This is not at all related to Albert Einstein's famous law but it is similarly intriguing.
Nothing in this life is absolute. Everything is relative to the person who sees and judges it according to his own perspective. Each individual perspective is based on several factors like, biases, preferences, and experiences with that particular object or thing.
Take for example color: Have you ever wondered why people have special preferences to particular colors? Why is it that some color combinations are fine with others while others find the same color combinations nauseating? Is it possible these happen because people are not really seeing the same colors?
For example, the color "blue". Could it be that the hue you see which you have been calling "blue" all your life may be the same hue somebody else sees and calls it "red", or "green", or "yellow" all his life, too? The hue you find beautiful and call it "green" is the same beautiful hue somebody else has been naming "blue" since birth? The beautiful color both you and someone else see and find beautiful is the same hue but you call it differently. Who is to judge? The judge himself may find the same hue beautiful but calls if by other name still. So, the same hue is the favorite colors of many but each one calls it by other name.
Religion: Most religions believe in the same things, ideas, or concepts such as a creator and its creations, life after death that could be spent either in hell as punishments for wrongdoings or sins while on this life, or heaven and nirvana as rewards to those who do good deeds while still on earth, etc. However, different terms are used to explain the same things depending on the point of view of its practitioners or believers.
Religion is likened to the six blind men as described by John Godfrey Saxe's famous poem, "The Blind Men and the Elephant", who had their own and diverse notions of what an elephant was based on the parts of the elephant they touched.
Beliefs are described by their followers relative to each individual's experiences, preferences, biases, etc. We may all be worshipping the same god but is known by so many names by others. It could be that we are all partly right, but then partly wrong, who is to tell?
Beauty, it is said, depends on the eyes of the beholder. Some people believe that a milky white skin is beautiful while others insist that black is beautiful. There are those who think that various body paintings like tattoos enhance beauty while others consider these as blemishes. Many races in Africa or the Far East consider long dangling pierced ears are a thing of beauty which people on the other side of the world see these weird.
Therefore, we may conclude that nothing in this life is absolute, everything is relative to something else. Keeping this mind, we become respectful of other people's opinion thus avoiding unnecessary frictions in our day-to-day dealings with our fellowmen.
May PEACE be upon us all!
Let us promote peaceful co-existence by respecting other people's opinions. Remember that in this life, no one is absolutely right nor wrong.
I live in Canada where we have a supposed democracy with the British Monarch as the theoretical head of state. You may live in the USA where your President is the head of your supposed democracy. It doesn't matter and it doesn't matter either whether people live under a Monarchy, an Oligarchy, a Military Junta, or the Political-Party-Archy that Canada and the USA both truly are. The real problem in our badly ailing society is simply that the rule-of-law is a horribly bad system. Man is born free. We can build a much better public protection and justice system simply by enshrining real freedom and recognizing that people have fundamental human rights that need protection.
The rule-of-law is a horribly bad system. I'm sorry that you've been force-fed a lot of hogwash about the rule-of-law being the glue that holds society together and that without law there would be ANARCHY. Well, I don't fear any word or concept just because those that want to keep us in chains try to convince me it is a bogeyman idea. Anarchy simply means 'no king' and I suppose that would be fine as long as we still had a public protection and justice system that worked. However, I'm actually don't favor the notion of living in an anarchist state but as I've already stated, the actual government or lack or government doesn't matter at all. We simply need decent justice and sadly, the rule-of-law is utterly incapable of doing that job.
Law had an ignoble beginning when a supposedly noble person stabbed a sword into a commoner's guts and proclaimed to everyone else that from now on, his word was law. I'm sorry but that is the whole truth of the matter. After many years of abuses at the vicious hands of many different nobles, the Magna Charta asserted that above the nobles and kings, a theoretical over-king named 'law' was the absolute ruler. However, the sad and simple fact remains that we commoners still have the law's word stabbed into our guts whether wielded by a king or a judge. That first vicious noble at law's disgraceful beginning did not have the right to inflict his word: he only had the wrongful power to do so. And today the law still doesn't have right to inflict itself on us: it still only has the wrongful power.
Wouldn't chaos ensue without the rule of law? What could possibly replace the rule of law? If you've even read this far, maybe you're asking these questions.
First of all, you have to understand exactly how the rule of law actually works. Under law, the actual wrong that a criminal has committed doesn't really matter. The court is only deciding whether the government prohibition was affected by the action. Think of the term 'law breaking' as an actual physical act of snapping a law over your knee like a dry twig and you'll have an accurate mental picture of what the judge is really deciding. Law's ONLY concern is whether the government's word was broken. Let me put this concept another way. At a murder trial, the victim's body is just physical evidence of how the law against murder itself was violently harmed. The rule of law is a ridiculous theory when you dare to think about it rationally.
Let's take this line of thinking a step further against the rule of law before I begin to point out the much better alternative to law. You as an individual person do not have the right to tell me what I can or cannot do and punish me if I do or don't. And your nation consists of X-million people who similarly do not have the right, but together they amass the power. Tyranny is defined as using power without the right to and regardless of how benevolent a tyrant claims he is, it is still tyranny. So at the very bottom line, the rule-of-law is and will always be just tyranny.
I could go on here to outline precisely how the rule-of-law actually hurts us all and how the twisted rule-of-law concept is even the basic reason why crimes against humanity like the Nazi holocaust occurred in history and why similar could easily happen in the future. But this article isn't meant to read like a rant. I'm writing to point out a preferable method of administering public protection and real justice.
Neither you personally, nor your government possess the right to enforce law but individually you do have the natural right to protect yourself and that right could easily be gathered within the community and lent to a justice and policing system to logically grant both the power and the right. Before you ask, NO, the police and courts do NOT act in your protection in the slightest. They are 'upholding the law' and that is a whole different thing to actually offering you protection. In truth, what police and courts really protect is only the system's power to be a tyrant. (I could go on here to show how that seemingly small distinction really means that the law is endangering you and all of us but I'll save that for another article).
To design an entirely new and effective system of justice and public protection, and one that would fit so seamlessly over the current rule-of-law apparatus that most people wouldn't even notice the difference, we need only to rethink where the justice system derives its authority to act. Instead of basing our protection system on the government's awesome but illegitimate power, we must found our justice on the valid presumption that people have human rights and that these must be defended.
Just think about it. We could easily have the cake of our safe and ordered society and eat it too with the flavorful icing of actual freedom. I'll end here by repeating my title, which you probably realize is my take on Jean-Jacque Rousseau's famous lament. Man is born free - period - everywhere he need NOT be in chains.
I'm Russell Twyce and my many blog posts on several websites offer my unique perspective on a wide range of topics including fiction, politics and law.
If you are the type of person to constantly tell yourself that you have a problem with "this" and a problem with "that" then you need to turn all of your problems into goals. Instead of making your overweight problem a problem turn it into a goal. Instead of saying you weigh 50 pounds overweight say that by the end of 90 days you plan to lose 50 pounds. Make it your business to make that transformation in your head, and once you do you will be one step closer to figuring out how to be happy. Also, there is a huge decrease in the level of stress a person has when your problem vanishes into a goal. Furthermore, It helps with a person's overall happiness.
Problems can cause anxiety, stress, tension, and a myriad of other unhealthy issues. They also drain a large portion of a person's energy when he has to be focused on solving that issue. Rather than trying to solve an issue, if a person changes that issue into a goal it automatically promotes activity and is usually very energizing and motivating. A valuable goal creates enthusiasm which in turn creates happiness. Moreover, when you picture yourself completing that goal you will be able to feel an incredible amount of joy which you will eventually feel in the future when you actually complete it. For that moment in the present you are experiencing something more surreal even though you didn't complete any goals. All you did was take the step forward to try and achieve happiness.
Your goals may sometimes be just for the sake of getting rid of a particular problem or issue but they should always have the same outcome in mind. The outcome of changing a problem into a goal will make you accomplish more and will make you feel more alive and energetic. You will feel that you have something to work for, something to look forward to, as opposed to just waiting for something to happen. All of these things that you once thought were problems can become solutions. Once you have a solution your stress level goes down and your happiness level increases tenfold. The pattern of life of having a problem and a solution is the most beneficial thing to learn how to do properly.
If you were searching for how to be happy then the first place to start would be by turning your problems into goals.
If you liked this article then be sure to read more like this at HappinessDirect.com
Organizational employees need some form of training on and off during their entire working career to enhance better skills and performance levels. According to experts, education should go hand in hand with training as professionals need to be educated to deliver better results at the workplace.
Studies have revealed how costly it is to have poorly trained or untrained employees. Training helps a person inculcate superior understanding of the workflow processes and increases his productivity over time.
Training programs help to
· Increase productivity and performance development
· Lower server loads and bandwidth costs
· Improve customer satisfaction
· Increase employee confidence and retention
· Enhance revenue
Education makes a man perfect and that is equally true for the corporate sector. By hosting a number of training sessions, you can educate your staff about updated corporate policies and how they can increase their working speed in less time.
Many industries require people with specific degrees or diplomas. These professionals bring with them various innovative ideas, information, theories, and expertise attained over a number of years by working on varied tasks and business goals. Educational training programs are also needed to gain knowledge on a specific subject matter. For example, when a new product is manufactured, the management needs to explain its features and technicalities to their entire working professionals as well as clients to get going with the process.
Education and training can help your professionals in a number of significant ways.
Reduce Costs
Organizations that arrange for training on a weekly or monthly basis can save company capital to a great extent. Through training, people achieve competency to use resources at a minimal costs.
Collateral Saving
Businesses can save expenses on bandwidth and servers via trainings. By storing documents and files in large shared databases, you can avert a good amount of money otherwise required for creating and maintaining local databases.
There are a variety of ways to organize training sessions
Onsite Training
It is the usual age-old way of conducting trainings and educational programs at a specific location. It involves booking a suitable venue, inviting prospective attendees and managing registration and payments manually.
Online Training
This is a more recent phenomenon where organizers conduct trainings over the internet via web conferencing facility. Registration, payment management, and emailing, everything can be done online. You as well as your participants need to have a PC with an internet connection to connect and complete the registration process to partake in the session.
Blended Training Option
There is this blended training system where you can open online registration yet conduct the program offline in a hotel banquet or in similar such places. It beautifully mixes both online and onsite methods to ensure greater success while educating professionals about the company and its products.
Jonathon is a professional Corporate Trainer. An increasing dependence on automated software to streamline processes is emerging via an online class registration, payment management, and student relationship management. Acteva is the market leader in providing class registration solutions at competitive price.
I'm thinking about these beautiful words today, "A storm by its very nature seeks to move on, and a tree's grace is that it has no hands" (M. Nepo).
The picture you are viewing is that of the giant oak tree that graces our front yard and shields our house from the hot, summer sun. My guess is, the tree is fifty or more years of age. Can you imagine the wind and rain, snow and storms it has weathered in those many years?
Countless storms, no doubt.
So, what is its secret of survival? Could it be its flexibility? Flex-ability. It moves with the wind and rains instead of rigidly resisting them. Furthermore, it has no hands. That is it's "grace," as Nepo puts it. Which means, the tree does not cling to the difficult winds but allows them to come and go as storms typically do.
That has occurred to you, hasn't it? That a storm, even the most violent ones, never last very long?
If you are like me, however, unlike a giant oak tree, we, on one hand, are prone to resist life's storms. We want everything to be peaceful 24/7. We go through the day trying desperately to keep the peace, to make peace, or to preserve peace. It is exhausting, isn't it? Like trying to control a forest fire in the dry, California hills.
Yet, in our better moments - like this very one - we know that we rob ourselves of the richness of life by rollicking in some illusion that we can actually avoid all of life's storms. We cannot, of course. Nor should we. The Buddha reminded us that life will come as a mixture of pleasure and pain. Jesus demonstrated the same.
On the other hand, we have a tendency to cling to some difficulties... some storms... perhaps because they give us some definition, some measure of identity? Something about ourselves to talk about when someone asks, "So, how are you today?"
"Oh, so glad you asked," we respond. "Let me tell you." And then, we proceed to describe all the difficulties of life that won't go away (or, more honestly, we will not release).
Today, may I suggest that we meditate on both the flexibility, as well as the grace, of the giant oak tree. Resist not what comes your way - even if it is some unwanted storm. Further, cling not to any of life's experiences this day, good or bad, or however you're prone to label them. Instead, enjoy the pleasures, survive the pains, but be at peace with both.
This is the secret of happiness.
I've put up an entire post on my blog about this (and written a whole book about this and other matters related to the spiritual life), and I'd love to share some of the things I've learned with you. To get started, visit this article I recently posted at my blog http://www.stevemcswain.com/blog.
Wide discussions are held on the state and concerns of Indian higher education. What really is the issue here? Let us take a look!...
Though the problems associated with this sector are multilayer-ed, I had divided it broadly in to administrative and academic problems, with few subtitles under these as I feel that all other problems like, social, psychological etc. associated with this sector comes in the backdrop of these broad problems. Let us first look in to these problems before going in to the reforms required.
CONCERNS
I) ADMINISTRATIVE-
i) Reservation- Reservation and Privatization are perhaps the most debated topic in our higher educational sector, and hence I have listed it first in the list. Increased concern over reservation has negatively affected our higher educational system as it has taken away lime light from many other major concerns. Reservation in any sector (&especially I educational system), causes loss to society, as the brightest do not reach better institutes; but we still continue with it thinking it would bring more good to the society than its losses. Though the need for a reservation still exists it is time to think of its re-allotment for more effectiveness. Sam Pitroda, the chairman of National Knowledge Commission, "Reservation has probably set us back several years in our ability to carry out the reforms we need to."
The popular support that reservation gets had prompted many of our politicians to o on further with reservation (with a need for Supreme Court to intervene in the matter and cap reservation limit to maximum of 50 Percent). The social tensions faced by the authorities against this policy is mainly managed by increasing the total number of seats and also because many among the upper class pursue foreign education.
The proper implementation and gradual reduction of reservation in a democratic country like ours need strong political will, free of prejudices.
ii) Political intervention in universities- This takes place both in policy formation and implementation. Bureaucratic sluggishness, misconceptions and prejudices retard the growth of our higher education sector. The denial of visa for prominent global educationalists to come to India, the slow moving files in government offices on matters concerning collaboration of industry and institutes, the delays in allocation of new courses etc. are the finest examples of this aspect.
Among the policy matters too, the absence of Political visionaries had been a problem while there were 5 IITs established during Nehru's period, only 1 IIT was established prior to the recent establishment of5 new IITs. Unhealthy political among the teaching and the student community and the inefficient funding has also retarded the growth of this field. A prominent educationalist tells, "Our deans and administrators now hang on the spoken word of our politicians, and student unions and teachers beat to their drum. It's so entrenched that asserting independence in appointments and day to day decision turns you in to a radical, a rebel in the system."
As political elite and the government receive benefits of these negative aspects, they prefer a status-quo. Thus, in our higher educational system, we have this uncomfortable condition, as Nandan Nilekani puts it "the state interferes, rather than guiding; (play) politics rather than policy".
iii) Regulation- In the regulatory aspect of higher education, we have a dual problem. On the one hand, we have a confusing array of different regulatory bodies like UGC and AICTE and on the other hand, neither the government, nor UGC or AICTE has an effective control over our Universities. The rating system of the UGC and AICTE is also one with many loop holes.
Due to absence of good legislation, UGC and AICTE had reduced to regulatory bodies that stand helplessly by, as India's university system crumbled, and thus half of India's expanding colleges, as a Vice-chancellor remarked, "are intellectual and social slums".
iv) Funding- India spends only 1.9 percent of its GDP on higher education, the lowest among any nations with GDP higher than $500 billion. Its spending on research activities at universities is also very low compared to both the developed and the emerging nations. Even the funds that are presently allotted are not efficient enough. But, it should be noted that higher funding or investment in higher education can lead to better results only with reforms in the total system.
II) ACADEMIC-
i) Quality of the Higher education- India is the 3rd largest in the number of higher educational institutes after China and USA and is one of the largest degree producers in the world.
But, quality of these is quite unsatisfactory. No worthwhile invention has been made here. Rote learning can identified as one of the factor behind this. India's engineering and medical colleges, management schools and universities are facing a serious shortage of quality academic faculty by about 20 percent. Global competitiveness of Indian students is comparatively small and is still smaller if the top 10 institutes of India are taken out. India does not have more than 5 universities in the top 500 bracket of the academic ranking of world universities.
ii) Number of Institutions for higher education- Though India is one of the largest in terms of number of institutes for higher education; it is still short of them. This shortage is expected to be more by 2015, thanks to the efforts to improve the enrollment ratio. By 2015, we need at least 1500 universities, against 350 we have today.
iii) Research- The research standards of our country has been poor, both in terms of quality and quantity. If we consider a particular area, say Computer Science, where we are assumed to be strong, we can see that annual PhDs in this field in our country is 25, while it exceeds 800 in USA and 2500 in China. IIT is granted 3-6 patents in a year, where as it is 64 for Stanford and 102 for MIT! We haven't seen any technological adaptation after 1970s and 1980s and not a single major invention emerged from India over past 50 years!!!
iv) Employability- "75 percent of the Indian graduates are unemployable for the work they are trained for", was said by Shri. Narayana Murthy of Infosys. Many people prefer sub-standard engineering degree than good vocational skills, where as 90 percent of the employment opportunities require vocational skills. McKinsley estimates that only 10 percent of Indian students in arts and humanities and only 25 percent of Indian engineering graduates are globally competitive. 12 percent of the 41 million unemployed are either a graduate or a postgraduate!
REFORMS
It is an agreed fact that reforms are required in the area of higher education. Many suggestions on this matter address many of the problems mentioned earlier. Some of them are a panacea for more than one of those problems.
A 'super regulator' which forms a single independent regulatory body would eliminate the confusion prevailing over multiple arrays of regulatory bodies. This would also bring more transparency, setting up of uniform controls and better quality in higher education. We need independent regulatory body free from government or political intervention.
Private participation, if properly propelled can bring out both qualitative and quantitative improvement in our higher educational sector. It is neither possible nor sensible for the government to invest the huge amount that is required for, in our higher educational sector. Private participation, from both inside and outside the country should be encouraged to make more institutes in our country. This will take away the deficit between the demand for higher education and the availability of institutes. This will avoid the instances like that which happened in Delhi University this year, when a 100percent cut-off was announced in a college under the university. Institutes like TISS, BITS, Lady Sriram College, Sriram College of Commerce, Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), CMC Vellore, St. Stephen's College, etc. has taken away our doubts on the quality of private institutes.
The interactions between industries and institutions should be encouraged, taking necessary precautions, as this can increase the employability of the students.
Reforms have taken in our country when visionaries came in to action, like it happened during Nehru's times. When visionaries like M.S. Swaminathan, Vikram Sarabhai, Sam Pitroda, Verghese Kurien etc. acted, reforms required happened with direction. In the higher educational sector of our country, we have "a Niagra of reports and a Sahara of actions". Reforms required in higher educational sector requires controversial steps, as we are in a democracy. In fact, the market economy has been pushing us to the necessary reforms, to an extent. The question is, whether India can bring about these reforms fast enough to avail the opportunities that the country has today- domestically and globally???
Einstein in his address at Princeton Theological Seminary, May 19, 1939 commented about religion that religion lays down clear fundamental ends and valuations and sets them fast in emotional life of an individual and thus in social life of man. The only justification for these fundamental ends is that they exist in all healthy societies as powerful traditions, and it is not necessary to find justification for their existence.
Further, Einstein in a symposium - Science, Philosophy and Religion at New York 1941 stated:
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind"
"What is still lacking here is a connection of profound generality but not knowledge of order itself"
Our current scientific understanding does not allow us to understand several aspects of nature, universe and human life which include the following amongst other:-
a) Origin and evolution of nature and universe - The most popular Big Bang theory and its deductions leave many questions unanswered such as What is dense matter?, What is the source of dense matter?, How chaos before Big Bang could have led to order after Big Bang?, Whether origin and evolution is a singular or a perpetual act?
b) Origin of survival mechanisms essential for existence of any particle, whether of energy or mass or both. Mandatory conditions for existence of any particle have inherent contradictions among them which need to be resolved to allow the given particle to exist over a period of time.
c) Rational determination of acceptable human conduct.
d) Rational basis of emotional life. Our emotions are protective reflexes that allow us to care not only for ourselves but also others and thus keep our relations to our social milieu in accordance with Sherrington's concept of Projicience i.e. action at a distance.
e) Rational basis of all morals and ethics.
f) Rational basis of Law.
g) Rational basis of all religious principles, practices and to differentiate wheat from chaff.
h) Rational determination of acceptable human conduct, aspirations and judgment.
i) Rational differentiation of right from wrong, fair from unfair and just from unjust.
j) Appreciation of constraints to existence of any particle and mechanisms to circumvent the same.
k) Rational foundations to social sciences.
l) Whether economy should be left to greed and phobias of the state or rich and mighty, or needs to be prudently and pragmatically managed in the interest of social justice.
m) Whatever an individual might think or say or claim, but the unavoidable reality is that any individual survives only in a system. Our current scientific understanding does not allow rational comprehension of ourselves, the system that we live in and our cosmic connections. Therefore, though we all love our freedom, we are unable to appreciate it correctly and instead practice all kinds of aberrant behavior. Therefore we need to understand God to rationally appreciate our freedom and enjoy the same correctly.
n) And others.
If by God, one means connections of profound generality, that must have preceded origin of nature and material universe, are valid across the entire natural hierarchy and are still as active as they must have been in the past, then these connections of profound generality must effectively and perpetually be applicable to various aspects of human life.
One day a priest was narrating as to how a particular disciple is spending tons of money to appease the Gods.
I listened to him for a while and then raised a query "How to find out that the purpose of the disciple was met through his own efforts or by appeasement of Gods?"
This infuriated the priest and he began criticizing me for my beliefs.
In reply I raised another query "Can you tell me in just one word what religion is?"
This drew a blank.
I broke the silence and told him that HARMONY is one word that sums up all religions.
I further explained that all religious principles and practices have their origin in Law of Harmony - intuitively or otherwise. Law of Harmony states that all laws have to be harmoniously construed and as a corollary one must seek greatest harmony in one's dealings with the world at large. This Law of Harmony has its roots in universal instinct to exist and universal instincts are one of the three aspects of God.
Understanding God as the one word symbolizing connections of profound generality is essential because current scientific understanding only provides the means and not the ends to which means are applied and current religious understanding provides the ends but only as Gospel truth which one has to dogmatically follow.
Therefore, to understand God means understanding connections of profound generality and this is essential for our own enlightenment and elevation of consciousness leading to an intelligent, prudent and pragmatic living providing body, mind and soul harmony to the individual on one hand and harmonious relations with the world at large on the other. Therefore understanding God is essential for optimized management of wide and varied aspects of human existence.
Dr Mahesh C. Jain is the author of the book "Encounter of Science with Philosophy - A Synthetic View". It is possible to objectively and rationally understand God and this is essential for rational understanding of nature, cosmos and human conduct. For further details visit http://www.sciencengod.com/
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced plans to invest up to $120 million over five years to launch a new Energy Innovation Hub, establishing a multidisciplinary and sustained effort to identify problems and develop solutions across the lifecycle of critical materials. Rare earth elements and other critical materials have unique chemical and physical characteristics, including magnetic, catalytic and luminescent properties, that are important for a growing number of energy technologies. These critical materials are also at risk for supply disruptions. The Hub, funded by up to $20 million in Fiscal Year 2012, will work to advance U.S. leadership in energy manufacturing – such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, efficient lighting and others – through research aimed both at having a reliable supply of these rare earths and other critical materials, as well as finding efficiencies and alternatives that reduce the amount we actually need.
“We must ensure America’s entrepreneurs and manufacturers continue to have access to these critical materials so we can compete in the global energy economy,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “As America has done throughout our history to meet a great national challenge, we will pull together a group of talented, creative scientists, engineers and innovators to find the solutions we need for America’s energy security. Our success will be crucial to ensuring we can continue producing the advanced energy technologies that will power our economy long into the future.”
First established in 2010, the Hubs are major integrated research centers, with researchers from many different institutions and technical backgrounds. They are modeled after the strong scientific management characteristics of the Manhattan Project, Lincoln Lab at MIT that developed radar, AT&T Bell Laboratories that developed the transistor and, more recently, the highly successful Bioenergy Research Centers established during the Bush Administration to pioneer advanced techniques in biotechnology, including biofuels. The new Critical Materials Hub’s research and development will advance innovation at all stages of critical materials science and technology.
The Critical Materials Hub builds on the Department’s Critical Materials Strategy report, which addresses the use of rare earths and other critical materials in clean energy components, products, and processes.
The goal of the Critical Materials Hub will be to reduce U.S. dependence on critical materials and ensure that the deployment of domestic energy technologies is not hindered by future materials supply shortages. The Hub will address challenges across the entire life of each critical material including mineral processing, manufacture, substitution, efficient use, and end-of-life recycling.
Universities, national laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and private firms are eligible to compete and are encouraged to form partnerships when submitting their proposals. The award selection is expected this fall. The full Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is available HERE.
This will be the fifth Energy Innovation Hub established by the Department since 2010. The other Energy Innovation Hubs are:
The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, which focuses on advanced research to produce fuels directly from sunlight. The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, which is seeking to improve nuclear reactors through sophisticated computer-based modeling and simulation.The Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster for Energy-Efficient Buildings, which is working to achieve major breakthroughs in energy efficient building design.A Batteries and Energy Storage Innovation Hub was also announced earlier this year. The deadline for submitting competitive proposals was this week.
Information on the existing Hubs can be found on the Energy Innovation Hubs website: http://energy.gov/hubs.
There are 90,908 trade associations in the country. With philanthropic and charitable organizations, the number rises to over 1.2 million [1]. In any event there are lots. Every trade association has a dual role: 1) to increase membership and 2) to promote the cause of the organization.
Your association relies on its members and other activities for funding. But it has an untapped and overlooked hidden stream of potential advocates that it could use more effectively.
As a leader of a trade association you may poll your members to find out what are their top issues. You summarize a select few and these are the ones you focus on and go forward with. Most organizations are usually single-issue organizations.
Legislatively, you compete with other associations for the time and attention of lobbyists, legislators, congressional staff members and government regulators. You rely upon your membership numbers and your PAC's campaign giving to support your cause and to gain access to Washington lawmakers.
For the largest organizations often this is enough. But for the smaller and midsize groups they might find themselves struggling to push their agendas forward.
Sometimes, you can rally your membership to take on different activities but generally you can't do it that often. Like any group, your members tend to experience what is referred to as "donor fatigue." They don't want to donate more money, they do not want to donate more time, and they can't take time off work to get on the bus to attend a rally to hold a sign in the pouring rain. While association members as a whole may appreciate the opportunity to vote up or down on issues, they often feel they are left out of the full debate creation and argument process.
So can smart leadership still get them involved?
Sure.
The best association leaders allow their members four things:
1) To come forward with topics of their own concern.
2) Provide a forum for the members to discuss issues.
3) Allow their membership to respectfully debate arguments pro and con on various sides of an issue.
4) Provide a place where members can vote anonymously.
Essentially, they give their members a voice.
The best association leaders also know that family members often influence what the member thinks. The chief lobbyist, it turns out, is often the spouse.
Association leaders recognize that their members are not one-dimensional. They do not have only one issue that matters to them. They may be members of many different special interest groups because there are several different issues that concern them. The member joins different groups that support his cause. So in effect he could be a member of a pro-gun group, a pro-choice group, a clean energy group and a business development incubator. He may be a moderate on social issues and conservative or entrepreneur on business issues.
Some political independents that neither lean left nor right fall into this middle category.
But there remains one highly overlooked element.
Imagine the trade association member is a US voter and a constituent of a congressional district. His alternate issues may span into other congressional districts. In the district they span into may reside friends and associates who support the nature of your particular membership group. But the voter in the other district is not and cannot be a member of your trade association because he simply is in a different profession or geographical area.
So how do you cross the line? Can you take advantage of this? I think you can.
If your trade association members were free to openly debate and vote anonymously in a safe, independent, non-partisan environment, the likelihood is great that they would continue to support your efforts. After all, they are in your business. And if their spouse and friends from other states were able to share in a debate, then they too could bring greater weight to your argument and causes.
But more importantly, all these interested parties are constituents in other political districts. If they are able to lobby their congressman or representative who may sit on key Congressional committees that affect your broader issue, then you could bring a greater force to bear by empowering more people to push legislation forward that supports and benefits your organization.
Can this be done? Certainly.
Let's say your association allocates $25,000 per year to lobby or about $2,000 a month.
If an additional 2,000 voters from 10 different districts contributed $20 a month to support your efforts, you would have $40,000 a month extra for lobbying or almost a half million dollars a year. If these voters were aligned with your cause and made their issues known to their congressman, your impact could increase twenty-fold at no real out-of-pocket cost to you or your association.
The greatest impact any independent constituent group can have are:
1) Clarity of message and singular focus on an issue.
2) Mass of voters who can appeal to the Congress.
3) A real budget to continue and persevere.
Remember, these are real voters and Congress loves to hear from its own constituents.
So, the advocate is not a nameless organization supporting a large, broad membership that may or may not support its overall goals. Working together through social networks, you now have real people putting up their own money to support causes, which are aligned with your organization's needs.
Because voters will have self-identified as constituents to congressional members on committees affecting your organization, your impact in Washington with lawmakers will increase.
Encourage your members to pursue their interests and make public their issues and you may find that your best ally could well be, not just your association member, but also her family and network of friends.
[1] The Center for Association Leadership
John Thibault is the founder and CEO of iLobby. iLobby® is a micro-lobbying matching service that connects voters with professional lobbyists to resolve issues with their political leaders. Put simply, this is lobbying for the little guy. Find out more at http://www.ilobby.co/
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