Population Change-Makers: How Technology is Filling the Gap
JUL 03, 2012
Just as it has been the solution to our resource challenges of the past, only innovation will allow us to meet the sustainability challenges of the future.
There is a gap between the world we have -- with a growing population and finite resources -- and the world we need. "We are relying, betting on, if you will, technology to fill the gap," said Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, during the panel titled "Sustainability Redux: Radical Changemakers," on the final day of the Aspen Ideas Festival. Just as it has been the solution to our resource challenges of the past, only innovation will allow us to meet the sustainability challenges of the future. As we seek answers to our world's most pressing problems, it's thus vital that we support
and champion our innovators and change makers. Billy Parish, who spoke on today's panel, is one such radical change maker. While in college at Yale, Parish visited India, where he hiked to the source of the Ganges River, the Gangotri glacier in the Himalayan mountains. There, he met a group of scientists who told him something that changed his life. The year before, they said, the glacier he had just hiked to terminated about 40 yards farther down the valley and next year it would be about 40 yards farther away. By the year 2030, they expected that the Gangotri glacier will have entirely disappeared. Inspired to act, Parish left school to found the Energy Action Coalition, the largest youth advocacy organization working on issues related to climate change. He made a life as a social entrepreneur, combining business acumen with his passion for social change. With his new book, Making Good: Finding Meaning, Money & Community in a Changing World, Parish seeks to help others do the same. And despite the daunting challenge we face, he's optimistic. By inspiring and supporting young people to get into social entrepreneurship, aligning markets with social and environmental goals, Parish believes we'll find ourselves "crowdsourcing, crowd-innovating our way out of these problems."
Summary
Just as it has been the solution to our resource challenges of the past, only innovation will allow us to meet the sustainability challenges of the future. As we seek answers to our world's most pressing problems, it's thus vital that we support and champion our innovators and change makers. Billy Parish, who spoke on today's panel, is one such radical change maker.
Description
By inspiring and supporting young people to get into social entrepreneurship, aligning markets with social and environmental goals, Billy Parish believes they'll find themselves "crowdsourcing, crowd-innovating our way out of these problems."