Solutions

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Science

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Global Drought Monitor

Sun, 2013-01-27 14:14 — Maeryn Obley

An working example of the Global Drought Monitor, focusing on Eurasia and Africa.

Image: An working example of the Global Drought Monitor, focusing on Eurasia and Africa.

drought.mssl.ucl.ac.uk - Benjamin Lloyd-Hughes and Mark Saunders

The Global Drought Monitor is a free internet application which monitors the severity of drought worldwide on an ongoing basis. The product will aid humanitarian relief by assisting warnings of potential food, water and health problems. The Global Drought Monitor will also benefit the general public, government and industry by improving awareness of droughts and their impacts.

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Climate

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Flu virus can tell time

Fri, 2013-01-25 19:25 — Maeryn Obley

Submitted by Luis Kun

mountsinai.org - January 17th, 2013

Scientists have discovered that that the flu virus can essentially tell time, thereby giving scientists the ability to reset the virus' clock and combat it in more effective ways. According to researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the flu knows how much time it has to multiply, infect other cells, and spread to another human being. If it leaves a cell too soon, the virus is too weak. If it leaves too late, the immune system has time to kill the virus.

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Searching social media sources by geography

Sat, 2012-11-17 13:30 — Maeryn Obley

submitted by Samuel Bendett

homelandsecuritynewswire.com - November 16th, 2012

Geofeedia has created a group of algorithms that can search multiple social media sources by geography in real time.

“You just type in a place name, address and zip code (to find a Tweet, video or image),” CEO Phil Harris told the Chicago Sun Times.

Harris started and financed the company with chief operating officer Mike Mulroy and chief technology officer Scott Mitchell.

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China Is Building A Huge Eco-City Where No One Will Need To Drive

Mon, 2012-11-12 16:58 — Maeryn Obley

Imagined car-free 'Great City'. © Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

Image: Imagined car-free 'Great City'. © Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

businessinsider.com - November 2nd, 2012 - Alex Davies

Outside Chengdu, in central China, a 78 million square foot site has been determined for an unconventional sort of construction project. It will be a city built from scratch, for 80,000 people, none of whom will need a car to get around.

The "Great City" is a plan for an ambitious urban center designed to limit its residents environmental impact by producing clean energy, reducing waste, and promoting public transportation over individual car use.

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Sustainable Development

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Stop Talking About the Weather and Do Something: Three Ways to Finance Sustainable Cities

Sat, 2012-11-10 23:12 — Maeryn Obley

Submitted by Albert Gomez

hbswk.hbs.edu - November 6th, 2012

The wrath of Hurricane Sandy has illuminated a fundamental question: How do we ensure that our cities are resilient in the face of inevitable future disasters? A destroyed city is not a sustainable city. I'm making the case that it's time to stop complaining about climate change.

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Cities

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The Great Transition, Part II: Building a Wind-Centered Economy

Sun, 2012-11-04 12:39 — Maeryn Obley

earth-policy.org - October 31st, 2012 - Lester R. Brown

In the race to transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy and avoid runaway climate change, wind has opened a wide lead on both solar and geothermal energy. Solar panels, with a capacity totaling 70,000 megawatts, and geothermal power plants, with a capacity of some 11,000 megawatts, are generating electricity around the world. The total capacity for the world’s wind farms, now generating power in about 80 countries, is near 240,000 megawatts. China and the United States are in the lead.

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Turning Rural Indians Into Water Entrepreneurs

Thu, 2012-11-01 19:15 — Maeryn Obley

Water filtration system.

Image: Water filtration system.

fastcoexist.com - November 1st, 2012 - Whitney Pastorek

In Sanskrit, jal is the root for “water,” and sarva is the root for “everyone.” Put them together, and you’ve got exactly what Sarvajal delivers: Water for all. Originally launched as a nonprofit experiment in 2007, the company has grown into a thriving hub-and-spoke model of over 150 Sarvajal franchisees operating small reverse-osmosis filtration plants and revolutionary Water ATMs in India’s northwestern states, and its potent combination of entrepreneurship, common sense, and tech savvy has made a significant change in the quality of life for thousands of rural Indian villagers. “In 60 years of existence, India has always had getting clean water to people as the last mile at the top of its list of things to do,” says Sarvajal CEO Anand Shah. “We figured that if you put a lot of smart people on this idea, maybe you could come up with a solution.”

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Missing Voices: How Can We Get More ‘Doers’ to the Social Innovation Table?

Thu, 2012-11-01 14:22 — Maeryn Obley

submitted by Albert Gomez

http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu - October 1st, 2012 - Kriss Deiglmeier

A number of reports have crossed my desk recently about how to accelerate and advance social innovation. There are reports on collective impact, convenings on impact investing, and conferences about measuring outcomes to name just a few.

These gatherings and reports come from credible sources, and so their recommendations influence the agendas of leaders, funders, and investors.

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Development

Ideas

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Great City: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Unveil Plans For China's First Self-Sufficient, Carless City

Thu, 2012-10-25 23:19 — Maeryn Obley

Design mock-up of the self-sufficient carless city.

Image: Design mock-up of the self-sufficient carless city.

submitted by Samuel Bendett

inhabitat.com - October 25th, 2012 - Beth Buczynski

Many may perceive China as a crowded, polluted country, but that legacy is changing. Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture just unveiled its master plan for Chengdu Tianfu District Great City, a self-sustaining satellite city that offers a solution to the problems of overburdened infrastructure and high pollution levels that assail many of China’s major urban centers.

The project envisions a city that avoids the high energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with suburban sprawl. According to the architects, Great City will be developed by Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co., Ltd. over the next eight years. When completed, it will be home to about 30,000 families totaling 80,000 people.

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Sustainable Development

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