Three-Part Environmental Studies Project
Lucia Zdenahlik
Honors Project: Lab-Grown Meat Products; 100 Food Porn; and Artificial Intelligence Conservation
Honors Learning Community: Ethics with Women and Creativity
Instructors: Marian Staats and Tom Bowen
My name is Lucia Rosario Zdenahlik, and I graduated as a President's Scholar with my Associate of Arts Degree in the Spring of 2023. During my first year at Oakton I enrolled in rigorous Honors courses. I was extremely compelled by Honors courses, so much that I completed the Honors Scholar Designation in my first year. I continued to take Honors courses that I was genuinely passionate about. The Honors Program introduced me to diverse areas of study and styles of learning such as within the Environmental Studies Concentration; Great Books Concentration; and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Concentration; all of which I have completed. As an Oakton Honors student, I discovered my passion for Environmental Studies. This interdisciplinary field allowed me to bridge my strengths across the sciences and humanities, inspiring me to pursue a career focused on research, education, public service, and social change. I have taken on many leadership roles at Oakton. As President of the Honors Student Organization, I have provided guidance and support to fellow students. As Co-President and Treasurer of the Environmental Club, I have planned events for students to learn about stewardship and sustainability in Oakton's beautiful and diverse ecosystems. I have been awarded the Elmhurst-Oakton Honors Full Tuition Scholarship and have transferred to Elmhurst University where I will complete my Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies. Upon completion of my degree, I plan to pursue a career working directly with communities around the world to decrease the negative impacts of climate change.
The following three projects are a culmination of my honors work in Professor Marian Staats' and Professor Tom Bowen's Honors Learning Community of Women and Creativity with Ethics in the Fall 2022 semester.
Frankenstein Meat—Lab-Grown Meat Products
Meat and poultry production is the largest segment of the US agriculture industry. According to the nonprofit, Factory Farming Awareness Coalition: In the US, 10 Billion Animals are slaughtered every year. An additional 47 billion aquatic animals are killed. Animal agriculture uses 83% of the world’s farmland but only produces 18% of our calories and 37% of our protein. This form of agriculture is an unproductive use of our resources. A possible alternative to the practice of factory farming is Lab-Grown Meat.
The artist Marilyn Minter provides a very important ecofeminist counterpoint to Lab-Grown meat and the entire animal agriculture industry in her series 100 Food Porn. In her series, Minter utilizes Ben Day dots which can be recognized in comic strips & advertisements.
Artificial Intelligence Conservation
More than 42,100 species are recognized to be under threat of extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. This list of species is in progress. The situation of most known species has yet to be assessed. Let alone the multitude of undiscovered species. So, the actual number is much higher. Conservationists have warned for years that we are in the midst of a catastrophic human-caused extinction. There have been past extinctions, but the current is different. Today’s extinction rate is hundreds, or even thousands, of times higher than the natural baseline rate. More species are going extinct at an incredibly faster rate. This is due to human’s exploitative relationship with earth. AI is a technology that could help conservation efforts and combat extinction.
