There’s poison in the watering hole – but most people know about that.
It’s no secret that tap water is pumped full of chemicals such as chlorine and fluorosilicic acid in order to kill the toxic bacteria and materials that sometimes lurk there, which are usually the result of human interaction.
Tack this onto climate change, pollution, dwindling resources…how can the next generation save the planet? The first step is getting informed – a step which the Bob Jones Envirobowl team can cross off of their list.
The team must be up-to-date on scientific topics and concepts to be prepared for Envirobowl competitions. “The competition itself is run like any kind of scholar’s bowl,” Team Captain Daniel Lang said, “with both questions asked directly to pairs of students and questions in which any student may ‘buzz in’.” The team, headed by Mr. Johnston and consisting of David Gunther, Alan Philip George, Siddhu Srikakolapu, Nathan Fox, and Daniel Lang, recently won 2nd place at the Regional level and will advance to the State competition in March.
Questions from Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics make up roughly 70 percent of the questions, while narrower fields such as Botany and Aquatic Science make up the remaining 30 percent. Students must have a wide range of knowledge about the natural world in order to succeed at these competitions.
In a time where problem after problem concerning the environment keeps cropping up, such knowledge is invaluable. Just last week, a city in West Virginia was left completely without water when a local factory’s chemical storage tank spilled into the water supply. Not only are 300,000 people without water, but entire habitats have been poisoned, potentially damaging entire ecosystems for years to come. Students such as those on the Envirobowl team may find green solutions to such problems when the world faces them again.
“Programs like Envirobowl are just what we need to spread awareness of [environmental] issues,” Lang said. “The more educated our generation is regarding these problems, the better suited we will be to handle them.”
