Dogs Dogs DOGS!

Bonjour! So my whole life I have been smitten with dogs and have always had at least one at all times. To me they are one of the most wonderful, calming, sensitive, playful, and human - like pets/animals in the world. I recently went to India, about a month ago, and while I was there my mother got bit by a dog. Even though it was my grandparents' dog, it made me realize how differently dogs are treated in India from America. In America, dogs are our friendly companions who become like family to us. In Paris dogs are even allowed in restaurants! And many dogs who do not have homes get taken in by shelters and cared for.
             But in India, there are thousands of dogs roaming the streets, all homeless and all hungry. There are no shelters to take them in and many people are afraid of dogs there because they could have diseases or be dangerous. For the people who have enough money, they could get guard dogs (such as my grandparents), though the dogs are not treated as 'pets'. Being a guard dog is great for dogs because they get fed well and have a home and owners who care about them, though there are some things that distinguish them from the common household pet back in America. For instance, they are trained to guard, meaning that they could be dangerous and could potentially hurt someone by accident (like my mother). So that is why I think that we should figure out a way to help create a few dog shelters in  India that could care for the dogs and look after them in a safe way so that the dogs don't have to rough it out all alone on the busy streets. This is because when we were there I felt so sad for all of the dogs there who had no home and were in search of food in order to survive, where here in America many dogs are spoiled living off of three meals a day and eating like humans when many dogs all over the planet are in need of help.

That's just my opinion - share yours below in the comments section!


         

I'M GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!

Hola! So I know that for my last post I said that I was going to turn this blog into an animal - centric fiesta but....I started thinking that maybe I could add to that idea a bit more by incorporating all different topics! So I'm going to change it to a multitude of ideas inspired by our world. This blog will be a great way to get people thinking about what they can do in the world to help! I am going to talk about everything, such as rescuing animals, donating things to charity, to even how to not feel depressed! This blog is all about how to feel good, be happy and help make a change in the world, and I hope you find it inspirational!

~Aria

p.s. sorry for changing my plans so much here I just have so many new concepts and ideas!!

New Concept, New Ideas, and a New and Even Greater Passion!

     Hey Everyone it's Aria <3! Wow - it's been a while since I written and I apologize for my absence. I have been so immensely busy with school and extracurricular activities, however, I have decided to pick up this blog again, and am super excited to get back to it!

     But guess what?! I have a totally new and exciting concept for this blog! I am going to start writing about endangered animals, animals, protection of animals, foundations that protect animals, etc. Basically this blog is becoming totally animal centric and I am so excited!  This is because I am a complete animal lover, and I really want to share my passion with you! Hopefully this new concept will fair well and that you all enjoy it! Also, the ocean concept is not totally out of the picture yet, so don't get too worried! I will try my best to incorporate the ocean into my future posts =).

Please comment and tell me what YOU think! I love to hear comments from all of you, so put yourself out there! =)

        ~Aria

My Trip To Myrtle Beach

'When you take risks

it sets your mind free

If you never have the courage to take risks 

it is as if you have locked away your spirit 

and threw away the key'

      ~ by Aria Irani

Hey! So over the summer I've been traveling a lot. So to add to my continuous line of trips, last week I went to Myrtle beach with my best friend Bronwyn. While we were at the beach, we saw a bunch of pelicans fly all around us while we were swimming. They would dive for fish, fly off, circle above us, then come back for more fish. It was pretty amazing, because I'd never been that close to pelicans before, and I was surprised they weren't afraid of us.

I just wanted to share some pictures that we took while we were there, all of which were taken by Molly Irani:

                   
                      I'm on the left and Bronwyn is on the right.

                 

My Visit To The Smithsonian Museum Of Natural History

'In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take.'

So a few weeks ago I went to Washington D.C. for a few days. It was amazing, and, since it was my first time going there, I was super excited to go to one of the museums I had heard so much about; The Smithsonian Museum Of Natural History.

Right when we got there I wanted to go straight to the ocean exhibits, and so we made our way there. I had never really been to a museum before except for one about art in Atlanta, Georgia. And so we wandered around the gigantic room filled with everything from the ocean imaginable, and I literally stopped and read everything from giant squid to polar bears.

So here's some of a ton of awesome information that I learned while there:

• Fun Fact: Coral reefs support more species per square meter than any other ecosystem in the ocean!

• More than half of the world's population depends on the ocean as a primary food source.

Large scale commercial fishing technologies often catch marine animals other than the ones they are meant to target. In many cases, the amount of this bycatch can be larger than the wanted catch and is simply thrown dead or dying back into the sea.

In the past, humans fished in shallow, coastal waters now modern fishing gear stretches across the ocean's surface and plumbs its depths - allowing us to take more than ever before.

• Many marine animals  use light to get the attention of potential mates, distract predators, blend into their surroundings, or lure prey.

The ability to produce light evolved separately in different organisms at different times. So, not everything that glows does it the same way. Bioluminescent animals can be divided into two broad categories. One group makes its own light, usually using special organs called photophores.

The second group doesn't actually make light. Instead, the animals in this group host light-producing bacteria. the bacteria generally are cultured in special sacs or separate organs.

Bioluminescent creatures produce light with chemicals. Energy released in a chemical reaction causes the glow.

• Dinosaurs are the most famous victims of the extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, 65 million years ago. But they weren't alone. Nearly half of Earth's species disappeared - including almost 75% of ocean species.

Evidence indicates an astroid was to blame. Dust and smoke from the impact blocked sunlight, disrupted photosynthesis and altered Earth's climate.

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This is a picture of me in front of the skeleton of a, if I remember correctly; baleen whale.

    This is a picture of me behind the jaws and teeth of a giant great white shark, which is prehistoric.

    This is a lion in the African exhibit.

I hope you all liked this post and are now inspired to, if you have not already, go to the Smithsonian Museum Of Natural History and experience it for yourself, because it's definitely worth visiting!

All information from this post if from the Smithsonian Museum Of Natural History, and all pictures were taken by Molly Irani.

Swimming With Sea Turtles!

'Wherever there is strength; emotional or physical,
There must also be weakness'
~by Aria Irani

Hey everyone! So, as I have written about on previous posts, I have recently taken a trip to MEXICO! Well, I got back about a month ago, and am super excited to tell y'all about my fun experience!

On this particular post I am going to write about when, in Mexico, I got to SWIM WITH SEA TURTLES! :

Okay, so me and my parents went snorkeling at Akumal Bay (which is a bay in Mexico), and it was my first time snorkeling. We were snorkeling in the ocean, and it was fun, but to our disappointment, there were hardly any fish in the area, and if we did happen to get lucky and spot some, they were all hidden in their gigantic coral* homes.

We were just floating around, searching for something to observe, when, out of the blue (get it-because the ocean's blue) appeared a sea turtle! It was big and amazing, and just the whole overall experience was incredible! We then later on saw a bunch more and they were all just as magnificent.

 Sea turtles, are majestic in a totally different and unique way from any other species on the planet, and I'm just so grateful that I got the wonderful opportunity to experience such  beautiful and magical creatures such as the sea turtles I swam with that day.

 So now here's some sea turtle info that I hope you find both educational and interesting:
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Okay, so since we were not informed of the type of turtle we saw, I am going to say, as my best guess, that they were Hawksbill Sea Turtles, for their habitat is coral reefs and coastal shallows.

                 Hawksbill Sea Turtle:

The Hawksbill Turtle is 2 1/2 - 31/4 ft (0.8-1m), weighs 100-165 lb (45-75 kg), is distributed in tropical and warm-temperate waters worldwide, and their habitat is coral reefs and coastal shallows.

Named after its conspicuous beaked snout, the hawksbill has a carapace (which is the upper shell of a turtle; the protective outer covering of some other animals, such as crabs) with a raised, central keel and pointed shell plates (scutes) around its rear margin. It lives in warm water regions, feeding on sponges, mollusks, other sedentary animals, and rarely strays far from shallows and coral reefs. It is less migratory than other marine turtles, breeding at low densities all over the tropics instead of gathering at certain beaches. On land it has a distinctive gait, moving its flippers in diagonally opposite pairs - other marine turtles move their front flippers together - the same action they use when swimming.

        The hawksbill is the chief source of tortoiseshell - detached, polished scutes, Despite being classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, hawksbills are often killed and stuffed when young to be sold as curios, particularly in Southeast Asia. Attempts at farming these turtles have not been successful.
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Also, in one of the next few posts, I'll be posting a video of myself talking about my amazing experience with the sea turtles, so be sure to keep reading!

    Picture by: www.topmexicorealestate.com

Hey, so funny coincidence: the picture above is just a picture I found, but it was taken at the same place that I swam with the sea turtles; Playa Del Carmen, Akumal Bay.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading about my time with turtles!

I am dedicating this quote by Aristotle to my best friend ever, B.W.

'Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies'

            -Aristotle

The Endangered European Sturgeon

'Build a ship before you burn a bridge'

Hey y'all! Sorry I haven't been writing for a while; I was taking a little summer break, but now I'm back!

Personally I'm a BIG fan of seafood of any type, whether it's octopus, squid (calamari), oysters, lobsters, or any other type of shellfish! Another thing in the seafood family that I enjoy is caviar. Caviar is fish eggs, and, just to assure you, they do not taste nearly as bad as you'd think them to be!
Here's and interesting fact about 'European' caviar............

THE EUROPEAN STURGEON CAVIAR BAN:

     Once common, the European sturgeon  is now extremely rare due to overfishing and poaching, and because locks and polluted estuaries have made many rivers unsuitable for spawning; few active spawning sites remain. This sturgeon is critically endangered, and international trade of the fish itself and/or any products from it, including caviar (salted roe), has been banned.
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This is very unfortunate, for it is an excellent display of our, as humans, impact on the ocean, and how we can directly harm it. Her is some more information about the European Sturgeon:

THE EUROPEAN STURGEON:

      The European sturgeon can weigh up to 880 lb (400 kg), is 11 ft (3.5 m) in length, and lives 13-295 ft (4-90 m) in depth. Their distribution: in coastal waters of northeastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, and the Black Sea.

Like most sturgeon, this species swims from the sea into large rivers to spawn in gravelly areas. These prehistoric-looking fish belong to a primitive group in which only the skull and some fin supports are made of bone. The rest of the skeleton consists mainly of cartilage. Instead of scales, five rows of distinctive bony plates, or scutes, run along the body. Two pairs of barbels hang down from the pointed snout and are used to search out bottom-living invertebrates. The European sturgeon can live for up to 100 years.

    Picture by: ec.europa.eu


This is a European sturgeon!

-All information was from Ocean, The World's Last Wilderness Revealed.

A Letter From The White House!

'Listen to the mustn'ts  child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn't, the impossible, the won't. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me...Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.'
- Shel Silverstein

OMG (oh my grouper)! Okay, so a few posts ago I wrote about how President Barack Obama has made an initiative to create the world's largest ocean preserve! I really like and encourage this idea and hope that all of you had a chance to take a look at the news page that talks more about the idea (I put a link to the page on the post labeled 'Great Work M.r. President!').

Since I loved this idea so much, I decided to write an email to The White House saying that, as I've said before, totally love The President's initiative and fully support his actions as he works hard to turn this amazing plan into reality! I also decided to write that I have started a blog in hopes that one day more people will begin to recognize their full extent as to which they are harming our earth, and that I believe that by creating the world's largest ocean preserve it is sure to help raise awareness to the effects of our actions.

Okay, so here's the AMAZING part: So roughly a week after I had sent my email, I received a reply letter from The White House! It was super terrific and encouraging, knowing that someone from The White House read my letter and (possibly) took a look at this blog!
I wanted to show you all the letter, for inside of it are a few different websites that are about the environment! 

This is the letter:

Dear Student: Thank you for writing.  Our environment and wildlife are among our most precious treasures, and I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts. I am committed to keeping our country’s air, water, and land clean and safe.  My Administration is working hard to reduce harmful pollutants.  We are taking on tough environmental challenges, including climate change.  And to make sure your generation can explore America’s great outdoors, we have set aside more than a thousand miles of rivers, millions of acres of wilderness, and 11 new National Monuments for permanent protection. By working together, we can leave our planet even better than we found it.  You can join in by recycling and reusing paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum.  You can save energy by turning off lights and unplugging appliances you are not using.  Small steps like these can make a big difference.  To learn more about how you can do your part, visit kids.NIEHS.NIH.gov or EPA.gov/students. Thank you, again, for writing.  Hearing from engaged young people like you gives me great hope for the future. Sincerely, Barack Obama Pretty amazing, right? This letter has given me hope that in the future we will have created a better environment that will be much more manageable. 'Hope is so hard to maintain But it's those little moments of satisfaction because of it that make it all worthwhile'           -Aria Irani

  

I'm in Mexico!!!

'When you go in, go all in'.

Sorry I haven't been writing much lately, but it's because right now i'm in.........Mexico! Here there are so many things to see - it's just so hard to get to everything! Cancun, which is a city in Mexico, is amazing, and there is tons of amazing food there just waiting to be eaten! I am enjoying my times here very much, and, since in school we are learning spanish, I am able to speak to the people here a little bit. To me Mexico is like a tropical paradise, where there are tons of birds, beautiful trees, and so much more!

          Okay, so I know that on my last post I said that I would be writing about many different organizations that help to protect our vast oceans. Well the problem is that I had all of my research saved on my computer back in Asheville, North Carolina, where I live. And so now I am in Mexico, without my computer, and therefore sadly do not have my research with me either (but I will definitely write about the organizations soon!). But, I  realized something from a magazine about a magazine that I should of noticed much sooner, and that many people are oblivious to. So i'm deciding to share that, instead.......

Me and my parents were flying out of the Atlanta airport a few days ago, when things went astray:

We had boarded our plane that would take us straight to Cancun, where we would then take a car to Playa Del Carmen. We were [going to be] flying on Delta Airlines, but a mechanical problem with the plane (while we were still on it) stopped us from going anywhere. So we waited, and waited, and waited - we waited for 3 hours, just stuck, (because we weren't allowed to get off) sitting on the plane! That was longer than our flight was supposed to take! Eventually we all exited the plane, and to all our dismays, where going to leave the airport........until their was an announcement over the loud speaker that they had found another plane! Everyone was so happy and much relieved, and we then boarded a plane for the second time.

Once we were all on the plane, flight attendants came down the isle with trays of hamburgers that were FREE! Since I'm a pescatarian, which means that I don't eat meat, I didn't join in on this amazing act by Delta Airlines.

So then we were off, into the air and later landed in Mexico! So far our stay has been stupendous, and I'm not sure I want to ever leave!

                                   Picture by Meherwan Irani

          Me today at the beach in north Akumal at Half-Moon Bay!

Great work M.r. President!

Go into the world and do well.

             More importantly, go into the world and do good.’

-Minor Myers

Hey! Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a few days, but I have been busy researching about a bunch of different organizations that all work to help protect the ocean in different ways, which I will be elaborating on further in my next post. I also learned, from reading the news, that President Barack Obama is proposing a bill that will create the world’s largest ocean preserve! This will not only help save many marine species, but will also ensure less possibility for seals and marine birds to get ensnared in fishing nets. As you can most likely tell, I am thrilled about this idea and fully support the President in his amazing mission that will most definitely help save our oceans!

Here is a link to the article I read, if you want to read more (and I suggest you do)! :

abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/obama-create-worlds-largest-ocean-preserve-24171159#.U6CpC0p3EpI.twitter  

Picture by: askascientist.co.uk

        I am just so glad (and relieved) that people like The President are standing up for what’s right and trying to make a difference, for it is those people who truly make a difference in the world.