I often think of how I would like to help make the world a better place. I come up with ideas for charities or initiatives to help people less fortunate than myself. But being naturally quite shy and unassertive I can never really take any of my ideas to the next level. The thing about ideas is that they are an infinite resource. I am not looking to jealously guard or trademark any idea that I have that could help people. If I can get these ideas out into the universe and somebody wants to help me see them come to fruition – or even just take it and run with it themselves – than I am more than happy. 

This is an idea I have been thinking about for almost a year. If anyone has any contacts in a freight or logistics company or anyone else that they think might be able to help this idea along – share it around!

LITTLE MORE ROOM

Stand back for a moment. Looking from an objective viewpoint at the society we inhabit, it would be easy to assume that our purpose of existence is a lifelong accumulation of possessions. The quenchless desire to consume is a mania that has gripped the developed world. Production far exceeds need. To put it simply, if all manufacturing ceased tomorrow, if every production line came to a stand still, there would be enough consumer products left on planet earth to sustain us for a very long time. Enough excess clothing in our wardrobes to clothe many generations, enough unfashionable mobile phones to maintain communications, enough books printed to educate and inspire countless minds. But too many of these useful and functional items lay gathering dust, taking up space and going to waste – cast aside when something newer comes along. Perhaps the greatest irony of life is that one half of the planet’s population struggles to deal with their rising mountain of stuff, while the other half suffers from severe deprivation. The answer seems so simple:

Redistribution of resources

Take the things that we don’t need, don’t want, have no use for and give them to someone who could use them, who could benefit from them, who would be grateful for them.

But unfortunately it is not that simple. Take a common scenario: We may gather up some old clothes and household goods and put them in a charity bin or donate them to the local church. In theory we are doing something to help redistribute resources. In practice it is like throwing a dart blind-folded. There is no way of knowing if we have hit the target.

The best-case scenario is that the things we give away or donate go directly to another citizen of planet earth who needs them most. It’s a win-win situation.

But targeting where resources are distributed is a matter of logistics. Global freight and logistics companies touch almost every surface of planet earth. Their networks can distribute goods from one side of the globe to another. Understandably this is big business and a powerful force in our globalized society. Harnessing the reach of global freight and logistics could be the answer to a life changing redistribution of resources.

If every shipping container, cargo plane, rail freight car and delivery van had just a little more room, they could afford to forward a package of charitable donations directly to a place or person in need. Environmentally this makes sense. A fully loaded freight carrier leaves less of a carbon footprint than one that is not filled to capacity.

If every over-shopped consumer and over-stocked storeroom wanted to make a little more room in their home or business they could choose to donate items they no longer use, to people who have great use for them.

If every one of us had a little more room in our schedule, a little more room in our day and a little more room in our heart we could work together to create a solution with nothing more than what we already have.