This past weekend, Kristen Carpenter and I attended the International Environmental Youth Symposium hosted by Region 4 EPA. At the conference, we presented our research on Hyperbranched Polyethyleneimene polymers as a less toxic alternative to Corexit, the surfactant used to remediate the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Our data involving the effectiveness of the polymers compared to that of Corexit was displayed as a part of the Water Degradation/Coastal Impacts and Watershed Management category. Every Clemson student that attended the conference was able to place within their category. Our research won first place in our category and third place overall.
This unique conference is a gathering of youth from all over the world, including students from the US, Germany, Brazil, and France ranging in age from high school to PhD students. The first day included a session in which EPA administrators gave us an overview of what the governmental organization is doing to combat climate change. These strategies include the collection of data, providing volunteer partnership programs to increase the sustainability of products and energy, changing permitting strategies to help protect resources, and promoting sustainable materials management. After learning about the EPAs efforts against climate change, a student panel was conducted in order to facilitate discussion on the roles of the younger generation in the fight against global warming. Many of the students were under the consensus that the younger generation cannot be the sole bearers of the responsibility to fight this phenomena. The younger generation and those who believe in climate change must work together in order to solve this problem. Efforts cannot only include the development of sustainable energy, but also the tailoring of solutions to specific communities around the world.
In Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd’s talk, he highlighted the important effects that climate change has had upon our environment and other areas. Dr. Shepherd quoted the Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear as saying that climate change “will cripple the security environment, probably more likely than other scenarios we all often talk about.” Climate change is an issue that will affect the Earth and those living in it in every aspect. It does not only cause warming of the Earth, but it can also lead to increased droughts, the spreading of diseases, and water cycle circulations. Lyme disease has already started spreading into areas where mosquitoes were previously non-existent.