Samuel Kwakye (‘14, Ghana) presents at International Students Summit in Michigan

Filed Under: EARTH News
Date: October 3rd, 2012

This October 4 – 5, Samuel Kwakye (’14, Ghana) will participate in the 12th Annual International Students Summit (ISS), a conference organized by Michigan State University (MSU) and Tokyo Agriculture University. EARTH Dean Edgar Alvarado will accompany him to the event, which will take place at MSU’s East Lansing campus. The summit’s theme is: “Students Taking Action in Response to Energy Challenges in the Areas of Food, Agriculture and the Environment.”

Samuel Kwakye

As part of the event’s agenda, Samuel will give a presentation about EARTH student and University initiatives. Specifically, he will talk about innovative composting methods and low-cost bio-digesters that convert methane emitted by livestock manure into cooking gas. EARTH students have helped local farming families make compost to enrich soils. The have also installed more than 123 bio-digesters in the neighboring communities of El Triunfo, La Florita and Las Lomas. In this way, EARTH students have helped families save money they might otherwise spend on gas, protect local forests from deforestation for firewood, and enhance their farms’ air quality. Samuel speaks convincingly of the initiatives’ applicability not only to Costa Rica’s rural sector, but also to those of other places, like his home country, Ghana.

In addition, he will highlight the University’s Renewable Energies Laboratory, Carbon Neutral Program, waste management practices and leadership in solar energy.

Samuel comments, “I am very happy that EARTH University can join the conference for the first time. We are going to show others what we could be doing as students to contribute our part to the sustainable development of the world. It’s a great opportunity.”

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