David de Rothschild: The Plastiki Makes a Statement

David de Rothschild - PopTech 2010 - Camden, Maine

In honor of Earth Day, check out David de Rothschild's incredible story about how he and his team built the Plastiki, a boat constructed from 12,000 plastic bottles. De Rothschild and his crew sailed halfway around the world to bring greater public awareness to the devastating impact of oceanic plastic pollutants and the need to reuse discarded plastics.

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Rebuilding After Nature Strikes

Tom Darden, Make It Right

Tom Darden is the Executive Director of the Make It Right Foundation, an organization founded by actor Brad Pitt to build 150 green, high design homes in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Darden said he wants to take what has been a local conversation about green construction to the national level.

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World Water Day special: Is the water still flowing?

Ned Breslin “Is water still running?” is perhaps the most important question when considering water initiatives worldwide, concludes Water for People CEO Ned Breslin. He’s tired of seeing broken hand pumps and taps litter Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These signs of failed projects underscore the critical need to overhaul water aid for real impact.

 

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Hot or not? Dan Ariely on attractiveness, pain, and adaptation

Dan Ariely - PopTech 2010 - Camden, MaineAdaptation is the basic idea that we get used to stuff and interpret signals. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely explores how these types of signals relate to pain and social adaptation. How does our previous exposure to pain alter how we experience it now? How is it that we all appreciate the pinnacle of beauty in the same way, but we’re drawn to partners with a level of attractiveness similar to our own?

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Emotionally vague with Orlagh O'Brien

Orlagh O'Brien - PopTech 2010 - Camden, MaineDesigner Orlagh O’Brien gave a simple emotion-specific quiz to a group of 250 people. Asking respondents to describe five emotions – anger, joy, fear, sadness, and love – in drawings, colors, and words, O’Brien ended up with a set of media she used to create Emotionally}Vague, an online graphic interpretation of the project’s results.

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How not to save the world according to Kevin Starr

Kevin Starr - PopTech 2010 - Camden, MaineKevin Starr, Mulago Foundation director, looks for the best solutions to the biggest problems in the poorest countries. He thinks all projects need to answer four questions: Is it needed? Does it work? Will it get to those who need it? Will they use it correctly when they get it? Too many bad ideas are using up our limited resources and that needs to change.
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Picking Cotton: rape, identity, conviction, liberation & forgiveness

Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton - PopTech 2010 - Camden, Maine

The story of Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton is one of liberation and forgiveness. In 1984, Thompson testified that Cotton raped her, for which he was sentenced to life in prison.  Eleven years later, DNA evidence cleared him of the crime.  Thompson and Cotton went on to write a memoir together about their experience.

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