Earth Species Project is a non-profit research lab and impact organization focused on using artificial intelligence to advance our understanding of animal communication, and ultimately to decode non-human languages. The organization is founded on the belief that understanding non-human languages will transform how we perceive the world and our relationship with the rest of nature. Their work involves developing machine learning models to interpret animal sounds and movements. While "decoding" communications are a long-term objective, the ESP supports other organizations along the way by supplementing animal and ecological research; supporting existing conservation efforts; and contributing to the fields of ethology, bioacoustics, and machine learning by making their research public.
- animals
- artificial intelligence
- bioacoustics
- conservation
- ethology
HowGood has 17 years of research on global food supply chains. The team consolidates and analyzes findings from over 600 accredited data sources and certifications. These include a range of resources such as international frameworks, NGO guidance and standards reports, peer reviewed life cycle assessment studies, journal articles, academic conference proceedings and texts, aggregated commercial databases, targeted industry studies, NGO research, government publications, and news reports from reputable outlets.
- artificial intelligence
- big data
- farming
- food system
- regenerative agriculture
- standardization
LoamBio is an agricultural tech company whose technology harnesses the power of microbes, specifically endophytic fungi, to create seed coatings which improve soil health and sequester carbon, which support greater crop yields, and potential income for farmers through carbon markets.. These coatings, applied during planting, boost the natural ability of plants to store carbon in the soil and promote their growth and resilience against environmental stressors like drought, disease, and high temperatures. Loam positions itself as a farmer-centric company offering programs like SecondCrop, which helps farmers earn additional income through carbon credits for the carbon sequestered in their soil, and CarbonBuilder, to enable farmers to integrate soil health analytics seamlessly with existing practices.
- agricultural tech
- bioremediation
- biotech
- computational biology & chemistry
- conservation agriculture
- nature tech
The Buy Nothing Project is a global network of hyper-local gift economies, founded in 2013. It uses a digital platform and mobile app to enable people to give away for free unwanted items and skills within local communities, fostering connections, circulating value, and reducing waste. The network transacts around 2.5 million gifts per month over 230,000 communities, 10 million neighbors with 13,000 volunteers.
- circular economy
- community
- localization
- mutual aid
GreenWave has trained and supported over 120 farmers and hatchery technicians throughout New England, California, New York, the Pacific Northwest, and Alaska. GreenWave works with farmers to launch and scale their businesses through services that mix training with innovation. Their high-and-low touch training ranges from an online seed-to-sale Ocean Farming Toolkit and region-specific workshops to hands-on internships and participation in our farmer support network. GreenWave's innovation program works to scale markets in four shovel-ready sectors - food, agriculture, bioplastics and Blue Carbon - as well as disseminate the latest farm, hatchery and blue tech design throughout their farmer network.
- agricultural tech
- coastal wetland protection
- coastal wetland restoration
- conservation agriculture
- edtech
- education
- nature tech
Solutions, the game, is a collaborative online and physical board game focused on addressing climate change. Faced by the threat of rising temperatures, teams must collaborate and work together to deploy unique and surprising climate solutions to avoid climate catastrophe. Game events are based on cutting-edge research developed by Project Drawdown, and focused on real life climate issues, providing fun and team building while learning all about the world's leading climate solutions. Solutions sells to organizations, community and political groups and supports educators in teaching skills associated with collaboration, strategy, and prioritization, while keeping it fun and informative.
- collaboration
- community
- digital platforms
- edtech
- education
- strategy
Hylo is a community-led, prosocial coordination platform for purpose-driven groups. It is open-source, non-profit, and driven by participatory design with real-world groups at the forefront of regenerative agriculture, community resilience, peer learning, equity, inclusive capital, and place-based organizing. Hylo features a resilient constellation of relationships marked by trust and accountability, with clear agreements including protocols for decision making, distributing resources, and handling conflict. The platform has many unique aspects such as nested groups and cross-group posting, which lead to emergent cooperation between groups, generating broader coalitions with more power to address common goals. Hylo's community leaders and facilitators help guide member groups on best practices in community stewardship. Hylo is built through relationship-driven development, involving collaboration with the community to co-design tools to amplify their work.
- cloud
- community
- data
- digital platforms
Olio a free app to reduce household and food waste by fostering a hyper-local sharing economy. People can list unwanted but usable items, including surplus food, as well as clothes, books, and furniture. Neighbors can browse listings and arrange free pickup, giving unwanted items a second life and saving it from landfills. This approach combats waste, promotes sustainability, and fosters a sense of community by encouraging people to share and connect with those around them. Because it diverts far more greenhouse gasses across the 49 countries it operates in than it produces, Olio is a carbon-negative company.
- circular economy
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- reduced food waste
- sharing economy
- social media / community
BackMarket’s digital marketplace for refurbished electronics helps coordinate stakeholders to close the loop on e-waste and open up access to reliable tech for all. The platform connects buyers and sellers of smartphones, laptops, TVs, wearables, gaming, e-mobility, and countless other devices from all the leading manufacturers. Promising “better than new,” it partners with certified refurbishers to repair electronics for resale, at a ~70% lower price than new. The digital platform helps coordinate discovery, customer service, payment, logistics, tracking, a 25+ point quality assurance verification of authenticity, functionality, security, data erasure, battery, testing, cleaning, and more; and manages partners to refurbish products. Refurbished devices reduce an average of ~90% raw material extraction, emissions, water use, and waste relative to new devices.
- circular economy
- digital platforms
- e-waste
- electronics
- mobile devices
- refurbishment
Energy Web is a nonprofit organization using blockchain technology to accelearte the global energy transition through a open source decentralized digital infrastructure that connects grid operators, customers, and energy assets (like solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles) to create a more flexible and efficient energy system. Energy Web is focused on developing an ecosystem of users and application developers and infrastructure providers to work jointly to identify and assess blockchain use cases in energy across security, transparency, and efficiency. It has build an open source IT infrastructure upon which these use cases can be implemented and used to educate regulators and other stakeholders.
- blockchain
- cloud
- digital assets
- digital ledgers
- digital platforms
- edge computing
- marketplaces
Dollar Donation Club is a digital platform designed to facilitate micro-donations to various systemic impact projects around the world. Premised on the idea that collectively pooling small amounts lowers barriers to entry and can hyperfund the massive impact areas with minimum resources, the platform curates a selection of social impact projects across various areas ""acupuncture points of change"" like poverty alleviation, environmental protection, ocean restoration, and animal welfare.They prioritize projects based on their ""Integrated Impact Score"" metric which assesses a project's effectiveness for creating positive and scalable social and environmental benefit, while acounting for how well the solution: Integrates into local cultures and economies; Is resilient to threats of reversal; Results in self-reliance rather than dependence; Is long-term (7 generations deep); Solves root-causes rather than symptoms. Dollar Donation Club offers traceable donation monitoring for donors and gamifies the experience with points, leaderboards, and prizes. It also offers customized campaigns to business to automate giving, impact investments, and reporting.
- crowdsourcing
- impact investing
- philanthropy
- regenerative finance
Houdini sportswear caters to adventurers and athletes with a focus on eco-conscious, high-performance clothing. They craft technical apparel that combines durability, functionality, and minimalist design for activities like hiking, climbing, skiing, and trail running. Houdini prioritizes sustainability throughout their production process, using recycled materials whenever possible and employing practices that minimize environmental impact. Beyond performance and eco-friendliness, Houdini is known for innovation in material science and garment design, creating lightweight, weather-protective, and versatile pieces for dedicated outdoor enthusiasts.
- circular economy
- clothing
- digital platforms
- marketplaces
- material science
- textiles
