EWB-University of Wisconsin Madison

I was so glad that I had the opportunity to go to the SOIL/SOL talk given by Sasha last evening. Sasha Kramer was the main presenter of the night, and she was joined by another board member of the group, Lisius Orel (Marcorel). Both live and work out of Haiti to improve the sanitation and water situation. What a great kickoff to EWB's lecture series!

During the talk, Sasha addressed the need for people who are fortunate like us to use our skills for service. One of the things that drew me to Engineers Without Borders was the idea that you could work your whole life as an engineer for something that's going to sit on a shelf, or in a book, collecting dust. The thought that I could become that kind of person was pretty depresssing. It is so much more worthwhile to work on something that will benefit another person, or even humanity. By working on projects like the ones we work on in EWB, you really can make a difference.

Some of the technologies that were implemented were pretty cool. Sasha was very personal with her waste: she didn't believe waste existed. It was all a matter of finding a use for waste. My favorite one was the Arborloo. The way the Arborloo works is that a shallow pit is dug for human waste, and each time it is used, a small scoop of soil is put into the pit. Then, when the pit is full, a tree is planted on top to utilize the nutrients of the waste.

For my own life, I really realized how much waste I do generate. Our household just started composting this year, and it's been a journey! Sasha was to the point where she was burning her toilet paper for a dry toilet. While this might not be ideal for every application, it's a good thing to look at your own life and see where you can reduce your waste.

Sasha said that any of the technologies that were used in her presentation could be used by our group. Here is their contact information:

Sasha Kramer - sashakramer [at] gmail [dot] com
Lisius Orel (Marcorel) - mc_love26 [at] yahoo [dot] fr
Local Contact: Erica Wolf: brewcity [at] riseup [dot] net

http://www.oursoil.org/

I can't wait for the next lecture!