Help Paul Nicklen Protect Our Environment

Photographer Paul Nicklen wants to connect people to the environment. His photos tell people what's happening in the Arctic and Antarctic. For instance, sea ice is disappearing, affecting polar bears, microorganisms and a host of other creatures and their food chain. With it, an entire ecosystem is disappearing. Yet one picture of a bear dying of starvation can change our perception of the effects of climate change and connect us to the problem, and the issues.

See Paul's amazing photos on his website and hear him talk on TED:

Learning from the Floods

As the Mississippi River's waters rise to levels unseen since the 1930s, and floodgates are opened to relieve pressure from the swollen river, scientists hope to turn these dire circumstances into an opportunity to study how the river behaves.

Researchers at Louisiana State University are looking at where the river will deposit sediment, the silt and sand in the water, and how the land around the river can be built up. In fact Louisiana has been losing about a football field of land per hour due to the fact that the Mississippi River has been engineered to prevent floods, and consequently it no longer drops sediment on the land, which is how the Mississippi River delta, including Louisiana and its cities, was formed. The absence of sediment also means the valuable wetlands are being lost, causing the loss of protection against hurricanes and storm surges from the sea.

Although devastating for many residents along the river, the terrible floods will allow scientists to determine how to stop the problem of land erosion. Observing how the silt is deposited and where it goes will reveal how to direct the silt to certain areas of land that can be built up. Then the flood waters could be directed to the areas that need the silt.

Go to the BBC's Science in Action programme of May 19 to hear more on this study.

Helping to Protect the Amazon

No one will argue hard against preserving the Amazon. The region is acknowledged as comprising the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world. Yet deforestation and environmental damage are extensive, due to farming practices, livestock pasture clearing and settlements. Many efforts have been put into place to save the Amazon rainforest, but much remains to be done.

Martin von Hildebrand and his Gaia Amazonas Foundation are steadily working to establish protected areas, managed by indigenous communities. Hildebrand recognizes the ability and value of indigenous populations to preserve their own environment.

Hildebrand first moved to the Amazon of Colombia in the 1970s to do research for his PhD in ethnology. There he witnessed the effects of environmental devastation from rubber extraction, gold mining and the processing of cocoa. In the 1980s he worked to obtain land rights for indigenous groups, and in 1994 he established Gaia Amazonas to help "these communities gain control of their territories, livelihoods and development based on their traditional knowledge and cultural values," according to the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurhip. Since then Gaia Amazonas has secured 24 million hectares of Colombian Amazon for the 60,000 indigenous people who live there. It has also "set up 16 local indigenous organizations, with legal status and exercising local governance; 84 indigenous community schools; 9 indigenous health programs based on traditional medicine; and official spaces for negotiatons between indigenous organizations and goverment, which has led to the decentralization of state programmes and joint policy decisions."

Get involved in the Gaia Foundation and help preserve our global ecosystem. Click here to find out how.

Creating Passion for the Value of Science

Daria Lopez-Alegria is an astrophysicist with a passion for stimulating dialogue about science and its impact on society. She is an entrepreneur and policy strategist whose out-of-the-box thinking associated with her work building connections among various global communities—scientists, academics, business executives and civic leaders—has spread the word, and helped the corporate and public worlds reach a common understanding of the tangled issues of technology innovation, sustainability and prosperity.
Daria is the founder of the S3 Initiative (space, science, society), a series of “learning exchanges” built to advance knowledge by demystifying science and turning new perspectives into opportunities by building connections and shared experience among the people who make policy, development and investment decisions that take into account the long-term benefit of society.

Through her S3 communiqués, called “Scientifically Yours”, Daria puts science on everyone’s doorstep. “Science impacts us every day, everywhere—yet a poverty of understanding or a fear of complexity holds us back. Are we fully informed when we cast our referendum votes to authorize use of new energy technologies or approve economic development with environmental impact? Can we converse about the intersection of science and faith? Or help a child understand what ‘carbon footprint’ means?” she asks.

Through the S3 Initiative and her consultancies, Space Bridges and Science Bridges, Daria inspires passion for discovery. She shares the joy of science, highlighting festivals, fairs, exhibits, conferences and lectures worldwide so more people can experience science and space first hand, and also organizes and produces some special events to that end. Through all of these she “builds the case for investing in science education to train our children and future generations in the rigorous and creative processes of exploration,” she says.

This once local, now international community aims to expand the exchange by sharing even more information and making ever-more connections worldwide. Daria believes wholeheartedly that: “By creating opportunities for exchange, we can expand perspective and create passion for the value of science.”

THE 99 - Superheroes from 99 Countries

With a view to providing positive role models for children in the Islamic world, Naif Al Mutawa created the Teshkeel Media Group and THE 99, comic book heroes working together to improve the world. The idea behind these children's adventures is to "tell universally relevant stories" that promote "diversity, multiculturalism, personal responsibility and personal accountability", as quoted in Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs 2011. THE 99 comics have so far been translated into 8 languages, with editions in Bangladesh, France, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Teshkeel Media Group states that by "Drawing upon our own history, culture and traditions, we aim to provide positive and inspirational images for children by creating properties that they can relate to." It's also good to remind the world that Islam's global values are shared by most humans everywhere, including honesty, peace, knowledge and tolerance.

For more on this useful initiative, here is the TED video with Naif Al Mutawa:

Peace Police

Is there ever any good news from slums? Yes! In Rio's famed favelas, law enforcement efforts are cleaning out the drug gangs, police officers occasionally take part in the outdoor activities of residents and children play in the streets in what used to be extremely dangerous neighborhoods. It's been two and a half years since "police pacification units" have been introduced in Rio's most treacherous slums, including in one almost everyone has heard of, City of God. The aim is to establish these units in 160 communities. And Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff wants to introduce the program to other cities.

Although drug dealing, violence, fear and suspicion have not disappeared from Rio's favelas, the large police presence has improved conditions there for thousands of residents; more kids are going to school, garbage is being collected, crime has fallen and police officers are offering language and music lessons and even free karate classes.

It will take a long time before Brazil's slums are normal neighborhoods, but slowly but surely a "force for good" is transforming them into safer places where little by little the inhabitants are learning to trust each other and the police, and to understand drug trafficking and violence are not the only options available to them.

See The New York Times article and video, Taming the City of God, for more on this tremendous effort.

Paint that Doesn't Get Dirty

Learn about a paint that is self-cleaning -- it simply doesn't get dirty. It's a biomimicry product, meaning its design is inspired by nature. In this case it is based on the phenomenon of water beading on a lotus leaf. The water turns into beads that slide down the leaf walls, which reduces the spread of algae, bacteria, fungus and other organisms that proliferate in dirty conditions. The plant in essence cleans itself. The paint, called StoLotusan Color, which imitates this effect, has been developed by Sto Corp. The company prides itself in "ensuring that the world in which we live is designed and built in line with environmental requirements and our needs as human beings."  Sto's motto is "building with a conscience". This is good news indeed!