Shayvonne Moxey-Bonamy has spent the last 18 years working as a meteorologist for The Bahamas, one of the 100 countries most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.
Her passion to assist her country in adaptation and mitigation has led her to pursue studies in environmental science at Lynchburg College.
After reading the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Second Assessment report, Shayvonne knew her homeland was at serious risk.
"Climate change is huge for small island nations," Shayvonne said. "Lord knows, we are very flat."
The 700-island chain in the Caribbean is vulnerable because of natural disasters (tropical cyclones, flooding, drought and non-tropical processes); fragility of ecosystems (coral reefs, coasts, wetlands, forests, and soil); limited natural resources; and depletion of non-renewable resources. As global warming raises the world's oceans, the impacts on The Bahamas will be exacerbated.
Shayvonne grew up as an "out-islander" on Andros, the largest island in The Bahamas chain. "From high school, I was always fascinated by weather," she said. She went to Barbados to become a certified meteorologist and her work has taken her around the world for conferences and continuing education to such places as China, Venezuela, France, and Switzerland.
Calling herself camera-shy, Shayvonne said her work as a government meteorologist was confined to forecasting, not TV broadcasts. A meteorologist colleague, Geoff Greene, graduated from Lynchburg College in 2005 and encouraged Shayvonne to study here.
She applied for and received a scholarship and began her studies in the fall of 2008. She plans to graduate in 2011 and has the full support of her husband of seven years, whom she left behind in The Bahamas. Dwight Bonamy, an air traffic controller, supports his wife's studies "100 percent."
Studying the environment has been eye-opening for Shayvonne, who said she didn't realize how much damage we have already done. From the destruction of wetlands for development and mountaintops for coal to overfishing and the degradation of clean water, we have not done things in a sustainable way, she said.
"We have to find a way to co-exist with the environment," she said. On her own island nation, where the conch is a national delicacy, the marine animal is in decline. That's the food she misses most, but she realizes it could disappear without intervention.
When she's not studying, Shayvonne is an honorary coach of LC's volleyball team. She played with The Bahamas national team for 12 years, and stays in shape by working out at the gym five days a week.
Her priority, however, is fighting environmental impacts associated with climate change. "We have to be persistent," she said. She asks Americans and other industrial nations in the world to heed environmental messages. "Try to reduce pollution and be more energy efficient," she said. "That's the most important thing."