--- description: National service as an American value, our partners against ISIS, cutting bus carbon emissions, PTSD in Black America and more. title: These Are Today's Best Ideas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 11 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 11, 2014 4:37 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 11, 2014 4:37 PM CUT **1\.** [**National service is a critical American value that has the power to unite us.**](http://time.com/3318842/911-national-service-american-value/ "undefined") By Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates in Time **2\.** [**The challenge for America’s strategy against ISIS isn’t our military might. It’s the will of our partners in Iraq and Syria.**](http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/obamas-new-war-isis "undefined") By Jeff Shesol in the New Yorker **3\.** [**After a decade of urban violence, blacks in America report PTSD symptoms at the same rate as veterans of our last three wars.**](http://www.essence.com/2014/09/05/propublica-post-traumatic-stress-disorder "undefined") By Lois Beckett in Essence **4\.** [**Municipal buses move more than 5 billion people annually. Converting them to electric power would slash carbon emissions dramatically.**](http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/the%5Fjuice/2014/09/electric%5Fbuses%5Fproterra%5Fwants%5Fto%5Frid%5Famerica%5Fof%5Femission%5Fspewing%5Fbuses.html "undefined") By Daniel Gross in Slate **5\.** [**To gather valuable health data from the poor, texting survey questions yields impressive results.**](http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201409/texting-gives-voice-urban-communities "undefined") By the University of Michigan Health System  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3326842/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-11/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3326842/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-11/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 11","datePublished":"2014-09-11T16:37:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:03.691Z","description":"National service as an American value, our partners against ISIS, cutting bus carbon emissions, PTSD in Black America and more.","url":"https://time.com/3326842/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-11/","keywords":["Innovation","carbon","PTSD","Syria","Obama","Iraq","low-income","poverty","violence","ISIS","cities","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3326842/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-11/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 11"}}]}] ```