Skip to main content

Prestige Projects and Sustainable Development

Nine or ten years ago the government of Abu Dhabi started planning a zero-waste community of the future called Masdar City. A scaled-down, low-waste version of the original vision exists now, but the full plan appears to have been scrapped.

Anyway, the appeal of prestige projects like a zero-energy city for 200,000 people might suit the needs or resources of your little corner of the world, but there are still reasons to reflect on projects like Masdar City. Such reflection might lead to other "prestige projects" that do make sense or to smaller-scale projects that are more realistic.

Let's look at each of those options in some depth, beginning with the big projects. Vertical farms, that is a farm in a multi-level structure, are a thing these days. Maybe there needs to be a 1,000 foot vertical farm with airponics or hydroponics growing 100 levels of mixed fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts. A prestige project in the area of ecological restoration might be to create an artificial wetland that covers several thousand acres. Other projects in water conservation, renewable energy, agriculture, and ecological restoration are possible. Think big.

Or, maybe thinking big doesn't suit you. Maybe you would rather focus on something that seems realistic for your community of region. Study Masdar City. Perhaps there is a village or neighborhood that could be turned into an eco-village by establishing a couple of new bus stops, a big community garden, and installing a variety of renewable energy and energy conservation technologies. Perhaps an agroforestry research institute could be established in the run-down old Harry's Discount Store.

Forget the comprehensive approach and focus on something more...focused. Sorry! Consider a number of possibilities:

1. ecological restoration
2. water conservation
3. renewable energy
4. agriculture

Don't forget that fishing, ranching, and forestry are kinds of agriculture.

Something that meets a need in your area might come to mind right away. If not, spending a few minutes with that list should help spark a few project ideas.

The key, whether you want to go big or work at a smaller scale is to be fluid and flexible in your thinking. Work with a group that knows a few things about brainstorming. Study the problem and opportunities on your own for a time, then spent 5 minutes scribbling down every idea that comes to mind. Combine or improve as new thoughts come to you,
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

9 Ways Cognitive Bias Undermines Social Change Efforts

This is going to be the first of many posts on how cognitive bias might undermine social change efforts. Yeah, I know. I will do my best to keep this concrete and interesting. A number of quirks in how our brains work might lead to mistaken judgments in many areas relevant to social change: problem analysis, strategy, program design, and advocacy. Maybe fundraising. Taking effective action on a certain problem is what activists want to do, so we'll come back to fundraising later. 1.Confirmation bias may cause us to look for reasons why a certain strategy or tactic is the right one. Supportive evidence gets woven into the narrative, lending support to the need for more education for women or more gun control or whatever the topic might be. Negative information gets tossed out. 2. Bandwagon effect -This may be a real problem when the resources devoted to addressing an issue get all of proportion to the seriousness of an issue. Instead, bandwagon jumping siphons away money and v...
Post a Comment
Read more

Using SWOT Analysis to Rev Up Your Fundraising

Strategic planning, including SWOT analysis, is for small nonprofits, giant philanthropic foundations, and every other nonprofit. Every nonprofit that seeks financial support of any kind needs a strategy.  The point is to make a plan and work the plan. Business gurus have shared a bunch of strategic planning tools, some generic and some made for a specific purpose. This post is about looking at your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats - SWOT.  Knowing about your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is step one in planning your fundraising efforts.  SWOT - A Quick Review This is not the best place to run through SWOT analysis, but an overview will make it obvious why we need to do it. First, however, you should write down your fundraising goal. Then, you can do some analysis. Here are the steps: Strengths - What about your financial resources? What about your reputation and your connections? How big is your audience on social medi...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Powerful Tool for Nonprofit Planning 2

This is the time for another post on the social environment of nonprofit organizations. Yes, I know this is a bit esoteric and complex. I’m just going to break things down into a few (more) concrete) posts. Last time I mentioned that your organization’s environment has seven dimensions, each with three elements – capacity, rate of change, complexity. I know I mentioned strategy before, but consider also fundraising, social marketing, and advocacy strategy. To make it easier, here is the table I presented last time: CAPACITY COMPLEXITY DYNAMISM CULTURE ECOLOGY ? ECONOMIC ? DEMOGRAPHIC LEGAL POLITICAL ? TECHNOLOGICAL ? Because 7 X 3 = 21 there are at least that many questions you could ask about your organization’s environment. Last time I posed some generic strategy questions based on the above table. This time I just want to offer some more questions based on the seven dimensions and three elements. From the polit...
Post a Comment
Read more