Author Matthew Cordell

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Matthew Cordell

Blogging the Humanitarian Technology Challenge

Just a heads up that I'll be camped out at the Humanitarian Tech Challenge today and tomorrow, sending back reports.  HTC, a partnership between the IEEE and the UN Foundation & Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, seeks to define and develop sustainable solutions to humanitarian challenges in the developing world.  These solutions should be able to be implemented locally and "within the environmental, cultural, structural, political, and socio-economic conditions where they will be deployed."

What to burn in the developing world?

As I was cleaning out my feeds this morning, I stumbled across this brilliant article on Black Carbon, part of a series on "stopgap measures that could limit global warming."  

Black Carbon, aka "soot," produced by primitive cooking stoves in the developing world, accounts for up to 20 percent of global warming according to some scientists and represents "low-hanging fruit" -- the most possible bang for the buck (in regard to both cost and effort) in confronting climate change.

Not two minutes later, this report popped up on BBC tv (BBC, why no embed?) about researchers at Nottingham University who have discovered a way to make fuel out of banana peels (abundant in many parts of the developing world) and sawdust using no specialized equiptment.  Aside from dramtically reducing the occurrence of comic accidents, burning banana peels could also reduce the use of firewood as fuel, limiting deforestation and, therefore, addressing climate change. 

Count me skeptical that, if this is as cheap and easy as the researchers suggest, savvy entrepreneurs in the developing world wouldn't have already figured it out.  Nonetheless, I like this coverage because it focuses on access to cheap, renewable, and environmentally friendly sources of energy in the developing world, an issue that doesn't get enough air time and dramatically affects both climate change and the MDGs.  The real answer? I like solar cookers, but that may just be because I'm loathe to disagree with the Boonstra.

The Economist’s pandemic flu primer

I just caught a great set of articles in The Economist on the pandemic flu and its costs, with solid reporting on the prep work it takes to adequately confront a budding pandemic (surprise, you can't show up to the party late).  The WHO gets a shout out for its role:

Thankfully, prodding by the WHO and lessons from SARS and avian flu have caused governments to strengthen their disease-surveillance systems, improve communications channels between their health ministries and co-ordinate their stockpiling of drugs.

ICC on Film

Just a quick heads up for those in D.C., the first annual Politics on Film Festival will kick off tomorrow night. It runs through Sunday. Looks to be a great slate of films, particularly The Reckoning, a documentary about the ICC. I'll be at the screening tomorrow night and will report back. 

Being too careful?

In the wake of the first confirmed death of an American citizen due to swine flu, the Post is reporting that the Obama Administration is considering an "unprecidented fall vaccination campaign," which would add two new shots targeting swine flu to the existing regime (currently just one shot).   The program would cost billions of dollars.

Seems Obama is taking a page out of Margeret Chan's book:  "I'm not predicting the pandemic will blow up, but if I miss it and we don't prepare, I fail. I'd rather over-prepare than not prepare."

Taylor trial update

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor's defense lawyers had requested that the Special Court for Sierra Leone drop war crimes' charges. And, today the Court responded, "uh...no": 

"The prosecution has produced evidence capable of supporting a conviction of the accused ... based on his participation in a joint criminal enterprise," judge Richard Lussick said.

Taylor, if you'll recall, is charged with 11 counts of "murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery" during the Second Liberian Civil War in which more than 250,000 people were killed.

Making sense of flu distribution

Boy do I love computer scientists.  First, Google tracks the swine flu with aggregated search data. Now the NY Times highlights two computer models that use air traffic and commuter data and dollar bills tracked via Where's George? (no love for Where's Willy?).

Readers, anyone see any other interesting tracking models?

The Northwestern Institute model was pretty close with its prediction of 150 to 170 cases by yesterday (the CDC has confirmed 226). Both models see 2,000 to 2,500 cases four weeks out, not exactly a sky is falling scenario. Still, I think WHO head Margeret Chan was prudent to say, "I'm not predicting the pandemic will blow up, but if I miss it and we don't prepare, I fail. I'd rather over-prepare than not prepare."

Front row seat for the apocalypse

Henry Niman we hardly knew ye. We loved your mash-up with swine flu updates, but the MSM has got you beat in slickness with its fancy designers.  The NY Times now has a map up, as does the Washington Post. I think the Times map gets the data into my veins more efficiently, but suspect the Post map might be updated more regularly. Prove me wrong Times.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention Google's Flu Trends, through which they've discovered that certain search activities are good indicators of flu activity.  They've got an "experimental" trend map up for Mexico.