Team:Lethbridge HS/Practices
Human Practices
More than the science
Introduction
Although the science is an integral part of our project, we put some emphasis on human practices as well. Every team member contributed so that we could have a diverse and engaging set of human practices. We reached out many individuals, including one of our MLAs, who is also the Minister of Environment to get her support of our project; rural beekeepers in Southern Alberta to ask about the viability of our project; we also talked to our city council, and an urban planner to see how we could make our city more “bee-friendly”. We interacted with the public by handing out seed packets in parks, and informing them about the decline of bees and the city by-law that makes urban bee-keeping illegal; many signed a petition that we created to remove this by-law. To promote iGEM, we went to two middle schools to tell the students a little bit about our project and what iGEM is.
Government
Our project focusses on combatting Colony Collapse Disorder in a variety of ways, including genetic engineering, and community outreach. Another method of supporting the bee population, and thus tackling Colony Collapse Disorder, is through urban beekeeping. Urban beekeeping has proven successful in many regions of Canada, however it is illegal within Lethbridge city limits. In order to further understand the implications of this bylaw, and potentially amend it, we decided to reach out to policymakers and urban beekeepers in our area.
City Council By-Law
Prior to 1983, residents of the City of Lethbridge were able to beekeep within city limits. However, an amendment to Bylaw 3383 that pertains to bees now prevents residents from being able to do so. In Southern Alberta, bee populations are currently decreasing with reports saying that North American beekeepers are losing approximately one third of their bees each year. As a way to help the bee population, our team made it a goal to try and have this bylaw amended to allow urban beekeeping within city limits.
We drafted a petition to have residents of our city to sign, indicating that if they signed, they support wanting Lethbridge to have urban beekeeping. As we talked to residents, they agreed that bees play a crucial role in our lives and we need them in order to survive.
After petitioning city residents, we presented to our city council about what we want to change in our city.
Meeting with MLA—Shannon Phillips
Shannon Phillips, the Member of Legislative Assembly for Lethbridge West, and the Minister of Environment, as well as the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women is a local political representative for the provincial government. Minister Phillips showed support for our project. She exemplified respect for our work as well as that of other scientists, stating that “there needs to be a healthy respect for scientific method, for evidence based decision making”. She also recognized that our society may be entering “a phase of people being skeptical of science”. She felt that the only way to overcome this obstacle is through education. Minister Phillips also showed support for genetic engineering in general, stating that she “[doesn’t] see any problem with genetic engineering at large and in most of its applications”.
Integrated Human Practices
Beekeepers Visit and Interview
Following this interview, we were able to get in contact with two urban beekeepers. They allowed two of our team members and an advisor to tour their beehives and to speak with them about their experience with urban beekeeping. The beehives were surprisingly inconspicuous. Both of their neighbours are aware of their beekeeping practice, and have not had any issues with the bees, observing they rarely notice them. The beekeepers did mention that with urban beekeeping, in comparison to commercial beekeeping, you must be “really diligent with hive management” in order to control swarms, which may instill fear in citizens. When asked about their speculations on why the bylaw may exist, the beekeepers (who asked to remain anonymous) reported a heavy stigma surrounding beekeeping, and a lack of education on the subject. They felt that legislators and the general public were uneducated, and therefore fearful of urban beekeeping. The beekeepers also provided some advice on how urban beekeeping could be successful in Lethbridge. They stated that beekeeping was so easy in B.C. due to the “excellent beekeeping community”. Based on their experience with beekeeping in B.C., they recognized that an essential service to facilitate urban beekeeping is a beekeeping club. This would help in a variety of ways. It would provide a source of information and support for new beekeepers, a collective organization to share tool, information, and expertise, and would also be a great resource for the government to fall back on in the case of a problem arising. They also mentioned that holding large-scale events such as press conferences may be counter-productive and further scare the community, and that it is more effective to educate people in small, more personal ways. They suggested beginning with those “who are comfortable and who understand” urban beekeeping. We took this into account with our human practices approaches, including the seed bombs and speaking to smaller groups rather than holding large presentations or events. Additionally, the beekeepers mentioned combining the more common gardening passion with beekeeping hobbyists, to create a partnership where both pollination and food sources can occur. We also asked them if they have experienced mites, and they stated that over their beekeeping career they have certainly experienced this, however it has not been an issue in Lethbridge thus far. We also asked them for their opinion on the feasibility and practicality of our project, and they raised concerns regarding contamination of the honey harvest. Specifically, there was concern over how the public would feel about the presence of oxalic acid in “honey, which is seen as such a natural product”. This is a factor which we have considered throughout the development of our project.
In general, beekeeping in Lethbridge has a relatively non-existent past, but a bright future. Minister Shannon Phillips provided valuable insight on both legal and civilian opinions of urban beekeeping, while the urban beekeepers provided information on the effectiveness and feasibility of urban beekeeping, and on ways to facilitate it within city limits. The questions, comments, opinions, and concerns of both parties were taken into consideration when developing and evaluating the construct, safety, and ethics of our project.
Community
Seed bombs
We made seed bombs to help spread awareness about the decline of bees, while simultaneously promoting bee population growth. A seed bomb is basically a ball of soil, clay, water, and seeds. The idea is that people plant them in empty lots, undeveloped fields, or even their backyards so that flowers can grow, giving the bees more access to food. We used Smooth Blue Aster, Purple Prairie Clover, and Prairie Coneflower to make our seed bombs because they are native to Southern Alberta, and they would not be considered an invasive species.
We distributed seed bombs to members of the public and informed them about our project and the plight of the bees. Many people accepted our project and showed their support by signing a petition that supported urban beekeeping in Lethbridge, which is currently illegal.
Urban Planning
As we looked around our city, we noticed that it could be improved in terms of having more flowers around parks and along roadways. By doing this, not only would our city look more aesthetically pleasing, but having more flowers would attract bees to our city. The bees would need to pollinate the flowers to help them survive. Attracting more bees would also help our local agricultural industry by increasing pollination for their crops.
To achieve this, we contacted Parks and Planning officials from our city. Ryan Carriere, the parks planning manager for the City of Lethbridge, responded back to us and we had the chance to interview him.
Interview:
iGEM: We want to have more flowers in our parks and along roadways inside the City of Lethbridge. Do you think we can actually implement this idea?
Ryan: That’s a possibility. [One of the simplest ways] we could increase flowers is along roadways. Some of the problems we might have with that is getting a mixture of flowers that are drought-tolerant, low maintenance, and that are kind of native to the area. We can develop a seed mix like that, but obviously we would look to a group like yourselves to come up with that mix and help us with that. We would have to do some test pilots first, just to see. The price would have to be comparable to the grass seed mix that we use currently. In terms of putting more flowers into parks, Lethbridge is sort of unique in the sense that our river valley that runs through the city has a vast amount of flowers. We don’t use any insecticides throughout the whole city. So we aren’t affecting bees that way. But in terms of the small parks around the city, putting flowers in them, I don’t think would actually make a big difference in the bee health population. I know that Red Deer is implementing these pollinator parks, which to me is basically a ‘word of the day’. In the actual population of bees, putting in one or two or even ten of these one acre parks is not even going to do anything. We have 1800 acres of ‘bee park’ within the city. I think if we’re [going to get] the best bang for our buck, and we’re currently doing this, is reseeding the river valley with a native mix. We’re actually doing more than just focusing on one or two little parks around the city.
iGEM: Do you think that our idea would be sustainable?
Ryan: If it met certain parameters. The seed mix would have to be low growth, dry-land tolerant, we aren’t going to irrigate those boulevards. We currently don’t irrigate those roadways. It would have to be okay with the residents. It wouldn’t be something so drastic that they wouldn’t accept it and it would have to limit conflicts. So if we’re adding all of these flowers and people are getting stung left and right, we would have to take a look at it. So if we met all of those and looked at it systematically, we could come up with something.
iGEM: If we were to do this, what do you think members of the community would say?
Ryan: We would get varied opinions. Currently we are doing the river valley master plan. We are looking at what’s existing in the river valley, what needs to be changed, and what [needs to be done in the future]. Within that, we’re getting a variance of comments [from the community].
iGEM: If we did use flowers native to Southern Alberta, would it be as big of an issue with those who want it to be more natural?
Ryan: I don’t think so. I think that people are accepting of that. [It does take time] for people to accept it. Some people are going to complain, some might get really frustrated and write letters to the mayor. I think overall, it’s all in how you frame it. So I might frame it as there is a problem with bees. Bees help with everything from food production to everything else that they do. These are the steps that we’re taking to [help them]. [If you did this], I think you would get better acceptance.
iGEM: Would you see any further difficulties with this?
Ryan: The difficulty I see is that meeting with you, I can’t just go and implement this. So, if this is going to go any further with the city, you’re group is going to have to do a lot more work. What I would recommend is based on our conversation, you go out and you come up with a proposal for this. Within that proposal you would say there is a bee problem and you would explain the whole bee problem. These are the benefits and this is what we propose. Within that proposal, you would say the city use this dryland meadow seed mix on all of the roadways. Within this mix [are these flowers] and you list a mix that actually might work. This is the potential cost of this mix and these are the benefits. If you brought this to city council, that would make my job a lot easier and I would get direction from council to say “this is what you need to do and we accept this, we like this, let’s trial it out”. Then we could actually do something.
iGEM: Would you as a community member approve of what we are doing?
Ryan: Oh, yes. For sure.
iGEM: Do you think it would make Lethbridge aesthetically pleasing if the flowers ended up growing properly along the roadways?
Ryan: I think so because I know that the problem with it and it comes in terms of feasibility, is that to get a good mixture of meadow seed that would actually work here, would be very, very tricky. The types of plants that you may have to use maybe be confused with weeds.
iGEM: Do you think city council and your office would be okay with the mixture if it was also non-invasive?
Ryan: That would be an issue as well. I think that it would have to be non-invasive. I know that if there are lots of residents who live right beside some of these areas and if they start getting this mix in their lawn, [the city is going to get complaints]. So it would have to be as non-invasive as possible.
Taking into consideration what Ryan had advised us to do, we drafted a proposal for a meadow mix to be used in developing areas of Lethbridge.
Proposal for a Meadow Mix in New Areas of Development:
Abstract
The City of Lethbridge is known as one of the sunniest cities in Canada. Lethbridge is steadily growing allowing for the development of subdivisions. With an increase in roadways, more native flowers should be planted to show the diversity of Alberta plant life. An increase in flowers would also help the declining bee population in Alberta. The proposed cost of the seed mix would be $28 for 400 seeds per bag. Bees would not only pollinate the new flowers, but also the existing vegetation and the local crops in the surrounding area.
Introduction
The City of Lethbridge is known as one of the sunniest cities in Canada. This sunlight allows for native plant life to thrive despite the fact that Lethbridge does not receive much rain. Lethbridge has been steadily growing for the past few years allowing for many subdivisions to develop. As more roadways are created, native flowers should be planted to show how diverse the plant life in Alberta is. In addition to making our city more aesthetically pleasing, this would help to increase the bee population within our city. Currently, Alberta's bee population is in decline due to a number of factors including overwintering, poor health, and colony collapse disorder. To prevent any further harm to the bee population, trying to increase the bee population within our city would be a small way to try and help this species that we cannot live without.
Meadow Mix
In the process of creating this mix, the types of seeds that were included were chosen based on the following factors: cost, drought-tolerance, how high the plant would grow, how much sunlight the plant would need, how much the plant would spread, if it attract bees, if it is native to Alberta, and its ability to grow in the open. A total of eight types of seeds are to be included in this mix. They are: Tufted Fleabane, Golden Aster, Blue Flax, Wild Bergamot, Yellow Penstemon, Slender Penstemon, Lance-Leaved Stonecrop, and Blue-Eyed Grass. The proposed cost of this mix would be approximately $28 for about 400 seeds per bag.
Project Goals
Our main goal for this project is to see more flowers be planted in the City of Lethbridge along designated roadways. If this happens, there might be an increase in the bee population within the municipality. This would help with pollination not only for the flowers being planted, but also for existing plants. This may also have a positive effect on the local agricultural industry as an increase in pollination could help some of their crops thrive.
Conclusion
If this proposal was successfully implemented Lethbridge would not only look more vibrant, but this proposal would also help a species that humans cannot live without. An increase in pollinators would also be beneficial for the area in general as bees would pollinate all of the vegetation that would need to be pollinated. The cost of the proposal is also relatively inexpensive as only new subdivisions with boulevards would have this seed mix spread along them.
Interview with Medical Professional
What is the impact that biofilms have on your industry?
I am a Plastic Surgeon. The equipment I use in surgery is sterilized by chemical or steam methods and does eradicate the biofilm. There are probably reservoirs of bacteria in our hospital or offices that aren’t completely eradicated by standard cleaning regimens. This can occur in areas we used to use to treat patients such as whirlpool tubs, and hubbard tanks. Because of biofilms and impossibility in eradicating the bacteria in these tubs and tanks, these are now largely obsolete in treating burn patients, and patients with wounds, or with immunologic compromise.
What cleaning techniques do you currently use against biofilms on your equipment? How effective are they?
Housekeeping is largely responsible for sterilizing the hospital, patient rooms, washrooms, etc. I am not sure of their current regimen or its success in treating biofilms.
How often do you encounter biofilms in your practice?
The Biofilms I deal with are in vivo. Part of my job is treating chronic ulcers (diabetic, neuropathic, etc) and chronic wounds. These are particularly difficult because of biofilms. Standard topical antimicrobials and even systemic antimicrobials are not all that effective. Any tissue safe enzymatic agent that could break down this barrier would definitely be an asset.
I also deal with biofilms in prosthetics. These prosthetics may be hardware used in skeletal fixation or joints, or prostheses used in breast reconstruction. Once these prosthetics become bacterial colonized or form a biofilm they largely have to be removed and replaced. Biofilms can also contribute to scar formation. Their low grade inflammation (without full blown infection) has been theorized to cause breast capsular contractures (which cause distortion and hardening of breast implants in cosmetic and reconstructive patients). This low grade inflammation can also cause increased scar formation around total joint replacements (hips and knees) causing reduced range of motion and stiffness.
The best product I could envision would be a gentle cleansing agent that can be used in vivo. Thus on chronic wounds, or to safely wash out total joints or prosthetic devices and be able to safely reuse them in the same patient..
Outreach
School Presentations
We presented to Grade 8. students at G.S. Lakie Middle School and Wilson Middle School in order to expand their interest in synthetic biology and iGEM. We started with a basic introduction to DNA and synthetic biology. This included an engaging experiment in which student volunteers assisted in the extraction of DNA from a banana. We also presented the biofilm and bee issues that we are tackling this year. The students were very interested in the presentations, and asked many questions. Some were even wondering how they could join the iGEM team. Overall, our presentation left a positive mark on the students.