Sustainable engineering with Engineers Without Borders
"You've heard of Doctors Without Borders, the medical humanitarian organization, but have you heard of Engineers Without Borders?
"They bring sustainable engineering projects to underdeveloped communities and train engineers. Simply put, EWB uses technology to fight global poverty."
Guide to Midwestern Culture
Good article, but a note of caution about the word 'underdeveloped' -- like 'developed' and 'development' it always has a corporate hook in it and all such terms are best avoided, IMHO.
Tagged: sustainability, permaculture, sustainable+engineering, aid, foreign+aid, development, poverty, environmentPip Wilson posted item above at 1:20 PM | Permalink
5 Comments:
Considering the topic is engineering and development, we could tiptoe around using "under," but to what end?
Whether we call the places EWB goes "underdeveloped," or "developing" as EWB does, neither one ties EWB to any "corporate hook." Avoiding the term is meaningless.
PS Nice Ignatz cartoon. That was my better half's nickname when he was a kid.
I disagree. It's not a matter of choosing between defining a country as "underdeveloped," or "developing", when "development" itself shouldn't be the yardstick of anything. Development is a construct of capital and a word entirely in capital's pocket. It refers to standards and practices of economy and culture (such as Western consumer culture) which are in themselves highly undesirable. Why don't we call a country "poor" rather than define it by a term which only says how much it has been infected by corporate capitalism? Countries are poor, not lacking McDonald's, Shell and Enron. I believe there is nothing to be gained and much to be lost by allowing Western capitalism to define the problem, set the "cures" and impose the nomenclature.
Why don't we call a country "poor" rather than define it by a term which only says how much it has been infected by corporate capitalism?
"Poor" isn't pejorative?
You invest the word with meaning and reflect it back on whom? Am I "in capital's pocket"? Is EWB? Are either of us bringing McDonalds, or are we bringing electricity?
If you don't like "capitalism's construct" of the word, you should reclaim it or replace it, but you should acknowledge that your disagreement is with someone else rather than try to retroactively censor EWB or me.
Another thing to remember is that no one, either in developed or underdeveloped countries, is forced to do business with McDonalds, Shell or Enron. It's a choice linked with quality of life, and only those who have free access to it hold it in disdain.
Limiting access to language is devolutionary.
tee bee, two extraordinary things you write seem to reveal much about you. The first is that you think the word 'poor' is pejorative. The second is that you claim that I am censoring you, yet I invite and allow you, an anonymous person, to post this claim and other assertions on my website. You'll have to do a lot better than that.
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