Hot water fuels winning climate change project in Cawthron expo
A marathon Olympic swimming event in seas described as hot as soup sparked the interest of a Nelson 12-year-old and led to a winning climate change project. Sebastian Hegarty won the top prize at Cawthrons SciTech Expo this year with a project titled Warming Seas and Oxygen for Fish which explored how rising ocean temperatures affect fish species. Sebastian said that he hadnt previously given much thought to the issue until he learned that water temperatures in Tokyo Bay were as high as 28 degrees Celsius during the marathon sea swim at the Tokyo Olympics last year. Id always known that climate change was affecting the ocean, but this made me curious about what was happening to marine life, he said. He learned that higher temperatures affected the levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) in water which greatly affected the health of fish. READ MORE: * Teen Sophie Weenink appointed to leadership role on Nelson Tasman Climate Forum * Meaning business in climate crisis * Climate action ideas at your fingertips in new booklet * Nelson Tasman Climate Forum Zooming ahead Sebastian set about conducting an experiment which consisted of heating six 15 litre buckets of seawater to different temperatures and then measuring the levels of dissolved oxygen. Luckily his dad Liam is a research associate at Plant and Food and so he had access to all the necessary equipment. Sebastian used aquarium heaters to raise the water temperature and then a multimeter to measure levels of DO. He quickly discovered that these levels dropped as the water temperature rose. Levels of 6-100 parts per million are good for fish,he explained. But once they drop to five, things start to get stressful for fish and under three can be fatal. When asked what he thought people should know about this issue, he said we should try to remember that climate change did not just affect humans and we should be trying to curb our carbon emissions by switching to electric vehicles. Sebastian won $100 for his project, and there were also six $35 prizes for highly commended projects, thanks to sponsorship from the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum. The six $35 prizes went to: Freya Childerhouse and Ami Bruce for their exhibit Climate Change; Zach Bulley for Solar Energy; Renee McPherson for NelSun Power; Cam Harrison for Breakdown Bags; Hugo Fraser and Charlie Townsend for Biogas, and Ethan Fitzgibbon for The Amazing Amazon. Climate Forum spokesperson Peter Kemp said it was wonderful to see these young people taking such an interest in the subject of climate change, but more importantly, in trying to find solutions. The Nelson Tasman Climate Forum is welcoming new members. Visit www.nelsontasmanclimateforum.org for more details.