Rowan's blog

Saving the Asian Elephants

The highlight of our Thailand trip was staying at the Elephant Nature Park, approx one hour north of Chiang Mai.

Asian Elephants are currently on the move towards extinction. There are only 3,000 Asian elephants in total left in Thailand. The wild Asian elephants are protected by law, but the life and treatment of domesticated (working elephants) in Asia is not protected in any way. These magnificent beings are often treated very poorly.

The Elephant Nature Park was founded by award winning conservationist Sangduen ‘Lek’ Chailert. She began rescuing injured and mistreated Asian elephants in 1992, and in 2003 (with the support of a Texan millionaire) was able to establish a permanent home for them in a beautiful lush valley.

There are now over 30 rescued elephants at the park. They are free to choose a family, form small herds and live amongst people who love and respect them. They are not expected to work or perform. Instead they are able to wander the park, feeding at their leisure, bathing in the river and playing together in the mud pit. Each elephant has a distinct character, which becomes more evident as they come to regard the park as their home and leave their past behind.

Visitors to the park help feed and bathe the elephants. If you stay overnight as we did, you may get to walk around the park in the morning, meet many of the elephants and hear about their working lives. Most of their stories are unfortunately heartbreaking.

I was in awe of all the elephants; their wise eyes, huge heavily grounded bodies, their gentle natures and their ability to forgive humans for the pain and suffering we, as a race, have put them through.

Personally, I fell in love with Mae Khum Kaew (also spelled Mae Kham Gaeo). She was radiant and gentle. Even her skin was soft!

You can read her story here. Read all the elephant’s stories via the links on this page. 

Creating the Elephant Nature Park was a huge achievement by Lek. Unfortunately there is much more work to be done to save and improve the lives of Asian Elephants. Lek Chailert is working on a variety of additional projects:

• Lek is in the process of setting up more properties for rescued elephants including 2,000 acres of land in Surin.
• She set up Jumbo Express, an outreach program that endeavors to improve the lives of domesticated elephants as well as offer free medical assistance and education to their mahouts and people they work for.
• Lek speaks out about the cruel practice of the 'Phajaan' or training crush, the horrific, violent traditional method of ‘breaking in’ an elephant to be ridden and worked. This practice is still used widely in Asia. Lek is campaigning against this, in favour of training methods that use positive reinforcement. For those of you reading this and thinking ‘Monty Roberts for elephants’, I agree there are strong similarities between Monty and Lek’s missions. With Lek's blessing, I emailed Monty’s office introducing Lek to him and inviting him to contribute his support to her excellent work.

What you can do to help:

1. Visit or volunteer at the Elephant Nature Park (you can go on a day or overnight trip from Chiang Mai or you can volunteer at the park for a week or two).
2. Volunteer as part of the Surin Project.
3. Foster an elephant (this makes an excellent gift). 
4. Make a donation to support the activities of the Elephant Nature Foundation.
5. Shop at the online Ele store (more great, socially responsible gifts).
6. Help raise awareness and funds (there are lots of ideas to get you started here)!
7. Join the Elephant Nature Foundation. 
8. If you’re in the USA, join the Serengeti Foundation which supports ENF. 
9. If you are in the UK and want to help, contact ENF UK.
10. Join the ENF Facebook Group.
11. I recommended the organisation set up Flickr Groups for: Elephant Nature Park, Surin Project, Elephants that need saving. Will update with links if/when available. ***UPDATE: ENP Flickr Group is now live.***
12. Read the recent media articles about Elephant Nature Park and please talk about the plight of the Asian Elephant. This National Geographic video featuring Lek is an excellent resource to share. The more awareness and people involved, the better!
13. Join 'Elephants in Crisis' (EIC), and ElephantVoices, two other organisations doing excellent work.
14. Discuss the plight of elephants, potential solutions, pilot projects etc in the 'Professionals Protecting Elephants LinkedIn Group'.

Note: If you are in Asia

• Please do not support elephant street begging, elephant painting or elephant shows.
• If you feel you must go trekking on the back of an elephant, please take a long hard look at the elephant’s health and enthusiasm for its work before you pay for the trek. If you really think about it, you may prefer the idea of walking beside a free elephant to riding on a working one!

Some of my photos from the Elephant Nature Park can be viewed in my 'Thailand' set on Flickr, starting here.

Student Insights on Smarter Cities

IBM held a Smarter Planet University Jam, a massive online collaboration event where nearly 2,000 students offered their progressive take on what would make a better, smarter world. 

The students from over 200 universities in 40 countries discussed a number of topics, including the environment, education, work skills, and healthcare.

"Students are confident that their future will be a smarter place – a world where they will drive cars that get 100 miles per gallon, learn in virtual classrooms connected with students across the globe, and where they can run their businesses on a secure, energy-efficient and interconnected grid. They are boldly challenging the industry to transform that vision into their reality, and IBM is committed to meeting that challenge," said Jai Menon, vice president of technical strategy and university programs, IBM.

“The Smarter Planet University Jam was one of the most exciting and innovative experiences I have ever been a part of. IBM is setting the standard for the corporate world to start learning from the people that depend on them,” said Taylor Vogt, a student majoring in political science at Pace University.

Much of the jam focused on progressive and smart-growth ideas related to water management, healthcare, universities, open source technology, and city building.

“This kind of free-flowing forum is extremely vital to the sustainability movement, where far too often good ideas are never shared or worse, never listened to. I was proud to be a part of this experience,” said Vogt. 

Sounds like it was a success. Read the full details in the 'News In Business' article.

Jeremy Hodge + a couple of the interns at IBM, Daniela Retelny and Michelle Morrison put together a short video reflecting the results from the jam as well as another survey they conducted independently among a group of college students. The video is now on the 'Building a Smarter Planet' blog.

*The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Smart Energy (aka Smart Grid)

Yesterday, General Electric unveiled a project at its research labs that will let homeowners cut annual energy consumption to zero by 2015. Read the article on CNet.

Sounds a lot like IBM's Smart Energy messaging. See the fun video or landing page.

So which companies will be involved and how will this roll out? CNET's Green Tech blog post explains what a 'Smart grid' is, the benefits and the barriers to adoption. From the article:

"Who are the companies participating in the smart grid?
The smart grid is shaping up to be a giant mash-up of the electricity utility, computing, and communications industries.

"Heavyweight tech companies--Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, and Google--all have serious initiatives in this area and loom large among utility executives working on smart-grid programs.

"IBM, which sees big dollar signs when it gets involved in large infrastructure projects, is building the technology backbone for many grid modernization programs. That includes installing communications equipment along the grid as well as the software and servers to process the mountains of data that need to be processed.

"Cisco, too, is jumping in with both feet with a broad initiative to supply networking equipment for utilities as well as in-home energy management tools. Verizon is looking at this as well, seeing the home network as a point to gather data on home energy use and, potentially, control lighting and appliances for better efficiency.

"Microsoft and Google are going after consumers as well while trying to sign on utility partners.

"The other key players are the host of start-ups in the area, many of which focus on energy displays. A handful of stronger network-oriented companies are emerging, notably Silver Spring Networks, which offers a wireless card that goes into smart meters.

"Finally, there's the electrical infrastructure itself: meters, transformers, transmission equipment, and other hardware that makes the grid tick. In addition to a number of smart meter makers, there are the global infrastructure companies like GE, Siemens, and ABB that are introducing modern control systems to manage the flow of electricity."

Lets hope these companies play nicely to overcome the technology challenges. There are plenty of other barriers to adoption, including consumer acceptance, government support and investment. Will be an interesting area to watch.

The AFR Broadband Conference

I was invited to attend the AFR Broadband Conference in Sydney last Tuesday on behalf of IBM Australia. The event attracted a variety of interesting speakers.

In short, the situation in Australia:

• Broadband speeds are currently slow in comparison to the US, Europe, Japan, Korea etc. (Average download speed in Australia is 710.6 Kbps, based on 12469 tests from download-speed.org)
• Broadband coverage is patchy. The cities have reasonable coverage, but there are holes (e.g. Balmain in Sydney). Most of the country (geographically speaking) cannot access ADSL2+ broadband. See the map.
• Telstra owns the existing copper wire network. In the cities, there is competition, with companies like iiNet having set up their own. Unsurprisingly, where Telstra is the only provider, prices are much higher (Telstra was privatised and therefore acts in the best interests of its shareholders - not the public, or the country).

The Australian Federal Government recognises that digital information and communication is becoming increasingly important to businesses / the Australian economy, culture and society and that Australia will be significantly disadvantaged if the lack of broadband speed and coverage is not addressed.

The Australian Federal Government has committed to create a National Broadband Network (NBN), which will be the single largest infrastructure project in Australian history. The details are still being ironed out. This is what we know so far:

• The NBN will be a wholesale only fibre network (i.e. not allowing for retail conflict as with Telstra in the past)

• The NBN will deliver 100-1,000MB connection speeds via direct fibre.

• The NBN will connect at least 90% of homes/premises in Australia (actually, the Hon Senator Stephen Conroy indicated during his speech that he was not interested in leaving out any % of the population).

• Wireless networks will be supplementary to the direct fibre NBN.

• The NBN is estimated to take approx 8-10 years to roll out (2017-2019 completion).

• The NBN is expected to have a 50+ year life.

• The NBN will be future proofed. (Professor Douglas Van Houweling said he expects packet info transfers will always be used via Internet Protocol but that the way those connections occur will evolve.)

• The NBN is expected to cost 43 billion AUD (mostly labour cost) and create 25,000 jobs.

The main discussion points at the conference:

1. Is structural reform a necessary precursor to the NBN?

• The consensus was ‘yes’, a regulatory reform package is required to get the structure of the sector right.

• Professor Allan Fels suggested rules governing broadcasting should be reviewed by the Productivity Commission (they performed the 2000 review).

• An agreement must be reached to separate Telstra’s existing assets (their copper wire network will become obsolete with the rollout of NBN). Government may need to compensate Telstra?

• The NBN must be a wholesale network, separate from retail. (This means the retail ISP’s would not be able to differentiate on product. Some are already starting to focus on customer service!)

• Since the NBN project is actually a 40-50yr investment (taking adoption into account) – in order to see the project through to completion, the Labour Government would need to be re-elected three times! Because of this, it would make sense to have laws put in place to protect the build of and investments in the NBN.

2. Where will the 43 billion come from?

• Firstly, the estimate of 43 billion is now considered to be on the high side. Phil Campbell from Citi Investment Research estimated, during the panel discussion that it would cost 30 billion.
  

• The Federal Government recently committed 5 billion (the Hon Senator Stephen Conroy confirmed during his speech that they would foot the whole bill if necessary, though they don't expect to have to do that). Suggestions were: 10 billion vended assets, 20 billion via infrastructure bonds (tax free investment opportunity).

3. What will the NBN mean for the broadband industry in Australia?

• In the next 8-10 years (the gap prior to NBN), steps must be taken to ensure existing broadband services continue to expand and competition continues in order to keep prices down.

• Once NBN is in place, the ISP’s will need to differentiate based on service (as the product will be ubiquitous). This is the situation in Korea, where the broadband network is a wholesale monopoly with the retailers playing on top of it.

4. How will the NBN change things for business, society and the country?

Rohan Lund from Yahoo!7 spoke about the media revolution we’re already seeing as audiences use the internet to communicate, discover and be entertained. He outlined how Australians have adapted their internet behaviour to the speed currently available:

• Yahoo!7 (which aims to be a guide to content on the internet) holds proportionately less market share to Google in Australia than in other countries. Google’s cleaner, faster search experience has been embraced by 90% of the Australian market.

• Video is consumed, but in low quality, bite sized chunks.

• The lighter social networking sites are most popular.

Clearly the NBN would be a good thing for Rohan and Yahoo!7 !

Abigail Thomas from the ABC talked about some of the innovative projects she’s undertaking. ABC iView (internet television) is, I gather, currently only feasible due to agreements with several ISP’s whereby the content download charges are not ‘metered’ for their customers.

Projects being undertaken overseas, such as digital health record systems (England, Denmark, Chicago), or traffic management systems (Stockholm, London), are reliant upon the creation of the NBN. See my earlier post ‘"Towards a smarter economy" with a National Broadband Network’.

Professor Douglas Van Houweling (in the US) joked via phone hook-up (after his video speech had been played) that it was a shame he couldn’t yet see us – his audience – via real-time video hook-up. Real-time video upload will be possible with the NBN.

Related points:

• Professor Douglas Van Houweling said the rest of world will be watching as Australia rolls out the NBN and becomes a leader in this area. He suggested the US needs to think about ensuring 100MB connectivity within 3 years, with at least 10MB upload speeds. (It’s important to remember users will contribute, not just consume. Example is medical centres uploading x-rays.) This point re. upload capacity will hopefully be considered for the Australian NBN.
• NBN will ‘float the boats’ in that many internet based applications that will be created by the business community and government will be reliant / sit upon it.
• Korea currently has the fastest broadband speeds in the world and is investing 24 billion to increase to 1GIG connectivity by 2012!

Videos of some speeches from the conference:

• Marianne King, first assistant secretary for Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy.
• "Pipe Network's Bevan Slattery, Nextgen's Malcolm Roe, Ericsson's Tony Malligeorgos and TransACT's Gordon Dunsford discuss what the federal government's national broadband network will actually deliver". (Source: misaustralia.com)
• The Hon Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

For more info, check out 'The Scoop' by Mark Jones.

Mobile phone recycling

Following my mobile's disastrous adventure in the washing machine, I found my blog post from Dec 2007 and followed my own advice. The pre-paid postbag arrived from the Spastic Centre within 10 days and my (very clean) mobile is now off to be reincarnated in developing countries.

"Towards a smarter economy" with a National Broadband Network

Glen Boreham addressed the National Press Club last month. His speech 'Towards a smarter economy' described how sensors in the form of transistors and computer chips (that are already built into most aspects of our lives*), combined with a high-speed, high coverage broadband connection (i.e. the National Broadband Network) could report information that would allow us - individuals, corporations and government - to make smarter decisions. 

Synopsis of Glen Boreham's speech from ibm.com/au:

"When people have more information, they make smarter decisions.

In Germany, 6 million households are reducing their electricity bills, because an intelligent energy grid gives them enough information to do so. In Sweden, an intelligent road system gives Stockholm’s commuters enough information to reduce traffic congestion by 25% and carbon emissions by 40%.

If Australians had more information about the impact of their decisions – on their pocket, on the environment, on their quality of life, on GDP – they would act very differently.

Glen Boreham contends that – as we invest billions in building infrastructure through the stimulus package – Australia has a unique opportunity to embed intelligence into every road, building, city and utility grid. In his view, the information this would generate would empower our citizens, businesses and governments to get behind the issues that affect us all.

Mr Boreham looks to a future where the sum of millions of smarter decisions help us to use less energy, make far more efficient use of our water resources, unclog our congested cities and boost our GDP – creating a smarter, sustainable economy."

You can download Glen Boreham's full speech here. I thought it was visionary. What do you think?

I attended the AFR Broadband Conference yesterday, during which the National Broadband Network (NBN) was discussed. If we don't get the NFN, I fear Australia will suffer greatly. Glen Boreham's vision, for one, is dependent upon the NBN.

*Interesting snippet: The new Mercedes contains as many control units as the new Airbus A380. That's just a car. The same thing is happening in almost every commercial sector.

The house that tweets

IBMer Andy Stanford-Clark will be on BBC News tonight talking about how he set up his 16th century cottage on the Isle of Wight to tweet.

Andy is an innovator - creating solutions that are likely to be adopted for monitoring business processes, factories, healthcare systems etc moving forward.

Watch the video on BBC.

IBM's grand plan to save the planet

IBM's CEO Sam Palmisano has outlined a new formula for changing the world: Find problems, throw in billions of dollars in R&D, add consultants and an earnest ad campaign - and watch the profits roll in. Read about it in this CNN article. 

The ad campaign is called Smarter Planet, keep an eye out for it. I'd love to hear what you think.

The Story of Stuff

Current consumption patterns are unsustainable and must be changed.

Did you know:

• Only 1% of the stuff bought in North America is still in use 6 months after purchase?
• Our values around consumption didn't materialise from nowhere. Shortly after WW2, the value of 'consumption' was promoted: "Our enormously productive economy... demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction in consumption... we need things consumed, burned up, replaced and discarded at an ever accelerated rate..."  Well it seems we bought into that!
• It's time new values were created. Please watch 'The Story of Stuff' video, find out what you can do and spread the word.

"From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever."

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Green energy

A useful green energy cost comparison: http://greenpowerpricewatch.com.au/nsw.html

We recently switched from AGL Green Energy (100% green) to JackgreenPower (100% green). Jackgreen is significantly cheaper and the service has been good so far, so I would recommend them.