Tag Archives: water

Nestlé in line for Hall of Shame Award over bottled water

Take back the tapNestlé hoards our world’s fresh water, marks it up 53 Million percent and spends enough on advertising to make you like paying for it. The company is highly effective in helping kill babies by means of watered-down infant formula; sucking up indigenous people’s water supplies in developing countries to bottle and sell in America for astronomical sums; and they’ve got cruel child labor practices in place that Executive VP Jose Lopez says have been company norm, “For as long as we’ve been using cocoa.”

Nestlé shamelessly carries out these acts in order to make $35 Billion profit, putting bottled water in the category of a serious social and environmental justice concern. And according to Daisy Luther of The Organic Prepper, that’s why Nestlé has been nominated for a 2013 Corporate Accountability International Hall of Shame Award. See for yourself: in this YouTube video, Nestle’s CEO remarks on the increasing scarcity of water.

The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs [NGOs = Non-Government Organizations], who bang on about declaring water being a public right. That means as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution.

Not bad enough yet? How about throwing a GMO connection into the ring: Nestlé has one of those too. Luther reports:

Monsanto and Nestle are firmly on the same team – Nestle donated over $1 million to the campaign against GMO labeling in California and their CEO has claimed that in 15 years of consumption, no one was every harmed by eating GMOs.

While the world’s attention has been on Monsanto’s corruption of the food supply, Nestle has been quietly draining water sources around the globe and marking it up a mind-blowing 53,908,255%, while the rest of us must deal with droughts, regulations on wells and rainwater, and rising prices.

Just remember, Nestlé’s propaganda statements are so not true. They are just empty marketing words.

The Nestle website touts the slogan: Good Food, Good Life is the promise we commit to, everyday, everywhere – to enhance lives, throughout life, with good food and beverages.

Be a smart world citizen and forget bottled water, like these plumbing shop owners have. The benefits are only a bunch of big fat lies. Drink free tap water instead and help improve our world by doing just a little bit every day to improve our environment and our water quality.

May ’13 green/sustainable activities

Check back for updates throughout the month.

Green Drinks 3 Meetings in Newark, Paterson-Clifton and Hackensack

Elly faceGreen Drinks are events, not a type of drink: informal sustainability chats that get people together to discuss green and sustainable issues relevant to our lives and communities. Green Drinks meetings are open, everyone is welcome and there is no admission fee. Pay for the food and drinks you order at the restaurants where we meet – each one serves really good food at very moderate prices.

Please note that our Hackensack venue has changed once again and we are now meeting at Villa de Colombia.

Green Drinks Newark 1st Mondays @ 7-9pm
(06 May 2013)
Rio Rodizio
1034 McCarter Highway, Newark, NJ
Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays @ 7-9pm
(13 May 2013)
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack, NJ
If parking lot is full, park in the Salvation Army lot on the corner of Mercer and State Streets.
Green Drinks Paterson-Clifton 3rd Tuesday Lunch @ 12-1:30pm
(21 May 2013)
Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton, NJ

Paid summer internships with Clean Water Action

Clean Water Action logoEach summer hundreds of Clean Water Organizers speak with thousands of Americans and build the clean water movement person to person. Clean Water Action is hiring full and part-time organizers to protect clean water from power plant water pollution, the impacts of climate change, industrial activities like fracking, and the toxic chemicals found in the products we use every day.

In New Jersey, Long Branch and Montclair canvass offices want to hire students looking to join a team of dedicated and passionate activists for the summer. This is a great opportunity to gain skills and resumé credentials, and is a natural fit for students interested in public policy, political science, non-profit and/or environmental studies. You’ll be trained in interpersonal communications, fundraising and local, state, and federal environmental policies.

Apply for a summer position today at cleanwateraction.org/canvass-jobs or call the Long Branch 732-963-9714 or Montclair office 973-744-3005 with any questions.

GREEN UP Free Trade Show for Bergen County

BCUA logoThursday 09 May 2013 @ 9:30am-1:30pm
Van Saun County Park Parking Lot 6
216 Forest Avenue
Paramus, NJ 07652
Cost: admission is free

Rain Date is Friday, 10 May 2013. Call 201-807-5821, in the event of inclement weather.

April green & sustainable actions, training, events

Calendar treeCheck back for updates throughout the month.

Green Drinks 3 meets in Newark, Paterson-Clifton and Hackensack

Elly faceGreen Drinks are events – not a type of drink. They’re informal gatherings where people get together and chat about green and sustainable issues in our communities. Everyone is welcome and there is no admission fee. Pay for the food and drinks you order at the restaurants where we meet.
Green Drinks Newark 1st Mondays
(01 April 2013 @ 7-9pm)

Rio Rodizio
1034 McCarter Highway, Newark, NJ
Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays
(08 April 2013 @ 7-9pm)

Choripan Restaurant
76 Main Street (corner of Bergen St. aka Bridge St.), Hackensack, NJ
Green Drinks Paterson-Clifton
3rd Tuesday Lunch (16 April 2013 12-1:30pm)

Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton, NJ

Bergen CC NAACP screens Half the Sky

Half the SkyTuesday 29 April @ 11:45am
Bergen Community College
400 Paramus Road, Paramus NJ
Room A-104 in the Student Center
Read about it

27th Annual Stand Up for New Jersey Conference: Fighting for Clean Water, Air & Land

Stand Up for New Jersey! Learn about the most pressing environmental issues facing New Jersey in our exciting workshop sessions. The day also includes coffee and continental breakfast, environmental awards, lunch and a wine & cheese reception.
Saturday 06 April 2013 @ 8:30am-5pm
Georgian Court University
900 Lakewood Avenue, Lakewood Township, NJ
Tickets only $25 if you register now!

Featured Speaker: State Senator Barbara Buono

Workshop Sessions

  • Occupy Main Street, Occupy State Street with Tracy Carluccio of Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Clean Water Action’s national board chair David Tykulsker.
  • Climate Change Hits Home with Dr. Laumbach, MD of EOHSI and Dr. Kennish, PhD of the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University.
  • We All Live Downstream with Brick and Jackson Township Municipal Utilities Authority.
  • NJ’s Green Energy Future with Stephanie McClellan of the Atlantic Wind Connection.
  • Sustainable Water & Green Infrastructure with Meishka Mitchell from the Camden SMART Initiative and Cooper Robertson’s Earl Jackson, IV and William Kenworthey.
  • Zero Waste with zero waste consultant Priscilla Hayes and Laura Petit of New Paltz, NY.
  • “Just Say No” Environmental Justice workshop with Henry Rose of the NJ Environmental Justice Alliance and Dylan Hawkins, Senator Weinberg’s legislative director.
  • Sustainability Tour of Georgian Court University (GCU) with GCU’s Director of Sustainability Dr. Louise Wootton and the Bus for Progress.

Statewide immigration reform rally at Jersey City State Park

Brothers and sisters Come with us, join us, and send this message to the President and the Congress “that we are united workers fighting for a Humane Immigration Reform that keeps family together! There will be a march on Liberty State Park in Jersey City to make our collective voices heard, this means that all New Jersey will be participating. Working People of NJ, from East and West, around North and South, all will be marching to demand that President Obama and Congress act quickly and pass a fair immigration reform package this year. We must make a single voice and stay strong to win this fight.

Saturday 06 April 2013 @ 12pm
Jersey City State Park
Directions by public transportation:
PATH subway to Pavonia/Newport or Hoboken.
Then take the Light Rail to Liberty State Park.

For more information
Elizabeth NJ: Rev. Ramon Collazo 908 209 0335 | Maritsa Loaiza 848 203 4310
Morristown area: Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce 973 818 2666
SEIU NY & NJ

Strategy meeting for actions to stop Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Join Food and Water Watch Bergen/Passaic Group and our allies for the next meeting to stop the Tennessee Gas Pipeline! We’ll be discussing important campaign updates, planning next steps and continuing to build our local movement for a livable future. New members are always welcome!
Sunday 07 April 3:30-5pm
St. Mary’s Church, 25 Pompton Ave, Pompton Lakes NJ (Ground Floor of the School Building)
Who: You, your family, friends and neighbors!

For more info contact Matt Smith, North Jersey Organizer of Food & Water Watch 201.321.1967

Film: 
The Highlands Rediscovered

Presented by the New Jersey Highlands Coalition and the League of Women Voters of Ridgewood
Thursday 11 April 2013 @ 7-8:30pm
Lester Stable, Maple Avenue, Ridgewood
Free and open to the public!

This informative 30-minute documentary, shot beautifully in high-definition, explains the history of the Highlands region and why it became the source of clean drinking water for more than half of New Jersey’s population. The film shows how the ecological functions of the Highlands forests cleanse rain as it percolates into underground aquifers and ultimately, out into surface reservoirs. It also speaks about the challenges the Highlands region faces to retain forests so essential to the state’s health under great pressure to develop the land.
 
Following the film, Erica Van Auken and Elliott Ruga of the NJ Highlands Coalition will host an audience discussion and answer questions. For more information contact: Erica Van Auken 973-588-7190 or erica@njhighlandscoalition.org

State controlled school district advocates hold public meeting

The attack on public education is serious locally,statewide and nationally. Until we all come together and work collectively to stop school closings and gain local control and elect individuals who’s number one agenda is to strengthen and empower the community. Come and join Newark, Jersey City, Paterson and Camden along with other cities. Together we can and will make a change. Light refreshments served.
Saturday 13 April 13 2013 @ 10am-1pm
Africana Institute or Essex County College
303 University Avenue, Newark, New Jersey 07102

RSVP to Sharon Smith Ssmith@Pulsenj.org or Johnnie Lattner Jlattner@Pulsenj.org

Kokokidz Latino Youth Peer Empowerment Group Meetings

Kokokidz meets once or twice a month in north Jersey. If you’re a Latino student junior high school through college age, Kokokidz will help empower you to make positive change happen in your school and community. Young Latinos support each other in the areas of career, education, applying for scholarships, civic engagement, sustainability practices and cultural preservation. We’re also seeking mentors who can interact with Kokokidz members and provide career and education advice.
Kokokidz General Meeting
Sunday 14 April 2013 @ 6-8pm

Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack, NJ
The group will choose an Earth Day activity and look at scholarships, summer internships.
Kokokidz Meets with Mentors and Gets A Finance Lesson
Sunday 28 April 2013 @ 6-8pm

Location TBA
Dennis Bedoya of 1st Jersey Federal Credit Union will give a half-hour presentation about money management and why credit unions can do more for our communities than traditional banks. Mentors will get to know the Kokokidz members.

Kokokidz Contacts
Ivan Wei 201-688-0036 @ivanwei
Luis Ariel Lopez Wei @lalwei

Mentors Needed!
If you’re available as an adult mentor please contact our advisor Kimi Wei via Facebook or Twitter to chat about volunteer opportunities.

Community Service We are looking at different types of community service opportunities. If you have a cause or event you’d like Kokokidz to engage with please share details.

Kokokidz is helping with the movement to Close New Jersey schools on Martin Luther King Jr. Day https://www.facebook.com/pages/Close-NJ-Schools-on-MLK-Jr-Day/276810379041778

Film: Food, Inc. in Paterson

Watch Food, Inc. and learn if Big Ag is putting profits over people
Wednesday 17 April 2013 @ 5pm
Paterson Free Public Library
250 Broadway, Paterson NJ

Sustainable & green training/events – March

Check back for updates.
Calendar treeNewark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency – Apply through 3/15
The Newark-Montclair Urban Teacher Residency is an innovative Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program offered at Montclair State University in partnership with the Newark Public Schools. Participants will receive free tuition and a $26,000 stipend. A 3-year teaching commitment is required.

Residents enroll in full-time graduate coursework each semester (summer sessions included) and participate in summer internships with community based organizations in the city of Newark. Applications are currently being accepted for Secondary level (K-12) subject matter certification in mathematics or a field of science. Final Application Deadline extended till Friday, March 15, 2013.

More at http://greenwei.com/blog/free-tuition-stipend-for-msu-masters-urban-teacher-residency/

Is Our Water Safe To Drink?
Public Hearing in East Orange sponsored by Councilwoman Alicia Holman
Wednesday, March 6, 2013 6:30 – 8:30pm
CITY HALL, 44 CITY HALL PLAZA, E. ORANGE
https://www.facebook.com/events/557057327645425/

Newark Kids Count 2013 Forum
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 9:30am – 2:30pm
The Paul Robeson Campus Center
350 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Newark
https://www.facebook.com/events/386113894821185/#

Using an interactive format, we will explore issues that threaten Newark children and identify concrete next steps that we, as a community, can take. We will focus on two broad areas – child and maternal health and early literacy. Special guests include Newark’s Branch Brook Elementary Principal Joseph Cullen, whose students achieve well above city and state averages on reading tests. The event is free, but you must register to attend. A complimentary breakfast and lunch will be provided.

Register at http://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/8716/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=71612. For more information contact Reggie Dorsey at rdorsey@acnj.org

NJ Land Conservation Rally
One-day educational conference about preserving
New Jersey’s open space and farmland
Saturday, March 9, 2013 9am – 5pm
NJ Institute of Technology
Newark, New Jersey

Online registration will close at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 5. Registration fee will remain at $80 per person for a full day of educational & inspiring workshops, breakfast, lunch and social reception. Register online today! Registration will also be accepted at the door.

If you live or work in Newark, Rally scholarships are available, thanks to Victoria Foundation. To become eligible: download, fill out and return registration form.

1st Annual Patricia Harris Parent Summit
Saturday, March 9, 2013 9am – 5pm
John F. Kennedy High School
Paterson NJ

Citywide Parent Summit to continue Pat’s legacy of effective parental involvement and engagement in school improvement.
https://www.facebook.com/events/481929115201697/

Kokokidz Latino Youth Peer Empowerment Group Meeting
Sunday, March 10, 2013 5-6:30pm
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street
Hackensack, NJ
https://www.facebook.com/events/427537817332045/

Young Latinos support each other in the areas of career, education, applying for scholarships, civic engagement, sustainability practices and cultural preservation in their communities. Kokokidz meets once or twice a month in Hackensack or another North Jersey town. If you’re a Latino student junior high school through college age, Kokokidz will help you be more effective in your life and learn to make positive change happen in your school and community.

Contacts:
Ivan Wei 201-688-0036 @ivanwei
Luis Ariel Lopez Wei @lalwei

If you’re available as an adult mentor please contact our advisor Kimi Wei on Facebook or Twitter to discuss volunteer opportunities.

Community Service: We are looking at different types of community service opportunities. If you have a cause or event you’d like us to engage with please share details.

Kokokidz is currently helping with the movement to Close New Jersey schools on Martin Luther King Jr. Day https://www.facebook.com/pages/Close-NJ-Schools-on-MLK-Jr-Day/276810379041778

Climate Action Meeting at Cook College
Sunday, March 10 7pm
Cook Campus Center (Rutgers)
59 Biel Road, Room 202, A & B
New Brunswick, NJ

The meeting will begin with a video chat featuring Bill McKibben of 350.org, followed by a discussion of what actions to do next on the local, state and national levels. Come with ideas and bring friends. The momentum depends on each one of us to act now! For a short capsule of the February 17 Forward on Climate rally event go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=anXE46utpo8

Sponsored by Melanie McDermott, Initiative on Climate and Society, Rutgers University and Tina Weishaus, Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War

Green Drinks September 2012

In September, Green Drinks discusses

  • How to Save the Internet and advocate for an open internet
  • Why fracking has such a disastrous impact on our national/local water supplies and why this practice should be ended
  • How to build healthy, bikeable/walkable communities

SAVING THE INTERNET & NET NEUTRALITY

Green Drinks Paterson-Clifton June 2012Open internet access is one of the great freedom fights of our time. We have to use it so we don’t lose it. This is now a standard topic of discussion at every Green Drinks 3 event. See more at http://thewei.com/kimi/verizon-wants-to-control-your-internet-keep-them-out/

FRACKING AWARENESS RESOURCES & ACTIONS

  • http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/fracking-action-center/
  • Global Frackdown http://www.globalfrackdown.org/
  • http://shalegasoutrage.org/ NJ & Philly on 20 Sept 2012

Newark Green drinks

Meets 1st Mondays at Rio Rodizio Newark except on major holidays.
1st Monday this month was Labor Day, so we didn’t meet.

Hackensack Green Drinks

Monday, 10 Sept 2012 7-9pm (and 2nd Mondays)
At Victor’s Maywood Inn, 122 W. Pleasant Avenue, Maywood NJ

Global FrackdownHackensack Green Drinks will be joined by members of 350.org and Food & Water Watch who will discuss climate actions and tell us about fracking teach-ins happening in September.

Paterson-Clifton Green Drinks

Tuesday, 18 September 2012 7-9 pm (and 3rd Tuesdays)
The Sultan Restaurant, 429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ (outside if the weather’s nice)

Where to find us

Green Drinks 3 http://greendrinks3.org/
Like us on Facebook https://www.fb.com/thegreenwei/
Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/greenwei

Other events and actions

In solidarity with the Global Frackdown Actions taking place, September is Green Drinks 3 Fracking Awareness month.

FRACKING AWARENESS & ACTIONS
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/fracking-action-center/
Global Frackdown http://www.globalfrackdown.org/
http://shalegasoutrage.org/ NJ & Philly on 20 Sept. 2012

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99% SPRING GROUP MEMBERS are welcome at any Green Drinks meeting. We discuss action plans and volunteer opportunities at most Green Drinks events.

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Help Protect National Forests

America’s national forests provide essential habitat for lynx, grizzlies and other wildlife — and clean water for millions of Americans. Yet new rules could threaten the sanctity of these special places, paving the way for more logging and more destructive development on our national forests. Help protect these special places. Sign the petition online at: http://dfnd.us/vYt93D

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Prevent racism from blocking the Latino & Black vote

Watch the 4 minute video by Van Jones’ Rebuild the American Dream team
http://thewei.com/kimi/racist-romney-gop-move-to-block-the-latino-black-vote/ )

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SHOE DONATIONS FOR HAITI
Collected at Stride Rite Wyckoff location ONLY
Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm
319 Franklin Ave, Wyckoff NJ

Stride Rite of Wyckoff is accepting worn/used shoes, children’s and adults for donation. All donations are sent to Haiti. We have received hundreds of pairs of shoes to date, but the need is much greater.

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After Rio+20: Moving Beyond 2015
RSVP at http://j.mp/rio20plus
15-19 OCT 2012 (9am – 5pm only)
COST: FREE
Ramapo College, 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, NJ
In the campus Student Center Room SC 137

The speakers for this event series are all key players from Civil Society Organizations and from the United Nations, collectively engaged in planning for a post-Rio+20 future. The purpose of the workshop series is to lay out the framework for a road map to plan for a Global Citizens Movement to help us move beyond the major United Nations Rio+20 conference held earlier this year in June.

In this intensive workshop, the many dimensions of the UN Conference in Rio de Janeiro will be explored, and a coherent path forward will be charted.

As you may be aware, by most conventional accounts, Rio+20 was at least a disappointment, if not a failure. We argue that real, path-breaking, and innovative solutions began to emerge from the grassroots level out, and we will present many dimensions of these solutions, as well as strategize a way forward into a more sustainable future.

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Support the Ramapough Indians.
Tell the EPA to clean up Ford’s mess in Ringwood.

Journalist Jan Barry started the research on the tragic and intentional pollution of a housing development which was home to members of a tribe of Ramapough Indians in Ringwood, NJ, and collaborated with HBO to create Mann v. Ford, a moving documentary about the crushing impact this has had on the health of tribe members as well as the water source for the entire region.

The site was prematurely de-listed by the EPA from its Superfund cleanup status, and several years later became the first site to be listed for a second time. Ford has resisted taking responsibility for the poisonous effects on tribe members of the toxic paint sludge it trucked in under cover of nightfall every day for many years, and has also resisted funding the cost of cleanup.

Make sure the EPA knows you support the clean-up of the Ramapough Indians by (Action 1) signing the Change.org petition and (Action 2) sending a letter to the EPA. Petition and sample letter available at

Tell the EPA to clean up Ford’s mess in Ringwood

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Click to give Hackensack Riverkeeper the chance to win a grant from Chase Community Giving
(must have a Facebook account)

Click on http://j.mp/gd4hrk2012
Click on “VOTE”
Click Accept the APP
Click “VOTE” again and a pop-up window should appear.

You get two votes, so use your second vote for any other organization

How can you get extra votes to vote for us?
• Share the special link you get with your Facebook friends – you may get an extra vote. (Make sure you use both of your original 2 votes so you can use the extra vote)
• Chase customers automatically get two more votes by logging in from the Chase Community Giving home page accessible through the Chase website

Learn more about Hackensack Riverkeeper’s amazing ecological advocacy and nature tours and cleanups at http://hackensackriverkeeper.org

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Click to give Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce the chance to win $30,000
(You get 10 votes just for having an email address)

Click on http://j.mp/mchaccvoh

MCHACC was selected as a Voices of Health finalist for its commitment to the health of ethnic minority individuals in the northern New Jersey area. Learn more about the chamber at http://mchacc.org.

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OUR SPONSOR
MENTION GREEN DRINKS FOR 20% OFF Online or at the store

Eco Galleria

Eco Galleria at the Historic Oradell Train Station
400 Maple Avenue, Oradell, NJ
201-447-GIFT (4438)
http://www.ecogalleria.com

Eco Galleria carries fun or fine items handcrafted by artists from throughout the Americas in many price ranges. Including eco-friendly jewelry, pottery, glass, wood, fiber, watches, bags and more. Call ahead to have your gift boxed, wrapped and ready for pick-up or shop online at http://ecogalleria.com

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Interested in sponsoring Green Drinks? If you have a good cause or service, we have a contact base of about 6000 that can learn about your through our meeting announcements. Contact Kimi for information mailto:kimi@thewei.com or 862-203-8814
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What Is Marcellus Shale/Delaware Basin Fracking?

Fracking is an abbreviation for hydro-fracturing, a practice in which a cocktail is made of chemicals and thickeners mixed with water drawn from local water supplies and injected deep underground to force natural gas trapped in shale to rise to the surface, where it is captured and can be sold. Once used, treated water that rises to the surface cannot be reused because it becomes way too contaminated. Much of the water stays trapped in the shale and can neither rise nor filter down into underground aquifers which would bring it through soil to be cleansed before depositing it into natural bodies of water

There are deposits of shale throughout the United States, but the Marcellus Shale formation is the biggest one in the country and the 2nd largest in the world.

The New York City Council has a great synopsis about why fracking shouldn’t be allowed in the Delaware River Basin where the Marcellus Shale formation sits.

Other Green Wei blog posts relating to fracking:
Dangers of Fracking – Fracturing Shale With Water
Act For a Permanent Ban on Delaware Basin Fracking

Protei: swimming ocean clean-up robots

My friend Guillermo Cerceau, who is interested in the health of oceans, is excited about a new technology project called Protei, being developed under Open Hardware Standard licensing in order to help the world, instead of for profit. Protei are swimming, remote-controlled robots which can be used in the ocean to clean up garbage and chemical spills. Protei’s inventors tell us this about their oil cleaning prototype:

Current oil spill skimming technology could only collect 3% of the DeepWater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The health of workers was exposed to cancerous toxic, the boats were expensive and pollutive to operate, they could not operate in bad weather (hurricane seaon) they could not operate at night or far away.

Protei is a technology currently in development that will provide
– Unmanned, no human exposed to toxic.
– Green and cheap, sailing upwind capturing oil downwind.
– Self-righting, rugged, can operate in hurricane time.
– Semi-autonomous : can swarm continuously and far away.

Protei exceeded their Kickstarter funding goal of $27,500 and now are working on a new prototype to clean up waste discarded in oceans.