Guest columnist: Climate change solutions

We all would love a greener Bloomington; that’s obvious. Making it happen is a little bit more difficult. The campus and city have initiated programs and events to promote green living awareness.

IU introduced the Office for Sustainability on campus, which offers internships, grants, a student sustainability council and many outreach programs to promote a greener campus. The Bloomington City Council adopted a Green Building Program Ordinance to set benchmarks and awards to promote more ecological friendly designs, maintenance, efficiency and operations.

Bloomington’s Sustainable City Initiative has certainly opened doors for cleaner transportation, better education and smarter conservation. But this is only the beginning.

The College of Arts and Science’s Themester this fall is drawing awareness to Sustain•ability: Thriving on a Small Planet.

Bloomington’s Peak Oil Task Force published a report, “Redefining Prosperity: Energy Descent and Community Resilience” and began a conversation at community level about energy resources.

But we have a long way to go and a lot to learn. Most of us sweep words such as fuel cell, hydrogen and carbon under the rug. Yet advanced solutions that draw from technical innovation and further exploration of both global and local resources can take Bloomington’s efforts further.

Guest lecturers such as Dr. Sossina Haile help to make these kinds of conversations friendly and accessible.

Haile is visiting Bloomington this week from CalTech, where she is a professor of materials science and of chemical engineering. She is an internationally recognized expert in fuel cell technology and Fullbright and Humboldt Scholar and will lecture about her research. But you don’t have to be a Fullbright Scholar or a rocket scientist to understand climate change, and Haile recognizes that.

She will give two lectures. The first is for the general public from 3 to 4 p.m. today at the Whittenberger Auditorium followed by a reception at the Solarium open to students with burning questions.

Haile and others develop highly efficient fuel cells that can function but do not require hydrogen and materials that “will ultimately lead to exceptionally high power output fuel cells.”  

“There has been much national and international attention on hydrogen as the savior to address our energy and climate woes,” Haile wrote on her website.

Solar energy is a much better solution than hydrogen because it is a sustainable source rather than a carrier. The storage and transport of hydrogen is problematic since it is a gas. Using solar energy in widespread fashion requires the ability to efficiently capture, convert and store energy from sunlight in a cost-effective manner.

Therefore, the production of novel materials that can perform the aforementioned tasks at an affordable price would be ideal. Haile’s research is urgent and important not only in relation to climate change, but also to the continual depletion of fossil fuel reserves along with ever-increasing global energy demands.

Haile is visiting on behalf of the Office for Women’s Affairs’s, the Women in Science Program and the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers to deliver WISP’s annual Outstanding Women in Science lecture.

Her presence in Bloomington supports and promotes young, inspired women studying the sciences. Women studying science and women teaching science have increased, but the numbers are still not balanced.  

Haile reflects the powerful impact and change minority women can have in a white male dominated field. But with the right support in the classroom, on campus and in departments, a somewhat intimidating field can easily become a more socially comfortable place to study and work.

Young women can follow Haile’s lead and excel, succeed and further open the doors for women who will lead next.


Nina Mehta is the assistant editor of the Majority Report for the Office of Women’s Affairs.