Bell Ringer – 4/22/08Happy Earth Day!Happy Earth Day!

1. Explain how you will improve or protect our environment in various means next year.

2. What does the term “eco-friendly” mean to you?REDUCE PAPER – RECYCLE ALUMINUM – REDUCE GASOLINE –

SAVE ELECTRICITY – DON’T LITTER – CONSERVE WATER – SHUT DOWN COMPUTER – BUY LOCAL FRUITS & VEGETABLES -PLANT A TREE

                     

             

What’s going on in Haiti??• The bodies of 20 Haitian people

were found floating in open waters Sunday near the Bahamas, 2 Haitian survivors one Honduran were found

• Rescuers did not find the vessel that the people were on before becoming stranded

• The survivors have not explained the sunken vessel; a criminal investigation is underway; the boat departed from Haiti

Were the Haitians escaping starvation??

• Food cost has increased by around 40% since mid-2007 worldwide, and the strain recently caused riots in Haiti

• Thousands of demonstrators on Monday marched through the streets of Haiti's capital, Port au Prince.

• Piles of tires belched thick black smoke into the air; several stores were raided and looted and some cars were torched

• "We're hungry, there are no jobs," said Joseph Orange, an out-of-work translator in Port au Prince. "It's really a problem."

• The Haitian diet contains just 1,640 calories, 460 calories short of the typical 2,100 daily requirement, the agency said.

• The World Food Programme said it has received only 13% ($12.4 million) of the $96 million it needs to help 1.7 million people in Haiti.

• "What we see in Haiti is what we're seeing around the world -- rising prices that mean less food for the hungry," said a WFP spokesman. "A new face of hunger is emerging: even where food is available on the shelves, there are more and more people who simply cannot afford it."

• 80% of the 8.7 million Haitians live in poverty and 54% live in abject poverty