SEEDS » Component Programs » Chapters » Chapter Directory » Bethune Cookman College
"BCC Ecology Club" » Daytona Beach, Florida
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The purpose of the Bethune Cookman College Ecology Chapter is to stimulate ecological awareness on campus and in the community. To achieve this our members organize field trips, conduct experiments, and participate in various on and off campus activities. |
Plans for 2009-2010
Celebrate Earth Day by engaging our members and community youth in a general clean up of the Halifax River banks.
On campus awareness rallies and discussions
Continuation of soil evaluations for toxins in recreational areas
Field trip to local ecosystem
Devising ways to utilize solar energy in simple experimental projects
Activities of 2008-2009
- Evaluation by chapter members of soil in urban recreational areas for lead contamination
- Recycling efforts on campus
- Earth Day clean up of local site
- Teaching neighboring youth how to test for toxins in their community
Faculty Advisors
- Dr. Mike John
- Dr. Terry Green
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"Project B.L.E.A.C.H. - BCC Led Exercise to Advance Coral Health" Special Project |
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Funded and conducted in two phases (2003 and 2005),
Project BLEACH, an expedition to research and educate fishermen on the ecological danger of chlorine bleach fishing in Abacos, Bahamas, was an ambitious undertaking for the Bethune Cookman College SEEDS Chapter.
The scope and logistics of this study were so complex that it was necessary to break the study into two parts: Part I was an intensive one-week research and interventional expedition that took place during summer break of the 2003 academic school year. Part I of this project was itself split into 3 phases (the third part of which formed the basis for a return trip to the island).
Part II was designed to explore remote areas of the reef for evidence of bleach fishing and to assess the overall coral health of the Abacos. One of our primary objectives was to join native fishermen on their daily lobster-fishing routines in order to learn firsthand what the local attitudes were toward bleach-fishing behavior.
In Part I we researched native coral reefs, conducted educational seminars on reef preservation, and accompanied Abaconian fishermen/divers to document bleach fishing. In Part II
we used advanced dive techniques to document bleach fishing and lobster harvest methods. The project overall was a groundbreaking international ecological expedition where for the first time in the history of the school and the island, students from a historically black college discussed coral reef preservation with native fishermen of that beautiful, but ecologically threatened land.
