Blue Sweater No. 3

Upon reading the last chapter of the Blue Sweater, thought I haven't experienced what Novogratz has, I completely agree with her life lessons. Money can buy a lot of things, and it may even be able to buy happiness, but there is no better currency than trust. Without trust, no relationships can be built. People distrust each other and foster resentment within them. Once relationships are built, then are we able to strengthen the most important quality within ourselves, human empathy. Trusting someone is hard, but the understand their backgrounds, their feelings, connects us all on a deeper level. A deeper empathy will help remove the prejudice that comes with low-income people. Most people think of low-income people as incapable and helpless, when they are in fact the most resilient and capable of deriving happiness and joy from the simplest of pleasures. I think it's great how we want to help the poor by donating money or goods, but simply walking by them is useless. They need to be given opportunities to grow.

Though this is not completely relevant to the blue sweater, it's unfortunate that buy one give one companies such as Toms thrive on this idea of charity. Buying a pair of toms means giving a pair to a child in need. Sure a child gets shoes, but that means they don't need to buy shoes. Shoemakers in the area then lose their customers and ultimately go out of business. What should be done is that these companies should donate these goods to local markets to create a sustainable economy.

Blue Sweater No. 2

Today I read Novogratz's chapter on Traveling without a road map. The chapter started off normally, talking about her trip in Rwanda, and how her 2 year trip was coming to an end. It seemed like she had gotten used to the rhythm of Rwanda. The thing that confused her, and confused me as well, was the trust system there. There was little law enforcement, and so many things were dependent on trust. Items were bought and paid through credit. But this credit is based on trusting others to pay in the future. Even with her body guard, Innocent, trust was crucial. However Innocent took advantage of her trust and stole her belongings and never admitted to it. I'm just as shocked as Novogratz was when she found out that her own bodyguard stole her things. In a society where police exist (barely), people readily steal things just to get by. Sure Innocent didn't make a lot of money, but he didn't have to abuse his trust with Novogratz and steal her things.

Blue Sweater Post 1

This book is titled the Blue Sweater because of a blue sweater. Author Jacqueline Novogratz starts off with a story from her child hood about her attachment to a blue sweater. When she reaches middle school and starts to be teased for wearing this sweater, she donates it to Good Will. Coincidentally though, she runs into a young boy in Rwanda a decade later who is wearing the exact same sweater that she donated.

Novogratz lives an interesting life. She decides to leave her lucrative career with Chase Manhattan to try and solve the problems of the world's poorest places. She recalls stories from her travels not for the sake of telling a story, but to evoke an emotional response from her readers. She wants to encourage all her readers that they are all capable of lifting themselves up, they just need the tools to do so. 

This book has certainly accomplished the mission that Novogratz set out for it. After reading it, my understanding of trying to help the poor has changed. I've always thought that donating money to the homeless is the best way to help them, but I'm starting to realize that money can actually do more harm than good. I recently travelled to Honduras with Global Medical Brigades this past spring, and absolutely love the work that Global Brigades has done. Instead of funneling money from donors to these rural societies, Global Brigades tries to bring sustainability. As Novogratz puts it, everyone can lift themselves up, they just need the tools. Money is a tool, but not the right tool. Clean running water, sustainable food sources, and education are all tools that areas such as Rwanda need. 

Is Mars the Best Choice

Unless you live under a rock (and hopefully you don't), you know that our solar system consists of 8 planets: 4 rocky ones and 4 gaseous ones. Obviously we can't survive on the gas planets because there's not surface. This narrows it down to three, excluding our planet. Mercury is out of the questions because of it's extreme temperatures and it's distance from the sun. This leaves us with only Venus and Mars. 

If you've read or seen The Martian by Andy Weir, you're well aware of what it takes to survive on Mars. We would have to grow food, create water, filter the air etc. And most of the science checks out. Mars's gravity is only 40% earth's gravity, which would make it easier to move heavier things as well. Mars days are similar to Earth days, allowing animals to maintain their circadian rhythms. Mars rotates on a axis too, creating seasons just like Earth. The main downside, aside from the difficulty of surviving, is distance. Mars only lines up with earth creating a launch window every two and a half years. This makes supply transportation extremely difficult. On the other hand, Venus has a launch window of only 1.6 years. So why not Venus?

Venus is Earth's sister planet due to its similar size and gravity. Other than that, they're pretty different planets. Unlike our atmosphere and Mars's non-existent atmosphere, Venus's atmosphere is so thick, that the ground pressure is 90 times the pressure here on earth. If that doesn't kill you, then the extreme heat and cold or sulfuric acid will. Fortunately there is a bright side: HAVOC. HAVOC stands for High Altitude Operational Concept, with and emphasis on concept. Theoretically, because Venus's atmosphere is so thick, Earth's normal air is lighter. We can create "floating buildings" that float 50km above ground. At this height, the pressure and atmospheric composition is similar to Earth's. The temperature, however, is still pretty extreme. 

In the end, hopefully we're able to colonize both planets. But just know that Mars is not our only option. We always have our sister to help us out as well.