Fulbright scholars visit New Orleans to learn about environmental ...

Foreign Fulbright scholars in New Orleans on Friday for a three-day seminar on climate change and environmental issues helped rebuild homes with the St. Bernard Project, salvage old building materials at The Green Project and maintain green and wetland spaces at City Park and Common Ground Relief. The seminar, ?Greening of the Planet: Global Challenges, Local Solutions,? is being attended by about 100 foreign Fulbright students.?

New Orleans was chosen as the location for this particular seminar because of the numerous environmentally conscious projects in the area, particularly after Hurricane Katrina. The seminar is Dec. 13-16, and is hosted by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is one of several Fulbright enrichment seminars held around the country, this one focusing on environmental sustainability and how scientific innovation, economic development and education can contribute to addressing climate change.

?The environmental setting of southern Louisiana fits perfectly. There are issues of coastal lands, farming, fishing, natural disasters -- it?s the perfect place to study climate change,? State Department representative Leigh Sours said. ?After Katrina, there?s also a feeling of entrepreneurship and community development.?

Sours said it is the State Department?s hope that Fulbright scholars visiting New Orleans to see the different projects, would take ideas back to their own countries.

At the Green Project, students sorted new raw materials that had just arrived. The Green Project?s mission is to repurpose discarded items into low-cost building materials, particularly for people who are rebuilding their homes after Katrina. Some examples include making old wood usable, and reusing leftover paint to keep it out of landfills.

Knut Birkedal, 29, of Norway, has been using his Fulbright to study physics at the University of California at Berkeley. He said he wanted to attend the environmental seminar because his work has been focusing on creating more sustainable ways to produce energy. ?It?s important to take care of the resources we have, whether it?s oil or gas or paint,? Birkedal said. ?It?s great to be able to see how people are dealing with climate change here.?

Another Fulbright fellow, Krisztina Tury, 28, of Hungary, said that although her research isn?t necessarily environmentally focused, volunteering at the Green Project has given her some good ideas. Tury has been studying for a master?s in public administration at Syracuse University, and hopes to start her own nonprofit agency one day.

?I don?t know much about environmental issues, so I thought this was a good way to learn,? Tury said. ?I?m sure I will take ideas from this project back with me, I really like how in the United States, there?s a culture of volunteerism.?

This week?s conference in New Orleans also includes talks from local community groups concerned with preserving the environment, such as VEGGI Farmers Cooperative, NanoFex and The Idea Village.

The Fulbright program involves highly competitive grants awarded to students, teachers, artists and scientists to give them an opportunity for international educational exchange. The program operates in 155 countries and provides 8,000 grants every year for students to conduct research or teaching in another country.

Source: http://www.nola.com/environment/index.ssf/2012/12/fulbright_scholars_visit_new_o.html

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