The team at Engineers Without Borders (EWB) UAlberta Chapter is happy to announce that their sustainable development event “Water From Thin Air” was a huge success! On March 5, 2024, 63 students and faculty members from the University of Alberta came together to learn about the work EWB is undertaking, how it relates to the SDGs, and how they can take immediate action to achieve the SDGs and a net-zero future in their neighborhood! We would like to extend a special thank you to all our attendees for contributing to the success of the night!
Our event included a presentation of different aspects of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with great emphasis on water scarcity as an outstanding issue in many communities. Our Vice-President Communications, Tess Swierstra, assembled and showcased a demo of a solar-powered household atmospheric water generator. The unit will sit on a wall, pull humidity from the air, and condense it into drinking water ready to use from a small reservoir. The goal of this unit is to build something which is self-sufficient, functional for a single household, and inexpensive so as to make a wider impact.
After the presentation, participants took time to connect with someone
they hadn’t met before, sharing where they were from, and what sustainable actions and inspiration they hoped to take away from the evening. At the end of our event, everyone shared one thing they could do today to achieve a net-zero future, and committed to one thing we could do tomorrow to sustain that promise. We shared actions big and small – taking active transit, eating plant-based diets, joining a climate movement, conducting a research project on the intersection between engineering and climate action – the sky was the limit! We ended the night sharing a meal together and chatting about our commitments, questions, and stories! Truly a great chance to connect global and local actions and build a lasting commitment to make the world a better place!
We are very pleased to mark this event as a success in our books, and we are looking forward to seeing what other great things this chapter can accomplish regarding sustainability in our community!
