Name: Alon

Social Justice Group: 2018-2019, Environment: Plastic Pollution

Date of Fieldwork: January 7, 2019

Name of Organization: Wildlife Conservation Society

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Edward Perri and Noah Chesnin New York aquarium docents.

Type of Fieldwork: Tour of Organization

What I did:

We took a tour of the aquarium, and we learned about the messages behind the shark exhibit. We also took a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium’s mechanisms.

What I learned:

I learned that not much research has been done on plastic leachate and how it affects wildlife in its are. Plastic leachate is the toxin released when plastic reacts with water. I also learned that a food web is more complicated than people think because while sharks are generally at the top of the food chain, juvenile sharks are susceptible to predation from larger fish.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

I learned that it is hard to change the world in a positive way, it doesn’t just happen overnight. Even after years of work, the Trump administration still wants to mine oil and gas from underwater sources, which harm wildlife in the ocean. Instituting bans on plastics will never be easy, and even adults have tried for years to help this problem, but plastics are still going around. This means that if I want to stop plastic pollution, I will have to help change the environment for years to come.