Spotlighting the Environmental Science Department
At Queens University, students and faculty are sounding the depths of climate change and proposing global solutions in the waves of expanding oceans. Joy Ward, a Junior majoring in Environmental Science with a concentration in Sustainability, and Dr. Reed Perkins, Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Chemistry, recently published their peer-reviewed essay, “Should We Stay or Should We go Now?: Why Small Island States Should Stay in Place and Adapt to Climate Change.”
Their work, featured in the edited volume, World Geography: Understanding a Changing World, ABC CLIO/Greenwood Press, addresses the impact of rising tides on Small Island Nations. “Sea level is rising about one-eighth of an inch per year,” said Ward. “Here in the U.S., it might not seem like a big problem, but imagine for a Small Island State: it affects everything from how crops are grown to where [people] get their water.” For these land masses, flooding is a looming emergency.
NASA’s satellite sea level observation dates back to 1993, but Ward launched into the project last semester. “Dr. Perkins noted that I was really active and engaged [in class] and asked if I would want to work on a paper,” she said. For her, Queens’ small class size provided a unique mentorship opportunity. “I don’t think that would have happened at [most] other universities,” she said.
As Ward waded into research, she felt fully equipped. “I used my Queens resources,” she said. “The first thing I did [was] go to the Everett Library and look at the [information] that they provide for us: ProQuest, all the science databases, and all the interlibrary loans.”
Swimming in plentiful digital archives, Ward was thrilled to be working closely with an expert. “This is Dr. Perkins’ specialty. He is really interested in Small Island Nations, their geography, and how they interact and structure themselves in a growing world,” said Ward.
Presently, with limited space and advancing tides, Small Island communities are faced with difficult decisions. “As global climate change becomes more of a pressing reality [Small Island Nations] need to figure what they’re going to do. They can only move inward so much,” said Ward. One option is relocation. To Ward, the pressure to evacuate is “quite frankly a little offensive.”
Swelling currents could sweep away more than topography. Although it might initially seem like the “easier solution,” Ward argued that removal would result in “erasing heritage and governments . . .that have been around for longer than we know.” Ultimately, she feels that “[Small Island Nations] should not have to leave home, identity, and culture for a problem other people have created.”
Perkins and Ward outlined tactics for politically and economically favorable changes on local scales, while demanding global responsibility. With Perkins’ “first-hand experience” and leagues of knowledge on the topic, they framed their argument in what Ward described as a “co-written process.”
Perkins and Ward’s work is a ripple in the pool of scientific knowledge and an exciting accomplishment within the College of Arts and Sciences; it is also a call to action. “The people producing the most greenhouse gasses [are] the U.S., China, and India” said Ward.
While recognizing international culprits, Ward notes that the responsibility trickles down to individual and local levels. “We can recognize the influence and impact we’re having [on Small Island Nations], and change our lives in the smallest ways, by using less plastic, walking rather than driving, or consuming a vegetarian or vegan diet” she said.
Whether Small Island Nations choose to relocate or remain, the tides are rising. “Global climate change is a problem. We can’t think about it tomorrow, we have to think about it yesterday,” said Ward. In the College of Arts and Sciences at Queens University, students are active and engaged in increasing sustainability, embarking on solutions in the tides of a quickly submerging future. According to Ward, “every drop in the bucket counts.”
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