Through our project, we intend to impact our community in a way that would spread awareness about the growing issues concerning marine pollution. Scheduling class presentations and interactive debates at our school leads to people having an increased awareness of the problem, and encourages them to take action to reduce the amount of reusable plastic going to waste. By spreading awareness, we hope to reduce the amount of waste in our local beaches and lakes.
Our solution would decrease the use of disposable dissolved plastic indicators as what we designed is reusable. The indicator would a value indicating the amount of plastic in the water, potentially improving the health of humans and other organisms. Another anticipated outcome is the addition of new laws that protect the ocean from more harm, enacted through communicating with and petitioning to representatives.
Outcome
Because of social distancing brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to do the in-person events and work that we planned, which included beach cleanup, beach water testing for phenol, and the BPA indicator design. However, by creating and teaching marine pollution-themed Scratch games, we were able to spread awareness of the issue of ocean plastics to the community outside our school. We held 8 sessions with 1-7 students in each session teaching them how to code the Scratch game, which included facts about marine plastic pollution. We also taught students how to design their own game that taught COVID-10 safety precautions. We also have continued to keep in contact with all of our dedicated team members, and discussed through meetings all the necessary adjustments and modifications to our new virtual plans. By using the influence of the internet, we were able to reach out to people about our mission even during this pandemic.