nawal.a

Imagine you are an environmental activist. What is an environmental issue that concerns you? Why does it matter to you? What can be done about it?

one issue i'd like to fix in the world is to reduce the amount of whater that is wasted. so many people leave the taps running when it is unnecessary. To prevent this from happening we can turn off the taps when we are brushing our teeth, applying soup on the dishes etc..

third journal

 * x || __**Attitudes**__ || __**Skills**__ || __**Knowledge**__ ||
 * __**Issues**__ || The issue that my partner and I focused on and did our research around was on the number of newspapers being produced. We believe that far more newspapers are being produced then is needed. Also we feel that newspapers are not taken care of after they are used, for example, newspapers are often found on the street, in the ttc, and are put in the garbage. What a waste of paper and trees! One solution that my group found was getting the word around about electronic options for receiving news. Since we live in a time today where electronics rule the world this was a very appropriate resort to solving the problem. we tweeted to the major newspaper companies informing them about our concerns. Unfortunately we didn't get any tweets back. We also stuck barcodes on newspaper stand, buss stops and on posts. these barcodes would lead the scanner to the website of the newspaper companies. Overall I feel that our action was a great idea but it was too difficult to be done by just two people. I feel that if many people were involved we would have been able to make a bigger difference. || Some skills that were needed were being able to use our primary and secondary research in order to make our action effective. || Before working on this project I wasn't aware of the negative effects newspapers played on our environment and I didn't know how big of a problem they were causing. ||
 * __**Research**__ || I feel that finding the research was one of the easiest parts because we live in a modern society with access to the internet. When we did find the facts that we needed I can honestly say that we were shocked! we had no idea that so many newspapers were being printed a day, most of which get trashed. || There were not many skills needed for our research. We just had to remember to find our targets so that our action could be effective. || Some research that we had to do for the action piece of this project was actually about the newspaper companies. One thing that we researched was which companies print the most newspapers in a day and which have a higher sales rate. this as important to know because from this information we were able to determine our main targets. With this information we made sure to put more barcodes on these company's news paper stands and tweet more often to these companies. ||
 * __**Actions**__ || As I stated before, I feel that our action was a great idea but we didn't have the resources or the number of people to make it as effective as it could of been. Even though we did not get any responses from twitter, one thing that my partner and I noticed was the fascination people had for the barcodes. As we were putting them up we were approached a couple of times by people wondering what we were doing and so far we have gotten great comments. As for the barcodes actually being used we can't be too sure but we have increases the chances of them being used by putting them in regularly visited areas. In conclusion working on this project was really fun and I thought it was a neat way at starting to work towards a better world. || one skill that we used to our advantage was the fact that we were aware of how to get people to notice our action. We discussed methods like posting them on building and buss stops. Many people in Toronto use the ttc so this was a great way of being noticed. I know that while waiting for the buss I get board and would certainly notice our barcodes. ||= My project made me realise that people do like making a difference as I could see from the people asking question and stopping to read the fliers my partner and I put up. ||

second journal

 * x || __**Attitudes**__ || __**Skills**__ || __**Knowledge**__ ||
 * __**Issues**__ || For our primary research my group created a survey which would allow us to gather further knowledge about the audience we would be targeting. So far we have noticed that most of the people that have taken out survey have been in their teenage years which is great because we believe that theses people on average are more tech savvy and will be able to use the QR codes we set up for our action. The problem that we ran into was the fact that not all of our audience will be in this age group and some of our audience may not be able to understand how to use the scanner and might in fact find it more convenient to buy a newspaper. Our answer to this problem was to upload specific direction on how to use a scanner and the websites. || we have to problem solve so that we address each issue properly.

We have to be able to able to graph and observe the data and apply it to our action. In order for us to come up with the most effective and accurate results w need more people to take part in our study and so we have to get the word out about our survey. so far we have hit social media sites such as twitter and Facebook to encourage people to take the survey. we are hoping to see more results as time passes. || Acknowledging the issues we are experiencing will allow us to improve our research and will make our project more effective and accurate. we also need to be able to acquire the necessary skills to learn about our topic and inform others as well. Before you start educating others about your topic you need to be able to know it yourself; not only the main idea but you have to be and expert so that the information you are sharing has greater power on the person. ||
 * __**Research**__ || I feel that conveying a survey made our project and research so much better because we were able to find information on who we are targeting. This helped us find ways to mold our action into something convenient for everyone.

I also like gathering information this way because its the most direct source, we are getting the answers right then and there first hand. the information is in the most recent form and so it allows us to focus on what is happening right now. || like I said before we posted our survey on twitter and Facebook.

We are applying the data into our action. || The information that we gathered from are survey shows that 44% of people get their information from the internet and that only 9% get their information from an actual newspaper. Just by looking at this we already know that production of newspapers is not needed so much. By looking at this information we are also able to infer that for most of these people it won't be difficult to use an app because they already rely on a modern form for information. Our survey shows that 85% of the audience are between the ages 13-19 and that most of the people are females. We also learned that 44% of people saw newspapers left where the shouldn't be (on the subway or the ground) almost all the time. ||
 * __**Actions**__ || For our action my group found a simple yet effective way of trying to get more people to use newspaper apps or websites rather then newspapers. We made QR codes which when you scan will lead you the one of the most famous newspaper companies website. WE think this is a great ides not only because it is a more eco friendly way to get news but it is also free. so instead of buying a newspaper you are able to get most of the same information for free. We also made QR codes to lead to newsstand apps so that for the same amount of money as a newspaper people can get the exact information in a more convenient way. Apps and websites are more convenient because you can take it anywhere with you on your electronic devises. Also there is no need to throw anything away, you just simply exit the app or site. || Since we will be posting the QR codes on newsstands we have to keep a few things in mind like for example the location. I think that before we actually start the action we have to examine which newsstands are most visited or find and area that is busier so that more people notice it. We were also thinking of putting these codes on the ttc waiting area because many people take the subway and ttc to work. Also this is one of the most common places to find newspapers laying around. Since we will be targeting the companies using social media sites we have to make sure to address them in a respectful way but we also need to make sure that our concerns are shown with great emphasis. ||= We know that most people don't people don't know the negative effects newspapers paly and most of them don't want to be bothered with the information. So our action not only is to reduce the negative impacts but also to make it easier for others to access the news. ||

First journal

 * x || __**Attitudes**__ || __**Skills**__ || __**Knowledge**__ ||
 * __**Issues**__ || The issue that I chose to do my project was on the number of newspapers that a produced daily. Newspapers are a great source of information but in a society like the one we live in today news travels faster using the internet and apps. So what happens to the newspapers in the stand, do people buy them, do they get recycled or just thrown away? I am sure people do still buy newspapers but since newspaper companies have to publish something every day many of the left over newspapers get recycled or just thrown away as trash. On the other hand there are also the people that buy these newspapers, often times I see these papers on the seats of busses on the road and can end up in our bodies of water. || I would have research more on this topic so that I know the facts. Like how many trees are cut down in a day to produce these newspapers? The amount of pollution the factories that make these newspapers create. How many newspaper companies are there in Toronto? || I know for a fact that newspapers end up in places they shouldn't, and I also know that there now a days there are apps out there that provide the same information as the newspapers. If we were to replace the newspapers with newspaper apps think of all of the benefits. We would be saving paper, creating less pollution, and we would be making our environment cleaner. ||
 * __**Research**__ || Most of my research would be facts on the number of newspapers created and the number of trees cut down. Finding out these facts about newspapers was not going to be very challenging and wouldn't take up too much time. || To be able to find these facts I have to be able to search the internet, approach people to ask them questions, and maybe check out some books. || My research has to be specific I have to find out things like how many newspaper companies are there, how many newspapers each company produces in a day, and also other material that is used to make the newspapers like ink. ||
 * __**Actions**__ || For the action part of this assignment I was thinking of creating a scan code that leads you directly to the newspaper apps. I also want to make sure that this app will be available for all types of phones and other electronic devices such as tablets. To get the word out about the app or the scan able code I will place a code on each newspaper stand around my area. || I need to get the word out about the app so people who love to read the news can read it in a more convenient-ecofriendly way. Also in order for this idea to work I would have to find a way to provide help for people that aren't as tech savvy as others so that there are still able to enjoy this feature. ||= I am hoping that this project will lead to reducing the number of news papers made thus lessening the number of trees being cut down. I feel like this app will make it much easier for people to become more aware of what is going on because unlike the newspaper which people throw away after using, on the app you can just exit the page. ||