Posts filed under ‘Experience This?’
100 Years of Clean Drinking Water says WHO
“According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water. Unsafe water and inadequate sanitation kills nearly TWO MILLION people each year, mostly children under the age of five.”
One of my responses to the Changeblogger meme was to get more involved and educated around issues surrounding clean water and access to water. Here is one step towards that goal.
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September 26, marks the 100th Year of Safe Water according to the American Chemistry Council, and we can help continue and supply safe drinking water to others.
Timeline
- 100 years ago, Jersey City became the first U.S. cities to routinely chlorinate municipal drinking water supplies. Over the next decade, more than a thousand U.S. cities adopted chlorination, helping to dramatically reduce infectious diseases.
About Chlorine
- Today, about 9/10 U.S. public water systems rely on chlorine in some form for safe drinking water.
- Chlorine can destroy disease-causing microorganisms.
- Chlorine removes many unpleasant tastes and odors, as well as certain metal contaminants like iron and manganese.
- Chlorine also providedes a residual level of disinfectant to keep water safe while in transport from the plant to a consumer’s water tap.
Quick Facts
- U.S. CDC calls drinking water chlorination “one of the most significant public health advances in US history.” In that same vein, in 1997, LIFE magazine hailed the filtration and chlorination of drinking water as “probably the most significant public health advancement of the millennium.”
- Drinking water chlorination has helped to virtually eliminate waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever, and played a major role in increasing Americans’ life expectancy from 47 years in 1900 to 78 years in 2006.
- Where piped water supplies are not available, simple techniques to disinfect and safely store water in individual households can dramatically reduce waterborne disease. A recent study by the WHO found that household-based chlorination is the most cost-effective way to reduce these waterborne illnesses.
Call to Action :: Disinfect 100 liters of Water with 1 Click
For starters, we can partake in ACC’s Clean Water Challenge Quiz. For every correct answer, the ACC with support from others, will donate $0.20 (up to a total of $200,000) to support household water chlorination programs in West Africa.
Your 1 Correct Answer + $0.20 = the cost of five chlorine tablets –> designed to disinfect 100 liters of water!
The Downside of Chlorine
- Some environmentalists urge that chlorine is a short-term solution arguing that cleaning up our rivers, lakes and streams is more sustaining
- Some health researchers argue that with all the benefits of adding chlorine (such as decreased Typhoid cases), there may be side effects of other increased health problems.
Alternatives
- Some say that Canada and Europe have switched from using chlorine to using ozone to ensure safe water. A handful of U.S. cities like Las Vegas practice this as well.
- Before using tap water, leave the water uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours for the chlorine to leave the water.
- Invest in a filtration system (which I have heard debates on this issue as well).
- Practice recycling and treat our water resources with care.
I would have to agree that I want us to find long-term, sustainable ways to have clean water and to increase water accessibility to others. I think as a base-line, we can all start by educating ourselves and learning more about where our water comes from and how we are impacted.
What’s your experience?
I admit I’m no expert, and invite the discussion here in the comments. If you have more ways to get involved in the accessibility to safe water issue, please post in the comments, as it’s an issue I’m increasingly educating myself on as well. Thank you!
How Your Childhood Olympic Dream Can Still Come True
Defining Greatness
When I was a kid, playdoh was great. Dancing around in a tutu making cookies was greater. And Lilia Podkopayeva was greatness. Podkopayeva, overlooked by many due to the gold medal win by the Magnificent Seven by the USA, was from Ukraine. And she won the individual Olympic all-around gold in women’s gymnastics at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She was my superstar.
As a child, I loved the Olympics, and still do. A hardcore competitive gymnast growing up, I attended the ’96 games (as an observer) where I saw Podkopayeva achieve what I thought was the unreachable and untouchable – greatness. In this case, that meant the gold. Seeing both Podkopayeva and the USA women’s team both capture gold medals, I hoped to follow in their footsteps.
Re-Defining Greatness
Like any girl after ’96, my dream for Olympic greatness quadrupled, and my love for the sport escalated. I cut out every single news clipping from women’s gymnastics coverage in Atlanta and plastered my room in posters, photos and news clippings. You could say it was a Mag Seven Heaven.
Overlooked by the Mag Seven by many, Podkopayeva was a combination of grace, style, elegance and talent. My favorite coach even nicknamed me “Mini-Lilia” because he thought we looked alike, and had similar talent: grace and style.
However, fast forward 12 years, and I will never receive an Olympic gold medal, but I still reach for my Olympic dream in the horizon – greatness. And so can you.
Infecting Greatness
Every four years, athletes converge together to compete for world titles, Olympic golds, world records and – greatness. But, each of us maintains the home court advantage. We can achieve greatness in our own communities, everyday. Though I’m no longer conditioning, flipping and twisting on the apparatus’, I like to think that I’m still developing my craft – all the while growing in grace and evolving my style.
For what is greatness? As a kid, a gold-medal gymnast defined greatness. For me today, people who live with conviction define greatness. People doing the work that no one else want do = greatness. The single mother working two jobs to give her child a better life, is greatness I only hope I can mimic. As we grow, how we define greatness evolves. Today, my ‘greatness’ role-model is my mom. It’s also my dad. Nedra Weinreich. Andre Blackman. Kivi Leroux Miller. Beth Kanter. Marc @ Osocio. Mike Newton-Ward. Stephen Dann. The Unsung Hero.
See, these are ordinary people, and they are infecting greatness everyday. I only hope that one day I can join their team, and we together, as a team, can achieve greatness. For greatness, just depends on how you define it.
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“There are countless ways of attaining greatness, but any road to reaching one’s maximum potential must be built on a bedrock of respect for the individual, a commitment to excellence, and a rejection of mediocrity.”
– Buck Rodgers, American Baseball Player 1938
Unlock Your Inner Batman
Everyday, I venture out into my day with a healthy dose of idealism. I like to believe that people are good, and I work to see the good in people, even when most difficult.
This is why I struggled with the Batman movie: The Dark Knight. I love Batman. I grew up watching the tv series with jumping bananas Batman and Robin.
Batman/Bruce Wayne is an ordinary man. The joker is an ordinary man. Two face is an ordinary man. Gordon is an ordinary man. Yet, Gotham is havocked by crime and despair. The movie paints Gotham (as it should according to plot) as a very bleak and dismal city.
I walked away from the movie with a heavy heart, searching for optimism. These weren’t superheroes who ravaged a city and killed for pleasure. Just men. These weren’t superheroes whose hearts were hardened by bitterness, anger and unfair circumstances, but fellow, ordinary, human beings.
Indeed, the Joker, as Batman and Gordon state, got the best of them by showing that even a great man, Gotham’s White Knight, Harvey Dent, can be hardened.
I walked out of the theater finding it hard not to be hardened as well. All the work we do in social marketing, nonprofits, social change…where’s it all going and what’s it doing? What’s the solution? How do we inspire others not to let their hearts become hardened?
Though I left the movie more torn about life’s deeper issues than I have in a long time, I refused to be give in. Instead, I see it as a new challenge to rise above and as a community, address and solve. For Batman was an ordinary man. So was Gordon. and Alfred. and Mother Teresa. Ghandi. Martin Lurther King, Jr.
Perhaps the reality is, is that we ALL have a little Batman inside of us, just waiting to melt the world.
Internet Addiction: Self-Test to Balance Work, Life and the Internet
Having a professional job in online marketing, as well as an online hobby, this blog, I am constantly working to keep my internet usage/exposure at check. Today, I thought maybe others could relate…especially when I overheard a couple teens talking on the metro on my way home about this very issue. Thus, I did a little search (is it ironic?) on the internet.
I came across the Center for Internet Addiction Recorvery, which has been treating internet addiction since 1995. The Center offers numerous downloads, resources and materials for groups broken down into therapists, lawyers, business, and then parents and schools. The Center recently launched it’s new blog, which is full of interesting information. From a brief glance, I read:
- A debate about if internet addiction is really….real
- that Korea is becoming the most addicted to the internet
- about a case where a man died from playing Stargate for 50 straight hours
- how the internet can cause marital problems of neglect (let alone affairs/adult content issues)
The most interesting part of this site, were the self-tests the Center offers. The most interesting is the IAT, Internet Addiction Test which is the supposed first validated and reliable test to measure internet addiction.
Go for it. Take the test and let us know what me know what you think. The questions alone helped me figure new ways to gauge my own internet dosage.
And, it got me thinking…if internet addiction is real, as it is currently being considered to be a new clinical disorder, I think that possibly, it goes beyond the individual’s responsibility to possibly us as whole. As a social media marketer…this definitely makes me think more about the services we are creating, that we are creating purposeful content.
Food Marketing and Kids – Always A Popular Topic
The mix of food marketing and ethics when it comes to advertising to children tends to always be a popular topic on the social marketing list serv. And, the topic pops up every once and a while in the news too.
If you have been following this issue, and honestly, I have been following it some, but I don’t claim to be an expert on it. So, I’m curious to get others’ thoughts.
Food. Children. Marketing. Advertising. Social Marketing. Ethics. –> Please share your thoughts in the comments. I am providing some questions as prompts, and will post again a summary of the responses and what I discover.
Cases
Last spring and summer, there was much ado about Shrek and his character endorsing various unhealthy food products.
Again, there was a response when McDonald’s advertised by sponsoring report cards and giving achieving students special McDonald offers.
Articles
Fundamental Shift in Making and Marketing Snacks to Kids, MarketingProfs June 11, 200
Sweet Surrender, Washington Post, May 22, 2008
Junk Food Marketing Linked to Child Obesity, Lancaster Farming, May 23, 2008
Shrek: He’s Big, Green and Promoting Junk Food, MSNBC, April 25, 2007
Feel free to leave links to more articles/cases in the comments =) I know there’s a ton of news and literature out there.
Questions
- Where has this issue been and where is it headed?
- Has progress been made? What does ‘progress’ mean?
- Is this an issue or is it over-reaction?
- Are there boundaries when marketing food to children and what are those boundaries?
- How is this sector of the industry changing?
Thanks ya’ll! Look forward to reading your insights!
Consumerism. What’s Your First Reaction?
My guess is that it might have caused a slight wrinkle in the face and a sigh of stress? confusion? frustration? I offer that more and more…it should bring a smile. Consumerism is not just about what you consume, but about the choice (and power) you have as well.
Been meaning to post on this topic for a while, but a discussion I had at a friend’s gathering the other day prompted me to post. (Plus, a recent article regarding the optimistic power of consumerism found by a colleague of mine). The conversation circled around consumerism and capitalism….leisurely, get-to-know you chit-chat right…lol
But I was listening to two new friends, acquaintances really, debate consumerism versus capitalism:
- Are they the same thing?
- Does one breed the other?
- Is one better than the other?
- How to stop it, can we stop it?
Etc., etc., etc….you can only imagine. How many of us have found ourselves in these slightly awkward conversations over the weekend, when all you want to do is relax and make friends. Truth is, I secretly LOVE these conversations. Yup, I’m one of ‘them.’ I love the people who are open to talking about how they feel about the things that really matter, especially those amongst my generation. We do DO more than check Facebook 10 times a day, ;).
Onward. Fact is, I enjoy listening to these conversations because they get my mind tinkering and fueled. After each person shared their viewpoint, I offered this:
Nowadays, the power is transferring from the organization or company to the consumer. Consumerism in today’s terms is increasingly more powerful than it’s given credit. We are all consumers. We all have a choice in the types of services, types of products, types of media we support. Think about the power we have as individuals, let alone when communities and groups surround a movement!”
The best I’ve heard what I’m trying to communicate was at my grad school graduation where Ken Paulson, Editor and Sr. Vice President of USA Today, told my class:
“You are not going to change the world…You already have.”
He went on to explain how the Millennial generation changed the world when they decided they didn’t want to have to pay for music. Or, when they made new phrases like brb, lol and ttyl become common. He also went on to describe the danger we in the media landscape – from advertisers, to journalists, broadcasters, etc – create by referring to ourselves as: The Media. What IS that anyway? The media.
Mr. Paulson, I applaud your speech and would love a copy if you ever read this. It very much reflects what my own master’s research reiterates. There was a time when ‘the media’ (whatever that is) was not a business…and when it was a public service. If you don’t think so, research 1776 or the first newspaper, Publick Occurances. Or, recall Walter WIlliams’ infamous Journalist’s Creed. Or, email/comment me, and let’s have a conversation. 😉
Thus, I leave you with this: What’s your choice? Where do you stand?
Skeptical? Check out Joseph Jaffe’s post and what his power as a consumer is doing to Delta Airlines…at this point, not sure who I feel worse for: Jaffe, or the PR mess Delta is now in, lol. Wow.
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As an FYI: My research is being presented at the 1st World Social Marketing Conference this upcoming September in Brighton, England. There’s more to it than this paragraph, and it’s not quite publication ready yet. Let me know if you’ll be there, and hopefully, we can meet! =)
Another Turn on the 29-Day Giving Challenge
The 29-Day Giving Challenge movement was started by Cami, when she was faced the diagnosis of the chronic illness multiple sclerosis during a major move. A spiritual teacher of hers, Mbali Creazzo, suggested that she give away 29 things in 29 days in an effort to get outside her own struggle each day.
According to Mbali, the 29 gifts originated as an African tradition. Today, over 2,000 people have participated in the challenge so far. And, I am joining them.
The challenge focuses on giving, anything – from clothes, to money, to smiles, hugs, compliments, time and energy, love, compassion, empathy or an extra hand – any way to GIVE. The challenge does come with a set of rules, mainly, to have fun, relax and reflect.
I joined this challenge for a variety of reasons.
First, I connected to Cami’s story as my best friend has multiple sclerosis. Secondly, that same friend continues to teach me, and give to me, AND give to others on a daily basis. She is continually reading and sharing her joy for life, her keen insight into the human spirit and her enthusiasm and love for life.
So, I’m taking the challenge, and taking it another turn: I want to concentrate my giving on those that are close to me, to show appreciation and love for what they do. Often time, I think it’s easy for us to focus on trying to help others, especially in the nonprofit and social marketing fields. Sometimes, we overlook those right in front of us in the process. (Note: It’s still important to give to others, but u pickin’ up what I’m putting down, right?) Thus, I plan on doing the 29-Day Giving Challenge:
- With my boyfriend. My mom. My best friend. My roommate.
- And groups of people including coworkers, friends who live far away, the homeless, nonprofits, etc.
Imagine what we could do if we TARGETED not only our financial giving, but the gifts that take extra time, extra thought and that extra step…to say thank you, you are loved, and I care.
I invite you to join us! The 29-Day Giving Challenge also has an online community here.
I will share my reflections on my experience at the end of each time period.
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If you’ve participated in the 29-Day Giving Challenge, share your experiences with us in the comments section, =).
A Look At Science 2.0, including OpenWetWare Case Study
Last week, I published a post on Health 2.0, based on a couple research studies that were recently released.
Also last week, another report was published by the Scientific American Magazine that looked at the concept of Science 2.0, titled “Is Open-Access Science the future?”
Before this article was published, the author put the draft version of the article in a wiki, and encouraged readers’ comments and edits…to help formulate the articles final version.
In this article, the author looks at the increasing use of social media within marketing, journalism, and politics – and how it can spread to the field of science, as more researchers increase their use of web 2.0 tools within their research. Some critics think that this new process to scientific discovery curbs the traditional institutional lines and poses danger. Advocates see Science 2.0 as a way to increase openness and collaboration across studies – furthering progress
Science 2.0
Science 2.0 refers to the growing movement of integrating social media into the scientific process and its promotion. Science 2.0 is a component of the broader Open Science movement according to the author of the article, M. Mitchell Waldrop. This Open Science Movement includes other topics such as open-access scientific publishing and open-data practices.
Case Study
The article points to a success project named OpenWetWare at MIT, which:
“OpenWetWare is an effort to promote the sharing of information, know-how, and wisdom among researchers and groups who are working in biology & biological engineering. OWW provides a place for labs, individuals, and groups to organize their own information and collaborate with others easily and efficiently.”
OpenWetWare now hosts more than 15 labs, 6100 web pages and is edited by 3000 registered users. To learn more, gain access, or get involved, you can contact the project at admin@openwetware.org or join here.
Concerns
Due to the content of this budding use of technology, in that it is labeled ‘science’ brings many concerns to critics minds. These include:
- Privacy Concerns
- Authorship and Copyright
- Looking ‘unprofessional’
- Undermining the field of ‘science’
- Trust-worthiness of information and hackers
Future
Despite concerns, advocates see Science 2.0 as still in its launching point. Future ideas for implementing Science 2.0 include:
- Collaborate for scientific articles and ideas
- online lab journals
- Developing internet-friendly lab equipment
- Virtual scientific conferences
- Virtual Labs
- Updated Lab ‘feeds’
- Data-Sharing
- Truth-Based Social Marketing
- For more information regarding these ideas and more visit here.
More
- Duncan Hull wrote up an insightful blog post about science 2.0 by interviewing scientist and researcher Dave DeRoure. DeRoure mapped out what he thinks is a widening gap between scientists and the web infrastruture. You can read the post here.
- For those who like reading how trends relate, the Columbia Journalism Review wrote up a great article about web 2.0 and its evolution to Journalism 2.0 and Science 2.0, and how the two concepts relate. The author demonstrates how concerns towards the two fields are similar and the implications this has for science journalism 2.0.
What are your thoughts on Science 2.0?? A ‘yay’ or a ‘nay’ …share with us your thoughts