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In the first week, I planned to start by focusing on green energy within my dorm. After looking over the suite, there was only a review of my habits ever since I moved in; turning off the lights for rooms I wasn’t in; unplugging most chargers when I was finished using them, like my laptop and iPhone, etc. From there, I started looking around some floor’s of Morrill Tower, and frequently saw lights unnecessarily left on in laundry rooms.

For the second week, I would go around my suite, looking for green habits my suitemates weren’t following. It would be a bigger emphasis on my suitemates then throughout this school year: I have already reminded some that one of our showers is hard to completely shut off, and that the lights for our common room were usually on even when no one is there. As one of our guest speakers from last month noted, bringing change to the residents of an area is hard to measure or even notice, but that is also why it can be overlooked.

Overall, I’ve noticed that I am already doing most of the green habits I can, but there are many other students who could be doing more. I have also noticed that I can find more activities to do this month on my own; when I created this Action Plan, it should have included broader goals, such as searching OSU campus for specific social enterprises and non-profits also focusing on sustainable energy. For the next two weeks, I should find more time to sort through green energy and the organizations overall; it is in the latter were I can apply sustainable energy were it will be more significant. In developed countries, sustainable energy is about balancing energy availability with energy efficiency, but in developed countries, that starts with reducing naturally wasted energy.

• Week 1: Go through my dorm room, sorting through whatever I could still do to reduce energy consumption.
  • I will also sort through all the papers I have amassed over the last year, recycling the ones I do not need.
• Week 2: Give my suite more ideas for how to live up to green environments.
  • Only about half my suitemates are in ENR, so I think we should bring up ideas together, and figure out how else our suite could be more eco-friendly.
• Week 3: Spread the solutions to other people, such as during the ENR Olentangy River Clean-up.
  • The Olentangy River has a lot of trash in the areas since many people often run or bike through there, so this problem is a cycle.
  • There need to be more signs and awareness of the trash not just next to the trash bins, but up close to the beach.
• Week 4: Meet up with my suitemates again to see how we have improved upon being green.
  • These habits, like non-profit organizations, need to be self-sustaining so that global issues are both confronted and something to focus on.
  • Since that is the start of finals week, I could just find a common break time for the suite during the week to discuss what else we could do.

After the research for my first post about non-profits, I saw them as organizations using solutions to global issues as both the goal, and the primary source of aspiration. Meeting with Max Slater, Farm and Operations Manager at St. Stephen’s Community House, and Tara Dhungana, Program Manager at Employment and ESOL Services, also showed me how devoted these organizations need to be with their respective areas and goals. Slater grows and distributes food to citizens of all ages so that they learn small, self-sustainable farming, while Dhungana uses his funding to keep resettling refugees. To this end, non-profits focusing on sustainable energy, like Practical Action and WindAid also need to be growing and effective enough for people in need to give back to the organizations and get involved themselves.

I have also noticed other aspects to focus on as I explore this issue. First is how each kind of organization can take very different tactics for getting involved with their issues. Practical Action figures out how to improve upon the technological systems rural communities already have, and WindAid has volunteers learn how to create and settle the wind turbines themselves; the main similarity is that helping people with global issues is both two-sided and a reproductive cycle. Second is what I could do right now about sustainable energy. OSU campus has areas like the Students Consulting for Non-Profit Organizations that can help students explore non-profits; I should go there to get and spread my current ideas about developing wind turbines and solar panels.

Non-profit organizations (NPO) are created for a purpose another than potential profit. The main difference from social enterprises is that even though both are oriented towards supporting a social cause, enterprises can be either non-profit or for-profit. NPO’s are also usually associated with charities due to similarly applying revenue back towards a mission instead of profiteers, and they usually serve specific people, or a community.

While looking through this lens, there are several vital considerations to take into account. The most general is that non-profits need to be self-sustainable; they need to generate enough revenue and support to keep giving back to members or communities without using the currency directly for personal benefit. This is somewhat accounted for by the obligation that NPO’s focus directly on their mission at hand, which means they need to directly assess the problems within social and economical structures. Second, in a compare/contrast to social enterprises, is that for sustainable energy, NPO’s can branch away from social enterprises by focusing on developed and developing countries; non-profits could be focused on providing sustainable energy, and the technology to do so to both kinds of communities.

Several non-profit organizations are at work in developing countries, like those in Africa. For example, Practical Action is an organization that improves upon any technology that rural communities in developing countries are currently using. As a major part of an initiative providing energy to sub-Saharan communities known as Sustainable Energy for All, PA has made many additions, such as micro-hydro projects in Zimbabwe, and small-scale wind projects in Peru. Elsewhere, WindAid is taking an extra step in giving wind energy to communities outside of the national grid. Being volunteer-based, engineers and local residents spend about three weeks working together on the wind turbines by themselves, providing both energy that is cheaper than installing transmissions lines, and education to the same communities. Both these organizations are social-justice oriented, because they explore strategies for addressing root sources for electricity, and are systemically changing how developed these countries are.

The video below makes many important key points about why organizations such as non-profits should be supplying electricity. The first is why people in developed countries can take electricity for granted. The narrator illustrated that if a normal family in a developed country were randomly stripped of electricity, many activities in a normal day would fall apart, from checking the news to access to a bank. Second is the number of people in the world who are still at an inconvenience over energy. About 1.3 billion people (1 out of every 5 people) do not have effective access to energy, which is both unnerving and frustrating to the populations of developing countries. Third is how to help developing countries; installing power plants in these countries would take too long and be too expensive for the population, in addition to creating environmental issues. The use of renewable energy will remove the people’s dependence on outdated energy sources, like kerosene lamps, which can damage people’s health, and be set on fire. Investing in developing countries can create a cycle of help for the people who need it the most in the world.

Cichon, M. (2012, December 10). Renewable Energy World Celebrates Global Non-Profits that Advance Sustainability. Retrieved March 20, 2017, from http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2012/12/renewable-energy-world-celebrates-global-non-profits-that-advance-sustainability.html

(2013, January 06). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvQiEnR7ic

When I did my first post about social enterprises, I saw them as modern-day, non-governmental organizations, focused not on economical, but philanthropic and environmental profits. But after meeting with Kenny Sipes, founder of the Roosevelt Coffeehouse on OSU campus, I realized how else social enterprises are an important factor for socioeconomical issues everywhere. First of all, these organizations make sure to deal directly with issues many people are suffering from, not just to help the people. For example, Warby Parker, a prescription eyeglasses company, makes sure to give monthly donations of the number of glasses sold to nonprofit partners. Those partners, in turn, donate to people in developing countries so the people learn how to give basic eye exams, and sell the glasses at reasonable prices.

Second, there are many social enterprises directly on OSU campus; I could take a look at them later on to learn more about their inner workings. To consider how to relate my ideas for sustainable energy to this type of organization, I need to look at social enterprises already combating this issue; there are several focusing on renewable energy in Africa, such as SunnyMoney and Makani. I also plan to focus on technology oriented towards renewable energy, such as efficient solar panels and affordable wind turbines; but right now, I should be looking at companies much closer to myself, and work my way up from there. Social enterprises take the extra step in dealing with issues the world is still facing; all people should be learning how to take those same steps to work directly on impacting communities.

Social enterprises are organizations dedicated to improving the well being of humanity and the environment through commercial strategy, regardless of profit. This is currently being applied to several issues still being faced today, such as sustainable energy: Making sure energy use is relativity insignificant regarding environmental consequences, and does not compromise self-availability in the future. This is one of the most profound global issues today because of its relations to global warming, and there are many different signs of this predicament across the globe.

When looking through this lens, what’s very important to note is that social enterprises are non-governmental organizations (NGO); they are funded not by the government, but by donations and potential volunteers. So the most effective ways to get more involved in sustainable energy this way are more suited for developing countries; these people have little access to the resources and technology most people in modern countries take for granted. Basic ways for these organizations to assist include spreading awareness of the resource gap to other people, and to start sealing it by providing these countries with access to renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy.

Social enterprises are addressing several justice-oriented pieces of citizenship, such as the government’s attempts at accomplishing the same thing. One of former-President Obama’s most important plans is the Power Africa initiative. It involves expanding electrical power to several East African countries, and it has several setbacks; this expensive power grid would involve countries that already busy dealing with other pressing concerns, such as drought and poverty; and it will power countries like Kenya after being finalized in several decades, instead of right now. Today, these countries are lighting up hope from several social businesses; SunnyMoney, a spin-off of SolarAid, has sold handheld lanterns for about 10 million people in African schools; and Makani, a venture owned by Google, has combined kites and wind turbines to create wind farms in countries that lack sufficient space for them. The citizens in social enterprises are not only organizing the community to get involved in these problems, but are finding their own solutions to the crises and assessing precisely why political involvement was not enough.

There are many online resources, such as Sustainable Design, Green Technology, that have looked at the stories of social enterprises solving problems in areas such as North Africa. The video below looks at how social enterprises are making a difference right now, and explains the most important details regarding how they rose to their current positions. The first was confirming that the governments can’t tackle issues such as youth unemployment and lack of energy products on their own; the people need to be taking care of these inequalities themselves, and that starts with bridging the economical burden on limited resources. The second was the need for professionalism in these organizations. In the U.S., the term is often misinterpreted because it is neither related to the government, nor directly focused on profit; it is with professionals that the enterprises can reach out to the economic forum, and keep growing in terms of alliances and impact on the communities. It was by rallying the people directly for confronting problems around the world that many people in developing countries can get the resources they need right now.

Redlitz, H. (2016, May 10). Solar For A Social Good: How Social Enterprises Turn A Profit With Renewable Energy. Retrieved March 04, 2017, from https://greenfuture.io/solar/social-entrepreneurship-renewable-energy

Sustainable Design, Green Technology. (2015, October 06). Social entrepreneurship – Start a business, save the world, create wealth and sustainable profits (Latitude33, Trans.). Retrieved March 05, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NNyYej0UJg

The next New Year is getting started across the globe, but there are still many of the same issues the world has to face today. One of the most well known issues is climate change; despite all kinds of scientific evidence that the weather all across the globe has been warming up since around 1950, there are still two overarching disagreements sparking controversial debate. The first is confirming that the human race has been largely responsible for the increasing temperatures; to suit the energy needs of developed countries, developed countries have mostly resorted to burning fossil fuels in power plants, which relentlessly releases greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, onto the atmosphere. The second is making accurate predictions of how much warmer Earth will be in the 21^st century. The rate of global climate change actually comes from energy exchanges between the atmosphere and various areas of the ocean; and with varying evidence describing how natural changes in climate have always been on the planet, it would be very difficult to pinpoint a precise boundary to avoid in the release of greenhouse gases.

The difficulty with effectively resolving several of the world’s issues also stems from them being interconnected, such as climate change to sustainable energy. A multitude of greenhouse gases are released from developed countries because of the fossil fuels being burned in power plants for energy; and fossil fuels are a primary source of energy because of their abundance and being a constant fuel source in the world. There are several renewable sources of energy that can be used as a source of energy, such as solar, wind and water energy; however, several of these sources aren’t suited for powering entire counties because of their direct relation to the planet’s daily cycles, or natural environments. But that is also why they are more suitable for people in developing countries; they can be built much more simplistically in rural areas to create only the energy needed in the area. To this end, energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines are better designed for individual sources of energy.

There are also several sociological issues that still need to be faced, such as disparities in access to education. A primary reason for this in developed countries is the underrepresentation of several cultures. Despite being designed to encompass freedom to all cultures, this country has a history of discrimination that still continues onward to this day. I have noticed from my heritage that the emphasis is on several minority groups; it was only a few years ago, that bilingual education was legalized for Hispanics in California. One of my clubs at the Ohio State University focuses on empowering Hispanic students oriented in STEM, and it’s only one of the clubs determined to help give these communities equal positions in education. One of the primary reasons in less developed countries is the levels of poverty and technology. Many citizens in poor countries are lucky to have some of the modern day resources educated people have access to. Most issues across the world have remained stagnant because they are deeply rooted into societies.

Out of the many issues to explore, I plan to focus on sustainable energy for various reasons. I know that there will be many difficulties with creating a stagnant solution to this crisis, but I have chosen it because it involves what I plan to do as a job; I want people in developing countries to have more access to the modern world, and that can start from the ground up with access to clean energy. Sustainable energy is very relatable to helping the planet because there are several possible replacements for fossil fuels. Many renewable energy sources are all available throughout the world, and can directly benefit the people greatly; simplistic designs for generators, such as wind turbines and solar panels would be the most simplistic methods of giving other people more access to modern technology; and in developed countries, people could be inspired in the same way regarding access to clean energy. Turning both into profit could be done from politics and marketing standpoints as well; political inspiration could be improving relations with other countries, regarding support and a helping hand to the underdeveloped. Panels and turbines can be mass-produced, but if they became much more efficient, they would be more appealing to use in individual units instead of focusing on power plants. I hope to present a solution for invoking sustainable energy, because I have had years to realize what can be done about it all across the globe.

I think Franklinton serves as an inspiring area of Ohio because of its rich history. When Lucas Sullivant was creating this initially small area, he was welcoming to the natives, along with people from the North and South; this allowed Franklinton to stay a community much more equal than what would be considered then. This area also maintains a sense of history because of everyone involved in creating it; Sullivant named the area after Benjamin Franklin, who was a lot like him in terms of interests; Andrew Carnegie was persuaded to construct the Columbus Metropolitan Library so that everyone could go to it; and Frank Packord constructed over 100 buildings (including Hayes Hall). This is why there are so many sites for people to have experiences together.

My second most memorable experience was also a list of activates, across various summers. My parents would encourage me to keep reading between school years by signing me up for book reading challenges in the Columbus Metropolitan Library. I enjoyed signing up for this as a kid since I had more access to books and got prizes for reaching the goals; as I grew older, I enjoyed going then to remind myself how important it is to read. Other people should take advantage of the resources available there because that library was built so that everyone would have access to it.

I enjoyed various other activities as well, such as watching plays in Victory Park. My family preferred watching classic plays, like ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’; we’d be sitting on blankets in the field at night, and hearing the well-rehearsed actors over speakers. It was occasionally confusing to figure out all the details of the long plays, but I’m glad I went to them when I was a kid, because they were much more enjoyable than the crowded theaters closer to home. I would recommend this to friends looking for something classical to see, because the park is suited for holding a great number of people.

I would later see actors again in 2014, at the Ohio Theatre. During the school year, when my parents had learned that there would be a classic opera called ‘Don Giovanni’, they got tickets for my whole family to see it. I didn’t know much about the play, so the extended plotline was slightly confusing, but the actors proved to be well prepared for this opera, and the whole audience was amazed by the music played in it. More people in Ohio should see it if they can, because it’s suited for several genres for older students. People should also go here because this theatre has been a historical landmark for decades.

My most recent and favorite experience has been surrounding the Olentangy River. It was a Saturday morning in October when my Scholars group had an activity for the morning; scouting the areas surrounding the river to pick up trash. We were told to go in groups, searching everywhere from the roads to underneath the bridge; I alternated between groups, looking everywhere I could for bottles and wrappers, especially on the river’s edge, where trash would have a deeper impact. There should be more groups on campus that pick up trash because it was a nearby area, and there are other areas on campus where trash should be picked up to create an environmental message.

My personal experiences in Franklinton have given me various reasons to enjoy this area. First is that it is the resting place of several memories with my parents; since there weren’t as many historic places to attend in Bexley, Columbus was the inspiration for several activates in my childhood. When I have the time to do so, I should explore more areas in Columbus on my own, to see what other places are deeply rooted into Franklinton’s history. Second is that OSU isn’t too far from some of these landmarks; the Olentangy river is at a walking distance, and I have gone to COSI on a bus route earlier this semester. And for people who plan on exploring similar areas in Franklinton, there are still many places in this neighborhood with a history to explore; this post is just a few examples of all the classic landmarks.