Recently I talked with two young social entrepreneurs whose goal is to save a million people in western China from dying of pollution caused by solid fuels. They and hundreds of other young adults are part of the movement of high impact problem solving now taking place across the globe.
One Earth Designs was started by visionaries Scot Frank and Catlin Powell. For seven years the company has worked to develop low polluting solar-powered thermal products that can be used worldwide.
Self-proclaimed “weird kids” in their youth, Frank and Powell started their journey during high school with small environmental projects. Mentoring, education and their change-the-world passion have propelled them to worldwide recognition.
They learned during early career work in remote areas of China that pollution caused by solid fuels kills two million people a year worldwide.
In rural villages throughout Asia, China and India, women labor daily to collect dung and wood that can be burned for heat and cooking. As a researcher before founding One Earth Designs, Powell measured the degree of pollution in the huts of rural villagers in western China and found it was higher than Beijing’s notorious pollution level.
Solid-fuel use in these rural areas also contributes significantly to global pollution. Further exacerbating this health and pollution crisis, in many rural areas forests that provide this fuel are close to depletion.
Time is short for finding a solution, and Frank, Powell and their team are positioning their company to help.
One Earth Designs’ SolSource Pro solar cooker was honed through extensive prototyping and field testing, and its customizable technology promises the potential for meeting household energy needs from cooking and heating to electricity and water purification.
Currently focused on meeting the alternative fuel need in China, demand for One Earth’s solar products has swept into India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Southeast Asia.
A future step will be scaling up to meet that demand while keeping the price low enough for rural customers. (Find out more about One Earth Designs, SolSource products and the pollution caused by solid fuels at oneearthdesigns.com.)
Frank and Powell’s work has been recognized by the MIT $100K Competition, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission and other respected organizations that encourage innovative problem solving.
Forbes magazine listed CEO Scot Frank in their annual “thirty under thirty” notable entrepreneurs group.
These two determined young change leaders started with nothing but youthful dreams. They are mirrored in communities across the world with idealistic kids who want to help change the world for good.
Some youth are being helped to make their dreams a productive reality by organizations and business people committed to expanding the social entrepreneurship movement.
One example is the Nexus Global Youth Summit on Innovative Philanthropy & Social Entrepreneurship, coming to New York City July 24-27. Started in 2011, Nexus networks young investors, philanthropists and social entrepreneurs and works to increase philanthropy and social impact investing.
Their collaboration to advance next generation leadership spans 60 countries.
International organization Ashoka is another supporter of youthful dreams. This social enterprise movement supporter and educator of over twenty years developed the Youth Venture program to help young people learn early that they can lead social change.
One Youth Venture summer intern learned about Youth Venture from a high school teacher. Her high school involvement in a community development project led to the desire to develop a character building program for elementary school aged children.
Ashoka’s Youth Venture experience, her high school teachers and family are helping the intern to nurture that idea, and soon she will begin a trial run of the program. (Learn about more Youth Venture participants at ashoka.org/youth-venture.)
Drawing on a well-known slogan, one Youth Venture participant says, “a mind is a terrible thing to constrain.” Our youth and young adults have the capacity to overcome the common wisdom of earlier generations that you can’t change the world.
We need to help them ignite their passion for helping.
Fortunately, an increasing number of organizations and programs exist for that specific purpose. In our own community, more broadly focused organizations such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters and the Boys & Girls Clubs and the arts and technology youth group All Walks of Life (AWOL) are working to ensure disadvantaged youth also have the chance to dream and plan for the future.
Sarah Todd is the founder of Change Pioneers, an information resource on innovative change leaders working for social good. She can be reached at changepioneers@gmail.com and 912-224-2120.