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Youth-led climate protests connect students around the globe

Cover photo: "Taking shorter showers won't make a wasteland grow flowers. Do more. Stop corporations from killing our earth," reads the sign from students of Wilson High School in Washington, D.C. Photo by Bridgette Adu-Wadier

by Bridgette Adu-Wadier, 10th grade, TC William High School, Alexandria, Virginia

On Friday, March 15th, hundreds of high schoolers protested for climate change in front of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., joining a global effort of young people from more than 100 countries.

"The rest of the world is suffering, but because it has not been happening on our own land, we have chosen to stay quiet," said Alyssa Weissman, a speaker at the student-led climate strike. "It is time for us to stop watching."

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Youth-led climate protests connect students around the globe | PBS NewsHour Extra

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Cover photo: "Taking shorter showers won't make a wasteland grow flowers. Do more. Stop corporations from killing our earth," reads the sign from students of Wilson High School in Washington, D.C. Photo by Bridgette Adu-Wadier

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Welcome to Bamfield, a coastal community in British Columbia, Canada. Louis Druehl is steering The Kelp Express along the shore. For 51 years, the boat has taken him to Kelp Bay. There, ropes of seaweed are growing beneath the water's surface.

Known as the Kelp Grandfather, 84-year-old Druehl began growing kelp, a brown seaweed, in 1982. Seaweed is his life. He has studied it, farmed it, cooked it, and written an award-winning book about it.

Over the years, Druehl has seen interest in seaweed rise and fall. But as climate change affects the planet, the world is turning to seaweed as a possible solution. "People have discovered seaweed," he told TIME. "They've discovered us."

Super Seaweed

Seaweed can play a huge role in fighting climate change. It is used to create natural fuel and renewable plastics. It helps marine ecosystems thrive. And it absorbs carbon from the environment.

People think of forests as the best defense against climate change. But some researchers say seaweed is a better solution (see "Not Perfect"). Unlike trees, seaweed doesn't need fertilizers or fresh water. It grows faster than trees do. And it doesn't require any land. Katie Lebling is with the World Resources Institute. "When we're planting trees, we need to make sure it does not take away that land from food production," she says. "That is not an issue with seaweed."

Seaweed could also become a key global food source. Many worry about the environmental impact of eating meat. Could seaweed farms provide enough protein for the world? Carlos Duarte, a professor of marine ecology, thinks so. "When you look at how we are going to feed the world population by 2050, in a way that doesn't harm the environment, there is only one pathway," he says. "Seaweed farming."

New Opportunities

In the past decade or so, global seaweed production has doubled. Interest in seaweed as a food source and climate-change solution is booming. In British Columbia, seaweed farming is becoming popular. This means job opportunities, including work for people from First Nations communities, who are among the indigenous, or native, people of Canada. Unemployment has forced many of them to leave the area to find work. "We want people to have a job, so that they can come home," says Larry Johnson, president of Nuu-chah-nulth Seafood, a group that works with First Nations communities.

For thousands of years, First Nations people have farmed on land and in the ocean. "Seaweed farming . . . helps us create economies of our own that with our traditions," Johnson says. "Our role has always been to connect with the land and repair it."

A blossoming seaweed industry could bring jobs to many people, including those who lost work as a result of the pandemic. Druehl's daughter is one of them. He's trying to persuade her to come work with him in Kelp Bay. He says, "I keep telling her we've got a nice kelp business out here!" But even if she isn't interested in the family tradition, there's a long line of seaweed farmers waiting to learn from the Kelp Grandfather.

Not Perfect

Seaweed might fight climate change. But it isn't without its risks. If it isn't harvested, it can rot and release carbon back into the air or water. Growing too much of it could also affect the amount of light that reaches species living deeper in the water. That would be dangerous for underwater ecosystems.

Halley Froehlich is an assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She says seaweed "can be a part of the solution" to climate change, but it's not a perfect solution on its own.

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Welcome to Bamfield, a coastal community in British Columbia, Canada. Louis Druehl is steering The Kelp Express along the shore. For 51 years, the boat has taken him to Kelp Bay. There, ropes of seaweed are growing beneath the water's surface. Known as the Kelp Grandfather, 84-year-old Druehl began growing kelp, a brown seaweed, in 1982.

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On October 11, the Los Angeles Lakers celebrated their victory as the 2020 NBA champions. The team defeated the Miami...

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A 3-year-old Scottish deerhound named Claire won Best in Show at the 2020 National Dog Show, which aired on NBC...

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This is what happened when an Australian city gave trees email addresses

This is what happened when an Australian city gave trees email addresses

Assign to Google Classroom

They provide shade and air to breathe. Not to mention an undeniable sense of grandeur. But would you ever write a letter to a tree?

Officials in Melbourne, Australia have discovered that for many, the answer is a resounding yes.

The Guardian's Oliver Milman reported that when they rolled out a program that assigned email addresses to trees. This was in a bid to help identify damage and issues. But what was discovered was that city residents preferred to write them love letters instead.

The city calls it "an unintended but positive consequence" of their attempt to help citizens track tree damage. On their urban forest data site, Melbourne assigned ID numbers and email addresses. They went to each of the city's trees. This made it easier to catch and rehabilitate damaged trees.

Then the emails began to arrive. Milman wrote that instead of damage reports, people wrote fan mail to trees. The writers complimented their looks and leaves. Some told tales of how they'd helped them survive during inclement weather. Some trees even wrote back.

The effort was part of a larger initiative. That was to protect Melbourne's 70,000 city-owned trees from drought and decline.

It turns out Melbournians have always been arboreal enthusiasts. The city council noted that in the 1880s, residents wrote begging for the planting of blue gum eucalyptus trees to "absorb bad gasses" emanating from a nearby manure depot.
Source URL: https://www.tweentribune.com/article/tween56/what-happened-when-australian-city-gave-trees-email-addresses/
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION

What is the benefit of the trees writing back, and how do they do it?

Write your answers in the comments section below

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This is what happened when an Australian city gave trees email addresses

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This is what happened when an Australian city gave trees email addresses This is what happened when an Australian city gave trees email addresses Assign to Google Classroom They provide shade and air to breathe. Not to mention an undeniable sense of grandeur. But would you ever write a letter to a tree?

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When Laura Fritz's felines play with her iPad, her fat cat loses the urge to eat, her scaredy-cat loses his fear and her youngest just loses interest.

If you've had enough time to play with the tablet you got for the holidays, try turning the device over to your tech-savvy cat. Every cat app, no matter the maker, has something for felines to electronically track, stalk or hunt, such as mice, bugs or laser dots.

"Cats are attracted to things that move. And that is the 'magic' for most of the apps," said Dr. Bonnie Beaver. She is a professor at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine. She also is executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.

"The motion in most apps is jerky and quick, much like an insect," she said. Any sound component would quickly be eclipsed by the draw of movement, she added.

Every cat is different. But if they're like two of Fritz's, they will love pawing the screen to catch critters.. That breaks anxious Maxie out of his shell and gives hefty Mr. Brutus a way to exercise, said Fritz. She lives in Waltham, Massachusetts. But they may be like her youngest, Pansy Rose, who couldn't care less.

Maxie and Brutus work together on the app "Paint for Cats." They chase a mouse and leave a trail of splattered paint. That is where they have pawed, rubbed, jumped or made other marks with their movements. Many cat owners see the results as art. The owners like to share it on social media, so the app allows people to email the creations.

It is among three popular apps created by T.J. Fuller and Nate Murray's Los Angeles company Hiccup. The company also features a mouse-chasing game. It's called "Game for Cats" and there's a monster-crushing game dubbed "Catzilla."

There are several cat apps on the market. "Pocket Pond" for Android tablets allows cats to follow fish or dragonflies with their paws. Friskies' "Cat Fishing" also taps into the fish theme for Android and Apple devices.

Some people worry about damage to the devices. Claws won't hurt the screen, said Fuller. But nobody has tested for teeth.

Karen Rittmuller of Salem, Massachusetts, found a problem with a bite. She tried to get her calico cat Pixel to live up to her high-tech name. So she downloaded "Game for Cats." Her pet will only stalk, pounce and bite the iPad, so she took it away.

"I did not want the device ruined or her hurt from biting too hard," Rittmuller said.

Even cats at shelters are joining the tech trend. The SPCA Los Angeles received a couple of used tablets two years ago. So the shelter decided to see if any of their homeless cats were budding artists.

Two of them, dubbed Pawblo Picasso and Frida Catlo, created what looked like fuzzy circles. The SPCA turned the "art" into sellable notecards.

Back at the Fritz house, the cats work out their problems with the tablet. The 21-pound Brutus is only motivated by food and refuses to exercise. "Paint for Cats" gets him to move, Fritz said.

"Maxie is scared of everything that moves. But when he's painting, he becomes a different cat ... and really gets into it," she said.
Critical thinking challenge: Source URL: https://www.tweentribune.com/article/tween56/got-cat-there-s-app/Why are tablet-based apps better for cats that desktop-based programs?

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When Laura Fritz's felines play with her iPad, her fat cat loses the urge to eat, her scaredy-cat loses his fear and her youngest just loses interest. If you've had enough time to play with the tablet you got for the holidays, try turning the device over to your tech-savvy cat.