Save Our Oceans

Event Year: 2024
Event Location: Orange County STEM Saturday
Competition: Energy Inspired Art
Division: 3-5
School: Hunter's Creek Elementary
Team Name: The Aquanauts
Project Name: Fluid Art: Save Our Oceans!
Team Size: 6

Our aquanaut team members:

Anmar C.
Norah DT.
Zoe G.
Ana G.
Rheeya M.
Brooklynn O.

With extra help from:

Sabrina R.

We filled the cup with different colored paints mixed with glue and water to make them “pourable”.
We dumped the cup of paint colors on the canvas and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then, we lifted the cup and let it spill out on the canvas.
We are practicing fluid art techniques on a smaller canvas before trying it on the large canvas.
We tilted the canvas around to let the paint move all over filling all the white space letting it drip over the sides.
Now, we are ready to do it on the large canvas. We needed a lot more paint.
Tilting the large canvas around was much harder than the smaller canvas.
We were having a harder time getting the paint to go to the edges. It kept mixing in the middle.
We didn’t make enough paint. We had to quickly make more to pour on the canvas.
We tried blowing on it to get it to cover the edges.
Now it needs to dry. The smaller canvas took about 3 days. This will take longer.
Once dry, we needed to add the sea life we made from trash.
Single use plastics like the water bottle this octopus is made from make up a large part of the garbage patch floating in the ocean.
Turtles eat microplastics and are affected by trash and pollution on the ocean. This turtle is made from recycled materials like aluminum pop tops and bottle caps that litter our beaches.
This looks like an oil spill.
This part of the painting looks like the bleaching of the coral reef.
Details in our painting include fish made from newspaper and hung from fishing wire. The texture that can be seen in the painting represents the microplastics filling our ocean that fish eat.

MOTIVATION: 

The reason we did this project is because we live so close to the ocean and we love going to the beach.  It breaks our hearts to see all of the trash that washes ashore and the  pollution filling our oceans and hurting sealife.

Why Does the Ocean Matter?

  1.  Many medical treatments have been solved from resources found in the ocean,They have been used to treat asthma, arthritis, and several types of diseases.
  2. The sea is full of tiny microscopic organisms called phytoplankton, which absorb carbon dioxide and help to give out half of the oxygen that we need to breathe.
  3. The oceans provide transportation.  Around 90% of all trade between countries is carried by ships.
  4. The ocean absorbs some of the sun’s heat and carries it around the globe in ocean currents, this helps to regulate the climate of our planet.
  5. Around 70% of the world’s people live within 40 miles of the sea, and around 80% of all tourism takes place in coastal areas.
  6. Around the world, approximately one million people rely on fish and seafood for their main source of protein.
  7. Over 700 million people depend on fishing for their livelihoods.

Effects of Climate Change on Oceans and Marine Life

  • Oceans are becoming too hot.
  • Animals are forced to migrate disrupting the food chain and ecosystem.
  • The ocean is absorbing carbon dioxide causing it to turn acidic for animals with shells.
  • The warmer temperatures affect phytoplankton growth and have an impact on the food chain.
  • Marine life like turtles and seabirds habitat are being eroded and/or submerged.
  • When ocean water becomes too warm coral releases the colorful algae making it look white or bleached. This means the coral dies and affects the sealife dependent on the reefs.  It can also cause flooding.  

How Pollution is Affecting the Ocean

  • Every year, about 9 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean. That’s the same as a garbage truck emptying a load every minute. 
  • In the Pacific Ocean, an area of plastic twice the size of France is kept in place because of swirling currents. Marine animals such as turtles mistake the plastic for food and eat it, this plastic stays in their stomachs and might even kill them.
  • Oceans help limit climate change and provide for and jobs for people, as well as homes and food for wildlife. We need to act quickly to ensure a healthy and safe future for our oceans.
  • Once plastic is in the ocean, it breaks up into small particles called microplastics. By the year 2050, microplastics could be found in 99% of all seabird species and possibly contain more plastic than fish.
  • Animals can get tangled in packaging or old fishing lines or choke on plastic-clogged water.

How We Can Help Save Our Oceans

  • Create MPA (Marine Protected Areas) so in some places  people can not fish and fishes in that area can grow and reproduce
  • Try not to damage the sea by overfishing, mining, shipping and polluting
  • Make sure that the holes in the fishing net are large enough for small fish to go through the holes and can get big and reproduce
  • Use eco-friendly items to reduce the amount of plastic 
  • Use fuel efficient vehicles to reduce the greenhouse gasses 
  • Buy seafood that can be produced faster than it is used
  • Use  ‘’catch and release’’ method to help the endangered species of fish
  • Anchor boats away from coral and sea grasses
  • Volunteer for plastic clean up
  • Use less water like when brushing teeth and showering so that waste water wouldn’t mix with the ocean
  • Have fishing quotas to protect populations of fish

 Keywords                      Definitions

Acidic                                           A solution with a pH of less than 7.                                   

Coastal seas                                  Parts of the ocean that are up to 230 km from land.            

Coral bleaching                            The release of algae from coral making them turn white

Ecosystem                                    The interaction of a community of living organisms and 

Fishing quota                                A limit on the number of fish of a species that can be      

                                                             caught. 

Global warming                            The gradual increase in the temperature of the earths 

                                                        atmosphere.

Marine animals                             Animals that live in the ocean.

Photosynthesis                              A chemical reaction which transfers energy from the   

                                                               environment to plants or algae by light.

Predator                                        An orgasim that kills and eats other animals.

Producer                                        An organism at the beginning of a food chain which

                                                               makes food by photosynthesis.

Species                                         A group of organisms that can breed with each other   

                                                    and produce offspring  (children) that will also be able to        

                                                               breed.     

   Art Project Materials:                                                             

  • Water
  • Glue
  • Acrylic paint (blue, green, gold, light blue, dark blue, white, pink)
  • Canvas
  • Cups
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Newspaper
  • String
  • Balloon
  • Plastic
  • Paper
  • Bottle caps
  • Cardboard
  • Toilet paper roll
  • Googly eyes
  • Hot glue
  • Spoon
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Pull tabs (beer can drinks)
  • Ring part of the can
  • Yarn
  • Fishing Line
  • Glue
  • Tape
  • Duct tape
  • Pen
  • Sharpie
  • Wrapping tissue paper (blue)
  • Tissue
  • T-pin
  • Colored marker (purple, blue)
  • Plastic gem (2)

Procedure

  1.  We mixed water and glue,60% glue 40% water
  2.  We mixed the mixture with paint all in different cups for each color.
  3.  We poured all the paint into one big cup.
  4.  We flipped the cup onto the canvas and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then we lifted the cup.
  5.  We moved the canvas around,spreading the paint around,filling the canvas.
  6.  We waited 5 days for the big canvas to let the paint dry. While we waited for it to dry we all made sea life out of recycled materials or “trash” at our homes.
  7.  We attached the animals to the canvas with fishing line and tape.

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