Date: 4/21/09
Weather: Rainy, thunder, lightning
Time: 5:30 pm
Place: My backyard
Today was a nice day. It was sunny and fairly warm. Then all or a sudden, a few drops of rain started to fall. Next thing I knew it was pouring down rain with lightning and thunder. It reminded me of how bipolar some people can be. One minute they’re happy, and everything seems good. Next minute, they explode with anger over some small thing. I guess the weather can be bipolar as well. And global warming has made its fuse even shorter. Global warming makes storms more frequent and more severe. So global warming is making the weather even more bipolar as time goes on. And I guess that makes the global warming activists the earth’s medication, but they must be a slow-acting medication. My question is: Is this medication a spreading cure, or just a delaying the effects type drug?
By Shelley, Senior
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Leave No Trace Hikes
On Saturday, the students led two hikes to educate families about how to reduce their impact on nature by teaching them the seven principles of Leave No Trace.*Plan Ahead and Prepare
*Respect Wildlife
*Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
*Leave What You Find
*Minimize Campfire Impacts
*Dispose of Waste Properly
*Be Considerate of Others
In total, the students led a hike for 25 parents and children on the Rachel Carson Greenway Trail in Northwest Branch Park. MD State Senator Jamie Raskin joined the hike to learn how he and his family can reduce their impact.
Each hiker received a Leave No Trace bandana designed and produced by the students. The bandana is a non-disposable tool to educate and remind hikers to Leave No Trace when recreating outdoors.
The bandanas may be purchased on the PATC webstore for $5 to raise money for the Student Trail Steward program. To link to the website, please click on the PATC logo.
Analogies of Nature
As we walk through Sligo Creek Pkwy, my friend Daniel says, “The color green is coming back with a vengeance.”
“So are the gnats,” I say, waving a swarm away from my face.
The bark on the trees look a lot like puzzle pieces and some of the trees seem to be missing a few pieces. Sycamores especially. Moss and lichen cover the trees all about the base. Daniel thinks that the trees (or rather small shrubs) by the stream are having too many bar fights. Later, he points out these vines wrapped around a fence and some even around another vine and calls them “married couples”. There were a whole bunch strewn along the creek, entangled with any other shrub that was close by. He said he should plant/put some security trees around the place. There are daffodils and crocuses here and there about the path. We continue walking towards Colesville Rd until we come along some picnic tables. Then, we decide to take a seat and talk and wait for intelligent, inspirational thoughts to write down. We watch the birds fly to and fro, listen to the creek trickling by and the cars running parallel to the creek. We talk a little about different things: ice cream, money, grades, food.
Walking back, I point at a foamy part of the creek and say that it's the head of a beer. We start laughing at the bad joke. The trees are budding; small, itty, bitty leaves are forming at the end of the branches. The cherry blossoms look so pretty with their bright shades of pink.
As we walk back home, we notice how much the sycamores stand out against all the brown. We also notice and count all the various birds/squirrels nests we see in the trees.
by Charlotte, Junior
“So are the gnats,” I say, waving a swarm away from my face.
The bark on the trees look a lot like puzzle pieces and some of the trees seem to be missing a few pieces. Sycamores especially. Moss and lichen cover the trees all about the base. Daniel thinks that the trees (or rather small shrubs) by the stream are having too many bar fights. Later, he points out these vines wrapped around a fence and some even around another vine and calls them “married couples”. There were a whole bunch strewn along the creek, entangled with any other shrub that was close by. He said he should plant/put some security trees around the place. There are daffodils and crocuses here and there about the path. We continue walking towards Colesville Rd until we come along some picnic tables. Then, we decide to take a seat and talk and wait for intelligent, inspirational thoughts to write down. We watch the birds fly to and fro, listen to the creek trickling by and the cars running parallel to the creek. We talk a little about different things: ice cream, money, grades, food.
Walking back, I point at a foamy part of the creek and say that it's the head of a beer. We start laughing at the bad joke. The trees are budding; small, itty, bitty leaves are forming at the end of the branches. The cherry blossoms look so pretty with their bright shades of pink.
As we walk back home, we notice how much the sycamores stand out against all the brown. We also notice and count all the various birds/squirrels nests we see in the trees.
by Charlotte, Junior
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Spring Backpacking Trip
When preparing for the backpacking trip on the Maryland AT to Annapolis rocks, the group's intent was to go forward with the orginial plan despite the cold and rainy forecast. However, once thunderstorms entered the forecast, we executed plan b, to stay at Blackburn Trail Center on the AT in Loudon County, Virginia. We headed to Blackburn early and upon arrival set up "camp." By mid morning, we were walking up the quarter mile blue blaze trail to the AT. We hiked north on the trail stopping to take photos, talk about trail maintenance and construction techniques and devices, leading and participating in Leave No Trace activities, eating lunch, and climbing a high wall of rock only to find a flat ridge and no spectacular view. All day we hiked through a dense wall of fog and an on and off again drizzle. Upon returning to Blackburn, we were all grateful for a roof and a wood burning stove. The evening was spent eating and playing Hearts and Boggle. We all rose the next morning to feel the chill in the air and the dense fog outside. After we energized ourselves with coffee, hot coco, and breakfast, we headed back to the AT to do a small version of a Vision Quest, a Native American coming-of-age practice. We blind folded each student, disoriented them, and led them to a spot of the trail by themselves. They spent more than an hour in solitude to observe nature, reflect upon their lives thus far, and ponder their future. With this hour of solitude, the students generated amazing written reflections. The weekend presented many positive moments and experiences to share, bond, learn from each other, tell stories, and just have fun. To see photos the students took during the trip, please click on the group photo.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Advocacy letter: What is the solution to littered plastic bags?
March 17, 2009
Senator Jamie Raskin
House Office Building, Room 122
11 Bladen St.
Annapolis, MD 21401
Dear Senator Raskin,
My name is Juan A., a senior at Northwood High School in Montgomery County, and a member of PATC/NHS Student Trail Stewards. I am writing this letter to inform District 20 State representatives of an ongoing problem in our community, littering of plastic bags. The PATC/ NHS Student Trail Stewards conducted a small, but yet very effective clean up behind Northwood High School on March 8th, 2009, and we were able to collect 267 pounds of trash. Shockingly more than 40 pounds of the trash collected were plastic bags.
The huge amounts of plastic bags being improperly disposed all over our community is affecting not only our community, but all the other communities where non degradable plastic bags are being used by supermarkets and other retailers. All over the community, one notices the concentrations of plastic bags in small areas of land, and most of these are found along neighborhoods, where individuals dispose of bags because there are no fines being enforced by the authorities for littering. The collection of so many bags affects the community in different ways, from clogging up the draining system along the road to affecting the ecosystem in general. When all these bags are located on a small area of land, the affect on the ecosystem is tremendous from affecting the natural cycle of plant growth to the affect it causes on organisms. The process of plastic bags breaking down is long and intoxicating. It takes hundreds of years for the bags to completely break down, and during the process of them breaking down they release toxins that join with the soil, rivers and other bodies of water.
The reason there is an abundant amount of plastic bags in the neighborhoods is due to human nature and how we behave. We are accustomed to having our groceries and other articles placed inside a bag, and after we are done using them, we dispose of them and many times not thinking twice about it. We don’t have to change this, but what we do have to change is what our bags are being made of. By changing to biodegradable bags, not only are we helping the environment, but we are also helping the community because the bags will effectively decompose. Because biodegradable bags are made of easily oxidize materials such as corn, they decompose at much higher rates than oil based bags. When bio bags are littered in the environment they break down faster due to moisture and sunlight. Changing human behavior is often difficult but changing what plastic bags are made of will improve our environment.
Data collected in 2001 by United States Environmental Protection Agency states that there is an average of 500 billion to a trillion bags used worldwide every year, and this means that when all these bags break down our soils are being contaminated as well as our bodies of water. In order to solve the problem of plastic bags taking over our communities and affecting our ecosystems we need to change to an alternative solution, biodegradable bags. By encouraging businesses to use biodegradable bags we are ensuring the safety and well being of our community and our ecosystems.
Sincerely,
Juan A.
Senator Jamie Raskin
House Office Building, Room 122
11 Bladen St.
Annapolis, MD 21401
Dear Senator Raskin,
My name is Juan A., a senior at Northwood High School in Montgomery County, and a member of PATC/NHS Student Trail Stewards. I am writing this letter to inform District 20 State representatives of an ongoing problem in our community, littering of plastic bags. The PATC/ NHS Student Trail Stewards conducted a small, but yet very effective clean up behind Northwood High School on March 8th, 2009, and we were able to collect 267 pounds of trash. Shockingly more than 40 pounds of the trash collected were plastic bags.
The huge amounts of plastic bags being improperly disposed all over our community is affecting not only our community, but all the other communities where non degradable plastic bags are being used by supermarkets and other retailers. All over the community, one notices the concentrations of plastic bags in small areas of land, and most of these are found along neighborhoods, where individuals dispose of bags because there are no fines being enforced by the authorities for littering. The collection of so many bags affects the community in different ways, from clogging up the draining system along the road to affecting the ecosystem in general. When all these bags are located on a small area of land, the affect on the ecosystem is tremendous from affecting the natural cycle of plant growth to the affect it causes on organisms. The process of plastic bags breaking down is long and intoxicating. It takes hundreds of years for the bags to completely break down, and during the process of them breaking down they release toxins that join with the soil, rivers and other bodies of water.
The reason there is an abundant amount of plastic bags in the neighborhoods is due to human nature and how we behave. We are accustomed to having our groceries and other articles placed inside a bag, and after we are done using them, we dispose of them and many times not thinking twice about it. We don’t have to change this, but what we do have to change is what our bags are being made of. By changing to biodegradable bags, not only are we helping the environment, but we are also helping the community because the bags will effectively decompose. Because biodegradable bags are made of easily oxidize materials such as corn, they decompose at much higher rates than oil based bags. When bio bags are littered in the environment they break down faster due to moisture and sunlight. Changing human behavior is often difficult but changing what plastic bags are made of will improve our environment.
Data collected in 2001 by United States Environmental Protection Agency states that there is an average of 500 billion to a trillion bags used worldwide every year, and this means that when all these bags break down our soils are being contaminated as well as our bodies of water. In order to solve the problem of plastic bags taking over our communities and affecting our ecosystems we need to change to an alternative solution, biodegradable bags. By encouraging businesses to use biodegradable bags we are ensuring the safety and well being of our community and our ecosystems.
Sincerely,
Juan A.
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