By Viv

Climate change is melting ice caps and is hurting polar bears. We don’t want to hurt our white and fuzzy friends, do we?

Studies show if we don’t change anything in the next ten years we may not be able to do anything after. I don’t know about you, but I would like a healthy planet while I’m grown up.
Climate change is bad, and will probably never be 100% solved, but there are some simple things we can do at home.

Don’t turn lights on if you have natural light like the sun. Walk or bike if you don’t need to go far. Stop eating meat. We need our animals, and don’t need to eat them. We have lots of other food sources.

These are all simple things anyone can do.

There are some more expensive things to do, like buying an electric car or installing solar panels, or donating to a charity who helps clean up water and air, like Carbon180, Cool Earth, and Clean Air Task Force.

By Maria

Social media. It’s taking the world by a storm. Endless influencers, new products and posts; but is it really what is best for kids?

We can all agree that it has many downsides and inappropriate content. Social media is harmful to the younger audience for many reasons, including being isolating, creating harmful stereotypes and distracting kids from other important matters at hand, like school, physical activity and chores.

Although most people will argue that social media is educational, (in fact 87% of Americans think so) and that it helps kids find out things they’re curious about, there are so many better options.

The thing is, social media is like a shortcut. Instead of kids conducting research, they simply turn to an unreliable source, such as TikTok, and look up their question.

It is alarming to see kids believing information from complete strangers, and even worse when they share that “information” with their friends and family. At this rate, anyone could say anything on social media, and promote things that can alter a kid’s mind forever, and they won’t even be held accountable. There is a reason schools and other places that are meant to educate people use books, news articles and reliable websites to educate kids instead of Tiktok and Instagram. In a story on CNN, college student Jerome Yankey said he used to pull all-nighters: not studying or partying, but scrolling through TikTok until the sun came up.

Another reason why social media is not beneficial for kids is because it can be hard for parents to control what their kids are seeing.

Apps such as Tiktok have very few ways to filter, because the only way to view videos is by scrolling down on a “For You Page,” which has videos selected on your behalf.

Speaking of parents and social media, influencers across many platforms are continually trying to sell people something. Whether it’s an anti-aging cream, or new, trendy clothes, which is bad especially if their parents pay for most of their gifts, because it can be a hassle on their parents bank accounts, and it can teach the kids that the best way to get something is by asking their parents.

In conclusion, no, Tiktok is not an app to promote kids to use. Tiktok has been under scrutiny in Washington D.C. for a reason. It isn’t safe for kids, tweens, teens and definitely doesn’t encourage good habits.

Next time TikTok is mentioned, keep this in mind. Skip the download and spread the word.

By Elliott

A bathroom is a space that students should have access to all the time at school. Unfortunately, some schools do not let students use a bathroom when they need to, and instead resort to short breaks during class resulting in overcrowded bathrooms.

A study produced by the Society For Women’s Health Research showed more than a third of school nurses believed that bathroom breaks were not long enough in their schools, and a separate study by the National Library of Medicine showed 88% of teachers encourage students to wait to use the bathroom.

Not letting children use the bathroom when they need to can have a negative impact on students’ health. By holding back their urine often, bladder systems can be impacted, including the development of bladder cancer, which is common in truck drivers because of waiting to use the restroom, according to the American Cancer Society. According to the same study done by NLM, 19.2% of elementary school students have bladder issues that are sometimes ignored by educators.

Advocating for students to use the bathroom when needed is important.

By Diya

Languages are used and spoken all over the world. The most common language spoken in the world is English followed by Chinese and Hindi. If you learn another language your brain strengthens at its functions like being creative, solving problems, and ability to concentrate.

Learning a language is also a fun experience that will help you. If you meet someone who speaks that language or knows it, being bilingual is like another form of communication. You can learn a new language for free on apps like Duolingo. Only 34 hours of Duolingo is a college course; you don’t need to spend hours on it and can practice 10 minutes a day and get a good foundation in a language, with many to choose from.

Communication, good concentration, and simply knowing the language is really good for your brain. If you get all these perks for free, at only 10 minutes a day, you should definitely give it a shot.

By Clare

Have you ever wanted a nice small, holdable pet? A guinea pig is perfect for you.

First of all, guinea pigs are very cuddly and affectionate. If you want an animal that is going to show affection and that is super sweet, you should get a guinea pig. They are the perfect size and you can hold them. Like my guinea pig: he has a baby sling that was made for guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs are also cute and chubby. Go look up “guinea pigs” online right now and see how cute they are. Then go to pocketpets.com and buy five guinea pigs — then your life will have a meaning.  Pocket pets.com is where I got my guinea pig, Dunkin. Pocket Pets is a website that has many small animals like hedgehogs, ferrets, and hamsters and guinea pigs. That is just a small selection of the many animals they offer. Pocket Pets also has little clinics around Minnesota. They will host them at pet shops and you can take your pocket pet there and get their nails trimmed and, if you wish, get brushed.

Guinea pigs take a lot of work but it’s worth it. Trust me, I have one. Some guinea pigs are bonded to other guinea pigs so you get two and it’s twice the cuteness. Plus, your guinea pigs will have friends, so if you go out on a date or if you’re with friends you won’t have to worry about your guinea pigs getting lonely.

Guinea pigs are nice companions so if you decide to stay home alone and just watch movies and read books because you don’t want to go out with your friends cuz you are exhausted you make up and excuse a guinea pig can just chill with you. I do this a lot and let me tell you it is amazing just to stay home. Watch Brooklyn 99, order useless things off Amazon and books that are in your to-be-read pile that you never finish, and read some more books with your guinea pig as he or she takes bites of the book and all your books have little cute nibbles on the pages.

This is why guinea pigs are one of the best pets, they are great companions and very cuddly. Get your guinea pig now.

By August

Have you ever stopped to notice all the trash on the ground? I think that we can all agree that people litter too much.

I bet you didn’t know that there are over 5.25 trillion pieces of trash floating in the ocean according to scientists. Listen to this, more than 1 million animals die from trash in the ocean each year according to scientists.

Did you know that there are 50 billion pieces of trash in roadways and waterways? Think about how much our world is being torn apart.

I bet you didn’t know that 18% of trash is litter.

I did the calculations, and there are about 2.01 billion tons of trash in the world.

We should all chip in to pay the bill for cleaning the world.

More ways to help clean the world:

• Join a team to help clean a river/lake/ocean.
• Plant more trees and plants.
• Get some gloves and a trash bag and go for a walk and pick up any trash you see.
• Convince the government to pay a bill to clean everything up.