Monsoon Journal

Strapping on a backpack is a daily ritual for students, as they struggle to stuff in the necessities of school. But,  is your child’s backpack well designed and comfortable? Or is it continually overloaded and awkwardly designed? Consider the following questions to see if your child’s backpack is packed light and worn right. 1. Is it positioned  below your child’s shoulder and above their hipbone? 2. Is it made of lightweight material? 3. Does it have adjustable, padded shoulder straps that are at least two inches  wide? 4. Is it made with a padded back for added protection and comfort? 5. Does it have with a hip strap or waist belt, which helps redistribute the weight/contents? 6.  Does it have several individual pockets instead of one large compartment?

7. When packed does it weigh less than 15 per cent of your child’s body weight (10 per cent for  elementary students)? 8. Are heavy, bulky items packed closest to the body? 9. Does your child carry their backpack over both shoulders? 10. Can your child stand  upright comfortably while wearing the backpack? If you answered no to three or  more of the above questions, your child’s backpack could be improperly designed and over  packed. This could place him/her at risk of causing stress  and potential irritation and injury to their spine, joints and muscles. Backpacks, a pain in the neck…and back School kids today not only have a  lot on their minds, statistics show that they are also carrying a heavy load on their backs.

You need only watch how students struggle  while they walk with their overloaded backpacks to understand the potential health risks to the back and spine. Continually hauling heavy backpacks can cause stress to the developing spinal column, neck, arms, joints, and muscles of growing children. To prevent pain and injury from an overloaded backpack it is important to recognize the  correct way to choose, pack, lift, and carry a backpack. Choosing a backpack Make sure that the backpack is made of lightweight material, has two wide, adjustable  shoulder straps, a waist belt, several individual pockets, a padded back and is proportionate to the child’s body size. It should not extend beyond a child’s shoulders or below the top of their hipbones.

Packing a backpack The load in a backpack should not exceed 10 per cent of an elementary student’s bodyweight and 15 per cent for those in secondary school. The contents should be evenly distributed with heavy items packed closely to the body. Lifting and carrying a backpack When putting the  backpack on, a child should place it on a table or chair, bend at the knees and lift with the legs while putting on one shoulder strap at a time. Before your child walks out the door encourage  him/her to wear both straps so the bag fits comfortably and is close to the body. Chiropractic. Treatment that stands up If your child begins to experience back pain,  hiropractic treatment may help. Doctors of Chiropractic are back care specialists, who offer hands-on treatment that targets the source of pain. For more information on back care and safety visit the Ontario Chiropractic Association Web site at www.chiropractic.on.ca or call 1877- 327-2273. Courtesy: Dr. George Traitses,  416-499-5656, www.infinite-health.com

Planning Commission the Prime Minister of India said: “We import over 70% of our petroleum energy needs and are also moving to a deficit position in coal. Rational energy policies are also critical for rational responses to the threat of climate change.” The Prime Minister asked the Commission to make a fresh assessment of the energy scenario. The Prime Minister’s concern with climate change is wholly welcome. But we have to be careful that our selfrestraint in reducing carbon emissions is not undone by increased emissions by the rich countries. The three main sources of energy are thermal, nuclear and hydropower. All three are not sustainable. Burning of coal in thermal plants leads to emissions of carbon dioxide gas which is contributing to global warming. India has large reserves of coal but the quality is poor. Our coal contains large amounts of sulphur and other non-carbon contents. These materials get burnt along with the carbon in the coal. This leads to emission of sulphur dioxide which is more harmful than carbon dioxide. Thus increased generation of thermal power is not sustainable. We have few reserves of uranium that can be used for the generation of nuclear power. We have to import uranium which threatens our economic sovereignty. Moreover, nuclear power has problems of disposal of radioactive wastes. Hydropower has many serious environmental impacts. The silt of the rivers is getting trapped in reservoirs like Tehri and leading to erosion of our coasts. The leaves and other organic material ferment in the bed of reservoirs and generates poisonous methane gas. Most importantly hydropower projects disturb the free flow of the rivers whom we worship. They destroy our cultural heritage. It is like placing a broken earthen pot in the pooja instead of the kalash. None of the three main sources of energy are, therefore, sustainable. The true solution of this problem is to reduce the consumption of energy. We can stop the use of air-conditioners and use CFL lamps instead of bulbs. We can also develop more solar power which has lesser environmental effects. But it is unlikely that such measures can bridge the gap between demand and supply of power. The Government is also less interested in such measures because there are few opportunities to give out big contracts here. Therefore, we have no alternative but to choose between the three sources of power to meet our immediate requirements-howsoever harmful they may be. We can examine who bears the costs of thermal, nuclear and hydro power to make such an assessment. Technology expert Brad Templeton provides an interesting perspective on this in his blog titled ‘Moral choice on nuclear vs. coal’. Arguing against nuclear power, he says: “What is done by the CO2 we emit is done to the whole world. While the USA and developed world produce most of the CO2 emissions, they will suffer a minority of the damage. The problems of nuclear power, however, largely remain within the country. If there is a nuclear waste problem, it’s our problem. If there is a meltdown, it’s our land that is ruined, our people killed. Both choices, nuclear and fossil have predicted risks. But very different sets of people pay the price.” The argument is that costs of thermal power are borne substantially by rest of the world while those of nuclear power are borne by ourselves, therefore, let us use more coal. The same logic applies to hydropower. The environmental and cultural costs of this are borne within country. Nuclear power has one additional disadvantage for us. We become dependent on imports of uranium and that hits at our economic sovereignty. Therefore, if we opt for thermal power the consequences will be borne by the whole world while if we opt for nuclear or hydro power the costs will be borne by us. We face a moral hazard. We have to increase our consumption of power because rest of the world is not willing to reduce their energy consumption. If we unilaterally reduce our consumption then we will fall behind in the international markets. Energy consumption is for us a compulsion arising from refusal of other countries to move to a high-price low-consumption regime. Therefore, the costs of high energy consumption should also be borne by all countries together. Ideally we should practice restrain and not follow others in their wrong action. But this can be counterproductive. The problem is explained in economics as ‘grazing dilemma’. There is a common grazing land in the village. If all villagers agree not to graze for 15 days, the grass will grow and everyone will have more grass. But what to do when some do not follow the rule? If I do not graze while others do, then I am left much worse off. I loose even the small grazing that I was getting previously. The rule breakers get my share of the grazing. Thus, it is best for me not to abide by the rule if others are not likely to abide by it. The same logic applies to thermal power. If all countries reduce the use of coal and oil then we should follow. But if other countries increase the use of coal and we exercise selfrestraint; then we will suffer from the global warming inflicted by other countries’ use of coal and also bear the local environmental and political costs of nuclear and hydro power. Global consumption of coal is increasing rapidly. The World Energy Outlook tells us that use of coal is expected to rise by over 60% from 2006 to 2030. Coal’s share in global electricity generation is set to increase from 41% to 44% in this period. Clean energy activist Steve Kretzmann says the World Bank Group lending to coal, oil and gas is up 94% from 2007 but lending to coal has increased an ‘astonishing’ 256% in the last year. These stats indicate that the world is not likely to reduce its consumption of coal in the near future. In consequence, global warming will continue we will be affected by this irrespective of our use of coal. We will be doubly hit if we opt for nuclear and hydro power. It seems to me we should opt for coal till such time that there is a reliable and verifiable global consensus against use of that source. Rich countries are weaving a web around us. They are asking us to reduce use of coal in order to contain global warming. But they are themselves continuing with their consumption of coal and oil. We will be affected by the global warming that will take place anyways. Additionally we will become dependent upon them for imports of uranium. We will also loose our spiritual and cultural mettle due to killing of our rivers. The Prime Minister should not walk into this trap. We should develop our coal resources till there is a credible global consensus to reduce the same. Kanayalal Raina (Brampton based consultant who provides technology, tools, services to help business to start, grow and succeed. He can be contacted Email: klsraina@rogers.com)

Shanthiya Wins Provincial and Jeyapalan twins win local and TD Canada Trust Scholarships Thirteen students in Markham are among the winners of the 2009 Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation Excellence Awards. The award recognizes university- and college- bound students for their achievements in leadership, innovation, academic performance, and community service: Rida Anmol - Local, Markham District High School, Waseya Ansari - Local, Middlefield Collegiate Institute, Shanthiya Baheerathan - Provincial, Markville Secondary School, Evan Chong - Local, Markham District High School, Raha Francis - Local, Brother Andre Catholic High School, Timothy Galang - Local, Brother Andre Catholic High School, Ardavan Ganeshalingam - Local, Middlefield Collegiate Institute, Vijayabharath Jeyapalan - Local, Markville Secondary School, Vinobharath Jeyapalan - Local, Markville Secondary School, Tiffany Lau - Local, Unionville High School, William Liu - Local, Unionville High School, Jia (Amy) Qian Lu - Local, Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute, Nissi Wei - Local, Markham District High School Local award winners will receive an award of $4,500, provincial/territorial award winners will receive $20,500 and national award winners will receive a total of $25,000. TD Canada Trust Scholarships for Community Leadership TD Canada Trust announced the recipients of the 2008-2009 TD Canada Trust Scholarships for Community Leadership valued at up to 70,000 each. From across the country, these young Canadians have made a meaningful and lasting difference in their communities. All of these extraordinary young people share one common belief - one person can indeed make a difference. The 2008-2009 TD Canada Trust Scholarships were officially awarded on May 7th at a national ceremony in Ottawa by Tim Hockey, Group Head Personal Banking and Co-Chair TD Canada Trust. TD Canada Trust Scholarship Recipients Daniella Barreto, Jillian Cameron, Megan Fultz, Taylor Gordon, Aristides Hadjinicolaou, Anna James, Vijay Jeyapalan, Vino Jeyapalan, Omar Karim, Alyssa Lake, Nicole Leroux, Taryn McKenzie-Mohr, Julia McLellan, Latif Murji, Humza Nusrat, Ketaki Rawal, Rebecca Reiss, Mauricio Ruiz, Adam Stacey, Julien Tremblay. Profiles of 3 students are given below: Shanthiya Baheerathan Markville Secondary School, Markham, ON Recognizing that numerous students within in her school required a niche to become physically active, Shanthiya co-founded “iLive, a healthy living club”. Her efforts to promote motivation through wellness practices have garnered her recognition from all levels of the school. She also managed the Science and Innovation conference for the Mayor’s Youth Task Force, wherein 300 students learnt from speakers from DEEP Science Academy, the Science Centre, and IBM. She has engaged herself in a multitude of school and community based initiatives. During the past four years she has been involved in such groups as DECA, Canadian Cancer Society, Cadets, Markham Stouffville Hospital and many more. Shanthiya also indulges herself in traditional dance, classical music, and piano. Vijayabharath (Vijay) Jeyapalan Markville Secondary School, Markham, ON Motivated to take action when he joined a youth group to research barriers for at-risk young people, Vijayabharath is today co-chair of the Markham Mayor’s Youth Task Force. He has organized more than 40 events, including “The Amazing Markham Race,” to support Pathways York Region, helping raise $25,000 for Pathways’ local residential youth home. Vijayabharath explores academic growth beyond high school, by participating in learning programs such as Queen’s University Enrichment Studies, Western’s Initiative for Scholarly Excellence, the Forum for Young Canadians and Shad Valley. He is also active in peer tutoring, youth mediation and the boys’ club. Vijayabharath seeks a career as an international public lawyer. Vinobharath (Vino) Jeyapalan Markville Secondary School, Markham, ON Learning that youth can gain power in numbers, Vino established the Youth Environmental Network of York Region to fight the environmental crisis. After winning a major grant, he created the annual Ecological Action Conference, where 300 attendees hear speakers such as Severn Cullis-Suzuki and Justin Trudeau. He was recognized as the 2008 Green Entrepreneur of the Year and the Lakehead’s Do Something Award winner. For two years, Vino served as the co-chair of the Markham Mayor’s Youth Task Force, and planned a Battle of the Bands event for the Canadian Cancer Society. He is founder of the school environmental club and takes part in anti-bullying, peer tutoring and mediation groups. He also participated in Shad Valley, Waterloo Unlimited, and the DEEP Science Academy.

By Chandrani Warnasuriya Princess Mi Nuong was the only daughter of King Hung of Vietnam. She was sad as much as she was beautiful. Her maids did their best to comfort her and console her. They combed and brushed her glossy black hair fixing it, setting it prim and proper, befitting a royal princess. They dressed her up in gorgeous robes and beautiful clothes, that was the admiration of all. One day after the routine grooming and ceremoniously dressing her up, the maids were saddened at the way she shunned and refused to look at the mirror. The problem was even though she was beautiful, the princess was getting old; and she was scared to see those budding wrinkles on her face. She was still not married. The King was very fond of his daughter, and wanted nothing but the best of suitors for her. A rich and powerful prince charming; excellent in all the arts and adept in warfare. But such a suitor was not easy to find. Years passed by and it looked as though the princess would never find a partner at all. One fine day however, two handsome young men visited the palace. They came in one after the other, and wooed the princess’s hand in marriage. They seemed to possess all what the King dreamed for his daughter. The King was confused. Sadly, he could not decide between the two suitors. So the King wondered and wondered, how to settle between the two. Who could these extraordinary princes be? The King did not wait to think or inquire about it. One happened to be the Spirit of the Sea disguised as a prince and the other was the Spirit of the Mountains in disguise. At last the King decided and went ahead, and called the two princes and said, “Go back to your country from where you came, whoever returns first with the desired gifts for the princess will get to marry her,” said the King. So the two princes hurried back, one went to the sea and the other went to the mountains. The Spirit of the Sea rushed to its ocean abode and called upon all the sea creatures. He commanded them to search for the rarest and the most precious pearls, tastiest crabs, the most delicious squid and other delectable sea food and treasures from the sea as gifts for the princess and the King. The Spirit of the Mountains called upon all the mountain animals to look for the treasure chest filled with diamonds, jewels and precious stones hidden in a cave in the mountains. He also collected baskets of exotic fruits and flowers to present as gifts to the King. The next morning the Spirit of the Mountains returned with his treasures, fruits and flowers and presented them to the King. The King unable to resist the gifts gave his daughter in marriage to the Mountain Spirit. Alas! The Spirit of the Sea returned minutes later, when the Mountain Spirit was already on its way down the gates of the palace with the beautiful Mi Nuong as his bride. The Spirit of the Sea finding that he was late to claim the hand of the princess, suspected the Mountain Spirit of mischief and went raving mad. He ordered the sea to blow a terrible storm across the land. Ferocious winds destroyed everything on its way. Trees got tossed and uprooted; roof tops blown off. Rains fell and flooded the land; swollen rivers overflowed their banks and houses were washed away. Ocean waves pounded mercilessly against the land; men women and children were displaced, and everywhere the Sea Spirit caused havoc as it rushed against the Mountain Spirit determined to snatch the princess away. But the Mountain Spirit high up in his mountain palace was not hurt. He could not be consumed by the waters; for as the foaming waters lashed against the mountains it fell back and poured helplessly down into the sea. The Mountain Spirit challenged the Ocean and mustered all its forces, of animals in the Mountains; elephants, lions, tigers, and cobras to fight the Spirit of the Ocean storms. The sea creatures accepted the challenge and fought back; but they could not fight much on land and many of them were killed. When the Spirit of the Sea found that the sea animals were losing the battle and could not get the princess, they retreated. The wind and the storm calmed down; the flood waters receded and peace came over both land and sea. But every year around August, the Sea Spirit encounters the land in a battle to win the hand of the princess up in the mountain palace and sends stormy winds and pouring rain to flood and destroy the land in the hope of winning the princess. When its fury ceases, peace is restored and the people are able to get about planting their rice fields and preparing for the harvest. That is why in Vietnam and other South East Asian countries like Sri Lanka we hear of the “Burst” of the Monsoon.

Contributed by Abizar Badani In 2010/11, The Children’s Peace Theatre will be celebrating ten years as part of a world wide effort to create a culture of peace. In 1998, the United Nations General Assembly declared the period 2000 - 2010 the “International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World”. In direct response to this declaration, The Children’s Peace Theatre was established in 2001, with a mandate to create a culture of peace by engaging children and youth through the practice of theatre. On September 11, 2001 children and youth from the Children’s Peace Theatre were on a train to New York City with a prestigious invitation to perform at the U.N. Headquarters to help launch the Decade of Peace. They were turned back at the U.S border as the grim events of that day unfolded. The events of September 11, 2001 hurled the world into an unprecedented state of alert fueled by deep misunderstanding, and intolerance and the youth of Toronto are coming of age in its aftermath. Since that event the Peace Theatre has been developing innovative programs for 8-24 year olds that help children and youth understand that conflict does not need to end in violence and that self-expression through the arts can be instrumental in developing tolerance. Programs include Peace Camp (for 8-13 year olds), the Peace is Possible Parade (all ages), The Youth Leaders Theatre Project (14-24), and 2 award winning programs for schools, Conflict Transformation and Peace Leaders. All of our programs are based on the belief that conflict is inevitable, but peace is possible when people face conflict with courage, compassion and creativity. Currently The Peace Theatre is taking registrations for their 9th annual Summer Peace Camp. Peace Camp is the biggest and most exciting program of the year. Children collaborate with professional artists for 3 weeks using theatre, art and music to engage in an exploration of the world around them and be inspired to imagine new possibilities. The children work with the artists to create an original theatre performance for the community. This year’s theme is “In Shadows”. We will be playing with idea of shadows to explore aspects of ourselves and our communities which we repress and the outcomes of such repression. The creation of the work is challenging, creative, exhilarating and fun! “The final performance is sure to be visually stunning and thought provoking and filled with youthful energy and humour”, says Artistic Director Karen Emerson. Peace Camp takes place at the Massey Goulding Estate at 305 Dawes Road from July 6-25th. The Gala performance of “In Shadows” will take place on Saturday July 25th in our outdoor amphitheatre. The Peace Theatre will also host a free Multi-Cultural Festival on Saturday June 27th from 1 to 5 pm. This year the festival will feature live music and dance from diverse cultures, including South Asian, arts activities for children and a market of delicious foods representing the diversity of the Crescent Town Community.

The Beauty Of Nature By Anjali Suthakaran Nature is a beautiful thing to see and to admire. Through others eyes people see nature differently. We rarely see beautiful pieces of nature anymore. Nature is one of the key things to the earth and what we need to survive. Sadly we pollute the air and ruin our planet so much that our nature preserves all get destroyed. The sight of that destroys nature our planet and sometimes even us. Nature is seen through different ways whether its plants and flowers magnificent creatures or just gorgeous scenery. Nature is like a pyramid which it relays on to keep the beauty of nature alive. At the bottom of the pyramid is us people. We have to do little part compared to what others do but we still choose not to do it the hard way and care. People must do their part by not littering throwing away things in the right bins and keeping the earth clean. We humans are the least part of nature. Animals rely on nature to rely on being there home. Animals cannot stand the sight of garbage and neither can I. Animals everyday get killed by garbage and all nature being destroyed. For example whales get straws stuck in there blow hole and die because they can’t get them out and whose fault is it for the straw being out there ours. Nature and homes for animals get destroyed for animals and they don’t have anywhere to go. That is how the population gets extinct. All the poor helpless animals can’t do anything about it if were killing their homes and them. Where does this all add up to you know NATURE! People and animals are important to nature but both of those combined are not as important as plants. Plants are just as important. Plants and flowers give nature its shine. Plants and flowers is what everyone see’s when they see a piece of the environment. Little do we know plants are much more to nature then just looking pretty and beautiful? Not everyone knows that if there were no plants and flower there be no nature. Think about it what do you basically see in nature? Trees flowers and plants you do see bugs as well but if there was no plants trees or anything green bugs or any wild life would never live there and where do you think they would live. They would start living with us in our own environment. We can’t blame them where do you expect them to go. It would be our fault as well for not doing our part. We all need to start doing our part and it is not that challenging either. Already people who care about our planet try doing the part for others but it will not work. Those people need to start doing their part. They need to take into consideration what I have spent all my time thinking about and writing and also use that amount of time that you took to read this story and start cleaning up. I can clean up you can clean up we can all clean up. We need repair the damage that has been done for years by us humans. WE NEED TO CLEAN UP THE ENVIRONMENT THE PLANET AND MOST IMPORTANTLEY OUR ACT. Are you up for the challenge by doing your part now!