Pitch
Make opportunity (resources from MIT alumni) meet preparation (research and projects by people and organizations from developing countries)
Description
Summary
Almost everyone have heard that climate change is a reality that affects the planet and will modify it in the near future; several people know or have ideas about what should be done to avoid catastrophe and help mitigate and adapt to climate change; but few people or organizations have the resources to make it happen.
By creating the MIT “connecting-resources system” (MIT-CRS), it will be possible to help those people, researchers and organizations, who create and design local alternatives to reduce climate change, find the few who have the resources and the desire to contribute but do not have a concrete idea or do not know how to help.
Therefore, the MIT-CRS would have two parts: the potential project developers and the potential partners. The developers would be people, groups, organizations or institutions from developing countries that present and support projects so they can get the attention and resources of a potential partner. The potential projects should meet a set of criteria that ensure that they are achievable and will produce concrete and measurable results in terms of climate change mitigation of adaptation; then, potential partners will select and engage in their implementation. The potential partners would be MIT alumni, or their companies or organizations, which would be able to revise the list of proposals and select the one they would like to support, with financial, material or human resources, according to their agendas, mission and objectives.
The system will allocate resources where they are most needed, redistributing the burden implicit in climate change dynamics. Most of the potentially affected communities are in developing countries and they do not always have a source of funding, equipment or capacity to design and implement mitigation and adaptation projects. Also, it will enable successful MIT alumni to enrich their climate change agenda or exercise social and environmental responsibility in a simple and efficient fashion.
What actions do you propose?
Actions to be taken by alumni of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that will have a direct impact on climate change:
MIT alumni are spread all over the world and their areas of expertise encompass a wide variety of topics. Some of them are directly or indirectly related to climate change, while others are not. Therefore, the MIT-CRS provides a platform for MIT alumni to:
- Acquire information about the kind of climate change projects that are designed and proposed in the developing world.
- Analyze and select a climate change mitigation or adaptation project that aligns with their ideas or their organizations’ agenda.
- Commit, as a partner, to provide a specific and delimitated support:
o Financial: funds for the implementation the project),
o Material: pieces of equipment or other gear that can be useful for the implementation of the project, or
o Human: personnel or experts that could contribute to the implementation of the project.
- Engage in climate change mitigation and adaptation projects as part of their organizations’ main agenda or as part of their responsibility or philanthropy program.
- Partnership with project developers to innovate and
How the ideas could actually be implemented:
The MIT-CRS would be kept online, as an electronic repository for projects ready to be analyzed and selected by potential partners. The system would require minimum maintenance, receiving input from potential project developers and being available for MIT alumni through a user and password scheme.
The structure of the system would require the potential developer to meet the criteria that might include (and are not limited to):
- Contact and basic about the project developer
- Basic info about the region in which the project is going to be implemented
- Description of the mitigation or adaptation project
- Objectives and goals (quantitative and qualitative)
- Specific resources needed (financial, material and/or human)
- Outcomes and outputs
- Measurable impact
- Time frame
- Budget
Once the partner has chosen a project, it would be retired from the proposals list and relocated to a current projects being implemented list. As part of the commitment of the project developer, they should develop together with the partner a series of reports that would be posted on the platform along with a final report that will account for the highlights and results of the project.
The partner will be in the position to promote the results as part of the achievements of their company or organization, present the results in diverse forums and share with the developer the credit.
Why they are novel:
There are some organizations that give away funds or grants, but are not able to provide expertise on material and human resources, as an MIT alumni can due to his/her educational and professional preparation. There also are some organizations that fund new ideas and projects, but mostly innovations or inventions that do not have to do with our planet´s health.
Moreover, mitigation and adaptation initiatives are being held mostly by governments of developing countries and financed by international organizations or schemes that not always have the best insight about local circumstances and about innovative ways of performing these tasks.
MIT-CRS would be a one of a kind way to connect what is needed to face climate change, local action, expertise, funds and innovation.
What impacts they would have:
Building a link between specific financial, material and human resources and concrete ideas and projects on how to mitigate climate change or adapt to it in the near future can create new local and global capacities and foster new efforts to reduce climate change and its negative impacts.
The benefits of having such a system would include:
- Education and awareness, as the base of any effort that aims to engage society in changing our habits and/or capabilities to face catastrophe.
- Capacity building, as an important step to empower local communities to be able to embrace action to improve their environmental and social conditions.
- Emission reduction, as the main road to reduce climate change and procure sustainability.
- Adapted communities, as the main road to be prepared for the worst scenario while working on many other fronts to prevent it.
- Resilient ecosystems, as a new notion of human-nature relations where humans are part of the ecosystem as opposed to its manager.
- Technology innovation, as a great tool to promote a revolution on the way in which we relate to the environment.
- Investment innovation, as a fresh look into what can be achieved in terms of financing our own planet´s future.
- Legal innovation, as a way to regulate towards new societies more conscious of the local and global environment.
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