Could a Carcinogen Lead Us To Our Solution?
This week, we put our main focus on narrowing down our broad topic to a specific problem that we can later positively impact in our community. On Monday, we decided on four sub topics inside the main topic of fracking, hoping that the next day we would be able to find a specific problem. The next day, after thorough research, we still had no idea how we could narrow down our subject. When we shared all of our findings from the previous night, Jackson, Sam, and I had decided to forget about air pollution, but Charlotte was still for air pollution. As she shared her research, the rest of us realized that there are many chemicals from fracking waste that can impact both our air and water supply. From the list of chemicals that Charlotte showed us, we had unanimously decided on Benzene. Benzene is a carcinogen made up of hydrogen and carbon. It can contribute to cause non infectious diseases such as anemia, leukemia, and cancer. We learned that it could be found in household items such as laundry detergent. In class on Wednesday, six adults around school came in, and each gave us advice based on where we were in the process of finding a solution. All of the adults gave us very similar (and very helpful) advice. The adults gave us tips of how we could make our solution something new and innovative that would have a positive and sustainable impact on the community. This was a major eye-opener to where we are in the process of finding a solution. The following night, with the advice in our minds, we did more research on Benzene. We specifically did research on the types of household items that contain benzene, and based on the advice from Larissa, we decided to do a bit of research on the Inglewood Fracking Site in Baldwin Hills. During our research of benzene in household items, we found out that activated carbon can remove benzene in water. On Friday, we talked to Ernie, and he gave us an amazing idea that could combine all of our interests for a solution, a water filter that can filter benzene out of the water supply. In class, we started researching water filters, and we found an activated carbon water filter that we could redesign it to accommodate most household faucets. Even though there may have been a few bumps in the road, we are now on the right path to impacting our community with activated carbon water filters.