list 100 things to improve the world and do them

It’s a schoolproject and I’m thinking what I can do to improve the world

I want to do everything in my power to make the world a better place.

I know this is controversial… But I have never had a baby fever. I don’t have any reasons to want children of my own except wanting to perhaps raise a child (adoption is an option there) and my curiousity to see who lovely an offspring my husband’s genes would produce.

Most of my life have been solidly in the “don’t know if I’ll have any” camp. The social pressure around me to have a child is growing every year. The population of the planet is also growing every year. Since I was born, it has gone from 4.3 billion to almost 6.8 billion. In 20 years it will, at this rate, be 9 billion. Considering that I’m now much ok with the thought of not having any children of my own.

I’m not saying no-one should have children, just that currently the population is exploding and I don’t really need to add more.

6. start an amnesty international chapter at my school.
7. send last year’s model UN resolution to senegalese officials.
8. stop eating all dairy products.
9. organize an awareness movement for united nations day.
10. start recycling more.

1. start writting letters to local government officials.
2. stop eating meat.
3. pick up trash outside.
4. ‘click to donate’ daily.
5. tutor other students.

alright, so i often complain about politics, but i can’t honestly complain if i haven’t done anything to change things. i’ve got the no meat thing down, except for the ocasional parent-forced serving of dolphin safe tuna. (why dolphin safe tuna, but not tuna safe tuna? i’ve never understood that.) i pick up trash walking around lots, but i need to start carrying a small bag aroung with me so i have no excuse not to. i’m doing pretty good at the click to donate, and i’ve tried to get other people to do it. note: care2 is great, you can set up a profile and track your influence. making it your home page helps a lot if you tend to forget. and tutoring, because i meant to do it last year and have no excuse not to this year.

One reason why spam email is so common is that people do not know what steps they can take to keep their computers from taken over by spammers. When possible, I try to inform people of the measures they can easily take to protect their computers, their data and themselves online.

I spend some time almost daily helping Linux (at the moment Ubuntu/Kubuntu) newbies with their computer problems. Given that it’s pro-bono work, I only spend max 30min on a problem and stop if it is too much hassle or if it is a company problem and they should honestly be paying someone to do it. But I think it helps some people be happier about their computer. :)

Apart from buying food when I’m hungry, I rarely buy things the first time I see them. Waiting a bit lets me think about whether the purchase makes sense for me (and for the environment), or whether it is just something I want on a whim.

I have also noticed that when the seller is rushing me into the decision, there is usually something fishy going on. Good things will usually be buyable tomorrow too, and if not, the sales person is not hesitant to give me their contact info so that I can get back to them once I have decided.

Occasionally I manage to take some pretty nice photos. I try to share them with the world in two ways: showing them (on flickr, for example) and putting them under a Creative Commons license, so that if someone thinks e.g. that my waterlily photo would be perfect for their wedding invitation or somesuch, they are free to use it.

Solid form soaps (soap bars, that is) and solid form shampoos (such as those from Lush) require less packaging than their liquid cousins. That means less garbage. Plus I found the Lush shampoos positively yummy!