When looking for cool science fair projects, one popular category is to show how science can help solve the problems that we are facing globally today. There are several experiments that you can do to suggest solutions that we as individuals can effect by making changes on a personal basis.
o Experts are saying that the amount of food and items that can be recycled going to landfills are at an all-time high. To promote composting and recycling you can do the following:
(1) Find a home that does not currently recycle or compost and count the number of garbage bags that are put out each week for pick up.
(2) Learn about what items can be composted or recycled and educate the owner as to what food items and recyclables can be taken out of the garbage instead of going into the landfill.
(3) Get the owner to agree to compost food items and recycle things rather than throwing them out. Provide a small garbage can to put the items to be composted into and show them how to compost properly. Wash and recycle those items that can be.
(4) After three weeks' time, count the number of garbage bags going out for garbage pickup. Quantify the savings and multiply that by the number of households in your community to show how much can be saved on a yearly basis.
o The use of disposable diapers is clogging modern landfills at an alarming rate. Experts are estimating that it will take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to decompose.
(1) Research the alternatives that there are to the use of disposable diapers.
(2) Compare the savings to the environment if the use of disposable diapers are reduced significantly (like only using them at night rather than all of the time.
(3) One area not traditionally addressed is the use of adult briefs by those who are disabled or in places such as nursing homes. Are there alternatives available for this segment of the population? If not, why not?
o In June of 2009, President Obama signed into law legislation to promote the use of renewable energy sources like the wind and sun by offering financial incentives to homeowners and businesses that install individual generators and hook into a local power grid to sell any overage in wattage that they produce.
(1) Find out which generation is more effective in each part of the country based on the average wind or sunshine amounts received,
(2) Learn about what things are needed to have either a wind or solar power generation system. Explain in detail what each system does to generate electrical power.
(3) How can the use of these renewable energy sources prove to be a help to conserving the environment (for example, the vast majority of electricity generated in the US comes through burning coal at commercial utility plants, rather than through hydro sources as some may think)?
As you can see, there are a great number of cool science fair projects that you can come up with. All you need is a little imagination, and you could have yourself a real winner.
