SEATTLE — Argentina has a plentiful supply of water, yet 11 percent of the population (38 million people) does not have reliable access to this resource. The situation in Argentina is similar to the rest of Latin America, with significant inequality in safe water access. Argentina is wasteful with its water use compared to other countries in the region. Brazilians consume 216 cubic meters of water per year, while Argentinians use 745 cubic meters annually. Marisa Arienza, head of Green Cross Argentina, believes that water access is definitely improving, but there are more obstacles ahead. “The main problem is inequity…
Author: Kristen Nixon
Kristen Nixon
Kristen lives in Baltimore, MD. Her academic interests include chemical and biomolecular engineering, entrepreneurship and engineering for sustainable development. Kristen is currently working on a social enterprise that’s working to bring a mental illness prevention program into Baltimore elementary schools.
SEATTLE — In the last century, water usage has been increasing more than twice as fast as the rate of population growth. By 2025, almost two billion people will be living in an area without enough water to meet the needs of the region and two-thirds of the population will be in a water-stressed region, where there is not enough water to satisfy demand. Water scarcity is a manmade problem. There is enough freshwater on Earth for seven billion people, but the water is poorly distributed and managed. This problem is exacerbated by climate change, and disproportionately hurts the world’s…
SEATTLE — The belief that policy must be localized and could not benefit from the lessons of other regions is outdated in this era of globalization. Politicians are entrusted to create policies to solve massive, complicated issues, yet they are often expected to do it with little access to relevant information. Globally connected policy is a better informed policy. According to the World Bank, one third of its reports are never read. Problems like environmental degradation, managing the refugee crisis and inequality are found in countries around the world. What if decision-makers around the world could collaborate on policy, instead…
SEATTLE — Traditional cookstoves in Nigeria, which pollute the air in households, are a leading cause of death and disability. In Nigeria, 83,000 people die prematurely from issues related to the smoke released by cookstoves. Asake, a woman in Nigeria, routinely spends 14 hours a day inhaling smoke that she uses to dry fish with a kiln powered by an open fire. Her eyes water profusely and she wheezes heavily, but she insists that anyone who works with kilns is used to it. A very inefficient process, the kiln takes 18 to 24 hours to dry a single load of…