Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category

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Trash Tracker: Technology and Art

Thursday, July 28th, 2011


(image credit: SENSEable City Lab at MIT)

Ever wanted to see where your stuff goes after you throw it out? We’re not talking about touring landfills here – we mean literally seeing its whole path and trajectory in Technicolor.

Well, a new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York is displaying the fruits of two MIT researchers’ trash-tracking labor. Carlo Ratti and Assaf Biderman developed these little trackers that tell you in real time where something is for a whole year. And then they did something really cool with them…

They gave the trackers to people to attach to anything they were about to throw out – from fruit to furniture – and turned all that data into cool and colorful visualizations like the one you see up there (^^). The idea is that maybe people will start to pay attention to their trash, or figure out new and better ways to deal with it (i.e. improve their environmental impact).

Pretty cool. Or, rather, pretty and cool…

What do you do with your old electronic gadgets?

Genetically Engineered is…

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

Genetically engineered (GE) is a way of describing an organism into which scientists have introduced a new trait that the organism didn’t already have.

Genetic engineering is a very targeted approach to breeding – the organism in question actually gets some new DNA as part of the deal. GE organisms contain an rDNA (or recombinant DNA, itself created in a lab) construct that produces the new trait.

For example…

GE crops are more resistant to pests. GE baking aids make that cake you’re making a little fluffier. GE animals grow twice as fast.

From Rocking Fur Coats to Hunting Poachers…

Monday, July 25th, 2011

Think a career track means only one destination? Well… you’re wrong. Listen to how Maryann Fernandez arrived at Philanthropy Indaba:

>> TILE brings you exclusive opinions, explanations, and interviews from experts in every industry. Have a burning question or an expert you’d like to see interviewed? Just Ask TILE!

Fund Scientific Research at 3AM

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

cut-science-funding.jpg
(photo credit: Mark Ramsay)

Heard of Kickstarter? That new site where anyone with an idea and a plan to make it happen can raise money from the unwashed masses? Well until now it’s mostly been used to help bands record their breakout albums, help designers raise capital to manufacture life-improving products, and help slightly off do-gooders pay for various swing-installation projects.

But now scientists are getting in on the action. From the Kickstarter-funded Mexican quail research expedition to the new academics-only crowdfunding site Open Genius, the doors are open for promising researchers to avoid the pain of securing traditional government and foundation funding.

Which means that you have a unique opportunity to directly impact research you care about. It’s one thing to donate to a cancer research fund (which is a totally awesome thing to do, by the way), but it’s another thing entirely to choose the lab you want to support.

This is also a great opportunity to exercise your advocacy muscles. With just a little prodding and a link to a well-designed website, you can double, triple, or quadruple your donation by talking to friends or posting your pitch online.

Never underestimate the power of peer pressure and one-click donations.

Greenwashing is…

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

Greenwashing is when corporations falsely advertise their products or activities as eco-friendly. Companies create the perception that they are mindful of the environment in their policies and products. But… they’re not.

Shocking Visualization of Fish Left in the Sea

Friday, June 24th, 2011

Holy cow! (Carp? Cod? Crab?)

There are lots of good reasons to care about the environment and support the groups that fight to protect it. But one really good reason is that if we don’t do something, we’re going to run out of tuna melts and fish sticks.

This article in the Guardian talks about why we as a civilization are failing to do enough about problems like overfishing. Each new generation simply isn’t conscious of what things were like in the generation before them. Kind of like how your parents remember when kids used to play outside, but you’ll remember staying inside playing video games. And when you get old and cranky about how the kids these days never take off their holobands at the dinner table, you’ll wish for the days when people sat down in the living room to play Nintendo – not for the days when children played stickball in the streets.

Anyway, David McLandless (our data viz hero from Information is Beautiful) made a scary map of the devastation that tasty sea life has seen over the past hundred years. Definitely worth checking out if you still need a reason to care about the environment.

Hot? Take Off Your Suit!

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011
hawaiian-shirt-friday.jpg

(photo: Lazurite on flickr)

Remember those frigid winter mornings when Dad would tell you to quit whining already and put on a sweater if you were so cold? Well if you haven’t figured it out by now (which, duh), he was trying to save energy (i.e. money) by keeping the thermostat low.

Today, the Japanese government is doing essentially the same thing. But… kookier.

They’re pushing a new program called “Super Cool Biz.” Participating companies are encouraged to save energy by keeping their thermostats set to 82 degrees Fahrenheit this summer. After all, the nation is still trying to manage with reduced energy availability after some of its nuclear power plants were destroyed in the tsunami. But a nice side effect will be lower electricity bills for participating companies and a smaller carbon footprint for the entire nation.

The super cool part? Shorts, sandals, and Hawaiian t-shirts are all suddenly upgraded to “business casual.” We want pictures of super cool board meetings.

How are you staying cool this summer without contributing to a scorched earth?

A Surprising Challenge to the Future of Solar and Wind Power

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

solar-panels-in-snow.jpeg
(credit: Mike Weston)

According to the International Energy Agency, cutting carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2050 will require almost half the world’s energy to come from sustainable sources (like sun and wind, instead of oil and coal).

These alternative energy sources are getting cheaper and more popular in the U.S., but the New York Times has just revealed a little-known fact about the solar and wind energy we’re learning to love: it’s backed up by coal power.

That’s right. Because the sun isn’t always shining and the wind isn’t always blowing, energy from clean sources can’t consistently meet the needs of our power-hungry populace. So when output dips on the wind farms, it has to be supplemented by old-fashioned power sources.

And the power plants of yesteryear just aren’t built for that kind of one-and-off output. The bottom line: Either alternative energy has to advance to the point of not needing supplementation, or traditional power plants need to spend a lot of money updating their equipment.

We wonder… could there be some financial incentive that would get the old energy companies to play nice with the new ones?

If sustainable energy is your thing, make a statement. Start your Mission Statement in Learn to Give.

Water Changes Everything

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Check out this inspiring new video by our friends at charity: water!

Is Earth Day your favorite day of the year? Do you care more about the sky or the trees?

Go to Your Nonprofits to find the perfect organization to support!

p.s. There’s an awesome fundraising contest going on right now – if you can pull together the most money for charity: water, you get to go to Africa with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett.

Bienvenidos a Malawi! (Gettin’ filtered with it? The Fresh Prince of Fresh Water?) The current leader has raised less than $12,000. You can beat that, right?

Putting Energy (and Investment) to Good Use

Friday, April 1st, 2011


(photo credit: Evan Prodromou)

We all know that carbo-loading is essential for running a marathon (or staying up all night writing papers/ playing video games). So why expect lasting social change to run on a cookie here, a handful of peanuts there?

“45% of the population of rural India live in villages with no electricity.” So it was only a matter of time before capitalist do-gooders found an opportunity to profit from lighting up the countryside. Providing affordable clean energy solutions is potentially a $2 billion industry in India alone. And it’s not just the entrepreneurs who profit: locals suddenly have light to study and work by, cleaner air and water, and a new job market for selling and repairing solar lanterns and other green gadgets.

Sounds like a pretty neat social venture to us. What do you think?

When it comes to supporting causes you care about, are you more likely to fund emergency projects, like disease and hunger relief, or longer-term strategies for change, like electricity?

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