Out of Sight, Out of Mind (Beauty in Biology)

• Main Author: Privin, Christina
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Loyola eCommons 2023
• Subjects: Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://ecommons.luc.edu/ures/2023/2023/116; https://ecommons.luc.edu/context/ures/article/2053/type/native/viewcontent/Wallis.Christina.OutofSight__1_.JPEG

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 ...