January 2021 Grade 6 ISQH Research And Action Journal

THE JANUARY 2021 EDITION OF ISQH INVESTIGATION JOURNAL

Without them, we starve.

Global problems are a reality but individuals can make a difference.

The 6th graders of SISQ make their voices heard.

WITHOUT THEM, WE STARVE...................................3 WELCOME TO BOURGES. ........................................5 FRIENDS OR FOES? ...................................................7 CAN BEES SURVIVE THE HEAT OF QATAR? (ABRAR 6C) ...............................................................14 IS IT GETTING TOO HOT FOR OUR BEES? (JANA 6C) ..............................................................................19 CARPENTER BEES - IN DOHA? (BRIEUC 6C) ........23 WHY DO FARMERS USE ARTIFICIAL/CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS INSTEAD OF ORGANIC FERTILIZERS? (NATALIE 6C) ............................................................27 ARE PESTICIDES GOOD OR BAD? (CYRINE 6B)..35 THE HIGH PRICE OF UGLY PRODUCE (ZAHIRA 6B) 41 QATAR, IT IS 100% HALAL.... OR IS IT? (OLIVER 6A) 45

ABOUT OUR EXPERTS .............................................51

Without them, we starve.

Global problems are real but individuals have the choice and power to make a difference.

The 6th graders of SISQ make their voices heard

IB LEARNERS AT SISQ ARE CARING. THEY USE DATA TO IDENTIFY PROBLEMS AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS TO DEVELOP CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. THESE ARE CALLED ATTITUDES TO LEARNING. EVERY MONTH, WE WILL SHARE SOME OF OUR DISCOVERIES.

Š SISQ Individuals and Societies Do you enjoy chocolate? How about strawberries?

Perhaps you enjoy a good cheeseburger? But maybe you don’t enjoy those irritating bees that come into your house. And bats just give you the creeps. And pesky birds irritate you when they eat the fruit in your garden.

But without those scary, irritating creatures, we would lose 75% of our food supply and bees alone produce food worth over $500 billion. Einstein himself noted that if the bees die, humans will soon follow.

Unfortunately, due to human greed, bees (and other pollinators) are under threat.

Join our 6th graders on their adventure to save the planet and create awareness about how humans and pollinators can live together in harmony.

Welcome to Bourges.

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varicum. Place of water. This is the name that the ancient Romans gave to Bourges when Julius Caesar invaded this region of France.

As you can see, it is still possible to visit the ancient Roman ramparts and our students will go on an exciting virtual visit to the same marshes that Julius Caesar crossed.

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Unlike Caesar, we are not greedy conquerors but global citizens with an urgent mission to highlight how people like you and me can make an important di erence to saving the planet.

Our students are about to discover how traditional farming methods, geographical skills and biolo y might just protect the world from starvation.

Please join us on our adventure to save the planet by reading our very own publication where the 6th graders will highlight how WE can make a di erence.

WE ARE INCREDIBLY PROUD OF OUR STUDENTS FOR THE COLLABORATION THAT THEY HAVE SHOWN. THE FRENCH

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STUDENTS ARE TRANSLATING AND STUDENTS ARE SUPPORTING ONE ANOTHER AS EDITORS. DESPITE COVID, OUR STUDENTS CONTINUE TO CARE AND INSPIRE OTHERS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

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You see, Bourges is also a natural heritage site where ordinary people are making a huge di erence to ensure that humans live in harmony with animals.

Friends or Foes?

This article investigates whether bats and humans can live together in harmony - Claire Olivier Imagine a boxing match. In the red corner, we have a creepy bat. “Don’t bats spread Covid?”, I hear you say. And don’t they drink blood and turn into vampires? Surely, it’s a well known fact that they y into your hair at night just to terrorize you...

Or do they?

In order to investigate whether bats and humans can live in harmony, Mrs Olivier decided to visit the Natural History Museum of Bourges where she met bat expert Amelie Chrétien.

First of all, Amelie reminds us that bats are mammals too and very similar to humans. Just look at our skeletons.

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That’s right - we have the same rib

There is also no evidence that bats do cause Covid and, in fact, they actually eat mosquitos and prevent malaria and other diseases. Did you know that one bat can eat 600 mosquitos?

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So what about our side of the boxing ring? According to the Museum of Bourges, we are de nitely far scarier than bats. Bats drown in our swimming pools and get stuck in our fences. They die on our road and in our windscreen wipers. We poison them, throw stones at them, chase them from our houses (which are their homes too) and pollute the skies with electric lights so they can’t hunt.

cage, pelvis, arms and very similar jaws and skulls.

Bats give birth to life babies that they breastfeed.

When Amelie rescues baby bats, she has to feed them kitten milk from a paintbrush - just like a mommy bat!

This looks hopeless but Amelie has good news for us.

Saving the Climate and Saving the Bats Bats are a lot like 6th graders - very curious little creatures.

To a bat, a wind farm is like a giant forest of trees. Until they get sliced to death by the blades.

Wind ener y is becoming a very popular fuel source in France and the rest of Europe where it is designed to save the environment by reducing air pollution but many bats and birds pay a heavy price when they get sliced by the blades.

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The university staff made an agreement with the France Énergie Éolienne (the owners of the wind farms) to develop a creative way to save the bats and keep the farms productive.

The museum staff mapped where they found the dead bats and when they found them so that they could let the wind farms know when the bats would be flying.

The blades turn at a speed of up to 280 km/hr and during the period when the bats fly into France (migration period), the museum has arranged for the wind farms to slow down the blades.

This results in only a 3% loss of production but saves 90% of the bats flying through the farms.

Paths of Darkness

Bats like rhinolophes, barbastelles and grands murins cannot live in areas that are lit by arti icial lights. The museum has negotiated with the cities to change the lighting in the areas where the bats have babies.

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The big red blog is Paris and you can see how much light pollution is being produced . Bourges is the much smaller red dot on the bottom right hand corner because the museum persuaded the city to use safer lights and actually switch off their lights during breeding seasons so the bats could ind husbands and wives and have bat families.

Mommy, I’m hungry Amelie took us into the bat sanctuary where they rescue baby bats and injured animals.

Firstly, they help residents to make bat homes (“nichoirs”) in their own buildings. Guess what? One of the bat nests was on the roof of my home!

Secondly, people can bring in bats if they ind them injured in their windshield wipers, swimming pools or fences. They then get delicious kitten milk meals

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When the bats get older, they then get fed some worms.

Look right. Look Left...and cross!

Unfortunately, bats also get squashed in tra c so the university sta came to the rescue, once again.

At night, bats were going to hunt in the countryside and had to cross a busy highway so the university sta tracked the bats and built them a bridge so they could cross safely.

So, are bats and humans friends or foes? Can they live happily together?

This little rescue bat and mommy Amelie seem to think we can!

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A big thank you to the sta of the museum of Natural History (Bourges).

Can Bees Survive the Heat of Qatar?

(Abrar 6C) They are one of the most beautiful creatures in the world: creatures that land on beautiful soft petals, collecting the best nectar that they can nd. Just imagine thousands and thousands of creatures buzzing gratefully around owers. Yes, they are bees! But did you ever wonder what temperature bees can live up to? If you are curious, well then keep reading!

Surprisingly, bees are very clever! They are intelligent and they know when the temperature gets hot and cold.

Bees control the hive temperature and they prepare for summer and winter. In summer, some bees go to the front of the hive and they move their wings very sprightly so they can make some air to make the hive colder. When bees feel hot in Qatar, they will move their wings very quickly to make an air conditioner that will make the bees feel colder in summer so when they move their wings, they will move the air to make wind. Try moving your arm up and down very quickly, and see if you can feel the wind.As you can see, the bees know what to do in summer.

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Apiaries Bee Farm in Qatar

In Qatar bee farms, beekeepers will let go of the bees when it comes to summer because, in summer, bees feel very hot and that makes them very slow when collecting nectar and some bees will not be able to collect nectar, so basically the bee farmers in Qatar will let the bees free only in summer because bees know where to survive better than the farmers.

A bee farmer in Qatar in Apiaries Honey Bee farm added that when it comes to summer in Qatar, there will be no owers and the weather will be extremely hot for bees so you will just be wondering what to do! In Summer, there will be less owers and that means less pollen, and on top of that bees will be very hot and they will not be able to collect nectar anymore.

In winter, bees act di erently. At the beginning, bees may cuddle up together in front of their hive so then no cold air can come inside the hive. When more bees cuddle up together, more will feel warmer because of the temperature of the bees body. Bees can live only up to -40 in Qatar and if the temperature falls lower then the bees will die.

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If the weather gets cold in Qatar, then the clever bees will cluster over the brood in the frame to keep the brood warm and the bees that were outside of the cluster will move

inside the cluster and the bees that were inside the cluster will move towards the outside of the cluster.

(If you are wondering what a brood is, then a bee brood basically refers to the eggs. This is the place where the bees store the honey; kind of like a bee comb.) When the bees move their muscles, they will provide heat and the bees will keep the brood warm.

So how did I nd out about this? I asked grade 6 in surveys to learn more about bees and it looked like the grade 6s knew some information I never knew about bees and some information was strong and useful while others were just opinions so I had to carefully check each source.

One person told me information about how bees can move their wings to cool the hive and this allowed me to research this in further detail.

So, next time you see a bee moving its wings very quickly or cuddling up with another bee you will know why it's doing so!

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Citations and links:

Cuddling Bees

FUN FACTS: IN QATAR, THE LOWEST TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED WAS 1.5 DEGREES. USUALLY, THE COLDEST TEMPERATURE WOULD BE AROUND 15 ONLY. THERE IS A BEE FARM LOCATED IN DOHA AND IT IS CALLED THE APIARIES HONEY BEE. THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEES, THERE ARE HONEY BEES, BABY BEES, QUEEN BEES, KILLER BEE, BUMBLE BEES AND SO MUCH MORE! DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE AROUND 20,000 DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEES LIVING IN THE WORLD? DID YOU EVEN KNOW THAT NOT ALL BEES POLLINATE? DID YOU KNOW THAT BEES DISLIKE THE SMELL OF PEPPERMINT? IN QATAR, THE BEE FARMERS COLLECT THE HONEY A BIT EARLIER THAN THE TIME THEY NEED BECAUSE BEES ALSO MAKE HONEY FOR THEMSELVES TO FEAST ON.

Survey links: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/ 1FAIpQLSeCVfIf0nWwXtv7YG2QPbebbnXEg9yj6t7C3phSJyi cEfNYJA/viewform?usp=sf_link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/ 1FAIpQLSe5TgIKRbJ5pYn0HJFn3V9Vmrgb5KSmoIHswGKKy 5BSaPaO7g/viewform?usp=sf_link

Citations:

Allison, Paul. “Can A Beehive Get Too Hot or Too Cold?”

Allison’s Apiaries, 13 Mar. 2018, allisonsapiaries.com/idealbeehive-temperature-bees-honey/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2020.

D’mello, Chantelle. “For the Love of Honey: Qatari Beekeeper Shares Secrets of His Trade - Doha News.” Doha News, 11 Oct. 2015, www.dohanews.co/for-the-love-ofhoney-qatari-beekeeper-shares-secrets-of-his-trade/.

Accessed 29 Nov. 2020.

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Interview: https://drive.google.com/ le/d/ 1PivnHC5hFjKJC8ZMoXP_bIx8KKZBMMDh/view The interview was on November 24 2020 and it was with Papy Michel. It was done online with Mrs Olivier supervising.

If you enjoyed reading Abrar’s research about how bees can survive the heat of Qatar then you will really enjoy this article where Jana goes deeper into how we can observe whether our bees are getting too warm and how they use water molecules to create their own air conditioning.

Like Abrar, I am researching about how bees are able to survive in the heat of Qatar during the summer. I chose to research this topic because bees mostly have a thick guard layer of skin and in Qatar, it could get up to around 47 degrees, so I wondered how the bees are able to survive. At rst, I thought that bees would not live long but you will nd out later about some interesting information!

There are several ways that bees can regulate their temperatures and not die from extreme heat. Many people think that bees can easily die because they have a thick layer of skin which ends up causing them to faint.

However, just like humans, bees adapt to the condition, and as a result, they will not die from overheating.

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How they protect themselves in the extreme heat is by placing a few droplets of water onto their outer surface of the honeycomb in the empty cells and then they ap their wings at a very fast rate which causes the water droplets to evaporate. When the water droplets evaporate, the molecules that are in the water droplets enter the air

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Is it getting too hot for our bees? ( Jana 6C)

surrounding the honeycomb which brings down the temperature and cools the hive down. Let’s go into more detail about the ways that bees can keep themselves cool.

Water Water has a big e ect on bees as they use water to decrease the temperature of their hive. A few di erent types of bees such as ‘worker bees’ go out and search for some water to splash at the heated parts of their hive and they would do this over a thousand times until their hive receives a decent temperature that suits the bees. The water would cool down the surface of the honeycomb and hence make it more comfortable to be in during extreme heat.

Using their wings

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Bees have a similar method to humans as to how they cool the hive down, instead of going out to search for some

small droplets of water. The worker bees y to the entrance of the hive and use their wings as a source of ener y to cool down the hive. If their apping range is too weak to cool down the hive, other bees join in to increase the power of their ener y and they continue doing this until their hive is at a suitable temperature for them. They work so hard that they just get weaker and eventually die. This technique that bees use is similar to how a hand fan which humans use works.

How would you discover if the hive is getting too hot for the bees?

For queen bees, you will realize that they will stop laying eggs as the heat could be very hot for eggs to be laid down so that they can go and collect water for a few bees such as the ‘immature bees’. Sometimes, you could notice that the bees will be outside of their hive surrounding it and the most effective reason as to why that would be happening is because of the heat that could be getting to the hive. This kind of movement for bees is called ‘bearding’. Bearding means when the bees would make a ‘beard’ shape surrounding the hive because of the possible heat in their hive. They would do this so that they would not block the entrance of the hive so that the fresh, chill air can enter and decrease the temperature of the hive.

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Jana’s research has some

References I interviewed Papy Michel https://schoolo ees.com/can-bees-die-from-heat/

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https://www.honey ow.com/blogs/beekeeping-basics/ bearding-what-does-itmean#:~:text=Bearding%20is%20a%20term%20referring,a %20hot%20and%20humid%20day.

practical implications for our biodiversity garden. We need to ensure that we provide enough access to water for our pollinators and in our following issues, you will be able to read about how we are using recycled plastic to create safe watering areas where our insects can drink without drowning.

Carpenter Bees - In Doha? (Brieuc 6C) When we started our research, Brieuc announced to the class that he had “black bees� in his garden. I was convinced that these must be wasps and decided to check in with our beekeeper (Papy Michel) who assured me that Brieuc was correct and probably had carpenter bees.

So, does Brieuc have these wonderful creatures living in his garden? Keep reading to nd out!

Have you ever wondered how carpenter bees build those special nests into the wood and where do they like to build their homes or how they protect their nest? Well we are here to nd out.

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I chose this topic because I really like bees because they are like the pollinators of the world, but I chose a special type of bee that somehow lives in my back garden. They are called carpenter bees and you can also call them black bees. I really wanted to nd out how they build those nests that are most of the time built into tree branches

To build nests, carpenter bees bore through soft wood to lay their babies and often the females do those jobs. They chew the tunnels into wood to make their nest galleries.

After that the small pieces of wood are deposited outside the nest and they are called ”frass”.The entries of their nests are normally 3 to 5 cm big, but their tunnels can be 3m long. Those tunnels lead to several rooms, where the bees stock their food or lay their eggs.

Carpenter bees often like to build their nests into soft wood; they also like to make their nests into posts and rails made out of oak wood. They prefer to make their nests in redwood, pine, cyprus and oak wood.To build female carpenter bees chew the wood with their strong mouth parts.The construction of their nests can last several years and this process takes a lot of ener y out of bees and that just proves how hard working bees they are.

Papy Michel told me that during storms you should never approach carpenter bees nest or hives because during storms they become more aggressive due to the pressure in the atmosphere and they only have one stinger, so when they sting you it rips the bees abdomen and they die. Males are normally the ones that guard the hive, but the females cause the most pain when they sting you.

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So, are there carpenter bees in Doha?

My story started when I was looking outside the window while sitting down on the couch and I saw a kind of black silhouette. I did not go straight to it because it could have been another type of nest. So, I went to my mom and told her that there was a weird looking nest in my garden. She looked at it for a moment and then said” those are bees!”

It was the rst time I ever saw bees in Qatar.I was not convinced that our bees were bees because they were black. I searched black bees and then carpenter bees came up and that is how I found that carpenter bees were in my garden.Papy Michel also con rmed that I was correct as he kept carpenter bees for honey.

I am still not totally sure if they are carpenter bees because they did not really have a nest into the wood, it is more like a hive but I would love to nd out more about them.

If anyone in our community is able to give Brieuc more information about black bees, please send your information to Mrs Olivier (colivier@sisq.qa)

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This is what they look like:

I was shocked.

In text citations (“Bee Information for Kids: Bumblebee & Honey Bee Facts”) (“Carpenter Bee Facts & Control: Get Rid of Carpenter Bees”) (“Carpenter Bees - Do Carpenter Bees Have a Stinger?”)

Links https://www.pestworldforkids.org/pest-guide/bees/ https://www.orkin.com/stinging-pests/bees/carpenterbee#:~:text=Small%20carpenter%20bees%2C%20or%20Cer atina,the%20same%20as%20large%20bees. https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/library/landscaping/ carpenter-bees/ https://images.app.goo.gl/AwWLC3bkDPam6MTt7

https://images.app.goo.gl/jcoJmkCbPsNE9bY38

Why do farmers use arti cial/ chemical fertilizers instead of organic fertilizers? (Natalie 6C) Natalie (6C) is a member of the Global Social Leaders Gardening team. One of the biggest threats to pollinators is the use of harmful chemicals and Natalie’s research has helped our team to nd safe alternatives for SISQ. Imagine one day you passed out and, eventually when you woke up, you were deserted on an island and you were starving to death. Suddenly you saw some oddly shaped strawberries and that was the only thing that you could nd to eat.

Would you eat them or not?

And would you still eat them if you saw them being sold in a supermarket next to other “pretty� fruits?

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I chose to research about organic fertilizers because this is one of the only topics that actually spoke to me and I wanted to know the dark truth behind why farmers use arti cial/chemical

fertilizers instead of organic fertilizers. Personally, I think that we deserve to know this information because we deserve the right to know what has been added to the food we eat and why it is in our food.

To get other people's opinions from my school I have made a survey and sent it to several people For the rst question (Why do you think farmers use arti cial fertilizers instead of organic fertilizers?) a lot of people assumed that farmers use arti cial fertilizers so that the fruits don’t end up “ugly” or so that they can grow faster. For the second question (What is the di erence between organic and arti cial/ chemical fertilizers. Which one is better and why?) Most people preferred organic methods because organic fertilizers don’t involve using chemicals or pesticides and because the organic fertilizers are healthy.

For the third question (How much do you like foods with organic fertilizers?) more than 50% replied with that “I love them!” and approximately people answered with “I have no choice :/” and some people didn’t know. For the fourth question (How much do you like foods with arti cial/ chemical fertilizers) More than 50% answered with they hated them or that they had no choice and around 10% said that the food with chemical fertilizers are delicious after the rest just didn’t know.

So let’s nd out if my classmates are correct.

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What is an organic fertilizer? Well an organic fertilizer is a fertilizer that doesn’t use pesticides and arti cial chemicals but uses natural resources (for example compost, earthworms or natural animal poop). It can help the plants grow at a natural pace but arti cial/chemical fertilizers

include pesticides and chemicals which is an unnatural way of growing fruits and vegetables but it makes the plants grow faster and avoids ugly looking produce.

(Ugly fruit campaign from Intermarche supermarkets) Additional Information: In addition to releasing nutrients, proteins and animal waste as organic fertilizers break down, they improve the stability of the soil and increase the ability to hold water and nutrients in the soil for a longer period of time. Over time, organic fertilizers will make your soil and plants in stable and perfect condition. The soil will also trap more carbon dioxide and reduce our school’s carbon footprint.

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Organic fertilizers usually contain plant nutrients in lower concentrations but organic fertilizers have di erent advantages and disadvantages. They don't make a crust on

the soil as arti cial fertilizers sometimes do. They improve water movement into the soil and, in time, add composition to the soil.

Micronutrient fertilizers involve: Boron, chlorine, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc, which are often in short supply for growing crops. Let's take a closer look at the speci c role of each micronutrient.

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Boron: This important nutrient ensures healthy cell growth and assists in the formation of pollen.

Chlorine: an essential micronutrient in fertilizers because of higher plants and participates in multiple physiological metabolism processes.

Copper: There are 16 nutrients to survive and copper is in it for humans, plants and animals to survive so it is de nitely important.

Iron: Micronutrients are needed in smaller quantities, but are also essential and iron is one of those micronutrients included in that list as well as that a good (human) health doesn’t only require enough calories but also su cient intake of all essential nutrients that can be provided by fertilizers.

Zinc: has the same purpose as chlorine, copper and iron.

Manganese: Manganese (Mn), also known as “the activator,� (in fertilizers) is one of the nine most important and essential micronutrients for growing a healthy and delicious crop. Manganese’s main point in the fertilizer is to activate over 35 vital enzymes in the plant and plays an important role in regulating carbohydrate metabolism.

Molybdenum: Molybdenum is an essential trace element for the growth of plants. The amount that you

need in one fertilizer is a tiny amount, and when required, it can be supplied through speci c fertilizers.

Survey Questions: To get other people's opinions from my school I made a survey and sent it to several people and here are the people’s opinions.

For the rst question (Why do you think farmers use arti cial fertilizers instead of organic fertilizers?) a lot of people assumed that farmers use arti cial fertilizers so that the fruits don’t end up “ugly” or so that they can grow faster.

For the second question (What is the di erence between organic and arti cial/ chemical fertilizers. Which one is better and why?) Most people replied because organic fertilizers don’t involve using chemicals or pesticides and because the organic fertilizers are healthy.

For the third question (How much do you like foods with organic fertilizers) and more than 50% replied with that “I love them!” and a few people answered with “I have no choice :/” and some people didn’t know. For the fourth question (How much do you like foods with arti cial/ chemical fertilizers) More than 50% answered that they hated them or that they had no choice and around 10% said that the food with chemical fertilizers are delicious after the rest just didn’t know. And those are all of the survey questions!

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My personal opinion:

I have a very strong opinion about this topic that I am currently researching about and it was one of the things that led me to actually doing this topic in the rst place.

About 2 or 3 years ago I had a cat who I had had ever since the age of 3 and, after my 8th birthday, he passed away because there was this farm next to our cottage and every summer they added pesticides to the wheat so that it would grow faster so that they would be able to sell the bread after summer and he was wandering around the farm with the pesticides and sometimes even licked the wheat with the pesticides and then he was poisoned and passed away. And after that day that was when I was convinced that I should eat organic foods instead of foods with chemicals and arti cial ingredients that we don’t know of are in our food and I hope that you will do the same.

In text citations: The bibliography on the paragraph of; In addition to releasing nutrients, proteins… - todayshomeowner.com (https://todayshomeowner.com/debate-over-organicchemical-fertilizers/ #:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20releasing%20nutrients,an d%20plants%E2%80%93healthy%20and%20strong) (Danny Lipford) | (LIPFORD)

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The bibliography on the paragraph of; Organic fertilizers usually contain plant nutrients… extension.oregonstate.edu (https:// extension.oregonstate.edu/news/heres-scoop-chemicalorganic-fertilizers) - (Kym Pokorny) | (Extension Web Support)

The survey that I sent out to the kids from G6 G7 at SISQ 2020: (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1sFCirLLxE16L tEzmCHe-x2vZ nkhIRp4zfUKXU0/edit) - Created by Natalie Kvapilova Observation taken place at: July 28th 2018 - Jičin Šebeňak The bibliography from the last sentence of the conclusion; Not only that because pesticides… - pan-uk.org (https://www.pan-uk.org/health-e ects-of-pesticides/ #:~:text=Pesticides%20are%20poisons%20and%2C%20unfo rtunately,from%20respiratory%20problems%20to%20canc er.) | (Claydon) Most of these facts found from: My teacher for ISQH (Mrs. Claire Olivier) 2020 SISQ Rating one of the fertilizers: (https://www.t .org/thefeed/fertilizer-101micronutrients#:~:text=Micronutrients%20include%20boro n%2C%20chlorine%2C%20copper,in%20the%20formation %20of%20pollen.) | (“Fertilizer 101: Micronutrients”)

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Is chlorine an important nutrient?: (https:// www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/ 10.1080/01904160903242417#:~:text=Chlorine%20(Cl) %20occurs%20predominantly%20as,in%20several%20phys iological%20metabolism%20processes.) | (“CHLORINE NUTRITION OF HIGHER PLANTS: PROGRESS AND PERSPECTIVES”)

Is iron essential in fertilizers?: (https://www.fertilizer.org/ public#:~:text=Micronutrients%20are%20needed%20in%20 smaller) | (“IFA International Fertilizer Association�) is manganese an essential nutrient in fertilizers?: (https:// omexcanada.com/plant-nutrition/know-your-nutrients/ manganese#:~:text=Manganese%20(Mn)%2C%20a.k.a. %20%E2%80%9C,role%20in%20regulating%20carbohydrat e%20metabolism.) | (Clark)

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is molybdenum an essential nutrient in fertilizers?: (https://www.imoa.info/download_ les/molyreview/ excerpts/13 2/Plants_need_molybdenum.pdf? m=1424600476&#:~:text=Molybdenum%20is%20an%20esse ntial%20trace,be%20supplied%20through%20speci c%20f ertilizers.) | (Plants Need Molybdenum)

Are Pesticides Good Or Bad? (Cyrine 6B) I’m sure that you were as upset as me to hear about how Natalie’s cat was poisoned by toxic agricultural chemicals and Cyrine’s article goes into more detail about which products are now banned in certain countries because they are so toxic.

Have you ever thought that your food looks perfect? Just like it is made from plastic? Have you ever wondered why all the apples sold in the supermarket look exactly the same? Have you ever wondered why organic food is almost twice the price of non-organic food? Have you bothered to even nd out? Well if you haven’t bothered, I have! So if you want to nd out more about this topic, keep on reading because your food isn’t exactly what it appears to be.

What are pesticides? What are the worst pesticides and why?

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Pesticides are a type of poison farmers use to get rid of unwanted plants or animals/insects to grow their crops. For example, some farmers use pesticides to get rid of weeds that damage their crops. Although pesticides seem like a good thing, research has proven that they aren’t all that good. Scientists say that by using pesticides, we are ruining the habitats of animals and poisoning our own food. Direct contact with pesticides can cause serious injuries depending on the person’s health. Some of the following

happens when in direct contact with pesticides: it irritates the nose, throat, and skin causing burning, stinging, nausea, dizziness, and diarrhea, and itching as well as rashes and blisters depending on the strength of the pesticides.

Do all farmers use pesticides? If pesticides are bad, then why do people use them? The truth is, modern farmers use pesticides to grow only one crop in particular. They do this because it allows them to make more money because most people do not want to eat fruit and vegetables that look deformed or in other words “ugly” (to learn more about ugly fruits, check out Zahira Peters’s article). The good news is that some people have taken into account that pesticides are bad for your health, so farmers like Pappy Michel use natural pesticides that do not harm the environment or the people consuming the food he grows.

For example, Pappy Michel uses ladybugs instead of pesticides to get rid of plant-eating insects such as “aphids”.

Do people know that pesticides are bad for their health?

If they knew, would they start eating organic food? What is organic food? Organic food is food that is grown without using pesticides or any unnatural products. To nd out whether people actually knew that pesticides were bad for their health, I sent out a survey to grade 6A, 6B, and 6C and asked them the following questions:

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Do you eat more food grown with pesticides or do you eat more organic food?

Would you like to make an e ort to ban pesticides?

Fourteen participants answered the survey. The data shows that 42.9% of participants eat more food grown with pesticides whereas 57.1% of participants eat food grown without pesticides. This shows that people do realize what they are eating, but do not want to make a di erence. This is why I am trying to spread awareness about this issue because it can a ect your health and become fatal if not treated.

For the third question, 64.3% of people who answered my form said that they would de nitely want to make an e ort to ban pesticides completely. The other 35.7% of people who answered my form said that might or might not want to help me ban pesticides for good.

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For the fourth question, 71.4% of people who answered my form said that they de nitely would want to start eating organic food if they were/are eating un organic food. The other 28.6% said that they maybe will stop eating food grown with pesticides, but it is not a complete yes. For the fth question, everyone that answered my form except three people said that they do mind that they are consuming chemicals. One of the three other people said that they also mind that they are eating food grown with pesticides, but they can not nd organic food. This is also an issue because there is more food grown with pesticides

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If you eat more food grown with pesticides, would you like to start eating organic food?

If you eat food grown with pesticides, do you mind eating the chemicals? If so, why?

Did you know that food grown with pesticides is poisonous to your health?

than organic food which shows that not everybody is aware of this issue. The second person of the three said they didn’t know. The third person of the three said that their parents think that inorganic foods are ne, which they are not for various reasons which were explained in the previous paragraphs.

For the fth and nal question, 64.3% of the people who answered my form said that they knew about pesticides and why they are bad before they answered my survey, 21.4% said that they didn’t know until they read my survey, and the remaining 14.3% said that they had other ways of knowing.

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What are the worst pesticides?

Were there any health issues?

There was indeed an outbreak in Europe with the pesticides called Glyphosate, also known as ‘Round-Up’. Glyphosate is a herbicide used to regulate plant growth and ripen speci c crops.

It is also used to kill annual and perennial grasses, broadleaf weeds, trees, and shrubs. The USA started using this pesticide in 1974. This herbicide has restrictions in the following countries: Malawi Thailand Vietnam Sri Lanka Oman Kuwait United Arab Emirates

Bahrain Qatar Saudi Arabia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Bermuda Austria Belgium Czech Republic Denmark France Italy The Netherlands There are always two sides to the story, even if one side is bad and the other side is good. The message I am trying to give you is that pesticides are designed to make farming easier, but it is not always healthier. Some pesticides do not have as big e ects as others do. If you do eat more food grown with pesticides, I hope that you learned something after reading this article.

Citations Website: https://www.dohanews.co/qatars-certi ed-organic-farmgears-expansion/ https://www.iloveqatar.net/guide/living/organicvegetable-farms-and-markets-in-qatar

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https://foodinsight.org/what-happens-when-you-stopusing-crop-protection/

#:~:text=Without%20it%2C%20our%20crops%20are,and%2 0are%20destroyed%20by%20pests.&text=Without%20crop %20protection%2C%20green%20bean,can%20dramatically %20shrink%20cocoa%20yields. https://www.pesticidereform.org/pesticides-humanhealth/ https://qz.com/1524049/monsanto-is-at-the-center-of-aplagiarism-scandal-rocking-the-eu/ #:~:text=A%20plagiarism%20scandal%20rocking%20the%2 0EU%20centers,safety%20of%20the%20weedkiller%20gly phosate&text=In%202017%2C%20the%20European%20Uni on,to%20cause%20cancer%20in%20humans. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/ glyphogen.html#:~:text=Glyphosate%20is%20an%20herbici de.,in%20the%20U.S.%20in%201974. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/ killing_weeds_in_the_garden_with_glyphosate#:~:text=Round up%20or%20glyphosate%2C%20which%20is,broadleaf%20 weeds%2C%20trees%20and%20shrubs.

Images: https://www.therange.co.uk/garden/pest-control-andweed-killer/weed-killer/roundup-concentrate-weedkiller#301407

Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Fp7hSQxV3KeIxN3LWLW2ZsbqKZ0tPEsxCvJI0S5US8/ edit#responses

If you were starving to death would you eat an apple that is shaped wonky or bruised? So much produce is wasted and most of it is ugly , meaning that the produce is shaped odd or the produce is bruised.

Did you know that a third of the food farmers grow goes to waste and the main reason is because it is ugly?

Some people do not buy fruits and vegetables that look ugly because some people think the food is bad, but the produce that looks perfect is way more dangerous to eat because it is full of chemicals. The people who grow the food wear hazmat suits when they spread these chemicals on these fruits and vegetables and we are putting these chemicals into our mouth and eating them.

The High Price of Ugly Produce (Zahira 6B)

How much Ugly Produce is Wasted?

The negative attitude towards wonky produce has been a big problem in the world. 2013 was so terrible that 40% of the food was getting lost because of how the produce looked. All that produce was wasted which means so many people were starving to death while the food that could save them was rotting in the garbage.

12 million tonnes of fruit is wasted every year and 21 million tonnes of vegetables are lost each year. In Greece and China the loss of food is ridiculous. The waste is 44 kilograms per capita.The number of imperfect food lost is so sad it is 20 billion pounds of food that looks wonky. In 2017, people were buying more ugly produce so not as much produce was wasted. 40% in the US goes uneaten due to ugly produce. This is why the UN says that hunger is the easiest goal to achieve because we produce enough food.

This image shows perfectly healthy food that is about to be rejected.

Does it Take more work to grow food that looks Odd? I asked a question to Papy Michel (our gardening expert from France). He has a garden with imperfect fruit and vegetables. He answered the question. Does it take more time to grow imperfect produce? He said It takes a lot of work in his garden because he has a plum tree, fruit tree, apple tree, pear trees, cherry, gs and prunes and berries.

The critters come and help the garden blossom. It takes a lot of work to grow a lot of delicious foods. Why does it take work to grow? Because he doesn't use chemicals to grow his fruits and vegetables.

The protective clothing used when spraying poison.

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So now you know when you eat a fruit or vegetable that looks perfect and there are a bunch of chemicals that when the people put the chemicals on the crops they are wearing hazmat suits and we are putting this stu into our mouths.

When we throw away an apple that has a little bruise just think about how much fruit and vegetables are wasted and don’t judge a fruit by it’s appearance.

Bibliography https://theconversation.com/ugly-veg-supermarketsarent-the-biggest-food-wasters-youare-111398#:~:text=%E2%80%9CUgly%E2%80%9D%20or%20 %E2%80%9Cwonky%E2%80%9D,rates%20of%20any%20fo od%20type.

Food Waste 101 - Learn how Imperfect Produce is helping solve food wastage

https://theconversation.com/ugly-veg-supermarketsarent-the-biggest-food-wasters-youare-111398#:~:text=%E2%80%9CUgly%E2%80%9D%20or%20 %E2%80%9Cwonky%E2%80%9D,rates%20of%20any%20fo od%20type.

When students started investigating about harmful farming practices, they also began to question the contents of their food. I never looked at preservatives and colourants in class and I was delighted when students began exploring this on their own. Some students mentioned that additives had health risks and no bene ts and students questioned the need for added sugar.

None of us realised that even halal labels might be a ected by arti cial chemicals and additives and Oliver decided to take this issue further...

One day, I was eating some crackers like I normally do, but then I took a second look at the box. I expected to see ingredients like wheat and salt but then I saw weird numbers like E 320, and I was confused. So then I looked at some other boxes, and then some more, and I found out, that 4⁄5 of them, all had those numbers, so then I started to research these numbers, and after going through some articles, I saw one that stood out, and it said, “Be Careful, some E Numbers aren’t Halal at all!”

I was just sitting there, shocked because as you all know Qatar is an 100% halal country...

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Well, maybe we need to think again!

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Qatar, it is 100% halal.... Or is it?

(Oliver 6A)

As you can see in the picture above, there is some confusion about which E numbers are safe for Muslims-and I found some of these numbers on foods that I enjoy eating (food that came out of my kitchen!)

Now, this information I have gathered will most likely be scary to most of the Muslims living in Qatar. 67.7% of Qatar's population are Muslims, and the estimated crackers bought per year is, 20,000 crackers a year, now if we estimate that 13% of those crackers are the crackers that I had been eating, then the amount of those crackers bought and most likely eaten, are 2600. If we have estimated all of this and 67.7% of people are Muslim in Qatar, then that means 2600 of those crackers are bought and eaten every 4 months, now if we multiply that by 3, we will get the 12 months (1 year) amount of crackers bought which will be 7,800 of those crackers eaten per year, and that is only 1 of the many

things with E-numbers. (This is all based on my estimation, and the estimate of 20,000 crackers bought per year.

So why is there so much confusion and how can we stay safe?

Firstly, on December 7, I conducted a survey with grade 6 to see if other young Muslims knew anything about this topic. This is what I discovered:

So, with some research and a little bit of asking people, I have come to the conclusion that, there is no way you can look at something o of your mind and say, “that isn’t halal� unless you study all of the e-numbers and what they are mixed with.

As you can see, there is no way you can look at something and say, that is not halal and even strict Muslims could be consuming food items that are not good for them.

The problem is that a lot of the e-numbers are halal on their own but not halal when they are mixed with a type of oil derived from pork or bone, but they are halal when they are mixed with vegetable oil, so it is a confusing thing to get around because this is not on the label. Some e-numbers come from animals that are halal but not slaughtered in a halal manner. Some E numbers are also derived or mixed with alcohol (and again, this is not labeled) but if you research your numbers, you will be able to nd out whether or not your food is really halal as there are Muslim websites that check these foods.

I went online to check how serious this is from a Muslim point of view and I found out that, if you accidentally eat something haram, or non halal, it will not count as a sin, but, it says it is just like eating something poisonous accidentally. You will still su er health consequences but it will not be counted as sin.

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Here is a guide on what to look for:

After Oliver shared his concerns with his fellow students, some of the boys mentioned that their parents were now taking them to halal organic markets where they could purchase their favourite snacks without the arti cial additives. The boys were proud that their snacks were healthier and holier and better for the environment.

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Citations: http://www.exploreenumbers.co.uk/E Numbers-NotSuitable-for-a-Halal-Diet.html https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-overcome-guilt-oreating-non-halal-food-accidentally https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Islam_in_Qatar#:~:text=The%20local%20population%2C%20 made%20up,Hindu%2C%20and%203.1%25%20Buddhist. https://www.qatarliving.com/forum/socialising/posts/ non-halal-meat-local-restants carrefour

About our experts Michel Olivier At 81 years old, Michel uses organic and sustainable farming methods to produce, fruits, vegetables, salads and herbs without causing any environmental harm.

He also protects bees and provides recipes for using “ugly crops� and avoiding food waste.

Michel will be allowing us onto his farm and showing the students how to look after bees, protect birds and mice and grow tomatoes without any pesticides.

Amelie ChrĂŠtien As a chiropterologist, Amelie has dedicated her career to educating the public about the importance of bats and inding creative ways for bats and humans to live in harmony.

Amelie will show our students how to transfer skills from biolo y and geography into creative solutions to protect both bats and human development.

She also rescues bats in distress and she will teach our students how to feed baby pipistrelles with kitten milk and a paint brush.

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JOIN US IN FEBRUARY TO READ ABOUT THE QATAR BLOCKADE, ROBOTIC BEES, SAFFRON FARMING AND MEDICAL FLIES