For my first action, I plan to inform those around me about climate change and its issues. I believe my biggest obstacle would be getting people to listen to me, but I believe that I could eventually get many people to listen to what I am saying. For my second action, I plan to sign petitions related to climate change issues. I don’t foresee any issues arising from me attempting to signing petitions. For my action for the third week of the month, I plan to donate money to either one or two of the many non-profits working in the area of climate change. The most difficult part about this action would be picking a non-profit to donate to that identifies most with my ideologies and interests, and I plan to do additional research on climate change non-profit organizations to facilitate the process of choosing which organization to donate to. For my action for the last week of the month, I plan to try to recruit others to also donate to climate change focused non-profit organizations in order to increase the funding they receive and help them get closer to completing their mission. One thing that would be difficult for this action would be that some people may have their minds set on not donating to any organization for a variety of reasons. Another difficult thing with this action would be to convince people to not just donate to an organization once, but rather repeatedly in order to make a larger impact. I plan to use persuasive skills to influence people to give once, and then possibly tell them about the benefits of donating repeatedly.

As a result of what I learned from the guest speakers, I learned a lot about a couple of non-profit organizations in the city of Columbus. The first speaker worked at the St. Stephens Community House, which aims to assist families in the Linden area to become self-sufficient. They do this through many programs that serve in the areas of community organization, education, childcare, and social development. The second speaker worked at Community Refugee and Immigration Services, or CRIS for short. The mission of CRIS is to help refugees and immigrants reach and sustain self-sufficiency and achieve successful integration into the Central Ohio community. Overall, as a result of my research from before the class discussion, and what was said during the discussion, I realized how hard certain non-profit organizations have it due to the lack of funding they receive to complete their missions for an extended period of time. I also learned that non-profits have difficulty when it comes to retaining donors to their organizations, as some people think that by donating once or twice, they are helping combat the issue in an effective way, when in reality, that is sometimes not the case. In terms of my future plans to combat climate change when it comes to non-profits, I plan to donate to at least one organization in order to help them complete their missions. Also, during or after my career, I may attempt to work for a climate change centered non-profit organization such as Climate Central, that conducts and publishes scientific research to show the effects of climate change on the planet.

Currently, there are many different non-profits that are working to make an impact when regarding to halting climate change which carry out their methods in different fashions and have different goals. One of these organizations is the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which aims to get important environment-friendly legislation passed at the local, state, and national levels as well as attempts to get businesses of all varieties to implement more efficient and green business practices. Another non-profit organization that works to make an impact in the field of climate change in a different way is Climate Central, which is a non-profit news organization that conducts scientific research in the fields of climate change and energy, and then distributes the results of their studies through their website. One way in which people could get involved with non-profits addressing the field of climate change would be to donate funds to these organizations in order to help them complete their missions easier. Another way people could get involved with climate change centered non-profit organizations would be to get an employment opportunity with a non-profit organization in the field. One challenge that exists when getting involved with non-profit organizations is that non-profit organizations typically do not offer especially lucrative job openings, meaning that it would take a major sacrifice in order to work at a non-profit as opposed to a for-profit organization. Another huge obstacle that non-profits face is retaining donors, as many people will donate to an organization once or twice and then feel like they have done their part in supporting a good cause, but without a steady cash flow, these businesses have hard times staying around and completing their missions. In my opinion, the most important thing to consider when viewing the issue of climate change through a non-profit work lens would be the actual effectiveness of the organization in completing its goals, as if an organization is not able to complete what it sets out to do, its viability decreases substantially.

The TED talk I found that is somewhat related to this issue is titled “The way we think about charity is dead wrong” by Dan Pallotta. This TED talk was not necessarily about environmental specific non-profits, but rather about non-profits and charities in general. In his TED talk, Pallotta discusses the differences in key areas between for-profit and non-profit businesses, such as how non-profits aren’t supposed to use money to convince people to give to their business and how for-profit businesses have far more time to prove themselves as viable companies as opposed to non-profits. He also discusses how society has a misconception on the ways charities and non-profits should operate, because society typically believes that charities and non-profits should spend as little money as possible on fundraising because then they would have more money for the cause that they are trying to support. However, Pallotta believes that this is backwards as fundraising is essential to multiplying the amount of money that is available for research and outreach. I took away from this video that, from a business standpoint, non-profits have a much harder time completing their goals than for-profit businesses due to many constraints both financially and socially. I also took away that in order for non-profits to successfully complete their missions, it is essential for society to not try to constrain them to a large extent.

As a result of what I learned from the guest speaker, I now have a greater understanding of what social enterprises stand for and do. I also have a greater appreciation for social enterprises as a result of what the guest speaker said, as I learned that some social enterprises cut down on their profits and paychecks in order to donate towards causes they support. As I consider to explore the issue of climate change, I think I now need to focus on businesses that donate towards environmental action groups and implement business practices that help the environment and slow down the change in climate that is currently affecting the world. Personally, my biggest takeaway from the session in class was that any business that works towards solving a social or environmental issue can be a social enterprise. It is important to support social enterprises in my opinion because social enterprises do what they can to actually make a tangible change in an issue that they are passionate about. There are also social enterprises that attempt to solve every social issue, such as Warby Parker that works to train eye doctors in third-world countries and Hot Chicken Takeover which does what it can to combat homelessness and precious incarceration.  After the initial assignment for this lens and hearing the guest speaker talk about social enterprises, I think what I could do to counteract the issue of climate change when it comes to social enterprise would be to attempt to be employed by one in the near or far future, buying products from companies that work towards bettering the environment or potentially starting a business that donates a majority of its profits towards charities and non-profits that work towards slowing down climate change.

A social enterprise is an organization that attempts to solve social and environmental problems through improved business strategies or through use of their profits to improve the local communities. Currently, there are many business doing their part when it comes to implementing business strategies that are moving towards a greener approach to running their business, or donating money towards environmental organizations. A couple examples of these businesses would be Wal-Mart and Patagonia. Personally, I could get involved with the issue of climate change through social enterprise through supporting businesses that employ green strategies in their sale of products and that donate to environmental organizations. I could also encourage people to shop at these specific stores instead of possibly cheaper, but less environmentally friendly options in order to increase the profits of the greener companies, which would allow them to put more money towards instituting more environmentally friendly strategies and would also allow the companies to donate more money to environmental organizations. One problem that I could encounter while trying to do this is that people may not listen to me when I advise that they use the greener companies due to a preference of lower prices or better quality elsewhere. In fact, I have encountered this problem in the past as my mother frequently refuses to shop at Wal-Mart, which employs green techniques, in favor of better quality good elsewhere. On the personally responsible citizen level, I currently recycle containers and goods I use that are recyclable. On the participatory citizen level, in the past I participated in events in my high school that were geared towards conserving energy and recycling, such as Power Down Day, in which as little as possible electricity was used in classrooms and the halways. On the social-justice oriented citizen level, I am currently exploring ways to get people in my family to recycle and do more environmentally friendly actions, such as turning down the heat in their house a few degrees during the winter. The most important things to consider when it comes to how social enterprises enact more green policies and attempt to slow down climate change would be which companies are doing the most to help slow the issue by either donating to environmental organizations that spend more time working in the climate change field or how certain businesses institute business methods that allow them to be more environmentally friendly and environmentally conscious than rival organizations.

The TED Talk I found that addresses the issue of social enterprise and its intersection with climate change was given by John Doerr in 2007, titled “Salvation (and profit) in greentech.” The talk was about the impact that companies, individuals, policy, and new technology currently have and may potentially have when dealing with saving the environment. A couple minutes into the video, Doerr talks about how Wal-Mart decided to go green in 2005 by reducing energy consumption in their existing stores by twenty percent, and reducing it by thirty percent in their new stores between 2005 and 2012. Wal-Mart is one example of a business doing what it can to combat climate change through improved business methods, such as using efficient lighting and painting the roofs of their buildings white in order to naturally regulate heating and cooling easier. Other businesses such as McDonald’s, Home Depot, and Target have also used improved business strategies in an effort to save the environment, from switching to entirely recyclable containers to installing more renewable energy sources.