Presidian Blog

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise and went for a refreshing walk/run from the Amali “team house” in Limuru (suburb of Nairobi). We passed children walking to school in their uniforms and exchanged enthusiastic calls of habari asubuhi (Swahili for good morning). The soft morning light on the hills of the surrounding tea plantations provided …

If you had Nils Moe (C3) and Carl Schneebeck (C7) for EMCA, you remember the starfish power pose. Imagine standing like you are about to start a jumping jack—arms and legs out in a way that makes you look like a starfish. It’s a way of getting ready for a challenge. This is the story …

“Only a few people who are involved in this field—resource management, materials management, waste, and recycling—actually chose to do it,” explains Amanda, noting that many facilities are run as family businesses. “It kind of chooses you.” For Amanda, the choice was made after she moved back home to Austin after graduating from Presidio Graduate School …

No Good Idea Should Stand Alone It’s this bit of sympathetic kindness that led Kate to a life-changing conversation and, eventually, her current position as the head of design, tech, and hardware at Indiegogo, a San Francisco-based leader in the crowdfunding industry. Back in the fall of 2008, Kate was wandering an Idealist Graduate School …

Jen Boynton (C3) is not a law abiding citizen. I mean that in a good way. There’s simply no way we would have been able to build TriplePundit.com (3P) to what it is today without breaking pretty much every rule in the book, inventing our own rules, then breaking those when they didn’t work. That’s …

In this world of competing priorities, particularly for professional women, Meghna Tare (C18) has it figured out. She is a mother of 6-year-old twin boys, the Director of Sustainability at the University of Texas, Arlington (UTA), a TEDx speaker, regular conference presenter, and an MBA candidate at Presidio Graduate School. How does she wear so …

In case you haven’t heard the news or seen the riots, the San Francisco Giants won the World Series! While you were celebrating at bars, predicting next years’ players, or even mentally prepping for the next [insert sport here] championship, I bet you didn’t know that the UN Panel just released it’s “starkest warning yet …

On Monday a few of us from the Sports and Sustainability course participated in a tour of Recology’s Jepson Prairie Organics compost facility in Vacaville, CA. The trip was inspired by our project with NASCAR to better prepare us for recommendations regarding the handling organic waste. We learned a “ton!” For example, compostable cutlery is …

The world of philanthropy—much like the business world—is redefining itself. After decades working on complex societal challenges like education reform and poverty alleviation, many philanthropists are frustrated that their efforts have not resulted in more successful social outcomes—what many call “moving the needle” in the right direction. Getting to Large-Scale Social Change But as we …

A group of employees picket outside their workplace. Dozens of activists make their home at the tops of trees for weeks. Hundreds of protesters stand in silent protest in front of the White House waiting to be arrested. Thousands of people throng the streets with picket signs and banners. Countless world citizens stood in solidarity …