Quest University students passionate about protecting the environment earned university credits this winter while hanging out with orangutans on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo.
And locals can join them on a vicarious journey Friday (April 9) from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Quest University by attending a screening of the student-made documentary Bringing Borneo Home, which illustrates the environmental problems of one of Borneo's rapidly expanding industries, palm oil production.
Eighteen students spent January and February travelling with Ethical Expeditions, a local non-profit group run by Sheryl Gruber and her husband Brent Loken to investigate environmentally sustainable resource options for the developing nation.
Students travelled extensively through the rainforests of Indonesian ruled east Kalimanta learning about Borneo's resource extraction and its complex socio-economic and environmental impact.
"The students had the opportunity to do a biodiversity survey, an orangutan survey, go out with scientists in the field and see what that's all about," said Gruber. "We visited palm oil plantations and looked at a lot of the resource extraction that's currently happening in Borneo."
Jeremy Horn, a second year Quest University student created the documentary with fellow students Nadine Crowe, Spencer Miller and Darwyn Moffatt-Mallett.
Bringing Borneo Home gives a detailed explanation of the natural resource extraction industry and provides viewers with information on how to reduce and eliminate dependency on Borneo's resources.
Horn said he wasn't surprised by the destruction of countless of hectares of but rather the dedication of Borneo-based environmentalists was unexpected.
"I had known there'd be a lot of destruction and a lot of resource extraction there and there was a lot of that but it was also very inspiring to meet a lot of the people who were working on the ground and just dedicated their entire lives trying to help the situation," said Horn.
Even though Horn said he was already environmentally conscious prior to the trip, he said his first hand experience on the island really emphasized the significance of the troubling issues Borneo is currently facing.
"I already had an environmental point of view I was already on the same kind of page but I guess it just kind of hit it home how pressing those issues are."
Gruber said the experiential learning the students received would help them understand the more than just the theoretical side of what environmental conservation is about.
"There's always limitations within a school building and we really wanted to do something very unique," said Gruber. "Our belief is education often happens best when it's outside the classroom and so we really thought about how we could make that happen and provide a service that we felt like wasn't there.
"We visited with several different NGO's [non-governmental organizations] to really learn about what the conservation world is really like, so this was to compliment the theory in the class room - this was the practical side."
Many of the locals expressed their support for the educational program because citizens want the outside world to know about devastating deforestation taking place in their country, she said.
"People just kept telling us over and over again that what they most want is awareness and for people around the world to know what is happening with deforestation so part of what we did is the students created videos."
Along with the documentary presentation, a student photo exhibit showcasing images from Borneo will be on display at Onatah Coffee shop located at 6-40437 Tantalus Road from Saturday April 10 to Tuesday June 1.
