The Commencement Speech That Never Was

Written on 04/30 at 01:42 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: philosophy brown News

Several weeks ago I was nominated--and then auditioned--to speak at the commencement ceremony for graduating graduate students from Brown.  Though I was not selected to be the speaker (I have some conspiracy theories on that front, I assure you!) I would like to share the text of the speech that I wrote, because I believe it captures the essence of how I feel about leaving the confines of the university and entering the ‘real world.’

New Opportunities in A Global Century of Innovation

At first glance it would seem that now is an inopportune time to leave the grounds of the university and venture out into the world.  After all, between rising unemployment, a financial system in disarray, and a whole host of other local, regional and global problems ranging from urban blight to climate change, it would seem that the prospects for putting our newly minted skills to work as teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs and employees of firms large and small are, to put it bluntly, dim.  Yet we are also entering a world rife with unprecedented opportunities for those willing and able to take advantage of them.  An explosion of innovation in information technology has made it easier for more people to collaborate to tackle poverty, to create new products and services, and to share thoughts, ideas and experiences.  The cost of renewable energy is falling.  Social entrepreneurs are creating self-sufficient businesses that solve social and environmental problems.  The list is seemingly endless, and I believe that regardless of our particular field of study, as graduates of one of the finest universities in the nation, we are in a unique position to seek out these opportunities and apply our intellectual and financial capital toward them.

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Dream Forcefully, Speak Loudly, Act Boldly

Written on 01/14 at 02:09 AM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: philosophy

As I like to do from time to time, I just indulged my longing for inspiration by re-reading Dr. Martin Luther King’s brilliant Letter From a Birmingham Jail, and watching the I’ve Been to the Mountaintop speech, which he gave the day before being assassinated.  My heart is aflame with the greatness that spilled forth from his fingers and his vocal chords, and my mind has been set free upon the vast web of justice that weaves its way through the crowd of injustice and indifference that fills the hallways and stairways of history.  And as my mind takes that circuitous and precipitous journey I am inclined to ponder the powerful and untapped potential of language, the way in which audacious metaphors, wild, jagged, irreverent intonations and history-laden gesticulations can cut through suffering, can alter the current that carries with it the status quo.

I disdain the trepidation with which most speak, the reluctance to invoke gods, myths, great men and women, poems, stories, hymns and legends.  I cannot tolerate the assertion that poverty and pollution are inevitable or unsolvable.  I laugh at the thought that idealism is only for the young.  I want to shout with the loudspeakers of my lungs that anything is possible, that a dogged, unwavering passion for Truth and Justice can overcome a tsunami of hatred or ignorance.  I weep at the words “I can’t,” and feel bliss when I hear the phrase “I have an idea. . .”

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How Access to Information Can Tackle Poverty and Pollution

Written on 01/11 at 06:18 PM by Andy Posner 2 comments

Filed under: philosophy Huffington Post environment

I wrote this article for the Huffington Post.  It can be seen in its original context here

In the Spring of 2007 I had the opportunity to spend a month working with my good friend and colleague T.H. Culhane, the founder of Solar CITIES, an NGO that builds solar water heaters and biogas generators in the slums of Cairo, Egypt.  What is most innovative about what Solar CITIES does is that they build the systems almost entirely out of recycled materials and garbage--things like discarded butter tins, plastic barrels and metal.  At the same time, they are building a cottage industry, training local residents to design and build affordable renewable energy systems.  It is one of the first green job training programs in Egypt, and the only one focusing on slum communities. 

T.H. is one of those rare social entrepreneurs whose boundless energy, commitment and intelligence inspires everyone around him and attracts attention to his cause.  Yet to me the most striking aspect of the trip was noticing the way in which T.H. leveraged his access to information (he is also a PhD candidate in urban planning at UCLA) to enable Cairenes to see the benefits of his systems, and then to come up with better, more efficient designs themselves.  Carrying his iPod around like an instrument for social change, instead of merely a toy for the privileged, he would show videos and drawings of solar thermal systems to carpenters, plumbers and community leaders.  Eager to benefit their communities, these individuals quickly saw the upsides of solar hot water.  After all, most Cairenes currently heat their home in a way that is dangerous (due to fumes and the possibility of explosion) and expensive, whereas solar hot water is reliable, silent and clean (and if fossil fuels weren’t massively subsidized in Egypt, it would also be the cheapest form of energy in “The City of the Sun").  They immediately began coming up with innovations--finding more durable and affordable materials, refining and even refuting the designs of so-called experts, and inventing brand new manufacturing techniques.

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Joe Hill vs. Joe the Plumber

Written on 10/20 at 11:42 AM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: philosophy News

In last week’s third and final presidential debate, John McCain spent a considerable amount of time talking about “Joe the Plumber.” Joe is a guy that met Obama on the campaign trail, and who confronted him about the fact that his tax policy would “penalize” him if he were to buy the business he works for and see a dramatic rise in his income, because Obama’s tax plan calls for tax cuts for people that earn below $250,000, and tax increases for those that earn more.  Now the amazing thing is that, for a lot of people, Joe’s complaint rings true even though they will most likely never earn more than a quarter million dollars a year.  As I starting thinking about this bizarre dynamic, it occurred to me that we’ve heard from a lot of Joes during this campaign: Joe six-pack, Joe the Plumber and Joe Biden.  But there’s another Joe we haven’t heard about--most likely because he died over a century ago--but whose story, immortalized in folk songs, has a lot to say about the state of the country and its potential for greatness.

A lot of you will have heard of Joe HIll because Joan Baez often sang, and probably still does sing, about his life.  To put it briefly, Joe Hill was a songwriter, labor activist and union member, who was framed for murder and then executed by firing squad in November of 1915.  In the version of the song about his life that Joan Baez sings, the lyrics go as follows:

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A Historic Moment

Written on 08/29 at 02:32 PM by Andy Posner 2 comments

Filed under: philosophy News

An Electric Moment
Last night a football stadium was packed to the gills, not with football fans cheering on their home team, but rather with people from all walks of life who endured long lines and heat in order to listen to a politician deliver a speech.  It was a speech given 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech that, symbolically and literally, opened the way for a black man to accept the nomination for president of the United States.  It was a speech given to cheering crowds and extraordinarily high expectations.  It was given to a nation that has gone decades without an inspirational leader.  It was a speech given during an inflexion point in history, when the world is facing new global challenges and new global opportunities, and the very strength of America’s place in the world depends on the direction we choose to take; will we once again be a nation that does not torture, that does not invade sovereign nations, that leads by example?  Will we be innovators? Will we rebuild our infrastructure, provide health care to all, protect social security and educate our children?

Something Amazing is Stirring
So it was that Obama stood up before the crowd and, looking calm, confident and collected, gave a speech that at times soared into the clouds and at times swept along the earth. He gave a speech that moved to poetry and then, in a smooth change in tone and cadence, became an explanation of policy positions.  He gave a speech that attacked his opponent without disrespecting his opponent.  He gave a speech that moved commentators--myself included--to soaring commentary. And finally, he gave a speech that will resonate in history not because of any one line or phrase, but because of the context and the moment.  We will look back on this night when we are older and proudly say, “I remember that.” We will think back on where our country was headed and realize that something amazing was stirring all along. 

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Green Microfinance: Advancing Social Equality and Environmental Sustainability in the United States

Click here to download a PDF of my complete thesis. Questions and comments are much appreciated!

My masters thesis in Environmental Studies at Brown University looks at how microfinance--the provision of small…

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A Solution to the Limited Success of Micro-Credit in the United States?

Micro-credit has undoubtedly been a runaway success in developing countries as a tool of both poverty alleviation and economic development.  To date, some 100 million people have been reached by micro-loans, and Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank…

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Tonight, the Oneness of Things

It is late and my mind should be drifting through the colorful abyss of deep sleep, yet instead i find that tonight sleep will not come.  I am like a hungry flower who dreams of bees so ardently that all…

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