September 2012 Blog Posts (90)

My favorite secret is to think like a child and that children have no limit to their thinking.

In 2020 I will be in the college of Berkley in San Fran. I will be studying business so that I can own my own business one day. I will be taking cla**** in college and traveling around the world. That's where I'll be when Alchemy calls me.

The one secret to social innovation that stuck out to me on was don't fight culture. One of the biggest issues that the U.S. Government faces with its problems in the Middle East is that the U.S. does not work with the ex cultures in the region, but tires to make them more like our own. Working with different cultures is the only way to bring any real change to the world and help fix its issues.

In 2020, I will be in college, still learning how to be an architect and what fashion designing is. I want to be able to help the world by building buildings that will be thrive and build the world and our nation. I will also help by bringing fashion into the world. I will be living a double life. One that requires architecture, and another that requires fashion designing. Thriving my nation and the world. Building minds, thoughts, and technology. That's where I'll be when Alchemy calls…

I have to give Evoke credit for this one. I didn't think about finding someone to shadow before.

I've started following Eric Greitens on Facebook. He's a director of The Mission Continues, a nonprofit organization that challenges veterans to serve and lead across America.

Too often we focus on what we do not have, or what someone does not have to offer us, rather than the amazing gifts and abilities we and those around us possess. Eric's organization realizes that disabled…

In 10 years I'll hopefully be working in international business, I think a good model for that would be to buy some of the USA's annual surplus of food and sell it to the countries with a high demand for food, and investing in efficient farming equipment, soil fertilization, and water desalinization would also be a great benefit to the struggling nations.

I think teaching them the skills they need to survive on their own is the most important aspect of social work in general. Giving away food and supplies only makes the poor reliant on the donations.

I hope to be well within my career by 2020. In fact I am hoping my career will take me to East Asia. That part of the world is growing at a startlingly rate. China, Japan, and Korea will all be major powers in the world at that time. It is important to learn as much as one can about these new and emerging powers for their decisions are going to shape the world one day.

It's important to understand the framework. In engineering one must understand physical requirements and limitations. A product must be designed for its environment. Exporting this idea to social innovation, it is extremely important to understand the framework created by culture and the existing logistics and economic structure. Ethan Zuckerman points to a couple "rules" that point to this idea in his post "Innovating from constraint"…

The persons I choose to follow is Aviva Presser Aiden & Hugo Van Vuuren. They are a team who are working on creating microbial fuel cell. This cell is to meet the needs of off-grid lighting and energy in the developing world. It can power anything from cellphones to radios. Finding alternative fuel sources is very important for our continued development and survival and that is why I picked them. I am following them on their blog.

If there were a Tokyo food crisis I would hope to be in a financial position where i could help those in need. I would like to be able to set up a relief fund and raise money for aid. I would also like to find a foundation that is trustworthy to distribute funds and supplies.

Even though South Carolina and Charleston are in the United States, there is still much food insecurity and hunger to be combated. In South Carolina the food insecurity rate is almost 19%, the child food insecurity rate is 27%, the poverty rate is 16%, the child poverty rate is 23%, and unemployment is at around 11% statewide. There is a real need for help and change. Two of the leaders in combating hunger are the Low Country Food Bank and Crisis Ministries, both of which I have volunteered…

In the future, I plan to impact the world in the realm of international business. I believe individuals who profit also have the calling to care for those in need. I would donate a percentage of my profits to global charities that promote either clean water or sustainable farming in Africa. In 2020 I will have founded my own international eco-friendly food distribution conglomerate and will donate unused or excess inventory to those in need.

I picked Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS shoes. Blake saw the need for shoes in Argentinean children and created TOMS shoes which gives one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair bought. I am following him on Facebook.

I chose Mike Huckabee as my hero to shadow. In many ways i agree with his politics, but most of all i respect him for the advocacy work he does all over the world and his philanthropy. Huckabee uses his show not only to explore political issues he also uses it to explore social issues that effect people all over the world. I watch clips from his show to follow him.

Listen to the right people is the most important secret to me. Being a history major you learn that secondary sources and word of mouth are not reliable. Facts get skewed and there is a bias when getting information from a secondary source. You need to go straight to the source to get the facts and to get the right perspective.

I am currently a junior at the Citadel (a military school in South Carolina). I am obligated to serve in the US Navy when I graduate ince they are paying for my college. The Navy is important to the rest of the world because 90% of world trade is over the ocean. The United States has the world's strongest navy and is essentially to maintaining trade routes throughout the world but especially in trouble areas such as the Horn of Africa. I intend to serve on a Navy ship by the year 2020 and I…

My favorite secret is learning to work with $2 a day. That one rings personally with me because this summer when I was traveling in Spain with my friend. Near the end of our travel we were getting really low on money and many days we spent worrying where our next meal was gonna be at and how we could manage our money to make it last for the rest of the trip. I think that every one should learn that one specifically because it teaches you to be creative with your resources and really brings…

Perhaps the most important thing pointed out in this article is the idea of innovation through constraint. It is not enough to want to help, you have to help within the bounds of the preexisting cultural norms. A "silver bullet" one shot solution that does not fit the societal norms of that region, and therefore will not be used, solves nothing. In fact, it is worse, since it wastes valuable time, money, and other irreplaceable resources. A million dollar solution that solves nothing is a…

I have always held high regard for Mr. Greg Mortenson, he wrote the book three cups of tea, and started the CAI-central asian institute which builds schools in rural areas of Afghansistan and Pakistan to promote education for both males and females and empowers the indiginous people to help build the school and take pride in it. I have chosen to follow him on facebook and will be trying to work with pennies for peace a subsidiary group.