Charles Fiertz's Posts - Urgent Evoke2024-03-28T11:58:31ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertzhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2236945059?profile=original&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2au4dzhw8ote1&xn_auth=noRefugee Campstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-12:4871302:BlogPost:894472010-04-12T02:47:46.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
I read the <a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/KHII-8494Y3?OpenDocument&RSS20&RSS20=FS">article</a> on the increase in violence against women in Haiti as a result of the earthquake there. While looking for more information on the issue, I ran across this <a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/03/10/haitis-rape-crisis">article</a> from Human Rights Watch about the same issue. Human Rights Watch has an entire section devoted to women's rights and I believe it could…
I read the <a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/KHII-8494Y3?OpenDocument&RSS20&RSS20=FS">article</a> on the increase in violence against women in Haiti as a result of the earthquake there. While looking for more information on the issue, I ran across this <a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/03/10/haitis-rape-crisis">article</a> from Human Rights Watch about the same issue. Human Rights Watch has an entire section devoted to women's rights and I believe it could serve as another important resource for information about women's rights as it had a number of articles that were different from the ones on the UN gender equality feed and the articles are often more lengthy and in depth. <br/><br/>The article from Human Rights Watch emphasized the characteristics of refugee camps such as the ones established in post-earthquake Haiti which increase the danger of violence towards women, most notably the lack of privacy. This is an issue which extends well beyond Haiti and is a problem in refugee camps worldwide. I think this problem needs to be looked into as with the large number of refugees this is certainly a large source of violence against women and one where significant progress as described in the article.<br/>Go Fly a Kitetag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-02:4871302:BlogPost:776402010-04-02T15:57:53.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
Although it's still in the research phase, Saul Griffith's company Makani Power is developing a way to generate electricity from kites. While we are all familiar with wind power generated from giant turbines, Griffith says, in his <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/saul_griffith_on_kites_as_the_future_of_renewable_energy.html">TED talk</a>, that there is much more potential for energy production using free-flying wings, such as kites, than turbines because free-flying wings can sweep…
Although it's still in the research phase, Saul Griffith's company Makani Power is developing a way to generate electricity from kites. While we are all familiar with wind power generated from giant turbines, Griffith says, in his <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/saul_griffith_on_kites_as_the_future_of_renewable_energy.html">TED talk</a>, that there is much more potential for energy production using free-flying wings, such as kites, than turbines because free-flying wings can sweep through more sky and generate more power than a turbine in a unit of time. Additionally, free-flying wings have the potential to go higher than turbines, thus reaching areas which have more wind, and thus more energy-generating potential. The kites are variable in size, with something the size of a paper plane generating enough to power a cell phone and larger versions generating enough to power houses or even entire communities. <br/><br/>Off grid, scalable, with enormous potential.<br/>Micro-lendingtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-01:4871302:BlogPost:765882010-04-01T19:09:38.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
I gave a micro-loan via <a href="kiva.org">kiva.org</a> to Sra. Sonia in Leon, Nicaragua. It's here fourth loan from Kiva and this time she is using the money to pay for the university expenses of here daughter who is taking classes in Business Administration. Still $300 needed as of the time of writing!<div><br></br></div>
<div>When I decided to loan to Kiva, I looked through the different sectors to decide which I believed to be the most important. I settled on education because I believe that…</div>
I gave a micro-loan via <a href="kiva.org">kiva.org</a> to Sra. Sonia in Leon, Nicaragua. It's here fourth loan from Kiva and this time she is using the money to pay for the university expenses of here daughter who is taking classes in Business Administration. Still $300 needed as of the time of writing!<div><br/></div>
<div>When I decided to loan to Kiva, I looked through the different sectors to decide which I believed to be the most important. I settled on education because I believe that education is the key to improving standard of living in so many ways, both for an individual, and for the community in which the individual is living. Higher levels of education have been shown to limit excessive population growth and improve economic opportunities for both the current generation and following generation. These improved economic opportunities also make it easier for the individual to have some extra to help other in their community.</div>
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<div>I'm also helping out with an event on my campus to raise money for micro-loans to college students in developing countries via <a href="http://vittana.org/">http://vittana.org/</a>.</div>Mobile Transactionstag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-01:4871302:BlogPost:765542010-04-01T18:31:31.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
I believe that cell phone transactions are likely to make the greatest impact in transforming the future of money. Such transactions are becoming increasingly widespread and they have several advantages. First, cell phone coverage gives the reach and mobility of internet-based transactions but mobile networks often spread faster than the internet into rural communities. With the increasing spread of cell phones that can access the internet via mobile networks, the spread of mobile transactions…
I believe that cell phone transactions are likely to make the greatest impact in transforming the future of money. Such transactions are becoming increasingly widespread and they have several advantages. First, cell phone coverage gives the reach and mobility of internet-based transactions but mobile networks often spread faster than the internet into rural communities. With the increasing spread of cell phones that can access the internet via mobile networks, the spread of mobile transactions will allow users to tap into the variety of different currencies and monetary innovations that are spreading, including diy currencies and the online monetary networks such as PayPal and Twitter.<div><br/></div>
<div>Rapid spread and broad scope.</div>Ten Years From Now . . .tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-01:4871302:BlogPost:753232010-04-01T02:05:23.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
In four years, hopefully I'll have graduated from college with a semester or a year studying abroad. After I graduate I'm not really sure what I plan on doing. Current plans involve possibly going to graduate school, volunteering for the Peace Corps and/or trying to earn a Fulbright.<div><br></br></div>
<div>I don't really have a whole lot of direction for where I plan to be ten years from now. I envision myself as possibly living somewhere in Latin America, which is a region I've thoroughly…</div>
In four years, hopefully I'll have graduated from college with a semester or a year studying abroad. After I graduate I'm not really sure what I plan on doing. Current plans involve possibly going to graduate school, volunteering for the Peace Corps and/or trying to earn a Fulbright.<div><br/></div>
<div>I don't really have a whole lot of direction for where I plan to be ten years from now. I envision myself as possibly living somewhere in Latin America, which is a region I've thoroughly enjoyed in my trip to Costa Rica and my trip to Peru. I see myself as doing some sort of environmental work - working toward some sort of sustainable future in all or some of its different aspects. Don't really know though, I'm open to ideas.</div>Act1tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-31:4871302:BlogPost:748852010-03-31T18:13:10.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
I decided to follow Cleantech Blog, <a href="http://www.cleantechblog.com/">http://www.cleantechblog.com/</a>, because I believe that the most important issue facing the world today is a shift from a wasteful system which produces global warming and other harmful effects to a sustainable, clean system which combats global warming. If this shift is not made, no other change - no matter how morally righteous - will succeed because the harmful effects which will be caused by runaway global warming…
I decided to follow Cleantech Blog, <a href="http://www.cleantechblog.com/">http://www.cleantechblog.com/</a>, because I believe that the most important issue facing the world today is a shift from a wasteful system which produces global warming and other harmful effects to a sustainable, clean system which combats global warming. If this shift is not made, no other change - no matter how morally righteous - will succeed because the harmful effects which will be caused by runaway global warming if we do not change our habits, will override all other considerations.<div><br/></div>
<div>I believe that in order to get the majority of people to shift from their current, wasteful habits to sustainable habits on a sufficiently large scale, it's going to take more than guilting them into action. It's going to require a New Industrial Revolution, only this time with clean technology that is based on sustainability. This revolution will need to be powered by new, cleaner tech and Cleantech Blog gives me a way to keep up on the latest on this important topic.</div>Learn1tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-31:4871302:BlogPost:748462010-03-31T18:12:41.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"<div><br></br></div>
<div>I think simplicity is the most important of all the goals on the list to focus on because it is a way to accomplish so many goals by focusing on a single idea.</div>
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<div>Simplicity means innovating on existing platforms because it's simpler to improve what's already there than to bring in new tech.</div>
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<div>Simplicity creates transparent tech - if it's simple, it should be easy to…</div>
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"<div><br/></div>
<div>I think simplicity is the most important of all the goals on the list to focus on because it is a way to accomplish so many goals by focusing on a single idea.</div>
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<div>Simplicity means innovating on existing platforms because it's simpler to improve what's already there than to bring in new tech.</div>
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<div>Simplicity creates transparent tech - if it's simple, it should be easy to understand.</div>
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<div>Simplicity is inexpensive.</div>
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<div>Simplicity means listening to people and not fighting culture.</div>
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<div>Simplicity can be a way to achieve almost, if not all, the secrets of social innovation.</div>Depleted Water Tablestag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-31:4871302:BlogPost:746682010-03-31T18:12:14.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
For a truly shocking action on par with the world-record breaking toilet line, I envision having people worldwide build a some kind of tower - possibly a human tower - the same height as the amount which the groundwater table has been depleted in the local area. This should show people how much they have depleted their local groundwater table and remind them to conserve water. Also, because it relies on local measures of the groundwater tables, it should be more poignant to more people since it…
For a truly shocking action on par with the world-record breaking toilet line, I envision having people worldwide build a some kind of tower - possibly a human tower - the same height as the amount which the groundwater table has been depleted in the local area. This should show people how much they have depleted their local groundwater table and remind them to conserve water. Also, because it relies on local measures of the groundwater tables, it should be more poignant to more people since it is something which affects them personally instead of somebody on the other side of the world.<div><br/></div>
<div>Shocking, participatory, local, and memorable.</div>Harvesting Water from the Airtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-31:4871302:BlogPost:739262010-03-31T01:00:00.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
Most people have heard of rainwater harvesting, a relatively simple technique which uses rain for a variety of water uses instead of tapping overexploited groundwater tables. There are two other techniques which are also very useful and can be used in areas which don't have heavy rainfall: dew-harvesting and fog-harvesting. Both techniques are quite self-explanatory. Dew-harvesting is the newer of the two ideas, beginning around three years ago while fog-harvesting has been around for…
Most people have heard of rainwater harvesting, a relatively simple technique which uses rain for a variety of water uses instead of tapping overexploited groundwater tables. There are two other techniques which are also very useful and can be used in areas which don't have heavy rainfall: dew-harvesting and fog-harvesting. Both techniques are quite self-explanatory. Dew-harvesting is the newer of the two ideas, beginning around three years ago while fog-harvesting has been around for significantly longer and has proven to be successful in a wide variety of areas including the extremely dry Atacama Desert in Chile.<div><br/></div>
<div>Dew-harvesting: <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12923-dewharvesting-web-conjures-water-out-of-thin-air.html">http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12923-dewharvesting-web-conjures-water-out-of-thin-air.html</a></div>
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<div>Fog-harvesting: <a href="http://www.fogquest.org/index.html">http://www.fogquest.org/index.html</a></div>Act: Watertag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-31:4871302:BlogPost:738992010-03-31T00:30:00.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
Being a broke college student out in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't do a whole lot of donating. Instead, I picked up a couple of newsletters from various organizations which work on the water crisis. I'm also contemplating doing something more both on campus and when I return home this summer. Finally, and probably most significant, I gave a presentation on the water crisis to the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council about both the severity of the crisis and a variety of possible solutions…
Being a broke college student out in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't do a whole lot of donating. Instead, I picked up a couple of newsletters from various organizations which work on the water crisis. I'm also contemplating doing something more both on campus and when I return home this summer. Finally, and probably most significant, I gave a presentation on the water crisis to the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council about both the severity of the crisis and a variety of possible solutions which could be adopted to combat it.Q Drum and Ceramic Water Filtertag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-30:4871302:BlogPost:735492010-03-30T20:30:00.000ZCharles Fiertzhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/CharlesFiertz
While the idea of pumping water up from the ground using ideas like the play pump is great, such ideas run into the problem of rapidly depleting groundwater tables. The Q Drum makes transporting water from a distant source, such as a river, easier than carrying it and the ceramic water filter can be used to purify the water collected from a river to guard against diseases such as diarrhea. Both of these ideas are quite simple, reducing dependence on those outside of the…
While the idea of pumping water up from the ground using ideas like the play pump is great, such ideas run into the problem of rapidly depleting groundwater tables. The Q Drum makes transporting water from a distant source, such as a river, easier than carrying it and the ceramic water filter can be used to purify the water collected from a river to guard against diseases such as diarrhea. Both of these ideas are quite simple, reducing dependence on those outside of the community.<div><br/></div>
<div>Q Drum: <a href="http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/q-drum">http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/q-drum</a><a href="http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/q-drum">http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/q-drum</a></div>
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<div>Ceramic Water Filter: <a href="http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/ceramic-water-filter">http://other90.cooperhewitt.org/Design/ceramic-water-filter</a></div>