Most of my life I knew that I loved two things; baking and science. Baking is my hobby and science is my job. I want to own a bakery when I retire, but in the mean time, I am pursuing my interest in science and want to do research on diseases of the central nervous system. I chose two Ted Talks specific to these passions of mine, one on business owning and the other on medical advancements through sustainable design.

The first ted talk I watched was titled “Profit’s Not Always the Point”. Here a business man, Harish Manwani , talked about how his company, merely selling soap and soup, were making a difference in the world. Watching this and wanting to own my own bakery someday, I began to ask myself the same question he was asking the audience; “How will you change lives”? Now a mere bakery, selling pastries to costumers doesn’t seem like a means to change the world, but how it’s run can make all the difference. Harish preached about being responsible for the community socially and economically. Making money means nothing if you aren’t doing good. If I had to sit down and design my bakery right now, I would undoubtedly consider the earth and its people in every aspect. My bakery would socially make a difference by buying ingredients from sustainable sources, fundraising for those who are not fortunate enough to have food at their finger tips, and engaging the community in events. Environmentally, we would recycle and have a compost compile. Our plates and silverware will be reusable and the bakery itself will be made of as many refurbished and recycled materials as possible, the type of cute things you see on Pinterest. By considering the world in my business, it will have a purpose other than sales.

The other Ted Talk I watched was truly quite astonishing and inspiring. The speaker, Mark Kendall, talked about his new technology called the nanopatch. This unique way of delivering vaccines eradicates pain, makes vaccines more effective, accessible, and cheaper, increases their shelf life, eliminates the cold chain, and much more. Overall this new patch has the potential to save millions of lives every year. It also reduces the amount of energy needed to refrigerate the vaccines, no syringes would be needed to be dumped into landfills anymore, and his applicator is reusable. The take home message from Mark Kendall was the through creative thinking and challenging the routine way of going about a process, great things can be made. This nanopatch has the potential to change the world, just by a change in design in administering a vaccine. I will definitely apply this moto to my own work throughout my life. I will be working in a biomedical engineering lab over the summer and am able to be involved in creative processes like this. The environment and people will always be a consideration of mine when designing and testing technology.

These talks pushed me to consider how I can make a difference through small practices, by abandoning self interest and taking responsibility for the world around me. Sustainability is a driving factor of business in todays world, and to succeed it must be heeded to.