Welcome to Vol. 8 No. 3 of Design Science News, the e-bulletin of the Buckminster Fuller Institute
Design Science News brings you news from around the world related to humanity's option for success and comprehensive design solutions. It also features updates from BFI and periodic special offers for our members.
BFI UPDATE
THANKS FOR MAKING OUR ANNUAL PLEDGE DRIVE A SUCCESS!
Thank you to everyone who helped to make BFI’s pledge drive a success! During the final days of the campaign, we reached 95% of our goal—a total of $57,000 to help support BFI’s website, educational programs and other important initiatives. This total represents a 50% increase over last year’s campaign and real growth in the BFI network.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Learn more about BFI membership
BFI JOINS HARVARD'S CENTER FOR HEALTH AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT SPECIES EXTINCTION
Today, a captivating online movie called The (Bio) Da Versity Code will begin informing citizens around the world about the dangerous loss of animal and plant species.
The movie, created by Free Range Studios in collaboration with BFI and Harvard's Center for Health and the Global Environment, is a parody of the Da Vinci Code. It's an adventure featuring Robert Penguin and Sophie Minnow as they investigate the death of a polar bear at the Natural History Museum, and discover the 'greatest lie ever told': that humans can live apart from the web of life.
Viewers of the movie have options to 'learn more' about the biodiversity crisis and to 'take action' in connection with a relevant conservation or legislative campaign underway with a launch partner.
The 'learn more' feature utilizes BFI's interactive EARTHscope™ interface to deliver five compelling stories about how human activities are driving species to extinction. Each story includes a narrated introduction, slide show and accompanying text.
Click "PLAY" below to watch The (Bio) Da Versity Code! (If the movie doesn't appear below click here to visit the (Bio) Da Versity Code site)
APPLY NOW FOR THE 2007 DESIGN SCIENCE LAB!
The 2007 Design Science Lab will be held in New York City at the United Nations and United Nations International School from Friday, June 22nd to Friday, June 29th.
Application Deadline: May 1st
The DSL is a rigorous, hands-on training in the problem solving methodology called Design Science pioneered by Buckminster Fuller and other visionaries. Participants engage in a whole systems and anticipatory approach to develop strategies to solve global and local problems within the frame of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The 2007 DSL will again be facilitated by Medard Gabel of BigPictureSmallWorld.
To get a sense of what the program is like, please watch our short movie below: (If the movie doesn't appear below click here to visit the Design Science Lab site)
To learn more about the program or to start an application please visit: www.designsciencelab.org.
NEW SALES IN OUR ONLINE STORE!
This month we are featuring three versions of Fuller's Dymaxion Map, the Raleigh Edition, the Air/Ocean, and the Spaceship Earth maps are all on sale now for $17.95!
SALE $17.95 Raleigh Edition Dymaxion Map
SALE $17.95 Air/Ocean Dymaxion Map
SALE $17.95 Spaceship Earth Satellite Map
Click here to visit our online store
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
— R. Buckminster Fuller
TRENDS & PERSPECTIVES
Advanced geometry of Islamic art
A study of medieval Islamic art has shown some of its geometric patterns use principles established centuries later by modern mathematicians. Researchers in the US have found 15th Century examples that use the concept of quasicrystalline geometry. This indicates intuitive understanding of complex mathematical formulae, even if the artisans had not worked out the underlying theory, the study says.
The discovery is published in the journal Science. The research shows an important breakthrough had occurred in Islamic mathematics and design by 1200. (Source: BBC News)
California may ban conventional lightbulbs by 2012
A California lawmaker wants to make his state the first to ban incandescent lightbulbs as part of California's groundbreaking initiatives to reduce energy use and greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
The "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" would ban incandescent lightbulbs by 2012 in favor of energy-saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs.
Incandescent lightbulbs were first developed almost 125 years ago, and since that time they have undergone no major modifications," California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine said on Tuesday.
"Meanwhile, they remain incredibly inefficient, converting only about 5 percent of the energy they receive into light." (Source: Reuters)
UN-Google Earth map climate change
After letting computer users soar over Mount Kilimanjaro's melting snows and peer down on illegal logging in Asia, the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) is exploring how the latest technology can help it reach more people, an official said on Wednesday.
It hopes to copy the success of a venture with Google Inc. that made an atlas of before-and-after satellite images of environmental change available to more than 100 million viewers through the interactive mapping program Google Earth.
Now UNEP is seeking similar partnerships with firms including Microsoft, Oracle Corp., Cisco Systems and ESRI, a California-based computer mapping company, UNEP program officer Michael Wilson told Reuters.
"A lot of effort is going into developing these sorts of partnerships and finding alignment of interests," he said on the sidelines of a U.N. environment conference in Kenya. (Source: CNN)
An early environmentalist, embracing new heresies
Stewart Brand has become a heretic to environmentalism, a movement he helped found, but he doesn’t plan to be isolated for long. He expects that environmentalists will soon share his affection for nuclear power. They’ll lose their fear of population growth and start appreciating sprawling megacities. They’ll stop worrying about “frankenfoods” and embrace genetic engineering.
He predicts that all this will happen in the next decade, which sounds rather improbable — or at least it would if anyone else had made the prediction. But when it comes to anticipating the zeitgeist, never underestimate Stewart Brand. (Source: The New York Times)
RESOURCES
Step It Up 2007: Communities Uniting for Climate Action Now!
Organized by environmentalist Bill McKibben, the Step It Up campaign seeks to bring together thousands of people across the country to tell Congress to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emisisons by 80% by the year 2050.
To learn more or get involved visit Step It Up 2007
EVENTS
The Fifth International Symposium on Digital Earth announces a Digital Earth 3D visualization contest
How can we better experience this world of ours at the cross roads of human impacts and climate change? How can we best communicate these experiences, particularly in light of the major changes Earth now faces, as one world? How can we most compellingly understand and communicate those experiences and processes? What 3D experiences or 3D tools can you share that might encourage the opportunity for a better world?
If you think you can do this in a way that demonstrates how people can more easily and effectively communicate, YOU COULD WIN BIG!
The International Digital Earth 3D Visualization Challenge gives researchers, creative programmers, community leaders, activists, and students this unprecedented opportunity for international visibility of their work. Submit your entry by 1 April 2007 to be one of several International Digital Earth Challenge Winners!
To learn more visit ISDE5 Grand Challenge
Have you come across interesting Design Science news articles, resources, or events?
We invite you to forward them so we can consider them for inclusion in future e-bulletins. Send them to: designsciencenews (at) bfi.org
If we use your suggestion for future e-bulletins and you would like to be credited by name, please indicate it in your e-mail.
Thank You!
If you prefer to receive a text-only version of the ebulletin, please send an email to designsciencenews (at) bfi.org with the subject heading "text-only"
To subscribe to this free e-bulletin, go to BFI.ORG and subscribe from the box on the home-page
PRIVACY STATEMENT: BFI respects your privacy, so we will never share any personal information without your consent.
