Ask HN: Tech and sustainability, what problems need solving?

2 pointsinfinite-hugs1y ago2 comments

Hi HN!

The title is purposefully broad to see where the discussion goes, but I wanted to crowdsource from this very smart community and hear what problems need to be solved from your perspective.

For context and transparency, I work at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. We’re a member funded non-profit focused on accelerating the transition to the circular economy, which means trying to eliminate pollution, keep materials in use, and regenerate nature. While we’re a small team, our members are businesses ranging from startups (e.g. Rheaply) to large enterprises (e.g Microsoft). My role is to identify opportunities where companies can come together and take action and create the conditions for collaboration.

Some topics on our list include right to repair, e-waste, water and energy usage, and digital product IDs.

However I’d love to hear from the HN community about what challenges related to digital technology (e.g software, hardware, devices) and sustainability do you think need to be solved?

If you’re keen to have a chat and learn more feel free to reach out over LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennyarnold

2 comments

talldayo1y ago

> but I wanted to crowdsource from this very smart community

Thanks for dropping by! I will warn you that HN is not a particularly good place to source nonprofit or philanthropic ideas (Case in point: Sam Altman). Maybe "smart community" is a matter of perspective, but a shocking majority of comments seem to reflect an attitude that encourages deregulation and abhors the concept of sustainability over consumption. I realize that this is a stern accusation, but we are talking about a forum that is largely centered around venture capital, here. Behind the thin layer of decorum is a variety of self-serving interests that can be difficult to line up.

Right to repair, e-waste management and the moderation of water and energy usage are all important topics that unfortunately conflict with the notion of free enterprise. If you get serious traction with this question, take the responses with a grain of salt. HN's motive to resolve these issues (as a community) is fickle and recalcitrant while it remains unprofitable to do so.

solardev1y ago

Hi, and thanks for stopping by! I don't have a LinkedIn, but on the off chance you visit this thread again:

By no means am I an expert (or even super active) in this space, but I've worked or volunteered for a few nonprofits, including many environmental ones and a "solidarity economy" one.

Separate from their actual mission, I've seen many of them struggle with mundane, everyday technology.

Across the board, their tech savvy and budgets are generally low, but their need for services are similar to any other small business: websites, wikis, mailing list management, snail mail or phone/text campaigns, donor management (CRM), events and volunteer management, GIS/maps, grant management (both as grantmaker and grantee), etc.

I wish there were a "digital nonprofit for other nonprofits" that can help them with this sort of digital stuff. None of it is very exciting to the HN crowd, but these orgs generally don't need the bleeding-edge anything, just an easy and cheap way to do the best practices of the last decade or two (they're usually pretty far behind and don't feel any need to chase the curve).

ActionNetwork.org is sort of like that, but they have more of a political (progressive) focus than an environmental one.

Wish there was a more general way that nonprofits could get their digital needs met at a nonprofit-friendly budget! (I actually really want to start an org like this myself, but have no funding or connections for it)

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Specifically on the circular economy front, I'm sure you already know the regular challenges there, but I think (kinda like the carbon credits market) there is a lot of greenwashing going on and people don't always know if their zero-waste project/recycling initiative/e-waste donation run/TerraCycle/etc. are actually doing anything or just getting shipped to overseas landfills. There is no easily accessible cradle-to-cradle verification at the level easily accessible to individuals or companies when they're trying to actually do this sort of stuff. Same with end-user consumers who, say, get a prepaid label from some big company and are supposed to mail their old ink jet cartridge or whatever back in. It's just kinda a black hole where the waste goes "away" and the person feels a bit better about themselves.

Sometimes I wonder if really it's a guilt reduction rather than waste reduction system =/ I wonder if it might even be counterproductive and lead to people thinking they've done their good deed for the day and to stop looking for real opportunities to reduce waste in their communities... =/ Some sort of accountability and verifiability for this stuff would be awesome!

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