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Aquinas College team wins Earth Day competition by transforming waste matter into fuel, water and electricity<\/p>\n
The rest of us may feel helpless in the face of massive dump fires that blanket entire neighborhoods in black, acrid smoke, but the nation\u2019s budding environmental scientists know how to turn a troubling situation to their advantage.<\/p>\n
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The victorious young science lovers of Aquinas College were one of eight teams in total and four who took aim at the timely problem of landfill fires during this year\u2019s Earth Day Enviro-Science Competition, sponsored by environmental attorney and consultant Romi Ferreira.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gas released by waste material which fuels the dump fires can be harnessed for many environmentally friendly household uses,\u201d explained Aquinas team member Farrah Johnson, 15. \u201cIt can be made into gas for cooking or boiling water, fertilizer for plants, even water for irrigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Aquinas and C.R. Walker constructed bio-digesters, which turn the methane that fuels subterranean dump fires into vital resources such as water, cooking gas, and even electricity.<\/p>\n
\u201cMethane, when uncontained, is actually very dangerous, as you can see at the dump, Farrah said. \u201cOur school had to be closed several times recently to protect the students and faculty and staff from health effects from the smoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what inspired this project. We thought, how can we take something that is so dangerous and detrimental to society, and turn it into something that will be co-efficient and beneficial to us?\u201d<\/p>\n
She said implementing inexpensive, portable bio-digesters in homes across The Bahamas could greatly reduce the amount of household waste discarded, lower the cost of electricity and provide free cooking gas.<\/p>\n
The Aquinas team used pig dung to produce the methane which they transformed into fire, water and fuel before attendees\u2019 very eyes.<\/p>\n
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Once it gets started with a methane producing substance, she explained, the device can be fed with food scraps and leftovers, essentially becoming a household recycling appliance and reducing the amount of waste that must be sent to the city dump.<\/p>\n
Ferreira, who hosted the event for the second time, praised all the teams for focusing on environmental issues that are relevant to today\u2019s Bahamas.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t ignore the environmental degradation that you see. It\u2019s all around us,\u201d he said. \u201cThe city dump has been burning for weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so proud that so many of you chose to address that very same issue. I wish you could all finish first.\u201d<\/p>\n
The environmental attorney, who was chosen by CARICOM to create model legislation for the energy sector in the Caribbean, said his aim in creating the Earth Day contest was to get students thinking about what the future will be like for them, their children and their grandchildren in the face of unregulated development which is destroying the country\u2019s precious natural resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are the future and it is up to you to address it,\u201d he told the students. \u201cIt is the fight of your generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferreira, a director of the fast-growing environmental advocacy group Save The Bays, has repeatedly called for the creation of an Environmental Protection Act, as well as a Freedom of Information Act so citizens can stay informed about how their natural heritage is being used.<\/p>\n
The crusade for sustainable development is clearly resonating with young Bahamians, with several of the entries highlighting key platforms of Save The Bays.<\/p>\n
These included the importance of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before a development is allowed proceed.<\/p>\n
Grade 10 student Ronniciea Saunders from Bishop Michael Eldon High School gave the example of the ongoing construction in Bimini, which she said, \u201cwas started without an EIA and now there are many serious problems with both the land and the sea\u201d.<\/p>\n
Teammate Janae Culmer added: \u201cIt affected the ocean, so that means it will also affect jobs. Think about the fishermen, there is no way for them to support their families now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judges of the competition were: Deon Stewart, a small grants coordinator for the United Nations Development Programme; Debbie Deal, principal of Contemporary Builders XIX Ltd; and engineer Deshon Fox.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese students really get it,\u201d Fox said. \u201cThey get what the issues are, what the problems are. I was so impressed by the creative thinking I saw here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entries in this year\u2019s Earth Day Enviro-Science Competition included:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Aquinas College: Waste Management\/Renewable Energy<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bishop Michael Eldon High School: The Importance of Environmental Impact Assessments; Waste Management<\/p>\n
\u2022 C.R. Walker High School: The Open Burning of Garbage at the City Dump is a Real Challenge to the Bahamian Environment<\/p>\n
\u2022 St. John\u2019s College: What a Waste! How municipal waste can be converted to energy for St. Johns College and be Applied on a Commercial Scale<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Government High School: Wetlands<\/p>\n
\u00a0Diane Phillips and Associates<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Caption: TRASH TO TREASURE \u2013 Team Aquinas shows judge Deshon Fox (right) how their bio-digester can be used to turn waste material into vital resources such as cooking gas, fertilizer and fresh water. The Earth Day Enviro-Science Competition, held at the Paul Farquharson conference at Police Headquarters, was organised by Romi Ferreira, the country\u2019s foremost environmental attorney. Photo: Derek Smith Jr. for DPA.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aquinas College team wins Earth Day competition by transforming waste matter into fuel, water and electricity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":61246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2016,76,296],"class_list":["post-61245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-education-2","tag-environment-2","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}