I had the opportunity to see a presentation from Design That Matters on Tuesday morning and what they are doing is very inspiring. They are having a benefit dinner listed on their web site that might interest people.

The group has taken a new approach to working with problems in developing countries where issues that may be solved here are still lagging and the impact would surprise people. Their solution is to work as a non-profit to design solutions to these problems in the form of new products that understand and address the complex issues and reality of the environment/local ecosystem themselves.

For example, in some countries 4 of 5 adults can't read. So Design That Matters team analyzed the problem in villages and with governments learning that classrooms only work at night since people have to work to support themselves. But classrooms don't have an easy way to share information. I would just get a digital projector and a laptop but that's an expensive solution readily available in my world. In those countries what turned out to be more helpful is a low cost and low power portable projector and microfilm with lots of content on it.

The presentation focused on a design challenge of infant mortality and I got an education on the need for incubators for low birth weight babies to regulate temperature and oxygen. Stevie Wonder, among many people, is blind because when he was an infant his incubator delivered too much oxygen. The modern $20,000 incubator that you see in a neo-natal intensive care unit (sounds very expensive) isn't what's out there in the world. There are hand me down incubators and make shift solutions like blankets and oxygen tubes feeding into plastic boxes put over the infant's head. The result is that within about 2 million infant deaths per year, 1 million would be preventable with a proper incubator. So they have been working to design a solution that deals with all of the environmental issues like the fact that nobody can repair an incubator in a remote village other than the car mechanic, moving the incubator from the delivery room to the ICU on stairs and across unpaved surfaces since there aren't nice elevators, etc.

It was a pleasure to learn about the organization and if someone has some interest and skills (like mechanical engineering) or a fund looking to be green they might be a useful source. I have noticed and I feel like I suddenly awoke in a new world in the past month the sudden GREEN revolution reaching the business world. Folks who were in the Internet boom and bust that I know are starting to build companies that are focused on environmental sustainability. I can't get into everyone's details but one example is Terry Swack who is doing green design and a green marketplace with her start-up Clean Culture, Business Objects put a big green page for using BI to reduce global warming Insight, folks have created One Percent For the Planet that directs corporate funds to environmental non-profits, NYU had a conference on the social entrepreneurship pipeline Dave Berry is creating green fuel from bacteria, and another contact of mine is in stealth mode doing an environmental sustainability project.

I'm not sure what is driving this shift of business to look at green issues but my hope is that it is the consumer. The big black box that is where we get our stuff from is getting more transparent because information flies fast and far quickly with internet publishing, social networks, email, ratings systems, and blogs. The planet is at risk and getting back in control of the black box is important for business in order to satisfy consumer demands from it and to sustain itself. I loved the quote on the One Percent site

"There is no business to be done on a dead planet"
- David Brower
Environmental Visionary
1912-2000