Packaging Scavenger Hunt

Here is a fun challenge. How much aluminum, cardboard, cellophane, foil, paper, plastic, and styrofoam is used to package the foods you eat?

Look through your cupboards and refrigerator. See how many foods you can find with no wrapping, with one wrapping, with two wrappings, and with three or more wrappings. List the foods you find on a chart. Share with me what you find.

FOODS WITH NO WRAPPING: (example: apples, bananas)

FOODS WITH ONE WRAPPING: (example: bread)

FOODS WITH TWO WRAPPINGS: (example: cereal)

FOODS WITH THREE OR MORE WRAPPINGS: (example: microwave dinners)

Plastic Bags in California

Good news! One of our California State Legistators, Loyd E Levine, is trying to make it so you have to pay to use plastic bags. If that is passed, you will have to pay 15cents to use a plastic bag. This is to encourage people to use paper or bring their own bags. This could really help save tooons of oil! Here is a link to his website so you can write to him and tell him you support the idea.

This is Addison, signing off.

Vegetable-based soap vs. Regular soap

This a very important message. Some regular soaps have PETROLEUM. That's really bad. Vegetable-based soaps do not, so they are better for the earth.

Regular soap uses a precious resource, oil. Oil is a non-renewable resource and it is becoming scare. We use oil on a daily basis. Cars,electricity, airplanes,trains,plastics and many more items use oil. The more oil we save the better we preserve our earth.

Petroleum is also toxic. Imagine using petroleum on your dishes where your food goes! Wouldn't you be a lot better off using vegetable based soap?

My mom, after learning about this, said she would switch to using vegetable based soaps and cleaning products. She was also invited to a "healthy home experience" party. She is going to learn about products that are better for the earth. I'll post again about this after the party.

Here is what one soap making company said:
"If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 25 oz petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our 25 oz vegetable based product, we could save 81,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 4,600 U.S. homes for a year!"

Do you want to switch? Tell me if have and how you like it.

This is Addison,signing off until next time. See ya!

Test The Air

Last week my experiment was to test rain water. This week I want to find out what is in the air. You can try this too. Next week we can talk about what we found.

What You Need

A clean wide-mouthed medium-sized jar
Some petroleum jelly

WHAT YOU DO

1. Spread a thin layer of petroleum jelly

2. Take the jar outside and place it in the open air. Make certain that it is away from the sidewalk or playground and at least 3 feet off the ground so dirt will not be kicked into it.

3. Leave the jar outside for 5 days

4. Observe the results and answer these questions:

a. Would you say that the petroleum jelly is slightly dirty, medium dirty, or very dirty?
b. Is most of the dirt you see textile fibers, stone dust, wood-dust, or tire dust?

Acid Rain Experiment

This weekend it rained 3 1/2 inches here in Pasadena. We did an experiment to see if the rain water was acidic or polluted. We had two rain water samples and one river water sample. I tested the pH level of each water sample.

The first night of rain the pH was 6.0.
The second night of rain, the pH was 6.5.
The river water was 7.0 - which is called neutral.
I also tested tapwater which was slightly basic at pH 7.5.

None of the pH levels were harmful.

I think the first night washed some of the pollution out of the air. That's why the second night of rain had a slightly higher pH.

Say Goodbye to Incandescent Light Bulb

President Bush has made a ban on the incandescent light bulb. What does this mean? All incandescent light bulbs have to be gone from the country by 2014. Don’t wait for your incandescents to burn out, change them today to CFLs. CFLs, or compact fluorescent light bulbs, will replace the incandescent bulb. CFLs are better for our environment.

What is wrong with the incandescent? Incandescent bulbs are a big waste of energy and are really bad for the climate. I bet you are wondering, why worry? Worry because global warming hurts everyone, including animals. Incandescent light bulbs only last three to four months and 90% of the energy they use is wasted as heat. CFLs are better because their lifetime is five to ten times longer. CFLs also use 75% less energy than the old bulbs.

But CFLs also have bad points. Turning CFLs on and off frequently shortens their life. They also cost more. And they have small amounts of a toxic substance called mercury. You cannot throw CFLs away – you must recycle them or take them to places like IKEA who will recycle them for you. Call your trash disposal company to get disposal instructions.

Even though they have problems, CFLs are still worth it! They have more good points than bad points. So kids, next time you are at the store, ask your parents to pick up some CFLs and get replacing your old bulbs today!

Welcome!

This is my blog about what I'm learning about our planet and environment and how I can try to help make a difference.