1. List ten things that make you feel human.

1. Having emotions towards people, places, and so many other things
2. Being able to communicate with other people and organisms to collaborate and work together
3. Feeling empathy towards others that are going through hard times
4. Having determination and passion to achieve goals and perform at certain levels
5. Making mistakes and then acknowledging it to help continue tackling a problem
6. Wanting contact with other individuals and enjoying spending time in groups
7. Forming relationships with people and becoming dependent on having someone in your life
8. The ability to learn information and to apply that information to create new discoveries and innovations
9. Not being perfect in everything I am and everything I do
10. Enjoying being in nature and finding the enjoyment in the simple things in life

2. Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the GSIF / LVSIF.

Specifically discuss

1. Why should I engage?

I think it is important to engage in the project I am working on because it is affecting some of the most basic human rights of people.  In Almaty, the air quality issues continues to get worse and effect peoples health more and more.  It should be a basic human right to breathe clean air and have fresh water to drink because these are the things people need in order to continue living.  Almaty is dealing with issues that no one should have to endure so it is important to engage to help find a solution so people can protect themselves and live a healthy life that isn’t hindered by air pollution.

2. How must I engage?

Engaging in this issue is difficult because a lot of other cities with air quality issues have governmental policies in place to help reduce the air quality that my team and I wouldn’t be able to influence.  However, we have power on the community level so we can help people individually find ways to protect themselves from air pollution.  We can engage in listening to the people of Almaty talk about their experiences with the air quality problem and how it effects their every day life.  We need to make sure we don’t cross any cultural lines as we try to come up with solutions to the air quality problem.  Being proactive and listening to the people and hearing their stories is going to be the best indicator as to what type of action we need to take and what are some of people’s most urgent needs.  Listening and being responsive is how we should engage when traveling to Almaty.

3. With whom must I engage?

There are many different people that my team needs to talk and listen to when traveling to Almaty and working on our project.  The everyday people of Almaty that are dealing with the air quality issue first hand are definitely one group we should be talking to and understanding their perspectives.  We also need to engage with the power plant companies in Almaty to get a better understanding of how they are polluting the city and if they are trying to do anything to reduce pollution.  It is also important for me to stay engage with my team members and my advisor because these are the people that I will be sharing thoughts and experiences with to come up with a solution and need to make sure we are all on the same page while working on the same goal.

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

Challenges:  One of the challenges is the air quality issue and what is the best way to help people protect themselves against the bad air quality.  Another challenge is getting the resources my team needs in order to be able to contribute to fixing the air quality issues.  Another challenge is going to be engaging with the people and hoping that whatever solution my team comes up with will be accepted.

Opportunities:  Opportunities my team has is to help bring awareness to the pollution issue and trying to get the people of Almaty more engaged and proactive about protecting themselves.  We also have the opportunity to work with organizations in Almaty that also want to help solve the pollution problems.

Approaches:  Approaches that I should care about are ones that will have outcomes that directly effect the people and making sure their inputs are being considered when looking for a solution.  The best way in approaching this issue is to get a better understanding of how the issue is effecting real people.  It is also important that our approach is something on the community level verses governmental level because we won’t be able to change their laws.

5. What might my epitaph read?

I think my epitaph would read kind hearted and caring person that enjoyed the beauty in the simple things in life.

1. There are two sides to the project: the prevention side and the side of fixing the side effects. The prevention side includes working with the current companies and government of Almaty, which can be long and extensive. For this reason, we’re choosing to go on the route of cleaning the air as it is. Through our design process, we need to further research the technology behind filter technology. Specifically, after identifying the main pollutants in the air, we will need to conduct further tests on what is the best way to capture them and help clear the air. Possible technology includes a few brands that have created nasal screens that help prevent allergens, pollutants, from entering your lungs. The design is simple, yet sold costly of around $11 per package which includes 7 pairs. Our creation would be to expand on this technology and try to make them reusable since the ones Avalon the market are one time uses for 24 hours. They are expensive and not an accessible product for a population such as Kazakhstan. Through our design process we would need to find effective ways to bring down the cost, yet keep the functionality. To create a product like this we would have to first get our hands on it, and research and test its capabilities. We would need to bring this issue to our engineer peers and professors who can give us feedback and help us. We would need funding to acquire the tools necessary to test the product. 
2. Most important stakeholders
   1. The citizens of Almaty
      1. All social classes could be positively impacted 
         1. The effects of air pollution are not limited to one type of class. 
      2. 67.98% are Kazakhs, while the remaining are Russian 
      3. Islamic- 70%, Christian- 30%
      4. 55 percent female, 45% male
      5. They value their city- mountains, environment, culture
   2. The state government
      1. Wealthy→ Top of the social class  
      2. As the government, there is an interest in bettering the health of the residents. 
      3. They have the legal power
         1. One of the issues that are causing such poor air quality is the loose regulations. 
            1. The government needs to reinforce more 
      4. The interest in making money
         1. Stimulating the economy of Kazakhstan. ( This depends on the direction we go with our plan/ project 
      5. Connections
         1. The legal power allows them to be connected to other people in power. 
      6. Intelligence through experience 
   3. The NGOs or nonprofit 
      1. Not just focused on the economy 
         1. More concerned about the impact on the common people  of Almaty 
      2. Funding→ Can help with making sure that the money needed to successfully implement a plan is provided. 
      3. Possible connections 
         1. Like one of the SGDs has listed, the collaboration and connections are crucial. 
      4. Power 
         1. Can pressure the government to make sure there is change and that the air quality issues are being addressed 
      5. Influence 
         1. From personal experience, I noticed that communities tend to “trust” NGOs a lot more than organizations and individuals directly connected with the government. 
3. Validate Project Concept, Technology, Usability, and Business Model
   1. The reactions of the people in Almaty about our idea
      1. Making sure our idea aligns with their values and culture
      2. Having the people accept the issue we are trying to fix and understanding that we want to help
      3. Wanting the people to be accepting of our ideas
   2. If the technology/concept produce effective results in preventing air quality health issues
      1. We need to run tests and to ensure that if we create a product that it does what we need it to. 
         1. If we go with our nose strips idea, making sure that they are filtering out the correct pollutants
         2. If we create public service announcements making sure they are effective and reach the people that need to see them
   3. Usability 
      1. Making sure it is easy for everyone that needs to be using it to use so that the product works correctly or if we have public service announcements; making sure that they are clear and easy to understand and noticeable
      2. Assuring that the technology used is durable and long-lasting. If it is an announcement we must assure they will be up and sustain the weather. 
      3. Instructions must be clear
4. 3 New Ideas Introduced to me from a friend
   1. Food Desert:  One of my friends told me that Bethlehem is actually a food desert and it’s hard to get certain nutritional foods locally in the area.  I didn’t know that even though our college has so much food and different things to eat that we still live in an area that doesn’t have access to the same foods we do.
   2. Permaculture:  Another one of my friends taught me what permaculture was and how it’s possible to create a self sustaining garden that requires very little maintenance which I found to be super interesting.
   3. Eating animal stomach:  Lastly, I recently learned that one of my friends favorite things to eat is the stomach lining from certain animals in a stew.  I never even knew people ate other animal stomachs and the fact that it was their favorite food was very interesting and slightly unsettling.

List the top 20 questions your team needs to answer to advance the venture forward. Categorize the questions if necessary.

1. What is the main objective of our project? 
2.  Who are we trying to impact?
3. Who is most impacted by the issue?
4. What sector of air quality can we impact?
5. What impact are we going to have?
6. What are the externalities of Kazakhstan’s air pollution? 
7. What are the main pollutants affecting the community?
8. What side effects do the pollutants have?
9. How does air pollution impact the rest of the environment in Almaty? Water? Soil? 
10. How can we use culture to our advantage?
11. How does outdated technology impact the project and our direction?
12. What work are people there already doing towards combating the poor air pollution?
13. What factors into the poor air quality?
14. What bias are there in the information we receive due to the type of government there is?
15. How has Kazakhstan attempted to address this issue before?
16.  How can we show that improved air quality can have a positive impact on the economy? 
17. How can we adapt to their culture while doing fieldwork? 
18. Will the government play a part in the solution that we come up with? 
19. How can we most effectively use our resources?
20. What are the people in Almaty’s perspective of air quality? 
    1. How aware are people in Almaty about air quality issues?

Develop and Visualize the Theory of Change (Logic Model) for your venture.

Inputs:

• Research
  • Identify exact pollutants that are affecting people
  • Main sources of pollutants and where they most concentrate

Outputs:

• Reduced pollution
• Creating a blueprint for power plant filters
• Creating public health announcements, giving time of day when pollution is at its worst to prevent people going there at those times
• Nasal Strips for people to use to breathe in clear air

Outcomes:

• See the mountains again
• Decrease amount of respiratory disease
• Behavioral Changes

1. Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project.

Being on the Community Engagement and Environmental Initiative team, we are currently in the very beginning stages doing research on Kazakhstan and don’t have a clear direction of what the solution to our problem will be yet.  Some things that we’ve talked about already that could be contributing to the issue of air pollution in Almaty are the heating systems, traffic and city planning.  Cultural issues will definitely impact our project no matter what solution we try to aim for.  First of all, with the excessive traffic there is clearly a culture of people driving everywhere.  If we end up concluding that the traffic issue needs to be addressed we will run into the problem that everyone is already so used to driving to get from point A to point B and it will be hard to convince people to start taking public transportation instead or finding a different mode of transportation.   Another cultural issue is the fact that in Kazakhstan their primary language is Kazakh and Russian.  Part of our project will also be to give information to the people in Kazakhstan about our findings and to educate people on next steps to fix the problems.  When trying to relay messages and information to the people about educating them on environmental issues we need to make sure that we can translate all our information affectively and so it still makes sense to them when translated.  Lastly, part of the culture of Kazakhstan has been for the government to control the media and what information comes out to the public.  If we end up presenting ideas that the government doesn’t approve of it will be hard for us to get our research out to the public and to let people know how to inform themselves to fix the problems going on with air pollution.

2. Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe atleast three such situations.

I have a friend at home that primarily speaks spanish to her parents whenever they talk because they don’t speak English very well.  Whenever I go over her house and talk to her parents they will talk to me in what’s called “spanglish.”  This is basically when someone combines speaking spanish and english at the same time.  I don’t speak spanish so sometimes it will be hard for me to understand my friends parents when they talk to me because they are speaking two languages without realizing it.  Another social situation I noticed growing up in my home town was that we have a decent amount of immigrants from Korea that were in my graduating class and they would all gravitate towards each other in school because their first language is Korean.  A lot of them are my good friends, but sometimes while we would hang out together they would start talking in Korean to each other and I wouldn’t be able to understand their conversations even though I was sitting right there with them and was having a conversation with them just beforehand.  Lastly, I live in a very traffic heavy area because there are a lot of shopping malls where I live.  The traffic gets so bad at times that trips that typically take 5 minutes will take 30 minutes during rush hour.  Part of what my town does to help keep traffic down is we have Blue Laws that prevent any stores except grocery stores to be open on Sundays.  This gives all the residences at least one day traffic free so the town isn’t so chaotic all the time.

3. Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to addressed community / market problems.

One of the things that we are currently researching is if people in the community of Almaty are aware of the pollution problem.  If not we can use that to our advantage by coming up with a way to educate people about what is going on and ways for them to address the problem on their own if they can.  We also know that a lot of people in Almaty drive cars which means that we may have a potential market strategy with gas stations or mechanics.  Lastly, we also know that city planning is very big in Kazakhstan.  We can use this to our advantage while trying to come up with ideas on how to solve the air pollution issue.  Things like how to improve transportation in the new cities or heating as well as other air pollution cautious solutions.

The reason I enrolled in this course is because I want to make a change on the issues of environmental injustice and be able to witness these issues first hand in other countries.  I took a course in environmental studies for the first time last semester and it was the most eye opening class I have ever taken.  The class wasn’t just about the science behind environmental issues, it was about how these issues are affecting specific individuals and communities.  I suddenly became more interested in using my knowledge and skills to help fight environmental injustice.  I knew several people that were a part of the GSIF program last year and they recommended I check out the different projects.  That’s when I came across the Community Engagement and Environmental Initiative project.  It was exactly what I was looking for and really sparked my interests. so I applied!  Not only would I be able to utilize my mathematical skills to help on the project, but would get great hands on experience working with a team and applying what I know to help make an impact.  The class really appealed to me because I think it’s so important to understand the issues going on around the world.  Going to college at Lehigh can be like living in a bubble where the outside world feels closed off.  I want to broaden my knowledge of the world.  There are so many issues and problems that many people including myself don’t know are going on and I think it’s important to be exposed to those issues.  My goal is to learn as much as I can from this course and take it with me as I work on my project.

I am a mathematics major which is probably not one of the common majors taking this course.  The math courses I take are very theoretical and abstract and I get asked all the time what can you do with a math degree? Learning math is training the mind to think in a specific way and process information in a certain way, not just about the theories.  I’m really hoping that this course will help broaden my ways of thinking.  I want to connect my mathematical mind to something that is concrete and real.  This class will definitely help me apply what I’ve learned in class to real projects, but the project will help me understand the deeper meaning behind learning what I am in class.  Many mathematical theories and models were discovered by people with a real world problem and needing to use math to solve it.  This project will help me learn how to take a problem in real life and figure out a way to break it down and use math to solve it.  Mathematical discoveries are still being made because there are still problems out there in the real world that need mathematical solutions.  I will become a better math student by understanding what really goes into why mathematicians study the topics they do to help solve the worlds problems.

Having over one billion people in the world that do not have access to eyeglasses that need them is a devastating issue that needs to be addressed.  There seems to be multiple issues with this problem with the main ones being the access to an eye doctor and having the money to afford glasses and obtain eye care.  Because these issues are happening in developing countries it is harder to address them.  The goal here is to be able to provide eye care to people who can’t afford it and looking for a solution to help developing countries improve the quality of life for their citizens.  A solution to this issue is to help educate people in these countries about how to access themselves if they potentially need eye glasses.  If there was a standard eye test that people could conduct themselves without having to take a visit to the doctor it would help bring awareness to people that they need to take the steps to try and get glasses.  There could be a do it yourself eye exam that would help people indicate how their eye sight is.  For example, it could be to take the letters they have you read at the doctors and put them at a certain distance and try to read them on your own.  The next step to this solution would be to figure out a way to create affordable eye glasses for the people that can’t afford to get eye glasses.  This is trickier because glasses are designed specifically for certain individuals and the lenses are not cheap to make.  There could be a program for people that are able to afford glasses to donate their old glasses after they renew their prescription and then those glasses can be given to someone with the same prescription that can’t afford to buy them.