20 Time

20% time was initially used by Google, to inspire creativity in their employees by allowing them to take a small portion of the work day to work on whatever interested them. This idea has grown beyond major companies use and schools have began to use this time to allow students personal ideas to really flourish, rather than having a systematic regular school day. In Anatomy and Physiology, every individual in each class will take 20% time from a Monday class period to explore our chosen topic in order accomplish a goal we have set for ourselves.
For my 20% time, I have decided to focus on raising awareness for animals being tested on in cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies. I decided to chose this topic because I have a strong passion for animals and I had been aware that animals were still being tested on- as well as mistreated- in many companies. To help raise awareness, I have decided to create a facebook page where I will post articles, statistics, as well as links to companies that are helping in the fight to stop animal testing. I will be able to measure my progress by seeing how many people can follow that page and be updated on animal testing and how to get involved to end it. Moving forward, my main goal is to make people care and aware of how prevalent animal testing is in our society today, and that there are better alternatives to the use of animals to test products.



Getting Started!
Recently, upon further research in my topic, I discovered just how prevalent both animal testing and mistreatment of animals in the world is. In fact, in Taiji, Japan, hundreds of thousands of  wild dolphins are being captured, sold, or slaughtered for meat or to go to various aquariums around the world. Each live dolphin that is bought can be worth anywhere from $32,000 to $250,000; however, the remaining captured dolphins are slaughtered and sold for their meat. Focusing back onto my initial goal, I decided to not only focus on animal testing, but animal rights as a whole. Researching more into animal testing, I also found that there are several alternatives to using animals. Scientists have been able to create "Episkin"- reconstructed human skin-which is an alternative for testing cosmetic and pharmecutical products. Another alternative is EpiDerm Skin Irratation Test, which is recontructed human epidermal, is another test that helps test the irritation of chemicals in some cosmetic and pharmaceutical ingredients on the reconstructed skin to see how they react.
After researching this topic more, it makes me want to provide even more awareness to just how wrong and prevalent the problem is. The mistreatment often goes unnoticed simply because people are not aware of how horrible the treatment can be and how there are other and better methods to testing, I haven't had many setbacks, except for trying to get people onto my Facebook page and spread the information. The next steps in my process are definitely going to be trying to get as many friends and family to like the page in hopes of spreading the awareness to the issue. In terms of using what I have learned about my topic, I want to educate people and my community about alternatives to using animals in testing as well as viewing obvious mistreatment of animals globally.



Making Progress!
In these past few weeks, I've learned that there are many companies that are trying to get the word out that many individuals may not know about or have time to access. Also, I have recently learned that Sea World, who's treatment of animals in their performances have been called into question several times, have promised to end all orca breeding in their facilities. Focusing on animal testing, I have found that there are rather simple steps to help put a stop to it, such as buying cruelty free products, help educate others on this topic, or make a donation. Moving further into this project, I find that I am becoming more engrossed in finding out more on my topic, as well as finding ways to make people become more aware of what exactly is happening. The main setback I'm having is finding a way to get people to really include their friends and expand the message. The next steps in my process would have to be getting the people who have viewed and liked the page to spread the message as well as looking into finding events that people can either go to or support. Going deeper into this project, I realize the more and more I am shocked and motivated to get the attention of the community to realize that animal testing and mistreatment is still a prevalent problem in our society today and that there are simple solutions to be able to fix these problems. 



Moving Forward 
In moving forward with my topic, I have learned that there are many states still involved in animal testing and there are many alternatives that could be used instead. I have also learned that I find myself getting more and more involved in learning the truth about both the treatment of animals in cosmetic companies and the treatment of animals in public areas, but also finding solutions to possible mistreatment in both of these groups. As time goes on, I find that getting my voice and information to the general public is harder than I expected it to be; however, slowly, I am expanding the network of information. The next steps in my project are to see if I can take a statistic of how many people actually know what is happening in zoos, cosmetic companies, and if they know of any alternatives or solutions to the problems found. I feel as though this will let people gain a new perspective to how little is known about animal testing and treatment in our society today. Using what I have learned has really help me see that many people in a community only focus on the "right now" issues, or the ones in the news at one specific time. The problem with this is that there are many more issues that deserve attention and it only takes a small number of people who know about a problem to educate and gain supporters to help find a solution. 





20 Time Reflection
For my 20 time project I wanted to be able to spread awareness about the mistreatment and alternative methods to animal testing. However, as I began to research my topic more, I realized that I wanted a larger message. I began hearing about the mistreatment of animals in circuses, zoos, and numerous other commercialized "animal entertainment". Then, I created a Facebook page in order to help raise awareness by posting articles, videos, pictures, and links to websites that donate the money they raise to help stop mistreatment in animals. After I began posting onto this page, I invited numerous friends, families, and schoolmates to "like" the page in order to help spread the message I was trying to project. I believe I was able to challenge myself; however, I think that my message could have gone further. My initial intention for this project was to be able to make the individuals in our community -and other communities as well- to see that animals should not have to suffer for the entertainment or economic benefit of the human race.  I believed that by sharing the information that I had found on the internet, I would at least get people's attention toward my topic. As time went on, I found that it was difficult gaining people to participate and "like" my page seeing that many other students or family members had busy social and work lives that gave them little time to pay attention to social media. I did not let that stop me. I continued to post, continued to invite people to check out my page, and eventually I got several "likes"- I'm hoping the numbers will continue to grow.

Throughout this 20 time process, I found that it slowly improved my time management skills, I gained perspective into a topic that I initially cared about, but was now able to have substantial knowledge, and that the more I learned about my topic, the more I wanted people to pay attention to the information I was sharing and to hopefully gain some knowledge on societies mistreatment of animals. If I had the opportunity to restart my 20 time project, I would have liked to have included a questionnaire asking people if they truly knew what effects captivity has on zoo animals, the alternatives to animal treatment, and the types of "testing" and treatment the animals have to endure. I also think that I could have spent more time trying to get more people involved in participating in my project and truly taking action.

TED Talk Outline:

• For the beginning of my TED talk, I think I would start out with my main topic, then show how it had evolved into a more expanded message, and then describe a little of my findings, as well as my journey starting my 20 time and the struggles I faced. 
• I think being more "conversationalist" in my presentation will allow the audience to empathize with my journey as well as make the presentation more comfortable and inclusive. Being entirely honest about my setbacks and struggles throughout the project will be more interesting than listening to a presentation about my "perfect" 20 time project. 
• In concluding my story, I should finish with how my project stands as we enter into finalizing the project.  

20 Time Final Post

After completing my 20 time final product, I created a Facebook page where I would post pictures, statistics, videos, and articles about animal testing and effects that captivity has on animals. After completing my TED talk, I feel as though I did a good job describing how I decided and ended up changing my main focus for my project, as well as explaining my setbacks. However, if I could change any portion of my TED talk, I would want to include my future plans for my project- and whether or not I plan to continue-, as well as going in deeper detail to some of the information that I discovered. After watching my TED talk, and looking at the rubric, I believe that I engaged the audience in my topic, proved that I was enthusiastic and had a true passion for my project, and discussed my setbacks that I encountered successfully. The main take away I learned after watching my TED talk-as well as watching other classmates TED talks- is the importance of knowing the information well, body language during a presentation, and using images and audience participation to gain attention- rather than large amounts of text on the slides.