Many Americans spend time volunteering abroad. They bring their
talents and their good intentions to impoverished communities —
with the goal of improving the lives of the poor. But those who
work abroad often learn the hard way that good deeds can cause
unintended consequences. The World’s science reporter Rhitu
Chatterjee explores such aid projects in our latest science
podcast. It features an interview Anu Ramaswami, an
environmental engineer at the University of Colorado in Denver.
And listeners have a chance to ask Ramaswami their own questions
in our online science forum. Reporter Eliza Barclay has this
story from Nicaragua where two American brothers tried a
technological fix to poverty in that Central American country:
Barclay: Mathias Craig is an engineer and social entrepreneur.
He’s obsessed with windmills. M. Craig: To me they seem a
perfect mix of an opportunity to do something that has sort of a
social good and an environmental good. Barclay: As a child,
Craig spent a lot of time in Nicaragua, v