Baldivis: Alcoa employee gains critical environmental knowledge on fellowship trip to Hong Kong

BALDIVIS resident Temika Maher has returned from an expedition with scientists on critical environmental research in Hong Kong.

The trip was made possible through the Alcoa Foundation fellowship.

Ms Mayer, a procurement commodity specialist at Alcoa of Australia’s head office, and sustainability manager Andrew Grigg were selected to be Alcoa Earthwatch Sustainability fellows.

As part of the fellowship Ms Mayer and Mr Grigg, along with six other Alcoa employees from around the world, spent a week investigating forest and wetland ecosystems and the role they play as carbon sinks for global greenhouse gas emissions.

The areas seal up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, offsetting carbon released by human activities in the atmosphere.

The pair battled through humid weather and monsoon-like rain to collect different core samples and earthworms from Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve and Hong Kong’s highest mountain Tai Mo Shan.

Ms Maher said learning about and performing work in an area, which was outside of her usual routine, was very exciting.

She valued the lessons learned from the experience and the importance of everyone’s role in fighting climate change.

“I was reminded to not allow myself to be daunted by a challenge which may, upon initial inspection, appear to be insurmountable. Every small change is important and contributes towards making a big difference,” she said.

In partnership with Earthwatch Institute, 25 employees from 12 countries were selected for the 2016 Alcoa Earthwatch Sustainability initiative. These employees contributed to environmental research projects in Canada, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

Visit www.alcoa.com/earthwatch.