7.3.2008

Only 6 school days left including today. Today I got done with my outline I just have half a page to go through. I talked with Mrs. King so I know how to do my thesis and I might start that over the weekend. It will be interesting trying to get a paper done in a week for this especially with Mrs. King not being here next week. We'll just have to see what happens. Wish me good luck and Happy fourth of July everyone.

7.2.2008

Only 6 days of school left not including today. I made some really progress on my outline today. I am on page 8 of 12 notes and everything is running smoothly. I found that when I keep my notes in bullets instead of paragraphs it makes it much easier and quicker to put them in outline format. I will obviously have to go back and fix all of the bullets and such but that can wait until the end I am just consumed with getting the primary work done before making it look pretty.

7.1.2008

Today I worked on my outline. It was slow but I have most of my outline done for number 1. It is pretty easy work just tedious and time consuming.

6.30.2008

Okay I have 9 days of school to get this work done now and here is my thinking. Today I have my notes done I am just going to print them out and work on my outline some more. I started it somewhat over the weekend. I am trying to set up my interviews but so far I am definitely in the 5% of people that say no because I have received two rejections and two other just didn't email me back at all. So I am going local I am going to try to interview Kerry from SCA and see if she can help me at all and possibly some people from my old world but they are going to be really rushed. I have my interview questions already but they are not experts in the area in particular just experts about a few environmental issues so I will just see where this takes me. It's going to be rushed but I hope that I will be done with my outline this week and started on my paper next week.

6.26.2008

Today I worked a little bit on my notes they will be done by tomorrow. I spent a long time speaking with Mrs. King also about how to make an outline and write my paper. I think I will do a topic overview style for my outline. I hope to have it done by Tuesday or so. Needless to say it is going to be an interesting scrammble to get done before I leave. I am also going to be going with the 9th graders on a field trip tomorrow because I am a 9th grade mentor so we will see how that goes as well.

6.25.2008

Today was a good day. I got a lot of note taking done. I finished reading all of my articles I'll upload the notes from them tomorrow. I watched another video of an artist that made a lot of pictures based on the ridiculous way we consume and our disposal of it afterward so I will have some pictures for my presentation or my paper possibly. I also found out many little weird facts that are neat to know. I hope to be done with my notes by Friday in order to get started on my paper a little early I am leaving soon. 18 more days.

6.24.2008

Today I went through the process of taking more notes. I spent most of the period watching a video called The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard. It was interesting and I got a lot of notes out and now I think I understand the process overall a lot better. She helped answer many of my questions.

6.23.2008

I haven't been in class in a while between choir and interviewing. However, today I came back and took some notes and turned in the notes that I didn't have a chance to turn in last week. All in all not a bad day made some progress.

6.18.2008

Today I finished another 20 or so pages of reading for my grad project. A lot of it seemed useless so I deleted most of that stuff. I want to check out this video now though that I think will be very useful information, possibly funny, and probably depressing it is called the story of stuff.

6.17.2008

Today I took notes and read more articles. I found out how to contact people that I want to interview and even started to look at some of the people that I may want to interview.

6.16.2008

Over the weekend I found about 20 pages of notes and filled in my template today. I found a few more articles and started looking up some library books I might want to read for my topic.

6.12.2008

Today I took a gazellion notes. I just read and researched more articles for my topic. I also looked up books that I might check out for my topic. The research is very interesting.

6.11.2008

I finished my proposal today had it approved and uploaded it. I am starting to really crack down on my notes. I am getting some done but I still need to do a lot more on the notes front I still don't feel as though I am getting that much done.

6.10.2008

Today I focused on writing and perfecting my proposal my ideas are finally starting to take shape. I also got a little work done on my notes I think I am going to have to work outside of class on my notes I feel like I am so far behind on them.

6.9.2008

Today I went crazy taking notes and now I am in the process of uploading them to my notes document. Before that we discussed and started to map out exactly how we are going to attain our tangible product.

6.5.2008

Created my collage today. I think it really expressed the message of my plan it is an open book with a smoke stack on one edge the smoke goes up to the top to read "Consume less, live more" below the smoke is a picture of a zombie with ads all around him telling him to consume below him is a caption saying "Over consumer" then there is an equal sign and three picture on the other side one of a broke man, one of the earth on fire for global warming, and a third labeled garbage mt. which is just what it is a huge mountain of trash. It is very interesting and I think it is done well because the book helps to express the theme that I am trying to educate others about this.

6.4.2008

Today I spent the day finishing up articles and finding more to read. There is a huge section of articles about green being the new black it is crazy. I also talked with Mrs. King about my action plan and discussed a few other programs and how to put my action plan into action. It will be hard but quite an accomplishment if it all works out.

6.3.2008

Today I just read and read and read. I found a lot of notes for most of my questions and finished reading a few articles. Things are on schedule and I hope to write my notes soon.

6.2.2008

Today I created some questions that I am going to need to answer for my action plan. I found a few articles that I am currently reading for my dot jot notes. Pretty simple day.

5.30.2008

Today is Friday. So happy Friday. Today I finished my webliography thank god. I learned how to take notes and have a page set up for note taking now. I have a few links picked out for articles and I found a few good books for my subject that I may want to check out and read. I already know my action plan so when it comes time to have that prepared I am already a step ahead.

My action plan:
I hope to create a curriculum for a green program. The length of the program is still undetermined. Where it will be hopefully in one of the local colleges around Pittsburgh. I want to work with SCA on this so that they could handle the legal aspects of starting a program. Maybe SCA could even provide the teaching staff or recommend the people. I would be the one to work on fundraising issues for the program. I would hold the program in the summer months and they would as part of the program spend the majority of the day doing cleanup projects around the Pittsburgh area so it could be of great benefit to the community. Also the program would give preference to people that aren't from the area and hopefully at no cost to the participant.

5.29.2008

Today I worked on completing my webliography and read quite a few interesting articles in the process. Some of the stats in these articles are really depressing I am sad to say. Today I do not know if it was just luck but the articles I was reading weren't totally opinionated and crappy. They were not blogs.

5.28.2008

Today I found all of the articles and sites for my webliography and then some. I have to read them over night probably and somewhat in class tomorrow write up descriptions and rate them. Overall I am on track though. I am kind of excited though because today I found a short movie clip online that seems to be directly related to my topic here is the link if you want to check it out I am going to watch it tonight.

Link:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

5/27/2008

New York was amazing. We did all of the touristy type things took tours, went to Central Park, and Ellis Island. Not to mention many, many other things like going to China town, touring NBC studios, or running around Times Square. But I think two of the best parts of the trip were playing in the toy store which were huge and going to see the Lion King on Broadway because the play was absolutely astonishing. There were a few downsides like the rainy weather but all in all it was a fun trip.

The work I did on the 27th was just finding articles to write my webliography for. There are plenty of articles just not many good ones. Another big problem that I seem to be running into is that no one seemed to say when they made their articles, when they were last updated, and worst of all many sites don't have authors.

5.19.2008

Today I printed out a collection of articles and began to read and do research for my 10 questions. I started writing out some citations for my webliographies as well. I have yet to find a truly great article on my topic though. Everything I have read so far although it may or may not be from reliable sources is very opinionated which brings down the levels of fact content I can take away from it. Opinions don't help me as much as facts and stats.

5/19/2008

Re: Terms to Know
When I posted my terms to know I did not put definitions so I just wanted to take the chance to define my key terms.


Atmosphere – The mixture of gases surrounding astronomical objects such as the earth. It has a huge role in global warming.
Biodegradable – Capable of being broken down into safe products by living organisms
Biodiversity – The number and variety of organism is a specific region
Carbon Dioxide – Colorless and odorless carbon dioxide is a heavy gas that is produced by burning of objects containing carbon, decaying of a carbon organism, respiration of animals. However, it is used for carbonated drinks, photosynthesis, refrigeration, and fire extinguishers. It is a major contributor to global warming.
Carbon Footprint – Is a popular term for the measurement of the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions directly and indirectly caused by a product/animal
Composting – The process of biodegradable organic matter such as leaves and fruit becoming manure for the improvement of soil structure
Conservation – The act of preserve, protecting, managing, or restoring wildlife and/or natural resources
Erosion – Natural processes such as weathering, abrasion, and corrosion in which material of the earth’s surface is worn away
Global Warming – A substantial increase in the average of the earth’s atmosphere that eventually leads to climate change.
Greenhouse Effect – The process where greenhouse gases present in the earth’s atmosphere trap solar radiation
Hydroelectric – Electricity generated due to the running of water
Invasive Species – An invasive species is a species that does not occur naturally in a specific area, it is a dominant species that out competes the local species and threatens the biodiversity of a specific area
Photovoltaic – Refers to a technology which uses a device such as solar panels to produce electricity when exposed to light

5/15/2008

Today is the opening night of the drama performance but that is side note. The work I accomplished today is that I have all of my questions now as shown below. I have many sub questions or things I would like to research and answer when I talk about those questions in my paper. I also have a growing library of articles to read for each of the questions so I am well on track to writing my paper.

The Big Question from everything below however is How does consumerism/planned obsolescence impact the environment?

1.) What is consumerism?
a. What is planned obsolescence?
b. How do the two relate?
i. Give definitions of the two
ii. Examples
iii. Pics/charts/stats
2.) How did consumerism come to be?
a. Explain history of planned obsolescence. (May be the same as main question)
i. Who thought of it or used it first? Why?
3.) What are the pros and cons of a company using consumerism?
i. Examples of companies using this technique (Relates to 6)
4.) Why are companies choosing to go green? (Macy’s)
i. What are the benefits (Relates to 5)
ii. Explain if it is a fashion statement
iii. Give examples/Pics
5.) What are the pros and cons of consumerism to the average shopper?
a. What are the pros and cons of planned obsolescence to average shopper?
i. Scenarios possibly (Survey on scenarios too)
1. testimonials/real life examples
ii. Pics for the situation
6.) What is the worst company in terms of consumerism/planned obsolescence?
a. What is the worst product in terms of planned obsolescence?
i. Show stats/studies/POLLS
7.) What happens once a product becomes obsolete due to consumerism?
i. Explain about situation with land fills/ dumps (Show pics)
ii. Helps to lead into 8
8.) What programs are out there to combat consumerism?
i. Summary of Local Food
1. History
ii. Summary of Free Cycle
1. History
iii. Any other programs and provide links in paper
9.) Are people aware of consumerism?
a. Show stats from previous studies (Do survey)
b. Explain why or why not
c. Give an example of something a person could do to raise awareness
10.) What can you do personally about consumerism?
i. Explain how to start program/march/club etc.
ii. Give examples
iii. Find more programs or programs that can help boost programs that people might start

5/13/2008

Today I researched my topic to find my 10 questions. I created about 5 and I have a good deal of articles for each of the questions to read more closely when it finally comes time to answer the questions.

5/6/2008

Today I worked on my terms to know. I found a list of about 20 words that I thought would be helpful to know. From there I looked up the proper definitions and reworded them a bit and narrowed down the list to 13 key terms.

5/2/2008

Today's entry: What will you write your research paper about? What area of your topic will you become 'expert' in?

I am writing my research paper on green education and I hope to become an expert on creating a green education program. My research paper will be based largely around finding out some of the programs already existing in green education and find out what type of ciriculum I might want in place with my own program. However, in depth my topic could be talking with the leading experts about what exactly it takes to start an environmental program or a program for kids. For example where to find the funding, what about laws and permit, people to teach the program, not to mention room and board among many other aspects.

5/1/2008

Today I created links for my blogs and began to form my idea for my graduation project more clearly. I have a general idea of what I want to do and now I know somewhat of what I should research in order to reach it. I also have something of a related side project to my graduation project which might turn out interestingly.

4/30/2008

A. I haven't really heard much about graduation projects at school. I know that the seniors are always running around last minute trying to get them done and that they are one of the final deciding factors on if you graduate or not. I know people that have graduated but none of them have finished their grad projects and if they have they are putting quite an effort forth to forgetting that period of their life ever happened. They were part of the group that could not keep up and were rushing around last minute trying to finish everything.

B. I have an idea of what I want to do already which would be to create a program in the summer in which people come from all over the U.S. for an undetermined amount of time and learn some green tips to reduce their carbon footprint in everyday life. Since that obviously would not be enough to fill a whole curriculum by itself I would like to get the chance to have the students go out and do some conservation work in the field. It would help improve Pittsburgh environment, get people out of the house, help address global warming in a small way, and let people meet new people that share similar interests.

C. Some concerns about my graduation project is the cost of it all because I don't want this to cost anything to the participants and the legal aspect of having people join in a program. Not to mention who would teach the students, where they would stay, and if anyone would come.