March 2014 Blog Posts (130)

Under the How Do People React In A Pandemic? - I liked the section titled "Five states of reaction to a disaster." I feel know this five stages is great for anyone and everyone experiencing a pandemic to understand how they and others are feeling, and what to expect next from people. The five stages are:

1.Self-Preservation
2.Group Preservation
3.Blame Setting
4.Justice Seeking
5.Renormalizing.

I found an interesting case study in CBNRM Net's collection of cases. It's titled - "A New Approach to Community Involvement in the Management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, North Queensland, Australia." To manage the area, they reached out to community members with priority going toward users most affected by the decisions made because of their jobs or location.

I love the idea of involving the community because, by involving them, I believe the chances are higher…

The Heros that I wrote about in social innovation actually pertain to this blog post. Imagine if you took a resource that that is seemingly everywhere and used it to generate electricity. Aviva Presser Aiden & Hugo Van Vuuren did just that. As leaders in energy technology, they used soil and its microbe inhabitants to generate microbial fuel which ultimately can be used to generate electricity. Groundbreaking energy technology such soil and its microbial fuel can lead to new…

In 2020, I will be eating a nutritious meal with my family. I will know exactly where my food came from. It will be fresh and not mass produced. My food will not have growth hormones or additives that can be potentially harmful to my or my family's health. My food will be catered to my nutritional needs based on my genetics, as will my other family member's meals. My food will taste delicious.

#IMAGINE2

To the family's of children with health problems that requires medical care, food insecurity can become an issue. The Ronald McDonald House helps provide shelter and food security for those families that are just trying to get their child back to normal health. Through my sorority, I am lucky enough to help out my community by volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House. At RMH, I help cook meals for the residents, in order to make the worry of food security one less burden. Helping out as RMH…

The World Health Organization defines food security as, “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, food to maintain a healthy and active life.” Alachua County has a Poverty Reduction Program set in place in order to address food security with sustainable practices. Alachua County “has expanded its purview from a focus on immediate hunger and food security matters to include the sustainability of individuals and their families, as well as the sustainability of…

I like the work that Water for People is doing. I'm donating money to parter with this organization to bring clean water to people. Water For People helps people in developing countries improve the quality of life by supporting drinking water resources, sanitation facilities, and hygiene education programs. 783 million people don't have access to clean drinking water and 2.5 billion don't have clean facilities, and I feel like WFP understands that this is aright we shouldn't stand for. Every…

Recently, I downloaded and used a new app on my phone, Venmo. Venmo allows one to connect with people and transfer money from their bank account to another person's. I first used Venmo about 2 weeks ago when paying one of the leaders of a student organization I am involved with for a t-shirt via the app. I have to admit, at first I was very skeptical about entering all of my bank account information and "wiring" money through an app on my iPhone. However, thus far I have been more than…

I think the biggest change we will see in the future in regards to money is the form in which we possess money. Soon, I think long will be the days of carrying around a wallet with paper money and coins. Bitcoins is an innovative form of money I have been hearing about more and more recently in the news. Although, Bitcoins are still very new and there are many kinks to be worked out in the system, I do believe it is the future of money. Bitcoins allows one to "mine" for electronic money on…

In the past, Yani Madrid, a 37-year-old mother of three children, walked every morning before dawn to the nearest, unsafe, water source in the Honduran district of San Antonio de Cortés.

“Every day was the same thing. I carried two buckets to fill with water so we could have water at home to drink and cook," she says with a soft laugh.

Filled to the brim, the 60-pound buckets of water hammered her shoulders as she walked two hours, sometimes multiple times a day. Yani's children,…

In the year 2020 I will be celebrating 4th of July with my friends and family at an outdoor cookout. This has always been my favorite holiday because of the number and types of peopler that it brings together. No matter what race or religion, every American can be thankful and celebrate Independence Day. During our cookout we will have an iPod doc that is completely powered by solar energy!! Singing along with friends and enjoying our celebratory cookout music will be completely powered in a…

In the year 2020 I hope to be married and Eating dinner with my husband. I imagine that the food we'll be eating in our American apartment will be more organic than the food that we consume now. Hopefully a lot of fish will be in my diet becsue they are finding out more and more how healthy fish is for our bodies.

I helped with a local church in Gainesville serve food to people downtown on a Wednesday afternoon. It was such a rewarding experience just passing food out to some of the thousands in my town who are homeless. Smiling at them and just giving them a warm piece of chicken or bread to eat was very touching. Helping them ensure that they would have enough warm food to get them through the next day of their life was the least that I could do. Doing that really gave me a new perspective and…

I helped with a local church in Gainesville serve food to people downtown on a Wednesday afternoon. It was such a rewarding experience just passing food out to some of the thousands in my town who are homeless. Smiling at them and just giving them a warm piece of chicken or bread to eat was very touching. Helping them ensure that they would have enough warm food to get them through the next day of their life was the least that I could do. Doing that really gave me a new perspective and…

Bread of the Mighty Food Bank is an organization that is working to serve people who are food insecure in North Central Florida. The Bread of the Mighty Food Bank was established in 1987 to serve the counties of Alachua, Lafayette, Levy, Dixie, and Gilchrist in North Central Florida. BMFB functions by acquiring, storing, and distributing food and basic essentials via the support of 130 plus agency partners and more than 800 community volunteers. These agencies include soup kitchens, food…

Pinellas County has a coastal resiliency info flyer that I found while searching the internet. It discusses hurricanes, storm surge and coast flooding and how our coast must be prepared for these natural disasters. It used the Coastal Resilience Index (CRI) low-cost self-a****sment tool to a****s how prepared coastal communities are. This is a great way to see how confident communities are to addressing a natural disaster in their area.

Link -…

The natural disaster my city is most likely to encounter in the near future is a hurricane(s). This also causes power outages. The data I would track would include: social media, what areas of city are without power, what areas are under severe flooding, etc. Urgent info from police, emergency personnel and residents would need to be collected and shared via websites and social media. The Ushahidi would be a great resource to get this info out to the public while also organizing info coming…

I followed Global Giving on Twitter so that whatever it tweets, it will be visible on my Twitter feed. This way, whenever a project or tweet catches my attention, I can share it on my own Twitter account to get the word out about projects Global Giving is promoting.

The article that caught my attention discusses women in South Sudan being encouraged to enter the journalism field. Women in South Sudan in this profession are harassed and not welcomed. Now, the Union of Journalists in South Sudan is encouraging women to enter the profession. As a PR major in the journalism college of my university, this is very exciting to me.

Link -…

This semester, now that access to my car is easier, I exchange rides with my friends for rides from them. By this I mean - If I give a friend a ride, they agree that the next time we go anywhere together, they will drive. It is a contestant back and forth of our resource (car).

Also, I have a friend that, when they pay for my food or drink one time, I pay for their food and drink the next time.

Both of these currency systems are easy to keep track of and make both parties feel…