Press Releases

November 11, 2002
Suffolk Rotary International Scholar Presents her Work in Brazillian Rain Forest to 21 Local Rotary Clubs in Suffolk County this Week

Christie A. Klimas, a 2000 environmental science graduate of Southampton College, will travel around Suffolk County this week to present her year-long project in the Brazilian rainforest as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Her Scholarship was sponsored by Rotary International and Suffolk County Rotary District 7260.

Klimas, who was also a Udall Scholar, has just returned from a year in South America working with ten families to help them develop products for the market that use the rainforest without destroying it. The goal is to make the rainforest more valuable to people who live there by leaving it intact instead of clearing it for other less sustainable uses. Klimas is currently traveling around Suffolk County giving presentations on her work to local Rotary Clubs. (A complete schedule of times and places can be obtained from the Southampton College Public Relations Office.)

Specifically, she helped develop a plan for processing the seed of the Andiroba Tree. The oil from this seed makes an excellent insect repellant and is also used in cosmetics, acne cream, and for oil lamps and other products. Buyers in the global market want the product, but also need a guarantee that they will have a steady and reliable supply. (It's used in the popular Aveda products).

Klimas worked with families to help them map the location and number of the Andiroba Trees and set up a plan for processing the oil and making a living from selling it. The season for the seed processing will begin at the end of this month, so the test period is just beginning.

She will give presentations to 21 Suffolk County Rotary Clubs over this week. On Thursday, she speaks to the Southampton Rotary Club at John Duck's Restaurant, and then that evening at 7 pm to the Southampton College Honors Society (the public is invited).

Klimas was also one of 50 college students accepted to the Biosphere 2 Center in Arizona. Inside the 91-foot-high glass-and-steel bubble, which opened in 1991 with a controversial experiment in human enclosure, she studied global climate change and biological diversity.