Building a Better World

By Nate Feldman Six years ago, in June 2017, I went to the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina.  People take care of lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center.  Most of the world's lemurs live in Madagascar.  However, the largest collection of lemurs outside of Madagascar are in North Carolina.   I went to the Duke Lemur Center on a Sunday morning.  They gave us a tour of the lemurs.  There was a woman there.  She explained different information about the lemurs.  We saw the lemurs inside of their cages.  There were many types of lemurs.  After that, we saw a video about the Duke Lemur Center.  Finally, we went to the gift shop.  We bought different things.  I bought a hoodie with a lemur on it.  It said, "The Duke Lemur Center," on it.   The Duke Lemur Center is very important.  It takes care of lemurs and makes sure they are doing well.  I appreciate their work.  

  By Nate Feldman Currently, in the Sociology class I am teaching at ELS, we are listening to lectures about how to start Social Movement Organizations, or SMOs as the lecture refers to them.   People often begin social movements when they feel deprived of something or feel something in their society is unjust.  They find like-minded individuals who share these grievances and often form an organization to address them.  When these organizations begin actions, such as protests or speeches dealing with the issue at hand, a movement has begun.   I can't say there's an exact movement I am planning to start at the moment.  For a long time, I've been interested in interacting with people from different backgrounds, and I definitely like the idea of getting people from different backgrounds to get to know one another and understand each other's cultures and traditions in a respectful way.   One thing I'd be interested in doing is starting a sum...

  By Nate Feldman Yesterday in class we read about Sea Turtles.  They are a very old species.  Some lived over 200 million years ago, long before humans were around.  However, sea turtles are now in danger, and their numbers are falling because of human activity.   The ocean waters are rising because of warmer temperatures.  Sea turtles place their eggs in the sand in beaches, but the rising waters flood the area now.  This destroys their nests.   Also, the temperatures affect the gender of the turtles.  There are more female turtles because it is warmer.  This is because of global warming.  Male turtles are born with cooler temperatures.  There are less males, now.   Some people want the turtles to be safe.  Mariana Fuentes is a conservationist and a professor at Florida State University.  She wants to protect the turtle nesting sites, so she created an organization to do this. They protect the ne...

  By Nate Feldman Today, I took a walk along the Schuylkill River Trail with my friend Sarah.  We met at the Betzwood Parking Lot, which is a part of Valley Forge National Park.  We then walked along a dirt path that runs parallel to the river.  With it being late spring, everything was extremely lush.  The temperature was very nice, and because it was sunny, the water was glowing very nicely.   Sarah and I found a little grass area where we sat overlooking the river.  We had a nice conversation about many topics.  Then, we walked back to our cars.   This area is a great place to take a walk or run.  It's also nice to just sit along the river and look out into the water, relaxing your mind.  

"Bucketfillers" at Hillside Elementary School Acknowledged by the T/E School Board.   The Tredyffrin Easttown school board recognized children from each grade at Hillside Elementary School as "bucketfillers" of the month at a meeting on Monday, January 28 at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, PA.  The five students from grades K-4 had their names called out and received a certificate for their achievement. A bucketfiller is a student who is uniquely helpful to his or her classmates.  They go out of their way to provide assistance to those in need.  Students each month nominate one of their peers for this title.  Awards such as this ideally encourage young people to work together well with all of their classmates. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service Every third Monday of January, people in the United States observe Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Day in honor of the iconic African American civil right's activist, who most famously campaigned for equality between white and black Americans, along with a number of other important social causes, using non-violence.  Many people view this holiday as a day of service, and they use their free time to volunteer with a local municipality, charitable organization, or place of worship, just to name some places, as a way of giving back to their community. One example of community service local to my area today was the Cradles to Crayons collection drive at the Upper Main Line YMCA in Berwyn, PA.  Organized by the Diversity, Inclusion and Global Innovation Network (DIG), volunteers set up a table at the building's entrance, collecting a variety of household items for the local area's most needy residents.  With excruciatingly cold temperat...