Author: helpingninjas
Nature Is Art
Pooja Garg, A Helping Ninja Mom
Now a days our four and a half year old daughter, Avi and I, have been using nature and including them in our crafts.
You can recycle and reuse many outdoor flower petals, seeds and shells to make beautiful creations such as using pistachio shells to create flowers, mushrooms to make prints out of or rose petals to make a beautiful butterfly scene choices are endless.
Here are some of the creations inspired by nature that Avi made.
Flower petals along with markers on colored paper.
Mushrooms used as stamps or spongelike tool for painting.
Fallen rose petals from our garden glued to construction paper.
Grow Gardens
Four-year old Helping Ninja Avi loves to garden! Thank you Avi for helping to grow gardens! ❤️🌎🌱
Avika is very kind and compassionate and loves to garden and loves all animals. Daily she enjoys picking flowers from the garden along with watering her own garden and flowers!
Avi loves watching how the flowers bloom and how vegetables grow, and looks forward to eating them. ☺️🍅🌻
Youth Grow Gardens
About eight months ago, our family met Tammy, through our volunteer work at Second Helpings. (Tammy is volunteer there too). Chef had told her about Helping Ninjas, and Tammy asked us if our ninjas could help her community youth group. We were eager to help and decided what better way than to help the children was to give them an opportunity to learn to grow their own food.
Due to the stay and home orders, we were unable to meet until recently. The garden was a success and all involved learned something new.
Afterwards, Helping Ninjas founder and our eleven year-old son, Leo, said to me:
“Mom, we should do more gardens. We can help more people.”
And I agreed. ☺️
The idea is to engage youth and to educate them on all aspects of gardening. From soil to seed, each plant and flower has a purpose and will continue to provide year after year. Each food item harvested becomes next year’s garden seeds. Through this iniatative we hope to help teach other children how to grow gardens!
“Everyone deserves access to fresh food,” said Leo Berry, eleven-year old founder of Helping Ninjas and CCS student. “If we all work together, we can help.”
From 2017 to date, Helping Ninjas has organized local Carmel youth to learn to grow organic gardens at schools, in after-school programs, in their backyards, in the Carmel community garden, and donated fresh produce to their community and to Second Helpings in Indianapolis.
In The News
The Seven Types of Plastic
By: Kate Riegel, Helping Ninja, Age 17, California
Follow Kate on Instagram: @pollution_solution_
There are seven different types of plastic. That’s right, seven!! Each type can vary in terms of common uses, toxicity levels, and ability to be recycled. On almost every plastic object there will be a small recycling sign with a number inside of it. This sign doesn’t mean that the product is recyclable; it just tells you what type of plastic it is.
Type 1: Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE or PET)
This type of plastic is often used for plastic water bottles and household cleaning product containers. PETE is relatively safe for human health but can produce carcinogens when heated. Most recycling facilities accept type 1 plastic.
Type 2: High-density polyethylene (HDPE)
HDPE is often used for milk jugs and butter tubs. This kind of plastic is safe for human health because it has a low risk of leaching chemicals. It is also accepted by most recycling facilities.
Type 3: Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
Type 3 plastic is normally used for food wrap, shower curtains, and bottles for cooking oil. PVC is unsafe for human health because it contains chemicals called phthalates that disrupt hormonal development. It is best to avoid PVC, especially in objects that will surround food or heat up. In addition, this kind of plastic is rarely accepted at recycling centers.
Type 4: Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
This type of plastic is typically used for grocery bags and bread bags. LDPE is safe for humans but is not accepted for recycling. Thin plastic bags can get stuck in recycling machines, causing them to break and require costly repairs. It is always best to carry reusable grocery bags and try to get bread plastic-free.
Type 5: Polypropylene (PP)
PP is often used to make yogurt cups, ketchup bottles, and kitchenware. It is relatively safe for human health and is accepted by most recycling facilities.
Type 6: Polystyrene, or Styrofoam
Styrofoam is used for disposable food containers and packaging. Type 6 plastic isn’t safe for human health because it leaches potentially toxic chemicals, especially when heated. Also, styrofoam is very difficult to recycle.
Type 7: Other
This category of plastic contains every other plastic that doesn’t fall into one of the first six categories, including new plastics, bioplastics, and compositions of several types of plastic. Some uses are baby bottles, CDs, and DVDs. Scientists are unable to determine the toxicity level of type 7 plastic because there is so much variety. Type 7 plastic is also very difficult to recycle.
To conclude, not all plastic is the same. The risks of usage and rules for recycling differ with each of the seven types. I hope that you have learned some facts about plastic from this article and are inspired to use less of it!
Fast Fashion
By: Kate Riegel, Helping Ninja, Age 17, California
We are having an epidemic of fast fashion. Clothes are bought and discarded quicker than ever before because they have become so cheap. However, they have become inexpensive at a high price to garment workers and the environment.
The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime shipping combined. Here are the biggest ways it impacts the planet.
Before we explore the ramifications of fast fashion on the laborers and the natural world, we must truly understand what fast fashion is.
Definition: “Fast fashion can be defined as cheap, trendy clothing, that samples ideas from the catwalk or celebrity culture and turns them into garments in high street stores at breakneck speed.” (Good On You).
To illustrate how exponentially the quantity of clothes has risen, let me give you an example. Before fast fashion, there were four fashion seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. Now, there are 52 fashion seasons. With new trends being generated every week, consumers constantly feel as though they are “behind” on the latest fashions. Fast fashion companies thrive when people have this unsatisfied feeling because it keeps customers running to their stores to buy more, more, and more.
Let’s look at a statistic. In 1960, about 95% of clothes sold in the United States were made in the United States. Now, about 3% of clothes sold in the U.S. are made in the U.S. That is because companies have moved their factories to countries such as Bangladesh and China, where there is cheap labor. Therefore, garment workers for fast fashion companies are exploited in order for these companies to produce excessive amounts of clothing at low prices. Now that we understand fast fashion and its effects on workers, let’s dive into its effects on the environment.
On top of the harm caused by production and washing, clothes are also being discarded at an alarming rate. Since clothes have become much more inexpensive and trends now change so quickly, many people throw out their old clothes and buy new ones frequently. This pattern means that lots of clothes end up in the landfill along with tons of other plastic waste.
“In a landfill, the decomposing clothes release methane, a harmful greenhouse gas. Synthetic fabrics like polyester and lycra can take hundreds of years to biodegrade.”
The fashion industry contributes significantly to water pollution and plastic pollution. Harmful chemicals used to dye clothes are disposed of in local rivers or dumped on the ground, where they sink down into the groundwater.
For instance, almost every piece of clothing is dyed a certain color. Textile dyeing is the world’s second largest polluter of water. In addition, fast fashion companies add to the plastic pollution problem because of the materials they use.
Polyester is one of the most popular materials. Polyester is a type of plastic. It is made from petroleum, which means that it requires oil to produce. Drilling for oil makes the climate crisis worse, so making huge amounts of clothes that require oil has horrible consequences on the environment. Also, when materials such as polyester are put in a washing machine, hundreds of tiny microfibers break off of the clothes.
These microfibers are so small that they slip past the washing machine filter and make their way into the ocean. They pollute the ocean and are small enough for a variety of sea creatures to ingest.
All in all, we can see that fast fashion has a detrimental effect on the planet. In conclusion, by examining the harm that fast fashion has on the planet, it is easy to understand how fashion is the second largest polluting industry in the world.
Thankfully, there are many steps that we can take to make the fashion industry greener and more ethical.
Firstly, we can buy clothes that we love and will wear for a long time. Second, we can buy clothes second-hand or swap clothes with friends. Third, we can purchase clothes from eco-conscious and ethical companies. Also, we can write to our favorite clothing companies and tell them that we care about garment workers and the environment. To reduce microplastic pollution, we can wash our clothes only when they are dirty and wash them with cold water.
Finally, we can treasure the clothes that we have and try our best to get a long use out of them!
This article was written by Kate Regal and edited by Helping Ninjas.
Follow Kate on Instagram: @pollution_solution_
Want learn more about fashion waste?
Here are a few helpful links.
https://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/09/old-clothes-fashion-waste-crisis-494824.html
Earth Day 2020
What Are You Doing For Earth Day?
The ideas shared on how one can help Earth on Earth Day is a reminder each day, it is our responsibility to contribute towards the cause, to practice mindfulness and minimalism, to respect and ensure care for our environment and ecosystems, to protect the future of this beautiful place we all share –our planet.
Simple Ideas for Helping the Planet on Earth Day
- Help our pollinators!
- Plant Native Plants and Flowers.
- Hang a bee hut in your backyard!
- Eliminate the use of pesticides and harmful fertilizers.
- Choose natural and organic.
- Discover organic lawn treatments and use fewer chemicals in your household
- Learn about native species and what you can do to help.
- Grow a garden.
- Develop eco and green habits at work, home and while traveling.
- Reduce and conserve energy – turn lights off, drive less, unplug.
- Explore solar energy options.
- Recycle old clothes, spring clean, turn your trash into treasure: donate.
- Store food in reusable items and avoid plastic.
- Avoid single-use plastics in restaurants and places of business and choose to use reusable and eco-friendly items in your households.
- At the grocery store, skip plastic bags.
- Recycle everything you can.
- Collect and sort your waste.
- Compost.
- Recycle electronics.
- Compact fluorescent bulbs save energy.
- Get your family excited about helping the planet!
- Read a book, google it, watch a documentary or a fun movie – there are tons!
- Getting together with friends or family to engage and converse about our planet is a great way to relate to your children and hopefully, promote interest in further exploration.
- Clean up a park, pick up litter along the roads, #trashtag or go #plogging
- Get up, and get outside and enjoy nature!
How can I Reduce My Carbon Imprint?
Buy Less, Recycle More, Conserve Water and Energy
Reduce Waste.
Take an inventory of your waste and consider alternatives. There are numerous ways you can reduce waste in your home, you must research and examine your own living habits and begin taking the steps towards using less.
Compost
Food waste is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emission. Almost one-third of all food produced globally is wasted. Reflect on the alternative to trashing the food, is creating renewable energy out of it? Compost your food scraps!
That’s what compost is and does. Both and verb and a noun, compost is the act of turning food scraps into a nutrient-rich soil and plant fertilizer, but compost is also the finished product – the newly made compost soil. Options to compost include doing it at home in an at-home compost bin or using a compost pick-up company.
Compost In A Jar
The Compost Jar Experiment
Composting in a jar is a great experiment to do with your family to test the waters to see if composting is for your family. It demonstrates the decomposition of the items in the jar.
You simply fill it with soil, dried leaves, cardboard, and your food scraps. Over time you can watch the food disappear! And you are left with a healthy activating compost soil to sprinkle in your garden!
Compost At Home
Luckily in Indianapolis, there are companies currently servicing residents and businesses for curbside compost: Earth Mama Compost and Green With Indy. or you can compost at home – with or without worms! Visit our KidsCompost.com to learn more!
Choose Earth, Every Day
Continue reading, read full article:
Fueled For School
Join the Helping Ninjas efforts to create awareness about food insecurity and how to help ensure all kids have access to food.
Helping Ninja Bhavya is helping her community by encouraging others to give back and help Noblesville, Indiana based organization, Fueled For School. And, she needs YOUR help!
Photo: Bhavya and her sister vounetee at Fueled For School prior to the Covid-19 panademic.
Read more about Helping Ninja Bhavya and how she is helping the world and making a difference!!
Helping Ninjas Emojis
Helping Ninjas Emoji Sticker Contest!
Helping Ninjas are choosing new Helping Ninja emojis for our Helping Ninja emoji sticker app!
How does the emoji art contest work?
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At the end of Earth Month in April, the Helping Ninjas will vote via our Helping Ninja Zoom Party!
No limit of submissions! Children can enter AS MANY Helping Ninja emojis as they want!
Each month Helping Ninjas donates a portion of the net profits from our Helping Ninjas Sticker App to other charitable organization!
Share your helping ninja emojis with us!
Email us or tag #HelpingNinjasEmoji on Social Media:
Twitter @HelpingNinjas
Facebook @HelpingNinjaKids
Instagram @helpingninjas
Thank you Maddie!
Today in our first “test run” of our Helping Ninjas ZOOM Parties Helping Ninja, Maddie, age 10, made this Helping Ninja Emoji art!
It’s a Helping Ninja shark!
Helping Ninjas Emoji Sticker App
Search” Helping Ninjas” in the App Store
If you haven’t downloaded our Helping Ninja Sticker Emoji App, you can do so in m Google Play or the Apple App Store for 99 cents.
100% of Helping Ninjas™ emoji sticker pack net profit goes towards Helping Ninjas, Inc., a youth-led-not for profit, that supports global, national, community philanthropical, charitable, and environmental causes.
It’s one way to support Helping Ninjas Initiatives!
Download our sticker pack in the Apple App Store
Download our sticker pack in theGoogle Play App Store
The Helping Ninja bandana is a band of fabric, a common thread that ties us all together, despite differences of age, status, gender, race, ethnic or economic background, making our world a better place through kindness and selfless acts – whether it be helping the planet, each other or oneself.
Each quarter, 25% of the proceeds of this Helping Ninja Sticker pack will benefit a specific cause and/or another not-for-profit organization.
To be considered for this contribution, please contact [email protected]
Artwork created by Helping Ninja children!
Helping Ninjas ZOOM Party
When children can come together for a cause, there really is a reason to celebrate! ✨
Lindsey Fella Berry, Helping Ninjas, CEO
Learn how to become Highly Skilled At Helping!
Looking for things to do with stay-at-home kids during Covid19? Helping Ninjas is providing a free opportunity for youth to learn how to help the world — virtually!
All children and ages welcome!
Join the Helping Ninja kids with a virtual ZOOM party!
A different topic/activity will be discussed, centered on kids can
“how to help the world.” ❤️🌎
How to join the ZOOM Party?
Click here for more details and how to join: Helping Ninjas Kid Zoom Party
What days and times are the ZOOM Parties?
Helping Ninja Zoom Party are happening during the months of April and May!
Helping Ninjas Kids Zoom Party:
Every Thursday at 4pm
Helping Ninjas Kids Zoom Party: GUEST SPEAKER SERIES
Every Tuesday and Friday between 1- 4pm
Helping Ninjas Zoom Party: GUEST SPEAKER SERIES
Tuesday, April 7th at 430 pm, Executive Chef Kathy Jones from Second Helpings will be Helping Ninjas first-ever virtual guest speaker— a real life Helping Ninja!
Please join us for this awesome opportunity to learn straight from the source, about food rescue, food insecurity and what it takes to feed Indy!
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Each Tuesday and Friday during the month of April and May, Helping Nnjas will host a guest speaker during the hours of 1-4pm. (TBA)
Our Helping Ninja guest speakers are community and organzation leaders that are helping our planet, each other and oneself!
Want to see who are guest speakers are and the times they are scheudled to present on our Helping Ninja Virtual Zoom Party? See the Helping Ninjas Zoom Party list of guest speakers and dates and times of their discussions via ZOOM!
Would you like to be a guest speaker? Email us!
