In Search of Solutions
The culmination of each first-year Great Problem Seminar course at WPI is the opportunity to conduct a team-based project that addresses problems focused on themes of global importance- in this case climate change. The final chapters in this text are a result of topics that teams selected that address a climate change angle. Each team took great care in the scholarly pursuit of defining a problem, researching the underlying causes, describing their project approach and methodology, presenting results, drawing conclusions while incorporating ethical, social, environmental, and other implications, and providing recommendations. Students incorporated their work into these chapters and via a poster presentation day that is open to the public. In these projects around climate change, we saw a clear pattern of students interested in a) indigenous rights and their connections to natural resources and b) shifting energy resources.
Chapter narratives from the student authors themselves:
Chapter 13 (Rigged for Oil Rigs): In the United States, there has a debate on whether to drill for oil in the ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). Opening the Arctic for drilling will have many negative effects (on the Native Alaskan tribes, on migratory animals, and on global climate as a whole), and so it should be prevented.
Chapter 14 (Climate Change Impacts on Native Hawaiian Population): Indigenous Hawaiians are disproportionately affected by climate change due to their reliance on natural resources and cultural ties to the land. Actions like coral gardening and shoreline hardening are methods that will protect coral reefs and beaches which
provide money and resources to natives that allow them to survive and adapt their culture.
Chapter 15 (Destigmatizing Nuclear Energy to Decarbonize the Worlds’ Power Supply) pits the public perception of nuclear energy against a potential but misunderstood source of energy. Students debate the pro’s and con’s of nuclear energy and broadcast their findings to the readers.
Chapter 16 (Small Scale Carbon Capture Implementation and Utilization): The implementation of carbon capture on all scales is a viable path forward for the transition to renewable energy. The heat generation system at Worcester Polytechnic Institute provides a unique foundation for the local application of these technologies, where we believe large scale methods and devices can be derived from in the future.
