Human Practices
A. First of All - a Highly Diverse and Inclusive Team
Team SHSD is a highly diverse and inclusive team. While most members, including the PI, come from the international joint program at Shanghai Shangde Experimental School, our team is eventually formed by citizens from three countries: China, the United States, and Germany. Our advisor is based in California, while the external experts and scholars who guided and supported us in lab experiments are from Southwest University in Chongqing. Of our 12 student members, 7 are female and 5 are male, which displays a relatively balanced gender ratio. both female and male participants have demonstrated leadership and been actively engaged in every phase and aspect of the project.
Such diversity and inclusivity have equipped us with multicultural perspectives throughout the project, from our discussions to address the project's stakeholders, considerations about ethics in experiments and surveys, to our construction and modification of the leadership and management styles in our daily work, we've continually learned from one another, as well as think about the project in new and unexpected ways.
B. Who Cases and How They Care
Living in a metropolitan area in modern China, PET plastics and their pollution are familiar concepts to all of us. This is one of the reasons why we chose to focus on this issue as our project theme. When discussing the idea of working on an iGEM project about PET plastic degradation, no one in the team raised any objections - it was almost assumed that everyone should naturally care about PET plastic pollution.
But is that really the case? After verifying to ensure that our survey design would comply with relevant laws, regulations, and institutional policies, as also maintaining ethical standards in data collection, analysis, and storage, we conducted an electronic survey inquiring about people's understanding and attitude towards PET plastics pollution, as well as their potential attitude towards our solution. As of September 28, 2024, we have received 122 valid responses.
According to the survey, while 76.23% of respondents reported being "at least somewhat concerned about PET plastic pollution," only 13.11% considered themselves to be “very concerned” about this topic. Moreover, it indicates that the main channels through which they stay informed on this topic are social media, personal networks, and professional publications.
Furthermore, among the 29 respondents (23.77%) who expressed that they are not or are seldom concerned about PET plastic pollution, the primary reasons addressed were a lack of time, knowledge, and/or reliable sources of information.
These findings suggest that providing reliable and easily accessible resources, particularly through social media, could help increase public awareness and understanding of PET plastic issues. This aligns with one of the directions in our human practices design—social media campaigns and education—which we adjusted to better meet this goal.
C. Making PET Plastic Issues More Visible and Accessible
As mentioned earlier, our team implemented a series of strategies to increase the visibility and accessibility of PET plastic-related issues, as well as our proposed solutions.
We designed and printed two versions of posters that visually demonstrate our project overview, introducing both our short-term objectives and long-term goals. Taking this poster as a starting point, we hosted a series of workshops at our school and in local communities. These practices allowed us to present our project, engage with people who are related to or care about PET plastic pollution, gather their feedback and input, and begin building a sustainable platform and routine for ongoing discussions.
Recognizing that social media is a key channel for raising public awareness on such topics, we also created a WeChat public account for our project. Through this platform, we aim to continue posting relevant knowledge and information, drawing public attention to PET plastic issues, updating the progress of our project, and making it a reliable resource for the public.
D. Identify More Stakeholders
In addition to addressing the ethical concerns involved in labs (as detailed in the Safety section), we have carefully considered other potential stakeholders in our project, too. Growing up in a country with a long history of silkworm farming and silk production, we focus on the current silkworm breeders, along with producers and operators in the silk product industry.
What would the creation and large-scale cultivation of the new silkworm strain mean for them? If this new strain proves successful in scientific and commercial terms, could it disrupt the current silkworm farming and silk production industries? And if they choose to adopt this new transgenic strain, are there potential risks for them?
We recognized a similar concern from the findings of our survey: 60 respondents (49.18%) expressed worries about whether transgenic silk products could harm the interests of existing silkworm breeders and industrial producers.
We discussed this issue with Dr. Tian from Southwest University, who explained that the new silkworm strain wouldn't compete with current breeders but would instead offer them an additional option and a potentially new opportunity. While we attempted to directly connect with people working in the silkworm farming and silk production industries, we were unable to confirm those appointments within the iGEM project timeline. However, we plan to continue exploring this area, as well as reflecting on this concern.
E. Outreach to other iGEMers
Throughout our project, we actively reached out to other iGEM teams and received positive and supportive feedback from them.
