Hi guys, and happy holidays!
I just created a new Youtube channel and uploaded my first video there! I'm really excited to work on this channel, because I have a theme and a focus and I think that this channel can open up a lot of opportunities for me. Press on this word --> link <-- to watch my newest video, and please like it and subscribe! Bye for now!

- Yasemin

Buzzfeed Article

Hi! Today I found this Buzzfeed article about how people are doing really drastic things to deal with rising seawater and climate change. Here is the link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/virginiahughes/11-crazy-climate-adaptations. I was especially interested in the agro-forestry thing that was happening in Montpellier, France. The idea is to plant trees and crops in the same place; apparently this helps grow better crops as well as reduce drought.
!¡

HAHA

So today I read a couple of articles about how bad artificial sugars are for your body (I'll link them below). Some doctors are apparently even arguing that sugar is a "drug" that should be regulated just like cocaine. All this information, coupled with the fact that I have gorged on tons of sugary stuff in the past three days, has made me think about sugar and health and all of that stuff. I have noticed that artificial sugars really do affect me in a bad way. For example, if I eat something sweet first thing in the morning, I usually feel like crap for at least a couple hours after that. Also, the past couple of days I have found myself standing in front of a pecan pie or something with a spoon in my hand- and I literally don't know when I stood up and walked there, that's how strong my instinct is to consume sugar. It's scary to think that I might actually be addicted to something that is potentially just as dangerous and unhealthy as weed or cocaine - and I wouldn't even know that I was addicted, because sugar isn't considered a drug.
I read two stories about people who decided to completely quit eating any kind of sugar. The first woman quit for 4 weeks and she noticed a significant boost in energy, and had less pimples, as well as losing 4 pounds. The second story I read was about an entire family who quit sugar for a whole year and would only have a sugary treat once a month. As the year progressed, they noticed that they would crave the treat less and less, and by the end of the year they could barely eat it because of how sensitive their palates had now become. They also felt more energetic and got sick less.
I've decided to do a little experiment for myself to see how going without sugar will make me feel. Starting tomorrow, Saturday, November 28, I am not going to eat any foods with artificial sugars in them, until Monday, December 28. Any food that has "sugar" in it's top 3 ingredients will be considered sweet. I'm probably going to record how I feel each day here, especially the first week because apparently people literally go into withdrawal when not eating sugar. I think it will be interesting to test my determination as well as how good I will feel after quitting sugar. Also, I made the decision to go completely cold turkey, instead of slowly eating less and less sugar everyday. I did this because whenever I try to limit my sugar intake, I always end up eating way more than I would've if I hadn't tried to limit myself in the first place.
So here goes.
See you tomorrow!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2098428/I-went-cold-turkey-sugar-Its-toxic-addiction-say-scientists-easy-up.html

http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/my-health-story/year-of-no-sugar-one-family-grand-adventure/

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/24/robert-lustig-sugar-poison

So since I've decided to buy anything I need from organic/sustainable companies, on Sunday when I went to Whole Foods (my favorite store) I decided to buy some toothpaste and mouthwash - good quality, organic products. Here is what I got:

Mouthwash

So I got this mouthwash from the brand "Desert Essences". It was about $6 or so. For people like me who've been using Crest mouthwash their whole lives, the taste of this may come as a surprise. It is NOT sweet and not nearly as minty as those artificial mouthwashes are.

Toothpaste

So I also got this toothpaste, which I really really like. I got the cinnamon taste and it does not taste strong like normal toothpastes- I actually put a lot of it on my toothbrush whenever I brush my teeth. I highly recommend it, it leaves my mouth feeling extremely clean and actually kind of numb. The ingredients in it are water, redmond clay (food grade), xylitol, cinnamon essential oil, salt, and diluted tea tree oil. So I can pronounce everything and I know whats in it. I completely recommend this!

AHHH

GUYS I JUST DISCOVERED THE COOLEST CLOTHING STORE!! 

It's called TenTree and for every clothing item that is sold, the company plants ten trees in different countries such as Madagascar, Canada, and Cambodia! All the clothes are recycled and/or sustainable and affordable, and when you receive your clothes you get a code that tells you where your ten trees will be planted! I love this so much!!!

www.tentree.com

organic/eco-friendly brands of hygiene products!

1. Poofy Organics. this brand sells completely organic cosmetics and personal hygiene products. it is a family owned company that makes all their products fresh or by hand. Also, their products are all at extremely reasonable prices! for example, one lipstick is $20, and one tube of liquid eyeliner is $18.
Eco-Rating: A+

2. Burt's Bees. probably one of the most well known brand of organic cosmetics and beauty products, Burt's Bees says that their products are, on average, 99% organic, if not 100%. their goal is to become completely 100%. They also write that they are trying to make their packaging more sustainable and use more post-consumer recycled content (PCRs). Right now their PCR content ranges from 35% to 60%. they don't sell any makeup other than tinted lip balms, which are $7. 
Eco-Rating: A

3. Lush. Lush has become very popular lately with teens because they sell organic, good smelling cosmetics and soaps. I have bought products there which I really like, they small great and have great results. All of their products are organic and use little packaging. All their products are vegetarian and they do not support animal testing. They are slightly more expensive than other beauty companies, but considering how much better they are for the environment and for you, spending a couple extra dollars wouldn't hurt. 

Eco-Rating: B

****UPDATE on American Eagle's clothing. They JUST announced the Denim X Cafe collaboration, which is denim made from RECYCLED coffee grounds. Each pair is stretchy and made with 2.25 grams of coffee. Coffee grounds are biodegradable anyway, however, I think this is still really awesome. Each pair is $40-$50, so they are pretty affordable. I am looking to get one ASAP and will then review them!

grading popular teenage clothing brands based on how eco-friendly they are!

American Apparel: one of the most eco-friendly, popular fashion brands out there, American Apparel has a section on their website that sells clothing made from 100% organic cotton. They also try to be as efficient as possible. "We try to minimize the gaps between pattern pieces when cutting our garments. We rank styles by efficiency. For really inefficient styles, we find complementary styles that, when cut together, drastically reduce the amount of waste generated," they wrote on their website. Also, they power their factories using solar panels, and have a bike program for their employees.
Eco-Rating: A+

Brandy Melville: i've read from multiple sources that the brand makes eco-friendly clothing. I'm not exactly sure what this means (organic cotton, or recycled materials?); also, since most of their clothing is one size fits all, the amount of energy expended on manufacturing the products is much less than other stores.
Eco-Rating: B-

Charlotte Russe: no eco-friendly/sustainable practices. i hate the clothes anyway. so trashy and cheap-looking. (see Forever 21)
Eco-Rating: F

Forever 21: honestly, please stop buying stuff at this store. Forever 21, along with other fast fashion brands such as Charlotte Russe, are basically just stores that want you to pay a cheap price for a crappy, poorly made piece of clothing that will get a whole in it after two washes. It's just not worth your time or your money to shop at this store. Not to mention the fact that these clothes, made in pollution-causing factories by high school age kids who are paid minimum wage, are absolutely terrible for the environment. it's a much smarter move to pay a little more money for quality clothing (from the brands that get an A+ eco-rating) and have it last longer.
Eco-Rating: F

American Eagle: no eco-friendly items. However, it donates all it's damaged clothes to charity.
Eco-Rating: C-

H&M: #1 user of organic cotton worldwide. Also has a "Conscious Collection" which is eco-friendly. I'm not really sure what this is: if all their clothes are conscious or if it's a specific collection that is. "21.2% of our cotton is either certified organic, recycled or grown under the Better Cotton Initiative. Our goal is 100% by 2020 at the latest," they wrote on their About page. They label their eco-friendly clothing items with a flower pattern. 
Eco-Rating: A

Urban Outfitters: UO has a popular brand called Urban Renewal which sells eco-friendly clothing, which could be vintage or deadstock. 
Eco-Rating: B

Uniqlo: Uniqlo made a commitment in 2013 to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from their production process by 2020. I'll keep updating you guys on that. 
Eco-Rating: A

Victoria's Secret: they have reduced energy and paper use; however, they don't have any eco-friendly items. They have also been accused of using cruel sweatshops with very tough conditions for the laborers. The laborers are paid about 4 cents for every $15. Think about that next time you want to buy a $40 bra. 
Eco-Rating: D-

i was just at my new school's freshmen camping trip for the last 3 days (2 nights). and, well, there was no service there! anywhere! what a nightmare.

but being in the woods was very peaceful. i really love forests, i love them much more than the beach, because i feel like they are so much more serene, and you can feel alone yet surrounded by living creatures at the same time. so it was night to spend a lot of my time outside, and being able to hear the sounds of nature- crickets, owls- at night, as opposed to sounds of cars, airplanes, and people talking. so that was good.

however, the food here was unfortunately terrible. and even worse for people who ate meat. the first dinner we had some sort of horrible steak. the vegetarian option was fake meat, which i decided not to eat. I might try it another time, but I had already lost my appetite enough that day. 

next day's lunch was fried fish. a bunch of people who ate it got sick, so I'm glad I stuck with the sweet potato fries. other than the food, though, I had a pretty great time. 

keep recycling,

yasemin

New Foods #1: Veggie Burgers

so I don't know if y'all know, but I became a vegetarian about a week ago and I guess it would be cool for me to document my experiences. i've had no problem not eating meat, because 1) i never really liked meat in the first place, and 2) i feel disgusted whenever i look at it because of the reasons that made me become vegetarian in the first place (and i'll do a blog post about that later).

anyway, today we had a labor day barbecue (happy labor day!!) which meant a lot of... barbecue. and meat. and i decided this would be a good time to try out veggie burgers!

i went to trader joe's a couple days ago and got this:

"Quinoa Cowboy
Veggie Burgers
with black beans & roasted corn"


so that's what i ate today. for all those people planning on becoming vegetarian, here's what i'll tell you:
1. veggie burgers... don't really taste like meat. so don't have false expectations.
2. they also (at least this brand) tend to be extremely crumbly, so it's pretty impossible to eat it with a fork.
3. also, it was pretty spicy.
4. they taste a lot like quinoa.
5. it was honestly pretty yummy! i really enjoyed it. it's also good for you:

important numbers:

serving size: 1 burger

calories: 180

sugars: 2 grams 

protein: 5 grams

also, there are no bad ingredients like corn syrup. all organic!

all in all, i enjoyed my first veggie burger experience! i'll tell you all about new foods i try :-)

keep recycling, 

yasemin

so you know how I said I had a lot of new ideas for this blog? well, the first one is to incorporate/merge my youtube channel and my blog. that way, I'll get more recognition on both my youtube and on here. on my channel I'm going to be posting mostly DIY's, and videos on how to reuse. i'm pretty excited and i have a lot of ideas for it!  and, well, here's my most recent video (which is from today):

please watch it, like, and subscribe to my channel! it would mean a lot :-)

i'll post soon! 

keep recycling, 

yasemin

Hi all,

it's been a while, I guess. actually, who am I kidding, it's been a pretty long time. so I'm sorry about that. I'm not going to make excuses because I don't really have any to give off the top of my head. I just haven't thought about the blog very much and instead I've focused on other things, and now I feel like I've neglected this blog. 

also, I think I've been neglectful, period. I haven't thought about the environment and recycling and climate changed nearly as much as I used to. I've shoved it into the back of my mind because I've been kind of scared to address it. the entire last year, my 8th grade year, I've only been occasionally and half heartedly writing on the blog, or telling people in my class (and myself) to make small changes in their lifestyle to conserve water, save energy, etc. 

I do think there is a reason for this. my passion for being an environmental activist peaked in 6th grade. at that time, I would always be turning off lights if they were open, closing faucets if they weren't being used, constantly researching news about the environment; I would pick up trash that I saw in the road (I still do this, actually), and I would explain frequently to almost everyone the scientific reason why and how global warming occurs and what we can do about it before it's too late. 

but all my classmates just knew me as the girl who was obsessed with turning off the lights. 

they didn't really care why I did it, why it was so important to me to do those things, or why it gave me so much guilt if I saw a faucet dripping and didn't close it. 

they thought it was funny. 

and at some point, I don't really know. I guess I started changing. I would still do many of those things, but I'd do it in a funny way, like "haha yeah, there I go closing the light again, isn't that so cute and quirky?" and then, I gradually just... gave up, I guess. since 6th grade I had urged the staff at my school to have an annual earth day celebration, and in 8th grade I said nothing. not only that, I tried to pretend to completely ignore Earth Day, as though April 22nd meant absolutely nothing to me. but it did, and so did everything else. but I think I just hid those feelings because I wasn't taken seriously, and I felt that however much I tried, I couldn't make a difference and that I might as well just give up and focus on other things, like how to be like everyone else so people wouldn't think I was a weird nerd-type earth-obsessed person. and all that fitting in (or trying to, really) just ended up with me becoming kind of... depressed. and sad. and... other negative synonyms. 

it's now September, and it's been more than 3 months since school ended and I haven't seen many of my classmates, many of the people who unknowingly hurt my self esteem by making fun of me enough that I almost threw away a unique part of me. so I guess I've had enough time to think about it. in a couple days I'm going to start a new school and I'm hoping to start over. I'm hoping to meet people who care about my opinions and my thoughts and don't just think I'm strange. when I think back on my passion for the environment in 6th grade, I see a 11-year-old bubbling with enthusiasm, a passion for nature and full of ideas for ways to change the world. 

but in 2 years the world changed that girl. 

I want to regain all of my enthusiasm and hope I had. I want to find people who support me and my ideas, and stay away from people who keep me down. and maybe doing that will make people intimidated or weirded out because I think about different things than most other people(gasp! independent thought!). but I'm going to do the things that make me happy and follow the things I'm passionate about and make a positive difference in the world. 

I think I'm rambling. 

ok. to sum up:

I love writing,

and my passion is nature and the environment,

and my hope is to contribute to ending climate change and to make people more thankful for the  world they live in,

and this blog is the perfect way to combine both of those things!

and I don't really care if people will judge me for following my passions, my hopes, and my dreams: those people don't matter,

because there are always so many people who won't do that, who will support you and stand by you and help you,

you just have to believe in yourself and stay strong until then. Focus on what is important to you, what you're passionate about, and you will be happy. 

...aaaand that rant ended like a monologue from a Disney movie. 

but I had to get that off my chest. I hope that this helped some of you who're going through/went through the same things as me. the world will always try to change you and to take away the parts of you that make you you, but you can fight back and change the world. 

i've got a lot of ideas for new things to do on the blog! expect frequent posts from me from now on. 

keep recycling,

yasemin 

This is exciting!

2014 was the hottest year on record

2014 was one of the top 10 hottest years since 1880- and 9 out of 10 of the top 10 hottest years have occurred since 2000!

I think that we should stop trying to deny that global warming exists and instead start putting our energy to solve this huge problem.

I don't even think it's global warming anymore! Its not just that the earth is warming, it's more that all of the weather is being turned upside down- it didn't get cold since January even though it usually does in November or even October, there was barely any fall last year- THIS IS A REAL PROBLEM.

I don't know if we can ever actually bring the earth back to what it used to be, but we HAVE to at least prevent it from getting worse!

Btw, this is my 100th post.

YEET

So today, I met someone who works at the EPA of the state of New Hampshire. I was able to ask her a lot of questions, and I got a lot of answers! Here are my notes:

1976: EPA was created by President Nixon because people were freaking out about sulfur dioxide emissions in the air (a product of combustion created when you burn coal or gas) that create acid rain. 

The government can help fix this problem in any way they can by regulating carbon emissions. 

Mercury was from coal burning and it affected fish . Mercury is a bio-accumulative toxin and it has really affected the fish. It is created from coal burning in coal plants. Small fish eat the sediments that go into the water, and then it is passed up the food chain, up to the big fish (tuna, swordfish) and then to the top of the food chain: us. Mercury can affect your brain and make you crazy. They used to use mercury in felt hats, which did make people become insane. This is where the phrase "mad as a hatter" comes from! So the point is, don't eat a lot of big fish. 

Its not even "global warming" anymore, it's climate change, because the entire planet is changing, not just warming. The jet stream has also shifted and the arctic is melting, so animals are losing their habitats. 

"I think we are [past the point of no return]. It's all greed and money."

Hey guys! I know its been so long since I last wrote, and I'm really sorry about that! I didn't anticipate that this year would be so busy. But now I'm on break, and I have a lot more time! :-)
So, somebody told me about this really cool report by the Audubon Bird Society, 'The Climate Report'. It shows every bird in the U.S., and the dangers that they face because of global warming. You can find the birds that live in your area or search up specific birds. Here's the link!

Also, I will be making some more changes to my blog soon I think, so stay tuned!

Hi everyone,
It's getting cold out! This morning I woke up with a stiff neck because I had left the window in my room open! Also, I have a theory about why sometimes macbooks' trackpads don't work: If you leave it by an open window when its 50 degrees outside, the trackpads will freeze.
Secondly, I found an article on NPR that I'm going to post the link to. Here it is:
Walruses are feeling the effects of global warming
During this time of year, walruses should be on sea ice, but instead they are all crowded onto a beach in Alaska. Because there is no sea ice. We are talking about 35,000 walruses that are all crowded onto one beach. Here's a picture:

I think this is very sad, and it is damaging to the walruses. Global warming may have a long-term effect on the walrus population, because they will not be able to spread out on the sea.

GUYS!! Today was the climate change parade in New York! I am really kind of embarrassed to tell you... I didn't go. I had acting class and I didn't make it in time. I'm really upset. But I am so proud of all the tens of thousands of people who did march to make people aware of climate change. I am so happy about this, and I know I couldn't go, but I am supporting it as much as I can. Thanks, everyone, SO much!!!

Wow! How long has it been?! I am so sorry about not posting anything on the blog for almost 3 months! Really really sorry. And no, this doesn't mean I lost interest in the blog (how could I ever), it was just summer time and I was sort of busy...
In this post, I just want to follow up on everything that I have done over the summer. Let's talk!

1. Well, I stayed at a rental home in North Carolina for a week with my family. We also went to the beach almost every day! Beaches down south are way different than beaches where I live, NJ. There, the water was literally 78 degrees. This is the Atlantic ocean we are talking about. It was like a jacuzzi in there! I'm not sure why, though. The weather generally was warmer down there, but I don't know why the water was so hot. Strong undercurrents, big waves, and the water was crystal clear. Not kidding. I could see to the bottom. And there were fish.
As a side note, I would like to point out that two days ago, I went to a NJ beach on the Atlantic ocean, about 500 miles north of where I was sunbathing a week before that.

It smelled like sewage.

It was disgusting. But, I've gotta say, despite the poop smell, the water was pretty darn clear and I didn't see a single jellyfish. I usually see a lot of jellyfish in the water in New Jersey.

2. Also in North Carolina, my rental home also had a stable with two horses inside, and I was able to feed them and be around them a lot. It was very interesting. I learned that horses eat constantly. All the time. And they love baby carrots.

3. I know that I have been taking very big breaks on my blog. But, I have decided to toughen up and make a schedule. I will write on my blog every Sunday. I will write about current environmental news, my own observations about the environment, and rant if I feel the need.

4. Lastly, I have added a new gadget to my blog, it's up top, right under the blog's logo. If you click on the mail icon, you can email me at askecogirl@gmail.com for any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions that you might have!
The icon next to it will lead you to my Pinterest account, where I have 2 folders, among others, called Nature and Environmental News where I will post interesting things I see from nature. You can follow me there to see the pictures.
Next I have an icon that will bring you to my YouTube account, where I have been making videos. They are usually not about the environment but more about singing and funny things.
Then, I have my Instagram account. You can follow me there also!
Lastly, I have my Google+ account.

And that's all the news I have this week! Make sure to check out the blog next Sunday, because I will post another post :-)
Bye!