September 2003 Archives

Over the next few years, UMR researcher Joel Burken will be closely watching some 850 trees he and his students planted at an old strip coal mine in Barton County, Mo. Various hybrid and native trees – such as poplars, native pecan, willows and pin oaks – were planted to stabilize soils, use up excess water and clean the environment.

These days, the cell phone – persistent as it is – doesn’t always ring twice. Comprising a good chunk of the two million electronic products Americans throw away each year, the cell phone resonates with its own extinction. But University of Missouri-Rolla researcher Venkata Allada hopes to change that. Allada is working to give cell phones, computers and other electronic products a second, third, or even fourth life.

Ten UMR geological engineering students journeyed to Guatemala for their 2003 spring break – not to bask on the beach but to bring safe drinking water to a tiny highlands village. And the team's project, a continuation of a UMR student's research in 2002, was, in more than one sense, truly groundbreaking.

Most of us fill a glass from our faucet without thinking much about it. But for residents of Saunders County, Neb., drinking water is a daily concern because of contamination from a former munitions production site in the county. Curt Elmore, a UMR assistant professor of geological engineering, hopes to help Saunders County residents breathe – and drink – a bit easier.

When Amy Schneider’s fellow junior high classmates voted her "Most Likely To Be An Environmentalist," they recognized her desire to be a part of the solution to the world’s environmental problems. Her experience studying sustainable design and pollution prevention this summer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., allowed her to do just that.

Dr. Mark Fitch, associate professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at UMR, is developing constructed wetlands to remove toxins from groundwater. His current project involves using a wetlands to remove lead from contaminated water near a lead smelter in southeastern Missouri.

Do you ever walk outside and think about how everything in nature works together to produce the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the food you eat? It’s easy to forget how important it is to support the balance of nature, not only so we get to go on about our business, but so that everything that lives can go on too.

But many of the things we humans do actually harm the very plants, and animals, and insects that keep us alive. The air you breathe, the water you drink, and the food you eat are all part of your environment. We can't live happy, healthy lives unless we take care of the environment that supports us.

Pollution, chemical waste, and the destruction of natural environments not only puts the environment in danger, but puts us and future generations in danger too. The other stories you'll find in this issue of Visions are about how UMR scientists and engineers like Venkata Allada, Joel Burken and Curt Elmore are working to solve environmental problems. But some of the most important heroes fighting to save the planet are young people like you, who see the need to change the way we think and the way we act when it comes to the environment.