Dec 19 2009
I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Happy Holidays. However you spend this time of year, spend it well. Enjoy family, friends, travel and make time for yourself!
As for me, I’m off to New Zealand to explore, experience, meet new people. I’ll leave you with a great quote,
When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.
Susan Heller
Dec 03 2009
Today our class watched a portion of BBC’s Planet Earth series called Saving the Species. We only watched the first 20 minutes, and in just that amount of time, we had lots of questions, reactions, thoughts, feelings, learnings about the video.
Our class came up with a variety of responses which you can see below:
• Elephants are being poached for ivory, meat, clothing
• Surprised how scientists in the past used toads for research
• Don’t understand how people are proud to poach animals
• Can humans become extinct?
• Half of the world frogs are endangered—shocking
• If they disappear…what are the implications?
• Humans are both making problems and trying to solve them
• Ibex are going to become extinct because of their habitat they live in
• What will earth look like in 50 years?
• We need to think ahead–think of our future
• I wonder how long it will take until all tropical habitats are gone?
• People in the Ethiopian war were eating animals (Ibex)
• This is sad that these animals are being killed
• If people know it’s bad, why are the animals still being killed?
• Why do poachers kill animals? Are they that desperate for money?
• Surprised that the soldiers would kill and eat the Ibex. Why not other animals?
• How might animals that are dying, affect the earth?
• Half of the world’s amphibians vanished—even though they are small, it will make a big impact on the world
• Why must humans ignore the warnings? (money? We’re more important? Don’t care? Maybe we don’t see it as that big of a problem? I’m not going to be around much longer, so why should this matter to me?)
Ridge brought up a great question, which is the last bullet: Why must humans ignore the warnings? I’ve asked the students to reflect on this: