Proteins are commonly associated with foods such as meats, lentils and eggs. While they are crucial for building muscles, they are also involved in numerous other life processes. Scientists are developing artificial intelligence models that are advancing the process of protein structure determination, making it faster and more accurate and opening up new possibilities for future study.
Photo courtesy of Jim Bowen via Flickr.
St. Gabriel, Louisiana houses multiple industrial facilities that put residents at high risk of cancer.
By Diksha Batra ’26
Staff Writer
From 2009 to 2016, there was a decrease in air pollution in the U.S., but “the annual carbon dioxide emission rate in the St. James parish [of Louisiana], where St. Gabriel is located, equaled that produced by approximately 113 countries” according to BlackPast. St. Gabriel, Louisiana, is home to what residents call “Cancer Alley,” due to the “plastic plants, oil refineries and petrochemical facilities” that make it one of the most toxic areas in the nation, BlackPast wrote.
Despite the region’s reputation of high pollution rates, the plastic industry continues to grow. “Industrial expansion continues especially in areas with high percentages of poor and Black residents,” BlackPast reported. One example of this expansion was when the St. James Parish Council approved the “Sunshine Project,” which would build a large plastic plant in the area.
According to the British Plastics Federation, there are four major steps in plastic production. First, the extraction of raw materials including “largely crude oil and natural gas, but also coal.” Second, the refining process “transforms crude oil into different petroleum products” which happens when “crude oil is heated in a furnace,” and then sent to a “distillation unit, where heavy crude oil separates.” The next step is polymerisation, a process “in the petroleum industry where light olefin gases (gasoline) such as ethylene, propylene, butylene (i.e., monomers) are converted into higher molecular weight hydrocarbons (polymers),” according to the British Plastics Foundation. The final step is compounding and processing, during which materials are melted and mixed together to form plastics.
The process of making plastics creates byproducts that can pollute the atmosphere and soil, and can cause serious health problems like cancer, according to EcoEnclose. Phthalates, one of the materials needed for plastic, can affect “fertility, endocrine glands and birth defects.” In water, plastic waste can further break down into microplastics. According to EcoEnclose, “the biggest harm associated with microplastics is that they exist not only in the waterways but also the potable water and seafood we eat.” These harmful effects of plastic pollution are felt the most by those living near areas with high levels of plastic manufacturing activity.
EcoEnclose named “Cancer Alley” as one of the areas most impacted by pollutants in the U.S., and cited environmental racism as a driving reason for that. Greenaction defines environmental racism as “the institutional rules, regulations, policies or government and/or corporate decisions that deliberately target certain communities for locally undesirable land uses and lax enforcement of zoning and environmental laws, resulting in communities being disproportionately exposed to toxic and hazardous waste based upon race.” In this part of Louisiana, the majority of the population is Black, and because of the 150 plants and refineries, the “residents are 50 times more likely to get cancer as a result of the polluted air compared to the average American,” according to Ecoenclose.
To put an end to plastic pollution and its health consequences, many residents of “Cancer Alley'' have organized themselves to protest against the injustice. “RISE St. James, a grassroots organization founded in 2018, organized its first protest in response to the St. James Parish County Council approving the ‘Sunshine Project,’ which would build another large plastic plant in the area,” according to BlackPast. RISE St. James has been working to stop industries from increasing pollution levels in Louisiana, according to Inside Climate News. This group was founded by Sharon Lavigne, “a retired special education teacher and grandmother of 12,” She said that her work “was a calling from God,” because she found inspiration from the church where she was baptized. RISE St. James’ victories against the plastic industry include stopping Formosa Plastics from constructing a “$9.4 billion manufacturing complex on 2,400 acres in Welcome, Louisiana, less than two miles from Lavigne’s home,” according to Inside Climate News. Some of Lavigne’s other work includes organizing protests, serving as a plaintiff in lawsuits against the plastic industry and working with local governments as well as nationwide environmental groups. Even though Lavigne gives credit to attorneys and others who have been part of the alliance, she believes her cause gained the upper hand because she “put God first.”
Many other people have been inspired by their religion to fight against the factories. An example is Florence Robinson, a biology professor who lived in the East Baton Rouge Parish, according to Inside Climate News. In 1999, she received an award for her role in shutting down a waste incineration plant, in what was called a “virtual one-woman war against toxic waste,” Inside Climate News reported. In a 2005 article, she told The Advocate that her belief in her actions stemmed from “the Judeo-Christian concept of helping others.” For many of the activists in “Cancer Alley,” faith is what inspired them to fight against the plastic industry.
Greta Thunberg. Image courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons (Stefan Muller).
By Diksha Batra ’26
Staff Writer
Over the last month, Greta Thunberg has been arrested twice for protesting the expansion of a coal mine in the German village of Lützerath, according to CNN. Most recently, she was arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 17. A spokesperson for the German police told CNN that “Thunberg had been the main speaker at the rally on Saturday and had ‘surprisingly’ returned to protest on Sunday when she was detained the first time and then again on Tuesday.”
Greta Thunberg is a 20-year-old environmental activist from Stockholm, Sweden. After learning about the issue of climate change in 2011 at age eight, “Thunberg successfully urged her parents to change their lifestyle to lower the family’s carbon footprint, such as adopting veganism and ending plane travel,” according to an article from Iowa State University. Thunberg started her career in late 2018 when she “demonstrated outside the Swedish parliament and began giving speeches to protest inaction against climate change,” the article said. Thunberg inspired students worldwide to protest in their communities, leading to the development of “a school climate strike movement called Fridays for Future,” which went on to include multi-city protests in which more than one million students participated.
According to Context news, Thunberg’s work led to her being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. In the same year, she was named “one of the world’s most influential people by Time magazine.” According to Context, Thunberg responded with a tweet that read “Now I am speaking to the whole world.”
Her work has awarded her with many honors, including titles and money. However, Thunberg donates all money she wins from prizes to different organizations. According to Context news, Thunberg donated “a $100,000 award she received to UNICEF to buy soap, masks and gloves to protect children from the coronavirus pandemic” in April 2020. In July 2020, she donated the $1 million in prize money from the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity to charity. Additionally, she has donated about $120,000 to the WHO foundation to support the vaccine-sharing plan, Context reported.
Her work towards fighting for environmentalist causes has continued, most recently with her protest of the Lützerath coal mine. According to CBS news, Thunberg was first detained by the German police on Jan. 13, 2023. CBS reported that “Thunberg was near the German village of Lützerath, where an energy company is seeking to demolish the remains of what they say is an abandoned town to make way for the mine’s expansion.” Video recorded by Reuters shows police officers picking Thunberg up and carrying her by her arms and legs away from the sit-in.
According to CNN, many activists have been in Lützerath for more than two years, “occupying the homes abandoned by former residents after they were evicted, most by 2017, to make way for the lignite coal mine.” Lützerath has been the center of attention for climate activists because of “its position on the edge of the opencast lignite coal mine, Garzweiler II.” This has faced criticism from climate groups, because “lignite is the most polluting type of coal, which itself is the most polluting fossil fuel” according to CNN. Because of the expansion of the mines, many surrounding villages have been destroyed.
CNN reported that due to the success of Germany’s Green Party in the 2021 federal elections, “some had hoped the expansion would be canceled,” but the expansion continued its course. In October 2022, the government came to an agreement with RWE, the power company behind the mine, that “saved several villages,” but Lützerath was not protected by the deal. In addition, RWE agreed to phase-out coal energy production starting in 2030.
The deal with RWE became a cause for dissatisfaction with the Green Party. The Party, which supported the deal, stated that the mine expansion was necessary to relieve the current energy crisis in Germany, and denied that expansion of the mine would lead to higher emissions. In an interview with CNN, a recent Green Party supporter commented that “it’s such an absurd and catastrophic scenario that Germany, the country where everyone else thinks we have green [policies], is destroying a village to burn coal in the middle of the climate crisis.”
While protesting, Thunberg “was one of several who ‘rushed towards the ledge,’ presumably referring to the brink of mine” according to CBS. The police stopped Thunberg and other protesters, carrying them “out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity,” a police spokesperson told Reuters. In the video recorded by Reuters, Thunberg can be seen laughing while still being held by police. CBS reported that Thunberg confirmed the detainment the next day. She wrote on Twitter, “Yesterday I was part of a group that peacefully protested the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. We were kettled by police and then detained but were let go later that evening. Climate protection is not a crime.”
Nov. 15, 2022, was the first snow of the season for students at Mount Holyoke College. Despite the early snow shower, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that this winter will see “drier-than-average conditions across the South with wetter-than-average conditions for areas of the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes, northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest.”
Since the James Webb Space Telescope was launched on Dec. 25, 2021, it has allowed the curiosity of the human mind to travel through space. The JWST has now been in space for almost nine months and has not disappointed with its remarkable discoveries. According to NASA’s webpage about the telescope’s first images, scientists over the past few months have been able to acquire “full-color, … seemingly three-dimensional” pictures using the JWST. The clarity of its images is a result of the telescope’s multiple sensors and four-foot long mirror which allow it to observe galaxies that were formed 13.5 billion years ago.
