Two months ago I saw An Inconvenient Truth. It has been parodied and pilloried several times in the press, but it left me a message. Global warming is a reality and the ozone depletion is a cause for concern.
Today I finished reading Jeffrey Sachs’ “The End of Poverty as We Know It.” Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, ex-Adviser to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is probably best known as the dapper economist who accompanies rocker Bono around the world trying to spread the message of fighting AIDS. His central message if “Extreme poverty can be ended, not in the time of our grandchildren, but our time.” He argues that Poverty can be eradicated in 20 years.
I’m not an economist, but the book left me with many unanswered questions. The book starts of with promise. Sachs’ tells personal stories and weaves narratives about several countries together wonderfully as he explains how Globalisation and Interconnectedness are key and how economies are linked to Topography and Natural Resources. He makes a forceful case for Technology as the killer app for development economics and surprises you with some tidbits (African Governments being no more corrupt than others, the US being amongst the lowers contributors (as % of GDP) to Foreign Aid etc. He fashions a hypothesis that 0.7% of Annual National Incomes of the 22 wealthiest countries would eradicate poverty and tries valiantly but failingly to convince you.
In the end a nice book with a lot of information, some oft-mentioned plans, but no pathbreaking ideas.
But this post is not about Messers Gore and Sachs. When I think back about the ideas presented in these two books and films, I realise it’s not about government, corporations or non-profits. It is about you and me. It is about what we can do to make our world live longer, be happier, brighter and better. It is about making a small difference, one thing at a time, and the results will begin to show.
I sat down to make my list of 10 ways I would try and make a small difference to the world and its inhabitants:
1. I will try and Pay it Forward: You may have seen the movie (Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt). It’s about doing good for someone anonymously and starting a potential series of good deeds as receivers of anonymous good actions Pay it Forward by helping others in turn. I’ll let Trevor, the hero of the book and movie explain:
Trevor, 12-year-old hero, explains his idea to his mother and teacher: “You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven.” He turns on the calculator, punches in a few numbers. “Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred forty-three. Then seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?”
On the way back home this evening, I passed a toll plaza. I paid for the next three cars behind me. My first conscious attempt at Paying it Forward.
2. I will volunteer: I plan to devote one month of my time every two years. The last time I volunteered was in 2004 when I worked in Tsunami Affected Areas for 7 weeks- first on relief and then on rehabilitation. It was also the last time when I felt ‘connected to the Earth.’ The last time I saw ‘all of us as one’ for weeks at a stretch. I don’t know if these words will mean much, but anyone who has experienced trauma and calamity from this close will know what I am talking about.
Getting one month off in a block is difficult, so I will try and do this over several days in the 2 years, investing evenings and weekends.
3. I will Give to Soup Kitchens: Next time I am having a get-together at home, good food left over goes to feed the needy. (dial 1098 from a PNT line in India)
4. I will Conserve Electricity: My laptop is almost always on. My Television is always on Standby. I leave the geyser running for hours to have a 5-minute shower. I forget (sometimes) to turn off the lights after I leave a room. My bedroom is wired to put on 3 halogens at a time (no single bulb switches at all). My Air Conditioner consumes energy inefficiently (yes there is a comfortable, yet energy efficient temperature for ACs). All these actions make cost more money and spend more of the limited energy resources that we have. BTW if you were wondering: leaving appliances on standby consume 5% of maximum power.
I don’t know if I am prepared yet to be carbon-neural, but many schools, and all new Government funded schools in the UK are.
5. I will Avoid the Car if I Can Manage it: Good for health and good for the trees too!
6. I will Re-commit to the reason I became an Educator: Education is the way out of global poverty and out of global violence. Everyone from Adam Smith (“An instructed and intelligent people ..are more disposed to examine, and are more capable of seeing through the interested complaints of faction and sedition. The whole society is at risk when any segment of the population is poorly educated” – from his seminal “Wealth of Nations”) and my eight year old student Harleen (I feel happy when I am at school. If everyone went to school, they would be more smiley and a lot happier)
As Teachers we can help shape the world in brighter hues than we find it today. Every day, every class, every moment spent with a child can be used to fill in him a zest of life, a joy for living, a passion for learning.
I have decided to keep a regular journal, think, reflect and recommit every day to this profession.
7. I will Smile a Lot more: I am sure there is some Psychology paper somewhere that mentions a smiling person as being more attractive, happier, more confident and a delight to be around. I know when I see a smiling person on the street, I break into the biggest smile possible. I’d like to be that way most of the day.
8. I will be more Empathetic: I want to – Say Thank you more often. Send more cards (when was the last time you did?). Say Good Morning. Good Night too. Listen with Genuine Interest. Smile at the newsboy every morning. Buy flowers for home. Call an old teacher. Call an old friend. Answer and help anonymous people who make they way to my inbox I have the time. Give more pats on the back. Say well-done more often. Criticise less. Provide more support.
9. I will Vote: I am ashamed to say that I, like more than half of my countrymen in every election, do not vote. I plan to put this right the next time and only then criticise the government for the ills we find ourselves in.
10. I will revisit this list: Ideas that are written and not implemented are soon forgotten. I am going to tack this to my softboard to make sure I see (if even from the corner of my eye), this everyday. I will try and stick to this. Try not promise, for as Amitabh Bachchan, Indian movie superstar says in his film Sharaabi (The Alcoholic): “Vaade toot jaatein hain, Koshishein Kamiyaab ho Jaati hain” (Promises are broken but efforts often become successful).
I hope that by following this (and some other little things I have jotted down) I can make a small but significant change in my immediate environment and in the World (remember the Hummingbird effect?) I believe that “When we Change the World Changes” and that all of us should attempt to make, in our own little and special ways, this world a nicer place to be in. When that happens, transformation will take place.
As Lennon said, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” Robert Kennedy said this in an impassioned speech in Africa (these are also the last lines of Sachs’ book):
“Let no one be discouraged by the belief that there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills — against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence…. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance”
Do you want to help? (click on the numbers to read)
#1. Visit the Earth Institute’s “How you Can Help” page
#2. Read about the UN’s Millennium Development Goals; a report on Universal Primary Education
#3. Tips on Global Warming in the Classroom – educator resources from the Inconvenient Truth website (lesson plans, classroom activities, project ideas et al)
#4. More Educator Resources (including student grants of $500) by the Pay it Forward Foundation
#5. Listen to Imagine, by John Lennon (turn up those speakers!)
#6. How Happy is the World? A map of the world with different shades for countries based on their Happiness Index (UN Data)
#7. Try Blackle.com – It’s the Old Google in New Black Clothes. Apparently booting white pages takes more out of your PC, a black Google page would save the world 750 MW of power. (Thanks Krishnan!)
#8. This one is my favourite: If you haven’t read Desiderata, read it. The best advice on a happier, more fulfilling life I’ve come across.
This image above is from the Inconvenient Truth Website (but you knew that!)
How will you change the world? Let me know! I would love to hear what you think.
Are you an Educator? Maybe you use a similar discussion in your classroom?
Read our latests posts here or leave a comment!
Good article.. really. I am an expat living in Germany and I was really surprised when i first got here at how ingrained into society is the need to conserve energy here. Its all the small things that count.. really count. Like not leaving the tap running when you brush your teeth, turning off lights and not leaving electrical appliances on standby.
And best yet people sort their rubbish automatically into plastics, paper, glass and the rest – although there is a law for that.
Germany has some of the highest energy costs in Western Europe and that helps to drive down energy consumption and it also has the highest number of wind farms in Europe aiming to make wind the provider of 27% of its total energy by 2015.
But everybody gets into the spirit and I am always disappointed now to visit the UK or US and see just how far behind these two countries really are. It has to start on the lowest level and encouraged by government – but we can all do something, no matter how small.
Hey Viv – good thoughts da…
You know one thing – heard about http://blackle.com (the black version of google) – the black version of google – check the about blackle and you will be amazed by using blackle instead of google, you can actually help!
Thought if not anything, set your home page as http://blackle.com – it may actually help…
I was not impressed by the “Pay it forward” implementation that you did – I guess thats my personal point, I feel that we need to do a Good deed but the marginal utility of the good deed is higher when the person for whom you do the Deed actually Needs it!
Useful.
Vivek!
This piece rocks. Just the kind of thoughts we need to be circulated.
Doing good is rarely about grand ideas, more about helping the person standing next to you. Kindness is an amazing force and, like Love, needs only to be kickstarted and then it keeps going.
I wish you success on your 10 point agenda.
Excellent article, I love it. Especially the Pay it Forward. I’ve been a recipient of it and truly it made me a giver as well. I always get people who helped me just because they have been in my position before and received help from someone else. So the next time they found another person in that rut, they give a helping hand in credit of the previous person. I’ve been doing that for quite some time but didn’t know Pay it Forward is the term for it. I thought it’s called paying your karma or something, haha.
Thanks for sharing!
Vivek,
Don’t know who you are but what you are doing has a great value.. keep it up… and you reminded me about the importance of doing small acts of kindness and welfare may pave a long way for a brighter future.
Take care.
Hi Vivek,
Thanks for the great ideas. You’re preaching to the converted and we applaud you! My husband and I have also become more aware of our consumption and our impact on this beautiful Earth. We’re just about to install a more efficient radiant heat system and, once we’re learn how much less of a draw it has than our current electric baseboard heat, we’ll be evaluated for a solar installation on our roof for next year. It’s all so exciting.
While not everyone can take these expensive steps (we took out a second mortgage) there are many things that everybody CAN do. Switching to the new light bulbs in every lamp is one. Our solar engineer also told us that over inflating our car tires by 3 lbs increases gas mileage (his is up to 40 mpg), adding minimal additional wear on the tire, a balance that comes out ahead in the long run. Oh, and shop local grocers and farmers markets. We’ll not only support local farmers, we save on the exorbitant amount of fuel that transports goods from across the country.
Overall, your list is great. I would just like to make one suggestion. Perhaps sending more cards could be replaced by making more surprise phone calls. I like to get cards just as much as the next person… but it takes a tree to make that card and gas to transport it. Phone calls have that added bonus of personal connection, interaction and immediate gratification with positive response.
That reminds me, canceling mail order catalogs was another huge step for us. It took a small bit of effort to track them all and call, but the waste we’ve saved is considerable since we just chucked them into the recycling bin anyway. We then paid for the gas to haul them to the center and have added that much more chemical processing in ink to the planet.
Thanks for all your thoughts!
http://pressposts.com/Technology/TEN-SIMPLE-WAYS-TO-SAVE-WORLD-ONE-AT-TIME-/
Submited post on PressPosts.com – “TEN SIMPLE WAYS TO SAVE THE WORLD- ONE AT A TIME.”
Paul: Thanks for dropping in. Yes, the movement to make a difference to the environment has caught on in all parts of the world. Rarely a day passes when I don’t see an article in the popular press about some celebrity doing some gig to help combat climate change.
I am glad Germany has taken the lead in sorting out energy use- on a visit there 10 years ago I was told it was one of the laggards in Europe as far as ‘green’ economies went.
All the best with your work. Hope you see you around on the blog more often.
Krishnan: Just saw the Blackle page. Nice idea. I wonder how they are doing on their conversion numbers (people moving from Google to Blackle). That reminds me, my blogs set on white too!
As far as the Pay it Forward Implementation goes, I see what you mean. However, in the case of paying for the toll, more than the cash benefit to the driver of the following car, it will (i hope) be the thrill of having been done a good deed that will have him smiling all day and increase his proclivity to do a similar deed.
Voxy: Thank you. I am happy you liked it.
Gurdas: Thanks! Just visited your site. BTW, I love Jamshedpur. Visited the Tata Steel plant on multiple occasions and hence had an opportunity to see the city closely.
Gloria: Nice to see another Pay it Forward believer! You should see the movie. BTW, Life’s Lil Notebook is a nice name! I almost went with Yellow Paperback before I settled for The Red Pencil. Also nice style, – I love the use of sarcasm in the About page. Hope to be at your site more often!
Inan: Thanks for the comment! Glad you liked the post. Just visited your site- loved the cinema theme. I am just reading “How to Read a Film” so your posts got my special attention.
Here’s to a better world and sustained conversation. Cheers.
Kim: Wow! I’m the one applauding. You are one of the few people who’ve done something after being affected by what they heard on Global Warming.
Point taken on cards: I am big on cards, but am moving to the e-variety but those don’t really cut it, so it may be phones after all. I stay in India and buy local produce (even the Kiwi Fruit) is grown locally! However I’m moving to Boston next month, where I’m told it’s difficult to get local produce so I expect a rather large carbon footprint for the time I’m there.
I wish you all the best with the now radiation system. I am myself going to get those halogen’s re-wired so that one switch lights just one bulb.
All the best!
Hi again, Vivek~
I’m seeding a project at the Global Cooling Collective (click that label on my blog for posts that explain it) using Web 2.0 and student citizenship to spread climate-conscious habits in their local communities, but do it through various means – lobbying their schools, parents, and communities to sign the Carbon-Neutral Pledge recently signed by over 200 US universities, making fun but consciousness-raising YouTube videos and other digital products to put on the project website, and organizing city-wide young adult music festivals on Earth Day ’08 to cap off the first year. Please consider joining the Global Cooling Collective Ning at http://globallycool.ning.com. It’s where my students and others from other locations are planning the launch of the public website.
Think Live Earth by young adults (“students”), for students.
Since it’s not a classroom activity, it’s low-maintenance to participate, and high-authenticity and -engagement for the students. Over 20 in Seoul have been freely meeting with me to work on this already. We start in earnest next week, as an activity club at school.
Hope you’ll consider it, or pass it along to other students (or even adults) who might.
Clay
Dear Vivek
It takes a lot of courage to write down for public reading, things that one would like to improve him/her self on! – & you did it – so congratulations on that :))
It was indeed a ‘practically inspiring’ article & i am sure it has already created a ripple effect around the globe.
As an educator, i am sure you have faced the challenge to communicate to children, the state of our depleting world resources… An attempt in this area is made by this interesting version of snakes & ladders (famous Indian board game) created by the environment initiative of ITC-India
Enjoy & Spread the message 🙂
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Vivek:
I am working on a project that will kick off on September 11th that might interest you. It’s called the Worlds Biggest Blog Party and we’re trying to Connect the Globe for Good. People will be blogging all over the world to raise money for charities and to raise awareness about people making difference. Would love to have you participate. There are some details at http://www.TheWorldsBiggestBlogParty.com though it needs some updating.
[…] was still expelling exhaust as he worked. Watching that reminded me of a post I read last week ten-simple-things-to-save-the-world. Definitely worth a read (inside a cool room with a iced beverage). Share and Enjoy: These […]
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Great ideas for one person making the world a better place. Thanks for sharing your list. I do some of these already.
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Interesting post and great concept. While I commend your gesture of toll paying here’s two things that occured to me immediately on reading it….., I think some kids on the street might have benefitted from the money you paid for the toll of the cars. If they own a car then they can pay toll. Also was the toll collector human or machine? Because one can never be sure about human nature and you don’t know where your money went. Your gesture definitely benefitted somebody and since you were in a giving mood, I’m sure you didn’t care about the specifics you of you gave to. And that in itself is a gesture from the heart. Congratulations on your idealism and determination.
This has to be one of the most productive blog posts i have seen in recent times. Loved the idea of paying it forward..and was delighted that you took a step in that direction.
What i wonder though, is that wealth is distributed in such an inequitable manner that its going to take some very big steps to really reduce poverty globally.
Paying toll for somebody who already has a car and can afford the toll is a wonderful deed, and i am not deriding it at all. Just wondering aloud about the kinds of deeds it would take to make the world a better place for the ones who need help the most.
I too would like to do something…and the steps you point out are great starts. We can make this a movement. Somewhere down the line we would also need massive amounts of supports from the really rich people (The Gates’ are already doing a great job) and the really rich governments.
My 2 cents.
[…] khemka presents TEN SIMPLE WAYS TO SAVE THE WORLD- ONE AT A TIME. posted at The Red […]
Thank you everyone. I just received an e-mail from someone read this post and wanted and decided to volunteer for Pay it Forward.
Also, yesterday was the 5000th view of this post!