Ethan's Eco Blog

Hey Neergs—

We spend a lot of time here on GKR discussing the issues and advocating for legislation that will make a difference in the United States and the rest of the world.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get frustrated trying to make an impression on someone who still denies climate change or is just too busy to care about the environment.  If I was only quicker on my feet, I’d tell them all kinds of statistics to jolt them into awareness and action!  Well, now I don’t have to be that quick on my feet. And either do you!  I want to share an amazing website that will help you motivate and inspire your friends and family. I'm not kidding...this is just about the coolest website I've seen!

I recently met two very cool guys from Copenhagen, Denmark.  After some technical difficulties, LOL, I was able to Skype with my new friends, Karsten Bjerring Olsen and Esben Larsen. Gotta love Skype! Even though we live across the world from each other, we have sooo much in common.  We were able to talk about their awesome new website and their passion for saving the planet.  They have taken a simple approach to grab our attention—one that puts environmental challenges into a language we can all understand—MATH!  Karsten and Esben have developed eco calculators for every environmental issue imaginable.  Esben does the research, and Karsten does the programming--together this dynamic duo have created a powerful website called Amiiko that aims to bring attention to the mounting issues while demonstrating that trends can be reversed! They dedicate lots of space on their website to what is going right and how we can commit to positive actions that can keep us moving in the right direction. 

The guys first caught my eye with their plastic pollution calculators.  As of right now, humans have created 16 million square miles of “plastic soup” in our oceans and the ticker is moving scary fast! Karsten and Esben said that this calculator is an estimate, but a powerful symbol of our plastic consumerism! And this is just one example.  Karsten and Esben have created calculators that estimate growing consumerism, world population, resources used and trash dumped!  It’s mind boggling.  I’ve never seen such a powerful, yet simple way of showcasing this data.  And not all the news is bad. Karsten and Ebsen are also accounting for positive trends like the growing sale of “fair trade” products which we will explore in the next few days.  So please hang with us today through the weekend as we explore the Amiiko website and share our inspiring conversation with Karsten and Esben.  Check out the website which features calculators by category—oceans, freshwater, air , forests and deserts, mining,waste, etc. Also, if you haven't seen it yet, please watch the Story of Stuff on our homepage or these "Cradle to Cradle" videos here.  Both are great ways to get informed as we continue to talk to Karsten and Esben about "fair trade" products and the "cradle to cradle" concept. Stay tuned.  Peace Out--Ethan