Special thanks to faculty member Jennie Oleksak for submitting this article

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Five Brophy students travelled to Ludwigshafen, Germany and participated in the International Youth Academy’s conference, “For a Better Climate – Looking at Alternative Energies”,  from August 20-29, 2009.  The conference was hosted by the Heinrich Pesch Haus, a Jesuit center that sponsors conferences on ethical, political and Catholic issues.  Kiefer Forseth ’10, Will Herding ’11,
Andrew McKee ’10, Peter Ossowski ’11, and Eric Villanueva ’11 and
Mrs. Jennie Oleksak attended the conference and represented the United States during the international workshop.  High school students from Hungary, Ireland, and Germany also participated in the conference. 

Speakers from German universities, an organization that promotes the use of renewable energies, governmental agencies and the European Union shared information about the issues surrounding climate change and the use of renewable energies.  Kai Stenull, the program’s project manager, also organized field trips to two “energy farms”, where the group learned about the creation and use of solar power, biogas plants and wind turbines.  The Mercedes Benz Museum tour included a discussion about the future of environmentally friendly cars.  Excursions to local historical sites at Heidelberg and Speyer taught us about German history and culture. 

The Brophy students greatly enjoyed the intercultural exchange with the other students during meals, free time and the seminar.  Towards the beginning of the workshop, all participants calculated their personal carbon footprint.  The U.S. students discovered that the carbon footprint of a U.S. teenager is twice the carbon footprint of teenagers from other countries.  Many group discussions revolved around each country’s policies toward climate change, attitudes about the alternative energy topics and simply the cultural differences the group observed. The Brophy group returned home motivated to combat climate change and make a personal difference in reducing energy consumption.