Environment in the spotlight

About 130 volunteers walked from the south side of the jetties to Clayton’s Beach Bar on South Padre Island on Nov. 28 to pick up more than 700 pounds of trash on the shore.

The marine debris is one of two problems presented by Kat Lillie, education director for Sea Turtle Inc., as the reason why sea turtles have washed ashore injured or dead.

“Another big problem we have is with fishing lines, fishing nets, things like that,” Lillie said. “Incidental capture, which basically means that you didn’t mean to catch the turtle, but you caught the turtle.”

Sea Turtle Inc. is located on the Island and its mission is to rehabilitate and conserve different species of sea turtles and educate the public about their importance to the environment, she said.

Lillie’s presentation was part of the 2016 Environmental Studies Symposium, hosted by the UTRGV Environmental Studies Program last Tuesday in the PlainsCapital Bank El Gran Salón on the Brownsville campus. The event was also held Nov. 22 in Edinburg. More than 60 people attended both events.

“We’re trying to highlight what both the university and the local community with respective things like the environmental humanities,” said Amy Hay, director for the environmental studies program and history associate professor.

Among the Brownsville attendees was Samantha Buentello, a biology sophomore.

“I’m interested in the environment and, kind of, to know more about how to help it,” Buentello said about why she attended the event. “My older cousin graduated with an environmental [studies bachelor’s]. … She works with the community and she always tells me to go to those events where they talk about the environment.”

A group of students from the Introduction to Environmental Studies course spoke about the arrival of liquefied natural gas companies to the Port of Brownsville and control of the pet population in the Rio Grande Valley.

“Purrpaws found that we really need to help our animals,” said Michelle Garcia, an education junior and member of the organization. “A lot of cases, down here in the Rio Grande Valley, we’ll find abandoned animals and we want to help them.”

Purrpaws hosted information sessions during Brownsville Cyclobia. The group also went to local elementary and middle schools to educate children about pet care, such as vaccines and proper food for animals.

Other presentations given in the symposium included:

–“Ocean Ecological Forecasting: Advancing Ocean Intelligence to Mitigate Environmental Uncertainty,” by John Breier, an associate professor for the School of Earth, Environment and Marine Science;

–“Local Justice in Environmental Studies,” by philosophy Assistant Professor Ian Werkheiser;

–“Hypoxia and Environmental Chemicals in Marine Ecosystems,” by biology Assistant Professor MD Rahman;

–“A Report to the Consumer: Ida Honorof and the Campaign Against Toxic Chemicals,” by Hay; and

–“Climate Change and Children’s Health,” by Michelle Zeager, a clinical pediatrics assistant professor in the UTRGV School of Medicine.

For more information about the environmental studies program, email Hay at amy.hay@utrgv.edu or esp@utrgv.edu.