Fiber Characteristics

Warmth - the textile way to keep our body warm in a comfortable heat

Water Absorbency - the ability of clothes to absorb water

Shrinkage - the ability of clothes to keep it's size

Durability - how well the cloth can withstand wear

Dye fastness - the ability for cloth to keep it's original color

Strength - the ability to withstand force

Elasticity - to return to it's original size after contraction, dilatation or distortion

Crease recovery - the ability to recover from wrinkles

Flammability - the ability to resist fire

Care Labels

Picture from:
http://www.suagcenter.com/images/FabricCareSymbols1.jpg

Indonesian Handicrafts

Fragile Environments Report- Rain Forest

A fragile environment is the surroundings around us that are easily destroyed. The fragile environment I chose is a rain forest in Sumatra. The name of this rain forest is Sumatran Montane Rain Forest. The Sumatran Montane Rain Forest runs parallel to the west coast of Sumatra. The size of theSumatran Montane Rain Forest is 28,100 square miles. That is about half the size of Michigan in the United States!

The Sumatran Montane Forest is a fragile environment because it is sensitive to changes. For instance, many people like to cut down trees. Trees help clean the pollution and poison out of the air. When trees are cut down, the poison spreads and kills other plants. Another effect is that when trees are cut down, the forest animals loose their habitats. Also there are problems with the soil. Soil was designed for the trees. Soil and trees depend on each other. When it rains, soil erodes ruining the ecology. Many endangered animals live in this rain forest such as the Sumatran rhinoceros, Sumatran tiger, and the Sumatran rabbit. There also is a rare flower that only grows in rain forest called the Rafflesia. This flower only grows a month in a year. All of these need habitat, soil and trees to survive.

The rain in the Sumatran Montane Rain Forest has to be the right amount. Slight changes will cause the ecosystem to collapse. Temperature also has an impact. The plants in the Sumatran Montane Rain Forest need the right temperature to grow. When people burn the rain forest, it causes haze and blocks the sunshine. People have a big impact as well. People cause lots of damage to the rain forest. They cut down trees to sell burn large sections for farming and build houses. This ends up destroying the environment.

Bibliography:

Our Field Trip to Gunung Pancar

On Tuesday, May 13, 2008, grade five went to Gunung Pancar nearby our school. We went there to learn about fragile environments. First we took the school bus until we reached the front of Gunung Pancar, for the rest of the road was too small for the bus to fit in. So, we walked the rest of the way.

We walked and walked until it passed a hour and a half! We were all so tired, yet we still had a little more to walk. When we finally arrived, most of us couldn't wait to go into the fresh water from the waterfall! We jumped right in with our PE clothes on. Even though the water was very cold, it felt so good. Our body temperature cooled down right away. All of us were told to bring change beforehand, so it was alright to swim with our PE clothes. 

After we were done swimming, we all had lunch near the waterfall in a little shelter. The food felt so yummy in our tummy because we were so tired and hungry after the long walk and swimming. Once we finished eating, we interviewed the guides who helped us get to the waterfall. Their names were Pak Elbas, Pak Hendra, and Pak Oding.

Pak Oding  has been working in Gunung Pancar for 12 years, and Pak Hendra has been working in Gunung Pancar for 10 years. Pak Oding's job is to clean the waterfall area, while Pak Elbas and Pak Hendra work as farmers. From this interview I learned that the waterfall we saw hasn't changed since the first time they saw it. 

This waterfall never gets dirty. The interesting part is that when it rains, the rocks don't get chipped off. The width of the waterfall is 5m, while the length is 150m, and the depth is 2,5 m. We heard rumors that the local government wants to make the area around the waterfall into a parking lot. I hope this is not true, because the nature there is breathtaking. A parking lot will take away part of the nature and ruin the scenery.

A long time ago, this place used to be a big forest, where there used to be 100 eagles, and many other animals such as monkeys and wild pigs. But then, many people cut the trees down to make houses. After the trees were cut down, the animals lost their habitat and couldn't survive. Now we only could see one eagle! Also, since the are not too many trees like it used to before, the mountain cannot contain the water too much anymore when it rains, causing the water to flood the city much lower than this area, like Jakarta. 

We took another path to get back to the bus. This path was less steep, but it took us longer. We took a few stops to rest and then we had to walk again. We were relieved when we saw to bus. When we got in the bus, we all hurried to get a seat.

While we were seated, my class mate Jesslyn told me that the bus ran out of fuel so they had to buy some fuel first. When the fuel tank was full, we started heading back for school. Then another problem happened.... the air conditioner didn't work! It was broken! After walking a long way and feeling very hot, we didn't even have any air conditioner. So all in a hurry, we all opened as many windows as we could. Even though the windows were open, it was still hot because the windows in the bus were so small and not all the windows could open. We all had to bear it as we went back to school. When we arrived back at school, we all took a rest since we all were tired.

Even though the trips to the waterfall and back were tiring, we all had so much fun and learned a lot about nature. It made me appreciate more about God's creation.

United Nations (UN) Speech

Today our country, Eden Land is asking that you vote us into the United Nations. We care for the world and we want to make it a better place. Eden Land also should be in the United Nations because we take care of the environment. We want people to have good food, clean water and nice clothes. Another important thing, we believe, is that proper shelter should be provided for everyone no matter if they are rich or poor.

It is very crucial that children get good education. Without education, the next generation won’t be able to get good jobs which will lead to increased poverty. Therefore, we will make a free school for the people who don’t have enough money for their children’s education. Poverty is a big problem causing people all over the world to not have anything to eat or drink. We need to get rid of poverty through education. Eden Land also wants to promote gender equality because everyone should be treated equally. Life should not be unfair to others.

Eden Land wants to help cure the sick. We need to make sure that pregnant women are safe. It is important that people stay healthy because if they get a really bad sickness, they could die. If everyone dies because of sicknesses, then there will be no one left in this world. To avoid bad sicknesses, Eden Land will make sure that cheap medicine is available to those who need it.

Eden Land wants to make global partnerships with other countries so there will be peace in this world. We hope that there will be no more wars between two or more countries. By having more global partnerships, the world will be a better and safer place for people to live in.

Tourism Spots in Eden Land

Maddue Forest:

Do you want to see some unique animals? Do you want to sleep under the marvelous night sky? Well, if you want to do these things, come over to the glamorous forest in Eden Land! In this lovely forest, you can see special animals that only lives in this wonderful forest. The creatures are the Green fox, Maddue, and a six legged tree mouse! Soon you will discover that these animals are not ferocious but they are harmless. The Maddue  likes to do tricks, the Green fox likes to run, and the tree mouse loves to jump from tree to tree! So start packing!

Eden Beach:

Do you want to watch a lovely sunset? Do you want to walk on a marvelous sandy beach? Do you want to build sand castles and swim in the clear blue ocean? Well, come to our Eden Beach! Here you can gaze at the terrific sea shells. Each shell has it's own creative color. The sunset at Eden Beach is full of different colors! At first it may look like a normal sunset, but every five minutes it changes colors! It changes from red to green to yellow to purple to blue and so on. The ocean is very refreshing if you are feeling hot. So, come to our exquisite Eden Beach!

Diamond Bridge:

Do you want to see a bridge full of glamorous diamonds? Have you ever driven on a bridge that sparkles? Well, you will get this opportunity to do this on Eden Land’s Diamond Bridge. This bridge has many diamonds that sparkle by a mile! There are all sorts of diamonds, big ones, fat ones, round ones, and flat ones! So come see this fantastic diamond bridge!