11/14 "Deforestation"

Summary

This week I wrote a letter to Mr. Cuttatree telling him why he should not build the Uppitty Resort. My three main reasons to convince him with were because the food web will be affected in a negative way, us humans will receive less oxygen, and drought will happen. First we brainstormed ideas about what would convince him, then we picked the top three, next we made a topic sentence and graphed out where everything would go as well as adding in facts and examples to guide us while we write our letters. 

Backwards-looking reflection

Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous grade; in school or out of school)?

Earlier in the year we worked on our letter to the school board trying to convince them that science was important and a big part of our education. This letter was similar to the letter to Mr. Cuttatree because in both we were trying to convince someone to do or to not do something. In both letters we wrote down our reasons and facts on a organizer which I think really helped both times. I think the second time writing the letter (which I am working on and not finished with) it was easier and I typed in a lot of information. 

What was especially satisfying to you about your work this week?

This week  really enjoyed writing my letter. I think that so far I did a good job and put in a lot of interesting facts. I especially liked my comparison between a kitchen and the rain forest's food web. 

I wrote "An easy way to think of this is to imagine that the rainforests food web is like a kitchen, if the kitchen is dirty ( if an animal is extinct or endangered ) then all the food in the kitchen becomes rotten, spoiled, and gross ( the food is all the animals connected to the extinct or endangered animal ). I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to eat rotten food from a dirty kitchen. I know I would definitely rather eat food out of a clean kitchen!" I really liked this part of my blog. Another thing I did that I liked was adding in facts like how about 150-200 species become extinct everyday and how every second two U.S football fields of trees are cut down.

Letter to Mr. Cuttatree

Dear Mr. Cuttatree,

        Today I am writing to you because I have heard that you are going to build the Uppitty Resort. I think that you should not build it. You should not build the Uppitty Resort because to do so you have to cut down a large amount of trees which will cause the rainforest's the food web to be affected in a very negative way while loss of biodiversity will happen, us humans will receive less oxygen, and drought may happen. There are many more reasons about why you should not build the Uppitty Resort but those are three important reasons why. Here is more information about my three reasons why you should not build the Uppitty Resort.

        My first reason why you should not build the Uppitty Resort is because the food web in the rainforest will be negatively affected and loss of biodiversity will occur. This will happen because is one animal in the food web disappears (which at least one probably will if you build the Uppitty Resort ) then the whole food web will be affected since every single organism in a food web will be affected. For example, if the keel-billed toucan (a type of animal that lives in the rainforest) went extinct, what do think would happen to everything else? Well, lets see. The harpy eagle, one of the keel-billed toucans main predators will become endangered which will eventually lead to it homecoming extinct because it's main food course is now gone. Then the things that eat the harpy eagle will become extinct, then the thing that eat the things that eat the harpy eagle will become extinct, and so on. Also since the keel-billed toucan eats mainly fruits (when I say mainly I mean it eats A LOT), if it becomes extinct then the fruits will overgrow since the keel-billed toucan eats so much of it. Even if other animals eat fruit they usually don't eat as much as the keel-billed toucan. The other animals that eat fruit will over populate and the things that eat those animals won't be able to keep the balance between each organism and eat the fruit eating animals fast enough. An easy way to think of this is to imagine that the rainforests food web is like a kitchen, if the kitchen is dirty ( if an animal is extinct or endangered ) then all the food in the kitchen becomes rotten, spoiled, and gross ( the food is all the animals connected to the extinct or endangered animal ). I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to eat rotten food from a dirty kitchen. I know I would definitely rather eat food out of a clean kitchen! If you want to build the Uppitty resort you have to understand that if you build it, chances are that at least one animal will become endangered or maybe even extinct that the whole food web ( which is basically every single animal in the rainforest ) will be affected in a negative way. Also not only organisms in the rainforests will be affected we will to. By cutting down trees and plants, some plants that are used for important medicines or can be used for potential medicines will become extinct. Imagine how lives could be saved if we started preserving forests. Everyday we are missing out in incredible medicines because so many trees are being cut down. From about 150-200 species or both animals and plants become extinct everyday! Do you really want to do this to the rainforest?

       Oxygen! Without trees how do we breathe? Trees are awesome, they supply us with oxygen so we can live and breathe. Everyday second us humans cut down two U.S football fields of trees. Imagine how many are cut down in a year!! If there are no trees to produce oxygen then us humans would cease to exist. Plants produce oxygen through a process called photosynthesis. Photo means light, while synthesis means makes from. For plants to eat and live they do photosynthesis which is their process of making food. They need sun energy, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients. During photosynthesis the plant absorbs sun energy and oxygen and the roots absorb nutrients and water in the soil. During photosynthesis they release oxygen and produce glucose which is sugar. Chloroplast an organelle is what makes photosynthesis happen. It is why the plant is green and can only be found in plant cells. It is a round green oval filled with chlorophyll inside. It has stacks of thylakoids which are called grana. That is why us humans can't produce our own food like plants. Humans and plants are the perfect pair because in order for humans to breathe we need oxygen which plants release during photosynthesis while plants need carbon dioxide to do photosynthesis which we release. By cutting down trees to build the Uppity Resort you are breaking the friendship between plants and us. Us humans would have a very hard time breathing if this rate of deforestation continues. As you can see, you really should not build the Uppity Resort. 

      Deforestation equals less trees, less trees equal global warming, global warming equals drought, and drought equals chaos everywhere. Really, i'm not joking. Drought really does mean chaos everywhere. For example, if there is drought than trees will not get enough water and die and all the same effects from deforestation will again occur. If people do deforestation still than not only that will happen drought will happen to which comes from deforestation. Double the trees will die!!! What does drought have anything to do with deforestation you may ask? Greenhouse gases are gases that cause global warming. They build up like a big blanket around the earth which traps sunlight inside causing the world to overheat which leads to drought. Trees help prevent drought because during their process of photosynthesis they take in a lot of carbon dioxide which is one big greenhouse gas. Trees help us a lot like how they absorb carbon dioxide. Without them the world be definitely overheat and become a dry wasteland. Everyone would be fighting over water and that wouldn't help.When drought happens everything is effected. You can help stop drought from happening worldwide by not building the Uppitty Resort. 

       So, I hope you listened to my three reasons about why you should not build the Uppitty Resort. YOU can help prevent deforestation from becoming an even BIGGER problem. Imagine if your grandkids  or great grand kids were born when there was barely any trees left because of deforestation. They wouldn't be able to walk around in the forests and look at the beautiful nature. They would not be able to have the same experience as you did all because of deforestation. And even worse, you did some of that deforesting. YOU can help make sure that never happens. YOU can play a role in stopping it. YOU can make a difference by not building the resort. Anyone can make a difference in the world,  here is your chance. I hope me and my classmates showed you that building your resort will make a big impact which is not all good. Even if the resort does supply jobs for many people it also will do many negative things that we are trying to prevent. There are more cons to building the Uppitty Resort than pros. Please help the world prevent BAD stuff from happening by not building your resort. if you can't stop building it or want it to be built to badly please consider building it somewhere else where no trees will be cut. Remember, YOU can make a difference by not building the Uppitty Resort.

11/7 "Deforestation/Keel Billed Toucan"

Summary

This week I learned a lot about deforestation. I learned about why deforestation happens and what happens when deforestation is happening. Deforestation is a terrible thing but it can sometimes benefit us humans such as how Mr. Cuttatree claims building the resort will give many people an opportunity for work.

Backwards Looking Reflection

How much did you know about the topic before we started? What do you now know about the topic that you did not know before?

This week I learned many things about deforestation. At first I thought that every 5 seconds a tree is cut down but I now know that every second two U.S football fields of trees are cut down every second. This is terrible since we get all of our oxygen from plants. At first before we learned about this I never realised how bad deforestation was happening and doing to us. I learned that 137 species become extinct every day. Brazil is where deforestation occurs these days and 90-95% of it's rainforests have been cut down. Deforestation causes homes of animals to be destroyed, erosion, less oxygen for us, less biodiversity, and many other things. People do this so they have room for buildings, farms, room for mining, and so they can make materials. did you know that 214,000 acres of land is cut down every day. That's an area of land larger than New York City.

Inwards Looking Reflection

What was especially satisfying to you about your work this week?

This week I was very proud of my rainforest animal presentation. I think I had a lot of information about the keel billed toucan and when I presented it on exhibition night I did a very good job showing them that one thing can effect the food chain and we have to try very hard to make sure the biodiversity of the rainforests stay. I was especially proud of this project because I felt like I put a lot of hard work into making it interesting and helpful and on exhibition night my hard work really showed off. I think I did a very good job presenting my project on exhibition night and I feel very proud of myself.