Planetary Notions
2002

Articles----------Videos---------Poems----------Pictures

                                         

                                           YouthCaN Hike the World Project

     YouthCaN loves to inspire different types of environmental projects every year. This year YouthCaNers from New York have established a new project called YouthCaN Hike the World. This project attempts to have YouthCaNers from around the world go outdoors and explore their environments. During these hikes YouthCaNers record their trips through pictures, stories, and personal opinions. They also collect data of the type of habitat they’re in, the weather, animals, insects, and trees they see and human interactions with the environment.
                                                                                                        -Hans Villamil, YouthCaN NYC

The Big Questions:
Here are a few things to think about and report back to YouthCaN on:

1- What is the weather like?
2- What kind of animals do you see?
3- Could you describe the animals?
4- What kind of trees(or habitats) surround you?
5- Is there any kind of human pollution? If yes what kind?
6- What is the color of the foliage?
7- What is the distance that you can see?
8- What is the distance of your hike?
9- Could you convert the distance into feet (or meters, kilometers, miles...)?
10- What is the elevation of the highest point of your hike?

What Hana Mae Nassar from the Valley International School had to say about the YouthCaN hike to Araya, Lebanon:

                              
                          Hike the World 2

     On Saturday, March 2nd 2002, we, the environmental club and some other students from Valley International School joined the American Community School, Eastwood College, and Hariri School on a hike to Araya, Lebanon.  Araya is located in Mount Lebanon in the East side of Lebanon.  This hike was our second hike this year. Our last hike was a trip to Ehden Reserve where we learned about different kinds of trees, animals and so on, therefore this hike is called Hike the world 2.

     On Saturday the weather was sunny and warm too! We learned a whole lot of new things like the meaning of Acid Rain, which is a mixture of smoke and rain.  Acid rain hurts the environment very badly because it pollutes the water that animals drink and they get digestion problems.  Also, it has a negative effect on agriculture.  While walking we saw different animals like dogs, birds and cow hoof prints. We also saw lots of plants too like Olive trees, Genet, Pine trees and Cyclamin. The air in Araya was polluted; during most of our hiking time we could smell the garbage.  During our hike, we also visited a polluted river.  That is a result of the wastes reaching the river from an industrial factory.  I personally think that they (the people responsible at Araya) are not doing much to help clean the river.  I think that the nature at Araya is polluted; the plants and animals are really suffering from that!! Also the people living in that area are breathing polluted air!!

Hana Mae Nassar
Grade 7
Valley International School



HBS Report on the Araya Hike:

     On March 2nd, three of my friends ( Mohamed, Rola and Alaa) and I went on a hike to rraya. Miss Heba and Miss Claudia went with us.  First, when we reached it, we thought that the forest was great, but after a while, our guides told us that the place is not as perfect as it looks. They explained that some factories are dumping their chemical wastes into a stream passing through the forest. As we continued walking we saw a sign which says:
“ No Hunting”, but that was funny since we saw empty shells on the road, which meant that some hunters were murdering the birds. Do you know what that means? The hunters were harming the equilibrium of the forest ecosystem.
     Then our guides showed us some chemical wastes dumped into the stream and told us that bacteria feeds on these wastes. We were so disappointed since we are destroying such a beautiful place and we hope we can clean it up one day.

Zeina


YouthCaN NYC Hike to Sugarloaf Mountain South, The Osborne Loop Trail and the  Appalachian Trail, Nov 17-18


Ariela's Hike Report:


View from the top of Anthony's Nose, By Jim Van Tassell
      We were very lucky on the November Youthcan Hike. Not only was it a beautiful day, sunny and up to the mid-50 degrees Fahrenheit by noon, but we found some great specimens for the Discovery Room at the Museum of Natural History. It was also a great group to hike with. The hike was about 8 miles long, with one peak on Sugarloaf Hill. We probably could have seen pretty far to the south and west, but a forest fire somewhere to the southwest made it hard to see.

We had barely started when someone spotted an immature sharp-shinned hawk on the side of the road. It may have been roadkill, but it was in excellent condition. The bird was about 12'' long, brown with brown streaks on its white underside.

     Soon after that, we found a paper wasps nest, also in good condition, but pecked a little by birds. The wasps actually scratch the bark on branches and broken wood and mix it with fluids in their mouths, then add layers to the nest, which is an incredibly complex structure considering the size of the wasps. ( note from Jay Holmes: it was a baldfaced hornet (Vespula maculata) nest. It is in the Discovery Room now for visitors to examine.)

     We saw several tufted titmice- small gray birds, a red-bellied woodpecker and lots of crows. At the top of Sugarloaf, there were turkey vultures soaring.

     One thing that really interested me was learning how many non-native plant species are now slowly taking over native species, such as the Japanese Barberry, which was brought as a hedge plant, and the Garlic Mustard plant. I also learned that Hemlocks are being killed by woolly adelgids, tiny insects that suck the sap of trees.

Ariela Zamcheck                                                                                 
Stuyvesant HS
NYC, USA
Arilime202@aol.com              

There was cacti on the peak of the mountain


Hans' Hike Report

Hello My name is Hans, I am an active YouthCaNer from
NYC.

1) When we arrived at our starting line Manitou, I felt the warm weather of about 48F = 9C= 281K.

2)&3) One of the most memorable things for me from the hike was when We saw a dead sharp-shinned hawk, . . and when Jay and Bill saw a living white-tail Deer.

4)5)6) Whenever we would stop to take a break we would . . notice some of the trees around us such as . . Hickory, Japanese Maple tree and Hemlock . . . trees. Fortunately there was no human pollution. Many of the Foliage we saw were yellow, brown, green, and some beautiful RED trees.

7)8)9) Once we reached the highest elevation of 830 FT

10) 253M. We knew that we reached the top of Sugar Loaf!!! Unfortunately we couldn't see too far because of a forest fire near Dunderberg mountain which was probably . . caused "unnaturally".
We then calculated our Hike to be around 6 to 7 miles = 10 kilometers.

This was a great hike I met great people and made new friends. I can't wait for the next one.

Thank you.

Hans Villamil
YouthCaN NYC
hvillamil@yahoo.com