Artograffi #141
Savvy students’ super startup
Six year 9 students at James Calvert Spence College have been becoming entrepreneurs- selling terrariums. Their business, called ‘Light Clouds and Co’, is part of the Tycoon Enterprise Competition, meaning they have received a loan and will compete with other student companies, and, if they win, they have the privilege of going to Buckingham Palace.
Although their original ideas included stickers, pin badges and bake sales, terrariums are an excellent opportunity for something unique and easy to look after. When asked what they want to achieve with their business, Olivia said “we would like to earn some money… but also to have fun and provide little things that were handmade to other people, that would be a difference because a lot of people don’t have terrariums”. These terrariums come in small and large sizes, and contain a mix of cacti, succulents and “stringy plants” which all require minimal care and attention, perfect for an unintentional plant killer like myself.
“It’s quite fun being independent and having to focus on an actual business that you’re actually earning real money with”. Over the last few weeks the group have sold nearly 20 terrariums, and have enjoyed a variety of things about the process. Emma said they enjoyed the trips out to gather materials, “I got a little octopus thing” and “tried a Malteser bar”, while Minnie loved being at the market stall ‘when we’re at the stall we just got to mess around and have fun’.
The students have faced a few challenges along the way, “trying to sell them as they are a difficult price for some people” (Olivia’s words) and that few people carry cash. Despite this, the group has been successful and are hopeful for the future of the competition. It’s important to instil in young people that they can be successful in unconventional and enjoyable ways. Good luck to the group!
By Ava
Artograffi’s top 5 places for kids
…in Amble
Paddlers park – amazing for playing with your friends and there’s grass for football with a new giant puffin.
Skate park – good for playing on your bikes, scooters and skateboards.
Sweets and treats – great for nice sweats.
Spurreli’s – is a really good ice cream shop.
Artograffi – its so cool and has the best people ever!!! On Monday nights 4:30 – 6:00.
By Issy, Katie, Grace, Hannah and Ava
Rockin’ new art installation!
Cast your mind back to Amble in summer 2020. It’s the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but a few locals have been using their time to paint rocks, and it’s becoming quite the attraction down by Little Shore beach. Over winter, the stones were removed, never to be seen again…
Until now! Groups of volunteers have spent countless hours varnishing, sorting and placing these rocks, which are now in prized place in the flowerbeds opposite the fourways building. We spoke to Issy Dunn 9
pictured and her mother Kayleigh who have enjoyed being part of this art piece.
Issy on the stones assembled by Amble youth project and volunteers.
Issy is 10 and heard about the project through her family in Amble. Originally, she helped paint some rocks to create the snake, but recently has been helping “putting down the cement for the rocks” and installing the piece. She said, “I like getting my hands dirty… I had to climb in one of the flower beds!”
When asked why she thought the piece was a good idea, Issy said “because people can go past and see the hard work that people have done”. Even in the short time we were out for our interview, several people stopped to admire the art work and compliment the dedication that went into it.
Issy’s favourite part of the project has been “laying [the rocks] out and spreading the concrete to put them down”. I would definitely recommend coming down and having a look, and we challenge you to count the number of ladybirds.
An update:
Only a few weeks after its installation, one of the rocks has been removed. It’s really important to look after this piece of Amble’s history and to respect all the hard work that went into it. Look but don’t touch!
By Ava
Canada’s forest fires
16.06 million acres of land in Canada have been scorched by record breaking wildfires, which are most likely caused by climate change.
Since late April, these wildfires have started, usually by lightning and sometimes by people, which strike dry trees and cause the fires. These same fires are also responsible for 85% of wildlife destruction.
Climate change, like I mentioned before, also has a big role to play in this. Even just a one degree increase of temperature can lead to as much as 12% more lightning, which leads to – you guessed it – more wildfires. Not including the human caused ones, which have been formed due to things like discarded cigarette butts. (Don’t smoke kids)
Even though we are only halfway through 2023, these wildfires are already Canada’s third worst wildfire season in a decade. To add on to that, this year’s wildfire season came earlier than usual. If you couldn’t already tell, that’s not good news.
That isn’t all though. The large amounts of smoke that these fires have produced have gone through the USA, and places like New York, Washington DC and Philadelphia have been covered in smoke.
Although the fires started in April, in early July the smoke was still visible in New York.
Well, are people doing anything to help prevent/combat these wildfires? Don’t worry, they are! The government are funding through the Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program, where they will train 300 indigenous firefighters and 125 indigenous fire guardians. You can probably guess what they will be doing. Canada is also at ‘national preparedness level 5’ – which means that Canada has committed all national resources to fight wildfires across
the country.
By Grace
It’s getting hot in here
In very unsurprising news recently, the climate is still in disaster. According to the World Meteorological Organisation’s newest study, there is an approximately 50% chance the global temperature will exceed the dreaded 1.5 degree Celsius increase. This means that the average temperature is 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial times, as measured c1850- 1900.
But is this all a big fuss about nothing? For now, the temperature increase is not too much of a concern for scientists as it is only temporary, due to the natural fluctuations in temperature and an el nino weather phenomenon, where the surface temperature of the sea rises in the tropical pacific ocean. This is an entirely normal occurrence. However it has been happening for longer and more dramatically in recent years. If the global temperature exceeds the 1.5 degrees limit for an extended period of time, the Paris Agreement of 2015 will have been breached, reflecting concerns of greenwashing and empty promises from the world’s governments.
The general trend in rising temperatures is largely caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Huge industries are mostly to blame for this, with the energy sector producing well over half of CO2 emissions. Of course personal consumption and emissions should be kept in check, but as with most arguments around climate change, it is only when businesses and governments begin to take genuine action that the planet may be saved.
By Ava
Vaping and why it sucks
Young people in schools all around the UK are vaping – even year 5 and 6’s- and it needs to stop. We do not know the long term effects of vaping yet but we know it’s not going to be good. We all know smoking kills people, but did you know it causes 1300 deaths every day? In addition, vaping isn’t much better, in fact there are chemicals such as nickel, tin and lead in vapes. Also nicotine, which is a highly addictive and harmful substance.
Almost three times as many young people vaped in 2022 compared to 2021, with one in three children saying they had vaped in the last month*. 44% of young people in UK schools are said to have vaped at least once in their life and that has risen from 15% in 2021. This adds up to almost 3.5 million young people. Vaping is very dangerous and no young person should be doing it.
We think vapes should be banned from shops and only prescribed to people when they want to quit smoking, because this is what they were originally made for. Vapes cause life threatening problems which most young people fail to understand. For example, 26 year old Dylan Nelson was feeling sick one day after using one of many vapes he had. The next day he felt worse and immediately went to hospital where his symptoms got worse throughout the day. By nightfall, his lungs were filling with fluid and doctors had to put him into a medically induced coma. He has since been discharged from the hospital and is recovering slowly. Even though he suffered years ago, he is still not fully recovered which just proves how dangerous vaping really can be.
We spoke to Scott from Vapourtech on Queen Street and he told us:
“Being in the vaping industry for over 4 years we have seen first-hand how effective vaping can be in aiding quitting smoking, as this is what vaping was designed for. However, in recent years the tobacco giants have seen this as an opportunity to cash in with the disposable vape market which in my opinion was done to target kids with the super sweet flavours and bright packaging.
“For people unaware, these 2% vapes contain as much nicotine as 40 cigarettes!”
Scott also mentions the difficulties in disposing of vapes and how they often become litter, so Vapourtech are working on their own recycling scheme. Use the bin in their shop
“Disposable vapes should only be used by adults. We would not advise a non-smoker or children to do so as it can become very addictive. IF YOU DON’T SMOKE DONT VAPE.”
By Hannah and Katie
*Figures collected in 2022 by Opinium, a market research agency.
CORRECTION:
In the last issue of Artograffi we accidentally stated that the Coronation had cost £100billion, instead of £100million. This was a typo and we apologise.
