Every piece of architecture, work of art, and item you purchase has been thought out and designed. Somebody has spent hours thinking, planning, drawing, engineering, and creating a product intended for a particular use. That means every aspect of this very moment has been intentionally designed for you to have the best possible experience, an experience better than the one the designer had to have inspired their creation. All this goes without saying that great things have manifested for you to be reading this blog.
People who do not see problems but opportunities, have shaped the world around us. Instead of seeing an empty lot, one sees potential and opportunity. When one does not succeed, instead of thinking they have failed, one considers it as an experience or a lesson learned. Having this optimistic perspective truly affects ones outlook; attitude is everything. When looking out at the world’s complications, it is easy to get pulled down. Of course there are things that need change, but having an optimistic perspective is everything.
There has never before been a moment of time where people have been more empowered to share their ideas through the recent spur of various social media platforms engaging the community and encouraging idea sharing. These platforms exist to help get your idea off the ground. All you need to do is turn your idea into a video, mix in your passion and curiosity and you have the beginning of slowly changing the world. Below is an example of the very notion of a community coming together and seeing potential instead of emptiness. The pictures are a before and after photo of an empty lot in the heart of downtown Phoenix.
This relatively new trend is a great way to use technology to facilitate community. The winner of 2012’s TED (ted.com) prize, www.theCity2.org is a great example of a collaborative approach in idea sharing. Out of hundreds of entries, only ten ideas will be chosen to win $10,000 for the implementation of the idea. City 2.0’s first project was an amusement park for kids in the Kampala’s slums of Uganda, constructed from thousands of reused plastic water bottles. With ten ideas built around the world, a better future is being built one courageous idea at a time.
Need a little extra kick to get started? Check out Kick Starter, a concept based on sharing passions with the goal of getting people to invest into your idea. Kickstarter is a platform for funding creative projects. Trust me; the notion of creativity is not spared on their submissions.
Can this trend of crowd funding and idea sharing last long enough to turn into a grassroots effort for sustainable development? From the discouraging results of the Rio+20 conferences, we should not expect a lot from government agencies anytime soon. However, it is you who has the ability to create change. And who knows your community and its needs better then you?
Hearts listens, and now we are acting. What is stopping you from being the change you wish to see?
How do you want to change the world?
Yours truly,
Keith Mulvin
Global Responsibility &
Partnership Programs
