Student Trip to Nicaragua Brings Community Needs and Sustainability Issues Into Focus

In December 2007, several students went on a trip to Nicaragua for a regenerative studies class. The 10-day trip was lead by Jason Selwitz, an MSRS alum and part of Green Empowerment, a non-profit organization dedicated to issues of social justice and sustainability. Juan Araya, the instructor, co-lead the trip.

The purpose of the class was to tour energy project sites in order to learn what it takes to implement a community-based renewable energy project. The students participated in discussions and activities with many key people in the process, including governmental officials, NGOs, community organizers and the communities who would benefit from the renewable energy systems once they were put in place.

One highlight of the trip came when Jaime Munoz, director of Asofenix, a local NGO, and one of the hosts of the trip, organized a community meeting in Sonzapote to implement a potable water project. The people of Sonzapote had to haul water a great distance from a well and badly needed better access to a water supply. They were next in line to receive a solar water pump and running water. Participating in the meeting was an eye-opening experience for the students and made the 1 ½ hour hike to get there well worth it.

Students got hands-on experience with installing the motor of a coffee de-pulper and assisting with the installation of grounding wires while observing the process of bean processing. Students also got to see the solar array that powers the water pump in Bromadero and a micro-hydro project in Malacatoya as well as San Jose de los Remates, a town in Boaco with modern amenities including an internet café.



The students’ accommodations were as varied as the communities they visited. Whether staying in a schoolhouse, a hostel or someone’s private home, the students were welcomed.

According to Juan, “the trip put into perspective how easy things are in this country and how detached from the realities of the rest of the world we are.”

The Lyle Center Announces Scholarship Winners

Thanks to generous donations by Cal Poly Pomona alumni and supporters over the years, the Lyle Center is pleased to offer two student scholarships in the amount of $1,000. This year our awards go to Cristina Halstead and Amelia Herndon, two students in the Master of Science program in Regenerative Studies. This program supports excellent MSRS students who are self-starters, leaders and team players. Applicants must demonstrate a commitment to regenerative studies as well as the desire and ability to address environmental challenges facing society in the 21st century and both winners have done just that.

Cristina Halstead is a native Californian. She has a B.A. Public Policy from Occidental College and an M.S. Environmental Education from Audubon Expedition Institute/Lesley University. Her areas of interest include green roofs, campus sustainability, biodiesel, and international development.

She plans to do her thesis on green roofs, possibly studying their stormwater mitigation or energy savings benefits. She recently traveled to Nicaragua as part of a regenerative studies course to see renewable energy projects. She hopes to travel to other parts of Latin America, especially Mexico, to see other examples of how regenerative technologies can be applied.

Amelia Niluphar Herndon is a Landscape Architect who has been living and working in Riverside, CA for the last 6 1⁄2 years. She received her B.S. in Landscape Architecture from UC Davis in 2001. She is LEED NC accredited and a certified Permaculture Designer.

Her passion for environmental design has been most apparent on municipal park projects dedicated to stormwater quality, water conservation landscaping, and trails master planning.

Now as a Regenerative Studies graduate student, her area of interest is biofiltration swales within the Santa Ana River watershed. Her specialization is non-point source pollution from stormwater run-off and finding regenerative ways to detain “first-flush” potentially contaminated waters, and settle out sediment and suspended solids before they reaches the rivers, lakes, and oceans.

She shares that “the Regenerative Studies Master’s Degree Program at Cal Poly Pomona has been an opportunity for me to realize a synthesis of my passions for healthy communities and landscape architecture.”

First Year MSRS Student Profiles

Fall, 2007 marked the fourth year of our Master of Science program in Regenerative Studies. This unique program prepares students to solve environmental problems facing our global society in the 21st century. Eight new students entered the program this fall. This group brings a broad range of backgrounds and interest. This group includes the following:

Rael Berkowitz gained an appreciation for the interrelatedness of sustainable systems through working with the University's Organic Farm Enterprise while earning a Bachelors degree in Agribusiness at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. That appreciation strengthened and materialized into a specialization for the built environment. His interests include indoor natural daylighting, resource-efficient mechanical systems and building-integrated photovoltaics.

Nikki Cavazos has a B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies, and a Certificate in Urban Planning from Cal State San Bernardino. Her areas of interest include building "Green" communities and studying human behavior. She is currently considering a thesis about setting up a sustainable waste management program on the Cal Poly campus that would examine the best ways of changing human behavior.

Henry Esqueda has always been fascinated with physical geography through grade school which motivated him to obtain a BA from California State University, Fullerton. His interests are geared toward sustainable planning and incorporating regenerative technologies in the social, cultural, and physical realms.

Cristina Halstead has degrees in public policy and environmental education. Her areas of interest include green roofs, campus sustainability, biodiesel, and international development.

Amelia Herndon has a BS in Landscape Architecture from UCDavis. She is currently researching the aesthetics and function of vegetation within biofiltration swales throughout the Santa Ana River Watershed.

Michelle McFadden holds a BA in Political Science from Arizona State University. She has worked with non-profit organizations as well as in the private sector for environmental awareness. Michelle's areas of research are renewable energy systems and environmental policy.

Anne Snyder Pandey has a BA in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently researching the embodied energy of synthetic lawns. Her areas of interest include sustainable schools, lawn cover alternatives and the idea of “going green” as it relates to regenerative studies.

Low-Cost Sustainable House Prototype Wins Top Honors for the Cal Poly Pomona Department of Architecture

Nearly one billion people are living in impoverished urban communities throughout the world with little or no access to safe and adequate water, sanitation, or shelter. This number is expected to double over the next 30 years. These conditions threaten public health, basic human rights, and environmental sustainability. Habitat 21: the Lyle Center project for sustainable settlements, seeks to address these issues by developing, implementing and evaluating sustainable settlement strategies for disenfranchised communities in lesser-developed nations.

One of their projects is a low cost sustainable housing prototype for Tijuana in collaboration with the Department of Architecture and Corazon, an NGO whose mission is to serve the poor in Mexico. This March the project received top honors from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) who awarded their 2008 Grand Prize for "Creative Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy" to the Department of Architecture in recognition of their contributions to the prototype.

The project features innovative re-use of materials, a papercrete wall system that uses recycled newsprint, a low-cost green roof, passive heating and cooling strategies and a low-energy technique for radiant heating. These innovative approaches show that sustainable design strategies can be incorporated into affordable housing using readily available materials that can be found locally for little or no cost while minimizing the use of non-renewable resources.

The project has been supported by a grant from The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, recieved by Dr. Kyle Brown, Dr. Pablo LaRoche, and Irma Ramirez. Numerous architecture, landscape architecture and regenerative studies students have worked on the project, including Matty West, a Regenerative Studies graduate student who is studying the heating and cooling performance of the building for his thesis.

This effort is an example of what can be achieved through an interdisciplinary, learn-by-doing approach that seeks not only to educate students and the community at large but also to begin to solve some of the most immediate and difficult global issues that are challenging us today.

The prototype is being constructed at the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies. Visitors are welcome to view the house. Below are some photos. Go to this site to see more.