Kerr’s Green Debate Team

When you think of solar panels, you probably think of those bulky unsightly eye catching panels that you got introduced to when you were younger. They seemed like a thing of the future that doesn’t really fit in with modern day technology. Hearing about solar powered cars and houses powered by solar energy use to be a thing of the far future. Thing is, things have changed, and so have the appearance of Solar Panels.

As stated by Stephanie Rogers from MNN, “The next generation of solar panels will bear little resemblance to their predecessors, at least on the outside. Companies like SRS Energy, Kyocera and Suntech Power are working with building suppliers on alternatives to clunky solar panels that will satisfy the demands of picky property owners, creating products like solar roofing tiles that blend in with the traditional clay versions found on many Southern California homes.”

At the moment, people do have the ability to choose to switch to solar powered energy sources, but with that it brings a lot of problems and incontinence as they have to deal with a gap in energy provided to the house, and often they are displeased with the end appearances of the solar panels. In the near future, Solar powered houses will be an option in real estate. It will make people be able to choose an environmentally friendly option for their energy source, without sacrificing the looks of a normal suburban house. For right now though, this new innovation is in its early stages so real estate buyers will have to hold out for a few more years before this is on the market.

-Tiffany Thai

Now the question is, how do we educate a younger generation about the importance of our planet and cause them to want to apply themselves to protecting our planet? Well of course we’re going to have to make it fun, we’re going to have to hit them in this generation’s home element, technology. Well let’s be more specific, we’ve got to find a way to infuse educational values into a technological game play. This is exactly what Fate of the World is.

Fate of the World is a game created in England that was released in November. It’s a role-playing game that allows kids to make the executive decisions for our planet’s future. The game gives the players a 200 year time line where scenario  are decided upon their choices.  As stated by Nina Chestney, “‘Fate of the World’ puts the Earth’s future in players’ hands, placing them in charge of an international environmental body which could save the world from the effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions or let it perish by continuing to rely on emissions-heavy fossil fuels.”  At the moment this game is only at its trial phase, but the full version is to be released in February if feedback deems positive.

-Tiffany Thai

http://vimeo.com/23059558

Kerr Speech and Debate recently finished up compeating in the yearly The People Speak Competition.We have been participating in this competiton every year and it has been extremely successful every year. The people speaks is a program that raises awareness for students around the world about what is going on in their world. one of the activities that some of our students participated in were PSA’s. These are self made public service announcments that are left up to interpretation by the students. One of our students that particpated in this was Tam Tran, a freshman. Her video takes a comedic approach to the issue this year of immigration and intergration. Instead of using real people, she uses an attention getter by incorperating some of the most trendiest toys on the market today, pillowpets, as her main character. She uses a variety of different animals to represent how in the future how intergration will result into a wonderful melting pot of different cultures. She uses typical racial sterotypes portrayed by different animals and through this comedic video she further shows how interesting it could be to have a future where cultures are mixed and interacting with each other. Though this PSA makes the viewers entertained comediclly, it still holds many educational values that pertain to migration and how it is a positive change.

Tiffany Thai

As we all should know, electronics have to be specially disposed of. Now, the question is, how many people actually do that? I’m pretty sure many people have been guilty of simply throwing a battery or two straight into the trash simply because the trip to your local recycle plant wouldn’t be very convenient. In this new more eco-aware time and age, disposing electronics have become a much simpler task when it comes to the smaller items like print cartillages and cell phones. Those recycle boxes are everywhere. I bet all of you have seen one or two of them every now and then. They’ve come to a point where most office supply stores and schools offer then at their entrances. Now, what about the bigger electronics? broken laptops, tv’s, stuff like that? Well that still remains an issue. The group called Electronics TakeBack Coalition has been trying to steer companies to making the option avalible for consumers to return products to them for disposal. Sadly, it is stated in mnn, “Most companies, got big fat Fs — like Brother, my stereo maker Sony, and my camera maker Canon. Interestingly, a good handful of these flunkies actually have take-back programs! It’s just that these programs are (intentionally?) tough to use for average consumers…” It seems that we’ve still got a long way to go to advocate the proper removal of our electronics.

-Tiffany Thai