Month: March 2017

Week 1: Research problems that surround the water quality problems in Columbus and in other areas around the world.

This could be difficult because there are so many different resources and they are not all reliable sources. The difficult part will be finding out which sources are reliable and which are not. This will be a good lead in to the email to the governor so that I will have information and questions that I can ask the governor.

Week 2: Email the governor about the poor quality of water present in Columbus.

This is the governor of Ohio, and his name is John Kasich. The website that should accomplish this goal is http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Contact/ContacttheGovernor.aspx . This might be difficult because writing up a message to someone in power is never an easy task and there is no guarantee that he will receive the email and reply.

Week 3: Participate in a river clean-up.

This may be difficult if there is not already a group of people scheduled to participate in the river clean-up however it is not necessary for there to be a group that goes out. The weekend of the third week I will either join in a pre-existing river cleanup or I will go out on my own and pick up litter.

Week 4: Tour a water treatment plant.

This would be a very informative and fun tour and would also help me learn about the process of cleaning water. The difficulties of this would be transportation and time management. However the benefits of this tour far outweighs the difficulties I will experience. If possible I can talk to the people who work at the plant to get more information and schedule a time and I can use the COTA bus or Uber to get where I need to go.

Non-profits are making a huge impact on cleaning up the water. They are raising awareness for the issue and they are creating a community that works together to help change what is wrong. These organizations or businesses are created for the soul purpose of benefiting the general public without shareholders and without the goal of making a profit. Right now there are many different non-profits working hard to help water quality improve. Many different non-profits are working to create a sense of urgency to help improve the water quality as well as working to get the public involved. This can be done in a variety of ways including making the public emotional and want to help, by encouraging people to donate to the cause. One of the most important things non-profits do to get people involved by using a call to action. This can be as easy as setting up tables discussing the issue to coordinating parades with media coverage to protest different issues. The public has many different ways that they can get involved which can be really easy or to difficult to help get to the root of the problem. One of the simpler ways to get involved would be to buy and donate water to a local water crisis, for example Flint, MI. A bigger way to get involved would be to change out the pipes that are leaking lead into the water supply and hurting the residents of Flint. Non-profits are working toward the second but they do not have the money to do so yet and they need both public and political support. These are the challenges that face all non-profits. They are not all being fully supported by the public or those in political power which cause even greater hardships on those who are suffering from the water crisis.

There are a few important things to consider when viewing the issue of polluted water. One of the main things is how difficult it is to clean up different areas/bodies of water. This is also a very very expensive task that would take an extremely long time for a non-profit to raise and for the governments surrounding each area to give the green light. As beneficial as non-profits are, it can be quite a while for them to take off and be able to follow through with what they are trying to accomplish.

The justice-oriented citizen model has three different levels to it. A personally responsible citizen would act responsible in their community, donating water or money to different non-profits so that they will be able to do their part. A participatory citizen would volunteer for the non-profit for a certain amount of time and dedicate a portion of their life to help serve the cause the non-profit is helping. Finally, the social-justice oriented citizen would start a non-profit and seek out and address the area of injustice that is occurring. They would dig deeper into the cause and act in ways to solve the root cause of the problem, in this case water quality. This last model is the most beneficial but also takes the most time and dedication.

I found an amazing ted talk about how the way we think about charity is dead wrong. My major take away was how important it is. Sometimes charity is the only way for people to get what they need, and it is crucial that they get it. Most of us think about charity as a way to make ourselves feel better and get tax benefits but it is so much more. It can help improve or even save lives.

The link is: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pallotta_the_way_we_think_about_charity_is_dead_wrong#t-124594

 

Reflection:

The speakers from class had a really big impact on my way of thinking. They showed us that there are many different ways to get into non-profits and help others. The speakers had such different back stories but both ended up doing something they love. My thinking really changed from the goal of each non-profit being all about the outcome to it being more about the journey to get there. Each of the speakers talked about how they ended up in the business of working with a non-profit and they both said that they really wanted to help others but that they enjoyed their work so much that it wasn’t even work anymore. The speakers also brought to light that a non-profit can work with different countries which would be huge for many different issues surrounding the globe. Additional things to consider while exploring my issue is that working with a non-profit should not only help others but should be enjoyable! Both of the speakers really believed in and loved what they were doing and it seemed to make it more productive and fun for all the others who worked or volunteered there.

My biggest takeaway from this class was that there are many different ways to get involved and many different non-profits that are working hard to try to help many different issues. Also there are many different ways to get involved with a non-profit, whether it is out of college or after you enter the country and want to do the same for other families.

One thing I would personally like to do is volunteer at a non-profit, learning about how they work and how I could possibly start one myself. There are so many different things that could help those in need but a non-profit would definitely be an amazing way to kick it off.

Social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvement in human and environmental well-being. The primary actions being taken are many companies are moving forward with different projects that will hopefully help with the water problems around the world. Social enterprise is a very beneficial way to get involved with issues around the world and can be very simple. It can be as easy as buying products that help other countries however it can also have great challenges because there is a lot of research necessary to discover whether the company is actually giving the amount of their proceeds to the fund that they claim they are.

The most important things to consider when viewing my issue is that helping distribute and cleaning water is no easy task. This means that the cost of the products will be higher. Even though the proceeds go to a good cause not all consumers are willing to spend the extra money to help said causes. Another important thing to consider is that the companies that claim to help with this could be fabricating information to make themselves seem more environmentally conscious and appeal to consumers. One of the best things to do when deciding to spend extra money to help the environment is to do research to make sure the product proceeds actually go to the cause that it claims to help. Even with these challenges social enterprise is very important to every issue as it raises awareness for the different problems in society.

On the first level of the Justice-Oriented Citizen model would be to buy the products that are sold to improve different aspects of society. This also includes doing the research to confirm that the money spent is actually going to the cause it claims to go to. The second level is when you get together with a company to organize different products that can be used to help improve the issues in society. This can also be starting a company that sends its product proceeds to organizations that improve the conditions of certain environmental problems. The final tier is to find out the root causes of these issues and work to change the forces acting upon them. This is a rather difficult endeavor so most people remain forever on the first tier and few go to up to the second tier.

I found and would like to share an amazing website that explains how different products help out the environment by impacting the world through clean water ventures. The website that displays these products is http://www.causeartist.com/8-social-enterprise-products-that-are-impacting-the-world-through-clean-water-ventures/ . My key takeaways are that there are so many different companies that are willing to put forth so much effort to try to help the environment. Also, even though there are many different companies that do not follow through on their products there are others who go above and beyond what is expected. If more companies joined in the social enterprise quest the funding for social and environmental issues would increase drastically and the awareness of the issue.

 

Review:

After hearing different individuals discuss their view on social enterprise I believe that it is a very good way to support different issues. It is also a great way to get the word out to the public about different social issues around the world. I really enjoy learning about how passionate those who are involved in social enterprise are. It is much different from what I had expected. I expected most people to only take part in social enterprise because it would get them more consumers who were willing to pay more for their products. However, it is almost the exact opposite. Those who are involved in social enterprise care much more about the people they hire and the environment that they produce then they do about how how many customers they get and how much they are paid for doing such amazing social work.

The biggest takeaway form the class session that I attended was that no matter your background you can make social change. There really aren’t any limitations as long as you have your mind set and have enough time and money. The two things that I was a little worried about was the time that he said it took for everything to follow through and how much time that you would have to spend without a steady income. This means that it would take a lot of money and a lot of patience to get where you are going with out a hiccup.

If I were to take action using social enterprise, I would like to start a business that would raise awareness for the water problems around the world and send most of my proceeds to nonprofits that could improve the conditions others live in. I am very passionate about this topic but it is not feasible for a college student to do so without taking out loans and massive amounts of fundraising. I am going to keep this on my list of things I need to do though because it is an amazing way to raise awareness and help other struggling individuals out.