Crawford, other aquarium volunteers attend summit in Washington, D.C.
Summit on Oceans and Coasts draws students and teachers from all over US, 1 group from Mexico
NEWPORT, Ore. - Four youth vol
unteers from the Oregon Coast Aquarium
traveled to Washington, D.C., recently to
attend the 2011 Student Summit on the
Ocean & Coasts.
The student delegation, accompanied
by Tricia Ratliff, aquarium youth volun
teer coordinator, and Jesica Haxel, teacher
at Siletz Valley Early College Academy,
spent five days in the nation’s capitol and
presented programs on ocean acidification
and hypoxia (dead zones).
The summit, sponsored by Coastal
America, drew 20 delegations of 80
students and 40 educators from 19
Coastal Ecosystem Learning Centers
throughout the United States and one
delegation from Mexico.
The summit was held Feb. 14-17 and
included a talk and ocean film footage by
Jean-Michel Cousteau and Jack Hanna,
director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo,
conservationist, author and television
personality. Hanna offered students an
opportunity to interact with wild animals
from penguins to cheetahs.
“The student presentations and poster
sessions were beyond all expectations.
The use of a video format for the student
presentations was very effective and
enabled us to get the story out to a broader
audience via the Web,” said Virginia Tip
pie, Coastal America director.
Tippie said the summit reached a
nationwide audience via live stream
ing video. On opening day, the summit
website received more than 85,000 hits
from people viewing the streamed student
presentations.
The Smithsonian currently is
archiving the students’ presentations
and the Jean-Michel Cousteau speech
for viewing on the Ocean Portal (http://
ocean.si.edu).
The aquarium group, which named
itself the Dungeness Avengers, made its
presentation at the Smithsonian Institution
followed by Cousteau’s talk. The local
group includes seniors Chris Crawford
and Crystal Hawk from Siletz Valley
Early College Academy and junior Daniel
Persson and senior Jessica Whaley from
Newport High School.
The students also attended workshops
on climate change and worked with other
students to create a unified goal. They also
met with Sen. Jeff Merkley and Sen. Ron
Wyden’s staff to discuss their project and
how they plan to implement it in Oregon.
“The trip to D.C. and this project
in general has been life-changing,” said
Whaley. “I never thought 1 would meet
Jean-Michel Cousteau and Jack Hanna.
Cousteau is an intelligent man and from
the talk he gave to us I learned that even
though I am a teen, I can make a differ
ence. I was inspired to take action and to
strengthen my commitment to better the
world for future generations.”
Persson also said the summit had a
big impact on him.
“It was inspirational to see so many
of my peers that wanted to make a differ
ence and fix the problems we are facing
now and prevent more in the future,” said
Persson. “This experience has definitely
made me reconsider my life goals. Now
I am looking at a career in environmental
engineering.”
The Dungeness Avengers are rais
ing funds for their project with hooded
sweatshirts that say, “Invertebrates: Kind
of a big deal” on the front and “Grow a
backbone: Protect those that can’t” on the
back. The sweatshirts sell for $35 each
Courtesy photo
Aquarium youth volunteers meet Sen. Jeff Merkley while attending the 2011 Student
Summit on the Ocean & Coasts in Washington, D.C. L to r: Teacher Jesica Haxel
and students Chris Crawford and Crystal Hawk, all from Siletz Valley Early College
Academy; Sen. Jeff Merkley; students Jessica Whaley and Daniel Persson from
Newport High School; and Tricia Ratliff, aquarium youth volunteer coordinator.
Recycling may not be answer for plastic bag problem
Recycling has its place - however, it’s
not the solution to the plastic bag problem.
Recycling rates for plastic bags are
extremely low. Only 1 percent to 3 percent
of plastic bags end up getting recycled.
In addition, the economics of recycling
plastic bags are not appealing.
From the process of sorting to the
contamination of inks and the overall
low quality of the plastic used in plastic
bags, recyclers would much rather focus
on recycling the vast quantities of more
viable materials, such as soda and milk
bottles, that can be recycled far more
efficiently. If the economics don’t work,
recycling efforts don’t work.
For example, it costs $4,000 to pro
cess and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags,
which then can be sold on the commodi
ties market for $32 (Jared Blumenfeld,
director of San Francisco’s Department of
the Environment as reported by Christian
Science Monitor).
Furthermore, many bags collected for
recycling never get recycled. A growing
trend is to ship them to countries like India
and China, which are rapidly becoming
the dumping grounds for the Western
world’s glut of recyclables. Rather than
being recycled, they are cheaply inciner
ated under more lax environmental laws.
Even if recycling rates of plastic bags
increase dramatically, it doesn’t solve
other significant problems, such as the
use of non-renewable resources and toxic
chemicals in their original production or
the billions of bags that wind up in our
environment each year that eventually
break down into tiny toxic bits.
What to do? Choose to reuse!
© 2003-2011, reuseit.com. All rights
reserved.
and can be purchased by calling Ratliff
at 541-867-3474, ext. 5312.
The Oregon Coast Aquarium is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit educational attraction
dedicated to the highest quality aquatic and
marine science programs for recreation and
education so the public better understands,
cherishes and conserves the world's natural
marine and coastal resources.
For more information, visit the
aquarium’s website at www.aquarium.org
or call 541-867-FISH.
The Siletz Tribal Energy Program has
set up recycling stations in Tribal office
buildings to recycle plastic bags if you
wish. As you just read, however, recycling
is not the best answer.
If you need reusable bags, please
contact us and we may be able to help
you find some. Many are available and
they are a great idea.
Try to remember your bags when you
go to the store by putting them with your
keys, wallet or purse so you remember
them when you leave home. Put some in
your car so they are available when you
stop to shop.
For more information on the topics
of reduce, reuse and recycle, contact
us at 541-444-8271 or 800-922-1399,
ext. 1271; e-mail step@ctsi.nsn.us; or
follow us on Facebook. Search for Siletz
Tribal Energy Program and “like” us.
General Council
Meeting
May 7, 2011 • 1 p.m.
Siletz Tribal Community Center
Siletz, Oregon
Invocation
Flag Salute
Roll Call
Approval of Agenda
Approval of Minutes
Tribal Council Committee Reports
Tribal Members’ Concerns
Chairman’s Report
Announcements
Adjourn
Native Youth Prom will celebrate hard work, accomplishments and goals
Native Network is proud to present
the first Native Youth Prom on May 28.
This year’s prom will be a celebration of
Native youth in the Portland metro area
and an affirmation of their hard work and
accomplishments as they pursue their
academic goals.
Before this year, many Native youth
have not been able to attend or celebrate
a traditional prom that other high school
students enjoy every year. Recognizing
a need to provide a traditional prom
for these students, several people in
the Native community, along with Native
tux and accessories drive to collect items
for students in need. We also will have
N ative N ewark
Unity, Diversity, Education, Entertainment
Network, started a planning committee
to organize this event. Sponsors and
donations are needed.
We will have an ongoing prom dress,
an American Indian art exhibit and silent
auction fundraiser to help with event costs.
Thank you to the folks at NARA for
the generous contribution of helping to
secure the Crowne Plaza Hotel as the
venue for this year’s prom.
For more information on becoming
a sponsor or donating, please contact
Casandra Belgard at 971-998-4567 or
Nicholas Belgard at 503-758-2019; or
visit www.NativeYouthProm.com.
Note: Because of capacity limitations,
this event is for Native youth in the Port
land metro area, including Multnomah,
Clackamas, Washington and Clark coun
ties only.
April 2011
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Siletz News
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