Data + Design Project

Brightening Up NYC for Earth’s Most Precious Resource

Monday 04.23.2012 , Posted by

If you’ve ever been to Manhattan and gazed at the magnificent skyline, you may have noticed that most of the buildings are topped with huge wooden water tanks. I lived there for 2 years before they were pointed out to me on a boat cruise around the island. It turns out that they aren’t ancient relics from the past, but are actually still used today on all buildings over six stories throughout the 5 boroughs. They use gravity to provide water pressure and protect the pipes from bursting. Just as these crucial devices have gone unnoticed by many, so has the water crisis that we are facing today. [Read more...]

Not A Drop to Drink: America’s Very Real Water Crisis

Thursday 04.05.2012 , Posted by

In southern California we hear about a water crisis every year around springtime, when the cold is being flung away and our bones are ready to defrost in the warmth of the sun. Each year we hear about the water crisis, but what does that mean? The average American household seems to think that water flows from the faucet in nearly endless quantities, but while most people don’t think that water is something we’re in danger of losing anytime soon, this graphic shows why water quantity and quality should be a top issue. The four major components of the issue covered here: consumption, conservation, quality, infrastructure, and their interconnectedness. [Read more...]

Flooding the Amazon for Ineffecient Energy

Monday 12.26.2011 , Posted by

The jaguar in position in the Xingu river at the site of the Belo Monte dam
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With a world full of over 7 billion people, many governments have trended toward desperate fixes to keep up with the increased needs of their people. Unfortunately the worlds ever increasing appetite for energy often comes at the cost of nature. In Brazil, yet another large scale energy project has been launched, the Belo Monte dam. It is planned to be the world’s third largest in installed capacity.  However, it will only produce 39% of its maximum capacity, so the majority of its effect on the environment will not even produce energy.  David de Rothschild, the adventurer behind the well-known Plastiki project, has started a new organization named MYOO to address environmental irresponsibility just like this [Read more...]

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Preserve 4% of oceans to save sea mammals

Monday 08.29.2011 , Posted by

Preserving just 4 percent of the ocean could protect crucial habitat for the vast majority of marine mammal species, according to researchers at Stanford University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.Of the 129 species of marine mammals on Earth, including seals, dolphins, and polar bears, approximately one-quarter are facing extinction. [Read more...]

Richard Branson Gives Island To Lemurs

Wednesday 04.20.2011 , Posted by

Not many animals can say their new best friend is a British billionaire but lemurs are proud to announce such extraordinary news. Sir Richard Branson has taken an interest in the cute, furry little primates and has decided to turn one of his private Caribbean Islands into a lemur paradise. Lemurs are native to the island of Madagascar, located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa, and is the only place in the world where lemurs live in the wild. A coup in 2009, and the rise of illegal logging in Madagascar’s rainforests, threaten to destroy the endangered animals habitat and push them further towards extinction. Sir Richard looks to create a preserve to help the lemur step back from the brink; but his aim at cultivating lemurs in an environment — which isn’t their own natural habitat — has garnered criticisms as to how the lemurs will affect the islands natural habitat and ecosystem.

[Read more...]

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