Team:NCKU Tainan/Sustainable
Overview
With the advancement of science and technology, the world is closely linked, and many problems have surfaced one by one. Waste and uneven distribution of resources, environmental pollution, sustainable development and so on. However, these problems can no longer be solved by a single country, but require everyone to work together to pursue a better and more sustainable environment. In response to this goal, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which originated from Millennium Development Goals, were established by The United Nations in 2015. It is hoped that all things, races, universities, governments, institutions and organizations on the planet can work together for multiple goals and achieve them in 2030. Even though SDGs seem to be based on the country or the government which have a greater impact, many cities and organizations are already working hard for SDGs. As college students, of course, we can also do our part for SDGs. Perhaps our influence is limited, but we can also make a contribution to SDGs through personal practice, holding events or conveying on the Internet, and the rich creativity of college students.
iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020 also noticed these global issues and were willing to devote ourselves to them. Therefore, we contacted College X of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) to discuss SDGs. College X aims at educating the next generation talents and solving future problems, which is a platform for transdisciplinary education, research, and outreach. To link up with the world, SDGs are one the parts they are working on. In the dialogue with them, we learned about many different SDGs activities, and they also led us to understand SDGs from different perspectives. In the end, we planned many activities and improved our own projects according to the three categories of the 17 goals divided by the United Nations: Environment, Society, Economic. In addition to discussions on SDGs, we also promoted our activities and iGEM in schools through College X.
Environment
Society
Economic
Environment
With the economic development of various countries, human life, production, and construction activities have deteriorated the natural environment, resulting in a lot of pollution and destruction. To seek the method to control and eliminate the negative impact of various factors on the environment and strive to restore and protect the environment. Environmental issues are an urgent matter at hand. Among the many pollutions, water pollution is undoubtedly one that cannot be ignored. The 14th SDGs-Life below water is committed to improving the conservation of the marine environment. Upon knowing this, we discussed with one of the PIs, Prof. Han-Qing Wang, who devoted herself to research in aquaculture and incorporated her research relating to the 14th SDGs. After consulting with her, we decided to hold a contact lens recycling event to raise public awareness of the contact lenses' correct disposal method.
Contact lens recycling event collaborated with iGEM NYMU-Taipei
This year, iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020 designed Eye kNOw contact lenses to treat glaucoma. At first glance, this project doesn't seem to be related to water pollution. However, after conducting several researches for possible pollution caused by contact lenses, we found out they are able to cause a serious pollution of microplastic in the ocean. A study by Arizona State University in the United States found that 15 to 20% of contact lens users admitted that they would flush the used contact lens directly into the toilet or throw it into the sink[1]. The contact lenses that enter the sewers will be transported to the sewage treatment plant, where they are split into microplastic during the sewage treatment process and eventually flow into the sea. According to BBC NEWS, scientists have found there are 12-21 million tonnes of tiny plastic fragments floating in the Atlantic Ocean[2]. Also, according to the water quality survey conducted by the Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency from December 106 to July 107, the number of floating microplastics in the surrounding sea ranges from 1,000 to 18,500 per 1,000 liters, 26 to 2,400 per kilogram of beach gravel, and even 0.2 to 5.2 per gram in farmed and wild shellfish[3]. With these data, we can know that microplastic pollution has severely affected marine ecology and our health.
In order to solve the problem of microplastic pollution caused by contact lenses, we collaborated with iGEM NYMU-Taipei, who is developing contact lenses to prevent COVID 19 infection this year. We aimed to inform the public of the correct disposal method of contact lenses to protect our mother Earth. Hence, we designed a poster and used “Throw contact lens properly, marine life lives happily.” as our slogan. In order to promote the correct recycling knowledge and our recycling event, we posted posters on the bulletin board of the school dormitory and the school’s Facebook fan page.
We collected the used contact lens from both campuses from September 21st to September 25th 2020. Finally, we turned 600 contact lenses into artworks together with iGEM NYMU-Taipei. This way we extended the life of the waste material and reduced the pollution of microplastic. Through this event, we have successfully targeted the fourteenth SDG, Life Below Water.
Society
Even science and technology have advanced in the speed of a rocket in the past 100 years, there are still many different diseases that plague people. Glaucoma, the silent vision killer, which affects nearly 80 million people worldwide, is one of the unsolved problems[4]. The purpose of 3rd SDGs, Good health and Well-being, is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages is essential to sustainable development. Through iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020's product Eye kNOw this year, we can help all ages of glaucoma patients and potential patients, bring them the light of hope.
With the boundless network connecting people, a lot of information can be transmitted to the public through it. However, the information on the Internet is not always right. Due to the fast pace of life, many people often accept knowledge without verification, leading to wrong information to circulate continuously on the Internet, which causes some social, medical, and educational problems. Therefore, iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020 and iGEM CSMU Taiwan established I’ve Gotta PhD, with the goal of making people move one step closer to good health by conveying correct public health education knowledge on this platform.
In addition, we have also organized many educational activities to clarify wrong information for different age groups through face-to-face communication. In the end, we reviewed all the educational activities we have done with the Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales (AIESEC) organization from NCKU and made those activities into a guidebook. So that other people or teams can build upon our education programs, which allows a long term impact to the world.
I’ve Gotta PhD
This year, iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020 designed Eye kNOw to solve the glaucoma. In order to understand the market demand, we designed and released a questionnaire to investigate the public's habits of using contact lenses and their understanding of glaucoma. To our surprise, the results of the questionnaire showed that nearly 30% of the respondents did not understand glaucoma, and nearly 40% answered that they had heard it but did not know what glaucoma is. This result makes us realize that active public health education for glaucoma is an imperative task for our team and the general public. Hence, we collaborated with iGEM CSMU Taiwan, and tried to connect our project with SDGs!
According to our research, we discovered that there is so much fake news on the Internet and a lot of knowledge can only be learned by reading papers. This isn’t an user-friendly education environment for people who are not familiar with these diseases or public health knowledge.
To solve this situation, we stuck to 3rd SDGs (Good Health and Well-Being) and 4th SDGs (Quality Education) and launched the ”I’ve Gotta PhD” program. We created a Facebook fan page that aims to make people move one step closer to good health. We sincerely hope that through our efforts in launching I’ve Gotta PhD, we are able to establish a user-friendly platform and convey the correct information for everyone.
iGEM Panel Discussion
To reach more SDGs, we co-hosted iGEM Panel Discussion with iGEM CSMU Taiwan and there were three other teams that joined this event. We were greatly honored to invite Professor Shih-Fong Chiou to give a 30 minutes lecture about SDGs in the beginning of this event. With the guidance of his sharing about SDGs cases in Taiwan, we were able to understand SDGs that are different from our target. After the lecture, we had a discussion time with each team, trying to stand from other perspectives of different SDGs.
For more details, please visit partnership
.Discussion with AIESEC
After conducting so many education events, we decided to record them as a guidebook for anyone who wants to build upon them. However, we are wondering if there are any points that need to be improved. Thus, we contacted the AIESEC organization in NCKU, which is an organization having partnership with UN and contributing to SDGs. Since they will receive foreign students to have some educational events for children, they have plenty of experience in education. We had a meetup and we showed each others’ projects or activities. This way, we could compare the similar events and find out the disadvantages in our education activities. With the help of AIESEC organization, we were able to improve our education events and record them as a guidebook.
Economic
This year, iGEM NCKU Tainan 2020 developed Eye Screen, a brand-new IOP detector. By transmitting ultrasonic waves to the patient’s cornea and analyzing the reflected signal, it is not only allows us to get IOP readings immediately, but also able to reduce the waste and cost of changing transducers once a detection in current IOP detectors, which is more eco friendly and achieve SDGs 12th in contributing to the green economy.
Partnership
By working with other organizations, teams, people, for the contact lens recycling event, I’ve Gotta PhD and iGEM Panel Discussion, we learned that to achieve a great result and to increase the long term impact in the society, partnership is mandatory - just like how partnership is needed to develop Eye kNOw, Eye Screen and to achieve many SDGs.
References
- Rolsky, C., Kelkar, V., & Halden, R. (2018, August). Chemical and physical changes in a variety of contact lenses during the wastewater treatment processes. In ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (Vol. 256). 1155 16TH ST, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 USA: AMER CHEMICAL SOC.
- Gill V. Microplastic in Atlantic Ocean “could weigh 21 million tonnes.” BBC News. Published August 18, 2020. Accessed October 25, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53786555
- The Environmental Protection Administration announced the results of the first survey of microplastics in tap water, seawater, beach gravel, and shellfish. Epa.gov.tw. Published 2018. Accessed October 25, 2020.
- Varma R, Lee PP, Goldberg I, Kotak S. An Assessment of the Health and Economic Burdens of Glaucoma. American Journal of Ophthalmology. 2011;152(4):515-522.
