Posts published in May, 2017
Greening cities
By Amy King, ’16 (Earth Systems); MS ’17 (Civil & Environmental Engineering: Atmosphere & Energy)
I make a quick stop at a café in Vondelpark before continuing my bike commute through Amsterdam en route to the office on the canal. Bike friendly and full of open spaces, Amsterdam is a model city for sustainability, and I contemplate its merits as I bike along the ancient streets.
Through a Schneider Fellowship, I worked six weeks in Washington, DC and six weeks in Amsterdam for the U.S. Green Building Council, producing the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark Report, an annual account of how hundreds of international properties are striving for sustainable practices in their built environment.
Working with a multicultural team dedicated to urban sustainability, I edited and published the Innovative Case Studies section of the report, discovering along the way the wild ways companies are cultivating green practices in their business and buildings. One company had started a beekeeping program on their green roof, encouraging community and a buzzing bee population. Sharing these creative case studies showed me the green goals of big business, and gave me great hope! Discovering the impact possible in creating a greener built environment shifted my career trajectory from conservation to sustainable design, knowing I can best serve the natural environment by shaping the built one.
Schneider Fellows work at leading U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to tackle today’s sustainable energy challenges.
Caring for what we have
By Sneha Ayyagari, ’17 (Environmental Systems Engineering); MS ’19 (Civil and Environmental Engineering: Sustainable Design and Construction)
“Development is when people grow their conscience.” That is how a war veteran, skilled farmer, and environmental educator described to me what it means to create sustainable development. He explained that it doesn’t matter how much people do or don’t have; what matters is that they care for and care about what they have.
As a Schneider Sustainable Energy fellow in 2015, I worked with Asofenix, a grassroots organization that works to develop and improve the lives of rural Nicaraguans in the villages in the hilly state of Boaco. Throughout my fellowship, I supported projects that improved quality of life such as installing renewable energy, potable water infrastructure, irrigation systems, and clean cookstoves; creating an environmental education program; and supporting sustainable agriculture in the community where I worked and lived. I saw how the technical and educational parts of energy projects fit together into an integrated and transformational program. I was deeply moved by the opportunity to learn the stories of the resilient and loving people I worked with.
I also enjoyed learning the nuances of Nicaraguan culture, and the people I worked with became part of my family. I continue to call them every week. This fellowship reinforced my desire to couple my technical skills and interest in environmental engineering with my passion for teaching to create a more just and sustainable world.
Schneider Fellows work at leading U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to tackle today’s sustainable energy challenges.
