Blog #6: Individual Prompts–

1. Give three examples of something very interesting you learned
   from a friend that was a completely alien concept to you.

   1. A friend taught me about cryptocurrency and was interested in stocks. I had first heard it from family members who discussed it with each other but I was not really comprehending what was being said. A friend one day explained it to me talking about how with stocks who can own a piece of the company and depending on the company the value can go up or down. It was alien to me because it was digital money that was not being used by a credit card or debit card. But it is also interesting how cryptocurrency is becoming more and more relevant in people’s lives.

   2. Another example: a teacher that is originally from Senegal told me about the issue in Senegal. I would consider him my friend as we were really close during my time in high school. He told me the issue is that Senegalese people who are given the opportunity to succeed and leave the country don’t come back to support the communities they were born in. This was new for me because I would like people to come back to support their families. But in reality, it does not happen as often as we think in different countries so that is why there is so much economic inequality. As people who come from small villages and go to school for education only do it to be better themselves than return and support the community they were once from.

   3. I have learned a little bit of history from a friend who taught about the coming of capoeira. He told me that it was art that was used so that slaves in Brazil could know how to fight but the slow movements made it seem like a dance to the slave masters. This was new to me as material arts was used as a dance and has now been culturally implemented in Brazil.

2. List ten things that make you feel human.

   1. Five senses

   2. School

   3. Surrounded by different cultures

   4. Life influenced by politics

   5. Experiencing different mental emotions

   6. Able to communicate with other people

   7. Body structure/skin color

   8. Living in a home

   9. Using technology in a daily life

   10. Living in a capitalist society

3. Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the Impact Fellowship. Specifically discuss:

   1. Why should I engage?

      1. This is a community that is in need of help but is unaware of the issue. Air quality is something that everyone can breathe clean air. This will better health issues within the community while also reducing climate change from CO2 emissions.

   2. How must I engage?

      1. Engage that encourages citizens in Kazakhstan to care about the issue and want to make change themselves. Improve the air monitors to prove that the air quality is a big issue that needs to be prioritized. Making sure the monitors are accessible to everyone in the market.

   3. With whom must I engage?

      1. Must engage with the communities that suffer the most from air quality. Engage with Aluma U school to prove that the air affects students cognitive learning process. While also engaging the government that has the funds to truly change the outcome of air quality in the city.

   4. What kinds of challenges, opportunities, and approaches should I care about?

      1. Lack of interest from people in Kazakhstan, hard to communicate with because of the language barrier, the experiment could fail as air may not have an effect on students cognitive learning. Opportunities to prove that the air quality does affect students’ learning abilities so that it can connect to affecting the economy as workers can’t reach their highest potential due to air quality.

   5. What might my epitaph read?

      1. My epitaph might read “That person who came to challenge the way to look at addressing air quality. Wanting first to better countries with extreme CO2 emissions that need assistance first and with the success of better air quality in Kazakhstan. Branching to other countries with a similar approach. Kazakhstan turned into such a success as his team attacked issues that weren’t even thought of. This Lehigh team’s success brought a new perspective to the world on how to tackle the issue of air quality.

10 Takeaways:

Life’s Principles as a Framework for Designing Successful Social Enterprises

1. Social responsibility of business is to increase its profits

2. Address issues as it part of larger system rather than just a issue on its own

3. Having a social enterprise is what cares about social issues while create new innovations and maintaining financial discipline

4. Hard to maintain social enterprises in the long-run as business lack adjusting to change in environment, negative externalities, and conserving financing

5. Life adapts to external change in the environment

6. Creating people who innovate while also appreciating life’s principles

7. Sub-system having their purpose but it can help the more border system reach its goal

8. social enterprises rely on self-organization to leverage interdependence

9. Products must be easy to use without any training or extra tools to install

10. New technology must adapt to local culture not the other way around

The Wisdom of the Tree

1. Technology feeds either of the two metabolic systems, biological and technical

2. Producers of technical nutrients are different than manufacturing a product that you sell and once sold you don’t believe it’s your problem

3. Ensure to go through the cradle-to-cradle system

4. The plan that wants to get “zero waste” does not create sustainable cradle-to-cradle cycles

5. Cradle-to-cradle needs new ecosystems to create new consumption that will produce economic growth

6. Cradle-to-cradle creates new opportunities for reduced cost, new revenue streams, and more last customer/supplier relationships

7. Must have good coordination of transportation of product

8. Cradle-to-grave reduce consumption, design for recycling, and reduced toxicity

9. Seeing industry as good and consumption as fun

10. Need an “eco-effective” perspective to replace this limited agenda

Blog #6: Team Prompts

1. 1. What are the technological, social, economic, and political trends that will impact (help or hurt) your ventures? 
      1. Technological trends:

• • • • Air Quality Monitors: help by detecting air pollution, needs improvement to detect more harmful and bigger pollutants

• • • • Water Heaters: used widely in kazakhstan to heat water, which is why air quality is worse in winter

1. 1. 1. Social trends:

• • • • Language: Language barriers 

• • • • Weather: While certain plants are natural air purifiers, but weather may not allow them to thrive 

• • • • Norms: people may be used to way of doing things, and although are intentions are to help, we cannot force anything as visitors to Almaty

1. 1. 1. Economical trends:

• • • • Lower class: uses the city wide heating system → open windows → poor air inside home

• • • • Upper class: uses heating just for their house → not enough pressure on government for social change from people of power → no big governmental changes

1. 1. 1. Political trends:

• • • • Government: already has been trying to make small changes to improve air quality

1. What is the Total Available Market and Total Addressable Market for your product or service?
   1. Everyone since all people are affected by poor air quality, but our experiment addresses college students specifically