EarthWatch Institute: Global Opportunities for Positive Contribution

A Different Kind of Service.

These days, one doesn’t have to go far to find a problem that could use a solution. In times of climate change, economic recession, habitat and natural resource consumption, and environmental catastrophe there is plenty to do to make this world a better place. An organization that provides opportunities for individuals to make such a beneficial contribution is EarthWatch Institute. Recruiting approximately 4,000 volunteers annually, Earthwatch has the hope that they can cause a change in “how the public views science and its role in environmental sustainability.” Supported by over 150 staffed personnel they are “currently raising approximately $15 million a year from the generosity of institutions, individuals, governments and corporations”. Through research and educational concentrated trips like studying Armenia’s Architectural Heritage, Butterflies of Mt. Fuji, Carnivores of Brazil’s Grasslands or Madagascar, Chinese Village Traditions, Easter Island Culture, or even the Dolphins of Greece there are a multitude of options for individuals with different interests and skill backgrounds. As a student, a working professional, or with your family, Earthwatch is a great tool to help address some of the world’s problems and create positive change. - Lindsay

Check out:
1. http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=1IN2f7zTJeo
2. Earthwatch.org





Photo Sources:
http://www.travelbeat.net/volunteer/images/450px-Moai_Rano_raraku.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Sz6dlK3o0pQ/R-cUqQXAiZI/AAAAAAAAAOo/atWOhbfqwo0/FranzJoseph-185.JPG
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Amazon_57.53278W_2.71207S.jpg

Places in need

Some places still go through problems that do not happen in others. It's hard to focus on one destination since there are many places with different kinds of problems. A traveler would choose a destination to find a problem to see their culture and also to help. The World Vision is one of the organizations where they find children with problems and problems in their environment and find a solution for them with the donations that were given by other people with the desire to help. Some travelers or people visit those places in need as a volunteer.

The problems can come from health issues where they do not have anyone or anything that can treat their health problems. Lack of food and water can be a problem in their living, and drinking contaminated water can lead to diseases. Most of these problems happen in the poor countries or places that still live in the past. Natural disaster, where it gives a big effect on people and their living is one of the problems that no one can stop.

The World Vision tries to find problems and solutions for a better future for those children in need. Designers should choose a destination from these places and visit to find a problem and a solution for the problem. They can be architectures, the everyday objects, and shelters/houses that protect people from natural disaster.

Doctors Without Borders

I find this weeks label a little troublesome, because I think it's missing something. I don't know why a person would travel to find a problem if that is all they intended to do. Now if they traveled to find a problem in order to help solve the problem, that is a completely different scenario. But if you just want to find a problem you don't need to travel very far, if at all. We all find problems at home, in our country, in our school, and ourselves. I know this extremely bleak and for some reason I don't really feel like talking about design this week. When I first saw the "find a problem" label the first thing I thought of was Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). I was bumming around on their website and I found out that they are conducting a touring refugee camp exhibition. This is an interactive exhibition where "guided by MSF aid workers, visitors are asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing persecution in, for example, Somalia, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Sudan.The exhibit is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center, and a cholera treatment center"(doctorswithoutborders.org). This exhibit started in Canada and will be making several stops throughout California. As much as I didn't want to discuss design, this is a designed exhibit of a designed experience that could be valuable for designers looking for ways to create alternative solutions for horrific situations.

The Car and the Jacket

It's not uncommon to read about the "Industrial Revolution" as an event that happened a long time ago in the Western World. But today the boundaries of the West are difficult to discern and the edges of industrialization advance and recede, continually. As recently as the 1950s, the development of industry caused popular unrest in Italy—about as deep in the West as you can get. And the perennial occurrence of war and rebuilding ensures that at any given time, the development of industry remains a question and problem for someone.

A recent article in the New York Times describes a peasant uprising in India. For the protesters, the Tata automobile factory augurs a change in patterns of work, rest, and social interaction that have defined the area for centuries. The people do not want this change. Rather than send his teenage son to work in the car factory, one man quoted in the article would prefer that he learn traditional embroidery.

If it were possible to form an industry around the skills and physical sensibilities of the farmers and craftsmen who live here, might that allow a strong economy to emerge without overturning the entire cultural order? In other words, is this at some level a contest between the patterns of life put in place by making and using different objects? Is there a design problem here?