
Superworms and the Plastic Crisis
By: Joseph of KIS
SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Responsible consumption and production, Climate action
Plastics, once a revolutionary and cost-efficient invention made as an alternative to wood and glass in hopes of maintaining the availability of natural resources on earth, has now become one of the most pressing issues for our environment today. Single-use plastic bags, bottles, disposable forks, and trash plague our environment, leaching harmful chemicals into our lands and oceans. Plastics also take hundreds, if not thousands of years to biodegrade in nature. However, from a 2015 Stanford breakthrough, it was discovered that mealworms can actually biodegrade polystyrene, a type of plastic that would take decades to biodegrade in nature alone.
We wanted to transform this discovery into an opportunity where elementary and middle school students can be educated on the science behind how these worms can biodegrade styrofoam. Considering the broader goal of our initiative however, we want to inspire the younger generation to take initiative on these types of issues pertinent to sustainability and climate change.
So far, we're in the beginning stages of our initiative. We've presented in front of a middle school class, and we're already seeing promising results from our surveys. 31% of our middle school audience gave little to no attention to various environmental issues prior to our presentation. However, after the presentation, more than 53% of our audience reported that they're more inclined to seek ways to take initiative regarding environmental issues. We also plan to install a worm farm at our school to serve as an educational and interactive learning model, particularly within the elementary division.
Taking on this initiative made us recognize the importance of youth advocacy and empowerment, as the younger generation holds the potential to change the direction of society and our planet. Beyond the premise of interacting with worms and elementary students within our school, we also want to expand our initiative so it can have a global reach. We plan to collaborate and network with a broader range of other international schools around the world, and we hope that this initiative continues to inform and inspire our youth to take action for our environment.
We wanted to transform this discovery into an opportunity where elementary and middle school students can be educated on the science behind how these worms can biodegrade styrofoam. Considering the broader goal of our initiative however, we want to inspire the younger generation to take initiative on these types of issues pertinent to sustainability and climate change.
So far, we're in the beginning stages of our initiative. We've presented in front of a middle school class, and we're already seeing promising results from our surveys. 31% of our middle school audience gave little to no attention to various environmental issues prior to our presentation. However, after the presentation, more than 53% of our audience reported that they're more inclined to seek ways to take initiative regarding environmental issues. We also plan to install a worm farm at our school to serve as an educational and interactive learning model, particularly within the elementary division.
Taking on this initiative made us recognize the importance of youth advocacy and empowerment, as the younger generation holds the potential to change the direction of society and our planet. Beyond the premise of interacting with worms and elementary students within our school, we also want to expand our initiative so it can have a global reach. We plan to collaborate and network with a broader range of other international schools around the world, and we hope that this initiative continues to inform and inspire our youth to take action for our environment.