Lessons learned

During orientation for new Heinz College students, I (along with one of our fellow classmates) was part of an orientation group tasked with humiliating ourselves in the name of camaraderie. In one such task, a large group linked arms in uncomfortable bent-over fashion, with one person holding a hoola hoop. The goal was to pass the hoop all the way around the circle without breaking our linked arms.

While we subsequently learned that we missed the easiest way of completing the task, one clear lesson is ...

it pays not to be first sometimes. 

Everyone watched how the first person got the hoop to the next person, that next person improved the process, and so on.

This experience and the week's topic, Solutions and Enablers to Deliver Basic Human Needs, got me thinking: how might those seeking better access basic human needs learn from the experiences of the "developed" world to leap into even better solutions?

One example (which was the topic of my post last week) was telecommunication - plenty of people bypassed wired telephone technology and moved directly to cellular as their first experience with telecom. In such a leap, the citizens of these countries gained mobility, access where no wires had gone before, banking, an alternative to paper mail, and more.


The following list adds a few more variations of the theme. Think of the basics of life you might take for granted - how could they be improved? How might they be less useful to people in areas constrained by limited water/electricity/fuel/etc.?

Toilets:
- Standard - flush toilet
- The leap - Suffice it to say, people are working on it. Suffice it also to say that the standard flush toilets, sewer systems, and sewage treatment enjoyed amongst the wealthy world is hugely water- and energy-intensive.

Building Materials:
- Standard - Aluminum, steel, etc.
- The leap - One word: Bamboo. Sorry, Mr. McGuire. Renewable, fast growing, and - with some ingenuity - as strong as steel.

"Plastics."

Electric grids:
- Standard - ac distribution, 120-240v
- The leap - Is it possible to incorporate smartgrid technologies to improve power availability? What about utility control over appliances during peak demand?


Paving:
- Standard - Asphalt, concrete (the latter, at least, contributes 1 ton of CO2 per 1 ton of cement produced). Did you know that some estimates state that each lane-mile of highway in the US costs between $1.6-3.1 million? And this is in rural areas with limited property concerns to worry about.
- The leap - Allcompound, fly ash concrete, recycled rubber.