STEM-Zine Issue 3

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A science, technology, engineering, and mathematics zine by students for students

ISSUE 3 Contents

1 The End of All Things: How Will Our Universe Die? Sophia

3

The Slight Edge Between Success and Failure: Mental Toughness in Athletes Emily

5 Sleep in Trees A.F

2

Climate Change and the Biosphere: The Race Across Time Jed

4 The Acceleration of the Expansion of the Universe: A Mystery Izzy

6 Unsustainable tourism in the Dominican Republic Alexandra

THE END OF ALL THINGS WRITTEN BY SOPHIA DESIGN BY ISABELLE Z.

What Will the Death of the Universe Look Like?

Many are familiar with the accepted theory of how the universe was born, but have you ever stopped to ponder how it might die? In this article, we explore the various scenarios of what could happen when the cosmos meets its end, and what these possibilities mean in relation to the properties of the universe.

The universe we live in is, in short, a massive concept.

It is one without bounds and, thus, is impossible to quantify or even truly imagine. The scope of the cosmos is simply too large for the human mind to accurately envision. As such, when we discuss the universe, we are leaning towards discussions of abstract nature—or more accurately, sessions of theorizing. The vastness of the universe we occupy provides equally vast amounts of unanswered questions, and for each that we do manage to untangle, a new one appears.

However, there are things we do know. We know, roughly, where we are located in the oceans of space.

We occupy the tiny corner of a single solar system in the Milky Way galaxy of the Laniakea supercluster, and we are the center of the universe—along with every other point within it. We have a very good idea of where we came from and can theoretically trace our origins back to the Big Bang, where our cosmos was born from, and, perhaps, it will be reborn once more, according to the oscillatory universe theory. And although we know how the universe was born, it is glaringly obvious that we will never know for certain how it will die.

The question of the universe’s fate is untestable and depends largely upon agreed theories—more things that we do not know for certain. Much of the answer to this question depends upon the validity of the Big Bang theory and the thought that the universe is indeed flat, a shape which most cosmologists agree upon.

If both are indeed true, the universe is expanding and becoming less dense and will continue to do so forever.

But wait a moment, there appears to be a contradiction here. How can the universe “end” if it is agreed to be expanding into eternity? And if the amount of matter in the universe is finite, what happens when we run out of matter to expand with, becoming spread so thin that matter essentially ceases to interact?

THE FIRST THEORY: BIG FREEZE he scenario we run into in this case is what’s known as the Big Freeze or the Heat Death. In this theory, the first of three main models, the continued expansion of the universe causes it to approach absolute zero temperature, where all molecular motion ceases. The Big Freeze is quickly becoming one of the leading hypotheses for the death of the universe, as evidence indicates increasing expansion rates in distant space provides support for the theory.

Essentially, the universe will be spread thin until all of the heat within its isolated system is evenly distributed— that is, approaching absolute zero. At this temperature, there is no existing “heat” or usable energy, giving rise to the term “Heat Death”. Movement or fuel within the universe would cease to be possible, and the cosmos would grind to a “cold silent halt”. [1] There is no “reverse Big Bang”, if you will, no dramatic exit or reverting back to another singularity. The universe simply ceases to go on.

Essentially, the universe will be spread thin until all of the heat within its isolated system is evenly distributed—that is, approaching absolute zero. At this temperature, there is no existing “heat” or usable energy, giving rise to the term “Heat Death”. Movement or fuel within the universe would cease to be possible, and the cosmos would grind to a “cold silent halt”. [1] There is no “reverse Big Bang”, if you will, no dramatic exit or reverting back to another singularity. The universe simply ceases to go on.

THE SECOND THEORY: THE BIG RIP The same cannot be said for the second theory, aptly titled the “Big Rip”. One might logically think that as mass is attracted to other mass, expansion of the universe would slow and eventually concentrate back to a single central point. This conclusion is obviously contradicted by the fact that the expansion of the universe is expanding, due to a hypothetical “dark energy” counteracting gravity. The powers of dark energy may possibly go even further than that; however, certain experiments suggest that dark energy could get stronger over time[2]. In this case, dark energy will eventually pull apart galaxies, solar systems, planets, stars, and even single molecules and nuclei. The result is a sort of apocalyptic scenario in which dark energy becomes so powerful that it will rip apart everything in the universe until there is nothing left but empty space. A bit more exciting than the concept of heat death, perhaps but certainly less likely; scientists know so little about dark energy and its existence that it is difficult to predict how it may behave.

THIRD THEORY: THE BIG CRUNCH The third and final model actually lends itself to two possible scenarios, one stemming from the oscillatory universe theory.

This model is known as the Big Crunch, and it is essentially the Big Bang in reverse. The Big Crunch operates under the assumption that the universe cannot expand infinitely and will eventually collapse in on itself. All matter in the universe will be pulled into one singularity, creating a massive black hole. As the universe is generally thought to be continually expanding, this model remains the most unlikely; however, it has not been ruled out.

The Big Crunch also contains a sub-theory dubbed “the Big Bounce”, which states that after the universe collapses into a singularity, it will immediately explode out once more in a subsequent Big Bang. The universe would then “consist of an infinite sequence of finite universes”, a constant loop of dying and rebirth.

For scientists to predict the likelihood of each respective scenario, they must quantify certain factors within the universe, including the universe’s shape, the amount of dark matter and dark energy it contains, and its overall density. They can then compare these values to the universe’s critical density, to determine which outcome is probable. For example, if the density of the universe is greater than the critical density, the universe will likely end in a Big Crunch scenario. If the density is lesser than the critical density, the Big Rip or Big Freeze scenarios are more probable. Of course, humanity has thus far been unable to determine the density of the universe, leaving us unsure which way the universe may meet its end.

On the timeline of the cosmos, the existence of humans is merely a tiny speck. Such a stark contrast with the vastness of the universe and the impossibly long time it has existed means it is only natural that there is much we have left to discover.

Though we as a species will certainly vanish from space long before the universe itself dies, we continue to apply our own questions to the larger picture: what is it that happens at the end?

CREDITS Citations [1] Villanueva, John Carl. “Big Freeze.” Universe Today, Wordpress, 26 Apr. 2016, www.universetoday.com/36917/big-freeze [2] Cain, Fraser. “What Is The Big Rip?” Universe Today, Wordpress, 14 Mar. 2017, www.universetoday.com/107316/what-is-the-big-rip/.

[3] “Ultimate Fate of the Universe.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 July 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fate_of_the_universe [4] Wollack, Edward J. “What Is the Ultimate Fate of the Universe?” NASA, NASA, 29 June 2015, map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_fate.html [5] Villanueva, John Carl. “Big Crunch.” Universe Today, Wordpress, 25 Dec. 2015, www.universetoday.com/37018/big-crunch/.

CLIMATE CHANGE

AUTHOR: JED DESIGN: ISABELLE

AND THE BIOSPHERE

THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Climate change is a concept that most people may be quite or vaguely familiar to in their lives, especially with the increasing overlap between education and technology in society. By definition, it is the long-term alteration of temperature and weather patterns in a given location. Looking at the broader picture, however, climate change is a phenomenon that affects almost every aspect of our planet but among all of them, the biosphere is one of the most impacted regions of Earth in terms of magnitude.

You’ve probably heard from either a news channel or a credible online source at some point that at the current rate of climate change, humanity and the rest of the world is dangerously approaching a so-called “point of no return.” Going beyond this hypothetical scenario only leads to global problems with one coming immediately after another as overall sea levels increase, glaciers melt, and species go extinct, to name a few.

Above all, affected locations lie the biosphere, the area on Earth’s lands, waters, and air where life exists. Much more ecosystems are being threatened by climate change due to the rise of greenhouse gas levels. While organisms and species naturally adapt to shifts in temperature and other environmental factors, the rapid rate of change prevents them to do so and as a result, the rate of survival has gone lower than what was projected decades ago.

Climate change has also induced timing changes. Plant species, for instance, may react negatively by activating their typical spring behavior earlier than expected which leads to earlier shedding periods.

The time frame between the life processes that occur in a cycle throughout the year, such as reproduction and migration were changed as a form of forced adaptation.

THERE IS ONLY ONE EARTH.

ONE PLANET. EVERYBODY'S HOME.

Due to the increase in temperatures, more and more organisms have moved to higher elevations and as they enter the new environment, they encountered more intense competition for limited resources in the region. Natural disruption also occurred to the food web drastically as new species came in and those who weren't able to fully adapt to these conditions were wiped off the face of the Earth.

As briefly mentioned earlier, climate change ultimately leads to an increase of species extinctions. Whether it be due to intense competition in the highlands or because of given species’ climate sensitivity, organisms now have higher extinction risks than normal.Knowing the facts by the numbers by heart is surely a progressive move towards a better education

in the topic of climate change and its implications to the world; however, it is also important to realize that as conscientious thinkers and learners, individuals should learn to break out of the habit of being passive and contribute to the solution.

Each person who commits to directly and/or indirectly assisting in alleviating the current crisis adds another step towards letting figures of authority know that global warming is a significant problem and that immediate action must be done.

One may wonder how they can participate as a student and/or a civilian, and the good news is that engagement is possible as it is open to people of all ages.

WHAT YOU CAN DO Engagement falls under three main categories: awareness, action, and advocacy, with each level being more complex than the previous method. Awareness includes even the simplest gestures like sharing news articles and statistics to friends and family members. This is also the best strategy to promote the topic at hand without having to officially do something through social media (Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, et cetera) and word-ofmouth.

For those who would want to do more than just that, reach out to local nonprofit organizations with a proposal of collaborating with them. Proposals can be as brief as offering to publish visuals in their online platforms or something as ambitious as hosting local events that aim to spread information through graphic organizers and pamphlets.The word action might seem too intimidating but it is the most interactive and fulfilling form of engagement.

The end goal of this process is to change one’s lifestyle enough to reduce their carbon footprint by more than 50%. From living car-free and walking to cutting down on meat consumption (cattle ranks third on the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters if they could form their own nation), even a disciplined individual can make a difference once their efforts to live sustainably without damaging the Earth combined with everyone else’s.

Starting such a lifestyle may seem difficult as it is truly tempting to revert back to old ways,but the sense of fulfillment gained from completing milestones like participating in the annual Earth Hour can help motivate people to move forward.

In the national scale, advocacy is the most challenging procedure in terms of reaching politicians and federal representatives, but this doesn’t mean that they won’t get the message regardless of the type of campaign people are part of.

Advocacy combines and integrate elements from the two other aforementioned categories of engagement: the educational nature of awareness and the underlying goals and messages of saving the biosphere behind action.

Campaigns are definitely not limited to just letter writing, nonviolent protests, and marches (regardless of their attitude towards a given policy).

Founding a group dedicated to promoting global sustainability across the city, for instance, counts as a cause. As a rule of thumb, any set of actions committed by a number of individuals as a positive or critical response to a public policy while demanding for either a continuity or a change of the policy counts as advocacy.

Even at a young age, today’s youth have access to millions and millions of resources concerning climate change and how to help slow it down online.

The real question lies not on a yes-or-no question on whether the members of Generation Z are ready to step up and take responsibility for both the good and the bad things occurring in the rapidlychanging world they all live in. Instead, the true inquiry lies on when they are prepared to learn and personalize green thumb habits. After all, they are humanity’s next hope on Earth, don’t you agree?

WE BELONG TO THE EARTH."

"THE EARTH DOES NOT BELONG TO US.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- "World ‘Nearing Critical Point of No Return’ on Climate Change, Delegate Warns, as Second Committee Debates Sustainable Development.” https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/gaef3500.doc.htm, 2018. Accessed 17 August 2019.

- “Climate Change Could Leave Big Mark on Earth’s Landscape.” American Geophysical Union, https://eos.org/scientific-press/climate-change-could-leave-big-mark-on-earths-landscape, 2018. Accessed 17 August 2019.

- “Climate Impacts Ecosystems.” United States Environmental Protection Agency, https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impactsecosystems_.html, Accessed 17 August 2019.

- Ranganathan, Janet. “Sustainable Diets: What You Need in 12 Weeks.” https://www.wri.org/blog/2016/04/sustainable-diets-what-you-need-know-12-charts, 2016, Accessed 17 August 2019.

THE SLIGHT EDGE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE MENTAL TOUGHNESS IN ATHLETES WRITTEN AND DESIGNED BY EMILY YU

From personal experience, as a figure skater, I have dealt with hundreds of mental barriers that kept me from achieving my goals and from learning new skills. It was during my freshman year of high school when I endured a heavy impact in a fall and underwent excruciating pain in all parts of my body. My mind kept hope alive, but everything took a turn for the worst; I was checked by my orthopedic doctor, and it was confirmed — I was diagnosed with tendonitis in my predominant skating knee. I was devastated, and my goals were broken.

Photo by Doran Erickson on Unsplash

Everyone goes through adversity throughout their lifetime. But, do you perform well under pressure? Is it easy to overcome obstacles?

Do you have consistent determination? Or … is there a little voice inside your head telling you to just “give up” or that “you’re going to fail”? This all comes down to mental toughness—the ability to take control and overcome obstacles with a strong mentality and positive thinking. Athletes, in particular, use this every day.

After several months of physical therapy, I got the okay to skate again. Although skating healed my longing of getting back on the ice, my anxiety prevented me from even attempting to jump. Rotating jumps used to be easy for me, but now? I would back out in mid-air without even rotating the jump. I would always worry that if I worked myself past my limitations, I would get injured to a point that I will never be able to set foot on the ice again.

Discouraged by my skater friends around me, who have surpassed high-level skills that I’ve achieved before them long before

my injury, this threw me in the lackluster realm that was built exclusively inside my head; my mentality was never the same.

How did I get past this, you might ask. It would take a miracle to change my way of thought overnight. But, no. Instead, I took time off from skating, worked on developing a healthy mindset, focused on school, hung out with friends often, and did anything I could to get my mind off of the “dangers” of skating. Slowly, I got back into skating, convincing myself of the rewards, successes, and the end goal: medaling at regionals. Day by day, I would make small goals like attempting 10 jumps at a time, eventually gaining enough confidence that my past mentality was just an illusion keeping me from my true success. I’ve learned that there was nothing worse than just not trying at all.

According to Jeremy Sutton’s “Mental Toughness Provides the Athlete With Both a Natural and a Developed Edge”, he describes the characteristics of an athlete with mental toughness: - Defined goals - Very strong motivation and focus, despite distractions - Disregard of other athletes’ performances - Ability to perform well under pressure As you can see, these two studies both share one thing in common: the mind is a powerful thing and when filled with positive thoughts, you can achieve great success; when filled with negative thoughts, you’re stuck in one place or even making your way back to the starting line. It all begins with a positive mindset.

Growth doesn’t occur in a straightforward path; life is full of ups and downs. We are humans who learn through the process of trial and error. According to psychologist Gary Seeman, “willpower can be thought of as a combination of intention, effort, and courage”. With the goal being the intention, the effort being the ability to withstand adversity, and courage being aware of fears, these are the steps to building your mental toughness.

Photo by Taylor Friehl on Unsplash

Sources: Photo by Becca Matimba on Unsplash

Seeman, Gary. “The Psychology of Mental Toughness.” Psych Central, 8 Oct. 2018, psychcentral.com/lib/the-psychology-of-mental-toughness/.

Sutton, Jeremy. “Mental Toughness Provides the Athlete With Both a Natural and a Developed Edge.”

Medium, Explore the Limits, 31 May 2019, medium.com/explore-the-limits/mental-toughness-provides-theathlete-with-both-a-natural-and-a-developed-edge-3012cea91ffa.

Written by Izzy Lapidus Designed by Katie Lau

THE ACCELERATION OF THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE:

A MYSTERY The Universe is characterized by stars, planets, nebulae, pulsars, quasars, black holes, dark matter, and—quite possibly the most mysterious of them all—dark energy. The discovery of these celestial objects and phenomena were not made overnight, instead, years upon years of detailed observation, and their study, along with the expenditure of quite large sums of money for their cause, have presented astronomers with these findings.

GEOMETRIES OF THE UNIVERSE Before we jump into the phenomenon causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate, let’s talk briefly about the geometry of the universe. In other words, let’s pretend we could shrink the universe down so that it could fit in the palm of our hand. The shape we would see resting in the palm of our hand depends upon Omega—no, not the fatty acid. Omega plays an extremely powerful role in determining the geometry of the universe. As defined in Einstein’s General Relativity, Omega is the density parameter of the entire universe. Omega can be derived by calculating the average density of the universe, divided by the critical density (the density when the curvature of the universe is equal to zero) of the universe. If the value of Omega is equal to 1, the Universe has no curvature, which astronomers define as a flat universe. When you hear the term ‘flat universe’, visualize a simple piece of white printer paper; that’s your flat universe. If the value of Omega is greater than 1, the Universe is characterized by a positive curvature, causing its shape to be spherical, like a tennis ball. This type of universe can be defined as a closed universe. And lastly, if the Omega value is less than 1, the universe, therefore, has negative curvature and resembles that of a saddle-like shape—think a Pringle chip. This type of geometry is defined as an open universe. Astrophysicists have not yet determined what the actual geometry of the universe is, but visualizing what the possible shapes the universe has presented itself by is helpful when reading about the Universe.

A SHOCKING DISCOVERY Prior to 1998, astronomers believed that the expansion of the universe was decelerating. Coincidentally, two separate teams set out to observe Type Ia supernovae in 1998, hoping to find evidence proving that the expansion of the universe was indeed decelerating. One team was led by Saul Perlmutter, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, who headed the Supernova Cosmology Project, and the other was led

by Brian Schmidt, of the Australian National University, who started the High-Z Supernova Search Team. For those unfamiliar with Type Ia supernovae, they are the result of a less massive star, such as a white dwarf, dying. When a Type Ia supernovae explodes, astronomers can see an increase in brightness in their telescopes. Using the brightness, astronomers could then determine the distance of the Type Ia supernovae, which acted as a valuable tool in observing the size of the universe. Shockingly, as each team observed that the supernovae explosions, they found them to be quite faint, indicating that they were further away than expected and therefore, proving that the expansion of the universe had accelerated since the star had exploded. As shocking as that observation was to astrophysicists worldwide, the supernovae do not lie. Additionally, the fact that both teams reached the same conclusion from totally different parts of the world, observing different regions in space, the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe could be concluded as indeed accurate.

THE MYSTERIOUS DARK ENERGY

"The Supernovae do not lie"

So, great. We now know the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, but we have absolutely no idea the cause. Astrophysicists have coined this mystery as dark energy, a name you might have heard before, but probably had no idea what it was or its significance. Well, in terms of significance, I would say it has quite a lot. Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray space telescope, it has been discovered that ~74% of the total mass of the universe is dark energy. Another 22% of the mass of the Universe, accounting for 85% of the matter of the Universe, is characterized by dark matter. That leaves us, and the rest of the “normal” matter in the Universe, to only take up 4% of the total mass of the Universe. In other words, all the celestial objects listed in the opening sentence of this article and more only account for 4% of the universe. Astrophysicists know

nearly nothing about what dark energy and dark matter are, nor how they operate for that matter. The only thing we can be sure about is the fact that they exist. Put simply, 96% of the universe is a huge question mark.

SO, WHAT IS IT?

If you are wondering what in fact dark energy might be, this is where things get messy, as astrophysicists scrambling to put together logical theories to understanding the complete unknown often leads to chaos before truths, so stick with me here. Some astronomers believe dark energy to be directly linked to Einstein’s cosmological constant; this cosmological constant was originally used in Einstein’s equations to allow for a static Universe before it was proven that the Universe was expanding. Einstein quickly discarded his constant in 1929, calling it to be the “biggest blunder in his career”, when it was proven that the Universe was indeed expanding. Astrophysicists have begun to speculate that Einstein may actually have been onto something with his cosmological constant and that it could account for the dark energy in the Universe. Sounds like reasonable speculation at first, however, the assumed values of the two— the cosmological constant and dark energy—do not line up in the slightest. The fact that they do not line up suggests that the cosmological constant is not dark energy. The supposed size of the cosmological constant needed to describe the accelerating expansion of the universe is roughly 10⁻¹²² in Planck units, a unit of time, whereas the theoretical value of dark energy is over 10¹²⁰ times smaller than that. As evidenced, these values are quite off, and some

MULTIVERSE /ˈMƏLTĒˌVƏRS/

scientists have dubbed this prediction as the worst failure in the history of science. In another direction, some scientists link the incredibly small size of dark energy to the idea that our universe is

NOUN

just another contained in the Multiverse, an infinite number of

an infinite realm of being or potential being of which the universe is regarded as a part or instance

parallel universes characterized by slightly different properties and dark energy amounts. There are other dark energy candidates, phenomena that may account for dark energy, such as the Higgs Field and supersymmetry, but once again, all of these ideas are just speculation.

Moral of the story, there is so much we do not understand about the

Universe.

What we do understand now, though, through the work of the two teams observing Type Ia supernovae, is that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, not decelerating, by a mysterious phenomenon dubbed as dark energy, which accounts for roughly 74% of the mass of the Universe. In our

lifetimes, I hope that there are significant strides made in understanding dark energy and that we can maybe even be a part of them. Allow this article to be a stepping stone into the fantastical world of astrophysics. The Universe is truly a magical place, and I hope this article ignited your curiosity.

WORK CITED “Accelerating Universe and Dark Energy.� Accelerating Universe and Dark Energy - The Big Bang and the Big Crunch - The Physics of the Universe, 2009, 2019, www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_bigbang_accelerating.html.

SLEEP

IN TREES WRITTEN BY A.F. DESIGNED BY KATIE LAU

You may not know that at night, besides animals and the millions of humans across your side of the globe going into a deep, restful, and restorative slumber, trees and other plants too, have their own biological clocks, following the circadian rhythm programmed into the cells of most organisms on Earth.

A study published in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science, originally intended to test laser movement technology used to detect movement in trees, also explored “sleep” patterns or circadian movements in one species of tree, the silver birch or Petula Bendula, through their movement (Front. Plant Sci., 2016). It is because the movements made by trees are not easy to detect just by using the naked eye, lasers were used in the study to detect changes in the form of birch trees in two experiments in Finland and Austria that were conducted throughout the night between sunset and sunrise. The results showed that the branches went through vertical movements, lowering as if to rest, and the “development of the movements followed a highly similar pattern” in both the Austrian and Finnish experiments (Front. Plant Sci., 2016).

These plants don’t have central nervous systems to control sleep like humans do, but there is a hypothesis about this kind of movement in trees suggesting that this occurrence is due to a fall in internal water pressure or because “it takes energy to raise limbs up toward the light during the day” (Resnick, 2019) which would mean that the trees may have to quite literally rest their branches at night.

A larger study conducted by Aarhus University in Denmark took into account 21 different species of trees, rather than just one type, found similar results, detecting “subtle canopy movement... (that) differed from one species to another” at night. This movement was caused by the tree branches lowering 10 centimeters and then rising again in the morning (Sciencedaily, 2018). In the study published in Frontiers of Plant Science, a possible hypothesis was that this was due to internal water pressure. In this study, researchers detected “a previously unknown periodic movement of up to one centimeter in cycles of two to six hours” and stated that the movement was “connected to variations in water pressure within the plants, and this effectively means that the tree is pumping water throughout its structure” according to András Zlinszky from the department of Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity at Aarhus University. The fluctuating water pressure in trees shows that instead of a passive flow of water throughout the tree, like there was previously thought to be, there is actually a system actively pumping the water, indicating movement.

The trees “slept” or had a pattern of movement associated with rest for varying amounts of time, so that some species of trees would “sleep” for longer times than others, but all 21

of the trees that were studied were observed to have periodic movement, almost as if the trees were going through their own “cycles”.

It is interesting to think about why investing in performing more extensive research on a seemingly quirky and strange topic such as sleeping trees would be beneficial to the future. Learning more about movement in trees and linking it to functions such as their rest or sleeping cycles could also help us to learn more about possible disease or stresses to trees as well as crops, according to Anders S. Barfod, an Associate Professor at Aarhus University.

We could also study whether disease could be connected to different movements, and whether we could accurately and successfully continue to monitor this movement through laser technology.

Performing more studies on trees could help us achieve agricultural advancements or help preserve entire ecosystems through this information. It’s also amazing how many more commonalities may lie between trees and human beings, and how many we can discover by studying trees more extensively.

References Resnick, B. (2019). Why the scientific finding that trees "sleep" at night is beautiful. [online] Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/2016/5/19/11700690/do-trees-sleeparbor-day Aarhus University. "Trees are not as 'sound asleep' as you may think." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 April 2018. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180420122841.htm>.An drás Zlinszky, Anders Barfod. Short interval overnight laser scanning suggest sub-circadian periodicity of tree turgor. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 2018; 13 (2): e1439655 DOI: 10.1080/15592324.2018.1439655

Unsustainable Tourism in the Dominican Republic

Written by

Alexandra Dalmau Designed by Emily Yu

Photo by Christian Lambert on Unsplash

Mass tourism is destroying the environment. We need to act now!

The Dominican Republic is richly endowed with subtropical forests, coral reefs and abundant terrestrial and marine life. This once isolated area was targeted for mass tourism development.

Tourism can have negative environmental and social effects on the environment and its inhabitants. The growing interest in travelling to developing countries has spawned a boom in the mass construction of resorts and hotels on virgin lands.

Today, the Punta Cana region, located in the east end of the Dominican Republic, is the fastest-growing tourist destination in the Caribbean. The Punta Cana International Airport ranks behind only San Juan, Puerto Rico and CancĂşn, MĂŠxico in yearly passengers, Photo by Milos Prelevic on Unsplash receiving 1.6 million passengers a year.

While providing numerous benefits to the Dominican economy and the progress of the country, this rapid growth has also played a significant role in the negative impact on the social and environmental community that supports the tourist industry. This impact has been especially evident in the coastal resources of Punta Cana, including impacts on the coral reef habitat, mangroves, beaches, seagrass beds and fisheries.

The country has begun to detect serious environmental change to the local coastal ecosystem. The coral reef, dead in many areas, had become devoid of fish, lobster, conch and sea turtles. The erosion of the beach became each year more significant. Offshore pollution, overfishing and increased nutrients in the reef ecosystem were to blame.

Ultimately, it is the private sector that has the power to reverse patterns of environmental degradation.

It will first require hosts to wake up and see their world differently - not as a resource to be exploited, but as a captivating place to be protected and celebrated

Mountainetworks

Second, it is important they start to view their customers not as units of consumption, but as guests seeking peace and transformation. The sustainable alternative is about less volume, congestion, destruction and exploitation and about more meaning, purpose, value, and fulfillment.

The Dominican Republic, one of the world’s top tourist destinations needs to set the country’s tourism sector on a path of sustainability, the government needs to pledge to reduce marine and land-based pollution, cut the consumption of materials, and diminish waste arising from tourism. The new plan, needs to include ways to measure and reduce food waste, increase energy efficiency and promote the use of renewable energy in hotels and other accommodation options.

The tourism system as it is now must be abolished or we face the complete degradation of the DR’s coasts. For many, this just means losing a hot vacation spots in a few years, but the tragic reality is that many species of marine life will be lost along with hundreds of homes of the Dominican people.

References

Photo by Juanca Paulino on Unsplash Butler, R. (2012, July 27). Mongabay. Retrieved from UNSUSTAINABLE TOURISM: https://rainforests.mongabay.com/0813d.htm Kheel, J. (2016). Jake Kheel. Retrieved from TOURISM AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ON THE D.R. COASTLINE: http://jakekheel.com/press/tourism-and-its-environmental-impact-on-the-d-r-coastline/ Pollock, A. (2013, August 21). The Guardian. Retrieved from Six reasons why mass tourism is unsustainable: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/six-reasons-mass-tourismunsustainable UN Environment. (2019, July 01). UN Environment. Retrieved from The Dominican Republic embraces sustainable tourism: https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/dominican-republicembraces-sustainable-tourism

CREDITS EDITOR IN CHIEF Ashima Mugibur Raghman HEAD OF DESIGN A.F

HEAD OF MARKETINGN Isabelle Zhu

WRITERS

A.F.// Izzy// Lapidus// Jed Quiaoit// Sophia Holmes// Emily Yu// Alexandra Dalmu

DESIGNERS Isabelle Zhu// Katie Lau// Emily Yu// Julia Feng EDITORS Andrea Gonzalez MARKETING DEPARTMENT Ashima M.R.// Andrea Gonzalez// Jed Quiaoit// Emily Yu// Julia Feng

See you in the next issue.

cover design by hana and isabelle