CUBS' COLUMN MAY 2022
The Voice of Jackson Memorial Middle School
The Rainforest is in Danger, But YOU Can Help!
It’s 2050 and you have to buy oxygen for $100 an ounce. That is what is going to happen if people keep cutting down trees and planting palm trees instead. Well while you are reading this Cub’s Column article trees are being cut down and instead are being replaced with palm trees which are being used for many chocolates and shampoos along with other products. Humans are cutting down trees in rainforests and replacing them with palm trees. They are also being cut down because farmers need space to raise their livestock to make meat. The meat in your refrigerator may be from an area that used to be a rainforest. Use products that are Palm Oil free.
Here are some ways to save the rainforest:
Reduce your carbon footprint- Take the bus home instead of getting picked up.
- Bike to work instead of driving to work.
- It may be a tad bit more expensive but you are saving your home
- It may take time but hosting a fundraiser is the best way to save the rainforest.
- Use social media to tell everyone about your fundraiser
- Spread the word by going to local news channels and telling them your idea to see if they can make a story about your fundraiser.
These are just some of the ways to save the Forest. You can plant trees ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME! 50% of plants and animals consider the rainforest their home. 40% of the air we breathe is from trees in the rainforest. 39 million tropical rainforests were destroyed in 2017 alone. Imagine what it will be like in future years. Then we actually may be buying oxygen for $100 an ounce in 2050. The bananas you eat or the cinnamon in your cinnamon roll is from RAINFORESTS. So in the future those may be “Exotic” foods. Rainforests also provide climate control because of the trees and animals.
Rainforests are being cleared for 4 things:
Coal
Lumber
Livestock
Farms
Sure those may sound important but what will happen to half of the world’s plants and animals living in those rainforests. They will be endangered and lead to extinction. So if we keep cutting down trees and not caring about plants and animals, then we will be the ones suffering because of no food or water. Rainforests play a HUGE role in the environment and help us live our lives easier. So please don’t cut down trees, instead let them grow and provide homes for other plants and animals.
Plastics
Have you ever taken a second to think about how the normal activities we do everyday, really impact the world we live in? If you go for a walk, take a look around. You will almost certainly see plastic cups, plastic bags, cigarette buds, and much more. We took a survey and on question five we put an image of the beach littered with garbage everywhere (see above photo). We asked how much that image bothered them and in the image below you may see the shocking responses. Littering is a huge problem that may be a lot more severe than you thought. It’s actually a huge crisis for our planet.
When you think of litter what do you think of? Maybe plastic bags hanging from tree tops, cigarette buds on the sidewalk, but really littering .::: is much more than that. Littering impacts our community in many ways that you might not notice. Did you know that litter can pollute the air? In the article “In addition to water and soil pollution, litter can also pollute the air. Researchers estimate that more than 40% of the world’s litter is burned in the open air, which can release toxic emissions. These emissions can cause respiratory issues, other health problems, and even be a starting base for acid rain.” (TEXAS DISPOSAL SYSTEMS). But another huge problem that litter causes for the community is that it is a huge health hazard. Just like a dumpster attracts bacteria, rodents, bugs, and more, litter does that too. Not only does littering affect our community and the people in it, it also affects our planet!
Imagine you're in the car with your parent or guardian and you're chewing on a piece of gum, it starts to lose its taste. What do you do? In most circumstances you would crack the window and throw the gum out. But most of the time you probably don’t think about what happens to the gum after it's discarded, it's not your problem right? Wrong. Although Cigerertte buds are the most common form of litter, chewing gum is the second most common. Between 80-90% of chewing gum is not disposed of properly, gum is made from polymers made out of synthetic plastics that are not biodegradable. Aside from it being bad for the plants it is also very harmful to animals such as small birds.“A small bird may choke on an exceptionally large wad of gum, or a large wad of gum with other material or litter stuck to it could block a bird's digestion.” (Africa Check). This explains how harmful chewing gum can be, and you may have never known it.
Imagine if you will, your swimming in the ocean, having fun with family/friends. And suddenly you can not swim any further. What is the reason for that? It is because you have swam directly into a garbage patch. Well why couldn't you just swim around it? Well you could, but only if you wanted to swim around a garbage patch twice the size of texas. In the pacific ocean there is a garbage patch twice the size of texas. That is about 1,600,000 square kilometers of trash, filling up our ocean. This has a very negative impact on the ocean. Did you know that aquatic creatures, for example sea turtles, are killed every year from pollution. An estimate of about 1,000 sea turtles are killed every year from pollution. If the sea turtles go extinct this will have a very negative impact on the ocean. In the article “INFORMATION ABOUT SEA TURTLES; WHY CARE?” It states, “If sea turtles went extinct, dune vegetation would lose a major source of nutrients and would not be as healthy and would not be strong enough to maintain the dunes, resulting in increased erosion. Once again, all parts of an ecosystem are important, if you lose one, the rest will eventually follow.” This explains how severe it would be to lose even just one animal in the ocean. Just imagine what it would be like if every other animal went extinct just because of humans. This domino effect will cause SO MANY PROBLEMS! And people need to be aware.
I have addressed so many problems that face our planet, but one thing I have not clarified is how we can fix them. One way we can reduce pollution is to use less plastics. For example plastic water bottles are SO BAD for the environment. Instead you should use reusable water bottles. And those plastic containers that your Chinese food comes in, are reusable too! And you may be thinking, well i'm only one in 7 billion people what i do doesn't make any difference. But if you start trying to better the environment, other people will too! Be a leader not a follower, and we can all take this pollution problem on together!
All of this information may or may not be new to you, and if it is you may be very overwhelmed. And I know this is a big problem and it may seem stressful. But, you don't have to go out and start a petition to stop factories from producing plastic. A little bit goes a long way! Do the things that this article states you can do to help and it makes a big difference! As long as everyone does what they can to help we can make this world a better place! And always be sure to recycle!
CREATIVE CORNER
No One Knew But Me (continued)
By Abby LaPole
I uh, um, don’t remember
Huh? I don’t remember you saying that. Wha-? When did that happen? Those are a few things you hear me say too frequently. I don’t like the fact that I never remember what people tell me. I don’t like that I can’t make friends because I forget everything they tell me. I don’t like that I have to go to the “disabled class” in school, it’s embarrassing. I think. I can’t really remember. But then I saw someone at school, someone I haven’t seen before, well probably haven’t seen. But I noticed him today at lunch and looked at him. I went home and then to my surprise, I still remembered him. Vividly. Betcha I won’t remember him tomorrow. When it came lunch time again at school I saw him again and remembered him completely. I remembered his brown hair, green eyes, and handsome smile. This is really weird, but I like it. I haven’t remembered something, let alone, someone for so long. Maybe this is a sign.
The next day was the same, I remembered his smile, brown hair, and green eyes. I stood in shock as I listed off all of the things I remembered about him. I needed to find his name. I needed to know the name behind this incredibly memorable face. I went to school and anticipated lunch, but when I entered science he was there. Have we always had science class together? How have I never noticed?
What If There Was a Worldwide Wildfire? (continued)
Part 3: #restoreAMAZON
By Daiwik Kasini
Jacob was ready to clean the Amazon rainforest. Huge companies like Walmart, Amazon, Target, Google, etc. donated millions of dollars to restore the rainforest. The first thing the crew did was make the soil to grow the trees and plants that are native to the forest as close as possible to the original type of soil. They added springtails, Isopods and other various critters to the soil. Then Mr. Beast started to go live on YouTube and he said that he started Team Trees again to save the Amazon. The new goal was 50,000,000! Jacob was happy and the next day Mr. Beast raised 1 billion dollars!! He made a video where he came to the Amazon with a ton of other YouTubers to give the money to Jacob and the crew. Then they planted the trees and plants that are native to the forest. They went and found all the native animals and took them into captivity to raise and repopulate so nothing goes extinct.
20 years later…
Jacob and his family came to the Amazon to see what was new. The animals and plants were thriving and the current president of Brazil awarded Jacob to the very first International Save the Amazon award(Made Up) and he was super happy. Everyone thanked him and he was remembered as the Savior of Mother Earth.
The End!
The Museum at Night
Welcome,
Ghouls, witches, and mortals to the art plaza watch as the paintings come to life.
Those were the words that brought the plaza to life.
Mona Lisa smiling as the blind Man brought her flowers from the painting with a young woman in it
It was amazing
It was so entertaining watching the paintings smile and talk to everyone. This happens once every 10 years. The spirits of the paintings are such strange colors the spirit of the starry night is a blue-gray.
Other painting spirits are pale with a hint of gray to their color,
They look old and wise like they have been.
Watching over the world since the very beginning of time.
Oh dear, I still didn't explain why spirits come out of their paintings.
It is so they can become spirits of other paintings so every visitor sees the painting in a new light every 5 years.
The spirits regularly leave their paintings and explore other days.
But are not seen with mortal eyes.
On normal days when spirits leave their paintings they are rather mischievous.
They will pester their descendents and knock vases over.
They are like children.
I dont understand them, they are spirits and we are not.
Aren't we all equal in the eyes of god?
Death Masks
By Tristan Butts
Chapter 1: 2089
June 1st, 2089.
The winter has stopped at last. No more would people have to suffer a winter apocalypse. Now that most of the zombies have been terminated, and freezing cold temperatures have been gone for 12 weeks. Life however was still not fully the same. Such as, humans not really being around anymore. There's only a few 100 left in the world now. Plus I've been alive for way longer than I expected. About 1,000 years? Somehow though i'm not looking old, I still look like I was in my 20’s. It was almost like life forgot to age me, or I cheated death and now death just gave up. Eh, like it matters anymore. I laid down on my bed, my eyes started to drift away. It was about time I got some rest after all that I have been through. I quickly fell asleep. Hours passed, without a single dream. I woke up at 9 AM. I laid down in my bed not wanting to get up, my eyes slowly closing while my brain tries to fight the feeling of going back to sleep. Just then my door slid open. I sat up to see Zoey walking inside. This was not anything new. I knew that she likes to get up at 4 in the morning and do random stuff. Mostly, to cure her boredom. I suppose she doesn't like sleeping, but who doesn't like sleeping? Recorrection. People who sleep with no dreams, hate sleeping. That defeats the point of sleeping. Zoey closed the door and locked it. “Morning Hollow,” Zoey said in a cheerful tone “How was your sleep?”
“Boring…” I replied back. Slouching back as my body slid down into the comfort of the bed.
“You? Having a boring dream? That's gotta be the first.” Zoey chuckled
“That's the thing. I didn't have a dream”
“Strange. I'm pretty sure mutated people have some crazy dreams.”
“Hey, now. That's rude. I'm pretty sure someone named Zoey is supposed to be nicer than the others.” I replied. There was a sour taste in my mouth. “Plus, I'm not fully a mutated person. Sure, having 6 eyes, two horns, two sharp teeth poking out, and fur covering the top of my head down to my pinky toe. Still doesn't mean I lost my sense of humanity.” I said, rolling myself out of bed.
“First of all, your eyes are blank. They are just white voids of nothingness. Plus they're not even human. More spider-like than anything else. Speaking of which… aren't you a spider human thing?” Zoey questioned. I shrugged. I really didn't know if spiders could have horns. Zoey rolled her eyes and walked away from me. How rude, she didn't even say goodbye. Actually now thinking of it… she never says goodbye. Maybe she's one of those people who thinks saying goodbye means they are leaving forever or something. Once I got myself out of bed, I stretched, went into the kitchen, and tried a little bit of coffee. Still didn't like it. I looked over to my left. Jack was reading something. Never understood Jack. He was like a ringleader at a circus, but also seemed like he was too calm to be one. Plus, he would rather be called Jack instead of his first name, which he somehow forgot. Shouldn’t really judge him. Its 2089, and he's been alone for who knows how long. Can’t really remember if I was named Hollow at birth. Still remember my fathers name however. Jack's eyes glanced up, I quickly turned my head looking at my cup of coffee. Once I felt like he wasn't looking I walked away. Leaving my coffee. For some reason I walked back to my bed. I crawled inside and just decided to sleep. I thought coffee was supposed to keep me awake, not make me wanna fall asleep. Once I laid down in bed. I couldn’t help but to feel lightheaded and dizzy. As if my thoughts were getting scrambled left and right. My vision didn’t make anything feel better, spinning, leaving behind echoes of an object, smudging everything. Was I dying? Was it the Coffee? It most likely was the coffee. I'm never drinking coffee again. I then passed out. I was in that place again. I called it the Past. It was like memories I have forgotten but never really had. I never have experienced them. Like I was watching a movie that I didn't see the trailers to. I can interact with the Past too. I can’t tell if its a dream-like state or my brain trying to tell me something. This time it told me something about Jack. It had what looked like the first letter to his first name. M. At least I think it may have been the first letter to his name. My brain is just kinda throwing images at me hoping I understand it. Most of the time its difficult. Like it would be. Soon I woke back up. Only one minute passed although the past felt like twenty minutes. Zoey was about to leave again. Wearing her red leather jacket with her hair still tied in a ponytail. She opened the door letting in sunlight. Through the opened doorway there was lush green grass, and blue skies. For once the sun was out clearing a new way for opportunity. I slipped out of bed and went outside. For once you didn’t have to wear a jacket for heat. It felt like summer again, no more did we have to worry about the freezing cold temperatures. I looked back at our dome-like place. It was more of an outpost than it was a home, but to us that place was considered a safe place for us to stay at. I looked around the area to see what the others were doing. Mark was planting stuff, Zoey was sitting near an old, rocky, and cracked road. Was this the end? We are safe right? After a while of doing nothing Mark called me over.
“Hollow. Did Jack get any radio singles from the military yet?” Mark asked as he tended to the crops. I didn’t ask him if he did or not.
“Honestly, I didn’t ask him. Although I think they will get here soon.” I replied with crossing my arms.
“Hopefully…” Mark paused for a moment, thinking about something. “When do you think you're going to die? You're extremely old. You said you were born in 1994 right? Its 2089.” Mark asked, getting up from the ground.
“I don’t know. I should have been dead a while ago. I guess I'm just different.” Mark chuckeld. Mark was a smart guy. He was a scientist, and an engineer. He would spend most nights working with the military to find a cure. Sooner or later they didn’t need one. The zombies just kinda died out. I guess the lack of food got to them. Just then Jack swung open the door and yelled “The military should be here tomorrow.” Mark ran over to him.
“Here?” Mark quickly asked.
“No. At some temples west of here. They won’t have enough fuel to get to us and back. We only have a few hours to get to that temple.”
“How far away is it?” Zoey asked.
“6 or 7 hours by car. Probably two days on foot.” Jack told us. I have zero Idea if it was a concern that we had to work with a halfway broken van. Mark quickly got up and ran towards where we kept the van. A couple minutes later. Mark came back out with oil covered on his shirt and pants. We were pretty sure that it was supposed to be a ‘The car is ready to go.’ Everyone grabbed things that were important to them and left. Before I was able to reach the van, Zoey grabbed my arm.
“You should probably put some clothes on,” Zoey said. I looked at her with confusion.
“Why. Its not like I have a winter fur coat on or anything” Zoey sighed, she handed me a black jacket, a white short sleeve shirt, jeans, and a red scarf.
“Trust me this once, would ya?” Zoey then went to the van. I swifty put on the clothes. Felt strange. Not normal to this. Am I gonna overheat and die? I was about to put on the jacket and scarf but decided not to. I hopped in the back of the van, closing the doors behind me.
“Hollow, didn’t you know you're not supposed to get into a strangers van!?!?!” Mark jokingly said.
“It said free candy on the side though!” I replied back with. Jack and Zoey burst into laughter. Once the laughter had stopped Mark turned on the engine and started to drive.
JMMS Art Gallery
Flowers
Cubs' Column
Email: jem2jc@bearworks.jackson.sparcc.org
Website: https://www.jackson.stark.k12.oh.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=6497
Location: Jackson Memorial Middle School, Mudbrook Street Northwest, Massillon, OH, USA
Phone: 330 830-8034