Rust Belt Bites Back

jpaul — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:36:46 +0000

Don’t look now, but the U.S. Defense Department is backing an academic program that may ultimately offer long-term aid in the area of resource conservation. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on Tuesday that the University of Akron, with the help of a $2.3 million Defense Department grant, has begun laying the groundwork for an engineering program aimed at the understanding and prevention of corrosion, a pervasive blight eating away at our domestic infrastructure at an estimated rate of $400 billion per year.

The Defense Department spends upwards of $22 billion a year (1/3 of their maintenance costs) on reigning in the degrading effects of corrosion. Dan Dunmire, director of the department’s Office of Corrosion Policy and Oversight, says the problem has created “almost a sense of crisis.”

Rainwater Harvesting as an Art Form

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:41:08 +0000

Think the barrels normally used for rainwater harvesting are ugly? You’re not alone: that’s the response University of Akron art education professor Elisa Gargarella heard from friends in response to her own home rain barrel. Rather than put the barrel away, though, Gargarella found inspiration in her friends’ distaste: if people find them ugly, why not make them beautiful?

Sounds like the approach an artist would take, right? Gargarella went a step further, though: as the director of Arts LIFT, an arts apprenticeship program for urban youth, she made beautifying rain barrels the centerpiece of this summer’s program. She also added an environmental education component: the ten teenage apprentices spent time learning about water-use issues, listening to lectures on water conservation, and even taking a tour of the local sewage treatment plant.

Green Options » akron

Rust Belt Bites Back

Rainwater Harvesting as an Art Form