Energy forum teaches kids importance of sustainability

Forty first graders from Redondo Elementary stand in the Kovens Conference Center, turning from side to side with their arms forming circles in front of them.

They’re pretending to be washing machines in a demonstration about water- and heat-energy use at the Recycling Energy Forum, an expo geared toward sustainable solutions for the environment hosted last week by FIU’s Office of University Sustainability.

“Energy is turning you, so you’re using energy,” said Airbase K-8 Center teacher Hannah Purcell, who led her sixth and seventh grade students in a presentation on renewable energy.

The Airbase students explained that if the United States does not make more of an effort to use renewable energy sources, such as solar panels and windmills, the country could soon look like Beijing, China, where air pollution from burning gas and oil is so thick you can’t see the sky, and LED billboards in the city have broadcasted the sunset because it isn’t visible.

“How many of you want to live in a place where pollution is so bad you can’t see the sky or hear the birds?” Purcell asked. She then led the kids in an oath to conserve energy by turning off the water while they brush their teeth and turning off lights when they leave a room.

“I think a lot of kids get it better than we do,” said Nick Ogle, an environmental coordinator in the School of Environment, Arts and Society, who later took the kids on a tour of the mangroves at the Biscayne Bay Campus.

SEAS’ Nick Ogle shows sea urchins from the bay to first graders from Redondo Elementary.

Red mangroves are a protected species in Florida, and their roots provide a habitat for fish and other coastal sea creatures. But pollution and litter buildup can suffocate the mangroves, consequently killing the diverse ecosystem that relies on them. That fact drives the annual Baynanza event, a countywide coastal cleanup that brought out volunteers the next day to the Biscayne Bay Campus and nearby islands.

Ogle showed the kids a tank of sea urchins and conch shells caught in the bay that morning, explaining “each one of these creatures is important because it plays a specific role in the ecosystem.”

Losing even one species in an ecosystem disrupts the food chain and the environment’s natural processes, and pollution is a major factor.

“At the end of the day, it matters because we need the environment to survive,” Ogle said.

Throughout the day, the Recycling Energy Forum showcased many possible solutions to pollution, the energy crisis, sustainability and other growing environmental issues.

While Florida is a top-three state for solar resources, according to associate professor for the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Chengxian “Charlie” Lin, we do not capitalize on this opportunity to generate clean energy.

Lin presented his graduate engineering students’ ongoing research to create a more efficient model for solar energy panels. For the past decade, Lin’s students have participated in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, an international competition to design better solar technology. FIU’s Engineering Center houses the solar panel designs, which students continue to research and perfect each year.

“Solar energy is the future. Renewable energy is the future,” said Lin. “It’s important to let people know that FIU is doing this kind of thing, so hopefully we can have the opportunity to collaborate with other agencies.”

As the Airbase students put it, switching to renewable energy sources rather than burning fossil fuels is key because “when there’s a solar energy spill, it’s just called a nice day.”