Is Water a Commodity? By Katya Yacob and Jon Woods

            Is water a commodity, or is it more? Water has been used to keep life nourished and healthy for billions of years. On earth, the only things needed are food, water, and an atmosphere, but the United States use of water as a commodity could cause our fresh water supply to run out. According to the USGS “In the United States in 2005, we used about 328 billion gallons per day of surface water and about 82.6 billion gallons per day of groundwater”(USGS). The way we use water is surprising. “Estimates vary, but each person uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day”(USGS). This past week in the Marin School of Environmental leadership we focused on water, from how it impacts health, education, poverty, and hunger in Africa, to our own use of water in Seminar,  the class were we look specifically at environmental impacts.

In the morning we have health class in which we discussed the movie Erin Brockovich. In this movie we learned about how PG&E contaminated water sources in Hinkley California with hexavalent Chromium. Then in the movie, as in real life, Erin Brockovich fights to win the case, but the point is that this has happened before and water can be contaminated and can cause serious damage to the habitat and to our valuable fresh water resources. In Hamilton Air Force Base there was a gas station that leaked and caused an oil plume to ruin a possible freshwater resource but because of the underground contamination it was too dangerous for people to live there. Another example is the B.P. oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which diminished and devastated the wildlife and many communities. If we diminish our fresh water we will run out of water. We need to focus on the facts.

            In Seminar, we looked at how water was more of a commodity then anything. We use water for everything: from washing dishes to manufacturing the dishwasher. If you think about it, water bottles are a commodity. We can get water were ever we want instead of walking miles and it is now to money to be made. These companies want money and do not realize the impact that they are truly making. They are manufacturing death. It has been proven that in most cases tap water is better for you then bottled water, but then the question is raised about why people drink bottled water. Well, it is because it is easier. Have you ever been walking around and just get thirsty? You can just go to the closest store and get a bottle of water, instead of filling up a reusable container before you leave. This is allowing people all around the world the produce a gargantuan amount of plastic. We also learned about how there is too little water globally. Say one country has water rights to this source. If a country does, it can be diminished by the time it gets to its next stop. Water stress is to be considered when there is less then 1700 cubic feet of reliable runoff per person. We are slowly falling into that category and what is next? The next stage is water scarcity were there is less that 1000 cubic feet of reliable runoff per person. To help increase our supply of freshwater, we use dams and reservoirs, which can cause valleys to flood. It also causes downstream estuaries and cropland to be deprived of nutrient silt. Sometimes people do not realize our soon to happen water crisis but everyone requires to have to help. Not just a small community but also the whole world.

In Biology, we learned about many things including acids and bases. Acids make things sour and bases make things bitter, but in an acidic solution there is more hydronium ions then hydroxide ions and a base is the opposite. In order for life we must keep the pH levels balanced. When chemicals run into rivers it cause the pH to change, which can cause the habitat to die and kill the life using it for survival. And speaking of rivers, we carried this idea into language arts.

In English we read a book called A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean. It was about childhood memories and how fly-fishing was the family's way of keeping in touch and seeing each other, and how the family relaxed and got to spend time with together. Since we are learning and talking about water, this book is a great example on how much we rely on water, not only for our daily usage but also for our hobbies and activities that we enjoy doing. MSEL English is where we look at our thematic focus on a symbolic level, so we talked a lot about water’s importance as a symbol of life and time and interconnectedness.  As Maclean wrote, “All things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”

In World Geography, we take a closer look around the world and how each country and the people inside are either suffering without water or have a plentiful amount of it. In Marin County, most people have access to as much water as they please. In my family we don't worry about us running out of water if someone takes a long shower or we keep on washing our clothes. I bet the thought doesn't even run into most family members' minds. But remember, while you're having gallons and gallons of water per hour another child probably younger than you walks for miles to get water for the family. They miss school, work, and almost anything to get water. Since water is something we have to have to survive how will the world look in 50 years if we keep on being careless about the amount of water we are using now? We take advantage of having water while others will fight over having a glass if not sip. Conversations and questions like these are what we are trying to address, going into detail about what we as individuals can do to help.

Each person uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day in the United States! Now multiply that number of gallons per person, per day to the millions of people who live here and maybe use more. That will be over 300 billion gallons of surface water per day! How much surface and drinkable water do most people think we have? An endless supply of water? NO! Before it's too late we really need to act now! Water is a precious resource and if you can go without an hour of using it in any way (pencils, paper, shoes, clothes, and etc.) then we would applaud you, because life relies heavily on it.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/qa-home-percapita.html

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html

            

Wealth, Health, and Learning: Deborah Okpo and Khan Tran

Please note: this blog post was written in the fall and thus pertains to lesson and events that were our focus at the time.

 “Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process all begins"-- Jim Rohn

      

            

“A healthy mind, body, and spirit are all you need to survive.” Mr. Garcia, our health teacher, says these words more times that one can count. He taught us to keep our bodies healthy by taking the class on 4:00 AM hikes and pushing everyone to their limits all in one day at the retreat. Even though many people complained, Mr. Garcia had a positive attitude and sang I will “Survive” or “Eye of the Tiger” throughout the whole exhausting hike. When we reached the summit of the mountain, everyone was tired and quite grumpy that we had to get up, and emotions ran high when we got a measly half a small muffin. But, one memory we will all cherish was looking around and seeing the tops of trees eerily surrounded by mist as the sun rose a pinkish-orange hue, and thinking quietly as we gained a deeper understanding of ourselves as both individuals and as a group. Everyone helped each other going down the mountain with our slips and falls but we trudged on with our new friends, hoping for a better breakfast. We would not have had the wonderful experience if Mr. Garcia had not walked the trail before us, even though we got lost several times, but in life one has to get lost in order to be found. These lessons we learned on the hike relate to academic lessons we learn in our MSEL classes.

           

In Seminar, a project based learning class, the class is in groups for project week, which is quite literally a week of projects, and one group is finding out more on the Bay Water Quality. According to Savesfbay.org, people spill, dump or leak over three million gallons of oil into San Francisco Bay. And this in not just big companies an average person with a car leaks more oil into waterways than oil tankers do! This result shows that our bay is being polluted and affects the environment making the water unhealthy for the fish that live in it. We could help by driving less and instead walk, bike, or use public transportation. When you fix your car, don't forget to fix the leaky part so the oil won't spill. Tell everyone around you, so they can give a hand too!

           

The oil definitely  gets in to other ecosystems. In Biology we are learning about ecology or the study of how organisms, biotic and abiotic, interact with each other in an environment. What are those big scientific terms being thrown around? None of us, when we first came, knew the importance of or meaning of the words. It was only after many sleepless nights that it clicked: ecology just means how everyone and everything interacts! Healthy, what does that mean? It means everyone is doing his or her part in helping the environment and each other. All parts are necessary in the trophic levels, or position in an environment, and if one were to take away even one level it could disrupt everything and not allow the animals to have a healthy habitat. Everyone and everything in one circular planet, and it is our job to protect it.

Circles can show cycles and cycles are the way of life. A river is a good example of this because if river has good water quality it can properly function and allow fish and animals to survive off of it. In English, we just finished a novella called A River Runs Through It, and according to Norman Macclean, the author, (a round character who changes and keeps the plot moving) the river has to be healthy so the fish can survive, especially the Rainbow Trout!  Rainbow Trout show up a lot in the story and fishing for them is one way Norman comes to terms with the loss of his brother, Paul (a flat or static charter who doesn't change much. He was addicted to fish, girls, and gambling-- not exactly in that order). 

Addiction is one of those topics that makes everyone uncomfortable. When we hear the word people immediately we think of drug addicts, but what if we were addicts ourselves, not to drugs but to pollution?  Ms. Leonhart made us ask ourselves this question when we wrote our "Trash Talking" essays or what the trash we collected after twenty-four hours of living our regular lives says about us. Many people who thought they were environmentally friendly realized that the few things had certainly left a huge impact  on the world, whether it was plastic container that can't biodegrade or paper bag not properly recycled. One should look inside and ask themselves what they can do to change to become healthier. 

            

Winston Churchill once stated that healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have. In World Geography we learned about the five themes of geography:Place, where something is located; Human and Environment Interactions, or how we change the world and our surroundings; Movement, or how we go from location to location; and, Region-- the area around us. Everyone knows that countries will interact with each other, sometimes not always for the best. Debt (spending more money than a country has), is not a healthy way to run a government. There are many ways to stop this such as opening up trade in all countries which would in the long run set every nations debt clock back to zero. There are many solutions that have their downsides and there is not one simple answer. Another example of taking sides was when the class was given the assignment of writing a position paper everyone in the class was given either a one (industrialized nations should help developing countries economically and technologically) or a two (foreign aid supports weak governments and discourages economic growth). With both sides battling it out to be right new insights were gained on the world around us. There are many threats and decisions that can affect the environment either negatively or positively and it is up to Marin School of Environmental Leadership to make environmental decisions for ourselves and our community. The health of the world depends on it.

We're Baaaaaaaack........

Greetings, Marin SEL Community (and world!),

I'm sure you've all been wondering what happened to our regularly updated blog from last year as we began our program, and we have definitely taken a while to get the ball rolling...but here we are! Our new (now newish) freshman class will be cranking out blog posts from here on out, and we sincerely hope you will take the time to read, comment and share with your friends as Marin SEL grows as a presence in our school and community. The kids are super stars, they work hard, and the goal of this blog , as always, is to draw connections between the various Marin SEL classes and activities they partake in each day. Sometimes these connections are academic, but often times (as last year), kids make connections that are moral, even spiritual and emotional.  It's very cool to see what all our collaboration, communication, and inspiration as teachers can provide for "our" kids in terms of their learning experience and the kind of critical, thoughtful insights they often reveal here. We hope to make what we learn and how we learn it transparent to the larger community!

It's a LOT of work--not gonna lie, as they say--but not enough teachers get the chance to work collaboratively at this level, nor do we get to forge relationships with distinct groups of kids over many years. Thus, it's worth it--and makes coming to work to see the MSEL Family a whole lot of fun. Hopefully you'll be able to see that in these posts, and share in the unique, at times crazy, always interesting and challenging--and sometimes challenged--program that we build as we grow.

So, just so you know, a few changes: because we have a back up of two blogs, I will post the first two pretty quickly, then we will be back to our about every two weeks schedule. And--also so you know--the blog here on out will be the domain of the Honors students. This will ensure that every honors student has a chance to write his or her OWN blog, and in addition to the extra book and project they complete, will comprise the honors section of the class. I do this partly because we only have one semester left, but also because these kids willingly take on extra work, and it's up to me to create it for them.  If we have more time at the end of the year--or if a non-honors student really wants to write a blog post? You can bet I'll make that happen, too. Oh--and another thing! If you have great photos from MSEL activities, outings, or just funny shots you'd like to share from either our freshmen or sophomores, please feel free to send them my way at teagenleo@hotmail.com. You'll note the photos up now besides profiling our bloggers are of the annual retreat, this past August at Wesminster woods.

So, welcome back, happy blogging and reading, and enjoy!


All the best,

Teagen Leonhart
(Ms. L)