Lyford Cay International School students learned that there is a sustainable method of food production, which does not use fertilizers, uses very little electricity, uses recycled water, requires no soil in which to grow plants, and produces plants at a faster rate than traditional farming, as well as fish.
The students were introduced to aquaponics by sustainability expert, social entrepreneur and humanitarian Jesse Baker and his partner Chrissy Gray, as part of the school's 50th Anniversary Speaker Series. Baker told the students that he and Gray's efforts are meant to redefine sustainability in more comprehensive terms, and to inspire individuals to take action in their everyday lives.
During his conversations with the students, Baker told students about his visits to Haiti to distribute portable water filtration systems to the often forgotten people living in rural areas.
"We needed to get them an efficient way of filtering their water because they were in the middle of a cholera outbreak," said Baker.
The water filtration project in Haiti led to an aquaponics project.
"The challenge was to help the Haitian people gain access to fresh water and healthy food in a country where there is very high pollution of water sources and very little soil for growing food. And aquaponics was the answer, fresh food in plant form as well as fresh fish."
Within the modular system, fish are raised symbiotically with plant production through a closed system that uses 90 percent less water than regular agriculture.
Baker and Gray have founded a non-profit organization in California to develop various projects that promote an ethic of sustainability. They believe that sustainability has become overly focused on the industries of cutting carbon emissions and energy savings.
"These are important components of sustainability, but far short of the complete picture," said Baker while addressing eleventh-grade students at LCIS.
"Far too often social issues are left out of the picture, and the importance of individual action is vastly under-addressed."
He shared his experiences in Latin America, Antarctica and Haiti, reminding the students that they were all linked because they all share the same planet.
"Don't wait for the big corporations or governments to change the way they are treating the environment," he told students. "Become agents of change, and try to take small steps to living more sustainably."
During the week that Baker and Gray spent in New Providence, they spent a lot of time with the students at LCIS, conducting formal talks and presentations over lunch in the school library. The conversations were varied, and ranged from instructions on how to care for the school's newly-built aquaponics outdoor classroom, to the possibility of LCIS students taking part in humanitarian trips to Haiti. Students, teachers, administrators and parents all had opportunities to meet with the pair to discuss their ideas on sustainability and how LCIS, as a school, could become more sustainable.
The topic was a timely one, as LCIS has embarked on the first steps of achieving green flag school status. Baker and Gray, with the help of LCIS students, built the aquaponics outdoor classroom on the campus, and used it to engage students in conversations about the environmental impact of most food production industries.
The aquaponics system built at LCIS is much the same as the systems installed in Haiti. Essentially, there is a tank containing fish which produce waste. Water carrying the fish waste is pumped from the tank into a series of water channels that contain edible plants situated in porous baskets. The plants roots are anchored in a clay ball growing medium that gives the roots somewhere to adhere to and eliminates the need for soil. The nutrient rich water feeds the roots of the plants as it passes through the channels. The plants' roots also filter the water so that eventually clean water falls back into the fish tank below, where it begins it cycle all over again.
Aquaponics uses 90 percent less water than traditional farming and no added fertilizers. The system at LCIS will be used to teach sustainability. It is also a tool for teaching math, biology, history, civic engagement and can also be a way to develop another lasting community engagement programs at LCIS.
"We are happy to invite other schools to visit our aquaponics outdoor classroom and learn how they can build similar systems on their campuses," said LCIS School Principal Stacy Bobo.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian