Monday, May 28, 2012

Emma's PSA had an impact on me the most because it had many facts to prove that deforestation is really effecting us as humans. I also thought her pictures and song choice went very well with her PSA in proving a point. I also like Aubrey's because it was very organized, and it looked professional. She had a nice color sceme, and it wasn't to busy. In all it was pleasent to look at. I also liked Sara's because I thought it was funny, and entertaining. I thought it was a good method to make a cartoon because its east for younger children to follow, and its also funny for adults to watch.
Some PSAs that needed improvement were Alexs, Jeff, and Rivers. Alex's was a vage. It didn't have enough imformation, and it was also a little boring. To improve, he should put a good fitting song, and a couple more facts to really prove a point. Jeff's was good, he just had a couple spelling errors. One thing I liked about Jeff's were the pictures. And last, River. To improve, he could cut down on the text. Every slide was text, and very long text. It was also hard to understand what he was researching, and how it impacted the earth.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Final Project

In this project I wanted to prove that the Japanese kill whales illegally. Tho, I might not have proved it to anyone else, I proved it to myself. The information that was found about the Japanese gives good examples and proof on how they use a loophole in the moratorium ban. The Japanese claim, when they kill whales its for research, but all the whale meat that was supposed to be used for 'research', is sold at a market. The Japanese also kill whales that are endangered, and they kill over the quota. The moratorium ban sends out quotas to whalers. The quotas are determined on if the whale is endangered, or if it can reproduce after the killing has been done. Japan doesn't follow the quotas, they kill any whale that comes in front of the harpoon gun. With the information that I found, it semi relates to the book that I read. The book, "Whales Angels", talks more about how a group of people are trying to stop the whale massacre, and how whalers will do anything to keep whaling. In the book, in one of the chapters, it talked about how the whaling company would even bribe their own country to make them vote in favor of the whalers. At then end of the book, it ended with a conclusion of the whaling has stopped, I guess that's why they call it a fiction book. In reality, whaling has not stopped. Illegal whaling is still going on, and some people are trying to stop them, while others don't even care.
This project had its ups and downs. For the most part it was easy, and interesting, but for the other part it was also frustrating and confusing. It was said in the beginning of this project that I'll be making a presentation about all the information that was found, then a couple weeks later it was said that I wouldn't be making a presentation. I didn't know what I was doing, but I'm just going with the flow. I know that I'm talking to someone about my project, and that gets me excited. one thing that made me disappointed was the person that I e-mailed about my project asking for help, said they couldn't help me. I'm a huge fan of Whale Wars, and they told me they couldn't help me. What a shame that was. I'm also making a PSA about my project. When the PSA is finished I'm sending it to different states where friends and family live. I want my friends and family to show the video around town. I will also be posting it on YouTube and Facebook so that everyone can see what really is going on.
This project also changed the way I look at whaling. I always thought that Japan was the only one that did illegal whaling, but I was wrong. Japan, Norway, and Iceland are all countries that whale. Norway and Iceland whale under an object, and Norway and Japan whale under 'research' permits. My family and I believe very strongly that whaling needs to stop. These whales are going to become extinct, and these beautiful animals are needed on this earth. Whaling needs to end, and I'll do all I can to try to help stop it.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Whos land is it anyways?

Israel is a place of war. Israel is never at peace. This is because there are many different religion's that believe that the land they are living on, or were chased out of, was THEIR land. The children that were being interviewed in this documentary, sometimes only lived 20 minutes or less from each other. The four groups of children being interviewed had different religions from each other. One group was Jewish, but didn't like to be around the "hardcore" Jewish people. The two twins believed that they could all live in peace, and that fighting was unnecessary. One little boy that was being interviewed believed very strongly in his religion, and believed that the people who bombed his grandmothers house and chased them out of their land should die, and that they should be allowed back in their land. In this documentary, there were check points set up through out Israel. Sometimes if you didn't have the right credentials, you were not allowed past that check point, which was usually on a different religions land. But, if you has a certain license plate, you would just be waved through with out anyone looking at pass ports, or birth certificates.
Some of these children, mostly all of them, live in fear each day. They never know is they could be attacked by an opposing religion, or if the army protecting them might start a fight. One child that was interviewed talked about how his young friend was shot by a soldier trying to protect the opposing religion. The two children were throwing rocks, trying to leave their mark for their religion, while the opposing religions soldier shot the child and killed him. On his grave something was written on the tomb stone, saying the child was murdered. The one child being interviewed told us that they only write that certain saying on the tomb stone if that person was murdered.
Their lives are a lot different than ours. In the United States, we have tried to make peace with different religions. Some of us tho, have not. Their are still arguments out there that are saying some religions should not be welcomed on earth. Sometimes the people who don't believe in a religion, or God, are told that they will go to hell. No one knows what religion is correct, or if any religion is correct. We don't even know if theirs a God. So, there is no point in fighting over it. We, as people discriminate against different religions, because they believe in different things. For intense, when we see people wearing turbans we automatically think they are terrorist. Why can't we all just make peace with different religions? In Israel, this poor country is broken up into different parts because of religion. Just think how much easier, safer, and less stressful it would be for children and parents to not have to be afraid of being killed because of the religion they believe in. The war of religion could end, and children and parents could have a safer, and less stressful life. They just need to make peace with each other.