I had a hard time blogging this week. The oil spill, the possible extinction of lizards and Xtina’s latest video (can’t bring myself to link to this toxic amalgamation of all previous female pop princesses) have all left me struggling to be optimistic. Sometimes, it is very hard for me to imagine that we can be so inundated with facts about climate change and the impact we have on the environment, yet we still continue to be so destructive. When I hear about polls like this in which people still think offshore drilling is a good idea (and 53% think the economic benefits outweigh any negative environmental impact)…I really do wonder how we, as a society, can ever make the changes needed for our planet to survive. In the spirit of all of my pessimism, I decided to not do a Wacker’s Winners this Friday. Bah Humbug and all that. However, it’s now Saturday and as I sit outside on the patio enjoying the gentle cooing of the doves, the whirring and cackling of the grackles and the barking of my precious dog, I felt more at peace. Wacker’s Winners will not be defeated!
Fourth World Movement: Including this in my list requires me to admit that I read perezhilton.com daily. Ok not daily, more like three times daily. In spite of how you feel about celebrity gossip and scandal and the copious amounts of time and money dedicated to presenting it for the general public’s consumption, I have to give credit to Perez for his mention of this organization in his blog this week. According to their website:
Fourth World Movement is a network of people in poverty and those from other backgrounds who work in partnership towards overcoming the exclusion and injustice of persistent poverty. Our projects focus on the sharing of knowledge among people of different backgrounds in an atmosphere of mutual respect and dignity.
As a graduate student of library and information science, I was particularly interested in their Street Libraries initiative. They have worked in New Orleans and New York City to provide library and information services to parents and children who live in under-served communities. And let’s face it, with all the library closings, those communities are increasing in number every day. Here\’s a video of one of their street libraries. The organization believes, as do I, that empowering those with knowledge is key to helping break the cycle of poverty.
Bret Michaels: Yes, I was a Poison fan in Junior High. No, I have not seen Rock of Love (my sister and niece filled me in however) or Celebrity Apprentice. However, as a fellow diabetic, I am appreciative of those who speak out about their experiences with the disease and are advocates for continued research and education. Bret Michaels has consistently been an advocate for diabetes education and research over the years. Bret has had Type I diabetes since he was six years old, and despite years of rock star shenanigans and his recent health crises, he maintains that he works hard to take care of himself and manage his disease. He recognizes the hardship diabetes poses for young kids and has become a sponsor for many kids over the year so that they can attend diabetes summer camps. He has also taken the time to meet with young diabetic kids during tour stops, has raised over $140,000 on Celebrity Apprentice this season, and he continues to speak out and share his diabetes story.
Affordable Solar Power via a Weed (no not that kind either): According to an article at the Inhabit blog this week, the pokeberry weed, may become the answer for low-cost photovoltaic cells, used to make solar panels.
Image from Wikipedia
Researchers at Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials have discovered that when solar cell fibers were covered in the red dye found in the weed the fibers absorb more sunlight. They also generate more power than current technologies. The creation of these hybrid cells would cost much less than current models as well, and, as we all know, weeds are extremely renewable resources.
Google Saves the Earth: Google may be bad news for librarians, but good news for the earth. They are using their technological super powers to track environmental changes around the world. The article on the Solve Climate blog this week discusses Google’s role in analyzing climate change. A prototype of the new tool, the Google Earth Engine, was initially unveiled at the Copenhagen climate summit late last year (read the Google blog about the summit here as well as an interview with Rebecca Moore, engineering manager for Earth Engine and Google Earth Outreach here). One thing I’ve always admired about the Google workplace, besides their cool sleeping stations, is their allowance of employees to spend 20% of their workweek exploring their own passions and ideas. Google Earth Engine came out of this Google 20% project! The tool can bring together Earth observation data (satellite imagery, terrain datasets, and vector data such as roads, borders, population centers, soil information, climate information) into a large data system. It can also be used as a means for the public to analyze the data as well as ongoing data mining efforts. With this tool, one can visualize forest change in a second, which allows it to be very useful for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), a set of steps that would allow for financial incentives in order to reduce carbon emissions related to deforestation. For example, tropical countries would receive financial incentives for protecting their forests.
Photo taken from 350.org
350: According to scientists, 350 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe level for our planet. Right now, we are hovering at about 387ppm. Here’s agreat article on Treehugger about the science on 350. The 350 movement was founded by U.S. author Bill McKibben, who wrote one of the first books on global warming for the general public, and a team of university friends. It is an international grassroots movements that seeks to advocate, educate and collaborate through move large and small initiatives and methods. For example, they provide action ideas and products such as banners, logos, bumper stickers, videos, widgets for your blog or website. You can also find a workgroup in your area. I was very excited to learn of one in Hillsborough, North Carolina, which is very near where I will be moving in the fall. Check here to find a workgroup in your area! Upcoming international events include plans on October 10 to host a Global Work Party, with thousands of communities setting up solar panels or digging community gardens or laying out bike paths. Check out some of their great videos.
[...] Angela and I moved to Austin last August. I took an awesome postdoc position with Sharon Strover and the UT Austin | Portugal CoLab in advanced digital media. What’s the CoLab? “The UT Austin | Portugal International Collaboraboratory for Emerging Technologies or CoLab is a partnership between the Science and Technology Foundation of Portugal (FCT) and the University of Texas at Austin, in conjunction with several Portuguese universities. Launched in 2007, the goal of this project is to expand the presence of advanced digital media through educational and research exchange.” I’m currently teaching a semester-long comm theory course for the doctoral digital media program at the University of Porto. I was in Porto in March to start things off face-to-face, and we’ve since held weekly seminar meetings via videoconference. I’ll return to Porto next month for final exams. [...]