Activity

 Let's be Sustainable!

Characters:

Pilar Mateo Herrero

Theme:  Environmental conservation

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Mathematical competence in science, technology and engineering

Personal, social and learning to learn competence

Competence in cultural awareness and expressions

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > Biology and geology > 1st ESO > Ecology and sustainability

Spain > Biology and geology > 3rd ESO > Ecology and sustainability

Enunciation

<img title="Women's Legacy logo" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/images/LogoWL.svg" /><hr /> Read the following text and answer the proposed questions:&nbsp; An example of unsustainable pest control is the use of DDT. This substance was massively used since the 1940s to control harmful insect pests, such as the potato beetle, which ruined potato crops, or the Anopheles mosquito, transmitter of malaria. It was used by spraying it with light aircraft and in very large quantities, without any control.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Foto avi&oacute;n fumigaci&oacute;n DDT (enunciado)" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/3018/Foto_avi%C3%B3n_fumigaci%C3%B3n_DDT__enunciado_.png" alt="Foto avi&oacute;n fumigaci&oacute;n DDT (enunciado)" width="316" height="245" /> Its detrimental effects were soon detected. In insects it accumulated much more than in plants, but in insect predators, such as birds, the accumulation increased progressively. &nbsp; Moreover, insecticide-resistant mosquitoes and beetles were soon detected. Rachel Carson was the first person to warn of the harmful effects of DDT, in her book "Silent Spring". In this publication, Carson warned of the dangers of the excessive use of insecticides and pesticides for the environment.&nbsp; Some experts claim that DDT in humans can damage the peripheral nervous system and the liver. In the environment, after massive spraying, it causes reproductive and developmental failure and death in many bird species. Other organisms sensitive to DDT are marine phytoplankton, fish and bivalve mollusks.&nbsp; To avoid negative effects such as those produced by DDT, Pilar Mateo invented a paint that can be used sustainably to control insect pests, such as Trypanosoma Cruzi, which transmits the Chagas disease, and is transmitted to humans by the bite of a bedbug that nests in places such as the wood of houses where millions of people live in South America. When the bedbug bites people, it inoculates them with Trypanosoma Cruzi, transmitting the disease. An estimated 25 million people are affected.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="chinche enfermedad Chagasen ojo humano" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/3019/Dibujo_chinche_enfermedad_Chagas_y_efecto_en_ojo_humano__enunciado_.png" alt="Dibujo chinche enfermedad Chagas y efecto en ojo humano (enunciado)" width="252" height="182" />
Inesfly" paint, patented by Pilar Mateo, is a paint for wood, which contains a microencapsulated insecticide that is lethal to bedbugs whose bite causes Chagas disease. This paint is used in other areas of the world to control insect pests, avoiding the effects of mass spraying with insecticides.&nbsp; &nbsp; 1. What differences do you observe between DDT and inesfly paint for pest control?&nbsp; Why is pest control with inesfly paint more sustainable than with the use of DDT?&nbsp; 3. How would you define the concept of sustainability?&nbsp; 4. After reading the text, look for information and try to explain in your own words what bioaccumulation is and investigate if there is any other risk of bioaccumulation that could affect humans.

Observations and context

La actividad científica e investigadora de Pilar Mateo está impulsada desde hace años por la necesidad de poner la Ciencia al servicio de las personas que la necesiten. Comparte, con científicas como Eleanor Omerod (1828-1901) , su interés por solucionar problemas que generan los insectos a las comunidades indígenas (en el caso de Pilar Mateo) o a ganaderos y agricultores (en el caso de Eleanor Omerod)
Pilar Mateo es una de las muchas científicas españolas, entre las que se encuentran Alicia Calderón, física participante en el descubrimiento del del Boson de Higgs, Elena García Armada, creadora del exoesqueleto biónico llamado Atlas 2020, o de Mara Dierssen, experta en neurobiología y farmacología, consideradas en la vanguardia de la investigación a nivel internacional.

Precursors of Pilar Mateo were Rachel Carson (1907-1964), marine biologist, zoologist and writer, who concluded after several studies that pesticides were devastating it, conservationist Beatrix Potter and nature photographer, writer and ecologist Jane Stratton-Porter. Shirley Briggs, in addition to being an ornithologist and naturalist, collaborated in her work as a photographer.
Scientist Theo Colborn continued to research and publish on toxic chemicals extending Rachel Carson's legacy. Frances Oldham Kelsey, a contemporary and connoisseur of the author's work, devoted herself to pharmacological medicine and prevented the use of thalidomide in the USA, which prevented the tragedy that occurred in other countries.

Description

Actividad de búsqueda de información y elaboración de respuestas a modo de pequeño informe.
Objetivo: Comprender el concepto de sostenibilidad y bioacumulación.

Let's be Sustainable!

Enunciation

Observations and context

Description

Answer

Documents