Editor's note: All of the Torrey Pines fifth-graders were given an assignment to write Letters to the Editor. Here's a selection of a few of them. The remainder will be published next week.
Let's make sure to spare the air daily
I walked on an early Sunday morning and I inhaled deeply uggh smoke. My name is Isabella Gardner and I think we should spare the air every day. Our air is polluted, not as much as other places, but it is still polluted. We can't clean our air easily, but we can stop polluting it. One spare the air day won't help as much as every person doing a little part every day.
Air pollution is a health hazard. Particulate pollution from the burning of fossil fuel kills 24,000 people per year in California according to the newest figures from the California Air Resources board.
"Our report concludes these particles are 70 percent more dangerous than previously thought, based on several major studies that have occurred in the last five years," said the board's chief researcher, Bart Croes.
State researchers reviewed several large studies, including one conducted by the University of Southern California, on 23,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area, and one conducted by the American Cancer Society on 300,000 people across the United States. They found that exposure to even very small levels of fine particulates exponentially increased people's risks of heart attacks, strokes and other diseases.
Air pollution can also cause acid rain, a form of precipitation that has high levels of sulfuric or nitric acids. It can contaminate drinking water and vegetation, damage aquatic life, and erode buildings. The most satisfactory long-term solution to air pollution may well be the elimination of fossil fuels and the ultimate replacement of the internal combustion engine.
Don't you want our air to be clean? It will help people's health and it will be clean for the future. You can car pool, walk, bike or do lots of other things to get where you want to go. Or even better you can buy an electric car.
Isabella Gardner
Grade 5, Mr. Ramirez
Torrey Pines Elementary
Please pick up your trash on the beach
Dear Editor,
Hi, my name is Tiffany Martin and I am in fifth grade at Torrey Pines Elementary School. When I go to the beach I see a lot of trash. People aren't picking up their trash and putting it in the trash cans. It isn't good for animals and it could hurt them. I believe that we should add more trash cans all around the beach and put signs up. Also, if people litter they should get a ticket.
One day I was walking with my mom and my friend, Ellen. We were going to play in the sand at La Jolla Cove. When I was going to wash my hands in the water I noticed two paper bags floating in the water. Then, I looked around and saw lots of trash like cans, cigarettes, wrappers near the walls, by the trash cans, in the sand and near the bathrooms. I was very angry because I was worried that the animals could get hurt. I know how much everyone likes to eat at the beach, but if you do eat at the beach you need to throw away your trash!
If there were more trash cans and signs up it would keep the beach clean and protect the animals. So, please do not litter!!!!
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