Blog Feed

There is an unspoken issue in the Latino Community. We put others down for their skin color. Some of us do not see others as equal with the next Latino. The issue is Colorism! I have heard of the saying  “Mejorar la raza.” This means to “improve the race.” The elders are basically saying to “fix the rac.” What they mean is to marry lighter people so their kids can come out lighter. These beauty standards fit more into the European standards; blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin, and straight hair. Their goal seems to be to whitewash or to blanqueamiento our culture and to make the next generations of Latinos “prettier’’ , AKA lighter.  One of the first thoughts I had was - Why? Why aren’t we accepting our people? Why aren’t we embracing how different we all are? We have the kinky hair, straight hair, wavy hair, light skin, dark skin, light eyes and dark eye. Why can’t we all love and accept each other for our variety?

This picture shows three generations of a family. The grandmother is black, the daughter is mulatta, and the grandchild is fair skin. Showing three generations of racial hypergamy.

As a member of the Latino community I want everyone to be united, especially in my culture group. This doesn’t seem like a big problem, but it is. Afro Latinos are growing up, thinking that they aren’t beautiful because their skin isn’t light or their hair isn’t straight. Imagine growing up watching Spanish TV, seeing all the similar looking Latinos, realizing that you don’t look like any of them them.  You don’t seem to  identify with anyone you are supposed to look up to or want to be like. The media doesn’t represent dark skinned Latinos with kinky curly hair. They seem to only show the ones with light skin, light eyes, and straight no-frizz hair.

Not only is the media a big part of this problem, it’s an epidemic in our own families. Family members praise one child for their light skin while the ones who don’t have light skin are being mocked. Lifting up one person for being something they have no control over, and overlooking the next, doesn’t make any sense. The one who is praised sees themselves as superior. While shame can consume the “undesirable.”  Having that type of mindset is causing racism and hatred among our people.  “Children aren’t born racist, they learn racist behaviors as they grow. We have to be mindful of how language describes us, how we talk about others, and what we teach our children. We perpetuate the stereotypes that diminish the unmeasurable value of our multicultural ethnicity — we shouldn’t be glorifying one race over the other.”

Children aren’t born racist.

Having light skin tones does not make you better than anyone. Having darker skin tones does not make you inferior than anyone. They are equally beautiful and we must realize that. But how can they realize that if  the subject is taboo and no one wants to talk about it? We must change how we talk about and to each other. It starts with this generation.  It starts with ME. Loving our kinky curly hair and dark caramel skin begins with me.  Our abuelos and abuelas had it wrong.  Social media, novelas, and Spanish TV need to learn how to represent us. We have textured hair, colorful skin and I love it.

ANN BIB

Most people don’t know what’s actually in their food or how it affects them. My project is mainly based on the documentary What the Health, which promotes eating a plant-based diet, also known as veganism. The reason I chose this topic because both sides of my family have genetic diseases that made somewhat hypochondriac. On my paternal side, the diseases are diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. On my maternal side, there are cardiovascular problems. After watching “What the Health”, everything I thought I knew about these diseases.

Diet is closely linked to a lot of health problems that humans have, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular problems, cancers, and asthma. In the documentary, it demonstrates how those diseases and meat are connected. The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) pronounced that processed meat is a Type 1 carcinogen. This is the same category as formaldehyde and tobacco smoke. The American Cancer Society made an article in response to the IARC on their website telling cancer patients to limit the amount of processed and red meat consumed. Why do they advertise limiting the consumption of it instead of just telling them to stop completely? In the article, it states “Colleen Doyle, MS, RD,... says, ‘We should be limiting red and processed meat to help reduce colon cancer risk, and possibly, the risk of other cancers. The occasional hot dog or hamburger is okay,’" but on the website they do not tell you to only smoke one cigarette a day, instead they tell you to stop completely.

Another disease connected to red meat is diabetes. A report taken in 2015 found that 30.3 million American citizens have diabetes(9.4%), and 84.1 million are pre-diabetic. Being diagnosed with diabetes shortens your lifespan by 19 years. Researchers have found that in the next 25 year one out of every three American will have some form of diabetes. Most people are taught that eating sugary food is the main reason for diabetes, but it isn’t. The main source is a diet that builds up a large amount of fat into the blood, such as a meat-based diet. Sugar has zero calories all it is, is excess calories, but when you do eat sugar your body stores most of it as glycogen or burns it off as calories.The main focus has been put on sugar instead of meat causing people to believe sugar is the reasoning for diabetes.Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health did a study about diabetes in comparison to red meat. They found that red meat mainly when processed it increases the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes. In the Harvard article, it talks the percentage rate that it is increased by, “They also found that one daily serving of half that quantity of processed meat—50 grams (for example, one hot dog or sausage or two slices of bacon)—was associated with a 51% increased risk.”

This photo shows how much the U.S. spends on research on diabetes

Humans are the only species that still ingest milk after infancy. Cow’s milk has zero benefits for a human compared to any other type of animal’s milk. It is full of hormones that are meant to help an infant cow grow. Therefore, when a person says “ I only get hormone-free milk” it is an oxymoron. Most humans are lactose intolerant, 73% of African Americans, 95% Asian, approximately 70% Native American, and about 53% Hispanic Americans cannot break down the sugars in dairy, but it is still advertised by our government. In schools, food guides/pyramids show everything that you eat which promotes dairy. There is a false conception that milk helps makes your bones stronger but studies have shown the more milk you drink the more prone you are to hip fractures. In HuffPost article, they did a study on men who drank milk, “A recent study found that elderly men who drank a lot of milk during their teenage years actually had an increased risk for hip fractures.”

MyPlate was published by the USDA

After doing my research I hope that people become less ignorant about the topic of their food and start to care more. I just want people to be more aware of how their food affects them and their environment.

Annotated Bibliography

Food Waste and Why It’s a Slightly Bigger Problem Than Previously Thought

Source: https://feedbackglobal.org/food-waste-scandal/. This is a visual representation of all the food that is wasted per year.

What would you do if I told you that we have all the means to end hunger worldwide? Every year, approximately one third of all food produced is wasted, which is enough to feed 3 billion people. America contributes a huge number of that waste, as up to 50% of all food in the U.S. is thrown out annually, which is equal to a staggering 160 billion dollars. Every American typically wastes 12-25% of food they buy, which can cost up to $1,500 in expenses per year. Despite all the food being thrown out, an estimated 800 million people live in a state of malnourishment, along with 50 million Americans living in insecure food households, which means they struggle to afford food.

A main culprit of why food waste is so great in America is because of sell by dates. The only foods that are legally required to have a sell by date are baby food, and even the meat and egg products is voluntarily written by the producers. Many people believe in these numbers even though the main reason food companies put expiration dates on their products is so people buy more of their products in a shorter amount of time. Expiration dates are supposed to tell the buyer when the food is at its peak quality, but most people take this to mean that after these dates the food must be discarded, even though most food can last weeks, if not months past the expiration dates. Because of sell by dates, around 90% of food we throw out is not actually expired.

Source: http://www.savethefood.com/. This chart shows the amount of food that is tossed annually by the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

One of the reasons this problem is so important to me is because no one really talks about it.  One of the reasons this problem is so important to me is because it is not a widely known topic. People talk about world hunger and how it’s something that needs to be solved, but everyone makes it seem as though the issue is the lack of food and not the distribution of it. Most food waste is created by food that was disposed, not because they were inedible, but because they were not not aesthetically appealing to buyers. Farmers who are growing food purposefully throw out thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetable just because they know it won’t sell. The rational solution would be to donate the “misshapen” fruits and veggies, but because farms don't receive tax cuts when they ship the food out to shelters, it ends up costing themselves more money. Because of this, many farmers choose to throw out their less desirable foods where they go to landfills. Farmers also use 4.5 billion hectares of land to grow food, and because of food waste 1.4 billion hectares of land and 250 trillion litres of water is wasted.

Once the food arrives at the landfill, most people believe that the food will decompose into the ground and turn into compost. However, landfills are not separated by types of trash, which means that the discarded food is mixed with cardboard boxes and plastic bags. When the food is not given a chance to breathe and decompose naturally, the food waste creates a greenhouse gas called methane. Methane is a gas that is 20 times more able to trap heat than CO2 which is one of the main greenhouse gases that contributes to the weakening of our atmosphere. Food waste emits so much methane, that if it was a country it would be the third largest greenhouse gas producer, following China and America, generating 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2. To conclude, food waste is a problem that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible, because everything about it hurts the community and the environment.

Source: https://feedbackglobal.org/food-waste-scandal/ . This graph shows the different amounts of CO2 between different countries with Food Waste becoming its own country

Here's the link to my annotated bibliography.

Main rates of homelessness.

Do you think everyone deserves to have a right to vote? My You and The World project is about Asian American voting rights and my goal about learning more about this topic is finding out the reasons why this is an issue in Philadelphia or in other cities and states in the U.S. I would like to find a way for Asian Americans to also have a voice in their community and politics. I’m interested in this topic because I volunteer at an activist organization call Asian American United (AAU) and I know they have been trying to help people in the asian community to have a voice in their own community and contribute to the society. For example, in chinatown, they would handle out surveys to anyone passing them and the surveys they hand out asking their opinions about what they want the empty parking lot to become in the future. Because they are handing surveys in chinatown, they have Mandarin translated surveys and English surveys. This allows anyone in that community to have a opinion about their community and how it may improve. Many Asians have a hard to vote because of the language difference. Many Asian immigrants knows very little English, whether it’s reading wise or speaking wise.

My connection to this is that for the past couple of years, my mom would like to vote but she knows that she doesn’t know how to read English so she decides not to vote. Many of the voting booth are not translated into other languages for the non-English citizens of the United States. This matters to me because I know people that have a hard time getting a citizenship and being unable to vote and for the people that are citizens in the U.S., they are unable to vote because of language difference. I think it’s important for others to know because everyone should be aware that not everyone is able to vote even if they are a citizen in the U.S. and people that are trying to become a citizen in the U.S. is harder now especially for immigrants that don’t understand any English.

AAU member talks to a citizen about the presidential election form in 2015.

Source:https://caamedia.org/blog/2016/10/27/for-asian-americans-in-battleground-states-voter-registration-is-just-the-beginning/

September 14, 2016: Volunteers are in the ballroom of a chinese restaurant, New Fortune, helping people register voters.

Source:http://reportingtexas.com/language-can-be-a-barrier-for-some-asian-american-voters/

Voting has been an issue for Asian American since 1882. When the first Voting Right Acts law was published, this did not allow specific Asian group to vote. In the year of 1943, Chinese Americans were permitted to vote, then following Asian Indians in 1946. Japanese Americans and other Asian American groups weren’t permitted until 1952. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, AALDEF been known as an expert on voting issues for Asian Americans. They have even discussed with the Congress about the language barrier for citizens that would like to vote and much more. For the past 30 years, AALDEF would observe the amount of Asian Americans that would vote on Election day, they would also look into different Asian American groups like Cambodian, Japanese, and etc. In 2008 during the Presidential election, the AALDEF surveyed 16,665 Asian Americans in 11 different dialects of Mandarin. They noticed and were told that Asian Americans received a lot of racist comments from the poll workers. Some poll workers asked Asian voters to show their citizenship or identification.

This timeline points out important events from an Asian Americans’ point of view.

Source:https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/report/50-years-voting-rights-act-asian-american-perspective

The Voting Rights Act has two clauses that benefits non-English speakers. In section 203, it states that polls can be translated to different languages if it is necessary. Right now, only 22 cities in the U.S. is able to follow that section and translate it to any Asian language required. In section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, it reads that translaters can be brought into the voting booth. Even though, the Voting Rights Act states that translaters can be brought into the voting booth; this isn’t allowed anywhere. Since 1998, twelve counties have been sued for not following section 208 of the Voting Rights Act. As the population of Asians increase, the amount of voters slowly increases too. In 2006, only 2.2% of the voter were Asians and in 2010, there were only 2.4% of the voters were Asians. Although a 0.2% of Asians does not seem much, but bit by bit the population of Asian voters would grow. In 2010, 49.9% of the voters in Hawaii were Asians while only 9.4% of the voters in California were Asians.

Now let’s take a look at this line graph showing voters of different race from 1988-2012.

Source:https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/magazine/27-million-potential-hispanic-votes-but-what-will-they-really-add-up-to.html

From my research, I noticed that voting and getting citizenship has a very close connection to each other. A major issue for Asian Americans to vote is the language difference which causes them not being able to vote. I wondering if there are ways for Asians that are not citizens, but have lived in the U.S. for many years to vote because if they have lived in U.S. for many years they should be treated the same as others since they are apart of this society. My questions will be more focused on individual actions like not allowing translaters into voting booths if the voter does not understand English when the Voting Rights Act allows it. There’s still a lot of information and details I did not learn yet, so in the future I hope to learn how individual people fight for Asian American voting rights and more reasons why Asian Americans are having trouble voting that not everyone knows.

I have zero personal connection to this topic. The people I know that do choose to have sex usually do it safely, and make it a casual and not unusual thing. I admire this, because I feel like there is a weird stigma towards safe sex, or rather, having to worry about putting a condom on, having  a conversation, or making sure you’re ready before sex. It matters to me that this stigma is wiped away, and replaced by an enthusiasm to be safe! That being said, it is important for teenagers to realize that it is essential to take precautions and be careful before, during, and after sex.

Within the various resources I explored, I grimaced at the various statistics, stories, and other sources that ultimately paint a disgusting portrait of chlamydia, different pregnancy rates between races, and infertility. The CDC reported in 2015 that 229,715 children were born to 15-19 year old women. While actually being lower than previous years, the CDC incidentally reports that that the U.S has a “teen pregnancy rate [which is] substantially higher than other western industrialized nations”. While unwanted teen pregnancy certainly affects the individual, it’s essential to consider how the people living among this problem go through. The CDC has also reported that “teen pregnancy and childbirth accounted for at least $9.4 billion in costs to U.S. taxpayers for increased health care and foster care, increased incarceration rates among children of teen parents, and lost tax revenue because of lower educational attainment and income among teen mothers.” Pregnancy and STIs can be avoided using multiple tools and dialogue. There are multiple tools (condoms, lubricant, dental dams, etc.) that make sex between you and another person safer, and more comfortable.

Such as the ones included in this photo, there are many ways to use birth control. Often, you can find condoms or other methods to prevent pregnancy/STDs for free in school, or outside location.

ANN BIB

Currently, white women make 78 cents for every dollar that a white man makes.. For example, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women make 65 cents for every dollar that a white man makes. Right below them is African American women who make 64 cents to a white man’s dollar.  Below them is Native American and Alaskan Native women who make 59 cents to a white man’s dollar. Latina or Hispanic women make 54 cents to a white man’s dollar. I was surprised to find out that Asian American women make the most a 90 cents for every dollar that a white man makes.

Now, let’s look at this graph that shows the breakdown of the wage gap by race

The definition of the wage gap is the difference between men and women in median wages. This affects most women in the workforce. According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), if we keep improving how we have been for 50 years white women will be making the same amount of money as white men by 2059. This is only white women, for women of color there is still a ways to go.

Women also get paid less because employers try to compensate for the time that they may go on maternity leave. This is unfair because women should not be penalized for taking care of their children. If a man were to take time off to take care of his children he would not be penalized payment-wise.

This issue is important to me first of all because I am a young adult coming of age in this society. When I am looking for a job I do not want to be steered towards lower paying jobs when I am perfectly capable of being in a higher paying position. I do not want to be paid less than I deserve because of my gender.  I don’t want my kids to grow up in a world where they are taught that women should be valued less than men.  I am also passionate about this issue because it has been around for as long as women have been in jobs. It’s unfair that women have to be treated as less than equal just because of the their gender. Why is it that more women graduate from college than men, but women still get paid less. Shouldn’t we be basing salary of experience and qualification, not gender?

To solve this is issue, we have to change people’s minds. We have to remind them that women can be just as qualified and capable as men, and that they deserve to be seen as so. Sadly, this may take awhile to change this. People do not like to be told that what they have been taught is wrong. What’s popular is not always right, what’s right is not always popular. To get behind this issue people have to learn to value everything that women have to offer. I hope to learn more about this issue and what people are doing to change it.

See my annotated bibliography here

Oftentimes, adult female pigs spend the majority of their lives in these two-foot wide pens, without any room to turn around, her sole purpose is to produce and nourish more offspring.

But animal welfare isn’t the most depressing affair in the complicated monster that is industrial farming. Industrial farming is a “system of chemically intensive food production developed in the decades after World War II”. During the Technological Revolution in America, everything was being industrialized from clothes to machines and it seemed to be the most logical explanation to industrialize food production as well. Yet there are a few reprehensible consequences of industrial farming that need to be addressed.

Black-and-white photo of the remains of Iowa land after being used for industrial farming.

Farmland in Brazil that used to be part of the Amazonian Rain Forest.

The aforementioned phosphates are the result of this disturbing amount of algae growth

in Lake Erie which is affecting the water supply of Toledo.

All of this is to say that industrial farming is a practice with innumerable issues and I am excited to use this project as an opportunity to bring awareness and possible solutions to them.

In many countries around the world there are laws that prohibit people from getting married before they are 18 years old, in some cases 21. With that said, there are 93 countries that allow people to get married before they are 18, and with parental consent. These laws fuel child marriages and support the tradition that is held in so many countries. While child marriages affect both young boys and girls, the marrying of young girls is rooted in gender inequality and poverty. I am eager to learn about this topic, because it is something that heavily affects girls my age. I want to educate myself and help reduce the severity and rate of child marriages.

In many parts of the world, girls are not valued as much or the same way that boys are. In most countries that have different ages for when boys and girls can get married, the ages for girls are lower than the ages for the boys. They can sometimes be seen as a financial burden on their families. When families marry their young daughters off, they are transferring that “burden” onto her husband and his family. It is also seen as a practice in some places simply because it’s been happening for so long. Marrying off a daughter after they hit puberty is seen as the next step to her becoming a woman, and someone's wife or mother. In some cases families think that by marrying their daughter, at a young age, they’re protecting her from sexual assault and violence.

Below is a graph that shows the amount of girls that are married before 18 in the different regions of the world.

While child marriages are common in parts of the world like Niger, Chad, and India, there are still cases and issues with child marriages in the United States. Most people probably think about places like Africa and the Middle East when they hear the term “child marriages”, but what they don’t realize is that it was, and to some degree still is, an issue in the United States as well. An article that was posted by the  National Public Radio (NPR),stated that 25 out of 50 states don’t have a minimum age for when a person can get married and there are only 8 states that have the age set at 16 or lower. This article also discusses the judge and judicial approval of a marriage. There are 2 states with laws that specifically say that a judge can’t approve a marriage solely based on parental consent. Even in states that have the age set at 16 or higher, judges are usually allowed to disregard the law and allow for the marriage to happen.

Everywhere child marriages takes its toll on the children being forced into marriages. Marrying as a minor could lead to dropping out of school, mental/physical health problems, and they become very susceptible to abuse from their partners. Around the world girls who marry before they’re 15 are 50% more likely to be physically and sexually abused by their partner. Unless they fight back and resist the marriage, they lose their right to an education and the right to how they want to live their lives. This is one of the most damaging systems/practices in my opinion.

Below is a map of the United States, that shows the minimum legal age for marriage. It also shows the 25 states that don’t have a legal minimum age.

Light pollution:

Light Pollution

I am interested in light pollution because it  affects animals and the horizon and it is making animals unable to see the north star, to go south for the winter. Also we can´t see stars. I learned that it affects birds. It kills insects too. It is way too bright for the animals. Light pollution is when the sky is orange and foggy. It is about how lights at night can damage your eyes when you get older because the white lights is as bright as the sun. I learned how it affects insects, bugs, and nocturnal animals by making them lost without the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. In fact, light pollution is getting worse, and it can affect your health and your sleep.

Light pollution is an important topic to me because I miss seeing the stars. I always tell my mom to turn off the lights when we´re not using them because it affects our health and

wastes electricity. Light pollution is a widespread problem every year, but we can stop it by turning off the lights.

I don´t understand why people would need so many lights. Red lights are enough for big buildings. Street lights are okay, too. Fun fact! The bright lights confuse nocturnal animals at night for ex: turtles follows the light and end up on the boardwalk of  beaches. There are 10,000,000,000 lights in the united states. But Los Vegas has over 42.3Billion light beams in lukor sky.  That is about 32.3 billion more than the U.S.

   A psychologist found that the media’s portrayal of women and girls especially causes body image  issues and can cause dieting, wanting to be thin, and body surveillance. Body surveillance is when someone is constantly looking at the way there body appears and not always feeling comfortable with it.  Social media like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram images and reports can  cause this. I read this article and it was about a girl getting bullied for the way she looked. She even got rid of most of her social media friends because she was afraid of being made fun of. This is not just a teenage problem and this affects the adults. The article said that about 60% of the public feel ashamed about the way they look. Studies  show that girls are more vulnerable to what they see on social media. There are alot of statistics like 35% of them are worried about being tagged in a picture that is not attractive. There are 27% feel stressed about how they look in a picture that is already posted. There are 22% who feel bad about themselves if there picture is ignored. This needs to stop. Look at these 2 images and notice how one is photoshopped and one is not. His teeth are whiter and many of his face lines are gone. The media uses photoshopping a lot and Aerie is one of the few companies that has a promise to show people as they really are.

I am not saying that social media is a bad thing but I do think people but teenagers in general need to stop comparing themselves to other people or being worried about if  you looked good in that picture. I hope to learn a lot about this topic and also I hope to teach other people about this topic. I am curious about why there is not more research on how men and boys are shown in the media. I also want to learn about we can use the media for good. I am looking forward to helping the community.    

When I was a toddler, a 64 year old woman took care of me. She was married and had three children, two boys and a girl. Many years later, her children married and had their own children. One of those kids is my cousin. My cousin was the lady’s company until my cousin had to leave her. One day my mom called the lady and she asked to talk to me. We talked for a good half an hour. She told me about her life and how she missed me. I told her that I held her to a very high esteem. As we were talking, it was really sad when she “wished her family could visit her”. The last time I talked to her was two years ago. Now, I understand that she feels lonely and isolated from her family.  I used to call her grandma and she was really nice to me. Then, I realized that many people might feel isolated from the world and others might realize that they are alone and old.

I want to help people who feel lonely, therefore I researched what was like to live in isolation. Seniors who live in isolation are in the ages of 65 and older, most of these seniors don’t have any kids meaning that there is no one looking after them. Feeling isolated can affect them both physically and mentally. Seniors that live in isolation often experience elder abuse, seniors who are part of the LGBT community fall on the range of seniors that are isolated the most. Living in isolation can cause depression, high blood pressure, and long-term illnesses. Also, elders who feel isolated tend to be pessimistic about their future. All these things are something our community should be worried about. One day far from this one I would not like to feel like that. If I get to feel like that I will want someone to help me go through that moment in my life.

The website Senior Advice provides a video of two elders,Roy Croucher and Margaret Nickless. They talk about how it is like to feel that they are old and lonely. In the video, Margaret talks about how sad it is to realize that when you get home the only thing you see are “empty rooms”. Roy follows up with that and says that every Saturday night he waits for a call “sitting down near to the phone so I can answer right away”. Roy gets a phone call once in while from volunteers at the senior center he goes to. When he gets that phone call he claims that it might be the only call he could get in a day Like Margaret, he also talks about realizing that his house is empty. Adding to that Roy says that sometimes he waits for his dead wife to cross the door, but he knows that it will never happen. Their situation is really sad, as a community we should support people like Margaret and Roy. These people are in need of an “I care about you”.

Just imagine if that was the case of your grandma, the grandma that bakes cookies and brownies for you. If it was your grandpa, the man that enlightens your day with compliments and advice. Imagine if that person was your parents, imagine if that was you in the future. The website Aging Care, explains how we could  help our friends living in isolation. The person who is helping is called a caregiver, the relationship between the caregiver and the senior is all about listening and communicating. According to T. Byram Karasu, MD "They are lonely because they are alone," "They [seniors] are put in nursing homes, assisted living communities, etc. Those are totally disorienting experiences." Seniors are lonely because there is no one to help them, the mission of the caregiver is to listen and observe. It all starts when the caregiver offers their pair of ears to listen them, but while they are opening themselves the caregiver should be able to record those forgotten activities that the person used to do, after that,the caregiver could incorporate those activities in the life of the elderly person.

This picture shows that there is a higher percentage of people dying of loneliness than excessive drinking, obesity, and air pollution.

Sally Abrahms wrote an article about 6 steps that will help to reduce isolation among elderly people. Sally Abrahms says that if we know the situation in which the person is living in, if they like animals,, and acknowledge the resources we have available. We can help that person feel better, feel confident and important. It is time to help the people in our communities. Just like children, seniors are part of our community.

Knowing all that information makes me feel powerful, I feel I can make a change in someone’s life by telling them that they are important to me.  I Personally did not know that this was a serious problem in our community until one day I was going to school and a lady about 73 years-old got on the bus she was friendly and was going to her work like she had told her friends. I was amazed by what I’ve had heard that morning. Months later, I saw the same lady with a huge smile and tired eyes that could tell me that she has been through a immense adventure, a person who is full of advice to give, but she was staring at the window of the bus, she was tired and her smile disappeared. I don’t know if she is feeling isolated or if I am just making assumptions from what I saw on a ride on the bus. A senior could be feeling lonely and I would be glad to help. The elderly living in isolation is that topic that sometimes we want to avoid because we don’t know what to say or what to do about it. If we are so called the “change”and “the future”, then we should start caring more about huge issues like, seniors living in isolation.

This is the smile we want to see in someones face.

Annotated Bibliography

Many people say that a dog is a man’s best friend, but many people say that dogs are vicious wild animals. Pit bulls are great examples of these pets. While some of them can be tough animals, many of them are super sweet, caring, and compassionate dogs. This breed in particular matters to me because I have seen ugly, stereotypical “dangerous” pit bulls in the media, but I know they are not true. I have a pit bull of my own that counteracts these negative things. I have met so many pit bulls who are kind, loving, and loyal. My goal is to spread awareness so everyone can understand how lovely pit bulls really are. It is important for others to see this problem because of the high rates of pit bulls on the streets and in shelters. There are too many stray dogs, which can be dangerous to a normal passer-by. When there are too many dogs in an animal shelter, they are euthanized (or “put down”); then these dogs are killed for absolutely nothing.

Pit bulls, short for American Pit bull Terriers, were originally bred to be bait for bulls. They were later used to fight each other for entertainment. Because of this history, pit bulls can be a little more aggressive towards other dogs, but it does not mean they are vicious. The ASPCA says that “The reality is that dogs of many breeds can be selectively bred or trained to develop aggressive traits… Despite our best efforts, there will always be dogs of various breeds that are simply too dangerous to live safely in society.” This means that only so many efforts can be made to help these pets not be aggressive. While some pit bulls are still more combative, because of their nature, if they were not raised right, they are combative.

Statistics for lack of sleep from students and reasons for it, according to an article on The Tartan.

For my You and the World project I decided to talk about a very serious and life changing thing, and that is drug abuse. According to WebMD Drug abuse is when you use legal or illegal substances in ways you shouldn’t. You might take more than the regular dose of pills or use someone else’s prescription. You may abuse drugs to feel good, ease stress, or avoid reality. But usually, you’re able to change your unhealthy habits or stop using altogether.Many high school students take many risks and tend to try new things and one of those things is drugs. Most high school students use these drugs for recreational use and they do it because of their curiosity or from peer pressure. According to Luxury Rehab Center “Adolescence is a time to try new experiences, take risks and explore new identities. While all of these developmental changes can lead teens in a positive direction, they can also lead to drug abuse if a teenager falls in with the wrong crowd, has a difficult home life or is a victim of trauma. Today many teenagers have easy access to drugs and alcohol, and experimenting with chemical substances doesn’t necessarily mean that a teenager will turn into an addict. However, parents should be alert to the possibility that if a teen’s behavior or personality suddenly changes, drugs may be involved.” While highschool students are subject to try new thing, substance abuse becomes a growing problem when high school students become obsessive over the drug they are using. “Adolescence is a time to try new experiences, take risks and explore new identities”. While all of these developmental changes can lead teens in a positive direction, they can also lead to drug abuse if a teenager falls in with the wrong crowd, has a difficult home life or is a victim of trauma. Today many teenagers have easy access to drugs and alcohol, and experimenting with chemical substances doesn’t necessarily mean that a teenager will turn into an addict. However, parents should be alert to the possibility that if a teen’s behavior or personality suddenly changes, drugs may be involved.” According to a rehab center.  Drugs are anything ranging from marijuana and alcohol to harder versions of these substances like vodka and heroin. This information is important to prevent your friends and family from going down the wrong path to losing their social life, inability to keep up academically, lose organization in life, and damage their body in some consequences death.

This issue has affected teens all over the World but mainly the United States. Most drugs change your state of mind to a ‘high” state. This state alters your perception of reality and usually releasing dopamine in the brain which is the feel good hormone in your body which you usually feel when you are rewarded or feel pleasured. According to The Drug Abuse Website sponsored by the government most drugs affect the brain's "reward circuit" by flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. This reward system controls the body's ability to feel pleasure and motivates a person to repeat behaviors needed to thrive, such as eating and spending time with loved ones.  Teenagers often are willing to take the risk and drawbacks of the drug due to its outstanding positive effect of being high. The most commonly used drugs consumed by adolescents are marijuana, nicotine, and alcohol all of which have been fairly popularized around young adults and adolescents. The real issue with these two powerhouse drugs and more is not if they should be legalized or saying “Don’t do drugs” the real issue is the countless stigmas and false information about these drugs and since most adolescents do not know the real truth and drugs are more like the forbidden fruit adolescents are ambitious enough to try the substances to see what it’s all about. We need to come together and clear the air about drugs before it becomes a bigger problem like drug abuse to prevent teens from harming themselves.

Did you know the average ticket prices in the WNBA in 2011 were $15? This is crazy considering that there are tickets in the NBA sold for thousands of dollars. I’m going to be do my You & The World project on Women in basketball. I’m interested in this topic because I am female who plays basketball. I take this sport seriously so I felt like it would be helpful to know how the WNBA and college women basketball players were treated. I learned that there is a huge difference between a NBA and WNBA player, and it’s not just the difference in the gender. In one article I read called “ Top WNBA Salaries vs. NBA Salaries: Who Gets Paid More? “ I learned that Steph Curry made 11.4 million dollars in 2016. Yet, the highest paid WNBA player, Nneka Ogwumike gets paid 95,000 dollars. Steph curry isn’t even the highest paid NBA player and he gets paid over 75% more than Ogwumike. Ogwumike works just as hard as Curry to get to where she’s at right now. There are many wage gaps like this in the WNBA

This is a picture of Nneka Ogwumike from her twitter's profile picture.

This is the problem. Women aren’t treated as equals to men. When young girls see this, they get discouraged. Sometimes as a result of being discouraged, people give up. You might not think this is a big deal but it can become a major problem.The WNBA is small. It only consists of 144 players at maximum. So if there are a bunch of women the WNBA because of the shortage of pay there will be no WNBA. Without a WNBA why would colleges offer scholarships to their women’s basketball teams? Many people use these scholarships to go to school, so that’s a significant amount of women not attending college. A big cause of under pay in the WNBA is the fact that the WNBA doesn’t get enough publicity. The more people watch the WNBA and buy tickets to their games, the more money they make. The WNBA gets their funds from the NBA.

The WNBA’s structure is completely different from the NBA’s as well. There are 349 women’s basketball college teams. This is great but it’s also one big system filled with heartbreaks. There are only 12 teams in the WNBA conference and only 12 players permitted to a team. In the NBA there are 30 teams. There are at least 14 players per team and 491 players in the league total. No wonder why WNBA players aren’t getting paid what they deserve. The WNBA doesn’t have enough publicity because the league is too small.

These are the name of all twelve teams.

I want to change the salaries, team expansion, and amount of publicity the WNBA has. An idea I had was to write a letter to the WNBA and NBA explaining how unfair this is to all the hardworking females that want to play basketball. If they expand the players in the WNBA maybe more people would watch and buy tickets to games. With more people watching, the publicity would go up, along with the money they indorse. Then female basketball players would get paid the equivalent amount to men in the NBA.We need to act on these problems because our actions can determine the next woman’s future.

This is my annotated bibliography.It has most interesting facts I’ve found about this topic.

This is a sign about things men do to get women's attention when catcalling and how they feel about it.

                      https://www.theodysseyonline.com/catcalling-is-harassment

Growing up is not as easy as it may seem, especially if you are a young woman. We are in a society where men feel the need to make snarky comments about our bodies without thinking twice about it.  As women some of us develop at different ages. Some girls can be 12 with a well developed body that makes them perceive as a woman at least 18 years old. So men believe it is okay to make sexual comments towards them without thinking that they may be under the age of consent. While learning new things I want to have a clear understanding on the view of women being harassed in some way of catcalling. I know that there will be many stories that will be very harmless to the person but also stories that will seem extreme for a guy trying to get a woman's attention especially if you do not know what their intentions of where they are coming from. My goal of this project is to bring awareness to people around our community even the that catcalling is a product of harassment. Many people feel as though it is such a thing that makes people feel uncomfortable and threatened while walking down the street but, it's time we try and do something to stop men from doing outrageous things when it comes to trying and talking to a female.

I am very interested in this topic because catcalling is something you witness everyday. Someone is either staring you down or even making remarks that make you feel unsafe. For example Ashley Ross would take precautions “I’ve even gone to such lengths as wearing a sweater over my workout clothes every single time I step out the door, even midsummer, as my curves in Spandex seem to give men—of any age, race or neighborhood—the welcome invitation to comment on my body.” She would do this because she felt unsafe in her surroundings while she felt confident in her body but other people felt as though it was their opportunity to gawk over her body. I feel as though this is something to make aware to people because this affects the way women view themselves. This topic matters to me because I have experienced instances where I myself have been targeted by men between the ages of 15-25 stare me down or even scream out trying to get my attention. Which makes me feel threatened and even unsafe in my surroundings. I feel as though readers should know about this because it gives them information about what is occurring around the world if this personally hasn’t affected them because everyone may view catcalling different. Doree Lewark is someone who feels as though she is a fan of catcalling saying “When I know I’m looking good, I brazenly walk past a construction site, anticipating that whistle and “Hey, mama!” catcall. Works every time — my ego and I can’t fit through the door!” Now this makes you think about how many women feel this way. Do they really look for the attention or are they genuinely afraid when walking down the street in some spandex after going to the gym?

This is a significant issue in the world because it makes themselves feel as though that this is their fault because of their choice of clothing or even makeup they decide to wear that perceives them to be older than usual and maybe more appealing to older mean. This outrage of catcalling has gone out the roof, “a staggering 98% of women surveyed in 2008”, reported that they had experienced cat-calling and harassment, which is completely insane these number have stayed the same and it is now 2018. When thinking about it these acquisitions men are getting from making comments about any little thing they see on a woman's body are making them feel as though anyone will brush off their comments and go on with their day. In reality this doesn't work that way, there are many risks but the main risk of stranger harassment to mental health is its effect as a chronic stressor a stressor can be any environmental or external event  that causes stress to an individual, which becomes chronic when it is experienced on multiple occasions over time. The effects placed on anyone creates difficulties of actually feeling safe while even working or just walking out of their front door into their cars. It's insane. All of this research will help everyone see that they are not the only ones going through catcalling everyday and how it is not their fault at all but the thirsty men out there that feel as though it is their job to compliment a woman without realizing them feeling unsafe or even threatened.

     These are the statistics of Street Harassment in the United States.

                                                     https://www.ilr.cornell.edu/news/street-harassment-statistics

All of my research has impacted the way I have started to think about catcalling. What I am truly wondering about is what if the tables were switched and women were making these comments. Would the men feel mentally and physically unsafe or will they just take everything as a complement and boost their confidence about themselves. Also what is going on to stop or bring awareness because when looking at the data there is hardly any current information from 2018 only from the span of 2008 to about 2015. What I hope to learn about while going on is how to make this problem significan at this very moment because of all the data being almost 10 years old when trying to find information about something that is occurring all over the world not just in the United States. I want to make this known again and show that no matter what peoples opinions are that they need to take a stand and make something happen.

                 Catcalling isn’t just in the United States it is happening around the world this image was taken in France.

                   https://collegecandy.com/2017/09/21/france-catcalling-law-legal-details-full-story/

If you want to check out more of my research check out my Annotated Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1semQkUFkWIfrTt7-4D7wBLAFR4YS0_vT0ISagUwy2bw/edit?usp=sharing

Kayla Kelly                                                                                                                            2/23/18

English 9

Ms. Giknis

You and the world projet       

                       I Abhor Animal Abuse;I Amend Animal Abuse

                           My Dog

Before                                           After

How many animals get abused in the U.S

https://www.petsafe.net/learn/help-prevent-animal-cruelty

The Numbers are high considering the chart, 60% of all abused animal victims and 60% of them are dogs, 83% are cats and dogs, and if you think how many people abuse animal across the united state.The SPCA is is a good choice , because most time they have to euthanize animals if they don’t have enough room, but They said the don’t ethinzia adoptable animals, and they try to save as many animal as much they can which is also why it is also a good choice, and  they are getting less animals in so they don’t have ethinize as much, and maybe more room. And animal abuse is a very serious problem, and SPCA is still good because they try to help as much as they can, it is like me trying to help every homeless person of the street and taking them in to my home I can’t do that to all of them, I don’t have enough room to do that, not to mention I have small house, so I would have to let go of some people like what SPCA does, but now they probably don’t do it as much ( they do not accept birds , dogs, cats, small animals). An the ACCT is a good choice too because like my interviewer said the ACCT  is an open it take shelter,so they will take any animal bird, cats, dogs, etc. So if you know you can’t take care of an animal please take it to ACCT, or any shelter, because if you know you can’t take care of it it is a form of abuse and it is better off in any shelter. She also said that abuse is what they regularly see so don’t be afraid to take the animal in , but if it would be related to the police like your neighbor is the abuser then call the PSPCA.And if you help lessen the number of animal coming in , and to help people take care of animals, and if you don’t know how to take care of an animal but you enough money to take care of one then you can look on web sites and ask for help, don’t be embarrassed, there is more people like that than you think.

I have a dog(the first picture above) that is probably been through that, Although we don’t know her back story besides her being shot 16 times and her being still here, not to mentions she had a couple of disease before the adoption center got her, and usually dog adapt and if she was wild she probably would not have a disease, but who knows she may have escaped, but I mean she is in my family's care for about 2 years in march 12th and she is very happy and she is always wagging her tail, beside when she goes for a car ride, tha vacuum goes on , and if we put on a tv show that has a gun shooting a one point like a mystery show,or if there is a fake gun like a nerf gun near, which would be the trama

Rabies: why most people terrorize dogs.

https://www.tes.com/lessons/ZfjkR0gtFqB-jQ/animal-rights

Dog are Abused 20% More Than any Other Animals in the U.S

But  Abuse can’t get unnoticed, and that means we have to start speaking up, I mean the abuser doesn't have to know a thing, most calls are autonomous, and you don’t have to tell the person that you going to tell, like almost every one of my site say to do, because it is important.And what is even more important is that 100% of people who commit  sexual homicide has a history of animal abuse which is kind of bothering that a lot of them do that, and it doesn't mean the other way around so if there is a neighbor who is abusing an animal doesn't mean they will commit sexual homicide so don’t be afraid to do your own actions and report them.Not to mention abusers, abusers don’t give the animals enough room for  them sometime to breathe and grow, or give them too much room, like the whole yard but can’t use all of the yard because they are chained up from the picture in many sites. Which is again terrible, considering the effect, which is physical and mental health issues.Or animal hoarder, I mean they collect animals and are like I can take care of them even though they obviously cannot, but they completely think they can handle everything but they have a lot cats, dog, etc.

And to kind of wrap this up a bit, I read the laws(which I suggest for you if you care for animal, because one of my site suggests it too in one of the steps for reporting animal abuse). first, animal abuse penalty includes the officer to file a felony charge(a felony is a severe crime and is viewed severely by the society, and can include murder, robbery, kidnapping, etc)dog fighting is already a felony, and breaks down into different grade pentaly’s base on how hard the abuse is. And veterinarians have civil immunity( where you don’t get served the punishment) now I don’t get too much of this but if they actually harm animals I think they will get charged because rules are rules, I think it is only for checking things from the dog and stuff. And a little bit obvious but if they commit animal abuse they will have to give animals. And did you know there is a new law that if someone abuse horse’s they will be charge the same charge as abusing dog and cats.

                                          Annotated bibliography

1. “Animal Cruelty”Learning to give,https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/animal-cruelty

The definition of animal abuse is the acts of violence or negling the animal on purpose or at least mostly on purpose.and it is important to know which ones are which because, police or animal control will know and asses the problem, like if it is dog fighting, and you say i don’t know abusing an animal in a backyard, they might think oh only one and not bring enough equipment, to ring them to a shelter. This abuse can cause physical and emotional pain, considering my dog whenever she hears gunshots(even on TV, plus we live near an country club that has an gun range) she gets scared and when we first got her she was jumpy and whenever and man/boy try to take her collar off she would growl, but when me or my mom took it off she did nothing(she is fine now and is very happy and understands that we will not hurt her and stuff because now my dad and brother can take her collar off) so that memory will live on.

• Animal abuse is very cruel and hurtful to other animals (I do not trust SPCA because if they run out of room for animals, they ethiniza some animals)

• It is very horrible because animal are just like us, they have feeling just like us, so it is very unfair for someone to do that to an animal.

              2.“Animal abuse and Human Abuse: Partners in crime” PETA,https://www.peta.org/issues/companion-animal-issues/companion-animals-factsheets/animal-abuse-human-abuse-partners-crime/

Studies have shown that aggressive animal are likely to be abused because people are afraid and a coward. 100% of sexual homicide  has a history of animal abuse.Albert Desalvo killed 13 women and abused puppies so it can back up my reasoning.

• It is very usual for a sexual homicide person to abuse animals

• And I am not surprised that aggressive animal get abused more,because again people are cowards

3.“Animal Abuse”Amarican Human https://www.americanhumane.org/fact-sheet/animal-abuse/

4.I didn't know that there was steps, I kind of knew some signs but I am not sure whether I will recognize the signs.owners often neglect their pets because they don’t know there pets need, but most of neglect is on purpose.but outrageous because human system can take calls right at that minute, but they get a lot calls so they will not take the call right at the moment.

• We can testify or sign a complaint about the abuse like how you sign a complaint about noise

• Neglect in both children and dogs are horrible  and can result in death

“Reasons for abuse” wildlife rescue and rehabilitation http://wildlife-rescue.org/services/advocacy/animal-abuse/

5.Actions can be active and passive, like hurting the animal and not doing anything for the animal. Like some kid decapitated dog and stuff and setting fire on their tails and butts.Passive actions can cause severe pain to a dog or cat

“ U.S Animal Abuse records deleted-What we stand to lose”National geographics.https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/02/wildlife-watch-usda-animal-welfare-trump-records/

The roadside Zoo neglected the animals including premature death. And making the monkey Dehydrated while performing experiment on them that is just rude.and whipping elephants and changing them.

• I love elephants so I hate that they would do the elephants

• And I hate that the family zoo would do that and I wonder if they ethinza

Extra websites:

http://placerspca.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/faqs.pdf

http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-law-basics/what-distinguishes-a-misdemeanor-from-a-felony.html

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/animal-cruelty-pennsylvania-libres-law-20170628.html

https://www.today.com/pets/aspca-adoption-euthanasia-s-down-animal-shelters-t109029

A Concussion a Day Leads the Player Astray

Have you ever had an issue on your mind that you just wanted to help solve? The NFL has a huge issue with player safety. That might not seem to a major issue to you or me, but it impacts a lot of people inside and outside the game. It affects all the people within the NFL as well as the 22 million people (on average per game) who watch each game. Too many players are getting hurt each year. Even though the league has tried to help with the major injury issue, what they have done only impacts a small fraction of the entire league. Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, has tried his hardest to prevent injuries, and many players agree with that statement. I want to help make the NFL a safer for the players  and more enjoyable for the fans  to watch.

This graph shows how many injuries there were per game in the last 4 years. It is also separated by which day the games were.

Player safety in the NFL is a big deal. Almost 300 players had to leave the game because of a concussion that will impact them for the rest of their lives, and about 6 players had to leave due to an injury every game! Many people who watch the sport rarely know the true details of each injury, and they believe that it might only affect the player for a few weeks or months. Little do they know that some injuries will have lasting effects. There are many players who had to retire from the sport they love because of an injury they did not know was going to happen. People like Bo Jackson, Joe Theismann, and Kevin Everett who never could have imagined what happened to them. These people should the world how nasty the NFL can be and how the rules need to change.

One of the major injuries that is caused by concussions and hard hits to the head is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a disease that grows over time inside your brain that can cause different symptoms over the years. There are 4 different stages and the symptoms get progressively worse. . Another big issue with CTE is that it can only be diagnosed through  an autopsy; which means that scientist and doctors only know if a person has CTE once they are dead. A famous story about an NFL player who had severe CTE is Aaron Hernandez. He was with the Patriots before being found guilty  of murdering a total of three  people. While he was in prison, he commited suicide with a bed sheet, which is when doctors then found out that he had CTE. Doctors believe that is what lead to him being so violent and being suicidal. That is just one major case though. There are many other former NFL players who had CTE and committed suicide.  Dr. Ann McKee did a study that looks at many former NFL players brains. She found out that 110 out of 111 of player’s brains had some stage of CTE. She also found that high schoolers will already have mild cases of CTE at their age.

This is a picture of the brain with CTE and how CTE looks like in its different stages. The brown stain is the tau protein, and over time the tau protein spreads until it is the entire brain. Tau protein can be both good and bad proteins, but in the matter of CTE, it is bad.

Another major issue with player safety is the length of the NFL  Some people think that pre-season should be shortened or just eliminated. Other people think that there is no issue with it or that it should be increased. Many people debate that pre-season should still be 4 weeks, because even though there are injuries in the pre-season, there are also injuries in practice and in the regular season.  Pre-season produces almost the same amount of injuries as practice so if the pre-season is eliminated, that would get rid of at least 25% of injuries.

The reason that player safety in the NFL is an issue is because there are many kids who want to play in the NFL. A lot of teenagers play football in high school and some play college football and others also make it all the way to the NFL. Many people say kids are the future and if kids are playing football and get minor stages of CTE, that could very dangerous to their health, since their brains are still developing. Some people even believe that high school football should be banned due to the danger it poses for their safety. Player safety among the NFL should be important to understand, because people should not want other people to be put into risky situations.

Player safety is a huge issue to me because I am such a huge football fan. Last season, I saw many players out for the season and that upset me. I know that football has a huge risk factor, but there has to be a way to decrease injuries. In my opinion, it just makes the game more enjoyable to watch without players getting season-ending injuries. Football is just so important in my life, and to see preventable  injuries makes me mad. Concussion and ACL tears should be more avoidable all together and that is how I hope the NFL will be one day.

The research that I have done has changed my view. I know a lot more about how the brain is affected because of the concussion. I also learned a lot about CTE and how that connects to NFL athletes. After doing the research, it makes me want to solve the issue of player safety even more. I still have to read more about pre-season and different injuries. I want to learn more about the risk of the NFL and any more surprising brain injuries.

The link to my annotated bibliography is here.

I have known about illegal animal trading for a long time but I never really thought about it. When this project was introduced, where we were told to pick a problem in the world to research and become an expert on; it was hard for me to find what topic I would pick. I finally concluded on doing my project on illegal animal trading. I would not be able to even imagine a world without animals and the fact that many of them are becoming extinct makes me really sad. I thought that I should try to bring awareness to people. When buying products in a foreign country, tourists can sometimes be the contributors to the illegal animal trade as they buy an exotic animal or something made from animal. After doing some research, I found out that animals are smuggled in all different ways and that endangered animals are more popular since they are more rare.

Animal products being illegally sold in in China’s Laomeng Market. Photo credit: Alpha. 7

Animals that are endangered have a higher demand in illegal trading. According to the, Official Web Page of the U S Fish and Wildlife Service, “Illegal wildlife trade is also often unsustainable, harming wild populations of animals and plants and pushing endangered species toward extinction. Endangered animals and plants are often the target of wildlife crime because of their rarity and increased economic value.” The fact that endangered animals are the most wanted in illegal trading, causes endangered animals to be even more vulnerable. This can bring them to the brink of extinction and also makes it harder for conservation organizations to help raise the population numbers of endangered animals as they are either killed or traded off.

The reason why illegal animal trading is such a massive industry is because of the low risk the task pertains. The World Wildlife Fund says, “Corruption, toothless laws, weak judicial systems and light sentences allow criminal networks to keep plundering wildlife with little regard to consequences. These factors make illegal wildlife trade a low risk business with high returns. The poachers—often poor locals—are the usually the only ones caught, leaving the real masterminds and their network safe and operational with the ability to strike again.” The big organizations rarely get caught trading illegally because local people are the ones selling illegal products and who end up getting caught. As reported by The U.S. Department of the Interior, “Poaching wildlife is viable because the monetary gain often exceeds the income that would be available from legitimate sources. Last spring, the Associated Press reported that a poacher can earn $180 for the tusks of a forest elephant and $6,000 for its meat in an area where the average legally earned income is $1 a day.” Traders that work for big corporations usually live in countries with low income, where their income can increase by them trading animals.

When animals are traded they are treated really bad as they are hidden in many different ways. As stated by Smithsonian, “Animals ripped from their habitat suffer, of course. They are smuggled in thermoses and nylon stockings, stuffed into toilet paper tubes, hair curlers and hubcaps.” Traders hide animals in all different ways to be smuggled and transported to be sold. Even when alive, the animals are put in uncomfortable situations so that they are not found.

Yellow-crested cockatoos hidden in plastic water bottles. (Image: Jefta Images / Barcroft Media)

Live turtles being illegally shipped in potato sacks in Vietnam. (© CI/photo by Peter Paul van Dijk)

Illegal animal trafficking is a big problem that contributes to the declining of animal populations and to species to extinction. Big corporations employ people from countries of low income to work for them and sell animals. When animals are transported, they are stuffed into all kinds of places so that they are not heard or seen, which often causes injuries and the death of these animals. Illegal trafficking is one of the main factors driving wild species to risk of extinction. While was looking for pictures to put in my post, I ran across many that showed animals being shoved in all different places, and rhinos with their horns cut off. It was really heartbreaking to see how these animals were being treated. I hope that this will change because even though this problem seems like a circle hard to break, we can help by avoiding buying illegal wildlife animal products.