What scene from the film most personally affected you? Why?
The scene that personally impacted me most was the scene about converting the plastic ridden canals into parks. This scene was most impactful to me, because it showed that we still have hope. Seeing what some would consider a dump turned into a beautiful public garden is relieving, and shows that we still have time to turn our planet around.
How much plastic did you use today? Do an plastic inventory.
Hour
Plastic
00:00
– Part polyester blanket*
– Plastic water glass next to bed*
– Plastic fan*
01:00
– Above
02:00
– Above
03:00
– Above
04:00
– Above
05:00
– Above
06:00
– Plastic cereal packaging**
– Plastic phone case (all day)*
– Plastic earbuds (all day)*
– Polyester shirt (all day)*
– Plastic packaging for shower items**
07:00
– Plastic compass card*
– Plastic Spanish binder*
– Polyester in backpack (all day)*
– Plastic mechanical pencil (all day)*
– Polyester in pencil case (all day)*
08:00
Above
09:00
Above
10:00
– Part plastic laptop (all day)*
– Plastic mouse (all day)*
11:00
– Plastic bag for cookies***
– Plastic box for lunch*
12:00
– See 7:00 & 10:00
13:00
– Plastic pens*
14:00
– Plastic water bottle
– Plastic compass card*
15:00
– Plastic bubble tea glass***
– Plastic straw***
– Plastic compass card*
16:00
– Plastic milk packaging**
– Plastic cookie box**
17:00
– Plastic monitor*
– Plastic keycaps (keyboard)*
– Part plastic cables*
– Plastic water glass*
18:00
– Above
19:00
– Plastic packaging for various cooking ingredients***
– Plastic glass*
– Plastic juice packaging**
20:00
– Plastic ice cream packaging***
21:00
– See 00:00
22:00
– See 00:00
23:00
– See 00:00
* – Reusable
** – More than one serving/not disposed after one use, still disposable (e.g. milk jug)
*** – One use
How can we as a school reduce our plastic consumption? What can you do personally? Why is this something we should care about? Use examples from the documentary to support your thinking.
Our school can reduce packaging in many ways, some of which are:
Not using disposable water bottles, maybe opting for aluminum cans instead (awards assembly) – Plastic bottles making a significant impact on the ocean
Less plastic packaging in cafeteria – Most of it goes into the garbage, leading to a landfill
Make recycling bins more accessible (one in each class as opposed to one in the hallway; students are lazy) – Convenient access to bottle trade in = less litter
More accountability for responsible disposal of waste
Ban on one time use plastic water bottles and straws – They make up a significant portion of the plastic used
Set up a bottle trade in system (students like money, even $0.20 per bottle would significantly reduce plastic waste) – Trade in systems reduce plastic thrown in the garbage/on the ground significantly, as there is a monetary incentive to trade in bottles.
Personally, I can reduce my plastic use in the following ways:
Not using one time use plastic – While I have a minimal amount of one time use plastic, I can still reduce the amount that I use, especially bulk packaging. According to the documentary, one time use plastic is one of the worst forms of plastic for the environment.
Recycling more – again, although I almost always recycle my plastic waste, I still do make a mistake here or there. Plastic which ends up in landfills can not be recycled, meaning that it ends up harming the environment.
Use more glass/paper/other alternatives. Although reusable plastic is better than one time use plastic, using glass or metal for bottles, or paper for bags would be a good way to reduce my plastic footprint. This was suggested in the documentary.
Pink Dough: The pink dough was very soft (was at room temperature), and in my experience, acted as an insulator. When our LED was connected to the wires via the pink play dough, it did not light up (or it was not noticeable).
Blue Dough: The blue dough was very crumbly, and in my experience, acted as a conductor. When our LED was connected to the wires via the blue play dough, it lit up brightly, even when the wires were moved further away from the LED. My hypothesis is that the blue dough had a higher salt content than the pink, which made it significantly more conductive.
My cool creation:
We found that bringing the contacts closer together, as well as using the blue PlayDough (instead of the pink) caused the LED to become brighter. We also found that spreading the contacts apart, and using the pink PlayDough caused the LED to get dimmer. We noticed that the blue LED was significantly brighter than the other colours, and that having a thicker piece of PlayDough caused the LED to get dimmer.
I found that resistance is how much an object/material “reduces” the flow of electricity. The pink PlayDough had a higher resistance than the blue PlayDough. From what I noticed, the higher resistance leads to a lower voltage and current.
My criteria for telling apart facts and opinions is simple, if there is a significant amount of valid evidence to support a claim (more than the evidence against said claim), then I take it as fact. Any interpretations or conclusions drawn from the facts are opinions.
Analyze and Critique:
I made sure to compare the evidence presented to what I already know, and to find the correct evidence when I saw a discrepancy. I looked at both sides of the argument before drawing my conclusion, as the issue presented is in no way simple.
In this day and age, we are two. We all need to manage our physical footprint, as well as our digital footprint. One could even argue that our digital footprint is more important than our physical footprint. Whether you are applying for university, looking for a job, or even trying to buy something online, your digital footprint comes into play. Managing your digital footprint means managing what a future employer sees when they look you up, as well as what Expedia sees when you try to book that flight that you desperately need to take. Most employers now do a google search for your name, before even considering an interview. Having a good digital footprint (e.g. volunteering, sports, company pages, etc.) will reflect positively on your application, while having a negative footprint (e.g. an Instagram page with nothing but parties, racism, strong political content, or a generally “unprofessional” presence) could get your application thrown out completely. There have been many stories of people with otherwise perfect applications (to a job, or a university), who ended up getting denied over their digital footprint.
British Airways Airbus A320-200 – Alf van Beem
Your digital footprint isn’t only limited to what you or other people can see, but also what clever bots can see Another less obvious impact of your digital footprint has to do with how much you will pay for certain goods. You may have noticed that almost every website, upon first being opened will say “We use cookies to improve the user experience”. These cookies track how often you visit the website, as well as other actions you make online (such as searches, and overall browsing trends). Companies then use this data to calculate how much you will pay for certain products. One notorious example is the travel industry. If you spend all day looking for a flight to London next week in business class, most algorithms will come to the conclusion that you are a business class traveler, who is having their flight paid for by the company, and increase the price by 20% for you specifically, because it knows that you are willing to pay for it. As you can see, your digital footprint can impact your day to day life in many ways, but how can you help protect your digital footprint?
There are many ways to maintain a good digital footprint, such as:
Managing what you post. This is the simplest way to maintain a good digital footprint. Make sure you keep all of your social media accounts on private, don’t friend random people, and try not to post anything that could be considered very offensive.
Use an open source password manager. If someone hacks into one of your accounts, it is typically to cause damage to your digital footprint. Using an open source password manager will allow you to easily keep different passwords for different websites, reducing the risk of them all being compromised. Using a password manager which works offline is the best for security, however without some technical knowledge, it can be difficult to recover your passwords, in case of a hardware failure. Another tip is to check your email on Have I Been Pwned, to see if your passwords have been compromised in any data breaches.
Run an up to date OS, and make sure to use an antivirus on your computer. Making sure that you have the latest software updates is important, because along with new features, come security patches, which help keep you safe from viruses and hackers. Running an antivirus is also important, because it helps protect you from viruses that may end up stealing your passwords, or impacting your digital footprint in other ways.
Use a VPN. A VPN (Virtual Private Network), is like a tunnel between you, and the rest of the internet. VPNs allow your internet traffic to be hidden from anyone with prying eyes (Internet Service Providers, Network Administrators, Hackers, etc). They also hide your real IP, keeping your location private (assuming you also manage location services). Overall, using a VPN is a great way to keep your digital footprint secure from hackers, they help keep your location hidden from the rest of the internet, and help keep your internet traffic secure from anyone on your network.
Use common sense. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Never give your passwords to ANYONE, regardless of how much you trust them. Don’t give out personal information to anyone online, keep cookies to the minimum, etc. As long as you use common sense online, you should be able to keep your digital footprint safe and appropriate.
Everything done on the internet is permanent. When you delete a page, it doesn’t delete it, it simply hides it from public view. There are websites which log the history of certain webpages over time. This is important to understand, because while you might want to say or post something now, you may regret it 10 years in the future. We need to be very careful about what we put online under our name, because once it is out there, we can never take it back. Another side effect of digital permanence, is that the longer/more you use the internet, the more someone can find about you with a google search. Your digital footprint tomorrow, is just an extension of your current digital footprint. Overall, understanding your digital footprint is an important step towards becoming a better citizen of the internet.
A quote that has significant meaning to me is: “This quote is often falsely attributed to Mark Twain” – Randall Munroe. This quote means a lot to me, because I always have people tell me quotes by Mark Twain, most of which are not actual quotes. This however, is a 100% original quote, taken from xkcd: Memorable Quotes (comic 1942).
This is a clip of RTGame showing off his amazing city planning skills, building a utopia for people to live in. It is a metaphor for what will happen to humanity if we do not find a sustainable way to deal with pollution. It shows how temporary solutions are fragile, and they won’t last for long, especially when we grow as a civilization.
This image is important to me, because it is a lighthearted take on how most of us don’t get the right amount of sleep. The alt text on the original reads “As my standard, I use going to sleep at midnight and waking up at 8 AM”. The significance of this comic is that it sends a serious message about how most of us have bizarre sleep schedules in a lighthearted comic.
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If someone hacks into one of your accounts, it is typically to cause damage to your digital footprint. Using an open source password manager will allow you to easily keep different passwords for different websites, reducing the risk of them all being compromised. Using a password manager which works offline is the best for security, however without some technical knowledge, it can be difficult to recover your passwords, in case of a hardware failure. Another tip is to check your email on 
