Robots With ‘Swarm Intelligence’ to Repair the World’s Dying Reefs
- Coralbots Team wrote in Technology, Environment and Sustainability
Coral gardening by humans is time-consuming, restricted to small areas, and impossible in the deep sea because of human diving limits. Our project, Coralbots, advances the current state-of-the art by creating a team of autonomous underwater robots with artificial intelligence to repair coral reefs. Coralbots is a truly cross-disciplinary project based at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland and the Autonomous Undersea Institute in the U.S. The team has expertise in marine biology (Dr. Lea-Anne Henry), artificial intelligence (Prof. David Corne), computer vision (Dr. Neil Robertson) and autonomous underwater robotics (Prof. David Lane and Dr. Richard Blidberg).
Push for Good: This Week’s Guide to Crowdfunding Creative Progress
- Alessandra Rizzotti wrote in Environment, Culture and Food
Innovation makes the world go around, so why not crowdfund it? The best thinkers and ideamakers are the those that can make collective progress, so if we support their causes, projects, and ideas, we can be a part of bettering the future of our planet.
Maybe you don’t know what causes you care about yet, or maybe you’re still searching. Consider this a guide of the goodness you can get behind. Take a look at GOOD’s curated Kickstarter page, which we’ll be updating regularly, and check back every Saturday for a round up of our favorite projects from the crowdfunding world.
Now to share some successes…
Tell us what projects you’re getting behind in the comments below. Push progress forward, and do it for our collective good.
Click here to add crowdfunding projects you can care about to your To-Do list.
From Farm Straight to the Trash: Why We Need Innovative Food Waste Solutions Right Now
- Peter Lehner wrote in Environment, Food and Waste
Forty percent of the food in this country—almost half—is never eaten. We know we can reduce this waste once we put our minds to it. We’ve done it already, with great success, with energy. Governments, working with and encouraged by advocacy groups, designed programs to educate consumers and to prod manufacturers to design better products—light bulbs, refrigerators, cars—that made saving energy easier. Activists and innovators are just starting to develop solutions for food waste. We need a similar movement to build momentum behind these efforts and start bringing these solutions, literally, to the table. And to farms, stores, restaurants and dining services everywhere.
This month, we’re challenging the GOOD community to host a dinner party and cook a meal that contains fewer ingredients than the number of people on the guest list. Throughout March, we’ll share ideas and resources for being more conscious about our food and food systems. Join the conversation at good.is/food and on Twitter at #chewonit.
Travel Like You Give a Damn: Paying a Conscious Visit to Fiji
- Kelsey Barrett wrote in Environment, Living and Citizenship
Over the last 30 years industrial farming practices have stripped and compromised the fertility of their infamous, nutrient-dense soil, partially through the overuse of Agent Orange and other pesticides employed to exterminate jungle-sized weeds. As farmers’ soil fertility declined, they have been known to slash and burn sections of forest to access more land. Fortunately, however, there’s still a modest group of conscious individuals and small-scale gardeners who honor old world concepts of keeping their virgin or ‘sa solia na kalou’ (god-given) forests intact. Fueled by these people and the land’s deterioration I began crafting a framework for the retreat.
Illustration by YesFantastic
Recess: An App to Help You Escape Your Laptop and Save a Little Energy
- Something Dangerous wrote in Technology, Environment and Internet
On February 8-10, GOOD held a Hacking Energy Culture hackathon at Maryland Institute College of Art, aimed at generating new ways to interface with energy consumption, waste, and preservation. Here’s the winning solution, from Nicholas DePaul, Katrinna Whiting, Kevin Zweerink, and Kacie Mills.
Millions of people use computers every day for work and leisure. But who keeps track of how much time they are actually spending glued to their screens? Or the amount of energy their devices are wasting?
Many of our friends and family complain about wasting time on their computers. We asked ourselves if we could design a product aimed at this concern, if we could somehow help all those screen-sapped souls around the world and reduce energy use at the same time. During the 24-hour GOOD Hackathon, we created the outlines of this product.
We call it Recess.
Infographic: The Future Global Supply of Rare Earth Elements
- Column Five contributed in Environment and Energy
It’s Energy month at GOOD, so we’re bringing you infographics that explore our use of energy resources.
Up until the mid-1980s, the United States was the lead global producer of rare earth elements—materials that are used to make the technology that powers everything from laptops to hybrid cars—and have come to define our high-tech lives. Now, America is 100 percent dependent on imports of these elements and China is the primary world supplier. How does China’s domination impact the future global supply of rare earth elements?
This month, challenge a neighbor to GOOD’s energy smackdown. Find a neighbor with a household of roughly the same square footage and see who can trim their power bill the most. Throughout February, we’ll share ideas and resources for shrinking your household carbon footprint, so join the conversation at good.is/energy.
Infographic: Mapping Our Oil Pipeline
- Focus the Nation and Oliver Munday contributed in in Environment, Energy and News
It’s Energy month at GOOD, so we’ve teamed up with Portland, Oregon’s Focus the Nation, an organization that’s empowering youth to make smart environmental choices in their communities. This infographic is part of a series exploring our use of energy resources.
Where does gasoline come from? Believe it or not, it’s not just one system that makes it possible for you to fuel up at your local gas station. From gathering pipelines that include oil wells on land and tankers overseas, to hundred-mile-long crude oil trunk lines that transport from gathering systems to refined product lines, oil still doesn’t reach the consumer until storage and distribution terminals are involved. And, in case you’re picturing these pipelines as similar to the water pipes in your home, oil pipes can range in size from 2 to 42 inches in diameter, and are owned and operated by companies that are regulated by federal and state governments.
In the United States alone, there are roughly 150,000 miles of crude oil pipelines, 55,000 miles of which are trunk lines and 95,000 miles of which are refined product pipelines. Perhaps the most well-known American trunk lines are the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, and most recently, the Keystone XL Pipeline, which has become a point of contention in our federal government. Click on the infographic above to see how an oil pipeline system works.
This month, challenge a neighbor to GOOD’s energy smackdown. Find a neighbor with a household of roughly the same square footage and see who can trim their power bill the most. Throughout February, we’ll share ideas and resources for shrinking your household carbon footprint, so join the conversation at good.is/energy.
The World’s First ‘Moveable City’ Now Operational in Antarctica
- Architizer wrote in Environment, Design and Living
Call it this generation’s “Walking City.” Halley VI, the latest iteration of Britain’s Halley Antarctic research stations, is now fully operational—and it walks, sort of. Halley VI opened today on the centennial commemoration of the first British Antarctic expeditions on the Brunt Ice Shelf, which launched an entirely new and incredibly fertile avenue of scientific research exploring the Earth’s near-space atmosphere. Designed by Hugh Broughton Architects, the new “re-locatable”—i.e. “movable”—facility is the first of its kind in the world.
This post is part of the GOOD community’s 50 Building Blocks of Citizenship. This week, measure your carbon footprint. Follow along and join the discussion at #goodcitizen.
Citizen Building Block #4: Measure Your Carbon Footprint
- Adele Peters wrote in Energy and Environment
Almost everything you do impacts your carbon footprint, from what you eat for breakfast to where you go on vacation. So which things matter most? Use this handy calculator from the Nature Conservancy to figure out what you’re doing well and what you can improve. It’s one step in fighting climate change and being a good, global, citizen.
Illustration by Jessica De Jesus
Hacking Energy Culture: Join a Hackathon with GOOD at MICA
- Keith Bormuth wrote in Technology, Environment and Waste
Next weekend, we’re bringing designers, developers, educators, and storytellers together to rethink our global relationship to energy. GOOD’s Hacking Energy Culture hackathon, organized by Senior UI Designer Doris Yee, will be held February 8 to February 10 at Maryland Institute College of Art.
Infographic: From Energy Production to Electricity Consumption
- GOOD Partnerships and Focus the Nation and Oliver Munday contributed in Environment, Energy and News
It’s Energy month at GOOD, so we’ve teamed up with Portland, Oregon’s Focus the Nation, an organization that’s empowering youth to make smart environmental choices in their communities. This infographic is part of a series exploring our use of energy resources.
Powering on your computer is more than just pressing a button. The flow of electricity is made possible from multiple energy sources, whether they’re imported and exported fossil fuels, like natural gas, petroleum, and coal, or domestically-produced nuclear electric power and renewable energy. Check out our latest infographic above that shows how the electricity around us flows from source to consumption. You can follow the U.S. electricity flow from production on the left to consumption on the right, with energy’s measured in quadrillion British ton units (Btu). With all this electricity wasted, it is clear we need to conserve our energy sources.
What is primarily fueling the activities of our modern economy today are the fossil fuels which have stored the sun’s energy over more than a millenium, coupled with nuclear power, which has been around for only the last five decades. If the United States is to prepare for a more sustainable future, it must start turning to renewable energy to meet our energy needs, using sources like hydroelectric power, biomass, geothermal, solar-photovoltaic, and wind.
To learn more about the Energy discussion on GOOD, visit our Energy hub and follow Focus the Nation.
Challenge Your Neighbor to an Energy Smackdown
- GOOD HQ in Energy, Environment and Carbon Footprint
Don’t just keep up with the Joneses. Beat the stuffing out of ‘em. The Joneses are energy hogs, and you, you’re an energy gazelle. Or at least you will be by the end of the month. Click DO IT on our Energy Smackdown, find a neighbor with a comparable household size, and see which one of you can spend less on your next energy bill. The GOOD community will provide ample inspiration for shrinking your household carbon footprint. Join the conversation and share your experience at good.is/energy.
Illustration by Tyler Hoehne
The GOODEST: Coal, The Poison We Never Talk About in School
- Alessandra Rizzotti and Jessica De Jesus contributed in Environment, News and Climate Change
The GOODEST can be so many things, but why not just narrow it down to one thing each week? We’ll change it up and keep it fresh. After all, we consume so much daily, so for the weekend, why not just take away one big learn and do from the week?
This might be shocking but…
Coal is The Poison We Never Talk About in School
James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and arguably the world’s foremost climatologist, has called coal “the single greatest threat to civilization and all life on the planet”, yet kids think it’s just a 19th-century phenomenon.
Can you DO anything about it?
Of course, and we’re going to help you through it. Energy month at GOOD begins now, and each day we’ll be sharing how you can contribute to a better climate reality. Get on the Energy hub to learn more.
Illustration by Jessica de Jesus. Photo via (cc) Flickr user -0-.
This Tel Aviv Cargotecture Bridge Puts Shipping Containers to Fresh Use
- Yasha Wallin wrote in Environment,Design and Architecture
More than 800,000 shipping containers are discarded each year around the world after being use for maritime transit. That amounts to huge amounts of waste, but also presents a new resource for architects and artists to use in a variety of projects. One of these projects is the Econtainer Bridge, proposed by Israel’s Yoav Messer Architects which will incorporate recycled containers to make a 525-foot long land bridge connecting Arial Sharon Park and a main thoroughfare into Tel Aviv.
Infographic: How Much Food Nearly 7 Billion People Waste
-
Aubrey Yee wrote in
Environment, Living and Food
Inspired by a recent Wall Street Journal article written by Anna Lappe and Danielle Nierenberg, Sustainable America has created this infographic to show how food is wasted and lost around the world, and what can be done about it.
Food waste and food security are serious problems, but there are current solutions and ways you can help. Read on to learn more, and stay tuned for our next post, which will delve deeper into some of the points made by Lappe and Nierenberg in the Wall Street Journal piece.
