Minecraft Pollinator Garden

6th Grade Tour of a Minecraft Pollinator Garden

Minecraft Education Edition has created a great activity for students to learn about the importance of pollinators in our world by having kids build an amazing pollinator garden! Sixth grade Science students were able to download the Pollinator Garden world from Google Classroom to use at home with their school Minecraft Education Edition accounts!



Here's what kids see when they first enter the Pollinator Garden world:

Here's what their empty plot looks like before they start building:

And here's a tour from one of our 6th graders who completed his gardens and recorded a tour on the assignment Flipgrid:

Ocean Acidification

What is Ocean Acidification?

    Acidification is the process where a substance yields a hydrogen ion when dissolved into water. This means that it gives up the positive hydrogen in its molecular structure and binds with the water. So when CO2 dissolves into the H2O, it forms carbonic acid. And when the hydrogen in the water is yielded, it becomes a bicarbonate ion. But where does the hydrogen ion go? Well, there are lots of particles and other things in water. But the one that shellfish like oysters, muscles, and clams all use to build their shell is called calcium carbonate or CaCO3 which is one calcium, one carbon, and three oxygens. But the hydrogen ion likes the calcium as well and will fight the shellfish and coral for the calcium carbonate. This results in the shellfish trying to find carbonate to build their shells rather than finding places to eat or hide from predators. Anyway, the hydrogen ions are what make the oceanic pH drop and the reason that they’re even in the ocean is because of all of the carbon dioxide that is created when we burn fossil fuels to generate the energy we use to power our lives.

How does it Affect us?

    The United States of America has been one of the first countries to be affected by Ocean Acidification. The Puget Sound has The most corrosive waters in the world. The water that the oysters grow up in is so low pH that they are dying within two days after being raised in it. If that isn't saying we've been hit, I don't know what is. Maybe if our rain was dissolving trees or something, but the water is corrosive enough to dissolve the baby oysters in hatcheries. That's right, the oysters are actually dissolving in the water that they're being raised in. The waters of the Kitsap Puget Sound have made a huge leap in acidification ever since the Industrial Revolution. Upwelling is how most of this acidification happens. One of the processes of this kind of upwelling, is when the ocean plankton absorb the carbon from the air in the water is then getting eaten by fish that live deeper and they’re taking that carbon dioxide even deeper and then upwelling brings all of that extra CO2 and making the surface more corrosive. Upwelling is natural, but when it upwells so much CO2 that it is increasing the oceanic acidity, it's a minor problem.

What can we do About it?

    There are so many things that we could be doing to help stop the climate crisis, but we aren't. The answer to the question, “Who will win, climate change or us?” is determined by two other questions. “Can we power our lives with much less CO2,” and if the answer to that question is yes, then the second question is, “Will we do it?” The answer to the first question is pretty straight forward, of course, we can use less CO2. But the second, the answer depends on a few things. Scientists say that in order to protect the worst effects of climate change, we cannot let our planet warm by over 2 degrees Celsius, and we’ve already almost reached 1 degree. 

And a quick piece of information, the amount of energy you need to warm the entire planet even 1 degree Celsius, or 34 degrees Fahrenheit, is so tremendous compared to how it happens naturally. For the planet to warm naturally like this would require hundreds of thousands to millions of years. And now some things about how energy is generated in the US. In a fuel plant, they have many turbines that are turned by burning fossil fuels that heat up water, and then the water turns to steam, then the steam turns the turbine which generates energy. But there are many other efficient, and Earth-friendly. Like using water and wind to turn the turbine instead. Or, you could pull energy directly from the sun with solar panels. And even some places use the geothermal vents in the earth to power plants and generate electrical energy. These resources are renewable energy sources, unlike fossil fuels which are nonrenewable sources which means that there are a lot of them, but eventually, they will run out.

by Ethan

My DOT for Climate Change

What have I learned about Climate Change?

    I have learned much about climate change in this learning course. Some key details I think that I should state are that the average American takes up about 16 football fields of square feet. Almost 80% of the energy we almost 80% of the energy we use right now comes from burning fossil fuels. There has never been more than 300ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for over 800,00 years until just a couple decades ago. Which is over 100 times faster than the previous 800,000 years.

Freeways are HUGE sources of air pollutants. Natural disasters like hurricanes are also getting more and more destructive as the years go on. This is very stressful for people who live on eastern coasts because some of them are left without power, food, water, and sometimes shelter.

The planet is actually really beautiful and humans are very smart. The CO2 emissions are what keep the planet warm, but too much can lead to great heat spikes that have never been reached before. In being able to create a big change in the world, they have to see the truth and what is really happening. Many people have taken action and speak up about our global crisis. There are thousands of young people speaking out in front of other nations, politicians, and protesting and pointing the finger at our US government about how crooked we really are and how little we’re doing about the problem. If our generation of people keeps doing this for the next few years and the government decides to do something about it, our movement can move the world.

I have a choice: To do something or nothing. I am going to DOT or Do One Thing to help the world in this crisis. I am only one out of 7.8 billion people, but that can eventually turn into thousands and even millions. We can’t just sit around and let the future happen for ourselves. If everyone thought that all of their problems would get solved, there might have already been over thousands of countries that have risen over 33 degrees celsius. As the next generation, we have to make the future. And we can start that off by DOT or Doing One Thing for Climate Change.

What is my DOT?

    DOT is Doing One Thing for climate change. There are so many things that you can do to help put a stop to the growing global atmospheric temperatures. 

What have I decided to do?

    Well, I have decided to do multiple different things. A lot of these things I just do casually like turning the lights off, reducing my waste, recycling, and riding my bike places. But what I've changed? I decided to not eat so much meat, use cleaner energy (Haven't got to the solar panels yet), I have never let the water run while I've brushed my teeth, and I also have washed my hands not in cold water, but in cooler water. I know, not much right? But sometimes, in a whole year, those things add up to be a lot. If that wasn't true then everyone would leave their water running, throw everything in the trash. Did you know that if no one ran the water while they brushed their teeth that we could save nearly 2400 gallons of water in a year

by Ethan

Oil Spills

What we need to survive is what aquatic animals need as well. But with the amount of garbage (14 MILLION pounds a year), oil (1.3 MILLION gallons a year), extinction, habitat loss, and much more, soon our waters won't be drinkable. Although businesses are helping it still isn't enough. This is happening why? US.

Major Causes of Oil Spills Infographic from NOAA

The leading cause is most likely garbage but following shortly behind garbage is oil. The biggest causes are ships and oil rigs. But there is so much more such as transportation, seeps, etc. Focusing deeper into transportation I found that vents are a huge impact on the ocean, simply freeing all the oils that come from the streets into the ocean. How could this be stopped? Well... with a lot of thinking, investigation, and researching the perfect solution was made.


With the yearly amount of oil that our oceans are exposed to, twelve percent may seem small but this solution would stop around one hundred fifty-six thousand galloons of oil from entering the ocean yearly. Now that you're eager to find out what this may be, I will begin. Imagine you're in a car parked on the side of the road, then the car starts to leak oil, draining into the vent and then into the ocean, all by mistake. Well, with the vent idea below, mistakes like this won't happen again. Once the oil has arrived at the vent it will be caught by a platform where a color sensor will be waiting to sense the color (knowing oil is iridescent/black and water is transparent/blue) then soaking the oil up and disposing of it while freeing the water into the ocean. With just a few inventions like this soon barely any oil will be in our oceans.

                                                                                                   
                                                                                            PROTOTYPE             

                                                                                                 UNDER THE VENT  

                                                       
                                                          TYPICAL VENT ABOVE


                                                                                  SITES
https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/about/media/how-does-oil-get-ocean.html
                               
https://www.livescience.com/9885-faq-science-history-oil-spills.html

by Olivia

Stanky Fishy Stanky Fishy

Stanky Fishy Stanky Fishy

 This is a picture of what our waters should look like!
👈🏻 Now take a look at this
                         👇🏻



         

The topic that I chose for my project is the ocean plastic problem. The problem we are facing is that all the plastic that is washing up in our rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans. It's a very big problem because not only is it threatening all of our sea creatures, but it's also killing our wildlife in and around those waters.

The Three R's 

Ok, now let's talk about the three R's. If you don't already know what the three R's are, or what they stand for, here you go:

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle 

To sum it up a little, we are just trying to use something as much as it can be used, and then turning it into something good. That's our problem right now! Not everyone is taking this into consideration, or being RESPONSIBLE when it comes to making the most out of something, and then discarding it properly. Ok, so picture this example - for every time that you do something wrong, let's say...forget to pick up your trash, and the result of this is one tree gets taken down. Let's talk about what the trees do to help us? Right...they help us breathe! But, if you compare that to all the garbage that is being washed up on what used to be a family-friendly beach or river, we would have no tree's left. We'd all die, and then look at all our wildlife that we are eliminating because of what humankind has done, and not only that but our own people too!

Pollution is everywhere and you can help! Be responsible and pick up after yourself. If you have any plastic, glass, paper, cardboard, or jugs you NEED to recycle them! It doesn't only save our planet but it saves you. It saves our planet because we aren't letting all the bad toxins used to make our garbage out where animals can reach, or decongest it. "Plastic accumulating in our oceans and on our beaches has become a global crisis" Global! It's all over the world, I believe that anyone can help this problem. "We’ve sued companies that turn plastic into consumer goods to better control their runoff."  

This is a picture of my prototype: 

My solution to solve the Ocean plastic problem is, to make a water-based floating dump truck. It will be designed just like a normal dump truck except with some upgrades. It will run off of the water that it's picking trash up from so that it won't leak oil. There will be a large net at the back that will push all the trash onto a large conveyor belt that will slowly bring it up into a grinder that will turn into microplastic that will soon be disposed when collected. 

Bibliography:

My evidence: https: //www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/


First picture: Taken by me, Rylee.


Ocean pollution picture: https://time.com/4133379/rio-water-pollution-olympics/


Ocean pollution meme: https://deathbytoxicwaste.wordpress.com/2018/05/30/hysterical-memes-hehehe/

by Rylee

Help Save Spongebob! Keep Our Water Safe!

I choose drinking water as my topic because every human and animal and sponge needs clean drinking water. 

Did you know? 65% of the human body is water. A person can only go 3 days without water 💀😬

Facts about water and water pollution

• 70% of the earth is covered by water but only 2.5% of that water is freshwater AND we can only get 1% of the freshwater because its under glaciers.  
• Lots of garbage (over 6 million pounds!!!!) ends up in the ocean every year. Most of it is plastic.
  
• 80% of water pollution is caused due to domestic sewage. Other causes are oil spills, fracking, agricultural runoff like pesticides. 
  
• Around 70% of industrial waste is dumped into the water. 
  
• Contaminated water can cause diseases like cholera and typhus

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! 

My message is that we need to help stop polluting our drinking water by recycling, making companies get rid of their garbage in a safe way, don’t put your garbage like paint and oil down the drain, pick up litter, don’t waste water, use less plastic stuff, don’t litter, or waste energy. We can also look for new ways to filter water and help out like I did by using a banana to make dirty water cleaner… 

Bibliography:

“15 Interesting Facts about Water Pollution.” 15 Interesting Facts about Water Pollution, Veluda Water Filters, 21 Feb. 2017, www.veluda.com/en/blog/15-endiaferon-dedomena-gia-ti-molunsi-tou-nerou-220.
Cornell, Julia. “5 Tips to Keep Water Clean and Safe.” Medium, Medium, 22 Mar. 2019, medium.com/@h2olabcheck/5-tips-to-keep-water-clean-and-safe-ce779cce152e.

Denchak, Melissa. “Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know.” NRDC, 13 Mar. 2020, www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-know.

Johnson, Jon. How Long You Can Live without Water. Medical News Today, 14 May 2019, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325174.

National Academies. “Safe Drinking Water Is Essential.” Koshland Science Museum, National Academies, 1 Sept. 2007, www.koshland-science-museum.org/water/new/en/Overview/index.html.

Nunez, Christina. “Freshwater 101: Pollution.” Water Pollution Facts and Information, 24 Jan. 2020, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/pollution/.

Philip, Agnel, et al. “63 Million Americans Exposed to Unsafe Drinking Water.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 15 Aug. 2017, www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/14/63-million-americans-exposed-unsafe-drinking-water/564278001/.

“Where This Occurs: Ground Water and Drinking Water.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 15 Apr. 2019, www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/where-occurs-ground-water-and-drinking-water.

Written by Camden

Microplastics

Microplastics, tiny bits of plastic, are really hard to remove from the ocean.  Most nets can’t catch them because the holes are too wide. Fish can swallow microplastics and when you eat the fish you can ingest plastic.  This is dangerous to humans because human bodies can’t break down the microplastics. Also, the microplastics are from plastic bottles that have deteriorated from the crashing waves and have been made into very small pieces that can harm sea life. 

Microplastics get into their digestive system and get into the fish from inside or the plastic can just stay in the fish until it is eaten or dies. You can NOT throw your bottles and garbage on the ground, instead, make sure it goes into recycling. You can go to your local beach and do a cleanup day and pick up the garbage and plastics so they don't get into the water. When you kayak or fish, you can pick up plastics you see in the water, so they don't become microplastics.

You can make a big change and talk to local leaders and vote to ban plastic bags because they usually just get thrown away or even are blown into the water and out to sea.


Microplastic
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how Microplastic get in fish

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Written by Logan J

Oil Spills Are NOT Acceptable

Petroleum became a major industry following the oil discovery at Oil Creek Pennsylvania in 1859. Most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the US was the largest oil producing country in the world. The domestic petroleum industry that began in 1859 with a well drilled just 69.5 feet deep forever changed America’s economy, the standard of living, and culture. The earliest exploration companies began seeking oil for refining into a newly invented lamp fuel called kerosene. This “rock oil” fuel was cheaper than whale oil and far safer than the more popular but explosive fuel, camphene.

    Even though this discovery changed the way we did things back in the 19th and 20th century, an oil spill is extremely dangerous. And one in the Ocean is even worse. Elastec is an organization that designs solutions to clean massive oil spills like in this picture. This picture is of a crashed ship that spilled just over 400,000 gallons of Heavy Fuel Oil. As you can tell, that's a lot of oil and a lot of fire. But do you see how they are containing it? They are using a very large boom to contain the oil and bring it back to a containment center or to a ship that carries it to where it needs to be. 

 My team's solution is like this. The Interceptor 004 is an autonomous robot that collects plastic out of rivers with a boom like a guide to collect the plastic and put it in a bin. Our design is like this, but with a boom with foam blocks on the end instead of a plastic guide.

    The boom is made from hydrophobic oleophilic molecules attached to their rim which recover the surfaced oil and any oil that was missed. Oleophilic means that the molecules like to cling to the hydrocarbons in petroleum. And the hydrocarbons in petroleum are hydrophobic as well as the sponge, so you don’t have to worry about the water taking up any space in your foam boom. Then it returns the oil either to somewhere it can be resold or be contained for later use.

The black legos represent the oil, the long lego pieces represent the Booms, and the two tower looking pieces represent the large oil containers. I published this blog post during a school closure during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and didn't have the resources at home to create something robotic, but in my opinion, it came out pretty good for having only a couple of legos.

There are many things that you can do to help. There really isn't a way to prevent oil spills, most of them are accidents I hope, but the plastic waste problem is pretty big as well. One of my favorite and easiest to remember is the three R's. That's Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Now, do you notice that Reduce and Reuse are both before Recycle? That means Reduce the non-reusable plastic and recycle when we can't reuse it. We really shouldn't be using that much non-reusable plastic. Most of the plastic in our houses are or should be containers of some kind.

Bibliography

Elastec.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_petroleum_industry_in_the_United_States

Written by Ethan

Have Dirty Water?

Hydro Dynamic Challenge

Intro

My class is working on cleaning the oceans, creeks, and rivers of plastic and garbage. Thanks to COVID 19 we have to stay at home so we do all our work while at home! By staying home I was able to find more research links for you to look at.

Idea

I thought of making an invention that can filter water and clean it up but you can't drink out of it. I got the idea from the invention of the LifeStraw because it has a filter that removes about 99.9999% bacteria and it also removes the chance of getting Guinea worm and Giardia. Here is a list of things that LifeStraw can filter: Poop water, toilet water, mud puddle, pond water, clear water, and spit water, things that Life Straw can't filter: Pee, Saltwater, Sprite, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lemonade, Chocolate milk, and probably Slurpy juice. Sorry if I weird you out!

What I Will Make My Filter\Straw Out Of

I will use a lot of fuzzy pipe cleaners for a filter and a sheet of plastic to wrap around the filter. I will need to cut the pipe cleaners in half to make the filter bigger. In my estimate, I think it will filter at least 80.6% of the water.

This is a photo of my invention.

This is the FilterTube Version 0.1 This is a prototypeHere are the URL sources on where I found my information. I hope you enjoyed the blog!

https://youtu.be/Nk7J-lsZ2f0
https://youtu.be/_mkUTSGCF3I
https://youtu.be/A6bVCXdBuD0
https://youtu.be/NqZlq7m56yI
https://youtu.be/i82YD7uvi2s
https://youtu.be/0pnGCN1GP_U

Written by Anya