Why am I here?

There were various teaching moments, both positive and negative, throughout my semester with the Duke University Marine Laboratory. The most valuable, academic-oriented and life-changing ones, however, took place during Block D in which I conducted independent research with Dr. Dave Johnston. I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity of conducting research, especially under someone who is very reputable in the field.

The title of my research project was "Using drones to monitor plastic marine debris." As the title suggests, we used a drone (senseFly eBee model) equipped with a Canon S110 RGB camera or a Canon S110 RE camera to capture images of "targets" of trash that I had collected and created in order to calibrate the drone for use during an even larger project called the Race for Water Odyssey (R4WO). The R4WO, being run by the Race for Water Foundation, is in the process of conducting a global assessment of plastic marine debris for the first time ever. The odyssey's goal is to reach the coastlines of various islands within the 5 ocean vortices of trash in less than 300 days.

A target that was comprised of a collection
of small, miscellaneous plastic items.

A different target, consisting of plastic bottles.

While it has been an honor to work for a foundation that seeks to improve the planet, there have been some harsh realities that I have encountered along the way. For example, in order to create "targets" to calibrate the drone, I had to acquire the plastic marine debris first...and what better way to do that than walking along the local beaches and picking up samples that accurately represent the epitome of marine debris. Bottles, lighters, bags, straws, Styrofoam™, shoes, food wrappers, and tarps were only a small percentage of the types of plastics that I came across. As I was collecting the samples, which took multiple days, I almost began to cry each time because of how disgusted I was with humanity. We, as humans, are single-handedly destroying our planet. Each time I went out to collect trash, I saw a glimpse of the future and felt quite uncomfortable– uncomfortable in terms of how selfish, conceited, pompous, self-centered the human race is.

Working closely with plastic marine debris led me to working even harder on making a difference. Some people may have felt overwhelmed and felt as though no matter what they did, nothing will improve the current conditions of our oceans, but that's what motivated me to work as hard as I did (and will continue to do). Even just picking up one bottle cap, one lighter, one cigarette filter, one fishing bobber, one balloon, one straw will make a huge difference.