Having Fun Can Stimulate Change

Our generation is full of individuals who spend a significant amount of time playing games online. From World of Warcraft to Farmville via Facebook, the hours logged on these forms of entertainment are growing exponentially and users come from a variety of backgrounds. Many of these games require players to think strategically to solve virtual, imaginary problems and reward them for overcoming difficult obstacles. Ben Sawyer, a game developer who cofounded the Serious Games Initiative, declares that letting games exist only in the realm of entertainment would be a waste.

Several online games have sprung up recently that combine social activism with the entertainment platform. Some are geared at children to get them thinking about the environment and other issues of our time and have even led student led projects. Other games provide opportunities to financially support innovative projects that have been created. The benefit of using games as a vehicle for education and action is the ability to make usually dull and repetitive activities fun and exciting. It also utilizes a large of base of intelligent, creative individuals who have already been cultivated by years of gaming experiences.

I think these new online enterprises represent social innovations. They exploit an opportunity to engage the online gamer community to stimulate social changes. Online games have already been invented and become mainstream, but applying a social aspect to them is the innovative element. It’s a creative way to tap into an already established base of intelligent people and refocus their attention. Organizations like Armchair Revolutionaries are just starting and it will be interesting to follow their progress and see if their innovations take root and become mainstream. Some critics question whether games can really influence enough people to take action and actually make a difference. What are other ways that arts and entertainment have been utilized in social innovations and what is their unique ability to reach audiences?

http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/04/farmville-minimonos-mangahigh-technology-videogames.html

Natural Resources Are All Around Us (and in us)

Several weeks ago, Serita Cox, manager at the Bridgespan Group in San Francisco, blogged about the startling relationship between chocolate, sustainability, Hershey, and Mars. Both Mars and Hershey have been competing to crack the genetic codes of cocoa trees, and through this spirited competition both companies have discovered results that could be claimed as intellectual property for future competitive advantage. What is different with this picture is that instead of hoarding this knowledge, both Hershey and Mars are sharing this information with the world, and specifically, each other. Why? Hershey and Mars both understand the importance of sustaining their natural-capital, which include the natural resources they depend on to fuel their businesses. The Bridgespan Group sees this natural-capital relationship as a win-win situation for the business and the environment.

As I read through Cox’s blog entry, it got me thinking about Jean Baptise Say’s definition of entrepreneurship, “shifting economic resources out of an area of lower into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.” Aren’t Hershey and Mars doing just that? They are focusing on their collective intellect to build their natural-capital, which will favor both the single and double bottom lines. Hershey and Mars are just two examples of companies that are leveraging and sustaining natural resources as an integral component to their business model. While there are other companies who are also environmental stewards, it got me thinking about what other resources (not necessarily natural) exist that have the ability to be leveraged and sustained for positive impact: People. How could people be better leveraged to create sustainable solutions?

There are at least three generations of global citizens who are currently in the workforce, applying their education and life experience to their day job. While a job typically consumes eight hours out of the day, this leaves 16 additional hours where that natural-capital (knowledge and skills) could be shifted into an area for greater productivity and yield. As a society, we should start to think about how we can better use ourselves as resources for sustainable solutions to social problems. How do you think people could most effectively be used to enable sustainable solutions to global problems? What is your natural-capital?