12.31.09: A Fresh Perspective

Without trying to repeat those who might recap 2009 and/or predict 2010, I wanted to share my appreciation for an exhibit I recently saw that provided me a fresh perspective.

At Hodges Taylor Gallery (in full disclosure, where my wife works), I dropped by to see the exhibit. In one of the galleries, there was a wooden structure, probably 10' x 10'. One wall had a series of Mason jars with lids secured to the frame, with the jars screwed on. On the opposing wall, was a pattern of hung tea bags. In the center of the room was the water supply. Here is a self-serve tea house. One walks up, unscrews the Mason jar, pulls a tea bag, drops into the jar and then adds water. When done, the jar, with bag, is screwed back onto the wall. There is no waste, no need for an attendant, except for later to wash the jars and replace the bags.

The simplicity, the elegance and the beauty floored me. Very cool. In my opinion, we can all use some fresh thinking to simple and complicated issues.

12.29.09: Downdraft

I was reading an article in the January 2010 issue of Business NC and reflecting on 2009. That's when I saw these stats -- a large eastern county in NC had a 94% decline in construction-related work (highway, utility and commercial-building jobs). Another central county had an 86% decline. To me, wow, this means that when I look around here, things are bad, but a 94% or a 86% decline is a whopper. So for this state, and presumably others, to get back on track, a rising tide needs to impact not just the big counties but all of those impacted by the downdraft.

Infographic Breaks Down Money Coming In and Out of Colleges, Is It Worth It?

The FastCompany.com featured infographic of the day "Is College Really Worth It?" illustrates some interesting (and scary) points about how college students spend their time, their money and their degrees. It also touches on some important issues about youth financial literacy, student loans and credit card debt:

2/3 of all students graduate with debt
Average debt is $23,200 (50% more than a decade ago)
Average credit card debt is $3173
44% of graduates delay in buying a house from debt
28% of graduates delay in having children from debt
39% graduates say it will take them 10 years to pay off debt ....

Students spend 5.5 billion a year on alcohol...

The facts are more interesting on the graphic, check it out at FastCompany.com.

12.18.09: Words Matter

I have long thought that this image - of immigrants' letters to families home, hung from ceiling in Seattle's Wing Luke Asian Museum - is a beautiful way to demonstrate how (a) at that time, written correspondence home was perhaps the only way to maintain relations, (b) the simple act of writing a letter can have a transformational impact on relationships, and here in an aesthetic way, and (c) that the collection of all of these words on documents represents a community with a common thread: making it in the new world.

This image is from Oct. 2008 Metropolis magazine.

Decade of Hope (Not Hell)

By Liz Barrett, Manager, Marketing & Communications

Last month there was a Time cover story entitled, “The ‘00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade from Hell.” In the article, the author, Andy Serwer, who clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed, revisited the most tragic episodes from the past 10 years – from the 9/11 attacks to the financial crisis. The lineup of wars, natural destruction, corporate corruption, greed, violence and market crashes he provided painted a picture of gloom and doom for the ‘00s. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some tragic events in the past years, but aren’t there always tragic events? Think of the death toll from Vietnam, the civil unrest of the ‘70s, the cocaine wars of the ‘80s, the boy bands of the ‘90s. His overwhelmingly negative piece fails to acknowledge that the ‘00s were also home to some of the most positive and progressive change our nation has seen.

For starters, the ‘00s saw a major emergence in a new kind of industry: social entrepreneurship. This idea has been around for some decades, but just recently this hybrid business model took off so that MBA schools are creating more course tracks dedicated to the study and showcasing those departments to recruit top students. Organizations such as Kiva and Ashoka have popped up due to this rise in our collective social conscience as well as technology innovations. Kiva, a nonprofit micro-lender, is an example of how the financial space can add tremendous social value and positively impact lives around the world.

The ‘00s saw environmental awareness go from crunchy hippie to celebrity chic. And while a good bit of this isn’t very substantial (think Top Five ways to Green Your Wardrobe and other ways to be eco-chic), we did see other strides. Take Wal-Mart, for example, an organization that completely embraced an environmental mission and saved its reputation in the process. With power to create substantial change, Wal-mart now requires its suppliers to be more sustainable, from materials to production to packaging to transportation. Environmental awareness has reached the mainstream and is poised for real change.

Along the environmental lines, we saw a huge spike in oil prices in the ‘00s due to tensions with the Middle East and our dependence on oil to fuel not only our cars but a lavish lifestyle of stuff. And while this hurt Detroit and the gas guzzling SUVs they were making, it also created urgency around developing new, clean technology to break our dependence on other nation’s natural resources. This also led to a rise in bike culture – not only good for the environment, but also good for our growing obesity problem – and placed a higher priority around sustainable urban planning and public transportation.

Oh and let’s not forget we elected the first African-American to President of the United States in this decade. If that’s not a step towards positive social change, I don’t know what is.

So Mr. Serwer, I’ll say ‘goodbye’ to the ‘00s with you and all the tragic events we’ve endured, but let’s not forget to bring the good things with us into the teens – the fact that we can now name someone other than a white male as President, that we share a collective vision for our nation, and that we can engage in dialogues around sustainable living and social innovation. Maybe we aren’t there yet, but just as we made great progress in the ‘00s, we’ll do so next decade too

Top Five: Technology Trends to Look for in 2010

2009 seems to have been the year of Twitter. Between the media, celebrities and the Miracle of the Hudson, Twitter was all the rage this year. Amongst the sea of newly developed technology innovations, it’s inevitable there will be something new for next year. With help from Mashable.com’s, Pete Cashmore, we bring to you the top five technology trends to look for in 2010 ...

1. Google Wave – email on steroids combines chat, email, wiki to allow for more collaboration, turns traditional communication on its head.
2. Foursquare – social media tool that brings geo-mapping into the fold. Find out where your friends are, have been, and like to go.
3. eBooks - After much debate in '09, ebooks are poised to take off through mobile apps and the Kindle.
4. TV on Internet takes off thanks to Hulu and Apple TV.
5. Phones – More mobile devices, more apps, more advertising, more thumb culture. Look for Google’s phone to mix things up.

12.08.09: International Language

I love Washington, DC. It's a fun town. I have many great memories of visiting relatives as a child, later as a tourist and then, after college, while living there for a few years. I was walking from my hotel to a restaurant and walked by the Australian Embassy. I saw this image of some person - Aborigine? - with the kangaroos and thought it priceless. Timely, culturally relevant, simple and expressive. Words not necessary.

12.07.09: Cultural Chain Reaction

The guy in the airplane seat ahead of me, once we reached the first bell on the ascending plane, hits the recline button and his seat moves into my space becoming part of my existence. So I hit my button. Shortly thereafter so do a number of those seated behind me, resulting in a rearward space grab. Similarly this occurs once the captain dims the cabin lights, arms outstretched reaching for the cabin light.

Yet I wonder how many take note of the broader aspects of what this means, that actions and events are done - in big ways and little - to us every day, and that our reactions are ingrained and rarely occur with conscious thought.

I think that on some level this is unfortunate. All actions have an impact on those around us. I would hope that I, and others hopefully, simply take a moment to think of the impact.

The pen is mightier than the calculator

This post was first published by Josh Thomas on TopicsEnvironmental.com.

Photo via CC License from Flickr user Robert S. Donovan

The percentage of Americans who believe in global warming continues to decline, after reaching a peak of 75 percent in 2001. Since 2007, when 71 percent of Americans believed in global warming, the percentage has taken a precipitous fall, to just 51 percent, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll.

via ecoAmerica/Blog: Just 51% of Americans Believe in Global Warming, Down from 71% in 2007.

This is, of course, because people don't really make decisions based on science and facts. "Data-driven decision-making" sounds great and makes sense. But the reason consultants talk about it so much is because so few people actually make data-driven decisions. Instead, people make decisions based on feelings and gut reactions and then rationalize their decisions using the "facts" that support their feelings. Why? Because every fact has some kind of counter fact -- or counter "fact." Feelings are intangible and not subject to being countered in the same.

Scientists: 2000 studies point to man made climate change.

Skeptic: Well, two showed something else. Plus, it was cool that one week in June. So, I don't believe you.

Now, if we really made data-driven decisions, the 2000 bits of data would far outweigh the two bits. But we don't. That's why lotteries exist.

Lottery ad (the tiny, tiny print): Odds of winning approximately 299,000,000 to 1.

Lottery ticket buyer: So you're saying I have a chance? I'll buy three tickets. Now I have THREE chances!

We need a better story not better science.

12.04.09: Between the Lines

I was in line today and the man in front of me had on a sweatshirt with a listing of his company's services on the back. He works in an industry - or at least has a sweatshirt from that industry - that I have hired before. What struck me was the idea that of the 8 listed services, I had no idea what 50% of them are. This got me to think about how often I utter or share information with terminology or jargon built in, which do not serve the listener well. I know I am guilty. Unintentionally but guilty.

One more thing to work on.

Explore, enjoy, protect (and educate & rehabilitate)

By Josh Thomas, first Published on TopicsEnvironmental.com

I love the Sierra Club's mission statement: Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet. While SC gets most of its attention for the work it does in the latter part of that mission statement, I think the club recognizes that without the first two pieces of that statement in place, the third rarely (never?) happens. That is, if folks are In the natural environmental and realize that they are OF that same natural environment, they more likely to act FOR the natural environment. That's one reason why getting kids outside and into that environment is so important. But make no mistake -- getting our kids outside and active is not just an environmental issue. It's a health

"Back pain and degenerative disc disease are yet another problem associated with obesity in children, along with type 2 diabetes," Dr. Judah G. Burns, of The Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City reported here at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America RSNA 2009."Disc herniation and spinal disease are generally thought of as a problem of older people, but we're seeing it in obese youngsters, too. This is the first study to show an association between increased body mass index and disc abnormalities in children," Burns noted.

via Heavy kids may suffer from severe back pain - Kids and parenting- msnbc.com.

and education issue, too. But it's also a tremendous opportunity, and we celebrate those folks viewing in that positive light.

Example 1: “As a teacher I want to give the students an opportunity to get involved in something positive and in a real world application. It’s a good experience for the kids,” stated Boyd.

Example 2: The forest kindergarten at the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs is one of a handful in the United States that are taking that concept to another level: its 23 pupils, ages 3 ½ to 6, spend three hours each day outside regardless of the weather. This in a place where winter is marked by snowdrifts and temperatures that regularly dip below freezing. ...

“I loved the idea of her being outside every day,” said Kim Lytle, whose 3-year-old, aptly named Forest, is the youngest in the class. “If you have the proper gear, I think it’s a really healthy thing to experience the elements and brave the world — and not just on a sunny day.”

The natural environment is a system of many facets and many moving parts. And its a system that affects all parts of who we are and where/how we live. I'm happy to see that we are starting to realize that and take advantage of it.