For Sale: Earth's most important domain?

On Monday this week, we reached Earth Overshoot Day, the date which marks when humankind uses-up more of earth's resources than it can replenish during the year. So despite being the most intelligent species on Earth, we're not being very intelligent about how we live within its bounds.

"...despite being the most intelligent species on Earth, we're not being very intelligent about how we live within its bounds"

We're also facing increasing incidences of extreme weather, which although may cause inconvenience when national infrastructure cannot cope (e.g. in the UK, we had the hottest day on record last week - and buckling rails caused misery for commuters)... in increasing parts of the world, it translates into crop failures, famine and mass migration.

1.5°

The respected IPCC predicts that under most scenarios modeled, the earth's average temperature will increase by 1.5 degrees from pre-industrial levels, by the end of the 21st Century. This in-turn, will lead to even more catastrophic changes to our weather, landscape, oceans, land use and biodiversity. We are living in a climate emergency.

The concept of working collaboratively to limit global temperature increases to within 1.5 degrees has gained significant momentum - and as organisations commit to aligned 'Science-Based Targets', we're seeing the seeds of positive, affirmative action being taken. 

And it makes sense - not only do organisations have a moral duty to show climate leadership as part of their core purpose, but such action can help to attract and retain talent, mitigate climate risks from business operations and identify new opportunities for revenue generation.

If you share the vision that the 1.5 degrees concept can be used as a long-term, global platform to demonstrate climate leadership, engage with stakeholders and help move society back onto a sustainable footing... I might be able to help!

"...the 1.5 degrees concept can be used as a long-term, global platform to demonstrate climate leadership, engage with stakeholders and help move society back onto a sustainable footing"

I'm selling the following web domains* and would be delighted to see them put to better-use than I've ever been able to:

www.1point5degrees.com

 

www.OnePointFiveDegrees.com

If you or your organisation is interested please do contact me directly:

richard@1point5degrees.com 

 Alternatively, if you know of any sustainability professionals who work in organisations where this opportunity may resonate with them, please do add their names as a comment to this article.
Thank you.

*the domain names are for sale, and once sold, the new owner would use it/them to address/point to their own content, e.g. a new global campaign to engage customers. The existing content which these domains point to (my personal sustainability blog) would not be sold.

N.B. This sale is being made on a personal basis and is unconnected to my current employer.

To Uber or not To Uber, that is the question...

Verbification is something which brands often aspire to - namely that their company (or application/service) becomes used as a verb in popular culture. Examples might include "Why don't you Google it?", "I'm going to Shazam that [music]", "Make sure you Strava your run, so I can check out your route", or to a long-standing example - "I'm going to Hoover the carpets".

And of course Uber have achieved this accolade too - "Uber it home" and "Just Uber it" are frequently muttered by cosmopolitan city dwellers all around the world. But what of Uber's future - will verbifaction be a constraint for them in future of transportation?

Uber plays a dominant role in the fast-moving field of urban mobility, and for a significant population in cities around the world, offers a more attractive proposition than a private car, public transport, or traditional taxi. Innovations like ride-sharing have helped keep costs down for customers further.

The developments of powertrain electrification, collaborative consumption (the 'sharing economy'), autonomous vehicles and V2X technologies are opening-up new commercial models; But with these technological and societal changes comes an even bigger prize - 'Mobility as a Service', or MaaS. This concept delivers:

• Seamless integration between multiple modes of transport, from walking and cycling, through to trains, trams and of course on-demand services
• Innovative ticketing and billing solutions, minimising costs for customers and providing a single source of journey history
• Reduced congestion and pollution as perceived barriers to public transport and cycling are reduced

And in the last few weeks or so, two announcements from Uber would suggest that, perhaps inevitably, they would like to play a dominant role in these emerging ecosystems.

Uber acquires bicycle-sharing startup Jump

Bicycle-sharing schemes have become commonplace in most urban centres, with the original approach of docks (e.g. 'Boris Bikes' in London, and one of the original but currently challenged Velib in Paris), now being challenged with dockless schemes like those from Ofo and Mobike:

In the U.S., Uber has acquired Jump, a start-up that combines the dual convenience of dockless bikes, with electric pedal-assist.

From a sustainability perspective, this is a really positive move for Uber, and helps add more weight towards the inevitable tipping-point towards mass-adoption of cycling in city centres.

Masabi public transport ticketing partnerhip

The second announcement starts to reduce the friction between changing modes of transport - in this case between an Uber ride-sharing journey, and traditional public transport. Masabi's global leadership in mobile ticketing and SaaS solutions, integrated into the Uber App, will surely help the movement of people across cities, reduce barriers to public transport uptake, and be another nail in the coffin for private car ownership.

So, with Uber's global leadership, I'm optimistic these moves are sending a strong message into the industry that 'Mobility as a Service' (MaaS) will enter the mainstream in the coming years, and coupled with EV adoption rates rising, should have a positive benefit for air pollution, congestion an even waistlines!

So, in the future, people may indeed still 'Uber' around the city, but perhaps it will mean something all together more varied than sitting in the back of a Prius...

A Sustainable Voice-Controlled #SmartHome Cookbook [Recipe 1 - MUSIC]

With voice-control being the latest 'must-have' feature in people's homes, for many it may mean ditching their older technology, potentially contributing to the global crisis of eWaste (a concept perhaps not yet reaching the popular consciousness of plastics, but it will and should!).

So, I wanted to see if it was possible to still get at least some of the benefits of the latest technology, relying predominantly on some of the existing technology I already had in my home, maximising the reuse, and minimising the eWaste of technology.

In my #SmartHome Cookbook, I'm starting with a recipe for music streaming - one of the core features which the new Amazon Alexa and Google Home speakers major on. £30 later, I've made an OK start...

Ingredients

• 1 old speaker, e.g. iPod speaker dock 
• A Google Chromecast Audio (£30) 
• Existing middle-range Android smartphone (tablet also fine) 
• Google Home App (free) 
• Seasoned with additional free Apps from Play Store to suit taste
• [for voice control] Google Assistant App (free) 

Recipe

STEP 1.) Dig out one of those old powered speakers you've got, any make/model, but it will need an AUX-IN port. Plenty available on eBay.

In my case, about six years ago, I was lucky enough to receive a Bose Sounddock as a gift. It was for connecting my old iPod Mini to (remember those?), and worked well. Until the iPod connection broke.

Broken iPod connector on my old Bose Sounddock

I of course looked into fixing it, and a year ago, I almost pursued an option to bluetooth-enable it with a DIY upgrade for about £60 - allowing me then to stream music to it from my phone. That never happened, so the speaker had been pretty much gathering dust... [iPod mini still used, but in my car]

STEP 2.) You need to buy a Google Chromecast Audio - the only thing which will need to pay for, and retails at a modest £30 in the UK. Also available second-hand from eBay for considerably less. Don't get it confused with other Chromecast devices available, used for streaming video.

The Chromecast has its own power supply, and comes with a standard 3.5mm lead for connecting to the AUX-IN port of the speaker (other leads and connections are available too)

.

STEP 3.) On your smartphone (or tablet), setup the Chromecast, where you'll be prompted to download the Google Home App (n.b. supports other operating systems too, e.g. Apple iOS and Microsoft).

STEP 4.) Follow the small number of setup steps, ensuring the smartphone/tablet you're using is on the same wi-fi network as the Chromecast, which should be 'auto-discovered'. Any firmware updates will happen during this process.

STEP 5.) Use various Apps to 'cast' ('send') any music from your smartphone to the speaker, via the Chromecast.

In my case, I already had BBC's excellent iPlayer Radio App, some of my own music previously synced to Google Music Play, and have started using the free Spotify App (n.b. Chromecast will now support Spotify without having to upgrade to Premium). Via a Chrome web browser on a PC, I can also cast audio from YouTube. There are many additional apps supported.

So far, so good - I have a #SmartHome speaker for only an additional £30 outlay, and have saved my broken Bose Sounddock being another piece of eWaste - in my case a hefty 2.2kg of hard-to-recycle plastic and electronics.

Incidentally, on my reckoning, my setup is in some ways better than the current plethora of Bluetooth speakers on the market, as:

1. It casts via wi-fi at a higher quality than Bluetooth can manage 
2. It doesn't drain the battery on my smartphone in the same way Bluetooth would (the smartphone acts effectively as a remote, that's all) 
3. It doesn't have the same range restrictions of Bluetooth 
4. Multiple devices can be connected to the Chromecast 

As I understand it, I could also buy additional Chromecast Audio devices, allowing me to replicate a Sonos-type multi-room setup, for significantly less outlay.

[optional] STEP 6.) - Voice Control. Download Google Assistant from the Play Store, and if you haven't already discovered it, you'll realise it opens-up a whole new world of opportunity (with a dash of frustration and amusement thrown-in too!). Rather than a dedicated and separate smart device (e.g. Google Home, Amazon Alexa), this will let you use your smartphone to provide at least some of the same functionality. For example, you can ask it to "Play next Song", "What is this Song?", "Find Songs by ", "Increase volume to 80%", etc. Here is a link to some more relevant voice commands.

So, yes, I'm a bit late to the world of the voice-controlled #SmartHome, but am pretty pleased with what I've been able to achieve with minimal outlay.

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