It is a unique challenge of our generation that many in the developing world have cellular phones and TVs, but lack reliable access to water. Odd, perhaps, given that water is marketed as essential for life, a human right, and heart rending pictures of women and children walking miles to fetch water are routinely flashed to tug at everyone’s heart strings.
“We would like to take on international problems, problems of development, problems in the United States, but have them done with academic content and interest. Instead of people being sent to random places, we would take engineering companies that have an interest in a particular region in solving a problem, and they would bring the problem to the students.”
SEE-U Dominican Republic provides students with many enriching opportunities to engage in fieldwork and study biodiversity and ecosystems in their natural environments.
CERC is now accepting applications for the Summer Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduates (SEE-U) field site program at Brazil. This five-week-long, 6-credit program runs from May 26 to June 30, 2012. No pre-requisite coursework is necessary and students of all majors can apply.
The SEE-U Puerto Rico course provides students with a total immersion experience into the ecology and dynamics of a fragile and threatened environmental system.
Can we manage the needs of 9 billion people for water, food and energy without depleting our resources and ruining the environment? “The solutions,” says Tim Fox, “are all within the capability of existing technology.”
Summer 2012 applications for the Student Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduate program are now being accepted. Undergraduate students of all majors can apply for the opportunity to conduct field work and study unique ecosystems abroad.
With 7 billion people on the planet and some 40 percent of earth’s land surface already covered with croplands and pastures, the only remaining frontiers for agricultural expansion are dwindling tropical forests. Some see high-yield industrial-scale farming as a way to take the pressure off; the theory goes that if more produce can be grown [...]
The NYC Department of City Planning has proposed new zoning rules to make it easier to retrofit buildings for energy efficiency – including a provision on rooftop greenhouses.
If not for the amazing feats of planning and engineering that provide access to clean water, New York City would never have become the essential node in the many meshworks of the world that it is today.
State of the Planet is a forum for discussion on varying viewpoints. The opinions expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Earth Institute or Columbia University.
