During this time of pessimism, some see our biggest needs as opportunities to thrive. A few stories show how selflessness is often (ironically) profitable.
Story 1: I'm running through a coffee plantation in Dembidollo, Ethiopia. I'm flagged down by a group of kids playing soccer with a ball made out of hundreds of rubber bands (see picture below).
One of the younger kids lets me know that I'll be seeing him in a future World Cup: "Remember my face," he said. "I promised my mom. And she's watching me." I was confused, until one of the older boys told me that his mom, like so many women across the world every day, died during childbirth.
Meet Zubaida Bai, one of my new heroes. Zubaida doesn't know my soccer buddy, but her vision speaks to his life. She started a company founded on a simple premise: Look through the eyes of women and create the tools they need to improve their lives.
The second-leading cause of deaths during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth? Preventable infections. Zubaida realized the use of simple delivery kit could help reduce the risk of infections. One of her company's first products? The JANMA Birth Kit, a $2 solution currently being used in India.
Story 2: I'm taking out my trash -- plastic cups, dog food cans, and soda bottles -- in Los Angeles, California.
One man's trash is another man's.... Meet the Phil and Charlie, the founders of LiveProud, a company that makes performance clothing from well, ah, trash! After a trip to a New England landfill, they borrowed $25,000 from friends and family and started their planet-saving clothing line. Anyone else been inspired by a landfill latey?
LiveProud's signature shirt is made of five post-consumer recycled plastic bottles, taken directly from those stank and nasty landfills. Their process prevents more than 5.5 pounds of carbon emissions from being released while saving enough energy to light a 60-watt lightbulb for 6 hours.
And the boxes used for packaging? You guessed it: they're reused from product and manufacturer discards received in the warehouse.
Story 3: I'm dancing to live music with a group of social entrepreneurs in Philadelphia. Between songs, one of them, Samantha Beinhacker, tells me about a company, Urban Collective, which helps troubled kids write and record their own music.
"This process has been proven to increase self-esteem, reduce dependence on drugs and alcohol, and establish a network of shared aspirations," she said. "It's not just about the poverty of money for these kids; it's also about the poverty of opportunity."
One of the company's artists, Lykez, joined the program at 16. Now she's performed with some of hip-hop's biggest stars and completed her debut album.
All these stories share a mind-set: Don't cry for our planet or yourself; just solve big problems.
Whether through trash or hip hop, seek connections between the world's needs and your strengths. Reprogram bugs to beat back malaria, create food that preserves our forests and humanity, amplify one hero's voice, build a box brimming with clean power for Africa, or install roofs for a new generation of bright, green homes.
Our collective challenges are creating paths for you to thrive. The question is: Are you taking them?
