Hans Rosling Makes Statistics Fun

I'm not joking when I say this is the coolest way I've ever seen to create graphics from data. Edward Tufte would be impressed. I know I usually keep my articles focused on environmental issues, but I have to stray this time. Hans Rosling gives a demonstration of his software Gapminder (now owned by Google) using data comparing third world statistics with those of the developed world. Often times the data on regions like Africa are lumped into one group on a visual scale, and Rosling shows that when split into more distinct countries, the similarities become less and less. What this means for the world, he explains, the that the policy for one country in need of aid should be based on the real information, not just generalized ideas about the region.
Not like any power point presentation I've ever seen. I imagine this kind of tool coulld be a great means of providing data for all sorts of projects. See for yourself, the possibilities for this tool are endless.
TED video with Hans Rosling, the world's first statics sports caster.
For the link to check out gapminder data visualization for yourself

Paul Hawken Gathers Largest Social Movement in the History of Mankind

"We are not alone."
I went to another great lecture by the folks at the Long Now Foundation last night. Paul Hawken spoke to a standing-room-only crowd about the latest social group of over 100 million people and growing- the environmental and social justice movement.
I could rave on, but I'll let my pal Stewart Brand sum it up, since he's been doing this since before I (and my mother) were born:

"The title of Paul Hawken's talk, "The New Great Transformation," has two referents, he explained. Economist Karl Polanyi's 1944 book, THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION, said that the "market society" and modern nation state emerged together in Europe after 1700 and divided society in ways that have yet to be healed.

Karen Armstrong's 2006 book, THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION, explores "the Axial Age" between 800 and 200 BC when the world's great religions and philosophies first took shape. They were all initially social movements, she says, acting on revulsion against the violence and injustice of their times.

Both books describe conditions in which "the future is stolen and sold to the present," said Hawken--- a situation we are having to deal with yet again.

His new book, BLESSED UNREST, was inspired by the countless business cards that earnest environmentalists would hand him after his lectures all over the world. After a while he had 7,000, and he wondered, "How many environmental groups are there in the world?" He began actively building a now-public database, WiserEarth.org, which includes social justice and indigenous rights organizations because he found they indivisibly overlap in their values and activities.

The database now has 105,000 such organizations. The still-emerging taxonomy of their "areas of focus" has 414 categories, amounting to a "curriculum of the 21st century"--- Acid Rain, Living Wages, Tropical Moist Forests, Peacemaking, Democratic Reform, Sustainable Cities, Environmental Toxicology, Watershed Management, Human Trafficking, Mountaintop Removal, Pesticides, Climate Change, Refugees, Women's Safety, Eco-villages, Fair Trade... Extrapolating from carefully inventoried regions to those yet to be tallied, he estimates there are over 1,000,000 such organizations in the world, adding up to the largest and fastest growing Movement in history.

The phenomenon has been overlooked because it lacks the customary hallmarks of a movement--- no charismatic leaders, no grand theory or ideology, no "ism," no defining events. The new activist groups are about dispersing power rather than aggregating power. Their focus is on ideas rather than ideology--- ideologies are clung to, but ideas can be tried and tossed or improved. The point is to solve problems, usually from the bottom up. The movement can never be divided because it is already atomized.

What's going on? Hawken wondered if humanity might have some collective intelligence that we don't yet understand. The metaphor he finds most useful is the immune system, which is the most complex system in our body--- more complex than the entire Internet--- massive, distributed, subtle, ingenious, and effective. The opposite of a hierarchical army, its power is in the density of its network. It deals with problems not through frontal attack but complex negotiation and rapprochement.

Much of the new movement, Hawken said, was inspired, at root, by the slavery abolitionists and by the Transcendentalists Emerson and his student Thoreau. Emerson declared that "everything is connected," and Thoreau wound up going to jail (and making it cool) by taking that idea seriously in social-justice terms.

Now, as in the Axial Age, activism comes from acting on the realization that "all life is sacred."

My favorite part of the lecture was when Paul linked the different movements through time. He started out with Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson and his lecture on Nature at Harvard. A young Henry David Thoreau was in attendance, and after graduation, Thoreau attached himself like a barnacle to the Emersons. Ralph's advice to David: write a journal. He did, and later his protest against unjust governance was published as a book titled "Civil Disobedience". It was that book which Mahatma Ghandi carried with him when he made his march for his people in India. Later, during the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. it was Rosa Parks who stood up to abuse as she rode the bus to classes on Civil Disobedience, where she and others like Dr. Martin Luther King JR. read about past agitators.
And it goes on and on. to where you and I are, right now.
It was great to sit there and feel connected to all the other people out there, all working towards one ideal- to look after future generations.

This lecture will be available soon for download, so check out the Long Now Website!

Visit Paul Hawken's website WiserEarth to check out our people, and register your organization!

Dr. Brian Fisher, Entomologist

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Brian Fisher, an expert on Ants. How funny it is that I'd just read the article about the leaf cutter ants of Sao Paulo!
I first learned of Brian's work a few years back when he curated an exhibit at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It was a comprehensive collection of live ant colonies, including a colony army ants so fierce they can bring down animals larger than humans. I must admit, I never looked at ants the same afterwards. They are truly worth looking at closely, with their diverse adaptations that make each one unique, and leave you to wonder how we could all come from the same planet.
Brian is currently working on a book and has collaborated on a website with maps, articles and photographs on ants. He has written more articles on ants than I can count, available to download from the California Academy of Sciences. He also is working on survey where people can catalogue their finds to create a map on the different species found in the Bay Area. Brian admitted he loves his work so much he wants everyone to share his information, but recently someone stole some information on the web and claimed it as their own. Brian has to date discovered over 800 species of ants in his explorations. And he's a nice guy, so if you use any of his work, make sure you give him the credit and link back to him so he can continue the research!

Check out AntWeb

So How Important is Water Conservation?

So what are the facts about water use in the United States, and why is it so important to find ways to conserve water?
I'm working on a project right now where I need to refamiliarize myself with the LEED standards for landscape. According to my latest LEED manual, Americans withdraw approximately 340 billion gallons of fresh water per day from rivers, streams and reservoirs. Wow, that's a lot of toilet flushes! In addition to surface sources, water is drawn from aquifers. In some parts of the US, the drain on aquifers have drawn water levels 100 feet lower in the ground. A very small amount of water is actually returned to the natural sources, creating a deficit every year of 3,700 billion gallons. Yes, that's 3,700 billion. As water tables get lower, finding water becomes more difficult, for humans and local forests, farms, and watersheds.
Landscaping accounts for 30% of water consumed in the US, (with some places like California using as much as 80% for their yards.)
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 mandated that water-conserving plumbing fixtures be installed to reduce water use in residential and commercial buildings. The amount of water used in agriculture has also decreased since the 50's, when water conservation policies began to be developed.
According to LEED, further steps to reduce water demands can save 30% or more each year.
Recycled water can be used for landscape irrigation, flushing toilets, custodial purposes and building systems. Capturing rainwater from the roof can also be used for these purposes.
Savings can reach thousands per year, resulting in almost immediate payback for water conservation infrastructure. As the cost of water increases (it already has gasoline beat) the savings return will also increase.
Don't know about LEED but want to know more? Check out their website!
American Rainwater Catchment Systems
Greywater Systems, Compost Toilets, Rain Collection
The Irrigation Association

SFWater Makes Nice with Bad Pet Owners

SF Public Utilities asks us this week to clean up after our pets. Nice start, but they could say a lot more. Pet feces don't just stink- they're an ecological disaster. So far they've been linked to the sudden collapse of the once-recovering populations of sea otters off the Pacific. I have a feeling the effects are not limited to sea otters, however. When you stop to think that there are 120,000 dogs in the city of San Francisco alone, and each dog poops at least once a day, well...thats a whole lot of shit.
Don't let your efforts to improve your local environment slip by pretending not to see when Sebbie or Sage or Fido poop in the ivy. You too make a difference.
for SFWater doggie request
NWF Green Pet report
Wikipedia on Sea Otters

Sunday is Earth Day

Wondering how you can make a difference? Check out Earth Day's official website for tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint, create life in your neighborhood, and send a message to our government that environment is your biggest concern.
Want to see music and celebrate? Check out Green Apple Music festival, with shows in Chicago, NYC and SAN Francisco.
Whatever you decide to do, get out there and have fun making a difference!

The Ultimate Guide to Invasive Species

I've been working on a restoration project in El Cerrito, East Bay of California. The site is a boyscout camp covered in the dread invader species of broom, called Genista monspessulanus. I searched for hours before finally finding this invaluable resource, the Invasive Species Database, listing thousands of invasive species from all over the world.

Hey California-What's all the Fuss About?

Ever wonder just why it is the state of California puts up such a huge fight over Global Warming and Carbon Reductions? Check out the Climate Change Report 2006 for insight as to why we Californians are up in arms about the environment.

Database of California Maps

Finally! I'm too poor as of yet to be able to afford ArchGIS or any other GIS related software, not to mention the new dual Mac platfrom to run Windows software. I was delighted to find this site with interdepartmental maps of California- for free! There are county maps and state maps covering everything from biohabitats to city lights to areas of predicted growth.
Check it out at http://frap.cdf.ca.gov/data/frapgismaps/select.asp

The Long View: Climate Change over 650,000,000 Years

A clock to run ten thousand years? A single disk that contains all the known languages of the world? Science fiction as an indicator of future technologies?
For those of you who love science, policy, and predicting the future, have I got a group for you! Check these guys out at The Long Now Foundation. Board members include Paul Hawkens, Stewart Brand of the Whole Earth Catalogue, the music producer Brian Eno, engineering genius Danny Hillis, Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine, Peter Schwartz of the Global Business network, and a whole cast of brilliant minds. Their goal is to promote long term thinking and policy making.
Part of their program is a lecture series once a month, at the Fort Mason Center in SF. All of their lectures are available to download, so check them out.
I Heart Long Now.

California to lead the way on carbon reduction

I just found a great website called The Environmental News Network. Here's the first article I found:
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California can move forward with its efforts to set the nation's first standards to cut tailpipe emissions from cars, light trucks and sport utility vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency said...
California has special authority under the federal Clean Air Act to set its own vehicle emissions standards because it began regulating air pollution before the federal government did in the 1970s. Ten other states have adopted California's standards, and Maryland is considering doing so, but they have to wait to implement them until the EPA grants California a waiver.

see full article