Here I have posted the last two components of the Resource Management Project. For this part of the project we were allowed to choose or create our own elements. I decided to make a petition to encourage support from around the world (we were required to have at least 100 signatures). I also made a PSA to promote domestic awareness, which I will present at my school exhibition.

Petition Website:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?cleanbrz

To learn more about my project, click on the link above. If you wish to support this issue, please sign the petition.

PSA:

Research Management Project Letter to Congress

This next assignment is another requirement for our Resource Management Project. We had to research resources being mismanaged by the world's governments. In addition to all other components, we had to write a letter to a world leader or region representative. I chose to write my letter to Barbara Boxer, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

The Honorable Barbara Boxer

Room # 112 Hart Senate Office Building

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Boxer:

I am writing to bring to your attention the current sanitation crisis in Brazil. Brazil provides one of the worst public health systems known to man; according to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, 46 million Brazilians do not have basic access to sanitation. The key components of sanitation are waste management systems, access to clean water, and controlling pollution. Just imagine: in some major cities, such as Sao Paolo, water supply is assured until the year 2025. Most Brazilians do not dispose of their waste properly either; an estimated 53% of the population is not connected to the main sewage system. People are dumping tons of waste into the rivers without realizing the consequences.

This lack of sanitation is contributing to even greater consequences for the population’s health. Approximately 700,000 annual hospitalizations have been attributed to public health issues over the past decade. Unfortunately, children are the primary victims; death from infectious, waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, and cholera are extremely common. In the year 2005, the World Health Organization estimates 4500 children died every day as a result of inadequate hygiene and contact with contaminated water. How is it possible that people are still dying from these easily preventable and treatable illnesses? These are pointless deaths; by implementing basic sanitation in disadvantaged countries these appalling casualties can be avoided.

Although the Brazilian government has taken steps towards resolving this threatening matter, progress is slow and their methods have been relatively inefficient.

In the early 1970s, it launched its national sanitation plan, PLANSA, aimed to develop water systems and waste management. So far, its main activity has been to attempt distribute the sanitation responsibilities throughout the country. Because of lack of communication among government branches, this plan failed to produce any results.

How can some of us be living so comfortably while others are struggling to live because they lack basic needs? Water and hygiene are essential to human health and sustainability, and without a solution these increasingly helpless civilizations will soon hit rock bottom. Drastic measures must be taken to create restrictions on companies to implement water-purifying techniques and better water drainage and waste treatment systems, and to educate the public about the importance of sanitation. To finance these potential projects, the government should encourage and create incentives for companies to invest, such as tax breaks and grant money.

In order for Brazil to achieve universal sanitation, we must offer our assistance. I propose for our government to step forward and provide support, and request to the U.N. to pressure Brazil to come forward with a plan for public health. With many nations encouraging immediate change, the Brazilian government will undoubtedly take a firm hand in solving this crisis. As Chairwoman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, I urge you to introduce this issue for discussion and communicate with the Committee on Foreign Relations to design a strategy to approach the Brazilian government. As an international superpower, America needs to help its struggling neighbors. Thank you for your attention. If there is any way I can assist you or if you have further questions, I have listed my contact information below.

Sincerely,

Sara Cardullo

saracardullo@gmail.com

5580 La Jolla Blvd. #396

La Jolla, CA

92037

Honors Vocabulary- Week 4

For this week we only had to choose five words and do "photo vocabulary entries," where we describe a picture depicting the word and expand with our thoughts about it.

1. intrepid: fearless and courageous. To be intrepid means to be bold and dauntless. This is a word typically used to describe superheroes or someone who stands up for others. The picture I chose is of Chuck Norris, popular icon in television show Walker, Texas Ranger. In the show he plays a police officer who chases villains. He is amired widely for his bravery and intrepid risk-taking style to conquer evil and restore justice for humanity.

2. decorum: politeness. Decorum is dignified habits and speech, used often to describe good manners. In the days of the monarchy in England, young figures of royalty such as Princes and Princesses were taught decorum at an early age. The picture I chose was from a scene in "The Princess Diaries." In this scene she is learning to walk down stairs in a dignified manner to practice for her coronation dinner. She is learning decorum for her new lifestyle.

3. aspire: to desire or aim for something. It is often used in the place of the word "dream," it is something aimed for or wished. On college applications, it is common for the school to ask about the student's dreams or aspirations to determine the level of ambition in applicants. This picture is from the movie "Goal: The Dream Begins." The movie is about an aspiring soccer player who starts his adolescent life as a gardener. An agent sees him playing and eventually his greatest dreams are realized as he starts to play professionally.

4. fallacy: a falsehood. A fallacy is a misconception, deceptive or misleading, that is essentially false. It is often used to describe oximorons. The photo I chose is of a newspaper ad, stating that doctors smoke Camel cigarattes. By looking at this ad, you can realize that this headline is obviously a fallacy, as doctors in general do not condone smoking in any way. It is completely counterproductive to their profession.

5. formidable: causing fear or apprehension. Something formidable often arouses awe and admiration because of strength. It is often used to describe a worthy, powerful opponent of some kind. This picture is from the movie "Rocky." The storyline describes an aspiring boxer who slowly rises to fame. In the movie, famous boxer Apollo is trying to find an easy win in a match, but ends up facing the formidable Rocky and wins only by a small margin, proving Rocky's power and determination.

Project Abstract

This next assignment is a requirement for our Resource Management Project. We had to research resources being mismanaged by the world's governments. After writing an in depth research paper, we were supposed to create a shortened abstract highlighting its main points.

Brazilian Sanitation Abstract

Unfortunately, many countries fail to offer the vital necessity of sanitation for their population. The Federative Republic of Brazil, in particular, provides one of the worst public health systems known to man. According to UNICEF and the World Health Organization, 46 million in Brazil do not have basic access to sanitation. This lack of public cleanliness is characterized by a shrinking amount of potable water, unorganized waste management, and industrial pollution. Brazil’s national hygiene system has been going downhill for centuries, and in some regions citizens now fear for their future water supply. Of almost 200,000 inhabitants in Brazil, about 2/3 do not have access to basic sanitation. Most of these people do not dispose of their waste properly; an estimated 53% of the population is not connected to the main sewage system. People are dumping tons of waste into the rivers without realizing the consequences; this is contaminating their drinking water supply. These issues are causing further problems with the health of the people; they have contributed to approximately 700,000 extra hospitalizations. Death from infectious, waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, and cholera, are extremely common among children. Public ignorance and government withdrawal are only adding to the problem and rendering the population helpless.
However, the fact remains that there have been several tentative steps from the Brazilian government towards fixing the problem. In the early 1970s, it launched its national sanitation plan, PLANSA; its main achievement has been to distribute the sanitation responsibilities throughout the country, giving them to state powers rather than local municipalities. This resulted in the creation of new water and sanitation companies in each Brazilian state, which in turn became responsible to fund sanitation systems. In the end, the system backfired because the state rejected its duties, claiming they fell to the companies who couldn’t fulfill them as the power remained in local management. In the year 2000, the Brazilian government joined the Millennium Development Goals initiative, aimed to decrease by 50% the number of people in need of sanitation and clean water by 2015. However, at its current rate of improvement, only half the goal will be reached, the government needs to put as much emphasis on sanitation as it does on water access.
Sanitation is essential for all human beings. Every community requires clean water and a certain level of hygiene to sustain itself. Water and hygiene are essential to human health and sustainability, and without a solution these increasingly helpless civilizations will soon hit rock bottom. Although the government is making attempts to remediate, Brazil’s situation isn’t progressing fast enough. Drastic measures must be taken to create restrictions on companies to implement water-purifying techniques and better water drainage and waste treatment systems, and to educate the public about the importance of sanitation. To finance these potential projects, the government needs to encourage and create incentives for companies to invest, such as tax breaks and grant money. We must strive to show Brazil that sanitation is not a commodity.
In order for Brazil to achieve universal sanitation, we must offer assistance. The United States should step forward and provide support and request to the U.N. to pressure Brazil to come forward with a plan for public health. With many nations encouraging immediate change, the Brazilian government will undoubtedly take a firm hand in solving this crisis.

Honors Vocabulary- Week 3

For this week's honors vocabulary, we are supposed to define the words and then write them in a sentence; 5 of the words must be described with "photo vocabulary".

1) subtle - something mysterious, subdued, indistinct: Her smile was subtle, he couldn't say he had seen it for certain.

2) vehement- passionate, vigorous, emotional: She vehemently exclaimed she hadn't stolen the watch, her intense emotion led the security guard to release her.

3) adverse- to hamper success or contrast one's desires, unfavorable: The adverse winds forced them to take a different course, the sails were pushing the boat in the wrong direction.

4) averse- to feel strongly against or opposed to something: She was averse to her sister's pleas to take her to the mall, she felt disinclined to leave the comfort of her warm bed.

5) alleged- to be declared/claimed of doing something something, it is supposed: The alleged murderer confirmed the judge's suspicions by accidentally revealing unknown information about the victim's death.

6) aggravate- to worsen, to annoy or irritate: The neighbor became increasingly aggravated by the screaming children in the pool next door, the next day she told their mother how annoying they had been.

7) discreet- careful, showing prudence: The robber tried to be discreet as he broke into the house; he wasn't very successful as the homeowners noticed the disturbance immediately and phoned the police.

8) factoid- a trivial or insignificant fact: The essay was just a long list of factoids; the teacher told the student to try to focus on the main idea and use relevant information.

Photo Vocabulary:

1) blatant- obvious, undisguised, shameless. The word blatant comes from the word babble, to talk foolishly. This picture shows a collar of a man with a bright red lipstick mark on it. It is the typical, blatant sign suggesting that a man is cheating on his wife (if the lipstick mark is not from her). The mark stands out, almost proud in its betrayal.

2) zealous- devoted, eager. When someone is zealous, they are fanatical and passionate about what they do; it can be characterized as an obsessive trait. This picture shows Michael Scott from the popular show The Office. Michael is the manager of the Dunder Mifflin paper company, and is known by the show's viewers to be zealous and eager about everything he does, and tries enthusiastically to excite office life for his employees.



3) flout- to refuse to obey. To flout something is to treat it with scorn or disdain, to blatantly ignore. A common use of the word is "to flout the rules", that is, to break or go against. In this picture, a man is flouting the no-smoking rule. You can see that he shows disrespect and contempt for the rule by lighting up.



4) forte- talent or strength. This word originates from Italian, forte meaning strong. A forte is the strong point at which someone excels. This photo depicts the professional soccer player Francesco Totti. He is the captain of the team and is considered world famous. He treats the ball delicately, his particular forte in soccer is hitting the ball with his heel in strange, awkard positions.



5) disinterested- not interested. This word means exactly what you think it means. To not be influenced or attracted by anything, to be impartial or neutral. The photo I selected is one of a boy on a train. He presents the stereotypical teenager: disinterested in everything but his own affairs. By listening to his ipod, and looking away from the photographer, he suggests he is off in his own world, not caring about the rest.

Civic Duty

For this assignment we were given a reading about "the meaning of citizenship" and asked to answer the following question: What is civic duty and why is it important?

The reading presented an interesting idea of "New Citizenship." It advocates for people to take their citizenship seriously, to work towards actively helping the country and governmental system. It suggests that people are depending too much on the government and aren't taking adequate responsibilities to actually contribute. People are complaining rather than helping to alleviate the work of politicians, who can't possibly be expected to address everything and make so many improvements on their own.

Civic duty is learning to work together to solve problems and understand each other in our differences; to cultivate our different backgrounds as the driving power to restore the true sense of democracy. Citizens must collaborate to "adapt our natural institutions to the new realities we face" and unite against our nation's problems. Civic duty encourages us return to our American pride and national bond.

Honors Vocabulary- Week 2

For this week we only had to choose five words and do "photo vocabulary entries," where we describe a picture depicting the word and expand with our thoughts about it.

1) incognito: The meaning of incognito is to hide one's true identity. Sometimes this means creating a fake name or image to deter people from discovering it. This photo shows the "big nose and heavy eyebrows" glasses that represent the typical disguise. By wearing these, one is "incognito." For example, batman must go incognito in public, and become is "normal" self, so people can't discover his real identity as a superhero. On the other hand, you could say batman is the incognito character, hiding Bob Kane's true face from harm as he fights crime.

2) empathy: The word empathy means in simple terms: "to understand and share the feelings" of others. This word goes hand in hand with sympathy (to feel pity) and apathy (not to feel) for other people. They are derived from the Greek word "pathos" to feel, suffer, pity, praise (or whatever has happened). This picture shows a pregnant woman next to a man in a pregnant suit. This indicates that he is trying to empathize with the woman, to try to feel and understand her burden of carrying a child (even though the woman is actually wearing a suit as well).

3) deduct: The word deduct means to deduct or take away from, to solve. A common form of the word you may have heard is deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is a from of critical thinking or scientific thinking used to reason from a general topic to a specific one, to take away from the broad discourse to reach a more precise idea. This picture shows an abacus, which is a kind of counting frame used to make mathematical calculations and deductions, originating in 2700 B.C.E. in Asia.

4) precipitous: The meaning of precipitous is "dangerously high or steep." There is an actual mountain range called The Precipitous Mountains, which are especially steep and found in Canada. This picture is a warning sign informing hikers of the danger of the mountains they are hiking and of the harmful consequence that awaits them if they get too close to the edge. Precipitous can also mean sudden or quick, as in the phrase: The constant hunting of the villagers led to a precipitous decline of moose.

5) plagiarize: Plagiarism is the act of taking someone's work or ideas and displaying them as one's own. Plagiarism is a constant problem at schools, and is always addressed at the beginning of the year to discourage kids from "cutting and pasting" as the photo shows. It used to be looked down upon and punished, but is now actually considered a federal crime! Students can earn an immediate expulsion hearing with only one offense. With so many people in the world, it is important to distinguish our ideas from one another and make them original.