The BEST Descision We Will Ever Make?

So I've been searching around in today's papers for interesting and inspiring articles to try and relay to you guys. So far I've learned about Anne Hathaway's eight Oscar worthy dresses (each worth the annual price of food for a small african village?) a man who escaped a hospital, a man in Quebec wanted to blow up our Prime Minister and a few kids and their parents have been kidnapped by pirates. Seriously.
An article that really caught my attention today was "Quitting Smoking is the Best Decision You Will Ever Make" The page goes on to talk about 4000 chemicals put into cigarettes and lists these intense substance names I can't pronounce. The article explains how these chemicals screw up your brain. How the the chemicals screw up your lungs. How the chemicals screw up the environemt. The article continued to explain how expensive, how time consuming, how risky, how useless, how stupid smoking really is: information we've had drilled into our heads since grade two. Below this on the page was a lot of information about programs and organizations to help quit smoking, with side notes stating how difficult quitting is due to addiction and habit. Again the phrase "quitting smoking is the best descision you will ever make" is written.
But I disagree.
I think smoking is a waste of time, a waste of money and a waste of health. Quitting is more work and time.
So what if we skip all this unpleasentness, hmm? Could our "best descision" be NOT smoking in the first place???
-em

Rainbow Warrior

Me and Em will be doing a video soon on an NGO (non-government agency) called Greenpeace. But for now I thought it was important to do a post on one of Greenpeace main projects, Rainbow warrior. The Rainbow Warrior is a ship devoted to confronting environmental crime. The U.S was doing atmospheric nuclear testing near the Marshall Islands in the Pacific ocean. The people of those island were exposed to a   bomb a thousand times more power full than Hiroshima.They experienced twenty-five years of health problems as a result,they asked their government and the U.S government to move them.When the Rainbow Warrior and its crew went to the Marshall islands they helped to move the people. Rainbow Warriors arrived in Auckland to protest against Nuclear testing in the ocean and were bombed.Near midnight on July,10th,1985 french agents planted two limpet mines( mines that can be used underwater and placed by divers) under the ship. A crew member named Fernado Pereira died in the sinking and the french admitted to planting the mines. The ship sunk as a result of the two limp mines and so the the Rainbow Warrior two was created.The Rainbow warrior two since then has been fighting for our environment for twenty-one years , but now must retire. If you would like to make a donation to the building of Rainbow Warrior three go to www.greenpeace.org/donate

Clothes, Buskers and Protests

I spent today shopping all around Toronto with a friend of mine, we ate far too much and I spent my past few pay cheques far too quickly.... but anyhow, early in the afternoon we were comming out of a shop we found a large group of protestors with signs and slogans relating to current events in Libya. It was really interesting to have such a peaceful rally in the midst of all the shoppers and buskers. A couple police officers were there just in case, but no one was disturbed!
It's estimated that 2000 Libyans died yesterday within their protests, partly due to to the Libyan Air Force bombing them. So anyhow, Canadian politicians are working hard to evacuate Canadian citizens out of the country (Libya I mean.)  However Canadian troops are not currently expected to be entering Libya, neither are United Nations Peacekeepers despite the concern of many citizens (as seen in today's protest.) The main factor in the descision this far is that the Canadian troops and UN peacekeepers are already involved in 14 peacekeeping missions internationally, are are hoping to keep their attention to these immediate issues. For now at least.
-Em

Canadian visible minorities

Canada prides its self on being multicultural and accepting to all kinds of people, but is that all an illusion?Since I can remember I've always had teachers tell me that part of what makes us Canadian is that we accept all people from a any walks of life and we should be proud.Then why are there visible minorities? Studies have shown that immigrants who come to Canada as children make less money even after living in the country for most of their lives. The children of visible minorities are more likely to go to university than the rest of the population, yet they make 18% less money.Are these the Canadian values we pride ourselves on?When I read an article in the Globe and Mail about visible Canadian minorities, my illusion of Canada as an example of different people working together in Harmony shattered. Luckily being part of the next generation hopefully I can help change that.

Cinema Seize

Zimbabwe officials are wide awake and very prepared to prevent any form of revolt against the governement. Fifty-two people were arrested recently for watching a documentary relating current events in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Algeria and Yemen. The meeting was said to be peaceful (and legal) but those attending were still arrested. The majority of the detainees are human right or student activists from the U.S, South Africa or England.
Currently they are all being held and charged with "plotting to subvert the constitutionally elected government" (they got in trouble because government officials are worried that they're planning a protest) Some of the detainees are HIV positive are without their medication, one detainee was pushed out of a second srorey window prior to arrest, and has suffered a couple broken legs. All are being denied medical treatment, substantial food or a lawyer.
-em

Canadians in Libya

The situation in Libya has forced other governments to encourage there citizens to evacuate. Many countries including the U.S and China have already evacuated many of their citizens. The Canadian government is suggesting that any Canadian citizens in Libya presently should evacuate. Why are we only starting to evacuate our citizens now when many countries have already evacuated thousands? We have only evacuated twenty-six Canadians .We presently have 331 Canadians registered in Libya and ninety-one have already requested to be evacuated. Hopefully we get all of our citizens out quickly so no Canadians get hurt.Hurry up government!
-d

Pink Shirts

In 2007 a Nova Scotian guy wore a pink polo on his first day of high school, and for doing so was bullied. Older students were calling him homosexual and threatened to beat him up -on his first day of school, for the colour of his t-shirt-
Two grade twelve students -Travis Price and David Sheperd- realized how unacceptable this treatment was -and is- So the two of them went out and bought 50 pink tops to bring to school and wear the very next day. Their movement was called "The Sea of Pink" and quickly included the rest of the school.
The bullies were never heard from again in this case. But still over 70% of us have experienced some form of bullying, one MILLION children are bullied each week in Canada, and twenty of these children commit suicide.
Enough is enough.
Show your support.
Join the Sea of Pink campaign,
Wear your pink shirt tomorrow!
-em

Earthquake in New Zealand

Sorry I know this was supposed to be on the Alberta oil sands but I will be blogging more on that topic later in the week.

The second largest city in New Zealand, Christchurch was hit by an Earthquake. This happened Tuesday and was the second time its happened in this city in the last five months. This was a 6.3 magnitude earthquake and there hasn't been an official update on fatality's. There is a lot of damage and some buildings fell into the street. The worry is the amount of deaths considering this was a business day and alot of people work in that area. The only report so far says there were multiple fatalities, two buses have been crushed by falling buildings and many people were trapped in office buildings.I will blog more when the is an update on the earthquake.

Sprite or Coke?

Anti-government movements started today in Morocco, much like those of Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and Jordan. More than 10 000 citizens are revolting throughout the country presently. In Rabat -the capital city- and Casablanca -a large city- alone, there were more than 5000 protesters.  Their demand? For their king Mohammed VI to hold less power, for more democratic rights, and lower food prices. Demonstrations have become violent already, a gas station has been set on fire, stones and cement have been thrown at police and a McDonald's has been attacked.
Wow.
Do average Canadians tend to fret about being lit of fire at Esso? Do we worry about being attacked when we go out and buy pieces of dead cow? If we were chomping on fries and I thought -even for an instant- someone would thow rocks and cement at us would you be genuinely concerned? Or concerned about my mental faculties?
As I was going over today's news and reading articles about these protests I was reminded of how fortunate we really are. Because honestly, we have the luxury of not having to worry about violent anti-government protesters and brutal police entering our McDonalds.We can have the dilemma of sprite or coke.
-em

First video

A bag bewilderment...

I always love it when I forget that I have money in my pocket, and when I go back to my coat I find an extra bill or two.
Airport security was not very happy however with a Calgary man this morning who had a gun and a bunch of amunition in his carry on. Yep, he just forgot it was there.  He was arrested on the spot -much to his surprise- and after his statement to the press of "oops" was charged with "unsafe storage of a firearm"
We here at A Teen's View would like to remind you to check your bag incase you left your gun in it prior to airport security.
-em

Uprisings across the Middle East

In Benghazi the second largest city in Libya, protests have been going on since Tuesday.The protesters want their leader Moammar Gadhafi out of government and a more Democratic government.The protesters have started lighting fires and so far there have been twenty protesters deaths.

In Bahrain protesters are trying to overthrow their king Hamad bin Isa Khalifa. The protesters want a new government free from control of a monarchy. So far there has been one death and many have been injured.

Protests are also going on in Jordan were King Abdullah the second is in power.The protesters of Jordan want a new prime minister,new Parliament and limits on the kings power.

In Yemen their present leader is president Ali Abdullah who has ruled for thirty two years.Protests have been going on since last Friday the protesters are trying to get their president to resign. They also want democratic reform.

In Algeria they have been protesting for a while because their president(Abdelaziz Bouteflika) raised the prices on gas and food. As a result they want their president to step down and they want changes to be made in their government.

-D

Ugly sweaters tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the World Wildlife Fund Canada's national "drop the thermostat day" the aim being everyone drops their thermostats two or three degrees in order to conserve energy.
We love the idea of this event, the way it raises awareness and (hopefully) gets a lot of people involved. The thing is though there really shouldn't be ONE day to be better to the Earth. We shouldn't have just a couple hours to turn off our extra lights or heaters and then claim to have done our part and good deed for the year. This needs to be an ongoing change, and why shouldn't it? Our consumption and over consumption causes an ongoing problem!  According to WWFC " if every Canadian turned down their thermostat by just two degrees each winter, 2.2 megatonnes of carbon dioxide could be saved every year - the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars off the road."
Tomorrow is a start though, and we've dubbed this day "Ugly Sweater Day" (if you're like me though you'll be wearing five) sooooo, drop the thermostat a few notches, and use it as an excuse to wear those giant ugly sweaters of yours!(we know you have them don't try and deny it)
-em

Blooper in the blog

Dana was finishing her math homework umm for tomorrow I mean... here in the caff while I was checking for the awesome post from last night. It turned out though that the page posted wompily and in the middle a whole bunch of :$.38span [} times new roman {# popped up. we think we've fixed it now although were not quite sure what happened, and we just wanted to let you know that if this happens again it doesn't mean we had a stroke at the computer. Sorry for the confuzzlement guys!
-em

Ontario's Windmills

Two days a go the government decided to delay authorizing building wind farms (group of windmills in an area used to generate electric power) in the Great Lakes. It seams a group of citizens in the Scarborough area are raising health concerns. The concerns are that the windmills will bring up toxins in the water and pollute our drinking water.Are they overacting I don't know. But we need to consider the possible health risk to Ontario's residents. In a article in The Globe and Mail by Marcus Gee he raises the point that dredgers( a powerful machine that digs up earth from beneath rivers) have been used in the harbours of Lake Ontario and they haven't stirred up dangerous toxins, so why would the windmills? Even though the decision has been delayed the the general belief is that the windmills are a safe green way to produce energy.
-d

Exceeding Egypt...

Do you remember ponchos in grade three? All the tamagachis you had in grade four? Ooh, and sidebangs fully became trendy when I was in grade six. And aside from BlackBerry phones and ipods, today's fads seems to include protests.
The Tunisiasn campaign to remove president Ben Ali was successful, as was the following Egyptian revolt. The Algerian protestation is still underway, as are two others.
Today marks the fourth day of anti-government protests in Yemen. Citizens are aiming to end President Saleh's 32 year reign. At this moment Saleh states that he plans to step down in 2013, but rallies are still continuing.
Bahrain, a small island country near the west shore of the Persian Gulf, has a little more than a million citizens who are are all ruled by a royal family -the Al Khalifas- Currently citizens are revolting and demanding more political freedom. When the group was firstly created on facebook with more than 13 400 followers it was intended to be quite peaceful, unfortunately this is not the current case. Citizens have been throwing rocks and bricks, riot police have been firing both bullets and tear gas.  If you're reading this from Bahrain right now it would be the 15th of February, marking the second day of protests. If you're in Canada its still Valentine's day (happy Valentine's day!) but the time difference makes it tomorrow, still the second day of the Bahrainian campaign.
Hoping to keep you informed,
-em  

Alberta Oil Sands Part 2

The industry is saying they will put the sand back in the mining pit when there done and help re-create vegetation on the land. They have already done so, there is a part of land that used to be part of the Oil Sands and now is land were buffalo graze.The industry promises to leave land not masses of dirt when they are done, but when will that be ?  It will probably take decades and by then the damaged will be done.

 Picture lush beautiful boreal forest, boreal forest are made up of many trees,wetlands and fresh water.Picture all the different animals , wetlands have a large variety of animals they provide habitats for. Now picture a chunk of that land the size of half of Norway trees being cut down and animal habitats being destroyed. The Dene people saw this happen to land they felt was theirs. I'm not going to sat that the land that the Oil Sands now are on belongs to the Dene people because I've never seen the treaty, but I will say that in the treaty it says that the Dene people have the right to fish and hunt on that land. As a result of the vast size of the Oil Sands they can't do what was promised to them in the treaty.

Before I get to far in the gray area of Aboriginal land claims I'll get back to the science of things. As a member of the Canadian public its so hard to know that exact environmental damage of  the Oil Sands. We know there is air pollution, but is it causing cancer,fish deformities and toxic leaks in rivers?

David Suzuki says, "It's hard to know who to believe, the government says the Tar sands don't pollute the water but scientists outside the government say that's wrong. But science is based on fact and there can only be one version of the facts right"?

Next Monday I'll inform you of scientist David Schindlers effort so far to uncover the truth about the environmental impact of the Oil Sands.
-D

Replica Revolt

Pretty big headlines in yesterday's news eh? Jennfer Aniston turned 42, Justin Bieber's Never Say Never has already joined the box office elite, with $12.5 million, oh, and Hosni Mubarak -the Egyptian president- resigned.
On thursday evening Mubarak announced that he would be transfering his power to the newly instated vice president (Omar Suleiman) but military leaders threatened that the army would force him out later that evening.
So, on friday Mubarak officially resigned. The Egyptians are celebrating their victory and preparations for democratic elections have began.
Meanwhile in Algeria, a country in north-west Africa, citizens seem to have been influenced and encouraged by the Egyptians. The Algerians have started a protst of their own against their government. Their demand? A democratic reform -to ultimately to get their president Abdelaziz Bouteflika (do any of you know how to pronounce that?) to step down.-
The Algerian government have blocked the streets of the capital Algiers, and heavily armed police officers have already spread throughout all major cities. Over four hundred people have been arrested in protests.
The Canadian government encourages extreme caution if entering Algeria at this time.
We suggest possibly postponing your vacation to Algeria.
-Em

Tummy Aches

Me + quinoa + tofu + bean sprouts + carrots + red peppers + onion + focaccia bread + butter + milk = tummy ache.  Envious? You'd be surprised by how many people are.
What are you eating right now? Im not kidding you. Do you have a cup of coffee beside you at the moment? A piece of bread in the toaster? Or do you just have really bad breath form your dinner? I think its disgusting how much of our lives revolve around food. I mean, when is the average American or Canadian not eating? What about when you go to the movies, heck, even out with friends? First dates and business meetings? On the way home from school?
I did a bit of hunting around actually, and apparently 4.5 hours every day are involved in food purchase, preparation and consumption. According to the Eating and Health Module of the American Time Survey the average American spends 66.9 minutes eating throughout their three daily meals, 15.4 minutes snacking, 42 minutes drinking, and 7 minutes snacking when waiting for food preparation to finish.
I am not going to natter about exercising. I'm not going to tell you all to choose food from the Earth and not from machines. I won't tell you that one out of three children in North America are obese, or that two thirds of our population don't meet the daily nutritional amounts.  
I will however try and bring your attention towards 925 MILLION people. Because 925 000 000 people are hungry. 925 000 000 tummy aches are the opposite of mine. I hope you notice the luxury in our gluttony, and that you see thr fortune in our fat. I'm going to relay that the average woman in Kenya walks two hours for dirty diseased water. I am going to tell you that when you "die" for a caff cookie, or those triangle chip things each day, 16000 children die of starvation daily, one every five seconds.
So by the time you finish reading this blog, another twenty five children are gone.
And that, that's food for thought.
-em

The Controversal issue of Alberta Oil Sands

Canada's oil sands have become a huge source of debate there good for our economy but are they good for our health?The oils sands are a mixture of minerals,water,sand and Bitumen (bitumen is a heavy and vicious oil). Alberta's oil sands are located beneath a boreal Forest drained by the Athabasca river. The boreal wilderness that the oil sands are underneath is larger than Greece.The Athabasca river flows north were it flow into a lake that forms one of the worlds largest fresh water delta systems.Fort Chipewyan is a small town, its located at the Athabasca river delta.

Canada's oil sands produce more oil for the U.S then any other foreign source and many think its the biggest deposit of oil on earth. The oil sands have become the heart of Canada's economy, they increased Canada's GDP by 1.7 trillion dollars. The oil sands are the largest construction project on the planet and have made jobs for 450 000 people. They bring in twenty billion dollars a year to Canada economy and their is a fortune more to be made.

Before you sign off on the idea that the oil sands are the best thing for Canada you should know some of the environmental and health risks.The citizen's of Fort Chipewyan are seeing the negatives results of these oil sands. Chipewyan people have always been big on fishing and eating fish but have stopped because of the fish deformities they are seeing. The started to notice the deformities in the fish from lake Athabasca when the oil sands became up and running. But not only are the fish suffering so are the people. They have a unusually high cancer rate and fear the water has been contaminated by Arsenic from the oil sands. There are six suspected cases Cholangiocar cinoma which is an extremely rare kind of cancer usually seen in one every hundred thousand people. There our illnesses occurring in this town that are linked to toxins in the environment. Whats the government going to do? Well they turned water monitoring over to industry funded consultants so I guess there going to ignore it.

The solution to the many problems we are facing from the oil sands isn't an easy one. If we close down production 450 000 Canadians are out of work and the effects on Canadian economy would be catastrophe if its poisoning our soil,water,animals and people immediate action needs to be taken.
-D

Border Brouhaha -Thailand and Cambodia-

     My mom tends to fall asleep through movies. Actually every movie. Unless theres an explosion or car chase in the first ten minutes. Needless to say I've watched a lot of James Bond.... Have you guys ever wanted to be spys? To be sneaky throughout your espionage? Well it turns out several politicians tried it, but weren't sneaky enough.
      Early in december last year seven Thai politicians illegaly crossed the border to Cambodia with intention for espionage -to spy-. When this was revealed two of the sneakers were arrested, which many "yellow-shirts" (nationalists -people devoted to their nation and its' independance) have been protesting. Althought this event was not the cause, many disputes and fights between the Cambodians and the Thais have occured following this.
      The two countries bordering eachother in Southeast Asia have a long-simmering border dispute, which at this moment is not especially simmering with many armed clashes in recent days, and tension continuing to rise.Schools have been wiped out, houses destroyed and people have been killed, wounded and displaced. A nine hundred year old temple has been damaged with constant fighting surounding it. The significance of this being that this Cambodian temple was dedicated to the Hindu Diety Shiva, (a sacred God) and was given to the Cambodians by the World Court in 1962. The temple has been named a UNESCO World Heritage sight for Cambodia, but many Thais believe that it rightfully belongs to them and have currently siezed it.
     Many Thais, aprox 16 000, have recently been moved to temporary shelters for protection, but with shells still expoliding all around them, how safe are they really?
Neither country appear to be backing down currently, although Hun Sen the Prime Minister of Cambodia has called upon the peacekeepers of the United Nations.
Hope to keep you informed,
-Em

The Conflict in Egypt

As many of you might know there is an uprising going on in Egypt. For our first news related post we thought we should address the current situation in Egypt.I'll start by giving you a brief background on Egyptian politics. Egypt used to have a monarchy, but was overthrown by the Egyptian army in 1952. The result of this was the military winning Egyptian citizens respect and resulting in having military leaders since then.

Mr.Mubarak has being president of Egypt for almost thirty years. Many citizens in Egypt are unhappy with Mr.Mubarak and want him gone they also want a democracy. This has resulted in protests in Tahrir square in Cairo which is the capital of Egypt. As a result of these protests pro-Mubarak citizens  became violent against the anti-Mubarak protesters resulting in eleven deaths.

This week men with a high military rank are being given jobs like vice president and prime minister of Egypt. Some businessmen who use to be a large majority in politics are being investigated for alleged corruption, there bank accounts are frozen and they are unable to travel out of Egypt .This is how the new government is showing that it is making an effort to transition into a Democracy.Mr.Mubarak announced this week that he would not seek another term. Vice President Omar Suleiman has announced that the government is now starting the process of political reform (political reform is a social movement that aims to make gradual change) and is said to be inviting outlawed Muslim Brotherhood to join. The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood is what it sounds a large group of Muslim men who were made outlaws by Mr.Mubarak. The government is trying to show that's its changing by making an effort to work with the Muslim brotherhood, that was falsely accused of being a dangerous Islamic militant group because he feared there popularity. Hopefully the government will work well with the citizens and Muslim Brotherhood to make the changes needed in Egypt.
-D

an intro to us

I was travelling to St.Johns recently, when delayed in the airport I must have watched the news footage and heard about the outrage and protests in Egypt about fifteen times. Honestly, I still had no idea what the reporters were talking about. I mean, obviously the citizens weren't very happy with the government,  so they were protesting, but I had no clue as to why. Even when I finally got home I had to have my dad explain it to me, with constant reminders that I haven't got my PhD let alone completed high school, and did not understand all these schmancy terms he was throwing at me.

The entire concept of this blog is based around this idea. This blog is dedicated to those who care about world issues and current affairs, for those who are looking for more information on them and further explanation. We personally think that it's hard to grasp what's going on in the world from news sources.

Dana and I are two high-school students. Were not mad scientists, or authors or aspiring olympic athletes. We're just ordinary people trying to make sense of many issues around us today. We'll be doing our best to interpret the news and relay them to this blog, translating into language you and I can comprehend. We hope to be posting new information daily (Dana seems to think she'll wake up earlier before school for this.... Bets to how long that lasts?) and we'd most definitely love to hear your thoughts, opinions and all of your questions too! 

Much love from your translators,

-Em & D