On Wednesday, October 22 Susan Kinne and Reina Lopez anchored a lunchtime discussion about sustainability and alternative energy in rural households in Nicaragua. Kinne, who founded Grupo Fenix at the National Engineering University in Managaua, and Lopez, who is the leader of the women’s collective Las Mujeres Solares de Totogalpa, were on campus as guests of the Cornell Chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World and The Bovay Program for Engineering Ethics.

Kinne and Lopez were invited to Ithaca by Ithaca College History Professor Michael Smith. Smith and his family spent the spring semester of 2013 in Nicaragua, working with Las Mujeres Solares and Grupo Fenix on their sustainable development projects in Sabana Grande. The women came to Cornell to speak about their work in developing alternative energy solutions to rural household energy needs.

The Cornell chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) has been involved with Grupo Fenix…