Stop Consuming. Now.

The first day of Poptech ended with an arguably over-dramatization of the problem of pollution, sustinability, and garbage; artist Chris Jordan shared his photographs from Midway Island, which highlighted the unfortunate result of the great pacific garbage patch, or the "pacific trash vortex". This absurd reminder of our mindless consumption occurs as a result of the various currents pushing all trash, plastic, and forever non-destructible particles into a 100 million ton collection of arrogance. The plastic is visible in tiny sprinkles, and - according to Chris - it's now responsible for more particles than plankton in that area. The plastic in the water is disgusting enough, but the unfortunate result of the food chain is such that the tiny fish eat the plastic, the bigger fish eat the tiny fish, the birds eat the bigger fish, and so on and so forth. The presence of plastic in a large quantity of birds would illustrate a giant manifestation of a seemingly hidden problem - as Chris said, "if it's on Midway Island - an island 2000 miles from the nearest country - it's everywhere".

And, it is on Midway Island - in a big way.

The image shown above is one of many that Chris presented, as an urgent call to actions and to describe the scale and scope of the problem.

Today provided several indications of a solution - while not direct solutions, various speakers offered more optimistic and tangible illustrations of how to solve the problems of this scale and size.

Daniel Goleman presented Good Guide, a free application that offers free availability to complete ecosystem data on the products we buy and consume. As an example of complete ecosystem data, Goleman described that it takes 1,953 discrete steps to produce a given food substance in a glass jar. Each step has an impact, and that impact can be quantified. Good Guide presents the aggregate of this impact - the hidden impact - in a single 1-10 ranking, making obvious what is presently invisible. This externalization makes obvious what is then considered a "reputation cost" - and provides the incentive for business to care about the impact of their entire lifecycle of development and production. Consumers can start to inform their purchasing decisions - and can change their behavior - based on what was till now a hidden impact.

Equally as powerful is Daniel Nocera, who has developed a method of creating artificial photosynthesis. By separating water molecules with an electrolyzer - and mass producing these electrolyzers - Daniel can product a new method for powering our homes, our cars, and taking us completely off the standard "grid"; effectively, we can mimic leaves, using the sun and water to grow our own lives.

I'm not convinced that either idea taken individually, or any similar idea taken individually, is enough to offset the negative buildup (both literal and figurative) that's accumulated over the last century of "progress", but somehow, I see all of the ideas working in concert actually having the potential to do some magic. I mentioned a few days ago that I was hoping for some tactics; I think I found a few today.