Day 5 of SLJ (aka: my birthday!!): Blink and you'll miss it

Activity 1: Towering timbers
There is a long and rich history of logging in New Zealand. Logging involves cutting down trees. The people who cut them down are called loggers. The trees that they cut down are sold and used to build things (eg. houses), to make products (eg. paper), and to generate (create) heat and power. Over the past two centuries, many of the trees in New Zealand have been cut down by loggers.

Left: NZ native forest Right: A logged forest

Some people like logging because it creates jobs for the loggers and generates money for New Zealand while others are against (opposed to) logging. Many of those opposed are worried that logging will damage the environment. It might also force animals who live in trees (eg. owls) to find new homes.

What do you think about logging? I think logging is benefiting us humans but putting animals at risk of extinction.

On your blog tell us whether you think logging should be allowed in New Zealand. Be sure to provide at least two reasons to support your argument.

I am against logging because it causes 2 problems. 1) although it gives us a few benefits (paper, tables, chairs etc) it causes environmental problems like pollution. This can help climate change and global warming to the point where we have to evacuate Earth and find a new planet. And 2) this risks animals lives. Their homes, destroyed and no where to store food or sleep. We will drive the animals in our forests to the brink of extinction! 

Activity 2: Living on the edge

While it can get quite cold in New Zealand, it rarely drops below freezing (00C). Most of the time the temperature in New Zealand is pretty mild. This is not the case in the tundra. The tundra is an area of land (biome) that is cold, dry and completely treeless. Did you know that the average temperature in the tundra is -280C?

Over the past few years, however, the temperature in the tundra has been rising and the weather has been changing. Let’s imagine that your teacher decides to take you on a class trip to the tundra before the weather changes too much and you aren’t able to go.

On your blog, write a letter to your best friend or a family member telling them about your trip to the tundra. To earn full points your letter must have a greeting (eg. Dear…) followed by 5 – 6 sentences of information about what your experience.

Dear Mum,

My trip to tundra was out of this world! It was so dry, sometimes cold sometimes warm Unbelievable! You wouldn't thing tundra was super cold because the earth there looks so dry. Although it was super cool I wouldn't advise you to visit. Not a very nice place and not a hotel in sight! We had to sleep in tents and sometimes our layers weren't enough. Brrrrr. Anyways, I'm coming home in 2 days so I can sleep in a proper bed then. Yay!

Activity 3: Going, going... gone

Over the years, scientists have made some surprising discoveries. One of these discoveries is that we have entire cities (e.g. Jakarta, Indonesia and Venice, Italy) that are slowly sinking into the ocean. Scientists believe that, one day, the cities will disappear completely under the water. Yikes!

Some of the residents (people living in the cities) have taken pictures of their neighbourhoods and written stories about their lives in order to make a record of what ‘life was like’ in their city before it disappeared.

Let’s imagine that New Zealand was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean next week (Eek!). Before it sinks you are asked to write a blog post telling people what life was like in New Zealand in 2018.

On your blog, post a description of life in New Zealand in 2018. Please remember that the people who read your post will have never been to New Zealand or even seen a picture so it is your job to ‘paint a picture’ of New Zealand using your words. You can also post pictures, if you wish. Be sure to fully attribute the pictures.

New Zealand is a place of adventure with lots to do like kayaking around scenic islands, trekking through forests, it's basically a adventurers playground. You can also go on boat trips to see caverns, explore new islands. New Zealand is a wonderful place with picturesque views and places to go.