It was just an ordinary Saturday. My dad was outside mowing the lawn, my mom was upstairs folding laundry, my sister was in her room doing homework and I was in the basement playing video games. And as I came upstairs to get something to drink, I looked out the window and realized that there was something that I was supposed to be doing, and this is what I saw.
Bila je obična subota. Moj otac je kosio dvorište, majka je bila na spratu i slagala odeću, sestra je radila domaći zadatak u svojoj sobi a ja sam igrao video igre u podrumu. Kad sam se popeo na sprat da uzmem nešto da popijem, pogledao sam kroz prozor i shvatio nešto što je trebalo da radim i video sam ovo.
No, this wasn't my family's dinner on fire. This was my science project. Flames were pouring out, smoke was in the air and it looked like our wooden deck was about to catch fire. I immediately started yelling. My mom was freaking out, my dad ran around to put out the fire and of course my sister started recording a Snapchat video.
Ne, ovo nije bila moja porodična večera u plamenu. Ovo je bio moj naučni projekat. Plamen se širio, dim je bio u vazduhu i izgledalo je kao da će se naš trem upravo zapaliti. I momentalno sam počeo da vičem. Moja majka je ludela, otac je počeo da trči oko vatre da je ugasi a moja sestra je, naravno, počela da snima Snepčet video.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
This was just the beginning of my team's science project. My team is composed of me and three other students who are here in the audience today. We competed in FIRST LEGO League which is an international LEGO robotics competition for kids, and in addition to a robotics game, we also worked on a separate science project, and this was the project that we were working on.
Ovo je bio samo početak mog naučnog projekta. Moj tim smo sačinjavali ja i druga tri studenta koje su ovde u publici danas. Takmičili smo se u Prvoj LEGO ligi, što je internacionalno LEGO takmičenje u robotici za decu i pored robotičkih igara, radili smo i na posebnom naučnom projektu, a ovo je bio projekat na kome smo radili.
So the idea for this project all started when a few months earlier, a couple of my teammates took a trip to Central America and saw beaches littered with Styrofoam, or expanded polystyrene foam. And when they came back and told us about it, we really started thinking about the ways in which we see Styrofoam every day. Get a new flat-screen TV? You end up with a block of Styrofoam bigger than the TV itself. Drink a cup of coffee? Well, those Styrofoam coffee cups are sure going to add up. And where do all these items go after their one-time use? Since there aren't any good existing solutions for used Styrofoam, almost all of them end up right in the landfill, or the oceans and beaches, taking over 500 years to degrade. And in fact, every year, the US alone produces over two billion pounds of Styrofoam, filling up a staggering 25 percent of landfills.
Ideja za projekat je počela kada je nekoliko meseci ranije nekoliko mojih članova tima otputovalo u Srednju Ameriku i videlo plaže zagađene stirporom, ili pokidanim tablama stiropora. Kada du došli i rekli nam to, zaista smo počeli da razmišljamo o načinima kako posmatramo stiropor svakodnevno. Kupujete novi TV sa ravnim ekranom? Završićete sa tablom stiropora većom od samog TV-a. Pijete kafu? Sigurno će vam je servirati u onim stioporskim čašama. Gde završavaju svi ti predmeti kada se jednokratno iskoriste? S obzirom da ne postoji nijedan dobar sistem za iskorišćeni stiropor, gotovo svi oni završe na deponiji ili u okeanima i plažama razgrađujući se preko 500 godina. Zapravo, svake godine, samo Sjedinjene države proizvedu preko milion tona stiropora, ispunjavajući zapanjujućih 25 procenata deponija.
So why do we have these ghost accumulations of Styrofoam waste? Why can't we just recycle them like many plastics? Well, simply put, recycled polystyrene is too expensive and potentially contaminated, so there is very little market demand for Styrofoam that has to be recycled. And as a result, Styrofoam is considered a nonrenewable material, because it is neither feasible nor viable to recycle polystyrene. And in fact, many cities across the US have even passed ordinances that simply ban the production of many products containing polystyrene, which includes disposable utensils, packing peanuts, takeout containers and even plastic beach toys, all products that are very useful in today's society. And now France has become the first country to completely ban all plastic utensils, cups and plates.
Zašto onda imamo nagomilavanje otpada u vidu stiropora? Zašto ne možemo da ih recikliramo kao mnoge plastike? Jednostavno rečeno, reciklirani stiropor je previše skup i potencijalno zagađen, te je veoma nizak zahtev tržišta za stiroporom koji mora da se reciklira. Kao rezultat, stiropor se smatra neobnovljivim materijalom, jer niti je praktično niti zahvalno reciklirati polistiren. Zapravo, mnogi gradovi širom Sjedinjenih država su čak doneli uredbe da jednostavno zabrane proizvodnju mnogih proizvoda koji sadrže polistiren, što uključuje jednokratne pribore, kuglice stiropora, ambalaže za poneti, čak i plastične igračke za plažu, svi proizvodi koji su veoma korisni u današnjem društvu. Francuska je prva država koja je potpuno zabranila sav plastičan pribor, čaše i tanjire.
But what if we could keep using Styrofoam and keep benefiting from its cheap, lightweight, insulating and excellent packing ability, while not having to suffer from the repercussions of having to dispose of it? What if we could turn it into something else that's actually useful? What if we could make the impossible possible?
Šta ako bismo mogli da nastavimo da koristimo stiropor i imati korist od njegovih jeftinih, laganih, izolirskih i sjajnih mogućnosti za pakovanje, bez da patimo od posledica izlaganja stiroporu? Šta ako bismo mogli da ga pretvorimo u nešto što je zapravo korisno? Šta ako bismo mogli da nemoguće učinimo mogućim?
My team hypothesized that we could use the carbon that's already in Styrofoam to create activated carbon, which is used in almost every water filter today. And activated carbon works by using very small micropores to filter out contaminants from water or even air.
Moji tim je pretpostavio da bismo mogli da koristimo ugljenik koji se već nalazi u stiroporu za stvaranje aktivnog uglja, koji se koristi u gotovo svakom prečišćivaču vode. Aktivni ugalj funkcioniše koristeći izuzetno male mikropore za pročišćavanje zagađenja iz vode ili čak vazduha.
So we started out by doing a variety of heating tests, and unfortunately, we had many failures. Literally, nothing worked. Besides my dad's grill catching on fire, most of our samples vaporized into nothing, or exploded inside expensive furnaces, leaving a horribly sticky mess. In fact, we were so saddened by our failures that we almost gave up.
Stoga smo počeli koristećni različite testove zagrevanja, i nažalost, imali smo mnogo neuspeha. Bukvalno ništa nije radilo. Pored očevog roštilja kojeg je zahvatila vatra, mnogi naši esperimenti su isparili u prazno. ili su eskplodirali u skupim pećnicama, ostavljajući ogroman lepljivi haos. U stvari, bili smo toliko deprimirani svojim neuspesima da smo skoro odustali.
So why did we keep trying when all the adults said it was impossible? Well, maybe it's because we're kids. We don't know any better. But the truth is, we kept trying because we thought it was still possible. We knew that if we were successful, we would be helping the environment and making the world a better place. So we kept trying and failing and trying and failing. We were so ready to give up.
Zašto smo onda nastavili da pokušavamo kada su svi odrasli rekli da je nemoguće? Možda zato što smo deca. Ne znamo drugačije. Istina je da smo nastavli da pokušavamo jer smo mislili da je i dalje moguće. Znali smo da ako budemo uspeli pomogli bismo čitavom okruženju i učinili svet lepšim mestom. Nastavili smo da pokušavamo i podbacujemo i pokušavamo i podbacujemo. Bili smo spremni da odustanemo.
But then it happened. With the right temperatures, times and chemicals, we finally got that successful test result showing us that we had created activated carbon from Styrofoam waste. And at that moment, the thing that had been impossible all of a sudden wasn't. It showed us that although we had many failures at the beginning, we were able to persevere through them to get the test results that we wanted. And moreover, not only were we able to create activated carbon for purifying water, but we were also able to reduce Styrofoam waste, solving two global problems with just one solution.
A onda se to desilo. Uz pravu temperaturu, vreme i hemikalije, konačno smo dobili uspešne rezultate testa koji pokazuju da smo dobili aktivni ugalj od iskorišćenog stiropora. U tom trenutku, nemoguća stvar odjednom je postala moguća. Pokazalo nam je da iako smo imali mnogo neuspeha u početku, ipak smo uspeli da istrajemo kroz njih da bismo dobili rezultate koje smo želeli. Šta više, ne samo da smo uspeli da stvorimo aktivni ugalj čišćenjem vode, već smo uspeli da smanjimo količinu iskorišćenog stiropora, rešavajući tako dva globalna problema jednim potezom.
So from then on, we were inspired to take our project further, performing more tests to make it more effective and testing it in real world situations. We then proceeded to receive funding from the NSTA's eCYBERMISSION STEM-in-Action program sponsored by the US Army, as well as FIRST Global Innovation Awards sponsored by XPRIZE. And we were also honored with the Scientific American Innovator Award from Google Science Fair. And using these funds, we plan to file a full patent on our process and to continue to work on our project.
Od tada smo bili inspirisani da unapredimo svoj projekat, i vršili smo još testova kako bismo pojačali efekat i testirali ga u realnim situacijama. Onda smo dobili sredstva od NSTA-inog programa eCYBERMISSION STEM-in-Action, koji je sponzorisala američka vojska, kao i nagradu Prve Globalne Inovacije koju je sponzorisao XPRIZE. Dobili smo nagradu za naučnog američkog inovatora koju je dodelio Google naučni sajam. Koristeći ova sredstva, odlučili smo da prijavimo celokupan patent svog procesa i nastavimo da radimo na svom projektu.
So yes, although we started with catching my dad's grill on fire and failing so many times that we almost quit, it was well worth it when we look back at it now. We took a problem that many people said was impossible and we made it possible, and we persevered when it looked like nothing that we did would work. We learned that you can't have success without a little, or a lot, of failure.
Iako smo počeli sa gašenjem plamena sa očevog roštilja i toliko puta grešili, bilo je vredno kada to sada pogledamo. Uzeli smo problem za koji su mnogi ljudi rekli da je nemoguć i učinili ga mogućim, i nastavili smo dalje kada je delovalo kao da ništa ne bi moglo da funkcioniše. Naučili smo da ne možeš imati uspeh bez malo, ili mnogo neuspeha.
So in the future, don't be afraid if your grill goes up in flames, because you never know when your idea might just catch fire.
Stoga u budućnosti, ne plašite se ukoliko vam se zapali roštilj, jer nikad ne znate kada vam ideja može uhvatiti vatru.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)