Solve a World Problem
Our Project:
Our project was to pick a world problem from something as big as world peace to shoe laces coming untied and try to solve it or make a dent in the issue.
Our Problem:
The current state of polluted oceans.
Background Info:
1st Problem: Trash
How does trash end up in the ocean?
Some of the ways that trash ends up in the ocean are through industrial losses, illegal dumping, and other things that accidentally get lost at sea. As for plastics, around 12,000,000,000 kilograms of plastic go into the ocean every year. Only 9% of all plastics are recycled, the rest is waste. When we leave plastic bottles, food packaging, and cigarettes on the beach, the waves pick them up and carry them into the ocean.
Sometimes, the trash in landfills gets blown away and ends up in rivers. The rivers then carry the trash into the oceans. It was recently discovered that almost all of the major rivers carry around 1.15 -2.41 tons of plastic into the sea every year which is very unhealthy to the ecosystem. We might not realize it but, Microbeads (Which are small pieces of plastic) flow into the ocean from everyday products that we wash down the drain.
How does ocean garbage affect the food chain?
When trash enters the ocean, it is consumed by ocean wildlife, disrupting the food chain and the ecosystem. Fish and other ocean wildlife are affected by the toxins entering their body due to consuming garbage and other plastics.
Humans then consume the toxic ocean wildlife, because people often consume seafood as the main food source. The toxins enter the human potentially resulting in cancer, birth defects, and other long-term health problems.
What is being done to fix this problem/ What can you do?
Right now a lot is being done to try and stop this problem. Organizations such as Ocean Conservancy, Blue Ocean Society, and ORCA sponsor ocean cleanups all around the globe. A lot of organizations are also trying to spread awareness around this topic to encourage people to not litter and recycle. In 2015, Microbead-Free Waters Act prohibits the manufacturing, packaging, and distribution of rinse-off cosmetics containing plastic microbeads. The law protects “rinse-off cosmetics” such as toothpaste and face washes. Many places are also banning plastic straws, such as Seattle last July and San Francisco this upcoming summer.
What you can do against this problem is volunteer at beach cleanups! Do not litter and try to recycle as much as possible!!! Try to buy reusable products over plastic products. Such as reusable bags over plastic bags at stores. Finally, if you see trash pick it up and throw it away. This small act can make a big difference for our marine wildlife.
Problem 2: Over-fishing
Overfishing and how it is bad for the ocean
Overfishing might not seem like a big topic but, it is very important. Overfishing can cause major disruptances in the food chain and ruin the coastal economies that depend on fish for a living. Overfishing happens when people catch way too many fish, not leaving enough for those who need it. As of now, the amount of fish is so low that many fishing companies have gone out of business because they couldn’t catch enough fish. Imagine what it is like for the animals, without all of the technology that we have. How are they supposed to survive?
That’s the problem, they can’t. If we don't make a change to do what is better for the economy, It won't only affect the animals but, it would affect us too. If all of the animals die out due to unbalance in the food chain, we too can die out.
Problem 3: Oil Spills
How oil Spills affect ocean life (Pollution)
Oil spills release toxic chemicals that can cause skin and eye irritation to an animal or kill them. When oil gets on the feathers of a bird or skin of a seal, this impacts their ability to keep themselves warm, which can cause hypothermia resulting in death. Oil can cause growth deformities and death in fish larva. The same problem also happens for many other animals. Such as turtles, which makes it hard for turtles to find a place to lay eggs. When ingested oil can block airways, which fills animals' stomachs and damages their tissues and organs.
What we are doing to fix this problem?
Our group is hosted a beach cleanup at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. We provided an informative presentation at the cleanup and spread awareness through social media, on how you can help prevent ocean pollution.
We will also be handing out metal reusable straws to our class, the people that attended the cleanup, family, and friends to help prevent plastic straws from polluting our ocean. We came to this conclusion because plastic straws are one of the top ten leading causes of plastic pollution in the ocean.
Evidence of Work:
Work Calendar
At the beginning of this project we planned out when everything would be done and who would do what.
3 Annotated Articles
Each member in the group annotated three articles about our topic. We then later shared that information to create our slideshow.
Content (Our Steps)
Using the engineering steps we were able to create our project to the best we could while getting it done on time. The steps:
1) Research Articles: Each member researched the three articles later using the information to help create our project.
2) We shared our information and figured out what was helpful for the project and what information we didn't need.
3)Brainstorm: We brainstormed ideas on how to stop trash from entering the ocean.
4) Evaluated Solutions: Picked out what ideas from our brainstorm were good and narrowed it down to the top three ideas we wanted to use use.
5) Pick Solution: Picked our final idea (Instagram, handing out straws, and beach cleanup).
6) Develop Prototype: Planned out how we were going to do all this and then do it.
7)Evaluate Prototype: Fix or improve our project. Overall, made the project better by adding more info and adding final decor touches.
8) Prepare Presentation: Practice going through our presentation/ memorize what we were going to say.
9)Present: Share our information to the class to spread awareness on the issue.
Reflection
Overall this project was super fun and helped me learn a lot abut the issues of the world. Something I think our team worked well on was stay focused throughout the whole project. We worked hard everyday to make sure we had enough time to complete the project to the best of our abilities. We also did well on splitting up the work and then coming together to make one big project. For example, when it came to everyone searching up three articles, we all found different information, created different parts for our presentation then combined it for one big presentation. We also communicated our ideas really well and figured out the perfect project for us.
Something that our group could have done better was prepare for our presentation better. We had tons of info and had it super organized but juts were not fully ready to present. Next time I think we should practice presenting more to be fully prepared on presentation day and not need note cards as much. Instead of adding more information we could have run through it a couple times within our group during class. Overall, we did super well and our presentation was good just next time could be great.
