The National Geographic Museum is now offering an excellent exhibit called “Design for the Other 90%.” Many of the world’s basic resources are only utilized to their full potential by 10 percent of the population. The other 10 percent struggle with archaic means of getting even the simplest resources like food and water, and the not so-simple resources like energy, education, health care and transportation.
Interestingly enough, these are all things that the World Bank and IMF were created to help finance. We learned yesterday that the World Bank has had some success in supplying developing countries loans to help gain access to these essential resources.
The exhibit at the museum explores some of the innovative things that engineers and architects have come up with, like non-evaporating water storage units that capture monsoon water in India, to assist in gaining access to water for consumption. Not surprisingly, these innovations are very much cost-effective.
The World Bank, although in the business of making money, we learned, is centered on many “cultures” that relies on a somewhat humanitarian effort to help countries in need. Exemplified by the comments of the diplomats present during our time at the World Bank, there are flaws, but with continued coordination and diplomacy, I think that the World Bank can greatly assist in projects like the ones displayed at the National Geographic Museum. It’s worth a look!
A. Braden
I actually had the opportunity to visit this exhibit yesterday. It was really interesting to see all of the different types of technology that were created to help some of the world's poorest areas have access to clean water, education, and sustainable housing. Going around the exhibit, I found it particularly interesting to see where each piece of technology was being used around the world. Each piece in the museum has a label that explains what the technology/equipment is being used for and where.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly, one of the pieces is being used in the US. When you think of the poorest areas of the world, you don't immediately think of the US. The item is a smaller, more compact version of a laptop computer used to help children learn about a variety of different educational topics.
M.A.
Thanks, Adrianna and Meredith. I suspect that the mini-computer represents a very interesting project called One Laptop Per Child. Here is a link: http://www.laptop.org/en/vision/index.shtml
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