Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

I have always believed in equality and fairness, especially for the environment. I have dedicated myself to helping the world ever since my science fair project in sixth grade, where I studied how altitude affects the amount of electricity that a windmill creates and won two first-place awards. To me, it seems unfair that humanity has effectively destroyed so much of our natural habitat, leaving it desolate for later generations and other species. I strive to leave things better than I found them, so the shameful, albeit unintentional, downfall of our planet's ecosystem is personally painful.

To help improve the environment, I created an algae-based carbon dioxide cleanser. I was inspired to create this project after reading an article about the amount of oxygen that phytoplankton, including single-celled phototrophs like green algae, are able to produce. I hoped to create a small, self-sustaining object using algae that could make oxygen without being a burden. My design consisted of a two-liter bottle filled with de-chlorinated water. An air hose pumped air to algae inside the water, keeping it alive and allowing it to filter out carbon dioxide in exchange for oxygen. I obtained the algae from the fountain in my neighbor's yard. It floated around in the bottle for a couple days, but soon attached to the walls and grew. I was ecstatic to see the organism begin to grow on its own, and loved recording its progress each day through a series of pictures, to send friends and admire. I knew that the increasing amount of algae meant that my project was helping the Earth a little more each time. Despite its questionable visual aesthetic, I am incredibly proud of the tool that I have created and show it off whenever possible.

Through this project, I was able to take action and directly contribute to something that I am passionate about. And, because I convinced my mom to allow my green contraption to reside in the living room, it serves as a constant reminder to both visitors and myself that there is much more to be done. My mother jokes that she doesn't see how having a jar of moss in our living room helps the environment, but the amount of algae that I have should supposedly clear twenty-four pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

This contraption barely scratches the surface of all that I want to do. I hope to use computer science to bring awareness to nature's perilous condition and reverse our negative impact. I often brainstorm different games or apps that could help raise awareness to the destruction of the world, and think about how these innovations could be implemented.