Action Packed Wednesday Part II

TAKE ACTION: Student Suspended For Creating Anti-Bullying Video

15-year-old Jessica Barba, a freshman at Longwood High School in Middle Island, NY, has been suspended for five days after creating an anti-bullying video as part of a school project and a Facebook page about a fictional 12-year-old girl who commits suicide.
As Barba tells Matt Lauer on the TODAY show, the purpose of the project was simply “to raise awareness of the major issue that’s bullying” — it is outrageous that she is being punished for her efforts to highlight an issue that has, tragically, become a pervasive feature of too many students’ lives and that has been the reason some have committed suicide.
The video, which Barba posted on YouTube, told the story of a made-up 12-year-old, Hailey Bennett (played by Barba), who was said to have lost her mother at the age of 3, been abused by her father, was left alone after her friends moved away and was the victim of daily bullying, at school and on the mock Facebook page. “Hailey” eventually takes her own life. Both the video and the Facebook page had disclaimers that made it clear that “Hailey” was fictional. .  . .

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The National Petroleum Reserve Alaska (Reserve) encompasses an immense and spectacular Arctic ecosystem on Alaska's North Slope providing critical habitat for many species of fish and wildlife: caribou, grizzly bear, polar bear, wolves, wolverine, Arctic fox, walrus, ice seals—and millions of migratory birds that nest and rear their young each summer. Right now, the U.S. Department of the Interior is writing its first-ever, comprehensive plan for the entire Reserve, providing the opportunity to protect the most important places for wildlife.

Teshekpuk Lake, on the coastal plain of the Reserve, is part of the largest wetlands area in the entire circumpolar Arctic. This ecological hotspot provides essential habitat for millions of migratory birds, including species such as the rare Yellow-billed Loon and the threatened Spectacled Eider. Birds that breed, forage, molt, and stage in this spectacular place each summer disperse from coast to coast throughout the U.S. and to all continents. More than 400,000 caribou migrate to their calving grounds there. Iconic marine mammals inhabit the coastline, including polar bear, walrus, beluga whale, and several species of ice-dependent seals. Congress has specifically recognized that special areas and wildlife values exist within the Reserve and should be spared from oil and gas development. . .

This Pacific Loon is among millions of birds that nest in the Reserve. Send your comments today to protect this spectacular habitat.

Photo: Milo Burcham

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