TRIO READY TO TAKE ON A WORLD OF CHALLENGES FOR REEF
THREE Bond University students are preparing for the World’s Challenge Challenge, tackling global issues of climate change.
Isabelle Silberling, Jackson Silvester-Lee and Lacey Rowett will fly out tomorrow to present their I Can Save the Reef campaign to a panel of academic and community leaders at the Western University in Ontario, Canada.
The trio will represent Australia against tertiary students from around the globe for a first prize of $30,000. They will also get the chance to network with some of the world’s brightest minds and participate in academic events.
The students’ campaign, designed around saving the Reef, was born from their personal connection with the World Heritage region.
“When you live near the reef you go out there all the time,” said Ms Silberling, who grew up in the Whitsundays.
“Over time we have seen the progression from the reef being so beautiful, vibrant and colourful, to being really bleached.
“When I went out to the reef in December in the holidays, I found it crazy how it had changed.
“It didn’t look anything like it used to. It was sad.”
With research showing that 90 per cent of the world’s coral will be dead by 2050, the I Can Save the Reef campaign is designed around five achievable and effective initiatives for people to reduce carbon and methane emissions.
The three students from diverse academic pursuits were brought together by Bond University’s Transformer, Australia’s first program aimed at teaching bigpicture thinking and creative problem-solving.
Regardless of their results in the World’s Challenge Challenge, the students will continue to work on the passion program and look at further ways Bond can improve sustainability around campus.
“I would never have initiated the project without Bond University and the Transformer,” Mr Silvester-Lee said.
“It has given me a spark and an impetus to do something, getting me out of my comfort zone. I would not have done it by myself.”
Ms Silberling added: “The resources of the Transformer are unparalleled, they are fantastic.
“There are so many contacts that helped us with everything from research to public speaking.
“We are really looking forward to going over there, meeting like-minded people and having a global platform to share our campaign with.”