SNRE student Melissa Antokal (M.S./MBA '12) was recently in Kenya to complete a team master'project with other students. On behalf of their client the Mpala Wildlife Foundation, the graduate students researched and analyzed issues around sustainable growth and responsible energy consumption. In a blog post, Antokal writes about how the adage "Location, location, location," used commonly during her previous work in the real estate industry, is also a useful guiding principle for sustainability and growth in the developing world. í¢"People want to live, work and play in locations that are closest to the things they value most," she states.

The Mpala project "was a worthwhile challenge in helping a geographically isolated community, without connection to municipal services, thrive with the most local of resources without affecting the balanced ecosystem that exists there," Antokal writes.

Another SNRE master's project team is also working with the Mpala Wildlife Foundation. The current group will further evaluate data and recommendations from the Antokal group and build upon them, and then develop their own (and likely more detailed) solutions to the energy/water systems challenge. 

Antokal's posting originally appeared on Triple Pundit and later was published on Erb Perspective, a collection of student and faculty blogs at the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise.