Whole, whole on the range My toughest work this year has been serving on the jury of this year's Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Our work has been tough because we've had to assess high quality entries that range from the use of social media to organize urban food systems, and transforming Chicago into a giant water treatment machine; to helping Indian women solar electrify their own villages, and the use of cattle to reverse the spread of deserts around the world. But the experience has also been uplifting. As a jury, we were instructed to look for a "bold, visionary, but tangible initiative that addresses a well-defined need of critical importance" - and we have been spoiled for choice. Our winner, who will be announced on 2 June at the National Press Club in Washington DC, will receive a $100,000 prize to support the development and implementation of their work. I can't be there myself, so my contribution is write about some of the finalists over the coming days and weeks - starting with....

good to have a metric of grazing animals and how they are being managed

This would show the amount, location, and number of people who speak heirloom languages. this of course could be connected to a broader display of heirloom cultures.
Ancient ways, including languages and dance, still have much to provide the rest of the people of the Earth.

In the 1990s, a researcher named Kris Pister dreamed up a wild future in which people would sprinkle the Earth with countless tiny sensors, no larger than grains of rice. These "smart dust" particles, as he called them, would monitor everything, acting like electronic nerve endings for the planet. Fitted with computing power, sensing equipment, wireless radios and long battery life, the smart dust would make observations and relay mountains of real-time data about people, cities and the natural environment. Now, a version of Pister's smart dust fantasy is starting to become reality.

this would be a map of the locations of commercial, but more important, residential installations of sustainable energy systems.

Solar, wind tidal, biomass, GSHP, etc.

one reasonably priced system for capturing usage data:

http://www.theenergydetective.com/index.html

Did you know that most households pay thousands of dollars a year for electricity? Thousands! The Energy Detective (TED) can easily help you save 10-20% on your electric bill - hundreds of dollars - and the more you save, the more you help your neighbors, the community, and protect our environment.

How exactly does TED help? It's really a simple concept - If you can measure it, you can manage it. That's what TED is all about. An intuitive, real-time, accurate electricity monitor, TED monitors your energy usage and presents the information to you in a simple, easy-to-understand format. When it comes to energy management, TED is simply the best. Period. See for yourself!

We have a TED5000G and we love it!

As resources become more of an issue, more people will migrate for economic regions. this should be shown in a different metric than refugees of war and disaster. The flow of people over borders is a telling metric

I would totally think so, but there is an incredible amount of data that will be provided by the UN. we are tasked with helping decide what data is most relevant to the Dashboard and how it should be displayed.

Great point on rain water!! I believe you have brought up a point about the sub flavors of potable and non potable water and their methods of collection/usage.

I was considering well water once considered poisoned, but now can be treated with current technologies. Kind of the "oil shale/ sand" of the water world. As water potable water becomes more scarce/critical, it will be helpful to have surveyed the nonpotable sources (including at some point seawater) and compared them with appropriate new methods of "water mining", treating previously untapped non potable water sources.

Thanks for the contribution Caroline!!

Even though many metrics are gathered on an annual or monthly basis, as much as possible should be "realtime" data.

I would like to see how Net access architecture is being built around the Earth. I would like to be able to highlight the need to get many low income /developing communities access to the leverage and power towards self resiliency that Net access can provide

What the Lab is: Students and young professionals from around the world* are coming to this year's Lab. They will be briefed by UN experts (from the UN Development Program, UN Environmental Program, UNESCO, UNICEF, WHO and other UN agencies), develop comprehensive strategies for solving some of the world's most critical problems, and then present their work at the UN. They will learn a powerful strategic design and planning methodology that will be of use for the rest of their life, as well learn about leadership, problem solving and the design revolution. They will learn about global problems, options, technology, culture, resources and what they can do to make a difference. They will meet others with similar passions about the state of the world- and what we can do to make things better. The Design Science Lab is where solutions to global and local problems are developed- by you. Read more * Previous Lab participants have come from Spain, Mexico, France, Tanzania, Ghana, Haiti, Canada, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Palestine, Zimbabwe, Ukraine, Lithuania, Sudan, Nepal, Turkey, Venezuela and all over the US. Who it is for: Students from college and high school as well as teachers and young professionals from around the world. When: June 13 - 21, 2010 Where: Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA, and United Nations, NY What you will learn, do, and get: * You will learn a problem solving and planning methodology, developed by Buckminster Fuller and other scientists and designers, that will be of use to you the rest of your life * You will learn about critical global problems that impact the lives of everyone in the world, as well as the opportunities associated with these problems, and what we can do to change the current situation * You will work collaboratively with other participants from around the world on designing real world solutions to a critical real world problem * You will be briefed by United Nations staff and oth

EARTHGAME™ EarthGame is a massively multiplayer online strategic design and planning real-world "game." It is also a set of tools for recognizing, defining and solving global and local problems onboard Spaceship Earth. It combines the vast and growing wealth of global data available on the web with sophisticate data visualization techniques, embeds these within a powerful strategic planning and design methodology, and places all this into a gaming context.