Blog 6 - Midterm

The past week has been quite the ride. I co-organized a rally and march in three day and I still can't believe it happened! On Thursday, March 7, Aidan and I saw a website on Lisa's projector about an international Climate Strike occurring on March 15. We were both excited and wanted to act but were disappointed that there wasn't a San Diego City chapter. On Monday, Lisa Griffins, started an email that included a bunch of interested students and we met that lunch. All of us wanted to do a March on Rosecrans atleast, but when we spoke to Kaleb and Andrew, the idea crossed out. Instead, we decided on hosting presentation either during the school or during the talent show to talk about the impact of climate change and actions individuals can take. On Wednesday, Juniper and I pitched our ideas to the teachers and a few teachers came up and told us that it would be more impactful if we were to just do a strike. An inspiring email from a teacher pushed my group forward and Tessa, Larissa, Hailey and I started getting things ready for a real strike. We printed out posters and made posters. We made social media accounts and got a few HTH teachers to follow us. It was really beautiful. We were working super hard and during lunch to make this a reality. That day I learned about making decisions and seeing them through. I'm a Hamlet; I'm the sort of person that thinks too much about everything and sometimes that can keep things from happening. So I'm learning to make decisions quickly instead of waiting for confirmation from others. I'm so proud of my group and myself for organizing this. So there you go, I give myself an A for working with others. I hope thats all the leadership I need to do this semester lol :).

I was the MC at the Rally that occurred on March 15 in the morning

Juniper, Tessa, and I are being interviewed

I have a lot of energy right now and I'm super excited to make this bigger and perhaps organize beach cleanups, more city hall meetings and hopefully a one-on-one meeting with city council members.

I finally got all the materials for my independent project. I need to find homogenizer tubes in order to grind up the sea grass but I was really stressed and excited last week from the rally/walk so it'll happen after break. Since the semester started, I've done a lot of research and wrote a procedure out. I've read like ten or so research articles. I've talked to Andrew, Jesse and Kalle about their opinions of my project/procedure. Links here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1Xzk69WyWa0Gofx7DQQVslFiuQmXN2TnF

On snorklindg:

I went snorkling for the first time this semester. I was still getting used to the water and the snorkel. This inspired me to learn how to swim and develop skills necessary for scuba. I had my first lesson yesterday Tuesday, March 20. The pool was full of bugs and it was intense, but hopefully the pool will clear out by the next lesson. I'm convinced I might've swallowed a few insect parts uhh...

all geared up to learn basic scuba skills

My art piece at last:

Its a seal with those plastic rings choking it. I took the original picture of the seal, traced it and did some photoshop magic.

Also, look out for a new page with pictures I took this semester and pictures at Anzo Borrego over the weekend! I'm having trouble with the SD card, but I have some really cool macro pictures on the way.

This semester, I also learned how to use the drone. I'm not quite sure how to edit footage but I do have some really cool pictures I can share.

MOOC:

I did a few different courses or lessons that sounded interesting. I watched a video about underwater mining. I was a bit happy that there were a lot of technological hurdles to deep sea mining. I learned that Earth already has a lot of resources on land still. I'm still thinking about consumerism and what it all means. I keep thinking about why and how humans need to make a lot of everything just because recycling isn't profitable. I started learned about the thermohaline cycle it is starting to make sense for a change. Basically with the cycle, cold water dissolves more salt. So cold salty water near the arctic is colder and denser and sinks while the water from the tropics moves above. The cold water then travels and rises again near the tropic. Its like a conveyer belt.

Reflection video: