The biggest lesson that I've learned while pursuing studies in STEM is that our collective behavior as humans stems directly from what we were taught, which means that educators and scientists have the capacity to mold the way that populations operate, based on the information that we release. Although I've had a passion for STEM for as long as I can remember, it was only when I began to seriously pursue a self-driven STEM education that I began to realize the power that a focus in science can give me. The area of STEM that I am passionate about is environmental science, or more specifically, climate and sustainability science. I've known of the climate crisis for years, but it always seemed to be too large of an issue to fix. Although the way in which humans further the climate crisis through our collective behaviors deeply upset me, it was long before I realized that I actually had the power to make a difference, as far as the progression of climate change goes. While it would be impossible for me to single-handedly collect the excess carbon dioxide and methane from the atmosphere, I CAN work to stop the rapid creation of these gases by educating populations about anthropogenic influence on the greenhouse effect, as well as the science behind climate change. I will use my STEM degree to educate future generations in sustainability, so that new generations of children are made aware of the impact that their actions have on the world around them. The climate crisis, as well as the environmental pollution crisis, stem from small actions on a large scale. Every person possesses more power than they realize, which is why the central solution to reversing future climate consequences is widespread STEM education.

"Synthetic Sea" is a piece that highlights the environmental impact of the single-use plastic epidemic in the United States. Conserving life, to me, means minimizing our impact to the earth in order to sustain it. Throughout the past fifty years, the demand for single-use plastic has risen astronomically, causing new generations to develop wasteful behaviors, where we are trained to believe that throwing something away after using it once is perfectly acceptable--even if the object in question will not decompose for 1,000 years, at which point there will be billions more. Single-use plastic is poisoning our home and our oceans, resulting in irreversible pollution not only within the natural world, as demonstrated in the painting, but is also causing problems in their intended destination--landfills. Even the single-use plastic pollution that makes it into the landfills becomes the direct cause of massive amounts of carbon dioxide and methane once processed through incinerators, thus furthering the climate change issue through the expansion of the greenhouse effect. Regardless of where single-use plastic ends up, it is damaging the planet, and can mean drastic consequences for all forms of life. As humans it is our responsibility to protect the earth by minimizing pollution as much as possible, which can only only be achieved by lessening the production of these products. Production relies entirely on demand, which brings the pollution crisis down to a matter of our personal habits. When we rework our wasteful behaviors and consider the fruit of our habits, the demand for single use-plastics will decrease, which will ultimately result in less-polluted seas, reduced anthropogenic emissions, and a cleaner earth. The conservation of life is prioritized when we decide to collectively rework our learned wasteful behaviors in favor of a more sustainable outlook. Our seas are filled with irreversible waste that is endangering countless animals and ecosystems beneath the surface of the water, and only a drastic change in collective human behavior can conserve life both above and below the waterline for years to come.