Students will present video on local climate change at national conference
High school sophomore Evan Lucas' aha moment about climate change and its effects on marine environments came as he was standing in a Bald Head Island maritime forest with three fellow Isaac Bear Early College High School students in November.
"So there could be species of plants and animals here that no one has seen before and all of that could disappear with sea level rise?" he asked their guide, Anthony Snider, assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. "Whoa!"
His moment of realization and that of his fellow students are being captured on video as the teens film interviews with area climatologists, river tour guides, fishermen and other school children on a crusade to help their region better understand climate change. Their team will represent North Carolina at the third Coastal America Student Summit on the Ocean and Climate in Washington, D.C., Feb. 14-17. They will be among 20 teen groups from across North America.
The group – Lucas, Keela Sweeney, 16; Jessica Lama, 15; and Dustin Chamber, 15 – is producing a 30-minute movie about how the ocean influences our region's climate and vice versa. They will present their video at the summit, and it will be shown regularly at the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher.
Their mentor and architect on the project is aquarium education program specialist Megan Ennes. She's guided them on their field trips to Holly Shelter, a river tour, Fort Fisher Historic Site and Bald Head along with helping them in the video editing process.
"Bald Head Island was where all their light bulbs went on," Ennes said. "It was great to see. And looking out at the island from the top of the lighthouse, they could physically see the effects of climate change."
They also learned how local businesses can be eco-conscious. The students interviewed the owners of Surf House in Carolina Beach about how they recycled wood from a 100-year-old tobacco barn in the restaurant's decor and began using corn-based to-go ware instead of Styrofoam.
"We learned that climate change is not just science," Keela said. "It's common sense. Everyone sees it. In winter, Wilmington's not supposed to get this cold."
And the project helped shape some new career options for the teens.
"I didn't know what kind of engineering I wanted to do at first," Dustin said, "but now I think environmental engineering would be good."
Isaac Bear science teacher Bryan Bishop is excited to see his students fired up about the environment. He attended the Coastal America Summit in 2006 and said the event "reinforced my thought that it was important to do something local on the environment because people care most about what's happening in their local area.
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