LEARN1 - Teach people the skills to use what they have to solve a problem

There is a lot of great advice in that post! The thing that stuck out for me is a combo of two points. Essentially, when trying to solve a specific problem, you need to find out what the people there - the folks who live with the problem everyday - have to say. They may have suggestions as to how to go about implementing your plan at the local level that you never dreamed of. They may also be aware of limitations you hadn't thought of just looking in from the outside. Once you have your solution, your method and materials, why not teach the people to make whatever it is instead of handing it to them. Why give someone a carrot when you can teach them to grow it? Why give them a bicycle that has irreplaceable parts?

We have become too much of a consumer society. We don't know how to do. I hope that I will be able to find a problem that needs solving and the right people to work with me toward a solution that can be built from the ground up in a way and with materials that we create.