This is a great mockumentary about Plastic Bags and their journey to the great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The text that goes with the video reads:
Narrated by Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons, this “mockumentary” video, hammers home the stark reality of California’s plastic bag pollution situation.
Learn more at http://www.healthebay.org
You can make the difference.
Senonches is a region in the Eure de Loir department, in north-central France. It is notable for having one of the most important forested areas in France.
The reason for this particularly large forest, in an age when logging is increasing throughout the world, is that the Senonches forests are very well kept, due to careful planning of all areas of the forest by the ONF (Office National des forets), and by Forest Rangers balancing the exploitation of the forests with the replanting. What this means is that rangers often plant or take care of trees which they will not be able to cut, and thus benefit from. Its a system that works very well, and implimenting it around the world would be very useful in sustaining the planet’s forests and jungles.
Here is the article that was on the BrainPOP.co.uk blog, in an article for their ‘reboot, reuse and recycle’ theme.
This month’s Spotlight is all about Tim, Moby and the BrainPOP UK team going on a rescue mission so we looked far and wide for some green inspiration. And, thanks to Ian Pittman (@IPittman) from The Alice Smith School, Kuala Lumpur, we found it!
It began with a tweet…
The Alice Smith School is a keen BrainPOPpping school in Malaysia. So we jumped at the chance to talk to the Kids who choose to go green.
We’re glad to say that Gabriel and the Kids for Earth team were very happy to answer a few questions from us and spread the word about their great efforts in the name of saving the planet. If you can believe it, there are only 6 of them, aged 11 to 15.
Kids For Earth’s vision is to inspire children and teenagers to become active eco citizens for the future of our world. A simple presentation about the life of Billy the plastic bag has led to the Kids for Earth team presenting their message to hundreds of children in local schools, a constantly updated blog, and even national media coverage. They’ve certainly inspired us and we hope you enjoy meeting them!
What inspired you in the first place? Was it a lesson on looking after the environment that made you think, “we have to do something!”?
When I was smaller, we lived in Europe so we regularly visited our grandpa, in France. He is a very outdoorsy person and he has his own garden, where he plants vegetables and fruits. Every time we visited our grandparents, we therefore spent a lot of time outside, with our grandpa lecturing us on how organic and home grown foods were better for the environment and healthier than foods grown on fertilizers. I think its from that moment that we really began to feel a connection with the environment. After that, lots of lessons on topics such as environmental chemistry really spurred my passion for the environment.
What came first – Billy the plastic bag or Kids for Earth? Why did you decide to promote reusable bags?
I created Billy the plastic bag after watching a video called Message in the Waves, which showed some videos of albatross chicks rotting, and you could see all the plastic they had eaten in their stomachs. After that, I really felt the urge to make a larger impact and try to influence the environment in a positive manner.
After making the presentation, I founded Kids for Earth to be able to expand the presentation and be able to encourage the children to keep on acting after we’d shown the presentation in their school; Kids for Earth has allowed me to conduct competitions between schools that would have been more difficult if I’d just had the presentation.
How much support did you get from your teachers and parents? Did your teachers suggest you create the Kids for Earth blog?
My parents were very encouraging, right from the beginning. They have been helping me and my sister lots and it would have taken us much longer to get this far if not for their encouragement and guidance. Similarly, our teachers have been very helpful, especially in organising talks in schools.
For example, one of the teachers here at my school, Alice Smith, really encouraged me to do the talk in front of my year group, despite me being very nervous. If not for his encouragement, I doubt I would have gone through with the talk.
How did the national media find out about your campaign?
Our parents encourage us to look for sponsors when we require extra means and resources to realise our ideas and projects for Kids for Earth, and this is the reason why we started to talk to corporates and medias, and gained attention from some of the medias in Malaysia, such as the inflight magazine of Malaysian Airlines, the BFM ratio, and Astro, Malaysia’s largest cable TV company. Astro has an educational channel called TVIQ and they were planning for a “Kids Go Green” week.
We were referred to them by the father of one of our members. After our Billy the Plastic Bag presentation, they have decided to turn our presentation into a minute long filler. We have also agreed to help them come up with ideas for 3 more fillers and jointly conducted workshops in 3 local schools, in addition to the press conference we had with them.
Wow! How are you adjusting to your recent celebrity status?
We’re not celebrities! Though we are really reaching out to kids, it is the presentation that they remember, and not the people who showed it. What we want to show is that, as children, we can make an impact on how we treat the environment, and as sons and daughters, we can impact the way our parents treat the environment. Therefore, we really are playing an important role in preserving the environment. Who we are is not important. However, I must admit that getting recognition for what we do is very gratifying and makes us strive to perform better.
What’s next for Kids for Earth?
We’ve printed our presentation into a book in collaboration with YTL corporation. It is going to be released on the 22nd May, duringYTL’s Climate Change week. Also, like I mentioned above, we are working with Astro TVIQ and they started airing our filler today…However, the next thing we really want to do is reach out to children and expand by getting children passionate about preserving the environment and wanting to spread the message. Kids for Earth is an open platform and we welcome kids who care about our Earth and would like to take care of it to join us. Please visit our website at www.kidsforearthasia.com or email me at gabrieltseng@kidsforearthasia.com
If you hadn’t heard about Kids for Earth before then we recommend you read about what they’re getting up to on their website. We’re going to be watching Kids for Earth very closely from now on – we’re pretty sure they’re on their way to being future world leaders – and we’d love to hear even more inspirational stories from schools in the UK.
Thank you very much to BrainPOP for giving us this special opportunity.
the Billy the plastic bag video is on air on astro TVIQ!
Watch this space …. we’ll up load it soon here !
After surgery, surgeons have two options for closing the incision: biodegradable stitches or metal staples. The stitches make for a better-looking scar and don’t have to be removed later, but with them it takes longer to sew up a patient, increasing the risk of infection or complications under the anesthesia.
Private medical-instrument maker Incisive Surgical has designed a device that it calls a skin stapler, but I’d say it’s closer to a handheld sewing machine. The device grabs skin from both sides of the incision and inserts a biodegradable staple through both flaps of skin.
Are environmental messages lost on the younger generation? Do they take calls to “go green” seriously? Do they recycle, say no to plastic bags, or are they ardent eco-warriors? CHAI MEI LING finds out that many know a lot and are doing their bit to preserve the environment
THEY formed a green group, sold their ideas to a satellite television provider and inked a deal to produce environmental messages for the media. And they are not even out of primary school.
Six children, united by their love for the nature, launched a mission to discourage the use of plastic bags last year.
One of the first things they did was to come up with a simple story detailing the journey of plastic bags, including how they could end up in oceans, killing marine life.
Looking to spread the message of reduced use to as many people as possible, they approached Astro TVIQ, which immediately snapped up the idea, resulting in the creation of a public service announcement video titled “Billy the Plastic Bag”.
In conjunction with Earth Day this April 22, the channel has launched a campaign called “Kids Go Green”, featuring a line-up of on-air content and on-ground workshops to educate children on the importance of environmental conservation and inspire them to do more for the environment.
“Billy the Plastic Bag” will make its rounds during the campaign period.
The children’s original drawings were mostly retained in the finished product, making the animation something other kids can easily relate to.
At a recent press briefing, two of the group members, Isaac Lee Jie Ruen and Gautam Jethwani, narrated the presentation, a feat they had carried out before hundreds of students in their respective schools, SK Sri Hartamas and Garden International School.
Lee said what sparked off the whole idea to deliver green messages was the realisation that rubbish is detrimental to wildlife.
“Gabriel, the founder of our group, showed us a YouTube video about birds dying in Hawaii. Bottle caps, plastic forks, golf balls, toys and lighters were found in their stomach.
“From this, we got the idea to reduce the use of plastic bags, so that less would end up harming the environment,” said Lee, 12.
“It’s actually quite hard to do that because sometimes we forget, but it helps if we put reusable grocery bags in the car or handbag,” added Gautam, also 12.
Astro TVIQ manager Sharifah Noraidah said the group’s enthusiasm was reflective of the campaign’s spirit.
“This is very commendable of them — they came to us, presented the idea to us to see if we can make it bigger. These young environmentalists may be small but they have big ideas. You’ll be inspired listening to them, this message coming from kids to adults,” she said.
“The simplicity of the message is there — start small but be counted.”
The Malaysian Institute of Integrity (IIM) president, Datuk Dr Mohd Tap Salleh, said parents were strong agents of change.
“Children learn from them and emulate their behaviour and beliefs.”
Because of this critical link and because future generations need to be even more disciplined in their consumption of shrinking natural resources, Tap advised parents to adopt greener practices and inculcate them into their children.
“When our children grow up, they will make decisions critical to their future — whether to cut down trees or whether the environment-friendly development should proceed. You decide.”
He said while Malaysia was blessed with a wealth of natural resources, its people were wasteful.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/30env/Article/index_html
On Saturday 13th March, Kids For Earth departed to Raub to take part in a day long, anti-plastic bag workshop with the Raub Leo club.
Arriving there, they quickly organised ourselves in order of birthdays as a simple icebreaker. Somebody, (not mentioning any names!) completely misunderstood the game and ended up saying the wrong thing (well, it was in mandarin so…).
Being special guests, members of KFE were not sorted into teams, unlike all the other teenagers. However, they decided to participate in the games anyway, all of Kids For Earth being one team (called Kids For Earth, obviously!).
George, Gautam and Gabriel all attempted (and nearly succeeded) to present the Billy the Plastic bag presentation in both mandarin and English. With the help of a translator, they managed to pass the message through and thoroughly entertained everyone!
After that, they took part in a game about degradation where they had to match up how long something took to degrade with its object. The best part was that the 100 PLUS, Chewing gum and banana hadn’t been eaten yet!
Afterwards, Aurelie, the organiser of the day, gave her presentation, again with the help of a translator, about plastic bags and why they where no good. Having looked at the quiz answers in the car, Raphaelle spotted all the fun facts that would be in the quiz such as: The Great Pacific Garbage dump is 4 times the size of Malaysia.
Then, Kids For Earth brought a group of kids downstairs to have the eco-quiz. It was awesome and some of the answers were VERY surprising!
At 12.00, everybody raced to be the front of a long queue. The delicious aroma of nasi lemak drifted around the cafeteria. Everyone gobbled up his or her lunch, all finding that the sambal was EXTREMELY spicy!
At the end of lunchtime, Aurelie asked Kids for Earth to hide pieces of paper around Chong Ching School for the scavenger hunt. Meanwhile, all the teens upstairs were doing a word scramble, earning points for their team.
Next, Raphaelle presented her presentation on Eco-Schools and how to become one. Mandarin subtitles where already on her power point so there was no need for a translator.
Students announced three things they could do to make the school eco-friendly before they had the scavenger hunt.
THAT was a great success and everyone was running around the school, (in the 100*C heat!) searching for well hidden bits of paper while Gabriel, Gautam and George fanned themselves in the shade.
To cool down, Aurelie had organised a 1 hour Art session where everyone had the choice to either design a poster against plastic bags or create a bag out of plastic bags. Both Kids For Earth members and the committee of the Leo club judged the winners.
At the end of the day, everybody was awarded a new Leo club grocery bag and a bookmark. The Leo club members all took a picture.
On the way back to KL, Kids For Earth stopped at a famous ice-cream shop on the road and had some delicious homemade ice-cream (although peanut flavour was very interesting…).
They arrived back home at 7 pm, having spent 12 hours out of their homes. __________________________________________________________
Kids For Earth had a fantastic day and would like to say a special thanks to Aurelie who organised everything, Gautam and George for coming and the members of the Leo Club for participating.
Hey guys.
I’m Miho, I’m a friend of Gabriel and yes, Gabby has chained me to my laptop and threatened to kill my family if I don’t write for him recruited me to start contributing posts about the environment. The only experience I really have of writing all over the internet is a small blog I haven’t looked at for years, so bear with me if I’m too informal, too sloppy, type “LOL” or “FAIL” or basically offend you in any way. Just complain to Gabby and he’ll throw energy efficent lightbulbs at my face.
Now enough about me, more about the environment.
Recycling! Now unless you live in a hole at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that has been closed off with copious amounts of cement I’m guessing most of you guys have recycled at some point of your life. But for those of you who do live in a hole at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean etc, recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials. What? Taking something like that can I just chucked into the bin and making something useful out of it? And since aluminium, the material used to make cans, isn’t biodegradable and burying it does nothing for anyone, wouldn’t that solve all our problems with getting rid of waste?
Mind blown.
Recycling has so many benifits it is insane that so few of us do it! We create something new and useful out of something that we would have normally chucked aside and forgotten about. Stuff doesn’t just go out of existence because we put it in the bin. It goes to a rubbish dump. And those dumps WILL get bigger and bigger if we don’t recycle. We will be stepping out our front doors and walking straight into columns of trash. Think Wall-E guys, think Wall-E. Do you want to live in a world like that? I can promise you that there won’t be any cute little robots to help us clean it up. We have to clean up our acts, literally.
Is recycling hard? Does it require an immense amount of skill and bravery? Do you have to be mega intelligent like Gabby to do it?
That would be a no.
If you live in a condominium block like me, chances are there are recyling bins in your building as well as your average refuse bins. You can even just seperate trash and leave it in plastic bags for maintainence to recycle where I live. I can appreciate that not everyone has an efficent recyling plan where they live but if you do, make use of it! Recycling bins are here for a reason people.
And if you’re still doubtful then think of it as a game. 5 points for every wad of paper you shoot in succesfully. 10 points for a can. You’ll probably be better off not attempting glass (But if you throw it in successfully, 50 points!) You see? Saving the world is fun!
Water is precious, yet it is being wasted or poorly managed. You can help promote water conservation by sending on this meme. If you do, simply follow these rules:
1. Create a blog entry entitled “Water Conservation Initiative”.
2. Post the Water Initiative Network’s Water Facts in your post.
3. List 3 things YOU will do to save water.
4. Add in the photo above, or any photo you have taken of a waterfall, river or lake.
5. End with the line: “Find out more about water conservation and good governance by joining the Water Initiative Network on Facebook! Visit us here at: Water Initiative Network!
~ WATER FACTS ~
1. Of every 100 drops of water on earth, 97 are too salty to drink, 2 are locked in ice and snow, and 1 is fresh water.
2. The daily requirement for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, as well as for assuring survival, is about 50 litres per person.
3. Reducing shower time from 20 mins to 8 mins saves up to 360 litres of water per shower.
4. A small drip from a faucet can waste as much as 75 litres of water a day.
5. Two thirds of the water used in a home is used in the bathroom. To flush a toilet, we use up to 9 litres of water.
6. Water-efficient toilets and washing machines are good ways to save water.
7. A low-tech way to save water is to form the habit of turning on the tap to low flow and turning it off when the water is not needed.
8. Non-revenue water (i.e. stolen or wasted water) constitutes 36% of water ‘used’ in Selangor, Malaysia, and this raises the cost of water for everyone.
9. Water supply infrastructure cost billions of ringgit. This money could be spent in more useful ways.
10. Large areas of forests are cleared to make way for water supply dams to accommodate our soaring demand for water. These forests and their wildlife represent our natural heritage.
~ 3 THINGS I WILL DO TO SAVE WATER~
1. I will make sure no taps or faucets drip in our house.
2. I will reduce the time I spend showering.
3. I will install dual-flush toilets when I need to replace my existing ones.
Find out more about water conservation and good governance by joining the Water Initiative Network on Facebook! Visit us here at:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=282587736385&ref=nf
