I have an idea for halloween, which is sort of based on Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. I will (most likely) buy a superman costume and change the logo to EG for eco-girl and make a cape and something with either LEDs or compact fluorescents. Then instead of collecting candy, which is wasteful, carbon emmitting, and I don’t eat it anyway, I will carry around a box with a coin slot for fundraising for rainforests. Since people often give out money on halloween, whether for UNICEF or the kids (or both), they will probably be able to donate. I have scanned in a printable net for the box, all you need to make your box are:

• Internet connection
• The net (not the Net)
• Colour printer
• Colour ink
• Scissors
• Tape (glue optional)
• hands with opposable thumbs
• A human (or other highly developed species with English capabilities) brain

And that’s all.(Important note: the hands and brain need to be attatched in a system which allows them to work together.)  So, with that said, here’s the box net (click to download):

And the handle:

So click, print, and here are some basic instructions for putting it together:

First, get rid of (cut off and recycle) the shaded areas. You may need an X-acto knife for this (and possiby parental supervision) but I did it with scissors, because I felt like being lazy and didn’t bother to get an X-acto knife, and it worked fine.  Then cut along the black lines that are not part of the art or the shading. Fold along the dotted lines, and then follow the instuctions on the net for putting it together. Feel free to post any problems with putting the box together or any questions or suggestions in the comments.

Enjoy!

P.S. : I know it is not near halloween yet, but the sooner I post this the more people will see it  before halloween.

This year, my class has participated in a number of interesting activities. The longest and one of the most enjoyable was the UBC Farm Landed Learning Project. Kids like me (and not like me) get to come in and work on the land and learn about the plants. We also get to grow plants in beds they have planned with thier group of about four kids and two ‘Farm Friends’, the volunteers that make the project possible. Then we harvest and eat them and sometimes we get to prepare the meals whether they are muffins of salad or something else. Today was my last day visiting the UBC Farm with my class, but I am planning to go to the summer camp there as well. We got really cool T-shirts today with a design in yellow on red designed by Naiya, one of the students in my class. The landed Learning Project was a great experience for me and I hope it will continue to be a great experience for many more kids (and adults). Unfourtunately, UBC wants to tear down the farm (the last urban farm in Vancouver) in order to build expensive housing to earn themselves some extra pennies which is totally unnecessary and quite destructive as the soil at the farm has been nurtured and improved for over 40 years, not to mention the complex and rare forest-farm ecosystem that thrives there. I will continue on the subject of the UBC Farm and Landed Learning Project later, but for now I would just like to thank all the Farm Friends, and Stacy and Hannah, and of course Dr. Jolie Mayer-Smith for the vision and initiative.

I’ve been recently working on adding a search bar to the sidebar above the pages links, however the built-in one isn’t working so good because it doesn’t fit, it only searches posts, and I can’t figure out how to change any of that (although I’ve tried editing the CSS code, none of the changes I make seem to actually apply). Also today was my karate belt award ceremony which means that I get my new belt which is a purple belt with a black stripe which shows that I have achieved elite warrior status. Some other updates I want to make to Cobwebs and Seaslugs include adding a way to donate, making the login page look like part of Cobwebs and Seaslugs instead of part of WordPress, and adding a forum page for discussions, questions, suggestions, and even articles posted by subscribers that will make Cobwebs and Seaslugs more useful.

As summer gets nearer and nearer it’s a lot of fun to do summer stuff— water fights, swimming, and everything else. What kind of things will you do in the summer? Camping? Sailing? Anyway, a few things to think about:

• If you’re doing a water fight, do not waste any more water than necessary as we already do not have enough fresh, drinkable water to begin with. I will not say do not have waterfights altogether because that would be unfair as I quite enjoy them myself.
• If you are going on a vacation, keep in mind that air travel is one of the largest sources of CO2 pollution so an effort to minimize air travel would be greatly appreciated by the environment. Take a train!
• If you are going camping, and intend to have a camp fire (which is half the fun, right) make sure you are fire-smart. If you are not careful, your s’more toasting fun will turn into a devastating forest fire which not only releases tons (literally) of CO2, but puts your own life in danger, and destroys a beautiful ecosystem which we are already are running out of.

Have a great summer!

Yesterday I made up a new phobia— hydroprecipisacaphobia— the fear of getting your backpack wet. It is composed of hydro (water), precipitation (rain, snow, etc.), and sac (knapsack, backpack).I guess this is kind of random and doesn’t seem to have a lot to do with the environment, however I keep my notes and idea papers and sometimes my XO in my backpack so it kind of does.

Also I have a recommendation for a fictional book series. If you have a medium to excellent reading level (that of the average 11-or-12-year-old, grade six or seven,  or higher) and you are interested in wildlife rescue, then I recommend Jane Ray’s Wildlife Rescue Series. The first two books, Flight or Fight and Crow Medicine, are already out and the third book, Gaia Wild, is coming out around the beginning of the new school year. The writing is great. When I read about the race in the first book, I almost felt like I had actually run the race. Once again, I seriously recommend these books.