BASK in ASK

Once again, BASK students ended 3-weeks of intensive learning and intense fun with 40-minute presentations on water issues of our choice. All of the groups contained a mix of both Andover and Chinese students and were asked to use their respective expertise to report on water issues prevalent on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. The students looked at their case studies through scientific, economic, and philosophical lenses, which they kept in consideration when developing comprehensive policy recommendations to solve these dilemmas. This year's topics ranged from lead poisoning to international river management. Below are the abstracts from a couple of the five groups.

International Rivers: Andrew Zheng (PA'15), Alex Cao (PA'16), Cassie Chin (PA'17), and Bella (Da Tong High School Shanghai)

In this study, we look at two international rivers, that two or more countries depend upon: the Colorado River (U.S. and Mexico) and the Mekong River (China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar). The Colorado faces issues such as drought, salinity control, biodiversity decline, and over-allocation, all while attempting to cooperate with Mexico. Annually the U.S. gets nearly 20 billion cubic meters of water while Mexico gets less that 2 billion. Along with the mismanagement of water, the original amount of water the U.S. allocated is far too much to support the future. The Colorado River Delta is dried up, and the U.S. and Mexico are now trying to restore it. This international cooperation isn’t happening everywhere, particularly with China and the other countries that share the Mekong River. The Mekong was once home to an extensive fishery, worth $2.5 billion, largely impacting their economy. Rare freshwater Irrawadddy Dolphins once thrived, their numbers in the thousands. Because of the existing five dams, the fish production reduced by 60-70%. Less than 100 Irrawaddy Dolphins now exist in the Mekong. Now, China has plans to build a series of eight more dams and increase hydropower to support their growing economy and population. These dams will deplete what little fish production and biodiversity the Mekong has left. China hasn’t taken into account the effect the dams will have on the other five countries that share the Mekong. It’s important and in their best interest for China to consider the other affected countries because they are all interdependent on the Mekong, making it imperative for them to work together. Keeping moral obligations, environment issues, and political responsibilities in mind, we search for solutions and policies for both the U.S. and China in their international water diplomacy struggles. The U.S. has started to collaborate with Mexico, and we hope China can follow and think about the other Mekong users before they make any significant decisions. 

Bad Beaches: Matt Osborn (PA'15), Felix Sanchez (PA'16), Charlie (Da Tong High School Shanghai),  Monica (RDFZ Beijing), and Sandy (BDFZ Kunming)

The Santa Monica Beach is a popular tourist destination within the Los Angeles area. As a result of the massive population and urbanization the beach and the bay have become polluted. The Santa Monica Beach produces $10B and 45 million tourists annually.

California also spends a lot of money trying to clean this beach (~$300M) but if we were to clean this mess up we can save a lot of money and the environment. For example, Heal the Bay (a non for profit organization) is helping clean up the Santa Monica Bay and its surrounding areas. They have successfully stopped oil companies from drilling in the bay in 1995. In addition, they are currently working on holding a city-wide moratorium on oil wells in Santa Monica Bay. Predications say there is a 34% chance of oil leakage from said wells.

We approached this issue with a utilitarian intensive viewpoint. We feel that all of California deserves to enjoy the bay so we can ignore the few rich for the greater good.

Similarly, the Sanya Beach in Hainan, China is in danger of losing it’s status as the “Oriental Hawaii” due to excess amounts of pollution. As one of the biggest tourist destinations in China. Sanya is critical for the local economy. Unfortunately, what is driving the economy is in turn threatening the environment. As tourism grows, Sanya takes in more pollution and for the most part is unable to handle the increase. Often times, trash can be seen littered on the beaches or coming from hotels and restaurants. If Sanya is unable to address the pollution problem before it is too late, fewer and fewer people will seek the beaches out as vacation destinations. We believe it is in Sanya’s best interests to keep the status of the environment in consideration when attempting to drive economic and tourism growth.

Water Recycling: Anna Dear (PA'16), Alphonse Le (PA'15), ZhangKai (Da Tong '17), Linda Sun (BDFZ'16), and Holden Wang (RDFZ'16)

Water recycling is crucial in order to ensure that future generations will have access to a sufficient and clean water resource. Unfortunately, most people are unable to anticipate these long-term needs, and accordingly, they spend wastefully consume and expend the already limited water we have today.

Water purification and reclamation via treatment in plants not only cuts back on our water usage, but also is cost effective and is mostly environmentally friendly. Many urban areas around the world are starting to establish new water treatment plants to minimize wasting water, especially within the US and China.  

One of the main issues with this process right now is that many, if not all plants, only produce non-potable water, which can have agricultural, municipal, or industrial uses, but not water suitable for drinking. The most ideal situation is to have potable water being produced in these recycling plants.

August 5th, 2014

There is no definitive answer for anything. When doing our research for our group case study, we found evidence supporting all kinds of theories, approaches, policies, and conclusions. Things were further complicated when we dug into different areas of study and were asked to develop some comprehensive policy recommendations for problems so complex that we could hardly wrap our heads around them. At times it seemed impossible to develop conclusions or move on to different facets of our case studies because as we did more research and answered more questions, the more questions we came up with. All this talk about failing to find a perfect conclusion, however, has actually led me to a conclusion: experts are worthless. It is only when they come together can they actually be meaningful and address the countless issues we face today. As we saw in our case study, everything must be considered in the context of numerous other disciplines. It is not enough to approach an environmental problem without paying great attention to the economic feasibility of the needed policies or what might compel people, and governments to enact them. And if there is no perfect answer for solving problems, how can we place value on environmental or social benefits that cannot be plotted on a supply and demand graph? What trade-offs are worth making? BASK has enlightened me on such problems and given me invaluable opportunities to try and work through them, and it is only fitting that I will leave tomorrow with more questions than I entered with.

August 5th, 2014

I think I gained a lot from the case study, not only knowledge but also experience and courage. When we were preparing for the research, I think I worked hard. I read tens of articles. And I learned how to work with others and how to present our product, but I also think there were a few questions. For example, we finished out PPT at about 10:30. There wasn’t enough time for us to prepare and work on it again. And another problem was our lack of group work; the final decision was made by one person.

Instead of everyone in the group, when we present our product, I think the problem was I. I was too nervous to remember my plan, so I spoke a lot of meaningless words and even forgot how to pronounce some words. It’s really awful. And my terrible performance almost disturbed our performance. For these, I learn to be courageous and confident. And I should speak loud and clearly.

August 5th, 2014

The Ten Commandments of Presentations:

1)     Thou shalt organize everyone initially to avoid future chaos.

2)     Thou shalt not cram a tome of text into one slide.

3)     Thou shalt make stupid jokes and animations to amuse the audience and to please Mr. Hodgson.

4)     Thou shalt forbid others from simply reading bullet points, because that irks thyself so much.

5)     Thou shalt get primary source quotes to make a solid point.

6)     Thou shalt get VPN if thou decides to do research online in China again.

7)     Thou shalt switch presenters around to keep things interesting.

8)     Thou shalt rehearse first as a group in advance.

9)     Thou shalt make notes to refer to, but: thou must not abide by them so that thy head gets stuck on the page.

August 5th, 2014

Usually, doing research work online is easy. You simply pop in your search terms into Google, wait for a second (or even less) before the results come up, choose a few links, and casually browse the information. When you’re doing a research project in a public room in China, however:

a)     Google’s blocked. You’re forced to use Yahoo or, God forbid…Bing.

b)     When everyone wants to use the Internet at the same time, things get clogged beyond belief. Never would I have thought I’d say this, but I’d rather use an Ethernet cable than WiFi, especially in a situation like this.

c)     Some convenient sources are blocked. BBC? Bye bye. NYT? Hasta la vista, baby!

So it wasn’t exactly easy to collect and compile a sturdy pile of resources for a 40-minute presentation in less than a week. It was more of a matter of speeding through resources, seeing what might work, and adding that material in. It sometimes felt like things were never going to get done (more like almost always, honestly!), especially as we were a fairly disorganized bunch, all working separately on our own sections—we probably only put stuff together on the last two days. As a perfectionist sort-of-bloke who’s always trying to get things done ahead of time, you can obviously imagine that this was stressful. Yet, somehow, the presentation eventually came together in the end, and it’s fascinating as to just how things somehow work themselves out without you even realizing until much later. It wasn’t perfect, but considering the amount of time we had, I think it was something to be proud of.

August 5th, 2014

The case study gave me an opportunity to work in a group for the first time. “Cheering” with Spring Water right after our presentation, I just felt so proud of all the members in our group, no matter whether their performances were good or not, because everyone did their bit to contribute to our case study, no matter how big or small. During the researching period, I was quite confused and completely didn’t know what to do at first. However, with the guidance of Xiang Laoshi, we successfully found a reliable website. By searching for key words on that website, we downloaded lots of useful and credible articles which helped us a lot in our follow-up work.

To tell the truth, we (or just I) didn’t try our best to fully prepare, wasting our case study preparation time all the time. Nearly all my work was done the night before presentation day, which made me so tired and sleepy that I couldn’t listen to other groups’ presentations carefully, missing lots of meaningful information.

Even though we didn’t spend much time coordinating and practicing, I think we made a good presentation which really attracted people’s attention, owing to Ben and Wei Han’s wonderful presentation skills.

August 5th, 2014

August 5th, 2014

I learned we have the best group according to Ms. Ma. Just Kidding! What I actually learned was that research takes a lot of work. All my previous assignments never needed this much work in this scope of time. A 40 minute presentation in a couple of days!? Also it’s in my eyes to not have a typed up speech, it’s better to go along with it as you may come up with nice ideas on how to present on the spot, I also learned how important it is to stay organized, often times my group would waste so much time as I specifically wasn’t sure what we had or didn’t have. Furthermore I learned the importance of Wi-Fi. There were so many times I was waiting for the article to load. My final thoughts are that researchers are very persistent. I’ve gained a new respect for them. All this time looking at articles doing whatever they need to get info and it’s hard. There are so many articles that look like they would be good, but turn out to be duds. How someone can deal with disappointment so many times is beyond me. I know that if I had to sift through, experimental data etc. all the time I’d crack. Kudos to researchers!

If I could do it again I would add more dolphin pictures! No, what I’d actually do is give more pictures and demonstrations like the Totoaba Bass. It’s much easier I find for the audience to digest information when there are pics + demonstrating as they show your ideas, you don’t just talk at the audience. Finally I would be a lot more organized with slides and who does what. We weren’t too clear on that the 1st time…

August 5th, 2014

Max 

Our group’s case study was a long and challenging process. I learnt a lot about what can make a good case study. Firstly, we need to make sure our chosen topic is one that is easily researchable and interesting for all group members. It is best if each person’s role in the group’s project is made clear as soon as possible, this allows for maximum efficiency. When researching, we need to keep in mind what the best sources are, for example, Wikipedia and new journals are fine as a start, but it is crucial to dig deeper to find science articles and various sources including statistics to support the presentation. When preparing, we need to be familiar with the material so that we won’t have to enter to our drafts too often. PowerPoint Presentations should add to the presentation, and be as visual and appealing as possible. When presenting we need to be loud and steady, we need to also make eye contact with as many people as we can. Throughout the whole process we need to work on it regularly because the group projects always take a long time.

Cassie 

August 5th, 2014

Being a PA student, I’m no stranger to multi-faceted research project assignments to be completed in a short period of time, though that’s not saying it was easy. Incorporating scientific, economic, political, and philosophical components was certainly a challenge, and doing so in a meaningful way required lots of organization, analysis, and creativity. An obvious takeaway was that researching and compiling information on a scientific policy issue is incredibly complex, definitely warranting more than a few days of Google searches. We weren’t able to research as thoroughly as we would’ve liked – more scientific evidence, more economic analysis, more info on existing policy would have been ideal, and even then the case study would be incomplete.

But I think what maybe was a bigger challenge was working with the Chinese students, who operated in Chinese while doing their research. For much of our case study work I had little knowledge of their progress or their part of our case study, which was a little frustrating since though I can speak and understand day-to-day Chinese, my understanding of technical and scientific language is pretty limited. The language barrier definitely separated my (American) partner and me from the Chinese students in the research process, which likely hurt our finished project. I’ve realized that language and culture are barriers are often present in international research endeavors, especially with the world’s globalization and international cooperation becoming more common, whether it be neighboring countries or the US and China. If I could do the case study again I would definitely try to work more with the Chinese students, even if it meant stretching my Chinese skills and pushing myself over new boundaries. Overcoming such barriers is a skill we should all striver to acquire, I think.

August 5th, 2014

July 31st, 2014 -

Anna: 

Visiting Yunnan University to use their lab to look at water samples under microscopes was fun. I think this was the first step to understanding the water treatment process and how complicated it can be. Seeing all the microorganisms in water from different places was thrilling and worrying at the same time. It’s exciting to think that there is a whole other world people can’t see, however, these microscopic organisms can negatively affect one’s health if ingested. This leads to the purpose of our trips to water treatment plants and a place that produces special membranes (MBR) to clean water. Although the water processed by both plants is not potable, it can be used for many functions so that more water is not wasted. One thing that I think should be addressed is why this processed water is not drinkable. Having field trips like this in BASK raise important questions that require innovation to be answered. Overall, these trips were a lot of fun and thought provoking.

Alphonse:

I think that the trips from yesterday and today were both interesting and give us a first-hand perspective on what we are currently studying in class. At least for my group, it is very useful for our case study presentations. It also raises questions about water purification techniques in China; the water we saw at plants No.4 and No.10 yesterday are already “clean,” yet you still cannot wash clothes in it, shower in it, etc. How strong does the technology have to be to be able to clean the water to a potable level? More importantly, is it a feasible/desirable goal with regards to the economy and policy?

July 31st, 2014 -

Matt: 

Seeing everything that we had been talking about in theory for the past two weeks was a pretty eye-opening experience. Before our three trips to the plant/lab/factory, I felt a little disconnected from the water-filtering process, having only talked about the basic science and economics and read (“skimmed” may be more accurate) a few journal articles concerning the subject. Seeing actual microorganisms in dirty water, watching MDR filtering membranes being made, and seeing the membranes in action at a full-scale treatment plant pushed the BASK program a little further from the realm of “theory” into the realm of “practice,” at least for me. The lab work was definitely the most intriguing experience for me, since what we were doing was pretty close to what “actual” working scientists do in analyzing water samples. And though none of us are water purifying experts after visiting the factory and treatment plant, the experience made us understand water problems a little more intimately and certainly able to visualize the industry better.

Wei Han: 

Over the past two days, we examined four different locations to understand the issues surrounding water treatment. One of the biggest things I took away was a sense of how the systems worked in terms of the scales and the steps involved. I gained a sense of the scientific concepts and processes used to clean water, as well as of the manufacturing system needed to make the membranes involved. Over at Yunnan University, I also gained a newfound sense of appreciation for life and biology. Under the microscope, I was enthralled at the teeming array of life in the various water samples we had. Never before had I seen such an active system under the microscope, with zooplankton twitching, swirling, and speeding on the slides under the lens. Never before had I been able to notice the insides of these unseen creatures. Never before had I even appreciated the fact that microorganisms existed in a 3D space, as I watched the plankton rotate around in all axes. I’ve always been more of a physics ad chemistry person, but our time at the lab reminded me of the miracles of life, both big and (especially) small. All of us marveled at the active creatures even after just collecting water from the lake as well as experiencing their world much closer under the lens. It helped me totally remember the different scales and complexities of life in all its many shapes and sizes. As my friend Felix [Sanchez ’16] said, “I could watch this all day.” I definitely agreed with that sentiment.

Felix: 

The Yunnan University lab was by far my favorite part of the trip. I loved the microscopes and seeing how polluted our water is. The creatures were so good. Knowing what I was seeing was in real time made them so much more magical and interesting. The creatures looked fantastical and out of a science fiction movie. Plus the professor and assistants were so charismatic and excited about teaching us about biology. He was very exciting.

July 31st, 2014 - One of my Andover classmates described the membrane factory as “depressing.” Indeed, the bright fluorescent lights, bare white walls, ominous grey machinery and thick, chemical-infused air cast a gloomy shadow over the entire building. Most appalling to me, however, were the workers—all young women, pretty and slim, barely older than I am. Yet their patterned clothes contrasted against the heavy, rubber gloves covering up to their elbows, their chunky, plastic masks out of a sci-fi movie cutting into their delicately curled hair. I was surprised, alarmed, and deeply saddened—why were these young women spending their days in a sunless factory, breathing in clearly toxic air? Did anyone know the side effects of the chemicals being used to produce the membranes? One thing I’ve learned in our readings and studies is that negative externalities of industry are too often ignored or purposefully unknown, until it is too late, until children are dying of lead poisoning or fish are becoming extinct from PCBs. Yes, the cleaner water that will come from these high-tech membranes will hopefully further Yunnan towards a cleaner future—but does anyone know or care about the possible human costs?

Moreover, these women most likely had no option but to work in that factory, in a low-intensity labor job like watching and testing membranes. We saw this at the rose farm as well, where over 95% of the workers were women. Sexism has always been very apparent in China, with its traditions of favoring sons over daughters in inheritance, education, and social status, and seeing these women over the past two weeks has shown me that this is a problem that permeates Chinese society still today. Even at the lab that we visited today at Yunnan University, I experienced firsthand the deeply ingrained sexist beliefs widespread in China. When we were collecting water from the pond with a long net and our professor asked for a  student volunteer, he immediately dismissed the girls in the group, telling us, “Let the strong boys get the water, the girls should stay back and test the pH and temperature.” When we were cleaning the lab, I grabbed a mop to help; he took the mop from me, handed it to a boy, and told me to wash the beakers instead. I know he was well-meaning—he was a smart, accomplished, friendly professor at Yunnan University, but I was shocked and slightly offended by his assumptions and subconscious actions nonetheless. I am no stranger to sexism, but if even professors, mentors to the next generation of leaders, hold subconscious biases like this, how can women possibly expect to find options other than toxic factories and rose farms? In a political system with only male figures, few female teachers and role models, Chinese women—especially those coming from difficult backgrounds and pursuing a higher education to empower them to enter the workforce—face this additional stronghold of psychological obstacles, the effects of which I have seen and felt in the past two days.

The visits to the water treatment plant and membrane factory have given me hope that technology will continue to advance, and that steps are being taken, slowly and steadily, towards a cleaner future. Yet these visits have also fueled a hope in me that a greater awareness towards gender equality will accompany it—that in the bright future of China, not only will rivers run clear and clean water be available for all, but women and men will also live and work together towards these goals as equals. 

Female workers in the membrane factory. 

July 31st, 2014 - The highlight was undoubtedly the trip to the university. Who knew stirring the water with a bamboo rod with a pouch attached was so much fun? And the microscopes! Coming from Shaker where my microscopes were so simple this looked like alien technology. I was pretty lost on how to work it for the first five minutes, but when I did was amazed at all this life packed into such a tiny amount of water. It’s really eye opening to consider how insignificant humanity is in the universe, then consider how much life is in such a small amount of water. It really shows the beauty of life, I just began thinking of a babushka doll. A really big one. You have this huge universe, and then far down the line of babushka’s there is us, and even further down are all these tiny creatures with such unique structures. It really made me value life more as once a species goes extinct, we will never see its like again. Then I think of how 99% of life that ever happened is gone. And that… really saddens me. There will always be similar, even “better” versions. But the original is gone, it’s not the same. There is, a nostalgia in imperfection and life, as YOLO (Sorry couldn’t resist) and imperfection are in itself nostalgia. I look back at my younger years with such fondness for the memories even though I was slower, fatter, stupider, short tempered and less mature and in all ways less “perfect”. But that didn’t matter. These imperfections are nostalgia, remind me of my past giving me good laughs as I develop. I care more about the memories, the experiences that made me grow. Thus those “simple” creatures are so beautiful: a link to the past. We are bigger, stronger, etc. now but you can’t tell me there isn’t a beauty in the “dumber”, “less advanced creatures”. For example, think of shrimp. They are food. Right? Nothing could possibly be beautiful and “advanced”. But for all its short size and lack of brain power, one of its species, the Mantis shrimp has the most complex eyes and the most powerful punch in the animal kingdom. This food has its own beauty, one we cannot match. The lab really opened my eyes to that and I really understand the need to preserve the environment, to keep these intricacies because they may die out if we don’t correct our actions. And they will never come back.

So now I understand this cause of wanting to clean our water. It’s a win-win, we end water shortages and save the beauty of nature. For right now we are the dominant species, if we don’t protect this water that houses and supports the beauty of life, who will? Who will take up the mantle of preserving the uniqueness of life? So I really appreciate the factories, producing the MBR. They are doing their part to protect nature. The industry knows the value in cleaning water: they will make money etc. But a positive externality is the conservation of this… how can I describe it. The closest I can get is this natural mystical beauty of nature. We just need to stop messing with it and it will take care of itself. So I hope people will not just appreciate the beauty of landscapes but also its denizens as that is part of the beauty: how unique everything is. So I’m glad we went on these trips. One of the biggest things I will take away from this trip is appreciation. For life, nature, friends. Everything.

Alex gets a water sample from the pond in Yunnan University with the help of Ben Yang PA '15 and Leo Yang BDFZ '16 (Kunming). Photos by Jennifer '17 DTFZ Shanghai

July 31st, 2014 - To be honest, I can’t say I left the water treatment plants, Yunnan University, or membrane factory with a better, more technical understanding of the water cycle. I can’t tell you what kind of chemicals and processes we use to clean our water or recite my three favorite species of phytoplankton or even come close to explaining the significance of the plastic “noodles” we were told were cutting-edge water cleaning membranes. What I can tell you, however, is that the water situation, at least in Yunnan, looks promising. I make up what scientific expertise I lack with unparalleled appreciation and respect for those that wield it. From the dedicated plant managers to the seasoned professors, every person we met seemed whole-heartedly committed to the task of preserving and purifying our water. What makes me feel even more at ease is the venture capitalists and investment bankers who are willing and even eager to put equity into theses noble yet profitable endeavors. If these interdisciplinary classes have taught me anything, it is that nothing happens independently and that everything needs money. The visits over the past couple days have only confirmed that belief. The water cycle and problems are more complex than I can imagine, but it is reassuring that people with more wisdom and capital have recognized it.