University of Kansas mechanical engineering undergraduate students in Dr. Ron Dougherty’s Senior Design course have designed a solar autoclave for sterilizing medical instruments and surgery materials for the Sanyati Baptist Hospital in Sanyati, Zimbabwe. The students presented their work at the second Speaker Series event of 2012 hosted by the Sunflower State Professionals.
This blog comes from the EWB-USA Sunflower State Professional Chapter’s Communications Chair, Eric Melin.
Today I presented at the Social:IRL day-long conference Social Media for Non-Profit Organizations, which is a great opportunity for those who work for nonprofits to connect, share, discuss what’s worked, and how challenges have been overcome.
The ideas I wanted to get across in today’s talk are sometimes the ones that seem the most simple on the surface, but are actually still quite challenging. The opportunities are enormous for nonprofits to take advantage of the power of social media for advocacy, market research, marketing/communications, emotional support, customer service, and fundraising.
Social Media for Nonprofits: Listening, Setting Goals, Storytelling
Click here to read Eric’s complete blog.
Earth Day is this Saturday April 14, and EWB-USA Sunflower State Professionals will be in Lawrence to celebrate with tons of other local nonprofits, businesses, and residents!
We will have a booth in South Park, the destination of the parade, starting at 11:30am. We will be raising funds for our chapter by selling herbs, vegetable starters, rain barrels, and homemade artisan soap. If you’re in Lawrence, stop by and see us! (Earth Day Details)
The celebration sounds like a lot of fun — here’s some more general info:
PARADE FOR THE EARTH
Saturday, April 14, 11:00 a.m.
The Parade for the Earth is hosted by KU Environs, and will go from Buford Watson Park to South Park along Massachusetts Street.
CELEBRATION IN SOUTH PARK
Saturday, April 14, 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
South Park at 11th & Massachusetts Street
Free Admission
The celebration in the park features live music, food, vendors and children’s activities. Attendees are invited to learn from exhibits about waste reduction, recycling, composting, alternative fuels and vehicles, energy conservation, land preservation, wildlife and habitat preservation, and more.
There will be collection bins for recyclables and food waste/compostables at South Park to reduce the amount of waste generated during the Celebration.
We’d like to send a great big shout-out and thank you to everyone who helped make this past weekend’s Rain Barrel Workshop such a success!
Our secretary Scott Luebbering expertly handled coordination from our end, and partners like Douglas County K-State Research and Extension, Douglas County Kansas Master Gardeners, and the Douglas County Conservation District were instrumental in making sure the entire workshop went off without a hitch.
We also had a ton of volunteers and participants from EWB-USA Sunflower State Professionals: Dan Buonadonna, Jodi Gentry, Phil Goldsby, Angie Owens, Pat Owens, Emily Robbins, Ben Rufenacht, Eric Melin, and Mike and Wendy Van Duyne.
Go to our Facebook page to see a cool photo gallery that takes you step by step through the same process that our participants went through to create their own working rain barrels for this rainy season!
Also we should mention this: There are a couple of rain barrels leftover from the workshop and we will have them at the 12th Annual Earth Day Parade & Celebration, where we’ll be exhibiting from 11:30pm - 4pm this Saturday April 14. The parade ends at South Park, 11th & Massachusetts St and that’s right where we’ll be until 4pm. Come on down and say “hi”!
This workshop was the fourth and final event organized by the Sunflower State Professionals is support of United Nations World Water Day 2012. See you next year!
Many thanks to our volunteers, Marian Massoth, Emily Robbins, Vicki Robbins, Dan Buonadonna, and Jodi Gentry for their help raising awareness of issues surrounding water and food security for World Water Day 2012 at Santa Fe Trail Jr. High! Check out more of the photos on our Facebook page.
Our third event in support of World Water Day is happening tomorrow and we’re very excited about it. (If you haven’t signed up for our Rain Barrel Workshop, by the way, there’s only 10 spots left!)
The EWB-USA Sunflower State Professionals have organized a day of activities focused on water and food security for students at the Santa Fe Trail Jr. High in Carbondale, KS.
Because the school’s spring break falls on the actual day of World Water Day, we’re holding ours this Friday, March 30. We will primarily be presenting to 8th graders, but will present to one 7th grade class as well.
We have planned a couple of cool activities for the students to raise awareness about water issues and get students thinking about the importance of fresh drinking water. We will be testing local drinking water supplies (pH, bacterial counts, turbidity, etc.) and talking about water quality. We will also be doing an activity where the students will guess how much water it takes to produce different kinds of foods.
This should be a fun day and we’re looking forward to working with the students!
Many thanks to our organizer, Emily Robbins, and our volunteers Marian Massoth, Dan Buonadonna, and Jodi Gentry.
The Sunflower State Professionals are collaborating with Douglas County K-State Research and Extension, the Douglas County Conservation District, and the Douglas County Kansas Master Gardeners to host a rain barrel workshop. This workshop will teach you how to construct your own rain barrel, as well as how to connect barrels in series to increase the amount of rain your system can collect.
Date: 7 April 2012, 10am – 12pm
Where: Douglas County Fairgrounds, Buildings 1 & 2
Cost: $35 for your first barrel; additional $25 if you want to add a second barrel
RSVP: There are only 40 spots available, so please call (785) 843-7058 to register. First come, first serve.
The Sunflower State Professionals have just begun a project in Matasano, Guatemala to improve access to clean water. We hope to use this rain barrel workshop to help develop similar technologies with the Matasano community in Guatemala, where water collected from roof tops can be used to irrigate community gardens. A portion of the proceeds from this event will go to our chapter.
This workshop is the fourth event hosted by the Sunflower State Professionals in support of the United Nations World Water Day 2012, and was organized by our Secretary, Scott Luebbering.
This blog comes from EWB-USA Sunflower State Professional Chapter Vice President, Dan Buonadonna.
This article from Inhabitat about a “mountain band-aid” showcases an innovative proposal by a team of Chinese engineers to try and reclaim a mountain side previously ravaged by mining activities.
Essentially,the idea is to turn it into a “vertical eco village.”
Although the thousand-foot tall aesthetic skyscraper might be beyond the scope of Engineers Without Borders-USA projects, it is nonetheless a good example of a large-scale effort to integrate human development with environmental
rehabilitation.
It will be interesting to follow other projects like this as we continue to pursue valuable natural resources around the planet, and blur the line between our industrial/commercial/residential zoning.
This blog comes from EWB-USA Sunflower State Professional Chapter President, Jodi Gentry.
March 22nd is World Water Day, an international event held every year as a means of focusing attention on the importance of sustainable management of freshwater resources.
The first World Water Day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, and each year since World Water Day has highlighted a specific aspect related to water. The theme for 2012 is Water and Food Security.
To raise awareness, the Sunflower State Professionals have organized a month of events in support of this year’s theme.
On Wednesday, 7 March 2012, Jeremy Farmer, executive director of Just Food, the primary food bank resource for all of Douglas County and emergency food pantry for low-income customers seeking food assistance, spoke to our members about local and global food security.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, almost 1 billion people are undernourished, mainly in Asia (578 million) and Sub-Saharan Africa (239 million). Being undernourished is more than just not having enough to eat. Often it is not having enough of the right things to eat. Protein insufficiency and lack of micronutrients (iodine, iron, zinc, vitamin A, and folate) take a particularly devastating toll. In fact, malnutrition is the single largest contributor to disease and causes about 40% of all deaths of children under the age of five in developing countries.
Although we are struggling to meet the needs of the current population, future population growth will prove to be an even bigger challenge. With an expected population increase to 9 billion by 2050, global food production will need to increase 70% relative to 2009 levels, and up to 100% in developing countries. That means another 1 billion tons of cereals and 200 million tons of livestock products every year!
With agriculture already using 11% of the world’s land surface and 70% of all freshwater, meeting the needs of future generations will require widespread adoption of sustainable land management practices, and more efficient use of irrigation water. Given that water scarcity already affects 40% of the global population, reaching these goals is not likely.
Think this is mainly a problem for the developing world?
Unfortunately, given the recent economic crisis, we are seeing an increase in food scarcity right here in Kansas. According to Farmer, the need for food bank services in this area increased dramatically in 2011, serving 21% more people, 51% more children and 79% more senior citizens over the age of 60. In total, Just Food distributed about 880,000 free meals in 2011.
What can you do to help?
Raise awareness for UN World Water Day 2012 by spreading the word about this global event and by supporting great organizations, like Just Food and Engineers Without Borders USA, that are trying to make a difference — one community at a time!
Please check out these links for more information:
1. UN World Water Day 2012
2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
3. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
