Reflection…

Latin America is well known for its rich natural and cultural diversity, with a vibrant history and a geography that ranges from lush rainforests to arid deserts. However, it also faces significant social inequalities that are often a burden for those living in the region. Urbanization has been a prominent trend in Latin America, with 81% of its population living in urban areas, making it the second most urbanized region in the world. While urbanization can drive economic growth and provide opportunities, it also brings serious environmental challenges. Increased demand for resources and energy, along with the growing use of polluting products, has led to extensive pollution of the region's water bodies. The rivers, lakes and oceans that support life and biodiversity are threatened by industrial contamination, the discharge of untreated sewage and the accumulation of plastic waste.

The contamination of aquatic bodies is an ongoing concern, especially due to new pollutants such as microplastics. Although there are many waste separation campaigns promoted by municipalities, environmental volunteers and a lot of information on environmental education aimed at the problem, pollution is still persistent and it's common to see aquatic bodies contaminated with waste, heavy metals and plastics.

In light of this, we recognize the power of raising awareness, and that by raising individual awareness, we can magnify the impact of our dialogue on the issue. However, it's critical to understand that the problem transcends individual efforts, the enormity of the challenge demands collective action because it exceeds our individual capacities. While awareness serves as a catalyst, real solutions require larger partners such as international institutions and corporations. See more on Education Wiki page here.

Our values

We are a group of passionate students from Latin America based in Brazil, and we have spent time reflecting deeply on our environment and the power we have to drive positive change. As we explored the environmental and social challenges that our region faces, we realized that our responsibility went beyond simply acknowledging these problems, we had an opportunity and a duty to contribute solutions in a meaningful way. See more about it on the Environmental Consciousness Wiki page here.

We were deeply inspired by the natural and cultural richness of our region, which reflects centuries of history and diversity. We recognized that preserving this heritage for future generations is a noble and compelling task. We understood that we must be stewards of our land and resources, and that our work has not only a local impact, but also a global one. It was this profound reflection that led us to embark on the Mhetyguá project, a mission to address the issue of microplastics in aquatic bodies. Although tackling this environmental threat is a monumental challenge, we did not run away from the task. Instead, we committed ourselves to carrying out our work with integrity and a strong focus on our core values.

These values guided us in every step of our project. Sustainability is our compass, ensuring that our actions promote a harmonious balance between humans and the environment. Human, animal and environmental well-being is our inescapable responsibility, constantly reminding us that our actions must benefit all living beings. Respect, ethics and collaboration are the foundations on which we build our relationships, both inside and outside our team. Accessibility is our commitment to making the solutions we design inclusive and available to those who need them. Innovation is our tool to challenge monotony and seek creative solutions to pressing problems.

As we move forward with our Mhetyguá project, we have discovered that we are not only addressing a microplastic pollution problem, but also forging a legacy of environmental responsibility and commitment to integrity. We recognize the importance of sharing our experiences and knowledge with other communities, of being ambassadors of sustainability, and of spreading an ethic of care and respect for our planet and all its inhabitants.

Our iGEM Journey

Our iGEM experience began as soon as we joined the team, still without a name and without a defined study approach, but already knowing that it would add a lot to us. The Human Practice began in December 2022, when, after deciding that we would work with aquatic pollutants, each of the team members expressed their preference for their area, thus beginning our journey.

In January 2023, we started our action plan to achieve the goal of creating social projects, responsible for integrating the community into scientific development. The application of didactic activities aimed at environmental education was defined as HP's main work objective. In order to start the front's schedule of activities, we decided that we needed to include the whole of Latin America in our project. To do this, we sought to collect information on the teaching of science and biology in different countries in order to create authorial material to help teachers with environmental education. To see who helped us in this journey, access the Integrated Human Practices Wiki page here.

In February, we defined our target audience and our objectives in designing the support material for teachers, as well as defining that all the material would be developed in Portuguese and Spanish, so that everyone could have access to it.

Between March and May, we interviewed teachers to find out what the teaching challenges were in each reality and how we could help them approach the subject of conservation of aquatic environments, and that's when the idea for the development of our material came about. The formulation of fun activities and the creation of an information booklet began in June and progressed until the end of July, when we selected schools in the Foz do Iguaçu region to carry out the activities.

The schools were visited in mid-August, being two public schools and classes of 4th and 5th graders. The material used included a presentation of the theme in the form of a slide show, an interactive aquarium activity and a memory game (Waster Memory), all designed and produced by members of the Human Practices front.

During September and October, a platform was created to support teachers in Latin America, where all the materials developed by the team were made available, as well as video lessons aimed at helping both teachers and students. All the materials, activities and videos are translated into Portuguese and Spanish, and there is no charge for them. At the end of our activities, all the data and information collected over the months was analyzed and presented in full on our Wiki. See more on the Inclusivity Wiki page here.

In the course of developing our educational project, we faced some challenges, such as the lack of ideas for producing the application tools, the delay in receiving a response from the education department regarding our request to apply the activities in municipal schools, the lack of interest on the part of some of the heads of the schools we tried to contact. We went through moments of indecision about how we would approach the school principals and also questions about the time available to put the activities into practice in each school, since it was often limited, but all these difficulties were overcome wisely and, despite everything, we managed to achieve our proposed objectives and make our Human Practice project possible.

We are Julio, Grecia, Isabela and Leticia and we are part of Human Practices, but we wouldn't have been able to achieve our goals without the support and advice of our General Coordinator Ghadir.

References

• KUTRALAM-MUNIASAMY, Gurusamy et al. Review of current trends, advances and analytical challenges for microplastics contamination in Latin America. Environmental Pollution, v. 267, p. 115463, 2020.
• ORONA-NÁVAR, Carolina et al. Microplastics in Latin America and the Caribbean: A review on current status and perspectives. Journal of Environmental Management, v. 309, p. 114698, 2022.
• SOUZA, Marília Cristina Oliveira et al. Legacy and emerging pollutants in Latin America: A critical review of occurrence and levels in environmental and food samples. Science of the Total Environment, v. 848, p. 157774, 2022.