CareBridge Projects

Ongoing and recently completed projects by CareBridge members. If you would like to apply to become a CareBridge member and submit projects, please see the Contact page.

Sustainable Settlements Charrette – Rethinking Encampments for Refugees and Displaced Populations

Every year, millions of people are displaced from their homes and become "refugees." The UN estimates that there are some 35 million refugees today, nearly half of them unrecognized under international law. Some are displaced by natural disaster, some by war, others by drought or other resource shortage. The flickering images on CNN mask the vast diversity of needs, desires, and preferences. This presents an enormous challenge for humanitarian agencies, who have seen many relief efforts fail due to cultural, environmental, and technological gaps and mishaps.

In mid-February 2002, Rocky Mountain Institute and Dr. Eric Rasmussen (a naval officer and former Fleet Surgeon for the U.S. Navy's Third Fleet) joined forces with an array of organizations: working on these issues-the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Refugees International, the UN Development Programme, the World Food Programme, the US State Department, the Departments of Energy and Defense, The Sustainable Village, and others working on these issues to rethink refugee settlements from scratch. About two dozen projects were developed. They related to the health and welfare of refugees, along with a thematic methodology for siting, designing and operating camps.

The roughly two dozen projects developed were considered first from an integrated perspective, taking cultural and technological appropriateness, and resource preservation into account. Second, we considered larger humanitarian principles, including the idea that refugees themselves should be encouraged to lead the effort to provide aid; that the aid must be appropriate – culturally, religiously, economically, technologically, geographically, and in terms of locally available resources. Third, that sources of aid should be coordinated from the start and throughout the displacement period of the refugees. Click here to read the Sustainable Settlements Charrette Report.

Information Technologies in Sustainable Development Charrette

This strategic design conference was held August 28 – 30 2001 Its goal was to explore a basic question about emerging technology — How will information technologies help us rethink the formation of sustainable settlements? The intention was to explore the interface of information technologies with the basic development needs of any community — Shelter, Water, Food, Energy, Health Care, Education, Jobs, and Access to Capital. The group participants used the creation of a new town in the United States, and the establishment of a new refugee community in a Lesser Developed Country to frame the possibilities. Participants came from a range of organizations and backgrounds. They were asked to think across boundaries and disciplines to create new solutions for basic settlement issues. Click here to read the Information Technologies in Sustainable Development Charrette Report.

Strong Angel 2000

In June of 2000, the United States Navy led six nations and four UN relief agencies in a refugee management problem that was embedded in the midst of "Rim of the Pacific 2000", the largest naval exercise in the world. There were more than 100 "refugee" volunteers who required complete support for five days in the hot and dry volcanic wasteland near Waimea on the Big Island of Hawaii. The exercise was successful in many ways and led to policy and training changes within the US military regarding civil-military support to humanitarian operations. It also led to an invitation to work within UN relief sites that had no military presence at all in order to enhance our understanding of the military's influence on a humanitarian environment.

UN-Africa Evaluation

After the successful effort in Strong Angel, UN relief agencies requested a field evaluation of the utility of the Strong Angel model, looking toward future exercises. A team of three people spent two months working at the headquarters of the World Food Program, UNICEF, and UNHCR before working within refugee camps and relief agency centers within Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia. The result was a list of more than 100 pages of addressable opportunities for constructive change in the way displaced populations were managed. The evaluation of that problem list led to a series of meetings which led, in turn, to the creation of CareBridge.

Biomimicry Research: Partnership with Jeanine Benyus

This proposed Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) project will create a digital library that catalogues biological literature by function, giving designers and engineers access to life's genius in the moment they are solving a design challenge. Seeing how nature creates color, harnesses energy, thermoregulates, etc. can inspire radical design shifts. Biomimicry (www.biomimicry.org) seeks sustainable solutions by consciously emulating life's earth-tested designs and strategies. Studying mollusks, leaves, spiders, and prairies has led to greener chemistry, self-cleaning surfaces, molecular solar harvesters, no-waste manufacturing, and farming practices that conserve topsoil. More innovations will be possible when the Biomimicry Web ( a digital library) allows innovators to search for biological inspiration using their personal vocabulary. At the core of this cross-disciplinary effort is a digital library management system that maps the web of connections between biological and engineering concepts. The four types of knowledge to be mapped include semantic (e.g. an owl's wing parts), procedural (how an owl flies), structural (where its primary feathers connect to muscle) and functional (its relationship with a truffle-eating mole). While many digital libraries focus on semantic knowledge mapping alone, all four elements are needed to fully describe how life works, and how engineers might borrow from its lessons.

Battling Waste in the Military

Most Americans know the Department of Defense's annual budget is massive: over $291 billion and growing. But did you know that $5+ billion of the military budget buys energy? And can you guess where it goes? Much of it powers inefficient weaponry, but a lot of it is spent moving fuel around to support weaponry. Of the gross tonnage moved when the Army deploys, 70 percent is fuel. A change in military affairs is underway, and in recent years Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) has become increasingly involved. RMI is now consulting with the military on building design, energy strategy, and efficiency. Several years ago, RMI's CEO (Research) Amory Lovins was invited to serve on an unclassified Defense Science Board Task Force. It sought to improve DOD's energy efficiency. RMI's work with the board (resulting in the report "More Capable Warfighting Through Reduced Fuel Burden," released in May 2001), as well as other consulting work with DOD, has shown opportunities for saving fuel, money and resources while supporting the defense mission.

Water Treatment System for Afghanistan

At the request of the United Nations World Food Program, WaterHealth International (www.waterhealth.com) submitted a bid to provide seven identical water treatment systems to treat well water to potable standards for the UNWFP staff quarters in Kabul Afghanistan. At the center of each proposed system is the award winning UV disinfection unit invented at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory by Senior Scientist Ashok Gadgil. The UV unit has been tested and certified to treat raw water by the Department of Health of the State of California. Independent tests done by California, Mexico and the Philippines demonstrate the high level of success of this unit in destroying bacteria, viruses and Cryptosporidium. In addition to the UV disinfection unit central to the system, other components include: pumps, three types of mechanical filters, a carbon filter, a chlorination-drip system for providing a chlorine residual (required by UN-WFO), pressure tanks and storage tanks.

Capacity Building in Azerbaijan

Village Earth (www.villageearth.org) is currently involved in a major capacity building and training program as part of the Azerbaijan Humanitarian Assistance Program (AHAP), funded by Mercy Corps International. In August 2001, Village Earth was asked by Mercy Corps to train eight NGOs, led by IRC (International Refugee Committee), on Participatory Practices in Sustainable development, helping build a common vision and focus for a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to rebuilding the lives of the 850,000 refugees and IDPs from the 1990's war with Armenia. In May 2002 Village Earth returned with a team to continue the program, this time focusing on design and establishment of appropriate village clusters and sub-clusters, and served by a Service Center (Distributed Resource Center). This Service Center is designed to link the villages to appropriate resources. Capacity building continues with training in Leadership Skills, Water User Association development, Strategic Planning, NGO coordination, and Monitoring and Evaluation. Perhaps the most telling comment was from a villager near Beylegon, Azerbaijan who felt the community would be able use the Distributed Resource Center to coordinate the efforts of NGOs working in the area. Village Earth will continue working with the eight NGO and Mercy Corps through 2003.

Biophilia Research

Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) is seeking to change the way buildings are conceived and built, and the impact they have on the natural environment and the people who inhabit them. The overarching concept for this RMI project is: How do we take "sustainable architecture" to the next level beyond energy and material efficiency (where current research and development has stopped) to be proactively life enhancing, for day-to-day human well-being (biophilia), and for long-term rejuvenation of life on earth (biomimicry)? Biomimicry and Biophilia are inextricably linked. Both recognize that humans are Nature. Time is of the essence, as our ecosystems are declining due to irresponsible human design, as "Sick Building Syndrome" takes a heavy toll on human productivity and well-being, as unsuccessful public housing projects are demolished and communities wonder what to design in their place, and as burgeoning landfills render increasing areas of land toxic and unproductive for thousands of years. We need solutions. Biomimicry and Biophilia will help provide them.

San Francisco—Energy Resource Investment Strategy

Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) has been asked by the City of San Francisco to help it deal with the several critical challenges it faces in developing its electricity supply infrastructure. How the City responds to these challenges will have important implications for its economic vitality, costs of electricity services, resilience against natural disaster or terrorist attack, and environmental quality and justice. Development of the proposed comprehensive Energy Resource Investment Strategy (ERIS) will: 1) prioritize opportunities to implement all means of practical energy efficiency, renewable energy, distributed (co)generation, transmission, and distribution alternatives to central fossil fuel generation in the City of San Francisco; and 2) plan how to best use the $100 million solar bond issue approved by voters late in 2001. Since the City can fund only a portion of this work, RMI is seeking funding to complete the project that will provide strategies that can then be marketed to other municipalities with the same challenges.

Human Dimensions of Natural Capitalism

The Human Dimensions of Natural Capitalism will be a sequel to Rocky Mountain Institute’s (www.rmi.org) landmark 1999 book, Natural Capitalism: The Next Industrial Revolution and will be written by RMI founders Hunter and Amory Lovins in partnership with Global Academy’s Walter Link. HDNC will answer the big question: why is it so difficult for leading-edge thinking to deeply penetrate and reorient the functioning of society, even as leaders recognize the value of such ideas?

Community Opportunity Finder (Energy, Water, Waste, Business)

Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) has begun a major initiative to design a planning tool (that can be used by communities) unlike anything that has come before. The Community Opportunity Finder will provide local leaders with site-specific evidence that sustainable innovation is practical, affordable, and has immediate short-term benefits for the community. The Finder will be Internet based, easy to use, provide rapid results, and lead to short-term action plans. It will offer a clear picture of concrete benefits from relatively short-term actions.
Johannesburg Summit 2002

Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) CEO Hunter Lovins was one of four US participants in a Preparatory Conference held in Vail June 2001 for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg to be held September 2002. The September Summit will bring together tens of thousands of participants, including heads of State and Government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses, and other major groups. The Conference agenda will focus the world's attention and direct action toward meeting difficult challenges. It will address issues on improving people's lives and conserving our natural resources in a world that is growing in population, with ever-increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and economic security.

Natural Capitalism Academy (NCA)

Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) and the Global Academy's Institute for Sustainable Capitalism have joined together to create the NCA. Its purpose is to promote and facilitate, through education, the understanding and implementation of Natural Capitalism in businesses and other sectors worldwide. NCA will offer a wide array of educational services and products ranging from executive seminars to invitational conferences, speeches, contributions to university courses, distance learning programs, books, articles and other media contributions. It will teach students, professors, senior executives and decision makers in business, government, and civil society how to use the principles of Natural Capitalism to reorient companies and society towards a socially and environmentally sustainable future that is more profitable. The reach of NCA will be both national and international.

Cyberarium

The San Diego Cyberarium is an organization coordinating a set of programs for expanding the use of technology in the service of humanity. It is sponsored by the Institute for Interventional Informatics, a 501(c)3 organization, as a place for cyberculture to grow, applying sensing technology, information management, and imaging tools to local community projects in communications, health care, education, and the environment. The previously successful, Cyberarium was part of the Center for Really Neat Research at Syracuse University in New York. A subsidiary program, Camp Synergy, is a Cyberarium experience for schoolchildren held in locations in New York and California. Cyberarium projects can be seen at www.cyberarium.com.

Hamakua Discovery – Using PDAs for Epidemiological Collection

Based on experience in Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, a domestic trial was designed to test the use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) for sustained epidemiological collection in a remote and difficult region of the United States. This trial was specifically to test the possible pathways for effective collection using moderately technical options – it was not, in this phase, designed to validate either the collection elements or the epidemiological status of a particular location. The focus was rather the optimizing of collection methods, data movement, and analytical possibilities. The requirement for such a capability was confirmed by the UNICEF Country Coordinator in Uganda during conversations on-site in Kampala during the 2000-2001 Ebola outbreak.