Plan B is not to be read as an introductory guide to sustainability. This book is perhaps best read by an audience with at minimum a passing background in sustainable development, and renewable energy. Lester Brown’s book does provide a dearth of statistics and data as to why wind, solar, and Geo-thermal energy are necessary for our modern society. Additional factors threatening our civilization are covered as well such as epidemics and over population.
Overall Plan B presents a wealth of statistical evidence for the change Lester Brown recommends. I unfortunately believe that it was likely better to read this book in its v1.0 iteration, as at that time most of these subjects would barely have been filtering into everyday conversation. Even with most of the data having been updated for the current versions, the overall argument for incredible change by 2020 seems too close in time to accomplish all the suggestions put forth.
I do recommend anyone interested in furthering their knowledge on changing our global dependence on coal, oil, and natural gas should read the latest version of this book. And for anyone else seeking to gain a detailed knowledge of potential sustainable advances for our civilization this is a great tool.
The second Swaziland Computer Society meeting was a success! I am excited to see our group is moving in a positive direction. Our first meeting in December was a great way to break the ice for SCS members to meet in person. After our initial meeting we decided we weren’t done hanging out and we went to Nando’s for an hour or so to drink coffee and talk shop.
This time for our January meeting we built on the same idea and decided to meet at the Apple Cafe in Manzini. Getting into Manzini is much easier for everyone as it is centrally located in the country. Unfortunately the urgently-needed rain did work against us, as anyone who has lived in southern Africa knows, rain generally means your event is canceled. I held out hope though and I was thrilled when two of the biggest contributors to SCS came over.
My main goal of the meeting was to talk about how Swaziland Computer Society has now been added to the NetSquared community of like-minded organizations. This pairing really helps bring reputation points to what SCS is trying to do. Additionally it gives TechSoupGlobal and NetSquared some insight and contacts for this pocket of the world. There is a lot of room to grow this connection and we are really excited to see where it goes.
Additional topics covered were the push forward with the website. PD has gone a long way towards the design of the site, including the forum, an advertising section for people to sell gear, and tools for vendors to advertise. It’s great stuff and we’re really excited to get that launched. To help out with the launch of the site, another member suggested we hold a logo-creation contest and get some talent from within SCS to come up with the logo for our new site. This will be a great way for an aspiring and upcoming Swazi graphic artist to get their work out.
Other topics had a focus on programming and fixing a few problems people are having. For programming there was some discussion about a Coursera offering for functional programming. This course teaches how to use functional programming with ML, Racket, and Ruby. The course has just started and the two people enrolled were able to talk a bit about it. A great tip was offered about http://developers.facebook.com as a site dedicated to using APIs and programming centered around Facebook.
Some of the problems addressed included an unresolved issue with using Tor under Fedora. This is still being looked at, but it’s really exciting to know people are using Tor. There was discussion on how to get an ICT intern for projects, and that process should be identified and posted online once the forum launches. We also talked about the upcoming SCS resource disc and how valuable that will be to instructors without great Internet access.
The next meeting is already in the works, with its planned date sometime after the end of the logo contest. Having these meetings is great as it really shows how much the members do appreciate what SCS is trying to do. From the admin team we are looking forward to exciting times ahead!
In-Service-Training (IST) for Group 10 is now over. It has been a long week for me to come back into after so long in the US. I’ve honestly not had enough time to decompress or reflect on my experiences in the US since I had to hit the ground running.
Saturday was a pleasant experience as it was the first I saw Krista in several weeks. Time is flying by and it is far too infrequent that I get to spend any time with her. Sadly she left early Sunday morning for training in Jo’burg. Luckily I’ve been so busy with IST that there has been little time to reflect on how much I miss her.
My nights have been starting the same this week, around 5am I wake up and make some coffee. I get on the computer and start reviewing the notes that I fell asleep while writing somewhere around 10 the night before. My sessions this IST actually weren’t that difficult, but with nearly zero prep time and my return from the land of amazing, I have found this time very challenging.
My first session was a 2 hour lesson on how to use the Peace Corps reporting software. The software is a very complex multi-part java application designed to gather as much information as possible regarding a volunteer’s previous several months at site. Due to the amount of work that Krista and I would do in a given 4 month period, we would pour over multiple netbooks, spreadhseets, and scraps of paper for several days filling these reports out.
The tediousness of the report aside, it has always been a bit quirky. Just as in the late 1990’s people learned that if you don’t click “save” often, there is the very real possibility that something will crash and you will lose that 10 page paper you had just finished. Unfortunately this is that program. The program was designed with the best of intentions, but is just a bit on the flaky side. Thankfully as a PCVL I am allowed to give my unfiltered opinion, and reminded the volunteers to save early and save often.
My second session for the week is a much more familiar topic, as I have given two large presentations on it over the last two years. My first large presentation for Appropriate Technology came last year during IST for Group 9. It was quite a confidence builder and eye opener to present to over 100 of my peers. The second instance of this presentation manifested itself with Ryan and Addy Hall’s cleanup campaign where I presented to a mix of 30+ international refugees and Swazis.
Hosting table for Appropriate Technology
Instead of a formalized presentation with slides, the session was formed as an information fair, with each table hosting different resources. This was great as it allowed me to spread out my random bits of things, and include more information than I would have been allowed in another hour presentation. I talked to 35 volunteers on
solar disinfection for drinking water
solar panel education kits
solar ovens
charcoal from paper
Charcoal Bricks from old school papers
charcoal from maize cobs
mosquito nets used as window screens
homemade ceiling insulation
using 2 liter bottles for building material
soil testing available through the Ministry of Agriculture
topsoil erosion
converting used juice boxes into condom dispensers and pamphlet holders
the water proof nature of coconuts
reuse of old tin cans to block rats from crawling into grain shelters
creating a Cantenna to extend our wifi network (Sikhumbo takes the credit for making our cantenna)
furniture from bamboo
I have come to appreciate over the last 2 years that “Appropriate Technology” is a very complex topic, and likely something that could be turned into a career itself. As a component of how I view sustainable development, I have acquired a bit of passion for it.
It is critically important to understand availability of local material, and cultural acceptability for any solution to achieve its desired effect. As I have learned just because a technology is fantastic and solves many problems, doesn’t mean it is actually going to work in practice. I love the ideas behind cooking strictly from solar, but in the society I currently live in, it simply won’t work on a large scale unless resources greater than I can muster put their weight behind it. And if something is fantastic and solves problems, but can only come from distant land, or be purchased via a credit card, then it is hardly a solution in the rural wold.
I originally was slated for only three sessions this week, but my fourth came late in the evening on Wednesday. Fortunately this was a session lead by Daynese(Day) our post medical officer. I say fortunate because I knew it would be fun, enjoyable, and almost completely improvised. Day doesn’t believe in scripts, and I appreciate that sincerely. The session was on sexual harassment and I was to serve on a panel of veteran volunteers discussing our own experiences. This was no more difficult than a cake walk, and as enjoyable as the delicious chocolate frosted donut that Day bought me before the panel.
Immediately after the sexual harassment session, I had to get back to the Peace Corps office over 20 miles away. I had been prepping all week for my capstone event, co-facilitating a 3 hour training on improved cook stoves. I made my first cook stove several hours before I was to train everyone on how to make theirs.I am pleased to say that the results of the other 40 PCVs were far superior to my own.
Our country director served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal in the late 80’s, and one of his largest projects was teaching his community on how to build these improved cook stoves. For my stove I followed the guide provided by http://practicalaction.org/energy/improved_clay_stoves. I received a proper critique on my own work just prior to the session starting with the other volunteers. His long-term experience coupled with my recent foray culminated with two decent stoves made by PCVs, and 40 people walking away with knowledge on how to make these stoves on their own homestead. Afterwards I led a break away session and talked with 5 other PCVs about making simple solar ovens for their own personal use.
It has been a terrific week, and it is now time to decompress for a few hours. Tomorrow I travel to Siteki and on to my first week back at the college. And a week from today is the first real meeting for the Swaziland Computer Society. That is one event I am really looking forward to.
