Green Blog
A better web. Better for the environment.
Carbon stocks and cultural mapping in the Amazon Rainforest
5/17/12
(Cross-posted from the
Google Latlong Blog
)
In 2008, the
Google Earth Outreach
team
visited the Surui tribe
in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest for the first time, upon request of Chief Almir Naramagoya Surui. Their goal was to learn how to share and preserve their culture using
Google Maps
,
Google Earth
, and other online tools including
Picasa
,
YouTube
, and
Blogger
. We were honored to play a role in empowering the indigenous people of a region that had been ravaged by illegal logging to
tell their stories
to millions of people around the world. Filmmaker Denise Zmekhol documented this experience in a video called
Trading Bows and Arrows for Laptops
.
Then, in 2009, Rebecca Moore, head of the Google Earth Outreach team, returned to the Amazon to teach the Surui about
Open Data Kit
(ODK), a new suite of open-source tools that streamlines the process of data collection in the field with Android phones. Using ODK, the
tribe takes pictures of what’s happening on the ground
for proof of the illegal logging that is taking place on their territory.
The Surui also began using ODK and Google Earth to
visualize the carbon reserves
of the forest they live in. This process is part of their 50-year sustainability plan, and serves as a model for how indigenous tribes who have lost much of their ancestral land to logging and deforestation can thrive with the help of a new emerging market based on carbon credits.
Chief Almir, in his joint presentation with Rebecca Moore, celebrated the validation of the
Surui Forest Carbon Project
on Saturday, May 12th at
TEDxBeloHorizonte
in Brazil. This is a groundbreaking outcome for the Surui people for two reasons. First, this is the first indigenous-led project in the world to be validated. Equally important, it’s also the first REDD+ project in Brazil to get certified by both the
Verified Carbon Standard
(VCS) to sell stocks in the carbon market, and the
Climate, Community and Biodiversity
(CCB) Gold Standard to get extra gains from other ‘co-benefits’ of forest preservation, such as increasing biodiversity for a region, or preserving the livelihood of local communities who depend on the forest. The project was validated by Rainforest Alliance and the Brazilian NGO IMAFLORA.
The Surui and their partner
IDESAM
have already measured a baseline of carbon stored in the indigenous reserve and will avoid the emission of 6 million tons of carbon over the 30 years of the life of the project by avoiding the deforestation of 40 thousand hectares of forests and protecting an additional 200,000 hectares. Coordinated by
Forest Trends
, the Surui will work with the Brazilian government and those who want to neutralize their emissions to develop financial mechanisms to ensure the forest is protected and well managed, while also assuring the quality of life for the Surui community. The primary financial vehicle has been designed by
FUNBIO
, a Brazilian NGO specializing in creating financial mechanisms for conservation.
The TEDx talk was made on the heels of another Google Earth Outreach workshop held in Cacoal, Rondonia in May -- this one intended to teach the Surui people how to create a cultural map using Google Earth. Creating a new platform for storytelling online and an interactive repository for shared memories, the Surui students have interviewed their elders to map their ancestral sites, such as the site of first contact with western civilization in 1969, places where the tribes battled with colonists in the 1970s, as well as places of interest, like sightings of jaguars, capybaras and toucans. Once the Surui students have completed the first version of the map, it will be available for all to explore both as a Google Earth KML, powered by
Spreadsheet Mapper 3.0
, and as a narrated tour in Google Earth.
We are very excited for Chief Almir, the
Surui people
, and their partners, including
ECAM
,
Amazon Conservation Team
,
Forest Trends
,
IDESAM
,
Kaninde
,
FUNBIO
, among others, who are entering into a new phase of global significance with the validation of the Surui Forest Carbon Project and the Surui Cultural Map.
Posted by Tanya Birch, Program Manager, Google Earth Outreach
Follow an email’s journey with Story of Send
5/15/12
(cross-posted on the
Official Google Blog
)
If you’re anything like me, you send and receive a lot of emails every day. But have you ever wondered where your message goes after you hit “send?” How does an email travel from your computer to your friend’s smartphone across the country or around the world?
We’re answering those questions with
Story of Send
, a new site that gives you a behind-the-scenes look into how all that virtual information makes its journey through the real world—from your Internet service provider to our
data centers
and beyond. Along the way, you’ll discover everything from where we filter for spam and scan for viruses to how we’re
minimizing our impact
on the environment through energy efficiency and renewable power.
We've included videos and photos throughout the journey so you can explore certain areas more deeply. For example, if you’re curious what data center servers look like, we’ve included
some photos
. Or you can watch
a video
to learn about how we purchase clean energy from wind farms near our data centers. And because technology doesn’t always have to be serious, you might find a vampire or two lurking around or uncover other surprises on the journey.
In the past, Gmail fans have shown us how emails
connect people across the world
. Now we’re providing a glimpse into how those emails go from one place to another. So hit send and
start the journey
today.
Posted by Erin Reilly, Google Green team
Updated Carbon Disclosure Ratings in Google Finance
5/2/12
With a background in physics and sustainability, and a stint as a math teacher in Morocco, I never imagined I would end up at a technology company like Google. But as I approach my fifth anniversary here, I’ve been thinking back on all the projects I’ve been a part of as a member of the Energy team. One that I’m most proud of is a collaboration with the Google Finance team and the nonprofit
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
to put companies’ carbon disclosure ratings into Google Finance alongside financial data. Specifically, these ratings quantify how well a company measures and reports its greenhouse gas emissions, as well as to what degree it is aware of the risks and opportunities climate change poses to its business. The scores -- which the Google Finance team just updated for 2011 -- are listed as “Carbon Disclosure Rating” and appear in the “Key stats and ratios” box on the right side of a company’s
Google Finance
page:
There are two things that made this an exciting project for me. First, what started out as an idea in the mind of one Googler became a live feature in a product used by millions of people every day. And second, the
launch
of this feature in April 2010 marked the first time that individual investors could freely access this kind of information in conjunction with financial data.
Why would investors be interested in a company’s carbon disclosure rating? We thought it would be useful because a company’s emissions, as well as climate change more generally, can pose financial risks -- and investors generally like to understand such risks. These risks can take several forms: from regulatory risks (e.g. legislation placing costs on carbon-intensive activities) to physical risks (e.g. sea-level rise threatening a company’s facilities) to market risks (e.g. consumers switching to another company’s products because they believe that company to be a better environmental steward). All of these factors (and others) go into CDP’s calculation of a company’s carbon score, so it can be a useful metric for investors.
As I begin my sixth year at Google, I’m excited that we’re making environmental information more universally accessible and useful, and I’m looking forward to the projects and challenges ahead.
Posted by Sam Arons, Carbon Maven
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