Major
Biology
Anticipated Graduation Year
2025
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Out of sight, Out of mind, Christina Wallis, Class of 2025
Colored pencils, Sharpies, Acrylic Pens
Out of sight, out of mind, that is the human-way. Plastic pollution, CO2 pollution, and global warming have become significant environmental issues especially in the oceans.
Plastics are non-biodegradable materials that do not decompose and can remain in the environment for hundreds of years. Marine wildlife can become entangled in plastic waste, leading to injury or death. They may also mistake plastic debris (including microplastics) for food which can cause suffocation, starvation, physical harm and bioaccumulation of toxins, which can affect the health of animals higher up the food chain, including humans. Plastic debris can also alter marine habitats, including coral reefs and seagrass beds, by smothering or blocking sunlight. This can also reduce the amount of oxygen available in the water, which can harm marine life that relies on it.
Poor management of other pollutants, increased CO2 levels, and rises in temperature has led to more algal growth. These global changes could lead to a significant increase in a toxic alga, V. globosus, that releases cytotoxins. The ocean’s absorbtion of CO2 from the atmosphere is resulting in ocean acidification which could further assist in the spread of V. globosus. When reefs remain too warm for too long corals release the marine algae living inside of their tissues (zooxanthellae) which results in loss of the coral’s colorations. When a coral loses its zooxanthellae, all that is left behind is a white skeleton. This loss of color of corals, and in the reefs is represented by the muted and limited color choices of blue and purple.
A slab of wood was utilized as the base of the piece, each visible ring is a year of the tree’s life and it takes many years for a tree’s trunk to widen. This is representative of how it both took time to allow pollution to get this severe and how it will also take time to recover from it. Colored pencils are soft and muted and take multiple layers to build up significant color. Similarly, at first pollution may have started slowly and gone unnoticed but now the combination of different pollutants and global changes have built on one another and led to significant differences in our oceans. Acrylic markers were used to draw over the colored pencil but took multiple coats to get an opaque result showing it will take multiple attempts to cover up and fix the damage that has been done. The jellyfish flowing and connected to the eye shows the connection people have to the ocean and how if they can see what is happening, they are also responsible to help. One of many microplastics (polyethylene terephthalate) is depicted around the edges of the wood seemingly blending in with it, out of sight and out of mind.
To better our effects on the ocean we not only have to try to revert the damage that has been done but also must actively take preventative measures. The cartoonish style shows that the situation doesn’t seem real and that for most people they do not see the impacts of pollution on the ocean on a day-to-day basis. The realistic components of the piece represent the need for these impacts to come to life and be recognized as a reality of humans’ impacts on the ocean and to keep them in sight and in mind.
References if necessary or helpful https://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/5257 https://ocean.si.edu/conservation/pollution/marine-plastics https://www.carbonbrief.org/rising-co2-levels-ocean-could-benefit-toxic-algae/ https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/
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Out of Sight, Out of Mind (Beauty in Biology)
Out of sight, Out of mind, Christina Wallis, Class of 2025
Colored pencils, Sharpies, Acrylic Pens
Out of sight, out of mind, that is the human-way. Plastic pollution, CO2 pollution, and global warming have become significant environmental issues especially in the oceans.
Plastics are non-biodegradable materials that do not decompose and can remain in the environment for hundreds of years. Marine wildlife can become entangled in plastic waste, leading to injury or death. They may also mistake plastic debris (including microplastics) for food which can cause suffocation, starvation, physical harm and bioaccumulation of toxins, which can affect the health of animals higher up the food chain, including humans. Plastic debris can also alter marine habitats, including coral reefs and seagrass beds, by smothering or blocking sunlight. This can also reduce the amount of oxygen available in the water, which can harm marine life that relies on it.
Poor management of other pollutants, increased CO2 levels, and rises in temperature has led to more algal growth. These global changes could lead to a significant increase in a toxic alga, V. globosus, that releases cytotoxins. The ocean’s absorbtion of CO2 from the atmosphere is resulting in ocean acidification which could further assist in the spread of V. globosus. When reefs remain too warm for too long corals release the marine algae living inside of their tissues (zooxanthellae) which results in loss of the coral’s colorations. When a coral loses its zooxanthellae, all that is left behind is a white skeleton. This loss of color of corals, and in the reefs is represented by the muted and limited color choices of blue and purple.
A slab of wood was utilized as the base of the piece, each visible ring is a year of the tree’s life and it takes many years for a tree’s trunk to widen. This is representative of how it both took time to allow pollution to get this severe and how it will also take time to recover from it. Colored pencils are soft and muted and take multiple layers to build up significant color. Similarly, at first pollution may have started slowly and gone unnoticed but now the combination of different pollutants and global changes have built on one another and led to significant differences in our oceans. Acrylic markers were used to draw over the colored pencil but took multiple coats to get an opaque result showing it will take multiple attempts to cover up and fix the damage that has been done. The jellyfish flowing and connected to the eye shows the connection people have to the ocean and how if they can see what is happening, they are also responsible to help. One of many microplastics (polyethylene terephthalate) is depicted around the edges of the wood seemingly blending in with it, out of sight and out of mind.
To better our effects on the ocean we not only have to try to revert the damage that has been done but also must actively take preventative measures. The cartoonish style shows that the situation doesn’t seem real and that for most people they do not see the impacts of pollution on the ocean on a day-to-day basis. The realistic components of the piece represent the need for these impacts to come to life and be recognized as a reality of humans’ impacts on the ocean and to keep them in sight and in mind.
References if necessary or helpful https://journals.openedition.org/factsreports/5257 https://ocean.si.edu/conservation/pollution/marine-plastics https://www.carbonbrief.org/rising-co2-levels-ocean-could-benefit-toxic-algae/ https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/