[poll=1]

Some of these scientists don’t believe global warming exists, some of them believe that the mainstream predictions on global warming are inaccurate.  Some – interestingly don’t dispute mainstream claims – but believe that global warming will be a benefit to society. 

Whether global warming is an out of control phenomenon or not, Bright New Ideas is dedicated to the idea that sufficiently cleaner air is a human right.  A lot of people have asked us why don’t we talk about global warming more in our efforts to reduce air pollution and improve health?  Well the answer is because that’s not our focus.  Our focus is to improve health and access to education for people around the world.  Our vehicle for doing that is solar energy and LED lighting.  Reducing air pollution, especially practices such as use of kerosene indoors, may happen to be congruent with the effects of climate change and it may not.  But at the very least it means a cleaner and healthier world for many people who deserve it.

“Student Polina Bugayev ‘10 says seeing the poverty and need in Jalapa put her own problems and worries into perspective. The pride community members there took in what little they have also touched her.

“‘I saw people empowered and encouraged by someone just taking the time to listen to their problems, beliefs, goals and dreams,’ adds Bugayev.”

Make sure to read more about what their goals were in Nicaragua by reading this article.

I don’t know how many of you grew up reading Choose Your Own Adventure novels as a kid, but we’ve been taking a lot of inspiration from them for our marketing strategy. We hope to utilize the interactivity of the internet and the explosion of user-created video content of sites like YouTube to make one of the first user-directed adventure sites to promote our cause. How will we do this? We will put polls on our website where users can vote on different possible activities (for example, exploring a community that lives without electricity) and we will document our findings and broadcast them online.

In the end, we hope to make another trip down to Nicaragua, only this time fully documenting our travels and giving you, the viewer, full access to help us plot our course and our tasks along the way. Expect the first poll to come within the next few weeks!

Also, while you’re waiting, make sure to look at Dan Buettner’s website, Blue Zones. Dan is someone else we’ve taken a lot of inspiration from. He’s been doing a lot of good work advocating for different causes around the world.

In case you don’t quite remember the concept of Choose Your Own Adventure novels, check out this website that is an internet-based version of the same idea.

I graduated in 2006 from the University of Minnesota with degrees in Political Science and Communication Studies. Immediately after graduating, I worked for the Minnesota DFL Party as a researcher on the Senate Race, but didn’t feel like the position was a great fit for me. Afterwards, I traveled through India for three months and came back to produce a radio program called Considering Faith on Air America Radio in Minnesota. I have also volunteered on a local blog called The Uptake.

Recently, I came across a short documentary on YouTube about a group of African-American teens going to Nicaragua to live for a few weeks and I think it does a good job showing the culture shock of traveling to another country. The interesting thing about the documentary is that none of these kids were very wealthy in the US, but the disparity between life in the US and life in Nicaragua is very stark. I’ve never been to Nicaragua, but I’ve traveled through Southern Africa before and seen a lot of poverty in the area first hand and have had similar reactions to some of the students in this video. Here are part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6.

Tackling poverty is why I have gotten involved with Bright New Ideas. As I see it, this isn’t an organization solely about bringing lighting to an impoverished community, it’s about what the light represents. It represents opportunity to save money that they would usually spend on fuel for their lanterns. It represents the hope of children being able to study at night for school so they can get a good job. To me, this isn’t an organization about light, it’s an organization dedicated to defeating poverty in the world one step at a time.

I look forward to blogging with Bright New Ideas in the coming days! I hope you all stay tuned!