April 2015 Blog Posts (99)

Charleston, South Carolina sits right on a fault line between two tectonic plates. We experience minor earthquakes with some regularity and, as recently as the 1850's, experienced one that caused serious damage. Should such a tragedy strike again, Ushahidi could prove invaluable. This service would allow people to tell rescuers where they were if they were to be trapped under rubble. In fact, anyone at all could use it to tell the rescuers where they were needed and what type of assistance…

What creative solution do you think will make the biggest change in how we use money in the future? Pick your favorite experiment and tell the EVOKE network why you think it will change the world.

Of the proposed experiments and financial solutions, the community focused trade organizations, such as World of Good, have the greatest potential for stewarding forward a more prosperous future for developing regions. The group taps into impoverished artisans to help foster community…

Charleston, South Carolina is very committed to preserving the local environment and have a variety of plans in place to keep it the most beautiful city in the world. First, the city recently sunk a couple of old ships off the coast so that they could form a reef. By all reports, the results have been great, with many species who had previously seen their numbers dwindling, now making a comeback. Charleston has also started pouring huge piles of old oyster shells (which we have in abundance…

I was not able to make the map function work properly, but I will write about how my city looks in the future. We have established low-cost housing along the northern end of the peninsula. We have also found employment for all of these people as sanitation workers, park workers in our numerous parks, and performing a variety of conservation projects around the shores to combat erosion and promote greater biodiversity in the aquatic wildlife. We have also established a number of new schools…

I chose to write about an article from February of 2015 about gender-based violence in Somalia. As everyone knows, many areas of the Islamic world have very backwards views as to how to deal with cases of rape. The article said that in Somalia, many victims are forced to marry their attackers. In many other areas, the woman can be punished for having extramarital congress because they see it as her fault for having tempted the man. This is a horrible way to treat these women who have already…

"As a college student the "live on $2 a week" is a key secret. Understanding this lack of finances ties directly into lack of resources. The difference between buying a bottle of water and drinking some dirty water is as simple as a budget…"

"For my role model I have chosen Michael Bloomberg. As mayor the NYC he refused a salary, mainly because he was making millions from his investment company, but he was dedicated as mayor to improve the city and move homeless people into halfway…"

In 2020, I hope to be a law enforcement officer and an officer in the national guard. I am hoping to be well deep in service my community and country. Hopefully by that time I will be married and looking forward to having a family and building my…"

The Germans, Norwegians, and basically most European countries are developing new ways of energy efficiency in amazing ways. The Japanese as well are making amazing achievements with their energy efficient cars and trains and new way of developing how to do things.

The best way that i could think of to power something would be to have it water powered. USe water to power a car by basically inserting water into where the gas would usually go and instead of having fumes coming out you just have a steam coming out instead. Obviously the technology to accomplish something like this is beyond my comprehension, but something like this would really solve the gas problem and the pollution problem.

My favorite, and perhaps most needed social innovation today, is

"Don’t fight culture (If people cook by stirring their stews, they’re not going to use a solar oven, no matter what you do to market it. Make them a better stove instead.)"

This simple idea has two meanings. First, it shows that the injustice of poverty and instability does not have a cookie cutter answer. Rather, it takes domestic and well educated responses that address the factors that drove a culture to suffer…

Twitter, facebook, and basically any social media are the best ways to get out the word during a crisis. It was shown in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and several other middle eastern countries that when a riot or revolution happened, social media was the best way to get the western world's attention.

Hopefully by the year 2020, more women in the South American and African continents will no longer fear being oppressed by men and take a strong stance on equal rights and pay for women in their country.

Empowering women from Africa and South America would be my main goal. Argentina is already on the right track by allowing a woman president into office, showing that a country can be run by a woman and the unbiased views the Argentines have. Africa is a different story however because women are constantly persecuted for their strong stance on women's rights.

I made a transaction in the Colombian peso the other day and the experience was weird. Not the fact that there are an extra 3 zeros at the end of the bill but the fact that it is only worth half of the American dollar. When you look at what people get payed down there as in tip which is about 5000 pesos for a 30 american dollar meal, thats only a 2.50 dollar tip. Thats pathetic and people find it acceptable to pay hardworking people such a small amount. I may be too accustomed to the…

Biggest change in how we use money today would be having a global currency and getting all countries to agree on it. There would be no worry of exchange rate or who got how much and it would be easier to track money.

Well, if everything goes according to plan, then I will be having dinner on a submarine will my fellow brothers. Ill be eating whatever the cook decided to cook that night and since it is a submarine, its probably gourmet food. Ill be deep underwater somewhere doing strategic deterrence for the Navy and happily surrounded with my fellow sailors.

Personally, I don't know anybody who needs any food security since I live pretty well off and I haven't been exposed to such harsh conditions as others have but I do have one person in mind. There is this one image that I have reoccurring in my mind of a kid, about 10-12 years old with his little brother on the side of the street living under a blue plastic tarp around al this trash. Obviously they were homeless but i just found that image saddening without a mother or family, they just had…

The biggest food security issue near me would be the homeless people around Charleston not receiving the food they need mostly because lack of knowledge of local food pantries or because there are not enough food pantries around. Mostly in the United States, people get some sort of food because of the country's national food efforts. While these efforts are more effective in other cities than some, people still get some sort of sustenance, however maybe not what they should be receiving. You…

Hopefully by the year 2020 I will be commissioned in the United States Navy. My dream is to be an officer on a nuclear submarine and hopefully learning and leading sailors of my own in the proper manner. Maybe by the year 2020 or something I will be an O-2 or just maybe in the process of being promoted into the ranks. I hope to be successful in whatever i may be doing and have the confidence of the people who lead me and that I will be leading.