Survey: Elon University Students Conscious of Environment

by Kevin Clang

With Earth Day coming up next week, many Elon University students are contemplating the environment and the effect they have on it.  In an informal survey of over one hundred Elon students administered today by The Pendulum, 90 percent of students said they consider themselves to be environmentally aware.  

The official Earth Day symbol (Image from Wikipedia)

Students are also doing their part to help the environment.  In the poll, 64 precent responders think Elon has made a difference in their level of environmental awareness, and 67 percent are actively taking part in reducing global warming.  Most students listed recycling as one major way they personally are taking action.

“Elon has definitely made it easier to take action against global warming,” said sophomore  Kayla Brown, giving the school’s many recycling bins and environment-friendly dining halls as examples.  Several students also cite recycling, walking more and promoting alternative energy as steps they take to preserve the environment.  An estimated billion people around the world participated in Earth Day 2007.

 

90% of polled Elon University students consider themselves environmentally aware.

 

Not every student views global warming as an immediate threat, however.  About 32 precent of those surveyed say they are not concerned by global warming.  ”On my list of things I worry about, global warming is very low,” admitted freshman Julie Pedro, though she confessed to recycling whenever she could anyways.

 

67% of polled Elon University students say they're actively trying to prevent global warming

 

Earth Day is held annually on April 22.  The holiday was first recognized in 1970, when nearly 20 million people demonstrated in major cities across the United States.  Since it has become a global phenomenon.  In recent years the holiday has been used as a method to publicize the effects of global warming and counteract them.  Full results of the survey can be found in this weeks Pendulum or on the Pendulum Online.

Nancy Knowlton Discusses Coral Reefs and Climate Change at Elon University

by Kevin Clang

It is no secret that climate change is affecting every part of the world, from the North Pole to the Amazon Rainforest.  According to Nancy Knowlton, one of the species it has had a large effect on is right under our noses. Underwater, actually.  Though they are often ignored by humans, Knowlton thinks that coral reefs can actually serve as warning signs for climate change danger in the future.

Nancy Knowlton Speaks to Students

Knowlton, a renowned expert on coral reefs and the Sant Chair for Marine Sciences at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, visited Elon University on Wednesday, February 18, as part of the Voices of Discovery lecture series to speak to students and faculty about the impact of climate change on the planet’s reef systems.

“Coral reefs in the Caribbean have experienced an 80% decline in the past 30 years,” said Knowlton.  The main reasons for this degradation include disease, bleaching, and predators.  Most of these can be linked back to humans.  “Humans put carbon dioxide, nutrients, toxics, sediments, and aliens into the water, and take out any coral longer or taller than five centimeters.”

None of this was a worry when Knowlton began researching reefs in 1975.  In just a few years, habitats went from coral domination to being dominated by seaweed.  Thanks to the extra carbon dioxide in the water introduced by humans, temperature went up by one degree Celsius.  Because of this sea urchins, which act as “lawnmowers,” removing seaweed and other unwanted predators off of coral, began to die off.

Should this trend continue, the temperature of the ocean could rise by as much as six degrees Celsius by 2100, a fact that would be devastating to coral reefs.  Carbon dioxide makes water more acidic, and worst of all it is very persistent.  Once introduced, carbon dioxide can remain in the atmosphere for hundreds of years.

Knowlton views this issue as a global problem.  “Reefs aren’t disposable,” she says, adding as an example that to an island such as Hawaii, coral reefs are worth $18 billion annually.  Knowlton went as far to say that coral reefs are the rain forests of the sea, in that they can be home to thousands of different species.  “Coral creates structure that everything else depends on.”

Unfortunately, we may have already caused too much damage to save them. Unless humans significantly change their approach to underwater species in the next few years, our effects may be irreversible, and more species of coral could become extinct. Knowlton lists long-term cryopreservation as a possible solution. “Awareness is not enough,” says Knowlton, “we need to act.”