Changing the World, One TED Prize at a Time

I am a huge fan of TED talks to help spread innovation and ideas throughout our world. Here is a great example of how a TED grant has funded an initiative that is actually preventing overfishing.

Check it out on the TED Blog.

Success in Community Based Conservation

This TED talk is an inspiring example of how engaging local communities is the key to sustainable success in solving environmental, conservation, and social issues. Sometimes listening to the needs and the knowledge of local communities is the key to solving the issues of today.

Response from the President

After raising concerns about our energy future to the President, this is the message I received.

November 26, 2012

Dear Samantha:

Thank you for writing.  I appreciate hearing from you, and I share the vision of millions of Americans who want to take control of our Nation’s energy future.  My Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy is about developing every source of American energy—a strategy aimed at saving families and businesses money at the pump by reducing our reliance on foreign oil, expanding oil and gas production, and positioning the United States as the global leader in clean energy.

While developing new sources of energy is critical to our future, the hard truth is there are no overnight solutions to our energy challenges.  The only way to deal with this problem is through a sustained, serious, all-of-the-above approach.  Under my Administration, American oil production is at its highest level in 8 years, and we are now less reliant on foreign oil than in any of the past 16 years.  We have more working oil and gas rigs than the rest of the world combined, and we have opened up millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration where appropriate and where it can be done safely.  My Administration has also approved dozens of new pipelines to move oil around, including from Canada, which will help create jobs and encourage more energy production.  Thanks to our Nation’s booming oil production, more efficient vehicles, and a world-class refining sector that last year was a net exporter for the first time in 60 years, we cut net imports by 10 percent—or a million barrels a day—in the last year alone. 

My Administration will continue to look for every way we can help consumers—from relieving distribution bottlenecks to ensuring speculators do not take advantage of volatility in the oil markets.  To decrease our dependence on foreign oil, we established the toughest new efficiency standards for cars and trucks in history.  These fuel economy standards will double the fuel efficiency of our cars and light trucks by the middle of the next decade, which means filling up your car every two weeks instead of every week. 

But as a country that has 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves but consumes 20 percent of the world’s oil, we cannot just drill our way to lower gas prices.  The United States leads the world in natural gas production, with reserves that can last nearly 100 years—a supply that can power our cars, homes, and factories in a cleaner and cheaper way, and one that experts believe will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.  However, we must utilize this reserve without putting the health and safety of Americans at risk.  That is why, for the first time ever, I am requiring all companies drilling for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use. 

Thanks in part to my Administration’s investments in clean energy—the largest in American history—the United States has nearly doubled renewable energy generation from wind, solar, and geothermal sources, and thousands of Americans now have jobs as a result.  By cooperating with the private sector, we have positioned our country to be the world’s leading manufacturer of the high-tech batteries that will power the next generation of American cars.  I have repeatedly called on Congress to stop giving away $4 billion a year in oil subsidies to an industry that has never been more profitable, and instead to pass clean energy tax credits to cultivate a market for innovation in clean energy technology.  And I have directed the Department of the Interior to allow the development of enough clean energy on public lands to power three million homes.  The United States military—the largest energy consumer in the world—is also doing its part, making one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history.

Securing our Nation’s energy future is one of the major challenges of our time, and will require the efforts of our brightest scientists and most creative companies.  Americans must summon the spirit of optimism and the willingness to tackle tough problems that led previous generations to meet the challenges of their times.  My Administration is making a serious, sustained commitment to tackling these problems, and I encourage you to learn more about our efforts at www.WhiteHouse.gov/energy. 

Thank you, again, for writing. 

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Foreign Aid and the Facts

Many Americans feel that we shouldn't be focusing on foreign aid because we have domestic problems at home we should address first. However, few Americans are aware of the fact that we spend less than one percent of our national budget on foreign aid and even fewer Americans are aware how far that small amount has gone to improving the lives of those in developing countries. Check out this video and sign the petition to preserve the International Affairs account to continue life saving international aid.

What Tribe Will You Lead? Thoughts for Positive Global Change

Unemployment, a Practical Solution

As the presidential election draws closer, unemployment remains at the forefront of the candidates' campaign. Here is a great video, which features kids talking about an understated solution to improving employment. This video is great food for thought during the election season.

Kids Discuss America's Global Leadership: A Strategic Investment for U.S. Jobs from US Global Leadership Coalition on Vimeo.

Shady Business

The EPA recently weakened its environmental standards for plants that produce PVC, which emits a deadly air pollutant. Sadly, these standards were weakened in only two communities, behind close doors. Let the EPA know you are aware of their "shady business" and demand environmental equality for all communities!

Change.org

Today, I found an amazing website that contains petitions about relevant social and environmental issues, change.org. This is one of the most comprehensive sites I have found which is helping build momentum in positive social change by letting companies and government official know that we do care through various petitions. One topic that the website addresses is human trafficking. This past summer I was fortunate enough to travel to Thailand to work with the Development and Education Program for Daughters and Communities (DEPDC), which supports children who are at risk or rescued from human trafficking. Human trafficking can include the sex trafficking industry or just exploitive labor in general. To learn more about my experience at DEPDC, check out my ISV Thailand blog. You can also sign petitions at change.org to be a part of a movement to hold big brands such as Hershey's accountable for the labor they use to harvest their cocoa beans.

Change.org|Create a Petition

Saving the Mountains and Cleaning Up Coal Ash

EarthJustice and other environmental groups such as the Sierra Club initiate petitions and other appeals to influential government committees and persons to fight back against negligent environmental actions and decisions. To fight back against the Coal Ash I signed this petition.

Another issue you can speak out against is Mountain Top Removal. Mountain Top Removal is detrimental to communities and our beautiful mountains. Find out more. An influential novel that first introduced me to Mountain Top Removal is Strange as the Weather Has Been. 

If your interested in helping to save our mountains, participate in Earth Justice's photo petition. I did!

Vote for a Better Future

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”-Gandhi

Issue: Coal Ash Contamination

One hundred and ninety-seven known coal ash-contaminated sites are found around the United States. Nine known sites are located in Tennessee alone. Coal ash is the byproduct of burning coal and is polluting local rivers, stream, ponds, etc that leak into our drinking water. The toxic chemicals found in coal ash are linked to causing cancer and other health problems. These cancer causing agents can be protected from our drinking water by using "synthetic liners and leachate collection systems." Unfortunately, there are no environmental regulations ensuring these safeguards are used. Additionally, most coal ash waste sites are not monitored and the majority of contamination goes unreported or unnoticed.

All of the information in this blog was taken from an EarthJustice article.

Food Waste Problem/ Solution

Working in a restaurant I encounter a lot of food. As I am constantly scraping, what I consider perfectly good food, off peoples plate straight to the trash, I often find myself saying "what a waste." Though there is no quick fix to recovering leftover food off of customers already picked over plates, there is a great new solution to recover leftover food from restaurants, caterers, conventions, etc. The answer is in a student created iphone app that allows restaurants, caterers, and conventions to notify local community organizations when they have excess food that they would otherwise throw out. Though this far from solves the solution for food waste, but it is a positive step in the right direction toward a smarter, less wasteful society.
Flash Food App Article

Plastic Solutions

What are some solutions? Well, the obvious solution is to use other recyclable materials rather than plastic. Another effective solution is for grocery stores to stop using plastic bags altogether. Instead they can sell reusable bags for a small fee. Now, this might sound extremely obnoxious, but after talking to a fellow Canadian friend she said that it only took a couple of times forgetting her bags and having to buy new ones before she started always remembering. As long as we make bringing your own bags, (or maybe even cups in the future), a habit than we won't think twice about having to "lug" around bags or water bottles. I think the key to cutting our consumption is to encourage habits of bringing our own cups, bags, etc. so that we do not have to have a constant disposable supply on hand.

Plastic, Plastic, Plastic

I recently watched a documentary, Bag It, about how we have come to use plastic bags in almost every aspect of our lives. Unfortunately, all those plastic bags have to go some place, and they often end up polluting all areas of our earth, not just the garbage bins. Not only are we running out of space to dispose of the plastic bags but we are wasting our already depleting oil supple on manufacturing them. Additionally, research is beginning to reveal that toxins from all the plastic we are using are causing hormonal imbalances that are causing other health issues.

Nutrition: Problem/Solution

I could list dozens of shocking facts from the plethora of documentaries I have watched on health eating and the slow food movement. Each documentary has been important to building my interest in healthy eating; however, one book has really stood out to me. Clean is an amazing book about a three week cleanse that reveals all the toxins your body is exposed to and opens your eyes to a new way to think about eating. The "green" movement is growing with an increasing number of people asking how their company or lifestyle can be altered to be more sustainable. The one thing we forget to ask is, what are we doing to sustain our bodies? We fill our bodies with foods we "crave," but these foods are causing us to be bloated,cranky, and tired. Though I haven't done the complete cleanse, I have paid close attention to the "elimination diet" doing my best to avoid certain foods and to eat more liquid meals. Just taking little steps has already created noticeable differences in my energy and mood.

We can also connect sustainability to eating healthy because when we do not farm sustainably the nutrients in our soil becomes depleted. Fruits and vegetables that are grown in nutrient depleted soil are inflamed, causing the animals that eat the plants to be inflamed as well as the people that eat the animals or the fruits and vegetables to be inflamed. I encourage you to read this informative book and check out the website (I got some great shake recipes here).

Taking Political Action

So what do we do to prevent negative legislation from being past? The obvious answer is to write or call your local representatives and let them know how you feel about the legislation. Keeping yourself informed on the issues that your local representatives support can help you to know when it is time to speak out. As for a bigger, more long term solution...well I'm still working on that.

This quote from JP Leous in the Climate Action Blog applies perfectly to this post, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Negative Legislation

Environmental concern is growing throughout the world because there is a increasing amount of data and research supporting the negative impacts of various toxins found in common household products and cosmetics. There is also a growing amount of evidence of the massive environmental and health destruction caused by irresponsible waste disposal of various companies.
Today I learned about a shocking piece of legislation that will soon be voted on by the House of Representatives. This bill, the "Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act," will essentially cut regulations for workplace safety, cut energy efficiency standards, prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing Clean Air Act standards for cement and power plants, and lead to the inability to enforce various other measures to pursue environmental and safety regulations.
Read more about this legislation

Urbanization: Some Solutions

The documentary, Urbanized, by Gary Hustwit presents the problems associated with urbanization and some unique design solutions that hold the people's needs at the heart of the decision making process. His documentary also show that the public can have a say in the development projects that take place in their cities.

Find out more about the film

His documentary highlights the importance of creating meaningful change by starting at grass root levels.

Urbanization

This issue was inspired by a documentary I recently watched, which I will detail about tomorrow.

It's no secret that our population is growing and our world is staying the same size. The rate of population is growing faster than we are able to develop or adapt. Not only is the population growing, but it continues to grow denser and denser rather than spread out because people move to crowded cities in search of job opportunities. The resulting issues are lack of adequate housing and increase in pollution. Additionally, our environment suffers as habitats are destroyed to make room for new development projects. Finally, the people who are most effected by new development projects are often left out of the decision making process.

Here's a site I found on the issue.

What's it all about?

My interests are broad and I love to learn about new social/environmental issues and new solutions or ideas to better our future. Therefore, I have decided to attempt a blog that reflects my new learning and other issues that have already sparked my interest. I will attempt to make posts brief, and provide links for more information, so if a post sparks your interest you can read more about it. Maybe one day this blog will awaken other's interests and motivate them to be a part of a movement for a better future.