Ashes and Tears of Koalas
Seoul, Republic of Korea
2024, Junior, Interactive & Multimedia
Project Description: This submission combines multiple categories to explore how climate change affects the population of koalas in Australia. It consists of a six-page website that explores basic facts about koalas, the outcome of the 2019 wildfires, the comparison between the past, 2019 Australia in terms of climate change, and several factors that led to climate change globally. Additionally, on the 1st page, we posted our motivation for joining this competition with the joyful pictures we took when we traveled to Australia. On the 2nd page, we provided several exciting pieces of information about koalas: their anatomy, opposable thumbs, social life, and food. Then, we posted shocking information that koalas are listed as endangered species due to the rapidly declining population caused by severe bushfires that hit Australia in 2019. Through several pieces of data and images that cover how the climate has been changing for several decades in Australia, we tried to connect the disappearance of koalas with climate change. On the 5th page, we uploaded information that the 2019 bushfires in Australia resulted from global warming and human activities are mainly responsible for the outcome. By combining actual data and images, this submission allows people to immerse themselves in the ashes and tears of koalas. Finally, we posted about “what middle school students can do to save our environment.” To illustrate our activities, we took pictures of how we implement our actions to save the environment in everyday life.
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Reflection
Through exploring the Tell Your Climate Story theme, we created a website focusing on why severe wildfires broke out in Australia in 2019 and how they negatively affected the koala population. Our research and creative process were motivated by our interest in animals and our trip to Australia. Seeing koalas sleeping on the tree branch at the zoo was a great and joyful memory. Even after returning to Korea, we researched and posted interesting facts about koalas on our twins' blog: https://sites.google.com/view/dynamicbiology/home. However, when we watched TV news about Australia's bushfires and a koala sitting on the burned branches, we were shocked to learn that the fire was due to prolonged drought and severe heat waves. Through searching for accurate data, we learned that our Earth's climate is reaching its breaking point, and if we don't take action, there will be irreversible consequences. Even though we started with koala research, we realized it is no longer a matter of koalas' survival, so we decided to take action on what we can do, such as sustainability-oriented fashion purchases. Furthermore, we also save electricity by turning off the light switch when there is nobody in the room, collecting the labels on the water bottles separately whenever we are throwing them away, recycling, and exchanging the items that we do not use instead of throwing them away.