What is the Eco-Vis Challenge?

Not only is there an environmental crisis, but an environmental data crisis.
Viewing statistics on environmental change is usually overwhelming,
unintelligible, hidden and dense. Eyebeam invites artists to
collaborate with technologists to redefine what the future of tracking
and visualizing the environment could be.

The Eco-challenge is composed of two parts:
Challenge 1: Eco Icons
invites participants to create one or many information graphics that
could be used to make visible environmental/ecological concerns.
Challenge 2: Eco Vis focuses on the creations of an eco-visualization based on at least one set of ecological impact data.

Winning designs will be awarded cash prizes totaling $5000 and, along with
finalists, be included in the upcoming Eyebeam exhibition, Feedback. Detailed guidelines were released on September 15, in conjunction with the Conflux Festival.

This challenge is an initiative of Eyebeam's Sustainability Research Group
and has been crafted by Research Group members and Eyebeam Alumni,
Michael Mandiberg and Brooke Singer. The prizes are generously
underwritten by Deep Green Living.

Superfund365, A Site-A-Day, is an online data visualization application with an accompanying RSS-feed and email alert system. Each day for a year, starting on September 1, 2007, Superfund365 will visit one toxic site currently active in the Superfund program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We begin the journey in the New York City area and work our way across the country, ending the year in Hawaii. In the end, the archive will consist of 365 visualizations of some of the worst toxic sites in the U.S., roughly a quarter of the total number on the Superfund's National Priorities List (NPL). Along the way, we will write a weekly email with highlights and conduct video interviews.

Far too often, in our own lab as in labs we visit, we leave computers on for hours if not days. We made screen savers attractive and interesting so that we would want to keep watching them. "Turn me off" is a screen saver that reminds you that the best thing to do with an unused computer is to turn it off.

File Download Coming Soon.

The Revolution Door is a modified revolving door comprised of three parts - a redesigned central core replacing that of any existing or new revolving door, a mechanical/electrical system that harnesses human energy and redistributes electricity to an output, and an output device that maps the harnessed energy. By mechanically harvesting a negligible amount of human energy and converting it to a tangible display through the use of a generator, the Revolution Door will directly communicate a single person's contribution to an energy cycle possible through the metabolic relationship between people, technology, and architecture.

Edible Excess received an Honorable Mention in Eyebeam's Eco-Vis Challenge for "the practical application and smart design of an Eco-Icon."

The Off-Grid Outlet is a solar-powered AC outlet and 12V DC power port for patrons of the outdoor courtyard of the Brooklyn restaurant the Habana Outpost, to be installed in the summer of 2008 and controlled by a robot built by high school students. The system has a custom two-axis motorized tracking mechanism to increase the output of the solar panel by pointing it towards the sun. The Outlet's users can directly drive the solar panel using switches and observe the relationship between the panel, the sun, and the energy captured and consumed via embedded displays.

The restaurant is also working with student groups via its non-profit, Habana Labs, to develop systems for automating the tracking mechanism. Following the sun is a non-trivial, real-world robotics challenge. The problem is further complicated by the particulars of the panel's ultimate location, which will only receive direct sunlight for about half the day.

Students from Elizabeth Irwin High School and Friends Seminary are currently undertaking this challenge under the guidance of Tim Cooper, an educator at Little Red School House/Elizabeth Irwin High School, and will be installing and testing their work throughout the duration of the Eyebeam exhibit.

This project is supported by Habana Outpost: http://www.ecoeatery.com, Glide Design: http://www.glide-inc.com/, and the Little Red School House/Elizabeth Irwin High School http://www.lrei.org/.

Due in good part to industrial agricultural practices, which rely on monocultures, chemical fertilizers and genetic modification to reap a predictable product, over 70% of our crop biodiversity was lostin the 20th century. Genetic erosion puts our food supply at risk from epidemics and infestations, which a more multifarious mix would guard against. To keep them from extinction, plants must be grown. During Sow-in, the general public, along with community gardening groups, will make seedling pots out of recycled materials and sow seeds of food plants on Slow Food's most endangered foods list and the Ark of Taste.
Together, we will distribute 100's of seed pots to community gardeners across New York City for transplant, care, harvest, and seed saving. Our focus plants are Chapalote Corn, Chiltepin Pepper, Native American Sunflower and Seminole Pumpkin, Beaverdam Pepper, Fish Pepper, Algonquian Squash, Boston Marrow Squash, Amish Paste Tomato, German Pink Tomato, Orange Oxheart Tomato, and Moon & Stars Watermelon.

Real Costs (TheRealCosts.com) is a Firefox plug-in that inserts emissions data into travel related e-commerce websites. The first version adds CO2 emissions information to airfare websites such as Orbitz.com, Delta.com, etc, and to car direction websites such as Mapquest.com. Think of it like the nutritional information labeling on the back of food... except for emissions.
The objective of the Real Costs is to increase awareness of the environmental impact of certain day to day choices in the life of the Internet user. By presenting this environmental impact information in the place where decisions are being made, it will hopefully create an impact on the viewer, encourage a sense of individual agency, and provide a set of alternatives and immediate actions.
Experience the project by installing the Real Costs plug-in into your Firefox application. Currently, this plug-in pulls each flight/driving information from the page, calculates and reinserts the CO2 produced. It is configured to work on the websites of the major worldwide air carriers, and several car direction websites. A list of these sties and scientific documentation is available on the Wiki (http://therealcosts.com/wiki).

The Power Cart is a mobile unit that delivers alternative power to people in the streets.
In most parts of the world, the street is a place where social interactions abound, commerce rules, and street vendors around the globe bring to local populations the things they need right at their door steps. Knife sharpening in India, refills of gas in Africa, fake Gucci bags in Paris and chair massages in New York, the Power Cart takes an old idea from yesterday’s streets and adapts it to serve the needs of today’s urban dwellers. Need a charge on your cell phone? Your laptop is about to die and you really need to check that email? Or maybe there is no power around you at all? Where ever you might be in the world, hail the Power Cart for a quick fix.

AIR is a public, social experiment in which people are invited to use Preemptive Media's portable air monitoring devices to explore their neighborhoods and urban environments for pollution and fossil fuel burning hotspots.
Participants or "carriers" are able to see pollutant levels in their current locations, as well as simultaneously view measurements from the other AIR devices in the network. An on-board GPS unit and digital compass, combined with a database of known pollution sources such as power plants and heavy industries, allow carriers to see their distance from polluters as well. All data from the devices is saved and later collectively visualized to understand air quality trends.
While AIR is designed to be a tool for individuals and groups to self identify pollution sources, it also serves as a platform to discuss energy politics and their impact on environment, health and social groups in specific regions.