Amanda Wright, Editor in Chief
As the ice that formerly covered London melts in anticipation of Spring's arrival, it prompts concern for our ever melting climate. With Earth Day approaching and global warming as pressing as ever, the STEM class decided to do a project that focuses on this issue. “We had to create a product that made life better and it was based on any of the 17 UN sustainable development goals.”, says grade 9 student Mostafa Badawi.
Canada is warming at about twice the rate as the rest of the world. The impact of this can be greatly felt in Ontario as our province’s temperature is expected to rise by 3-8 degrees celsius within the next century. This will impact farmers, weather, and health of civilians in Ontario. “I think that [climate change] is a big problem that needs to be addressed and there are things that we can do about it but also actions that we can do that aren't being put into place.”, states grade 9 STEM student Brailyn Joworski. Her group constructed a miniature hydroponic greenhouse named, The Grow Box. It allows plants to grow inside due to UV lights and a self watering system.
The main goal of The Grow Box is to provide plants that can be grown in the winter and without much effort since the UV lights and watering system can be put on a self-timer. “It can help with hunger and poverty because you can grow more plants throughout the year. In the growing season where you miss out on production because it is too cold outside you'd be able to grow more plants.”, says group member grade 9 Blake Coulas.
Left to right: Blake Coulas Grade 9, Zachary King Grade 9, Claire Martin Grade 9, Jayme MacLeod Grade 9, Brailyn Joworski Grade 9 with their growing box.
While The Grow Box helps improve climate change on land, grade 9 student Mostafa Badawi and his partner created a wave energy generator to tackle the problem of climate change and the lack of renewable energy sources.
“We have a piston that goes up and it spins and on the inside there is also a gear and we have two electric generators on the inside and that gear spins when the up and down motions of the waves happen…As the waves go higher, the piston goes up, and it spins on the inside, and we have a gear at the bottom that spins two gears that are connected electric … and that produces electricity” explains Mostafa.
When asked about climate change, Mostafa Badawi explains how it makes him feel as a student living in Ontario, “It's scary . I'm scared at least. Even I've noticed it from when I first came here when I was younger. I feel the heat…It's going to keep getting worse if we don't act on it now and if it keeps getting worse, who knows what's going to happen later.”
The wave energy generator was created so that if the product became big enough, it could be put in and power some lakes in London to help produce energy for all of Ontario.
With the thought process to eliminate pollution to help our climate came grade 9 students Faris Al Jaradat, Hossam Ismail, and Zadok Akande. This group recycled expired olive and coconut oil and used it to create bars of soap.
“Many companies and many stores waste their olive oil when it expires, they throw it out and it could be used for other purposes,” says Faris, “It is bad for the environment because it is glass and it is wasted olive oil. So we are going to be using it for soap”
The boys were set on creating recycled soap so that they could help the community by providing cheap and accessible soap.
Mostafa Badawi with the wave energy generator.
“Many pieces of the puzzle for climate change comes from pollution, comes from waste, comes from that type of stuff. We are trying to make a dent in it because we do not want to waste like all the other companies waste. We want to be an eco-friendly company.”
All STEM students excelled in creating their UN designed projects. These projects acted as a trial of critical thinking and creativity in preparation for the upcoming individual passion projects that will be displayed at a science fair near the end of the school year.
The projects help reverse climate change and act as a reminder of what students our age can do to help save the planet and our future.
“Many students… they don't really take in mind what they are doing… We are the future and we need to fix it.”.
Hossam Ismail with the finished soap product.