Team:CCU Taiwan/Engagement
Public and Education
Education
Synthetic Biology Lesson for senior high school students in summer camp
Summary: We held a lesson for senior high school students in order to make them interested in synthetic biology and learn more about iGEM.
On July 14th, we had a lesson about synthesis biology for senior high school students. We divided this lesson into two parts: introduction to synthetic biology and introduction to iGEM.
In the first part, we prepared an animation which is easy to understand to help them understand synthetic biology more easily. After this part, we had a prize quiz.Although the quiz was not hard at all, the class took it seriously. We believed that they had started being interested in synthesis biology.
In the second part, we had a brief presentation about what iGEM is, and how could we learn through iGEM.
There still some parts we did not mention in the power point slide, since synthetic biology is still viewed with suspicion by some people. At least for now, it cannot be accepted by society.
To know more about the lesson, click here to see the PPT shown in class.
To connect with public on Facebook
Summary: We use our Facebook fans page to teach public some simple case and knowledge of synthetic biology and our project.
We issued synthetic biology and project in different name – “About synthetic biology” and “Issues around the world”.
You can see details on: https://www.facebook.com/ccuigemteam/
Photoes Here
Public
Reality in Taiwan
Taiwan was praised by The Wall Street Journal for recycling, and the article mentioned that the recycling rate in Taiwan was up to 56%. However, the truth of recycling in Taiwan is unfortunately not that good.
Taiwan has many hidden problems behind this illusory figure. Remaining trash, including those that should be recycled, would be put together in the end.
What happened in Taiwan? I think that the problem is not easy to treat at all.
The way the recycling rate in Taiwan was calculated was through “buying and selling”. Some unscrupulous people might sell trash packed in a layer of paper, and this would also be included in recycling rate. What’s more, the recyclable material is adulterated with about ten percent non-recyclable trash, which means that although you did recycle, at the terminus it would all be sent into the incinerator. In addition, the amount of many specific kinds of trash that industries which can handle and treat in a day is far less than the trash produced. All of these facts shocked us, shaking our faith in the recycling system.
For this reason, we asked some experts and entrepreneurs to determine what the problem is and seek for a good way to improve, or even to solve it.
Truth of paper container recycling in Taiwan
While people think they do recycle, the fact is that our recycling action does not work.
Public Thoughts on paper container lamination
As the lamination is currently made of polyethylene and polypropylene, this causes a large part of the problem. Therefore, our project, LIGGREEN, can help solve these problems. We had a simple investigation comparing LIGGREEN with polyethylene/polypropylene, surveying average people.
Here you can see our results from survey:
From the survey, we can see that people do care about environmental protection, and most people are willing to pay a higher price for a more environmental product.
As a result, we firmly believe we can execute our project.