Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

Gene Becker's Blog (15)

this is not a manifesto

Folks, I barely made it through the first season. It has been a ton of hard work to play this game, and it has dragged me kicking and screaming from my comfort zone on more than one occasion. I've spent countless hours in research, reading other agents' evidence, doing quests and missions, creating my own personal transformation, combating spam and trying not to feed the trolls. It has definitely been fun, but it's kind of a peculiar definition of fun. More at flow,… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on May 13, 2010 at 2:02am — 3 Comments

climate change action plan -- who knew?

My town's Climate Change Action Plan includes a broad spectrum of strategies for reducing greenhouse gases. A 2005 audit estimated that the city and community collectively produced the equivalent of over 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Of this total, 46% were from cars and other vehicles, 30% from commerical and industrial activities, and 11% from residential sources. Out of concern for both the local… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on May 13, 2010 at 1:31am — 1 Comment

empowering African girls through CAMFED

Early on in the game I highlighted the efforts of Ann Cotton, founder of CAMFED, whose mission is to provide young African girls with access to education as a route out of poverty and oppression. The EVOKE mission on empowering women gave me the impetus to circle back and take direct action by making a donation to support CAMFED's efforts in Africa. I wonder what the CAMFED team will make of a donation designated "in honor of Alchemy and the EVOKE Network"?

Added by Gene Becker on May 13, 2010 at 12:13am — No Comments

outrage vs. hazard -- how scared are you? how scared should you be?

Reading through the Crisis Communication materials, I found the section on managing risk, hazard and outrage just fascinating. There is a very low correlation between how hazardous an outbreak is, and how emotionally concerned people are about it. However, there is a strong correlation between people's "outrage" level and their willingness to take action. This leads to… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on May 12, 2010 at 11:50pm — No Comments

a secret to keep and pass on to the future

Children, many of you are third- and fourth-generation citizens of the Connected World, which we once called the Internet. You, your parents, your grandparents, and possibly even further back, have never known a life without the vast web of connections that infuse the world with digital energy and bind us together as a species. You are natives of an enspirited reality, where every person, place and thing can tell you its name, its story, its composite subsystems and its molecular provenance.… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on May 12, 2010 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Micro-funding a Pakistani woman's business

I just made a microloan to Um-e-Kalsoom Bashir Ahmad's group of Pakistani women carpet weavers, to support the growth of their business. I did this through kiva.org, which made the process incredibly simple even though I had never used it before. However, the current loan for this group is only 10% funded, so it is not certain the loan will be made.


Interestingly, I find myself now inexplicably connected to the lives of a…
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Added by Gene Becker on May 12, 2010 at 8:40pm — 3 Comments

Pedal power for water filtration and transport

The AQUADUCT concept bike was designed by IDEO in response to the "Innovate or Die" design challenge to create and prototype a pedal-powered machine providing an environmental benefit. It offers an integrated solution to two key water security issues in developing nations -- transportation of water from source to point of use, and pedal-powered filtration to remove contaminants.





It's…
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Added by Gene Becker on March 24, 2010 at 11:52pm — No Comments

Exergy, Sustainable IT and Cities 2.0

My friend and colleague Chandrakant Patel of HP Laboratories has been a leader in thermal management and energy efficiency for large scale data centers for nearly 20 years. He has made it his life's work to make IT more energy efficient, and his vision has grown progressively broader over the years. He recognizes that information technologies such as PCs, mobile phones and cloud computing are becoming an increasingly pervasive and vital infrastructure for modern society, and the need to… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on March 23, 2010 at 6:50am — 2 Comments

What one person can do to support community food security

A nice one page list of ideas for actions you can take, created by the Community Food Security Coalition. Full PDF doc**ent here: http://www.foodsecurity.org/what_you_can_do.pdf



We Are What We Eat
* Eat locally and regionally grown foods
* Eat organically and sustainably grown foods
* Join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)…
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Added by Gene Becker on March 14, 2010 at 7:17pm — 3 Comments

food insecurity in the midst of plenty

I'm fortunate to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most affluent and prosperous regions on the planet. I never imagined I'd find serious food security issues right in my neighborhood, and yet...


The city of East Palo Alto, CA is less than 3 miles from Stanford… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on March 14, 2010 at 6:54pm — No Comments

a rather curious example of social entrepreneurship

In just the few days since EVOKE began, we've seen many impressive examples of social innovation and the bright, committed people behind them. But I'll bet most of you have never seen a project quite like this one, in the US city of Detroit, Michigan. The project is called "LOVELAND: Micro Real Estate Concepts++" and its creator is Jerry Paffendorf who I had the chance to meet a few days ago. LOVELAND is part social innovation, part transmedia… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on March 7, 2010 at 4:19pm — 1 Comment

2020...(A Merman I Should Turn to Be) [Mission 1.3]

Today is March 3rd, 2020 and I have been dancing for five hours in this crazy red rock desert. The quarter moon works its way slowly across the sky, marking our ritual progress. Friends are here too, bodies pulsing rhythmically or beating the drums in frenzied time, their active tattoos weaving bright contrails of color in the darkness. Photos are taken, videos uploaded; evidence for the mission. We are gamers, and we play a long game.


Ten years ago I went into…
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Added by Gene Becker on March 3, 2010 at 9:16am — 11 Comments

learning curve: africa insights on twitter

I started a twitter list to help myself learn more about what's happening in Africa, especially around social issues, technology and entrepreneurship. There's a lot to learn... Do you have suggestions for more people to follow, or good lists that already exist?

Added by Gene Becker on February 17, 2010 at 5:43pm — 6 Comments

saving the planet, one girl at a time

Social entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, it seems. So many people are doing amazing work in Africa through young, creative organizations like Kiva, Ushahidi, Maker Faire Africa, and many others. But I found myself drawn to, inspired, and completely charmed by a sixty-year old English woman, Ann Cotton, who has devoted her life to the pursuit of a simple, compelling idea: that educating young women can save the world.



Ann… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on February 15, 2010 at 7:29pm — 3 Comments

beginner's mind

Alchemy calls on each of us to bring our expertise and experience to the world in times of crisis, of urgent human need. But so often, the specific skills and knowledge I carry into a situation are nearly useless because they are constructed on assumptions about the capabilities, resources and social infrastructure of my world of… Continue

Added by Gene Becker on February 10, 2010 at 11:32pm — 5 Comments

Latest Activity

Ning Admin is now a member of Urgent Evoke
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Sep 25, 2020
Sophie C. commented on Asger Jon Vistisen's blog post Stinging Nettle
"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
Aug 19, 2020
Meghan Mulvey posted a blog post

Fourth of July on the Lake

This past weekend was the annual celebration at the lake house in Connecticut. It is amazing that the lake is still so clear and beautiful after all these years. The watershed association has done a wonderful job protecting these waters from the damaging effects of development.The wood grill was finally ready to cook on, so we didn't miss the propane tank fueled grill anymore. The food actually tasted fresher than in the past and was easy to keep fueled.Dad was very proud of the solar hybrid…See More
Jul 6, 2020
Asger Jon Vistisen posted a blog post

Stinging Nettle

In this blog post I will focus on a plant that is abundant in our nature, and which is immensely nutritious. It's of course the Stinging Nettle. Let's start with the chemical constituents of this plant:37 % Non-Nitrogen-Extracts19 - 29 % Ash9 - 21 % Fiber4 % Fat22 % ProteinOnce the leaves are drid, their protein content can reach an astounding 40 %, which is much higher than beef, which even under the best of circ**stances can never exceed 31 % protein. In addition the Stinging Nettle consists…See More
Apr 13, 2020
Jonathon McCallum posted a blog post

The meal

It is 7'oclock, I was late home from work due to an assignment that i wanted to get ahead on. By the time I get home I am feeling extremley tired and I cannot be bothered to make a proper meal. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what there is for me to eat. All of the out of date foodstuffs have been automaticaly thrown away by the fridge, they will be recycled tomorrow as animal feed or something. I see i have organic local eggs and some local cheese. Foods are vacc** sealded for easy…See More
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Mar 1, 2020
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Future

FutureToday is 2020/1/1. It is just like yesterday. The war is still continuing. It has started since 2010. In 2010, that year was a horrible year. Almost every energy ran out. Every country’s governments were crushed down at the same time. There were riots everywhere. All of the big company’s bosses were killed xdeadx in the riots. Troops fought each other everywhere. Food was bought up xawayx at once. There were no more food supplies in any shops. The economy was all crushed down. All the…See More
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public servants

The exchange works directly for state and public workers and servants. It gives them credit in exchange for the amount of public work they contribute to the community. The more constructive they are based off a base rate the more credit they recieve.
May 2, 2015

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