Olivia Wilde Wants The World To Be a Better Place

(plucky guitar music)

I have an organization called Artists

for Peace and Justice, and we're an educational organization

that builds schools in Port-au-Prince, in Haiti,

we've been there since 2008, and since the earthquake,

we've grown quite a lot, and expanded our programs,

and I'm launching Young Artists for Peace and Justice,

which is our youth outreach initiative.

(tranquil instrumental music)

We just opened the first secondary school

for the children of the slums of Port-au-Prince,

it is the only secondary school of its kind for these kids,

so without this school, there's nowhere for them to go

past sixth grade.

These are students who show up to class

in perfectly-pressed uniforms with their books,

with their homework done, and they're living in tent camps.

They have no water, they have no electricity,

they don't have food, there is cholera,

there's hurricanes, they're still living

in the aftermath of a horrible earthquake,

and yet they're showing up to school.

And that shows me that there is this drive to learn,

to empower themselves with education,

and we know that is the path out of poverty.

Technology plays a big role in what we do because

that's the way that we connect with young people

who want to be a part of our movement

and want to start their own spinoff movements

with the same goal.

Twitter and Facebook are obviously instrumental

when you're trying to start a movement,

when you're trying to get people excited about something.

I was very inspired by the Obama campaign

for which I was a surrogate, and I think

many young people learned that their participation

can move mountains.

We're growing fast, and we need people to join our movement,

we need interns, we need volunteers.

The advent of social networking

is an interesting kind of phenomenon,

because in the one sense, it's bringing people together,

it's creating community, but in the other sense,

it's putting people in their own worlds,

and they're disconnecting from nature and humanity

so that they can live these kind of alternate existences

in their devices.

So I guess the goal is to understand

the potential of this technology,

and how it can continue to bring us together,

while at the same time, understanding that

our connection to humanity, nature,

and everything that is actually real

and around us is paramount.

The world's in a dangerous place right now,

so we need big changes in the game,

and I think that's all gonna come from

people being excited about the new technology

that allows us to connect with each other

and come up with new ideas.

(cheerful instrumental music)