Activities described by youth mentor Ileya du Boulay with contributions from youth fellows Polly, Sumaiya, and Tanajae.
Due to the common use of plastics in all aspects of daily life over the past hundred or so years, microplastics have invaded everyone’s food, water, and even our bodies! On Wednesdays, Youth Fellows worked with Dr. Sarah Cadieux, an RPI professor who researches microplastic impact on our world. Throughout the 6 week intensive, fellows participated in a multitude of different activities regarding microplastics! Please see WJL Upper Hudson River Microplastics Watch for the immersive microplastics recap!
Week 1: Broken Plastics with Nicole Chochrek
On the first day of microplastic exploration youth fellows meet with Nicole Chochrek, an artist who uses macro-plastics within her art, visiting from Buffalo. She took youth fellows on a clean up walk and then had them make their own art using clay and plastic! Nicole Chochrek interview
Week 2: Field Sampling
Youth fellows sampled water using “The Bucket of Science” for microplastics at the Poestenkill, Wynantskill, and Poestenkill-Quackenkill confluence with Wallace Tonks. Along with testing the water temperature, turbidity, and wind speed. Orange clothing and gear is needed to be used while sampling to spot noticeable contamination from fibers.
Week 3: Microplastics Processing
Using last week’s sampling, Youth Fellows filtered and processed the water to separate the sediment from the water so that under a Microscope it would be easier to find and number the amount of plastic that was within the water.
Week 4: Microscope Work
Using the processed glass slides from the week before, fellows took a close look at each slide with microscopes; marking each and every bit of plastic or fiber that they found to then put them into a database. Microscopic images by Water Justice Lab.
Week 5: Story-mapping and Microplastic Removal
Dr. Sarah Cadieux took the students on another clean up walk on one of Troy’s boat launches. There they found a great number of plastic nerdels! After the clean up fellows went back to the Nature Lab to make a story map about the information they found as well as past research expeditions! See WJL Upper Hudson River Microplastics Watch
Week 6: Virtual Tour of Wastewater Treatment Plant at RPI Tech Park
On the last microplastic day, youth fellows took an adventure to RPI Tech Park to receive a virtual tour of the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Troy, NY. They were able to see the mechanics used to cleanse water in great detail. After the tour they used the large 360° screen to exhibit microplastics in great detail, as well as an artist microplastics presentation from Allie Wist, and images of beautiful bodies of water around the world!
