"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
Social Innovation: keep what you have, but use it smarter.
From the Innovation in Africa tips post, the tip that resonated most with me was Ethan Zuckerman's point that "What you have matters more than what you lack."
First, it is a great attitude to have throughout one's life. But it is also an extremely practical way of not just finding solutions to the world's problems, but also in marketing those solutions to the public. I have no professional background or statistics to support this assertion, but I imagine it must be cheaper to make already existing technologies more efficient than to build and design wh*** new ones.
As a consumer, I can definitely say that the public isn't always ready to change its habits, and so making technology and products we use each day more efficient -- and cheaper! -- will surely win us over. New technology may save money to consumers in the long term, but are expensive on the short term (such as hybrid vehicles: you save money on energy, but models are typically more expensive than their non-hybrid cousins.)
We should consider those things we use every day, and see how we can best maximize their efficiencies. Not only is it easier, but cheaper for both development and the consumers who will use them -- because no matter how likely a product is to improve the world, it never will if no one buys it.
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Comment by MoE on March 22, 2010 at 11:55pm
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Hi Joe, I appreciate your RESOURCEFULNESS and awarded it.
But I would invite you to think also in term of effectiveness, beyond efficiency. When you say: "New technology may save money to consumers in the long term, but are expensive on the short term", I think you're right but I don't think this is that bad.
If you want to think in terms of sustainability, long term solutions (which do not only turn into money savings, but also health and well-being in many different forms) are the ones you'll want to look for. My personal, disinterested, suggestion is to keep this in mind, when you plan your future.
It is yet real that "What you have matters more than what you lack", above all when searching for immediate solutions to urgent problems. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
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Comment by Joe Sutton on March 24, 2010 at 5:05am
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Hey Stefano, thank you so much for your thoughts. I'm all for the longer term solutions, but the point I wanted to make was that the initial price of new technology is hard for middle and lower cla**** to afford initially. With any product, prices will decrease over time.
I'm amazed by technology I've seen people post here on EVOKE, I just wanted to suggest that those who can easily afford emerging, sustainable technology should, helping to spur the industry for cheaper developments of that technology and to provide an example. I hope all that made sense, I have trouble trying to explain economical things like this.
Thanks for your feedback!
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I guess I got your point.
Actually, when I speak of long-term solutions and technologies, I'm not thinking of marketable products, at all. It is not people who should afford such costs, it's society as a wh***; I think it is more a political issues than a mere economical one.
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