MARCH 29th THE EARTH HOUR

A DAY TO REFLECT ON THE SUSTAINABILITY OF OUR PLANET

By Raúl Viñas 

Forests, oceans, glaciers and mountains, deserts, parks, gardens and lakes, all of them have their own life, biodiversity and even their own soul, according to some. All of them are unique and irreplaceable. Every single day, all of us admire what nature has created, perfect places we find all over the world where we would like to be. Nowadays it’s impossible for us to visit them, but we would like to travel there sometime in the future. However,  we fear that in a few years all those incredible places may disappear and with them, all the animals living there, and its exotic vegetation. 

Will we be able to enjoy them in real life, or will we have   to know about them in books and pictures?

Even though we know it is happening, experts and scientists have shown evidence, and insisted on emphasizing there’s a last opportunity to stop it, we insist on pursuing this disaster. And why? Just because of “money”.

However not everything is going in a bad direction, there are people, hundreds of thousands of people, who are using their power to change our future, and our environment. One of the actions they are supporting is, just turning off the light for one hour, it is called the Earth Hour.

This year, it was on 28^th March 8:30 PM local time and 172 countries worldwide took part in the biggest celebration of the planet in the world. We met in our town, San Cristóbal of La Laguna, in the Concepción Tower, and  the lights were turned off in some of the official buildings of the area. It was a great experience of sharing and empowering people to take action. Next time, it is going to be the 10^th Anniversary of Earth Hour. 

Will you use your power?

Earth Hour 2015 Official Video

As Barack Obama has said, we are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change, and the last generation that can do something about it.

And you?  Do you know any other way to save our world?

Watch this video. It is really interesting

DONATE ONE BOOK

DONATING A  BOOK FOR CHILDREN IN NEED.

"A book is a dream you hold on your hands. Be part of that dream"           
After all the research we have done, our team has decided  to take action! The force moving us is

"Think globally, act locally", so we have launched a campaign to get  books for children without resources!

If each one of the students in The Cabrera Pinto High School donates one book, we will get more than 500 books! 

We are asking for books that have been  read, enjoyed, and that are in a nice condition.  

Once we get the books, we are going to offer them to  different charities: Spanish Red Cross, Aldeas Infantiles  and Caritas. 

We hope all the books will have reached children and young people by 23rd of April, and they can all celebrate this day, reading a book!

This is the poster we have created to promote our campaign. First, we contacted different charities to see if they would like to help us deliver the books, next our group informed all the students in our High 

School, and  solidarity boxes  have been placed in all the classrooms. Just just now all of us are busy looking for books we have read when we were younger, and that we would like other children to have.  

We are all encouraged to write something on the first page of the book, to pass a message on to the child receiving it!

We decided to start up this campaign after we read about  child poverty in the Canary Islands! We are at the top of the regions where children are suffering the most.

We were really impressed by the report that has recently been published by Cáritas. It pointed out that there are many homes in the Canary Islands where there are fewer than 50 books! We are fighting for equality in education,  trying to help children who are suffering hard economical crisis, and finally, we are trying  to promote solidarity among all our mates!

Our final goal is getting as many  children reading as we can. It is  a really enjoyable way of  dreaming and learning!

"Think Big, Read"

DO YOU LIKE BANSKY?

ART CAN HELP RAISE SOCIAL AWARENESS, THIS IS WHAT BANSKY THINKS

By Inés Piñero

In this picture we can see a child who dresses like one of the characters from the Simpsons. This child is writing on a blackboard that he should not copy what he  sees on TV,  is just the opposite of what he is doing.

Banksy claims that society is heavily influenced by what they see on TV. Especially children are most affected and they copy everything they see. 

In my opinion this drawing expresses a very present reality,  we often try to hide. What do you think? Please leave a comment!

In this other image we can see the character Mickey Mouse and Ronald Mc Donald hand  in hand with a girl, this girl was taken from a photo in which she was running naked with wounds on her body, in the Vietnam War. She was wailing "Too hot, too hot", and running away from a burning village.

I think Banksy is trying to highlight the lifestyle of children with economic resources against those who do not.

Vietnam fought in that war against the USA (where these characters are from). 

Placing  this child next to the  American ones he is  highlighting the devastation it has caused  in her country.

I found  this picture very impressive, especially after seeing the original. I think everyone should know this work of Banksy! And you?

WHAT OTHER THINGS CAN BE DONE TO RAISE SOCIAL AWARENESS?

CHILDREN HAVE THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION

VIOLENCE AND WAR   BLOCK  THE WAY TO EDUCATION

"One child in three is out of school in countries affected by conflict"

By Raúl Ramos Afonso

Children’s right to a decent education is as basic as their right to food and water – for many, it’s their route out of poverty. It gives them the knowledge and skills to improve their own chances in life and, ultimately, the lives of their own children. Yet, one child in three is out of school in countries affected by conflict. 

Getting children into school and delivering good-quality education in war-torn countries is a huge challenge. Teachers may not have been trained and schools are increasingly being targeted for attack.

Education funding is shockingly inadequate – in 2008, $1 billion education aid was pledged to countries affected by conflict – just one-tenth of what was needed. Only $113 actually reached them.

It is estimated that there are almost 40 million children out of school in conflict-affected countries, that means that more than half of the children out of school live in conflict-affected countries. Given all this, many people think it is just too complicated to improve the situation in countries affected by conflict.

This situation needs to be changed really fast, as war is growing in many countries in the world and the number of children that can’t go to school gets bigger and bigger.

Here are two projects that can help these kids:

http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/access-education

http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/education/rewrite-the-future

ORANGUTANS IN DANGER

PALM OIL PRODUCTION IS THREATENING  MALAYSIAN  ORANGUTANS

By Irene  Cáceres

 

These furry and intelligent primates that lived peacefully in the jungles of Sumatra and Borneo are having difficult days. The deforestation caused by palm oil industry is leaving them without their habitat or means to survive.

The orangutan habitat is limited to the islands of Sumatra that are part of Indonesia and Borneo. This territory is divided between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. It is also the most arboreal primate. Its existence depends on the rainforest jungle where they live in the wild.

The problem is that Malaysia and Indonesia are both major producers of palm oil, these countries  have become the greatest enemies of orangutans by enabling the land for the plantations, and they are destroying thousands of hectares of virgin forest. In the past decade the population has dropped by 50%. 

Currently there are only 20,000 specimens, and it is estimated that the species could become extinct in a few years if action is not taken.

80% of Indonesian forest has been burned or cleared to make way for Elaeis guineensis, the palm species from which the oil is extracted.

Scientists have concluded that although orangutans have adapted better than expected, despite cases of malnutrition and conflict with the humans, the palm plantations do not have capacity to accommodate  large populations of primates.

When a forest is turned to agricultural land, orangutans lose living space and access to funding sources. If they don’t want to die by the deforesting, they have to migrate to seek refuge in neighboring jungles.

Besides, clashes between apes and the crop workers are more frequent. Many are afraid of orangutans and sometimes workers kill them, even though it is a protected species. Even at this present era there are people who hunt them for meat. The males have been used for centuries to combat burlesque boxing and females are prostituted.

Finally, if forest protection measures are not taken, there is no hope for orangutans.  

According to Ancrenaz "it is necessary for the palm oil industry to respect some areas of the forests where orangutans live,  so that they  may have mobility, access to food and the chance to mate with individuals from other groups".

COLTAN WAR

TANTALUM  IS SO VALUABLE THAT COUNTRIES ARE FIGHTING FOR IT

By Marcos Siverio and Amanhuy Duque

WHAT IS COLTAN?

Columbite-tantalite — coltan for short — is a dull metallic ore found in major quantities in the eastern areas of Congo. When refined, coltan becomes metallic tantalum, a heat-resistant powder that can hold a high electrical charge. These properties make it a vital element in creating capacitors, the electronic elements that control current flow inside miniature circuit boards. Tantalum capacitors are used in almost all cell phones, laptops, pagers and many other electronics. The recent technology boom has caused the price of coltan to skyrocket to as much as $400 a kilogram, as companies such as Nokia and Sony have struggled to meet demand.

HOW IS COLTAN MINED?

Coltan is mined through a fairly primitive process similar to how gold was mined in California during the 1800s. Dozens of men work together digging large craters in streambeds, scraping away dirt from the surface in order to get to the coltan underground. The workers then slosh water and mud around in large washtubs, allowing the coltan to settle to the bottom due to its heavy weight. A good worker can produce one kilogram of coltan a day.

Coltan mining is very well paid in Congo terms. The average Congolese worker makes $10 a month, while a coltan miner can make anywhere from $10 to $50 a week.

FINANCING THE CONFLICT

A highly controversial U.N. Security Council report recently outlined the alleged exploitation of natural resources, including coltan, from Congo by other countries involved in the current war. There are reports that forces from neighboring Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are involved in smuggling coltan from Congo, using the revenues generated from the high price of coltan to sustain their efforts in the war. By one estimate, the Rwandan army made at least $250 million over a period of 18 months through the sale of coltan, even though no coltan is mined in Rwanda. All countries involved in the war deny exploiting Congo's natural resources.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

• We can try not to buy a new phone every year, we  know that the Iphone 6 will be better tan Iphone 5 but if we wait one year, there is going to be a new phone anyway.

• We can recycle our old phone  or give it to charity

SPREAD THE WORD!  SPREAD THE WORD!

CHILD SOLDIERS: REACHING OUR COMMUNITY

RAISING AWARENESS IN OUR SCHOOL AND SPREADING THE MESSAGE TO OUR COMMUNITY 

By Irene Cáceres, Raquel García, Romina La Paz and Thalía Peña.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE?

This was an activity that was done during the last week of March by our team members. We searched for information about children who are involved in conflicts in different countries. 

We found out that children can be recruited when they are about 10 years old, and form part of an armed group, or they can also work as cooks, spies, messengers, bodyguards, etc. 

Nowadays there are between 250.000 and 300.000 children fighting in the world.

After our research was done,  we designed  a big poster where we put some information about  child  soldiers and after that, we decided to make it more visible and took it to the town centre. 
We showed it to people who were walking in the street, we asked them their opinion about this issue and we shared our views with people from China, Germany, Great Britain, Italy,...

WHERE DID WE GO?

We went to The Concepción Church, near a popular pedestrian street located in La Laguna and we put the poster on the floor to show people the suffering of these children. There are some cafeterias  around  and it is a busy area with a lot of tourists, and local people.

WHY HAVE WE DONE IT?

We did this project because we are worried about this problem and we want people to  reflect about what is happening in other countries: many children are being used as suicide bombers, as sex slaves, or trained as killers from very young. 

They are not enjoying their infancy, and this is not fair. We wanted to make this visible to the people in our surroundings.

HOW DID WE PREPARE IT?

We used our “ATU” classes to work in it. Our teacher, Dácil Melián Huguet  helped us, and also we used some of our free time.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?

We learned a lot from this project. We  were impressed to find out that many countries are using children as soldiers. Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen. 

They are used in many different ways, not always holding guns, but their human rights are constantly being violated. 
Furthermore, we got people to know about child soldiers and some of them gave us their impressions. They wrote their opinions in our poster.

We met people from  our islands and also from different countries that were visiting our city. 

Now, we have put our poster in our High School entrance hall, so that all the students and visitors can see it!

Here is the video we recorded of our experience!