The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the United Nations with its 193 member states in 2015m provides a shared blueprint for a better world forward. The core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which called for all people be in together working toward the same objective, ameliorating health and education, reducing inequality and protecting our oceans and forests.
The SUSTechOCEAN iGEM, as an innovator and advocator of synthetic biology technology, we have put a premium on SDGs, and we have integrated the concept of SDGs to our human practice activities. To align with the SUSTechOCEAN project's objectives, we focused on implementing SDG13 – climate action and SDG14 – life below water . To Improve public understanding of the SDGs, raise community awareness of environmental protection and the planet, and enhance public understanding of the planet we live on is a constant thread through our program.
Section I - SDG13
SDG13 – climate action
SDG13 – climate action aimed to take urgent action to tackle climate change and its impacts. More frequent climate crisis, such as wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, floods and other climate disasters has been happening due to increase greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change not only affect climate change but also has profound impacts on agricultural productivity, threatening food security and increasing the risk of hunger.
As the primary goal of the SUSTechOCEAN project is to recycle greenhouse gases and improve the atmospheric environment, we do our utmost to popularize a low-carbon lifestyle and instill an energy-saving lifestyle in children. We have organized several lectures and seminars on environmental protection and public welfare film screenings to promote environmental protection awareness. We have also carried out popular science lectures for primary and secondary school students and obtained feedback on activities through questionnaires and low-carbon activity record sheets. At the same time, we have called on and led everyone in the community to carry out various voluntary cleaning activities such as beach cleaning. Please visit our integrated human practice page for more details.
On July 27 2024, the SUSTechOCEAN team gave a lecture at the CIC on biomineralization technology, a new marine carbon sink solution. They explained how biomineralization technology can be used to solve environmental problems and how it can be applied to bridge construction in the Greater Bay Area. The complex and detailed knowledge was slowly absorbed by the audience.
On May 1, 2024, SUSTechOCEAN and the Deep Fishing Club are collaborating to screen the documentary film Chasing Coral, calling on everyone to slow the rate of coral loss through personal participation and real actions.
On May 19, 2024, The SUSTechOCEAN and SUSTech Med teams worked together to teach the children at Qianlinshan Primary School about the importance of atmospheric protection and bring the concept of our experiments to the kids in a way that is easy for the kids to understand.
On August 5th, the iGEM team, led by Director Yu Yancong of Hainan University, drove
to
Guangji Village in the hinterland of Hainan. This village, which once faced the
challenge of poverty, is now full of prosperity and vitality in the fight against
poverty. In the classrooms of the village, iGEMers held a science popularization and
teaching activity for local high school students on the theme of synthetic biology.
In this era of rapid change, science and technology and education are working hand
in
hand to help realize the dream of rural revitalization. Through lively explanations
and
interactions, the students not only learned cutting-edge knowledge about synthetic
biology, but also saw the application and potential of science and technology in
promoting global issues such as environmental protection and marine conservation,
inspiring them to imagine the infinite possibilities of the future.
The iGEM team led the public in a beach cleanup activity to call on the community to take environmental protection to heart.
We have also had many communications and discussions with domestic and foreign synthetic biology colleagues. Our communication with the Chicago High School delegation has allowed us to have a much wider horizon of environment. Discussions with colleagues from Hainan University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology University, and at the South China Conference, the CCiC Conference, and the iGBA Conference have also provided great help in improving the design of our experimental groups and promoting green experiences in environmental protection.
On June 16, 2024, the two high school delegations from Bolingbrook High School and Romeoville High School in Chicago, USA, concluded their successful visit to Southern University of Science and Technology. This seven-day exchange not only deepened the friendship between young people from the two countries, but also promoted in-depth exchanges between the younger generations of Shenzhen and Chicago, laying a solid foundation for future cooperation between China and the United States.
On August 6, 2024, the iGEM team came to Hainan University and had an in-depth exchange and discussion with its iGEM team. Although the two teams have different research directions, in the face of the vast field of synthetic biology, everyone has benefited a lot from the collision of technology and experience and inspired each other.
On July 6, 2024, the iGEM team from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Guangzhou Campus, HKUST(GZ), came to the Department of Ocean Science and Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen and had an in-depth and fruitful exchange with the SUSTechOcean team, which also participated in the iGEM competition. On this day, the two teams, full of enthusiasm and creativity, discussed scientific research together and shared practical experience.
On May 19, 2024, SUSTechOCEAN gave a themed presentation, detailing our latest research results and innovative ideas, namely the planned development of microbial mineralization cells for alga-bacteria co-cultivation, which proposes a viable solution to the climate crisis from the perspective of synthetic biology. The atmosphere was warm and the applause was continuous. Many participants expressed a keen interest in our project, actively asking questions and participating in discussions.
From July 12th to July 14th, 2024，the SUSTechOCEAN team from Southern University of Science and Technology had an exciting exchange with more than 120 teams from all over the country at the CCiC Conference (Conference of China iGEMer Community) held at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
From August 1st to August 3rd, 2024, the iGEM teams from Southern University of Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University Zhuhai Campus, University of Macau, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology will work together to launch the iGBA, a regional exchange event for related enterprises and teams. This event will pioneer a brand new way of iGEM team cooperation, with university-enterprise collaboration as the core of the forum. It will bring together the two major innovation and growth poles of universities and enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to build a bridge for industry-university-research cooperation and promote the collaborative development of the Bay Area's biological industry cluster.
Furthermore, we have held many discussions with a team of professional professors and researchers from the Southern University of Science and Technology. During these discussions, the professors recognized the efficiency, safety and environmental friendliness of the product we designed for recovering carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas). At the same time, the professor team also proposed many improvement plans for our experiment.
Section II - SDG14
SDG14 – life below water
The goal of SDG14 – life below water is to conserve and sustainably use the world’s ocean, seas and marine resources. And the SUSTechOCEAN project is closely related to the ocean. Our project precisely uses seawater to sequester carbon, reducing the acidification of seawater therefore protecting the marine life. Our device recycles carbon dioxide and produce calcium carbonate at the same time. The production of calcium carbonate has been proved can bring great benefits to the growth of marine life. For example, coral growth requires calcium ions can booth the growth of coral, which is indispensable to the survival of marine fish and the marine environment.
To maximize the impact of our project on protecting the ocean and making it sustainable, on the one hand, the human practice team has made great efforts to deepen the community's understanding of our project and popularize knowledge about the ocean and its creatures. On the other hand, the human practice team has worked closely with the experimental team and maintained close communication with the team of professors to improve the performance of our final products.