March 2014 Blog Posts (130)

I am in Florida and I am enjoying a meal with my family a local restaurant- there are no more chain restaurants in existence due to poor food quality and a move towards locally grown produce and demand for organic food. I know that my food came from local farms because the restaurant lists all of the suppliers for the food on the menu. The food was prepared in a kitchen that minimizes waste and donates left over food to homeless shelters at night. I am eating Chicken Alfredo and it tastes…

The world will not survive without our young ones. Look at the difference they could make. They are our future. We are one people and we need to act like it. Yes, we need technology. Yes, we need progress. However, we need to remember that we can't do anything without our planet. We HAVE to take care of it.

I would like to design a special shower drain that converted shower water into some sort of energy that can be used to power something in the house. Instead of being wasted water, the water would turn turbines in the drain that could be converted to power lights or subsidize your home's energy consumption. Now taking a shower would allow you to create energy instead of just wasting water.

Disney Research has found a new way to create energy using paper. The paper responds to a number of tactile stimulations and creates enough power to light up LEDs, produce sound, and even send a wireless signal to a PC. The new technology can be used as an educational supplement in posters, books, etc. The best part is the paper does not require any batteries. …

During my time spent reporting for WUFT News last semester, I met the amazing team at Alachua County Growth Management Department who's working to lower costs for Alachua County residents to install solar panels. While many people would assume that the major cost involved with using solar panels is the actual installation, Alachua County Growth Management Department planner Holly Banner realized that many people are deterred from installing panels because of the costly and confusing permit…

The Child Brides: Send Them To School Instead is a Global Giving initiative trying to help girls in India receive education as a priority over early marriage.

With this initiative in place I can see it drastically helping these young girls.

In 2020, I see myself walking through a village in India. The area is vibrant, full of life. The women and the children are happy and so are the men. As I look to my left, a mom hugs two of her daughters as they prepare to leave for school.…

The future of money is always an interesting topic. As it stands there are a few countries that dominate the financial market. Countries that are not as powerful, or third world countries, often have a hard time seeing these currencies flow by them.

There are countries in where people are getting paid less than a $2 a day and expected to live on that.

I think one of the really cool ideas that is getting a lot of talk recently is this backdoor currency idea. One of the most…

I am from Pinellas County, Florida. Pinellas County is one of the smallest counties in Florida, yet it is the most populated. It is near the gulf coast and becoming more and more urbanized over the years. Buildings, cities, vehicles, boats, and people are continuously poisoning the air.

By the year 2050, a campaign will have been made to make its residents more willing to change. Hybrids and environmentally safe campaigns will have changed our county at least a little, but enough to…

Air pollution is crucial, and although it may be getting better statistically, it is not improving fast enough. In Florida, drivers have no problem polluting the air and buying diesel vehicles. Global warming will take center stage if we do not work on improving this. I think there needs to be more advertisement and campaigns working towards improving air pollution. This is the air we breathe, it is not to be taken lightly.

Food security is a major issue in the United States. Even in a prosperous state like Florida, there are issues related to food shortages. Speaking from personal experience, I'm from an area where food security is a problem. A lot of families in the East Naples area have trouble finding access to food that is nutritious. A lot of lower income families have to settle with buying cheap junk food in order to get by.

Fortunately, the city has also made an effort to provide more nutritious…

For this mission I chose "problems are not always obvious from afar." We've spoken extensively in our class about how outsiders often analyze issues from their own point of view or their own consciousness of self instead of looking at foreign problems from the stance of the people actually experiencing them. As Dr. Stedman did with her international trip, sometimes activists must literally immerse themselves in the communities they're attempting to assist in order for them to truly…

In the year 2089 I will be 100 years old. My broadcast to the world would be to save what is left of the environment. 79 years into the future I think that the world will have lost its true beauty and as an elder of the world I would ask to save it. The world is a beautiful place full of amazing sights and it is up to the future generations to keep these things sacred.

Through reading the various case studies I discovered the story of the Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa. This was extremely underprivileged and needed help to get back on its feet. In this area there is a beautiful ring of dormant volcanoes, so the government decided to make the area a national park, creating jobs, tourism and infrastructure for the failing community. This was a great idea in theory, however, the local indigenous tribes did not want to move from the area the…

In the year 2020 I would have empowered many women because they now run a successful textile business. After our mission leader showed them how to make the blankets she was able to teach them how to sew clothing and other items. The women now own a business and are empowered by the fact that they can do something important (clothe others!) and make a profit doing so. They feel important and can pass the business down to their own children to continue and expand.

I think that empowering women is an extremely important task in today's world. With women being over 50% of our population, they should definitely be able to play a bigger role. I think that starting small is a great way to help women worldwide. For example, in high school I helped to make blankets for women in Cambodia, we then had a mission leader send them over and show the women how to make the blankets for a living and to make a profit. It was a great experience and very rewarding. For…

My neighbors knew very little about the city of Gainesville, FL and its adaptive capacity to disasters. Gainesville is mostly prepared for hurricanes, a problem any Floridian city has had to face. For snow-related problems, Gainesville really is not prepared. As far as hurricanes go, there are hurricane proof shelters and there are also precautionary measures when a hurricane is on the way.

Ushahindi could be used where I am from for natural disaster related emergencies. Coming from Florida, I've grown up around hurricanes my entire life. Ushahindi can be used to help track key information about hurricanes. For example, sometimes hurricanes spawn tornadoes. If there is a tornado spotting, Ushahindi can be a helpful tool. Another example could be flooding information. Ushahindi could be a great tool during times of hurricanes.

It is the year 2020, and I am celebrating Christmas eve with my family. There are Christmas lights lining our bushes and trees, but they are powered by solar energy. While the lights are off all day, they collect solar energy power- enough to power them through the night. They are beautiful and innovative.

It is the year 2020, and I am sitting around the table with my girlfriends, eating a meal we've all prepared together. The food is all organic and grown locally- we can afford to eat like this now that it's not so expensive. The main course is grilled chicken, and we have a stir fry of fresh vegetables to go with it- peppers, broccoli, and asparagus. The food tastes great and I know I'm getting the nutrients I need because it has not been overly processed and doesn't contain dangerous…

Food Security is a complex issue- there is more to it than having or not having enough food to eat. At minimum, food security includes the availability of adequate and safe foods and the assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. In Alachua County, there are an estimated 50,000 food insecure people.

One organization which seeks to tackle this problem is Florida Certified Organic Growers and

Consumers, Inc. In 2010, FOG implemented a plan called…