Realistic Fiction

Above is a story that Amelia and I have written, she has written the sequel which is the second story that is included. One of the writing techniques that I am really proud of that I included in my story was the again and again of the mentioning of "her" or "she." Obviously, when I mentioned the "her" or the "she" I wasn't talking about Ember, I was writing about a character that was very important. Using this again and again technique, it really helped build tension throughout the story and leaded to the plot twist at the end. I was really proud of my plot twist at the end, and I thought that by using a sign post it would really help build up the plot. Another scene that I really enjoyed writing and was proud of the fight between Ember and her father. I thought that I was really proud of that scene because the change in Ember's personality really shined through. Overall, Amelia and I really enjoyed writing these stories. 

RLA Quilt Reflection

I think that by creating a quilt square based on my book, made my understanding of the book grow even more. I think that one thing that helped my understanding grow with this project, is that everything and every single detail we put onto our quilt square had to relate or represent something that had to do with the book. This meant that if you chose a specific colour or material, it would have to relate to your theme or you golden line. When I was creating the ripped up door, I had a deeper think about what it really represented. As I wrote about it, I realised that the ripped up pieces of paper really represented her life, how it was all broken up into little piece which showed how many problems she had, but every piece was glued together to represent her "new life." I think that this project helped me have a better understanding on not only the book, but also the different themes. What I was originally planning on showcasing in my quilt patch, was the theme, "changes that happen in your life, may come with many flaws, but you should always accept it." After fully understanding the book, and creating this, helped my understanding of the characters and the theme grow even more. Though Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata, may have many themes being mentioned many times throughout the book. The biggest theme I've learnt from the book and quilt square was that, "Even when your life seems like it's falling apart, we have to accept that it's a sign that we're still alive." Overall, I thought that this project helped my understanding of the book grow a lot.

My Human Footprint

Our Food Supply Is In Jeopardy

We've all heard of farmers or crop growers spraying their crops with insecticides. What we weren't aware of is how hurtful it is to not only our population, but also the pollinator's population. What we didn't know was the our food supply is in jeopardy. Everyday, farmers or crop growers are using insecticides to protect our food, which is their crops. You may ask, "How does that make our food supply in jeopardy? Isn't it a good thing that they're using insecticides to spray our foods, it means that we won't find insects in them and that they won't be chewed up by bugs, right? " To answer your question, no. We never want farmers or crop growers to be spraying our food, because not only is it affecting the insect population, but also our population. Insects are the main reason why our food supply is high at the moment. The reason why insects help us with our food supply is because insects such as bees and butterflies are the ones who pollinate the flowers//plants to reproduce into the fruits and vegetables we eat today. If we continue to spray insects, our the flowers//crops will not be able to be pollinated by these insects. If these flowers are not being pollinated, our food supplies will decrease. Imagine a world, where our food supplies are starting to decrease. We all know that if our world doesn't have enough food, our population will start decreasing, and soon the world will no longer exist without humans. Bees, which are one of those insects that are able to pollinate, are reducing by 35%. Bees are pollinating 1/3 of our food supplies. While for monarch butterflies, their population reduced from 1 billion to 35 million. But what can we do about this problem? Well, I think that we should encourage farmers and crop growers to stop spraying their crops and flowers. This will than allow insects to pollinate the flowers//plants, soon we won't have to worry about our food supplies being in jeopardy. We need to take action, to not only help their population, but also to help our population.

TED Talk

How Will Issues Related to Demography Impact My Life?

Compost Making a Difference

At the moment waste is being exposed for humans, and in some serious cases it could be spreading many unwanted diseases. The problem in New York City right now is that New Yorkers are producing more than 14 million tons of trash, which usually gets sent to landfills outside of the city. 29 percent of this waste is sustainable for composting, but all they're doing is paying expenses for trucks to drive this waste out of the city. The average New Yorker is generating about three pounds of waste per day, and a big amount of this waste is food. This food waste continues to be wasted and is not at all being composted, but they don't have enough space.

To deal with this waste, an architectural firm has unveiled concept designs for a project aiming to bring these compostable material away from landfills. This project is called Green Loop.   The people at this architecture firm have a preliminary plan to turn the city’s compostable waste into multi-purpose islands around each of the five boroughs. Currently, New York is having trucks haul their waste to the landfills, instead they will be hauling the city's organic waste to a 10 multi-layered tipping composting station built just offshore. Each of the compost island facility would be multi-layered, this indoor composting process will produce soil with rich nutrient. The waste will be pushed through the standard stages of composting, although at a huge scale, and soon put back into the real world as soil with rich nutrition. 

This plan is said to solve many of the environmental problems and would even start up new job opportunities for people. This plan will also reduce traffic congestion, as said before New York is paying many trucks to drive a long way to the landfills outside of the city to throw away the waste. With these trucks driving such long distances it causes traffic, noise pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. All of these negative affects just so that all of our waste can be landfilled where it then rots and creates even more greenhouse gas. Right now, proposes are that these people keep some of the trash closer to the city. Trucks would be able to pick up the organic waste just as they do normal trash, but rather than hauling it out to the landfills they would be depositing it at one of these dozens of coastal processing sites. When these plans take place, it is said that at least 30 percent of New York's garbage will be taken to these compost islands to of course make compost. These organic wastes will no longer be wasted and dumped into the landfills, but instead are going to turn into rich soil and are able to be sold to farmers. This project is also improving public access and developing waterfront facilities.