We don’t need to change the world. At Pop!Tech, I re-learned this idea. We don’t need to change the world. We simply need to change the way we see the world.

Of course, that’s hard because we each come pre-loaded with our own unique perspectives, beliefs and blinders. For all of my focus on environmental issues, I was somewhat blind to issues around human rights, crime, education and health that were addressed in amazing ways by other PopTech Fellows. Sharing each other’s perspectives helped us all to change the way we see the world, and the world of possibilities.

One of my new, dear friends who works in healthcare in Africa noted “My wife was always nagging me to recycle. Now I understand why.”

Another very honest, thoughtful conference attendee noted “I am a C level executive. I don’t want to think about trash. Your presentation makes me think about things I don’t want to consider.”

But we also heard Andrew Zolli, PopTech’s Curator, spout off a stat that “over 50% of the carbon emissions are related to materials”. Wow. We can reduce, reuse and recycle those materials. We can use the resources we already have instead of constantly sourcing new ones.

Changing the way we choose to see our trash can actually change the world. Here’s an exercise in perspective: Describe the materials that are in your company’s waste stream in detail, without using the terms waste, trash, garbage or recyclables. Seriously, do it.

Pop!Tech is a week-long conference, for lack of a better word, that brings together a community of world-changing people to share their work, their ideas and of course their perspectives. Brooke Farrell, Co-Founder of RecycleMatch, was honored to be included as one of their 2010 PopTech Fellows. To learn more, go to www.poptech.org