“So far, for over a hundred years of active car use, all the waste that cars produce has left irreversible damage to our ecosystem. Also the pollution, from vehicles with systems of internal combustion, is one of the causes of global warming. Until engineers find greener alternatives to gas cars, our ecosystem will be slowly dying,” said Tony Kreindler, media director for climate in Environmental Defense Fund.

Such an alternative was already found, fully electric cars, but currently there are only a few brands on the market, and almost all of them are not available to average citizens because of the price. Some, such as the Tesla Roadster, are expensive as world famous sport cars.

But, closer to the end of next year more affordable electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt will be released.

“Nissan Leaf is expected to cost between $20,000 to $25,000,” said David Kay, one of the Nissan Leaf testers.

The main difference between electric and gas cars, is that electric cars have 0% emission, meaning that there is no production of pollutants. Because there is no emission, there is less damage to the environment.

“Electric cars seek to reduce the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere by relying on electricity instead of burning gasoline. Electric motors create magnetic fields that spin a rotor which in turn rotates the axle of the car, causing motion. All of this is done without any emission of CO2. Fewer CO2 emissions means fewer greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” said Kreindler.

One of the drawbacks of electric cars is that electric motors, that are used in electric cars, are not able to bring the same power as those in gas engines.

Although electric cars are slow, they can reach the speed within speed limits of 40 miles per hour.

“World’s Quickest & Fastest Street Legal Electric Door Slammer can go up to 114 miles per hour,” said John Wayland, owner of the fastest electric car.

Another problem that owners of electric cars can face is lack of places to charge the cars.

“When electric cars will occupy the main part of the car market, a charging station will be available on every corner,” said Kay. “It takes eight hours to fully charge the car, and the car can drive only a hundred miles on full battery.”

Electric cars, the greenest motor vehicles, are supposed to save our ecosystem. There is still a lot of work to do to switch from gas cars to electric. So the future is close, but still not here.

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Forming the strong relationships I did with the students on the trip lead to my realization of a few different things. For one, I learned that everybody has something to offer, whatever that is, and because that thing is unique to that one person, it is valuable. Furthermore, to label or judge people because of the way they look, talk, or where they’re from does nothing but limit a relationship. What I am referring to rather is tolerance, in that in order to form a strong relationship with someone, one must be able to embrace their perhaps less desirable qualities as much as they embrace their desirable qualities.

For me, one of the emerging topics of this trip was passion. The thing that struck me most all of the educators and chaperones that were on the trip was that they have all followed their passions. Before this trip, I had always thought that I would go to business school, get a degree, get a job that I can live with, and practice my passions on the side. However, meeting these truly inspiring adults has led me to question my own ideals and priorities that most definitely translate into life choices that I will soon be making. Talking to other students that were on the trip, I do believe that this coming of age was shared by many.

Being in an environment as untouched as Antarctica guided me to a realization of the fragility of the planet. Needless to say, it is difficult to imagine what somebody’s actions in New York, Toronto, or Shanghai have to do with the Antarctic. However, I have learned that much of what humans do around the world effects the environment, whether that environment is Central Park or Deception Island in Antarctica. Furthermore, small changes in the environment may not affect human beings; however, they may have a tremendous impact of the environment.

For example, it was a common sight throughout the trip to see penguins laying belly-down in the snow. The penguin equivalent to a mist fan on a warm summer’s day, lying in the snow is one way penguins cool down in the heat of the summer. This sight led me to wonder what were to happen if the earth continued to warm even gradually over decades. Therefore, the way humans choose to live their lives can have a direct impact on not only their surrounding environment, but the global environment.

Indeed – a delicate planet we inhabit.

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After leaving Ushuaia, our ship, we started seeing many different species of sea birds. In the Drake Passage, there are many species of birds. Every day during the crossing of the Drake Passage we conducted a bird survey. In the survey we counted not just what species of birds we had seen but also how many. Without seeing the Drake in my own eyes, I probably wouldn’t have believed we had seen dozens of Black Browed Albatross and Giant Petrels. The birds there were flying very close over our head.

The Wandering Albatross, which lives over the waters in the Drake Passage, is the largest bird in the world. Its wing span is 3.5 (11.5 feet) meters long. After a lecture from Santiago about the various species of birds that we were likely to encounter in Antarctica and in the Drake, we saw the Wandering Albatross. It was an impressive sight.

In Antarctica itself there aren’t many species of birds, but the birds that are there are quite unique. Other then penguins, the bird we probably saw the most is the Skua. The Skua was a medium brown bird that feeds on penguin chicks and eggs. It’s one of Antarctica’s most common birds. We saw Skuas in almost every place we went.

Another common bird is the Snowy Sheathbill. The Sheathbill is a small bird that looks really like a white pigeon. The Sheathbill mostly lives on the ground and it scavenges food, usually in penguin colonies. We had seen this bird almost in every colony we went to, and in several other places as well.

But the bird we saw the most, was definitely the Cape Petrel. The Cape Petrel is a fairly small type of Petrel. It’s black and white, and eats fish and krill. The Cape Petrel are so common that they are considered one of the most common seabirds in the southern oceans. Their population is estimated to be about two million birds. We saw them pretty much everywhere.

There were many species of birds we saw in Antarctica. The birds of Antarctica are unique, and it was fascinating to see and learn about them.

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Students on Ice (SOI), which has given Antarctica this title, is an organization that organizes educational expeditions for students each year to the Arctic and Antarctic.

“The expedition’s education program has three main goals. The first goal is to promote learning about polar fundamentals. The second goal is to engage people to consider environmental problems and solutions. The third goal is to encourage everyone to take responsibility, join generation G, and make change,” said Tim Straka, Education Director of SOI.

Our expedition to Antarctica included not only 65 students from around the world, but also a group of 25 SOI staff, veteran Antarctic researchers, journalists, and the ship crew. All of these people were happy to tell the students everything they knew and share their experiences, while the setting of their stories lay right outside the ship’s window.

The first days onboard weren’t too great. When the ship’s lounge was filled with people seasick, napping near trash-cans, moaning, and cursing the ocean, we knew we were crossing the Drake Passage to reach the Antarctic continent. Geologist Fred Roots attempted to distract us by telling us all about the land around us, and the sea that covered it up. He explained that the currents circled Antarctica clockwise and were then squeezed between South America and Antarctica, forming the infamous Drake Passage. Later, the students and staff walked the decks with barf bags in their hands all while pointing to a distant, exclaiming ‘breaching whale, over there!’

“I got the pictures of the humpback whales jumping out of the water all three times, this must be pretty rare. I am lucky I had my camera with me at the right moment,” said Chicago SOI participant Alex Brewer.

The Antarctic ornithologist Santiago Imberti pointed to penguins, discussing their mating habits, life spans, biology, and even the color of their poop. All the while, we were surrounded by thousands of the penguins on a tiny Antarctic Island. Completely unafraid of humans, they wobbled along in a straight line until they reached a cliff to the shore. They stood around for a long while until one impatient penguin shoved another into the dangerous waters. Then, the rest followed.

The polar expert Olle Carlsson explained why the penguins were so hesitant in their dives into the water, the leopard seal. The leopard seal would, if successful in its hunt, play a game of cat- and- mouse with the penguin. We crossed our fingers that no such seal would appear in the water, yet we oooh-ed and aaah-ed when we saw an adorable elephant seal sleeping on shore and scratching its belly and back. This scratching, Carlsson explained, was called molting, the shedding of skin, and we sympathized with the seal. At another island, we even saw seven of them piled between two rocks, portraying their liking for body contact. The cold ice beneath them did not seem to bother them, despite their lack of fur or feathers.

“Isn’t that amazing,” Carlsson always said in his Swedish accent after mentioning a strange fact about Antarctic wildlife.

Explorer David Fletcher planned a hike at 5:30 in the morning to the top of a steep glacier. We took two steps forward and one step back as our rain boots slid on the slippery slope or were stuck in the ice, but we made it to the top feeling a sense of victory and accomplishment. Later, after a good breakfast, we did it over again on another glacier and took ice core samples that have existed for as long as half a century. Fletcher explained just how valuable such research was and how these samples were artifacts of the past, air, weather, and even wildlife.

We took some deep breaths, and then we slid down the glacier. A half hour hike concluded with a 20 second slide. Students didn’t hesitate to climb back up only to slide down one more time. Everyone got to his or her feet slowly after the slides ended, checking for any holes in pants from the slide, and there were plenty to find. This activity was obviously fun, but by sliding down we gathered an understanding of ice texture, glacier steepness, and much more.

“My pant pocket came right off, but I didn’t care. The slide was worth it,” said Palestinian SOI participant Zayne Abudagga.

This type of constructive learning is perhaps one of the most effective ways to relish an education mainly because it involves all of the human senses. Students can truly experience and absorb their learning this way, even if it means sentencing themselves to a distinct penguin smell for weeks. And that is exactly what many of the 65 students admitted happened during the expedition.

We were chosen as ambassadors from Staten Island to experience Antarctica and share our experiences when we returned. We learned many things about penguins, seals, geography, history, and the Poles. We also learned that nothing is as educational as experience itself.

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According tohttp://www.novareinna.com, the custom on Valentines Day in Denmark isto be humorous and have fun. Danish men give females a valentine letter known as gaekkebrev (or “joking letter”) The sender of this gaekkebrev writes a poem but does not sign his/her name. Instead, he signs the message with dots, one dot for each letter in his name. If the lady who receives the card guesses the name of the sender, then she is rewarded with an Easter egg later on that year.

According to www.everythingvalentinesday.com, Scotland celebrates a Valentine’s Day festival. At the festival, an equal number of men and women’s write their made up names on paper and fold it half, and put them into two separate hats.The men choose from the women hat, and the women choose from the men’s hat. If the names that were drawn don’t match, then the male is matched with the woman who chose his name. The ladies pin the name of their partner over their heart or on their sleeves. Later, there’s a dance where everyone meets up and they celebrate with their partners.

In France , a custom known as “drawing for” once occurred because later on becomes banned. According to, http://www.novareinna.com unmarried individuals would go into houses facing each other and begin calling out across from one window to another, matching up with the chosen partner. If the young man failed to be interested with his valentine, he would leave her. Later, a bonfire will be lit where the ladies could burn images of the ungrateful partner and say bad things while the picture burns. This ritual was eventually banned by the French government because people would abuse one another. Today, the French exchange greeting cards known as cartes d’amities, which contain heartfelt messages.

In China, Valentine’s Day is celebrated somewhat like it is in the U.S. “Gentlemen purchase flowers for the ladies,” said Geometry teacher Ms. Anney Li. In Chinese high schools, flowers are sold and they are distributed to the classrooms, like we do at our school. Restaurants are definitely places that older couples go to, to eat on Valentine’s Day. Many different countries celebrate Valentine’s Day. Whether it’s going out to eat, celebrating a festival, or watching pictures of ungrateful men burn in fire, like in France. “I personally like Valentine’s day because I think it’s nice to feel special on that day, to know you are loved by someone else,” said junior Marisch Perera. Valentine’s Day should be celebrated with the ones you love, and in a unique way.

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Minarets, which have the same relevance in Islamic culture as church towers and their bells in the Christian world, are distinctive free-standing structures unique to the architecture of Islamic mosques.

The problem was never about the minarets. They were taken as a symbol of other parts of the Islamic religion that concerned the founders of the initiative, like burqas, which are outer garments worn by Islamic women, the sharia, which is the Islamic law, and forced marriages.

The legislatures wanted to achieve a signaling effect and a discussion about these topics. These are also the strongest points of criticism of the opponents to the new law, because the initiative aimed more to attack the Islamic culture than to forbid minarets.

Anyhow, this initiative aims to stop the feared Islamization of Switzerland, and warn the Muslims who don’t want to integrate themselves. Many people argue that Muslims don’t need minarets to act out their belief, or that it’s forbidden to build churches in some Islamic countries as well.

Muslims may not be limited to worship their belief without minarets, but it is unfortunate that our population set itself on one level with countries with more or less dictatorial forms of government. It’s also regrettable that the campaign had been led in very populist and fearful techniques. The placards and slogans used were racist.

Switzerland proved once more that it has a problem with the integration of religious minorities. We must take the results of this vote seriously because there’s obviously a massive insecurity among the Swiss population. The initiative party knew to take advantage of this part of the population. The opponents of the initiative, who outnumbered them by far, were not aware of this fear. Hence not all of their supporters against the initiative voted.

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The summit was probably one of the biggest and most important meetings that ever have taken place, yet sadly there was no progress made. Hopefully important resolutions will be established soon in the future, as climate change affects us all.

Sweden is currently the leader of the European Union, and has been that during the past five months. One of the biggest challenges during those months has been agreeing upon the limit of carbon dioxide emissions until year 2020. Our Swedish leaders have done a good job making the decision to decrease our emissions by 20% until 2020 if no industrialized nations chose to make any effort.

However, the United States is probably is the most important key if we want to save the climate, being one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions. The United States hasn’t made any effort to lower the CO2 emissions.

The Copenhagen Summit is a replacement for the Kyoto protocol in 1997. Since the climate issue has to be dealt with right now, it is harder to make limitations.

The United States hasn’t chosen to ratify the protocol during the 12 years that it has been effective, and has been the biggest economy in the world during these years.

Since developing countries like China and India has seen that USA hasn’t been ratifying it, they don’t want to commit to it either. This is a big problem because the USA, at its peek, was responsible for approximately 40% of the total emissions in the world. Currently China is in the largest contributor.

The main argument from the U.S. is that the economy will be harmed. On the other hand, all countries in the EU, and especially Sweden, already have managed to drop our emissions and at them same time had a steady increase in our economy.

All over Europe, there is a big dissatisfaction about the way USA is treating this issue.

I care about the environment, and believe the Unites States can fight climate change if they tried. A developed country like Sweden has the means to fight it, and contribute less to the evident process of global warming.

After spending a month in USA I understand that it is the lifestyle that is the problem. For example, your cars compared to ours. Yours are much, much bigger both in terms of size and motor capacity. Do you really need to drive a big SUV to work? In Europe, cars are much smaller, and emit much less. SUV’s are only used to plow snow.

I hope the rest of the world will take part in postponing climate change, especially the United States, China, and India. It is time to wake up and take responsibility; otherwise it will be too late.

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This December featured a UN meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark intended to tackle the issue of climate change on a global and political level. Despite the proceedings in New York prior to Copenhagen, major unresolved disputes and disagreements between nations prevented smooth negotiations.

According to the UNFCC, the views of the U.S., China, and the European Union were the main obstacles that prevented the creation of a binding agreement.

“The reality of climate change is not in doubt I have to be honest, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now, and it hangs in the balance,” said President Obama while addressing other world leaders, negotiators, and UN delegates.

According to members of the UNICEF’s Climate Change Team, Kerry Constabile and Sue Lee, it is tough for UN discussions to occur because a hundred countries are involved and the same arguments reappear.

Managing and financing any planned initiatives are common problems as well because they raise questions such as who will lead the fight and who will pay.

“It’s tough to set the same carbon emission standards for every country because of the difference in lifestyles among people in developed and undeveloped countries, and those same undeveloped countries need room to industrialize, so they need to be allowed to raise their carbon emissions,” said journalist, political adviser for Singapore’s ASEAN branch, environmental policy expert, and professor Simon Tay.

President Obama touched upon these difficulties while suggesting a solution that may work only through ‘Mitigation’, ‘Transparency’, and ‘Financing’.

Mitigation would involve setting standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, setting targets and deadlines for each country according to their contribution to climate change.

Transparency would allow nations to check each other’s progress, or the lack of it. This would ensure that each nation that signs an agreement follows its demands.

Finally, financing would primarily help developing nations transition to using greener and cleaner energy and technology.

China, Brazil, and the EU put several similar plans forward, and other nations contributed to the discussions too; however, a consensus seemed highly impossible with conflicting interests.

Regardless the controversies, the weeks of negotiating did have highlights.

“We underline that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. We emphasize our strong political will to urgently combat climate change in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities,” states Article I of the Copenhagen Accord, released on December 18.

Besides agreeing to the fact that climate change is happening the accord also addressed what needs to be done.

Article II states, “We agree that deep cuts in global emissions are required according to science, and as documented by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report with a view to reduce global emissions so as to hold the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius”

Even though the Accord sounds promising, it is simply an international declaration. An official agreement has been delayed, and will hopefully be created at future Climate Change meetings scheduled this year and the next.

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If you rode the New York City Subway on January 10, 2010, you probably experienced an unusual holiday. For the past nine years, January 10 has been declared No Pants Day by the comedy troupe Improv Everywhere.

The idea of No Pants Day is for thousands of New Yorkers to ride the subway in their underwear and act as if nothing is unusual. The reactions from fellow riders are priceless.

The event began at 3:00 pm at six meeting points through out the city, Foley Square and Central Park in Manhattan; Prospect Park and Bushwick in Brooklyn, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park and Astoria in Queens. The participants were then split up into groups by their birthday and the last digit of their cell phone number to be assigned their route and the car they would be riding in.

“We used 10 subway lines spread out all over the city, though sadly we didn’t use Staten Island as there is no direct subway route. We picked routes that would lead our participants to Union Square in about a half hour’s time,” said Charlie Todd, founder of Improv Everywhere.

All of the routes required a transfer at Times Square and converged on Union Square for a pantsless celebration. The three thousand participants formed conga lines around the park, held break dance competitions, and sang a pantsless rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

The participants flooded the local businesses. Some were on high alert, while others such as Heartland Brewery and Starbucks warmly welcomed the pantless brethren.

The event’s most exciting component was the reactions from fellow passengers.

“I was on the 1 train when two college age boys entered the train at Franklin Street without pants. I thought it was an initiation for a fraternity until two pantless women got on at Houston St. After that, I thought I was losing my mind until somebody told me it was a prank,” said a rider who wishes to be referred to as Denise.

Tourists looked on in awe at the unusual sight. When asked why they were not wearing pants, the participants were instructed to say they simply forgot their pants and they didn’t know why the other participants aren’t wearing pants.

“No Pants is always a fun event for me personally because I enjoy watching the reactions from the New Yorkers we encounter. Even as it gets more popular as the years go by, there are always people seeing it for the first time,” said Todd.

The New York event has grown from seven participants to over 3,000 in this year’s rendition. The No Pants Subway Ride has also become a global holiday, with participants in cities all over the US, as well as in South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

While the event began as a prank, it has evolved into a de facto underwear parade. However, the spirit of the event has not been lost. The priceless reactions are what keep the event going.

If you are seeking a memorable experience and a feeling of comradery, think about participating in the 2011 No Pants Subway Ride. Remember, don’t show up if you are not going to take off your pants.

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It was a Tuesday night in November, cold and chilly, when the Asia Society honored influential couples who have made an impact on the world. This event took place at the 33rd New York Annual Dinner held at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan emceed by Asia Society President Vishakha Desai.

“I am globally fluent in fashion,” said special guest Grover from Sesame Street.

According to Grover, partnerships with educators around the world are a necessity because learning and sharing with each other is the most important thing someone can do.

The dinner included interviews by CNN anchor Daljit Dhaliwal, and each of the honored guests, whose achievements and jobs revolve around journalism, diplomacy, education, and public policy.

The honored couples included Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke and Kati Marton, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Deepak S. Parekh and Smita Parekh, Peter G. Peterson and Joan Ganz Cooney, and the Kronos Quartet.
Journalist Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn responded passionately when asked about the education and development of women worldwide.

“The remedy to so many of the problems around the world has to do with education. We [Americans] don’t share that same passion for education as Pakistan fundamentalists do, and we sure should,” said Kristof.

“Education can be done in many different ways. Even if a handful [of schools] are taken out, we still need to educate. Education still is the long-term solve, but also important, is the idea of bringing women into the labor force and letting them play productive roles in society. Education isn’t enough, but it’s a good start.”

Kristof and his wife were honored for their contributions to journalism, including their books Thunder from the East and China Wakes, and their efforts in raising awareness about global health, poverty, and gender issues.

This couple influences the world daily with their words.

When asked how students can begin to help the world’s needy besides educating themselves, Sheryl WuDunn said to visit the website halftheskymovement.org because it lists many non-profit organizations that work to help women.
When asked the same question Kristof said, “Take a gap year after high school, before college. It’s more popular but unusual. Go abroad; get outside of your country zone. It can be a life changing perspective.” The Asia society, hosts of the annual dinner, is also a partner with our school.

The Asia Society’s mission is to promote a greater amount of knowledge on global issues in the United States. Their purpose is to bring the Asia and U.S. leaders together to solve important issues including human rights, the status of women, and environmental and global health issues.

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