OB clean up!

On Sunday November 22 a huge beach clean up was held at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach. The clean up was help by Surfrider Foundation and the San Diego Coastkeeper. This was held to cleanup the beaches and keep them clean. The clean up was for about 3 hours long. When arriving to the cleanup the Coasterkeeper scouts had the volunteers sign a release form and sent you out with a piece of paper and a pencil to record the trash you have picked up. They gave out trash grabbers and bags to put the trash in. It seemed they had a good turn out of volunteers. As we started to go out and look for trash it was very

difficult to find any on the beach at all. We decided to go on the near by trails, where we found a good amount of litter on the sides. We found plastics bags to cigarette butts. As we came back to the Coastkeeper booth I asked what their mission was and the representative told me "We balance community outreach, education, and advocacy to promote stewardship of clean water and a healthy coastal ecosystem." Coming my first ever beach clean up was a great experience of community service to keep San Diego clean, and I would suggest everyone to do so.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1214/740533708_e2aa0be1e0_b.jpg

Thanksgiving!

Hmm what am I thankful for this year???
RANDY!
NOTTTT
Just kidding
I am! :]

Three things that I am going to accomplish over break will be

• Take all photos for my photo essay
• Have an almost completed draft of my written essay that can be critiqued
• A final layout for my essay and photos

the h2o project

What are you discovering so far?

I'm discovering so much through this project. I never new that testing water could be done through high school students. By going out and interviewing surfers about what they think about water will also teach me so much about San Diego and our local beaches. Also I'm learning about new types of writing such as a photo essay.

What surprises you about this project?
I didn't think this project was going to take so long and i also thought it would be a lot easier. As I'm finding out by doing this project it is a lot of work. I'm surprised that a lot of beaches that I thought had clean water are polluted and the other way around.


What are your next steps to have a cool product and a great piece of writing?

My next steps are to put as much effort as possible into this project. I think following my calender with help me come up with a cool and great piece of writing.

blog #19

Since the 2008 elections have occurred, our world is going to be different. We now have a president who is African American, the first one in US history. I think that young people had a huge part of this. They realized if they are going to vote, either way one of the 2 candidates was going to make history. The young voters took Obamas side in the election and pushed him to victory. Not too long ago people under the age of 21 couldn't even vote. Now that the age is 18, the young people have put an impact on our world, hopefully for the better.

Young people have also used the power of the Internet to send around videos and articles about the election, witch in most cases, reminded people that they NEED to vote. “Tell Your Mama/Vote for Obama!” This message was being passed around the Internet says NYtimes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/us/politics/08kids.html

H2O project

H2O Project

For my project I will be writing a photo essay. I will be taking pictures in and around OB. Here are some examples of what I would like my photo essay to be like:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1840331_1763289,00.html

• This is a short photo essay but it gets right to the point
• Gives detailed specific information
• Informs but doesn't give to much information to make the reader lose interest
  

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1840459_1763600,00.html

• very specific on what is happening
  
• gives names
• what is taking place
• pictures is also very clear

For my photo essay I will incorporate very specific information that shows what is happing in the picture

Blog #18

Part 1: Election Reflection

I feel very good about the 2008 Presidential election. I think that America made the right decision on Obama. America needed a change and now we have one. I think it is so crazy to be in such a huge part of American History. My hopes for America and my community for the next few years would defiantly to become more energy efficient. I think that if each community tried to do a little something, it could help the world tremendously, and slow down the effects of global warming. Also I would like Prop 8 to legalize gay marriage because I believe very strongly that everyone should be treated equal. My concerns for our community are that we are going to not be energy efficient and keep going like we are and global warming is going to happen faster than predicated.

We have done so much in this class to improve my knowledge of current events. Doing 2 blogs a week on different current events has helped with my learning so much. It also helps when we connect current events to past events. My understanding of politics has never been so strong. I think something that could help my understanding of current events would be to compare too different current events. For example I could choose and event that interests me and compare it to politics. I feel like a have a very strong understanding of current event conversations that take place outside of class. Before this class it would have been like a foreign language to me.

Part 2: H2O Project
Post a highly detailed specific plan to develop your product for the H2O Project. You must post:

a) All resources needed
The Internet
High-resolution camera (I have one)
Visit Ocean Beach

b) All people needed
Local surfers & board shapers:
Tony Staples
Travis Staples (already contacted)
Bird Huffman (already contacted)
Jackson Huffman (already contacted)
Kirk Laracco (already contacted)
Nate Cintas (already contacted)
Skip Frye

c) A detailed schedule for yourself that runs day by day from tomorrow for two weeks.

November 7, 2008: Research water quality of ocean beach

November 12, 2008: Research water quality of OB

November 13, 2008: Find contact information for Skipp Frye/ Take OB pictures

November 14, 2008: Set up appointments for interview

November 17, 2008: Go test water in OB either in school or before school starts/ test water

November 18, 2008: Go over data found in OB

November 19, 2008: Start interviewing

November 20, 2008: interviewing

November 21, 2008: interviewing

November 22 - 30, 2008: Thanksgiving Break

December 1-2, 2008: Make interviews into part of article

December 3-4, 2008: Take pictures of OB

December 5, 2008: Add information to article

Blog #17

H2O Project!

Question #1: Which are the cleanest beaches in San Diego?

Beaches in San Diego have been being monitored for many years. The beaches in San Diego get graded A-F every couple months. "Of the 55 year-round water quality monitoring locations, 96% received good-to-excellent water quality marks. San Diego County’s water quality during the summer dry weather time period was even better, with all of the monitored locations receiving an A or B grade -- even the notoriously polluted beaches at P.B. Point, Mission Bay, and the beaches near the Tijuana River estuary." Only 2 of the 55 locations in San Diego got graded with a fair to poor water quality.

http://sandiego.about.com/od/outdoorrecreatio1/a/beaches2004.htm

On earth911.org, they have information in different beaches in and around San Diego. They remind people on what to look for in a clean beach and give general information on SD beaches.

"We would like to remind the beach going public that:
Beaches with the highest risk of contamination are near flowing storm drain, river, and lagoon outlets.
Water quality at all beaches can be contaminated by urban runoff for up to 3 days following significant rainfall.
Historical monitoring data indicates water quality at most beaches in the county is generally good during dry weather."

http://www.earth911.org/waterquality/default.asp?cluster=1

Question #2: Is the marine life in San Diego being chased away?

Sources are saying that Global Warming is chasing away marine life in shallow waters.

"Oxygen-starved waters are expanding in the Pacific and Atlantic as ocean temperatures increase with global warming, threatening fisheries and other marine life"

http://sdoceans.org/top_about_directors.php

http://repositories.cdlib.org/sio/lib/13/

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2008/05/threatening-mar.html

http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=60630&keybold=ocean%20acidified