Monday 9/29/08

Today we are further exploring the dangers of fallen shipping containers!

What happens to these containers you ask?

During a storm or because of poor chain practices, these shipping containers fall off ships, which is hazardous to our ecosystem. The things that spill out of them are often plastics that add to the disaster and trash buildup in the North Pacific Gyre.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THIS OVERBOARD CARGO?
An 8-foot by 40-foot container which can carry up to 58,000 pounds of cargo, might hold 10,000 shoes, 17,000 hockey gloves, or a million pieces of Lego play pieces.

Millions of plastic items could be released into the ocean. They then attract pollutants and then break down to smaller pieces that are consumed by sea life.

How many shipping containers are lost at sea each year?

It is estimated that over 10.000 shipping containers are lost at sea each year. The yearly financial loss due to the overboard of these containers has been estimated to the billions.

Until next time!

Alicyn and the SafeshippingINC team!

Thursday 9/25/08

Today at Clark Manget High School it's a mini day! Whoohoo! Before this short day ends, Edjmin, Gabby, John, Alicyn, and myself, the Safe Shipping INC. team, had to do some research on, what else, SHIPPING CONTAINERSSS!!!

So, we found a site that talks about a shipping container that was lost in 1992. This container carried a crazy amount of....RUBBER DUCKIES! Yes that's right, the sea animals now have toys to play with when they bathe. Anyway, it talks about where thses ducks have traveled to. On July 15, 2007 in England, one was found on the beach by an old woman walking her dog. She sent it to the manufacturer, The First Years, and received $100!

YAY FOR THE DUCKIES!

Still working on the site...be patient =]

Until next time.....

-ANDREA =]<33

Oh, by the way, the rubber duckie site is http://www.rubaduck.com/news/rubber_duck_news-200302-duckies_around_the_world.htm

=]

Tuesday 9/23/08

Today! In Science Research Class, 3rd Period at the esteemed Clark Magnet High School, group Safe Shipping is formulating a plot to save the world. =DDD

Today we have come up with a research plan to further our knowledge on the task at hand. We're hoping to come up with all the pros and cons of the situation, find out the opinions of the experts in this field of study, and discover if there is anything currently being done to solve/help the problem of shipping containers falling into our pretty oceans.

We're also working on getting a website up and running with pretty pictures and facts to read up on. The URL will be posted sometime in a later post, so keep on checking up on us. Thanks for your time, please come again. :]

- Gabriela

Friday 9/19/08

Today in Science Research, sometimes known as East class, we further fine tuned our plan for the Lexus Environmental Challenge.

Our project mainly focuses on the cartridges that are lost at sea. Our idea is that we attach a device that uses solar energy to transmit a signal at a frequency that radars can pick up. This technology will help sailors/pirates avoid the floating, hazardous metal containers. It will most likely tear the hull of the ship causing it to sink and impersonating the titanic >:o

Jack<3



-Edjmin