MIAD CD4_13 The Silver Lining

05 Do-Good Goodies: hand-in-hand soap

DEPARTMENTS FEATURES

06 How I See the World: the importance of being a young advocate

12 Thoughts About: traffic control - separating animal and human travel

14 Beautiful, Innovative, Sustainable: the future of green architecture

20 Maker’s Corner: build a solar heater

22 The Pacific Garbage Patch: a young inventor tackles ocean pollution

27 Activist Activity: save the Great Barrier Reef from dredging

Greetings and welcome to the very first issue of Silver Lining Magazine!

We couldn’t be more excited to have made it to this point. Please take some time to get to know the layout of our magazine. We’re starting out our monthly publication by bringing you the Green edition. Inside, you will find a variety of informative and inspiring content dealing with sustainability, and emvironmental responsibility.

We at Silver Lining set out to create an online and print magazine that would promote healthy and deliberate living, through the spreading of good news.

The Silver Lining strives to bring you the best of what is happening in today’s world, because we believe that what the world needs most is a little more positivity. Good moods translate to great achievements!

What you will find in the pages of Silver Lining Magazine is a collection of inspired and instructive articles written by real, honest, down-to-earth

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folks who work very hard to live deliberately, but who are not afraid to admit the struggles we sometimes face. We don’t always have hours to exercise every day. Our houses aren’t perfect. We stay informed and eat as healthy as we can, but we are also realistic and flexible. We try to be great examples for our kids, but we sometimes forget to appreciate every moment of life fully.

We are honored to share the work of so many extremely committed and thoughtful people. Please take time to visit our online edition to see the wonderful contributors and read their bios. Also, feel free to leave comments on the articles to share your thoughts or ask the author a question.

We appreciate your support and are so happy to have you as a reader of Silver Lining Magazine.

With warmest thanks,

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THOUGHTS FROM BRITTANY DIAMOND I did not experience the white picket

apart. My mom trusted us with other

fences of the 1950's and 60's. I grew

people's parents, and when we acted

up in the ghetto, in a neighborhood

out, she trusted them to correct us,

where the biggest business was an old

without having too much ego as to

factory that shut down in the 1980’ s,

allow it to reflect on her own parenting.

leaving many unemployed and poor.

Having two jobs in our neighborhood

This neighborhood became a side note, forgotten by the rest of the city, left

was normal, and everyone both needed help, and gave it when they could.

to its own devices. My family was one

Our neighborhood, our community, was

of two white families in the area. The

functioning, because we, the people,

people I grew up with I consider family,

participated. A community is a living

even to this day. We did not have

organism, and if no one feeds it, it dies.

neighborhood programs. My friends

Democracy is the same way, I feel. With

nicknamed ourselves the 'Tres-Four

no participation by the people, it fails.

CDC,' which was the Thirty-Fourth Street Community Development Crew.

One of my brothers actually has that tattooed on his chest. My brothers, my sister, and our friends played together after school, in neighbor's yards and houses. We would have dinners and slumber parties all over the neighborhood, because our parents believed in community, and believed that we are all stronger together than

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I vote based on issues that seem highly relevant to me - issues that I consider to be important in the community, and world, that I live in, or want to live in. I vote for positive changes; things that seem like they will have the most positive effects, for the most people; positive changes that will have long-term effects. I vote based on my conscience. I vote based on my belief system, and my values.

This means,for me, that I do not normally vote for a certain party all the time.

I consider myself to be middle of the road, but there are some who would call me liberal. I think that is because right now, I might be more of a liberal, with all of the things that are going on in the world. I see the need for big changes right now, so that is what I vote for. Things that some consider “hot button issues,�I might not consider important because I just can't see how they hold any longevity or positive effects for a large group of people. With these issues, I find myself simply objective and unemotional as a result of not having any personal attachment to these things. I still vote though, always.

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I grew up in the ghetto. I grew up as a minority. I had to work very hard to have the things, see the things, and do the things that a lot of my peers considered rights, not privilege. It is no one's fault or choice to be born into what they are born into. What we do after we are born, that is what matters.

I cannot say what I would be like if I had been born under a different set of circumstances. I just wasn't. I make decisions based on the experiences that I have had. I believe in karma. I believe in duty, and justice. I believe in celebrating differences, people, ideas. I do not think anyone should ever be silent. I believe everyone has worth.

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The ways that I find myself working

second nature to lend a helping hand

within my community most effectively

where needed. I have tried to be this

is by being a natural advocate to those

way for my entire life, and I think this

who cannot help themselves. I have

is the first step for anyone to be an

worked with children as a caregiver,

active participant in any community.

and as a coach, I currently work with

If you don't know who needs help, or in

elderly and disabled people, and I try

what way, how can you be an effective

to be a good listener in my daily life.

advocate? Sometimes I have had to

As much as that last one might seem

choose between helping one person or

unimportant compared to the others,

another, and have had to make value

I think it is the most important, and the

judgments based on need. I think people

first step in being an advocate.

do that everyday without realizing it.

I like to hear people's stories. I think all

I hope to one day have children and to

people are interesting and unique, and

teach them this way of thinking. I think

they fascinate me. Sometimes, I am

helping others should be second nature

taken advantage of, but I believe I am

– it shouldn't be something you even

a very strong person, and I have a lot

have to think about. If you have a

to give. I am not naĂŻve, I know when I'm

sandwich and the person next to you

being manipulated or taken advantage

is hungry, give them half of your

of, but in some situations, I choose to

sandwich. That is the way I think. That

give because I see what is at stake for

is the way I act, also. Making community

the perpetrator. At times, it hurts me

a better, and more functioning a thing,

far less to ignore a thing than to not

is about action, not just about beliefs.

help someone who actually needs it.

I try to live my life as someone who is always watching and paying attention to others around me, so that it is

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Article written by Nathaniel Baker Illustration by Maggie Sommers

The oceans are so vast and deep that until fairly recently, it was widely assumed that no matter how much trash and chemicals humans dumped into them, the effects would be negligible. But ocean pollution has become a more pressing issue, and has scientists and ecologists around the globe searching for answers. Now, Boyan Slat, a 19-year-old boy from Holland, has developed a solution to tackel the ocean’s biggest enemy - plastic.

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There is evidence to suggest that oceans have suffered at the hands of mankind for a millennia - as far back as the Roman empire.

Pollution is the introduction of harmful contaminants that are outside the norm for any given ecosystem. Common man-made pollutants that reach the ocean include pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, detergents, oil, sewage, plastics, and other solids.

Many of these pollutants collect at the ocean's depths, where they are consumed by small marine organisms and introduced into the global food chain. There is evidence to suggest

Solid waste like bags, foam, and other

patches. One in the North Pacific,

items dumped into the oceans from

known as the Pacific Trash Vortex,

land or by ships at sea are frequently

a massive collection of accumulated

consumed, with often fatal effects, by

plastic particles, is estimated to be

marine mammals, fish, and birds that

the size of Texas.

mistake it for food.

One of the most serious threats to our

that the oceans have suffered at the

In certain regions, ocean currents corral

oceans is plastics pollution. Plastic

hands of mankind for millennia - as

trillions of decomposing plastic items and

constitutes approximately 90% of all

far back as the Roman empire.

other trash into gigantic, swirling garbage

trash floating on the ocean’s surface,

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with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square

and one million seabirds die each year

accumulations of disposed plastic

mile. Why is there so much plastic in

from ingesting or becoming entangled

material, was considered impossible.

the ocean? Unlike other types of trash,

in plastic. Approximately 380 billion

Scientists have tired to develop a simple

plastic does not biodegrade; instead,

plastic bags are used in the United States

solution for years. Now, 19-year-old

it photo-degrades with sunlight,

every year. This translates to the average

inventor, Boyan Slat, says he and his

breaking down into smaller and smaller

American throwing away approximately

foundation has a way to clean up the

pieces, but they never really disappear.

185 pounds of plastic per year. It takes

world’s oceans, and not only does he say

These plastic pieces are eaten by marine

500-1000 years for plastic to degrade.

we can do it, but that we can do it in five

life, wash up on beaches, or break

Even if we stopped using plastics today,

years time and produce a profit from it.

down into microscopic plastic dust,

they will remain with us for many

With a concept he calls an ocean cleanup

attracting more debris.

generations, threatening both human

array, we can remove nearly 20 billion

and ocean health.

tons of plastic waste.

health of sea creatures, both big and

Previously, the task of cleaning up

It is made from a massive series of

small. Over 100,000 marine mammals

the world’s oceans, with their vast

floating booms and processing platforms

Plastic poses a significant threat to the

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that gradually suck in the floating plastic

booms, making it suddenly possible

affecting all of us. Best of all, the arrays

like a giant funnel. The angle of the

to actually visualize the oceanic garbage

operate on the power of the sun and

array is set up to allow all of the plastic

patches. We need to stress the

the oceans themselves.

to move toward the floating platform

importance of recycling, and reducing

processing centers. At the platform

our consumption of plastic packaging.”

processing, naturally occurring life and organisms, such as plankton, are separated from plastic materials, which is then kept and stored, to be recycled.

Not only is Slat's concept self-powered, it would also be very profitable from

Slat was able to come up with the idea

the all the recycling, which is estimated

while in school, and so he wrote a paper

in the amount of 500 million dollars

on his concept. Once Slat's paper was

(U.S.) per year. According to Slat's

published it immediately caught the

website it "would make in fact more

What is most impressive about the array

attention of many marine experts. His

money than the plan would cost to

is that once it goes operational it would

paper won all manner of prizes, which

execute. In other words; it's profitable."

clean up the oceans in only 5 years time.

included the Best Technical Design 2012

He also makes a point in saying that

from the Delft University of Technology.

due to the vastness of our oceans most do not know how badly polluted the oceans really are.

When he and others realized that the concept would work he took a leap of faith and created a non-profit

“One of the problems with preventive

organization he calls The Ocean Cleanup

work is that there isn’t any imagery

Foundation. This group will focus on

of these ‘garbage patches’, because

the goal of developing his invention,

the debris is dispersed over millions

raise funds for it and make it operational

of square kilometers,” Slat says on

as soon as possible. His concept would

his website. “By placing our arrays,

save numerous aquatic species and

however, it will accumulate along the

help reduce PCB and DDT contaminants

His concept would save numerous aquatic species and help reduce PCB and DDT contaminants affecting us all.

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