Change We Believe In

Solid-waste Management in Humanitarian Response

2014-02-14T21:36:00.001-05:00

Solid-waste Management in Humanitarian Response

I am seeking three very committed individuals to develop an innovative project, which seeks to manage solid waste in refugees/displaced camps. If you are interested, please feel free to send me an email at: jmacedo@clarku.edu. For more information on the call for proposal, please visit this link: http://lnkd.in/bZ7bBsb

Solid-waste Management in Humanitarian Response

TAGS:

HIF WASH, Life Sciences, Requests for Partners and Suppliers, Developing Countries, Engineering/Design, Global Health, Theoretical-licensing

AWARD: $15,000 USD | DEADLINE: 4/06/14 | ACTIVE SOLVERS: 203 | POSTED: 2/05/14

When large numbers of people are displaced due to natural or man-made disasters, they flee their homes and settle in formal or informal camps. One major problem is the management of solid wastes (trash, rubbish, garbage, litter) produced by large numbers of people in a relatively small area. Improper management of solid wastes leads to many issues, mostly centered on degrading the health of the people involved. We are searching for the most economical process of managing solid wastes without worsening the already poor living conditions in these areas or causing harm to individuals or the environment.

This Challenge requires only a written proposal.

(photo by Jenkins Macedo)

Source: InnoCentive Challenge ID: 9933337

Challenge Overview

Natural and Man-made disasters like earthquakes and wars causes displacement of people from their homes to formal and informal camps. Relief efforts are usually centered around these locations. Even though these people have very little, they still produce a good amount of solid wastes such as trash, garbage and even packaging from the relief effort itself. If these wastes are not managed properly (collected, transported and disposed) it creates a myriad of health and environmental issues in time. Our goal is to protect the people, aid workers and the environment from more harm by finding the best equipment and process for solid waste management that can be deployed in these areas, quickly and economically. Your ideas in this area are greatly appreciated.

This is a Theoretical Challenge that requires only a written proposal to be submitted. The Challenge award will be contingent upon theoretical evaluation of the proposal by the Seeker.

To receive an award, the Solvers will not have to transfer their exclusive IP rights to the Seeker. Instead, they will grant to the Seeker non-exclusive license to practice their solutions.

About the Seeker: The Humanitarian Innovation Fund supports organizations and individuals to identify, nurture and share innovative and scalable solutions to the challenges facing effective humanitarian assistance.

A Brief Response to the 2013 U.S. Government Shutdown

2013-10-23T17:41:00.001-04:00

Over the past few days, the people of America, again experienced what some called "a failed democratic process", the negative effects of a bipartisan system of political discourse, which needs to be reconstructed, or what others may term as a neglected political system that continues to seek its own interests and positions despite fighting for the livelihoods and welfare of all Americans across the political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental spectra. Is this system working or should we be looking somewhere else?

It should be noted, however, that in the midst of these challenges, we emerge as a united people with a common front, which is, the will to put our nation first instead of our own selfish and ambitious interests. In the midst of disagreements, whether political or whatsoever, we should learn to build consensus, work in unity without hurting others, and be our brothers' keepers so to say, because all you are as (elected officials), you are in that position of authority because, we the people of America elected you into that office of power and influence. Whether or not you are the President of the United States, Representatives, and Senators. You are privileged to be in position of power and influence because "we the people so decide" and "we the people have that same authority" to request you to step down or vote you out, if you continue these trends of failing to put the people's will into effect! Do you ever asked yourself, wait a minute, why am I elected into this office? Am I here to serve my selfish little "self" or perpetuate the interests of the American people?

There is only one logical reason for a government shutdown, and the only logical one is, if you are not doing your job well, which is, if I should repeat, representing the people's interests by supporting legislatures, which put their interests over yours. You may argue that the people's interests whom you represent are complex and dynamics. Yes. We all agree on that front, but that doesn't mean that you can't perform your job. The old-school politics that is so entrenched in Washington supported and sustained by lobbyists of all sorts, including but not limited to multinational corporations, oil-mongers/suckers, the war machine, etc searching for their piece of the cake has to come to an end. We the people are frustrated with the sense of irresponsibility that our government continues to exhibit across the political spectrum. We need doers who act on thinkers perceptions. In order to avoid further government shutdowns, there are some changes that need to be made proactively and those include, but are not limited to: i). stop the war machine business (military industrial complex), invest in domestic food production and reduce imports, invest in renewable energy and energy efficient products, invest in mental health services and research, and CREATE MORE JOBS by promoting small businesses, investing in housing, education, and healthcare. These are the things we look forward to as a people. We are not interested in fruitless political hysteric at the expense and detriment of the American people. We deserve better from those in authority. Get the job done and shutdowns will be avoided.

No government power is over the power of the people that elected them. We elect government officials into positions of authority for them to seek our interests and welfare and not their selfish political ambitions. We the people expect you to lead diligently, sacrificing, and supporting the people for national prosperity. Even though I am not elected into my current position, but employ, if fail to do my job, I will first get a warning and if that condition persist, I will be fired for not accomplishing my job duties. If you continue to fail to do your job and keep us in these what seems to be a routine economic and political failures (shutdowns, depressions/recessions), which are senseless, unnecessary, and irresponsible, do not expect to be elected during the next round. We the American people need a reliable, consistent, trustworthy, and honest government with the balls to get things done irrespective of political affiliation. So, a hint to the wise is sufficient to sound this warning to you.

Regenerative Agriculture through Drip Irrigation Systems, Three-Sisters Garden Model and Small-scale Animal Farming: A Reflection from the Past

2013-10-13T14:22:00.000-04:00

Drip Irrigation installed about 30cm away from raised-beds at a height of 1m.

Source: RESPECT Ghana

The world is presently experiencing major changes that have been largely linked to anthropogenic activities and these changes influence the climate systems, leads to variations in the Earth's climate systems. “Global Warming” is causing many devastating changes in the earth’s global climate systems which also have significant implications on landforms, biodiversity, water systems, and atmospheric system. There is a need to take drastic actions now, if our species is to survive throughout the next 25 years. In order to continue to survive as a species, there is a need for us to become more proactive both at the local, national, and international levels on how we use our energy sources for a more sustainable future. A future that not only define our species, but also take into careful account our neighbors the plants, animals, water, land, air, and all those microscopic living and non-living things that make life possible. We need to approach this through an integrated, holistic, and eco-efficient manner that will encompass all the features previously noted to support life. One way in doing this is to revisit our current agricultural systems and food system and make it more sustainable, local, organic, eco-efficient, and regenerative that the system will not only support our selfish existence, but also contribute to sustainability of other organisms.

Developing the raised-beds 1m x 15m and installing the drip systems. Tillage were done manually with garden hand tools. Green manure were buried in the middle of the raised-beds at 20cm depth sprinkled with water and dirt from termites hills applied to enhance quick biochemical decomposition of green manure.

A total of 8 raised-beds completed and ready for seedlings to be transplanted.

Callord green (Brassica oleracea) plants 1 week after being transplanted. Cut prior vegetation (grasses) were stored to serve as mulch to control weed, minimize evaporation, reinforce soil moisture content, and add nutrients to the soil once decomposed.

This support platform (scaffold) is made out of locally accessible materials. It is built in this way for another reason apart from the physical support feature and that is to provide pressure or mechanical energy as you may term it that will drive the water throughout the drip irrigation system, since the system is self regulated. In general, the scaffold is built about 20cm from the edge of the raised-bed and should stand at a height of 1m. This height will drive the water throughout the drip kit irrespective of the length of the system.

Topsoil on each raised-bed were mulch subsequently.

Callord green (Brassica oleracea) being produced using drip irrigation

A closer look three weeks after transplanting the seedlings.

In 2002, I was fortunate to work with RESPECT Ghana a non-profit, community-based organization working with refugees from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast at the Buduburam Refugee Camp located about 45 Km from Accra, the capital city of the Republic of Ghana. As a community based non-profit organization, one of our goals was to create social change through the introduction of the drip irrigation system as a more environmentally friendly and sound, sustainable, and cost-effective method to produce crops. Through partnership with the Healing Hands International base in Tennessee, which provided on-farm training for 14 days in drip irrigation technology and the concept of survival gardening and with donated drip irrigation systems from Chaplin Watermatics, a New York-based non-profit organization, we were able to set up on farm training workshops with local community organic farmers to train them about the drip irrigation system and how it works and its ecological, environmental, and resource conservation benefits.

Cloth cover the bucket to remove debris from the water being used in the system.

In June 2002, a group of 50 local farmers were trained about the drip irrigation system and at the end of their training each participant was given 5 drip irrigation systems to set up on their farms. As a result of training, the 50 farmers that participated in the training decided to establish a local farmers association using their new learned skills to teach other local farmers who were not train to also learn about the drip irrigation system. With this new association, the local farmers were able to eliminate their use of inorganic fertilizers and other forms of agrochemicals that were being used, which have significant impact not just on the physical environment, but also on the chemical processes of the soil, air quality, water resources, their health and finances. With this new technology the farmers’ children were able to spend lesser time watering the crops and devoted more of their time in school and doing other activities. This also helped them minimized their dependence on farm stores to purchase the necessary chemicals needed, because now local farmers were also taught how to use various local plants’ materials to do mulching, serve as a scare crow, taught how to use both plants and animals residues to carry on composting or manuring and how to develop manure or compost tea when applied to plants via drip irrigation grows like the plants were on steroids. Off-course they were, but this time not the usual agrochemicals, but organic steroids accessed locally, environmentally sustainable, and were familiar to plants because they were made from their residues and from animals waste.

2 Weeks after seedlings were transplanted and green manure applied by mulching.

The drip irrigation method also allowed the farmers to concentrate their organic gardening on a particular piece of land as oppose to developing large commercial or industrial farms. They also used different farming methods and practices to enhance the soil texture, structure, chemistry, biology, and composition, thus allowing them to farm on the same piece of land without losing soil texture, moisture content, structure, nutrients, and micro-organisms. The drip irrigation system not just change the farmers’ view about how to farm, but it served as a medium of social change and empowerment for gardeners, because those 50 trainees were able to unite and use their new skills and knowledge to create a movement that changed the way crops were produced and animals were raised. That paradigm shift created a system of food production that was own by farmers, environmentally friendlier than the status quo, cost-effect in terms of inputs versus outputs ratio, eco-efficient, protects natural systems and reinforce their conservation, and more importantly, it leaves enough money in their pulses and pockets about marketing surpluses.

It is my hope that this movement will also continue to spread throughout the world even to more industrialized nations such as the United States, Russia, and Denmark. Using the drip irrigation systems in our local gardens and farms will not only boost production, but will also minimize the amount of energy we use on a daily basis to power our heavy duties farm machineries. It will also enhance the soil water content, chemistry, biology, and texture by keeping soil wet for the plants. Microscopic organisms living in the soil will not be destroyed as a result of chemicals we use in the soil, because we no longer need them. The limited water resources we have will be significantly protected and conserved, because water supply through the use of the drip irrigation system will drastically reduce the amount of water we traditionally use to water our crops during the morning and evenings. The drip irrigation system allows water to be supplied just around the root system of the plants and water will be dripped or distributed at equilibrium. The system significantly reduced the growth rate of weeds (unwanted crops growing in your garden), because water wasting on unnecessary land speed up the growth of weeds. Weeds growth and development will also be controlled by employing sustainable and regenerative farming practices such as mulching or green manure mulching. Also, using the drip system reduce that problem.

Now, let us put the magic of the drip irrigation kit in perspective. Traditionally, it would take you about 10 watering cans containing 7 liter each to irrigate each 1m X 15m vegetable raised-beds in our case as you can see in this picture. Using this formulation, it would require us using the watering cans to irrigate all 10 beds (1m x 15m) 100 cans of water and about 700 liters of water. Viola!!! How about that!? However, with the drip irrigation kits, we only used 1 watering can to irrigate each bed, meaning, we actually used 1 watering can of 7 liters of water for each 1m x 15m raised-beds and guess what, each plant out of the 30 freshly growing cabbage plant receives equal amount of water just right to the roots of plant where it is needed. Not on the leaves, not on the stems, not spilling in the walkways or drainage systems, etc, but right where water is needed for plant growth and development. The zone of elongation, that is where the drip systems surgically delivers the water. So, in total we actually used 10 watering cans of 7 liters (70 liters) instead of 90 cans and 630 liters of excess and unnecessary water. Can you see the water savings magic and potential here? Again, not to mention the time, labor, cost, energy, and depletion of the limited water source available to local farmers.

The late Mr. Alfred Kayee, Farm Manager, getting ready to apply water to the drip kit. Alfred later became the Program Manager of RESPECT Ghana.

This is the limited landlocked water source that is available for smallholder farmers/gardeners at the camp, which usually dries out before the growing season ends using the traditional irrigation system via watering cans at the camp. The drip irrigation would protect this limited resource, while using water eco-efficiently and regeneratively.

Growing Black Beauty (Eggplant) with drip irrigation. We had some positive experience with heavy rainfall that lasted for 1 straight week and our raised-beds received minimum impact.

Okra (Okro) through drip systems. You can still see the drainage fill with water from the heavy rainfall and insects took the opportunity to invade, but sorry (insects), we got you out by applying biochemical

liquid from the Neem Tree (Azadirachta indica)

A 1 lb black beauty (Eggplant) still holding on. It was harvested and weight to determine the total weight compared with others.

In the next fifteen (15) years, one way we can truly “go green” is by installing drip systems in our backyard gardens or on our farms to produce our own vegetables as oppose to purchasing our food items and vegetables from the “big box mulls.” Going green doesn’t only apply to driving hybrid cars, purchasing energy efficient appliances or using our heat and electricity wisely, but also means eating local food items produce locally as oppose to food being shipped from other countries thousands of miles away from home. Going green also means providing the soil, water, air and microscopic organisms that support life. Going green means providing farmers of less develop countries with the drip irrigation kit systems so that those farmers can stop destroying the forest and ecosystem. By providing the drip irrigation systems or other technologies on a larger scale to farmers all around the world. We will be saving money and the money can be used for other purposes. The land will also be able to recover from the stresses that we have induced on the it by our activities. Greenhouse gases emission will be offset significantly because we will be burning fewer fossil fuels to power our agricultural sectors should we employ eco-efficient and regenerative practices and methods. The drip irrigation system is a healthy system and this is not just to agriculture, but it also spreads to the economy, government, and other institutions. This is the best medium through which our energy in agriculture can be reduced if not eliminated.

Another system of regenerative and eco-efficient agriculture I was introduced to by a friend during from the U.S. during her trip to Ghana in 2005 was the Native American system of companion planting, known as "The Three-Sisters Model." I purchased a book written by Alice Formiga (http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html) in which she discussed the methods and provided the ecological benefits, background, etc. A copy of the book can also be purchased from the link cited above. Well, Jackie Rahm, Director of Shaping New Worlds, a non-profit educational institution base in Alaska, which seeks to reclaim indigenous knowledge. Mrs. Rahm visited the camp to see our work described above with drip irrigation at which time she introduced the three-sisters methods to us. Below as some of the pictures from that project, which she also raised money for us to implement at the camp. We our project, which covers the total area of 100 square meters, we cultivate corn, squash, and beans together at specific intervals with the corn first, followed by the climbing beans, and lastly the squash. Also, to make the project really interesting, students of my agriculture science class at a local high school at the camp were encourage to do community service at the farm to participate in on-farm demonstrations, weed removal and use as green manure and mulch, getting familiar with the drip irrigation technology, and also harvesting, which turns out to be their favorite part of the agriculture class. We usually encourage students to harvest any crop that they think are needed to their homes after on-farm work. This approach enabled me to always have at least a group of 4-6 students weekly to help with farm work.

Also, apart from the three sisters garden and drip irrigation project, we also had a small-scale animal farming project in place. Non of the animals raised where for commercial purposes, but rather for consumption by community members and were also an opportunity to educate the little children who for example have not seeing a rabbit and have one (as pet), which is not a common practice though. Most animals raised to my belief and experience in most of Africa are for consumption and this applies to animals like rabbits, groundhogs, guinea pigs and different forms of fowls and birds. However, others do keep some of these animals as pets-especially rabbits and those are usually the well-off folks.

Below are some photos about our small-scale, organic, and environmentally resourceful animal husbandry at the camp.

Grasscutter (groundhogs) Small-scale production.

Couple having dinner on fresh cut grasses, cassava, and sweet potatoes all grown on our farm. The body composition of female grasscutters/gound hogs are usually bigger than males.

Personal observation shows that males wait while females eat first and then he can. Interesting!

She gives me that look!

Concern about animals safety? Off-course, after from the sleeping quarters, which is 2m x 2m (4m square), we also developed an outside hanging out area where they can move around with enough space (4m x 2m). We usually put them in this space before cleaning their bedrooms and applying delta to kill gems or microbes. We usually let them in about enough air circulated the cleaned space.

Well, if you think they are getting away.....think for a second, because they are not. We got them when they were both less than a month old and each weighted less a lbs. Now, when this picture was taken, the female (front in picture) weighted 10 lbs and just 6 months old and the male (behind usually) weighted albs at the same age. Well, so they were not escaping. So, at this time they had lived in this area for about six months and knew me and everyone else, except for thieves. So, we usually let them totally out of the cage structure to walk in the yard, when i am around to protect them. One one point, the female went in my office, which was actually next door to theirs. I guess she wanted to check things out probably to negotiate for a bigger room because she was pregnant.....(smile:)).

We also raised rabbits and we four new bunnies in our farm family. This is when they were just 2 days old.

The parent of those above.

Understanding Climate Change Skeptics or Denials

2013-10-13T10:39:00.003-04:00

Jenkins Macedo

Kwabena Tweneboa
James Hansen Addo

September 20, 2013

During this week, we read series of online articles, grey literature, and a peer reviewed journal article published in Nature Climate about the understanding of climate change among skeptics and or denials. The Ruckelshaus et al (2013) presents the Republican’s case that Earth’s climate is changing at an unprecedented rate. They argued that the debate of climate change is not a matter of partisanship, but a matter of taking precautionary actions that are cost-effective and that has the potential to significantly reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Ruckelshaus et al (2013) added that the same momentum that led the United States and other nations to act in mitigating the depleting ozone, which brought about global outcry against CFCs should be the same guiding steps based on “common-sense conservative principles” in protecting the general welfare of the American populace, the environment, climate systems, and the world at large. They suggested that the market-based approach or what some may term as cost benefit analysis regulatory framework of climate change mitigation over the years has proven to be effective and doable and has significantly improve our economy as well.

Lindzen’s article “Climate science isn’t settled: confident predictions of catastrophe are unwarranted” takes a different direction from what Ruckelshaus et al. (2013) suggested that the reality of climate change is undeniable. Lindzen argues that globally over the last few dozen years, global average temperature anomaly (GATA) fluctuates. He argues the assertions that “climate change is accelerating are bizzare” (Landzen, 2009). He also added that the emergence from the period of the little ice age, which occurred between the 15^th and 19^th centuries and the commencement of the industrial revolution, which explains why global temperature increases as we migrate from a period of cold climate to warmer climate. He noted that in the midst of global climate change, which is a result of the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, CO2 is generally accepted as the prominent greenhouse gas emitted. He presented the case that Earth’s atmospheric systems “balance the incoming solar radiation by subsequently releasing thermal radiation, and the presence of high clouds and water vapor, which are “greenhouse substances” deters the system from cooling, which leads to “some” warming. He concludes that these factors (water vapor and high clouds) are major greenhouse substances, which can be differentiated from “minor” anthropogenic substances, which he states are anthropogenic greenhouse gases. He asserts, “doubling of CO2 would only offset the original balance within the system between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation to about 2%” (Lindzen, 2009), which is what is considered within the scientific literature as “climate forcing,” which is a natural process. He argues that the failure amongst climate change scientists to establish the linkages between observed warming and observed warming in minor anthropogenic warming makes the climate change vis-a-vis global warming discourse weak and unwarranted and there is no need for public outcry. He concludes by suggesting that natural disasters that are linked to climate variability are all confluence of multiples factors that we tend to link to our carbon footprint.

Holdren’s article on “convincing the climate-change skeptics” highlights the three categorical approaches of climate change skeptics that tend to be factually untrue and supported with no evidence that earth’s climate is warming, but humans are not main cause of such warming (Holdren, 2008). He noted that national and international consensus that earth’s climate is rapidly change should set the score for the public to make objective decisions when they encounter climate change skeptics. He asserts that most climate change skeptics are Republicans a claim that I do not support and partially been reactionary than addressing the fact that climate change really matters.

Changes in the world and the way the world thinks is information and knowledge. This has not proven to be true in the case of science and the issue of climate change as Roberts notes in his article “More Science Will Not Cure the Climate Skepticism.” Roberts also mentions three things that could have been barriers to the lack of understanding of the dangers that climate poses to society: the people around us i.e. culture, education and the media, but Kahan et al. 2012 mentions that this it goes beyond that. The issue of people affecting believes and the article of Adam Frank in the New York Times nicely outlined perspectives. It gives statistics about creationist during his college ages. Probably the increased is due to knowledge or the kind of cultural training that younger generation have received from the older generations, meanwhile the issue of climate change has not seen anything to correlate to such belief. The factual problem of climate change has not gotten that much of attention like it was intended to. The issue has become highly politicized and people’s affiliation to a political party or a political figure also affects how he will view climate change. David wrote in his paper what is happening in North Carolina where state planners have been banned from using climate data in projecting future sea level rise. Politicians have risen to the point of explaining scientific issues with politic which Michael Man calls “scientization of politics.”

On the subject of education, it is evident that more education does not necessarily mean that people will take the subject of climate change serious. The ordinary person is said to belong to the SCT (Science Comprehension Thesis) group that is people with very little knowledge of science. If this is true then with the increase of the number of colleges and private institution all around us should make the subject of climate change more meaningful and taken very serious. The alternative group, CCT, (Cultural Cognitive Thesis) is a person that due to complex psychological mechanisms sees risk based on things that the group he belongs to sees it as such. So while “SCT emphasizes a conflict between scientist and the public, CCT stresses one between different segments of the public, whose members are motivated to fit their interpretations of scientific evidence to their competing cultural philosophies” (Kahan et al 2012, page 732). The challenge of this world as far as climate change is concern is a complex one, and involves not just the understanding of scientific processes, but also the way the scientific information is disseminated.

Works Cited

Frank, A. 2013. "Welcome to the Age of Denial." New York Times August 21, 2013.

Kahan, D. M., E. Peters, M. Wittlin, P. Slovic, L. L. Ouellette, D. Braman and G. Mandel (2012). "The polarizing impact of science literacy and numeracy on perceived climate change risks." Nature Clim. Change 2(10): 732-735.

Roberts, D. (2012). "Once again, with feeling: More science will not cure climate skepticism." Grist Magazine

Lindzen, Richard. 2009. The Climate Science Isn’t Settled. The Wall Street Journal. November 30, 2009.

Ruckelshaus, W. D., L. M. Thomas, W. K. Reilly and C. T. Whitman (2013). "A Republican Case for Climate Action." New York Times August 1 2013.

Holdren, J. P. 2008. Convincing the climate-change skeptics. Boston Globe. August 4, 2008 (and Holdren addendum and note in response to critique of the op-ed)

Science of Anthropogenic Climate Change: A Review

2013-10-13T10:22:00.001-04:00

Jenkins Macedo

Hansen Addo

Kwabena Twenebao

09/04/2013

In this week’s readings we explored articles in the field of climate change science and how human-induced greenhouse gas emissions influence changes in Earth’s climate systems. We also explored the scientific background and major terminologies associated with the climate change debate. These readings created the opportunity to understand the scientific, economic, political, environmental and social context of the unprecedented changes in Earth’s climate systems and how to engage stakeholders in the field of climate change science.

The Worldwatch Institute’s article entitled “Climate Change Reference Guide” provided a summary of some of the competing concepts, facts, and scientific background of climate change and how humans have significantly altered the climate landscape by releasing greenhouse gases, especially CO2 into the Earth’s atmosphere that has never being experienced in Earth's history. The article is widely used as a resource guide on climate change among policymakers and other stakeholders in understanding the scientific argument that Earth’s climate is changing as a result of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and that these trends need to be addressed with urgency avoid any meltdown that is the making The authors conveyed in its simplistic form some of the concepts in climate change science and briefly examined the political diplomacy, which engineered and supported the scientific background of climate change discourse. They briefly explored the timeline of climate change diplomacy by highlighting some of the national and international discussions and treaties that have since paved the way for understanding the urgency and “moral obligations” to take action in reducing our emissions to safe ourselves and future generations. The authors referenced some of the leading institutions, climate change scientific papers, and non-governmental institutions such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that are instrumental in presenting the case that Earth’s climate is changing at an unprecedented rate and that we need to act to reverse the current state of warming to avoid global catastrophic events. The IPCC recently released its newest report suggesting that globally, 95% of scientists are certain that Earth's climate is warming because of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

The Report of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change summary for policymakers was established on previous scientific assessments conducted by the IPCC, which incorporates new and emerging evidences that point to human and natural drivers, especially the burning of fossil fuels, as the major cause of greenhouse gas emissions, which in turns impact global temperature increase amongst others. The authors argued that since 1750 human activities have increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere at an unprecedented rate and that this increase is causing climate viabilities (IPCC 2007). The melting of snow and ice, increases in global average air, and the increase of average sea level rise all point to increase in global temperature, which also indicates that the Earth’s atmosphere is getting warmer (IPCC 2007). Also, at the continental, regional and oceanic scale, changes in precipitation patterns, the acidification of oceanic waters, significant changes in wind patterns follow by unusual heat waves and droughts have being observed globally (IPCC 2007). Paleoclimatologists use climate sensitivity indicators to document changes in Earth’s climate on a time scale to understand climate viabilities (IPCC 2007). However, paleoclimate data suggest that the warmth in the last 1,300 years is substantially unusual. Thus, the report suggests that the rate of warming in the Earth’s climatic system needs to be addressed, if humanity should be able to regress the catastrophic consequences for continuous temperature increase at this current trend.

Mike Hulme’s chapter on the “Discovery of Climate Change” explores the origin of anthropogenic climate change and discussed how climate change became an issue of national and international significance. The chapter further discussed the underlying scientific argument that human-induced activities are the major drivers of global climate change reflecting back to the 19^th and 20^th centuries. A lot of scientific works and theories were built by these six scientists namely; John Tyndall, August Arrhenius, Guy Steward Callender, Charles David Keeling, Syukuro Manabe and Wallace S. Broecker on issues ranging from greenhouse gases, climate sensitivity, global temperature, carbon cycle, climate models and abrupt climate change respectively. Though these great men did whatever they could to establish so many theories pertaining to climate change, there are still some mishaps raised in peoples mind because the social, economic, cultural and political aspects of it is always overlooked. Whenever one talks about climate change all that comes into mind is just the scientific knowledge of it; but it shouldn’t be forgotten that all over the world climate change is seen and means differently to every society.

Muselli and Freudenburg (2012) argues that there are enough evidences in the scientific literature about the reality of global climate change, which is mostly due to human-induced activities, even though there are still skeptics who out of the “politics of doubts” continue to deny the existence of climate change and the consequences of global temperature increase. Muselli & Freudenbury (2012) maintains that, if enough doubt can be raised about the relevant scientific findings of global climate change, regulation and policy can be avoided or delayed for years or even decades, while such a pattern can lead to the opposite of the one usually feared.”

The RealClimate is an open source platform that is being used by experts, professionals, policymakers and scholars to engage the public and other professionals about issues related to climate change, global warming and related topic within the scientific community. One of the most recent articles published by Anders Levermann entitled “the inevitability of sea level rise” discussed how small increase in global temperature as a result of the continuous increase of greenhouse gas could have significant impact. The question of “how much impact could be sustained by a community in coastal region with just an increase in 0.8 degree C is not measureable and should not be underestimated? This is a complicated question that forms part of the policy decision-making process as to what we as humanity can accept as a justifiable or realistic level of temperature increase and at what price we are willing to pay? Or do we take into account vulnerable geographic settings when making these decisions?

Questions

“Government leaders and non-governmental organizations have embraced 2 degrees as the maximum temperature rise allowable if the worst effects of climate change are to be avoided” (Worldwatch, 2009). Why should the determination of the “allowable maximum rise in global temperature” be a discussion solely at the governments and non-governmental levels? What impacts would this decision have on small island states that are already experiencing the mayhems of the exponential increase of global temperature?

Works Cited

Hulme, M. (2009). “Why we disagree about climate change.” Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity, Cambridge University Press.

IPCC, 2007: “Summary for Policymakers.” In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

McKeown, A., and Gary, G. "Climate Change Reference Guide." Worldwatch Institute. N.p., 2009. Web. 04 Sept. 2013.

Muselli, V., Freudenburg, W. R. (2012). “Reexamining Climate Change Debates Scientific Disagreement or Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods (SCAMs)?” American Behavioral Scientist June 2013 vol. 57 no. 6 777-795.

RealClimate. “Climate science from climate scientists.” Available: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/. Accessed 4 September 2013.

Sustainability in Urban Planning and Design: A Reflective Response

2013-02-13T21:00:00.002-05:00

The framing and conceptualization of sustainability in urban and suburban areas plan and design is an important aspect to consider when discussing sustainability. Rob Krueger and David Gibbs’ article on “‘Third Wave’ Sustainability? Smart Growth and Regional Development in the USA” (2008)-looks at urban sustainability from the perspective of the “Smart Growth” discourse, which defines urban growth and development as development that is “sustainably aware,” holistic in nature, and that is “environmentally sensitive, economically viable, community-oriented, and sustainable” (Ye et al., cited in Gibbs and Krueger 2008, pg. 1266). They argued that this kind of growth focuses on regional and urban development planning perspectives with the goal much more similar to that of the compact urban planning perspective. Krueger and Gibbs (2008) asserts that the sustainability science framework that is embedded within the smart growth discourse has a contextualized economic and market-based dimension. To this end, they argued that the smart growth discourse has political and theoretical significance and benefits, which heavily relies on economic mechanisms such as innovation, incentives, and disincentives (Gibbs and Krueger 2008). Gibbs and Krueger (2008) asserts that even though there are different conceptualizations and definitions of what smart growth is and how the concept is operationalized at the urban, regional, and national levels among various stakeholders, there are certain principles that transcend throughout these definitions and geopolitical boundaries. They also added that the concept of “Smart Growth” is constructed on two guiding principles of development goals, which involves a tripartite component of urban development planning (i.e. taking into account in its holistic form the community, environment, and economy) as well as a regulatory reforms aspect, which allows these themes to become functional and operational, without which smart growth can not be achieved (Gibbs and Krueger 2008).

The article on “New Urbanism” by Karen F. Al-Hindi (2001) explored the new urbanism discourse based on empirical research, which sought to answer some pressing and compelling questions concerning for whom the new urbanism discourse is targeting and where such developments are operating with focus on the United States. Al-Hindi (2001) argued that even though the new urbanism discourse would benefit everyone in the long-term as suggested by proponent of this thought; however, in the short-term, it is designated to only benefit those who are design professionals, developers, and those of the upper-class homebuyers’ regime. She noted that the new urbanism sustainability framework is aligned with and supported by several current political and social issues (Al-Hindi 2001). She added that neo-traditional architectures of the 20^th Century are depiction of the classical lifestyles of those of the new urbanism school of thought. Al-Hindi also touched on a very sensitive theme and discussion concerning the exclusive and isolated lifestyles of new urbanists-a view that is perpetrated by their belief to be associated with people of the same-mindset, engulfed in gated residential buildings away from those they framed as the “others” (Al-Hindi 2001). The plight to seek for and live by principle of a lifestyle that promotes the local ecological values and environment is sometimes refer to as “Smart Growth”-a term that has gradually developed overtime. Al-Hindi concluded her work that New Urbanism quickly diffused into the mainstream American society, because it seems to present realistic and straight answers that are premised on the built environment in relations to complex and unparalleled social issues that are embedded in our society.

Works Cited

Al-Hindi, Karen F. (2001). “The New Urbanism: Where and for Whom? Investigation of an Emergent Paradigm.” Urban Geography, Vol. 22, 3, pg. 202-219.

Gibbs, D., Krueger, R. (2008).“Third Wave’ Sustainability? Smart Growth and Regional Development in the USA.” Regional Studies, 42:9,1263 — 1274.

Ye L., Mandpe S. and Meyer, P. (2005). “What is Smart Growth – Really?” Journal of Planning Literature 19, 301–319.

Framing and Defining the Sustainable Community Discourse: An Overview

2013-02-05T19:22:00.000-05:00

Sustainability and sustainable communities are fast growing fields. Part of conceptualizing and defining what a sustainable community is and how it is measured is part of the current discussion on what are the characteristics of a sustainable community. There are various definitions and tools that are used to measure sustainable communities by experts, practitioners and scholars in the fields of sustainability science, sustainable development and environmental sustainability. Agyeman (2005) takes us through various theoretical and policy-based discourses of sustainable development, sustainability science, environmental justice, and environmental sustainability discourses, which emerged since the 1980s when the World Bank redirected its focus to developing countries in providing financial services in the form of large loans to expand their programs in social services rather than solely infrastructural development (World Bank 1980). These efforts, Agyeman noted, led to the establishment of several non-governmental and international non-governmental organizations with diverse, varying and conflicting views of what constitute the concept of “Sustainability” (Agyeman 2005).

Similarly, in the 1960s the environmental justice movement, which emerged shortly after Rachel Carson’s book entitle “Silent Spring,” details some of the environmental “ills” and mayhems from a pollutant submerge system and proposes a new “sustainable environmental” approach-a concept too that has far too many definitions and practices. Agyeman identified that with capital intensive sustainability programs; the problem is not associated with the “science of sustainability” or lack of knowledge, but rather the lack off or the inability to act,” which he associates with the Real World Coalition as the “sustainability gap” (Agyeman 2005, pg.40-41). Agyeman also agrees and endorses three interrelated themes that must be adhered to if sustainable development must be “sustainable.” He argues that environmentally sustainable communities or cities must as well be socially sustainable, that analyses and syntheses of development must not start with symptoms of economic and environmental instabilities, but with causes of these deficiencies, which are mostly products of societal ills (Agyeman 2005). He defines sustainability as the “need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and in the future, in a just and equitable manner, while living in the limits of supporting ecosystems (Agyeman 2003 in Agyeman 2005). The concept of sustainability is an integrated or holistic approach, which captures the entity of nature encompassing its political, socioeconomic, biological, and environmental systems making sure that our current needs are met in an equitable and equal manner without negatively impacting the needs and resources of future generations.
Bookchin (1998) takes a similar twist to the sustainability discourse, but he compares side-by-side the argument from both the social and deep ecological perspectives. His works on social ecology has roots in Marxist ideologies. He argues that the current paradigm of sustainability within the context of the environment has being blinded of the true meaning of what is and what is not sustainability and that this blindness is unique in such a way that it is supported by and base on cheap politics that is self-seeking and ambitious (Bookchin 1988). He also proposes that “more people are moving away from the 1970's environmentalism discourse to a more ecological approach, which is rooted in an ecological philosopher, ethics, sensibility, image of nature and ultimately an ecological movement that will transform the current Capitalistic system of market-based society into a nonhierarchical cooperative system in which consumers, producers, and the natural ecosystems live in balance and with respect to each other” (Bookchin 1998, pg. 242). Bookchin just like Agyeman argues that there are varying views when it comes to the expression of what is “ecology” or “sustainability.” Bookchin agrees with Agyeman that the real problem and causes of environmental or ecological degradation should form an integral part of a deep social problem and should rather be the focus rather than the symptoms that are usually emphasized.

The Lifton (2012) takes us through a journey around the world and allows us to view the environmental and social problems of the world through the lens of a political ecologist, scientist and proponent of the “Ecovillage” movement. Her works analyses the diversities and interrelatedness between Ecovillages in urban areas and those in rural areas as well as high-tech and low-tech areas. She noted that base on her travels and learning experiences from ecovillagers "sharing is one word that summarizes their very existence" (Liftin 2012). She concluded her article that ecovillagers’ capacity to share basic needs and necessities prove to be much lower than the per capita income in their respective home countries, which proves to be much sustainable. However, the question that comes to one mind is that how many of us are willing to sacrifice our resources, time, energy, and family security in this fast depressing economic times to live as Ecovillagers? Is it doable? It is a realistic approach in solving our current environmental, social, and economic mayhems? The answers to these questions depend largely on who is asking the question and what he or she is willing to do to make this a reality. There is no one universal approach in solving the current global problem of massive resource extractions and exploitations. However, every single step makes a difference and the impacts can be tremendous recognize when all these steps are jointly connected locally, nationally, regionally, and globally.

Register’s work on “Ecocities” takes a radical and critical look at the current status of cities vis-à-vis our current civilization and how cities have been a paramount component of our very existence and humanity, which defines us. He argues that with the current unsustainable trend of the development and modeling of modern cities, it is important to rethink how we plan and develop our cities so that it is based on ecological principles and promotes natural systems (Register 2002). He asserts that “what we build creates possibilities for, and limits on, the way we live" (Register 2002, pg.20), which I think captures his work in its entirety.

Works Cited

Agyeman, J. (2005). “The Sustainability Discourse and Sustainable Communities.” Ch 2. In Sustainable Communities and the Challenges of Environmental Justice. New York: NYU Press.

Bookchin, M. (1988). Social Ecology versus Deep Ecology. Socialist Review 88(3):11-29.

Liftin, K. (2012). Gleanings from the Harvest: Learning from Eco-Village Experiments around the World. SCORAI Conference. Vancouver, BC. March 8-10, 2012.

Register, R. (2002). As we build so shall we live. Ch 1 in Eco-Cities: Building Cities in Balance with Nature. Berkeley: Berkeley Hills Books.

World Bank (1980). "World Bank Historical Chronology: 1970-1979". World Bank Group. http://go.worldbank.org/847R4CBE80. Retrieved 01/20/2013.

The U.S. Federal Government At-A-Glance: A Political Science Paper

2012-12-29T00:29:00.001-05:00

The United States Government is divided into three branches each of which functions together to complement the other in a “check-and-balance” system. The Executive branch of government is the highest office of the US government, which constitutes the seat of the US Presidency, which is a form of aristocracy form of leadership that was practiced in some European countries at the time the “Founding Fathers” were drafting the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This branch of government is responsible for enforcing the laws of the country that the Legislature makes and does not have the constitution rights to make laws of its own or rather interpret laws that the legislature makes. The Judiciary branch of government is responsible for interpreting the laws and this branch also serves as an eye on the president’s actions and activities. Each branch of government in the US is a distinct organ that can function separately of the other in completing the whole.

In the case of Medellin v. Texas, the President does not have the constitutional right to demand states to adhere to the World Court ruling. The Judiciary branch is the branch of government that must be free of external influence of the other branches of government, if it should really be impartial and “blind” in the eyes of the beholder. The President is the highest person in the government, but that does not give him the right to make laws or demand the court of what it is expected to do. The President of the United States has the legitimate and constitutional rights to make treaty with other countries about issues of international policy in the interest of the United States, but his ability to turn international treaty into laws within the borders of the United States is illegitimate and unconstitutional.

Laws made outside of the parameters of the Unites States that is contradictory to the laws of any states of the US cannot be binding. States have the right to adopt anything they feel are right for its people and within the frameworks of the US constitution as well as the individual states, and it also avoid laws that infringes on the constitution. In the specific case involving Medellin vs. Texas in which the court in Texas ruled against Medellin for murder and also failing to announce his reliance on the Vienna Convention in which the World Court ruled that the Texas Court must review their decision of the case involving Medellin.

The traditional court procedures in the United States must be free from the influences of international treaty that the other branches of government make. The President does not have the right to enforce international treaties with other nations or institutions as binding on the US court to be obliged to obey said treaties as laws. According to the argument supported by most of the Justices that the obligations largely depended on the diplomatic processes of member states that signed to the Vienna Convention and did not require the court systems to enforced it. Justice Roberts furthered deliberated on the premise upon which the Founding Fathers established the court system which means that “procedures that must be followed before Federal Laws can be created under the Constitution — vesting that decision in the political branches, subject to checks and balances.” He further states that the President handing over the task of the Judiciary to determine if an international treaty becomes laws that will be binding on the country does not only portray the Judiciary branch of government the authority to interpret laws, but to also make laws which in a sense is unconstitutional and wasn’t the intent of the Framers. This would also complicate the legal systems and there will not be transparencies as each branch will soon be making, enforcing and interpreting the laws and if this situation exists, it wouldn’t be different from anarchism.

In regards to whether the president has the power to have the judiciary branch to make international treaties binding on the US is a matter that must be determine through the legal process of law through the Congress or master-minded in the Constitution itself and that the President’s authority does not fit in that respect. The President does not have the authority or power to make international treaties a binding domestic law of the United States. If a particular treaty is proposed by the President to Congress to be considered as a domestic law of the country, the decision must stem from Congress or it must have been stated and supported by the Constitution.

Reference Story can be accessed at: http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2008/03/states-win-over.html Retrieved: 03/15/2008.

LIGHTING THE ACADEMIC COMMONS: A Case Study of Electricity Efficiency of Incandescent, Compact Fluorescent and LED Lamps at Clark University

2012-12-15T13:32:00.001-05:00

December 15, 2012

Proposed AC LED GRID LAMP

ABSTRACT

This project explored the efficiency of the lighting system at the Academic Commons (AC) at the Goddard Library at Clark University as part of an academic research paper for the Technology for Renewable Energy course taught by Dr. Charles Agosta, Chair of the Physics Department. The study builds on students' responses to informal and open-ended surveys and electricity energy consumption data from the lighting systems. The data were analyzed using MS Excel 2010 by conducting descriptive statistics on demographic characteristics and statistical analysis of electricity used via lighting to determine energy cost, savings, CO2 emissions, and offsets by comparing the status quo against two hypothetical scenarios. The results indicate that, while the status quo (CFL light bulbs) electricity consumption seems efficient in terms of CO2 emissions and cost compared to incandescent light bulbs, converting the lighting systems to LEDs would reduce CO2 emissions substantially and contributes to Clark's goal of zero emissions by 2020 thereby saving cost. The result also suggests that Clark would be saving about $3,687.00/year in lighting systems at the AC, while reducing 18,420 lbs of CO2/year against status quo of 147,355 lbs of CO2/year.

INTRODUCTION

Globally, the production, distribution, and consumption of electricity through the excessive burning of fossil fuels are some of the leading causes of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (IPCC, 2001; Watson et al., 2001). As population increase exponentially, the demand for electricity for industrial, commercial institutions, and residential consumption will also continue to increase. In the United States, electricity production and consumption is projected to increase by 2020 to approximately 40% (Pimentel et al., 2003). As of 2004, excluding industrial energy consumption, it is estimated that the “total energy consumption for electricity for commercial institutions have doubled at an annual growth rate of 2.1 percent as well as transportation and residential annual energy consumption growth rate at 6.1 and 1.3, respectively” (EPA, 2007). Electricity generation in the US from finite sources of fossil fuels, such as petroleum, natural gas, coal, and other fuels account for approximately 93% of its energy demands at an estimated cost of approximately $567 billion per year (ClarkU, 2007; Pimentel, et al., 2003). This paradox does not seem to be changing as our desire and reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation continue to increase as we explore new territories.

The dominant system of electrical power production is such that the rate of extraction of fossil fuels from the Earth’s surface is unsubstantiated by its regeneration rate leading to an unsustainable and inefficient linear system of exploitation, use, and abuse. As global temperature continues to increase at an unprecedented rate because of anthropogenic GHG emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, the need to rethink our electricity production, distribution, and utilization patterns become a compelling and unparalleled phenomenon that evoke a moral and environmental urgency and responsibility to act in order to reduce GHG at the 1990s levels by 2020 (DOE, 2003; IPCC, 2001, 2007).

Reports has shown that college and university campuses on an annual basis emit large amount of GHG (C02) into the atmosphere specifically through the indiscriminate use of lighting systems, computers utilization, and other energy consuming devices or gadgets (DOE, 2003; York, 1980). The increasing attention driven to tracking and reducing our ecological footprints paved the way to a paradigm shift on how students, staff, and policy-makers within the context of higher education perceive and operationalize energy use, specifically electricity (power) production, distribution, and consumption (ClarkU, 2007). Against this background, the efficient and sustainable use of energy (i.e. electricity in general and lighting in particular) is paramount in shaping behaviors, consciousness, attitudes, and approaches of private and public educational institutions to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future.

This paradigm shift led to the development of various Climate Action Plans (CAPs) on college and university campuses. The overall goal of these CAPs program is to create and promote innovative, sustainable, and efficient solutions for the reduction of GHG emissions and minimize environmental damage by designing and installing energy efficient systems on campuses reinforce (ClarkU, 2007, 2009; DOE, 2003) along with "sustainable behaviors." Over the last few years, this has become a reality at Clark University where electricity generation is generally used for lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), computing, refrigeration, and general-purpose use (ClarkU, 2007, 2009). It is reported that reduction in electricity consumption will reduce GHG emissions, pollution, and serves as energy savings for the university (ClarkU, 2007, 2009). There are widespread educational courses and social ventures collaboratively implemented by teachers, students, and staff.

Energy conservation and sustainability has become an urgency and tradition at Clark University (ClarkU, 2009). Clark is still in the process of transitioning to becoming self-sufficient in terms of electricity generation. The university is currently purchasing electricity from the National Grid at the cost of 0.11cent/kilowatt hour and has the capacity to self-generate about 1,600 kW with an advance cogeneration plant (ClarkU, 2007).

This study explored the electricity consumption for lighting at the Academic Commons (AC) at the Goddard Library at Clark University by assessing electricity cost per kWh per year, the efficiency of the lamps, energy savings, and CO2 emissions in pounds (lbs.) and metric tons per year for about 161 Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) currently installed at the AC. The results are compared side-by-side with two hypothetical scenarios of the less efficient incandescent lamps and the more efficient light-emitting diode (LED) lamps with the same lumens output per Watt. The essence of this comparison is to determine the current state of electricity consumption through the lighting system at the AC, its efficiency, savings, and CO2 emissions and what alternative lamp could be substituted to ensure sustainable and efficient use of electricity as well as the associated savings, cost, and reduction in C02 per year.

Research Objective

The study explored the electricity consumed at the AC for lighting purposes during the academic year, its associated cost, energy savings (if any), and CO2 emissions. This assessment was accomplished by the comparing electricity consumption of the status quo (CLFs) with two hypothetical scenarios (standard incandescent and LED) lamps to assess electricity cost per kWh per year, the efficiency of the lamps, energy savings, and CO2 emissions in pounds (lbs.) and metric tons per year for all 161 lamps at the AC.

Research Question

The research was guided by the general assumption that the 161 CFL lamps installed in the AC are energy efficient, but needed to be replaced by more efficient LED lamps that would substantially reduce the ecological footprint of the facility as the Goddard Library is that largest emitter of GHG on campus. Apart from demographic characteristics of respondents, the following sub-questions guided the process in collecting survey data from students of their perception of the current lighting systems at the AC. The sub-questions that respondents were asked include the following:

1. On an average basis, how many hours do you use the AC per week during the academic semester?

2. Whether or not they were satisfied with the lamps at the AC?

3. Whether or not the lamps at the AC were energy efficient?

4. Whether or not they would recommend changing the lamps at the AC?

5. How would you describe the electricity (lighting) use at the AC?

6. What do you usually do when you are at the AC?

THE GODDARD LIBRARY AND ACADEMIC COMMONS AT CLARK UNIVERSITY

Clark University is known in the City of Worcester for its campus-based and cutting-edge projects and facilities that seek to promote education, students’ comfort, environmental sustainability, and energy efficiency. The library was named after Dr. Robert Goddard, professor and physicist who invented the rocket technology that set the stage for space exploration. The Academic Commons (AC) is a new addition to the Goddard Library as before, the current area situated as the AC was part of the library. The renovation of the first floor of the library into the AC has help reshaped the outlook of the Clark’s main library into a modernize and attractive facility that foster learning, comfort, cutting-edge computers technology, and other resources for students.

The renovation of the first floor included redesigning of the existing spaces, installation of the Jazzman Café’, a computer lab, a silent reading space, the University’s Escort Services, HelpDesk, four restrooms for students convenience and the construction of a 11,000 square feet accomplished by completely enclosing the initial first floor of the library. The AC continues to provide “traditional and electronic resources, including Goddard's collection of more than 375,000 volumes, 275,000 monographs, subscriptions to 1,500 periodicals, full Internet access, nearly 50 subject-specific databases and a public online catalog available 24-hours a day” (www.freethehikers.org).

The AC is one of the busiest facilities on campus that is open to students 24 hours per day 7 days per week and operates in this manner throughout the academic year. The AC currently has 161 CFLs installed on the ceiling of the Goddard Library. These lamps counted in the survey do not include those in the offices of the HelpDesk, the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise, and the University Archives. The lamps counted include Jazzman, Escort Services, HelpDesk, the computer lab, the Silent Study Room, the printing room, the area around the vending machines, hallways, the four restrooms in the AC and the open space. During bright sunny days, lights in the AC are illuminated even though the windows are designed and structured in such a way that enough daylight infiltrates the glass windows prompting good brightness, visibility and security. It is important to assess the amount of energy use for lighting purposes at the AC and if necessary how we can improve it to be more energy efficient and sustainable in our fight to create and promote a “greener” campus and behavior change within an urban landscape and environment that foster these practices.

MATERIALS & METHODS

In this study, I used the quantitative research approach in the process of data collection and analysis. Data for electricity consumption by CFL at the AC were derived from manual process, which include developing sketched ceiling plan of the entire AC and mapping into the sketch the location of each CFL into the plan. In consultation with Physical Plant and Dr. Charles Agosta, it was determined that the lamps installed in the AC were 30 Watts/1600 lumens with efficiency of 53% and a total of 161 lamps were installed. I counted the number of light bulbs at the AC and sketched it manually during three separate days of the week.

I also conducted a short survey on index cards to fifty-five (55) students on three (3) separate days of the week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). I used the targeted sampling approach to identified respondents base on their availability and willingness to participate in the brief survey. The survey was intended to generate data on students’ perceptions of electricity consumption in the AC. I had a 100% response rate as everyone that I approached answered the questions on the index cards.

Units of Analysis

The units of analyses of the study are the electricity cost, efficiency, energy savings and CO2 emissions Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) at the AC, which is the status quo as well as the same variables for both the standard incandescent and LED lamps. The overall purpose is to see which lamp has the highest electricity efficiency, savings, and less CO2 emissions.

Data Analysis

I used a Microsoft Excel 2010 database to calculate the electricity consumption of all 161 CFLs, their efficiency, energy savings and CO2 emissions in pounds (lbs.) and metric tons. I than compare the electricity output, cost, efficiency and CO2 emissions with the hypothetical scenarios; that is, the standard incandescent and LED lamps. I used the Light Bulbs Energy Efficiency Calculator system that I created to evaluate and analyze the efficiency, cost, energy savings and CO2 emissions for each scenario including the status quo.

The survey data were recorded, cleaned, coded and labeled in a separate Microsoft Excel 2010 database for analysis. The results were used to triangulate results from calculations done using quantitative data of electricity consumption at the AC to explore students’ perceptions of electricity consumption and also promote behavior change.

RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

In this section, I present and discuss the findings from the analysis conducted using data collected from quantifying electricity consumed at the AC as well as results for the survey conducted. Results and discussions were done simultaneously while identifying major trends in electricity consumption at the AC. Figure 1 shows the how electricity that we consume comes from difference sources at different locations and each source release GHG into the atmosphere.

Figure 1: Electricity Production

Source: KCP&L, 2012

According to the diagram, the process of electricity generation by the means of burning fossil fuel occurs when fossil fuel is burned at high temperature in a furnace that is known as the boiler. Water is release through the system in series of pipes, which is heated at extreme pressure and temperature to produce steam. At this stage, the high-pressurized steam produce from the high temperature released into the system accelerates numbers of huge fans-like structures within a turbine system. This process caused the fan to spin at high speed at approximate 1,500 mph, which in turn caused a magnet within the rotor to produce electricity. Now that the electricity is produced, it moves from the power plant through a system of transmission into our homes, offices and devices. All alone this linear system of electricity production, about 20-30% of the total energy produced is lost in the form of heat energy (Rosenfeld & Hafemeister, 1988).

Clark University current purchase electricity from the National Grid, which in part is reliant on the energy production process described in Figure 1. Over the last three years, electricity use at Clark has fluctuated, causing the University to become reliant on outside source of electricity generation (ClarkU, 2007). Report indicate that in 2004, Clark’s consumed about 11.5 million kilowatts hour of electricity most of which was used for lighting, ventilation, computing, refrigeration, air conditioning and general purpose use (ClarkU, 2007). In 2005, there was a 6.1 percent increase in electricity consumption followed by a 4.3 percent decreased in 2006 (ClarkU, 2007). Clark is making significant progress in reducing GHG emissions by 2015. In the remaining part of this section, I discuss specific findings from the study within the context of electricity consumption and creating a campus that is environmentally aware and sustainable.

Demographic Characteristics

During the study, I was able to administered surveys to fifty-five (55) students who were at the AC at three different intervals during the course of academic week. Respondents were asked brief questions clearly written on several index cards. Some of the demographic characteristics that were selected to describe participants who responded to the surveys include: age, gender, ethnicity, academic year of study, and department of study. I selected these demographic variables to describe the population of the study because of their significance in explaining the cultural diversity and interdisciplinary composition of students who access the AC. I wanted to explore the age range of student respondents who use the AC, so I asked them to give me their age if they were willing voluntarily. All 55 respondents submitted their ages and I collapsed the ages of all 55 respondents into 5 age ranges of 3 years apart. Figure 2 shows the ages of the respondents that answered the survey. The result indicates that 33% of the respondents were between the ages of 21 to 23 years old, 25% between the ages of 18 to 20 years followed by 15% of the age range between 27 to 29 years old and 27% between the age ranges of 21 to 26 years. These results also indicate that the AC is being widely used mostly by young adults between the ages of 18 to 29 years old. This is probably because students seem to consider the space at the AC an avenue to socialize and get contact with other students in other programs and the place to hang out and relax.

Figure 2: Age of Respondents

Figure 3 shows the gender of respondents that answered the survey. The result shows that 62% of students that answered the survey were females, while 32% were males. Personal observations on several days of the week during the academic semester confirmed this conclusion that female students at Clark are more likely than their male counterparts to use the Academic Commons as a share space for socialization, meetings and study groups.

Figure 3: Gender of Survey Respondents

Another demographic variable that I selected to describe the population is ethnicity. As I previous mentioned, Clark is a small private university that is well known for its cutting-edge liberal arts education that, which seeks to challenge conventions by applying theory to practice in diverse cultural settings. On average, about 40% of graduate and undergraduate students admitted to Clark are from out of the country and the rest 60% are considered domestic students, who are either in state or out-of-state. The diverse nature of the university makes Clark it an interesting community of young scholars and anticipating professionals who are seeking to design and develops innovative ideas to create social and sustainable change. This distinct diversity was also reflected among those who responded to the survey. The grouped ethnicity base on regional classification because of the smaller sample size and to protect the privacy of respondents from location with fewer respondents originally came from. Figure 4 shows the ethnicity of respondents who answered the survey. The result shows that out of the 55 respondents that answered the survey 21 were North American, 11 were East Asian followed by 9 and 8 were African and Southeast Asian respectively.

Figure 4: Ethnicity of Survey Respondents

The next demographic variable that I selected to describe the targeted sample group is their academic year of study. This demographic variable does not mean the academic calendar year of study, but the rather the current academic year of the student’s studies, which determines how many time left before the student graduate from Clark. This variable also helps explained the “trans-academic levels” of those who responded to the survey, both undergraduate and graduate students. Figure 5 shows the current academic year of study of respondents who answered the survey. The result confirms that 40% of the respondents were in their second year of study as either undergraduate or graduate students followed by 29% who were in their first year (in either academic level) and 11% for both senior undergraduate students and those in the fifth year master program who just completed their undergraduate and are making the smart choice of competing their master degree within an intensive one year. As proceeding result will show in, these demographic variables provide us with in-depth sociocultural, ethnic and academic background knowledge of the student composition at Clark. These variables may not be directly linked to electricity consumption at the AC, but they could provide us with relevant cultural and demographic background of those who access the facility for academic enrichment, comfort, social support and social networking within the share space.

Figure 5: Academic Level of Study

Students’ academic levels, that is, whether or not they are undergraduate or graduate students were the fourth demographic variable that I selected to measure outcomes. Students’ level of education is important because it provides some insights into the nature and composition of those answering the survey. At Clark and I am sure at other universities and colleges in the US, there are some courses that both graduate and undergraduate students take together at the same time and provide a much more diverse learning experience. Figure 6 shows the academic levels of the respondents that answered the survey. The result indicates that 73% of respondents that answered the survey were graduate students and 27% were undergraduate students. There are several assumptions that could be used to explain the wide gap between graduate and undergraduate students’ representation at the AC when the survey was administered. The first could be due to the selection of individuals to answer the survey since individuals were selected based on their availability when they were at the AC. Secondly, the higher response rate of graduate students could have been caused by the time of the day and week when most graduate students used the AC for group meetings and follow-up sessions with professors.

Figure 6: Academic Levels of Survey Respondents

I also became interested to explore how students’ perceptions of electricity use at the AC translate throughout other programs or departments at Clark? Figure 7 report shows the academic department of respondents who answered the surveys. The results indicate that that 51% of the respondents who participated in the survey were graduate students from IDCE, whereas, 31% are from GSOM and 18% from other programs or departments (including Psychology, sociology, Education, Global Environmental Studies and Political Science).

Figure 7: Academic Levels

I also asked respondents how many hours per week on average they used the AC? The essence of the question is to capture the insights of those answering the survey about the number average number of hours they stay at the AC weekly. The responses provided useful information on their familiarity with the overall electricity consumption and their perspectives on how energy is being used in providing a comfortable, safe and visible space to enhance learning processes as well as encouraging socialization, leisure and relaxation. The desire to ask the question about the average hours per week that students use the AC came about as a result of discussions with other graduate students during the course of the semester. The discussion was about the indiscriminate and excessive consumption of lights at the AC. Whether or not the electricity consumption for the use of lighting the AC is indiscriminate and excessive came up during as significant finding.

A total of 55 students answered this question. Figure 8 shows the average hours per week of respondents who use the AC for variety of purposes. The result confirms that on a weekly basis, 23 out of 55 respondents used the AC for 8 to 11 hours, while 20 out of 55 respondents stayed at the AC for 4 to 6 hours. The result represents a normal distribution amongst the entire sample as 43 respondents out of the total number of 55 respondents said, they use the AC on a weekly basis for about 4 to 11 hours. The result also attests to the assertion that the Goddard Library at Clark University, specifically the AC, is the busiest facility on campus and that the entire Goddard Library is the largest consumer of electricity. Electricity use at the Goddard Library and the AC campus is mostly for lighting, computing, ventilation and air-conditioning during the summer because students especially during the winter spend more time in the building than would seem during the summer.

Figure 8: Average hours per week

Next, I wanted to explore respondents’ general perception about energy efficiency and what they thought about the current lighting system at the AC. Figure 9 shows respondents’ answered to whether or not they were satisfied with the lamps in the AC. The result indicates that 65% of the respondents said they were satisfied with the lighting systems and 35% said they were not satisfied. These diverse views from respondents who use the AC on a weekly basis led to the conclusion that even though most students think that the lamps (CFLs) at the AC are energy efficient, fewer students think that Clark University can live up to the challenge of significantly minimizing its GHG emissions from electricity consumption through lighting by upgrading to more efficient lamps (LED).

Figure 9: Respondents' Satisfaction with Lighting at the AC

Students led initiatives and group projects in courses such as “Sustainable University” have started exploring alternative lighting systems that would have lesser ecological footprint and reduce the overall GHG emissions from electricity generation and consumption at Clark. I

also talked with a staff member of the Office of Sustainability here at Clark and this is what the staff told me about the efficiency of the lamps installed in the AC over the summer:

“Just last summer we upgraded all the lighting systems in the AC and other buildings on campus. What we need to be thinking about now is switching to more energy efficient lights such as the LED” (Discussion with a staff of the Office of Sustainability).

The installation of energy efficient lamps at the AC would significantly reduce GHG emissions substantially and would serve as behavior change for students to imitate, which in turn would have exponential impact as students might influence their parents to make “smart energy” choices at home.

As a follow-up question to respondents’ satisfaction with the lighting system in the AC, I asked whether or not the AC lamps were efficient in turns of electricity consumption? Figure 10 shows respondents’ answered to the question whether or not the lamps in the AC are energy efficient. The result indicates 69% of respondents agreed that the lamps in the AC are energy efficient, while 31% did not agree that the AC lights were energy efficient. This result slightly corresponds with previous result on students’ satisfaction with the lamps at the AC. In both results, respondents’ who were neither satisfied nor think that the lamps in the AC were energy efficient claims that there are too many lights. A graduate student classified the lights in the AC as “excessive use” of electrical energy, which is not a sustainable behavior.

Figure 10: Energy efficient lamps

As a follow-up question to the previous two questions discussed above, I asked in a hypothetical scenario would you recommend to Physical Plant to change the lamps to more energy efficient lamps. The result shows identical trends in the past two questions related to how efficient the lamps are and how satisfied they were with the lamps at the AC. Figure 11 shows respondents’ agreement whether or not the lamps in the AC should be changed based on recommendations to more energy efficient lamps. The result shows that 30 respondents out of 55 respondents who answered the survey agreed that the lamps in the AC should not be changed; whereas, 25 respondents out of 55 indicated that changing the lamps in the AC to more energy efficient lamps would reduce GHG emissions significantly. These claims were made in follow-up questions with some respondents who expressed interest in further discussions.

Figure 11: Lamps Change in the AC

I also took photos of the lights at the AC to help explore the situation of what others considered to be excessive use of electricity and how we do not really need 161 CFL within 11,000 square foot-the total area of the Academic Commons. Figure 12 and 13 are digital photograph take during one of nights when I was collecting data from students in the AC. These photographs all show the arrangements of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) on the ceiling of the AC all emitting the same amount of lm/w. The question that races through my mind just by glancing at these two photos is “how much light do we need?”

Figure 12: AC lighting at night

Figure 13: Lighting at the AC

Now, I shifted my questions to explore conflicting ideas and perceptions among respondents about the claims of indiscriminate and excessive consumption of electricity through the lamps that is immediately observed the moment you enter enter the doors of the AC. I asked respondents to describe if possible, the AC’s electricity consumption through lighting and Figure 14 shows the results of the responses. This chart shows the actual response from respondents’ descriptions of electricity consumption through lighting in the AC. The result indicates that 14% of the respondents agreed that there are plenty of lights, while a little over 13% reported that the lighting systems in the AC is good for study. Additionally, about 11% of the respondents said that electricity consumption in the AC through lighting is inefficient followed by 10% who mentioned that the lights were designed in such a way to that it is “reminiscent” of the architecture of the AC and set it apart from other student centers in the City of Worcester. A little over 9% each said that the lightings are okay and needs improvement.

14: Respondents' descriptions of lighting use in the AC

In order to conclude this section of the results and discussion exploring respondents’ perceptions of electricity use in the AC through lightings, I respondents to list what would do they usually do when at the AC? Figure 15 shows the list of activities they engaged in while at the AC during the academic. It should be noted that this list is not exhaustive and could change depending on the sampling frame, time and day of the week as well as season of the year. Different population at the AC would yield different categories of activities that students engaged in whilst at the AC.

However, there would always be similarities on some categories as some students share similar interests and or activities. The result indicates that 33 respondents out of 55 survey respondents reported that they are usually at the AC when they are ready to book Escort Service to go home. These respondents seem to be those who usually study in the main library above the AC. This figure doesn’t speak much about the issues of electricity consumption through the use of lighting, but directs us to some of the interesting variables that students engaged when they are at the AC.

Figure 15: Respondents' activities at the AC.

Academic Commons Lighting Findings

In this section I present and discuss the findings that were derived from the data collected relative to electricity consumption through lighting systems at the AC. The AC currently has 161 Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) installed. The lamps are 30 Watts each and emit 1600 lumens with an efficiency of 53%. I used this information as the status quo against two separate hypothetical scenarios with the same brightness or lumens (as the constant) to determine how we could derive at a more efficient alternative for electricity consumption at the AC through lighting. Figure 16 shows each lamp that was considered in each scenario alone with their respective Watts. As initially discussed above, each of the lamps emit the same lumens per Watts to maintain consistency in brightness; that is, for the scenario 1 (S1), 100W/1600lm would yield an efficiency of 16%, whereas, for scenario 2 (S2), 20W/1600lm would also yield an efficiency of 80%. I already calculated the efficiency of the status quo (SQ) which is 53%. I based my calculations on the total number of lamps currently installed in the AC for CFL, which are about 161 for all two scenarios over the period of 365 days per year at 0.11 cent per kWh purchased from the National Grid.

Figure 16: Scenarios and types of Lamps

Using the base calculations above, I developed a Microsoft Excel 2010 database to calculate the electricity consume by in terms of Watts per lamp type, the efficiencies of the three scenarios (as described and calculated previously; that is, #lm/#W), lamp type by kilowatt hours per year, cost of electricity consumption through lighting for all three cases per year per 0.11 cent per kWh, energy savings by using efficient lamp and CO2 emissions in pounds (lbs.) and metric tons per year. These calculations were done through the use of the Excel database created and was shared with Dr. Agosta for consultative, directional and instructional purposes. The results are being presented in various charts and graphs. The presentation and discussion of findings are being presented as described above.

Figure 17 shows the Watt of electricity consumed through lighting per day by types of lamp for the total of 161 lamps in each scenario. The result shows that S1, which is the standard incandescent lamps consumed 16,100 Watts per 100 Watts lamp that burn. In the case, both the CFL and LED lamps consumed significantly lower Watts for all 161 lamps. The difference in terms of Watts consumed between both the LED and CFL lamps is 1610 Watts that if we replace every CFL with LED in the AC.

Figure 17: Watt consumed by types of lamp

Figure 18 shows electricity consumption through lighting systems for all three scenarios in kilowatt hours per year. The result indicates that if we were to use 1600lm/100w incandescent lamp for all 161 lamps that are currently installed in the AC, we would be consuming 141036kWh/year for scenario1; whereas, with the status quo 1600lm/30w CFL, we are currently consuming 42311kWh/year just for the Academic Commons in terms of electricity consumption through lighting. However, if we switched to 1600lm/20w AC LED Grid systems, we would be consuming 28207kWh/year for scenario2. The switch from CFL to LED would have saved us 14104kWh/year at the cost of $1551.44/year.

Figure 18: Types of Lamp by kWh/YEAR

Figure 19 shows the efficiencies of all three scenarios per types of lamp presented. The result demonstrates that AC LED Grid lights have an 80% efficiency rating as compared side-by-side with CFL and the standard incandescent lamps at the same lumens of 1600. The 20 Watts AC LED Grid lamps has efficiency difference of 23% more than the CFL and quadruple the efficiency of 100 Watts incandescent lamps, which emits the same amount of lumens. If we can switch the AC electricity consumption through lighting from CFL to 20 Watts AC LED Grid, we would be saving 23% of our current electricity demand that is being wasted through CFL. The only start-up cost that we will have to pay out front would be the cost of 20 Watts AC LED Grid. Each of the LED grid lamp cost $50.00 and has a lifespan of 60,000 to 70,000 hours.

Figure 19: Efficiency by types of lamp

Figure 20 shows the cost of electricity consumption through lighting per year compared side-by-side with types of lamp in each scenario. At Clark, the average cost per kWh for electricity consumption from the National Grid is 0.11 cent. Using this average cost, the cost for kWh/year for all there scenarios suggest that scenario1 yielded the highest cost per kWh which is $15,514.00/year; whereas, the status quo results into $4,654.00/year and scenario2 shows a total cost of $967.00/year. The difference that we would be saving in terms our electricity demand if we switch to LED is $3687.00/year.

Figure 20: Cost of electricity consumed to lighting/year

In the last two Figures (21 and 22), I present and discuss the emissions of CO2 in pounds (lbs. /year) and metric tons per year by types of lamp in each scenarios per kWh/year. The result in Figure 21 indicates that incandescent lamps which consumed 141036kWh/year emits 184193 lbs. of CO2/year; whereas, the compact fluorescent lamps that are currently installed and being used in the AC consumed a total of 42311kWh/year and emits 55258 lbs. of CO2/year, while LED lights consumed 28207kWh/year and emits 36838 lbs. of CO2/year. If we switched the lighting system from CFL to LED at the AC, we would be offsetting 18420 lbs. of CO2/year and also against 147355 lbs. of CO2/year if we switched from incandescent to LED.

Figure 21: lbs. of CO2 emitted/Year/kWh

Comparatively, the result in Figure 22 suggests that incandescent lamps which consumed 141036kWh/year emit 83.56 metric tons of CO2/year. Similarly, the compact fluorescent lamps that are currently installed and being used in the AC consumed a total of 42311kWh/year and emit 25.06 metric tons of CO2/year, while at the same time LED lights consumed 28207kWh/year and emit 16.71 metric tons of CO2/year. If we switched the lighting system from CFL to LED at the AC, we would be offsetting 8.35 metric tons of CO2/year and against 66.85 metric tons of CO2/year if we switched from incandescent to LED, which is 4(x) more metric tons of CO2/year emitted using LED.

Figure 22: Metric tons of CO2 emitted/Year/kWh

Conclusion

The Goddard Library is the building on campus that consumes a lot of energy and emits almost half of the greenhouse gas emissions on campus (ClarkU, 2007). The Academic Commons (AC) was recently added to the library complex as part of an initiative to install cutting-edge technology, architecture and design to the edifice. The AC is the busiest facility on campus that is mostly used by students, staff, and faculty as well as community members. The AC is open throughout the year 24 hours/day 7 days/week and occasionally during summer and winter breaks.

Students at the AC are sometimes there for socializing, conducting group meets, and meeting with faculty members for guidance and supervision, social networking and or “just hanging out” as one respondent indicated. As such, the lights in the facility are always illuminated even during sunny days when visibility in the facility does not require lighting. The compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) that are currently in the facility were installed last summer. However, based on personal observations, survey conducted amongst students and electricity consumption through lighting data analyses using three distinct and interrelated scenarios suggest that even though the lamps in the AC are 53% efficient, we can do more by upgrading the lighting systems to more efficient ones. Against this backdrop and based on findings discussed previously, there is urgency to reduce CO2 and other GHG emissions by installing more energy efficient lamps such as the 1600 lumens/20 Watts, which would yield efficiency of 80% and save Clark money as well as reducing our ecological footprint.

Works Cited

USBC. (2001). Statistical Abstract of the United States 2000, Washington, DC, US Bureau of the Census, US Government Printing Office.

ClarkU. (2007). An Assessment of Clark University's Environmental Impact. Worcester: Clark University.

ClarkU. (2009). The Clark University Climate Action Plan. Worcester: Clark University.

DOE. (2003). The Energy Smart Guide to Campus Cost Savings. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Energy.

EPA. (2007). Energy Trends in Selected Manufacturing Sectors: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmentally Preferable Energy Outcomes. Fairfax, VA: United States Environmental Protection Agency.

IPCC. (2001). Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. . Cambridge, UK: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

IPCC. (2007). Summary for Policymakers Cambridge, UK: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Pimentel, D., Pleasant, A., Barron, J., Gaudioso, J., Pollock, N., Chea, E., et al. (2003). U.S. Energy Conservation and Efficiency: Benefits and Costs. Journal of Environment, Development and Sustainability, 6, 279-305.

Rosenfeld, A. H., & Hafemeister, D. (1988). Energy-efficient Buidings.

Watson, R. T., Albritton, D. L., Barker, T., Bashmakov, I. A., Canziani, O., Christ, R., et al. (2001). IPCC Third Assessment Report. Wembley, United Kingdom: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

York, C. M. (1980). An Analysis of Energy Use on Community College Campuses. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, LBNL Paper LBL-11257.

How We Teach, How We Learn and Why That Matters for Sustainability?

2012-11-25T22:05:00.001-05:00

During this week, articles that we read centered on the broader questions of “how we teach, how we learn and why that matters for sustainability?” The chapter written by David Orr’s entitled “The discipline of problems and the problem of disciplines” approached these questions by exploring the disconnects, obliqueness, and the inabilities of our current educational systems of knowledge acquisition that is so restrictive, specialized in context and lacks transformative learning processes in the applicability of theorized knowledge and concepts as an integrative and holistic system. Orr argued that before intellectual and specialized knowledge can be taught, there is a need to firstly provide our students with the systemic approach of studying a particular subject. He suggested that they could learn about a particular subject or natural system using the system approach by exploring the subject in its entirety in relations to other systems. Orr also argued that it is not just the perception and orientation of allowing students to engage in service-learning projects or service based on internship experience or the experiential-learning approach, but such teaching should be based on a combination of projects-oriented learning programs and knowledge acquisition to learn the holistic parts of a particular system. For example, instead of students working on intellectual topics of interests, they could develop topics of interest based on a particular river system. Let say, one student could talk about the social mobility along a particular river system, disease categorization, another could develop a project on the chemical composition of the river water, another could discuss its biological characteristics, while another student could create a project on its landscape and yet another could study the agricultural processes along the river. Using this approach would not only detail intellectual and scientific knowledge about what has already been discussed about that particular river system, but also tells its story in its entirety bringing into the discussion issues that are usually not narrated in the conventional academic literature. However, one may argued that such learning methods proposed by Orr is already embedded within the instructional curriculum of most developing countries that are highly still depended on an agrarian economic system as well as in communities were “indigenous learning” or “environmental learning” forms part of the national instructional frameworks.

Romney’s article takes us through the discussion of how dialogues have become instrumental in the formation of peace-building process, conflict resolution initiatives as well as in the dissemination and acquisition of knowledge. The purpose of her paper is to “use art as a catalyst to engage the general public in the process of discussing potential challenges confronting the group or community at large” (Romney, p. 1). As much as artistic works can be considered as catalyst to enhance progressive change in which communities and its members can engage in challenging issue, we should be very cautious on how we frame the “other” that needs to be educated to the “We.” The question that needs to be asked in the article of the “West Side Story” that was planned to be staged at the Amherst Regional High School is that, who are those that were to be educated about the “others” that were been framed in the play? The exploration of this question from the perspectives of race, ethnicity and gender in sustainable development take us through the discussion of which we continue to use the story of the “others” to inform current paradigms, which in itself may reinforce sentimentality that we are trying the eliminate.

Works Cited

Orr, D. 1994. Earth in Mind. Ch. 14 The discipline of problems and the problem of disciplines.

Romney, P. The Art of Dialogue.

Racial Discrimination of ‘Black Refugees’ in Canada: A Review of the Literature

2012-11-16T23:28:00.002-05:00

Abstract

‘Black refugees’ have been racially profiled and discriminated on the basis of their skin color in most developed countries where they have been resettled. Over the last few years, black refugees most especially from Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have been racially discriminated against in Canada. Racial discrimination of black refugees in Canada is a crucial issue that needs to be addressed to ensure refugees’ rights are respected and dignified. It is also significant to eliminate the various levels of discriminations that follow at the workplace, accessing local and national services such as education, healthcare and fostering the process of cultural integration. The racialized discrimination of refugees is a violation of the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of which Canada is a signatory.

This literature review explored the current trends and dynamics of racial discrimination of black refugees from SSA living in Canada from both the human rights and humanitarian perspectives. The objective of this paper is to explore what has been documented in the literature on refugees and racism within the context of Canada, what actions have been taken from the human rights, legal and humanitarian paradigms to address racialized discrimination against refugees. The paper also investigated the issues that are lacking in the current literature on refugee and racism and what recommendations needed for future research.

Introduction

‘Black refugees’ have been racially profiled and discriminated against on the basis of their skin color in most developed countries where they have been resettled. Canada is one of those developed countries that has received refugees and other forced migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and other parts of the world within the last few decades (UNHCR 2010a, 2010b; Gebresellasie 1993; Richmond 1994).

A study has shown that black refugees immigrants are non-traditional immigrants in Canada unlike their counterpart from Europe and the United States have been discriminated in several forms (Gebresellasie 1993). Until 1973 there were fewer than 213 black refugees who were resettled in Canada and were nationally categorized as the “other” (Gebresellasie 1993). Canada is a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees. Canada as well as the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Norway are some of the very few developed countries that have resettled refugees in the last three to four decades (UN 1951; UNHCR 2010a).

Canada and other western countries have long discourage the resettlement of black refugees from Africa and would like for refugees from SSA and other Third World countries to be resettled somewhere else (Gebresellasie 1993; Richmond 1994). This have been done through the methodological process of racial discrimination initiated on the global scene through the apartheid against black refugees, but such attempt has failed (Richmond 1994, 1993).

Some of the ways in which refugees especially ‘black refugees’ in Canada have been racially profiled and discriminated against include, but not restricted to the government’s social welfare program and immigration policy, a system which isolate, alienate and deny refugees basic services (Richmond 1993, 1994; Gebresellasie 1993; Richmond 2000). One of several factors that promote racial discrimination is xenophobia and this is usually associated with stigmatizations, stereotypes, and hate that follows these racist perceptions, ideologies, stereotypes and xenophobic paradigms. This is important because refugees are human beings and should have equal access to resources to living, fulfilling and realizing their dreams and aspirations. Racial discriminations against black refugees is an important issue because refugees and asylum-seekers who are resettled in Canada in the name of protection have the rights under international refugee and humanitarian laws to achieve and realize their fundamental human rights and development. It is the host nation's responsibility to make sure that refugees' rights and needs are met just as any other citizen would.

The process of benefiting from social welfare and other public programs in some regions and cities in Canada were based on the premise of Canadian citizenship or permanent residence status, which discriminates against refugees and other forced migrants who to do not have legal status (Danso 2001; Novac 1996; Murdie et al. 1995; Richmond 2000). Refugees’ inability to access social welfare programs and services have caused some refugees to become homeless and perambulating the streets of Canadian cities begging randomly from people for monetary assistance, food, clothing, and other forms of assistance they can offer (Danso 2001; Aiken 1999). In some cases, those refugees who are undocumented find it even more difficult than those refugees who have their legal status. Those who are able to work find it extremely problematic to secure a job for a longer period of time because of their accent and their inability to read, speak and write well-structured English and or French. Most refugees end up in low-paying jobs that can barely pay their bills and cater to their families making it extremely challenging to be "self sufficient" and "reliant," which in turn contributes to their ultimate reliance on social welfare programs offer by the towns, city or state and charity from local, national and international organizations. Their dreams for a "well-founded lives" in Canada fall in dead soils."

For example, not until the early 1990s, refugees and other forced migrants in Ontario were not qualified to benefit from social welfare programs and services, which include access to healthcare, housing, employment and education because eligibility for these services and programs were based on the premise of citizenship or permanent residence status (Danso 2001). In Quebec, refugees were not qualified to benefit from the public housing programs because only those with citizenship and permanent residence status could benefit (Danso 2001; Richmond 2000). Novac (1996) confirmed that “racial discrimination against refugees and immigrants in Canada by studying immigrants' and refugees' enclaves and racial relations in Quebec” (p. 1). Refugees mostly from developing countries many of whom are people of color do not have access to financial resources are more likely to experience tremendous challenges to afford the financial capabilities needed to secure adequate and appropriate housing, healthcare and access to education especially so with the case of black refugees from Ethiopia and Rwanda (Murdie et al. 1995; Richmond 2000; Danso 2001; Adelman 1996).

Racial discrimination in northern societies including that of Canada is one that has developed over a long historic period, dominated by the "white supremacist society" and has since influenced and informed the formation of immigration policies domestically and internationally and is not in any ways mutually isolated from influencing the current refugee policy in Canada and other countries (Troper 1993; Richmond 1994). Refugees are not excluded from these exclusionary, white dominated and racist discriminatory policies (Richmond 1994; Danso 2001). In some countries mostly in the developed North, which include Canada, refugees and other forced migrants such as asylum-seekers, environmental-induce migrants and those with temporary protective status (TPS) like those in the US and Canada are exclusively consider as the “other” framing and subjecting them to societal and governmental discriminatory ideologies, policies, and practices (Richmond 2000).

In 2009, UNHCR identified and submitted to the resettling countries, which included Canada among others the approximately 128,000 refugees potential applicants for resettlement to a Third country (UNHCR 2010a). In that same year, UNHCR and its implementing agencies recorded 28 per cent increase in refugee admissions to a Third country, which is usually resettlement to a developed country. UNHCR estimates that “global resettlement needs approximately 747,000 persons, including populations where resettlement is envisioned over a period of several years” (UNHCR 2010a).

In the last few decades with the increase in global terrorism, the "Arab-Spring," increasing militarization and military coups in most SSA and land disputes between sovereign states, governments in developed countries have significantly increase restrictive measures on traditional migrants and forced migrants, which include refugees and asylum-seekers creating several discriminatory barriers and challenges in creating the perception and ideology of the "other" of which refugees have been classified, framed and categorized (Richmond 1994).

Cheran asserts that the relationship between race, labor and migration and the extent to which systemic racism continues to inform exclusionary refugee policies, particularly in settler societies of the North including that of Canada needs to be addressed and deconstructed in order for refugees’ rights to be realized (Aiken 1999; Cheran 2007). Migration is a key area where racism and discrimination continue to pervade all levels of public policies, institutional practices and national security concerns (Cheran 2007). Forced migrants especially refugees unlike other migrants have totally different issues, stories and experiences concerning their conditions for seeking refuge in another country (Cheran 2007; Richmond 1994). The United States, Canada, Australia, and the European Union (EU) have been cooperating by sharing information, gathering resources, and establishing intergovernmental and transnational organizations for the global control of migration flow of all sorts in creating the "other" and thereby excluding certain groups of people by those discriminatory criteria and measures (Richmond 1994, 1993).

In conclusion, refugees’ rights and freedoms should be viewed within the same framework as those of other Canadian citizen despite their "displaced status." Refugees must be protected by national and international human rights and international humanitarian laws to which signatory countries affixed their contract (UN 1951, 1969). Canada has developed within the last several decades the social, legal, political and cultural society that should foster equality and transparency before the law and not on the social construction of race and discriminatory policies, ideologies and practices that deny certain group of people on the basis of their race, ethnicity, nationality and culture.

Works cited

Adelman, Howard. 1996. "The Rights of Repatriation-Canadian Refugee Policy: The Case of Rwanda." International Migration Review no. 30 (1):289-309.

Aiken, Sharryn. 1999. "Diverse Perspectives on Refugee Issues: Racism and Canadian Refugee Policy." Refugee no. 18 (4):1-9.

Cheran, R. 2007. "Xeno-Raciam and International Migration." Refugee no. 19 (6):1-3.

Danso, Ransford. 2001. "From 'There' to 'Here': An Investigation of the Initial Settlement Experiences of the Ethiopian and Somali Refugees in Toronto." GeoJournal no. 55:3-14.

Gebresellasie, Yohannes. 1993. Canada's Response to Black African Immigrants. Canada's Periodical on Refugees, 2-5.

Murdie, R. A., A. S. Chambon, J. D. Hulchansk, and C. Teix eira. 1995. Housing Issues Facing Immigrants and Refugees in Greater Toronto: Initial Findings from the Jamaican, Polish and Somali Communities. In The Housing Question of the 'Others' Habitat II Research Conference. Ankara, Turkey.

Novac, Sylvia. 1996. "Immigrant Enclaves and Voices of Racialized." Canadian Women Studies no. 19 (3):88-93.

Richmond, Anthony H. 1993. "Open and Closed Borders: Is the New World Order Creating a System of Global Apartheid?" Refugee no. 13 (1):6-10.

———. 1994. "Refugees and Racism in Canada." Refugee no. 19 (6):12-20.

———. 2000. "Refugees, Inequality, and Human Development." Refugee no. 25 (2):212-217.

Troper, Harold. 1993. "Canada's Immigration Policy." International Journal no. 48 (2):255-281.

UN. 1951. Convention and Protocal Relating to the Status of Refugees. In un Convention and Protocol, edited by UN.

———. 1969. International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In 2106, Article 19, edited by UN. UN: UN.

UNHCR. 2010a. Progress Report on Resettlement. In Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme: Standing Committee 48th meeting. Geneva: UNHCR.

———. 2010b. "UNHCR Global Trends ".

The Links Between Universities and the Broader Economic System

2012-10-12T01:26:00.001-04:00

In this week’s readings, we read articles about the interconnections or links between higher education and the broader economy of the nation-state, in this case, the United States. Higher education, specifically, universities and colleges, have always play a significant role in shaping the economic landscape of a nation. In fact, the two extremes; that is, higher education and the economy are two aspects of the same coin and they can affect each other overtime. The following paragraphs are summaries of the main points that were briefly discussed in each articles related to the role of universities within the broader context of the economic system.

Galuszka’s made a compelling argument that state-run institutions of higher education have provided proven track records of excellence in various disciplines that are offer on their campuses specifically in Virginia and California. He asserted that there have been signification decreases in funding for state-run universities and colleges, which have impacted the cost of tuition imbalances between instate and out of state students. He added that this new paradigm has contributed to the low acceptance rate of instate students over out-of-state students who tend to pay more tuition. Galuszka also added that allowing the market to determine the price of college education is detrimental to the economy and institutions at large. However, economic liberalists would argue that allowing the market to determine the cost of tuition follow by less government intervention in the educational sector and other systems would promote efficient and competitive universities nationwide and in the long run, it would benefit the economy, a view that Galuszka’s article did not seem to agree with.

The Robertson’s article takes a similar approach, but asserts that in the midst of the declining funding for state colleges and universities and the current instability of the global economy, there is a need to restructure how financing higher education should be addressed. Unlike Galuszka, Robertson argues that allowing the market to determine the cost of college education would be an effective mechanism for colleges and universities to sustain their current programs and services in the midst of this harsh and unstable global economy.

The Stephens and McCauley’s article focuses on the utilization of sustainable green clustering and socio-technical transitions model as a mechanisms for effecting positive change in achieving sustainable energy transitions. The goal of their study is to enhance and promote the advancement of the socio-technical transitions towards green energy sustainability for regional development building one the theoretical frameworks of agglomeration of economies in relations to their proximity. In view of the widespread and universal occurrences of sustainable green clusters, Stephens and McCauley concluded that, it is essential to consider the advantages the model is worth and not just the promotion and enhancement of the green economy paradigm. They added that it sets the pace for achieving and facilitating the way for a more energy sustainable future.

The Kamenetz’s article on “College on Credit” dives into the issues and challenges of college financing by exploring increases in the cost of college education and how the cost of college education have skyrocket over the years. He argued that even though the cost of college education continue to increase almost every year, little has been done to restructure the process and product of the process. That is, the usual instructional environment in most colleges and universities where we still have the professor-centric approach in which a professor leads the instructional process and in some cases with minimum technological interventions; that is, with the use of PowerPoint presentations. He also noted that the increase in the cost of college education in recent years can be attributed in part to the retrofitting of college campuses and the inclusion of some technologies, modernized food courts as well as sport centers and libraries to make these campuses more accessible to the market of incoming college students.

Works Cited

Galuszka, Peter (2011). "The Invisible Hand of William & Mary?" Washington Post

Kamenetz (2006). Chapter 2: College On Credit."

McCauley, S. M and Stephens J. C. (2012). "Green energy clusters and socio-technical transitions: analysis of a sustainable energy cluster for regional economic development in Central Massachusetts, USA." Springer, Sustainability Science, Vol. 1, No. 1. ISBN:1862-4065

What is Sustainable University?

2012-10-12T01:11:00.004-04:00

The Sierra Club’s top 100 “Green University” this year was primarily based on energy use in colleges and universities in the United States. Even though the classification of American coolest universities and colleges was based on their efficient use of energy resources, the categorization and ranking also measured other sustainable practices of these institutions. The ranking included the following categories such as “efficiency, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, financial investments, and a catchall section titled other initiatives" (www.sierraclub.org). Through these rankings and the institutions’ energy supply, the ranking accessed the school's commitment and promotion to sustainability. I was surprise from the list of the rankings that Clark University was not even indicated amongst the 162 universities and colleges that answered the survey. It is important to participate in such a nationwide survey because it creates an opportunity for us to test our current energy use in the various categories and see how we could improve our current system to make it more energy efficient and less environmentally degradable. It is disheartening that Clark didn’t participate in the survey this year.

The questions that Selingo raised whether or not high education as we know it today, is gradually at a transitional phase in the midst of new innovations, technological advancements and development or if the current educational process would continue to be the hegemony. Over the past few decades, significant changes have taken place throughout the world among various universities and colleges. These changes in the broader sense are meant to facilitate the process of providing quality education, experiential learning experience as well as innovative skills. Nevertheless, the conventional notion of a professor-led instructional process still remains a dominant paradigm and would continue to the next 50 years without significant alteration of the entail region or country.

Clugston and Calder (1999) on the other hand looked are the evolution and development of sustainability within the system of higher education as well as the eco-justice movement that is closely associated with it. They argued that the definition of sustainability could be contextualized to each colleges and universities in regards to the kind of projects or activities they considered to be sustainable. They also asserted that there are close links between the economy of a particular country and region and the issue of sustainability. That is, sustainability is an aspect of economic development planning and assessment.

Work cited

Clugston, R. M. and Calder, W. (1999). "Critical Dimensions of Sustainability in Higher Education." Sustainability and University, Walter leal Filho ed., published by Peter Lang.

Selingo, Jeff (2012). "A Disrupted Higher-Ed System." The Chronicle of Higher Education, URL: http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/01/26/a-disrupted-higher-edu. Accessed:09/10/2012.

Sierra Club Green University Ranking (2012). Website: www.sierraclub.org. Accessed: 09/10/2012.

LOCAL INTEGRATION OF REFUGEES IN THE HOST COUNTRY: The Perspective of Liberians in Ghana

2012-09-21T23:49:00.001-04:00

Jenkins Macedo, BSc., in Geography & Sociology

Chief Investigator

Undergraduate Research Thesis in Sociology

Dr. Fortunata Makene, Ph.D., Department of Sociology

Worcester State University

2009

ABSTRACT

The refugee crisis is a universal phenomenon. The integration of refugees into the local communities pose a serious challenge both to the UN Refugee Agency, the governments of host countries, the local communities in which refugees are hosted and the refugees themselves. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the world’s refugee population is estimated to be about 14 million. This study investigated the integration of refugees in the host country and the impacts that warehousing refugees in camps has on the prospect of local integration. A total of 311 Liberian refugees at the Buduburam refugee camp participated in a survey in 2009. SPSS version 17 was used to analyze the data by conduction correlation analysis. We hypothesized that refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host has a relationship with their inability to locally integrate and lack of local integrate is influenced by warehousing refugees in camps. The evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship (R (253) = 0.292, P (0.000), Alpha (0.01) between refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host (M = 7.31, SD = 5.569) and their inability to locally integrate (M = 3.62, SD = 0.1.119). The evidence also suggests that there is a positive correlation (R (253) = 0.292, P (0.000), Alpha (0.01) between the warehousing of refugees in refugee camps (M = 7.31, SD = 5.569) and lack of integration (M = 3.62, SD = 0.1.119).

Key Words: Refugees, Refugee Warehousing, Integration, Resettlement, Voluntary Repatriation

URL: http://www.slideshare.net/jmacedo1/integrating-liberian-refugees-in-ghana-a-case-study-of-liberian-refugees-at-the-buduburam-refugee-camp-in-ghana

RETHINKING THE WAR IN IRAQ: A Human Impact Assessment

2012-09-21T23:25:00.001-04:00

Jenkins Macedo, BSc., in Geography & Sociology

Chief Investigator

An Undergraduate Research Paper
in Geography of the Middle East

2010

Dr. Mohamed Eskandari, Ph.D.,

Professor of Middle East Changing Environment

Department of Physical and Earth Sciences

Worcester State College

ABSTRACT

On March 20 2003, the United States and her allies invaded Iraq with a promise of bringing a better life by a change in the political system. Using the language of “preemption”, President George W. Bush justified the war based on the assumption that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and also had links with Al-Qaeda. These assumptions were used to conclude that Iraq posed an imminent national security threat to the United States and her allies in the region (Drasner, 2009).

According to Robert (2003), the British and Americans governments already had made up their minds to change the regime in Iraq and were only looking for some excuse. What was supposed to be a quick removal of Saddam Hussein has turned into a prolonged war with no end in sight. Needless to say, a prolonged war has taken its toll on ordinary Iraqis. This study assessed the human impacts of the war on Iraqis, such as health related issues, the use of Depleted Uranium (DU), interruptions in education, and forced migration in the forms of internal displacements and refugees. Analysis was based on secondary data collected from Iraq between 2002 and 2006 as reported in series of surveys conducted by “Medact” a UK-based global health charity. The central research question that was explored in the study is what were the human impacts of the war on the Iraqi people?

Key Words: Iraq, American Government, Middle East, Terrorism, Preemption, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), President George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, Al-Qaeda, National Security, Depleted Uranium.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WAREHOUSING REFUGEES: A Case Study of Liberian Refugees at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana

2012-09-21T23:07:00.001-04:00

Jenkins Macedo, BSc.,

Chief Investigator

An Undergraduate

Research Thesis in Geography

Dr. Stephen Healy, Ph.D.,

Department of Physical and Natural Sciences

Worcester State University

2010

ABSTRACT

Much of the literature on refugee warehousing and their impacts on the host country’s environment assumes that refugees are exceptional resource degraders. The dominant conceptualization of refugees’ impacts on the host country’s environment treats refugees as actors with destructive behaviors rather than seeing the degradation as a result of inappropriate government policies, inefficient humanitarian assistance, and the lack of effective plan by host countries to foster durable solution. This study challenged these assumptions through the use of a questionnaire directed at refugees at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana. The questionnaires concern the patterns of environmental resources use among refugees and was analyzed using SPSS version 17 to run regression and correlation tests for items pertaining to resource use with those pertaining to environmental degradation. We hypothesized that warehousing refugees in camps significantly influenced their impacts on the local environment of the host country. We also hypothesized that warehousing of refugees has a significant relationship with their inability to locally integrate in the host county. The result suggests that warehousing of refugees in camps (M= 2.55; SD = 0.969) significantly influence (F (2, 288) = 37. 687, P Value = (0.000)) the relationship between resource use (Agricultural activities M = 1.42; SD = 0.495 and firewood use M = 1.60; SD = 0.490) and environmental degradation. The evidence also indicates that there is a significant positive relationship (R (303) = 0.121, P Value of (0.036), Alpha (0.05) between warehousing refugees in organized camps (M = 2.58, SD = 0.975) and their inability to locally integrate in the host country (M = 1.88, SD = 0.839).

Key Words: Refugee Warehouse, Refugees, Environmental Degradation, Buduburam Refugee Camp

URL: http://www.slideshare.net/jmacedo1/macedo-the-environmental-impacts-of-warehousing-refugees-in-camps?related=1

Global Health, An Epidemiological Perspective: Strategic Interventions for the Reduction of Cholera in Haiti

2012-07-18T15:56:00.000-04:00

A Joint Report Submitted
To
Dr. Barbara Goldoftas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at Clark University
By

Jenkins Macedo (M.A. 2012)
Lydia Meintel-Wade (M.S. 2012)
Marcus Pasay (B.S. 2013)
David Safari (M.S. Cand., 2013)

Introduction

This chapter focuses on the cholera epidemic that began in Haiti in October 2010. This epidemic has been one of the most severe cholera outbreaks in history due to a variety of factors that promoted the quick and rampant spread of the disease. As of October 14, 2011, just one year after the initial outbreak began, the total numbers of reported cholera cases in Haiti are 437, 649 and still rising (WHO, 2011b).

The Republic of Haiti is situated in the western part of the Island of Hispaniola in the Great Antillean archipelago (WHO, 2011a). Haiti shares its border to the east with the Dominican Republic. Haiti achieved independence from France in 1804 after a long history of colonial rule by both France and Spain. During its colonial period, Haiti was very productive in sugar and coffee related products, which relied heavily on a slave labor force. The country’s long history of exploitation from colonial powers as well as political instabilities after independence resulted in social, environmental and economic problems (WHO, 2011a). The unsustainable extraction of natural resources during this period led to deforestation, topsoil depletion and other types of environmental degradation. These environmental problems persist today, making economic development difficult and exacerbating a number of current risk factors for disease.

This chapter is broken down into five sections including: Section I) Background of cholera and its historical context in Haiti, Section II) Population of study and social/environmental determinants of health, Section III) Short-term/immediate interventions for the cholera outbreak, Section IV) Intermediate stage interventions for the cholera outbreak and Section V) Long-term interventions for the cholera outbreak. Within each section there are subsections that go into detail about specific intervention techniques and how to implement these techniques.

The Disease

Cholera is a water-borne human intestinal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera. The disease is most often spread through the ingestion of food or water contaminated by the feces of a person infected with cholera. After infection by the bacteria, many people experience symptoms including fever, muscle cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting within hours. Without treatment, these symptoms lead to rapid dehydration that can result in shock or death within hours. Rapid dehydration and electrolyte loss caused by cholera can result in death in up to 50% of untreated cases (Farmer et al, 2011).

Cholera is most often found in areas with limited sanitation, poor water treatment systems or inadequate hygiene, but other environmental factors are also associated with outbreaks. The bacteria Vibrio cholera exists naturally in coastal and freshwater bodies. Under disadvantageous conditions such as low temperatures it enters into a dormant state in which it can remain viable and transmissible, meaning that cholera epidemics can result either from the contamination of a water supply by infected persons or by the transmission of an environmental strain to humans. Studies have shown a positive association between levels of chlorophyll, rainfall and cholera cases in India and Bangladesh (Colwell, 2010). Chlorophyll in water serves as a proxy measurement for the abundance of phytoplankton populations and is used as a proxy because the bacteria live in and on zooplankton, whose populations are directly related to phytoplankton levels (Colwell, 2010).

Reports of cholera-like diseases have been recorded since ancient times, but the first epidemic cholera outbreak that was defined as such began in 1817 in India and Southeast Asia (Reidl & Klose, 2002). In the past cholera was a serious health problem in the developed and wealthy populations of the world, including Europe and North America but increased access to medical care, prevention methods, and technological advancements in water and sanitation infrastructure in these areas has reduced its threat to almost nothing. There has not been an outbreak of cholera in Europe or North America since the early 1900s (CDC, 2011). However, many developing countries still have underdeveloped sanitation, water, and healthcare systems, which increases the danger of possible cholera outbreaks and their subsequent effects on local health and economies. Currently an estimated 3-5 million cases occur around the world each year, resulting in over 100,000 deaths (CDC, 2011). Cholera has been seen as a deadly infection that can be spread rapidly throughout a country if the conditions allow. In the case of Haiti, poor social and environmental conditions have created ideal conditions for the rampant spread of cholera making this one of the most deadly cholera epidemics on record.

Section I: Historical Context of Cholera in Haiti

Haiti has long been one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, which has greatly affected the health and wellbeing of the Haitian citizens. The health system in Haiti has never been very robust causing the country to have very high maternal and infant mortality rates (Farmer et al, 2011). Having high maternal and infant mortality rates along with weak sanitation conditions and water security indicate that the health system and infrastructure of the country is unstable and poor, making Haiti’s population and great example of a population that is extremely vulnerable to disease outbreaks. Before the cholera outbreak began in October of 2010, diarrheal diseases have been a significant cause of death in Haiti, especially among children.

Before the 2010 earthquake, many Haitians lived in impoverished conditions without access to treated water, adequate housing or sanitary living conditions. The lack of these services left a large portion of the population at risk of contracting both waterborne and airborne diseases. Even before the earthquake diarrheal diseases were a significant concern in Haiti; 22% of deaths of children under five years old were attributed to diarrheal diseases in 2008, making these diseases the second leading cause of death among children (WHO, 2011d). Also, approximately 40% of the population does not have access to latrines, which is a contributing factor to cholera outbreak as water sources become contaminated with human feces (ICM, 2010). The magnitude of the cholera outbreak after the earthquake in 2010 was intensified by the absence of these services.

The last cholera epidemic in that occurred in Latin America was a multi-country epidemic of greater than 1,000,000 reported cases and 10,000 reported deaths during 1991-1994 (Farmer et al, 2011). During this period Haiti and the Caribbean did not record any case of cholera outbreak (WHO, 2011). The first case of cholera reported in October 2010 in the department of Artibonite in the center of the country marked the first cholera epidemic in Haiti in over a century (WHO, 2010). Shortly after the first reported case, many other cases began showing up along the Artibonite River, where the initial spread of cholera was though to begin (Farmer et al, 2011). After the earthquake, a large portion of the population lacked access to clean and safe drinking water and basic sanitation as a result of internal migration, which allowed the disease to spread person-to-person and through contaminated water supplies (WHO, 2011 & IMC, 2010).

Section II: Population of study and social/environmental determinants of health

Population of the Study

Haiti’s population as a whole has been affected by the cholera epidemic, however there are several subpopulations within the country that may face elevated risk, including internally displaced people not in camps and those living along the Artibonite river (WHO, 2011). For instance, initially case-fatality rates ranged from 0.8%-7.7% throughout the country illustrating geographic disparities that have shaped the epidemic (Farmer et al, 2011). Interventions proposed in this paper pertain to the entire Haitian population, but those subpopulations that have been affected more should be specifically targeted with mitigation efforts and treated with more urgency according to their level of risk.

The cholera outbreak in Haiti has been one of the most explosive and deadly outbreaks in recent history with over 250,000 cases and 4,000 deaths within the first six month of the outbreak (Dowell and Braden, 2011). In Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, the disease has been found to have an attack rate of 7.8% compared to a global attack rate of 4.6% (WHO, 2011b). This high attack rate has illustrated the severity of the spread by indicating the amount of persons infected out of the total population exposed. This outbreak spread rapidly throughout the country and has been most severe in rural areas and large urban slums. This outbreak has been exacerbated by the displacement of thousands of people into slums that have little to no resources following the devastating earthquake that occurred in January 2010. Cholera has been detected in all 10 departments of Haiti and is mostly concentrated in urban areas where population is high. In more rural areas, while populations may be lower, case-fatality rates are extremely high because it is very difficult for this portion of the population to access basic heath care (Farmer et al, 2011). Those who were displaced by the earthquake and reside in makeshift settlements are particularly vulnerable to cholera due to lack of health care, water and proper sanitation.

The geographic layout of Haiti has had severe implications for the spread of cholera and the associated deaths. The topography of the land has created “hot spots” for cholera due to physical attributes of the land such as elevation and surface water location. For example, departments that boarder the Artibonite River have an increased number of cases compared to departments that do not boarder the Artibonite River because it is thought that this river is the source of cholera (CDC, 2010). Also, seasonality and weather patterns are of particular importance to those who are located in the south and southeast of the country because they are vulnerable to a resurgence of cholera due to an increase in precipitation caused by the rainy season that can create major flooding and enhance the spread of cholera (WHO, 2011b). Mountainous regions are considered to be a “hot spot” for cholera because often times they can only be reached after a half-a-day journey on foot making the entire village susceptible to infection (Butler, 2011). The mountains in the South East department have made it difficult to reach those affected by cholera resulting in this department having the highest case-fatality rate of 7.7% (Farmer et al, 2011).

Key Environmental and Social Determinants of Health

Environmental and social determinants of health have played a significant role in the way that cholera has spread throughout Haiti. In order to begin mitigating the spread of cholera we must take a closer look at these determinants to better understand their patterns and associations with the spread of cholera on a variety of scales ranging from the household level to the national level. The Haitian population was extremely vulnerable at the time of the cholera outbreak due to a lack of infrastructure for treated water, sanitation, and accessible medical facilities. From a variety of determinants associated with the spread of cholera, this paper will address access to treated water and sanitation as key social and environmental determinants, respectively.

Social determinants of health are thought to be social and economic conditions of an individual that affects their health and well being as a whole. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age including the health system that individuals have available to them (WHO, 2010). Often social determinants of health are shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources at the global, national, and local levels that are influenced by policy choices. Haiti has struggled with unequal distribution of money, power, and resources at the national level and internationally since its independence. The majority of the 77% percent of Haitians currently living below the poverty line do not have consistent access to safe drinking water as a result of their social and economic conditions (World Bank, 2011).

In 2002 Haiti ranked last out of 147 countries for water security according to the water poverty index, thus illustrating the need for clean water and distribution of clean water across the country (Farmer et al, 2011). The water poverty index is a tool developed to measure water stress at the community level to aid national decision makes to establish priority interventions regarding the water sector (Sullivan et al, 2003). Acute water shortages are thought to be one of the most significant catalysts of the cholera epidemic; political unrest at the time of the outbreak resulted in several roads being blockaded and barriers to equal distribution of treated water and aid (CMAJ, 2011). Even before the January 10 earthquake only about two thirds of the population of Port-au-Prince had access to tap water (Farmer et al, 2011), a proportion which was significantly decreased by the effects of the earthquake. During this time, access to improved water sources was even more limited in rural areas (~50%) (WHO, 2010). Increasing access to clean water for the entire Haitian population should be an immediate priority in order to mitigate the spread and severity of the cholera epidemic in Haiti.
Environmental determinants of health are closely linked with social determinants of health and are influenced by one another. Environmental determinants of health are often considered to be the physical, biological, and chemical components of the environment that affect the health of individuals and populations. In the case of Haiti and the cholera epidemic sanitation is an important environmental determinant of health because the lack of improved sanitation facilities contributed to the spread of the disease (Dowell and Braden, 2011).

Sanitation or lack thereof, is another issue that has promoted the spread of cholera in Haiti and is a result of the lack of financial and resource availability to Haiti in the global market. In the case of Haiti, the cholera epidemic will ultimately be controlled when the municipal and rural drinking water systems are effectively protected from contamination by sewage (Dowell et al, 2011). Before the earthquake in 2010, only half of the population in Port-au-Prince had access to latrines and other forms of modern sanitation compared to the rest of the country where only 17% of the population had access to adequate sanitation (Farmer et al, 2011). Proper hygiene associated with the use of soap and water has been thought to reduce the risk of diarrheal illnesses by 47% (Cairncross, 2003; in Farmer et al, 2011). Even though soap is relatively cheap (US$0.50 in Haiti) most Haitians live on only US$1.25 a day, an income that makes the cost of soap a considerable financial burden (Farmer et al, 2011). Improving the sanitation conditions in which Haitians live, specifically targeting solid waste treatment and the separation of drinking and sewage water is of the utmost importance for controlling the cholera epidemic.

Section III: Short term/immediate interventions for cholera

Introduction

The outbreak of cholera in an area requires immediate response to prevent rapid spread of the disease. Rapid response is especially important for this disease, because it can result in mortality within hours of the first symptoms and many people in Haiti cannot access to medical care quickly enough if at all. Within four weeks of the first confirmed in the Artibonite province of Haiti on October 19, 2010, the disease had reached all 10 provinces in Haiti and had spread to the neighboring Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola. By December 31^st of that year 179,379 persons had contracted cholera and 3,990 of these had died, according to the Haitian Ministry of Public Health (WHO, 2011b). The remarkable speed of the epidemic’s spread demonstrates that immediate interventions need to be put in place by health officials in order to minimize loss of life.

This section proposes short-term interventions discussed in infectious disease literature with a focus on improving hygiene and sanitation and increasing public awareness to take immediate precautions in order to prevent transmission of cholera. The implementation of short term interventions such as these can enables the Ministry of Health to slow the spread of the epidemic immediately while planning medium and long term interventions to eliminate the disease.

Vaccination

Vaccination of cholera can be administered by injection or oral ingestion. The injectable form although its side effectiveness and limited effectiveness have made it inappropriate for mass vaccinations. Cholera can also be prevented using oral vaccines, which have proved to be more effective and have no side effects. The oral vaccines have two major types (Dukoral and Shanchol) and all the two medicines require two dozes, given two weeks apart. The World Health Organizations has licensed Dukoral vaccine in over 60 countries due to its effectiveness (WHO, 2010a). This vaccine has been shown to provide short-term protection of 85–90% against V. cholerae O1 among all age groups at 4–6 months following immunization. However, Dukoral has to be mixed with a buffer before being swallowed, while Shanchol is just a couple of milliliters of solution that can be dropped into the mouth like a polio vaccine. Logistically, the latter would be easier, and it would be affordable at around $2per dose (Medecins Sans Frontieres, Field News, 2011).

Surveillance

Strengthening surveillance and early warning greatly helps in detecting the first cases and put in place control measures. Health officials needed daily reports to monitor the epidemic spread and to position cholera prevention and treatment resources across the country. In the first week of the outbreak, Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population's director general collected daily reports by telephone from health facilities and reported results to the press. On November 1, formal national cholera surveillance began, and MSPP began posting reports on its website. Reported cases decreased substantially in January, and the national CFR of hospitalized case-patients fell below 1%. As of July 31, 2011, a total of 419,511 cases, 222,359 hospitalized case-patients, and 5,968 deaths had been reported (Tappero and Tauxe, 2011). Surveillance such as this can help in planning for better a better intervention approach.

Water and Sanitation

To achieve better control strategies, all the partners involved should be properly coordinated and water and sanitation should be included as key tools in controlling cholera epidemic. Provision of safe water in areas that experience shortage is critical in preventing emergence of new cases. Affected communities should be encouraged to boil in the short term and keep drinking water in clean containers. The public should also be directed to wash their hands with soap before eating and after using toilets or pit latrines. Soap kills bacteria on the skin during the process of washing. This stops contamination of food, water and transmission of the bacteria from one person to another.

Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS)

Efficient treatment can be achieved by prompt rehydration using oral rehydration salts (ORS) or intravenous fluids, depending on severity of cases. Due to diarrhoea, cholera patients normally lose a lot of water from their bodies and they require to replace water lost by taking fluids. Very dehydrated patients are treated through the administration of intravenous fluids, preferably Ring lactate. For children aged 5 years and below, supplementary administration of zinc has proven effective in reducing duration of diarrhea (WHO, 2007). The mortality rate of cholera can be reduced to less than 1% by the adequate replacement of fluids and electrolytes. A mixture of glucose and salt solution allows oral replacement of electrolytes and makes treatment of the disease (particular in rural areas) much more effective. Also, the use of any digestible carbohydrate together with NaCl appears to be effective for electrolyte replacement.

Information dissemination and community participation

Health departments should endeavor to make announcements about affected areas so that the public is aware in order to prevent the spread of cholera epidemic. Communication channels such as televisions, radios, newspapers and announcements in schools, churches and other social gathering places helps in taking necessary precautions to reduce the spread of cholera (Keraka and Wamicha, 2003). According to UN-Habitat and Gender Water Alliance (2005), community participation is becoming a central issue in modern times. The participation of both women and men in planning and decision making processes are the key elements for ownership and sustainability of water and sanitation projects at community level. The involvement of volunteers from the affected and surrounding populations plays a vital role in curbing down cholera epidemic. It also supports the health workforce to manage the rapidly spreading epidemic.

Section IV: Intermediate interventions for cholera

Introduction

When an epidemic strikes, or indeed any disaster, there is often a large influx of foreign aid to help with the emergency. This was the case when Haiti experienced an earthquake and cholera epidemic within ten months and many nations, multinational agencies and nongovernmental organizations rapidly came to the country’s aid. However, this aid will not last forever: aid is usually aimed at mitigating the acute effects of a disaster and is not generally maintained once the crisis is contained. Cholera can persist in a region because the bacteria can remain viable in natural water bodies in a dormant state when seasonal conditions are unfavorable and multiply when conditions improve, producing a resurgence of the disease (Colwell, 2010). In Haiti, transmission continued at a reduced rate in 2011 and resulted in at least one large outbreak in the New Year (Tappero & Tauxe, 2011). Studies have shown a significant relationship between rainfall and cholera cases (Colwell, 2010), which indicates that cholera may continue to increase seasonally in the coming years in Haiti, which it did in Haiti during the rainy season of 2011 (Tappero & Tauxe, 2011). Given the deficit of effective sanitation and medical infrastructure in the country, it is necessary to plan for direct interventions into a variety of sectors of society that will impact health in the period after the epidemic and before Haiti acquires the economic means for significant infrastructure development.

This section offers suggestions of interventions for the “medium-term,” meaning the time period after the end of the epidemic and continuing until major changes in Haitian infrastructure can be financed and implemented. It is in this period that we find ourselves now: the cholera transmission rate in Haiti has decreased and a portion of the population has been immunized by natural infection but a large percentage of the population is still at risk (Tappero and Tauxe, 2011). Considering the Haiti’s poor economic state and the fact that the influx of aid experienced at the start of the epidemic can not be expected to continue indefinitely, it is essential that these interventions be very low cost and be implementable on small regional scales at the level of the nongovernmental organization. The following sections offer interventions for toilets, water treatment, and education, which fit these criteria.

Toilets

Sanitation and specifically sewage treatment will continue to be principal concerns during the medium term. During the year following the earthquake an estimated 13,000 latrines were installed by humanitarian organizations in Haiti, most in IDP camps (Elhofy, 2011). This intensity of installation should be continued in the wake of the cholera epidemic, but it will be important to expand the focus of sanitation efforts beyond the camps. Considering that only 24% of Haitians had basic sewage in 2004, long before the earthquake, it seems clear that it is not only internally displaced people who are at risk due to inadequate sewage facilities but a majority of the population (Farmer, 2011). At this point attention must be given to other populations in need who experience elevated risk and vulnerability, especially the most poor. Rural areas are less equipped to manage their waste in a sanitary way than urban areas, in which rates of access to improved sanitation facilities are higher (WHO, 2010). Additionally, the slums of Port-au-Prince are also densely populated with impoverished people, but lack the infrastructural support provided to IDP camps. Both the number of latrines available and the overall incidence of cholera in these slums is a critical concern that should be addressed (Elhofy, 2011).

Ultimately the construction of permanent underground sewage systems would be the preferred intervention for toilet access as a determinant of health. However, such systems take a significant amount of funding and time to be constructed and in the medium term Haiti needs to increase the number of sanitary latrines available to the public in order to reduce cholera incidence. During this period of time, the development of pit latrines would strengthen sanitation infrastructure in rural areas (Farmer, 2011). This type of toilet consists of a pit dug into the ground and covered with a hole left for excrement to fall through. It is important for this hole to be left clean and covered at all times when it is not in use, as flies will be attracted to the latrines and can easily spread cholera from infected excrement to human foods (WHO, 2011c). Building a closed shelter to protect the latrine can further protect against transmission by flies, especially because flies avoid darkness and dark surfaces. Pit latrines are optimal for rural Haiti because they are the cheapest and most simple intervention for improved sanitation (WHO, 2011c). Among dense urban populations, above-ground sewage tanks are a more practical solution for the medium-term. This type of intervention would be mobile and easily transported to target areas such as urban slums, but a safe location for the deposition of the waste collected in these tanks would have to be developed.

Water Treatment

As has been discussed, the primary mode of transmission for cholera is through contaminated water supplies. More than 50% percent of both urban and rural Haitian populations are without reliable access to potable water; only 11% of have water in the home, 42% access water from public fountains and more than 30% acquire water from an unprotected supply (Global Development Alliance, 2008). Many studies in developing countries have shown that even in impoverished circumstances it can be realistic to develop effective interventions into water treatment. According to Agrawal and Bhalwar, “There is now conclusive evidence that simple, acceptable, low cost interventions at the household and community level are capable of dramatically improving the microbial quality of household stored water and reducing the risks of diarrheal disease (2009).” In their article about low-cost water treatment interventions the provided the following table, which presents a comparison of various treatment options on the basis of availability and practicality, cost, and efficiency at microbial removal:

(Agrawal & Bhalwar, 2009)

To reduce cholera transmission among the Haitian population, the majority of which cannot afford expensive private treatment systems, those interventions that this study and other published papers have considered to be low cost should be considered most realistic. Unfortunately, considering efficacy as the only priority will result in the selection of expensive interventions to which most Haitians will not be able to achieve access.

As shown in the table above, both exposure to sunlight and plain sedimentation are low-cost interventions. However, the low efficacy of plain sedimentation methods at removing bacteria makes it a sub-optimal choice. Boiling, the cost of which depends on fuel type, is a very popular solution to water quality problems in developing countries and results in the removal of a high percentage of biological contaminants. Boiling is simple and a method of sanitation that is already culturally accepted. However, it is not the best intervention for Haiti because fossil fuels are expensive and fuel wood burning—the most popular method of heating water in Haiti—would result an increase in the rate of deforestation which could be detrimental to the environment and economy. It would be appropriate to advise the public to boil water at the beginning of an outbreak before they could be trained in less familiar treatment methods, but disinfection by boiling is not sustainable for the medium or long term. Water treatment through the effects of solar radiation and temperature, listed as “exposure to sunlight” above, remains the most appropriate medium term intervention for the economic and ecological realities of Haiti. Additionally, in-home disinfection using chlorine products is a proven method that could be economically practical for Haiti in the interim (Tappero & Tauxe, 2011), especially if low concentrations of household bleach were used rather than expensive chlorine tablets.

Education

Education of Haitian community members and community health workers is important both during the outbreak and following it. The initial educational response included trainings-of-trainers by the Center for Disease Control on cholera treatment, the training and support of about 10,000 community health workers by the Haitian government and other organizations to support treatment and prevention efforts (Tappero & Tauxe, 2011). These community health workers were educated about triage for people showing symptoms of cholera, making and using ORS, prevention by disinfection and water treatment methods. Similar information was posted on the CDC website and educational posters and radio and television announcements were produced to educate the public about basic prevention, detection and treatment methods.

In the medium term it is important that information about cholera become common knowledge. This not be difficult to achieve if treatment and santitation education are incorporated into childhood education and efforts to inform the public through print, radio, television and community outreach programs is continued. Making cholera education a mandatory part of primary and secondary education will reinforce alternative education efforts and raise a generation better equipped to deal with the continued presence of the disease. Although the education of thousands of health workers was a significant feat, it is important that education continue in order to dispel misconceptions and bring knowledge to the most marginalized of Haitians. Lastly, it is very important that educational materials going forward be produced both in French and Creole as well as being represented in a visual form on posters and signs so that francophone, creole-speaking and illiterate segments of the population can be reached.

Section: IV: Long-term interventions for cholera

Introduction

The purpose of this long term intervention strategies is to reduce and control the spread of the disease. Cholera is a diarrheic illness caused by a toxigenic bacterium of the Vibrio cholerae species (Jouravlev 2004). The outbreak of the disease in Haiti has caused thousands of deaths within few months since its introduction. Direct infection from person to person is probably very rare, although this may occur in close contacts within the home or as a result of contacting waste excrement of infected persons (Jouravlev 2004). Specific to the Haitian case, improved sanitation, access to clean drinking water and health resources were non-existent before the earthquake (Njoh 2010). Studies have found that the disease was introduced by UN Volunteers from Nepal (Chao 2011; Chin et al. 2011). Our goal in this long term intervention is to prevent the continuous spread of the disease nationally.

Improved sanitation and water facilities

Haiti is ranked 142 as one of the poorest countries in the developing world with poor health and sanitation infrastructures (Nielsen 2011). As such, Haiti qualifies as one of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) to receive monetary assistance from International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to address issues related to poverty reduction, good governance and improving the living standards of its citizens (IMF 2009). Before the earthquake in 2010, the country’s social, economic, environmental and political systems were degraded. It is estimated that as of 2010, about 80% of the total population of Haiti’s 10 million people live without access to improved sanitation facility; whereas, about 40% of the total population were without access to clean drinking water (WHO 2010). These statistics point to why developing and implementing long-term cholera intervention strategy is significant for the control of Cholera.

The proper disposal and management of solid waste is a problem in almost all countries most especially in developing countries where the lack improved sanitary infrastructure is a challenge. Water-borne diseases related to inadequate water supply and sanitation is among others as the leading cause of deaths in the developing world (Fewtrell et al. 2004). The establishment and implementation of modern sanitation facilities in solid waste disposal and management throughout the country assist decrease the spread of the disease.

Solid waste disposal and management is crucial in controlling the spread of cholera because the bacterium that causes the disease lives in decomposing waste materials. When solid wastes are not properly disposed and managed in facilities where they are treated, it causes the bacterium of the disease to spread. In this way, solid waste becomes environmental drivers for the spread of the disease. Our improved sanitary strategy proposed in this section will allow us to address the issue of solid waste as environmental drivers for the spread of the disease. This will allow us to develop provide dumpsters throughout every community to properly collect, dispose and manage solid waste. Collected waste will be dumped at a designated landfill where it will undergo mechanical and chemical treatments. This method will decrease significantly the amount of disease carrying pathogens in water sources and thereby decreasing the future outbreaks of cholera and other water-borne diseases (Kremer et al. 2005). In the extreme case, we will design and develop a waste incinerator that will be used to burn waste to generate electricity for the country, thus reducing the amount of waste disposed in the designated landfills.

Also, a sanitation police will be set up by the Ministry of Environment to routinely patrol in urban and rural communities to ensure that environmental safety procedures are followed. The sanitation police will work with local authorities to ensure that wastes are not openly dispose. A fine will be imposed on individuals or communities that are found violating these standards and regulations.

Improved toilet facilities

It is estimated that about 50% urban and 80% rural communities in Haiti lack access to improved sanitation facilities, which include improved toilets facilities (WHO 2010b). As a result, these isolated communities use the outskirts of their communities as toilet areas for the disposal of human excrement, which in turn could serve as potential environmental risk factors for the spread of illness. To address these issues, we’ve decided to design implement a nationwide project to build a robust toilet facilities in communities to reduce the immediate and long-term impacts of disposing human excrement on the environment. It is our goal to work with the Ministry of Health and Population as well as Public Works of Haiti to design strategies on how to convert the human excrement into useable goods such as manure and fertilizers to boost local agriculture.

Water treatment and distribution

Water is a fundamental aspect of human existence. However, access to clean drinking water continues to be a global phenomenon as climate change and global warming continue to impact our natural systems of clean and fresh water sources (Thompson 2003). It is estimated that about1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water. Almost two in three people lack access to clean water and survive on less than $2 a day (UNDP 2006). In Haiti, 59% of the entire population lives without access to improved water system (WHO 2010b), which is a challenging problem and contributing factor to the widespread of infectious diseases. This proposed intervention will include the establishment of a national water treatment and purification plant that will make clean water available to every household. The public and private sectors will collaborate to ensure that purified water are freely distributed and accounted for. Local communities will be involved in this process at community levels to ensure that the available water resource is used wisely and efficiently.

Improved health care system

As part of our long term intervention, we are established a comprehensive health care system, which will involve the public and private health sectors. The emphasis of this comprehensive system is such that, with the involvement of both groups in addressing the health needs of Haitians, we will be using a holistic approach in tackling the disease. This will include the provisions of funds for the education and training of community health workers. This is important because Haiti is in drastic need of medical personnel. Investment in the health care sector will not only produce a productive and healthy workforce, but also create a vigorous system in which access to information, prevention, and treatment will be ensured.

Furthermore, access to advance medical supplies is a challenge in Haiti. We will invest in this sector by working closely with state and non-state actors in providing medical supplies. These medical supplies and equipment will include the provision of emergency response vehicles, medicines, and storage facilities. We will work closely with international institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the American Red Cross (ARC) for assistance in providing medical supplies and equipment.

National education and awareness

Education is considered as the vehicle of change, which can lead a transformative society at all spectrum of the development discourse if implemented in response to the needs of the population it seeks to target. On this note, as development practitioners as well as medical experts, we will work closely with the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Population to design, strategize and structure a curriculum framework that will incorporate cholera education. This curriculum will be taught at all levels in primary and secondary schools to reinforce our campaign in eliminating cholera and other infectious diseases.

We will also provide funding to teachers who are willing to pursue professional development courses or a degree in the health sciences and who in term will serve by teaching after their completion. This will be carefully administered so that other areas of the economy cannot be impacted by the influx of teachers in the health science sector. There will be a limited intake of teachers per year as to be determined by both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Population. Applicants that will benefit from this scheme will have to conduct an academic research in the field of health science upon completion to contribute to the academics on health issues in the region.

National disaster preparedness and response

The 2010 earthquake and its aftermath generated sufficient evidence why our proposal for national disaster preparedness and response is essential. The government of Haiti before the earthquake lack substantial resources and this was partly due to the lack of good governance, corruption, and instabilities. We are proposing that the institutionalization of a national disaster preparedness and response unit is essential to address immediate emergency issues.

Our plan to this approach of emergency preparedness and response will include the construction of bunkers throughout major cities that will have the capacity to host thousands of displaced people during the event of a disaster or emergency. This will assist in reducing the spread of the disease. Our plan also envisage a system of training, professional development and public education about disaster preparedness and response.

Furthermore, we will work with the state, local and international organizations to fund and train Crisis Counselors with the appropriate skills in conducting psychological first aid (PSA) with communities and individuals impacted by disaster. These crisis counselors will work with local and international agencies to counsel victims and direct them to resources where they can access further help if needed. Those who need further mental health counseling caused by the death of love ones, friends, or the loss of properties will be referred to the appropriate mental health counselor in their area.

Financial Investment for Long-Term Interventions

The design, organization and implementation of these strategies in our long-term cholera intervention wouldn’t be achieved if we don’t mention how we seek to fund it. We will work with local, international, and government agencies to raise awareness and the need to act. Specific monetary appears will be made to international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other leading agencies and foundations that are concern with health and sanitation issues. Funds generated through donations and foreign aid will be deposited into a specialized bank account created specifically for this project.

Conclusion

The severity and rapid spread of the recent cholera epidemic in Haiti was influenced by a number of determinants of health in the impoverished country. Sanitation and access to treated water were key determinants which both influenced the risk experienced by individuals and limited the ability of the population to slow transmission of the disease. In Haiti, where access to clean water and sanitation are extremely limited, it is expected that endemic transition of the disease could continue for years and result in an even greater loss of life (Tappero & Tauxe, 2011). A large variety of public health interventions have been and can be implemented to contain the epidemic and work towards eradicating endemic cholera, especially those which will improve sanitation and water treatment infrastructure. Knowledge pertaining to the introduction, amplification and eventual reduction of the cholera epidemic in Haiti can contribute to sanitation and disease management policies domestically and in other countries to reduce the frequency effect of such epidemics. Additionally, the infrastructure improvements implemented in response to this outbreak can reduce deaths due to other common diarrheal diseases after the epidemic is contained and contribute to improved public health in Haiti.

Works Cited

Agrawal, Col V. K. and B. R. Bhalwar. 2009. “Household water purification: Low-cost interventions.” MJAFI no. 65: 260-263.

Alix Peterson Zwane, and Michael Kremer. 2005. "What Works in Fighting Diarrheal Diseases in Developing Countries? A Critical Review."

BBC. 2011. Haiti cholera victims demand UN compensation. URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15648110. Accessed: 11/10/2011.

Butler, Decan. 2011. “No Quick Fix for Cholera in Haiti”. Nature. no. 478, 295-296 doi:10.1038/478295a

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 2011 "Center for Disease Control and Prevention General Information."

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 2010 "Acute Watery Diarrhea and Cholera: Haiti pre-decision brief for public Health."

Chao, D. L., Hallorana, M. E., Longini, Jr., I. M. . 2011. "Vaccination strategies for epidemic cholera in Haiti with implications for the developing world." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America no. 108 (17):7081-5. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1102149108.

Chin, C. S., J. Sorenson, J. B. Harris, W. P. Robins, R. C. Charles, R. R. Jean-Charles, J. Bullard, D. R. Webster, A. Kasarskis, P. Peluso, E. E. Paxinos, Y. Yamaichi, S. B. Calderwood, J. J. Mekalanos, E. E. Schadt, and M. K. Waldor. 2011. "The origin of the Haitian cholera outbreak strain." The New England journal of medicine no. 364 (1):33- 42. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1012928.

Colwell, Rita. 2010. "The intricate connection of cholera, climate and public health." On the Water Front no. 9:1-8.

Dowell, Scott, and Christopher Braden. 2011. "Implication of the introduction of cholera to Haiti." Emerging Infectious Diseases no. 7 (17): 1299-1300.

Elhofy, Ashraf. 2011. “Understanding the cholera epidemic in Haiti: Comparing disease focused, with a complex adaptive systems [CAS] approach.” Resilience: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Science and Humanitarianism no. 2: 94-106.

Farmer, Paul, Almazor CP, Bahnsen ET, Barry D, Bazile J, et al. 2011 “Meeting cholera's challenge to Haiti and the world: a joint statement on cholera prevention and care”. PLoS Negl Trop Diseases no. 5 (5): 1-13.

IMF. 2009. "Haiti: Enhanced Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Completion Point Document." IMF Country Report no. 9 (28).

Jouravlev, Andrei. 2004. "Drinking water supply and sanitation services on the threshold of the XXI century." CEPAL.

Keraka, Margaret Nyanchoka and Wamicha, W. N. 2003. “Child Morbidity and Mortality in Slum Environments along Nairobi River.” Eastern Africa Social Science Research Review Project MUSE”

Lorna Fewtrell, and Jr. John M. Colford. 2004. "Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: Interventions and Diarrhoea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis."

Medecins Sans Frontieres. 2011 “Haiti: Cholera Vaccines One Possible Option For Preventing More Outbreaks” Field News

Nielsen, Lynge. 2011. "Classifications of Countries Based on Their Level of Development: How it is Done and How it Could be Done." IMF Working Paper.

Njoh, Malange Ernest. 2010. "The Cholera Epidemic and Barriers to Healthy Hygiene and Sanitation in Cameroon: A Protocol Study." Medical Research.

Reidl, Joachim and Karl Klose. 2002 “Vibrio cholera and cholera: out of the water and into the host.” FEMS Microbiology Reviews. 26. no. 2. (26): 125-139. Sullivan, C., Meigh, J. and Giacomello, A. 2003, The Water Poverty Index: Development and application at the community scale. Natural Resources Forum, no 27: 189–199. doi: 10.1111/1477-8947.00054

Tappero, J. and R. Tauxe. 2011. “Lessons Learned during Public Health Response to Cholera Epidemic in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.” Emerging Infectious Diseases 17, no. 11: 2087-2083.

Thompson, T., Sobsey, M., Bartram, J. 2003. "Providing clean water, keeping water clean: an integrated approach." International journal of environmental health research no. 13:S89- 94. doi: 10.1080/0960312031000102840.

UNDP. 2006. "Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis." Human Development Report. UN-HABITAT. 2005 “Gender Water Alliance” Water and Sanitation for Cities

Global Development Alliance (GDA). 2008. “Experiences in Haiti, Ethiopia, and Pakistan: Lessons for future water treatment programs.” USAID and Safe Drinking Water Alliance.

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26 MARCH 2010, 85th YEAR / 26 MARS 2010, 85e ANNÉE

No. 13, 2010, 85, 117–128

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Ethics, Human Conduct and Values: Slavery’s Pleasant Homes

2012-07-18T15:02:00.004-04:00

Ethics, Human Conduct and Values:

Slavery’s Pleasant Homes

Slavery’s Pleasant Homes told by L. M. Child is a sorrowful story that presents a clear picture of how racism, slavery, marriage, and classism as institutions were used by Frederic Dalcho to oppress and humiliate George, Rosa, Mars and Marion. The purpose of this paper is to discuss, investigate and analyze all the major elements in the story and how these elements can be linked to the various characters such as Frederic and George Dalcho, Mars, Marion and Rosa. This paper seeks to investigate who is morally culpable for perpetrating the worst thing that humanity has ever encounter. It is also my goal to recommend possible power structures that can be substituted for those which existed in the story. I also attempt to address current sexist, racist and classist practices that are demonstrated in the United States and how these practices promote and encourage oppression, male supremacy, violence, and the exploitation of the powerless, weak, poor, unprivileged and vulnerable population. In order to fully understand each element in the story “Slavery’s Pleasant Homes” and how these can be attributed to each of the other characters in the story and their moral implications, it is also important to briefly state and connect the major events in the story to their moral significance. Therefore, I attempt to find out whether or not Frederic’s actions were morally ethical?

Frederic Dalcho was a rich man who lived in the south in Georgia and was married to a young and beautiful lady name Marion who also had two servants to her possession. These two servants may have been given to her by her parents as a family arrangement to serve in her newly wedded home. Frederic was probably the son of a rich man who may have died and left all the wealth in his possession as well as slaves even though he also has other siblings probably from a different mother. According to the story “Slavery’s Pleasant Homes,” he also has a brother by the name of George who is likely from his father side. It is assumed that George made have been from a different mother meaning that he might have had a different skin color.

Frederic enslaved his own brother George and considered him his favorite slave. Isn’t that immoral? How could someone who claims to be a good and respected person in the community enslave his own brother, because they both never came from the same parents? It can be assumed from the story that Frederic’s wickedness to his own brother may have been grounded on the basis of racism; George’s mother was a black woman. He expressed his hate for his brother after noting that George and Rosa fell in love with each other. Even though he has his wife who is also beautiful and intelligent, he desired to forcefully rape, torture, beat and subsequently murder Rosa, because she refused to go out with him or resisted having sexual intercourse with him when he tried to rape her. His actions, according to Kant’s moral theory, contradicted that of goodwill and portrayed example of extreme wickedness. Kant best described his behavior in the following word, “behaving contrary to duty is considered an immoral actions; whereas, or merely in accordance with duty or out of a sense of duty, as when we identify rationally the rule that tells us the right thing to do, and we do it” (Waters, 2008).

Dealing with others fairly is a moral responsibility that we all should strive for if we want to achieve a good moral standard. She furthered noted by commenting on Kant’s moral theory stating that “we have varieties of duties: to be honest, to deal with others fairly, to be good to each other (beneficent), to refrain from being bad to each other, to try to see that justice is done” (Waters, 2008). To Kant, Frederic’s actions and behavior would be considered unethical and morally wrong, because he enslaved his own brother, disrespected his wife by raping, abusing and murdering his slave girl . His intentions in committing these acts were based on a well-founded desire to achieve a set end, which eventually lead to pains and sufferings of his subjects. Slavery, racism, sexism, marriage and classism were institutions that Frederic promoted in order to oppress and exploit his subjects. These institutions also brought with them ideologies that the owners used in dealing with their subjects and most of these ideologies even though they seem to be promoted with the intent to achieve a desire end, encouraged their perpetrators to inflict pains and sufferings on their subjects.

In Slavery’s Pleasant Homes, Frederic disrespected his wife by raping Rosa and beating her to death. This can also lead us to the conclusion that his actions demonstrated that he was the leader of the home, thus leading us to another ideology, which dominated human history, especially the institution of family for centuries and that is the “male supremacy” or the patriarchal system. The 11^th Edition of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary provides two definitions for the term patriarchy. These definitions are stated below to give us a clearer understanding about how this word can affect our lives and how these two definitions are relevant for the purpose of this paper.

Firstly, patriarchy is defined as a “social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line.” Secondly, it is “a society or institution organized according to the principles or practices of patriarchy” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2005). For the purpose of our study concerning how male supremacy dominated the home of Frederic Dalcho by practicing the patriarchal system of family and how that institution (marriage) was used to promote the ideology of male supremacy, gender and class in the home in suppressing, oppressing and exploiting his wife as well as their subjects, I will therefore accept the two definitions and based my arguments that male supremacy in the home is wrong, because it exploit the females of their legal rights, as well as make her much more like a sex slave subject to the will and domination of the male. I believe from the reading and understanding of the nature of the problems that Marion and Rosa both experienced in the story that Frederic’s actions as a husband and slave owner was inappropriate and an abuse of nature and his action constituted one of the immoral acts that humanity has ever experienced. His actions were based on selfish desires and should not be considered as a universal law. As a husband, it is expected that he should have respect, care and love for his wife. His attitude towards his wife shows that he does not consider her part of his live, but rather as a sex slave or possession that he has no concrete feelings for.

The community in which these acts happened is also of importance to consider if we really want to unearth the significance of Frederic’s actions to Marion, George, Rosa and Mars. A community is composed of people of diverse social and economic class. It can be assumed from the story that some people of that community also kept slaves. This is because, after considering all that Frederic did to his wife, George and Rosa, the community still honor him as a respectful and honorable person without showing due respect to those who were victimized by this wicked creature of their community. It can also be concluded that Frederic may have used his influence as a rich man as well as slave owner to render some assistance to the community while he was yet alive.

However, it can also be assumed from Kant’s moral theory that his good gesture to the people of his community may have been based on an end result, which is to gain recognition and respect as oppose to doing it out of goodwill without expecting an end result for what has been done. I also feel that the community didn’t do well in handling the issues that Frederic committed to his wife, Rosa, George and Mars. I feel that they were discriminated, ridiculed and criticized for crimes that they didn’t initiate. Frederic should have been the one to be criticized and subsequently punished because of his immoral acts against these powerless and vulnerable people.

Works Cited

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11^th Edition. 2005, Merriam-Webster, Inc. Springfield, MA

Child, Lydia Maria. "Slavery's Pleasant Homes." The Online Archive of Nineteenth-Century U.S. Women's Writings. Ed. Glynis Carr. Online. Internet. Posted: Summer 1997. http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/gcarr/19cUSWW/LB/SPH.html. Accessed: June 10, 2008.

Waters, Summer I. WSC. (Lecture and Study Sheet on Race and Gender), 2008

Cultural Value Systems Vis-à-vis the “West” and Sub-Saharan Africa: Family Ties, Marriage, Polygamy, Fertility and the Role of Women

2012-07-18T14:51:00.005-04:00

Cultural Value Systems Vis-à-vis the “West” and Sub-Saharan Africa:

Family Ties, Marriage, Polygamy, Fertility and the Role of Women

Sub-Saharan Africa is a region that is diversely significant in the world of geography. Understanding the cultural geography of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is, thus, fundamental to understanding the geography of the region, which include its political situation, its medical geography, its population dilemma, and the current development crisis (Aryeeteh-Attoh et al, 2003). We cannot fully discuss the cultural value systems, which include the family organizational patterns, the institution of marriage and fertility as well as the role of women without briefly discussing the effects of colonialism and western influences in the region. This paper seeks to address the similarities and differences between cultural value systems in SSA and those of the West precisely Europe and North America. The paper shall also compare and contrast cultures in the West and SSA in relations to family ties, marriage and polygamy.

The colonization of countries in SSA helped in the process of shaping the regional political, social, cultural, educational, economic, religious and environmental landscapes. The colonization period disintegrated the social, cultural, political, religious and educational landscape of the region shaping it to what we have today. Poverty, diseases, hunger, ethnic tensions and political upheavals are widespread throughout SSA, partly because of the negative influences and ideologies that Western powers instituted in the region before the decolonization or post-colonial period begun. This ideology were rooted in extreme hatred, evil and the perception of the “civilizing mission” of the West against those they claimed to be barbarians and salvages, which is hugely the fundamental cause of Africa’s problems today. Now, let us compare and contrast cultural value systems in SSA to that of the West (Europe and North America).

Studying the cultures of SSA is not only limited to the geographic landscape of the region in which people interact, but it is also “studying the culture of a group of people which involves evaluating their way of life, how they live, what clothes they wear, what food they eat, their customary habits, belief systems, speech patterns, and value systems” (Aryeeteh-Attoh et al, 2003). The family is an important aspect of the culture in most African countries. In SSA, people practice the extended family system in which the family is composed of the father, mother, children plus other relatives. Unlike in western countries, family ties are limited to the nuclear family system in which the immediate family is center around the father, mother and children. There are social reasons why family ties in each of these regions vary. The culture, economy, education, and social value systems of these regions play an important role in shaping how their family is composed. For example, in the United States and in most West European nations where the nuclear family system is widely practice are more developed economically. As a result, people tend to have smaller families as possible. Generally, children in more developed or industrialized nations are considered as liabilities as oppose to SSA where children are consider assets. Even though some Christian denominations do promote polygamy in the United States and elsewhere in Europe (Mormonism), monogamy is widely practiced. Europeans and North Americans tend to have fewer children (2.5 TFR) than those in Sub-Saharan Africa where the Total Fertility Rate is higher is five or above (TFR 5+). However, this varies from country to country and from region to region, which is highly rooted in cultures, belief systems, and the national and local economy.

Notwithstanding, in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, having more children is a symbolic representation of wealth, power and socioeconomic status. Children assist their parents with farm work and get involved in activities that bring about wealth. Children in SSA serves as the labor force in the means of production; whereas, in the US and Europe children are widely considered liability to their parents and the economy until they turn eighteen years old when they can legally live by themselves (18 yrs).

In Africa, children tend to take care of their parents when they are older, because that is what their culture requires of them; whereas, in the United States and some Europe countries there is a separation between parents and children. Parents in their old ages tend to rely on the government’s social service programs such as their Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to replace the protection and care they should have gotten from their children. This can lead to wider gaps in family cohesiveness and love. In Africa, people feel cooperative and together because they always see each other. In the West precisely the United States and other European countries, people are more individualistic and competitive and this account for the high rate of suicide cases and violent crimes, such as domestic abuses.

Education is also a factor that account for both the role of women in the family as well as at the national levels. Over the past fifty-nine years (59), when most countries in SSA became independent the role of women were limited to household work, farming, gathering firewood, fetching water as well as preparing food for the family. Women were not encouraged to seek education as the men were. As a result, the illiteracy rate amongst women and girls became higher. On the other hand, in the United States and European countries women sought education just as men did and became to work on jobs that men did. The roles of women were not limited to parenting as in the case of women in Africa. This was highly due to their culture, government policies, and active civil rights organizations that protested for gender equality, social justice and social change. Today, Africa and precisely Sub-Saharan Africa is also undergoing drastic transformation on the issue of women role on local, national and global matters.

To conclude, countries in SSA are doing their best in transitioning from an agrarian economic system to an industrial system; however, this is going to take centuries for most countries in the region to attain. In order to attain progress, the development of international partnerships, effective government policies and programs to meet the needs of the common people as well as good governance, reduce corruption, widespread education and empowerment initiatives for women and girl and effective health care programs and policies are some of the ways to achieve these progress. The region will experience widespread geographic transformation in its total fertility rate and the role of women by building on the above mentioned structural, functional and operational frameworks.

Work Cited

Aryeeteh-Attoh, S. et al, (2003), “Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa.” 3^rd Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003.

Computer in my Life: A Personal Viewpoint

2012-07-16T19:29:00.001-04:00

Computer is one of the fascinating technologies that humans have ever invented. It provides the platform for further studies in science, mathematics, psychology, communications, politics and many other related fields of studies. Computer has been used by scientists, politicians, musicians, artists, anthropologists, geographers, geologists and many other professional to engage in research in their respective fields, storing data for future storage and sharing with others.

I first started using a computer in 2004 in Accra, Ghana at the Buduburam Liberian Refugee camp where the first Internet Cafe′ containing about ten (10) desktops computers were introduced to a refugee population of about 55,000 people. About 45% of the refugee population was composed of young adults between the ages of 18 to 30 years old. I was one of the luckiest persons in the group that learned how to use the computer and also browse the Internet off-course after having to pay for the use of the computer.
In May of 2001, the Amigo Internet and Computer Inc.-a for profit business organization owned by a Ghanaian businessman in Accra introduced the “Amigo Internet Cafe′” at the Buduburam Refugee Camp with the aim of establishing a business as well as providing the refugee camp with access to computers and Internet technologies that was gaining promising grounds at the camp. It was a difficult experience for me for the fact that I could not afford the amount on a constant basis to be able to have access to both a computer and Internet for an hour. Most of us at the camp were not employed and as such could not afford the $1.00 for an hour that was required to have access to this new technology-"opportunity." Most people prefer using that money on food, water and medicine as oppose to having access to a computer like alone the Internet. Nevertheless, most of us sacrificed those urgent needs for learning how to use a computer just by paying for an hour online and by reading free online tutorials on how to use a computer.

One of the surprising things about the computer technology that I also admire is how we can use it for multipurpose. At first, I just could not understand how we can use the computer to listen to music, view movies and at the same time us it to do our office work. I became to develop more interest in learning about computer and how I can use it to make my life more meaningfully. With this thought, I decided to set a goal in order to save some money for a year and to enable me purchase a computer. This decision at the time was consider a long-term decision to me, because purchasing a used computer system in Africa most especially Ghana means working hard and saving enough money to get one. However, I decided to take up this task and over the period one year (2003-2004), I was able to saved $300.00 US to purchase a used Pentium I from the Amigo Internet and Computer, Inc. This money was made possible through two years of intensive gardening and assistance from friends.

Now that I had my own computer, which was not connected to the Internet, I decided to take computer classes at a local computer school on the camp where I paid $50.00 per course starting with “Introduction to Computer Science,” which included topics as “MS DOS”, “Windows”, “MS Word 98”, and so on. To me the computer technology opened a new view of how we can communicate, work and plan our programs in a more interpersonal manner.

Over the years, now that I have three laptops and a very sophisticated desktop and constantly access to the Internet, computer is an integral part of my job, learning experiences, communications, and with it I have learned to keep more accurate and up to date information. However, at the end of every use of my personal computer, I also learn to shot it down in order to safe energy and save money. It is very important not only how much we safe when we shot down our computers, but it also helps protect the environment by reducing the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that we emit into the atmosphere by leaving our laptops, computers and other electronic gadgets on when we are not using them. Saving energy is saving nature.

"The Hunt for Red October" (The Movie): A Personal Perspective

2012-07-16T19:06:00.003-04:00

"The Hunt for the Red October" (The Movie):

A Personal Perspective

Theatrical Released Poster

The Hunt for the Red October was stared by Sean Connery who in the movie played the role of Captain Marko Ramius who was in command of a sophisticated Russian built nuclear submarine known as “Red October.” Ramius and his crew were given orders by the Soviet’s government to stage attacks on the United States submarines in the Atlantic and also use the ability of the Red October, which could not be detected by navy sonar to attack the United States. However, Captain Ramius who was born in Ukraine had no intention to stage an attack on the United States Navy as well as launch nuclear bombs from his submarine on major cities in the United States. He decided to defect from the original plans. In the process of defecting, he was able to convince his assistant Captain in the process of implementing the plan to defect.

On the other hand, the American government thought Captain Ramius was in the process of staging an attack on the United States submarines and cities. The captain of USS Dallas put in place counter measures to launch torpedoes against the Red October. The United States government because of fear that the Soviet now had access to this sophisticated submarine that was built to be undetected and loaded with nuclear bombs that the Soviets were in the process of staging a possible attack against the United States submarines in the Atlantic and thus would threaten their military superiority over and under the ocean.

The Hunt For Red October Official Trailer

A Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting was convened in which a CIA agent and analyst Jack Ryan was invited by his boss to deliberate on assumptions that Captain Ramius of Red October had no intention to attack American submarines and cities. Jack's assumption of the plans of Capt. Ramius was base on his previous acquaintance with him in Leningrad and his study of the personal life. These clues prompted him to deduced that Capt. Ramius was defecting from the original plans of the Soviet Union for which the Red October was initially designed and built.

The movies portrayed some specific details of the relationships between the Soviet Union and the United States during the period of the Cold War. During the Cold War, the race between the Soviet and the US for more sophisticated weaponry such as the atomic bomb, submarines and so on prompted these two sides to measure their powers and strength without physically engaging into battles. However, the movies also shows how not all Soviets Commanders and Generals are always in readiness to stage war against the United States, but these decisions are mostly made by few individuals in the central power who seek to make the mass suffer the consequences of their selfish desires. If all Generals in the military today irrespective of their political affiliations and nationalistic pride can rethink some major decisions or orders most of the major catastrophic battles and wars that claimed the lives of thousands could have been avoided and millions of dollars used in these battles could have been used to bridge the gaps in our economic systems. The Hunt for Red October portrayed how close the United States was in going to war against the Soviet Union most especially, when in the events that the Soviets submarines were within 400 Kilometers on the United States waters.

Reference

Connery, S., Baldwin A., The Hunt for Red October. Filmed: 1984, Paramount Pictures.

Electronic Waste in Ghana: A Blessing with Strings Attached!

2012-07-12T16:17:00.001-04:00

The spread of capitalism and the increasing need for technology manipulated in part by globalization through transnational trade have significantly influenced in the last few decades the widespread, indiscriminate, and illegal trading of electronic waste to mostly developing countries from developed countries (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011; Azuka 2009; Agyeman and Carmin 2008). Most developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) unlike their counterparts in the ‘West’ are trying to catch up with various mechanisms of globalization, which include, but is not limited to technological advancement and bridging the digital divide to promote economic growth, modernity, and development (Azuka 2009). As a result of this process, electronic materials that have long lived the period of their functionality have been shipped at an unprecedented scale to developing countries including China and India over the last few decades (Azuka 2009; EIA 2011; Li 2008). This is becoming a serious phenomenal in most countries in SSA, which include South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana as the vast growing illegal importers of e-waste on the continent (Azuka 2009; Akuru and Okoro 2010).

Source: Journeyman Pictures

Electronic waste is described as any electrical or electronic device that is considered discarded and cannot be used (Akuru and Okoro 2010). Electronic waste is shipped illegally into developing countries eager to reuse these devices. Some electronic waste may contain chemical substances such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR) (Azuka 2009). The disposal and recycling of electronic waste in developed countries may pose significant risk to workers and communities (EIA 2011). This is even worst in developing countries where the necessary infrastructures and technological systems to adequately recycle and dispose e-waste are lacking and non-existent.

This paper explores the emerging e-waste hub in Ghana as well as social movements, such as Greenpeace, Captain Planet Foundation and local grassroots youth initiatives that seek to create public education and awareness of the environmental and health hazards associated with the indiscriminate disposal and inappropriate handling and management of e-waste.

Electronic waste (e-waste) contains hazardous materials and substances such as lead, mercury and cadmium, which are extremely detrimental to human health and the environment (Agyeman and Carmin 2008). The Ghanaian government through the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Housing and Environment lacks the appropriate legal framework to regulate 'discarded electronic gadgets' (e-waste) once they are no longer useful. E-waste that cannot be recycle end up in drainage systems, water sources and throughout land in various communities causing not only health and environmental concerns, but also extensive cost on local communities to clear up.

Globally, it is estimated that developed countries produce between 20 million to 50 million tonnes of electronic waste, most of which are illegally shipped to developing countries in dying need of these technologies without due regard to the adverse health and environmental impacts (Agyeman and Carmin 2008; EIA 2011). Most developing countries are the targeted destinations for the disposal of the electronic waste produced and used in developed countries (Agyeman and Carmin 2008; Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011; Akuru and Okoro 2010).

Source: Greenpeace, Basel Action Network, 2010

In Ghana specifically, a study estimates that 600 forty feet super containers are shipped to Accra, Ghana on a monthly basis (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011). Among the countries that export used electronic devices to Ghana, the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain are on top of the list (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011). Findings reported in one study suggest that e-waste exported from the US, UK, Denmark and Sweden were previously owned by universities, private institutions, municipalities and companies (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011).

Source: Electronic Waste Guide

A local community in Accra called ‘Agbogbloshie’ is the largest e-waste dumpsite and transaction hub located in the country with population in the thousands. The workers in this informal sector compose of approximately 40 per cent children who are more vulnerable to environmental contaminants and exposure to toxic chemicals that are found within the hardware of electronic devises (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011; Agyeman and Carmin 2008). Exposures to these toxic chemicals can also cause long-term health effects that are usually irretrievable and can lead to miscarriages, infertility, and birth defeats, endocrine disease as well as growth of tumors that could result into cancer (Agyeman and Carmin 2008; PANOS 2010).

Video Source:

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/video/video_index.html

Very few have been written in the literature about the environmental and health implications of e-waste and social movements within the context of SSA (Edge 2010). This could be partly due to the lack of public awareness and education of the environmental and health implications of the inappropriate and indiscriminate management and disposal of e-waste. However, the aspirations and zeal of people living in developing countries to have access to electronic devices continuously sustains and fuels this informal sector.

Relatively, the introduction of the computer technology in most communities in countries in SSA is still a new concept and social reality and the e-waste situation in Ghana as is in India, China, South Africa and Nigeria (Azuka 2009). Not everyone in SSA countries to can afford to purchase a brand new personal computer or other electronic devices, such as a brand new mobile phone and other electronic gadgets. Most people usually purchase use computers, usually purchasing the central processing units (CPUs) separately from the monitors before assembling the parts at home. In Ghana for example, a used computer that has long lived its life span can be purchased ranging from $50.00 to $100.00 USD depending on the capacity of the hard drive, memory size and processor speed. The higher the parts of the computer central processing unit in terms of workload capacity and performance the higher the price of the entire central processing unit. The parts of e-waste in the containers that cannot be used or sold and recycled are indiscriminately disposed in the local environment or burned openly, which causes air pollutions and lung diseases.

Most governments of countries in SSA lack the ability to appropriately regulate the illegal importation of e-waste in the country. Specifically, Ghana does not have a legal framework to deal with the e-waste crisis in the country. There is lack of information in the literature with respect to programs and services put in place to effectively mitigate the environmental and health damages and implications caused by the indiscriminate, widespread and poor management of e-waste. In fact, a study suggests that the entire country has only one recycling facility with a limited workforce (Frandsen, Rasmussen, and Swart 2011). With a population of about 24 million people, Ghana is growing at an unprecedented rate and at the current pace and trend of e-waste importation in Ghana, if the government cannot institute a framework to address mitigate e-waste disposal and management, there will be an environmental and health disaster within regions and communities where these e-waste dumpsites are located (Prakash and Manhart 2010; Azuka 2009; Agyeman and Carmin 2008). The following video is a projection of the actual trajectory of the digital divide in our world today and portrays how discarded electronic devices from one part of the global are been shipped and causing several socioeconomic, environmental and health related outcomes mostly in developing countries.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8dOdTPt9A

It should be noted here that the affordability of a personal computer through those who work at e-waste dumpsites in Ghana is a social reality; that is, a dream come true no matter if that computer was made in the 1980s or not. Having a computer at home makes an individual “the guy” or “the lady” of the civilized world. However, the main question that needs to be asked is does the acquisition of a personal computer through this means justifies the environmental and health hazards that are associated with being exposed to toxic and carcinogenic chemicals? To us as social change agents and environmentalists no! But, for rural and urban poor individuals in a fast growing, poverty engulfed communities; the answer is a big Yes! Most Ghanaian prefers to purchase used computers from individuals who work at the e-waste dumpsites instead of purchasing a brand new computer because of the high prices. When I was in Ghana about six (6) years ago, I once purchased a used computer for personal use from a middleman who occasionally visits the sites. The prices are affordable and most people prefer spending less than more in this harsh economic time.

The importation of e-waste in most developing countries is illegally done usually with someone who is an insider within the government agencies who authorize containers with e-waste into the country (Laha 2009). An interesting issue is that the importation of e-waste in Ghana is illegal, but yet e-waste is been shipped every month in super containers at the Tema Port Authority (TPA) in Tema, Ghana. The TPA is the government’s agency with the mandate and responsibilities of inspecting every container that is at the port. Nevertheless, e-waste continued to be released from the port unchecked, which is usually done through a systematic bribery of port authorities.

The desires to acquire and possess electronic gadgets have been on the rise in most developing countries where the population is growing unprecedentedly and people are curious to have access to ‘end of life’ electronic devices illegally imported from developed countries no matter the associated perceived dangers with these usually chemical-intense electronic devices, which has both negative and positive consequences and this is influenced by the spread of technology and the desire to become ‘modernized’ through the use of electronic devices.

In most instances, electronic waste is largely part of the informal sector generating immense economic gains for those that run the business, but poses environmental and health threats to local inhabitants where the storage sites are located, to the environment and those who work in the storage facilities (Azuka 2009; Agyeman and Carmin 2008). With limited environmental and social impact assessments conducted by governments of developing countries on electronic waste, e-wastes are openly stored in the environment of urban communities where unaware consumers flock into these open sites to purchase discarded electronic materials for reuse (EIA 2011; Li 2008).

In Ghana for example, the importation of electronic waste from developed countries such as the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands is a productive business that promotes the Ghanaian economy, but displaced urban populations, cause extreme environmental damage in terms of land and water pollution and negative health outcomes. It seems like people do not recognize the health and environmental security implications of e-waste in their backyard, drainage systems and water sources. Do they really care about their personal health and the health of the environment? The answers to these questions and doubts about people who live and work in e-waste dumpsites are rooted deeply within the socioeconomic and digital divides in Ghana. Ghana has one of Africa’s fastest growing population and economy. There is a crucial need for the government to formulate a framework that would regulate the informal e-waste distribution chain. The government as well as local organizations, youth led institutions, human rights activists and agents of change need to be proactive in addressing the e-waste scheme in Ghana.

In terms of social and environmental movements to address the e-waste problem in Ghana, very little is found on the issue. There seems to be lack of public awareness and education of the dangers that are associated with the e-waste dilemma. Greenpeace and Captain Planet and the Planeteers are organizations that are working with local groups in Ghana to create public awareness, education and clean-up campaigns. Recently, environmental activists Barbara Y.E. Pyle of Captain Planet visited Ghana in February and held several local actions to create public awareness for self-action. Unlike South Africa, where there has been extensive progress in mitigating the e-waste scheme, Ghana still has lots to do because currently, the government does not have a single legal framework to address this problem.

Personally, I am more interested in this topic for my master thesis towards my degree in environmental science and policy. It would be interesting to conduct a study to explore the extend to which e-waste manifests itself as a productive business within the informal sector and at the same time creating serious and severe health and environmental consequences that outweighs the potential benefits, which are short-term.

Works Cited

Agyeman, J., and J. Carmin. 2008. "Environmental Injustice Beyond Borders."

Akuru, B. U., and O. Okoro. 2010. "Electronic Wastes and The Nigerian Experience." International Center for Basic Research.

Azuka, A. I. 2009. "The Influx of Used Electronics into Africa: A Perilous Trend." Law, Environment and Development Journal no. 5 (1).

Edge, Jessica. 2010. Environmental Sustainability and the Electronic Industry: Corporate Responsiveness to Activist Campaigns Against Electronic Waste. In Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference. Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.

EIA. 2011. System Failure: The UK's Trade in Electronic Waste. London: Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

Frandsen, M., J. Rasmussen, and M. Swart. 2011. What is a Waste?: How your Computer Causes Health Problems in Ghana. Copenhagen, Denmark: DanWatch.

Laha, Somjita. 2009. "Transboundary Toxic E-Waste Flow: Environmental Injustice through Neo-ecological Imperalism."

Li, Jennifer C. 2008. Environmental Impact Assessments in Developing Countries: An Opportunity for Greater Environmental Security? edited by US Department of State. Washington, D.C.

PANOS. 2010. Trackling E-Waste. In E-Waste. London: Global Information Society Watch.

Prakash, S., and A. Manhart. 2010. Socio-economic Assessment and Feasibility Study on Sustainable E-Waste Management in Ghana. Ministry of Planning, Spatial Planning and the Environment

Fiction and Alternative Living: A Short Reflection

2012-07-12T15:25:00.002-04:00

Fiction and Alternative Living:

A Short Reflection

In this week’s reading, we read articles about science fiction and alternative living. Materials on alternative living included Do-It-Yourself (DIY) by Catherine Vienneau, What Would a Non-Sexist City Be Like? Speculations on Housing, Urban Design, and Human Work by Dolores Hayden, The Windup Girl by Paolo Gacigalupi and an article on Out of This World and we watched specific scenes from Serenity, a science fictional movie.

The DIY article talks about how individuals can use their own skills, knowledge and experience to do anything. The concept of DIY suggests that individuals can do whatever they want without getting assistance from experts or the so-called professionals. This article also suggests that there is an alternative way of doing something rather than the usual paradigm or system that is currently in place. Dolores Hayden’s article on “What Would a Non-Sexist City Be Like” argues that women have to be significantly included at the very core of city planning and architectural design within this current paradigm. She also argues that this current systems of professionalism is male dominated and as such marginalizes women who despite their distinct qualifications are low paid as compared to their male counterparts. The article on “Out of This World” discusses how actors and actresses of color have been marginalized in the mainstream film making industry and how the use of the Web as an open source has changed this paradigm.

Firestone Rubber Company: Rubber Tappers, Forest Movements and Indigenous People

2012-07-12T15:17:00.002-04:00

Firestone Rubber Company:

Rubber Tappers, Forest Movements and Indigenous People

This week’s readings were on forest and indigenous people of highlands of Zomia between the borders of Thailand and Burma. We read articles on the forest people of Northern Thailand and how social and environmental drivers such as gender, religion, classicism, environment and science influenced their movements. We also read series of articles about rubber tappers in Liberia and Brazil exploring their socioeconomic conditions, environmental and health implications and resistance for change and transformation.

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company established the largest rubber plantation in Liberia in 1926 during the presidency of Charles D. B. King the 17^th president of Liberia. Firestone started the exportation of latex from Liberia during the presidency of Edwin Barclay. The Government of Liberia and Firestone signed a concession contract in 1926 for the production of latex by Firestone on 1 million acres of land, which constitute approximately 4% of the total territory and about 10% of all arable land. During WWII, the US Government in 1942 built the Robertfield International Airport (RIA) in Liberia. At that time, the airport was the largest in Africa and was used by the US for emergency landing for NASA Space Shuttle, deployment of US forces and fighter jets and the exportation of natural rubber that was instrumental in the war against the Axis Powers.

Rubber tappers at the Firestone rubber plantation are Liberian and mostly rural people who were employed to work. The company invest very little amount in infrastructural development, health and sanitation, and inadequate safety procedures. Currently, Firestone is the only international corporation that employs a large number of Liberians. The company has about 14,000 employees most of whom are rubber tappers, who are required to tap 750 rubber trees each day at an amount of $3.80 per hour. Rubber tappers are provided housing by the company that have been in existence since the 1930s with high exposure rates to carcinogenic substances such as asbestos and chemical pesticides. Workers are forcefully mandated to complete their daily quotas of their work without which their wage is decrease to account for trees that were not tapped. Rubber tappers also have to transport raw latex weighting about 70 to 140 lbs from 1 to 2 miles.

According to environmental impact assessment survey conducted by the Government of Liberia, chemical pesticides used by Firestone on trees are released into local water resources causing several environmental and health impacts on local and rural residence.

World Social Movements: From Local Actions to Global Discussions

2012-07-12T15:00:00.003-04:00

World Social Movements:

From Local Actions to Global Discussions

This week’s readings took us through diverse paradigms of social resistance and how these social movements transformed into distinct platforms for the local, national and international discussions of social issues, which involves social justice, equity and equality and environmental justice.

The World Social Forum (WSF) is an international forum that was established to challenge the current paradigm of development, globalization, and economic development, which seeks to develop an alternative paradigm of development, social justice, economic development and social change. The WSF is considered by many as an “opened space” that is diverse and representatives of organizations and social movements that seek to explore an alternative world; that is, a world which captures the aspirations of human security from big governments and corporate elites transform them to local people and grassroots movements. It is a forum stakeholders from all around the world meet annually to discuss issues that reflect their respective localities and peoples and how they can work together to forge a space for another world. One of the goals of the WSF is to challenge the existing paradigm of neoliberalism and globalization. Members who attend the WSF have to agree on decisions that are made and the forum communicates such decision via various instruments listing the organizations and institutions that made them and does not make any final decision on how they should be implemented.

On the other hand, La Via Campesina is an international social movement that was established in 1993, which assist coordinate organizations of rural and peasant farmers in developing countries in an effort to seek social justice, food sovereignty, and the advocacy of family-based, local farms as well as seeks to promote sustainable agricultural production through the process. Martinez-Torres and Rosset provided a historical and evolutionary perspective of the La Via Campesina an organization that first coined the term “food sovereignty” that is drawing perspective that all communities and people have the legitimate right to produce food on their territory and thus define their own food systems, methods of production as oppose to the dominant paradigm of food production by multinational organizations and institutions whose interest is for profiteering against the poor. La Via Campesina has gained national and international recognition for its position and interest in assisting marginalized family-farm communities regain their status by creating awareness and networks with other social groups.

I personally think another world is possible. I believe that a world in which the multinational or transnational corporations have no control over what we eat is possible. However, in order to have this world we must deconstruct our current ways of life and consumption patterns and trends most especially for those of us in westernize countries. We should take local actions that collectively can make global changes. I believe that a world that contains more alternatives is possible and this is a world that we should all strive for by supporting local systems social movements.