Glitchy Items + How to help the World

Hey Jammers! As you've probably noticed, I've been really busy as I've had a lot of projects to complete and because my family celebrates the holidays, a lot of gifts to make and buy. 

Because of this, I won't be able to make a real post for tomorrow. Maybe even the next day! I try my best to keep this blog updated, but sometimes things can temporarily get in the way. I've just felt irresponsible for going days without posting, and I hope you can understand that I try my best to keep this a daily updating blog.

Hmm... Maybe I'll ask my friend to be a second author and update on days where I can't. That would solve a whole lot of stuff and reduce my annoying "notice" posts! What do you think? 

Here are today's new items:

And here's today's Jamaaliday gift:

Apparently, a glitchy magenta version of these festive lights was given out to half of us. Subsequently, people are going crazy for them.

ಠ_ಠ


Finally, an opportunity to use my favorite emoticon. I'll make it really big and red to express myself even more.

ಠ_ಠ

It seems that whenever a glitchy item is released, people start fights over them– ugly or not. I kind of like the magenta lights, as they look like raspberries, but really? Spiked collars for a Jamaaliday gift that half of Jamaa already has? I try to remain positive, but it's kind of hilarious the lengths people will go to try and stay "rare." Kind of sad, too. :(

I'd like to believe that materialism on AJ will fade with time, but it's kind of what keeps Animal Jam so successful: kids who get excited over items and get memberships so they can get more. It's perfectly fine to find immense enjoyment in the small things, but the line is crossed when it becomes the only reason you play and make friends. 

C'mon, guys! Animal Jam is by far the best virtual kids game on the planet, hands down. The people who run it really seem to care, and it's so full of vibrant and natural beauty that seems too cool to just be on a computer screen.

In fact, I'm fairly certain it was Animal Jam that really cemented my love of the Earth. When I first started playing, I liked the environment as much as anyone else, but then I fell in love with learning about the environment through it. I became vegetarian only a month after I started playing, and then a couple years ago I became vegan. :)

Okay, I just went off on an unrelating tangent, but I hope you get the point. Items are only a small part of AJ! Take some time to appreciate the other stuff, too. ^_^

I have to go now, and I hope whoever celebrates it has a great Christmas. I hope the people who don't celebrate Christmas have a wonderful Friday, December 25th! Shout out to you for bearing through all the annoying songs on the radio LOL

I don't think I can update Berry the Koala today or tomorrow, so bear with me until I can. Speaking of bears, here is a beautiful mama polar bear with her equally beautiful cub:

Hopefully, when the cub grows up they will live in a world recovering from global warming. Sadly, that probably won't happen because of humanity's selfish industries contributing to the destruction of our beautiful planet. Please, do all you can. Just because humanity can build dams and plastic domes to keep out radiation and rising tides, that doesn't mean the world outside our polluted cities won't suffer. 

I was gonna stop there, but here are some ways to leave the world better, not worse from your presence:

1. Turn out lights and electrical appliances when not in use. This saves resources as well as money for your family.

(This reminds me about an event that happens every year called Earth Hour. Click this link to learn more about it!)

(Fun fact: White LED bulbs have recently been invented, and they are extremely efficient and contain no mercury, a pollutant in incandescent bulbs. They're so efficient that they rarely need to be changed except once in every 10 years! FYI my physics teacher told me that and I may have got some things inaccurate, but I trust him.)

2. Buy used clothing. Brand-name stuff is more expensive and is made in factories that produce a ton of toxins that destroy the environment. I'm not saying some used clothing didn't originate from a factory like that, I'm saying that it keeps stuff out of landfills. 

Think of it this way: Say that one person buys a $20 sweater from the mall, and outgrows it. They give it to a used clothing store.

And say that you see that same $20 sweater for sale at the mall. 

Keep this in mind: The factory that produced that sweater relies on underpaid workers to operate the machinery to make it. The same factory gives off literal tons of noxious fumes that contribute directly to global warming.

If you buy it, then two sweaters would have been purchased, giving the horrible factory that produced it $40.

...But if you buy the sweater in the used clothing store, only $20 was given to the factory. The other $20 was given to the used clothing store– a store that usually donates a big chunk of that to charities, and doesn't have large factories producing new brand name clothing. This is all about doing what you can to not support harmful industries. 

(FYI, this is hypothetical and the $20 won't directly go to the factory but will be distributed around the company that produced the sweater. But ultimately, you'll avoid supporting large horrible companies if you buy used clothes! C'mon, do you really need that Forever-21 t-shirt?)

3. Only use a car when you absolutely need to. Walking, biking, or taking public transportation will make it so the gross exhaust from your car doesn't go up in the air and help melt Earth's precious ozone layer. Plus, if you don't use your car as much, you won't have to buy gas so often! You'll save some cash from that.

On a smaller scale, you won't stink up your neighborhood as much with that awful car smell. Jeez, I feel bad for all the squirrels and birds who can't just shut all of that out with a door. :\

4. Designate one day a week/month/year where you don't eat meat, eggs, or dairy. Or, you could join the DoomyPanda club and never eat any of those things! No pressure LOL

But seriously though, not eating meat or dairy one day a week for a year is equivalent to going nine days without driving! What does this have to do with driving, you ask? Well, now...

The majority of the world gets it's meat, eggs, and dairy from industries far away. This means more transportation is needed, in trucks, planes, boats, etc. and so more harmful fossil fuel is exerted and pollutants released into the atmosphere. Yep.

• • • •

Oh boy, this post went from being a short little rant about materialism to a full-blown post about global warming! But who says that's a bad thing? We need to talk about it, regardless of how sad it is. It won't be fixed by ignoring it, kids!!!

Did you know that the reason we get sunburns is because of global warming? Well... that's sorta true. But true enough.

The Earth has a protective field around it called the ozone layer. This layer protects it from the cold of space, as well as the intense radiation from the sun. Without the ozone layer, our planet would look a lot like Mars. Dust, dust, and guess what? More dust.

Long ago, people didn't get as severe sunburns as we do today. Sunburns are caused by the UV light that the ozone layer would protect us from... had the ozone layer not been flipping obliterated by humanity. SLOW CLAP FOR HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS, GUYS! THANKS FOR MESSING IT ALL UP WITH YOUR SO-CALLED "INTELLIGENCE"! 

• • • •

...Ahem, sorry that I got carried away there. Wow, this was meant to be a short conclusion! And look where that's carried us to. I hope you found this post informative and hopefully not too aggressive! Overall, you have two options: help the world the best you can, or keep on destroying it. 

This post started out super happy and just got gradually angrier as it went on. LOL

Regardless of what you celebrate, I hope everyone has a great December 25th, and I hope to see you in Jamaa! :D