The Potenco Pull-Cord Generator (PGC) is on display at the exhibit.

The designers of the Potenco Pull-Cord Generator (PCG) explain, “The PCG is a handheld human-powered generator that keeps portable electronic devices running anywhere, anytime. To operate, simply hold the PCG in the palm of one hand, pull the cord with the other hand, and generate instant energy.
The first application of the PCG will power the XO Laptop from the One Laptop Per Child project. Five minutes of pulling generates one hour of active use on the XO Laptop.”

“Design and the Elastic Mind”

A 2008 exhibit at MoMa The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

“Design and the Elastic Mind explores the reciprocal relationship between science and design in the contemporary world by bringing together design objects and concepts that marry the most advanced scientific research with attentive consideration of human limitations, habits, and aspirations. The exhibition highlights designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and history—changes that demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior—and translate them into objects that people can actually understand and use. This Web site presents over three hundred of these works, including fifty projects that are not featured in the gallery exhibition. “

The website for the exhibit is really killer.  Works are categorized by headings such as:

• “Tinkering”
• “People and Objects”
• “Design for Debate”
• “Visualization”
• “Thought to Action”
• “All Together Now”
• and “Super Nature”

See here for an article about the exhibit written by Matthew Waxman on WorldChanging.com.

It looks like a cross between a fish and a spaceship. A spacefish? Or an electric car that gets 300 mpg. The Aptera goes from 0-60 in 10 seconds, recharges in 3 hours, comes in all-electric or electric plug-in hybrid and even has cup holders. The flashy name? Greek for “wingless flight”.

Mathieu Lehanneur‘s Bel Air is an air filtering system  that utilizes plants and greenery. It is “a domestic spacecraft. A live filter which absorbs undesirable effects of contaminated air by the profusion of manufactured goods. Bel Air uses plants selected for their filtering ability.”

The first is a simple but smart cutout in a bathroom paper towel dispenser. As the towels get used, the level of green slowly disappears representing the destruction caused by use of similar disposable paper products.

The second is this billboard about climate change and rising sea levels. It uses a shade canopy to create the illusion of rising water. See the video demo below.

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship provides unparalleled platforms at the country, regional and global levels that highlight social entrepreneurship as a key element to advance societies and address social problems in an innovative and effective manner.

“Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Since 1981, we have elected over 1,800 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries.”

“To accelerate social change, Echoing Green invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions. Through a two-year fellowship program, we help our network of visionaries develop new solutions to society’s most difficult problems. These social entrepreneurs and their organizations work to solve deeply-rooted social, environmental, economic, and political inequities to ensure equal access and to help all individuals reach their potential. To date, Echoing Green has invested $25 million in seed funding to nearly 450 social entrepreneurs and their innovative organizations.”

www.echoinggreen.org

“The Original Living Christmas Tree Company (TOLCTC) makes it convenient for you to have a live tree. You don’t have to haul it around or buy a pot or have a place to plant it. TOLCTC takes care of all that for you. By renting a tree from us your tree will be planted by groups like; watershed councils, parks departments, churches and schools. This is our Sixteenth year. Over two thousand trees have been planted. See the link to news stories about us at the bottom of this page. Living Christmas Trees are planted where they grow old and improve the environment.”

A movie from Annie Leonard that premiered online today.

“From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.”

This project started because I graduated from college. That’s the short answer to a longer story, I suppose. I graduated from college and found all the momentum I had built up in school as far as what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go all come to a screaming halt. I then found myself spending a long time reading about amazing design-based solutions to social, economic, and environmental problems. I spent some time learning about the idea of being a social entrepreneur and decided that this sounded like a pretty good idea.

The long answer to a short story is that I spent a lot of time wandering aimlessly through the blog rolls, posts, and world of social entrepreneurship, design-based problem solving, and sustainable solutions. I realized that if I, a somewhat web savvy person, with tons of resources and time was having difficulty wading through this thick soup, many other people probably have a tough time of it also.

Inspired by the work of the Internet Archive, my mother’s public library, Good Magazine, the many amazing ideas I’ve seen floating around lately, and so many others.

I hope this works out.