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Milk Moment 4-16 - Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

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Overconfidence and a lack of training and a habit of not wearing safety gear, especially helmets, help cause more than 40,000 head and neck injuries nationally a year in sports like skateboarding.

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The Extreme Sports Addiction [Infographic]

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"The more fearful a certain sport makes you, the greater the release of chemicals. The greater the release of these chemicals, the greater the addiction-like symptoms." -Dr. Marvin Zuckerman, Professor Emeritus, University of Delaware CHASING THE HIGH WHAT IS THE E TREME SPORTS ADDICTION?

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The X Games is an extreme sports competition that is presented twice a year by ESPN, the sports television network. Athletes from around the world compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals, as well as money and prizes.

The X Games consists of two versions: a summer competition and a winter competition. The first summer games were held in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, in 1995. The winter competition was added two years later, at Big Bear Lake, California. Currently, the winter games are always held in Aspen, Colorado, and the summer games are always held in Los Angeles, California.

X Games events can vary from year to year, but generally consist of skiing, snowboarding, BMX biking, and skateboarding. Many X Games athletes compete in world championships. For example, Sarah Burke, from Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, has been named one of the best freestyle skiers in the world. She is a three-time X Games gold medalist. Other X Games athletes represent their countries in the Olympics. Shaun White, who has won Olympic gold medals in snowboarding, is also an X Games athlete. White, a native of Southern California, has won X Games medals in both snowboarding (at the winter games) and skateboarding (at the summer games).

Winter Games

The Winter X Games is held in a snowy mountain environment and features winter sports such as snowboarding, skiing, and snowmobiling. Competitors in those sports face off in a variety of different ways.

In Skier-X (also called ski cross) and Snowboarder-X (also called boardercross), athletes do not race individually, the way they do in most sports competitions. Athletes in Skier-X and Snowboarder-X race head-to-head, going down the mountain four-at-a time. The courses feature a variety of terrain, including jumps, moguls, and bank turns. Ski cross was an Olympic sport for the first time in 2010, when the Winter Olympics were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

In a Winter X Games event called slopestyle, skiers or snowboarders individually choose their own route through a course with many of the same features and obstacles as Skier-X and Snowboarder-X. But instead of trying to get down the course as fast as possible, they use the features to perform tricks and are judged on how well they perform them. There are also competitions to see which athlete can perform the best trick or get the most air, or height, off a jump. Travis Rice, who learned to ski near his home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is a snowboarder who competes in slopestyle events.

The X Games snowmobiling competitions include Snocross, in which competitors race on snowmobiles around a track with steep jumps and obstacles. Snocross competitions are held outside the X Games, too, with the world championships held in Falun, Sweden.
Summer Games
The Summer X Games is held in a warm environment and includes competitions in skateboarding, BMX biking, motorcycling, rally car racing, and surfing.

Skateboarders compete in the half pipe, a hollow semi-circle made of concrete. Athletes skate up and down two opposing ramps and perform tricks when they reach the top. There is also a competition for the best trick and most air off a jump. In "street" competitions, skateboarders skate around a park of obstacles and perform tricks. Skateboarder Tony Hawk, from San Diego, California, is probably the best-known X Games athlete in the world. In addition to having an outstanding sports career, Hawk has a successful skateboarding video game series.

BMX bikers also compete on a half pipe and a street course. They also perform tricks. Anthony Napolitan of Youngstown, Ohio, for example, landed the first double-front flip on a bicycle at Summer X Games 15 in 2009.

Motorbike riders have similar events, along with a "supercross" race around a dirt obstacle course with steep jumps. Travis Pastrana, from Annapolis, Maryland, is one of the top motor sports athletes and competes for Team Puerto Rico in international competitions.

Athletes from around the world compete in the X Games. There have been X Games athletes from such countries as Brazil, Japan, Belgium, Australia, and Italy. In 2003, athletes from six different regions-the United States, Europe, Canada, South America, Asia and Australia-competed in the X Games Global Championships in winter and summer sports. The United States, Europe, and Australia placed first, second, and third.
XGE
X Games Environmentality (XGE) is a program to make X Games fans and viewers aware of environmental issues. The program promotes recycling and waste reduction. In addition to promoting recycling at events, X Games organizers use biodegradable cups, plates, and napkins. These materials are made from corn and potato waste. The paper used at the games is made from 100 percent post-consumer waste.

The X Games "Get Caught Recycling" program gives fans an added incentive to recycle. At the events, fans who are caught recycling are rewarded with tokens that can be used for goods and services.

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The X Games is an extreme sports competition that is presented twice a year by ESPN, the sports television network

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Scholastic Classroom & News Magazines | Subscribe Now!

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Scholastic Classroom Magazines & Scholastic News Magazines cover the latest topics to enhance instruction in math, science, reading, social studies, and more! Subscribe Today!

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Teen Climber: Too Young to Scale Mt. Everest?

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Climber: Mount Everest turning into 'trash heap'

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Mount Everest climbers are being asked to pick up the garbage that's piling up on the mountain. Violators could be fined or banned. NBC's Keir Simmons reports.

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Everest - South Col Route

Everest is still the ultimate summit for any mountaineer. The accomplishment of standing on its apex is not diminished by recent popularity. No one can climb Everest for you. Despite what some believe, terms such as "short-roping" do not apply. This is a mountaineer's climb, demanding skill and self-awareness. Our team will take on this challenge in a competent and focused manner, using the collective experience of elite Sherpa high-altitude mountaineers under Wally Berg's leadership. We will approach the climb with all the dedication, humility and organization necessary to succeed on the highest summit on Earth.

Each of our team members will benefit from the same level of support and equipment, and each will have the goal of standing on the top of Everest. We do not believe in the "tiered" pricing for various categories of team membership that has become the hallmark of the strictly commercial expeditions to Everest in recent years.

Berg Adventures is the only company to readily offer fall expeditions. The notion that Everest cannot be climbed in the fall is a relatively recent one. Wally Berg noted that when he first climbed Everest in October 1992 there were 7 different expeditions on the mountain and 36 people reached the summit between Sept. 25 and October 15! In the past few years when we have gone in the fall we have had the mountain to ourselves. See our archived dispatches, including the exciting account of Kit Deslaurier's ski descent of Everest in October 2006.

Making Your Everest Dream a Reality

Proper preparation and organization are the keys to success on Everest. We have the time and expertise to make your Everest dream come true and we are readily available to help you navigate along your road to the top of the world.

If you are serious about climbing Mount Everest, contact the BAI office to discuss a strategy that will get your training and plans headed in the right direction. If Everest is something that you've always dreamed of, but you don't know if it is for you, we would love to discuss your options. We can help you answer the questions you may have: Is Everest right for me? What relevant experience do I have? What should be my next step?

Qualifications and Training

At over 29,000ft/8,840m, Everest requires climbers to have a very high level of fitness. Begin training for the expedition as early as possible before departure to ensure that you are in top condition.

Overall fitness, with a focus on increasing endurance, is important to your success. Running, fast walking, swimming, cycling, soccer, basketball, and other sports can be ideal for aerobic training. You will want to practice hiking with a weighted pack (approximately 40lbs), going uphill as much as possible. Weight your pack with jugs of water during training ascents. By dumping out the water before coming down, you can reduce the strain on your knees.

Conditions

Everest is extreme, but it can be a surprisingly pleasant place to camp and live during the spring and fall seasons when we will be there. Life at base camp is simple, but you will be well cared for by the best cooks and support staff around. That said, weather conditions are highly variable on Everest - from warm, sunny days to cold, windy and snowy ones. Experience camping at high altitudes and in low temperatures is necessary before you go because it teaches you how to adjust your gear and manage your body temperature. Selection of the proper equipment for climbing and camping on Everest is imperative. We are happy to help you find the gear that will best protect you from the elements and will help you manage your clothing and gear for the expedition. Everest is uncompromising, but if you are well prepared you will surely appreciate how spectacular it is.

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Climb Mt. Everest with Berg Adventures: Trip Description

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Trip description for Berg Adventures International expedition to climb Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak. Led by 4 time Everest summitter Wally Berg, founder of Berg Adventures International

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The easiest way to get a grip on how much money Nepal takes in from tourism is to take a close look at what the Everest tourist spends. You might be surprised how quickly the numbers climb.

If you're one of the 25,000 annual Everest tourists, getting into Nepal for more than a three-day stay will only run you $30 [source: Nepal Tourism Board]. But that's just the beginning of the tab. If you want to climb one of the major Himalayan mountains, you need a government-issued climbing permit. Although you can hike more than a hundred of the smaller peaks for free, who wants to play in the sandbox when the beach is next door?

Mountains taller than 21,300 feet (6,501 meters) are premium property. That base height costs $1,000 and increases $500 for every 1,640 feet (500 meters). Since Mount Everest stands at a staggering 29,029 feet (8,848 meters), the permit will run around $3350.

Now that you've got your permit, you're ready to start climbing, right? Not quite. If you want to take the most common route to the top of Everest, you'll owe the Nepal government a $25,000 royalty fee for yourself or up to $70,000 for a seven-person expedition crew [source: Nepal Mountain News].

Can't afford it? Wait until the off-season. To increase Everest tourism during the colder months of the year, the Nepalese government announced in 2007 that it was trying to cut royalty fees for people interested in climbing Everest during fall and winter. If the proposed plan goes into effect, a September through November climb will be 50 percent off the regular price and one from December to February will be 75 percent lower. If you're lured into the sales price, Nepal winds up raking in off-season tourism money.

Once you get to the Khumbu region, there are other expenses as well, such as lodging, food and any additional supplies that aren't covered in your expedition fees. In addition to trekking businesses, more than 300 hotels and lodges have sprung up from the tourism, many of which are owned by the local Sherpa people [source: Reid and Kendrick]. Some people turn their homes into tea houses, or overnight lodging, for tourists who want a more "authentic" Himalayan experience. Hundreds of Nepalese men from other areas swarm into Khumbu as well, hoping to get work as porters on expeditions, hauling trekking equipment up Everest slopes on their backs. Even the high-altitude Buddhist monasteries draw income from passing tourists.

However, tourism carries its own price as well in the form of environmental destruction. Read on to learn about the environmental repercussions of Mount Everest tourism.

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How has Mount Everest tourism affected Nepal?

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The easiest way to get a grip on how much money Nepal takes in from tourism is to take a close look at what the Everest tourist spends. You might be surprised how quickly the numbers climb.

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As children, our crazy imaginations wander into what certain adventures would be like, but as we get older we soon forget about those dreams and get caught up in our everyday lives. However, the storyline goes a little different for Jordan Romero.

When Jordan was a very young boy, he had seen a painting hanging in his school depicting the seven continent's highest peaks, including Mt. Everest and dreamed of going there. And sure enough at the age of thirteen, he had climbed it! Not only did Jordan climb Mt. Everest, but he climbed six of the seven highest points on each continent.

Jordan Romero, 13, explained, "When I got to the top (of Mt. Everest) I raised my arms and pumped my fist. I was really proud."

We all have no doubt that his next adventure on the Vinson Massif, Antarctica's highest peak at 16,067 ft., will be a success great enough to beat the world record of the youngest person to climb the seven highest peaks on the seven continents. He already accomplished being the youngest kid, ever, to climb Mt. Everest!

For those of you who are wondering, Jordan climbed Mt. Everest with a team. The Everest team, who were the first family to stand together on the summit consisted of Jordon, his father, his step mom, and the Sherpas (Ang, Dawa, and Kharma).

In his interview with Kids News, Inc., Jordan stated many times that his team was truly amazing and without their support, none of this would be possible. Jordan shared his confidence in his team and in himself about climbing.

"I don't really have any fears about climbing. I know that our team is prepared and that I have trained for what we are doing. I know that we are ready and that we will take care of each other. I know the consequences of mistakes and I have a big respect for the mountain."

Jordan's team really believed in him and never doubted his abilities for a second. Because of the faith in his team, Jordan did not fear climbing Mt. Everest, and he was confident his team would make all the right, and safe, decisions.

He further revealed, "I am aware of the dangers, but I never feel in danger because my team is so prepared. I try to remember that it is all for fun. I trust my team and know that we will make safe decisions."

But what was the most difficult aspect of the journey, Kids News, Inc. reporters wanted to know?

Jordan replied, "I think the toughest thing was being away from home for so long. I really missed my Mom, my sister and my friends."

Jordan recalled, though he had the support of his team, his first line of support was from his family.

He added, "When I first came home from school and told my Dad what I wanted to do, he said ok, but that it would take a lot of training and commitment to get there. Having my Dad and Karen with me only made our summit success that much sweeter. We are the first family ever to reach the top of Mt. Everest.

We have climbed six of the seven summits together. That kind of experience has made us a really great team, something you usually don't see in the mountain climbing world."

But how can someone so young be able to grasp so much about climbing and its dangers?

Jordan replied, "Age has very little impact on your ability to climb. It really is all about the right preparation, your experience and capabilities as a climber, and for me, the team you climb with. My whole family believes, and we have proven, the safest and most successful way to climb is as a team that knows each other well."

He further revealed, "We really never felt in danger, and if we did, we were prepared to turn back at any time."

To ensure his success, Jordan packed his lucky rabbit's foot plus, he adds, "a pair of kangaroo testicles for my little friend Nigel, a cross form my grandfather and a beaded necklace from my friend Doug. Also, I had some good luck seeds and rice that were blessed by a Monk near the base camp."

Jordan found it interesting to learn about the people and culture around Mt. Everest. He joked, "It is obviously very different from Big Bear Lake, CA!"

He also got to experience how little oxygen there really was up that high in the mountains.

"I think the thing that surprised me the most was just how little oxygen there really is when you are up that high. It is the oxygen factor and the weather that make it hard to reach the top of Mt. Everest," he stated.

For a boy as young as thirteen, his mature thoughts and actions should help him succeed all throughout his life

Even though the final part of the climb took 15 hours, Jordan Romero said that it was worth it.

"Everest is the highest mountain in the World, and the last summit from Camp three to the top was particularly hard because of the elevation and the lack of oxygen. Also, it was really, really cold, he exclaimed."

At the top of Mt. Everest when Jordan raised his arms and pumped his fist, the feeling that rushed through him must have been so overwhelming!

He recalled, "I was really proud that I accomplished my goal. And, it was really cool to call my Mom and say I am standing on top of the world!"

Not only does Jordan want to climb all seven of the world's highest summits, but he also wants to climb the highest points in each of the USA's fifty states.

Kids News, Inc. was interested in how to train for such a feat. Jordan shared his training with us:

"We basically trained four years to summit Mt. Everest. It was definitely most challenging because of the lack of oxygen as you got to the top. And, mentally you always have to be prepared. We have tremendous respect for the mountains we climb. The main reason we were so successful is that we don't take risks.

We really are a team, and that is the biggest help mentally and physically. Hours and hours a week training went into this, and it is hard to estimate the hours. My entire life is outdoors and training," he explained.

In addition to training, Jordan enjoys other outdoor sports with his family.

"As a family, adventure is our life, and work and bills, just get in the way a bit. At this point, I enjoy everything from snow shoe racing, standup paddling, down-hill mountain biking.... and alpine and freestyle skiing is a great way for me to be in the elements and mountains 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. It is much like an office job. But, it's all about passion for the outdoors," he stated.

Jordan uses his first hand experiences to inspire kids all over the world to be healthy, get outside, and accomplish their dreams regardless of how impossible they may seem.

He emphasized, "I want to talk to schools and kids and help them set goals...I want to show other kids that they can set BIG goals themselves and reach them.

I have spoken at a number of schools and now through social media have reached thousands of kids who are watching along and cheering and telling me that I have inspired them to find a goal for themselves

I want to use the publicity around climbing to show kids the benefits of being healthy and being outdoors. It's working and it was not even dependent upon me reaching the summit. I've already touched the lives of kids all over the world!"

Not only has Jordan reached kids by his accomplishments, but he reached them through his journey, as well.

"I have gotten hundreds of e-mails and people tweeting throughout the entire climb. Most everyone was very supportive, which made me feel great. This is a great opportunity for me to reach out to kids. I see myself as a role model to show kids they can set goals...big goals and find adults and friends who can help them reach their goals.

Kids should get outside, be healthy, eat and drink healthy. Take one step toward their goal every day. I am proud of my accomplishments and hopefully it shows kids they can do whatever they dream.

My big message to them is to Find your own Everest. Whatever interests you or motivates you, learn all you can about it, find experts to help you experience, and make sure you are prepared before you do anything. Also, have fun!" He concluded.

The story of Jordan Romero is truly inspiring for kids. We expect to see a lot of great things come out of what he has done, and what he will succeed with in the future.

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Jordan Romero: Reaching the Top - The Youngest Kid to Climb Mount Everest

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As children, our crazy imaginations wander into what certain adventures would be like, but as we get older we soon forget about those dreams and get caught up in our everyday lives. However, the storyline goes a little different for Jordan Romero.

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Thirteen-year-old Jordan Romero is now the youngest climber to reach the top of the world, Mount Everest.

On Saturday, Jordan reached the summit with his dad, a paramedic, his dad's girlfriend, and three Nepalese sherpas. The young Californian has now climbed the tallest mountains on six of the world's seven continents. He summited Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania at age 9.

When he got to the top of Everest, Romero called his mom.

"He says, 'Mom, I'm calling you from the top of the world,'" a giddy Leigh Anne Drake told The Associated Press from California, where she had been watching her son's progress minute by minute on his blog, which showed his ascent on map that displayed a GPS tracker

Jordan's feat is sure to fuel a debate about teenagers pushing the limits of achievement.

The Nepalese government would not give the family permission to climb Everest from Nepal, citing Jordan's age. To make the ascent, Jordan's team went from the Chinese side, a more difficult approach, but where there is no age restriction.

The issue of age arose on May 16, too, when Australian Jessica Watson, at 16, became the youngest person to sail around the world solo, non-stop and unassisted. She spent seven months at sea alone.

Jessica was the latest of several teens making solo circumnavigations of the globe. It's reached the point where the World Speed Sailing Record Council has abolished its "youngest" category, in an effort to discourage such attempts.

Abby Sunderland, a 16-year-old Californian, is currently five months into her own solo sail around the world. She landed in Cape Town, South Africa on May 21. Her teenage brother, Zac, completed an around the world solo sail, last year.

"I wouldn't let her go at 13, or at 14 or at 15," Laurence Sunderland told the Los Angeles Times last year. "There's a strength factor and they need to be mentally grounded in what this entails. It's not a frivolous thing. The ocean is terrifying and you have to be prepared for all the adversities that it throws at you."

A Dutch judge stopped a 13-year-old girl from trying to sail around the world last year. The Dutch Child Protection Agency had asked that Laura be placed under state custody, calling her plan to spend about two years circumnavigating the world aboard a 26-foot boat "irresponsible."

Arguably, the risks associated with sailing alone in the open ocean are not the same as climbing with a team up Everest.

Nonetheless, the risks of climbing Everest were underscored by the challenges faced by 22-year-old Bonita Norris. This past week, she became the youngest Briton to reach the summit. Following the feat, however, she stumbled on the way down in an area known as a "dead zone" where climbers shouldn't stay more than a few hours. She lost the use of both legs and her feet were frozen. She was rescued by a team and carried part way down.

"I do everything in my power to make sure people come back safe, but there is no such thing as a risk-free climb," Kenton Cool, the 36-year-old professional mountaineer whose climbing company helped rescue Norris and to achieve her dream, told the Guardian.

Jordan Romero's blog says that he's "flat on his belly" at a camp at 25,000 feet, recovering from his ascent. "The effort he put out in this last ... 48 hours is, you're not going to believe the story when you see it and read about it," wrote one of the members of his team.

In December, Jordan plans to finish his quest to climb the highest peak on every continent. The last summit is in Antarctica.

RELATED:

[ Editor's note: In the original headline and summary Jordan Romero's first name was misspelled.]

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Jordan Romero, 13, summits Everest: How young is too young?

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Thirteen-year-old Jordan Romero is now the youngest climber to reach the top of the world, Mount Everest. On Saturday, Jordan reached the summit with his dad, a paramedic, his dad's girlfriend, and three Nepalese sherpas. The young Californian has now climbed the tallest mountains on six of the world's seven continents.

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Newsela | Tallest peak or tallest pigsty: Nepal struggles with trash on Everest

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With more and more people climbing Mount Everest, the country of Nepal is struggling to get climbers to not leave their trash on the world's tallest mountain.

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Newsela - Sherpa guides leave Mount Everest base camp after deadly avalanche

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Sherpa guides want better pay and treatment for helping people climb the world’s tallest mountain. After a fatal avalanche, many stopped doing their dangerous jobs.

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Kids and Recycling (part 5) - How are plastic bottles and caps recycled?  by CQ Goes Green

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The explosive growth in bottled water use by Americans, and indeed, much of the rest of the world, is due to many factors, including both unfounded and legitimate concerns about tap water, disappearing water fountains from our public spaces, misleading and false advertising, and a desire to emulate our famous (and infamous) public figures. We used to drink 1 gallon of bottled water a year, on average. Now it is nearly 30 gallons a year per person. These issues are all addressed in the book Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, along with the serious environmental and energy consequences of our bottled water use.

More and more, we are seeing celebrities drinking bottled water, carrying bottled water in public, or even hawking bottled water for a fee. It is hard to miss the huge advertising blitz with Jennifer Aniston for Smart Water, in a deal that is no doubt worth millions to her (I've heard one million, I've heard four million, I've heard stock options: does anyone actually know? A million dollars will drill more than 300 water wells in Africa).

Celebrities live in a different world, where they come to expect special treatment. Perhaps the weirdest expression of this is seen in the bottled water demands in contracts and riders that celebrities require when they perform, or speak, or otherwise appear in public. We've all heard about the recent demands of Sarah Palin for two bottles of "unopened still water" with "bendable straws" (on top of her demand for a specific kind of private jet on top of her $75,000 plus speaker fee). She's not the only politician to be picky about bottled water. As Vice President, Dick Cheney insisted on 4-6 bottles of water in his room, along with two bottles of "Sparkling water (Calistoga or Perrier)" if his wife accompanied him. Of course, Cheney also required that "All televisions [in his hotel rooms] tuned to FOX News..." lest he accidently see other sources of news and information. Senator John Kerry wanted his bottled water "uncarbonated. Poland Spring preferred. No Evian."

But there are lots more strange demands (thanks to the Smoking Gun for collecting and displaying a great collection of celebrity contracts and demands):

During his 2003 Poodle Hat Tour "Weird Al" Yankovic demanded bottled water in his dressing room but insisted that it NOT be Dasani water. In contrast, Kelly Clarkson insists that her water BE Dasani (though her band apparently wants Fiji Water).

AC/DC asked for both Evian and spring water (in addition to 3 oxygen tanks and 3 masks).

Mary J. Blige insists on Fiji water "absolutely, positively must be FIJI" at room temperature.

As part of the flight arrangements for Tiger Woods and his wife Elin Nordegren in 2004, the contract specified "Mr. Tiger Woods drinks liter bottles of Evian cold... Ms. Nordegren drinks Fiji room temperature..."

Christina Aguilera wants Arrowhead, along with L'Occitane vanilla-scented candles with matches, 4 black bath towels, and Veuve Clicquot champagne.

For a while, Madonna insisted on having bottles of special Kabbalah water at her photo shoots and appearances. She may still.

Other celebrity bottled water demands? Clay Aiken ("anything but Evian"); Brooks and Dunn ("spring water for the local crew; Evian or Napa... iced down for the artists"); Kris Allen (20 bottles of "SmartWater...No Dasani or Aquafina"); the Jonas Brothers ("6 bottles Vitaminwater (yellow, red, orange)"); Mariah Carey (mineral water so she and her dog can bathe in it. Oh, and she also wants bendy straws); Britney Spear's 2000 tour insisted on dozens of bottles of Evian, though in 2005 she went through a Kabbalah phase when Madonna switched from Evian to Kabbalah.

And there are even some efforts by a few celebrities to be, at least a little, environmentally sensitive: In 2008, Pearl Jam asked for bottled water, but "preferably ETHOS water, no Aquafina, Dasani, or Evian." Ethos Water is sold by Starbucks and some of the profits are given to help fund drinking water projects in developing countries. Sheryl Crow, who tries hard to be green, insisting on recyclable, biodegradable, and organic stuff, asks for backstage "watering stations," with water that "must be sourced from a local spring water vendor," though she also asks for Perrier water, owned by Nestle.

We want to know what celebrities are doing, who they are dating, and even what water they are drinking. And we want to imitate them: do what they do, eat what they eat, drink what they drink. If we're going to look up to them as role models at all, wouldn't it be nice if they were good ones?

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Celebrities and Bottled Water: Spoiled, Misinformed, or Just Plain Weird

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The explosive growth in bottled water use by Americans, and indeed, much of the rest of the world, is due to many factors, including both unfounded and legitimate concerns about tap water, disappearing water fountains from our public spaces, misleading and false advertising, and a desire to emulate our famous (and infamous) public figures.

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Newsela | For first time ever, mandatory water restrictions ordered in California

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Scholastic Classroom & News Magazines | Subscribe Now!

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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web-magazine integrating news with a touch of insight, perspective and wit.

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Health and Sanitation

Diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.

With basic education about proper sanitation, such as hand-washing and the use of latrines, many fatal diseases can be avoided.

Women and Children

The work of collecting water usually falls to the women and children of the family. Many have to spend up to 4 hours each day walking to the nearest water source to provide their family with enough water for the day. Often, the water that they collect is contaminated with germs that can cause very serious illnesses or even death.

The time that is spent walking to collect water is not only a dangerous time for them, but is also time that is not spent learning to read and write, making an income, or caring for the younger children in the family. The placements of water wells within villages would mean the villagers would spend only 15 minutes to collect their water and the water that they do collect would be clean and safe.

Poverty

When family members get sick from contaminated water or poor sanitation this means money must be spent on doctors bills and more time will be spent away from any income making activities. This causes poor families to become even poorer. It's a terrible downward spiral.

A water well within the village changes the lives of the people who live there for the better.

Water Management

A shortage of available water happens even in areas where there is a lot of rainfall or freshwater. If the water is not properly stored, used and shared in the communities, there may not be enough water to meet the needs of households, farms, and industries in the area.

Good water management also reduces breeding sites for insects like mosquitoes that can transmit diseases and prevents the spread of water-borne infections.

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Health and Sanitation Diseases from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Children are especially vulnerable, as their bodies aren't strong enough to fight diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses.

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charity: water | Why Water? Learn About the Global Water Crisis

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Learn more about why charity: water is focused on ending the global water crisis and water scarcity. Access to clean water means better education, income and health for communities.

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Submitted by Anne Landman on

As more major U.S. cities are endorsing an effort to reduce use of bottled drinking water because of energy consumption and pollution concerns, PepsiCo announced it is teaming up with Starbucks and harnessing the movie star power of Matt Damon to help distribute a brand of "charitable" bottled water called Ethos. The marketing campaign for Ethos calls attention to the plight of impoverished Africans who lack access to safe, clean drinking water. For every bottle of Ethos water purchased, five cents goes to programs that provide African children with clean water. Ethos sells for $1.80 a bottle. Critics of Ethos water say it is a profit-making enterprise disguised as humanitarian relief, that Ethos is exploiting the plight of Africans to sell more bottled water in the United States, and donating directly to a reputable charity dedicated to water projects in Africa is a better way to address the issue.

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A 'Humanitarian Campaign' to Sell Bottled Water

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As more major U.S. cities are endorsing an effort to reduce use of bottled drinking water because of energy consumption and pollution concerns, PepsiCo announced it is teaming up with Starbucks and harnessing the movie star power of Matt Damon to help distribute a brand of "charitable" bottled water called Ethos.

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Have you heard of Ethos Water?

I first learned about it while waiting for my coffee in a downtown Chicago Starbucks this morning.

It's a bottled water company that aims to "help children around the world get clean water and to raise awareness of the world water crisis." Apparently, for every bottle of the water bought, $.05 will be donated to the cause.

Sounds kind of nice, right? Helping people and all. That's good, right?

But the more I think about this product, the more I think it's the most ridiculous thing ever created.

I mean, this water is being sold in Chicago, a city on the banks of Lake Michigan, one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world and home to 1,180 cubic miles of good-quality drinking water (can you even imagine how much water that is?). But, even though Chicagoans have huge amounts good tap water available nearly free of charge, we are for some reason spending more than $1.50 per bottle for Ethos Water .

Yep. There are 1 billion people in the world without access to clean drinking water, and instead of celebrating the fact that we are lucky enough to have potable tap water, we are buying ultra-expensive "purified" water and, in turn, implying that our tap water isn't good enough.

It's just so ridiculous.

Ethos Water, which will indeed help people without clean drinking water, is like a hypothetical slap in the face to the same people it's trying to help.

It gives me the creeps (even without considering how plastic waste plays into this).

My suggestion: if you're ever tempted to buy a bottle of Ethos water, grab a glass of tap water instead and then donate a full $1.50 towards clean drinking water. Check out the Universal Giving website to find a charity you like.

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Have you heard of Ethos Water? I first learned about it while waiting for my coffee in a downtown Chicago Starbucks this morning. It's a bottled water company that aims to "help children around the world get clean water and to raise awareness of the world water crisis."

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Following a disaster clean drinking water may not be available. Your regular water source could be cut-off or compromised through contamination. Prepare yourself by building a supply of water that will meet your family's needs during an emergency. View the recommended emergency supplies list (PDF).

Determining Water Needs

Store at least one gallon of water per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation. A normally active person needs about three quarters of a gallon of fluid daily, from water and other beverages. However, individual needs vary depending on age, health, physical condition, activity, diet and climate.

Take the following into account:

Children, nursing mothers and sick people may need more water.

A medical emergency might require additional water.

If you live in a warm weather climate more water may be necessary. In very hot temperatures, water needs can double.

Water Tips

Never ration drinking water unless ordered to do so by authorities. Drink the amount you need today and try to find more for tomorrow. Minimize the amount of water your body needs by reducing activity and staying cool.

Drink water that you know is not contaminated first. If necessary, suspicious water, such as cloudy water from regular faucets or water from streams or ponds, can be used after it has been treated. If water treatment is not possible put off drinking suspicious water as long as possible but do not become dehydrated.

Do not drink carbonated or caffeinated beverages instead of drinking water. Caffeinated drinks and alcohol dehydrate the body which increases the need for drinking water.

Water Storage

Buy commercially bottled water and store it in the sealed original container in cool, dark place.

If you must prepare your own containers of water, purchase food-grade water storage containers. Before filling with chlorinated water, thoroughly clean the containers with dishwashing soap and sanitize the bottles by cleaning with a solution of one teaspoon of non-scented liquid household chlorine bleach to a quart of water. Water that has not been commercially bottled should be replaced every six months.

Water Treatment

If you have used all of your stored water and there are no other reliable clean water sources, it may become necessary to treat suspicious water. Treat all water of uncertain quality before using it for drinking, food washing or preparation, washing dishes, brushing teeth or making ice. In addition to having a bad odor and taste, contaminated water can contain microorganisms (germs) that cause diseases such as dysentery, cholera, typhoid and hepatitis.

There are many ways to treat water. Often the best solution is a combination of methods. Before treating, let any suspended particles settle to the bottom or strain them through coffee filters or layers of clean cloth.

Boiling

Boiling is the safest method of treating water. In a large pot or kettle, bring water to a rolling boil for one full minute, keeping in mind that some water will evaporate. Let the water cool before drinking.

Boiled water will taste better if you put oxygen back into it by pouring the water back and forth between two clean containers. This also will improve the taste of stored water.

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Following a disaster, clean drinking water may not be available. Learn how to build a water supply that will meet your family's needs during an emergency. Determine Water Needs Water Storage Water Treatment Following a disaster clean drinking water may not be available. Your regular water source could be cut-off or compromised through contamination.

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Marine scientists have long known that plastic pollution in the ocean is a huge problem. The most visible sign of it is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of waste (actually spanning several distinct patches) floating in the ocean. It's at least twice the size of Texas and can be seen from space. This pollution has an incalculably lethal effect on everything from plankton to whales.

So just how much plastic is there? A new study in Science yesterday put out some pretty horrifying numbers: In 2010, the study finds, between 4.8 and 12.7 million metric tons (that's about 10.5 billion to 28 billion pounds) of plastic entered the oceans-the median of those estimates is 1.3 times the weight of the Great Pyramid at Giza.

If we want to crack down on all that plastic, knowing where it all comes from could be as important as knowing how much there is. That's the main idea behind this study. A team of scientists led by University of Georgia environmental engineer Jenna Jambeck set out to calculate how much plastic every one of the world's 192 coastal countries dumps into the ocean. To do it, they combined data on each country's per-capita waste generation, the size of the population living within 50 kilometers of the ocean, the percentage of waste that is plastic, and the percentage of plastic waste that is "mismanaged" (defined as "either littered or inadequately disposed").

The last step is to estimate how much of the mismanaged coastal plastic waste actually washes into the sea. (This is the step that explains the wide uncertainty range in the grand totals above.) Jambeck drew on existing literature on waste streams from places like South Africa and the Bay Area to reach an estimate of 15-40 percent; she then applied that range across the board.

The chart below shows the worst offenders, in terms of total plastic pollution in the ocean in 2010, using data from the study. The top-ranks belong to middle-income countries with rapidly growing coastal populations that lack the resources to keep pace with waste management infrastructure. By contrast, even though the United States has relatively good waste management, its per-capita waste production is so high that it makes the top 20.

That's right: China alone dumped nearly 5 billion pounds of plastic waste into the ocean in 2010. But what's even worse is just how much the study projects these numbers will grow in the future, based on predictions of population growth in each country by 2025. The chart below shows the top-ranked countries in terms of total mismanaged plastic waste (in other words, not all of this plastic is necessarily winding up in the ocean). China is still very much in the lead, and India shows a disturbing explosion of plastic pollution:

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There's a horrifying amount of plastic in the ocean. This chart shows who's to blame.

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Marine scientists have long known that plastic pollution in the ocean is a huge problem. The most visible sign of it is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation of waste (actually spanning several distinct patches) floating in the ocean. It's at least twice the size of Texas and can be seen from space.

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Kamilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii, is no ordinary beach. While it has sand, most of the island is made up of cooled chunks of lava rock that formed when

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This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more clean water news, photos, and information, visit National Geographic's Freshwater Web site.

As the U.S. taste for bottled water grows, environmentalists have been trying to sell people on good old-fashioned-and free-tap water.

But tap water's place in schools is thorny, since some experts say children should actually be drinking more bottled water to head off two stubborn health threats: obesity due to sugary drinks and lead poisoning.

"If children go from sugary beverages to bottled water, you get a benefit to public health, but not so much the environment," said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.

"If they go from sugar beverages to [clean] tap water, you get a public health home run and environmental home run."

Bottled water is a drain on the environment: The U.S. public goes through about 50 billion water bottles a year, and most of those plastic containers are not recycled, according to Elizabeth Royte's 2008 book Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. Transporting the bottles and keeping them cold also burns fossil fuels, which give off greenhouse gases.

Groundwater pumping by bottled-water companies also draws heavily on underground aquifers and harms watersheds, according to the environmental nonprofit the Sierra Club. And a 2008 investigation by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found some bottled water is sullied with untested industrial chemicals, and may not necessarily be cleaner than tap water.

(Related: "Bottled Water Isn't Healthier Than Tap, Report Reveals.")
Lead Dangers

But switching to tap water could be a bad idea in some schools where the risk of lead contamination from old pipes-known to affect physical and mental development-is high, particularly in large urban areas such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

For instance in September 2009, the Associated Press published a nationwide investigation showing that the drinking water in schools in 27 states is contaminated with lead and other toxic substances from lead-soldered pipes generally installed before 1985.

(Related: "Cocaine, Spices, Hormones Found in Drinking Water.")

Schools that rely on their own wells are subject to regular testing by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But the agency does not regulate drinking-water quality for the rest of the nation's schools, which get their water from local utilities.

Most school districts do not test their water because of the costs associated with lead remediation, said Marc Edwards, a civil engineer at Virginia Tech.

"Even when we offer to do the analysis for free, the majority of schools don't want to know," Edwards said.

But some solutions are much less costly than replacing a whole pipe system, he said. Those range from putting filters on taps to remove lead, to flushing water fountains after a period of stagnation.

Still, for some school districts, the most cost-effective measure may be providing kids with bottled water.

In 2007, Baltimore City public schools switched their entire system to bottled water after a study of 84 randomly selected water fountains found 10 with lead levels high than the EPA's cutoff of 20 parts per billion. The school district decided it would be cheaper to provide bottled water than testing and remediation efforts.

Edwards applauds Baltimore's decision.

"I'm a huge proponent of tap water, but if your child going to one of schools where pieces of lead are falling into the tap water on a random basis, that risk pales in comparison to the small cost of bottled water."
Sugar High

Margo Wootan, director of nutrition for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), added that environmental groups that have demonized bottled water should refocus their campaigns on all bottled beverages, including soda.

"Environmentalists place a higher burden on people who drink water instead of soda, and that isn't fair," Wootan said.

School beverages, particularly sugar-laden soda and sports drinks sold in vending machines, have come under increasing fire from nutrition-advocacy groups such as CSPI.

Obesity rates among children aged 6 to 11 have more than doubled in the past 20 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2006 study by Harvard nutritionists found sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is linked to higher body weight among adolescents.

"Soda in schools has been such a huge problem for the last couple of decades, and getting rid of sugar-sweetened beverages and shifting to bottled water should be a top priority," Wootan said.

The School Nutrition Association is also advocating for the elimination of all sugar-sweetened beverages from all schools when Congress takes up the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act in March 2010.

Low-fat milk, 100-percent juices, and bottled water are the new recommended beverages for school meal programs and vending machines.

But other health experts intend to keep fighting for tap water.

"There's more demand for bottled water now in schools, and the beverage industry says they have public health in mind," Yale's Brownell said. "But we're hoping to do a big campaign to encourage consumption of tap water instead."

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What's Best for Kids: Bottled Water or Fountains?

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This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more clean water news, photos, and information, visit National Geographic's Freshwater Web site. As the U.S. taste for bottled water grows, environmentalists have been trying to sell people on good old-fashioned-and free-tap water.

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Newsela | Detroit shuts off water for thousands; groups ask judge to turn it back on

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Detroit, which has filed for bankruptcy, has shut off the water for residents who don't pay their bills. Residents say they should get notice and a chance to appeal any decision to shut their taps.

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California Becomes First State to Ban Plastic Bags

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Gov. Jerry Brown signed a historic bill on Tuesday, ending a long fight between manufacturers and environmentalists

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Paper or Plastic: Which Bags Hurt the Environment More?

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Untitled infographic by calopes - Infogram

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The main argument to be against a ban of plastic bags is they are useful and help carrying things. Some people think that a ban is not necessary if people take care and dispose plastic bags in the right places. Investing in recycling systems and environme

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Journal Reports: Energy Big Issues

Should There Be a Price on Carbon?

October 5, 2012 at 4:01 AM ET

That question divides even those who agree the government needs to pursue clean-energy policies. Three experts debate the issue.

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Many cities around the globe have already banned the ubiquitous bags from stores, and activists are pushing for bans elsewhere. But skeptics say that science doesn't support the idea that plastic bags do any genuine harm.

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Let us help you live a life you love. Find tools to help you have fun and make the most out of each and every day.

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Unsightly plastic bottles, bags and other trash give just a hint of the largely unseen problem of plastic pollution. Scientists have found tiny bits of it throughout the ocean. The bad news: Sea life can’t tell the difference between plastic and food.

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Opinion | Paying Extra for a Plastic Bag for Your Groceries (Published 2014)

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Two readers, including a New York City Council member, object to a proposed 10-cent fee per bag.

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Opinion | Ten Cents a Bag? That’s About Right (Published 2014)

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A bill introduced by the New York City Council to limit the use of plastic bags is a good start.

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And some sort of action is an agenda item in seemingly every boardroom and city hall across the U.S., according to Vincent Cobb, founder of Chicago, Illinois-based Reusablebags.com.

"We all have the tendency to buy too much stuff, and I think that symbolic nature is what has made this such a powerful thing," he said of the movement to cut down on plastic bags.

Good Riddance?

Lisa Mastny is the consumption project director for the Washington, D.C.-based Worldwatch Institute.

She said bans are generally meant to keep plastic bags from entering the environment as litter or landfill, but most legislation fails to promote environmentally sound alternatives such as cloth bags.

In the U.S., opposition to bans and taxes from retailers and the plastics industry has led to the take-back and recycling focus, which Mastny said is helpful but does little to change consumer behavior.

"There's nothing stopping [shoppers] from taking the bags in the same quantities that they were before," she said.

More effective measures, she said, are taxation schemes such as Ireland's so-called PlasTax. There carriers are now taxed at 22 euro cents (34 U.S. cents) each, and usage has dropped 95 percent.

In fact, she added, Ireland recently raised the tax to combat resurging plastic bag use. It appears to be working.

But Keith Christman, senior director of packaging at the American Chemistry Council and Progressive Bag Affiliates in Arlington, Virginia, said bans and taxes on plastic bags "are not the right approach."

He noted that such measures force retailers to switch to paper bags, which consume more energy and release more greenhouse gases to produce and supply than do plastic bags.

In addition, he said, 92 percent of consumers reuse their plastic bags to line garbage bins and pickup after pets, among other things. Without free bags from the grocery store, consumers are forced to buy them.

Ireland's PlasTax, Christman noted, has led to a 400 percent increase in plastic bag purchases.

"We think the right approach is to promote recycling of plastic bags, and we've seen much success in that regard," he said.

In 2006, according to the council, 812 million pounds (368 million kilograms) of plastic bags were recycled, up 24 percent from 2005. The bags are recycled into new bags and used for fencing and decking material.

Cobb, whose Web site sells reusable bags and serves as a clearinghouse for information on the single-use bag issue, agreed recycling is a good step but said a tax charged at checkout is needed to change consumer behavior.

"Plastic bags aren't inherently bad," he said. "It's the mindlessness and volume of consumption of plastic bags that occurs. As people wake up to that, I think we are going to see a shift."

Green Retailers

The U.S. grocery chain Whole Foods Market is not waiting for political mandates to cut down on plastic waste. The store recently announced a phase-out of all plastic bags from its stores by Earth Day, April 22.

"What we're really trying to do is encourage reusable bags being brought to the checkout," spokeswoman Ashley Hawkins said.

The store gives shoppers five to ten cents back, depending on location, for each reusable bag they bring. Recyclable paper bags made from recycled material will remain available at the store, she added.

In the U.K., supermarket chain Tesco has switched to biodegradable bags, and this May Marks & Spencer food stores will begin to charge 5 pence (10 cents) per plastic bag.

Mastny said such initiatives are partly an easy-and visible-way for companies to show they care about the environment.

"I'm not saying it's totally greenwash, but obviously there are PR benefits to doing something like this," she said.

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plastic-bag bans gaining momentum around the world

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Plastic-Bag Bans Gaining Momentum Around the World

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And some sort of action is an agenda item in seemingly every boardroom and city hall across the U.S., according to Vincent Cobb, founder of Chicago, Illinois-based Reusablebags.com. "We all have the tendency to buy too much stuff, and I think that symbolic nature is what has made this such a powerful thing," he said of the movement to cut down on plastic bags.

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This is the holiday season in the United States. People are buying gifts and carrying them home, usually in plastic shopping bags. They are only a small amount of the huge number of disposable plastic bags that are used all year long to contain groceries and other items.

Janet Larsen directs research for the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. She says too many plastic bags end up as litter, polluting waterways.

"They get caught in bushes and trees. In storm water systems, they end up clogging up sewers."

In an effort to keep plastic bags out of the environment, California recently became the first state to ban businesses from giving new plastic bags to customers. Some other states and cities charge a small amount of money for every bag given out. That is meant to encourage people to bring their own bags when they go shopping.

Mark Daniels is senior vice president for environmental policy at Hilex Poly, one of the country's largest plastic bag manufacturers and recyclers. He says people should be able to get new plastic bags without paying. Mr. Daniels says they are a good environmental choice.

"Every single scientific litter study that has been done always show that plastic retail are a fraction of one percent."

Some environmentalists claim that plastic bags are clogging landfills. However, Mark Daniels points to a study by the Environmental Protection Agency that says that is not always true.

"All plastic bags, not just retail bags, are 4/10ths of one percent the waste stream."

Five years ago, Washington D.C. placed a 5-cent fee on every plastic bag given out by businesses in the city. The money is being used to clean up the local Anacostia watershed.

And the effort is making a difference. Brian Van Wye heads storm waterprogram implementation at the city's Department of the Environment. He says once people started to pay for plastic bags, they used less of them. Fewer bags ended up in the waterways.

"The stream clean-up groups are telling us that they've seen a 60 percent reduction in the disposal bags that they find while they're doing stream cleanups."

He also says that's helping to save water life.

"We also know that plastic bags, they break down over time. It's something aquatic life will consume and ingest and that can cause serious harm and potentially death for aquatic life like fish and turtles."

But customers who say they need shopping bags aren't always happy about paying for them. At a Washington restaurant, Bill Ford says he has to use a bag to carry out his lunch.

"I don't know why some people need to pay because, some people, a small minority of people are throwing stuff into rivers and waterways."

Still, Carol Powers, who also paid for a bag, approves of Washington's program.

"It seems kind of silly to pay five cents for a bag, but if that's what it takes to help save the environment, then it's a good idea."

Hilex Poly and other manufacturers are recycling the bags. Mark Daniels says that is a better alternative than taxing or banning them.

"We reprocess it, we clean it, we shred it, we make new post-consumer recycle product and put that back into the manufacturing of new bags."

But Janet Larsen of the Earth Policy Institute doesn't think that's the answer.

"The plastic bag industry has often used recycling as a deterrent for communities that, even when residents are saying, we want to limit these. It really doesn't help to minimize the problems. What we would advocate for would be a washable, reusable bag to take the place of all those plastic bags."

Bags like the one Carol Chastang uses to carry her lunch...

"This is my contribution to keeping the environment cleaner and safer."

More than 18 million Americans now live in communities that tax or ban plastic bags, and that number is expected to go up again next year.

I'm Anne Ball.
This story came from VOA reporter Deborah Block. Marsha James wrote it for VOA Learning English. Jeri Watson was the editor.
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Words in This Story

litter - n. things that have been thrown away and are lying on the ground in a public place

disposable - n. something that is made to be thrown away after it is used once

clog - v. to slowly form a block in (something, such as a pipe or street) so that things cannot move through quickly or easily

alternative - adj. offering or expressing a choice.
Now it's your turn to use these Words in this Story. In the comments section, write a sentence using one of these words and we will provide feedback on your use of vocabulary and grammar.

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This is the holiday season in the United States. People are buying gifts and carrying them home, usually in plastic shopping bags. They are only a small amount of the huge number of disposable plastic bags that are used all year long to contain groceries and other items.

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Few creatures strike more fear in humans than the great white shark. In reality, great white shark attacks on humans are rare - and it is even rarer for one of these attacks to be fatal. However, the size of the great white shark and its efficiency as a predator add to the perpetuation of this unnecessary fear.

The great white shark averages 4.5 m (15 ft.) in length, but some have been recorded as large as 6 m (20 ft.) long! They generally weigh up to 2250 kg (5000 lb.).

Great white sharks are blue-gray on the dorsal, or top, part of their bodies. This helps them blend in with the bottom of the ocean when viewed from above. The belly, or ventral, part of the body, is white. This makes it difficult to see the sharks from below, with sunlight shining in around them. They have strong, torpedo-shaped bodies and powerful tails that help them swim. Great whites can reach speeds up to 24 km/hr (15 mph).

Great whites use their speed and coloring to help them hunt. They search for prey at the surface of the ocean while swimming below. Once they spot a target, they use a burst of speed to bump their prey while simultaneously biting it. They have several rows of teeth that can number into the thousands. As teeth fall out, they are rapidly replaced by those in the row behind them. These sharp, serrated teeth can be devastating. A single, large bite can be fatal.

When great white sharks are young, they feed on smaller prey, like fish and rays. As they grow larger, they feed more exclusively on marine mammals, such as sea lions, seals and small whales.

The great white is at the top of the food chain and has few threats in the ocean. Only orcas and larger sharks can pose a risk. The only other risk to the great white shark is human interaction. They are sometimes caught by accident in fishing nets or intentionally sought out by sport fisherman. Their jaws and fins are sold for considerable amounts of money.

Not much is known about the mating habits of great white sharks. What is known is that after mating the female develops several eggs which hatch in her womb. The newly-hatched shark pups feed on unfertilized eggs in the womb as they develop before being born. In general, the mother gives birth to a litter of two to ten pups, each of which average 1.5 m (5 ft.) in length. Male great whites reach maturity at 9-10 years of age. Females mature even later, between 14 and 16 years of age. Female sharks are thought to give birth once every couple years, but even that is uncertain.

Great whites spend their time in temperate waters all over the world, although they have been known to make brief trips into colder water in the north. They live in the upper part of the ocean, towards the surface, and close to the shore, where sunlight shines through and prey is available.

Conservation Status

The great white shark is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, but it is on the cusp of being labeled endangered due to overfishing.

What You Can Do to Help

You can help great white sharks by not purchasing great white jaws or items made from their fins.

Great White Shark Distribution

Great White Shark Resources

Blog Posts about the Great White Shark

About the Author

P.A. Smith is a middle school Language Arts teacher. He is also a contributing editor of My House Rabbit.

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Great white sharks have several rows of sharp, serrated teeth that can number into the thousands. Learn more about great whites at Animal Fact Guide.

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Fun Shark Facts for Kids

Although sharks have a reputation as destructive beasts that attack almost anything that enters their water habitat, the actual number of shark attacks is probably lower than you imagine.

There are many different types of sharks including the great white shark, hammerhead shark, bull shark, tiger shark and mako, they all offer varied and interesting information so read on and enjoy our cool shark facts.

Sharks do not have a single bone in their bodies. Instead they have a skeleton made up of cartilage; the same type of tough, flexible tissue that makes up human ears and noses.

Some sharks remain on the move for their entire lives. This forces water over their gills, delivering oxygen to the blood stream. If the shark stops moving then it will suffocate and die.

Sharks have outstanding hearing. They can hear a fish thrashing in the water from as far as 500 metres away!

If a shark was put into a large swimming pool, it would be able to smell a single drop of blood in the water.

Although most species of shark are less than one metre long, there are some species such as the whale shark, which can be 14 metres long.

A pup (baby shark) is born ready to take care of itself. The mother shark leaves the pup to fend for itself and the pup usually makes a fast get away before the mother tries to eat it!

Not all species of shark give birth to live pups. Some species lay the egg case on the ocean floor and the pup hatches later on its own.

Great whites are the deadliest shark in the ocean. These powerful predators can race through the water at 30 km per hour.

Unlike other species of shark, the great white is warm-blooded. Although the great white does not keep a constant body temperature, it needs to eat a lot of meat in order to be able to regulate its temperature.

A shark always has a row of smaller teeth developing behind its front teeth. Eventually the smaller teeth move forward, like a conveyor belt, and the front teeth fall out.

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Shark Facts - Great White, Hammerhead, Attack, Habitat, Bull, Tiger, Interesting Info

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Fun Shark Facts for Kids Although sharks have a reputation as destructive beasts that attack almost anything that enters their water habitat, the actual number of shark attacks is probably lower than you imagine.

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Fun shark facts for kids including photos and printable activity worksheets; suitable for Kindergarten through Grade 6.

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Bull sharks live throughout the world, in shallow, warm ocean waters. They've been known to swim up into freshwater rivers. Humans are not part of a bull shark's normal prey. Bull sharks will eat almost anything, but their diet consists mainly of fish. They also sometimes eat dolphins and sea turtles. Bull sharks even eat other sharks. They hunt during the day and at night.

Sharks must keep salt in their bodies to survive, and most can live only in salt water. But bull sharks have developed special adaptations-the way their kidneys function and special glands near their tails-that help them keep salt in their bodies even when they're in freshwater. Scientists are still studying these sharks to figure out why they developed this unusual ability.

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Bull sharks are the most dangerous sharks in the world, according to many experts. This is because they're an aggressive species of shark, and they tend to hunt in waters where people often swim: along tropical shorelines. Bull sharks live throughout the world, in shallow, warm ocean waters.

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Before we even got off the boat, we saw their shadowy figures in the clear water below.

As Norman Eiley, our boat driver, prepared to cast anchor, a handful of sharks and stingrays swam beneath the boat's wake. The 15 high school students I was traveling with started to squeal. "I never get to see sharks in the water!" said Emma Cooper-Mullin, 17, from Irvington, N.Y., with fins and snorkel in hand. "I really want to swim with one."

Holding a nurse shark at the Hol Chan Marine Reserve in Belize.

AmbergrisCaye.com

Within minutes, we were all in the water, making that dream come true. For the next hour, we snorkeled with a handful of nurse sharks and southern stingrays at Shark Ray Alley-a shallow sandbar just south of Ambergris Caye, an island in northern Belize. Shark Ray Alley is part of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. It is illegal to catch fish there. Instead, tourism is the main draw.

Every day, boats full of tourists arrive at Shark Ray Alley, where tour guides feed chunks of fish guts to the animals. As a result, the area's sharks and rays-some bigger than we are-have become so used to people that they'll swim right up to you and even let you touch them.

And that's the problem. Just days before we snorkeled at Shark Ray Alley, Norman told me, a fisherman from the mainland had cruised in at 4 in the morning, caught 9 or 10 nurse sharks, and killed them to sell their fins and meat.

"People noticed them missing that day," Norman said. "They were complaining-no sharks, no sharks, no sharks. Nobody has ever done something like this before on a large scale."
Underwater national parks
Marine reserves, or sanctuaries, are supposed to prevent such incidents from happening. Like national parks under water, marine reserves are set up to protect designated areas of the ocean from fishing, instead favoring research, education, and tourism.

Published research on the benefits of marine reserves worldwide has exploded in recent years, says Jim Bohnsack, a fisheries biologist at the National Marine Fisheries Service in Miami. "The scientific community is 99 percent supportive of marine reserves," he says. "They work for protecting biodiversity and protecting resources."

The idea is that a carefully designed network of protected areas should help the health of the entire ocean. Fish and other creatures can grow up safely inside reserves before spilling over the edges, where they become fair game for fishermen.

The Hol Chan Marine Reserve protects fish and other sea creatures.

AmbergrisCaye.com

"It's like an insurance policy," Bohnsack says. "If you make mistakes, you have something in the bank, like a savings account, that can help resupply areas that have been overfished."

In support of marine reserves, Bohnsack points to evidence that bigger fish tend to lay more eggs. So, fish inside reserves should be more likely to produce even more fish with stronger genes. In theory, everyone wins, including fishermen and conservationists.

"It's like having your cake and eating it, too," Bohnsack says.
Boosting conservation
Marine reserves also make sense economically, says Charles Acosta, an ecologist at Northern Kentucky University. By tracking lobsters, queen conch, and other animals with radio technology and using mathematical models to analyze population patterns, Acosta and his colleagues have come up with dollar figures to show fishermen that conservation will actually boost their business in the long run.

Acosta's work has contributed to a debate over what marine reserves should look like. "One of our biggest, most important results has been that there is a limit that you cannot go below in terms of size of reserve," he says. "If the reserve is too small, it will have no effect at all."

A southern stingray.

AmbergrisCaye.com

Still, plans to create marine reserves are often controversial, especially in places like the Florida Keys, where the fishing industry has a lot of money at stake.

And even after reserves are established, enforcement is often difficult and more expensive than most developing countries can afford. At Hol Chan, a ranger zooms around all day long, collecting fees from snorkelers and divers who visit the area.

You can pay a fine of up to $500 if you get caught stealing even a piece of coral. Other reserves rely more on word-of-mouth and the honor principle for protection.
Sharks in the wild
Unfortunately, those kinds of systems can backfire, as the recent incident at Shark Ray Alley demonstrates. "To have all those sharks living in one place is setting them up for something like this to happen," said Norman, who is also treasurer of the Belizean Tour Guide Association. He is now determined to track down and punish the shark poachers and to revise enforcement policies in Belize. "We all depended on the honesty of fishermen," he said.

Besides, Norman added, maybe it's better not to turn shark sightings into humdrum, everyday events. "It used to be when you saw a nurse shark it was like, 'Wow!,'" he said. "But after going to Shark Ray Alley, it's like 'Oh, there's another one.' The element of surprise has changed."

Given a choice between seeing a shark by chance in the wild and seeing a shark at a place like Sting Ray Alley, most of the students in our group reluctantly agreed. "I guess I would rather see sharks when no one else was around than at Shark Ray Alley," Emma said on the boat ride back to Ambergris Caye.

Her classmate Cheryl Berman, an 18-year-old senior from Armonk, N.Y., wasn't so sure. "I think both are pretty cool."
Going Deeper: Additional Information Word Find: Swimming with Sharks Questions about the Article

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Sharks Endangered and Conservation

If you were face-to-face with a shark, what would your reaction be? Do not worry about getting away as fast as possible. Probably the shark will flee from you first.

While it is a truth that some shark species are animals that present a sort of danger to people, it is also true that humans have endangered the preservation of many shark species, despite all the physical and physiological adaptations they have achieved through evolution to survive in their natural environment.

The picture of the status of sharks is not encouraging. There are about 12 species considered dangerous for humans, but about 20 are in danger of extinction. How do you explain this? Their indiscriminate and incidental hunting and the destruction of their habitat are the main factors that caused this situation which, joined with the wrong information that most people know about them, endanger their survival which has exceeded hundred of millions of years.

SAD STANDARDS OF DANGER

In fact, estimations state that about 100 species out of 470 that exist in the world, are in a status of imminent danger to severe. The organization responsible for classifying animal status, including sharks, is the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. From its perspective, all threatened species are under continuous evaluation, and a diagnostic is provided that is an indicator of dangers, causes, and consequences.

The organization has nine categories to classify the status of animals: Not Evaluated, Insufficient Data, Minor Concern, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild and Extinct. A shark species is considered threatened if the IUCN Red List includes it starting in the Vulnerable status as this category being "less risky" among all the critical levels.

The Near-Threatened category, although it is not an indication of an endangered species, sets a precedent and indicates a potentially endangered species in the future. Vulnerable species face a high risk of extinction in the wild, Endangered species face a very high danger of extinction in their natural habitat and species classified in the Critically Endangered status face an extremely high risk of extinction.

THREATENED SHARKS

Predators, but also prey. According to IUCN analysts, among the approximately 470 species of sharks, 2.4 percent are Critically Endangered, 3.2 percent are Endangered, 10.3 percent are Vulnerable, and 14.4 percent are Near Threatened.

Famous species such as the great white shark ( Carcharodon carcharias) and the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) are Vulnerable although the size of the latter and the ferocity of the first are striking. The power of humans over species almost defenseless against them has won.

These are the 25 most threatened species of sharks in the world, classified as Endangered (EN) and Critically Endangered (CR):

Carcharhinus hemiodon. Pondicherry shark. (CR).
Centrophorus harrissoni. Dumb gulper Shark. (CR).
Glyphis gangeticus. Ganges shark. (CR).
Glyphis garricki. Northern river shark. (CR).
Glyphis siamensis. Irrawaddy river shark. (CR).
Haploblepharus kistnasamyi. Natal shyshark. (CR).
Isogomphodon oxyrhynchus. Daggernose shark. (CR).
Mustelus fasciatus. Striped smooth-hound. (CR).
Squatina aculeata. Sawback angelshark. (CR).
Squatina oculata. Smoothback angelshark. (CR).
Squatina squatina. Angelshark. (CR).
Carcharhinus borneensis. Borneo shark. (EN).
Glyphis glyphis. Bizant river shark. (EN).
Hemitriakis leucoperiptera. Whitefin topeshark. (EN).
Holohalaelurus favus. Honeycomb Izak. (EN).
Holohalaelurus punctatus. White-spotted Izak. (EN).
Lamiopsis temminckii. Broadfin shark. (EN).
Mustelus scmitti. Narrownose smooth-hound. (EN).
Sphyrna lewini. Scalloped hammerhead. (EN).
Sphyrna mokarran. Great hammerhead. (EN).
Squatina argentina. Argentine angelshark. (EN).
Squatina Formosa. Taiwan angelshark (EN).
Squatina Guggenheim. Angular angel shark. (EN).
Squatina punctata. Squatina punctata. (EN).
Triakis makulata. Spotted houndshark. (EN).

FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

In the last decades some species populations have decreased up to 90 percent, and some others, up to 70 percent due to anthropogenic causes that kill them directly and indirectly. Disinformation and slow reproduction do not help them to improve the recovery rate of these animals.

Today, sharks face an uncertain future full of risks in a world troubled by environmental problems. If the rate of extinctions increases considerably, in a few years, the seas may be without sharks bringing an enormous amount of environmental consequences with this. Action needs to be taken; there is still time!
Sources:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/

http://sharkopedia.discovery.com/shark-topics/shark-conservation/

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/shark

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_threatened_sharks
BioExpedition Publishing © 2017.

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Many types of sharks are at risk of becoming extinct which is why conservation efforts are in place. Keeping pollution and human food items out of the waters is

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Sharks are scary creatures that we need to get rid of, right? Wrong. Sharks are totally important. See how some peeps are trying to save em.

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Pet Sharks? Pet Guitarfish? Pet Rays?--A Bad Idea!

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Sand tiger sharks are also known as sand tigers and gray nurse sharks. Like all sharks, they breathe underwater, through their gills. But sand tigers have one unique habit. They are the only sharks that come to the surface to gulp air, but not to breathe. The air ends up in its stomach. The air makes the shark more buoyant, so it can float motionless in the water as it watches for prey.

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Sand tiger sharks are also known as sand tigers and gray nurse sharks. Like all sharks, they breathe underwater, through their gills. But sand tigers have one unique habit. They are the only sharks that come to the surface to gulp air, but not to breathe. The air ends up in its stomach.

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Real sanctuaries are safe, comfortable places for animals to live after they've been rescued from not-so-nice places like circuses or laboratories. People can sometimes visit these sanctuaries, which is an awesome way to learn about and see animals without supporting businesses that hurt them, like roadside zoos or wildlife parks. Roadside zoos and wildlife parks use animals to make money. It's confusing because they sometimes call themselves "sanctuaries" or "rescues" to bring in more customers, because they know that people don't want to visit roadside zoos, but they're being dishonest when they do that.

It's important not to get these horrible places confused with actual sanctuaries. But how can you tell the difference? It's easy! There are a few simple questions you can ask about a place to figure out whether it's helping or hurting animals the animals who live there.

You can find answers to these questions by browsing a facility's website and social media pages (your parents can help):

1. How are animals housed?

Real sanctuaries make sure that an animal's living space is as close to their natural habitat as possible. Animals should live with others of their own kind so they can have friends. It's mean to keep them all alone in small, dirty pens with concrete floors and nothing to do-and you should stay away from places like that.

2. What kinds of activities do the animals get to do?

The animals' living area should have lots of ways for them to play and enjoy themselves! For example, there should be a large structure for chimpanzees to climb on, water for bears to soak and splash in, and large fields for roaming and exploring. Animals need these things if they're going to be healthy, happy, and comfortable.

Animals should also live with others of the same species so they can communicate with each another easily and form relationships and groups. In many sanctuaries, the animals who already live there help teach the newcomers how to get back in touch with their natural instincts and enjoy life again.

3. How big is the facility?

Animals should be given enough space to explore, roam, climb, and forage. And a real sanctuary NEVER takes the animals out of the facility to show them off.

4. Are visitors allowed to touch or hold the animals?

True wild-animal sanctuaries (with big cats, bears, primates, or wolves) NEVER allow visitors to touch or hold the animals, even babies, and that includes taking photos with them. This would be scary for the animals and dangerous to the visitors, too!

5. Where did the animals come from?

The animals who live there probably came from a place where they were mistreated, so they have a sad and painful past. The staff will want to share each animal's story so that visitors can learn about the various places that hurt animals (like laboratories, circuses, and roadside zoos). Real sanctuaries provide animals with a permanent home for the rest of their life. They NEVER trade, borrow, or loan animals.

6. Does the facility breed animals?

Sanctuaries NEVER breed animals, meaning that they don't make any of the animals have babies. Places that do breed animals are using them to make money-that's not right, and that's not a sanctuary.

7. What is it like to visit a sanctuary?

Most sanctuaries only allow very limited visits. Usually a guide takes people on a small tour of the place and doesn't let them walk around by themselves.

8. Is it accredited?

True sanctuaries are accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), a group that makes sure sanctuaries follow strict rules to protect the animals who live there, like the ones listed above.
*****
All living, feeling beings deserve a comfortable place to live where people aren't always staring at them. A true sanctuary puts the needs and wants of the animals first. So if you care about animals, NEVER visit a roadside zoo or a wildlife park, and explain to your friends and family why places like that are bad for animals!

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8 Ways to Tell a REAL Sanctuary From a Roadside Zoo | PETA Kids

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Roadside zoo or animal sanctuary? This list will explain the difference-so you can figure out if a place is hurting or helping animals.

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The possibility of keeping large sharks in captivity has been of great interest to many public aquariums, which seemed unlikely because they need more delicate care than most other fish. Until lately, the only species that lived in captivity were some species like leopard sharks and horned sharks, among others which are benthic animals and not very large.

THE CHALLENGES OF THE CAPTIVITY

The shark species most wanted by aquariums is the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), which has awakened the fear and fascination since its representation (exaggerated) in the 1975 film JAWS. The reality is that attempts to keep them in a huge tank in front of hundreds of curious eyes have not been very successful. In general, large species such as the Carcharodon carcharias are difficult to catch and transport. Their sharp senses are disturbed with the use of structures and machines, to take them out of the water, their weight can damage their organs while carrying them, because their cartilaginous skeleton does not provide the support needed for transport.

Besides, if an aquarium wants a great white shark in their tanks, it must fit a space large enough and adequate to its needs. The life of a shark in an aquarium also includes satisfying its feeding needs.

It is very expensive to keep sharks in captivity which is also another reason why they often aren't found in aquariums. They require saltwater tanks with an enough room to move around, and they consume large amounts of food daily.

In 2004, the Monterey Bay Aquarium managed to condition a space for a great white shark, and it stayed there for six months, after which it was released back into its natural habitat. The attempt was made for the first time in 1980 when the same aquarium kept an individual of the same species in captivity but unfortunately died after 11 days at the facilities. That time the conditions were not adequately met.

To guarantee an optimal life development in captivity, it is important that aquariums or any place that keep sharks fulfill these conditions:

1. Sharks can move comfortably during their transportation to their next habitat.

2. Sharks natural movements and reactions are not limited or restricted. Some shark species like the great white shark are susceptible to stress if they do not execute physical activities.

3. The tank that houses the shark should be adequate and free of obstacles that hinder any of its movements.

4. The environment should not have human artifacts, machines or tools that stimulate their sense of electroreception.

UNFORTUNATE CASES

Although some small species are prone to survive in aquariums, it is dangerous to use small places to exhibit or keep them. There have been cases of people selling sharks illegally to people who do not have the skills to keep a shark alive and healthy. Sometimes, when the young ones grow, space can become more limited, and those who own them are forced to make some adverse decisions for the animals, such as their release into the sea without previously experienced life in the wild.

Sharks are not domestic animals, so their care is more special than dogs cats or ornament fish. Keeping an individual involves an enormous investment of time and money and requires the knowledge about their life and care. Therefore it is an important responsibility.

PROSPECTS OF A LIFE IN CAPTIVITY.

Captivity is not an ideal condition for any animal, but this view changes when it comes to threatened species. In the case of sharks, many of them face serious dangers, and it is important to take measures to protect and preserve such species.

Life in captivity may be favorable to their survival to some degree. For example, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has made efforts to provide information on the species and it is a pioneer in exhibiting white sharks. However, some organizations disagree with the latter practice, and the aquarium has not keep white sharks again.

If there is an advantage of having sharks within human limits, it is the possibility to investigate their biological, physiological and health conditions that allow an assessment and subsequent establishment of conservation measures for the affected species. However, many experts agree that sharks in captivity don't follow the usual behavior that they would in the wild. Therefore observing them in captivity to learn about how their life in the wild isn't very useful at all.

It should not be forgotten that sharks are not "made" to live indoors. They need space and freedom like all animals. If it is not strictly useful for the survival of the species, do not support its captivity.
Sources:
www.peta.org/blog/great-white-shark-dies-after-just-three-days-in-aquarium/

http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/experience/explore/programs-activities/animal-interactions/journey-with-gentle-giants/swim-with-whale-sharks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharks_in_captivity
BioExpedition Publishing © 2017.

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Sharks are not made for captivity. Most species do not do well in captivity and their life span get severely shorten.

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Humanity has been flying in space for 50 years now, but we are still confined to a single planet - Earth.

If it took only eight years to go from no humans in space to the first man on the moon, why haven't humans colonized Mars and other worlds yet? Or at the least the moon?

"NASA's plan as of 1969 was to have a human Mars mission by 1981, a permanent moon base in the '80s and a permanent Mars base in 1988," said Robert Zubrin, president and founder of the Mars Society.

(Image credit: ESA)

Interplanetary human voyages pose definite scientific and technological challenges. One would have to deal with the rigors of travel - issues of food, water and oxygen, the deleterious effects of microgravity, potential hazards such as fire and radiation and the fact that any such astronauts would be millions of miles away from help and confined together for years at a time. Landing, working, living and returning from another planet would offer a host of challenges as well. [Vote! The Best Spaceships of All Time]
Space exploration versus politics

(Image credit: ESA)

Still, the main reason that people have not yet voyaged past the orbit of the moon is mostly a political one.

The era of human spaceflight began on April 12, 1961, when the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, into orbit. At the time, the so-called Space Race was under way, with the United States and Soviet Union both working to land a human on the moon first. That race ended with NASA's historic Apollo 11 moon shot, which landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969.

"The Cold War is over," said Bill Nye, executive director of the Planetary Society.

Back in the early days of human spaceflight, the United States and Soviet Union were locked in the Cold War, a life-or-death struggle that spurred the space race for control of the ultimate high ground.

Since then, however, "we've had a major failure of political leadership in this country when it came to human spaceflight," Zubrin said. "It'd be like Columbus coming back from America and Ferdinand and Isabella saying, 'so what?'"

(Image credit: ESA)

A question of will
Although one "can talk forever about the technical problems, those are red herrings," Zubrin said. "You can talk about the risk of being exposed to radiation in space for years, but cosmonauts have already had larger cosmic ray doses at the International Space Station and Mir. This isn't a question of technical challenges - it's a question of will." [ The Best (and Worst) Mars Landings]

"You can say it's risky, but imagine all the risks human spaceflight faced in the beginning," Zubrin said. "When Kennedy gave his speech in May of 1961 about putting a man on the moon, we had 15 minutes of human spaceflight experience, and yet we went."

"My uncle landed on Normandy beach," Zubrin said. "They didn't hold up the Normandy landing until they knew it was safe. If you're going to wait to go to Mars until it's going to be safe, you're never going to Mars."

The goal now "is toget people to realize the value of human spaceflight," Nye said. "When we explore with robots, we make discoveries, but not nearly as fast as with people, and not in the same engaging way."

"This is really a challenge of who we are, what kind of people we are," Zubrin said. "Are we willing to accept challenges and embrace risk? Or are we ultimately resigning from our role as a nation of pioneers?"
Follow SPACE.com contributor Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Visit SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on.

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For 50 years, humans have been flying in space, yet there are no astronauts living on Mars. If it took 8 years to reach the moon in the Space Race, why hasn't Earth colonized Mars?

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Stephen Ornes lives in Nashville, Tenn., and his family has two rabbits, six chickens and a cat. He has written for Science News Explores since 2008 on topics including lightning, feral pigs, big bubbles and space junk.

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Each white dot represents an individual piece of tracked orbital debris. This image shows the Low Earth Orbit, which is the region from the Earth's surface to 1,240 miles and contains the most space junk.

NASA Johnson Space Center

On a clear night, you can look in the sky and see the moon and stars. You might even see the blinking light of a working satellite as it flies past, on its way around the Earth.

And, even though you cannot see it, you are also looking at the largest junkyard in the solar system.

Higher than the highest clouds but much closer than the moon, the bulk of the junkyard stretches from the Earth's surface to 20,000 miles overhead. There are tens of millions of pieces of rubbish there. Some of the pieces are rocks and dust from passing comets, but most of them are manmade and called "orbital debris" (pronounced duh-BREE).

There are some unusual things up there, like a camera that floated away from astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams in December 2006. Other astronauts have lost tools like wrenches and screwdrivers. In 1965 astronaut Ed White even lost a spare glove. Most of the junk, however, comes from large satellites and rockets that fell apart after they stopped working.

Together, all the space junk would weigh about 11 million pounds on Earth, or more than 3,000 cars. The largest piece is a part of a rocket about the size of a minivan. The smallest piece would fit on your pinkie fingernail with room to spare.

"It's like a classic environmental problem, like water pollution or air pollution," says Nicholas Johnson. Johnson is the Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. His job is to keep track of the orbiting garbage.

The junkyard is a serious problem for the future of spaceflight.

"You've got multimillion satellites in orbit all the time, and manned space flights," says Joe Gambrell, who helps keep track of both working and broken-down satellites. His main tool is the U.S. Space Surveillance Network, which is part of the U.S. military. Gambrell works at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. "If you don't track debris, you risk some kind of collision," he adds.

In 2007, the space junkyard grew by more than 100,000 pieces. That's more than any other year since people started launching satellites into space. The problem of space junk is not going away, and scientists are watching closely.

Danger in Orbit

A "satellite" is any object that orbits another object, held close by gravity. The moon is a satellite of the Earth, and the Earth is a satellite of the sun. These are natural satellites. Manmade satellites, which are built on Earth and launched into space, are used for communications, scientific studies and military applications.

In the last 50 years, human beings have launched thousands of artificial satellites into space. When a satellite stops working, it usually falls back toward the Earth and burns up in the atmosphere. Satellites at high altitudes, however, sometimes remain in Earth's orbit.

Later, they may fall apart or explode into thousands of smaller pieces. The higher the satellite, the longer it stays in orbit, and the more likely it is to break apart. The pieces may stay in orbit for years, decades or even centuries.

At the NASA Ames Research Center, scientists simulate what would happen were a tiny piece of space junk to hit a spacecraft.

NASA

Space junk races around the Earth at breakneck speeds. Most pieces fly through space at more than 20 times the speed that sound travels on Earth. Going that fast, even the smallest pieces mean big trouble for spacecraft. For example, a tiny marble in orbit around the Earth can have as much energy as a bowling ball going 500 miles per hour, or a car going 30 miles per hour.

A tiny fleck of paint struck and cracked one window of the space shuttle Challenger while it was in space in 1983. The shuttle returned to Earth safely from that mission.

NASA Johnson Space Center

In 1983, a small gouge appeared in one window of the space shuttle Challenger while it was in space. When the shuttle returned to Earth and scientists analyzed the window, they found that the crack was caused by a tiny, orbiting fleck of paint. If the shuttle had been struck by a larger piece of junk, the astronauts may have been in danger.

Many other satellites and space shuttles have also shown damage from tiny pieces of trash. When the space shuttle Endeavour returned to Earth last August, its radiator panels had small holes from space garbage. Last year, two satellites had to be redirected to avoid collisions with big pieces of junk.

The U.S. Space Surveillance Network and NASA work together to keep track of the largest pieces. When the shuttle is in orbit, for example, their attention is on nearby junk that may get in the way. If there is even a small chance of a collision, then the shuttle changes direction.

Watching the garbage

About 17,000 pieces of garbage are larger than 4 inches, which is slightly smaller than a softball. The Space Surveillance Network keeps a list of all these pieces, using dozens of telescopes and antennas on Earth and in space to watch them. Because all the pieces are in motion all the time, keeping track is difficult (but not impossible).

Monitoring the space junk is a problem of energy and motion. To keep track of the junk, the scientists have to know two things: where the garbage is now, and where it is going to be in the future.

This antenna, located in the Mojave Desert, California, can use radio to detect tiny pieces of junk, if they're not too high.

NASA Johnson Space Center

To find out where a piece is now, scientists use telescopes and high-powered antennas to watch it fly through space. Every day, scientists must make sure each piece is where they expect to find it. A "lost piece" could mean serious danger for a working satellite or space shuttle.

To find out where the piece is going, scientists measure its speed and direction as it crosses the sky. Some of the pieces move in an almost perfect circle around the Earth. Other pieces move in elliptical orbits, which means they are sometimes closer to Earth and sometimes farther as they fly. The measurement of direction is complicated because junk can move north or south, east or west, and up or down.

By knowing the location, speed and direction of each big piece of junk, the scientists can predict where all the pieces will go. (Similarly, in baseball, an outfielder has to predict where a pop fly will land, if she wants to catch it. In soccer, a goalie has to predict where a ball will go, so he can block it.)

"We're always looking about four days into the future, tracking objects which might come close," says Johnson.

There are tens of millions of pieces smaller than softballs. Because there are so many small pieces, "We can't [keep track] of them all," Johnson says. Instead of watching each piece individually, scientists use telescopes and antennas to watch one patch of sky and count the number of pieces that pass overhead. With that small measurement, they can use a computer program to get a good idea of what the whole sky looks like.

Keeping track of all the junk is necessary to ensure that astronauts and working satellites can be safe. Like other environmental problems, space junk will get worse without careful monitoring and attention. In the future, pieces of junk will probably hit each other, making even more trash.

The more garbage that remains in orbit, the greater the risk to space flights. What can be done about the problem of space junk? The large pieces of junk cannot be brought back to Earth, Johnson says, because the technology is too expensive. Instead, he says, we should try to stop adding new garbage. For example, engineers are changing the way they build spacecraft.

"How you build your satellite can minimize debris," Gambrell says.

A solution will require international cooperation. Last year, the United Nations General Assembly approved guidelines for how to reduce the risk of space junk. Johnson says that spacefaring countries came together because "the environment was getting worse every year."

If countries work together to control the amount of trash we send into space, Johnson says, we can keep the problem under control. In the future, perhaps we can even clean up the mess.

"In time, either technology or economics will allow us to go out and [improve] the environment," he says.

Stephen Ornes lives in Nashville, Tenn., and his family has two rabbits, six chickens and a cat. He has written for Science News Explores since 2008 on topics including lightning, feral pigs, big bubbles and space junk.

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Each white dot represents an individual piece of tracked orbital debris. This image shows the Low Earth Orbit, which is the region from the Earth's surface to 1,240 miles and contains the most space junk. NASA Johnson Space Center On a clear night, you can look in the sky and see the moon and stars.

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Trash . . . . . In Space? has 563 reviews and 0 ratings. Reviewer shashplay wrote: "Thank you this is so helpful for my 5 grade research 😇"

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Owl attacks on Dutch town- Residents in the northern Dutch town of Purmerend have been advised to take umbrellas out at night after a series of attacks by an owl. Dozens of residents have suffered head injuries over the past three weeks because of a European eagle owl. Two runners were attacked on Tuesday, with one requiring stitches for five separate head wounds. The European eagle owl's usual prey are small mammals and birds. One of the sites of the attacks has been a home for the disabled. A Spokeswoman for the home said that residents and workers had suffered at least 15 separate attacks by the nocturnal bird, which remains still on site. During the day there is no problem for the town, but at night people now only go outside armed with umbrellas, helmets and hats, to protect themselves.

Animals rescued from overcrowded zoo in Mexico- More than 100 animals have been rescued from an overcrowded private zoo in Mexico, after complaints from visitors. Mexican environmental officials raided the zoo after many visitors had complained about the potential danger. The officials found overcrowded and cramped cages piled on top of each other and unsafe conditions for visitors. Among the animals rescued were lions, tigers, jaguars, pumas, bears, buffalos and camels. The zoo in Tehuacan in the south east of Mexico City is owned by Sergio Gomez (senior Mexican politician). Officials said they had seized 101 of the 240 animals held at the zoo.their hands into the cages. However the officials say they are trying their hardest to find suitable homes for the animals.

The animals were kept in terrible and unsafe conditions and lacked proper care and had no proper ventilation, the animals were cramped together which was making the animals aggressive. Visitors were also not properly protected and said that they could insert

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Why Zoos Matter

We at the Saint Louis Zoo are passionate about the work we do. We not only care about the work we're doing, we are fostering animals that are threatened or endangered and supporting their perpetuation into the future.

Making a Difference

The world around us is changing fast. Species of wildlife are facing global extinction on a massive scale. About 41 percent of all amphibian species and 26 percent of all mammals are now threatened with extinction, and fully half of the world's primates - our closest relatives - teeter on the edge of existence. We face the loss of one in eight of all bird species. Overall, the extinction rate has increased a hundred-fold over the last century, and today we estimate that over 18,000 species face oblivion. Zoos are in a unique position to make a difference. Zoos are focused on offering the very best possible nutrition, enrichment and environment for animals in their care.

The many committed people at zoos care deeply about animals, working with an incredible variety of species, from one-celled creatures to elephants. Our research on behavior, reproductive biology, nutrition, animal health and genetics is valuable to wildlife managers, field researchers and other scientists.

For example, the Saint Louis Zoo has been doing a mother/infant bonding study with antelope and other hoofed animals at Red Rocks for 14 years. The data we've gathered - how often and when a species typically nurses, who initiates nursing, proximity, grooming, nuzzling - has provided information to field researchers that would be hard to come by otherwise.

We are animal experts

Zoo professionals are experts on breeding small populations of endangered species. That knowledge, too, has become valuable to scientists working with wildlife populations. Nowadays animals in wild habitats are often found in small, fragmented groups because of agriculture, logging or other human activity.

We collaborate with organizations worldwide on conservation breeding, habitat preservation, community development, public education and research.

Explore our conservation efforts

From Fence to Field

In 2004, the Saint Louis Zoo established the WildCare Institute to work in conservation hotspots locally and around the globe.

From Forest Park and Missouri streams to the Horn of Africa or the coastline of Peru, the Zoo is taking a holistic approach to wildlife conservation. While the Zoo has been involved in helping save endangered species for decades, our goal today is create a sustainable future for wildlife and for people around the world. Ultimately, we need to help save the ecosystems on which animals and humans depend. WildCare Institute addresses three key ingredients in conservation success: wildlife management and recovery, conservation science, and support of the human populations that coexist with wildlife.

Connecting people to animals

People learn at zoos. They learn in our formal classes, lectures, camps, teacher workshops, distance learning, zoo tours, overnights and outreach programs. Informally they learn from keeper chats, docent volunteers, interpreters, signage and special exhibits. Most important, they learn from observing zoo animals.

On a scale of 1 to 10, our visitors rate their educational experience at the Saint Louis Zoo as a 9.1.

Unique Experiences.

Zoos are a place where families can have unique experiences together every time they visit. Today's families are more conscious than ever of the need to teach their children about the natural world and respect for living creatures.

Why do people come to the zoo?

Why do zoos matter?

Because we care.

We want to keep this planet's amazing wildlife around for future generations.

Donate to our Conservation Fund

If you'd like to contribute financially to our conservation efforts, you can make a donation through the Saint Louis Zoo.

Learn more

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The Saint Louis Zoo is dedicated to saving species and bringing people and wildlife together. Home to over 16,000 animals, many of which are endangered, entry is free every day for everyone, an important part of our commitment to people and animals - always.

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Costa Rica To Close Its Zoos And Release Animals Into The Wild

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The silky anteater, shown here, could be climbing trees in its native forests soon.

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Bei Bei (bay-bay) the giant panda is now over 60 pounds-and growing! But he wasn't always so giant. The one-year-old cub, which lives at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was about the size of a stick of butter when he was born. Cared for by zookeepers and his mom, Mei Xiang (may-SHONG), Bei Bei has spent the last several months going through a major growth spurt.

At birth Bei Bei was blind, furless, and weighed less than a third of a pound. Within 48 hours, white fur began to grow on parts of his wrinkly skin. Two weeks later, dark fur started cover the rest of his body.

Up until then, Bei Bei's mom had been cuddling with the infant almost nonstop to keep him toasty. But Bei Bei's new coat kept him warm enough to allow Mei Xhang to slip out of her den for food breaks. Mei Xhang was never gone for long though. Whenever Bei Bei called out, she quickly returned to nuzzle or nurse the infant.

Bei Bei is now in basic training, learning to come when keepers call to him. Next he'll master standing, lying down, presenting his paws, and opening his mouth on command-all actions that will make it easier for veterinarians and zookeepers to give Bei Bei checkups.

Before long the cub will stop drinking his mother's milk and eat nothing but bamboo. But even as he grows, he'll stay with his mom for another two years. By the time he's four years old, Bei Bei will weigh about 250 pounds. At that point he'll move to a panda reserve in China, where he'll enter a breeding program to help his species survive. No wonder this panda is such a big deal!
Text from "Exclusive: Watch Bei Bei the Zoo Panda Cub Grow Up" by Jennifer S. Holland for National Geographic News, adapted by Allyson Shaw, NG Staff

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See pictures and read about Bei Bei the giant panda cub on National Geographic Kids.

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Newsela | Argentine court's ruling gives basic human rights to captive ape at zoo

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It was the first ruling of its kind. The orangutan, named Sandra, was living in a cage at the Buenos Aires Zoo for the last 20 years. Experts must find her a new home away from the zoo.

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Aquariums support conservation and promote education through meaningful encounters
By Bruce Carlson
I am seated in front of a massive window that holds back 6.3 million gallons of sea water at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. It's a Thursday afternoon and about 125 people are in this gallery, including several dozen children seated on the floor, mesmerized by the amazing creatures just on the other side of the glass. We are watching two whale sharks being fed while a narrator explains that they are plankton feeders. The kids are enthralled; not only by the whale sharks, but also by the thousands of other animals they have access to in these exhibits. During the past five years, more than 11 million people have had this same experience. I am certain that more than just one of the millions of children who have been here will decide to dedicate their lives to marine biology and conservation as a result of their trip to the aquarium.

Scuba Diving readers are among the lucky few who have seen and interacted with the magnificent creatures that live in the ocean. An even smaller group has had up-close encounters with the largest animals in the sea: whales, dolphins, whale sharks and manta rays. These encounters are unpredictable and brief, yet they are experiences that make a lifelong impression on the people who have them. And not only does the sport of diving require specific training and physical prowess, the trips to dive in the places where these most interesting creatures live cost a considerable sum. Airfare, boat charters, gear rentals and more make these encounters a luxury many people cannot afford. But thanks to places like the Georgia Aquarium, the thrill of seeing a whale shark or a manta ray is no longer an exclusive experience, but rather an accessible encounter for the masses.

What aquariums and zoos do best is help bring people and animals closer together. And the more we learn about animals, the more we care about them and their environments. So how could a place like this not encourage people to be active in the conservation of these creatures? As I write this, I can see the impact of this tremendous educational and empowering experience in the eyes of these young children.

But the impact goes beyond education. The revenue generated from guest attendance at many zoological parks and aquariums around the world is used to support research and conservation. For instance, the Georgia Aquarium has provided research grants to scientists in the U.S. and Mexico to document the aggregation of whale sharks that appears each year off the town of Holbox on the Yucatan peninsula. From 2003-2010, more than 700 whale sharks were tagged and photographed, and over many years this data will give us a good understanding of population dynamics of whale sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Aerial surveys funded by the aquarium have also contributed valuable data on where to establish boundaries for the new Whale Shark Biosphere Preserve created in Holbox in 2009. The new preserve will help protect whale sharks from possible exploitation and ensure that their food supply -- plankton and fish eggs -- is not endangered from pollution.

This is just one example of how aquariums give back to nature. Over from 2005-2010, aquariums and zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums provided nearly $89 million to more than 3,700 conservation projects all over the world. These programs for species ranging from tiny Banggai cardinal fish in Indonesia to great white sharks off California to beluga whales in Alaska are giving the animals a better chance to thrive in the wild.

When people ask me whether or not large animals, like whale sharks, should be kept in aquariums or zoos, I tell them to ask the children at the aquarium that day. I am sure they would give you a resounding "yes." The awe they are feeling will turn into appreciation and respect for living creatures they might otherwise have never known.
Bruce Carlson was the Chief Science Officer at the Georgia Aquarium from 2002-2011. A diver since 1967, he is also the former Director of the Waikiki Aquarium in Honolulu.
Large Marine Animals Do Not Belong in Bath Tubs
By Kim McCoy
Captive marine animals are often referred to as "ambassadors for their kind," as though they have some choice in the matter or this is somehow a noble pursuit. My question is always: What did these innocent beings do to deserve the extreme trauma of a potentially lethal wild capture (yes, these still happen routinely around the world) followed by a life sentence in a liquid prison that is unnatural in every conceivable way; an environment rife with stress, boredom, frustration of natural instincts, forced human interactions, increased mortality rates and decreased quality of life? Wouldn't they be much better ambassadors in the wild?

With startlingly few exceptions, most aquariums worldwide (and certainly entities such as casinos and marine "abusement" parks) exist exclusively for the purpose of generating profits through commercial exploitation. Animals are regarded as expendable commodities, high death and illness rates are anticipated costs of doing business, and the underlying message is that confinement of animals for profit and human entertainment is acceptable.

While nearly all aquariums attempt to justify this exploitation under the guise of conservation, education and research, only a tiny percentage actually conduct legitimate conservation programs. Even then, the money spent on conservation represents a fraction of the overall income generated off the backs of these animals and begs the question: Wouldn't the money spent finding ways to keep animals alive in artificial environments be better spent solving conservation issues in their natural habitats in the first place?

The standard argument is that aquariums are necessary because they educate people and create awareness of the plight of wild animals, resulting in a call to action. But there is no solid evidence that viewing captive animals translates directly into any sort of practical conservation action. To the contrary, viewing animals in unnaturally small, often chlorinated enclosures desensitizes people to the cruelty inherent in their removal from the wild. It encourages the false notion of animals in isolation that are dependent upon humans for survival, rather than integral elements of ocean ecosystems that are fully competent to care for themselves. More important, it discourages the correct view of marine animals as sentient beings with their own intrinsic value, deserving of the right to live their lives free from human interference.

Aquariums and the research conducted therein teach us nothing of migratory or foraging patterns, actual life spans or complex natural behaviors exhibited by large marine animals in the wild. How, for example, is a young child supposed to learn, by looking into a concrete and Plexiglas enclosure only 30 feet deep, that whale sharks routinely dive to almost 5,000 feet? That child sees an animal swimming in endless circles. Whale sharks can live for up to 150 years in the wild, yet we applaud facilities that can keep them alive for three to 10 years in captivity, as if that is somehow an accomplishment.

No man-made enclosure can adequately simulate the tides, the biodiversity, or the sheer vastness and freedom of the open ocean in order to meet the complex physical and psychological needs of large captive animals. Enclosures are designed for human convenience and comfort, not the animals' well being, and even the best-designed enclosures frustrate and confuse critical senses relied upon in the wild for navigation, danger avoidance or locating prey, such as dolphin echolocation or a shark's ability to detect and interpret vibrations and electrical activity.

While it is legitimate to conclude that some facilities are more or less damaging than others, the lives led by large captive marine animals are so contrary to the natural experiences of their wild counterparts - and the purported benefits of confinement are such a stretch - that it is simply unforgivable to keep these animals in captivity.

Wouldn't we all be much better off funneling the billions of dollars spent supporting commercial captive enterprises into learning about our oceans through more compassionate and accurate means, such as observation in the wild (with responsible operators), virtual reality simulations, books, DVDs and/or IMAX theatres? Don't we owe it to our children, to the animals and to our planet to move forward in a way that inflicts no harm?
Kim McCoy is the Executive Director of Big Life Foundation, and was the Director of Campaigns for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a nonprofit organization specializing in international ocean wildlife conservation, from 2007-2009. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com Editor's Note: This story was originally published in Scuba Diving magazine in 2010.

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Should big marine animals like killer whales and whale sharks be kept in aquariums or at parks like SeaWorld? Two experts debate the pros and cons.