Wednesday, 2 April 2008

Raise the Grades around the World

Last month, one of my roommates introduced me to a story that they thought I might enjoy, because it profiled - what else - but infrastructure!  Initially, I put the book aside, however I finally opened it up and was quickly drawn into the world of one American who has single handedly built schools in the most remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, profiles the remarkable work of Mr. Mortenson, who has endured a multitude of obstacles and life-threatening situations in order to build 55 schools and counting in a place in the world where the most basic pieces of infrastructure are nonexistent.

Mr. Mortenson’s quest began after his failed 1992 attempt to climb K2 in the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan. On his way back down the mountain, he stumbled upon an improvised village, which took him in and nursed him back to health. While in the village he discovered that the locals were forced to sit outside with no school building or teacher and scratch their lessons into the dirt with sticks. By time he left the village his mission was clear, and he has spent the past 16 years dedicating his life toward building safe and secure schools, bridges, and water filtration systems in the region.

To me, the book shined a light on two very crucial things. First, that one of the most significant and cost effective ways to combat Islamic extremism in the region is not through bombs, but books. The other lesson learned is that the infrastructure crisis is a struggle which must be fought at home and abroad. The 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure graded American school facilities at a “D”, which in the house that I grew up in, is completely unacceptable. It is estimated that somewhere between $127 billion to $268 billion dollars would be needed in order to bring them into what is considered good condition, numbers which are hard to even fathom! However, in relation to so many other countries around the world, these buildings, even in their very poor condition, which we send our children to, are a cut above for the simple fact that the actual structures exist.

Luckily, men like Greg Mortenson and his foundation, the Central Asia Institute , do not need to work alone. Crumbling schools and bridges is not an issue that America faces alone, but something that can be witnessed in even the most remote regions of the globe. Any one person or group can sign up for Engineers Without Borders and pitch in to allay some of the pain caused by this international infrastructure crisis! Maybe you could even form the first group with a project in Pakistan!

 

By Caroline M.

Posted by Allison D at 2:29 PM in Civil Engineering/
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Friday, 16 November 2007

Senate Committee Nears Historic Vote on Climate Change

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee  is nearing a historic vote on legislation that would make major changes in the way the United States produces and consumes energy from hydrocarbon resources like coal and petroleum.

 

Sometime in early December the committee is likely to take up S. 2191, America’s Climate Security Act, a bill that would establish a nationwide cap on the release of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases over the 38-year period from 2012 to 2050.

 

The bill sponsored jointly by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-CT, and Sen. John Warner, R-VA,  is the most consequential environmental legislation to come before the committee since the Clean Air Act was amended nearly 18 years ago to establish the cap-and-trade program for sulfur dioxide.

 

The Lieberman-Warner plan caps emissions of the six primary greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, and perfluorocarbons. For each of those gases, the bill proposes a common unit of measurement, called a "CO2 equivalent." A CO2 equivalent is the quantity of a greenhouse gas that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determines makes the same contribution to global warming as one metric ton of CO2.

 

Additionally, the bill would regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector, the industrial sector, and the transportation sector.

 

ASCE believes Congress must address the problem of climate change as soon as possible. ASCE Policy Statement 360, Impacts of Global Climate Change, and ASCE Policy Statement 488, Greenhouse Gases, support enactment of the major greenhouse gas abatement programs contained in the Lieberman-Warner bill.

 

The policies followed lengthy debates among members. The discussions were informed by ASCE research going back nearly 20 years. In 1990, for example, the Society’s Journal of Cold Regions Engineering reported that "the current trend of global warming is expected to produce some of its most significant changes in Arctic ocean and coastal areas. As the average air and sea temperatures increase, sea level will rise and the polar ice pack [will] shrink. Wave action may increase and the coastal permafrost, degrade, resulting in widespread inundation and flooding of low-lying areas."

 

In 2006, ASCE’s Journal of Infrastructure Systems found that motor vehicles contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. "The transportation sector accounts for a significant percentage of United States energy consumption (27.4 percent) in 2003. It is responsible for 32.3 percent of the total United States emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) 46.6 percent of nitrogen oxides (NOx) (a [principal] precursor of smog, 65.7 percent of carbon monoxide (CO), and 1.4 percent of emissions of particulate matter smaller than 10 µm (PM10)," the authors reported.

Posted by Mike C at 4:11 PM in Civil Engineering/
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