shuang qiao is a farming community in the guangxi province of china. it’s probably a poor, shabby place in the eyes of most city dwellers — but not for me.

as a child, i saw this as a mystical place, a paradise almost. the mountains were simply waiting for me to climb up and explore. they spread far beyond the village. rivers and swamps hummed with insects which we children would always try to catch using plastic bottles. these areas were slippery, often tripping us as we ran in bare feet. we laughed about it most of the time and i did not have a care in the world during those moments.

the community was warm and tight-knit, as i recall that many of the residents would leave their front gates open for others to wander through. it was common for a single household to host neighborhood dinner nights, which my grandparents actively participated in. the home could easily fit up to a hundred people. sometimes, the hot stuffy air would convince them to buy popsicles for my cousins and i at the market. i played with my cousins frequently, alongside other kids in the neighborhood. our favorite activity was playing tag in the vast, open courtyard occupying the middle of the home. the nearby playground was a close second.

a large number of chickens and dogs would roam about the village, which added to the pungent mix of farm smells. the pigs, cows, and chickens were kept just down the street from home. flies were so abundant that we would constantly need to cover the outdoor living room with sticker paper.

at the front of the neighborhood stood a magnificently old magnolia tree. its leaves were painted a variety of red and orange and its trunk was always sticky with sap. this tree always felt so inviting. people would spend much of their free time taking naps and playing cards beneath it. it was popular with us kids as well, of course, being the perfect “base” for our game of tag. during special holidays, we watched as the nighttime brimmed with yellow sparklers from all across the village.

at that time my family lived in nanning, a big bustling city in the south of china. i was in the village for my summer vacation, so back then, i felt a bit like an outsider.

my father would have to pick me up eventually to resume school, but i never wanted to leave. i wanted to stay within the confines of mountains and rivers. i wanted to live around the presence of farm animals and kids whose faces were always dirtied from the outdoors. i wanted to continue exploring this fantasy of a land for as long as i was alive. the adults would often tease me about this connection i had with the village, with the spirit of nature i felt within it. i was humbled, in a way.

i was not burdened with heavy responsibilities at this time and i was too young to ponder the meaning of life. my head was empty besides feelings of playfulness and hunger. i saw the innocence and purity of nature very clearly, more so than i do today through the lens of adulthood. the appreciation was genuine because i was immediately able to reap the benefits of an endless playground. a sense of joy which i may never feel anywhere else is in that village, in the raw, natural world. i believe that humans were truly meant to live close to the land.

i would like to think that at the age of 20, given the opportunity to live outside of modern standards, i would be just as happy as i was in the past.

as a child, this was my space. the orchards were my playground. i would spend afternoons with my great grandma at the fruit stand. we would count the cars by color as they passed by. i grew up in a house situated between my grandfather and my great-grandparents. they built the orchards i found refuge in and cultivated the land i called home.

place attachment is fundamental to developing environmental attitudes. connection to place is the emotional connection an individual feels toward their surroundings. this is often developed through childhood interactions and life experiences. the deeper the place attachment, the more likely a person is to be concerned about their local environments.

it can be easy to imagine place connections in rural areas where you are “closer” to nature. but not everyone grew up on an orchard (like me), in the woods, or on a farm. everyone experiences place connections in different ways regardless of where they live.

even though cities may seem vastly different from the countryside, there are some key similarities in how we relate to our surroundings. our inherent affinity toward the natural world can extend beyond cultural reservations. though many may be hesitant at first, good environmental education programs and citizen science initiatives can help people feel connected to their natural communities no matter where they are. a better understanding of local ecology will give people the confidence to stand up for environmental protection in their communities. 

currently, most citizen science programs are directed at studies of local ecology. these are beneficial on their own, but they also create possibilities for new types of engagement. we can adapt citizen science to environmental justice projects. programs that teach people how environmental issues personally affect their communities can help people get a broader understanding of the importance of these issues in their neighborhoods and can help them make connections with other people who want to make their community a safer, healthier, and more enjoyable place to live. if we nurture our place connections and learn how they relate to our local ecologies and environmental issues, we can all become powerful advocates for the environment.

once we understand our own connections, we can connect with our neighbors. the people we live near often have a similar sense of attachment to place. we often share many of the same values and concerns regarding our local environments. personal actions to save the environment are great. reducing our own carbon footprint with eco-friendly methods is a good practice to keep, but we know it will not end climate change. additionally, governments change rapidly and bend to the whim of money and politics. they have consistently proven themselves unwilling to meet the demands of climate change mitigation.

so, what can we do? we can heal our environment through community efforts. collective place attachment and community empowerment can uplift people to take direct action in helping their local environments. citizen science initiatives can be used to increase place attachment and build community efforts. a system of community-lead organizations to support local environments that interact with and learn from one another can develop a grassroots initiative uniquely tailored to regions with a disregard for political borders. we have the potential to create a global matrix of communities working to protect the environment. 

wind energy is so prevalent in texas, that if the state were its own country, it would rank fifth in the world for wind energy with about 25 megawatts installed throughout the state according to the american wind energy association.

what’s even more impressive about wind-powered electricity in texas? in 2019, something monumental happened. the electric reliability council of texas (ercot) released their biannual report for the first half of the year and wind had surpassed coal. the difference in energy usage was small with wind coming in at 22% and coal at 21%, but wind has been growing steadily in practice and as a focus for politicians, educators, environmentalists, and local economies.

lubbock, texas, is the heart of wind research, industry, and education in the country. it’s the home of texas tech university and the national wind institute (nwi), and the university is the only one in the nation with a degree program for wind engineering. anyone that’s familiar with west texas knows that wind turbines are as plentiful as tumbleweeds and prairie dogs. new “wind farms” appear every year on the farmland surrounding small towns. these wind farms pump money into local economies and bring new life to these communities.

matt saldana is a small-town texas native and an employee of the national wind institute. saldana also is an instructor at texas tech, specializing in renewable energies, finance and economics, and project management. he has seen firsthand the changes that come with the wind industry while living in sweetwater, texas. while there, he witnessed a revival of the small town as money was brought into the community as a result of a new wind farm outside of town. saldana explained the entire process. 

when a contractor sees potential for a wind farm in an area, they go to the landowners of large farms and ranches with the request to put instruments on their land to take readings of wind speeds in the area, according to saldana. he said this stage is fully noncommittal and comes with no guaranteed compensation for the landowner. if the owner agrees to having turbines built on their property, the contracting company will begin construction.

as a thank you to the community, developers will often pay for new roads, sidewalks, or schools. in sweetwater, a new, state-of-the-art school district was built. this allowed for more money to be spent on teachers’ salaries, bringing in new faculty from the metroplex.

while the turbines are being constructed, thousands of temporary jobs are created. not only are local men and women hired to be on the construction crews, but local motels, restaurants, and gas stations see more business than they have in a long time. while they are under construction, the developers are subject to all local tax rates as well, ensuring the cities receive municipal funding. saldana said after construction, about 30 well-paying, permanent jobs are given to local residents. the landowners that have turbines on their properties receive a percentage of the revenue that each turbine produces (generally 3% to 8% depending on the specific company and production levels of each turbine, according to saldana).

“people are being allowed to keep the family farms they’ve had for generations,” saldana said.

the american farmer is in critical condition. production prices are at an all-time high, climate change is affecting growing seasons and harvesting, and trade wars with foreign countries have made it harder for many to sell what little yield they have. farm bankruptcies are up across every region of the country and the farmer suicide rate is one of the highest in the nation. saldana said that the extra revenue brought in by turbines to family farms has helped people save the land that’s been in their families for generations.

saldana said that research is being done constantly in order to push the industry forward. a few hot topics in the field include cybersecurity of turbines on the grid, finding a use for old and out of date equipment, moving into offshore capabilities, and finding a way to store renewable energy.

“renewable electricity can’t be stored,” saldana said. “finding a solution to that would be a game changer.”

saldana said despite the many positive aspects of the wind industry, there is still controversy surrounding wind turbines for people who live around them: endangering wildlife such as birds and bats, disrupting flora and fauna, and the low aesthetic value of the wind farms. he said the nwi is working on addressing these issues and that developers often work with wildlife conservation groups funding research and relocating bird species, like the lesser prairie chicken.

“there’s always going to be pushback no matter the industry,” saldana said. “(the positives) outweigh the negatives by environmental benefits and just keeping stuff in the ground.”

despite these controversies, there’s no question that renewable energy industries have earned their place in texas. wind powered energy has become a major source of power for the state and only continues to grow. wind energy allows for more assurance from blackouts, brownouts, and offers a new, clean means of electricity on the grid, ensuring a green method of urban resilience as our population spreads in urban areas; as a result, rural communities in west texas continue to thrive thanks to the economic spark this industry brings them.

today, that company is called mobile agricultural power solutions or maps. its mission is to empower farmers to be more efficient in producing and transporting goods to market by providing low-cost multi-purpose utility vehicles using local manufacturing. these utility vehicles, now known as agrovers, have been produced all over sub-saharan africa, including cameroon, kenya, guinea, and nigeria.

how we got started

the agrover’s story began in 2009, when an ngo in cameroon came to a professor at purdue university and asked for help in producing designs for a multipurpose vehicle that could be built in rural areas with local materials. every year, new designs would be built and tested in cameroon by senior design teams. the concept for the vehicle slowly developed over a period of 6 years into what is known today as the agrover.       

my story intertwined with the agrover’s in 2014 when i joined as a graduate student to help with the cause. in 2014, i traveled with fellow graduate student david wilson to berkeley in california for techcon2014, where we placed second in an innovation contest after sharing the designs and story for our original prototype agrover, the pup (purdue utility platform). next, we gained even more momentum after planet forward awarded us with the opportunity to share our story at the committee on world food security at the un-fao headquarters in rome, italy. this event empowered and strengthened our resolve to try and take the vehicle’s design to the next level.

how we took it to the next level

since sharing our story in rome, the face of the program has changed significantly. several new members have joined the team, who have both ties in the united states and in nigeria, and david has incorporated maps into an international company. several locations and partners were considered while trying to determine where maps would begin production of the agrover after building prototypes in cameroon, guinea, and kenya. currently, space is being rented in a facility in lagos, nigeria, where the first agrover has been produced by freshly graduated students from a local technical school, the institute for industrial technology. this first vehicle will be used as a marketing vehicle as more vehicles are being produced.

ways to support

we always are looking for supporters as we push to alleviate food insecurity and help farmers in sub-saharan africa by providing them with the tools they need to be more successful. please, feel free to check out our website and/or our indiegogo page at the following links to learn more about our story and to support the cause.

indiegogo: https://igg.me/at/agrover/x

mobile agricultural power solutions (maps): https://mobileagpower.wordpress.com/

the project was recently awarded ten million dollars in federal funding, which will be used to improve the quality of the tracks, build new stations (including one planned for middlebury), and install 13 new rail crossings. once tracks quality is improved, trains will be able to travel at 60 miles per hour, rather than the current maximum speed of 10-25 mph for freight trains.

vermont’s rail resurgence is reflective of a growing desire for public transit. currently there are only several train stations in the state. as the project develops in coming years, the hope is that vermont and surrounding areas will be able to rely more heavily on public transit, and reduce the state’s dependency on automobile traffic.

for students at middlebury, the hope is that the project will connect them to other public transit throughout new england, providing them with an even broader link to the region.

in this film, i spoke with senior architecture students working on proposals for a new train station in middlebury. the students, who are working on these projects as their senior theses, will present them to the town of middlebury select board at the end of the year.
 

many developing countries are challenged by poor roads in rural areas and few affordable transport options. without good transportation, access to food, farm inputs, education, and markets is limited. also, many farms have no affordable mechanical power inputs. most work is done by hand, which is inefficient.

the solution: the practical utility platform

the practical utility platform (pup) is a utility vehicle designed to provide transportation in rural areas and power to farms. it can haul up to 2000 pounds on road or off road. the vehicle can power attachments like water pumps for irrigation or grain grinders for food processing. in addition, it can pull small field implements, like tillers and planters. the pup is designed to be locally manufactured and maintained. the cost to build one is less than 2000 usd.

learn more at engineering.purdue.edu/pup/