1. Assuming an exponential function best models industry trends, create a mathematical model to represent this data using Excel and the instructions attached to this project.

COVID-19 and its Impact on our Oceans Project 2 The epitome of 2020: COVID-19 face masks. While hard to find in early 2020, disposable face masks are now readily available everywhere. Questions arise about the materials used to make them and the long-term global impact of these materials on our environment. There is concern about using materials, such as polypropylene, that take 450 years to decompose, given the large quantities of used disposable face masks that end up in landfills and in our oceans. It is estimated that 1.56 billion disposable face masks entered the ocean in 2020, which is over 10 million pounds of material (https://www.independent.co.uk/climate- changeews/masks-ocean-covid-plastic-b1893830.html). One of the main concerns is that once in the ocean, face masks can travel to global waters and potentially harm marine life, as well as pollute our shores. According to a study published in 2022, there is evidence to indicate that the toxic chemicals and organic compounds in face masks, when submerged, release micro- or nanofibers into the marine environment that have an adverse impact on marine ecology and human health (Hui Li, et al., 2022). Polluting our oceans with disposable face masks unequivocally has detrimental effects on our planet. Continued pollution is a prime example of the lack of respect and responsibility that we have for our environment. Furthermore, the materials used in disposable face masks take hundreds of years to decompose, which is an additional complexity of COVID-19 that came from creating and distributing disposable face masks made with toxic materials instead of relying on more sustainable and reusable materials. The disposable face mask market grew dramatically between 2020 and 2022, largely due to the global COVID- 19 pandemic. However, as the pandemic crisis slows down, it is estimated that this market will decrease significantly. In 2020, the North American protective face masks market was reported at $742.1 billion. According to industry trends, it is expected that by 2026, the market will have dropped to $346.7 billion