This is a very good questions, since the tagline of this blog is "saving the world, one day at a time." It's been almost a week since I started blogging, and I don't think I've done very much to save the world so far this year. Granted, the year is still young and there's still plenty of time to make something happen. But, I have no ideas as to what's happening or what's going to happen. I at least ought to change that and come up with a few ideas.
What are We Saving the World From?
A very important follow-up question because in order to save the world, the world must be saved from something. Not only must a problem, or several problems, be defined, but defining who the world is also critical. By "world," do we mean the planet, or the people living on the planet, or both? That definition would affect the problems that would need solving, as the problems affecting the planet are different from the ones affecting people, although some problems would be related or intertwined. For my vision of this blog, I define "world" as the people in it. At first glance, it might seem that this definition would eliminate most environmental issues, but a deeper dig into those issues would reveal that many environmental issues affect people as well as the planet. Anyway, with this in mind, here are some problems that are affecting the world, and would require attention so as to save the world from them (please don't consider this an exhaustive list, because it is not):
- Education
- Healthcare
- Global Warming
- Poverty
- Corporate Accountability
- Human Rights
- Trade & Economy
- War & Terrorism
- Food Insecurity
- Media Matters
Inspiration!
Putting together this list reminded me of my notebook of interesting ideas, as well as that pseudo list that I put together in the very first blog post. To do all that I need to do at once, which is basically sort through the notebook and to put together the editorial calendar, what I will do is come up with at least five titles or topics for each subject and then schedule them on the calendar. It's a fun, albeit time-consuming task, but one that will save me a ton of time and effort in the future. I'm also hoping to accomplish 600 things today, so... maybe 588 to go.
How this Blog Will Save the World
What I envisioned was the that this blog will address tough issues, encourage conversation on topics not previously discussed, challenge conventional thinking, and offer perspectives that haven't been offered before. I have no idea how I'm going to do that with topics like Christmas, travel, and job tips, but I think I can find a way by finding a controversial angle or coming up with a whole new perspective to explore. I also have no idea how writing about Christmas, travel, or job tips will save the world. But, it's a start and maybe it's not in that the world will be saved in this one year blogging case study, or even in one particular post. Perhaps the world will be saved by what comes out of this blog, such as the next step in 2014 or what someone decides to do with what they read here.
If it means anything, tomorrow is the first meeting of the year for the St. Louis chapter of Amnesty International. Although it has nothing to do with the blog, it's a small part of what I'm doing to save the world, or at least make a difference to people around the world. Hey, we all have to start small, and start somewhere, on this.