Yesterday we combined our STEM class with the global studies class and speed dated. This is when we shared our ideas for 4 minutes with another person, gave and received feedback, and then when the 4 minutes were up we switched to another person. I really liked this activity because after talking about my project so many times, I felt like I was an expert at it and got really good at actually explaining what the problem is, the data I am using, who I am contacting, and possible solutions to my problem I am addressing. Talking to so many different people also helped with feedback and other ideas I can use in my project. Some feedback that I got included: -Connect the plastics with coral bleaching -Find an alternate exfoliator like natural products such as rocks or dissolvables -Contact companies that use the plastic microbeads -Focus on a specific area of the ocean where the plastic pollution is the worse -Find a local store and inform them on the products they are using -Be realistic because big companies such as Neutrogena will probably not consider my input at all -Contact the woman who swam the English channel because she wanted to start a marine program or something along the lines of that in Rutland The speed dating was a huge help on advancing the ideas of my project.
My third branch idea is the topic of the bleaching of the coral reefs. Coral bleaching is when corals are stressed by changes in conditions like the temperature, light, or nutrients. They release the symbiotic algae living in their tissues causing them to turn white. When a coral bleaches it does not die, but it is put under more stress and are subject to mortality by the stress of the condition. Coral reefs are a MAJOR part of the ocean because a lot of species depend on the reefs. We even depend on the reefs too. The reefs shelter about 25% of all marine species. If we do not put a stop to this bleaching then we will be taking away from 25% of all living things in the oceans home. That is like destroying a quarter of America and have 78.475 million Americans homeless and looking for food, shelter, and jobs. That is a lot of people. There is more life in the ocean than humans on land, so imagine that number be even higher for fish to find someplace else to find shelter and food. They would most likely die in the end, so we theoretically wiped out 25% of marine life if the coral bleaching continues. The coral also protects shorelines. It stops eroding and damage to the shore. If coral reefs are no longer there, the oceans waves would erode the shoreline having no more beaches. Fishing industries also depend on coral reefs for food that they catch. The reefs are abundant in fish and if there are no more fish to catch, the industries would either go out of business making hundreds of workers jobless, or they would have to find another place to fish causing competition between industries and over fishing in certain parts of the ocean where there are many ships all catching fish. Coral reefs are a big part of our world too because we depend on them for tourists money. Millions of people every year travel to the Great Barrier Reef and other reefs to see the vast array of colors and fish there. Without the reefs for tourist attractions, people who work by giving tours of the reef are now out of business. Finally, the coral reefs could also be home to the next big medical breakthrough. Secosteroids are used by coral to protect themselves from disease. We can use this steroid to treat asthma and arthritis. Bryozoan is a fouling organism, like a barnacle, that is a source for an anti-cancer compound called bryostatin 1. Blue-green algae are used to treat small cell lung cancer, melanoma, and even some forms of tumors. The new medicine called Yondelis is from a sea squirt which is used to treat soft-tissue sarcoma. With some more research, scientists have found some more medicinal organisms found around the reefs. Chemicals from soft coral have been used as an anti-inflammatory agent on skin. Bio active molecules in sea sponges, tunicates, and sea hares have displayed as an agent for anti-viral, anti-tumor, and bacterial activity. Bivalves, which are a class of mollusks, are being researched right now to aid in the slowing down of the aging process including metabolic activity. Without the reefs, our globe would deteriorate in and out of the ocean. #saveourwaters.
My second branch idea is the topic of overfishing. Overfishing is when we catch too many fish for the system to support and this leads to a degradation to the marine system. There are three main factors which are the causes of the oceans' overfishing which are over capacity, unsustainable fishing, and economic and food needs. Over capacity due to the fact that our population is rising. A lot of the food we consume comes from the ocean, and many countries and economies run on the products they get from the marine ecosystem. Since we depend on the ocean so much, we tend to overuse it. The boats that we developed can stay at sea up to months catching fish. If we combined all the globes fishing equipment, we could outfish 4 earth like oceans. OMG!!! Unsustainable fishing is when we use too many nets and other fishing equipment to catch too many fish to a point where they become endangered. This also includes other sea animals like sharks, dolphins, turtles, crustaceans, birds, etc. The by-catch that ends up on the ships gets thrown back into the ocean, dead. This is a huge waste of food and the unwanted species that get caught repeatedly are ending up endangered. Also, the nets that the fishermen are using are catching dolphins and sharks in them. This is causing endangerment of many dolphin and sharks species. The third cause of overfishing is that we are trying to meet the economic and food needs of the population. Our population today is growing at an exponential rate. With the growing population, fishing industries need to meet the needs of the consumers and catch more fish. Since the needs are so high, the ocean cannot sustain the amount of fish that is being taken out of it. Places where there used to be a vast amount of fish, are now barren because of what we have caused. Over fishing have caused many impacts on the globe. The destruction of ecosystems is one. When we over fish, it destroys the marine ecosystem because everything depends on each other to live. If one thing is altered or removed from the food chain, it causes a ripple effect and soon almost everything is destroyed. Whole populations of people can get wiped out from one species of fish becoming extinct because that society might depend on that species for income and food. Biodiversity is also affected. If we only fish one species of fish, for example the blue-fin tuna, then we will cause the extinction of this species and will not have anymore in the oceans. Finally, water pollution is an impact of over fishing. This is caused by the thousands of fishing vessels on the ocean for months at a time. The fuel, oil, and waste the ships are using are ending up in the ocean killing a vast amount of species. To stop over fishing, we can do many things. We can join organizations that protect the ocean and its life, have safe catch limits, control our by catch by checking nets more often, protect the ocean life habitats, know what we eat and if it is endangered or not, and finally SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE DANGERS OF OVER FISHING! #saveourwaters
My first idea is the broad topic of marine pollution. Only up until recently in history did people assume that the ocean was so big that it didn't matter how much garbage we dumped in it. The phrase people used was, "The solution to pollution is dilution". Now we can see that diluting the waste by dumping it in the ocean is the worst thing to do because of all the dead zones showing up in the ocean. These dead zones are where no life can survive at all due to all the pollutants in the water. Pollutants can get in the marine ecosystems in many different ways and forms. Some of the more common ways the water gets polluted are due to pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, oil, detergents, sewage, and plastics. Since these pollutants can't break down quickly, they travel down to the bottom of the ocean where they are consumed by small organisms. These small organisms are eaten by larger predators and now the pollutants are in the marine food chains. So, it is not just the water we are polluting, it's the life in it too. Because we eat a lot of fish and other marine life, we are also being polluted because the food we are consuming is polluted. Another way the ocean is being contaminated, is because of the nitrogen-rich fertilizers we are using to farm. The run-off water from the fields with the nitrogen soil is going into the streams, which go into bigger bodies of water which eventually leads to the ocean. These nitrogen rich waters create an algae field which blocks the sunlight in the water causing a dead zone where no life can live. Since our civilization is becoming more and more aware of the dangers of ocean pollution, the government has made laws that say dumping any waste in the ocean is now illegal. Once more people start to become aware of this law, I think the pollution in the ocean will go down drastically. #saveourwaters
Hello! My name is Shannon Adams. I am a senior at Rutland High School. I am currently in the STEM Capstone class for my school. Das ist meine blog. I am interested in doing my project on pollution in the ocean, but more specifically the impact the plastic exfoliator beads in face wash have on the ocean and the life in it. I really enjoy the ocean and the life in it, so I would like to help make it a better place.