste. Once they eat the plastic, their digestive system gets congested, and that leads to many bad things. However there is a chance that they could just get caught or entangled in the plastic, but this is still very dangerous. 

 

My second reason is that plastic bags are toxic. According to this website, “conserve energy for the future”,  plastic bags have tons of toxic, wasteful chemicals inside them. An Environmental Health Perspectives report found out that the plastic has hormone-mimicking qualities, and the plastic products give off chemicals that mimic estrogen. This is bad because it shows how these chemicals behave in our bodies, causing a hormonal imbalance that can have severe effects on us. 

 

My last reason why I think that plastic bags should be banned is that it takes a lot of energy to create plastic. Each of those bottles takes about 4 million joules of energy to create, and every ton of this plastic that is produced creates three tons of CO2. And according to the website “conserve energy for the future” when the typical useful life of each and every plastic bag is around 12 minutes.

In my opinion I think that civilians should NOT be able to buy guns. I think so because 1, it’s dangerous, 2, they could use it for the wrong purposes, and 3, they could use it to poach for animals. 

 

My first reason for why I think civilians should not be able to buy guns is because they could misuse it. I think so because even though people have a gun license they could still shoot people  at a big party or a social gathering. Some people would only buy guns because of the privileges. Also, If they shot someone, they could pawn it off to an innocent person who looks like them.

 

My second reason why I think that civilians should not be able to buy guns is because they could use it for the wrong reasons. If someone had a gun, they could use it to blackmail someone into doing something for fear of being shot at. Also, instead of just using it in serious circumstances,  someone could abuse the power of their gun. Somepeople would buy it solely because they think it would make them feel powerful or important.

 

My third and final reason why I think that a civilian should not be able to buy guns is because they could use it to poach for animals. They would do it because they probably could do it without being caught. Since people poach in the woods, it would be hard for someone to catch you because of all the trees and the grass to escape into. Also, if someone did get away, it would inspire other people knowing that they can get away too.

With these reasons, I conclude that I think that a civilian should not be able to buy guns with all the risks.

In my opinion I  believe that zoos are a  good thing. I think so because, One, it helps care for animals, Two, it can help protect an endangered species, and Three, it can help humans learn more about animals. At the end of this article, I hope you agree that Zoos are a good thing too.

                                                                          Idea #1

My first reason why I think zoos are a good thing is because it helps take care of its animals. For example, if an animal was seriously hurt or injured in the wild, there would be no one to take care of it and it would slowly die off. But, if it was seriously hurt or injured in the wild, vets could help take care of it. Also,  people can set up barricades in the animals exhibits to prevent them from getting hurt in the first place

 

Idea #2

My second reason is that zoos can help protect endangered species. If they had an extremely endangered animal, they could put up barricades to protect it from poachers. They could also help to breed and to make more  animals. Also, zoos can separate endangered species from predators so that the predators will not kill them.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               My third reason is that zoos can help humans learn more about animals. Most people do not know anything about animals and without zoos, they won’t learn anything else. For most people, zoos are the only place where humans can learn anything about animals because they can’t go into the wild to learn about them.

Introduction: 

”Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today.” ― Abraham Lincoln

During this pandemic we have seen lots of small businesses disappearing, trillions of treasury losses ,   millions of  jobs lost and  increased unemployment rates that we have not seen since the Great Depression. A complete Lockdown might not be the best solution; they have caused enormous economic, cultural ,social and mental sufferings.  

So If I were the President of the USA, I would have done things differently

 

What I would firstly  propose is a low cost , high yield solution - a MASK MANDATE across all states .

  The power to protect ourselves remains in our hands. The masks are very effective at blocking the droplets .

According to UCLA Research, a nationwide mask mandate could reduce R naught number to essentially zero and  have a potential $1 trillion impact on the U.S. GDP. Also the research says that  the masks have shown  79% effectiveness in preventing transmission. 

Next I would propose is   distribution of   rapid testing home kits

We need a national testing strategy, distributing free rapid tests kits to all  Americans so they can  get tested in their privacy and comfort at home. These rapid tests, as suggested by Micheal Mina ,Harvard epidemiologist (scientist), could    mitigate the surge of the virus . If we can do this quite often, essential offices ,schools and businesses can be open safely .

2:00 - 2:38 sec Thirdly , I would strongly advocate for extensive use of our information technology for contact tracing , enforcing social distancing and performing temperature checks. 

Testing alone is not helpful if not used along  contact tracing and social distancing .Digital contact tracing  has shown their efficiency during the past outbreaks.

Early identification of contacts  is essential to break the chain of transmission. This would include giving contact tracing devices to all --- at the same time ensuring personal privacy protection .

 

 Conclude

To sum up, We need a more aggressive ‘disease elimination’ approach ,not ‘flattening the curve’. We need a Mask Mandate, Home Test Kits, and Using Technology for contact tracing. Do your part, Limit outdoors and crowds , wear masks, and strictly follow a healthy hygiene routine. We are all in this together. Thank you for listening to me .

I could feel the humid air around me as the plants and greenery whipped past, while I ziplined through the St. Lucian rainforest. 

 

Then abruptly, all at once, the ride had stopped. Even though it had now stopped, I was still reeling in from the excitement. It felt amazing. I could still picture the way that the world seemed to fly past me, instead of the other way around. I could also feel the adrenaline rush as I ziplined through the patch of rainforest, and the incredible feeling that it contained. 

 

All of this went through my mind as I took in the scene. This was the second day of me and my family's trip to St. Lucia, one of the Caribbean islands. My family and I were excited quite a bit for the trip, but we were excited for this part even more so. 

 

¨How was it?¨ my sister asked. She had gone first, so she was already there when I came.

 

¨Great,¨ I said as I took in the scenery.

 

A platform was constructed on the tree. This enabled me and the rest of our group to stand and walk on it just fine. And while I was there, I was observing our surroundings, which consisted of lush greenery and tall trees. I could see small insects and animals crawling on some of the other trees. I could tell just by standing there that the tree my group and I were on was hundreds of feet up in the air. 

 

¨Woo-hoo!¨A voice suddenly yelled, as they ziplined through the canopy of trees. Me and my sister both turned our heads in the direction of the voice. 

 

The voice was my mom, and I watched her go through the ride as well. After that, I watched my dad go on the ride. From the looks of it, they were both having fun too. 

 

The next hour or so was a blur. The rainforest adventure consisted of our group ziplining from tree to tree, as we slowly made our way around the rainforest. This was the routine we would follow each time. As soon as someone had finished one of the rides, a tour guide would disconnect the hook that person´s gear from the and then strap them to one of the protective lines.  This was in order to prevent someone from falling off the platform. 

 

Sometimes one of my parents would go first and then film the rest of us going on the zipline through their phone. I never did it, because I was afraid of dropping it while ziplining. But my parents did, and sometimes also my older sister, who´s 17.

 

The whole adventure was fun, but the highlight of it was the end. The last tree we were on seemed to kiss the sky, as it was an exceptionally high length. And the ride seemed to last forever. In fact, the tour guide said that the zipline path would be about 1500 feet far in distance.

 

After our trip in the rainforest, we had to take a small hike back to the place we first started. For the rest of the day(as well as the entire trip) the zipline adventure was the highlight.  To this day,  the zipline ride when I went to St. Lucia is one my most favorite experiences during a vacation. 

Once upon a time, there was a beetle. The beetle’s name was the blue shock beetle. Technically, that was just what species he was, but he was the only blue shock beetle anyone knew, so they just named him that.But he wasn’t named that for no reason. This beetle was special. Unlike other beetles, this one could actually sting. And it wasn’t actually a beetle. He didn’t even look like one! In truth, he was actually half bee and half wasp. He was made to look like a bee, but he was striped with black and blue, instead of black and yellow. Like a wasp, he can sting multiple times instead of just once. And when he stings, it’s much more powerful. It can send an electrical shock into your body. 

 

This beetle was very dangerous, and had made quite a reputation. He was very mean. All throughout the valley, he was feared by all the animals. Even humans. Whenever a human would come, he would immediately sting whoever dared to come into his territory. You might think that this was weird, he was only a beetle after all,  but he was very dangerous. The stings don’t kill you of course, but they do still hurt. 

 

For the longest time, all the animals in the valley were scared of him. But one day they had enough. They went into his territory, and asked him to be a little nicer towards them. 

They didn’t convince him.

They tried a few more times, but the beetle would not be reasoned with. Thankfully, no one got hurt. But he was still not kind to them. They wanted to tell him that he should stop, but they knew that would be foolish. So they came up with a plan.

 

A few weeks later, in the morning, the beetle was found inside his tree, sleeping. But suddenly he heard a buzzing sound. What is it this time, the beetle thought. He went out of his tree, and prepared for a fight. But what he saw shocked him

He saw himself.

Well, it wasn’t himself. But another blue shock beetle. Another one of his own kind. It took him a few seconds for that to sink in. Instead though, he tried to fight the other beetle. Deep down, he knew that he was fighting someone of his own kind, but his instincts were connected right to his muscles. And his instincts were telling him to fight the beetle. 

 

However the beetle was prepared. They were a good match. For every counter, there was a parry. For every jab, there was a defense.The other one was just as fast as him. Since they were both blue shock beetles, whenever one of them stung the other one, it didn’t affect them. Finally the battle stopped.

 

The other beatle did what none of the other animals could do! She convinced him to be nicer. 

 

He came to realize just how mean he was being to the other animals. The other beatle helped him see that. He went to apologize to the other animals.  Hesitantly, they accepted him. He might’ve seen that as them not trusting him, but he was glad they accepted the apology. They told him that they tried to find the other Beatle for a few weeks, so that she could help convince him. 

 

From then on, the blue shock beetle never tried to harm the other animals. He and the other beatle lived near each other and became friends. She admitted she didn’t have a home before the animals found her. So she quickly agreed to live there.

First, let's talk about the applications used in drone technology. Overall, there are many uses for drones, 

but right now I will review 3 uses for drones. 

 

    One big way that drones are used is for agricultural purposes. Unlike Manual Labor, where you have to 

plant seeds  and water the plants individually, drones can send the seeds for plants and spray the fields 

from the air. According to DJI Enterprise, using drones is even better than doing it manually. It also results 

in improved crop quality and a higher yield rate without intense manual labor. And some drones can be 

used on nearly any kind of crop, including rice, wheat, corn, citrus trees, cotton, and much more.

 

     Another big way that drones are used is for delivering blood deliveries. According to a video from 

Code.org, drones are being used in order to deliver blood fast to remote places where it is hard to get 

them. In some places in Africa, it’s hard for people in remote areas to get blood deliveries. And blood also 

expires quickly, which is another problem. But with drones, we can use them to deliver blood 

deliveries,and other things, such as vaccines or organs. 

Ambition can be looked at as a good and bad thing. On one side, Ambition can be bad because too much ambition can drive you reckless. You could try to do something that you can’t do and it results badly. But on another side, Ambition does lead to success a lot. Ambitious people have clear goals and work very hard to accomplish them. Also. Ambition drives people for personal growth and development. I agree on this side. Ambition definitely is a good thing. 

 

My first reason why Ambition leads to success is that ambitious people like challenges. They don’t go away from a challenge. Instead, they try to face it.  They always try a challenge because they want to. 

 

My second reason why I think this is that  ambition drives people for personal growth and development. People with a driving ambition will go through many stages of personal development and growth. Because they are driven to be the best they can be, they are always looking for ways to improve their skills, talents, talents and behaviours. 

 

My last reason why I think ambition is a good thing is that ambitious people will always work hard. They will definitely work hard to achieve their goal, whatever it is, and according to this website, they will rarely call in sick and are not afraid to work hard. 

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Hi, my name is Viswanath, I’m going to be talking about whether or not Global Warming is an issue. Have you ever littered before? You might not think it, but littering can do so much more damage that it appears to be. Global Warming is a huge problem, for both humans and animals. It can destroy entire habitats, and create natural disasters.I think that it is a problem, for three reasons, One, Glaciers and Sea Ice are melting, Two, There will be more Droughts and Heat waves, and Three, There will be more hurricanes and Tornadoes

 

IDEA #1

My first reason why I think that Global Warming is an issue, is that Glaciers and Sea Ice are melting. The Arctic and Antarctic are some of the coldest places on earth, but recently, Ice Caps and Glaciers are melting, because of global warming. And not just there, several other cold places are suffering from this. In Fact, In Greenland,  6.4tn tonnes of ice caps have lost ice from 1992 to 2017, with melting in Greenland responsible for 60% of that figure. This is Important because there are lots of Animals that depend on the amount of ice to live. But if they are melting, then they will all have lost their homes. I got this information from the Article “Why are glaciers and Sea Ice melting.”

 

IDEA #2

The second reason why I think that this is a problem is that there will be more droughts and heat waves. Droughts and Heat waves are beginning to become more common. Periods of them are lasting from days to weeks. Before, extremely hot days were expected to only occur 20 years or so, but now, scientists are saying that it’s expected to only last at least 2 or 3 years apart.T he risk for heat-related emergencies is especially high for the elderly, pets, and people with chronic illness. I got this information from Global Climate Change.

 

IDEA #3

My third and final reason why I think thatGlobal Warming is an issue is that Hurricanes and tornadoes will become both stronger and more intense. According to Weather Casters, The intensity, frequency and duration of North Atlantic hurricanes, as well as the frequency of the strongest (Category 4 and 5) hurricanes, have all increased since the early 1980s. And Global Warming is the number 1 reason. This is important because the risk of damage from Hurricanes is great, especially for  the states in Tornado Alley. I got this information from Global Climate Change.

 

Conclusion

There are many reasons why global Warming is an issue, but these are the reasonsThese are the reasons why I think that Global Warming is an Issue. Glaciers and Sea Ice are melting, there will be more droughts and heat waves, and there will be more hurricanes. I hope this inspires you to stop littering, and to help other people stop polluting the earth. So the next you ever litter, think about all that will happen because of it. Thank you for listening.