Reflections on an article in the Economist: "Hang On". Sept. 14th-20th Issue

At first, the premise of this article seems a little counterintuitive. Economic growth preventing extinctions? What the hell have you guys been smoking? A closer look however reveals that this is merely viewing the same issue through a different lens, and the connection is so obvious that I slapped myself for not noticing it. 

Essentially, the article states that richer and more stable countries have an easier time protecting the environment than poorer countries do. At a basic level, one can make the connection that more funds leads to well-paid rangers and parks that actually do a good job of protecting animals, but that's not the only point. The other point is stability. As wars around the world have proved, the victims of human conflict aren't always human. Weaker governments also have a hard time enforcing environmental laws, assuming that they have any in the first place. Strong governments are also more likely to respond to the demands made of them by their populace, instead of falling prey to rampant corruption. This, I suppose, is a connection I made in my unconscious mind but never fully appreciated until now. South Korea, for example, has mostly stable forest cover and is also one of the fastest growing countries in the world. China, even with its growth rate “slowing” to 8 or 9% a year, has set aside three times as much land for national parks as the US has.

Compare this to North Korea, or countries in Africa. While the fighting may have died down, North Korea’s isolationism and Africa’s questionable stability have made both countries lose vast amounts of their precious ecological resources. Even as the people grow more and more aware of the negative impact of humanity on the Earth their government is crippled by corruption. This is not to say that there is no hope for developing countries.  I was quite surprised to learn that deforestation in Brazil had dropped by 23,000 sq. km. in nine years. This makes sense. The world, on average, is getting richer, and poverty is being slowly defeated. The chief cause of this change is the accessibility of education, and this in turn lets people think for themselves when it comes to protecting the planet’s wildlife.

I think that this change can only be good. With young countries growing faster and faster more people, and by extension their governments will come to realize that protecting wildlife is a priority. With new growth, countries will have the money they need, and the developed part of the world should to all they can to encourage this. Food production will also need to be improved and the negative stigma of GM foods should be eradicated. I believe that with further growth that many countries are already on their way to achieving we can slow and finally stop the extinction of many of our planet’s species.

The article makes mention of the fact that global warming may be stabilizing, as their has been a hiatus in the trend of rising temperatures. There will be no hope for any animals on the planet if the temperature reaches the high end of the scale. New technologies and alternative energy sources get cheaper by the day. With fuel as expensive as it is now, people opt for electrical cars, bikes, or pedestrianism. Simple common sense is what is driving a revolution in people’s attitudes. There is still a long way to go. Governments in conflict-wracked zones must be stabilized. There is hope for the future, but only if the richer countries of the world extend a helping hand to those who are less fortunate. This crisis, the “sixth great extinction”, cannot be averted unless we are willing to work together. 

My Summer 2013

My personal philosophy when it comes to learning is that sitting in a classroom can only teach you so much. Eventually, you’re going to have to get your hands dirty. Reams of information have little meaning if you weren’t involved in collecting it. The human element is lost, and with it a chance to expand the scope of one’s learning from the theoretical into the practical.

The Sea Education Association appears to be in agreement with me. Since 1971, they have been running high school and undergraduate programs from their campus in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. I took part in the Science at Sea (SAS) program that is run for people in high school. The ten day on shore component is the theory, teaching you the skills and information that will be important to you on the sea component-eight days of sailing on a brigantine deploying instruments and hauling away on lines.

When I first arrived on campus, my nerves were lessened by the fact that the place was not actually a prison and looked quite pleasant. After checking in, I was directed to the cottage (C house) I would be staying in. My roommates would be two other boys named (according to the name tags on the door) Luke and Jared. The roster for the girl’s rooms was also posted on the bulletin board, and to my amusement I found that twelve girls would have to share one bathroom. Seeing as how there were only three boys, that wasn’t a problem for us, but the people upstairs would have a hard time of it. The mad rush to schedule shower times was a lively topic of dinner table discussion for most of the camp.

Time passed and everybody began to trickle in and get settled down. The two cottages that the students of SAS occupied were Bellatrix and Capella, or B and C house. Faculty and college students on a different program occupied the three others. The time then came for a big group orientation, which took place in the lecture hall cum study area in a building called the Madden center. There, we each introduced ourselves and our hobbies, and also our reasons for coming here. Most of the people who were there looked like they belonged. About half claimed an interest in a career in science, and of those about a third (including yours truly) said they were interested in marine sciences. There were no classes that day; instead we spent our time at the cottages mingling with each other. Me being the classic introvert, I chose to sit alone and think for some time about what I was getting into. My resident advisor, Mary, came up to me and said that she was going to let me off the hook for the first day, but by tomorrow I had to be more social. I agreed and returned to my ponderings.

Dinner was served, with vegetarian options for the three vegetarians there (myself included). A strict lights out of 2230 was enforced, the reason being that we would all be very tired at the end of the day from all our work, and that sleep was essential. The next day classes started. To call our workload for the shore component “heavy” would’ve been an understatement. “Thrown in the deep end with no life jacket” was a close approximation.

There were three main classes at the camp. Oceanography, which focused mainly of physical and chemical oceanography, Maritime Studies, which taught about the history of the oceans and the events tied to it, and Nautical Sciences, which was a course that taught us everything we would need to know onboard the ship. As the camp progressed we learnt about the history of Cape Cod and the surrounding area, the chemistry of seawater and proper safety procedures onboard the ship, among other things. Each course was meant to give us a historic, scientific, and practical context for what we would be seeing once we were sailing. The work was hard, but during our free time we were allowed to work together with our friends, and our combined efforts meant that there were very few people who didn’t possess a basic understanding of the particular topic we were studying.

The topics we covered were varied and interesting. In oceanography our primary topics were ocean currents and nutrient circulation, but we also covered tectonic activity and ocean geology. Maritime Studies’ focus was the varied environmental policies that countries had passed and their impact on the oceans, as well as the South China Sea disputes and Somali piracy. In Nautical Science, we learned how to tie various knots, take weather observations, and properly plot our positions on a chart. Additionally, the various duties we would have onboard we explained to us.  It amazed me to see the gusto with which people took to the classes. The curiosity and drive to learn that characterizes our generation was readily apparent as we worked.  Everybody brought something to the table, and our combined talents made anything possible.

After ten days, the shore component was over, and after a thorough cleaning of our houses we made our way to Dryer’s Dock, where the SSV Corwith Cramer waited. SSV stands for Sailing School Vessel, and it allows SEA to crew its ships with fewer professional crew than would be required. This is because the students are legally recognized as part of the crew, and have real responsibilities. This also meant that we, as students, had to be more aware of what we were doing and generally be more careful.  We had been introduced to the captain, Virginia Land, two days before we left during our “Life at Sea” orientation. Now we had the chance to meet the rest of the crew. We were divided into watches, A Watch, B Watch, and C Watch. Each watch would rotate through various shifts, being assigned to either the deck or the lab. Deck work involved cleaning the ship, performing boat checks, noting position and weather in the log, and assisting with sail handling. The lab would entail you helping in the deployment of scientific instruments, processing data, and looking at plankton catches through a microscope. I will go into more detail later.

Our duties on the boat were numerous and varied. Most important were boat checks, hourly sweeps of every inch of the vessel and the engine room to see if anything was on fire. They were a way of keeping everyone safe and reminded us that we needed to be constantly vigilant. Out here, we had only ourselves to depend on if a fire broke out of if the ship was flooding. Our captain made mention of the fact that of a half-dozen small fires the crew has had to battle in the Cramer’s lifetime, all were spotted by people on boat checks.

Next was the filling out of the log. The log we had to be careful with, as it was a legal document and therefore needed to be treated well. Mistakes are not crossed out; a straight line is put through them so the text is still visible. Cross something out completely, and you run the risk that the Coast Guard will think you’re trying to hid something. Our position was plotted hourly on the chart and was assisted by GPS. Constant monitoring of the weather was also vital, and we kept a separate weather log.

After a quick set of introductions and watch meetings, we ate dinner and were allowed to sleep a full eight hours, a luxury that we would not be getting for the next few days. Morning arrived and after breakfast, my watch (A) took the 0700-1300 watch. I was assigned to the lab, and we deployed a phytoplankton net and while waiting, familiarized ourselves with the layout of the lab and some of the equipment there.  The scientific instruments were pretty much the same ones that scientists use, and the samples and data they collected was interesting to study.  The whole process of deployment, collection and processing took place across multiple watches, so nobody got to see the full thing from start to finish. It was gratifying to know, however, that somebody on the next watch would appreciate your work, and in return complete another task for you.

Being assigned to deck meant you mostly used your brawn instead of your brains, hauling on lines, scrubbing the deck and steering the vessel. Deck watches were oftentimes filled with periods of inactivity; sails did not need to be constantly adjusted and only one person was at the helm. The flexibility of the watch schedule allowed those who weren’t really doing anything to help out in the lab, or perhaps take over at the helm. Everybody was eager to help and there was always something that needed to be done, even if that something was not your official duty for the day. Kids will be kids and while adults can claim (with a certain degree of accuracy) that teenagers don’t take anything seriously, the maturity of everyone on board was a major help to the smooth running of the ship. The importance of not acting like an idiot was not lost on anyone.

There were, of course, various adjustments that people needed to make to their attitudes in order to maintain their sanity. Learning how to deal with seasickness was one of these. People “donated” to the ocean’s stock of organic matter on a fairly regular basis for the first couple of days. I myself never “donated” but the queasiness was there. Additionally, the tables in the main salon were gimbled, meaning that the tables moved with the motion of the sea rather than with the motion of the boat, and thus kept food on the tables and not on the floor. Still, I never really did get use to the fact that suddenly the table might tip and place my plate of macaroni in a very precarious position (nothing ever fell off though). Elbows on the table were a big no-no, as interrupting the motion of the tables would send stuff flying everywhere. The constant threat of sunburn was another major adjustment, and the crew was very, very serious about the liberal application of sunscreen. There is no mother, living or dead, that can even match the amount of nagging the crew put out on this issue, and for good reason. Sunburn, even mild sunburn, would incapacitate you, which was much more serious in the middle of the North Atlantic than it was on shore.

Hard work might be all the fun that some people need, but there were always times to just unwind a bit and relax. A lot of people could play a guitar or ukulele, and sing-alongs on deck were popular. There were many talented singers present in our group, so it wasn’t torture to listen to us either. Part of our “homework” was to keep journals, and while initially it just started out as an assignment, for me at least it became a way of preserving in a permanent way everything I had experienced on board. There were so many new things to see and new experiences to have that it was impossible for me to remember everything, so the journal offered a place to put it down in writing. It was also quite relaxing at the end of a long day (although due to the crazy schedules, the definition of “day” varies) to have nothing to do but write.

Many people have said that human beings, when put into stressful situations, develop bonds that are stronger than they should be, especially if the people in question haven’t spent very much time together. Eighteen days is not a long time, but getting to know each other developed a real esprit de corps amongst all of us, living on that small ship, a little island of civilization in the middle of a vast and often unforgiving ocean. We trusted each other with our lives, and lookout duty was taken very seriously. Living together, working together, learning together, and never being more than 100 feet from someone else made us into a team, a tight-knit community that functioned smoothly and efficiently. We all had to look out for each other, and we slept better at night knowing there was someone watching over us too.

           

The SAS program is probably the best academic course I have ever done. This has affirmed my lifelong dream of being a marine biologist; I know now with utter certainty that this is the career for me. Nothing bad that happened to me, not seasickness, not sleeplessness, not feeling gross after six days without a shower, could compare to the amount of fun I had and the amount that I learned. It was a fantastic experience, and I made some great friends too.  I am both eager and willing to try their undergraduate programs when I’m old enough, and perhaps do another of their high school ones next year. Without a doubt, this was the best summer I’ve ever had.

And yes, we did sing pirate songs.  

Chapter 3 Summary: Bio Textbook

Chapter 3-1: What is Ecology?

Ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and other organisms and the interaction between organisms and their environment. The study of ecology focuses on the different ways in which life on Earth is organized, from the smallest cell to the entire planet (or biosphere). The interactions that take place within the biosphere have over the eons woven a web of interdependence; put simply, each organism on Earth, in some way is connected with every other organism on Earth. This is why the extinction of even one species has such a devastating effect on wildlife all around the world. Due to the fact that life on Earth is constantly evolving, adapting and changing, the biosphere is far from static, and it is one of the most dynamic subjects in science.

One key aspect of ecology is “levels of organization”. This term refers to the different levels of complexity that an ecologist may study. The ecologist may study a single individual animal, or the entire biosphere. As the complexity increases, different factors are taken into account, such as the environment and the other species present in the area. Obviously, the most complex level is the biosphere itself. The levels are as follows:

• ·      Individual: an individual organism, which can be a plant, animal, or microorganism.
• ·      Species: A group of that same animal, plant or microorganism, similar enough that they can breed and produce fertile offspring.
• ·      Population: A group of the same species, residing in the same general area.
• ·      Community: Multiple populations and species residing in the same general area and forming a food chain.
• ·      Ecosystem: A collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, as well as their physical environment, and external factors such as weather.
• ·      Biome: A group of ecosystems that have the same general climate conditions and the same dominant communities.

• ·      Biosphere: The entire planet.

Ecologists use many methods and tools to study the living  (and nonliving) world. For those that study the bigger organisms, binoculars, field guides and radio tracking tags might be their tools of the trade. The ecologists that study the microscopic world may do so with microscopes and Petri dishes. Despite the differences in tools or methods, all ecologists use three basic scientific approaches: observing, experimenting and modeling.

•       Observing: Observations are usually questions that ecologists ask, and form the first step towards ecological study. Some of these questions are simple, such as “How many species live here”? Others are more complex, such as “Why is one community more susceptible to climate change than another”? Observations are the first step to designing experiments and models.
•        Experimenting: This is fairly self-explanatory; it involves an ecologist designing and setting up an experiment to test out hypotheses. Ecologists can perform experiments in artificially created environments or conduct them within the natural world.
•      Modeling: Many ecological phenomena occur over such a large period of time or across so vast a distance that it would be highly impractical and difficult to study. Therefore, models are made to study the effects of ecological phenomena on the natural world, such as the effect of global warming on an ecosystem. With the advent of complex simulation programs and powerful supercomputers, ecologists have been able to make more complex and more accurate models. However, such predictions are still (to the best of the ecologist’s ability) confirmed by experiments and observations.

Chapter 3-2: Energy Flow

Every organism in the world needs energy to power the complex chemical reactions that take place within its body. Where does the energy that allows ants to carry objects many times their size or the energy that allows birds to migrate thousands of miles come from? The flow of energy through an ecosystem is a key factor in determining the system’s ability and capacity to sustain life.

The main source of energy for life on Earth is sunlight. Without this precious resource, an organism cannot function. Interestingly, only 1% of all the sunlight that hits the Earth is used by living organisms, but this is enough to produce as much as 3.5 kilograms of living tissue per square meter a year in some tropical forests. The reasoning behind the fact that many religions worship the sun as the giver of life is not hard to understand. Most ecosystems are divided into 3 classes, the producers, the consumers, and the decomposers. In most cases, the producers will be plants. Producers are autotrophs, that is, organisms that can produce their own food within their bodies. Plants do this via photosynthesis. Most organisms, like herbivores, carnivores and decomposers depend on energy stored in inorganic molecules. Usually, this comes in the form of glucose, which plants synthesize through photosynthesis. When herbivores eat plants, in receives the glucose within the plant, and the energy within the glucose. Carnivores eat the herbivores, thereby receiving a portion of that energy. Lastly, the decomposers break down organic molecules and deceased organisms. In this way, energy is recycled and continually replenished in a never-ending cycle. The theme of predators eating prey, that themselves eat plants is also referred to as the food chain.

However, nothing in nature is ever so linear and streamlined as a simple food chain. Many consumers are omnivores, eating both plants and animals. Others are detritivores that eat organic detritus produced by decomposers. When people try to illustrate this using something as simple as a food chain things start getting very complex. To help them better understand the feeding relationships within an ecosystem ecologists produce food webs. Put simply, food webs show what eats what in a given ecosystem. They also display what level each organism is at, from producers to third-level consumers. These are called trophic levels. Since only 10% of the energy from one trophic level makes it to the next, each trophic level can only support 10% of the organisms. This is why there are usually only 1 or 2 apex predators at the top of the food chain; that is all that the apex trophic level can support.

Chapter 3-3: Cycles of Matter

In most organisms, more than 95% of the body is made up of just four elements: oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen. Fortunately, these elements are readily available on Earth, but the cell of living creatures cannot use them unless they are in some suitable form. Energy and matter move through ecosystems in different ways. Energy flow is a one-way cycle, while matter is constantly recycled within the system. Matter passes from one part of the biosphere in the form of biogeochemical cycles. As the word suggests, matter is transformed from organic to inorganic many times throughout its journey. The word transformation is key: Systems never actually use up matter completely; they just transform it from one form into another. In keeping with the law of conservation of mass and energy, no matter or energy is ever created or destroyed; it is only transformed. This means that there will always bee a fixed amount of matter and energy cycling through an ecosystem. There are many different types of cycles (of matter) that take place within the natural world. The most important ones are the water cycle, the nutrient cycle, the carbon cycle, and the nitrogen cycle.

The water cycle is the simplest. The heat of the sun evaporates water. This water, which was once part of the ocean, forms into clouds. Water can also evaporate from the leaves of plants. This is called transpiration. The clouds will then condense into liquid water, which is then released in the form of precipitation. Precipitation is not just rain; it can be snow, hail or sleet. When precipitation hits the ground, much of it runs off into rivers, lakes and streams, which carry the water back to the sea. Some water seeps into the soil, going as far down as to become groundwater. Water in soil enters plants through roots, and the water cycle begins anew. Scientists estimate that it may take a single molecule of water 4000 years to complete the water cycle. This means that the water in a reservoir could have been there for hundreds of years. Similarly, the clouds we see in the sky are probably ancient.

The nutrient cycle is the path that various nutrients take in their journey through a system. Nutrients are the chemical building blocks of your body, and carry out the essential life functions and chemical reactions that allow an organism to live. Without nutrients, an organism cannot function. Primary producers usually obtain their nutrients in simple inorganic forms from the surrounding environment. First level consumers gain their nutrients by eating the plants; second level consumers gain their nutrients by eating first level consumers, and so on.

The carbon cycle is especially important, as the life forms we know of are all carbon based.  Carbon is a key ingredient in living tissue, and can take many forms, all of which are used in the natural world.  Calcium carbonate is a key component of animal skeletons. Carbon dioxide is a major part of the atmosphere. Plants also use carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. There are four main types of processes that move carbon through its cycle.

• ·      Biological processes, such as photosynthesis, respiration and decomposition take up and release carbon and oxygen.
• ·      Geochemical processes, such as erosion and volcanic activity, release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and oceans.
• ·      Mixed biogeochemical processes, such and the decomposition of buried organisms into coal and fossil fuel stores carbon underground
• ·      Human impact, such as mining, cutting and burning forests, and burning fossil fuels, release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The nitrogen cycle is important because all organisms require nitrogen to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Human activity adds nitrogen to the biosphere in the form of nitrate, a major component of chemical fertilizers. Nitrogen gas is the most common form of nitrogen on Earth, but only a small percentage of bacteria can use it in this form. These bacteria convert nitrogen to ammonia through a process called “nitrogen fixing”. Ammonia is a form of nitrogen that many organisms can readily use; therefore the nitrogen cycle is dependent on these bacteria. When organisms die, they are broken down by decomposers and return nitrogen to the soil in the form of ammonia.  Some bacteria convert nitrates into nitrogen gas via a process called denitrification. This replenishes atmospheric nitrogen and allows to cycle to begin again. 

My Thoughts on Moving to Delhi

Moving to Delhi from Jakarta was not an easy thing for me to do, as I was leaving behind friends and teachers whom I had known throughout most of my life. As far as transitions go however, my transition form Jakarta International School to the American Embassy School has been remarkably easy, mainly because the two schools are alike in nearly every respect. From curriculum to facilities, even the teacher’s personalities are mostly the same. The transition wasn’t hard because AES is an international school, and most international schools on that scale share pretty much the same ideas/curriculum/activities, so for me, it was like going back to JIS, just smaller.

There are differences however, the most obvious being the size of the two schools. JIS has 3000+ students, while AES in total has something like 1000. AES also possesses a gym, with treadmills and everything, which I use twice a week. The respective curriculums, as mentioned above, are pretty much the same, although AES offers a few more extracurricular activities.

The two cities share their similarities and their differences. Jakarta is as polluted, noisy, and chaotic as Delhi, but much less crowded. There’s also better infrastructure, which allows for the predictability of traffic jams, thereby making them easy to avoid with a bit of planning. It also rains much more frequently in Jakarta (Heck, there are only three seasons, semi-dry, wet, and very wet) and overall, Jakarta is a little cleaner than Delhi. Delhi is much, much greener, with trees found nearly everywhere and boasting many parks. Jakarta is somewhat green, but most of the trees are found in neighborhoods, while in Delhi the greenery is found pretty much everywhere.

The big problem that I have with living in Delhi is that it is much more noisier than Jakarta, and there is SO MUCH HONKING DEAR GOD! Aside from that, there is also the fact that Delhi is super crowded, and, unlike Jakarta, traffic jams are just as likely to pop up on neat, state of the art roads as they are on the less state of the art roads. It also gets freezing cold in the winter, something that I’m experiencing now. Delhi is actually a much nicer place to live than other Indian cites, chiefly because of its environmental regulations and the sheer amount of greenery that can be found. 

Moving is never easy, especially not for someone like me, who is not the best at making friends. I think that Delhi and AES were the right places for me, as I have fit in very comfortably and easily. While I still do miss my old friends, the wonders of email and the like have allowed me to remain in touch, so that even while I’m far away and making new friends, I still have a tangible link with my past. 

A Paper on Mangroves

Mangroves lie perpetually in the limbo between the sea and fresh water. They thrive in an environment that would kill and ordinary plant within hours. They are the epitome of tough, through and through. Yet, within what seems to be an extremely harsh environment, there is a delicate balance of life, and the diversity of this habitat knows no bounds. However, mangroves are under grave threat from human activity, and if we do not act now to protect them, than we will lose an incredibly useful and beautiful asset. 

What are mangroves?

The term “mangroves” applies to a small number of plants-from the smallest shrubs to the biggest trees-that are able to withstand the anoxic and extremely saline conditions of the river-ocean boundary. “Mangrove forests” or “mangrove swamps” applies to large congregations of these plants. Due to the harsh conditions that they must tolerate, the number of species that fall into this category is small; only around 100 species are present in this group. 

Mangrove forests grow in the brackish waters of river-ocean boundaries, but may also be found along coasts. Their roots spread far and wide and help to stabilize the soil. They are mostly found in Asia, but are also found in North America and as far south as New Zealand. Mangroves provide important economical benefits to local communities, and have been depended on by people for thousands of years. Mangroves share a symbiotic relationship with another important habitat-coral reefs. The reefs prevent the coastal land where the mangroves grow from eroding away, and the mangroves trap silt and toxins that would smother and kill the coral.

Unique Adaptations

It is obvious that no ordinary plant can tolerate the conditions that mangroves have to on a daily basis. Therefore, the plants of the mangrove forest have evolved many special adaptations to help them survive. 

One of these adaptations is the presence of pneumatophores in the plant’s root system. Pneumatophores act as snorkels, and take in nitrogen, oxygen and other gases that the plant needs to survive. The reason why it needs this is due to the fact that the mud that the plants grow in is waterlogged most of the time, and because of this the plant cannot get the gases it needs. Having pneumatophores solves this problem and allows the plant to receive the necessary gases from the air. Another adaptation is the use of salt glands. Like the name suggest, these filter out excess salt from the water that the mangrove absorbs, and prevents it from getting into the tree. Due to the nature of their job, they are often seen covered in salt crystals.

In order to reproduce effectively, mangrove seeds germinate when attached to the parent tree. They then drop off, and float on the water until they find a suitable habitat to grow in. When they find their new home, they change their density and plant themselves in the soil. The amazing thing is that they can survive complete desiccation and revert back to normal if their ideal habitat doesn’t support them anymore.

What life can be found there?

The animals, birds and insects that call the mangroves their home are a large and diverse group. Most of the wildlife there is the larvae and young of any fish, insects, reptiles and crustaceans. The quiet habitat offered by the twisting maze of the mangrove’s roots is a perfect place to grow up in. Largely free of the threat of predators, and with ample food and hiding places, the young offspring of countless species live in the mangroves until they reach adulthood. Then, they venture out to open ocean or swampy land to live out the rest of their lives.

This is not to say that all residents of the mangroves are temporary. Tarpon, snook, snappers, jacks and trout all live permanently in the submerged tangle of roots typical of a mangrove forest. Sea turtles, horseshoe crabs and flamingos can be found in the shallows.  Egrets, cormorants, proboscis monkeys and ospreys are just some of the inhabitants of the canopy. Crocodiles, mudskippers and swamp wallabies are all found in the swamps and mudflats. 

The most common creatures in the mangroves are insects. Hundreds of species can be found anywhere in the mangrove forests, from the inundated roots to the muddy swamps. Mangroves are not a breeding ground for mosquitos. This is an urban legend. Mangroves do, however, house many other insects, such as mangrove spiders, stinging caterpillars, bees, praying mantises, crickets and leaf miners.

What are the uses of mangroves?

People have been depending on mangroves for thousands of years. They are a versatile resource that fits almost any role. Much of what we harvested from mangroves centuries ago is still being harvested today. For example, commercial exploitation of mangroves for charcoal has been going on in Malaysia since the 1800’s. 

Red mangrove wood has a very high calorific value, and thus can produce effective and long lasting charcoal. Mangrove forests are also a rich habitat for exotic fish and exploitation, for both sport and food, is one of the most popular uses of mangroves. Village communities living in and around that the forests have used extracts from them as herbal remedies for everything, from asthma to cancer to rashes. The wood proves an effective material to build jetties with, as it resists rot and attack by fungi and borers. Houses and thatches can also made from mangrove wood. Tea and alcoholic beverages can be brewed from the leaves of mangrove plants. When used conservatively, the forests can be used as a natural sewage treatment plant, as they filter out toxins and organic waste.

The economic value of mangroves mainly comes from tourism, but can also come from fishing and the export of raw materials. Mangroves are an unusual habitat, and as such many people will pay to visit them. When managed properly, tourism can be an effective way to promote awareness. The revenue can also be used to fund ecological projects, and keep the mangroves in good health. Therefore, tourism is an effective way to mesh profit and conservations together. An added benefit is that people will be made aware of this precious habitat, and what can be done to protect it.

Another economic use of mangroves is to use them sustainably as fish farms. The yield will be small, but the income can be used to revitalize or create local “small job” economies. In order to make sure that the forests remain protected, the local people can be employed as rangers, further increasing the economic value of this versatile habitat. An effective strategy is to pay local communities for their fish, and in turn they receive education on sustainable fishing methods, environmental awareness and how to maximize profit while minimizing the environmental cost.

In conclusion, mangroves are a treasure trove of potential. The economic and environmental benefits to be gained are immense. However, any activity within the mangroves must remain supervised. If the activity, be it tourism or fishing or farming, is not supervised, then poachers or careless visitors could permanently damage the forests.

What are the threats that mangroves face?

Perhaps the biggest threat to mangroves is the razing of them for aquaculture-farming shrimp to feed an insatiable global appetite. Almost no one has ever heard of a mangrove forest, so when reports come in about the destruction of this beautiful habitat, many don’t seem to care. Some of those who are aware of mangroves see them as an ugly blight on the coast that must be removed, or as a breeding ground for mosquitos. Due to these inaccurate beliefs, mangrove forests are being destroyed at an alarming rate. So, what can be does to stop this mindless destruction? The reality isn’t actually as bleak as it sounds. More and more people are becoming aware of the importance of mangroves, and several important steps have been taken towards the conservation of this critically important habitat.  However, much more still remains to be done.

In order to protect mangroves, one must understand what makes this habitat “tick”. To live in a mangrove forest, a plant or an animal must be extraordinarily tough in order to withstand the harsh conditions. Therefore, mangroves are quite capable of tolerating man-made conditions that would destroy other habitats, but only up to a certain point. The Achilles’ heel of mangroves is chemical pollution. Mangroves located near sewage treatment plants have been reported as biological dead zones, completely devoid of life.  In conclusion, mangroves are tough, but they will need our help to survive.

One way of doing this is to maintain more sanitary shrimp farms. The geological location in which mangroves thrive is perfect for shrimp farming. If you encounter a patch of mangrove near a developed coastline, you will almost certainly find a shrimp farm. The shrimp in these farms are left to live in their own excrement, and as such, more and more antibiotics are required to keep them healthy. The chemicals, combined with the excrement, are released in a toxic, mangrove killing wave when the pond becomes little more than a noxious soup. More farms are then begun elsewhere, repeating the process.  In order to prevent this, the ponds must be kept clean, just as you would clean an ordinary aquarium. Doing this increases the life expectancy of the shrimp, the surrounding mangroves, and the facility itself.

Another way of protecting mangroves is to avoid building any chemical/sewage treatment plants anywhere in the vicinity of a mangrove forest. Doing so would mean instant death for whatever lived there. The chemicals that we use to dispose of our waste and manufacture synthetic products are incredibly toxic to mangroves and the animals within them. If you must build them, build them where they will not cause the destruction of an entire habitat.

Probably the most effective way of protecting mangroves is to raise awareness about them. If people know about the threats faced by this ecosystem and have the drive to do something about it, than that can make all the difference in the world. Educate your neighborhood. Start an action group.  Participate in mangrove related activities. There are a million possibilities.

Conclusion           

Mangroves are one of the most important ecosystems on the planet. Humanity has depended on them for thousands of years. However, not many people realize their importance, and as such, they are not receiving the protection that they deserve.  We must take action, raise awareness and stop the mindless destruction of mangroves. Otherwise, we will lose an asset that cannot be replaced and humanity’s future will be severely impacted.

My 7th grade so far

I can’t really complain about my first semester in seventh grade. Sure, there were a lot of projects and tons of homework but all in all, it’s been fun. I have more friends now then I ever had in PEL, and I make more everyday. Despite the obvious fact that with more friends come more enemies, the enemies usually leave me alone. In fact, the number of people who have a bone to pick with me for some random reason or the other is surprisingly low. Which is strange for a person who’s had bullies hounding him since the day he could walk.

When I get asked the question “What is the most difficult part about being a seventh grader?” I can say without a doubt that it’s the projects. To be honest, the projects in sixth grade were harder, but there were fewer of them and I got good grades for each of them and I was proud of the fact that I had gotten good grades for tough projects. The projects in seventh grade however are more common and much harder. Not to say I didn’t complete them on time and get decent grades for them. It’s just that I was pulling my hair out while I was working on every single one of them and I was seriously worried about what grade I would get. Grades are a big thing for me. I’ve already mentioned and written them four times in this paragraph.

Unlike the “hardest part about being a seventh grader” question, when I get asked, “What is the easiest part of being a seventh grader?” I have to think for a good while before I can give the inquirer an answer. I would have to say that it is the teachers. There are very few teachers in the school who don’t give clear instructions and answer all questions about assignments or something like that. There are quite a few who are really nice, funny, patient, etc. Getting the right homework and knowing the due dates for the homework is usually an easy task with JIS teachers.

By far the most fun thing I’ve done in seventh grade is spend time with some of my best friends such as Stuart and Prashant. In PEL I had one best friend, Matthew Aquilina, and very few other frineds besides. It lightens my mood knowing that I have more friends than I could ever have dreamed about when I was in PEL. Talking to Prashant and Advaith during class or after school or debating with Charlie about whether genetic engineering is possible or not are all memories I will cherish simply because of that happy feeling that you get when you know that someone is there to talk to you, share your troubles, your thoughts and your opinions.

So there it is. A short summary of my first semester in seventh grade. There’s been a lot of ups and downs, happy moments and sad moments, joys and trials. But when we go to wherever we’re going to go after I complete seventh grade, I know that it isn’t the experiences I will miss, or the teachers (although there are a few exceptions) but my friends, who have been there with me the whole time. Alas, life goes on, and I will surely make new best friends, but I’ll never forget my seventh grade friends, since they were the highlight of the semester for me.    

My Paris Trip

My Paris Trip

This whole thing started on August 17^th, when Mrs. Schwartz announced on the Bali stage that there was going to be an AMIS Honor boy choir this year, and JIS was participating. At this one piece of news, I literally jumped for joy. I couldn’t believe that finally, after all this time; I had a chance to participate in one of AMIS’s legendary music festivals. Last year, it had only been the girls who got to go to Taiwan and sing, so I had a feeling that this was my chance to improve my singing abilities greatly. Even though my excitement was slightly diminished by the fact that auditions were on the 27^th and singers would only be chosen on the 30^th, I held my head high throughout that whole day.

I’ve loved music in all its forms (except for heavy metal music) since I was 3. As I grew up, Barney’s Family songs became Bollywood’s greatest hits, and those gradually turned into the music I listen to today. I like a wide range of music, which is good since I get exposed to many different singing styles. I like rock, punk rock, electronica, pop (to a limited extent) and country/western music. I am also able to play the piano fairly well. Music has also been the only subject that I always got A’s on throughout my life. Music is a part of my soul as much as my family is. I could not live without music. Any time of the day, you’ll find me singing, humming, whistling or tapping out a beat on my desk.

After the rehearsals, which were relatively simple, I’ll admit that I was absolutely terrified. I had no idea who would be selected and I was fervently hoping that I would be selected but with the amount of boys that were there, it seemed unlikely. However, my fears were never realized as a poster taped to the wall stated:

 Congratulations to the six boys who will be going to Paris to represent JIS at AMIS this year! The lucky boys are: Leandro Bengzon, William Strang, Maxwell Weidmer, DaSol Lee, Brandon Fernandes and Madhav Pulle. Rehearsals start August 31^st, so be there!

I was ecstatic! After three days of nerve-wracking waiting, I had finally been selected! The five short rehearsals went relatively smoothly. Our songs were difficult to sing but easy to learn, and soon we had mastered the singing too. The songs covered a wide range of genres, form spirituals to lullabies. Our songs were Yonder Come Day, Nenni (a Turkish lullaby), Rock-a My Soul, Rhythm of Life, Kyrie (a Latin funeral song), Pie Jesu (a Greek funeral song), Rainstorm, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, a German Canon and an American toe-tapper called Polly Wolly Doodle. Even though some of our rehearsals were from 2:40 pm to 5:00 pm we still hadn’t mastered the songs when the time to go to Paris rolled around.

After a round of farewells, we were on the bus to Jakarta International Airport. Our group consisted of the six singers, Mrs. Schwartz and Mr. Pendell, the learning support teacher. Our time at the airport was spent doing the usual things such as checking in or filling in arrival and departure cards. The flight to Abu Dhabi was uneventful since I slept most of the way. When we arrived at Abu Dhabi airport my legs were killing me. I bought a cup of hot chocolate and some duty free Hershey’s Kisses with some money my mother had given me. The flight from Abu Dhabi to Paris was even more uneventful, again since I slept most of the way. I also watched the A-Team for the 500^th time. When we got to Paris all the kids were half dead, especially me. We took two trains to the American School of Paris, which was hosting the festival, lugging our bags all the way. After meeting our host family and taking the school bus to our host family’s house, we ate our dinner, which consisted of pasta and, being as jetlagged as we were, promptly crashed on our beds even though it was only 6:30 pm.

We woke up at 7:30 am and, having gotten 13 hours of sleep we were feeling relatively refreshed. After breakfast, I noticed an odd sense of elation that I hadn’t noticed before. I looked outside the window at the unfamiliar sky and realized where the elation came. It was the fact that I, who had never been abroad without my family before, was in Paris! But I had little time to think about this, as we had to leave for our first rehearsal.

When we arrived at the theater that would serve as our rehearsal venue I was shocked that so many boys had volunteered for the festival. Call me sexist or stereotypical if you will, but I was pretty sure that this place would be empty since most boys don’t like singing. Guess I was wrong I thought. We met our conductor, Adam Hart, and our pianist, Keith Montgomery, during the first few minutes of our time. Mr. Hart was from the American School of Dubai. He seemed like one of those teachers who is really funny and leaves an indelible imprint in your memory. My assumption proved to be correct. Mr. Montgomery was from the American School of London. After the initial formalities we got down to business and started rehearsing. I can tell you without a doubt that the rehearsals were the most strenuous thing I had ever done. My voice was stretched to the limit and I almost couldn’t speak. I had a bad throat ache after one particularly difficult rehearsal but fortunately it went away before the main concert.

The rehearsals usually lasted around four hours with breaks in between. After the rehearsals we went back home to our host families. The host families had children in ASP and Brandon, Max, Will, DaSol and me stayed with Mary and Roland. They also had a seventeen-year-old son named Luke. Leandro stayed with a different family just around the corner. I can’t thank Mary and Roland enough for their kindness while we were there. It was Mary’s delicious cooking that sated my ravenous hunger at the end of the day and it was Roland’s effort to get us there on time (we had to take two trains to get to ASP since they lived far away) that helped us to be there when we needed to be there.

Finally, after 16-plus hours of rehearsing at ASP, and countless hours back in Jakarta, the day came when we had to perform for all of ASP. After a quick 30-minute rehearsal, we put on our concert clothes and prepared for our unorthodox but enjoyable entrance into the theater. At that moment I was standing next to my fellow alto and friend Nico Thiry. I looked him in the eye and saw my emotions reflected there. Fear, anticipation, excitement and nervousness. All these combined to form a simmering emotional soup in my gut that made me want to puke.  But I had to be strong, because the auditorium doors were opening, and it was time for the show to start.

After our stunning entrance with Yonder Come Day that earned us a two-and-a-half minute long applause from the crowd (I know the exact time because Nico was wearing a watch) we proceeded to sing our other songs. By this time the soup had cooled down a bit and I was more relaxed, despite the fact that several people around me, including Nico, had nervous expressions on their faces. After six more songs, we finally got to sit down. During this time Mr. Hart introduced Mr. Halvorsen, the Middle school director, Mr. and Mrs. Basset, founders of AMIS, Mrs. Lynn Hutchinson, arranger of Nenni, and Mrs. Beamic, our violinist for Polly Wolly Doodle. But we hardly paid any attention to all this because we were too busy rubbing our aching knees! We sang two more songs, then, during the tumultuous applause that followed, somebody shouted “Encore!” everybody else in the audience seemed to agree, and soon we were singing our 10^th and final song, which was Rock-a My Soul. The audience literally exploded with applause. All of us were beaming so much that our cheeks hurt. Then, after we were given permission to leave, I ran like a madman to the changing room to get out of my stuffy clothes. Then came a round of cheers, tears, photographs, and frantic searches for paper to write email addresses on. In the middle of this sea of people, I was standing there with a contented expression on my face, the expression of one who has just accomplished something difficult, and he is tired but happy, experiencing the satisfaction of a job well done. Soon the time came when the trickle of people leaving became a flood and just me, Will, Brandon, DaSol and Max were left, along with two other singers from Ankara. Apparently we were the group whose host families had decided to go to the cocktail party, and had left us in the care of Mr. Halvorsen and two other teachers. We ate sandwiches in the teachers lounge and watched Casino Royale until 9:30, and then we had to leave. We slept all the way and when we got home, fell into bed like chopped-down trees.

We woke up early the next morning and got ready for the long drive to Charles de Gaulle International Airport. We thanked Mary and Roland one last time and then rode the train to the station to meet Mr. Pendell and Mrs. Schwartz. Then we took a van to the airport and boarded our flight. This time I stayed awake longer and watched Jonah Hex, Marmaduke, The Losers and an episode of Bones. In Abu Dhabi airport I lost my backpack and spent an hour searching for it with Mr. Pendell. Thankfully we found it at the police station. During the flight to Jakarta I slept the whole way and woke up feeling excited at the prospect of returning to my family. As I said goodbye to the airhostess I breathed in the humid, heady air of Jakarta. I was home. The drive back to JIS was pretty funny, as we cracked jokes to pass the time. I learned a funny one about blondes (no offense to all the blondes out there) and added it to my repertoire for future sharing. When we reached JIS my family’s driver Trisno was waiting there. I stuffed the bags into the trunk and we drove to our house. When I got there I was ready to drop dead and absolutely starving. I ate a quick dinner and then when my dad got home I hugged him so hard I think I bruised him. Then I got ready for bed. As I slid the covers over my body, I reflected on the past week’s events. I had made new friends, sang in a professional choir, and had a great time meeting new people and had seen a slice of one of the most famous cities in Europe. All in all, a very good trip, I thought to myself, as I fell asleep and ended one of the shortest yet the most memorable chapters of my life.   

Payback

Payback, by Andy McNab and Robert Rigby is the second (sequel to Traitor) explosive, roller-coaster chapter in the brilliantly written Watts family series. Still on the run from the British government and MI5, Fergus and Danny Watts have taken refuge in Spain. When a series of UK teenage suicide bombings kill hundreds of people and leave British Intelligence stumped, they are forced to come back when their position is discovered. But it’s not for execution. The government, desperate for answers, has decided to let Fergus and Danny help them on the mission. But even though they mean well, Fergus is suspicious, and has doubts about whether they’ll get out alive.

For this book, I didn’t really have a favorite part, since it was a continuation of the first one. But don’t get me wrong; it was just as good, if not better, than Traitor.

Since I already wrote about McNab in Traitor, I’ve decided to write about the operation that he led. McNab led an SAS unit known as Bravo-Two-Zero and were deployed during the first Gulf War to Iraq to set up an observation post along the Iraqi supply line. They were compromised when a farmer driving a bulldozer discovered them. The farmer alerted the Iraqis and a firefight began. Since two of the eight-man team had already been killed by hypothermia, they were under strength. McNab, along with three others were captured, but Corporal Colin ‘Chris’ Ryan managed to escape. He was the only soldier who wasn’t killed or captured, and later wrote the book The One That Got Away.       

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My Trip to Papua

A Life-Changing Experience

 

My trip Papua officially began when the small boat pulled up at the jetty. As I got out and took in my surroundings, one definition kept popping into my head. Paradise. I walked along the pier, looking down at the crystal clear water to see what I could spot. There were starfish, brain coral, minnows and a stingray just to name a few.  My brother and father walked a few feet ahead of me. We reached the main office of the resort and after getting our room key, went to see what the room was like. We opened the door to a full size air-conditioned bedroom. We had brought our Xbox with us so we connected it to the TV and started playing. When we arrived it had been close to 5:00 PM, so by the time we finished playing it was 7:00 PM. We went to have dinner, which consisted of rice, sautéed vegetables and, for desert, a piece of chocolate cake. After this, my brother and I were very tired because we’d been up since 2:30 in the morning! We said goodnight to everyone and then walked to the room and crashed into bed.

 We didn’t wake up until 7:00 the next morning. After a good breakfast of delicious Nuttella pancakes and a banana milkshake, I headed to the pier and my dad and I got ready for our first dive in Papua. When we had assembled the various bits and pieces, we got on to the Barracuda, a 7-man diving boat, and headed off to the first dive site. Since I am only 11, I’m not old enough to dive with a buddy below the rank of Dive Master, so I had my own buddy assigned to me. His name was Dolvinus. As we neared the site, I reflected that Indonesians are very good divers, so I was in good hands. When we finally did arrive at the “jump-in zone” we did a quick equipment check and then jumped in. A huge swarm of bubbles appeared around me as I opened my eyes. I inflated my BCD, or my Buoyancy Control Device, and floated at the surface. When Otto, our dive guide, gave the signal to descend, I let the air out and sank into another world. When I was 1 meter above the seafloor, a godlike sight came into view. I was floating over a cloud of thousands of fish, which were in turn floating over a beautiful reef. No, beautiful isn’t the word to describe the reef. Nor is divine. No matter how hard I try, I simply can’t find the word to describe that reef. You have to see it to know its true beauty. I swam to rejoin the others, who consisted of Otto, my father, Yoko (one of my dad’s colleges),David (a medical consultant from Boston with almost 300 dives under his belt) and then we all swam together over the reef. I saw a lot of beautiful fish, but then Dolvinus pointed out something just out of the range of my peripheral vision. I turned around….and my heart skipped a beat. I was less than 10 meters away from one of the most beautiful hunters of the coral reef. The Blacktip Reef Shark. I will never forget that moment; because that was the first time I had seen a shark outside of an aquarium. Dolvinus and I saw two more sharks. A Wobbegong Shark and another Blacktip, and millions more fish, but I couldn’t get the image of that shark out of my mind.

 The second dive of that day was at a different spot, but when I jumped in, the sight that greeted me made my blood boil. For at least two kilometers, dynamite fishermen had blown up the reef. They had left in their wake a huge pile of dead coral, white and lifeless, mere shadows of the once brilliant creature they made up. Why anyone would want to destroy a vibrant coral reef both perplexes me and angers me. What could fishermen possibly gain by blowing up their fishing grounds? They realize that the next time they come here, all the fish will be gone, and there will be nothing for them to catch. Yet they continue to blow up reefs all over the world, and nothing seems to stop them. I kept thinking about this for most of the dive, so I wasn’t paying much attention. But I managed to see my first turtle, which was a Hawksbill Turtle, and the much bigger but slightly less beautiful cousin of the Blacktip Reef Shark, the Whitetip Reef Shark. On the third dive of the day, we descended as usual, and I happened to descend right into a million strong school of Yellowfin Tuna, and it was a spectacular feeling to be engulfed by so many fish. They accompanied me until I hit seafloor, and then they swam away. I looked and Dolvinus and he had a look that said: what in the world just happened?! I laughed to myself, if you can laugh underwater, and swam off to look for the others. Dolvinus followed me. We saw a lot of fish, a fact I was getting used to, and among those fishes were a Bumphead Parrotfish, a Sweetlips Grouper and Jack Trevally.

 The fourth dive of that day was another thing that I will never forget. The fourth dive was my first night dive. We descended in pitch-black darkness onto a reef that was teeming with sleeping fish and reef animals that were creatures of the night. I was terrified and ecstatic at the same time. I think that was a side effect of the adrenalin rush I experienced while descending. We saw Mantis Shrimp, Ghost Shrimp, another Hawksbill and a clownfish sleeping peacefully in an anemone. I had a big meal of rice, corn fritters and vegetables for dinner and then watched a movie with Yoko, my brother and my father. The next day I skipped the first morning dive because I was too tired to go, but the second morning dive I participated in and it was an eventful dive. We descended through murky waters and were again enveloped by schools of fish, this time it was silverfish and Trevally. When I hit the bottom my regulator was snagged on a rock and was almost yanked out of my mouth. Then, because I didn’t deflate my BCD properly I kept bobbing up and down in the water column like a cork. I saw a Whitetip on this dive as well as nudibranchs and starfish. On the third dive we again descended through water with nil visibility. We stopped at a sand plain and then continued towards the reef. Currents were really strong and getting there was like trying to pull a truck filled with cement through a really strong headwind. Again the condition of parts of the reef made me angry. More dynamite had leveled homes and the survivors had fled to intact parts of the reef. I knew from long hours of studying the ocean and its inhabitants that many of those species would not survive. Many species of reef fish have adapted to live in only one specific environment in the entire reef ecosystem. Forced to move away from those habitats, they will soon die out.

 I want to educate these fishermen when I grow up. I want to educate them on safer and more profitable ways of fishing. Ways that are safer for the reef, and more profitable for fishermen. But I can only do that when I am older. Now, I can send a message to a small group of students at JIS: Our coral reefs are the richest ecosystems in the world. The biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil pales in comparison to the natural wealth of the coral reefs. We, as kids born in the 21^st century, are lucky. We have the best quality education available to us, we have plenty of food to eat, and we all have families who love and care for us. There are many people in the world who don’t have these things. I urge you all, as a friend, a classmate and an ocean lover, to make the most of your opportunities and save the coral reefs so that not only we can enjoy them, but future generations of children and adults can enjoy them too. I will help too. My dream since the age of 4 was to become a marine biologist. I figured that by taking that kind of job, I could be in the thick of the effort to protect the oceans. Even after seven long years, my passion for the ocean remains as strong as ever and my dream is still the same. There are a lot of things we can’t do as adults, but there are small things, tiny things that might not seem to make a difference, that we can do to help the oceans. So I urge you again to do the best you can to protect our oceans, because without them, our world, will be an, empty, lifeless ball, floating around in space, a shell of its former glory. If you don’t want that to happen, go online and Google ways that you can help. Like I said before, most of them are so simple you won’t believe it has any effect. But it will. We are the generation that has the power to change this Earth that we live in. Take advantage of that. Act now.