ISA TIANHE PYPX 2024
Pollution
Meet The Team
Hello, we are Michael and Talia. For our PYP Exhibition, we chose the topic of Air Pollution because we both agreed that protecting the environment is important. And air pollution is one of the main causes of climate change. We would like to do some research on this topic and learn how to help save the world.
Our
Central Idea:
Air Pollution can cause damage to the environment and people’s health.
Our Lines of Inquiry:
1. Air pollution and its causes.
2. The impact of air pollution on the environment and people's health.
3. Our responsibility to decrease pollution.
Thinker
We need to think more about our topic and find out how we can improve ourselves.
Inquirers
We need to ask more, so we can do more research to answer the questions we hold. Then we can know more about pollution.
Caring
We need to help each other and care about each other ,Caring for others helps to develop empathy and the ability to connect with people, even in difficult times.
Knowledgeable
We could not accomplish much without knowledge. The more knowledgeable you are in your field, the more you will achieve in the life.
Learner Profiles
Key and Related Concepts
1
Causation
What causes pollution?
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Communicate
By doing this project, we want to tell people the importance of protecting the environment.
5
Habitat
Serious air pollution can destroy our living environment.
Connection
We want to discuss the connection between pollution and human life/ environment?
3
Responsibility
How can we be responsible for our environment?
6
Cycle
Air pollution could become a vicious cycle
Field Trip
On February 26th, we went to TESLA in Canton Place. We told him about why we were here and what our project was about. After this, we asked him are we speaking English or Chinese, and he told us Chinese.
We went there because Tesla uses electric cars that will not damage the environment and our health. We think Tesla has an effective way to reduce air pollution and if we ask them about how they reduce air pollution and save energy, we will have more information on how we can stop making it. The key point is that if we know more about air pollution, we can make our PYPX more interesting. So, we found MR. Zhao to have an interview.
When we went into the Tesla, we saw a lot of things like photos of Tesla and people using Tesla, and something like part of the cars and wheels. MR. Elliott thinks it is remarkably interesting making parts of Tesla.
We saw MR. Zhao after we visited Tesla, we think that we can start the interview, but MR. Zhao has an important meeting, so he told us just wait for some moment. When MR. Zhao finished the meeting, we started the interview.
The first question we asked him was Tesla environmentally sustainable? Yes, because it is an electric car. It does not use gasoline.
Another question we asked was, “What do you (TESLA) do to decrease air pollution?" Tesla not only makes electric vehicles, but they also use solar energy.
When we asked MR. Zhao if Tesla’s car batteries are environment friendly, he said, “Yes, because the batteries can be recycled.
We also asked Mr. Zhao “What are your responsibilities to decrease air pollution?” and he told us that they never use gasoline, so they can decrease air pollution.
Then we asked Mr. Zhao ‘why is the action to decrease air pollution so slow and difficult?’ He told us it is because a lot of people do not realize the harm that air pollution will cause to us and the Earth.
After that we asked him ‘why Tesla commits to reduce air pollution?’ He told us because air pollution damages the environment, and human health, and that they realize the importance of reducing air pollution.
After that we asked him, "What other modern technology can we use in cars to reduce air pollution? He told us we can use renewable energy like solar, wind, and hydro power. When we finished the interview, we said bye to MR. Zhao.
After we had this interview, we learned that we should try to use electric cars more, not petrol cars because if we still use petrol cars or vehicles that have gasoline, the environment will be damaged. If the environment has been damaged, the trees will be damaged, if the trees continue to be damaged, we won’t have clear air to breathe, if we don’t have clear air to breathe all the people will suffer and could even die due to air pollution!
So, we learned that we should try to reduce air pollution daily. Do not contribute to the problem.
In conclusion we think that people should use electric cars or bicycles instead of petrol cars and buses for travelling, because if we still use petrol cars or buses to travel, then the environment will be damaged by us, which will have a terrible effect on everyone.
Research Essay
Air Pollution and its Effects
Have you ever imagined waking up to a world void of bright blue skies, plains, and forests? Well, if we continue to cause air pollution at the current rate then we will not need to imagine it as it will become our reality. As said on the Work Economic forum, 92% of the world’s population lives in places where air pollution exceeded safe limits, it is now time to act and address this problem. In this essay, we will talk about what it is, how to reduce and possibly stop air pollution and inform you of the consequences of causing it, because if we do not stop causing air pollution, all life on Earth will be in danger, and in the worst-case scenario we might end up killing the Earth.
The World Health Organisation defines air pollution as the contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that changes the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. In sum this means that the air quality is no longer good and can cause issues for the planet and our health. The choices that humans make and the activities that we take part in pollute the air. There are many air pollutants, and we will now talk about three of the main ones. Vehicle emissions are the biggest pollutants. These are the harmful gases produced when driving cars, flying planes or sailing ships. Vehicle emissions affect us every day in every country all over the world. The second biggest contributor is deforestation, this means the cutting down of trees to clear land for farming and building. Cutting trees can release a huge amount of Co2(Carbon Dioxide) into the air and if trees are cut down, then they will stop producing Oxygen, therefore there will be more Carbon Dioxide than Oxygen being produced. Lastly, the third contributor is coal fueled power plants. These are stations where we get our energy from. The byproduct of burning coal is Carbon Dioxide.
According to the World Health Organization, air pollution increases the risk of respiratory infections, heart disease and lung cancer. Short- and long-term exposure to air pollutants have been associated with health issues. People that have preexisting health issues are at more risk. Children, the elderly, and people with low socioeconomic status are more susceptible to health problems. Air pollution causes ozone depletion, and this leads to increased amounts of UV radiation to reach the Earth which can lead to more cases of skin cancer, cataracts, and impaired immune systems. If the amount of clean air is reduced, this will affect animal and plant life too. Without plants, all life on Earth will simply die.
It is not all doom and gloom we can change and put a stop to air pollution. We still must continue living and using energy sources. However, we can make small but critical changes that we can implement that can make a difference to improve our air quality. We could choose to:
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drive our cars less by walking or using public transportation.
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keep our cars in good condition and choose to drive electric cars.
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ask our governments to find better ways of disposing of our garbage rather than burning it.
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stop using disposable items on a day-to-day basis.
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look to repair before buying the latest items.
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make a conscientious effort to useless energy.
In conclusion, air pollution will cause extreme damage to both the environment and our health, so if we still want to take care of our beautiful world, our families, and friends then we must look at the choices we make and start to be more aware of their impact on our planet and us. It is time to take immediate and effective measures to reduce emissions and promote sustainable practices for a healthier future for all. Remember...
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Air pollution is the largest environmental threat to human health worldwide. ...
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8,43 million premature deaths annually attributed to air pollution. ...
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4th most deadly health risk worldwide. ...
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9 out of 10 deaths attributed to outdoor air pollution are in low- and middle-income countries.
These facts are from the World Health Organisation and National institute of Environmental Health Sciences. It is time to act and make a difference.
Action
As part of our research process, we went on a field trip to TESLA. We went there because Tesla uses electric cars that will not damage the environment and our health. We thought Tesla has an effective way to reduce air pollution and we wanted to ask them about how they reduce air pollution and save energy.
What measures has been taken by Tesla to reduce pollution?
Why is the action to decrease air pollution so slow and difficult?
What are Tesla's responsibilities to maintain sustainable development?
Are Tesla’s car batteries environment friendly? What is Tesla's future plan to reduce air pollution?
We also conducted a survey on people's opinions and daily actions related to air pollution:
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According the survey results, most of the people go to work by gasoline cars, which is one of the main causes of air pollution. There are also other human activities that could cause pollution, such as using plastic products. However, everyone seems to have the awareness and intention to protect the environment. Changes could be made by:
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driving electric cars or riding bikes to work
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trying to avoid using plastic products
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planting trees
As a result of all our research, we decided that our action should be raising awareness of the consequences of air pollution, and teaching people about some slight changes that they can make to their behavior that will have a positive effect on the air quality. Here is the presentation that we showed to the community about how to reduce air pollution:
Talia
My biggest contribution to our team is making the presentation that we used for our action and the survey to my group. We did really well at dividing the work-load, because we split up the tasks to suit our strengths and focus on the parts, we were good at. This helped us because it was easier to manage less things on our individual to-do lists. However, we struggled with time management because we can be easily distracted.
Michael
My biggest contribution to our team is the essay, the posters and the field trip reflection to my group. We used our research skills constantly, because there was a lot of stuff that we didn't know that we needed to find out more about. We would like to make some improvements by staying focused on our tasks and doing things on time so that we don't feel stressed or overwhelmed at the end of our project, trying to get everything finished..
Gallery
