International
PennEWB International Project Team Application OPEN NOW!
We are now selecting two teams to travel to Ngyenmbo, Cameroon in May 2012 and Pajomel, Guatemala in August 2012. The trip will involve a program fee that will qualify for financial aid. This program fee will cover travel, room, and board. Additionally, students will receive 2 c.u. for participating in the program. Applications are due December 3rd at 11:59pm: Click here to apply. To see what we have done in Cameroon and Guatemala, check out our video: Penn EWB Video Cameroon Penn Engineers Without Borders is returning Cameroon for a fourth project in the Bome Valley of the Northwest Region. Since 2007, we have worked with a local NGO to implement two water...
Read MoreInnovative Toilets
This article, also discussed at the Cameroon committee meeting last week, goes into more specific detail about what the future of toilets could look like. The toilets discussed here are pretty cutting-edge, separating and drying human excrement, transforming it into natural gas and fertilizer, and even using it as an electricity source. PennEWB is really interested in these developments because they promise more sanitary conditions and more creative recycling in devloping countries around the world! Here is the...
Read MoreGuatemala Commitee Discusses Sustainability Initiatives
Last Tuesday, The Guatemala Committee met to discuss sustainability issues and how feasible the initiatives described in this article were. http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v305/n5/full/scientificamerican1111-60.html The article notes that humans use 4,000 cubic kilometers of water per year, 70% of which is used for irrigation. This causes diminished flows in many large rivers and declining water tables in various areas of the world. Pollution of water by fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides is another problem posed by the expansion of agriculture and increased food production — runoff from farmland causes algal blooms and “dead zones,”...
Read MoreBill Gates to Reinvent the Toilet?
Last week, Penn EWB’s Cameroon committee met and discussed a couple of articles that relate to sustainability and sanitation. This article discusses the sanitation issues associated with human waste elimination in developing countries. Representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are quoted in the article, saying that perhaps the end to the Western-style, flushable toilet is in sight. There are other, more healthful and sustainable ways to utilize and recycle human excrement in developing countries, perhaps as compost or fertilizer for more plentiful agriculture. Check it...
Read MoreInternational Committee Update from Liz
Let’s see what International has been up to these past few weeks: “In international, we are currently working on 3 new projects. The first is a potential water distribution system project in the village of Nygenmbo, Cameroon, which is just across town from Kob and Gundom, where we previously had successful projects. Mike Magaraci and Nishant Neel are leading this new phase and will be traveling to Cameroon in January. The second is a continuation of our work in Guatemala. We recently had Atit Ala discuss with the community their priorities for future development. They identified latrines and repair of their drinking water system as important priorities, so we...
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