Small Solutions for a Big Problem

One event I went to was on simply how to get youth involved. One of the key points each speaker made was that you need to start small, but think big.  There were six speakers, all what I would consider adults. They each took 8 minutes to explain what they have done, why it is effective, and how it helps solve issues associated with climate change to simple goals of living more sustainable. A few of the speakers were notable.

The first notable speaker was a man named Reinhardt, from South Africa. His goal was to promote the idea that cellular phones are valuable, and should be considered as resources. He had started a for-profit business which collects old phones from people around the world (but mainly from Europe), fixes them, and distributes them out to citizens in many countries around southern Africa. He repeated to the audience that it was a for-profit business, which he hopes will encourage fellow entrepreneurs in South Africa to see this as a viable business opportunity. One of the many goods that come out of this business is it removes children who work in the fields burning old phones and other electronics and into the business world, where they work in healthier conditions as well as make a livable wage. In these fields he told us children will work in order to help there families for less than 1 dollar a day. "The corruption", he told me in an interview after the panel, "is less in those running these organization, and more in the conditions these people live in. These groups running these burning fields have tried to provide safety equipment, but the kids will return the next day without them, because they were worth a little money and they would rather sell them. It is the reality that living for tomorrow is more important than health effects in the long term." Talking with Reinhardt was very inspiring, especially as a student who is often learning about the flaws of many business ventures, especially in natural resource management.

Kisulu was the other speaker I found inspiring. I feel as though Reinhardt's idea is simple, but perhaps more difficult to change perception of phones into a resource. Kisulu's idea is simple all around. His plan was to take local children from his village, and plant trees. He was a simply spoken man, but I do not know if this was because of his ability of language, or perhaps because of the culture he is a part of. Either way, he was making a documentary to show how teaching kids to plant trees, although simple, can help them become more aware of how humans can change the environment (both good and bad) and also as a political symbol for what Kisulu's village is going through as a result of climate change. I didn't interview him, as he was surrounded by "more professional" media than myself. An interesting side note, too, was that while many indigenous people are pushing for 1.5 degree limit, Kisulu is pushing ambitiously towards a limit of 1 degree.

Kisulu on a tree in Kenya