Recipe cooking 11-30-13 humanities

One of the hardest challenges that I faced was probably setting up and finding the ingredients in the first place. Many of the ingredients that we needed we already had, but were expired or did not have enough of. I had to postpone the cooking because some of the ingredients were expired so I had to go to the market and pick up new ones.
Throughout the whole cooking process, I did not need help for any of the cooking or cleaning. The directions were pretty easy to follow, and I remembered the training we were given at the cooking class, and used them to my advantage. If I had not been given the cooking instructions from KCC, it would have made the direction following much harder than before.
One thing that I need to work on before the cook off is my direction following. Before I start to cook the food, I need to look over the directions and figure out everything the directions say before I start to cook. One of the things that messed me up a little during the process of cooking the rice was not looking ahead While following the directions. Next time I will remember to always look a step ahead.
I had very good feedback on the rice and parfait. My parents said even though the recipe was fairly simple, the ingredients used really complemented and contrasted each other, which in turn made a very good dish. The rice went very good with the other meat  we had for dinner, and the parfait finished the meal on a very sweet note.

Animal cell plant cell MPX STEM 11-4-13

Sleep MPX STEM 11-1-13

Sleep habits

On average, I usually get about 6-8 hours of sleep a day. After practice, I am so tired, that I usually go to sleep earlier than before. This both helps, and hurts me. Going to sleep is always better than going to sleep later, but sometimes I am so tired from practice that I cannot get all of the homework that I have due for the following day finish. This hurts me academically, and also hurts my education. This totally pushes the electronics away during the week though. Since I have so little time when I get home, I usually do as much homework as I can, then go straight to sleep. So I have no time for any social media or video games. This also means that I have minimal time to study too.

Nothing really keeps me up at night. Even if I try, I will immediately fall asleep because I am so tired from soccer practice, and because I have to wake up early to get to school, because I live on the east side. The only thing that will sometimes keep me awake is studying. If I have a test coming up, or if its the next day, I will try to get the perfect balance of sleep and studying. But, this means that I will stay up much later than I usually do if I just finish my homework and go to sleep. Some things that will keep me up are also if I remember I have to finish something, and I didn't finish when I was supposed to. For example, if I have to do reading for Mrs.Calabro's class, and I forgot, it will keep me from sleeping, because I know that it will hurt my grade if I don't finish it. This blog post also is keeping me up, because I have to finish all of my homework before I go and do anything, and I want to go to the beach tomorrow, but I forgot to finish this on Friday, so I am staying up doing this and other work that is due on Monday.  

Nitrogen notes MPX STEM 10-28-13

Nitrogen is important to all life. Nitrogen in the atmosphere or in the soil can go through many complex chemical and biological changes, be combined into living and non-living material, and return back to the soil or air in a continuing cycle. This is called the nitrogen cycle.

lants need nitrogen to grow, develop and produce seed. The main source of nitrogen in soils is from organic matter. Soils in Missouri commonly contain one to four percent organic matter. Organic matter largely arises from plant and animal residues. The nitrogen in organic matter is largely in organic forms that plants cannot use. Bacteria found in soils convert organic forms of nitrogen to inorganic forms that the plant can use. Nitrogen is taken up by plant roots and combined into organic substances in the plant, such as enzymes, proteins and chlorophyll. Chlorophyll gives the plant its green color. When the plant dies, it decays and becomes part of the organic matter pool in the soil.


Plant and animal wastes decompose, adding nitrogen to the soil.
Bacteria in the soil convert those forms of nitrogen into forms plants can use.
Plants use the nitrogen in the soil to grow.
People and animals eat the plants; then animal and plant residues return nitrogen to the soil again, completing the cycle.



The largest single source of nitrogen is the atmosphere. It is made up of 78 percent of this colorless, odorless, nontoxic gas. However, plants are unable to use nitrogen as it exists in the atmosphere. Nitrogen from the air enters the nitrogen cycle through several  types of microorganisms that can convert N2 gas to inorganic forms usable by plants. Some of these microorganisms live in the soil, while others live in nodules of roots of certain plants.

Nitrogen also can enter the cycle from other sources besides the air, manure and decaying plant materials. Nitrogen also can enter the cycle from the application of commercial nitrogen fertilizers.

Nitrogen can be lost from the cycle. It can be lost to the atmosphere, removed by harvesting crops or lost to surface water or groundwater. However it is lost, nitrogen can enter the cycle again through one of the processes discussed above or through other processes. These additional pathways of gains and losses to the nitrogen cycle are illustrated in Figure 2.

Farm article MPX STEM 11-1-13

Since ancient times, it has been tradition to plant and grow crops in the spring. Even though it is is a tradition that has been celebrated for thousands of years, it is ineffective. Planting the crops every year deteriorates the soil, and makes it harder and harder every year to plant crops and have them flourish. Without fertilizer, it makes it almost impossible for big name crop planters and companies to plant and grow crops organically. That is what Jackson's whole campaign is about. He wants to create a prairie like growing system, mainly for different types of grains. His goal is to basically rewrite the way we grow our crops. He will be growing not only one type of crop at a time in the same space, but multiple crops in the same place, to level out the nitrogen in the soil.

"Jackson has a biblical way of speaking: “The plow has destroyed more options for future generations than the sword,” he says. “But soil is more important than oil, and just as nonrenewable.” Soil loss is one of the biggest hidden costs of industrial agriculture — and it’s created at literally a glacial pace, maybe a quarter-inch per century. The increasingly popular no-till style of agriculture reduces soil loss but increases the need for herbicides. It’s a short-term solution, requiring that we poison the soil to save it." Jackson wants to stop the short term saving of the soil, because it literally is putting poison in the soil to save it, but only for a short time. He believes that perennial polyculture, with fields containing varieties of mutually complementary species, planted once, harvested seasonally but remaining in place for years, is the answer to the crisis we are desperately trying to avoid.

His article connects deeply to our year long project. Our goal for the year long project is sustainability, which is also Jackson's goal. Finding shortcuts and loopholes is what created our crisis. What both Jackson, and the students of MPX are trying to do is find ways to sustainably grow crops, while thinking of the ecosystem, the plants, and soil before the profit.

 

Scramble for Africa humanities 10-30-13

    During the scramble for Africa, I learned that even though the countries may have had simple goal to accomplish, it was very difficult to choose which countries to capture. They had to keep the most efficient countries and not take over any countries that wouldn't be of any importance to them.
      I also learned that when the berlin conference was going in, the politics and Representatives probably thought of the territories only for the resources, and nothing of the people or culture there. They also probably had to fight for territory, like we had to do in this game. So what we saw on the map may have not been what the Representatives wanted, because they were overtaken by other countries, and also had their territories stolen from them.
     Imperialism was a horrible thing. Even though the wording was different, it still meant an invasion of Africa. No locals had any say in it, and had to obey every command they were given. They had their land split up by foreigners, who only did it because they felt like it. It practically meant that they were acting childish, and just because they felt like it, they got whatever they wanted.
    This game also showed me just how little of Africa was not controlled by foreigners. The territories were literally specks on the map. The country that I had was France.  They took up most of the north west part of Africa. They used that area for who knows what. They probably just wanted to take up as much space as they could so they wouldn't look weak. The same probably went for the other countries as well. They wanted to show that they were also a force to be reckoned with, and all decided to use Africa as a showcase for their power. They thought of Africa as a bunch of rural countries without any significance, so they decided to take it over.
   The infographic and the game both taught me that they European countries did not go  to Africa to help the people there. They went to Africa only to strip the land of it resources and leave the people with nothing.

4 biological molecules MPX STEM

Keirsey test MPX STEM

After taking the keirsey test, I looked at the overview of all of the 4 temperaments, and compared them to mine, the Idealist Champion.  The idealist champion is rather rare,  three or four percent of the population are chosen as a champion. Champions have a wide range and variety of emotions, and a great passion for novelty. They see life as an exciting drama, with possibilities for both good and evil, and they want to experience all the meaningful events and fascinating people in the world. This does represent my well. I am always wanting to try new things, good and bad, so I can gain experience from it, and learn from my mistakes . make along the way.
The most outgoing of the Idealists, Champions often can't wait to tell others of their extraordinary experiences. If I do something over the weekend, I can't wait to share it with others, as well as find out what they did too. Very individualistic, Champions strive toward a kind of personal authenticity. This is true for me. I feel like I alway want to be original, and never follow the crowd. At the same time, Champions have outstanding intuitive powers and can tell what is going on inside of others, reading hidden emotions and giving special significance to words or actions. I have noticed that many people do not realize or understand others emotions without the person telling them. For me, even if they do not show it at all, I can usually see what they are really feeling.
Champions are good with people and have a wide range of personal relationships. They are warm and full of energy with their friends. They are likable and at ease with colleagues, and handle their employees with great skill. They are good in public and on the telephone, and are so spontaneous and dramatic that others love to be in their company. Champions are positive, exuberant people, and often their confidence in the goodness of life and of human nature makes good things happen.

Mpx stem workday reflection

During class today, I noticed some things that worked for our group well, and other things that hindered or made it more difficult for us to work. While working on our tables, there were ways of cutting the wood and drilling holes that worked for us and helped us work more efficiently, and there were some things that hindered us, and forced us to redo and waste time.
One of the things that helped us as a group was already having a detailed drawing of the exact measurements and angles for our table. Having this made it easy to cut and measure the wood. It also made us have a better idea of what it will look like in the end, and also make it easier for us to see if we had made a mistake.
The second thing that helped us out was that everyone was doing their job. Each person helped out and did everything that their job required. For example, our scribe was working on documenting everything that happened, took pictures, wrote down what we did well, and accomplished.
Something's that hindered our group from doing good work were mistakes in the measuring of our wood pieces. Without exact measurements and drawings, our table would be off, and would not work properly. One of our measurements were off. Luckily, it was bigger than smaller, so it was an easy fix.
Another thing that hindered our groups work was crooked holes in our wood when we would drill, and also when we were screwing in the screws, we would strip the wood and have to recut the wood and drill holes in them again.  This not only wasted time, but sometimes we had to recut the wood, which would also was waste wood.

MPX STEM Water is Liquid Awesome

Africa iMovie humanities

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUq0FGC7DrQ&feature=youtube_gdata

9-13-13 humanities sustainability curriculum

How did exploring the issue of food security affect you (surprise? anger? interest?)? What impact do you think our year-long project could have on the community? How did the lo’i field trip teach you sustainability?

When we researched the food security in humanities, it surprised me very much. I didn't know that hawaii was in such bad shape. For example, if hawaii was cut off from the mainland, we would only survive for about 5 day with the amount of food that is on the island right now. This scared me a lot, because hawaii being cut off from the mainland is a very realistic possibility. This research led us into another discussion: sustainability on the islands. For hundreds of years the hawaiians thrived on just what they had on the island. they had no contact with the mainland, and had no ships ever find them. They were one of the most sustainable civilization in history. But look at us now! An estimated 90% of all of the food we eat is imported. This means that there is not much local farming on any of the islands.

When we first started the year off, I didn't think that sustainability would help us as students learn anything. But, I was very wrong. The topic drew me in immediately. when i learned how dependent the state was on the mainland, and how much food was imported, it made me really angry. It also made me change the way I looked at everything. My family has also been involved in the topic. we now take advantage of the farmers markets and open market. Even if the items are a little more expensive than the other larger companies, it help the island keep its money. I think that as a state we need to promote local produce more than imported products. Its not really the peoples fault though. As for everything that is screwed up in this state, it is politics that killed our independence from the mainland. Instead of staying our own great original selves, politics forces us to follow the mainlanders ways. I think this is why Hawaii is going downhill faster and faster as the years go on.

When we went to the lo'i, it really lightened my heart. Seeing that people still really care about staying independent and sustainable was great. Helping out was fun, and i learned so much while i was there. I liked it so much that me and some of my friends have been going there during the weekends to help out. It also made me start expanding and taking better care of my family garden.

10-12-13 humanities heroes project reflection

After the “gallery opening”, you will need to complete a written reflection, posted to your
blog, regarding this entire project.
First, look through the bulleted concepts carefully and pick THREE that you sharpened
orgained throughout this project, including:
● Develop and present more sophisticated writing
● Practice planning, drafting, and revising
● Use clear and concise language
● Speak eloquently and knowledgeably
● Accessing and analyzing information
● Curiosity and imagination
● Effective oral and written communication
Second, write a minimum 350 word reflection essay explaining: a. which 3 concepts you
improved significantly on, or gained b. specifically how you improved/gained c.
what you enjoyed or are proud of, and what you wish you could have done differently.
3. Post this essay in your blog with the title: Date. Humanities. Heroes Project Reflection.
You will be graded based on: your ability to accurately identify 3 concepts you acquired,
your
inclusion of DETAILS as evidence of your concept gains, meeting the length
requirement, timely
completion, effort, and your honest and critical thoughts.

After finishing the Hero's project, I noticed that I had a better understanding of many concept and themes that the project taught us students. The first concept that I understood and gained experience from is the planning, drafting, and revising that we had to repeat throughout the whole project. If I just tried to write out the project in one draft and then turn it in, it would be all over the place. I also learned that you should get multiple peers to critique your work, because everyone has a different view than yourself. Getting more people to look at your work will mean it will make more sense to a larger amount of people. Also, it will give you more of an understanding of how peoples points of view are different from others.

I also refined my speech. Its been very hard for me to pronounce my words because I recently got braces, so I've been really having to strain to speak clearly. I hadn't had a chance to really practice my speaking until the second half of the heroes project. Using correct speech skills and grammar is an essential skill to have. Being able to speak clearly and correctly can really engulf listeners, and also help to convey your emotions or theme.

Finally, I learned how to use my imagination and find out different questions to ask my hero. While thinking of questions to answer, I became curious about what a hero was. Hero's are not at all like the people in the Odyssey. They do not go around killing people they don't like, or stealing things just because they want to. Heroes are people who do the exact opposite. If they don't like someone or something, they will help them change. If they want something, they will give it away to people who need it more then they do. A hero is someone who always puts other before themselves, and always thinks about their actions beforehand. When I was thinking up my questions, I had these traits in mind. If I could do my questions over, I would make them more specific.    

The odyssey book project 10-9-13 humanities

http://prezi.com/vgzzrm_g0e1l/copy-of-the-odyssey/?kw=view-vgzzrm_g0e1l&rc=ref-55280955&utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Why do plants need water? MPX STEM

After working on the infographic with my teammates, it really gave me a different perspective on why plants need water. Before I thought that plants only needed water because it was essential to keep it alive. I generalized it like how I think of humans needing water. But it is actually much more complicated than that.
    First off all, water is needed to keep the plants shape. Plants bodies are much more dependent on water than human bodies. If they lose water, the plant will lose its shape. Water is also needed for making food for the plant. Photosynthesis cannot be preformed if the plant does not have water.
   The way water goes through plants is almost exactly like the water cycle. It rains, which then soaks the ground an gets absorbed by the plant, which passes through it body and goes back up into the sky. This cycle, if consistently working, will make the plant flourish. But, the cycle will not always work, because it is not consistently raining, and there are too many variables involved. Plants must be resilient, which leads to plants evolving to fits its needs. For example, if the cactus wasn't able to hold water, there would be no way it would be able to survive in desserts.
   My understanding of plants, because of this project, has flourished. I will never look at plants the same as I did before. They need water as their first necessity in a sense, because it gives them shape, and lets them create food for themselves.  

Maris garden follow up blog MPX STEM

3 things you learned that stood out the most to you
2 question you still have, or 2 things you would like to learn more about

When we went to Mari's garden, I learned a lot of things that stood out to me. Not only were they excelling at aquaponics, but also their hydroponics too. They were raising the vegetables in little troughs that were at a slight angle so the water constantly flowed.Raising fish in long, skinny underground pools really stood out too me. They were mass producing fast growing fish to even out the nutrients needed in the aquaponics systems. The way they experimented with growing plants using no light from the sun and only used artificial light was cool because  it would solve a lot of food problems and is portable.

     I still have some questions to be answered though. For example, what would be the next step in cutting the costs of operating down? They told us that the operating costs were very high, but I wasn't sure if it was because they weren't prioritizing on cutting the costs down or it was just because they did not think the cost could be cut down much more than it is now. What is your reason for trying to use hydroponics or aquaponics to grow food, but without the use of sun? Is it because you want to make a place they you can grow food in that will not be affected by any variables? I would also like to know more about want types off fish you plan to grow in the future, and also about your progress on your research on growing plants with only artificial light.
 

Food security infographic humanities

http://eatlocalgrown.com/locally-grown-food-articles/menu/page:2/

Mpx stem Maris garden pre questions

a. With your  'big project' in mind, what are some things do you think you have to pay attention to?
b. What are 3 things you need to learn tomorrow?  explain each one. DUE FRIDAY

When we go to Mari's garden, I need to look at how they make efficient hydroponic systems in very simple ways. By doing this, we can figure out a better guide line and also see how they reuse the water and what nutrients they put in it. Looking at the hydroponic systems might give us a better understanding of how hydroponics works. If I had to choose three things to learn tomorrow, they would be what natural way can we restore the nutrients in the water, what types of plants are the best for hydroponics, and how long they take to grow.
         I think that we will need to know how to naturally restore the nutrients into the water because first off, we have to be able to sustainably grow our plants without the use of non organic materials, and secondly, if we can't then our plants will die.
We need to know what types of plants will work when we use hydroponics because when we do the project, if plants that we use don't grow, were in a bad situation. We will also need to know how long every plant takes to grow. We want fast growing plants so that we will have room for error

9-18-13 MPX STEM infographic reflection

1. What were the success of your infographic?  It might be the infographic itself or the process of making and researching it.
2. What were some weaknesses with making your infographic?  Again it may be the infographic itself or with the process of making it.3. If you could go back and do it all over again, what would you do different?
 

When my classmates and I were researching our topic, we found some very unusual facts about the topic. For example, one of my classmates found out that because of pesticides, almost 90% of bee farmers bees die, and that almost all of the water in many states show signs of pesticides in the water that people drink. These were good facts not only because they were relevant to our topic, but because they deeply affected other thing as well. Bee are needed for pollination. If we didn't have any bees, there would be not plants.   Some weaknesses were that me and my classmates did not discuss exactly what we would be putting in our infographic. We just kind of went with whatever information we had and made it ascetically pleasing. If i could go back and do the whole thing over again, first off I would actually make it to everyday that we worked on it instead of missing a couple days. I would also look for information that the normal person would not put in their own infograph. For example, the facts that my classmate got.    

9-13-13 humanities sustainability curriculum

How did exploring the issue of food security affect you (surprise? anger? interest?)? What impact do you think our year-long project could have on the community? How did the lo’i field trip teach you sustainability?

When we researched the food security in humanities, it surprised me very much. I didn't know that hawaii was in such bad shape. For example, if hawaii was cut off from the mainland, we would only survive for about 5 day with the amount of food that is on the island right now. This scared me a lot, because hawaii being cut off from the mainland is a very realistic possibility. This research led us into another discussion: sustainability on the islands. For hundreds of years the hawaiians thrived on just what they had on the island. they had no contact with the mainland, and had no ships ever find them. They were one of the most sustainable civilization in history. But look at us now! An estimated 90% of all of the food we eat is imported. This means that there is not much local farming on any of the islands.

When we first started the year off, I didn't think that sustainability would help us as students learn anything. But, I was very wrong. The topic drew me in immediately. when i learned how dependent the state was on the mainland, and how much food was imported, it made me really angry. It also made me change the way I looked at everything. My family has also been involved in the topic. we now take advantage of the farmers markets and open market. Even if the items are a little more expensive than the other larger companies, it help the island keep its money. I think that as a state we need to promote local produce more than imported products. Its not really the peoples fault though. As for everything that is screwed up in this state, it is politics that killed our independence from the mainland. Instead of staying our own great original selves, politics forces us to follow the mainlanders ways. I think this is why Hawaii is going downhill faster and faster as the years go on.

When we went to the lo'i, it really lightened my heart. Seeing that people still really care about staying independent and sustainable was great. Helping out was fun, and i learned so much while i was there. I liked it so much that me and some of my friends have been going there during the weekends to help out. It also made me start expanding and taking better care of my family garden.

9-16-13 mpx stem why do plants need water?

http://www.clemson.edu/extension/horticulture/nursery/irrigation/why_plants_need_water.html

http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=3551

http://www.pa.msu.edu/sciencet/ask_st/092194.html

Why do plants need water?

First off, plants are made out of roughly 90% water. This means that the absorption of water is much more important to plants than mammals. Mammals are approximately 75% water. Even though plants biggest need is water, they cannot just walk off and find it. This makes it even harder for a plant to flourish.
Plants do not have blood. They need to stay hydrated so the nutrients that they collect from photosynthesis can be distributed throughout the whole body. This is called transpiration.
Water is also needed when photosynthesizing. Water is needed to produce the necessary carbohydrates the plant needs. Without water, plants would have not way of getting the needed nutrition and die.
When plants transpire, they switch out water for carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is used to make food for the plant. Without water, a plant would not be able to exchange anything for carbon dioxide, which means it would not be able to produce nutrients for itself.
  Because plants are 90% water, if the plant does not have much water, it will wilt. Plants use the water in its body to keep it steady. It fills the cells in its body to keep its shape.

9-3-13 geometry in nature mpx

9-3-13 mpx videos

http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=xyOtsjw

8-29-2013 humanities Ancient Greece project

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=c4-feed-u&v=-Xv9IA8m2CM

8-27-13 humanities summer reading final

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHfFYLJy1GE

8-27-13 humanities infographic project reflection

While working on the project, I learned many skills that will help me throughout the year. First off, I got a better understanding of the revising and drafts it takes to have very good final draft that you are proud of. If you only get feedback from your teacher, you most likely will not be as good off as if you also got peer feedback. Peer feedback gives you different standpoints from different people. By doing this, it will make you not only look at your work from your standpoint, but from others standpoints as well. From this project, I learned how to take feedback, and turn it into content to help me with future drafts. If I did this project over again, I would have asked more than one person for feedback on my work.

     During this project, I also learned how to analyze information. In the book, there were many vital pieces of information that would help the reader see the importance of the main characters journey. Finding and understanding all of the information would help the reader understand the books purpose and connect to the reader better. The project forced me to look over the whole book again and see if I had a perfect understanding of the story and plot. I was proud of myself after looking trough the book and understanding all of it. If I could do it over though, I would have made notes and annotations to make it easier to remember the book.

     Finally, I learned collaboration. Not only with my partner in the beginning of the project, but others throughout the project as well.  Learning how to take criticism was one of the most useful skills I learned throughout the project. Being able to take people's
Opinions and use them in your work is a very good skill to have. It makes your work more appealing to people with other interests, and uses the ideas of others, in almost a collaboration, and makes your work twice as good. I was proud of how people were very open about what they thought of my work, and in turn, I told them what I thought of there work. The only thing I could've done different was to ask more people what they thought about my work.

conservation post 8-21-13

After the all of the activities, projects, and the field trip to Hpower and the recycling place, my knowledge of conservation, along with the new found importance of it, has taught me to look from both side of the argument. Some want to burn our trash and use it as an alternative to coal and oil, while others, while others want to reuse the recyclable material inside of the trash and compress it so that it can be shipped to places or transported. Even though both techniques are very different, both are trying to help not only people, but also the environment. After visiting both places, whenever i would think about conservation, I would automatically think back to both Hpower and the recycling facility. Both are doing exactly what everyone else should be doing. Even if it is just remembering to recycle, or just to take shorter showers, it would have the exact same effect as both the Hpower and recycling facilities. Both were started by someone just like you and me, but they felt their passion to find new ways of tending to the peoples needs in a cleaner, more efficient way needed to not only be used on themselves, but on the whole state.

Hpower and the recycling facilities both were good ways of using conservation to the maximum level. But, don't let that think you can just slack off and not worry about recycling or littering. Conservation is a group effort. Without everyones contribution, we will never be able to effectively conserve our resources. Just as  Ghandi said, there is only enough for the needy, not the greedy. A definition of this in a nutshell would be that we all have to do our part in not using more than we need, and to not be lazy. If everyone just used or ate what they needed, the world would be much better. However, most of the world is now turning into greedy, unfair people. This is what Ghandi was trying to warn us about. Man was never meant to be greedy. We brought the greed upon ourselves.        

activity questions

One of the main things I learned from sorting through all of the trash that we found was how wasteful many people were. There were many uneaten sandwiches, unopened snacks, and wasted food that could have been eaten. This plays a big role in the sustainability focus of this year. Being wasteful is about as far away as you can get from being conservative and being sustainable. When you think about it, most Americans are very lazy, and when your lazy, you always try to take the easy way out. Even if the easy was out is not always the right way, many people do not take into account the significance of their actions. For example, littering. When people act lazy and throw their trash onto the ground, they don't take into account what happens to the trash after it is thrown onto the ground. They assume that someone will pick up all of their trash, but they are wrong. Most times the trash end up going down drains and into the sewers, which can't be good. Another thing I learned is that There is actually a lot of things that can be recycled that I thought would never be able to. If you look on the bottom of any container, you can check if it is recyclable or not.

This activity got me thinking. Would reusing the left over food as pig food be a good idea? or would composting it in one of our composts be a better idea? both help the society in a number of ways. By feeding the pigs the leftovers, it will diminish the need for farmers to buy food for them, and also put our leftover food to a good use. Composting the leftover food is also a good idea. By doing this, we can turn the food that we used into nutrition for plants, and complete a full cycle of sustainability. It will directly affect the MPI community and also get the students and teachers one step closer to making our classes live and breath sustainability.

Peer feedback

Peer feedback

Peer feedback gives the writer a critique from a different stand point. When you are given feedback from a classmate, it tells you what other people your age think about or about others writing styles. When given peer feedback, the peer will almost always tell you exactly how they feel when they are asked to critique your work. Personally, when I give feedback, I always read or look through the whole project or paper to see if there are any mistakes, and also to then give my opinion not only on the work, but also the idea that the writer had. By doing this, this gives me and the writer new found ideas for how to make not only the writers, but also my work better. Peer feedback sometimes helps both people, The writers and the peer, find new and exciting ways to understand and make each others projects or papers even better than before.
 
For me, one piece of feedback stood out to me a lot. The comment was not about the actual content, but about the actual idea. One of my peers told me that instead of only using pictures I drew, I could actually also focus on the writing content of it too. By making the writing more descriptive, it would help readers understand what is happening in each picture better. The next time I give peer feedback, I will make sure to not only look at the picture or idea just from my point of view. If I can look at the writing or picture from not only my point of view, but the writers, it will make me better understand what the writer was trying to say or what point they were trying to get across. Another thing that I will do different the next time I give back peer feedback is to not only look at the content, but also look at the general idea. If the idea for the project or paper gets all of the readers points across, it is a success. But, if the idea is very jumbled and hard to understand, no matter how good the content is, everything will seem hard to understand and very vague.

Sustainability

     After I got home from school, it felt almost like fate. The first thing my parents told me was that there were people coming over to our house this evening to talk about the costs, pros, and cons about installing solar panels on our roof. This then got me thinking about how long it would take to gain back all the the money spent on the solar panels through the money saved from our electricity bill. I then talked and contemplated other factors and interests about solar panels with my parents. We then came up with a various amount of questions that we would ask the salesman, ranging from cost to how efficient it was. I didn't really discuss any other topics of interest with my parents, because the talk of solar panels took up most of our day.

Conservation

      "Earth provides enough to satisfy every mans needs, but not every mans greeds."(Mahatma Gandhi). Conservation: using resources in an orderly, conservative way, so that future generations will be able to thrive just as well as the last. Personally, I am very aware of conserving what resources I use, reuse what I can, and recycle renewable materials. I grew up in a household where we never wasted or neglected living a conservative life. This taught me to always use less, because you can always use more after that, but if you take more than what is needed, the excess is then wasted.

     If I had to explain conservation in a nutshell, it would be reduce, reuse and recycle. Reducing the amount used to exactly what you need will significantly help keep you from wasting resources. Reuse what you can. If you can use anything more than once, whether it be a bottle, a bag, or even a plastic fork, reusing anything is a great was to conserve what little resources we have left in world. Throwing away a plastic bottle or a can is just as bad as just throwing it onto the ground. Eventually, everything that is thrown in the trash ends up in landfills, and all that does is makes less space for everything else. Recycling is a great way to revive something after it is done of its use. It's like an endless supply of materials, or as close as we can get to that. If every person were to just recycle as much as they could, the world would be in a much better shape then it is in now.

     In conclusion, conservation can be interpreted simply to reduce, reuse, and recycle. If everyone was to do their part in keeping this world as  beautiful as possible, the outcome of this world would greatly differ from the path that it is heading down now. Many people don't understand that the world is actually very fragile. If you think that you as an individual will not make a difference in the world, you need a reality check. I hope that people will heed to the early warnings that the world is showing and use that as fuel to step up their act. For me, my drive is I never want to see this beautiful island change. And I hope others feel the same way and will not give in to greed.