Not so fantastic plastic

You may have noticed that the Carrefour supermarket chain is trying to get people to stop using plastic bags. If you want to understand the damage they do to the environment, then take a look at these two videos about the devastating effect plastic is having on the Pacific Ocean.





You may remember the poet Levi Tafari came to school last year. Here is his tongue in cheek look at the way we use plastic.

World Environment Day

It was World Environment Day on June 5th and I came across two neat videos to mark the event. Take a look at them both and spend a few minutes reflecting on the message:

Talent Show

As you know the auditions for the talent show will be held soon, so get practising and make sure you produce a top-quality act. If you want some inspiration, take a look at this video of 47-year-old Susan Boyle who became one of the biggest hits of the year on You Tube when she appeared on the UK TV show Britain's got talent.

And here is another video that you saw during the anti-bullying sessions we watched earlier in the year:

Ecology Group visit

Last month the Ecology Group went to the recycling plant at Pinto. Here is Miranda Imperial's excellent and highly informative account of the visit.

ECOLOGY GROUP TRIP TO PLANTA DE BIOMETANIZACIÓN Y COMPOSTAJE DE PINTO

A report by Miranda Imperial, 7Z

On Wednesday the 1st of April, the Y and Z families Ecology Group went to the Planta de Biometanización y Compostaje, in Pinto. Firstly, we were taken to the classroom, where two educators explained what they do there with recyclable garbage, methane and organic compost. We were together with Bachillerato children from another school and the level of explanations was a little high for us. As a result, I did not quite understand all they said. Fortunately, the Plant has an excellent website (http://www.rcir.es/6_pintoBIO/6_1_PintoBIO_portada.html), where I could go back for the information I needed for this report.

Urban solid waste disposal is a big problem, especially because there is so much of it. Traditionally, cities have designated landfill sites where urban waste is dumped. These sites are problematic, because the organic contaminants can be leached out into the soil and will pollute our waterways. In addition, natural fermentation of the organic fraction will result in the formation of methane (natural gas) that is released to the atmosphere. Methane is an important greenhouse gas: it contributes to global climate change and remains in the atmosphere for over 10 years. Many of these problems can be solved by constructing a biomethane and composting plant at the dump site. In such plants, the fermentable organic waste fraction is fed to an anaerobic biodigester, where bacteria eat up the organic matter and produce methane that is collected and used as energy source. The leftover is a compost that has organic matter that is difficult to degrade, but that can help aerate soils and is enriched in salts and minerals that can be used directly as fertilizer for plant growth.
Before entering the bioreactor, urban waste must be separated in different fractions. Part of the waste can be recycled and reused. Some other fractions are not organic and can go directly into the dump site. Finally, the organic fraction must be mechanically milled and sieved before entering the bioreactor.

Since 2003, the Biomethanization and Composting Plant in Pinto processes garbage from urban containers of about 1,500,000 inhabitants of the South of Madrid region. Garbage is classified, and metal, plastics, cardboard and paper are recycled. Methane from bioreactors fed with organic garbage and methane recovered from the dump site is used to make electricity, and the residue from the bioreactors is used as compost for plant fertilization. The second component of the site is a sealed dump, where non-recyclable, non-fermentable garbage is stored. However, it is not simply “dumped”. Garbage is deposited in layers, on top of impermeable layers of plastic, loam and gravel, to ensure that nothing leaches down, and with a collection system to recover effluents, both liquid and gas (methane), which are constantly monitored.

This is how the plant works. Trucks bring in the urban garbage and put it in deposits. From them, garbage goes onto conveyor belts for classification and separation. Some of these processes are automated, whereas other separations are carried out manually. After sieving in rotary sieves, coarse and fine fractions are obtained. From the coarse fraction, large pieces of cardboard, plastic of different classes, and metal (with the help of electromagnets) are separated and made into packages that are given to recyclers. Other large pieces, which are considered not recyclable, go into the dump.
The fine fraction is mostly organic, and is conducted to the pulper, where it is mixed with water and made into a pulp. The pulper disaggregates the garbage and prepares it to feed the bioreactor for biomethane production. At this stage, the fine non-organic fraction (rocks, glass, metal, …), that can be as much as 50%, is deposited at the bottom, separated and taken to the dump. After a final filtration, the pulp is taken to a tank for further homogenization and then to the bioreactor, where bacteria will digest it. After bacteria use up all the oxygen, the anaerobic fermentation process that produces methane starts and continues for 3 weeks. Methane is collected at the top and piped to a gas deposit (gasometer), and the solids resulting from the digestion are collected at the bottom.
Methane is burned to generate electricity at the eleven motogenerators that the Plant has, and this electricity is fed to the general electric system.
The solids resulting from digestion contain 90% water. After centrifugation to eliminate most of the water, the residue is moved to a maturation tunnel, where it is mixed with plant residues and incubated under controlled temperature and humidity conditions for up to two weeks, after which the compost is collected and trucked away.

All water used in the Plant, either collected from the sealed dump or from the bioreactors, is treated and reused in the plant or used for irrigation.

Each person living in a city generates about 1.5 kg garbage each day, and this goes into the urban garbage system: it must be collected, transported and treated. Any individual effort on our part to reduce this amount helps lower the difficulties (and cost) of collecting, transporting, and treating it at Plants such as the one in Pinto. Furthermore, some of the most complicated (and costly) processes in treating urban solid garbage come from separating organic matter and reusable materials (cardboard and paper, plastics and metals, glass) from the rest. If we try hard to do this separation at home, treatment at the Plant will be not only easier, but far more effective, and as a result, our garbage will have a lesser impact on our environment.

Energy Revolution

Check out these two videos to see what we can do to help bring about an energy revolution that will help reduce the dangers of climate change.

Earth Day

April 22 was Earth Day. Environmental group Greenpeace are trying to spur people into action in order to take measures to prevent the further destruction of the planet on which we live. Take a look at their latest video and have a think about what you can do to save energy, recycle and care for the environment in which you live.

Respect

One of the most important aspects of life at school is showing repect to your fellow students, teachers and everyone who works with us. Here is an entertaining video produced by the English Football Association that demonstrates what happens when that respect is missing.

Ecology sites

“No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” Edmund Burke.

Here is a great little ecology blog that puts this sentiment into action. Take a look at it and see what you can do to help.

Also try looking at the Big Green Switch that has a stack of practical ideas for what we can do to help make school a greener place to learn.

Family icons

Mr Noton has designed a postcard featuring the six family icons: Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Mary Robinson, Martin Luther King, Wangarai Maathai and Shirin Ebadi. Take a sneak preview here.

Options

Year 9 students have until the end of term to decide on their options for Year 10. Here is a reminder of some of the advice which Mr McCoy gave at the recent assembly.

• Don’t choose a subject just because your friends are choosing it.

• If you are advised to take English or Maths or Science, instead of an Option, it isn’t the end of the world!

• Work hard for your exams. IGCSEs are 2 year courses. What you do and learn in September of Year 10 is just as important as what you learn in May of Year 11.

• Not choosing a particular option in Year 10 does not automatically exclude from a specific Bachillerato in Years 12 & 13. This is based on your general academic level, motivation and future University degree ambitions.

• Students should talk to their teachers – you can also come and talk to HODs, subject teachers, tutors etc.

• Choose subjects you think you will enjoy.

• Ask your teachers for advice.

Key Stage 3 Family Day Number 3

Here is the video that explains how to make the origami dove that we will be doing on Tuesday's Citizenship Day.



And here is a video on the work of UNICEF, the United Nations organisation that tries to protect and help children.

Anti-Smoking Day

March 11 was national anti-smoking day. As you know we looked at the severe health problems that are associated with smoking on our last Citizenship Day. As a reminder here are some of the hard-hitting anti-smoking adverts we saw during the day.

This one shows the amount of fatty deposits that can be found in smokers' arteries.


This one is a graphic Australian advert that has been done by a women who developed mouth cancer as a result of smoking.



And here is one about the damage smoking does to your lungs.

Ecogroup minutes

Minutes of Ecogroup Feb 6:
We discussed how we could get the school to take some practical measures to make it more environmentally friendly.
One suggestion was that we should ask teachers, administration staff, students and parents to follow more environmentally friendly policies such as:

Teachers and admin staff should:
• Encourage students to use both sides of the paper when doing exams or tests.
• Encourage students not to start a new page for each piece of work, but to underline last piece of work and continue on the same page.
• Photocopy on both sides of the paper when doing worksheets that are more than a page long
• Encourage students to do work in their exercise books rather than on fill-in worksheets.
• Re-use photocopies that are not required revision purposes.
• Put waste paper in the recycle trays in each class.
• Log-off and put the computers on stand-by whenever they leave the class and to turn the screen on to hide rather than turn it off altogether if another teacher is going to use it.
• Ensure lights are turned off at break, lunch and after school in every classroom.

Senior management should:
• Avoid sending too many short letters home as it wastes paper, but instead combine communications on one page or better still send e mails home or post notices on the school webpage instead of sending letters home, especially bulky information like parents guides.
• Order shorter exercise books as the present ones are often not filled by the end of the year and a lot of paper goes to waste.
• Ensure the bins in the patio are labelled with the material that should be thrown into them eg plastic, paper, organic.
• Ensure the bathrooms by the auditorium have time-limiter taps installed as on the first floor.
• Install dual flushes and water regulators for the taps in the bathrooms to save water.

Students should:
• Take more care about where they throw their rubbish and take greater pride in the school environment.
• Ensure recycle trays are emptied into the special paper bins on the corridor and then empty them in the main paper bin by the entrance.
• Separate waste in the playground bins.
• Not waste paper in exercise books
• Encourage parents to follow more environmentally friendly policies at home.
• Turn off lights in class rooms.

Have you got any more ideas? Let us know if you have.

Ecogroup ID card and meeting minutes

Here are some of the entries for the Ecogroup ID card. Why not try your hand at designing a logo for the group. A prize will be given for the best entry.





Minutes from the last meeting:
1. SBA showed website recyclezone Delegates still need to look at this.

2. We need help for the display board. Computer designs. We will print out and you can have some times at break to put up the display. Some students began to design posters for this and the display board needs to be a priority for this week.

3. Badges. Students did designs for cards in class. TBE and SBA took designs to choose the best ones and scan them. They need to produce a design.

Key Stage 3 Family Day

As you know on Thursday we've got another Key Stage 3 Family Day, focusing on adolescence and peer pressure. We will also be following up on some of the issues we dealt with in the recent anti-bullying assemblies and looking at the problems associated with smoking and drinking.

In addition we will be raising money for aid projects in the Congo through our non-uniform payments. So enjoy the day, but also make sure you contribute positively to the activities and learn something from your experiences.

Study skills

If you want to brush up on your study skills try out the exercises on the following website run by Learning and teaching Scotland. There are some handy sections on exam preparation, learning from lessons, note taking, memory tips and understanding.

Ecological use of the Web

Instead of Googling a search, try out Ecosearch. Ecosearch is a search engine that helps programs to reforest trees and safeguard water resources in the Amazon region, which constitute today one fourth of the fresh water reserves of our planet.

By using Ecosearch you help the non-profit association Aquaverde (Switzerland) and the French Cœur de Forêt. In Spain, Ecosearch collaborates with Fundación Canaria para la Reforestación (FORESTA).

How it works?
For every search in Ecosearch, you contribute symbolically to reforest one leaf.
For every 10.000 searches, Ecosearch and Aquaverde plant a tree in the Amazon and in the Canary Islands.

Why not try Blackle too. Blackle is a search engine that claims to save energy because the screen is predominantly black. Why not give it a whirl.

Eco Group minutes

Minutes from the 22nd January Eco-group meeting in 8Z classroom:

1. Feedback on website www.recyclezone.org.uk
Delegates hadn’t looked at it. They’ll do this for next week.

2. Paper recycling in the school: 2 eco-delegates from every class to collect paper twice a week and place in the blue bins in the corridor. We need delegates to tell Julio when the bins are full and they need emptying in the skip.
Single delegates from each class were chosen to empty waste paper twice a week. 8Y students were chosen to tell Julio if the bins were full and get them emptied into the skip. SBA to find more boxes.

3. We need help for the display board. Computer designs. We will print out and you can have some times at break to put up the display. Jon Victor and Claudia will coordinate the work and contribute to the work on the display board. Other delegates to give their things to them and SBA and TBE will print out pictures.

4. Badges - membership cards. Can you come up with a design for a badge by next week and we’ll make the badges/cards for you. What info should the badges/cards have? Students will come up with designs for cards by next week.

5. Can eco-delegates make sure that lights in the classrooms are turned off when not in use. Also remind the teacher to turn off the whiteboard etc. See instructions in classrooms. Agreed.

6. Computer initiatives: blackle.com , switching off the screens when not in use, black screen savers, ecosearch.com engine that helps ecology.
Agreed. Also delegates explained that teachers could work on the interactive board with black and white text to save energy. We need to explain this to teachers.
SBA and TBE to send message to teachers and explanation of how to do it.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Tuesday is Holocaust memorial day, a time to reflect on the horrific events that led to the deaths of over 6 million Jews and other minorities as a result of the Nazi extermination campaign during the Second World War. Unfortunately similar atrocities have continued to occur. This hard-hitting video looks at the issue and provides us with plenty of food for thought.

The Ecology Group

As you know we have established an Ecology group in the school. Here are the minutes of our latest meeting:

Suggestions for future focus:

1. An ecology day. Looking at www.recyclezone.org.uk for activities and at activities done on Wangari Maathai day: making ashtrays out of cans, making wallets out of comics, making soap out of old oil, etc.

2. Organise a visit to a recycling centre or to a natural park like Valsain, Boca del Asno.

3. Presentations for other students: primary, the family, other families, with activities. Maybe using video to create little spots like pro-ecology advertising campaigns.

4. Make the display a bit more exciting.

5. Organise for waste paper collection in the classes and get in contact with Pozuelo to arrange waste paper collection with skips in the playground and proper wastepaper containers in the classroom.

6. All members of the group were asked to look at the recycle website and come up with feedback and suggestions for next week’s lesson.

· SBA said that he would have the blog site up and running by next week.

· TBE agreed to take minutes of future meetings and we would put them on the blog until the meetings were established and a /various students could take over.

Martin Luther King Day

Monday 19 Jan is Martin Luther King day. He was one of the most important figures in the fight for equal civil rights for black people in the United States in the 1950s and 60s. King, a baptist minister, led a famous march on the capital Washington DC in 1963 where he made his “I Have a Dream” speech - an impassioned call for human justice that helped earn him a reputation as one of the greatest orators of modern times.

You can take a look at this video of the whole speech here.



King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968. This was the last speech he made shortly before dying.