Tag Archive for 'future-proof'

Svalbard Seed Vault Update

jackson published on February 4, 2008 in technology and zeitgeist. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .


(image via treehugger)

For those of you who read the Dec. 6/07 post about the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, here’s an update. It seems as though the first shipment of seeds are now making their way to the Vault. Once there, they will help to ensure the survival of indeginous plant species for future Earthlings. Nothing wrong with that.

from treehugger:
“Twenty-one boxes filled with 7,000 unique seed samples from more than 36 African nations were shipped to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a facility being built on a remote island in the Arctic Circle as a repository of last resort for humanity’s agricultural heritage.

The shipment, which was sent by the Ibadan, Nigeria-based International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), consists of thousands of duplicates of unique varieties of domesticated and wild cowpea, maize, soybean, and Bambara groundnut. The seeds from the IITA genebank in Ibadan, Nigeria, were packed in 21 boxes weighing a total of 330 kg. The processing by IITA staff took several months, and the boxes were packaged over a three-day period, with 10 staff checking the accession list, reporting errors, and adjusting the inventory, as needed.”

X-Prizes

jackson published on December 8, 2007 in technology and zeitgeist. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

X-Prizes are amazing things.

Competition and collaboration bring out the best in our species.
And by setting up a framework of competitive collaboration, the Ansari Foundation has done our species an incalculable good.

It is staggering to think that because of a competition, the first private space tourism company now exists, and will soon begin shuttling people into orbit.

Now, with the Lunar, Genome, and Automotive X-Prizes in full swing, we humans have a lot to look forward to.

A brief rundown:

Lunar: First team to launch, land, and operate a rover on the lunar surface. US$20 million to the first team to land a rover on the moon that successfully roves more than 500 meters and transmits back high definition images and video.

Genome (Archon): First Team that can build a device and use it to sequence 100 human genomes within 10 days or less, with an accuracy of no more than one error in every 100,000 bases sequenced, with sequences accurately covering at least 98% of the genome, and at a recurring cost of no more than $10,000 (US) per genome. Winning team wins US$10 million.

Automotive: Well, the exact guidelines are being decided, but the idea is a safe passenger car that gets 100mpg or more and can be mass-produced for less than 30k. I’m hazy on this one, but we’ll know more soon.

Here are all three sites:

Google’s Lunar X-Prize.

Genome X-Prize.

Automotive X-Prize.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, we steadily accumulate the technologies that will ensure our survival.

We need many X-Prizes. What about an AIDS vaccine X-Prize? Clean Water for All Humans X-Prize? So many choices.

Eco-Cities

jackson published on December 7, 2007 in art and technology. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Okay, I have two very important names for you to remember:

Ready?

Dongtan and Masdar.

What are Dongtan and Masdar?
Our planets first two eco-cities. That’s right, carbon neutral, energy EXporting, green cities. Right here on planet Earth.

Dongtan is in China, while Masdar is near Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

This is such an exciting time to be alive! The end of the fossil fuel era! The dawn of the Solar-Electric era!
Living today is like living at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, but with better hair and less cholera.
No, I’m serious. With the rapidly evolving Global conciousness, and the incredibly exciting work being done with DNA and stem cells, plus the commercial exploration of space, the Earth is like San Fran at the start of the Gold Rush.

Alright, I’m mixing my metaphors here, but in ten years time you could move to and reside in a city that consumed no external power, had no waste, a city powered solely by the sun.

Life is sweet.


Masdar.
The Masdar Energy Co’s site


Dongtan.
The Dongtan Dev. site

Wiki: Dongtan
Wiki:Masdar
treehugger article on Dongtan.
treehugger article on Masdar.

Corn Plastic Fantastic!

jackson published on December 6, 2007 in food, technology and zeitgeist. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

As a species, we are so smart.
When we realize that something is bad for our environment, we invent things to replace them.

Case is point, most cities are banning plastic bags, let’s go one further, let’s ban all non-recyclable plastic!

Instead, let’s use products like these!


Hot drink cups from Ecowise.com.


Cold drink cups from KelseyPromo.


Vegetable packaging from EarthFirst Plastics.



Corn plastic shopping bags from Biobag USA

We can use these products for parties and such, then compost all of them at home, quietly and comfortably. Very green.

The future is looking a little less crude.

Ecowise, EarthFirst Plastics, Kelsey Promo and BioBag, you four get today’s SuperForest Good Person award. Well done. (I know there are more companies making bioplastics, but we’ll give them awards in due time.)

Curious what it is and how it’s made? Check out wikipedia’s entry on Bioplastic.

And also check out: Bioplastics24

Svalbard Global Seed Vault

jackson published on December 6, 2007 in food, technology and zeitgeist. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .



Apparently, some folks are taking our rapidly changing climate seriously. Hence the construction of a seriously well thought out seed vault on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near the town of Longyearbyen (population 1900) in the remote arctic Svalbard archipelago.

Think of it as a Noah’s Ark for plants.

From wikipedia:

“The Svalbard International Seed Vault’s mission is to store as many seeds known to humans as possible, under the terms of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The goal is to prevent important agricultural and wild plants from becoming rare or extinct in the event of a global disaster such as global warming, a meteorite strike, nuclear or biological warfare, or gene pollution from transgenic plants. There are already over 1400 local seedbanks around the world, but many are in politically unstable or environmentally threatened nations. When this seedbank is built, the vault will be secure and isolated from much of the world’s population.”

It’s nice to know it will be there. Let’s hope we don’t have to rely on it.
Wait a second, I think we should immediately begin construction of our OWN seed vault! We cannot allow a seed vault gap!

Here’s their site: Svalbard Global Seed Vault