MIRI: A group of 28 Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) students studying Applied Geology took part in a field trip in the northern region of Labuan recently.
The trip was designed to broaden the students’ experience in observing sedimentary rocks in the field and learning mapping techniques.
They were accompanied by staff members from the Department of Applied Geology at Curtin Malaysia’s Faculty of Engineering and Science, namely Assoc Prof Dominique Dodge-Wan, who was the trip coordinator; Head of Department Assoc Prof M. V. Prasanna; Assoc Dean of Research and Development Prof Ramasamy Nagarajan; Programme Coordinator Dr Joel Ben Awuah, and associate lecturer Vivian Dayong.
During their five days of field surveys, the students and staff also organised a beach clean-up activity.
They collected and removed over 10 bags of plastic rubbish found in the coastal sites surveyed.
The effort was motivated by the university motto “Make Tomorrow Better” and the World Earth Day which fell on April 22.
They were assisted by hotel staff from the Palm Beach Resort and Spa, who helped store the rubbish and forward it for recycling, together with other plastic waste.
“Our students are fully aware of the negative consequences of plastic pollution in the oceans and this was one small gesture in an area of great natural beauty and geological interest,” said Dodge-Wan.
She said Curtin Malaysia’s geology students are taught about the negative impacts of industrial development in the last few hundred years and climate change, as well as the need for sustainability.
The clean-up activity was just a small gesture on their part to help remove, recycle and reuse plastics which otherwise pollute both land and sea.
Dodge-Wan said everyone can contribute to preserving the environment by adopting environmentally-friendly practices, particularly in the use of plastics and other non-biodegradable materials.
“We noticed that the bulk of the plastic rubbish consisted of single-use drinking water bottles,” she added.
