WorldChanging

May 11, 08

What do you get the globally conscious grad who has everything? If you're looking for something unique, you're probably stalling out somewhere between the hemp sandals and the solar-powered backpacks. We have the answer. These kind of gifts offer dubious ecological benefits and a fleeting trendiness. That solar backpack, for...

Gin, Television, and Social Surplus

WorldChanging Team, 7 May 08

by Clay Shirky I was recently reminded of some reading I did in college, way back in the last century, by a British historian arguing that the critical technology, for the early phase of the industrial revolution, was gin. The transformation from rural to urban life was so sudden, and so wrenching, that the only thing society could do to manage was to drink itself into a stupor for a generation. The stories from that era are amazing-- there were gin pushcarts working their way through the streets of London. And it wasn't until society woke up from that collective bender that we actually started to get the institutional structures that we associate with the industrial revolution today. Things like public libraries and museums, increasingly broad education for children, elected...

BIMstorm: Honing Bureaucracy, Giving Urbanism an Edge

WorldChanging Team, 6 May 08

by Justus Stewart As the recent discussions in the blogosphere attest – Andrew Rivken and Joseph Fromm in two prominent examples – we are at an interesting hurdle for climate action. Post-tipping point, we are in the exciting phase where we look around the confetti-strewn floor (post-tipping point party) and ask, "now what?" Although we find ourselves in what has been described as a 'technology gap', I would argue that it is better understood as an implementation gap. Companies, governments, and citizens are rallying and attempting to 'solve' global warming. But the dizzying array of potential solutions is intimidating, as they are mostly untried, often politically difficult, and are sometimes proposed and debunked before decision makers had learned what the hell we were talking about, a la the recent...

Unclogging the Water and Sanitation Crisis

Robert Katz, 5 May 08

Safe tap water is a luxury that many people in the world do not enjoy. In many developing countries, it is not safe to drink or use the tap water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posts health information about every country in the world, and it’s interesting to see how many countries fall under the following advice: "Drink only bottled or boiled water, or carbonated (bubbly) drinks in cans or bottles." Bottled water is expensive, of course, and people living at the base of the pyramid (BoP) often cannot afford it. World Resources Institute’s research in The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid shows that low-income customers pay anywhere from eight to sixteen times more for bottled or trucked water...

Pangea Day

Craig Neilson, 5 May 08

Pangea Day is May 10: A global film event showcasing short films made to inspire and compel social change. We first reported on Pangea Day when creator Jehane Noujaim was awarded the TED Prize as a project spring-board in 2006. When we checked in with Noujaim a year later, the plan was to choose a line-up of short films: 10 winners from 30 finalists. The films were announced a few days ago: There are fifty - and they look fantastic. On Saturday, these films will be shown at more than one thousand events. They'll be broadcast on more than 20 television networks, as well as over the web and to mobile phones. The program is a four hour "global campfire" including short films, guest speakers and live music. It will...

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