The Incessant Rise of Our Population

By Ella S.

        Are you aware that the average person uses 50% more resources than what they should be consuming? Now imagine over 8 billion humans living on the planet currently. Imagine their consumption of the earth’s resources. Human overpopulation has been an increasing problem for not only the earth, but also for humans themselves. 

        Human overpopulation is when the earth is unable to regenerate the resources consumed annually by people. The more people, the greater the amount of resources consumed, therefore resulting in overpopulation. Currently, humans are highly overpopulated and are growing at an unsustainable rate. Each year, the population climbs by 83 million. The estimated population for people in 2100 is 11.2 billion, while the ideal population is only 2 to 3 billion. 

        Overpopulation worsens the earth and its environments. A larger population creates an increased need for resources like healthcare, transportation, food, water, housing, and energy, and continuing to over consume these resources causes ecological degradation. Many natural resources, such as oil, coal, and natural gas (also known as fossil fuels) are being overused. In 2019, 100 million barrels of oil were produced and consumed per day. 130 million tons of coal are produced for consumption per year. In 2020, the U.S. alone consumed 22% of the world’s natural gas. Moreover, the growing number of people are using natural resources to their depletion. This includes cutting trees and deforestation, hunting wildlife improperly, and pollution. Each year, around 18 million acres of forest cover are destroyed. Hunters kill and hunt 200 million wild animals annually. Due to the depletion, especially the lack of trees, more greenhouse gases will be released. This will result in an increase of global warming, eventually melting the glaciers, causing sea levels to rise and climate change to speed up.

        Humans will also experience a large impact on society and living from overpopulation. Due to the higher demand for resources, many developing countries will want to prioritize getting resources, especially water, resulting in conflicts and war. More people will be unemployed since there are a limited number of jobs for a large population, and as an effect, more theft and robbery is likely to happen. The cost of living will be raised because of the demand and supply of resources. Even the supply of water will be scarce. Now, only approximately 1% of water on the earth is usable and clean for humans, and by 2025, the expected demand for freshwater for people is 70% of the freshwater on the planet. Human overpopulation largely affects people.

        One of the main causes of overpopulation of our species is an imbalance of births and deaths. In order to have a sustainable population, there must be an equal number of births and deaths. In the past, due to poverty, more babies were born, yet the birth and death rates were still balanced because death rates were also high. In the present, birth rates continue to be high, but death rates have decreased, resulting in an imbalance of births and deaths. Furthermore, in 1990, there were 8.8 million deaths of infants. In 2017, there were only 4.1 million infant deaths. The mortality rate of infants has greatly decreased to result in fewer deaths and a longer survival rate for infants. 

        In addition, extreme advancements in living such as science, technology and medicine advancements, and the toolmaking, industrial, and agricultural revolutions have led to a higher life expectancy. For example, medicine advancements, such as vaccines, have successfully cured deadly diseases, with an outcome of people living longer. As people age slower, the population also increases faster. 

        A solution to overpopulation is to spread information on family planning. Raising awareness on family planning, use of contraceptives, and how family planning can be used to help prevent the serious effects of overpopulation can help prevent unwanted pregnancies that would lead to population growth. A small family with ideally one to two children has both economic and ecological benefits. Additionally, social marketing can also help with overpopulation by educating people about the effects of overpopulation. This can be held in public places such as food markets, schools, and sporting events. Raising awareness on overpopulation is an important step in taking action to stop overpopulation. 

        It’s time to make a change for the earth and the many further generations to come.  As Alexandra Paul states, “The human overpopulation issue is the topic I see as the most vital to solve if our children and grandchildren are to have a good quality of life.” 

 

Pelican Deaths

By: Lauren Rose Mele

        Have you ever wondered how much trash is really in the ocean? 14 million tons of trash is dumped in the ocean every year. This trash is forming a red tide. Red tide kills sea life, and it is especially targeting pelicans. The California Institute listed brown pelicans as endangered.  The numbers are skyrocketing up. A reporter in the Florida institute of fish and wild- life research said, ¨To date we have confirmed at least 70 dead or ill Brown Pelicans and at least one white pelican.¨ 

        Experts say fertilizers have been dumped into the Gulf of Mexico, leaving the brown pelican feathers to get drenched in the fertilizers, causing them to get hypothermia. The website surfider.eu says, ¨the pesticide use went up by 25% in the last decade.¨ We dump these fertilizers in the ocean, and the red tide is created. This red tide is not just killing brown pelicans. It has killed over thousands of fish. In 2013 this killed 200 manatees. These pesticides are destroying the marine ecosystem.  If we keep putting these harmful fertilizers into the ocean then these pelicans, and other sea life, will keep dying. Sooner or later they will become extinct.   

           Observer says, “ Improperly disposed of trash can find its way into sewage systems and waterways, which can eventually lead it to the ocean.” This proves that disposing trash properly helps with removing red tide. Another way to help your environment is you can stop using harmful fertilizers and pesticides. Red tide could cause severe skin irritations, such as rashes, burning and sore eyes. It can also cause respiratory irritation such as coughing and sneezing. 

¨It's like a bomb went off here,¨ says Damon Utterback (fisherman on Fort Myers Beach). Since the red tide came here the water looks like green vomit, But 15 years before it was so clear. Red tide turns the ocean red, brown, or green. Fort Myers Beach's water is brown. The red has been getting worse and worse since November. Florida's wild and fish conservation confederacy reported that the pelicans are dying from botulism poisoning (rare poisoning caused by toxins).

 Sooner or later these pelicans and other sea life will become extinct. If we all just dispose of trash properly, and stop using these harmful fertilizers, then we can save sea life forever. Fort Myers Beach can be safe for all the living. 

Smoking Should be Illegalized

By: Siddarth Sivakumar

        Did you know 6 million people die every year from tobacco alone? Smoking is one of the most addicting and abusive drugs globally, yet nicotine products can be found almost anywhere. If the nicotine complication isn’t dealt with properly, the problem will ascend beyond our capability.

        Numerous people don’t know that nicotine is not a recreational drug, so it shouldn’t be used for delight daily like people typically use it. Even smoking once can lead to a deadly addiction; that's what happens to 80 to 90 percent of people who smoke or use any tobacco products, including another 67 percent who may or may not be addicted but get deleterious diseases and/or cancers because of the vast ocean of the lethal drug in their bodies.

        The people who use nicotine products are mainly people not educated enough to differentiate what's good for them from what can be fatal; the companies running the tobacco industry profit enormously as the global tobacco market was estimated to be 867.6 billion USD, and over the next couple years will grow over 1 trillion dollars and will only burgeon if not entirely stopped. For the people who fall into their advertising, this number won’t stop; it will only rapidly burgeon.

        Smoking bans have been implemented, but not the ones people expect; the actual smoke from smoking is dangerously atrocious to your skin even if you don’t smoke at all. Smoke-free indoor policies prevent casinos, gaming venues, and multi-unit housing from smoking indoors as skin cancer from severe cell defects will lead to squamous skin cancer or cancers related to the mouth, throat, kidneys, or bladder, and SFS exposure can also lead to the same effects.

        The government has to step up and fix the smoking crisis as soon as possible, yet that's just the thing the government can’t do as that would be against people’s freedom since the government can’t discriminate against what anyone can engage in, causing a restriction of human liberties in the nation, which would lead to smuggling and organized crime and would probably cause a decrease in tobacco needs and resources. This may be the case, just like the alcohol ban in 1920 when  drinking decreased by 30% and then skyrocketed passed 60%; the way tobacco consumption is going right now, putting bans on it will result in the same events happening, the desperation of people’s smoking habits to not stop, and will drastically increase with the withdrawal pain. This increase will not be known for a long time until it puts an unhealable scar on people's lives.

        Over 30 million people smoke just in the United States.  We can’t let smoking become normalized in our society. The only way society will accomplish such a feat is if we educate people on the effects of nicotine and show them something that's only temporary and isn’t worth threatening their whole live. Using the voice we all have can put an end to one of the biggest epidemics in the world.

Video Games - They’re Good! 

By: Caleb Spooner

        Have you been told by someone in the past that you shouldn’t ever play video games because they are bad for your health, or because they cause violence and depression? That might not be so true; video games have many positive effects on your brain and body.

        Video games can help with memory and attention. According to data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, children who played video games for three hours or more each day had higher brain activity in areas of the brain associated with attention and memory but less brain activity in brain areas related to vision. This could mean that video games make visual comprehension easier for your brain, letting the brain devote more resources to attention and memory, which are very important for many situations. Also, when you play video games, you often have to juggle multiple tasks. Juggling tasks exercises the hippocampus, a part of the brain handling conversion of short-term memory into long-term memory, which can improve one’s long-term memory. This memory improvement was shown in a 2015 study from the University of California. The study found that those who played 3-D video games performed better on memory tests than those who played 2-D video games or no video games at all, so if you want to improve your memory, you should try out some 3-D video games. But memory is not the only thing that video games can improve.

        Video games can benefit your brain in many other ways, too, like how shooter video games improve how you think about objects in three dimensions, according to a 2013 study by the American Psychological Association. In the study, it is documented that only specific video games help with spatial skills, which is a category that excludes puzzle-solving and role-playing categories. It is only one type of game, shooter games. As stated in the study, these spatial benefits are likely due to the very visually-rich three-dimensional environments navigated when playing shooter games. This improvement in spatial skill can help when trying to do things such as parallel parking or organizing a closet or storage container. Also closely related to this, playing action video games can improve your ability to create perceptual templates, something that helps you determine what is important and what is not when in a complex environment. This type of perception is especially important because it can be applied to almost any situation, so it is good to improve on this aspect of the brain’s function. 

        Additionally, very involved action video games can improve contrast sensitivity, helping the brain to distinguish patterns and shades of colors. This could help when trying to find something you dropped into a patch of grass or finding some friends in a crowd. Another way that video games can benefit your brain is quick thinking. A 2010 study found that people who loved playing action video games accurately made choices up to 25 percent faster than those who enjoyed playing much slower-paced video games instead. This can also be applied to many different situations, like if you are in a fight or even something as little as a Kahoot game. Not only can video games help in the short term, but they can also help in long-term decision-making. Playing video games can improve long-term memory by training your brain to recognize the positive and negative outcomes of certain choices. Playing video games can also help keep your brain young, preventing the deterioration of focus and the ability to multi-task. And yet, there are more ways that video games can help you in your life.

        Video games can help with your social life and don’t hurt it as much as many people say. Also, unlike what many think, there is no correlation between playing video games and being a violent or depressed person. On the contrary, video games can reduce anxiety and make someone happier. According to the same 2013 study by the American Psychological Association mentioned earlier, short and simple games like Angry Birds can improve a person’s mood and make them happier because of the short and sweet, simplistic nature of the game. To add to this, complex and immersive video games can be very therapeutic. When a videogame player is absorbed in a digital world, they don’t have to worry about work, bills, or any other stresses of life, which can lead to being happier. But don’t think that means you can play hours upon hours on end, because excessive video game playing can and in most cases will hurt your social life. However, video games, when played in moderation, can help with social skills. 

        When you take on a fictional persona in a video game, you can go into different social situations and experiment with certain actions and their outcomes. This teaches what is good and what is bad to do in social settings. On top of that, when playing video games that have a multiplayer option, you can play with other people digitally and improve your social life by seeing how a friend acts outside of person-to-person interactions, and if you play with random people, you learn what to avoid, what makes people angry, and what makes people happy to make better decisions when hanging out with a friend or someone close to you. In addition, playing video games is associated with having fewer relationship issues among peers, according to one study of kids in school. In response to the study, Katherine M. Keyes, Ph.D., assistant professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, said the following: “These results indicate that children who frequently play video games may be socially cohesive with peers and integrated into the school community.” So, not only can video games help the social lives of older people, but also younger ones, like children who are still in school. Still, though, video games can improve more than just social interactions and the brain.

        Video games can also keep you physically fit and active. Certain video games like Dance Dance Revolution, EA Sports Active, and Beat Saber allow you to exercise while getting the same enjoyment as you would when playing a video game. One study found that playing exercise video games provides satisfaction and a sense of autonomy over your exercising. And according to Sami Yli-Piipari, co-author of the study and an associate professor at the Mary Frances Early College of Education, “When an individual feels autonomous, they’re more likely to exercise or exergame on their own.” This means that playing exercise video games can encourage one to exercise more, and more exercise is always good; most people don’t get enough of it normally. Exercise video games also encourage exercising because they don’t come with the pressures and boredom of going to a gym and don’t require as much traveling to get to. In the same study mentioned earlier, it was found that people who played exercise video games didn’t work out as hard as those who exercised in traditional classes, but they enjoyed their experience more and thus were likely to have more desire to continue exercising. But these benefits don’t only apply to adults. When a parent gives their kid exercise video games, they are more likely to exercise when the adult is not watching because they find it more fun than normal exercise. This is because, as mentioned earlier, exercise video games are fun and do not feel like traditional exercise. So, to recap, video games help your memory, your social life, and help you to stay fit. There are also some other minor benefits of video games.

        One of said other benefits is increased intelligence and school performance. According to a study by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, high usage of video games was associated with one and seventy-five hundredths times the odds of high intellectual functioning and one and eighty-eight hundredths times the odds of having strong school competence overall. On top of this, many video games are set in various settings across history, which can make the player interested in learning more about history. Also, according to a 2013 study from the American Psychological Association, playing strategy video games was found to increase skill in problem-solving, thus improving grades. Another minor benefit of playing video games is that playing video games can teach resilience and persistence. When you fail repeatedly and then finally succeed, it makes you learn that if you persist, you can typically get a good outcome. This is good in life because if you are never persistent and resilient when challenges come your way, you will give up, which is never good to do. Sometimes, it could even make you miss out on something that you will never find out that you enjoy doing, because you couldn’t do the first step since it was simply too difficult, and you did not persist in trying to complete it. So, there are many benefits to playing video gamesthere , but there are also some drawbacks to playing video games.

        Too much time playing video games and being on screens can lead to health problems. Some of these are obesity, lack of sleep or poor sleep in general, behavior issues, eye strain, and neck and back problems. These can be serious in certain cases, because if you do not get enough sleep, it will severely decrease your ability to function during the day, and behavior issues can get you in trouble. But aside from these more direct health problems, it can also cause other health problems through hyperarousal. 

        See, when you are on screens too much or play video games too much, it can put the brain in a constant state of hyperarousal. Hyperarousal can lead to many different problems, such as an inability to pay attention, difficulties with managing emotions, controlling impulses, and following directions. These are just some of the problems, but there are many others. Hyperarousal can cause some physical symptoms too, like irritability, feeling jittery, and depression. But aside from hyperarousal, video games can cause addiction. This addiction comes with even more problems, like other thoughts being blocked out because of an immense desire to play video games. It can lead to a lack of focus, just like with hyperarousal. It can also lead to playing video games and procrastinating other work that needs to be done, like schoolwork. But what can you do to prevent these problems from playing video games?

        One way to prevent the overuse of video games is to use an app that controls the maximum amount of time that can be spent playing video games. There are many different apps, and sometimes even built-in features in devices, to lock out the user after a certain amount of time. Another way to prevent excessive screen time is to charge your devices outside of your room to prevent the temptation to play video games or just spend more time on the screen in general. You can also start small, removing yourself from screens when you get home from work or school, at dinner, and when in a car. Replace video games with other entertainment and relaxation methods, like taking a walk or reading a book. There is always something else that you can do besides video games.

        So, in conclusion, video games can be good for you, but make sure to play them in moderation. If you don’t, there can be many consequences, like health problems - physical and mental - that will deteriorate your experience in life. Next time you are thinking about logging on to a device, recall the advantages and disadvantages. Just keep in mind that video games will benefit you, whether it be your brain or your body!

Racism in Schools is Being Ignored

By: Emma Lin

        Have you ever seen those videos of people telling immigrants or people of color to go back to their country? Many students have been victims of words like that. Things such as discrimination and xenophobia are things people of color experience in their day to day life. As of now, people have been speaking out about their experiences with racism. Many students and adults may not understand how heavy and significant this topic is. There are countless reasons why people need to speak out on topics like these; let’s start with racism in schools. 

        In Farnsworth Middle School, a seventh grader was interviewed on racism. When asked how people were racist to him he answered how people would say terrible words. These words consist of the n-word, monkey, slave, cotton picker, burrito maker, leprechaun, orangutan and blackie. These are horrible words directed to him, and many others have encountered the same thing.  “People think I can run fast, I like watermelon, I can wrap a burrito and speak spanish all because of my race,” said the seventh grader. When asked how he feels about this, he responded saying, "I feel horrible, and I wish it would stop.”

        For hundreds of years now, colored people have been discriminated against and treated unfairly. There are many stereotypes on people of color that have been around for decades.  Asians are stereotyped to be extremely smart, know how to play instruments, play sports, have glasses, etc. The reality is that people judge others based on their skin color. For example, graduates who are black have two times the chance of being unemployed, even if they are from a prestigious college. Even people with ‘black sounding’ names have a 50% chance not to get a job even after getting a diploma. 

        Racism is also something the school system forgives and forgets. When growing up as a person of color, it is difficult to be treated the same by peers and teachers. For example, black students have three times more chances of getting suspended or expelled than white students. Many underfunded schools have more colored students. Many teachers at these schools don’t even have a license to teach. Just imagine going to a school unable to learn anything since your teacher is not even trained at all because you are a person of color. The fact is that racism is deeply rooted in school systems. In the USA, black students make up 42% of school suspensions. However, black students only make up 16% of public school enrollment.

        Many students and adults who have been victims of racism develop mental illnesses. People ages 18 to 28 are 25% more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness caused by racism and discrimination. Racism can cause trauma, which may lead to other mental problems too. Those include depression, anxiety, and a possibility for the student to become suicidal. BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People of Color) adolescents with mental health and behavior problems are more likely to be sent to the juvenile justice system instead of a therapist or specialty care institution. This can damage a student's mental health as they are not receiving the care needed. This causes a student’s mental health to lower. It can cause them to not pay attention in school or have grades dropping. Students should not have to encounter racism in schools. Schools are meant to help students, not lower their mental health.

        Schools are supposed to be a place where kids are learning and having fun. They are not supposed to be a place where you get discriminated against. There are millions of kids out there who have been facing racism in schools everyday. Protests such as Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate have been major in America. As people start speaking their opinions about racism, there has been one topic people have been forgetting about: racism in schools. We as a community need to voice our opinions and fight back; racism in schools needs to end.

 

Pollution Isn’t Right

By: Isla Bauer

Have you ever wondered if you could get sick just from drinking water? Well, about one billion people each year get sick from drinking polluted water. Not only do humans get affected by polluted water, but so do animals.

        Wildlife was affected largely by the BP Oil Spill in 2010. This devastating event started on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig spilled petroleum (a type of oil) into the ocean, which spread over 57,000 miles, until the rig was finally capped. The unfortunate rig was capped on July 15, 2010. 

        There had to be many cleaning efforts done. The National Response Team organized the clean up. The groups that helped with the oil cleanup were the U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency, Transocean, and many more groups. In the end, over 40 billion dollars went into cleanup and recovery. For those who were affected by the spill, they received a fund of 20 billion dollars. 

        Later, after some investigating, a report was released by BOEMRE and the U.S. Coast Guard. In the report, it stated that BP and Transocean were both responsible for the oil spill even though there was a different company who installed the rig. There was inaccurate testing by BP. Also, BP and Transocean both ignored signs of problems from the start of the installation. 

        In 2020, there was still an investigation on the event. However, the U.S. Department of Justice finally came to a conclusion. They sued BP, Anadarko, and Transocean for violating both the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act. 

        As you can see, in the end there was a collection of funds that went to the spill, which could have gone to something more important, and loads of time was taken up from investigating and cleaning. So, do you still want polluters like this to pollute our ocean?

        Oil was the polluter in the BP Oil Spill. However, major water polluters include agriculture, sewage and wastewater, dumping of radioactive substances, and motor oil. There are also many other polluters like garbage, electric waste, rubbish, construction debris, and demolition waste. “Just recently, there was an oil spill in Geneva and is being cleaned up now by the DEC,” stated a member of Seneca Lake Pure Waters. So as you can see, many, not all, but many of these polluters are from human waste. 

        Agriculture is one of the world's worst polluters at this time. Even though agriculture is the worst polluter, it also needs the most water. Fertilizers and pesticides are one of the major uses in agriculture, and also, they are major reasons that agriculture is a polluter. Fertilizers, pesticides, and gases can go into the waterways, and most of those waterways are going into our oceans. One of the top fertilizers that pollutes is nitrogen based fertilizers. Animal waste can go into waterways, too. This can lead to animal waste going into the ocean. A member of Seneca Lake Pure Waters stated, “ Farmers should use best practices; this includes soil conservation, no till farming, and preventing field run off and livestock runoff.” There are many reasons why agriculture is one of the world's worst polluters. 

        Many people suffer from water pollution, including sickness and hair loss. About one billion people each year get sick just from drinking water, which is a basic need of living. Fresh water is already in demand, but in 2050 fresh water demand is going to be a third greater than now. Addison Mason, a member of The Seneca Lake Pure Waters and Seneca Lake Deep Water Testing, said, “There are 100,000 people that rely on Seneca Lake for drinking water.” This may not seem like a lot, but it is. If you accidentally drink polluted water you could have digestive problems, cholera, dysentery, theypoid, hepatitis A, and polio. Not all of this can happen just from consuming water, but also washing with or entering contaminated water can cause all of those diseases. So, there has to be something we can do, right?

        Well yes, there is. Here are a few things we can do. We can be mindful of what we are disposing of. We can recycle, reuse, and reduce plastic. As a community, we can clean up animal waste.  Also, we can reduce littering and not blow debris in roads. Instead of littering, you can find the closest garbage can or keep it with you until you get home. Rather than pouring motor oil down the drain, you can bring it to your local auto parts shop, and they will take care of it. You can make an impact just by doing those simple things. We may not stop it, but we can reduce it substantially.

        As you can see, pollution is a huge problem that needs to be reduced quickly because it is only going to get worse. More people will be getting more sick, including you and your loved ones. However, if we all join together, we can help stop pollution just by doing the simple things. So, are you going to help stop pollution?

Pollution

By: Tommy Paonessa

        Imagine you're at the beach and just ate a scrumptious bag of chips but you don't want to take the hike to the nearest garbage, so you take a chance and chuck the bag right into the ocean. What you don't realize is you just cost a fish or a little baby turtle its life. 

        Pollution is seriously damaging the ocean. It's gotten to the point where there's a trash island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean the size of Texas. In length, it's 617,763 miles long, and 617,763 miles of trash is only 37% of all the pollution in the world. At the rate we're going, the ocean will be trash soup, and the aquatic life will decrease rapidly and poison the fish we eat. Microscopic organisms called fungi that live in the algae consume plastic and are eaten by herbivores and whales, and once consumed by the animal the organisms bond with the animal's flesh, turning it into a plastic taste in the fish. 

        The ocean animals' habitat is a big part of their health, and when it's clean they thrive. When it's dirty and polluted, forget about it; the saltwater animals have a better chance of living in freshwater than in the polluted water. Pollution is even worse in rivers and ponds. Over 50 % of rivers and ponds are too polluted for fishing, swimming and drinking. To make the ponds and rivers clean the U.S launched the clean water act. But this all spiraled out of control.   

        The local fishing areas are spiraling out of control, and the beaches are caked with trash. For example, Kamilo Beach, Hawaii is also known as Hawaii's plastic beach and is the most polluted beach in the world. The reason for this is because of people and the Pacific Garbage Patch, and with the command of tourists and the garbage patch the beach doesn't stand a chance even if people tried to clean up. The fish are all dying out, like Atlantic halibut and bluefin tuna. These two fish are a delicac, and an easy access fish. But With the fish dying, and with pollution skyrocketing, these fish won't be much longer. With all the dead fish and blood in the water the red tide will start and the water will become poisonous. Because of this people can't enjoy seafood on a regular basis, but the worst part is, the locals can't catch or sell fish. This leads to them losing their jobs or not being able to feed their families, thus making the industry go down as well as the population of ocean life. If this stays at the rate it's going it could cause massive extinction and lots of starving people. 

        Another issue is biodegradable plastics. Biodegradable plastics do dissolve in water, but only when the water gets to 90 degrees fahrenheit; then it will start to barely break down. Plastic doesn't even fully dissolve, so when the water cools back down, the plastic just reforms, and the chance of the water being that hot is slim; it can also kill the fish off from heat exhaustion or poisonous algae that forms when water temperature gets too high.

        Our waterways are our most important resource, and the more we pollute our water, the worse our environment will be. The more effort we put into our waterways, the better chance we have to keep our best resource.

Divorce and the Effects on Children

By: Lucia Parker

                                                      

        Have you or someone you know ever experienced a parental divorce? Parental separation can be detrimental to children' s mental health. Due to divorce becoming easier in states like New York, there are now less reasons for parents to try to work things out for the sake of their children, even when almost all of the evidence suggests it’s better for kids to be raised by both parents. 

         Divorce rates started to go up in the 1980s and 1990s, but since about 2000 divorce rates have gone down. While this may sound great at first, there is still a large number of children in the U.S. being raised by single parents. Today, more than 24 million kids in America live in single-parent households, typically with their mom. This means 24 million kids who either have to go through big changes in their lives, such as splitting time on weekends or during the week and having to go back and forth between parents, or never having lived with both parents altogether. When parents are not together, either because of divorce or by parents separating, children are negatively impacted.

According to a study, a projected 40% of minors in America will experience a parental divorce before they turn 18. That would mean a very large number of children with divorced parents. Researchers also found that children with divorced parents showed a 39% increase in risk of mental health issues. These mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, can dramatically alter a child’ s life and even cause physical harm to them. Another study in the UK showed a 16% rise in emotional problems and an 8% rise in conduct disorders among children aged seven to fourteen. This means that divorce could cause behavioral problems in children. Studies show that kids who have the best outcomes, such as fewest mental health problems,  were far more likely to live with both of their parents. 

Although this is an ongoing problem that can have very negative effects on a child’ s mental health, there are things that parents can do to minimize the negative effects. If parents continue to work together and prioritize their children’ s well-being, it will greatly reduce stress and anxieties for their kids. Something that parents can do that may help their children cope with the divorce is let them know that the divorce is not their fault. Some kids may worry that they were the cause of the divorce and take it upon themselves to mend their parents' broken relationship, so knowing that they are not the cause of the divorce can take some weight off of their shoulders. Peaceful co-parenting will make things easier for everyone involved.

Parents can also avoid saying negative things about the latter in front of their children. Divorce already causes children to spend less time with each of their parents. Dragging your ex’s name through the dirt can cause irreparable damage to their relationship with the other parent. By maintaining a friendly relationship with the other parent of your child, you can avoid severing the relationship that your child has with them. Research has shown that children maintaining relationships with their parents is beneficial, so encouraging the relationship that your child has with your ex would ensure that you are putting your children first.

While parents may find it difficult to cooperate, the best outcomes for children are when their parents are married and stay married. Parents who plan on divorcing should work together to make their divorce as peaceful as possible for the good of their children and prioritize raising their children to be successful adults when they are older. Sometimes marriages will fall apart, but they should not be easily breakable. Even if they fall apart, parents should continue to prioritize the well-being of their children, as divorce can bring so many changes into children’ s lives.

School Needs an Update

By: Joshua Green 

        Does 180 years sound like a lot to you? From the invention of cameras and automobiles to running water and electricity, almost every aspect of life has changed over the last 180 years.  However, one system in society that has yet to change is public education.  Over the last 180 years, schools have failed so many students and will continue this way if nothing changes. Schools strip creativity from kids and force them to learn at the same rate, crippling success later in life.

        One of the most prominent problems is that teens aren’t staying in school. A study conducted in 2021 showed 9.6% of teens drop out of school before college, and 40.9% of young adults drop out of college. 

        For the teens who stay in school, the education they get still isn't satisfactory.  Today in the United States, most adults have the reading and writing skills of a seventh grader. “The biggest problem I see with our current age-based system is that it stands in contrast to what we know to be true about children and their development,” says Marry Beth, an assistant professor at a college in Texas.

        Our school system was built around producing obeying factory workers. Today the need for these working styles is little to none. These days technology-based and creative problem-solving employees are most valued in the workforce. Another reason the school system is failing is because it is set up to teach every student the same way when not every student is the same. There are three learning styles: visual, auditorial, and kinesthetic. Visual learners learn through seeing, auditory learners learn from listening, and kinesthetic learners learn from moving around and doing. Teachers focus on one of these learning styles, so not every kid takes in the same amount of information. Different learning styles are important because it helps keep students engaged in the curriculum, making them want to learn, leading to more learning.

        Mental health is a growing problem in our society, and finally it is being discussed on a wide scale.  However, oftentimes the stress and mental toll the education system brings on its students isn't brought up. A study done in 2018 showed over two-thirds of college students experienced overwhelming anxiety, and we are starting to see stress in young children. Schools are trying to make a change, but it is hardly making a dent. On average, there is one counselor per 1000 to 1500 students, and with the caseload of school counselors this is hardly enough.

        Bullying has been a problem with school aged students for as long as school has existed, but with the growth of social media, cyberbullying has seen a dramatic increase. A study done in 2019 shows on average 15 percent of 12 to 18 year olds were bullied online or by text; another study done in 2022 showed 46 percent of 13 to 17 year olds experienced at least one form of cyberbullying. In just three years, cyberbullying has more than tripled. One of the reasons for this is schools have no way of protecting students once they leave school, but what happens off of school grounds can still impact that student's ability to do well in school.

        Funding is also becoming a problem.  According to the Century Foundation, K-12 public schools in the U.S. are underfunded by $150 billion annually.  Low budgets lead to unsafe schools. Inadequate funding means schools can’t hire teachers, making class sizes larger, which leads to classes being overpopulated and overwhelming for students and teachers alike.                          

        As time goes on, schools will continue to crumble apart and get more distant from the real world, and unless we do something, this trend will continue. If you think of anything from 180 years ago it will look different today. Now think of classrooms 180 years ago and think of classrooms today.  Classrooms almost look identical with few changes, like the implementation of technology in classrooms. If everything else has changed, then why hasn’t school? 

Recess For All

By: Ryan Gauss

Recess isn't considered a vital part of the school day, as if it doesn’t matter. However, it is probably more vital than you think. The average kid sits for about eight and a half hours every day. Studies have shown that more aerobically fit children do better in school. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends recess for kids in elementary, middle and high school..

        Sitting for eight and a half hours a day is working in the opposite direction of physical activity. Five and a half of these hours are from sitting in a classroom. Recess would help counteract these long hours by giving kids more physical activity. Children sitting for this long has been a factor of childhood obesity more than tripling since the 1970s. It has been shown that 20 minutes of recess daily combined with 150 minutes of PE weekly has made a noticeable difference in calories burned. An example of this is that walking for just 30 minutes can burn a whole 280 calories.

Studies have shown that more aerobically fit children have had better grades in school. A Brain and Cognition study from 2014 said, "Physical activity can boost children's ELA skills." Dr. Scott McGinnis, who is an instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School, stated, "Parts of the brain that control memory and thinking are larger in people who exercise regularly." These two studies could prove why recess and physical activity are important for kids' development and learning.

        It is recommended that kids ages 6 to17 have one hour of physical activity per day; this is in line with the CDC recommendations. States have started to require recess daily. For example, students in Florida are now guaranteed 20 minutes of recess every day. Likewise, eight other states have also started requiring recess. Debbie Rhea, a professor at Texas Christian University, stated, “Ideally, children should get four fifteen minute recesses every day.” These states have taken the lead for giving their students the appropriate amount of recess, hoping that other states will follow in their path. 

Recess is a long debated topic between students, parents, and teachers. There is lots of research in support of the fact that recess is very important. Once recess is eliminated from school most kids lose their love of learning because they have no time to process all the information they take in. Processing is quicker when your blood is moving because it gets more oxygen to the brain. This increases neural connectivity and nerve cell growth, which can increase memory capacity and improve attention span. When there is a vote or a chance to promote recess in your local school, try to stand up for it. Don’t just sit around and let recess fade away like one of your earliest memories, never to be seen again.

The Therapy Crisis

By: Jackie Emans

When you’re sick, would you rather have no one know and have to go about your day in this condition, or would you rather have someone to help you feel better? You probably would want help to feel better. People with anxiety or depression go to a therapist to feel better in their minds. Mental illnesses and disorders are more common than society leads you to think, especially since the world epidemic known as Covid-19. Depression and anxiety rates have now swelled by 25%. US citizens are flocking to therapists and psychologists to help them sort through their thoughts and emotions. Even though the demand for therapy has risen sharply, the number of therapists has stayed the same. The result is a shortage of mental health help and overworking those already there. The population of America needs better access to therapy.

        Did you know that, as of 2019, a study proved that one in five American adults have a mental health condition? That is approximately 66.4 million people. And the problem is only about 40.2 million adult Americans in 2019 went to therapy. That leaves around 26.2 million people who didn’t get treatment for their illness. It could not affect the people around them, but for the person, it might be living in agony and grief.

        A woman named Angelle Haney Gullett visited numerous different therapists in Los Angeles in the wake of her father’s death in September 2021. Los Angeles is a sprawling metropolis with many therapists in business, and all of the therapists she researched either had a wait list or were not accepting new clients. Angelle couldn’t find a therapist, and six months later, she watched through tears her father’s favorite football team, the Cincinnati Bengals, in the 2022 Super Bowl. The mental health help she needed wasn’t available when she needed it, and the grief affected her life immensely. 

        A big part of the mental health crisis is the insurance companies that people are relying on to help them pay for therapy aren’t compatible with the therapists themselves. Michael Klein, a psychologist in San Francisco who has been operating for over 20 years, doesn’t take insurance rates. He says, “The reimbursement rates don't provide a living wage. You can't own a home and drive a car and survive on what in-network providers pay you." He also stated that insurance takes a lot of paperwork. “For an hour of psychotherapy, you spend a half-hour on paperwork!” That might not seem so bad on a small scale, but after three hours of sessions, he would have to do an hour and a half of paperwork.

        In the opposite situation, Jonathan Horowitz, also in San Francisco, wants to accept insurance, but the insurance companies refuse Jonathan’s offers outright. They claim that there is no demand for therapists. April Dembosky from npr.org sums it up quite neatly: “So even though a patient might call seven therapists in her insurance network and not be able to get an appointment, insurance companies are telling new and willing therapists that there's no demand for them." This situation is absurd because there is a massive demand, and insurance companies choose to ignore it.

        Mental Health is a colossal issue in the US. In a study by The Commonwealth Fund, out of the other countries surveyed, the US has the fourth-lowest workforce for mental needs (therapists, psychologists, etc.). Insurance Companies and the US government must take their clients’ and citizens’ mental health more seriously. A fifth of the population has a mental illness. If they can’t afford therapy, it might affect the people around them, and whether it is extreme or not, it is still an effect that could derail society if someone takes it far enough. Stop this madness for people who, like you, when sick, want to feel better.

Climate Crisis

By: Mili Patel

        Modern human civilization has only been around for one percent of the Earth’s history; in that meager one percent, carbon dioxide emissions have increased by a whopping forty percent! But that’s not even all. Climate change is a very severe issue that needs to be addressed not just more seriously, but more effectively.

By now, you’ve probably seen the very iconic photo of a desperate polar bear hanging on to a lonesome piece of ice as its beautiful home melts away. However, the reality is, polar bears don’t just gravely cling onto melting pieces of ice. They go elsewhere in search of food. There have been increased sightings of polar bears in areas inhabited by humans. Hungry polar bears have trespassed on towns in the Canadian Arctic and have even killed people. The bears have been spotted in Alaska, where they survive off of the remains of hunted whales. In Greenland, sightings have become more and more common, and in Northern Russia polar bears have terrorized a whole town. The bears might seem like monsters; really, in the big picture, humans play a major role in this fiasco. The melting ice is the result of our burning of fossil fuels. The fossil fuels release greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming and climate change. In 2016, the estimated polar bear population was 26,000. That number is only expected to decrease by 8,600 over future decades. However, the bears are not the only ones facing hunger and extinction. 

        The Svalbard reindeer lives in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. While you might have never heard about this animal, 2019 marked one of the highest death tolls ever recorded of reindeer in Svalbard since 1978. Over 200 animals starved to death, and all of the reindeer that survived were underweight. Yet again, humans come into the picture. Our greenhouse gas emissions heat the planet; these warmer temperatures cause extra rainfall in the Svalbard archipelago. The reindeers can dig through soft snow for food, but as the rain freezes into a layer of ice their hooves cannot penetrate it. Furthermore, the warmer weather prolongs the breeding season of Svalbard reindeer, giving the population an extra boost. As a result, more competition arises in winter because of food scarcity due to the rain freezing to hard ice. Climate change affects not just polar bears and Svalbard reindeer, but also millions around the globe. To fix a problem, and especially a big one, you need to understand it first.

Climate change is sometimes confused with global warming. Global warming is the constant and continual warming of the Earth’s surface. On the other hand, climate change is a result of global warming. Climate change is the long-term change in temperatures and weather patterns. Both of these things occur naturally, but since the last few centuries they have increased drastically due to human activity, and more demand of resources from industries.

         When sunlight shines on the Earth, some of it reflects off of ice and clouds and travels back into space. The sunlight that stays in the atmosphere is absorbed by the Earth’s surface. The sunlight then emanates back off of the Earth’s surface as heat; on its way back to space, some of that heat is caught by natural greenhouse gasses. These gasses trap and re-emit the heat in all directions. Some of it travels back down to the Earth. This cycle keeps the Earth’s surface and low atmosphere warm. If there were no greenhouse gasses, sunlight would just pass through the atmosphere and back to space. This means that the Earth’s temperature would be tens of degrees colder than it is today. 

        Even though greenhouse gasses are important, too many of them can cause awful problems and even more awful consequences. Since the industrial revolution, greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane have increased. Carbon dioxide has increased by more than forty percent. Nitrous oxide has increased by twenty percent, and methane has increased by more than one hundred and fifty percent. More than one half of the increase of carbon dioxide has occurred after 1920. In fact, considering human emissions and natural causes, carbon dioxide is the greatest contributor to climate change. Human emissions release too many greenhouse gasses than are naturally removable by nature. Fossil fuels and cars are just two of the contributors to pollution, climate change, and warming at a global level. Another major contribution to climate change and global warming is the push for profit with industries. Factories release over 100 million pounds of air pollutants annually. In fact, industries are responsible for two-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have not stopped. At Mauna Loa University in Hawaii, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 316 parts per million in 1959. In 2019, the amount of carbon dioxide was 411 parts per million. These increases are expected to become greater in future years. Currently, more and more factories are being built for human profit. Trees and forests are being cut down to make more room for these factories. This over foresting is a problem in itself, but the increasing amount of factories still continue to emit increasing amounts of greenhouse gases.

        The increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere leads to global warming and climate change. This has serious impacts on millions of people and animals around the world. Floods and wildfires are becoming a more and more frequent occurrence; the oceans are rising, warming, and becoming more acidic. Snow, ice, and glaciers are melting. Many species are moving to new locations. All of these changes and events are expected to continue in the future. Temperatures are rising, fast. The global average surface temperature has increased by 0.8 degrees celsius since the 1900s. If emissions continue to be unaddressed, further warming of 2.6 to 4.8 degrees celsius would be expected by the end of this century.

        Maybe we’ve been somewhat inconsiderate and late to realize this climate crisis, but it’s not too late to save our planet. Using eclectic vehicles, finding renewable energy sources, and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is all crucial. The problem is, to save an entire planet, we need more than just these things alone. We need to stop the Earth from heating more than 1.5 degrees celsius since the start of the 20th century. Turns out, we need to be kind. To nature. According to The Nature Conservatory, “nature is the most sophisticated system for processing greenhouse gasses in the universe.” The world is already facing an extinction level threat. What we are doing is good, but not enough. Stopping the destruction of forests, grasslands, and wetlands would remove 3.9 billion metric tons of carbon out of the atmosphere. Smarter farming and forestry techniques would remove another 5.1 billion tons, and restoring our lost forests and wetlands would wipe off another 2 billion. All together, nature has removed 11 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere! That is one third of the amount of emissions needed to be reduced. How does all of this work though? 

        Well, trees do this thing called photosynthesis, where they use the sun’s light and carbon from the atmosphere to feed themselves. Mangroves are like trees, but they grow near bays and beaches along the coast. They can store up to five times more carbon than regular trees. Restoring our wetlands would increase the number of mangroves, and these plants would absorb more carbon from the atmosphere. Lastly, as trees and all plants age, they deposit their carbon into the soil. Other plants then use this to grow. Some of these plants are eaten by animals and humans. The carbon then gets released back into the atmosphere. This is called the carbon cycle. It worked well for a long time, until humans started unbalancing the cycle by burning fossil fuels, and cutting down too many forests, as a push for more profit. All of this harshness to nature just to make more money. All of this trouble just because of people’s greed and selfishness. The horrible impact of humans, and the push for more profit has made a ginormous dent in nature—not a good one. Restoring our damage to nature, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, fighting climate change, and being able to successfully sustain human life all at a global level will probably be one of the hardest things humanity will ever do.

        “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” This is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, and it is indeed very true. Humans have gotten quite greedy by pushing the Earth beyond its limits for resources. We have neglected climate change for long enough; if we continue to neglect it, all of humanity will suffer the consequences. It’s still not too late to stop. We can restore our damage to the Earth and find new ways to live better and greener lives. Because, let’s face the facts: at the end of the day, there really is no Planet B.

Animal Testing, Affecting You and Furry Friends

By: Lizzie Lamme 

        Have you ever wondered how companies test their products? Most companies use animal testing. This is a traumatizing situation, killing more than 100 million animals each year. This abuses animals everyday, hurting them in many ways you couldn’t even imagine while also affecting us too.

Animal testing is a form of animal abuse. Animal testing burns, poisons and cripples tons of animals. Some examples include drilling/screwing bolts, electrodes and metal plates into their skulls. Today, many companies still use animal testing for their products, including cosmetics, medications, household products and pesticides. This is causing the death of more and more animals each year. On a cosmetic test during an experiment, the Humane Society Factsheet said that, “chemicals are rubbed on shaved skin or dripped into the eyes without any pain relief.” This only shows us that animal testing is vile and cruel to many animals who aren’t fortunate. Many animals suffer through the process of animal testing, but some of them aren’t even protected either. Some organizations are starting, trying to help animals in need like the ones in laboratories, like AWA (the Animal Welfare Act). Still, even they can’t help most of the animals getting tested.

Many animals have suffered, and some are lucky enough to escape the facilities and live a much happier life than what they had. Many animals are separated from their families while they are still young, only to be led to a facility where they are tortured. They never get to go outside, get their own bed or interact with another animal in their time at the facility. One Green Planet shared a story about a Beagle named Nelly and how she was tortured until she found a new home. The text states, “Nelly was rehomed by the Beagle Freedom Project, an amazing group that works to save beagles who are suffering at the hands of the animal testing industries. In their words, Nelly had a horrifying start in life, as she was used for years as a laboratory test-tube, was mutilated, sold, then abandoned, shot, and ultimately left for dead with two other murdered beagles in a locked crate on the side of a desolate road in Florida. This scenario is all too common for laboratory dogs.” Normally, most of us wouldn’t think animals were treated like this, but, surprisingly, this scenario is “all too common” for dogs in labs.

There are many ways animal testing can affect us too. In the years 2011 to 2013, the National Institute of Health (NIH) division of Intramural Research Laboratories calculated that 1.5 million pounds (give or take) of animal waste was produced from testing. All that waste is reused and goes into our food. All of the food contains chemicals and is intoxicated, poisoned and infected from the tests it’s been used in. This eventually gets eaten by us and might lead to some side effects, such as diarrhea, vomiting, etc. 

        In addition, animal testing also has delayed the discovery of medications that could be helpful to us. This is because animals are different from us, and it isn’t obvious if it will work. Some labs and companies use chimpanzees because they are similar to us, but even using them doesn’t work all the time. According to Abigail Greer, “Relying on animal experimentation in some cases impedes and delays discovery of drugs and procedures that may be beneficial to humans because they fail in animal testing.” Also, 92% of drugs tested don't even get approval for humans to use because they are unsuccessful in testing. This may also lead to the fact that tests may become approved, yet they still harm and kill a bunch of people. For example, the Vioxx drug was tested on animals, and nothing exhibited any damage or showed anything unsafe. They approved the drug, and many humans used this. This caused 140,000 people to have extra heart attacks and 60,000 people to die, all because of the Vioxx drug that was inconclusive. This just proves that animal testing is severe and risky because the more we use animal testing, the more deaths and harmful effects might happen to us.

        Some people began to boycott certain products using animal testing because they know animals' lives are more important than marketing products. A well-known popular makeup brand called NARS was getting hit with a wave of criticism from 8,500 people. NARS said that they were against animal testing, but they wanted to spread their products to China. The only way they could do that was to use animal testing. This caused riots on their Instagram page, and many of the NARS users even started to boycott their products. NARS was trying to figure out a way to use an alternative for animal testing, but if they wanted to sell to the markets in China, there was no other way. This just shows how some people are starting to try and save animals' lives. 

        Overall, more and more people are recognizing the cruelty happening in animal tests, and most are helping to put an end to this horrid situation. 42 countries and ten states (from the US) have banned or put a limit to animal testing, causing many animals’ lives to be saved. From boycotting to adopting, there are many ways we can help put an end to testing on animals and help companies find safer ways to test their products. Animals are suffering 24/7 for products we use everyday. So, the next time you use makeup or one of your cleaners, imagine how much pain and agony our furry friends have gone through for our daily products.

If You Drink, Don’t Drive

By: Catherine Zhong

        The fire burns. The bone jabs through the veins. Blood is everywhere. Have you been in a car crash before? If yes, you know what it feels like to have your heart stop when the big BANG happens. Car crashes can put you in extreme precariousness, especially if the driver is drunk. Alcohol harms the lives of the drinkers and the people with whom they come in contact.

        On January 15, 2016, Scott McGuire's life, a federal agent with the Homeland Security Investigation Unit, was cut short. Scott was standing on the sidewalk, hailing a taxi. He was immediately hit by the 21 year-old drunk taxi driver. Despite knowing that she had harmed an unimpeachable man, she didn’t stop. Scott was left, bleeding on the ground. Nobody got to say goodbye to Scott. When his family finally got to see him in the hospital, he was unresponsive and was using a breathing machine. All they could do was stare and cry. “He had staples from the front to the back of his head, a tube trying to relieve the pressure on his brain, and internal injuries,” said Scott’s twin sister. That was how bad it got. Scott died nine days after the crash with uncountable injuries. Later that night, the cries of Scott’s son were louder than any scream.

        About 32 people die like Scott every day, breaking many people’s hearts into pieces. That’s one death per 45 minutes! Even more astounding, a person gets injured by a drunk driver every 120 seconds! The person doesn’t have to be an intoxicated driver. It could be a pedestrian, another driver, or even a road director. All these people could be guiltless. They still die for no other reason than a drunk driver. In fact, pedestrians are the most endangered. One out of six people who died in car crashes were pedestrians in 2020. “In 2020, 11,654 Americans were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes,” says the Alcohol Rehab Guide. That is a lot, especially when some people show few but fatal signs of being inebriated. 

        Getting behind the wheel can seem simple, but it takes a lot of responsibility. Many adults drink alcohol and convince themselves that turning a wheel doesn’t need much concentration. They’re wrong. Many lives have been lost due to the impairments of drunk drivers. Alcohol can take 30 minutes to two hours to be absorbed in a person’s bloodstream. Even a little bit of the symptom can cause a monstrosity of a crash. Some of the symptoms people can look out for are slow reaction, bad motor skills, horrible concentration, and even worse judgment. All of these are crucial to driving. The police aren’t everywhere. An average tipsy driver could drive 80 times before they get caught. They could kill people and drive away without getting caught or even knowing they hit someone. 

        If one is caught driving drunk, severe punishments and consequences follow, the  easiest being a fine up to 2,500 dollars! They could lose their job. They could also be banned from driving for up to 90 years.  The states with the most deaths due to impaired driving in the US include Montana, South Carolina, and Wyoming. States that have more deaths tend to have more restrictions. Would you rather lose your private transportation, or simply quit drinking alcohol? 

        So, what can you do? Don’t drink alcohol in the first place! Alcohol is terrible for your body. If you are addicted to alcohol, treating it will not only prevent further car crashes but may also add a few more years to your life. Another tactic you can use to both help you and a friend is if you want to drink, don’t drive; let someone else drive. The same goes for if someone else hands you the keys. You can’t control anybody else, but you can do something about it.

        Although the amount of vehicle fatalities has decreased over the years, drunk driving is still very dangerous. There are lots of things that could kill you, but drunk driving is one of the most sizable accidents that happen. Play it safe. Alcohol not only can take your life but can also take other innocent souls. 

Teachers Need Better Pay

By: Cameron Kile

        Do you think you’re being underpaid? Well if you’re teaching you definitely are. This situation has worsened over time. It’s also a big concern to not just teachers themselves, but a lot of other adults too. Teachers are working way too hard for the money they’re being paid.

        Weekly wages have been flat since 1996 while the wage penalty (the difference between the average pay and the wage paid to covered employees) is still growing. The wage penalty in 1996 was 6.1 percent, but in 2021 it was 23.5 percent. In 2019 the average earnings for full-time workers increased by 2.6% from 2010. Public school elementary and middle school teacher’s average earnings decreased by 8.4% from 2010 to 2019, and high schools teachers have also decreased by 4.4%. To go along with that, Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. where the average teacher pay rate is higher than the average pay rate across all professionals. This financial penalty is stopping students from entering teaching positions. 

        Public school teachers typically earn more than private school teachers, but their pay rate is still very low. The average salary for public school teachers is 65,090 dollars a year while the average pay rate for a full-time worker is 75,203 dollars. The average teacher pay rate range is 48,000 dollars (Mississippi) to 88,000 dollars (New York). Teachers earn money and then turn right around and spend it all because they need the money for things like appliances, bills, groceries, and other household items.

        Teacher strikes are a big problem too. In 2018 300 school districts participated in a strike. The movement was called #RedforEd, and it was for higher wages. In 2022 teachers in many states went on strike for higher wages and better teaching conditions. Some of the bad teaching conditions teachers teach in are: lack of funding when teachers are expected to make do with the resources they have, burnout, meaning that they are lacking motivation, dreading to go to work, and teaching being one of the most demanding jobs or professions there is. Movements like this are dangerous for schools and students because there are no teachers there to teach.

        Teachers also go through years of college and earn their degrees just to be underpaid. 97.3 percent of public school teachers grades kindergarten to 12th have at least a bachelor's degree, and 58 percent of public school teachers grades kindergarten to 12th have at least a master’s degree. Most teachers also work extra hours and spend about 50 working a week. They also spend around 300 dollars of their personal money on school supplies for their students.

        Low wages and teacher pay is a big problem and needs to be fixed. Although teachers face low wages and in some cases bad teaching conditions, it is important to have teachers around, and that includes higher pay and better teaching conditions for them. Teachers have a big impact on how kids learn, whether it’s how helpful they are, the way they teach, or just how kind they are. We need to think more about how we treat teachers.

Women Don’t Get Enough Attention in Sports

By: Natalie Hankin

        Have you ever thought about how much you see women's sports being broadcasted? Well, it's not a lot. That's because women’s sports do not get the same attention as men’s sports do. Few watch women's sports because men are favored over the women. 

        In the NBA (National Basketball Association) the average men's salary is 7.7 million dollars. In the WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) the women's salary is only 100,658.10 dollars. They are not earning enough money because media coverages do not want to cover women's sports. Women's sports receive 0.4% total sponsorships because there are no media coverages that actually want to cover women. Media coverage favors men’s sports because they have higher production values and higher quality coverage.  The men will always get more money than the women because media coverages do not give the women the chance to improve and make more money. 

        Maya Moore has won nine rings and four titles in less than a decade. Maya Moore played for the Lynx when she played in the WNBA. She is easily the most underrated women’s basketball player. Her dominance is unmatched. Most people think Lebron James is the greatest basketball player of all time. Lebron James has only won three titles, and it took him more than a decade. Moore, on the other hand, has won four titles in less than a decade, and that's not even including her international play. People have no clue who Maya Moore is because women’s sports is not appreciated enough. 

        ESPN makes a list every year highlighting the top 100 athletes in the world. Maya Moore isn’t even highlighted by ESPN world of fame list. There were only 12 women on that list. Most of the women were below the 80s spot on the list. There was only one woman over the 80s, and it was Serena Williams; she was at the 12th spot on the list.  “Unfortunately, half the women on the list didn't even make an appearance until the late 80s,” said OberLineReview.

        At the 2021 March Madness, “the men’s teams having all kinds of weightlifting machinery, all the women received was a rack of dumbbells," said Sedona Prince. The women should not have to go through this. The weight room issue was getting so much attraction that the people running March Madness had to add more machinery into the women's weight room.

        As you can tell, men get a lot more attention than women in sports. It's time to wake up and put a stop to this discrimination. This will not stop soon if people do not help out and fight for women to get more media attention.