Embedded Files
The
Happy Trumpet
Spring, 2024 4th Edition
Brookline,MA, USA Estd:October, 2022 Keep Club Official
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WRITTEN AND EDITED BY: FRANCESCO M. CARRATELLI, ADEN HOCHBERG, NOAM K. KASHER, DANIEL KHATCHATRIAN, COLEMAN D. COOK, IZZY LU & ARCHER.
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Dear Readers,
Here at the Happy Trumpet we hope when you read these articles your mind will alter to a state of hope and happiness. In the Happy Trumpet you will learn about good environmental news happening locally, in the United States and beyond.
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With graduation right around the corner, we asked two eighth grade members of the KEEP Club about their experience in the club over the years.
The first person we asked was Hannah Lee. She joined the club because of Francesca Stark’s vigorous science lessons about flora and fauna, but she added that her family's positive experience with nature also influenced her.
While in KEEP she got busy working on a very difficult project dedicated to right whale entanglement. After about 6 months of research, she published an article on this topic in the Brookline High School environmental newsletter: Greenzine.
She was also part of a KEEP Club video asking the Brookline government to enforce the Brookline Tree Preservation Bylaw. Seeing that the video was one of the key factors in obtaining success, she really feels like she has made a difference. She also feels like Keepers support each other in the club.
Both Hannah and Cecilia Benitez strongly encourage people to join this afterschool commitment. Cecilia also feels that the KEEP Club was a big part of her Driscoll life, as she carefully explains that not only did she join KEEP for environmental reasons, but also social reasons (as there is a lot of socializing in KEEP).
“After I joined the KEEP Club, instead of just an eighth grade community it became more like a Driscoll community,” Benitez said.
Cecilia also talked about the importance of the new tree by law video. Cecilia also took time to share information about her long lasting project on fast fashion and how this problem can be addressed. Like Hannah, Cecilia wrote and published an article in Greenzine magazine. She wrote about fast fashion
“It was nice to become a community under one shared value,” Lee said
This quote embodies the love and support that the members have for the KEEP Club. We hope they will continue their dedicated work together with others to keep our environment protected.
The Guardians of the Great Canadian Ecosystem
By: Francesco Malcolm Carratelli
Canada. A Nation of beautiful cities and natural wonders; this country is home to many large communities of indigenous Canadians. One of these communities is running a project that not only will tighten bonds between their community and other Canadians, but will also help their homelands ecosystem. This organization that leads this project is called the Nagadjitòdjig Akì (Na-ga-jE-do-jEk okE) Guardians. This organization mixes indigenous knowledge and “western science” (science that is taught in the average school/university) to understand if their land is being abused, as of unlawful activities.
These guardians collaborate with the government to patrol the Ottawa River and other rivers in the province of Québec to see if there have been any contaminations by the local factories and businesses. To correctly scan the quality of the water, the organization uses certain devices to measure its PH level (the amount of acidity or basicity in a substance), temperature, and its conductivity over the period of one year. These guardians not only check if certain rivers are contaminated, another part of their mission is to examine the moose habitats in Québec. They have been doing this lately because there has been a rapid decrease in the moose population. As they have been observing this decrease, they have reported to the province of Québec information about this crisis. At first, the province rejected their claim because they had no proof, but then they took notes on this case, and used drones and helicopters to document how many moose they found in their pack, along with their gender. Now with all of this proof, the province of Québec can recognize this example of overhunting. These projects are not the only ones led by the Nagadjitòdjig Akì Guardians, as they are conducting studies on the decline of the Butternut trees, which live on the east side of both Canada and the USA.
There are many accomplishments of the Canadian government achieved with the help of indigenous organizations. The BBC article sayed “The federal government has committed to protecting 25% of Canada's oceans, land and freshwater by 2025 and working towards 30% by 2030, in line with the global goal of protecting 30% of the Earth by that year.” This quote points out how the Canadian government is listening to the Native Canadian organizations and paying attention to the needs of our world's environment. The Canadian government has also decided that every donated Canadian dollar in these indigenous programs will be used to fund cultural, economic, social, and most importantly environmental benefits. There are more enlightenments created by indigenous organizations, like the one happening in Northern Manitoba, which consists in the protecting of a natural beauty in these Arctic waters, they made it so it will become a “national marine conservation”.
In conclusion, I think these organizations will continue to flourish and grow as indigenous land around the globe is only 20% of the worlds land, this 20% owns 80% of the world's current biodiversity; and as Cortois sayed (an indigenous leader who got interviewed in by the BBC), “‘What really matters is our relationship with those places.”’
How Can Bluemethane Save Our Ozone Layer From Methane Emissions?
By: Francesco M. Carratelli & Daniel Khatchatrian
Source: BBC & Bluemethane.
Methane, commonly found in water, and gases produced by cows. This is a main ingredient in greenhouse gasses, which is one of our earth’s ozone layer’s main threats. It is eighty times more vigorous than CO2. Will this crisis ever stop?
Hydroelectric dams are one of the biggest emitters of methane, this is a growing problem as methane emissions harshly impact the warming of the Earth. Methane is an example of greenhouse gas, another more well known gas is the “super famous” carbon dioxide. As methane is commonly found in disturbed water which can cause great damage to the locals of towns that are close to hydroelectric dams or close the lakes with greatly disturbed waters. Like Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda which has an alarming history of explosions and fires. It might seem a little weird that a lake can catch fire but it is the truth. With too much methane in the lake, the lake can literally erupt. So stopping methane emissions and capturing this gas would have a good conclusion… right? The answer is yes, as it would save loads of humans and animal lives, especially in the case of Lake Kivu. Rwanda relies on the fish in the lake as an important source of food.
As always there are people who want to take action and in this case it is an organization called Bluemethane. The goal of this firm is to capture methane straight from the water with special vacuums, and later transform it into renewable energy. On the website they refer to this efficient method with three words: Measure, Capture and Generate. With all the methane in our waters people will get a large amount of renewable energy. The two co-founders, Louise Parlons Bentata and Néstor Rueda-Vallejo are currently working on Bluemethane projects at Lake Kivu and other lakes in South Asia.
If you want to learn more about this topic read Bluemethatne’s Blue Book and remember, like Louise B. Bentata said: “Methane suffers from relatively low awareness, especially next to its carbon dioxide cousin, yet it could be our biggest opportunity to rapidly address climate change.'' So let's all follow the trail that leads us to the end of methane emissions… the Bluemethane trail.
The Cleanup Crew
By: Daniel Khatchatrian Source: Daniel Khatchatrian, Lis Wolfsen & Litter Brigade
At the Driscoll school, the area is pretty trashed but no worries we have a cleanup crew aka litter brigade which we talked about in a previous article but I’m going to go into more detail this time.
As mentioned before, the cleanup crew is part of our school’s environmental group the K.E.E.P. club, led by Francesca Stark. Now back to the cleanup crew. The cleanup crew is a group that is led by Lis Wolfson. Every Thursday during K.E.E.P. club, they go outside the Driscoll School and clean up trash and help our environment. We get lots of trash left on the sidewalk and around the school every week. Every member helps out, and they really improve the community by doing so. In a sense, cleaning up so much trash is good but in another sense it is very bad, because it shows that there is a bunch of litter in our world. For further information, we did a radio interview with Ms. Wolfson, asking her many questions about her experience with the cleanup crew and general cleanup crew information.
Transcription:
Francesco: Hi everyone. In this interview, I'm going to interview Liz Wolfson, who is a member,
a very important member of the Keep Club, who we've talked about before. And she is the
leader, of the litter brigade, which is a program of the Keep
Club that goes outside of the Driscoll School and picks up trash.
Okay, Daniel, take it away.
Daniel: Okay, what is the daily routine of someone in the leader brigade?
Wolfson: So in the leader brigade,we try to get outside as quickly as we can during Keep Club, and we walk around with trash picker uppers and/or gloves, and walk the perimeter of the building and pick up all the trash that we see, put it in a bag, and then throw it out.
What's your big motto?
Last year we did have a motto. Daniel, help me remember. We put it on a poster. Remember when we found all those masks? We made a good rhyme. I don't remember it. All right, it'll come back to us. Okay, come back.
Why do you do the liter brigade? What inspired you?
Wow, that's a good question. So I was inspired to join Keep Club after I retired so that I could keep working with Miss Stark. And when I got to Keep Club, there were a lot of children in the room. You remember that last year? How crowded it was? And I wanted to be there, but I couldn't just be in the room listening to all the noise. So I thought, let's get outside? And there were a bunch of guys that were already doing this. I didn't start it. I was like, I'm joining them. They go outside every day. And so that's how I got going. And Miss Stark, it was helpful to Miss Stark because sometimes when other people see a bunch of kids outside without a grown up, they feel a little nervous about it. So this way, there was an official Keep Club grown up who could take the kids outside.
What are the statistics of things you find in the ground?
Yeah. Well, we did collect data last year. And we, I don't have it off the top of my
head, but we definitely every single time we go outside, we find tons of wrappers, especially
after Halloween or any other holiday, lots of those little candy wrappers.
Candy wrappers like plastic cups from fast food places?
Yeah, we found a lot of plastic cups. We found a lot of pencils. We found masks a lot more last year. I don't know if you're finding as many this year, but a lot of masks last year. Those were probably the biggest plastic bags that people bring their snacks and their sandwiches in. Those were probably the biggest categories.
Okay. When did you start working for the cleanup crew?
I started working with the cleanup crew last year, 2022-2023, right? I think I came in the fall. Yeah. Yeah. In the fall.
What are your plans for the cleanup crew in the new school?
So, Ms. Stark and I have discussed that there's not as much yard left right now. So we had taken a walk around the neighborhood and we actually had made a plan that I would take
the litter brigade to the parking lot over by the T. There's Beaconsfield, I think. T-Stop has a
a lot of trash there and it's not like no one is responsible for it in the town. So that was going
to be the plan. We haven't actually gotten there yet this year, but I'm hoping we'll get there soon.
Now that we have some new fifth graders who seem to be motivated.
And what key equipment do you use?
The trash grabbers and gloves. That's the basic equipment you need.
Do you think that we are in need of new equipment? Because our old equipment is falling apart?
Yeah, that's interesting. I am going to pass that question off to Daniel. He's more aware of the equipment than I am. I just hold the trash back. Do you think we need new equipment?
Yeah, the trash grabbers definitely don't close properly and don't pick up trash as perfectly. There's one or two good working trash grabbers and if we get new trash grabbers it will probably make our daily routine a lot faster.
Great.
Okay. What is your absolute favorite thing about being in the cleanup crew?
Being outside.
Yeah, me too. What are the difficulties of being part of the cleanup crew?
Well, for me as a grown up one of the hardest things is not knowing everyone very well. So
it was nice last year because we had a group of kids that we worked through the whole year and I
got to know them and they got to know me and it felt very comfortable. Yes, that makes it a little
hard because I'm not really a teacher here and you know it's hard to sort of know like how much
I should let them run around and how much I should be like, no guys come here come here.
So that's been the hardest part but I figured it out somewhat mostly don't you think?
Okay, well that's all the questions for today and thank you.
Francesco: Yeah, thank you so much.
Wolfson: You're welcome. Pleasure.
So one of our posters had these two models on it. All we ask, don't litter your mask.
And at the top of the poster it said cover your face, not the ground.
These models are really good.
What we found out was a lot of interesting pieces of information about her feelings and beliefs towards the cleanup crew and the K.E.E.P. club, and why she started doing this amazing work to help that environment. This was really interesting for us and I hope it will be for you too. This interview highlights what it is to be part of the crew and how their duties get terminated with quality and precisement. This interview also points out that for Lis Wolfson, a woman that doesn’t get paid to help this non-profit organization gives her best effort to help the environment.
How Is The E.P.A Fighting the Pollution In The U.S.?
Written By Isabelle (Izzy) Lu
The U.S. government’s international environmental organization, the E.P.A. - also known as the Environmental Protection Agency is currently working on the reduction of pollution, though the official name for this act is called the Pollution Prevention Act. Throughout the E.P.A.’s regulations regarding pollution limits and their history, the E.P.A. in 1990, started the Pollution Prevention Act. Although more recently, in the year of 2024, the E.P.A. publicly announced that all coal-burning power plants must reduce 90% of their greenhouse pollution by 2039. However, this proposal is fairly new, their new proclamation, the date for the reduction was primarily due for one year earlier than proposed before this. Initially, the declaration made a few years ago stated that they must reduce pollution by 2040. Many climate change activists greeted the idea and timeline with warmth, though many coal executives stated that the standards would be unachievable before 2039. President Biden and the E.P.A. are in an attempt to reach this goal by 2039.
In addition to this desired result, there are many more pronouncements that have been made with relation to the new limits on greenhouse gas pollution, including restraints for discharge of mercury - mercury is especially known for being in old thermometers. Other rules include the limit of the seepage of toxic ash and lignite coal. Lignite coal is the lowest grade of coal with the least amount of concentrated carbon.
Both of the largest contributors to pollution are transportation and electric power. But what happens when 90% of that is gone, or made in a different way? The Avon Lake coal plant is being demolished. The Avon Lake coal plant generates 400,000 horsepower. 400,000 horsepower is equivalent to the power of 4,000,000 people. The coal plant provides water to most households in Avon Lake. Other coal plants have to limit the amount of pollution, but how? There are only a few ways. For example, switching coal with ammonia, which is a chemical compound of hydrogen and nitrogen. Ammonia is also known as being toxic to humans, and can irritate the human body. Ammonia can cause itchiness in the throat, damage to the lungs, and immediate burning of the eyes and nose. Results include blindness, lung damage, or death. It is corrosive and is in many cleaning products. Ammonia is more - or less - economically healthy for the planet. In some ways, it is unhealthy for humans and other animals, but it is more environmentally friendly. However, a better substitute for ammonia is wood fiber logs, made from recycled wood. No new trees are cut down for this fiber, and some manufacturers do make this wood fiber, and the use of the fiber for smaller use of energy substances will make a large impact on the E.P. A.’s attempt to decline coal pollution.
Overall, the E.P.A. 's potent efforts are continuing to limit the pollution. These efforts are hopefully going to be reached by 2039, as labeled as a “great environmental succession” throughout history and within communities. The benefits of this attempt is the great slowing of climate change and global warming. This is one of the only large beneficial steps the E.P.A. or the government has ever taken, and one of the only ones that is actually being followed through. Hopefully, the large impacts of this determination will slow the pace of climate change.
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