Hi! My name is Josh Kearns,
and I am excited to be a guest blogger for Chemists Without Borders!
I began this work during a
several-years break from academia, when I was living and working with migrant
and refugee communities in rural SE Asia. These small farming communities, like
many around the world, have bourn a heavy burden of pollution associated with chemical-intensive
agriculture, mining, and industrial development. During my travels then and
since, I have met with countless villagers struggling to secure access to safe
drinking water in regions where, for example, runoff containing high
concentrations of pesticides and herbicides impacts local water sources. Unfortunately,
there is insufficient attention the development of low-cost, sustainable, and
locally appropriate methods for mitigation of chemical contaminants such as
pesticides.
My colleagues and I at NCSU
and CU-Boulder are bridging this gap through our research program investigating
biochars made from a wide range of surplus biomass and bio-waste materials as
low-cost adsorbents. One of the ways that our work is brought to fruition is
through Aqueous Solutions (aqsolutions.org), a non-profit organization that
colleagues and I founded several years ago to provide water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH) consulting services to economically and politically marginalized
rural communities in SE Asia. Aqueous maintains a field station on a farm in
northern Thailand where we conduct research, development, and monitoring
activities in the WASH sector. Through collaboration with local community based
organizations, our work is part of a holistic effort to advance rural
livelihood security that includes organic food production and seed saving,
natural building and earthen architecture, and sustainable economic microenterprise.
I am lucky and grateful for
the privilege to work as a laboratory and
field scientist – and with brilliant and inspirational colleagues in both
contexts! From my perspective, the transfer of knowledge and insights between
lab and field domains is absolutely critical to solving the big problems of
today. It’s probably straightforward for readers of this blog to imagine how
discoveries made in the lab can be deployed outside the University to benefit
society and the environment. But perhaps less appreciated by the science
community in general is the importance of time spent immersed “in the field,”
where interesting and imminently practical research problems present themselves
continuously. Fieldwork is my source of inspiration, providing intellectual guidance
as well as constructive feedback. Local friends and coworkers in rural SE Asia
have shown me not only which research
questions to ask, but how to ask them
such that the results can be readily put into practice by the intended
beneficiaries.
We chemists have a lot to learn from the everyday
problem-solvers of the world working in developing communities around the globe.
And through our knowledge of the chemical sciences we have something very
valuable to offer in exchange. A recurring theme of these blog posts will be
how we as chemists can avail ourselves of such opportunities for creative
exchange, and thereby make a real difference through relevant and applicable scientific
research.
I hope you will join in the
conversation!
Feel free to follow me on
Facebook, and “Like” the Aqueous Solutions FB page!
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