Food For Thought Project
The goal of this project was to learn about the science and politics of food. We created a 100% sustainable aquaponics garden that the school and everyone in it can enjoy for years to come.
Chemistry
In Chemistry this semester we learned about the science of food, including learning about fats, how different types of food effect our body, and how different types of food work well with others. This was interesting because it put our chemistry that we had been learning about all year into a new practice. It also gave us the opportunity to try different combinations of food which was super super yummy (most of the time). As well as learning about the chemistry of what we are putting into our bodies, we also got an amazing chance to build an aquaponics garden. Aquaponics is "a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic animals supplies nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water."
How it works:
- Fish are fed food and produce anomia rich waste. This Anomia breaks down within the tank and acts as fertilizer.
- Bacteria from grow beds and fish tank breaks down Ammonia into Nitrites then Nitrates.
- Plants take in the converted Nitrates as nutrients to fertilize the plant. Additionally the plant roots help act as a natural water filter for fish.
- Water in the system is filtered through the grow medium (gravel, hydroton, etc.) in the grow beds to help better the fish. This is usually accomplished with a pump and drain system.
Humanities
In our humanities class this semester we learned about the politics or the "behind the scenes look" at how our food gets on our table. This included everything from production, control, regulation, inspection, distribution and consumption of food. In order to do this we had book clubs addressing these problems. For my book I chose to read Food Politics. Although this was a very dense read it was interesting to see how food industry competition really works and how it affects our health. We also created OpEd pieces on anything related to food. I chose to right mine on Infant Formula (you can read it in the file below). Lastly we created Political Cartoons. My political cartoon represents how our society is being brainwashed into believing fast food companies.
|
Video
Reflection
Personally my friends and I brought up the idea of creating an urban garden in the middle of the project while we were learning about the science and politics of food to our teachers. It gave me such honor and a bit of surprise when my teachers said yes. We then made a project outline and presented it. So in a way this project was like my baby, I cared so much for this project and am so impressed with how it turned out. Over all this has been my favorite project I've done in my high tech career. I think that every single student exceeded everyones expectations, and because of this everything got done beautifully.