Google oggling Wiki style

Today I stumbled across Google's Image Labeler, which helps to improve the quality of Google's image search results. I was randomly paired with an online 'partner'. Over a 90-second period, he/she and I were shown the same set of images and asked to provide as many labels as possible to describe each image in the set. Presumably, matching labels are added to Google's list for that image.

At the time of writing, it's still in BETA stage and is a little shaky. There's no financial reward but it's a very useful little procrastination device. If you've done as many image searches as I have, you may find this quite fascinating because you get a small insight into other people's instinctive perceptions of what they're looking at. The trick is not to get suckered into providing really obvious labels just to guarantee there'll be a match with the other player.

It struck me that - like many attempts at democratising web-services - it could just end up dumbing down (and slowing down) the search process. I then decided to do a bit of armchair eco-activism.... or reality-checking. For this image, my partner came up with: "blue", "sky", "flying", "plane".
I on the other hand, offered: "vapour trail", "pollution", "emissions" and "climate change".

If you and your partner don't get a match, you won't be able to see each other's suggestions at the end, so it's important to add in an obvious word before the 90 seconds is up. That way, even if you haven't succeeded at influencing Google's search results, you will be able to challenge the perceptions of the dude you've just partnered with (as long as they choose to view your suggestions at the end of the game).

Right, now that the future of the planet is safe again, I think I'll make a cup of tea.


P.S. If you're ever partnered with Katspike, you'll be playing me.

2007: The Hottest Year Ever!

I have a twisted tendency to get excited about record-breaking events related to climate change. Tornados in Birmingham and London, Hurricane Katrina, the floods in Mozambique. There was even a slight twinge of vindication when I first heard the news that the World Trade Centre was a target for protest. A quick chain of assumptions was shackled together in my head: capitol of capitalism > consumption > oil > inequality > backlash > end of Bush > end of consciousless capitalism. I still think this tiny sliver of silvery lining in such a thick black cloud will result in a positive step forward in the great scheme of things... it's got to after such an historically painful chain of events.

Basically, if a disaster qualifies as a headline story... and the media alludes to a link with climate change - I take solace in the fact that the message is getting through... Trouble is, with every new disaster comes compassion fatigue and the assumption that it's inevitably going to get worse and worse and the only thing you can do to forget about it is to distract yourself.

Ironically, the most common distraction of 'choice' is retail therapy. Being an eco- designer doesn't stop me from partaking in this dirty litle habit. I try and consume my neighbours' waste (skip-dive) and then wrack my brain to find a way of re-incarnating their dead products and leftovers as useful or at least mildly attractive objects. It recently hit me, that for the most part, I make storage solutions ... in order to hide away my own stuff and pretend I live a minimalist life.

I am now baby-sitting half of my friend's stuff for a year while she flies off to 'live lightly' on the other side of the world for a year or two. I had to witness the painful take-it/store-it/chuck-it ritual and couldn't help being drawn into the debate about whether she'd be able to sell her Radio-Shack cassette tape player on Ebay or not.... or indeed, could an African child adopt it?

This said, my new year's resolution is to waste less time worrying about waste, waste less space storing stuff so as not to waste it and waste less time trying to find the stuff I've stored.

This said, I'm not going to completely give in to the temptations of disposable products. I'm not going to absolve my guilt by dumping cheap tack outside the nearest charity shop. I'm not just going to drive to the recycling centre to dump my guilt.


RECYCLE, RE-USE, REDUCE, REJECT
My problem is not the junk that I buy... being a proper designer, I spend hours agonising over every purchase, whether for me or a gift for someone else. I always choose the best thing I can nearly afford and (usually) only what I really need. My problem is all those thought-that-counts gifts and the stuff I've saved simply because I coudn't face the fact that no-one else was using it.

I need to implement my own environmental policy. "I don't want or need anything for Christmas" will never be an acceptable answer for some of my friends and relatives. I need to do what I expect from responsible multinationals at a personal level and put pressure on my 'suppliers' else I'll continue to end up with, or more importantly, my son will continue to receive all the tack in China. At least this year we kept our side of the 'one present each' bargain... which is a start!

2007 will be about getting rid of what we can't store and cleverly storing what we can. It will be about letting people - not stuff or TV shows - back into our home. I can amuse them with my almost fetishistic positive spin on all things disastrous (man-made or otherwise). For instance, in terms of what not to talk about at dinner parites, Iraq now encompasses every taboo (religion, politics and even sex) in one topic... but on the lighten up people: Saddam's dead, Rumsfeld's finally been thrown out and next year, Bush WILL be too (insha'Allah).

If the Met office is right - and as a long suffering, self-righteous eco-warrior, I hope they are - London's streets and Victorian buildings are not pleasant places to endure record-breaking temperatures. Come cool yourselves in our basement flat and shady garden. The green shoots are already peeping through the soil!

BBC NEWS | UK | Many councils 'bug' rubbish bins

My Rubbish Rant

Did anyone else catch Real Story on BBC2 last night? It was an expose piece on the move to fortnightly rubbish collections.

Residents were complaining of rats, flies and maggots. One woman has started an online petition to increase rubbish collections because the stench of her bins has became too much to bear - “especially this year as it has been unusually hot” - why is that do you think? Could it be that the amount of shit you consume and then throw away is contributing to global warming? She printed out all the emails supporting her petition – completely oblivious to the irony!

I say: What about the health risks of overflowing landfill sites, groundwater contamination, the impact of the resulting methane gas on our atmosphere?

People are protesting on the streets, driving to the outskirts of town to fly-tip, beating up the bin-men. None of them can face the fact that they’re simply creating too much rubbish. Eastleigh southhampton doretta cox “exceptionally hot summer”
http://iccheshireonline.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/chesterchronicle/tm_objectid=14364940&method=full&siteid=50020&headline=-rat-lady--shares-dirty-secret-name_page.html
“These changes are putting public health at risk” she says. - What is the risk of climate change to public health, rat lady?

These protesters are getting their point across; 11 councils have reverted back to weekly collections. And yes, they do have some valid arguments:

On different coloured/shaped bins in different boroughs
"it should be the same across the country”
“people are angry and confused”
“councils just do their own thing”

Lincolnshire council has a recycle bins people complaining bins are too small. 1`
Family (3 kids) in Scunthorpe recycle as much as possible, including their teabags and rainwater, They've even got chickens. And yet every two weeks they still fill 6 black bin-bags with rubbish and end up driving to the local tip. Granted, the council does not provide paper and cardboard recycling - which is pretty pathetic - but that's probably because residents wouldn't agree to a council tax increase. At the end of the day, we've all got to stop bitching and just stop consuming so much in the first place.

I dispose roughly 50% less waste and recycle +/-50% more than most of my neighbours but have to pay the same council tax. I welcome the introduction of monitored waste and look forward to finally being rewarded for taking some responsibility! And yes, I do feel worthy!

Cork County Council (previously one of the worst recycling rates in Europe – now recycles 47%) Due largely to "Pay As You Throw" bin-weighing technology. One family saves 250 euros a year. Of course, fly-tipping is a growing problem. But with CCTV, and detectives with hidden cameras, more and more people are being fined.

Why fan the flames?
Fiona Bruce whispered: “secret ID chips are fitted under the lid of every bin”. If they’re so secret, why was the BBC allowed to film the factory installing them and why did the chief exec agree to explain the entire process. So, he didn’t reveal which councils have installed the chips. So what! Until the councils start charging, it’s irrelevant. The BBC needs to grow up!

Pluses & Minuses of Climate Change

When it comes to climate change it's not all doom and gloom. A report from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing (publ. 1997) was more optimistic about the effects than UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's report produced two years earlier (Climate Chane 2005).

Check it out:

China has experienced global warming in the past and flourished in past historic warm periods.

Global warming will make China's climate slightly warmer and moister.

Global warming will bring benefits such as extended growing seasons and more moisture to north China as well as harmful effects such as more and stronger typhoons in south China and flooding of densely populated coastal areas.

It seems as if many farmers are making a plan, i.e. 75-year old boatsman Hu Zeshen is seeking a patent for his amphibious vehicle and plans to use it on vacations. [more]

Leftover Art

As a kid I used to keep the outer frame of my plastic model kits until:
a) I could find something to do with them /
b) my mum threw them away.
Obviously Harm van den Dorpel has found the inspiration I was lacking.

Illinois Governor Establishes Climate Change Initiative

"...The impact of global warming from greenhouse gases in Illinois and around the globe could be devastating. We can’t wait for the federal government to act because experts have warned that if we don’t address global warming within the next decade, it may be too late to avoid serious and irreversible consequences."
—Governor Blagojevich, Illinois, US

Illinois will join the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX). As a CCX member, the state makes a voluntary, but legally binding, commitment to reduce GHG emissions from the electricity and fuel needed to operate state facilities and motor vehicles; the reduction target only applies to state government operations.
"By acting now we can take important steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and realize the economic development benefits that strategies to confront climate change can offer. Promoting energy efficient technology, homegrown renewable energy from wind power and biofuels as well as systems to trap and store carbon dioxide emissions will curtail our greenhouse gas emissions while triggering greater investment and job creation in Illinois."
—Doug Scott, Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and Chair of the Advisory Group
CCX is the world’s first, GHG emissions registry, reduction and trading system. CCX members are required to reduce GHG emissions by six percent by 2010, compared to their average emissions between 1998 and 2001. Members that cannot meet their emissions reductions targets can buy credits from members that have exceeded their required reductions, or from farmers or others who have reduced carbon releases to the atmosphere.

Onward and upward!

Hollywood does Hybrids

Of all the cars in the world, who would've guesed that the 2nd generation Toyota Prius would become the darling of Hollywood? Don't get me wrong, all this PR is well deserved for Toyota, who sunk millions on what was then seen as a very risky investment. It's just that I'm still baffled by their decision to make the original Prius look so naff... and then come out with a car that, somehow managed to cancel out all its green credentials with utterly offensive styling. maybe, like organic produce, they decided that the beauty should only be on the inside. My best guess is that Toyota did all the proper research in the market that matters, (the US). This would of course explain the styling, and in that context, the current Prius probably looks quite attractive parked amongst Detroit's ... er... products. Anyways, I thought this Pimped Up Prius was funny, so here's the recipe.

1. Take one ugly externally car
2. Marinade in a vat of American trans fats,
3. Allow 10 days to infuse,
Caution: do not spoil the nutritional value of the green stock
4. Liberally dress with chrome
5. Serve dish with Toyota warranty intact.

Climate Change - Big Ask

The Big Ask is calling for a Climate Change Bill to be passed in Parliament, which will make year-on-year cuts in carbon dioxide a law. This Friends Of the Earth campaign is backed by tens of thousands of people across the UK, and over half the MPs in Parliament. Now they (and all of us) need the Government to include a Climate Change Bill in the 2006 Queen's Speech.
Big Ask. Big Month. Big Lobby.
12 September - 11 October

Of course, many would argue that what they're asking for is not enough, but at least it's a realistic step in the right direction towards reducing our carbon footprints to a more sustainable level.

The Beautiful Game

WDM have produced this handy tool to help you choose who to shout for when your own team isn’t on the pitch.

Under-Developed v Over-Developed?

The Problem is the Solution.

Whenever I read about India & China's economic boom it starts a chain-reaction of dark thoughts of eco-doom.

As a designer what can I do about it?
1> Create a highly desirable car that can be made entirely from papier-mache? (No wait, the Trabant already exists).
2> Commission a chinese factory to produce an exclusive range of furniture made entirely from shampoo bottles... ensuring it'll be copied and sold internally - thus providing a use for all our plastic (i.e. one that doesn't involve incineration)?
3> Get stray dog-meat back on the menu in Soho?

I could go on, but I think I've been patronising enough. Every dark thought has it's opposite.
When asked for his view on western civilization, Ghandi replied: "I think it would be a good idea." And as for China, I'd like to thank Al Gore Labs for reminding me of this little fact: "The Chinese symbol for 'crisis' is in fact two symbols - one for danger and the other for opportunity. That is how I see the challenge of halting climate change - locally, nationally and internationally there are opportunities to advance economic and social progress, but there are also huge dangers." Of course you could say that the US has the same attitude but if you through the Yin Yang concept into the mix - you've got yourself an exciting superpower!

Telegraph | News | Cameron pledges to cut car emissions

Well, it's nice to see such a bloo-paper go a bit green. The Telegraph cleared up the debacle over David Cameron's journey to work. Well, in his defence, you can't really deny that the kind of papers he carries are not something you want nicked when you're lying unconscious on the pavement after being knocked off your bike by some prick in a Lexus. Plus, the box used to carry his ministerial papers is said to be lead-lined. That kinda beats my lever-arch file. Full article...

Of course, being the Telegraph, they did have to go and spoil an otherwise fairly balanced story by ending on a negative. Apparently 40 scientists are saying that the rest of the ever-growing global consensus (scientific, political, cultural, religious, etc.) have got it wrong and global warming is just a natural phenomenon. Yes it is natural, but I'm pretty sure it's a reaction that is proportional to our emissions. Just because it's a natural phenomena, doesn't make it OK. Nature can be nasty!

Milk Gone Wild!

Unnaturally beautiful women, wet-t-shirts and the milky white stuff flowing all over your face. Watch the ad that would embarrass football fans here.

Recycling is Rewarding!

We're not buying nearly enough recycled goods, making recycling collections an expensive business. Despite the fact that Lewisham has a massive incinerator (generating electricity from our waste) you have to give the council credit for the amount of effort they're finally putting into recycling facilities. We can now order big green wheelie-bins and even stand the chance of winning £500 if you recycle. Unfortunately for me, I only recently realised that you actually had to register online to stand a chance of winning. ..
1. Make sure you're filling your green box / wheelie bin, 2. Fill out and submit the short form. Now then, what's this I hear about our recycling being shipped to China and Brazil?...

Who Are The Magical Recycling Pixies?
I can't help but wonder how all this mixed recycling gets sorted, cleaned and graded. I'm guessing that's why a lot of it is out-sourced to developing countries where employee's rights and environmental laws are a little more lax. The World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association(US) is dedicated to "Fair Trade" standards for international recycling. Their view: "Exporters who mix unrepairable and toxic junk into loads of reuseable material are undermining charitable work, the environment, and sustainable employment."

Reduce: Bye Bye Bed

"Getting rid of my bed actually changed my life"
- Ben Weeks, Canada

Refresh & Reuse: train poster + 6yr old

Twin sisters, Ellen & Julia aim to reclaim the term 'designer' from empty styling. On their blog they attempt to apply design theory and practice to some basic problems of daily living. This example is of an innocent and well-intentioned act of train vandalism.
Design Your Life - Ad-aptive Reuse

Planet in a Petrie Dish

Billions and billions of self-organizing bacteria evolving in an environment poisoned with antibiotics... beautiful non-the-less
more...

A Death Row Blogger's Advice for Life

A Death Row Blogger's Advice for Life
Evans's blog is the leading edge of a strategy by death penalty opponents to use new technologies to make the same point to the wider public....

Everyday Goodness

Dutch Donny Cards make giving bite-sized donations easy.

Will saving American airline companies cost the earth?

The Guardian has discovered a draft of the 'Open Skies' treaty which includes a clause that makes imposing emmissions taxes on airlines even more diffcult than it already is.

Despite their significant and growing negative impact on the environment, the aviation industry is effectively subsidised as airlines are not required to pay tax on fuel. We need to start levying fees on every airline ticket, tailored according to the emissions of the flight, but the proposed treaty would make any such levy impossible without transatlantic agreement. The wording of the text is so broad that even future restrictions on night flights at Britain's airports could become difficult for the government to implement without US permission, because of the impact on incoming flights from America. Under the proposed deal, any American carrier would be allowed to operate flights between European cities.

"The European commission are much more concerned about it, much more in favour of measures to mitigate the impact, than the Americans are."
- airline executive

"If this goes through, we'll have sold out to America's airlines."
- Transport 2000

"This could be a recipe for almost the permanent stalling of any environmental advances on aviation."
- Liberal Democrats

Read more on Guardian Unlimited

Re-cycle

Apparently, 56% of Londoners use their doorstep recycling service every day... where do these 56% live exactly?