Tis the season of H2Woah

Blogged by: Andrea, Kerstyn, Katlin, & Melanie

December is coming close and so is our grade 9 presentation and global goals fair. Our group has been hard at work preparing, practicing, and getting together the supplies we need in order to get our message/light out there on clean water and sanitation.

For our grade 9 presentation that will be commencing on Thursday December 1st, we prepared a powerpoint to present along with 3 educational games on water and a discussion to take place with each class. We plan to be laid back about our presentation so it doesn’t seem too forceful to the young grade nines. Our only little worry is the grade nines acting up and being disrespectful during our presentation, however our teacher Ms. Mcleod will be present and help get them back in line if they act reckless to us.

A last reminder is to donate to food banks, especially for over the holidays so that everyone may enjoy this season and have the supplies they need. I know this isn’t our goal to work on and an early subject to talk about right now but this is just a message to shout out for the less fortunate.  

Pic Reference

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/e1/e6/45/e1e645b39220a932bd18f235f414b959.jpg

The Global Goals Bake Sale

Blogged by: Emma and Sarai

YOUTH FOR EQUALITY

Youth For Equality is giving our best efforts to raise awareness about gender equality but a part of our campaign is support. Support for women and men who are victims to inequalities because no one deserves to be alone in this fight for equality. Youth For Equality has decided to raise awareness as well as money for My Sister’s Place, a women’s shelter in Barrie for women who are victims of domestic abuse. All of our proceeds are going to this shelter because our main goal is to create equal opportunity as well as empower all women and girls because they tend to be victims of inequalities and gender-based violence. We have chosen to donate to a women’s shelter because we would like to contribute and give our support to the woman who were put in situations where they had no choice but to live in a shelter.

Our first step towards raising money for My Sister’s Place was to hold a bake sale. Youth For Equality collaborated with two other global goals groups, The Tree Musketeers and H2WOAH, to raise money. We all wanted to make money so that we could donate the proceeds to different places. Youth For Equality made brownies and homemade cookies to sell and the other groups made cupcakes and cookies and we set up our table at lunch on Friday, November 25th.

Our bake sale was a complete success! We sold everything we had with cheap prices. None of the baked goods were priced more than $2 so they were quite affordable. We were able to advocate for our campaigns to staff and students and explain why we were raising money and fighting for our goals. It was a positive experience and we were able to raise $171 meaning that each group got about $57 each.

Potential plans for the future:  to raise more money for My Sister’s Place by making and selling t-shirts and/or jewelry.

Images from:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=global+goals+gender+equality&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=662&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjN9_qu3MvQAhUo5oMKHba2DLgQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=gender+equality+global+goals&imgrc=0IUNHjEzvEhR4M%3A

https://www.google.ca/search?q=global+goals+gender+equality&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=662&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjN9_qu3MvQAhUo5oMKHba2DLgQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=gender+equality+global+goals&imgdii=0IUNHjEzvEhR4M%3A%3B0IUNHjEzvEhR4M%3A%3BVYnTY

https://www.google.ca/search?q=my+sisters+place+logo&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=662&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBqt2Y4svQAhUJ6YMKHZz2B64Q_AUIBigB#imgrc=CEvuRMmRdkJY3M%3A

https://www.google.ca/search?q=my+sisters+place+logo&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=662&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBqt2Y4svQAhUJ6YMKHZz2B64Q_AUIBigB#imgrc=YbFNWcOO9RwbeM%3A

An Update on What We’re doing!

Blogged by: Emma and Sarai

YOUTH FOR EQUALITY

Achieving gender equality is our campaign’s main goal. We would like to create equal opportunities for all human beings and by doing this, Youth for Equality has started to spread awareness. As movember starts to come to an end, we realized that we needed to create more ways to spread awareness. We have made a twitter account with the twitter handle @femnpss and have kept consistent with tweets related to our goal so that we can spread awareness of the harsh realities of gender inequality as well as gain knowledge on how to conquer our goal. Youth for Equality has also created unique brochures about gender equality world-wide as well as gender equality in the workplace. We have taken these brochures and ran our first information booth at lunch on November 24th. Staff and students actually approached our booth and we asked quick quiz questions. The point of these questions are to raise shocking facts about our topic of equality and we were able to educate others! Also, anyone who approached the booth took one of our brochures to take away with them. In conclusion, our booth ran successfully and using our twitter, we were able to promote it.

Future plans: Youth For Equality plans to run our booth every Thursday at lunch in our Cafe but we are working to create a spinning “Question Wheel” structure (like the one to the right->) that students can spin. The wheel will land on a question and if the student or staff member answers the question correctly, we will have prizes handy for the winner!

Below is an example of one of our quiz questions.

What percent of women hold CEO positions in fortune 500 companies?

1. 10%
2. 7.3%
3. 4.8%
4. 12%

Photo Reference:https://www.google.ca/search?q=prize+wheel&rlz=1CADEAC_enCA716CA719&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiVr620ysTQAhVT3WMKHdU5B6kQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=CssEoZScWCvD3M%3A

The Tree Musketeer’s Bake sale!!

Raising money and awareness, one day at a time! :)

Blogged by: Sam, Mackenzie, Vanessa, and Tristin

Finally after planning for over two weeks are global goal group was able to step forward and take action!! We teamed up with two other groups (H2 woah and youth for equality) to make some delicious baked goods and for an added flare our group made some green wrap around bracelets.

All of the proceeds are going to Ducks Unlimited, a foundation that works to restoring wetlands aiding Canada’s environment in amazing ways. On their website they state: “We conserve, restore and manage wetlands and grasslands to benefit waterfowl, wildlife and people.” (ducks, 2016). I’ll make sure to link the site below so you’ll be able to check it out and see all the amazing things they do for Canada’s environment. Our group thought that this was a great charity to fundraise for because not only is it helping restore the environment, it is also helping Canadian Wildlife due to it protecting wetland species homes.

While fundraising for charities our group also wanted to raise more awareness about our goal; life on land. So we came up with the idea of handing out facts that were the size of business cards. Each card included our group name: The Tree Musketeers, a fact about the environment and our logo. The cards were sold along with the bigger sugar cookies.

In the end the bake sale was a success as we managed to raise $171.27 and also educate the students in our school! :)

Make sure to read our blog next week to keep up to date with our activities!

Picture This

Blogged by Vanessa, Sam, Tristin, Mackenzie

Worldwide, approximately 15 billion trees are cut down annually, according to Time magazine. The images above represent the loss of forests and loss of animal habitats. Records have proven that the amount of deforestation has decreased a significant amount since human civilization had begun to develop, however the rates of deforestation are still alarmingly high. An estimated >1% of over 80,000 tree species are studied or used for industrial and agricultural purposes. This could be huge for organizations and businesses, as there is potential for other tree species to be ideal for lumber, pulp production, and other things. An example of different types of trees being used for industrial purposes is the trend in bamboo shoots being used. It is believed that the contents of bamboo shoots can create a feel nearly identical to that of cotton.

If animals do not do this kind of damage to their own home, why do we, as people?

Where in Canada is logging most Common?

By: Ben and Markus

  In Canada logging is a very common thing for the economy to make money. If you don't know logging is the process of cutting down trees and transporting them to saw mills where wood products can be made. Logging has given us humans many great things, desks, doors, tables, shelves, and anything made from wood, it all came from logging.

  There are 3 kinds of logging, shelter-wood cutting, clear wood, and selective cutting. Shelter-wood cutting is when loggers will clear a patch of trees and leave a patch. Clear wood cutting is when loggers remove all trees from a forest. Selective cutting is when loggers only cut certain types, sizes, and ages of trees. As you can probably imagine, all kinds of logging have pros and cons.

  3 different types of logging.

#1: Clear cutting

photo from Wikipedia

#2 Shelter-wood cutting

photo from http://www.forestrynepal.org/notes/silviculture-systems/7

#3 Selective cutting

  The most logging in Canada is the BC Interior it’s has 94% of logging in Canada, Canada is ranked number one in the world on making the most money from logging, that number is around 17 billion dollars comes from trading to other countries.

  Logging helps the Canadian economy make a lot of money but can also hurt the environment very much. Which is exactly why we should log, but we have to control how much we log and make sure we are replanting for the future, otherwise we will run out of trees.

this blog this do

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/forests/industry/overview/13311

WATER, WHY WORRY?

BLOGGED BY: KATLIN, KERSTYN, ANDREA & MELANIE

@npss_clean_h2o

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Many people think of water as a necessity, something they must consume in order to survive. What people don't always realize is that not everyone in the world has access to a clean water source, 783 million (that's 85% of the world's population!) to be exact. Without water we as humans are dust, roughly 70% of our bodies are made up of water.

Although here in Canada water seems to flow endlessly, it is not an infinite source. The majority of the world’s water is either ridden with salt or completely inaccessible to humans. Even after some have found a source of water to extract and consume they are still in danger of various diseases linked with pollution and fecal matter. Around 1.8 million people worldwide consume contaminated water.

A person can live approximately one week without water, depending on the situation but the average person MUST consume about 2.37 litres per day to maintain good health. As water sources become scarce the health of our global population deteriorates. Nearly 1 out of every 5 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease and 80% of all illnesses and deaths in developing countries are caused by the consumption of poor water sources.

By investing in clean water, young children around the world can gain more than 413 million days of health!  

http://silenttruth.co.uk/why-is-water-so-vital-in-the-proper-functioning-of-the-body/

https://www.ibm.com/blogs/citizen-ibm/2012/06/seeking-new-treatments-for-an-ancient-disease.html/child-in-water-

Life Below Water; Posters!

Blogged by: David and Lorin

Hello everyone! After many brainstorming sessions, we’ve finally come up with some nice designs for our poster campaign, which will be launching very soon.

Our goals for this campaign are to promote the ‘Global Goals Fair’ that is happening in our school soon (and that we’ll be participating in), and to inspire people to care about, and take actions for, our ocean, and marine biodiversity.

For now, all we’ll share for the posters are the thumbnails that we have prepared, but we will be releasing the finished poster very soon, so be sure to check back with us later!

Follow us on twitter @npssgenblue for more updates, and stay tuned for more updates!

Did You Vote for Donald Trump?

Blogged By: Liam, Colin, Cassidy, Michael & Jake

America looking for a new direction.

http://www.businessinsider.com/nbc-donald-trump-2015-6

On November, 9th, 2016 Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States of America. This created a great deal of conflict between the citizens of the U.S.A. You may wonder what does Donald Trump have to do with climate change, the answer is a lot.  Donald Trump said in his campaign speeches that he does not believe that climate change exists or that it is a real issue. This means he will stop efforts to reduce climate change, and retract funds to take action against it. This is an issue because America has one of the biggest economies in the world, and could potentially have a huge impact on the climate. Other countries may also look at America and see them not caring to improve on the greenhouse gasses being released in the ozone layer and it will make them see the U.S. as a joke. This could create a dangerous trend because of Trumps influence on the citizens of the United States, his ignorant words could be taken for fact and result in a mass following in climate change deniers.

Providing Water One Cupcake at a Time

Blogged by: Kerstyn, Katlin Andrea, Melanie

Friday November 25 we are having a bake sale along with two other global goal groups; Equality and Life on Land.  Our group is going to be selling cupcakes, but they are no ordinary cupcakes, they are informational cupcakes! As stated in our previous blog, ⅔ of our cupcakes are going to have lighter blue icing to represent the amount of indigenous people that have been under a boil water advisory in the past decade. Incase you were wondering about the kind the cupcakes are, we’ve determined from our twitter poll that confetti is the favourite! So they are confetti cupcakes with vanilla icing.

Since we are working with three other groups we have decided that we are going to split the money equally so one group doesn’t get more than the other. All of our money is going towards and amazing organization that was actually made by a kid in grade 1, (he is much older now) Ryan’s Well Foundation. Our money is going towards their school program, which this year consists of providing four schools in Kouritenga, Burkina Faso with wells and education on water, sanitation, and hygiene. We are hoping to raise a minimum of $50.00, because we are making about 48 cupcakes and charging $2.00 for each, meaning that we sell 25 of our 48 cupcakes which is pretty realistic.

Pic Reference:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cupcakeluv/6798089565

http://trip-suggest.com/burkina-faso/centre-est/sabouga/

H2Woah on MMIW

Blogged by: Andrea, Kerstyn, Katlin, & Melanie

As our group has been hard at work for preparing for our elementary school visit and the fair, we have been learning about Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). MMIW are cases about literally missing and murdered indigenous women who are forgotten and lost from light, deserving the justice they need not just for these women but for their families too. Cases of MMIW happen all over Canada from years ago to today’s time right now.

Our World Issues class has been taken part in doing research on a missing or murdered indigenous women and putting her on a class map of Canada of where she was last seen or found. This map will be viewed to public soon right here on this blog for everyone to see and acknowledge these people too and the justice they deserve. A lot of the cases are left unsolved with the police giving little to no help for the families and solving the case. Our class has also partnered with the art class to do art with our map. The end result will be posted soon and worth to see.

Pic Reference:

http://genderadvocacy.org/campaigns-and-projects/missing-justice/

http://www.ammsa.com/content/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-girls

H-2-The-Woah

Blog Post by: Andrea, Katlin, Kerstyn, and Melanie

An update on our progress towards working on our global goal that’s raising money to Ryan’s Well Foundation that goes toward clean water and sanitation school project in Africa. The money will go towards providing 4 deep hole well projects that are currently happening in Africa as well as providing education on water sanitation hygiene.

How we are raising money is that we will be hosting a bake sale in our school cafeteria on November 25th. We will be collaborating with two other global groups who are participating in the bake sale as well to raise funds. Our group is in charge of making cupcakes (confetti style up in here) and we plan to have the cupcakes represent the ratio of 2/3 of all first nations people in Canada have been under at least one drinking water advisory (cbc news), so ⅔ of the cupcakes will be a light blue while the rest will be a dark blue to represent water.   

Another fundraiser activity we will be doing also is on December 8 our world issues class will be doing a global goals fair buy-out. At the fair our group will be selling kernels popcorn to students and giving information out in booths. The money from kernels will also be going to Ryan’s Well Foundation.

Pic Reference:

https://www.ryanswell.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/rwf-logo.png

http://www.mommymoment.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Kernels-EP-Bag.jpg

How Can Forest Fires be Beneficial to the Forests?

                  By: Ben and Markus

  As we all know forest fires can be very harmful to human development and the the environment, but have we ever thought about how forest fires can actually be beneficial? You're probably thinking what? How can forest fires possibly be beneficial? Well there are many different reasons and ways why forest fires can actually be beneficial to the environment.

photo from edmontonsun.com

  As most people know forest fires tend to happen in the summers when the weather is hot and dry, in Alberta, they tend to happen every summer because of all the trees and dried grass, the grass in summer can sometimes be like hay, meaning it will burn very easily and with all the trees around, it can catch fire and spread very quickly, and easily.

In this photo it shows a very good example of the dried grass catching fire.

photo from edmontonsun.com 

This next photo shows how the forest can catch fire and spread very easily.

  Although forest fires can be deadly and do lots of damage, they actually can be beneficial to the environment! When allowed to burn in areas where they do not impact human development, they can be regenerative for the forest, revitalizing for the watershed, renew the soil, and reset the clock for the ecosystem.

  Like anything else forest fires have their pros and their cons. They can help the environment and they can damage it, for more information on forest fires go to http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/home

Our next plan of Action

By: Colin, Liam, Jake, Cassidy, Michael

http://www.aplithelp.com/

Our group has just started brainstorming ideas on our new project which is going to be making our own documentary. In this documentary we will be interviewing many different groups of people that attend our school. Our main goal of this documentary is to educate our fellow students about climate change and how to combat it. Right now we are in the process of mapping out how the tone of the doc will be, what questions were going to ask, where things are going to go, how it's going to end etc. We will also be adding many clips of other projects we will be conducting. We are excited to share this project with everyone and hopefully educate some people, hope you will enjoy. Visit our twitter page @NpssCC for more info and updates on climate change.

Youth for Equality

Blogged by: Emma and Sarai

Gender equality needs to be achieved around the world, not just in developed countries, for us as humans to succeed. Women should feel proud of their achievements and not held back from them. When women and young girls are allowed to live and learn to their full potential, our communities become safer, our economy thrives and the world becomes an overall better place.

https://image.freepik.com/free-vector/multicultural-women-faces-design_1116-37.jpg

Women in Saudi Arabia are forbidden from driving, as well as in Egypt and Bahrain, husbands have the right to prevent their wives from leaving the country. If they try to do so they need written permission from the husband. Preventing someone the right to mobility and travel seems almost prehistoric in today's age, yet it’s still happening. Honour Killings are when a relative, most commonly a young girl or woman, is killed as it is perceived that they have brought “dishonour” on the family. Honour Killings still take place in Turkey, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, and Lebanon. In many countries having a little girl is not desirable, therefore some lives are ended before they have even started all because they are a female.

Together we can all help to achieve Gender Equality by raising awareness, and educating others.

Week #2 with the Tree Musketeers

Blogged by Sam, Mackenzie, Tristin and Vanessa

This week has been primarily focused around contacting people outside of our school with whom we hope could help us with spreading awareness of our Global Goal in our school, as well as around our community. So far, we are working on establishing our connections with the WWF, the Barrie Native Friendship Centre, and our local elementary schools.

After having e-mailed our request for an interview to a representative from the WWF, we made a follow-up call to make sure that we would be able to arrange it, since we would like to include it in our short film. As of right now, we have sent them a list of our questions, and are waiting on their reply.   

Earlier this week, we also got in contact with our local elementary schools, Pine River and Angus Morrison, to see if they would allow us to present to their intermediate-level students about the importance of environmental conservation. Both principals have received an outline of the activities and presentations we hope to show the students, but we are waiting on a reply for this as well.

On top of this, our group has also begun preparing a list of questions and searching up contacts from the Barrie Native Friendship Centre, as we hope to interview them for our short film as well. Indigenous communities and reserves are often greatly affected by climate change and environmental destruction, and many also have strong spiritual connections with the earth; for this reason, we thought that we should include a different perspective in our documentary on the importance of preserving life on land.

We hope to receive feedback from all of the organizations and schools we have contacted in the near future, so that we can begin producing our documentary and have it finished as soon as possible.

http://www.barrienativefriendshipcentre.com/events    http://www.za.undp.org/content/south_africa/en/home/post-2015/sdg-overview/goal-15.html