Introducing Jerry
Hallo! My name is Jerry Gao, and I’m a Junior at Babson pursuing a concentration in Economics. My hobbies include film photography, woodworking, and fishing.
Growing up in the Washington D.C. area, I was made aware of the effects of government policies on key issues, such as sustainability, at a young age. While on a hiking trip in Switzerland last summer, I noticed the absence of air conditioning in public areas and commercial buildings such as train stations and hotels. Upon research, I realized that air conditioning usage is heavily regulated in many European countries. This further allowed me to realize the impact of government policies on sustainability. With that said, I chose this course because I want to learn about the policies that Germany has implemented to improve and promote sustainability, both from a cultural and economic perspective.
Another reason why I chose this course is because I am looking to learn a new language, and I want to see if German would be a great fit. Learning German has always been a possibility for me because my grandmother, who was a chemist, spoke German and regarded the language as the language of science.
In Germany, I hope to visit the wind turbines. This is because I took a Biomimicry last semester, where we drew ideas from nature to create products that could solve sustainability problems. One product that my group specifically studied was the wind turbine. We learned that making wind turbine blades in the shape of a whale’s flippers could allow the wind turbine to generate 30% more wind. This will not only produce more power but also allow wind turbines to require less land. In addition to whale flippers, scientists have also studied the way schools of fish move through the water without ever bumping into each other. Using this as inspiration, scientists figured out a way to angle wind turbines in different directions to generate the most power. I find these innovations fascinating, and I can’t wait to see a field of wind turbines in person.
One question I have in the course is, what sustainability initiatives and innovations does Germany have, and how can the U.S. learn from them?
