What is GAIN?

The Global Adaptation Index™ (GAIN™), a project of the Global Adaption Institute, provides a data-driven approach to help countries and the private sector invest in adaptation to climate change and other global forces.

Climate change is a reality and the challenge is only increasing as population growth, urbanization and economic expansion continue. All countries must adapt in order to minimize the effects of climate change and other global forces. Despite expanding resource commitments from international institutions, public funding alone is not the solution. The private sector will play a key role in providing the necessary additional resources. GAIN offers information on a country’s vulnerability and its readiness to undertake adaptive actions to prioritize and evaluate these needed investments.

Here’s a new twist on urban farming -hydroponics basically. An article in FastCo describes a rising business venture that grows organic vegetables in shipping containers using hydroponic farming technology. Awesome!!!

Liotta decided to use recycled shipping containers as “grow pods,” which are outfitted with organic hydroponic nutrient solutions; computer-controlled environmental systems to regulate temperature, humidity, pH levels, and CO2; and lights that emit specific spectrums at different points in the day. The system provides the exact amount of water, lights, and nutrients that a crop requires–so there is no wasted energy (though the pods are still hooked up to the power grid). In a 320 square foot area, PodPonics can produce an acre’s worth of produce. The pods can be stacked on top of each other for more efficient use of space.

continue reading Localize It: PodPonics Grows High-Tech Organic Produce In Shipping Containers here….

“NGO-in-a-box is a collection of essential tools for running a small-to-medium sized NGO. You can use this toolkit to set up and coordinate your office, organise and manage projects, collaborate online and support your campaigns. The Box contains a set of peer-reviewed Free and Open Source Software tools, with associated guides and tutorials, giving you the technical foundations to build upon.”

Read more and download the NGO-in-a-box here…

“With all those millions of Facebook and iPhone users tending to virtual crops and sharing them with friends, have you ever wondered how their toils stack up against actual real-life farmers? How does our output of digital (and decidedly less tasty) tomatoes compare with our worldwide production of real tomatoes? And perhaps most importantly, who are these casual croppers, and are they anything like their plow-toting counterparts?”

Click the image for the full infographic.

South African teens were happy to give their thumbs a rest for a while and take a break between MXit chats to read the m-novel Kontax, on their cellphones. The m-novel (a novel written to be read on a cellphone) meant that there was finally something on their phones that would make their parents smile rather than frown

Continue reading Mobile literacies – bridging the gap between phone and book.  You can also download the ebook here….

Quick info:

# Portable. Lightweight and can be easily dismantled to facilitate transport in steep terrain
# Simple design. Utilizes parts that could be easily bought in local stores
# Efficient. Works well even in fields with knee-deep hard pans and long stubbles
# Fast. Works at least 24 times faster than the traditional method of foot trampling

Read the detailed machine specifications  here…

Click here to to view the full list of the Photo Masterclasses…

SEND will develop an Open Source monitoring tool in cooperation with software developers to be used on handheld mobile devices to collect and share data. Due to the poor communication infrastructure, this will enable SEND to transmit data and share monitoring information with grassroots organisations and others. They are also developing and implementing a monitoring information management system that will help them track and analyze the data.

Continue reading about how Mobile Devices Help Monitor Access to Healthcare in Ghana….

When does the wisdom of crowds give way to the meanness of mobs?

In the 1990s, Jaron Lanier was one of the digital pioneers hailing the wonderful possibilities that would be realized once the Internet allowed musicians, artists, scientists and engineers around the world to instantly share their work. Now, like a lot of us, he is having second thoughts.

continue reading about the Madness of Crowds and an Internet Delusion here….