Christian Brumm's Posts - Urgent Evoke2024-03-28T13:13:07ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrummhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2209228578?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=3t5dtrobt7xca&xn_auth=noMoving forward in EVOKE Season 2tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-05-09:4871302:BlogPost:1435812010-05-09T14:30:00.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Moving forward in EVOKE Season 2</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">First of all, let me state that EVOKE Season 1 was a great experience. I learned a lot, thank you all so much! :-)…</span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Moving forward in EVOKE Season 2</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">First of all, let me state that EVOKE Season 1 was a great experience. I learned a lot, thank you all so much! :-)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Large Missing Theme: Climate Change</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I was actually very surprised this one wasn't covered, as it was quite present in media. We could learn about what are the reasons for climate change, proof that it is happening and what the implications will be. Finally, what we can do to prevent it.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It's probably the No1 most lethal thread to humanity.</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Scope: The World</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Also Evoke's scope already was the world (also in the Comics), a lot of the missions and material actually focussed on Africa. It would be nice to try to cover global problems (like climate change) but also learn about more local problems (like was the episode about food security, which certainly does not apply to the same degree everywhere). Learning about local problems could be combined with learning things about the country, culture, geography, ... things I would call "general education". I think this makes a lot of sense, as you are only able to tackle a local problem or even think about it, if you know a thing or two about the environment. In addition, more general education would help us to become a truly global community.</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Stronger integration with other social media</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There is already integration with facebook and twitter. It makes sense to think about ways to integrate EVOKE even stronger into these social processes. Especially facebook is constantly producing new innovations for example <a href="http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Roadmap_Open_Graph_API">Facebook Open Graph API</a>. This will especially help in reaching a larger community.</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Better possibility to give feedback to the creators</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The developers and makers behind EVOKE need to become more responsive to community feedback. Posting to the forum will usually <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/forum/topics/improve-comic-navigation">not get you anywhere</a>. There are only 55 posts in the feedback Forum, these should be really easy to follow!</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Better Tools, better Automation</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Surfacing interesting Content</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">With scale (say 1 Million users) it will be impossible to find interesting posts given the current user interface. Said but true, most content is just not interesting and users should not have to read that (too often). So what would be needed are better facilities to surface interesting posts (classical Information Retrieval: Search, Ranking things like that).</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In addition, Friend lists and a possibility to see all my friends posts (also per list) in chronological (and different) order would be needed. This way you can find out whats new quite fast. This could also be implemented as a kind of friends-feed (like on facebook).</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Better, more intuitive navigation.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/forum/topics/improve-comic-navigation">E.g.</a>.</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">More game incentives</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Make EVOKE even more like a game, making it more fun will attract more people. Make or out of the point system and the missions. More Leaderboards and Clouds.</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Allow negative Feedback (in the Game)</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If a post is shit, it should be possible to express this in a game-relevant way. Only positive enforcement (as in Season 1) created a very positive and encouraging atmosphere which was very good. On the other hand, a lot of the posts had a bad quality, both in wording and just plain bad text layout, no punctuation etc. There should be more ways to discourage bad quality.</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Why would I want to come back for Season 2?</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Seriously "playing" EVOKE takes up a lot of time. I think it has to be a lot of fun to make people play it. In addition, keeping people at the right pace is a hard thing, especially with not all people joining the game at the same time.</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I am looking forward to Season 2! :-)</span></div>Our broken perception of Risktag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-30:4871302:BlogPost:1103142010-04-30T22:56:09.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
Reading through the Nieman Guide, <a href="http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/Microsites/NiemanGuideToCoveringPandemicFlu/CrisisCommunication.aspx">Crisis Communication</a> the thing that struck me most was mentioning <a href="http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/Microsites/NiemanGuideToCoveringPandemicFlu/CrisisCommunication/CoveringRisk.aspx#risk">peoples perception of risk</a>.<div><br></br><div>As the author <a href="http://www.psandman.com/">Peter Sandman</a>, a risk communication consultant, points out…</div>
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Reading through the Nieman Guide, <a href="http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/Microsites/NiemanGuideToCoveringPandemicFlu/CrisisCommunication.aspx">Crisis Communication</a> the thing that struck me most was mentioning <a href="http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/Microsites/NiemanGuideToCoveringPandemicFlu/CrisisCommunication/CoveringRisk.aspx#risk">peoples perception of risk</a>.<div><br/><div>As the author <a href="http://www.psandman.com/">Peter Sandman</a>, a risk communication consultant, points out we have a very much broken perception of risk, making a big fuzz about things that are not really that dangerous and underestimating really dangerous risks.</div>
<div>As he puts it: <b>risk = hazard + outrage</b>, where hazard is the real danger and the outrage is how much we fear the danger (unrelated to the actual danger). This is something I've also read a lot before from the computer security guru <a href="http://www.schneier.com/">Bruce Schneier</a> (security is all about risks).</div>
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<div>Take an everyday example. We are very worried (at least most people are) about crashing planes or getting cancer. Both of these things are of course really dangerous. But they kill A LOT less people than say say crashing cars or cardiovascular diseases.</div>
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<div>So what are the implications for psychological first aid and journalists? If the the outrage is too small and the hazard terrifying just fire up peoples fears by showing them the data. Be interesting and make sure not to bore them or they wont listen to you. If the outrage is too large, bore them! Let them talk, what will calm them down. Then, they might even ask for your opinion.</div>
</div>2082 Computing Historytag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-30:4871302:BlogPost:1100232010-04-30T21:02:16.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
Its 2082 and I am now more than 100 years on this planet. When I was young, I never thought I would reach that age. But here I am.<div><br></br></div>
<div>Back then, nearer to the beginning of the century, we were expecting the glorious revolution of information as the internet more and more grew into our primary means of communication. So little did we know about what was yet to come.</div>
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<div>With time, commonly used new technologies move from being an innovation to being…</div>
Its 2082 and I am now more than 100 years on this planet. When I was young, I never thought I would reach that age. But here I am.<div><br/></div>
<div>Back then, nearer to the beginning of the century, we were expecting the glorious revolution of information as the internet more and more grew into our primary means of communication. So little did we know about what was yet to come.</div>
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<div>With time, commonly used new technologies move from being an innovation to being commonplace. They move from being extraordinary and world-changing but also experimental and unreliable to being a piece of infrastructure you rely on. You just expect it to work.</div>
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<div>Think about historically significant innovations like electricity, water supply, the first wired telephones or networked computers. Who does still know how a light switch works, how water is cleaned, telephone networks are build or computer are programmed? Yes, there are a view who still know, but most of us, we just don't care. And thats good, its how technological and scientific innovation works. We build on the knowledge of past generation and use the abstractions they have build to be able do even greater things.</div>
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<div>In this sense there are some things that are worth forgetting. Obsolete technologies, that are replaced by more viable and complete solutions.</div>
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<div>But on the other hand, there is a lot that we might loose if we forget. Insights from past times, that made their way into successful innovations, but with their importance forgotten by current innovators.</div>
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<div>I still know the ancient methods, symbols and tools of programming to the actual hardware of a computer. Its not done too much these days with technologies like Speakogramm and Modelling techniques in place that were build on top of these old technologies. Luckily there is quite the hobbyist community out there, mostly old dogs like me. Most of the activities is still on some old chat servers, imagine that: Typing characters into a little text window. To many young people it just seems ridiculous.</div>
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<div>I want this knowledge to stick around for some longer. Sure these new technologies are more effective, I don't question that. Its just that if we for some reason have to go "back to the drawing board" and re-invent or re-think some more basic concepts, I want the knowledge to still in place, in the heads of at least some of the current thought leaders.</div>
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<div>That is why I have worked for the past 25 years since my retirement with a local university to build an elective course that teaches the history of computing. The real and good stuff of building your whole computing system from the ground.</div>
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<div>I am very happy to have helped passing on that knowledge. I don't know if I am gonna be around for that long. The last check-up of my artificial heart was fine, but 100 years still is a quite respectable age.</div>Scenario: Large scale industrial accidenttag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-30:4871302:BlogPost:1098422010-04-30T18:44:02.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
Right now I am living in Ludwigshafen, Germany. I think this is a reasonably safe place to live and there isn't anything obviously live-threatening going on.<div><br></br></div>
<div>The only thing I can think of right now would be large scale industrial accidents. There is a nuclear power plant in 30km distance (in Biblis) and the city hosts <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASF">BASF</a>, the worlds largest chemical company.</div>
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<div>As I just found out from wikipedia,…</div>
Right now I am living in Ludwigshafen, Germany. I think this is a reasonably safe place to live and there isn't anything obviously live-threatening going on.<div><br/></div>
<div>The only thing I can think of right now would be large scale industrial accidents. There is a nuclear power plant in 30km distance (in Biblis) and the city hosts <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASF">BASF</a>, the worlds largest chemical company.</div>
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<div>As I just found out from wikipedia, there even was a big accident at BASF, however in 1920.</div>
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<div>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwigshafen">the article</a>:</div>
<div><i>"The economic recovery during the 1920s was thrown back by the worst explosion ever in a German industrial complex when, in 1921, a BASF factory blew up, killing more than 500, injuring a further 2000 and destroying countless buildings."</i></div>
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<div>So now imagine a scenario where something really bad happens at BASF and some substance gets into the ecosystem (e.g. water supply, air) that will potentially cause severe harm to people when directly exposed. However you can protect yourself using for example some kind of air mask or water filter.</div>
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<div>As people could be exposed VERY fast and the area has a high population density (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine-Neckar">419 per km²</a>). Action needed to be taken swiftly. Local and national authorities would have to provide the means of helping people, providing the right equipment. However, this will still take quite a while (as the accident will likely be surprising).</div>
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<div>The most urgent need would be for information on what to do until help arrives. Things like staying in the house or not drinking water from the tap. Another important thing to take care of a scared or needy people that can't help themselves or are in dangerous situations.</div>
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<div>So we would need to things:</div>
<div>1) A way of broadcasting information to everyone.</div>
<div>2) A means of people calling for help in fashion that SCALES to millions of queries.</div>
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<div>As for 1) existing measures would probably already give a great coverage. Almost everyone is exposed to radio or television an there are a lot of people around you that will make you aware of the situation. There would probably also be cars with loudspeakers and sirens, so I have no fear of not going to be aware of the situation.</div>
<div>Of course there might be some people in remote places that could be more easily reached via SMS. But I really think Ushahidi wouldn't be too useful here.</div>
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<div>On the other hand Ushahidi could be extremely useful to ease the pain problem 2). Some people might find themselves in need of help and writing an SMS is possible for almost everyone. By giving a message and providing location data (which is already quite accurate via mobile access points).</div>
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<div>For the system to work out, Ushahidi would need to be</div>
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<li>Set up extremely fast (< 1h)</li>
<li>Handle a massive scale (probably could hosted, but more importantly correct information processing to surface the important stuff in the ocean of information)</li>
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<div>Thats just my crazy ideas here, I am not thinking that this scenario is very likely. But its hard to think of disasters when you've never experienced one.</div>
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<div>I would also argue that a system like Ushahidi could be easily implemented on top of existing commercial applications like Twitter or applications around the new buzzword "location aware services". The upside would be that they are designed to handle large scale traffic whereas small ad-hoc solutions are usually not. There are already uses of this (google for "<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=twitter+earthquake">twitter earthquake</a>").</div>
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<div>Its however feels much more comforting to trust your life to an open source software developed and tested in crisis situations than to hope for a commercial company to act in the interest of mankind. I also think that real crisis regions with a less developed infrastructure can profit a lot more, as there is not a lot of means of communication to choose from.</div>
</div>Empowering women by transforming the economytag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-25:4871302:BlogPost:1038362010-04-25T10:36:30.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
I choose Julie Gilbert of "<a href="http://www.wolfmeansbusiness.com/what_we_do.php">WOLF means business</a>" as my hero to following concerning empowering women. Currently, she does not innovate in developing countries where the situation of women is truly depressing and there are <a href="http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2010/April/astha_-building-a-new-life-in-nepal.html">other social innovators</a> fighting hard for a better and more equal world. Instead, she is a business women with…
I choose Julie Gilbert of "<a href="http://www.wolfmeansbusiness.com/what_we_do.php">WOLF means business</a>" as my hero to following concerning empowering women. Currently, she does not innovate in developing countries where the situation of women is truly depressing and there are <a href="http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2010/April/astha_-building-a-new-life-in-nepal.html">other social innovators</a> fighting hard for a better and more equal world. Instead, she is a business women with a consulting company making lots of money. So why is she an important social innovator? She consults on changing businesses to raise the participation of women in the economy.<div><br/></div>
<div>I always found it quite surprising and depressing that while women enjoy equal rights in front of the law in countries like the USA and around Europe, women still make A LOT less money than men (even in equal positions) and are not equally represented among influential business leaders. In a way, we still have old-fashioned male-run businesses while one the consumer side, women are probably almost as influential as men are.</div>
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<div>Julie Gilbert is working to change just that. She wants t<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.2px;">o teach and inspire women to develop and innovate, "Building entrepreneurs en masse." as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-rosenthal/5-remarkable-female-entre_b_495489.html">she says</a>. I think that change from the inside (of businesses) is much more effective than government-run programs for job equality. I think Julie is good role model for the aspiring business women out there.</span></div>
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<div>See this interview with Julie which explains a lot of her points. You can find a lot more material, even a lecture for her presenting a business case, on youtube.</div>
<object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ua2KUExrgHc&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="never"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ua2KUExrgHc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="never" width="640" height="505"></embed></object>Microcredit - The realistic path to helping development?tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-11:4871302:BlogPost:886682010-04-11T11:07:49.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<h1>Mircrocredit - The realistic path to helping development?</h1>
<div>As <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcredit">wikipedia states</a>:</div>
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<div>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><b>Microcredit</b> is the extension of very small…</span></div>
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<h1>Mircrocredit - The realistic path to helping development?</h1>
<div>As <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcredit">wikipedia states</a>:</div>
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<div>"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><b>Microcredit</b> is the extension of very small <a href="/wiki/Loan" title="Loan" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-xg-p: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">loans</a> (<b>microloans</b>) to those in <a href="/wiki/Poverty" title="Poverty" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-xg-p: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">poverty</a> designed to spur <a href="/wiki/Entrepreneur" title="Entrepreneur" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-xg-p: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">entrepreneurship</a>. These individuals lack <a href="/wiki/Collateral_(finance)" title="Collateral (finance)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-xg-p: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">collateral</a>, steady <a href="/wiki/Employment" title="Employment" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-xg-p: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">employment</a> and a verifiable <a href="/wiki/Credit_history" title="Credit history" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-xg-p: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">credit history</a> and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional <a href="/wiki/Credit_(finance)" title="Credit (finance)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 43, 184); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-xg-p: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">credit</a>. Microcredit is a part of <a href="/wiki/Microfinance" title="Microfinance" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(90, 54, 150); background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-xg-p: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">microfinance</a>, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services to the very poor."</span></div>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">See the following short interview with social innovators <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dambisa_Moyo">Dambisa Moyo</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus">Muhammad Yunus</a> on BBC.</span></div>
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<div>Maybe <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/making-donations-that-matter">aid in the form of donations</a> isn't the most effective way to spur the development of the poor.</div>
<div>It seems to make a lot more sense to allow people to build their own lives instead of just giving them an isolated gift. Of course donations may also allow that, but I know from my own experience that you value something a lot more if you paid for it, because you are "invested" in it.</div>
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<div>There is a microloan project here on <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/evokekiva-update-im-turning">urgentevoke</a> <a href="http://www.kiva.org/team/urgent_evoke">@Kiva</a>. I will investigate further and decide on how I can help.</div>Making donations that mattertag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-08:4871302:BlogPost:858592010-04-08T20:46:12.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<div><h1>Making donations that matter</h1>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I just did my first ever donation to the <a href="http://amref.org/donate/haba-na-haba-na-amref/?keywords=haba+na+haba">AMREFs Haba na Haba campaign</a>. This got inspired by <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ShakweiMbindyo">Agent Shakwei</a>'s post "<a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/little-by-little-we-fill-the">Little by little we fill the…</a></span>
<div><h1>Making donations that matter</h1>
</div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I just did my first ever donation to the <a href="http://amref.org/donate/haba-na-haba-na-amref/?keywords=haba+na+haba">AMREFs Haba na Haba campaign</a>. This got inspired by <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ShakweiMbindyo">Agent Shakwei</a>'s post "<a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/little-by-little-we-fill-the">Little by little we fill the pot</a>".</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The thought about making donations for good never really occurred to me as I was a student for most of my life and never had much money. Of course I could have given a little, but I always thought it was too little to matter. It would "get lost in the system" or something like that.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So what changed my mind? First and foremost the fact I will soon graduate and realized that I will have more money than I need. In fact, a lot of the big american companies even double all their employees donations (up to a certain limit), which gives and even better effect. It might be worth asking your employer.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Another factor that convinced me was that AMREF works with "Community Heros" locals that are selected by their community and get materials and education by AMREF. I think such a system is a great way to put the money you donate to an efficient use and it takes people from where they are by giving them help from people they know and can relate to.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So why is this evidence for ACT4? AMREF is also helping with water supply. As they state on their <a href="http://amref.org/donate/haba-na-haba-na-amref/?keywords=haba+na+haba">homepage</a>: <b>"$3 from you keeps a family healthy. $3 is the average daily cost of providing clean water to a household (6 – 8 people) through protected springs"</b></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This really isn't much and even small amounts can matter. I intend to do this regularly, I am willing to commit to 20 EUR/month right now, which is roughly 6% of my net income. ;) I hope to be able to give a lot more in a few months.</span></div>The Green Gymtag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-04-08:4871302:BlogPost:853662010-04-08T12:30:00.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<h1>The Green Gym</h1>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">(Kudos to <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/AnickMarie">Anick-Marie</a> who helped me with and motivated me for this post.)…</span></span></div>
<h1>The Green Gym</h1>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">(Kudos to <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/AnickMarie">Anick-Marie</a> who helped me with and motivated me for this post.)</span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;"><br/></span></div>
A place a lot of us people in the western world use every day and that traditionally consumes lots of energy is your favorite gym around the corner.<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">Usually there is lots of light (light helps to keep you active even when you are a little tired), a large music system, lots of heating/air conditioning and warm water and often even a solarium or a sauna. And while doing sports is good for your health, leaving this large footprint on our planet is a substantial side-effect.</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">Doing sports outside seems to be the solution but might not be suitable in every live situation in large cities or rougher climates. Also, as a quote from <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/page/social-innovation-learn" id="h3uh" title="LEARN1" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">LEARN1</a> states "<a href="http://designinafrica.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/innovation-in-africa-tips/" id="hnxw" title="Don't fight culture" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">Don't fight culture</a>". You have to take people from where they are instead of lecturing them about what to do.</span></div>
<h2 style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">Producing Energy</span></h2>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">Forms of Energy</span></h3>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">You sweating in the gym obviously takes a lot of your energy, obtained from the food you consume and transformed into physical energy. The work this energy carries out is visible in the form of moving weights and spinning wheels.</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">We have two general classes of workouts, those which use machines or weights to primarily increase your strength and those where you get your pulse high for a longer period to increase your stamina. During <b>strength workouts</b> you usually lift weights producing primarily <b>potential energy</b> (energy that is conserved in the position of a mass) while during <b>cardio workouts</b> like riding a bike, rowing or running you create motion / <b>kinetic energy</b> that is a lot easier to use. Just think of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_lighting#Dynamo_systems" id="d3wi" title="dynamo systems">dynamo systems</a> used for bikes.</span></div>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">Amount of Energy</span></h3>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">So how much energy are we talking about for your usual cardio workout? Well just look for yourself, most of the modern machines already give you that kind of information. I produce somewhere between <b>100-200 Watts depending on the intensity of the workout</b>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">This number is roughly what you can find searching on the internet. There is a nice short <a href="http://science.howstuffworks.com/question658.htm" id="yaof" title="howstuffworks article">howstuffworks article</a> that states that you can easily run a laptop (15 Watts) for 4 hours using the energy of one chocolate-chip (60 kcal) cookie. Running a full-fletched PC is already very exhausting, but possible (>200 Watts).</span></div>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3">Energy producing bikes</font></span></h3>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;">There are <a href="http://www.scienceshareware.com/pedal-power-build-your-own.htm" id="u3zo" title="free plans" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">free plans</a> available on the internet explaining how to build your own bike for energy generation. Many people did exactly this, you can even find video showcasing prototypes.</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;"><br/></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;"><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WvEK4I5HGz4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="never"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WvEK4I5HGz4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="never" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
</span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10.8333px;"><br/></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10.8333px;">There are social innovators out there who already help with the supply of bikes and knowledge to create energy with bikes. One example is the <a href="http://www.mayapedal.org/" id="pncn" title="Maya Pedal project" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">Maya Pedal project</a> in Guatemala or <a href="http://www.pedalpower.org/?q=home" id="byy4" title="PEDAL" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">PEDAL</a> in Vancouver, Canada.</span></div>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><b>Current Innovators in the Gym world</b></h3>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">There is a <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/03/08/human-powered-gyms-in-hong-kong/" id="nez9" title="human-powered gym">human-powered gym</a> in Hongkong that is run by California Fitness. <a href="http://thegreenmicrogym.com/" id="m_7y" title="The green microgym">The green microgym</a> in Portland, OR goes further by making a small energy footprint central to the whole design of the studio, combining reduction of energy consumption wherever possible with producing energy during your workout. But see for yourself.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><br/></div>
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<br/><h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Let's make it a game!</font></h3>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">Now lets take this idea to the next level by making it a (social) game (Jane Mcgonigal says <a href="http://blog.avantgame.com/2010/03/my-2010-talk-gaming-can-change-world.html" id="a-m1" title="games can change the world" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">games can change the world</a> and I guess we all agree ;) ).</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">The gym I go to already has a big projector which usually shows a sports channel. This could be the place to put up a leader-board for the new "green gym" game we are creating. Who is producing the most energy right now / today / this week / overall? You would register online and have an online social community for the gym. In your profile you can gain different skills like strength, vitality, energy production and energy awareness (sounds familiar?).</div>
<br/><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">All the necessary data would be collected automatically for all agreeing participants. This could be done using a combination of RFID technology to identify people and connecting the little computers any cardio machine contains even now (of course there would have to be some changes, e.g. a clean network interface to all machines).</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">In addition there could be a vote system just like on urgentevoke to add another social component and award people who could convince their peers that they improved a lot or done something especially useful.</div>
<br/><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">By designing the right incentives, we can motivate people to work out and produce energy. Such incentives could be recognition, a reduced gym fee or even collaborations with energy providers and health insurance companies. You could setup certain quests and select a winner regularly. Every participating person can win 10$ of free energy by producing a goal amount or gets a payback from health insurance when she reaches her healthy training goals.</div>
<h2 style="font-size: 14pt;"><b>Conclusion</b></h2>
Designing a green gym, we could improve health, raise energy awareness and have fun doing it all at the same time.<br/><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10.8333px;"><br/></span></div>Juan Enriquez on Bioenergytag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-29:4871302:BlogPost:684122010-03-29T10:26:29.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<h1>Juan Enriquez on Bioenergy</h1>
<div>I think Juan Enriquez has a lot to teach us about where to direct our attention concerning energy in the short- or medium-term.</div>
<div><br></br></div>
<div>Wind, solar, water, fusion are all nice for the long term but are just not ready to provide enough energy for our vast consumption right now. Cutting back on energy consumption is also very good, but won't decrease our energy needs with large nations like China, India and Brazil growing their…</div>
<h1>Juan Enriquez on Bioenergy</h1>
<div>I think Juan Enriquez has a lot to teach us about where to direct our attention concerning energy in the short- or medium-term.</div>
<div><br/></div>
<div>Wind, solar, water, fusion are all nice for the long term but are just not ready to provide enough energy for our vast consumption right now. Cutting back on energy consumption is also very good, but won't decrease our energy needs with large nations like China, India and Brazil growing their economies at amazing speeds.</div>
<div><br/></div>
<div>What we have to do is think of better ways of using the carbon energy (bioenergy) we are using right now. (Agent Shakwei has a related post on growing energy <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/growing-energy">http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/growing-energy</a>).</span></div>
<div><br/></div>
<div><div style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Ted Talk: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11.1111px;"><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/juan_enriquez_wants_to_grow_energy.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/juan_enriquez_wants_to_grow_energy.html</a></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br/></div>
</div>
Key insights:<div><ul>
<li>We have to move from brute-force to intelligent use of carbon energy using biology instead of engineering/chemistry.</li>
<li>Stable oil prices (implemented threw taxes) would allow innovation in the energy markets (fluctuating OPEC oil prices drive innovative businesses out of the market).</li>
</ul>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Juan Enriquez <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11.1111px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Enriquez">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Enriquez</a></span></span></div>
</div>Constraint Experiment: Live on 2$ per daytag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-27:4871302:BlogPost:669302010-03-27T23:00:00.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<h1>Constraint Experiment: Live on 2$ per day</h1>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For</span> <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/learning-from-africa"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LEARN1</span></a> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I picked "Innovation comes from constraint" and decided on a little self-experiment: Try living on 2$ a day.…</span></div>
<h1>Constraint Experiment: Live on 2$ per day</h1>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For</span> <a href="http://www.urgentevoke.com/profiles/blogs/learning-from-africa"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LEARN1</span></a> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I picked "Innovation comes from constraint" and decided on a little self-experiment: Try living on 2$ a day.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I tried for the last week and would like to share my experiences and thoughts on this kind of experiment.</span></div>
<div><br/></div>
<div><h2>Rules</h2>
</div>
<div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As 2 USD is roughly</span></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">1.5 EUR</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">this was the goal I went for. I decided to focus on</span></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"money which goes through my hands"</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">as a first approximation.</span></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For me, this roughly means all things I buy in a shop and all things I eat.</span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Clearly,</span></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">living of 1.5 EUR wouldn't be possible in general (for the average european)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, as things like rent, gym membership or university fees far exceed this bound. For me, only my gym membership is already 2 EUR/day.</span></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Let alone all the</span></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">hidden costs</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">of electricity, water and basically all the things you own. These are also</span></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">very hard to calculate per day</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. If I buy a book for 20 EUR and read it in 10 hours it basically costs me 2 EUR/h. If I get the same book from the library, the costs are smaller but still the library (and the book) is payed for by study fees and (in Germany this is the far bigger part) taxes.</span></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A thing that I did not want to sacrifice was</span> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">eating reasonably healthy</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Meaning getting enough and nutritious food every day (not necessarily the nicest food though).</span></div>
<div><h2><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></h2>
<h2>Results: The Good</h2>
</div>
</div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So the good news: I really did not spend more than 1.5 EUR the day.</span></div>
<div><ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I lend a bike from my family to</span> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">go to work by bike</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, which is actually faster than using public transport (which already is 1.7 EUR per ride) and more enjoyable if the weather is good (which it was :)).</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The only thing I bought was</span> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">food</span></b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and I prepared it every day for the whole day. I only bought Bananas, Apples, Carrots and some diary products. I ate reasonably well as planned.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I was lucky that I did not have to buy anything else as everything was there (I did not plan this before, so this was real luck). I could postpone buying shower gel or getting a hair cut, all things that would totally ruin my 1.5 EUR finances.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Not sure if this is good or bad, but I actually had to cut down (meaning almost eliminate) on my usual</span> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">social contacts</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, like meeting for having a coffee or tea as this would exceed my budged. Drinking a beer or going to the movies is even more off limits.<br/><br/>Obviously, social habits would adapt if I did that for a longer time, but you can't change this over a week. My friends were a bit confused about what the heck I was doing and why I was doing this. Everyone immediately thought I had financial problems and wanted to buy me food or beers. That I just don't want it was a little hard to communicate.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div><h2><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></h2>
<h2>The Bad</h2>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So did I do it? Not really ...</span></div>
<div><ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I could only spend so little on food as I had tons of noodles, cereals, crushed tomatoes</span> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">stocked up</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. I am just that kind of person who doesn't run out of stuff ... ;) I tried to still keep things low (as this is clearly covered by the rules as it "goes through my hands"). I did not terribly exceed the limit, but probably by a little bit (noodles and cereals are cheap).</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I used a train ticket I already had to get back from Bremen to Mannheim, roughly 550km. The only way to make this distance inside the limit would have been by hitchhiking, for probably more than a day (Don't know, I never hitchhiked, but I would imagine you have to change cars some times.).</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I drink A LOT of coffee (most of it for free at work). Coffee is obscenely cheap if you think about it (if you drink cheap stuff probably like 0.1 EUR per cup). Still, my 3-5 cups a day were not counted.</span></li>
<li><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Organically or locally grown food is A LOT more expensive than the cheapest you can get.</span></b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I normally prefer the former, because it is more agriculture-friendly, but had to resort to buying the cheap stuff for the sake of at least standing a chance to meet my goal. Example: 10 Eggs are 1.25 EUR the cheapest and 2.59 the organic ones.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<h2><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></h2>
<h2>Mission (almost) Impossible: Healthy food for one day</h2>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So ... is it even possible to eat reasonably healthy for 1.5 EUR/day in Germany?</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">According to online calorie calculators, my daily consumption should be around</span> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2500 kcal</span></b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(I do sports and drive 1h on the bike per day). Splitting this up into carbon hydrates, fats and proteins is still done to get the relations right (especially on your favorite cereal box), I won't do this here. Instead, my healthy 1.5 EUR day has two pieces of fruit, some veggies and heigh protein (no meat and fish though as these are expensive) and olive oil for balanced fats.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Breakfast: Cereals. 0.45 EUR, 984 kcal</span></div>
<div><ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ingredients: 200g Oats (0.1 EUR, 680 kcal), 25g Almonds (0.12 EUR, 150 kcal), 100ml Milk (0.06 EUR, 64 kcal), 1 banana (0.17 EUR, 90 kcal)</span></li>
</ul>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lunch: Pasta with tomato sauce. 0.48 EUR, 1032 kcal</span></div>
</div>
<div><ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ingredients: 250g Noodles (0.2 EUR, 900 kcal), 200ml crushed tomatoes (0.14 EUR, 50 kcal), some spices and garlic and onion (0.1 EUR, 0 kcal), 10ml olive oil extra vergine (0.04 EUR, 82 kcal)</span></li>
</ul>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dinner: Light curd cheese with apple (0.52 EUR, 302 kcal)</span></div>
</div>
<div><ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ingredients: 300g light crud cheese (0.37 EUR, 210 kcal), Apple (0.12 EUR, 60 kcal), 50ml Milk (0.03 EUR, 32 kcal)</span></li>
</ul>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In Total: 1.45 EUR and 2318 kcal. Replace the super-light crud cheese with a normal one and we are there (I only had the super-light one at home for the calculation).</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></div>
<div><p style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2234188118?profile=original" alt=""/></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(Me with some bills and groceries writing this post)</span></p>
</div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Some observations:</span></div>
<div><ul>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There is not a lot of room for variation. It would probably be more healthy to add some more veggies (I had a chick-pea salad in mind first for dinner.) or add some fish (canned tuna is cheap) or meat. However this is already too much.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Another possibility would be to leave the fruits and replace them with something less healthy and more calories. As I am a certified health-nut this won't do for me.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You absolutely have to cook everything yourself. All prepped food is off limites price-wise.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">OK, so far for my little experiment. I might repeat it some day. It was interesting to feel some constraint, also I am sure its not at all comparable to what people in developing countries are facing.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Until then I am very curious for your suggestions and opinions.</span></div>Food security in Germanytag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-27:4871302:BlogPost:641942010-03-27T10:00:00.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<h1>Food Security in Germany</h1>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Unfortunately the linked information is mostly German.)</span></div>
<div><br></br></div>
I dig deep to find news about hunger and starvation in Germany. I searched the official organs of the country to find information concerning the food situation in Germany.<div><br></br></div>
<div>The "German association for food/nourishment" ("Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Ernaehrung") has a…</div>
<h1>Food Security in Germany</h1>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(Unfortunately the linked information is mostly German.)</span></div>
<div><br/></div>
I dig deep to find news about hunger and starvation in Germany. I searched the official organs of the country to find information concerning the food situation in Germany.<div><br/></div>
<div>The "German association for food/nourishment" ("Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Ernaehrung") has a <a href="http://www.dge.de/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=914">report about the food situation in Germany from 2008</a>. It has loads of data about what people eat, what diets they use, how good their knowledge is about food and cooking. There are tips for healthier eating, especially for kids.</div>
<div><b>The report views obesity as a problem on the rise, hunger and starvation isn't mentioned at all.</b></div>
<div><br/></div>
<div>The official source for statistics in German<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">y</span> is the "Federal Statistical Office" (Statistisches Bundesamt). I had a look for the top causes of death in their <a href="https://www-genesis.destatis.de/genesis/online/logon?language=en&sequenz=statistiken">statistics</a>.</div>
<div>As they offer the possibility to ask them questions, I did ask them if they had any information on the issue <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">[1]<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">. They pointed me to the following <a href="http://www.gbe-bund.de/oowa921-install/servlet/oowa/aw92/dboowasys921.xwdevkit/xwd_init?gbe.isgbetol/xs_start_neu/3/40638939/632/D/-/3305947">statistic</a>.</span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br/></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">I<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">t gives the following numbers for deaths caused by starvation or lack of water in the years 1998-2008. In comparison, <b>there are roughly 80 Million people living in Germany right now.</b></span></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><br/></b></span></span></span></div>
<div><table border="5">
<tbody><tr><th>Cause of death</th>
<th>1998</th>
<th>1999</th>
<th>2000</th>
<th>2005</th>
<th>2006</th>
<th>2007</th>
<th>2008</th>
</tr>
<tr><td>Starvation</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>6 <br/>
</td>
<td>2 <br/>
</td>
<td>7 <br/>
</td>
<td>14 <br/>
</td>
<td>13 <br/>
</td>
<td>22 <br/>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>Lack of water</td>
<td>2 <br/>
</td>
<td>- <br/>
</td>
<td>- <br/>
</td>
<td>1 <br/>
</td>
<td>1 <br/>
</td>
<td>1 <br/>
</td>
<td>1<br/>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
(Deaths caused by Starvation or Lack of water in Germany)</div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br/></span></span></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;">I <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;">also tried</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><a href="http://vark.com/t/1b36b2">aardvark</a> on the problem and used good plain old web search. Nothing I could find.</span></b></span></span></span></span></div>
<div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br/></span></b></div>
<div><b>So, to conclude, there don't seem to be any notable food security problems concerning hunger and starvation in Germany. The largest food-related problem seems to be the opposite, obesity <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">(see a related Talk by Jamie Oliver [2]).</span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br/></span></b></div>
<div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[1] My Message (in German) to the "Federal Statistical Office" asking about hunger and starvation issues in Germany.</span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">---</span></b></div>
<div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Guten Tag!</span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ich bin daran interessiert herauszufinden, in wie weit es in Deutschland Probleme mit Hunger (im Sinne von Verhungern oder der Angst zu Verhungern) gibt.</span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Ich habe bereits die Todesursachenstatistik angeschaut und auch den Bericht der deutschen Gesellschaft fuer Ernaehrung. In beiden konnte ich nichts dazu finden.</span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br/></span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Existiert das Problem (Hunger, Verhungern, Angst davor) in Deutschland? Wenn ja, wie viele Leute und wo in Deutschland sind betroffen?</span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br/></span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Vielen Dank und Gruss,</span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Christian Brumm</span></span></b></div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">---</span></span></b></div>
</div>
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 13.3333px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br/></span></span></b></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">[2] Great TED Talk by Jamie Oliver on Food education and especially obesity, specifically in the USA an Britain. But I think this also applies (to a slightly lesser extend) to Germany.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html</a></span></div>
</div>
</div>My Personal 2020tag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-25:4871302:BlogPost:638962010-03-25T19:45:14.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<h1>How I imagine the (my) World to be in 2020</h1>
<div>Its now 2020 and much has changed in the last 10 years on this planet. Since the climate shifted, people had to leave their homes to search for a new place to live. As panic rose in many places, people got aware that they have to work together to survive.</div>
<div><br></br></div>
<div>We are lucky as the world has shown to be more resilient to our intrusions as scientists predicted. Many of us didn't really get hit by the climate change.…</div>
<h1>How I imagine the (my) World to be in 2020</h1>
<div>Its now 2020 and much has changed in the last 10 years on this planet. Since the climate shifted, people had to leave their homes to search for a new place to live. As panic rose in many places, people got aware that they have to work together to survive.</div>
<div><br/></div>
<div>We are lucky as the world has shown to be more resilient to our intrusions as scientists predicted. Many of us didn't really get hit by the climate change. However, it was enough to remind people of their responsibilities for each other. Luckily there are many leading social innovation, many of which learned and connected back in the days of urgentevoke 2010.</div>
<div><br/></div>
<div>I am proud to be one of them. Back in 2010 I was one of the players of urgentevoke and really enjoyed it. I got into contact with many fascinating people and started to give a little back to the world. However, as the story often goes I did not make it my purpose in live. I started the usual corporate carrer. It was satisfying at first, I was successful and made some money, started a "normal live". I started a family.</div>
<div>However I stayed involved in some smaller projects in my little free time. The recent flood in the Netherlands finally opened my eyes and gave me the courage to change. Together with some friends I started a venture capital funded company that tries to make profit but really is about saving our lovely planet. I never would have started if it wasn't for all the insight and contacts I got back then playing urgentevoke in 2010.</div>Building medical devices made for use in developing countriestag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-25:4871302:BlogPost:630232010-03-25T12:22:29.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<h1 id="gctName">José Gómez-Márquez<br></br></h1>
He is director of Innovations in International Health (IIH) at MIT. He develops and tinkers with medical devices specifically made for use in developing countries.<br></br><br></br>In the developing countries most medical devices are provided by donations of equipment made and produced for the same developed countries that donated them. This equipment is often quite inappropriate for the circumstances in a third world country. It's fragile, difficult to use…
<h1 id="gctName">José Gómez-Márquez<br/></h1>
He is director of Innovations in International Health (IIH) at MIT. He develops and tinkers with medical devices specifically made for use in developing countries.<br/><br/>In the developing countries most medical devices are provided by donations of equipment made and produced for the same developed countries that donated them. This equipment is often quite inappropriate for the circumstances in a third world country. It's fragile, difficult to use and hard to fix. Jose works on solving these problems using his ingenious inventions.<br/><br/>Material on the web:<br/><ul>
<li><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/TR35/Profile.aspx?TRID=762&Cand=&pg=1">TechnologyReview article</a> about Jose, because the was named a "young innovator 2009".</li>
<li><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/video/?vid=399">Short video</a> showcasting some of his work.</li>
<li><a href="http://twitter.com/jfgm">Jose on Twitter</a></li>
<li><a href="http://iih.mit.edu/innovation.htm">IIH at MIT homepage</a></li>
</ul>
I follow <a href="http://twitter.com/jfgm">Jose on Twitter</a> and wrote him a <a href="http://twitter.com/dareios/status/11030612542">message</a>. Lets see what he comes up with next ...<br/>Learning from Africa: Innovation comes from constrainttag:www.urgentevoke.com,2010-03-22:4871302:BlogPost:550392010-03-22T09:00:00.000ZChristian Brummhttp://www.urgentevoke.com/profile/ChristianBrumm
<div><h1>Learning from Africa: Innovation comes from constraint</h1>
</div>
Quote from "<a href="http://designinafrica.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/innovation-in-africa-tips/">Innovation in Africa tips</a>":<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><i>"Innovation (often) comes from constraint (If you’ve got very few resources, you’re forced to be very creative in using and reusing…</i></span></div>
<div><h1>Learning from Africa: Innovation comes from constraint</h1>
</div>
Quote from "<a href="http://designinafrica.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/innovation-in-africa-tips/">Innovation in Africa tips</a>":<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><i>"Innovation (often) comes from constraint (If you’ve got very few resources, you’re forced to be very creative in using and reusing them.)"</i></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">I liked this quote best and there is also an actionable thing I could do to start experiencing a hard constraint.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><i>"Try living for a week on $2 a day."</i></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">I will give it a try, so expect me to be very cheap this week. ;)</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br/></span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">2 USD translates to 1.5 EUR so this will be my goal. The first implication I can think of now is that I will have to go to work by bike as a train ticket is 1.7 EUR. Luckyly the train ticket back to Mannheim is already paid for (as I really can't walk 600km or whatever it is from Bremen). I have to admit that that's a little bit cheating.</span></div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Also, I am not sure about the costs of my electricity and water consumption ... well, I will have to think about that. Experiment starting now!</span></div>