Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in NYC is currently housing the Design for the other 90% exhibit which displays clever designs that solve basic needs for the world’s poor. Today, entrepreneurs of all kinds tend to cater to the wealthiest portion of the world’s population, encouraging them to buy stuff they could have never imagined they “needed,” aiming at changing this trend this exhibit displays items that facilitate daily life around the world.

Some of the designs include a donut shaped jug of water that can be pulled by a child, helping women and girls in the arduous chore of gathering water. There is also the Lifestraw which kills bacteria as water is sucked through it. Another one of the projects highlighted is the One Laptop per Child initiative, which aims at narrowing the digital divide between the rich and the poor.

Amy Smith, from MIT has also been working on creating simple solutions for everyday problems. Along with students from MIT, she has created an incubator that can stay warm without electricity, a simple grain mill, and tools that convert farm waste into clean-burning charcoal. To learn more about her projects, you can view this interview on the TED: Ideas Worth Spreading website.

The NYT has a short article, including pictures, about the exhibit today, you can read it here.

Between May 15 and May 21 members of the USA congress were challenged to eat only what they could afford on about $3 a day which is the average food stamp benefit. Some of the representatives that participated are Jim McGovern (D-Mass. ), Eric Gioia (D-NY), Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Jan Schakowsky, and Jo Ann Emerson (R-Missouri). McGovern and Emerson head the House Hunger Caucus and were the ones that put out this challenge, which few took up. All were faced with the crude reality of living on such a low food income.

Gioia commented that every day he woke up hungry and irritable. On one of the challenge days a single mother of two who lives on food stamps accompanies him to the store and introduced him to stuff like ramen noodles and the store’s discount coupons. Nearing the end of his week he had to go to a food pantry to get some extra food to hold him for the last couple of days.

When Ryan was traveling, security guard took away his jar of peanut butter and jelly, leaving him with hardly any food for the next few days. This made him aware that for people really living on such a limited income a simple mistake, such as dropping and breaking a container of food can result in going hungry.

This challenge was directly linked to the upcoming Federal Farm Bill, which has often been blamed for tipping the agricultural landscape in favor of cash crops instead of promoting balanced agriculture, which will lead to balanced diets. As these representatives discovered, living on such a limited food income is not only a problem because of the very small amounts of food they could access, but so was quality. Many end up eating foods high in starch, which provide a sensation of fullness, but little nutritional value. This group also commented on either gaining or loosing weight, and feeling lethargic on this diet, and they only had to do it for a week. Imagine a lifetime of bad nutrition, and the consequences; high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, etc. As of December 2006, 26.3 million people in the USA rely on food stamps.

McGovern kept a blog about his experience which can be found here. You can read about Gioia’s experience here.

A recent file for copyright of Birkam yoga has attracted new attention to the Indian government’s efforts to safeguard their traditional knowledge. The Indian government has put a group together which is working on protecting material such as ancient texts written in Sanscrit, Urdu and Persian, yoga positions, and traditional healing practices. The Indian government has already set up a database for this knowledge called the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (you need a member to use it), which will eventually function in English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. This project started back in 2001 with collaboration from National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR), the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, the and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotio. The project is expected to be completed in December 2008.

Such a massive project might initially seem unrealistic and daunting to tackle, specially since patents are usually given to “new” inventions, but given this increasingly growing practice by private companies to patent and restrict use to plants and practices that have been used for millennia, maybe this isn’t such a crazy idea after all.

India’s push to protect its traditional knowledge actually began a while back. In 2003 India proposed a law to fight “protect traditional knowledge and Western piracy [...] knowledge“. This proposal sought to encourage disclosure of traditional knowledge and reward those who help out. Once the information was gathered, it could be patented and thus protected from encroachment.

Earlier this month Suketu Mehta wrote an opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune where she points out the contradictions and complications with this process. She points out that knowledge in India has been protected through caste lines, not legal or economic ones, and that while piracy is common in India, often Indians get upset when Westerners make money of their traditional knowledge. In the end she comments that this new practice of wanting to claim ownership of everything is hurting those in the developing world. In 2005, under pressure from the WTO, the Indian Parliament passed a law making it illegal to make generic versions of patented medications. This in a national with over a billion people, many of which live in absolute poverty.

We’ll see where all this rush to put everything in private hands ends up…

You can see and read more on the subject from PBS; USA Today; BBC.

A new technology is emerging in Zimbabwe, one that uses cell phone messages to exchange currency for goods. Mukuru.com is a company that has set up a system by which you can order fuel for friends and family in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Today, as people immigrate in search for opportunities, and are often force to leave behind children and relatives, this new service allows those abroad to continue helping back home, while reducing the amount of red tape involved. The site allows you to buy gasoline (prices are British pounds), and the relative back home will receive a text message with a coupon to pick up it up.

Similar sites are also starting to emerge for other basic goods. Zimland.com allows you to buy groceries, while Zimbuyer.com goes even further, by offering groceries, as well as furniture and even generators for family members back home.

These sites seem to be catching on rather quickly in Zimbabwe, not only for their convenience, but also because they provide an alternative to costly money wires; an important issues, since the Zimbabwean government has been cracking down on the back market and unregulated foreign currency exchanges.

I think this is a very ingenious alternative, and I can see if catching on in other developing countries that have large communities abroad.

Read more about this in a BBC article.

Image info here.

Room to Read is an amazing nonprofit organization founded by John Wood, a former executive at Microsoft who had his life flipped upside down after traveling to Nepal. On this trip Wood realized that books are very scarce in many corners of the world, and while at a local school a man commented that maybe Wood might return some day with books. This simple comment stayed with him, and indeed he did return, not just once, but repeatedly, and with books, lots of them.

Today this simple idea of bringing books to people who need them has become a major organization dedicated to bringing not only libraries, but educational opportunities to people in need. Room to Read began in Nepal, but has expanded into Cambodia, India, Laos, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and South Africa. Room to Read has also started granting scholarships for girls to attend school, creating opportunities for young girls who might otherwise never have gotten a chance to attend school. The organization has also branched into publishing, printing books with local, relevant stories and in bilingual editions. They are also working on creating computer & language labs. The idea is to narrow the digital divide, and to help children become world players by being able to engage the world both in their native language as well as in English.

Room to Reads success has likely come from Wood’s endless dedication to this mission, as much as to the fact that he has surrounded himself with highly motivated people and has worked hard to keep the organization’s overhead costs as low as possible. In the coming years they hope to begin working in Latin America, and continue expanding in Asia.

John Wood has written a book recounting his story of how this organization came to be; “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.”

30 Days of Sustainability is a project around Vancouver, Canada where citizens, corporations, government and the society at large are engaging in activities that affirm an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. They have great ideas planned for all of the 30 days. For instance tomorrow is “Turn it Off! British Columbia”, when communities throughout B.C. will be dimming or tuning off their lights and appliances. Here is a list of tips to participate in this activity, regardless of where you live.

In 1870 Julia Ward Howe wrote the “Mother’s Day Proclamation” as a call to our senses of the absurdity of war. At the time she was reflecting on the brutality of the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, but sadly, today in 2007 we should be just as familiar with the atrocities of war as Howe was back then.

Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist and poet. She also worked towards the causes of pacifism and women’s suffrage.

(Image info here.)

Mother’s Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears

Say firmly:
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Later this year the project to create an Encyclopedia of Life will pick up speed for this ambitious project. The encyclopedia was first proposed by scientist E.O. Wilson who wished to see a type of “one stop shop” for information on the natural sciences; it’s aim is to be the next step up from an earlier project from the University of Arizona called the Tree of Life Web Project. With an initial founding of $12.5 million from the MacArthur Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation, yesterday the beginnings of this encyclopedia were formally revealed to the public. (The completed project is expected to cost $100 million, and take 10 years to complete.)

The idea is to collaborate with all the libraries and repositories in the world who gather information on the natural sciences and aggregate all this information in one location. Yet, as so many individuals have access to post their own material on the web, researchers are working on creating a new software program called “bots” that will trawl the web for further relevant information. The information found in this manner is to then be corroborated by scientist before linking or posting it to the encyclopedia.

A million books and 250,000 research papers from the Natural History Museum in Chicago will be available through the encyclopedia, with much more to come. And while the initial projection is just to gather existing information, the project’s leaders realize that todays technology allows for great collaboration. They realize that just anyone who gets a good picture while on a nature walk, or while bird watching will want to share their discoveries and the encyclopedia will allow for this as well. They also foresee a lot of comparative research to arise for the site.

As it stands, the Encyclopedia of Life has a few sample pages up which show the structure of what is to come. The idea is that every species will get it’s own page, including common and scientific name, type, an image, location, explanation, and even videos where applicable. Each page will also give credit to the creator and will provide sources and expert references. The project is starting off with the bigger species, and leaving amoebas and the like, that can’t always be so clearly defined into species for later on.

The encyclopedia also wishes to be free and in doing so is part of the Linking Open Data Project, which aims at making data available to everyone. There is more on this collaboration at AI3 (Adaptive Information, Adaptive Innovation, Adaptive Infrastructure).

The Guardian has an article about this project today. Boston.com had another article a few days ago.

26.02.08 - On Thursday the Encyclopedia of Life released the first 30,000 pages of information, with an expectation of close to 2 million more to come. Much of the initial information available here has been gathered through software designed to search the web for content. There is an emphasis on species that much is known about such as amphibians, fish and plants. You can read about this in a NYT article here, and from a BBC article here.

Usually library fundraisers might involved a party, reading event or book sale, but a few libraries have come up with creative alternatives all their own. The National Library of Peru was recently renovated, and now has a functioning pool. The library offers swimming lessons and raises money this way. This method will also attract non-traditional patrons into the library, who will then, hopefully, become regular patrons.

The city library of Vienna is currently running a sex hotline to raise money for their library. Here, Austrian actress Anne Bennent reads erotica in German, both original pieces and translations. The program was organized in collaboration with the Aktionsradius Wien cultural organization. The call cost about 53 US cents a minute, and the library estimates that they already have about 660 minutes worth of calls. You can read more about this projects from the American Libraries Online, the article is here.

It’s all fair when trying to keep libraries afloat!

08.21.07 - The Montana Library Association has found another interesting way of raising money. They are putting out a 2008 calendar called “Montana Book Babes: Librarians Under the Big Sky.” The calendar features real librarians along with a brief bio of each model. Calendars are $20 and can be purchased here.

01.30.08 - Here’s another calendar trying to raise funds, “The Mildly Attractive Men of SLIS” (These funds will be used towards helping library students at USC attend the World Library and Information Congress “Libraries Without Borders: Navigating Towards Global Understanding”, which will take place in Quebec, August 2008.) Cheers to the guys who helped out with this cause!

Image info here.

Now when pollution and global warming seem to be an accepted concern, people around the world are trying to come up with new option for running their cars (instead of opting for NOT running their cars, but that’s another story).

Brazil has had great success with ethanol produced from sugar cane, and the USA has been working on producing ethanol from corn, although this isn’t such a great alternative since the agribusiness in the USA consumes so much fertilizer, pesticides, energy and water, that running cars on corn based ethanol won’t really be helping the environment. Yet around the world people are still working on this problem and coming up with interesting, possible, solutions.

In Jagdalpur, India, a few people have begun growing jatropha, which produced seeds that can be made into biofuel. This plant can grow in wetlands and apparently can produce four times as much biofuel per hectare than soybeans, and ten times more than corn! According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, several Indian states have been encouraging this crop by starting farmers out with 500 free saplings.

Papua New Guinea has been experimenting with biofuel coming from coconut oil which is widely available on the island. An article in the BBC says that the people on the island of Bougainville have received inquiry request for this new development from as far as Europe and Iran. An interesting aspect of this project is that the oil is being produced in backyard refineries, thus creating more employment. There are also projects working to make biofuel from feedstock algae. Currently this sounds easier in theory than in practice, but they might just get it right in the future.

Here’s also a crash course on biofuels - according to the USA department of Energy.

Feeling a little adventuresome? Here are instructions on making your own biofuel.

05.15.07 - Japan is also experimenting with biofuels. The University of Tokyo is funding a project to make biofuel out of discarded rice hulls to be converted into ethanol. Japan is currently the second largest consumer of gasoline, after the USA. Read more about this project here.

06.11.07 - While in some cases biofuels seems to be a favorable approach to the burning of fossil fuels, in Colombia they seem to be causing poverty, displacement and violence. On June 5, 2007 the Guardian had an article about armed forces in Colombia, mainly paramilitaries, driving peasants off the land in order to promote palm oil for biofuel. The bizarre twist seems to be that the paramilitaries have realized that this is a cash crop that can be promoted without fear of eradication by the Colombian government, nor does it attract negative attention from the rest of the world, particularly from the USA and it’s never ending battle to fight drugs. The article also mentioned some of the peasants wanting to fight back, but finding out that deeds to their land had been falsified and thus had been “bought” by larger farmers. Colombia currently has about 3 million internally displaced people, making it one of the world’s worse cases, along with Darfur and Congo. And while the USA has spent over $5 billion for Plan Colombia, coca production rose by 8% last year.

06.21.07 - Today an article in the BBC highlighted yet another possible source for biofuels - fruit. This proposed fuel, called dimethylfuran, is said to hold 40% more energy than ethanol, does not evaporate so quickly, and is less volatile. Still the article mentioned the foreseeable problem of having fuel production compete for land with regular food crops.

06.25.07 - The Christian Science Monitor has yet another article of the world wide ripple effect biofuels are causing. Every year Mexico grows large amounts of agave to produce a national staple, tequila. But currently agave growers are starting to replace their traditional agave fields, some of which have been designated World Heritage sites by UNESCO, in order to grow corn for the growing USA demand for ethanol. This starting trend endangers not only a national, cultural, staple, but also puts the nation’s poorest at risk of hunger, since corn tortillas have been historically relied on to fend off starvation.

06.08.07 - Today the BBC has an article about his palm oil production for biofuels in Kalimantan has displaced numerous farmers off the land, some without any compensation. The EU’s promise to replace 10% of its transportation fuel, along with other demands for biofuels had pushed large companies to produce the crop however possible, in some cases leading to abuse of local farmers. Still negotiations are beginning to take place, some with the help of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which brings together retail, producers, and a variety of NGOs.

08.17.07 - An article in the BBC today says that a UK based team of scientist believe that reforestation and habitat protection would provide better results per square foot, than using the land to produce crops for biofuels. However, they do explain that so called second generation biofuels, meaning those that use feedstock, such as straw, grasses and wood, rather than grain and palm oils offered much better land conversion rates.

08.22.07 - Today the Guardian has an article about how the demand for biofuels, specially those made out of Maize have caused tortilla prices in Mexico to soar. Tortillas are a staple food in Mexicans diets, and the food item that has historically kept the poorest people from starving. The Mexican government negotiated a price freeze in February, but there is still fear that increase demand for Maize for fuel production will continue to jeopardize people’s ability to avoid hunger.

Image info here.