Keystone Academy Libraries: MS Science: Grade 7 Interactions in the Environment (Biomimicry)

Possible Keywords for Interactions in the Environment (Biomimicry)

Some possible keywords for searches about Interactions in the Environment and Biomimicry are: biomimicry, plastic, plastic pollution, marine plastic, plastics. biodegradable plastics, single-use plastic, mushrooms.

Books in the Middle School Library About Interactions in the Environment (Biomimicry)

The Middle School Library has some books about plastics. Come and have a look!

Garbage and Recycling by Cynthia A. Bily (Editor)
Call Number: 628.4458 BIL
ISBN: 9780737762778
Publication Date: 2013-02-19
Making Art with Packaging by Gillian Chapman; Pam Robson
Call Number: 745.5 CHA
ISBN: 1404237240
Publication Date: 2007-09-01
The Story Behind Plastic by Christin Ditchfield
Call Number: 668.4 DIT
ISBN: 1432954415
Publication Date: 2011-07-01
Waste and Recycling by Sally Hewitt
Call Number: 363.72 HEW
ISBN: 0778741052
Publication Date: 2008-09-15
Waste Management Crisis by Russ Parker
Call Number: 363.72 PAR
ISBN: 1435806832
Publication Date: 2009-07-15

Middle School Library Databases for Interactions in the Environment (Biomimicry)

BrainPOP
BrainPOP is an educational website with over 1,000 short animated movies, together with quizzes and related materials, covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, mathematics, engineering and technology, health, and arts and music.
Go to the home page of Destiny for login information: https://library.keystoneacademy.cn/

Plastic
Tim and Moby will teach you about more than just the uses of these substances — you’ll learn about their physical and chemical properties, too.

Britannica School
Britannica School provides general encyclopedia information. It is good for finding information about a topic when you begin research. It includes up-to-date information sources and allows you to move easily to material of higher or lower reading levels as needed.
Go to the home page of Destiny for login information: https://library.keystoneacademy.cn/
(off campus only)

Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints
Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints is an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information and opinions on hundreds of today's hottest social issues. Drawing on the acclaimed Greenhaven Press series, the solution features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites organized into a user-friendly portal experience.
Go to the home page of Destiny for login information: https://library.keystoneacademy.cn/

The plastics challenge
Plastics are synthetic and durable, and consequently hard to recycle.

Gale Power Search
Use Gale Power Search to search all the Gale databases at once. Discover a collection of authoritative periodicals, scholarly journals, newspapers, and reference content.
Go to the home page of Destiny for login information: https://library.keystoneacademy.cn/

Newsela
Newsela is a reading tool that provides news articles designed to match a student's reading level.
Only for Faculty and students.
Sign in with your E-mail address and password.

If you drop plastic in the ocean, where does it end up?
It is estimated that between four and 12 million metric tons of plastic makes its way into the ocean each year.
Big Questions: Paper or plastic?
Let’s say you go to the grocery store and purchase a pineapple.

PebbleGoNext Science
PebbleGo Next Science is for science researchers in grades 3-6. It is a comprehensive digital resource tailored to meet the needs and curriculum of science students.
Go to the home page of Destiny for login information: https://library.keystoneacademy.cn/

World Book Online
World Book is a general information encyclopedia database with an American slant. Use this source to find out about your topic when you begin research.
Go to the home page of Destiny for login information: https://library.keystoneacademy.cn/

Resources About Solutions to Plastic Pollution

Biodegradable Plastics

Biodegradable Plastics
Biodegradable plastic is plastic that decomposes naturally in the environment.
Bioplastics boom: from the dizzying array of new plant-based plastics, some innovative winners emerge
Although the plastics industry has depended predominantly on petrochemicals for feedstocks throughout most of its history, some early plastics were plant based.
Demand For Biodegradable Plastics Expected To Surge
In the 1967 film, The Graduate, Mr. McGuire used one word to forecast market trends for an impressionable recent college graduate: “Plastics.”
Eat this spoon!
Imagine you're at a picnic, enjoying some spicy noodles and fruit salad.
Giving plastic a second chance, saving the environment
Plastic is part of our everyday lives.
Is it possible to create zero waste?
Zero waste refers to any process that makes no waste or that recycles waste into a new product.
Pringles: snacktime hero or recycling villain?
Pringles are known for their signature packaging: a brightly colored tube, perfectly suited for stacking the brand’s saddle-shaped chips.

Using Plastic as Fuel

B.C. company turns recycled plastic into fuel
The plastic containers that Lower Mainland residents put in their blue boxes may end up being burned for fuel rather than recycled, CBC News has learned.
How Plastics-to-Fuel Can Become the Next Green Machine (Op-Ed)
We all know plastics deliver many benefits that make modern life possible.
Refuse-derived fuels
The concept of refuse-derived fuels (RDFs) is one that has the potential for addressing two of the most troubling environmental problems in the world at the same time: solid waste disposal and a source of energy.
Should plastics be a source of energy?
The plastics crisis has some asking if we should burn more plastic waste and at least get energy out of it.

Microbes that Eat Plastics

How plastic-eating bacteria actually work – a chemist explains
Scientists have discovered a new technique that could help create more environmentally friendly recycling.
Mealworms Munch Polystyrene Foam
Plastics: Bacteria in the guts of the worms digest stubborn polystyrene.
Plastic-eating bacteria discovered by student could help solve global pollution crisis
Microbes found near plastic refinery degrade material, turning it into food.
Plastic-eating enzyme accidentally created by scientists could help solve pollution crisis
'This is a potentially very useful technology to support recovery and recycling of plastics,' says expert.
Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles
The breakthrough, spurred by the discovery of plastic-eating bugs at a Japanese dump, could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis.
Scientists stumbled upon a plastic-eating bacterium—then accidentally made it stronger
Hungry, hungry enzymes.

Plastics Made Into New Products

These clothes are made of plastic
Spanish clothing company, Ecoalf, is proof that creating a truly sustainable fashion brand is possible without sacrificing aesthetics.
These DIY Machines Let Anyone Recycle Plastic Into New Products
Precious Plastic is giving instructions on how to build a series of simple machines that will let makers turn plastic trash into new material.
Washed-up ocean plastics are turned into art with a vital message
There has been a growing awareness across the country of ocean pollution.

Ban Single-Use Plastic/Ban of Straws

Bag-Ban Debate
Communities consider banning plastic bags or charging for them.
Bamboo, even Twizzlers: Restaurants test new ways to replace plastic straws
Order a drink at Mama's Fish House in Maui, Hawaii and it'll arrive topped with a black paper straw.
Beyond Plastic Bans: Creating Products To Replace It
Plastic pollution is a big problem. And there are a growing number of campaigns to ban plastic waste.
How a Girl Scout got Alaska Airlines, and other companies, to reduce their plastic use
The CEO of Dignity Health, based in San Francisco, California, received an email out of the blue last fall.
How Do Plastic Straw Bans Work?
The movement to ban plastic straws is growing, but phasing them out can be more complicated than it seems.
India will abolish all single-use plastic by 2022, vows Narendra Modi
Country will also introduce a campaign against marine litter and a pledge to make 100 national monuments litter-free.
McDonald's to test plastic-straw alternatives in U.S. later this year
Under pressure by environmentalists, McDonald's made an announcement on June 15.
National Park Service ends its ban on plastic water bottles
In 2011, the national parks started a new program that would stop the sale of water bottles.
Plastics BAN (Better Alternatives Now) List
Created in collaboration with Algalita, Californians Against Waste, Clean Production Action, Plastic Pollution Coalition, Responsible Purchasing Network, Story of Stuff, Surfrider Foundation and UPSTREAM, the Plastics BAN (Better Alternatives Now) List series of reports identifies the world’s most dangerous plastics in order to better protect our oceans.

Mushrooms Replace Plastic

Can mushrooms replace plastic?
A company in New York uses mushrooms to turn agricultural biowaste into packaging. Will its market mushroom, too?
Company Uses Mushrooms to Grow Plastic Alternatives
Plastic has become ubiquitous in our home and work lives, but is a pollutant that won’t break down. Mushrooms may provide a sustainable alternative.
Could Mushrooms Replace Plastic?
Design company Ecovative, based in New York, is testing the limits of exactly what its high performance biomaterials, grown from mycelium (the “roots” of mushrooms) and agricultural waste, can do.
Is Fungus the Material of the Future?
Scientists in the Netherlands have found a way to make slippers and other household objects using fungi.
Mushrooms: An Ecological Alternative to Plastics?
Although plastic is a very convenient material (flexible, strong, light, stable, etc.) that is used in a range of different products, it is damaging to our environment.
The Mycelium Biofabrication Platform
Ecovative is a NY-based advanced materials company, designing the future of sustainable materials using our own Mycelium Biofabrication Platform™.
Will Mushroom-Based Materials Replace Plastic With an Eco-Friendly Twist?
As we well know, plastic is a serious issue throughout the world today.

Make Stuff From Plastic Bottles

8 Reasons Why Recycled Plastic Bottle Houses Rock!
Think those plastic PET bottle houses are mainly made by environmentally conscious outcasts and eccentric nuts living near landfills outside society? Think again.
Boat Made of Bottles
Environmentalists sail across the Pacific on a ship made from plastic bottles to highlight a pollution problem.
Global Ecobrick Alliance
When we save, segregate and pack plastics into bottles, we can make building blocks that can be reused over and over again.
How to Turn 8,000 Plastic Bottles Into a Building
Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner demonstrates how she turned trash into the building blocks for one community’s revival.
Washed-up ocean plastics are turned into art with a vital message
There has been a growing awareness across the country of ocean pollution.

Ocean Clean-up

An Ambitious Project to Clean Up the Ocean's Garbage Patch Isn't Working
The Ocean Cleanup project launched in September isn't collecting floating ocean trash like it's supposed to.
Floating Trash Collector Set to Tackle Pacific Garbage Patch
The Ocean Cleanup’s nearly 2,000-foot boom will collect ocean plastics from the gigantic garbage gyre over the next year.
Giant floating trash collector sets its sights on large ocean garbage patch
Soon, a 2,000-foot-long contraption will travel under the Golden Gate Bridge for a testing phase.
The giant Ocean Cleanup device is having some trouble cleaning up the ocean
Its first trial in the open ocean has revealed some problems, but creator Boyan Slat is confident a few simple fixes can get it back on track.
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a zone in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California that has a high concentration of plastic waste.
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Pacific Trash Vortex
Multi-Scale Numerical Analysis of the Field Efficiency of an Ocean Plastic Cleanup Array
The impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems and global economy has been drawing public concern since the end of the 20th century.
The Ocean Cleanup
The ocean is big. Cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch using conventional methods - vessels and nets - would take thousands of years and tens of billions of dollars to complete.
The Ocean Cleanup is launching a giant plastic catcher to sea
Young Dutch entrepreneur and inventor, Boyan Slats, is taking on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with a float device that his non-profit, The Ocean Cleanup, developed.
Ocean Cleanup won’t turn a profit, but we should still do it
A novel “floating pipe” to recover plastic from the ocean has just arrived on its maiden voyage to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Sensing Ocean Plastics with an Airborne Hyperspectral Shortwave Infrared Imager
Here, we present a proof-of-concept on remote sensing of ocean plastics using airborne shortwave infrared (SWIR) imagery.
The World's Largest Ocean Cleanup Has Officially Begun
Ambitious dreams have now become a reality as the Ocean Cleanup deploys its $20 million system designed to clean up the 1.8 trillion pieces of trash floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

NoodleTools

NoodleTools
NoodleTools is an online tool designed to help you plan, complete, and collaborate on projects. One of the most popular features is its citation creation application. This feature helps you create a bibliography in MLA or APA format. lt also helps you take notes and organize your paper. Log in with your school Google email address.