As our final project in maths this year, we split into groups of 2-4 and devised ways of fixing unsustainable practices currently being used around the world. My group was Noah, Daniel and I. We chose the effects of poverty on deforestation.

My group decided that the best way to show and explain our solution and the problem presented, we should create an infographic. Infographics are a common way to showcase an issue in a precise and condensed manner and we thought that using an infographic would allow us to accurately show our knowledge and research while not being too boring or long-winded.

During the research stage of our project (finding information and figuring out how to create graphs and to use them effectively) I found out how complex and useful it is to communicate mathematically. Communicating Mathematically is a crucial part in many advertisements and pitches, and this is because they are able to easily manipulate people by changing scales on a graph or other variables, creating am image that something is more or less serious than it really is. This is very effective as someone who only looks at a face value may think that the coronavirus isn’t bad compared to the black death, but the statistics may not include those who “recovered” but were left with crippling disabilities.

Researching for this topic truly opened my eyes to how much less fortunate people cut down trees for agriculture without realising the damage they are causing. This topic showcases all of the three pillars very well, as the environment is being damaged, but that is a cause of the social and economic situations that the offenders are experiencing, causing them to try improve their economic situation by damaging the economic pillar. They are unable to realise the damage they are doing due to the lack of information surrounding cutting down trees, which showcases the social pillar in action. This is an amazing example of how the three pillars must work in conjunction if sustainability is to be reached.

Our infographic was a pretty good resource that the group is proud of, however we could have added more data/statistics, and provided a more in-depth description about the second and third points that we made, although we explained them more in our presentation.

In general, our resource showcases the damage that poverty does to the environment and overall sustainability and explains that the way to get out is to utilise all three pillars in conjunction with education.