Cee’s Odd Balls: Part to Whole… Whatever

Taking part-to-whole pictures can result in displays of interesting textures. Can you guess what the whole will be from these parts?

(For Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge)

1.

2.3.

Can you guess yet?

These pictures were taken at St. James Island’s (Charleston, South Carolina) annual Festival of Lights. One section of the park is devoted to a giant holiday greeting card contest focusing on using recyclable items in the environment. Here one elementary school put together this very clever…

…Christmas Owl

Here’s an even broader look at part of the giant greeting card display at the Festival of Lights in a Piwakawata photo:

Piwakawata photo

How about jumping into a “Part-to-Whole Photo Challenge.” Post your own part-to-whole photos and post a link in my comments section. I’d love to see what you come up with. I’ll post a list of links for anyone who jumps on board.

In the meantime, Happy New Year. For more fun than you can possibly handle, you might want to check out this post on Janice Heck Writes: Happy New Year’s Day.

NaBloPoM0 11: Eleven-year-old student in Hong Kong faces down the government

Yesterday, I posted a story about 10-year-old Liva Adelstrop of Bali who took on the challenge of cleaning up the pollution in our oceans: Can One 10-Year-Old Girl Save Our Oceans?

Today’s story features Nellie Shute, an 11-year-old Hong Kong International School (HKIS), Upper Primary School student (grade 6), who takes on illegal trade in ivory. (HKIS is an American international school.)

The South China Morning Post published this article about the situation: “Hong Kong International School removes ivory after pupil’s complaint,” by Danny Lee.

6th grade student, Nellie Shute, with HKIS Upper Primary School Principal, Bruce Kelsh. Phto: Michal Garcia

In an effort to educate children about illegal-hunting and trading in ivory and how this endangers elephants, the Hong Kong government loaned tusks and artifacts from its stockpile of confiscated ivory to schools to put on display.

But eleven-year-old Nellie Shute objected to the artifacts being on display in her school and asked her school’s administration to return the artifacts to the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department HKAFCD), contending that the artifacts in the schools did not serve their intended purpose.

Wisely, the school complied and returned the ivory pieces to the HKAFCD where they were placed back in the stockpile of confiscated, illegally hunted and imported ivory.

And look at how much attention has been given to this polite protest by Nellie Shute: an article has appeared in the South China Morning Post, news of this article has been tweeted numerous times on Twitter, the article link has been posted and reposted on Facebook, and blog posts have been written about it. No doubt other news services will pick up the story and repeat it.

Nellie’s protest is bringing world-wide attention to the animal poaching problem. Perhaps the Hong Kong’s government practice of loaning ivory artifacts to schools for education is having some positive effects after all, all thanks to an 11-year-old who wanted to make a difference and spoke up about something she thought was inappropriate.

How big is the trade in illegal ivory?
In this past year alone, Hong Kong customs officials have seized and stockpiled 26 tons of ivory.  But confiscating illegal ivory imports and stockpiling is not enough, according to critics, and evidently has not curtailed illegal hunting and importing of ivory. Many animal rights activists and conservationists believe that destroying the stockpiled ivory would deter further illegal killing of elephants.

Changing the World. One Student at A Time
Liva Adelstorp of Bali (yesterday’s post) reminded us of this Margaret Mead quote:

 “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Nellie Shute and Liva Adelstorp prove this saying to be true. Many thanks to them for speaking out boldly for their beliefs.

NaBloPoMo 9: Can One 10-Year Old Girl Save Our Oceans?

Yesterday I wrote a post about the Japanese tsunami of March, 2011 and the “trash island” that is floating in the Pacific towards the US. Although NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) authorities have refuted the existence of this so-called island, they do admit that a lot of trash from the tsunami is still floating or has already sunk in the Pacific.

But the tsunami trash is not the ocean’s biggest problem.  Trash in the ocean has been a problem long before the Japanese tsunami. The amount of plastic waste in all of our oceans has led to the term “plastic soup” as a description of the situation. Reports of a “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” have been circulating on Internet.  

One 10-year-old, Liva Adelstorp of Bali, took this problem to heart.  While snorkeling one day, she was dismayed by the amount of trash she saw. She researched the problem and discovered that 14 billions pounds of trash are dumped into the ocean each year. This trash does severe damage to the wildlife that lives in the ocean.

Her experience with trash in the ocean while snorkeling inspired her to take action. Here, in her own words, is her attempt to take on this huge ocean trash problem: Liva’s Greenvideo

Liva designed a mesh collection bag for ocean trash that divers could use. She pursued her idea through Project AWARE, and has convinced a diving school in bali to sponsor a “Dive Against Debris” to start cleaning up the oceans.

Can one 10-year-old help save our oceans? You bet she can. With her determination and great ideas, we can bet that we will see progress in this controlling this ocean trash problem. She quotes Margaret Mead:  “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Read the following for more information on this problem. A blog post from the Earth Institute, “Our Oceans: A Plastic Soup,” gives more detail about the plastic pollution problem.

Let’s help Liva by doing our part. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Follow your local guidelines for recycling. You can make a difference.

The Last Meow

Yes, a 10-year old girl can make a difference. She had an idea, and she put it into action. Now, here’s the thing. It might not be successful right away, but the point is to keep trying. Maru the cat can give us an example of that!

Meow for now. =<^;^>=

Recycling tips from Wikihow: Recycle