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This project is a game where people raise a virtual tree and then when the tree is fully developed you can choose a real location area where a real local NGO plants a tree and sends proof through social media.

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Now let's meet some social entrepreneurs from South Korea!

First, Mr. Hyung Soo Kim of Treeplanet

The initial idea behind Treeplanet was to develop a game ( Startup plants forests with crowdfunding, mobile game) in which you plant and raise a virtual tree. When it is fully grown, you can choose an actual deforested location-perhaps a part of the Amazon, or the deserts of Mongolia-where a real tree will be planted. Then a local NGO plants a real tree on the site of your choice, takes a picture of the sapling, and sends it to you via social media. You can leave a message for your tree, and your family and friends can like it and share it.

The funding comes from for-profit companies such as Hyundai Motors and Hanhwa Energy, who put their logos on in-game items such as bags of virtual fertilizer or watering cans. The land comes from local governments, because they like the idea of getting lots of trees planted at no cost to them!

In five years Treeplanet helped to plant more than 500,000 trees around the world. One key to the company's success was its "win-win" model, in which no participant stakeholder had to sacrifice. Now they are diversifying their methods to increase participation and get even more trees planted.

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Creating a Way for Everyone to Plant Trees: Treeplanet

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Now let's meet some social entrepreneurs from South Korea! First, Mr. Hyung Soo Kim of Treeplanet The initial idea behind Treeplanet was to develop a game ( Startup plants forests with crowdfunding, mobile game) in which you plant and raise a virtual tree.

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Melinda Gates’s Pivotal Ventures has invested US$50 million into an initiative called Gender Equality in Tech (GET) Cities, the goal of which is to get more women into tech. They do so by partnering with organizations to encourage more female computer science graduates and by making tech hubs more female-friendly.

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This social innovation project inspired me because as someone who has always been passionate about the arts, I enjoy seeing how it can help various communities as well as businesses.

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The start of a new year is always a time to reflect on growth and evolution, as well as a time to set intentions for how to move forward. If there's one thing we collectively tend to feel during this process, it's that change is hard.

This is just as true professionally as it is personally, and certainly even more true when we think about our organizations and systems. And yet, as agents of change, we can't just imagine the world as we want it to be and expect to magically get there; we have to-in large and small ways-learn new practices, shift our mindsets, and adjust our systems and protocols to enact this vision.

The growth of creative placemaking as a serious practice is not just about how many creative placemaking projects happen in the world-it is also about how we shift the relationships between and operating systems of artists, arts organizations, and the field of community development.

In November 2019, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco published a second, seminal journal issue of their Community Development Innovation Review entirely dedicated to the question of what changes when we invite arts and cultural strategies into the practice of community development (the first, "Creative Placemaking," was released five years prior in 2014). Titled "Transforming Community Development through Arts and Culture," this issue of the journal collects a series of essays and reflections that together seek to showcase why and how key community development leaders, organizations, intermediaries, and funders are learning to partner with artists, incorporate cultural lenses into their thinking, and address some of the most challenging issues in communities with newfound creativity. The journal issue was co-edited by the San Francisco Federal Reserve, ArtPlace America, and PolicyLink, a national research and action institute dedicated to advancing economic and social equity.

Chairman Mary Anne Carter delivered remarks at the journal's kick-off event at the Yerba Buena Arts Center in San Francisco to reinforce her essay in the journal-and celebrate the success of the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant program. Since 2010, Our Town, the signature creative placemaking program of the Arts Endowment, has helped diverse community leaders and organizations build partnerships to help transform communities into lively, beautiful, and resilient places with the arts at their core, and, in the spirit of the journal, have also helped community development institutions to do the systems change work of being able to regularly and sustainably partner with the arts and culture sector long-term.

You can read it all here-but what's in it?

Clocking in at 202 pages, reading the journal cover to cover may seem like an ambitious undertaking, but the journal has something for everyone-first-person accounts from community development organizations, essays by artists, commentary by researchers and leaders around the field, and analyses of policy and funding. Collectively, these articles show us that when artists are invited to help co-design processes in community development, the results are extraordinary.

The first and largest section is focused on the ArtPlace Community Development Investments program, which has invested deeply in six community development organizations, from the Cook Inlet Housing Authority in Anchorage, Alaska, to the Jackson Medical Mall Foundation in Jackson, Mississippi, to the Fairmount Park Conservancy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through three-year investments, ArtPlace challenged each of these organizations to work in a new way-and discover how arts and cultural strategies can help support and expand their missions and relate to the communities they serve in deeper and more inclusive ways. For example, in Zuni, New Mexico, local artists helped the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project design a new park to promote cultural resilience; in Southwest Minnesota, artists are helping the Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership to further incorporate new voices into community planning and design processes; and in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California, artists are helping the organization to design new anti-displacement strategies in a climate of rapid development. As the voices from these organizations and communities show, arts and cultural strategies have the potential to deepen community engagement and organizing practices; strengthen the social fabric of communities; and achieve key housing, health, and neighborhood goals.

We know this kind of work isn't just a passing trend, and it isn't just happening in the arts sector. It is taking hold both in community development organizations and in the systems that serve them. Major national community development agencies that drive conversations about national best practices are making deep investments to ensure that arts and culture become a part of community development long into the future. For example, recognizing the value of arts and culture to the community development field, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has incorporated creative placemaking as a key pillar of its Catalyzing Opportunity approach to economic development as a way of elevating community identity and power.

Now imagine the possibilities in a world where all community development begins with the visions and values of artists, culture-bearers, and our collective creativity rather than having to figure out how to include them down the line. In the final section of the journal, Rip Rapson of the Kresge Foundation and Michael McAfee of PolicyLink help us to understand that culture is a lens that helps us understand and process the world through our humanity, and that artists are an essential ingredient to have at the table in building equitable futures.

The key lesson throughout all of these pieces is that as a growing field, we need to continue to find ways to provide the space and resources not just for collaboration on individual projects, but for deep learning processes that brings new ways of working and knowing into all of the systems that are imagining and enacting new futures for communities. As that happens, the question no longer becomes, "Are the arts valuable investments in communities?" but rather, "How could we ever imagine doing community development without these lenses and practices informing every step of the way?"

In their article on Creating Process for Change, the Center for Performance and Civic Practices provides this logic for doing so-and inspiration that can take all of us into the new year!

If place is geography bound by shared meanings,
if place plus time equals change,
what does change do to meaning?
How is meaning shaped? By whom? For whom?

Artists keep, make, and transform meaning. It is what they do. Their relationship to place, in addition to inhabiting it, is to see it and listen to it. Whether intentionally or not, every creative act, every moment of imagination and expression in a place, contributes to that place's shape.

To read the journal, visit https://sffed.us/sffedarts and join the conversation on twitter at #SFFedArts!

This is the first of a series of essays celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Arts Endowment's Our Town program. Register for the National Endowment for the Arts Design + Creative Placemaking newsletter to catch the full series.

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Transforming Community Development through Arts and Culture

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The start of a new year is always a time to reflect on growth and evolution, as well as a time to set intentions for how to move forward. If there's one thing we collectively tend to feel during this process, it's that change is hard.

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Artificial Sun

Artificial lighting to encourage food growth in extreme climates.

Using artificial light to encourage food growth is nothing new, but it is scaling up rapidly. This technology – which uses light at specific wavelengths to help plants grow without the sun – could enable those in extreme climates to access fruits and vegetables.

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50 social impact innovations that might save the world - Board of Innovation

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From artificial car sounds that encourage plant growth to carbon-negative Fortune 500s, here are the most exciting social responsibility trends right now.

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The social innovation project that inspired me was climate control. This project is about a committee coming together to fight against climate control they are seeking the help of citizens. The committee apart of this project is looking to be more energy efficient.

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The social innovation project that inspired me was BlindSquare. This project was organized for blind, deafblind, and partially sighted. It is a GPS-app that self-voices, and delivers detailed points of interest and intersections for safe, reliable travel both outside and inside.
https://www.blindsquare.com/

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Congratulations are in order for Ashley Nemeth, motivational speaker, writer, and blogger for her feature in Canadian Geographic's magazine issue announcing the largest accessibility project in North America. In this article, Ashley shares her experience as an individual who is totally blind navigating through Wascana Park, Regina, and the enrichment that the BlindSquare app now...

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Congratulations are in order for Ashley Nemeth, motivational speaker, writer, and blogger for her feature in Canadian Geographic's magazine issue announcing the largest accessibility project in North America. In this article, Ashley shares her experience as an individual who is totally blind navigating through Wascana Park, Regina, and the enrichment that the BlindSquare app now...

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This young girl in Texas started a book club because books started to get banned. She wanted to talk about it so the banned books lead her to start a book club reading and talking about them. As others around the country are doing the same.

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book banning efforts are inspiring readers to form banned book clubs - cnn

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Book banning efforts are inspiring readers to form banned book clubs

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The groups point to an ironic effect: The more certain titles are singled out, the more interested people are in reading them.

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https://eller.arizona.edu/news/2020/08/9-reasons-why-we-need-social-innovation-business
This article gives nine reasons as to why social innovation is needed in the improvement of society
- Sydney Couick

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We've heard how important it is for businesses to innovate in order to continue to grow and be successful. Many think of technology as the figurehead of innovation, but there is another quality that is just as important and contributes to the well-being of a business internally and externally. That is social innovation.

Social innovation is the adoption of new practices to address social needs, like working conditions and health. We've seen more demand for businesses to socially innovate in the last few years as consumers' demands change. Below, nine thought leaders share why they think it's important and how businesses can practice social innovation.

Understand What Social Innovation Means

Social innovation has different meanings to employees. Rather than rush to a solution, a business should first seek to understand what a solution should look like. Listen to the definitions of social innovation from employees. Hear out their ideas on how the company can be more innovative on social challenges. Then, a business can collectively arrive at the right way to practice social innovation.

Brett Farmiloe '06 BSBA (Accounting), CEO and Founder of Markitors

Adding Value to the Rest of the World

It's long been believed that the purpose of a business is to return value to shareholders. But that doesn't have to be incompatible with adding value to the rest of the world. One of my favorite examples of social innovation is MIDCO, a regional Internet/cable TV provider in the midwest. They give each team member a stipend that they can use to support a nonprofit of their choice.

Jay Baer '92 BA (Political Science), Keynote Speaker

It Fits Naturally With Company Culture

Social innovation can be ingrained in a company's culture-or even in a whole industry's reason for existence. Especially in a capitalist society, it's critical for businesses to play a role in shaping the future of our society or do what's right for the world. Social innovation can help across the board internally with issues like morale and motivation, and it can also impact public relations and financials.

Joshua Schlag '05 BS (Computer Science) '11 MBA, Digital Marketing Manager at Pyramid Analytics

It Allows Teams to Share Social Preferences

Social innovation is important as it can define and reinforce company culture. Each employee needs to be included and to feel important as a valued member of a team. Social innovation can bond employees and also bring compassion and understanding into the workplace. Introducing social topics into daily or weekly virtual meetings is a great way to allow teams to share social preferences with one another.

David Musselmann '94 BSBA (Marketing), President and CEO of Paramount Financial

Implement a Group Chat Solution

When employees work remotely, it is challenging to keep everyone connected. It is essential to implement a group chat solution. We use Slack, and it acts as our primary company communication tool. People can see who is online and ask each other questions in real time. In my opinion, it allows for better communication than a traditional office environment.

Brian Greenberg '00 BSBA (Entrepreneurship, Marketing), CEO and Founder of True Blue Life Insurance

Seek Employee Resource Groups

This is how we push ourselves to do better, as individuals, as companies and as a society. While we all come from various backgrounds, cultures and diverse thinking, we have an opportunity to align ourselves around common goals, or causes. Employee Resource Groups or Intentional Communities are a great way to practice social innovation and continue to educate, embrace and align our actions in support to create inclusive environments and drive innovation for good.

Melanie Waldron '07 BSBA (Business Management), Head of Global Total Rewards at NortonLifeLock

It Lets You "Stay With the Times"

The success of a business depends on its ability to adapt to the environments around them. Social innovation is one of those evolutions that allows a business to "stay with the times." One way businesses can practice social innovation is to redesign and reconsider working conditions. Look for opportunities to improve the everyday life of employees by identifying pain points like length or frequency of breaks, paid time off, comfortable desk chairs and others.

Kristy Bach, CEO of BestCompaniesAZ

Think of It as a Force for Good

Social innovation is just as important as technical innovation in business. Without social innovation, businesses risk losing employees and businesses alike in today's markets. Think of social innovation as becoming a force for good. Reduce your business's carbon footprint by digitizing files, encouraging recycling and employee carpool, replacing lights with LEDs, and other initiatives. Not only do you, as a business, work toward sustainability, but you also help your employees develop these habits for their own lives.

Max Hansen, CEO of Y Scouts

It Ensures Long-Term Success

Many companies place a high emphasis on technological innovation, which is important and beneficial to a firm. But social innovation is just as crucial to long term success. Stakeholders are increasingly demanding that companies pursue safe and sustainable environmental practices. Social innovation unlocks solutions to environmental challenges and spearheads efforts to create these sustainable practices. Another facet of social innovation is its focus on empowering employees to expand their skill sets and impact the community at a local or even global level. By listening to its employees and consumers, a business can shift its operations to be more inclusive and environmentally friendly utilizing a bottom-up approach. One way businesses can practice social innovation is through meaningful partnerships. For example, certain food companies partner with Fair Trade International in order to ensure that supplies and labor are ethically sourced and focused on the health of the planet.

John Haley '08 BS (Computer Science), VP of Engineering at Qwick

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9 Reasons Why We Need Social Innovation In Business

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We've heard how important it is for businesses to innovate in order to continue to grow and be successful. Many think of technology as the figurehead of innovation, but there is another quality that is just as important and contributes to the well-being of a business internally and externally.

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These t-shirts are a very fun and unique way to spread your story. Each shirt has a phrase on it and and when you buy one the money is donated towards a charity. One that has gotten money from this social innovation is planned parenthood. Even celebrities such as Will Ferrell has donated towards the project.

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The next time you say something offensive in public, beware - Amanda Brinkman may put it on a T-shirt. German-born Brinkman moved with her family to Los Angeles as a child and has always looked for attention. During the 2016 presidential debates, she found it.

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the living goods project was created in Kenya in 2015. this is social innovation in health initiatives and this was created to help with healthcare and help delivery and affordable in lower communities.

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Social innovation in Africa: 8 remarkable projects - Social Innovation Academy

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UNICEF projects that by 2050, the African population will have grown to 2.4 billion people, with the vast majority under 35 years old. Catering for this population will require catalytic innovations in health, education, agriculture, transportation, water management, energy, sanitation and housing.

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This company tries to turn around crime-ridden communities by employing people from these communities and the juvenile justice system. They transform empty lots and old gardens to beautiful gardens with plants and flowers which get sold to local stores.

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Flower Power Helps Heal The Violence in Baltimore

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"I'm an urban change warrior," says Walker Marsh of Baltimore, who uses vacant lots in the inner city to grow high-quality flowers, herbs and vegetables. The tall, soft-spoken urban farmer is sitting on the floor, gluing sunflower petals to a discarded stop sign with childlike wonder.

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This project was completed by a man named Chad Cherry. Chad was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and his health care providers never once told him how his eating habits contributed to his diabetes. So when he done research on diabetes and found how much your diet can effect your health he decided to make a change. He has now become a chef and helped people all over the world learn how to eat a healthier and more balanced diet eating organic foods. This project stood out to me because I have had so many family members who have had either diabetes or other health issues related to their diet. Many times they want to do better but they don't know where to start on making their diet healthier. So, I liked his idea of teaching others how to incorporate an healthier diet in order to help people become healthier.

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Changing Communities, One Healthy Meal at a Time

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Getting diagnosed with type 2 diabetes made Chad Cherry abruptly rethink his relationship with food. He took the increased risks of blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke so seriously that he decided to become a chef, to learn how to combat the poor diet he’d become accustomed to. Amazi…

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This is a current project near Seattle to complete the installation of a "light rail" by 2023. This light rail is projected to travel up to 40 MPH faster than the average transit trail and will assist in faster commutes in the Seattle area. This combines the concept of a floating bridge, with modern transportation. There is current construction occurring for this project, and it is set to be complete in 2023.

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Project updates

Get the latest on this project in your inbox.

Overview

Fourteen miles long, East Link includes 10 stations from Seattle's International District to Judkins Park, across I-90 to Mercer Island and South Bellevue, and through downtown Bellevue and the Bel-Red area to Redmond Technology Station. When East Link opens in 2023, passengers will be able to ride almost 40 miles of fast, reliable light rail, from the Eastside to downtown Seattle and Northgate and to Sea-Tac Airport and Angle Lake.

Facts

Open: 2023

Length: 14 miles; 10 stations

Service: Every 8 minutes in peak hours.

Projected travel times:

Mercer Island to University of Washington: 20 minutes

South Bellevue to Sea-Tac Airport: 50 minutes

Redmond Technology to Bellevue Downtown: 10 minutes

Projected ridership including downtown Redmond extension: 43,000 - 52,000 daily riders by 2026

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Get the latest on this project in your inbox. Fourteen miles long, East Link includes 10 stations from Seattle's International District to Judkins Park, across I-90 to Mercer Island and South Bellevue, and through downtown Bellevue and the Bel-Red area to Redmond Technology Station.

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Building Bikes or social mobility is very inspiring to me. This project was designed to teach people on the streets how to build and recondition bicycles to sell at a fraction of a new one. One part of the mission is to get homeless people to build their own bikes to use as personal transport. It is inspiring that all it took was one person with an idea willing to help people on the streets.

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Bicycles are a manifestation of what John Dengler has been trying to do with the homeless of Tampa, Florida for years. The city suffers from the second-highest rate of homelessness after Los Angeles, mainly due to temperate winters that allow those on the streets to survive year-round. “In our socie…

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Farming Under Artificial Light as a Response to Future Food Demands

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Outdoor farming and the growing of crops in soil has been practiced since the dawn of agriculture. Generations of farmers have used farming practices and available technology to grow crops that feed their families. Since it was announced by scientists that the global population has risen and will continue to do so rapidly, the need to develop a solution has become a matter of urgency and vital importance.

Providing a food source for the escalating world population is not an easy job for farmers. Climate changes have led to unpredictable weather conditions. And to make their jobs more difficult, their hard work is often endangered due to hail, frost, and drought or flood, along with the lack of available farmland. Remarkable achievements in science have managed to address problems such as the lack of the arable land, water deficiency, and rising fossil fuel prices, thus mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

Just a few decades ago, farming in a controlled environment sounded like science fiction to everyone in the industry. Today, it is a reality, serving as a possible answer to all future challenges that are threatening the food security.

Farming in a Controlled Environment

In one of our previous blog posts, we wrote about farming in a controlled environment. Here is a snapshot of the meaning of this sustainable farm practice. Farming in a controlled environment is a type of urban farming where environmental conditions such as light, temperature, humidity, and nutrient cycles can be controlled. This practice refers to an indoor method of farming, such as vertical farms and greenhouses. Both farm practices manage crop growth by combining the hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic systems.

The key difference between the vertical farms and greenhouses is the natural light. A vertical farm is lit by artificial light, while greenhouses rely mostly on natural light. However, farmers can utilize artificial light within the greenhouse farm to manage the crops' growth.

Farming Without Using Sunlight

Growing crops under artificial light is a revolutionary scientific farm practice. Initially, vertical farms used fluorescent lights to support the crop growth. However, with the development of LED light technology, fluorescent lights are slowly being replaced by the new, energy-efficient bulbs. The best practice is to use the pink lights, i.e. the combination of red and blue LED lights. Scientists claim that the mixing of red and blue wavelengths is all that a crop really requires in order to grow successfully.

Influence of Pink Light to the Crop Growth

Blue wavelengths influence phototropism, the opening of stomata which regulates a crop's retention of water and chlorophyll production. Phytochromes absorb mostly red light. Red wavelengths produce a variety of responses in crops as well. They initiate seed germination, root development, and manage shade avoidance.

By using artificial lights and embracing vertical farming as a viable practice, farmers are able to grow their crops all year-round without the threat of extreme weather events. Furthermore, consumers get locally grown crops in a shorter amount of time, as the need for lengthy transport is eliminated. Crops grown within this practice are free from pests and disease, so the consumer gets a fresh and quality product.

The farm management of this soil-less system is different than that of a traditional open field farm, but the end goal is the same, to produce more goods by using fewer resources. AGRIVI farm management software helps farmers who are using this innovational farm practice to track all their farm activities in the form of tasks. With AGRIVI, farmers can also manage and stay on top of their finances by being able to analyze entire productivity and profitability.

Be innovative; embrace the technologies of the future and use AGRIVI farm management software!

Text sources: Happonomy

Image sources: Inhabitat || Fast Company

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Outdoor farming and the growing of crops in soil has been practiced since the dawn of agriculture. Generations of farmers have used farming practices and available technology to grow crops that feed their families.

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https://real-leaders.com/changing-communities-one-healthy-meal-at-a-time/
This project was designed to help people in a community receive the knowledge of healthy eating. It also helps show the importance of eating healthy.

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Changing Communities, One Healthy Meal at a Time

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Getting diagnosed with type 2 diabetes made Chad Cherry abruptly rethink his relationship with food. He took the increased risks of blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke so seriously that he decided to become a chef, to learn how to combat the poor diet he’d become accustomed to. Amazi…

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This is a company that plants flowers in abandoned lots & buildings that had formerly fallen victim to crimes occurring near or around them. Flower Power employs people from the juvenile justice system and transformed empty lots into lush & green gardens, with plants and flowers that get sold to local stores.

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Flower Power Helps Heal The Violence in Baltimore

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"I'm an urban change warrior," says Walker Marsh of Baltimore, who uses vacant lots in the inner city to grow high-quality flowers, herbs and vegetables. The tall, soft-spoken urban farmer is sitting on the floor, gluing sunflower petals to a discarded stop sign with childlike wonder.

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https://www.peri3dconstruction.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwz7uRBhDRARIsAFqjulmmPr-q2k04bQwrO1PwXBAjAAPXGr2KEosrxYQ2CuI_tYYLO8nszZYaAk_gEALw_wcB
This company is 3-D printing homes to make them more affordable for the community. Especially with the rising prices of lumber this process conserves more money and lumber for sustainability.

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Why 3D construction printing

In light of the global developments of "labor and housing shortages", increasing productivity is a significant challenge for the construction industry. 3D construction printing technology, as an automated and additive manufacturing process, addresses precisely these issues. Our focus is primarily on the segments of residential construction and individual prefabricated parts.

Through intelligent designs and optimized use of materials, 3D construction printing enables alternative construction methods and at the same time contributes sustainably to the environment.

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Business - Webflow HTML website template

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In light of the global developments of "labor and housing shortages", increasing productivity is a significant challenge for the construction industry. 3D construction printing technology, as an automated and additive manufacturing process, addresses precisely these issues. Our focus is primarily on the segments of residential construction and individual prefabricated parts.

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https://www.socialinnovationacademy.eu/social-innovation-in-europe/
Creative Paths for Young Social Entrepreneurs
This organization brings together schools and children from different backgrounds. They help build student's skills, involvement, and opportunity. This helps bridge the gap as some students do not ever get exposed to professionalism.

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I think this project was great we have so many people that is hungry and needs to eat. I love how you can even drop off a check to help with the food. Its so inspiring.
Research by Sandra Holshouser

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https://pamplinmedia.com/sl/377367-261665-using-social-media-to-rescue-unused-food

This project was designed to find fod that is unused to go to people who dont have access or can afford clean food.

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Link: https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2018-06-29/how-becoming-mexican-trucking-experts-helped-these-four-byu-students-fight-human-trafficking-10448

This project was designed to understand the trucking industry in Mexico to help stop human trafficking.

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Link: How becoming Mexican trucking experts helped these four BYU students fight human trafficking - Church News (thechurchnews.com)

This project was designed to help truckers spot the signs of human trafficking on the road.

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On January 22, an opinion piece was published in The Atlantic, originally titled "The Ocean Cleanup Project Could Destroy the Neuston." Since preventing the destruction of ocean ecosystems is the main purpose of the cleanup effort, any potentially significant environmental side-effect is taken very seriously by our team. This post will hopefully shed more light on the neuston and how our system could potentially interact with these organisms.
At The Ocean Cleanup we are on a mission to rid the world's oceans of plastic. We made this our mission because we believe that the health of our oceans is essential for all life on Earth to prosper. According to the World Economic Forum, with the current trajectory, plastic could outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050. To us, that future is unacceptable.

Our first focus is to clean up the so-called ocean garbage patches; of the world's ocean surface, these are the five areas where plastic accumulates. This means that, even if no more plastic enters the oceans, the plastic trapped in the currents of these accumulation zones will continue to cause harm, as it chokes or entangles countless marine mammals, sea turtles, fish and all other marine life, for decades and possibly even centuries to come. On top of this, ocean plastic carries toxic chemicals, which get carried through the food chain, ultimately making their way into the human diet. This is why we must clean up these ocean garbage patches.

Of course, this mission will not be easy. Designing a cleanup system that can last many years in one of the most challenging environments on this planet, while safely and efficiently collecting plastic, is a grand engineering challenge.
The trickiest part, as is inherent to innovation of this caliber, is that many of the essential aspects of our technology must be tested in real life conditions (i.e. in the ocean). Scale model testing or computer simulations will only teach us so much. Therefore, we follow an iterative development path, through which we learn by doing; that includes the testing of our first full-scale cleanup system, which is currently under revision for upgrades, ahead of re-launch.

It is also the reason why we actively welcome and appreciate feedback. With a mission of such complexity, we can use all the help we can get.

After learning of The Atlantic piece, we took this as a potential opportunity to incorporate more feedback. The central thesis to the claims made in the column can be summarized as follows:

1. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) produced for The Ocean Cleanup didn't consider the neuston community.

2. Cleaning up 90% of plastic from the ocean will kill 90% of the oceanic neuston, which will devastate this ecosystem.

3. This is especially worrying as we don't have a solid understanding of this ecosystem yet.

Before we delve into this feedback, it might be helpful to provide some background on Environmental Impact Assessments and the neuston.

WHAT IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT?

An EIA is a decision support tool, providing information on the likelihood of an impact on the local environment in connection to a specific project or activity. Its purpose is to determine the potential environmental, social, and health-related effects (if applicable) of a project so that those who develop and authorize the project can be informed in their decision-making, while it also indicates how these potential impacts can be reduced or mitigated.

Because of the novelty of the cleanup system and the international location of its deployment, The Ocean Cleanup was not legally required to conduct an EIA for System 001. However, as we always want to move forward in our cleanup operation transparently and with the best available knowledge, we chose to voluntarily initiate one.

You can read more about our EIA from our update in July after we had received the conclusions from the independent agency who conducted the assessment.

WHAT IS THE NEUSTON?

Neuston is a term used to describe the organisms that spend a fraction or the entirety of their life on the water surface (epineuston) or right under it (hyponeuston). There is some debate on how to accurately define the group, but for the sake of consistency, we refer to the phrasing from The Atlantic column: "Organisms that live exclusively by floating at the surface of the water are called pleuston, while neuston is a broader term, referring generally to the sea-surface ecosystem".

One of the most common species of the neuston community is Velella velella, an organism which consists of a colony of polyps that lives throughout the world's oceans. You may be familiar with them as they frequently strand on beaches across the world.

The EIA was produced by a group of independent scientists and is the result of a comprehensive analysis of available scientific literature. However, we realize that scientists are humans too, and that there can always be room for improvement. This is why, when the EIA was released on our website, we also opened up the email address EIA@theoceancleanup.com, specifically with the purpose of enabling the wider public - and scientific community - to provide feedback on the EIA to its authors.

Before The Atlantic column was published, we had been in contact with the author of the piece, Dr. Rebecca Helm, following a series of her tweets, in which she expressed her concerns about the impact that our system would have on the neuston community. We proactively reached out via email, inviting her to send a more detailed view of her concerns and some supporting evidence, thus opening the door for a scientific discussion on this topic between peers.
After initial contact was made, a few emails between Dr. Helm and the authors of the EIA were exchanged in the second week of January, during which she shared three peer-reviewed articles with general information on neuston. One article was from 1956 and written in Russian; unfortunately, a translation was unavailable (but we are working on it). The other articles, both written in English, were from 1962 and '74. These papers referenced a few species within the neuston community that were not mentioned in the EIA, including Janthina, Glaucus and Minyas.

However, these papers did not provide any quantitative data of these neuston. This type of information is required for use in an EIA to determine to what degree a project affects certain species; therefore, the articles could not be used to improve the EIA prepared for System 001.

DID THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OMIT THE NEUSTON?

The Atlantic piece contains claims that the neuston was omitted from the EIA. However, this is incorrect; species that are part of the neuston ecosystem in the North Pacific have been considered in the EIA, in section 4.3.1.2: Gelatinous Macrozooplankton. In Table 4-2 of this section, all species that have previously been observed near the deployment site of our cleanup system are referenced, including by-the-wind sailors (Vellela vellela), blue buttons (Porpita porpita) and the Pacific Portuguese man o' wars (Physalia utriculus).

COULD A CLEANUP OPERATION DESTROY THE NEUSTON?

There are strong assertions in The Atlantic column, such as "the project could rob the world of an entire ecosystem that we don't understand and may never get back" and that, because of our work to rid the oceans of plastic, all of the neuston are "in peril". These claims are based on the belief that "cleaning up 90 percent of the plastic using the current cleanup method means potentially destroying 90 percent of the neuston" and that "neuston and plastic co-occur: They're in the exact same spots."

If there is any evidence that would substantiate this level of impact, we invite it to be shared with us. That being said, neither the literature review conducted for the EIA nor the additional articles that were provided to us contained any data in support of these statements.
For what we know, most of the species that comprise the neuston are ubiquitous and distributed throughout the tropical and temperate zones of all the world's oceans, an area that measures more than 300,000,000 km ² about 30x the size of the USA.

Despite this understanding, a drawn map from a 1968 study is referenced in the piece, showing the neuston subdivided into seven distinct zones in the Pacific Ocean, spanning from Alaska all the way to New Zealand; one of which is depicted as directly overlapping with the area where the plastic accumulates in the North Pacific Ocean.
Aside from the fact that the validity of using a single, 51-year-old source could be questioned, it might be important to note that the author himself states on page 414 of the article that "it can be considered only as a preliminary chart".

But assuming this map provides an accurate view of distinct neuston ecosystems, the surface area identified as "Neuston ecosystem 2" measures about 50 million km ², while the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 'only' 1.6 million km ² or 3% of the entire neuston ecosystem 2. The deployment area of our cleanup operations will likely be limited to the area of highest concentration, which measures less than 500.000 km ² - 1% of this zone's size.

Still, we continued to seek validation for these statements using the shared literature, but, rather than confirmation, we found further support for the opposite. An excerpt from one of the provided articles reads:

Professor Gerhard J. Herndl of the Vienna University, whose research group has studied the neuston in the North Atlantic Gyre, an ecosystem very similar to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, confirmed the following:
"Most plankton and neuston organisms are adapted to high loss rates as they are washed ashore with every wave hitting the shores. Open ocean neuston are less subjected to be washed ashore but there are other stressors such as high turbulence fragmenting these fragile organisms during storm events. Compared to these stressors, the loss of neuston organisms occurring if they are trapped by The Ocean Cleanup's system is extremely small considering the area covered by the cleanup and the dimensions of the North Pacific gyre. The recruitment of these neuston organisms will definitely compensate by far these losses."
FURTHERING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE ECOSYSTEM

The Atlantic column states that "the fact that we don't have a solid understanding of the neuston ecosystem is even more worrying: we will have very little "before" data to compare The Ocean Cleanup's impact against". The scientific understanding of the abundance and population dynamics of neuston species is, in some cases, indeed limited and that this inherently causes uncertainty. However, this is exactly the basis on which our testing and monitoring strategy is built. Rather than deploying the whole fleet of cleanup systems at once, we started with just one system, which not only allows us to optimize the technology before scaling up, but also gives us the opportunity to study the interaction between the system and the local environment.

Beyond the EIA, the agency that conducted the EIA developed an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) which is used during our offshore operations. The EMP is a guideline for monitoring and mitigating any potential impact on the environment around System 001. And in addition to the EMP, for the four months of System 001's maiden voyage, we have had an on-site monitoring vessel on a near-permanent basis, and one of its main tasks has been to conduct environmental observations. Monitoring the system is fundamental to our testing plan, as it allows us to verify the safety of the cleanup technology, while increasing the available general knowledge of the ecology of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

CONCLUSION

We would like to thank Dr. Rebecca Helm for taking the time to share her concerns and for accepting a dialogue with us. The health of the oceans is clearly a matter that all of us care about and want to collectively solve.

However, based on the available data, we have not found any evidence that supports the idea that the neuston are at risk because of our efforts in developing technology that can rid the oceans of plastic.

Should you have access to any sources that suggest any negative environmental impacts of our system that we have not considered, or if you have any other concerns on the EIA, please share them with us through EIA@theoceancleanup.com.
On the other hand, zooming out to the bigger picture, there is strong evidence that the hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic plastic that is floating in the ocean is damaging ecosystems, which, ironically, may include the neuston.

The threat of extinction is real, and that is for the 117 endangered species that are currently being harmed by plastic pollution in the oceans. A cleanup, done responsibly, can help change that.

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On January 22, an opinion piece was published in The Atlantic, originally titled "The Ocean Cleanup Project Could Destroy the Neuston." Since preventing the destruction of ocean ecosystems is the main purpose of the cleanup effort, any potentially significant environmental side-effect is taken very seriously by our team.

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One of our partners in the Philippines is taking charge of improving their water quality by involving kids in raising mangrove seedlings to be planted on their island.

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A former student of mine planned a march in our city against gun violence. I was so inspired by him. The event brought out thousands of people. He was able to engage multiple groups of the community and give them voice.

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Local band of environmentalists restore the Mattole River Valley to support Coho Salmon.

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Part lyrical natural history, part social and philosophical manifesto, Totem Salmon tells the story of a determined band of locals who've worked for over two decades to save one of the last purely native species of salmon in California. The book-call it the zen of salmon restoration-traces the evolution of the Mattole River Valley community in northern California as it learns to undo the results of rapacious logging practices; to invent ways to trap wild salmon for propagation; and to forge alliances between people who sometimes agree on only one thing-that there is nothing on earth like a Mattole king salmon.

House writes from streamside: "I think I can hear through the cascades of sound a systematic plop, plop, plop, as if pieces of fruit are being dropped into the water. Sometimes this is the sound of a fish searching for the opening upstream; sometimes it is not. I breathe quietly and wait." Freeman House's writing about fish and fishing is erotic, deeply observed, and simply some of the best writing on the subject in recent literature.

House tells the story of the annual fishing rituals of the indigenous peoples of the Klamath River in northern California, one that relies on little-known early ethnographic studies and on indigenous voices-a remarkable story of self-regulation that unites people and place. And his riffs on the colorful early history of American hatcheries, on property rights, and on the "happiness of the state" show precisely why he's considered a West Coast visionary.

Petitions to list a dozen West Coast salmon runs under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act make saving salmon an issue poised to consume the Pacific West. "Never before, said Federal officials, has so much land or so many people been given notice that they will have to alter their lives to restore a wild species" ( New York Times, 2/27/98). Totem Salmon is set to become the essential read for this newest chapter in our relations with other wild things.

"A grave and delightful book, both personal and cosmic."
-Gary Snyder, author of The Practice of the Wild

" Totem Salmon is both a lyric ode to a charismatic animal and a memoir of one man's claling to a regenerative life's work."
-Whole Earth Review

"House writes about fishing, salmon and the Mattole River in mystical, almost erotic language, and he succeeds at making us understand his essential argument: that without a connection to the natural world, we are losing a part of ourselves."
-Benoit Denizet Lewis, Contra Costa Times

" Totem Salmon recounts the elaborate, sometimes cantankerous and always exhilarating story of one community's ongoing effort to return the bones -to honor the gifts of nature by giving something back."
-Tim McNulty, Seattle Times

"A hopeful, inspirational, and ultimately riveting saga of a community taking action in the most fundamental, hands-on way."
-Outside

"With easy yet urgent prose, author Freeman House adds his name to the list of biologists and naturalists who work eloquently with metaphors and tirelessly for the protection of endangered species and habitats."
-New Age Journal

"House is a marvelous explainer of how things are and how they work and how, if you grasp the puzzle presented by . . . a native species of salmon, you might better understand yourself."
-Barry Blake, North Coast Journal

"A marvelously vivid and thoughtful book."
-California Coast and Ocean

"This graceful book is a welcome gift."
-Coast Weekend

"Reading [House's] words, I feel I am returning to my own native element: rain flavored with cedar and the exact stone recipe that thrills me home. If a salmon can find clues this subtle, what are we not seeing yet?"
-Kim Stafford, The Sunday Oregonian

"Here is the quintessential deep ecology book, with no mention of the controversial and ambiguous term."
-Ken Otter, Deep Ecology News

" Totem Salmon, a lyrical meditation about place, binds together two epic journeys: one about humans, one about fish."
-Michael Black, San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

"A landmark work of environmental activism."
-Christopher Camuto, Audubon

"Freeman House masterfully narrates the daily challenges that he and his cohorts have faced in trying to bring back a once almost extinct native Chinook salmon run, and places it all within a larger cultural and historical context."
-Mike Helm, Express Books, East Bay Express

"Inspired and well-written . . . a terrific introduction to an ethic called 'bioregionalism.'"
-Publishers Weekly

"I know of no book that is as local as House's and no book that is more global in its implications" -Jonah Raskin, Santa Rosa Press Democrat

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Part lyrical natural history, part social and philosophical manifesto, Totem Salmon tells the story of a determined band of locals who've worked for over two decades to save one of the last purely native species of salmon in California.

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An oldie, but a goodie: Richard Turere, a Masai boy, used scavenged electronics to build lights to deter lions. I love to show this TED Talk to my students because it shows that you don't have to be rich or powerful or even an adult to make positive changes for your community and for your world.

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Richard Turere: My invention that made peace with lions

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In the Maasai community where Richard Turere lives with his family, cattle are all-important. But lion attacks were growing more frequent. In this short, inspiring talk, the young inventor shares the solar-powered solution he designed to safely scare the lions away.