Cooper Sloan '22: Multicultural Learning Competency

Multicultural Considerations for a Sustainable Future

INTRODUCTION

My multicultural experience competency began when I spent a semester studying abroad for the 2020 spring semester in Salzburg, Austria. Although the semester was cut a month short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was able to take in many cultural differences between the US and Europe both academically and socially. Additionally, living in Europe at the onset of the pandemic has given me the opportunity to experience, firsthand, how European nations react to crises such as climate change or a pandemic. Granted, a country’s governmental response isn’t equitable to “culture”, but one could draw the conclusion that the EU’s stance on many global issues mirrors the sentiment of many (but not all) European citizens. When COVID-19 cases started to spike in Austria, the shutdown was almost immediate. We were no longer allowed to walk outside in large groups, and masks were required indoors. Not long after that, our classes were canceled, and most of the borders shut. When we were inevitably sent home, the contrast between Austria and the US was palpable. In Seattle, there were no mask mandates, every store was open, and the airport was the same as I’d left it: crowded. Early shutdowns in Europe saved around 3.1 million lives within two months of the first COVID-19 case in Europe (Gallagher, 2020).

The observable contrast in behavior toward early crises mitigation separates Europe from the US, in particular. In the same way that the EU took early action against COVID-19, many European nations have already adopted sustainable sources of energy. For example, in 2019, over half of the energy consumed in Sweden was generated by renewable energy sources (Swedish Institute, 2021). Likewise, half of the electricity used in Denmark today is supplied by wind and solar power alone (Udenrigsministeriet, 2021). For comparative context, less than 20% of the electricity generation in the US was from renewable energies (EIA, 2021).

Granted, Sweden and Denmark aren’t fully representative of all of Europe, but it just goes to show that the methodology with which problems are solved differs greatly amongst individuals and/or different groups of people.

Multicultural Dimensions of Sustainability

While the climate crisis is on nearly everybody’s radar, there are many different ideas on how to reduce or eliminate the impacts by living more sustainably. Before we can talk about sustainability within different cultures, we must first define sustainability. According to Merriam-Webster, sustainable is defined as “able to be used without being completely used up or destroyed” (Merriam-Webster, 2021). From this definition alone, it can be concluded that any sources of energy that must be burned (i.e., destroyed), such as fossil fuels and natural gases, are not sustainable. Even if we, as humans, conclude what is and isn’t sustainable, we must still determine how to adopt sustainable practices in a way that is culturally accepted. It is common knowledge that we must shift our energy sources away from traditional fossil fuels. However, the sudden elimination of all fossil fuels would be detrimental because the world cannot operate solely on the current capacity of renewables (IEA, 2021).

Observed MULTICULTURAL EXPERIENCE related TO SUSTAINABILITY

During my time abroad I was fortunate enough to make many close friends in Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic. And perhaps the biggest shock to me while hanging out with these friend groups was just how normal it is to walk everywhere. For example, the student center where I lived was 2 kilometers away from the Salzburg city center. And during the whole time I lived there, traveled to the city center exclusively by walking. Not once did we ever drive or take a bus, but always the 30-minute walk. On one occasion, we casually walked with a friend of ours to the - bus station, which was a distance of 6.4 kilometers. That’s a three hour walk round trip, yet I seemed to be the only one who was surprised by that. While I don’t believe a three-hour walk is a daily norm for most Europeans, it’s no secret that they do walk a lot more than we do here in the states. By comparison, a popular market located 1.2 kilometers from the edge of the University of Portland campus, is normally a 17-minute walk. While I know many students who go to this market for snacks, I’ve not met one who casually walks there. I say this not to criticize Americans’ way of life, but to point out that people share behavioral differences in day-to-day life which affect how sustainable their lifestyle is.

In my personal experience living in Salzburg, the Austrians seemed to be more aware of sustainable practices than most Americans. Almost every other home or building has a solar panel on its roof. I asked a German friend of mine (who my family hosted as an exchange student a few years ago) why solar panels are so prevalent. They told me that there is a financial incentive to do so, and after further research, I found this to be true. In Germany, for example, a homeowner with a rooftop solar system may be paid four times more to produce electricity than the rate paid to a coal-fired power plant (Galbraith, 2009). In most European grocery stores, there are bottle return systems that pay you to return plastic and glass bottles and containers. Most Europeans also don’t have air conditioners. To be exact, less than five percent of European households have air-conditioning, compared with 90 percent in the United States (Noack & Hassan, 2019). At first glance, this situation seems remarkable. But in Austria, high summer temperatures average 24°C (about 75°F), so the additional cost of air conditioning is simply not needed (Weather Atlas, 2021). The common theme amongst the aforementioned examples is that there are financial incentives to encourage sustainable lifestyles in Europe.

Practiced MULTICULTURAL EXPERIENCE related to SUSTAINABILITY

Over the summer of 2021, I had the opportunity to intern for a non-profit called Burn Design Lab (BDL), which designs clean-burning cookstoves for millions of people in developing nations that don’t have access to clean cooking technology. While interning at BDL, I had that opportunity to work on a project involving the design of an improved shea nut roaster. Shea butter comes almost exclusively from what’s known as the “Shea Belt”, which spans many sub-Saharan nations in Africa. Most shea nuts are processed into shea butter through Co-Ops operated by women. Roasting the shea nuts is a necessary part of this process, however, the traditional method involves rotating old water tanks filled with shea nuts over an open fire for hours on end. Thus, the need for an improved shea roaster. While my mentor was developing a more efficient shea roaster that eliminates smoke inhalation, increases capacity, and decreases roasting time, I worked on developing alternate methods to rotate the shea roaster drum. Traditionally, the drum is rotated with a simple handle which, as you could imagine, becomes tiring and painful to do for even an hour. Before I could come up with an engineering solution to alternate transmission drives, I had to understand the problem through the eyes of those experiencing said problem, whatever that may be. And luckily, BDL’s close relationship with the shea roasting Co-Ops made it possible to do so by collecting direct user feedback. Initially, we thought of developing a transmission drive that mirrored a bike, where the shea roaster drum is driven by pedaling a bicycle. However, through user surveys, we found out that a bike-like transmission drive was not widely accepted because most women in our target country (Ghana) wore sundresses, which made it difficult to safely pedal a bike. So, by using a human-centered design approach and involving the individuals who are impacted in the design process, we were able to acquire a range of important criteria that were required for the transmission drive. And ultimately, we settled on a transmission drive in the form of a treadle. Over three months, I designed and developed three prototypes of a treadle-transmission drive. The treadle was met with great enthusiasm, in large part because many of the Ghanaian women were already familiar with treadle-driven sewing machines.

Perhaps even more so than studying abroad, BDL helped me realize the importance of understanding the people on the receiving end of engineered solutions. My summer internship with Burn Design Lab taught me that even a functionally good engineering solution is not worth anything if it is not accepted by the target audience. Furthermore, nobody is more knowledgeable with a problem, than those who suffer the consequences of said problem; and it is those same people who can provide the keys to potential solutions. These are lessons that I will carry for the rest of my career as an engineer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, people have values, attitudes, and behaviors that often differ from our own and we cannot successfully develop engineering solutions until we familiarize ourselves with the people affected. Even Europeans, whose western culture is relatively similar to Americans’, have substantially different ideas of the best way to travel, cool their homes, and generate electricity. These differences are even more exaggerated when compared to cultures vastly different from ours, like Ghana, for example. Thus, what works in one group of people, may not work in the next. This important concept is one of the primary goals of a Grand Challenge Scholar’s multicultural competency: to understand the multicultural aspects of engineering.

SOURCES

Gallagher, J. (2020, June 8). Coronavirus: Lockdowns in Europe saved millions of lives. BBC News. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52968523 

Swedish Institute. (2021, September 8). Energy use in Sweden. sweden.se. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://sweden.se/climate/sustainability/energy-use-in-sweden 

Udenrigsministeriet. (n.d.). Pioneers in clean energy. Denmark.dk. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://denmark.dk/innovation-and-design/clean-energy 

EIA. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions (faqs) - U.S. energy information administration (EIA). Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3 

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Sustainable. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sustainable

IEA, I. E. A. (2021, May 11). Renewables are stronger than ever as they power through the pandemic. IEA. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.iea.org/news/renewables-are-stronger-than-ever-as-they-power-through-the-pandemic 

Galbraith, K. (2009, March 13). Europe's way of encouraging solar power arrives in the U.S. The New York Times. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/business/energy-environment/13solar.html 

Noack, R., & Hassan, J. (2019, July 25). Europe never understood America's love of Air Conditioning - until now. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/06/28/europes-record-heatwave-is-changing-stubborn-minds-about-value-air-conditioning/ 

Aladin, W. A. (n.d.). Austria - climate data and average monthly weather. Weather Atlas. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/austria-climate 

Green America. (n.d.). 5 Reasons to Ditch Your Cryer. Green America. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.greenamerica.org/green-living/ditch-your-dryer