Things/Places in Seattle I want to try

1. Cantinetta-Wallingford
2. Molly Moon's-Wallingford
3. How to Cook a Wolf-Queen Anne
4. Kappo-Fremont
5. Ocho (Tapas)-Ballard
6. Cafe Argento-Capitol Hill
7. Roxy's Diner-Fremont
8. Ballard Locks
9. Green Leaf Vietnamese Restaurant-International District
10. Hana Restaurant-Capitol Hill



I'm tired. This will have to be an ongoing list...

Great ideas

Today I was thinking about saving the world. Maybe not the typical daydream theme, but for those out there like me and many of my friends, it’s a theme that occupies our every day thoughts. While contemplating this daunting task, I started thinking about the things that need to be tackled to achieve the goal of making the work a better place for people to live in, curing cancer and AIDS and ending war, to name a few. But what are the actual things that would make an individual’s life easier?

I once read an article in the New York Times (see below for link) titled “Preventable Disease Blinds Poor in Third World.” It described the excruciating chain of events that transpires in many underdeveloped countries due to something as simple as an individual not having access to soap and water to wash their faces. It describes a disease called trachoma where someone’s eyelashes begin to curl inward due to bacteria that accumulates in the eye often carried on the legs of flies that land in their eyes. Because of this new inward position, the eyelashes begin scraping the cornea as the individual blinks, resulting in horrific pain and eventually blindness. The article goes on to explain how this disease affected one woman whose husband left her once she was blind and deemed not useful, whose children decided to stay with their suffering mother to help her pluck out her eyelashes to reduce the pain of them raking her corneas, a decision which resulted in them having to earn a living instead of going to school and getting an education. In this instance, sanitary facial wipes or a simple surgical eye procedure would make the biggest difference in these peoples’ lives. And that’s something we can do. That’s something I can do. There are small, cheap solutions for everyday grievances for the world’s poor. People like you and me just have to think them up!

That brings me to the real topic of this posting. Great ideas. I once had a great idea. Well, I thought it was. I was six and in a stroke of genius, decided I was going to invent the Global Money Magnet. No, this is not some hedge fund financial guru. This is a gigantic magnet that attracts all money, regardless of origin and the material of which it is made. I would then take this magnet into space and hold it over the world and it would collect all the money dropped on sidewalks or buried under dirt. I would then take all that money and give it to people in need. While my idea never really left the ground due to some logistical problems (a magnet attracting all metals AND paper being one), there are many people out there that are coming up with equally as genius, and possibly more practical, ideas.

Below is a list some of these small ideas that people have come up with to make large changes in the world. These people used the resources, skills and talents that they had and are making a real difference. So, while AIDS and war are definitely worthy of our attention, there are still other evils out there that, unbeknownst to us now, we actually have the solution to if we just give it some thought.

So, here it goes. My list of great ideas…according to me.

1. Life Straw

First one my list is my favorite. I first read about the Life Straw in 2006 in the New York Times and the idea has stuck with me ever since. It's something that is easily shippable to foreign countries, cheap, easy to use and will have real, immediate results. How much better can it get?! According to their website, half of the world's poor suffer from waterborne disease. On top of that, nearly 6,000 people (mainly children) die each day from the consumption of unsafe drinking water. This amazing little gizmo (which is now available to wealthy hiking REI-regulars) can be worn like a necklace and requires no electrical power. In addition, it is easy to distribute to underdeveloped countries where waterborne disease threatens lives the most. Through its system of filters, the life straw removes 99.999% of waterborne bacteria and 98.2% of waterborne viruses. Users simply place the Life Straw in any water source and suck like they are drinking from a straw. When done, they just blow into the Life Straw to clean out the filters. That's it. And I'm fairly certain I read somewhere that each one only costs about $2-$3. Simple, but genius in my opinion.

For more information: http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw.htm

2. Hippo Water Roller

The next on the list was one I came across last year. A group of my friends and I thought it was such a great idea that we pulled our money and purchased two to be distributed in a village in Africa. This ingenious device is the Hippo Roller, a barrel-like container rolled along with a handle. For many, finding water every day is a daunting task as they have to travel for miles to find it and then carry it back on their heads. This limits the amount of water each can carry meaning each person must make more trips. In addition, carrying water on the head puts a huge burden on the neck, spine and knees over time. The Hippo Roller, however, holds up to 24 gallons of water and, when pushed, only feels like about 22 pounds, resulting in more free time and less physical problems.

For more information: http://www.hipporoller.org

3. Motorbike Ambulance

Third on the list I just recently came across. It is the Motorbike Ambulance and is pretty much as its name suggests. In Southern Sudan these motorbike ambulances have been introduced in the hopes of reducing the rates of maternal mortality which takes the lives of one in six women in this region, a region which has one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the world. This region severely lacks the resources and ambulances to transport people from remote areas to healthcare facilities and the motorbike ambulance hopefully will have the ability to help the situation.

For more information: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83727

4. Kiva Loans that Change Lives

In the spirit of Muhammad Yunus, Kiva.org is a person-to-person micro-lending website. Kiva posts profiles of people around the world in need to small loans and then someone can choose the person to which they wish to give. Then, when the loan is up, the money is returned to you! Just like that! I love this idea, because, like most Americans out there, I will most likely always have at least $25 in my bank account. Instead of letting it just hang out there, why don’t I loan it and then get it back in six to twelve months? This very well might be the most genius of all these genius ideas.

For more information: http://www.kiva.org/

5. Slum Cooker

Last year I took a class on Soils and Land Use. For my final project, I researched land use in shantytowns around the world, having spent a lot of time in various impromptu settlements in a few different countries. That’s why the Slum Cooker immediately caught my attention. Kenyan designers have built this clever little cooker that uses the trash in shantytowns and refugee camps as fuel to feed the hungry, provide hot water and destroy toxic waste, as well as stunting the ongoing devastation of nearby wooded areas. This first prototype is able to cook potatoes, rice and tea on the eight hotplates above the furnace while meat and bread can cook and bake in the oven. In the back of the cooker, trash dries on racks to later be placed in the furnace.

For more information: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LQ080409.htm

6. $100 Laptop

What I love about the One Laptop per Child is that it embraces my belief in a child’s right to an education. As the website states, “The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.” For much of the world’s poor, education is put on a back burner to the more pertinent issues of survival. But by giving a child a laptop, we are showing these children the importance of an education and providing them with a tool to pursue it.

For more information: http://laptop.org/en/

7. Treadle Pump

Now, this is a good idea. The Treadle Pump is a pump that is human-powered to lift water from up to seven meters deep. It works much like a stair-stepping exercise machine and is driven by the operator’s body weight and leg muscles. They are 50% cheaper than motorized pumps, are easy to build, and simple for all ages, even children and the elderly, to use. Thanks to the treadle pump, farmers are able to cultivate crops during the off-season and bring additional land under cultivation.

For more information: http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/idei#


To read the New York Times article I referred to, check out this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/world/africa/31blind.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=eyelashes,%20Carter&st=cse