A fine art class for seniors at Paulsboro High School of Paulsboro, N.J. recently won a $5,000 prize in the 2016 Made by Milk Packaging Contest by Evergreen Packaging for repurposing 274 milk cartons into a low-tech water pollution invention that inspires them.
The serpent creature is the SLURPITs logo, a biofilter invention that absorbs and digests both oil and pesticides affecting freshwater or ocean water. They are designed to ease cleaning of toxins and remove them from water at marinas, coming from storm drains, in soils like construction ditches and other places where runoff impacts surface and groundwater. They helped protect a roadside stream bank just outside of Boston:
The SLURPIT we used for the snow pile melt water saved the wetland…we lost trees where we didn’t use them. The toxic gunk from the roads was unbelievable!” said Keith Fay, manager of Danehy Park in Cambridge, Mass.
The art students want to use their winnings for additional Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) classes offered at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, N.J.
The Path from Art to STEM
What the students would do with the prize money if they win is considered by contest judges, according to the contest website, along with their invention choice.
The Paulsboro students chose to enter the biofilter invention because of how it works:
“It is like a probiotic for the planet. As teenagers, we are very concerned with our planet and keeping it sustainable and healthy. Our team loves this new invention and its possibilities for our environment,” the students wrote in their contest essay.
Many people might not see a relationship between art education and STEM, but there is a movement called STEAM that seeks to fund art integration because “art and design add new levels to development of scientific research and add perspectives from outside the lab,” according to a Harvard University Finance Administration blog post discussing a funding opportunity.
A perceived “gap” between art and STEM disciplines is only imagined, according to one University of California Santa Barbara researcher.
Elizabeth Forbes, a doctoral candidate researching the impacts of large wildlife loss into estimations of ecosystem carbon dynamics, wrote about why she thinks artistic students go into sciences. Her July 2016 post, The Creative Life (STEM-style), is featured in the Roots to STEM Blog, sponsored by the non-profit SciFund Challenge.
Artists and scientists both rely on deep reservoirs of creativity and ingenuity to accomplish our work. We encounter questions we are interested in exploring, decide on a medium, and make several rough drafts. After much editing, constructive critique and standing back to scrutinize our work from various angles, we present a finished product. Those products aren’t immutable; artists and scientists frequently change their style, encounter new ways to explore their work, collaborate with others for fresh outlooks and find creative solutions to potentially message-occluding problems that arise...I can’t count the number of times I’ve called upon my arts background to help me become a better ecologist,” Forbes wrote.
It was in her post-college work as a research assistant for a marine biologist that she realized she was using her art education “all the time: to make figures for my boss, to puzzle through complex data sets and to make visually appealing posters and presentations.”
The Ohio Serpent in South Florida
Terry Bastian, the ecological wetlands designer that originally conceived of the product, is working with the Florida Respect Program to introduce SLURPITs to local government procurement, and also to support Lake Okeechobee watershed clean-up efforts.
He met with the city of Miami Beach, Fla., about testing the biofilters to address storm drain pollution with support from the Florida Atlantic University’s Sea Tech Program, and is hoping to help the city clean pump water during king tides -- extreme seasonal tides that now overwhelm Miami Beach and Biscayne Bay communities shorelines.
“My vision is a giant serpent planted in mangroves to clean the debris and sediments, while our bacteria breaks down the toxins,” said Bastian.
He modeled SLURPITs on a 1,000 year old mound made with mason’s sand and compost in Cedar Grove, Ohio.
The biofilters can absorb a gallon of oil at a time, depending on temperature, PH and the blend of toxins in the water, according to the website. They contain biofilm of more than 50 species that consume heavy oils, cellulose, light oils, gasoline and pesticides.
