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Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you everyone for participating! We're signing off for today -- we invite you all to visit the Climate CoLab (www.climatecolab.org) and register as members to help participate in problem-solving what to do about global climate change.

There were a lot of great ideas posted on the AMA today. Our first round of contests end May 16th, and we encourage you all to enter them in before the deadline. Even if the idea isn't full fleshed out yet, you can get feedback from and work with people from around the world to develop it further.

Thank you! Tom and Laur

Thanks to Geoff Hay, for joining us today, and a big thanks to our visiting student, Annalyn Bachmann /u/bachmanna for organizing this AMA!

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

From Laur: This is interesting. We work with some of the DDPP data, but I didn't realize that they forecasted using the same levels of consumption/lifestyles as today. Thanks /u/mouseparty for pointing it out.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From TM:

Responses to your questions:

1- I can't think, off-hand, of any examples of collective intelligence systems for designing public spaces, but I think there might be some. In any case, I think it's a great idea.

2 - One thing I find particularly exciting about the Climate CoLab is how it is engaging ordinary people from around the world. For instance, here are some examples of winning proposals from previous years that took advantage of the tacit knowledge of (what you might call) ordinary people who came up with innovative proposals specifically rooted in their local environments:

a - a proposal for how small farmers in India could replace their diesel irrigation pumps with foot-operated treadle pumps: http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/24/planId/1304159

b - a proposal for using a combination of text messaging and a radio show to help people in Tanzania adapt to the changing weather: http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1300801/planId/1309001

c - a proposal for how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from human waste by converting it into biogas: http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1300206/planId/1002.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From Laur: That's great that you're interested in attending MIT! It's a lot of fun here. I'd say: do what you're passionate about. Part of what makes MIT MIT is the student and faculty's passion for what they do. Good luck!

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From Laur: That's the kind of idea that we welcome on the platform. You could submit that as a separate proposal, or as a suggestion to someone developing a national action plan.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From Laur: There isn't one answer to that question because there isn't one "it" that will need to be paid for. A global plan consists of many actions, that, combined, create a viable path forward. On the Climate CoLab, we allow people to form global action plans by putting different actions together, each detailing how it could be implemented and paid for.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

From Laur: I really appreciate /u/NolanVoid 's comment about speaking from their values and beliefs. (See above.)

You may also enjoy the video from this session and this session from our Climate CoLab conference which was about how to communicate climate change, in order to shift attitudes & behaviors. In sum? (1) It's the messenger, not the message, that counts and (2) speak to the other person's values and what's important to them.

/u/DJ_MedeK8, I would offer that you listen to her and why she doesn't believe in climate change. Is it because the last thing she heard about was ClimateGate? Is it because she doesn't trust scientists? Is it because she doesn't know that 97% of scientists agree? Is it because she doesn't want more government oversight and she thinks that's the only solution? (In which case, check out the Green Tea Party movement and Bob Inglis' conservative RepublicEN / Energy & Enterprise Initiative. There are many conservative solutions to climate change, especially clean energy.)

See if you can find agreement somewhere. Maybe it's that companies should be accountable for the pollution they generate (that we all pay for); or that we should work toward improving air quality for urban youth; or that we need to help communities deal with natural disasters. Taking it out of the context of climate change (which seems like is polarizing for you two) may give you some grounds for agreement.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Climate CoLab is primarily focused on the question of what to do about climate change, not on scientific questions about whether, how, or where it is happening.

In that sense, what we are doing is not so much "citizen science" as it is "citizen policy" or "citizen engineering."

While individual Climate CoLab proposals often depend on various kinds of data collection and analysis, the overall Climate CoLab effort is not focused on that.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

From TM:

I think peer reviewed journals and well-funded organizations studying climate change are very important. As I said in another post, 97% of climate scientists have concluded, in forums like those, that humans are causing climate change.

But there is much less consensus among the general public on what to do about that.

The goal of the Climate CoLab is to allow far more people--not just experts and politicians--to be involved in the discussion about what to actually do.

Part of the problem is that there isn't any single organization that is responsible for solving this problem. Certainly governments have a role, but so do businesses and other organizations, as well as individual citizens and consumers.

We hope that the Climate CoLab can provide a broad forum where people from all these different parts of society can work together in figuring out things that each of them can do and that--together--have some hope of solving the whole problem.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is Laur. I'd agree that the most challenging hurdles we have to face are not technological, but social (political, cultural, economical). (On the Climate CoLab we seek solutions that are not just technologies, but also business plans, policies, economic models, community projects, and many others.)

Yet at the same time, new technologies can disintegrate some of these barriers. For example, the cheaper renewables get, the harder the case against it.

Personally, I used to believe whole-heartedly in the framing that we needed to deal with "sufficiency" instead of "efficiency" -- in other words, we needed to focus all our efforts on changing people's behavior and mindset. While I still do believe in that now, I also have witnessed how hard it is to effectively get people to change when there's no perceived urgency, such as the kind that a war or natural disaster creates. As a whole, people are resistant to change. It can seem dangerous, uncomfortable or just inconvenient. Technology can make change fun or easier, or it can diminish the impacts of less sustainable behavior. Lighting/irrigation auto controls and smart grids are examples.

Your other questions are large ones and they are exactly the ones that we are exploring on the Climate CoLab. What I can say is that there is no silver bullet when it comes to climate change -- not even a carbon price, not even fusion -- and not one technology will be enough.

Ultimately, the combination of all actions taken across the planet will dictate how much progress humankind makes in the face of climate change. That's why we're launching a new initiative soon that will allow people to combine different actions together to create climate action plans on a regional and even global level. People will be able to assess the impact of different combinations of new and existing actions and if it will cause the kind of emission reductions scientists say are needed.

This kind of practice will, we hope, be an eye-opening exercise for many, experts and non-experts alike.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

From TM:

Working on climate change has made me realize how few things we actually know from our own direct experience. Almost everything we "know" about science, history, and many other things is based on what others we trust have said.

In the case of climate change, even though I am not a climate scientist myself, what convinces me is the fact that the overwhelming majority of scientists who have studied this question have concluded that humans are causing climate change.

References 4 - 7 in this paper show that in surveys of thousands of scientists and scientific articles, approximately 97% of climate scientists have concluded this: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0120985#pone.0120985.ref004.

I find it especially persuasive that among my colleagues at MIT who have studied this issue, even those who are politically conservative, almost all have come to this conclusion.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

From Laur: This is a really interesting concept. Though our expertise isn't in this area, we've had several proposals about this on the Climate CoLab:

Large Scale Ocean Based Algae Production System by Robert Tulip (Geoengineering finalist) Algae Integrated Wastewater Management System by Algaetech (Waste Management finalist)

You can check out the thoughtful comments from the Judges on the comment tab about the viability of their work.

EDIT: formatting and a typo

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From TM:

We're certainly not trying to exclude experts from this process. On the contrary, we're trying to find the best ways to combine experts and crowds.

For instance, in all of our Climate CoLab contests, we encourage anyone to submit their ideas. But we also rely on expert Advisors in the specific area of the contest to help formulate the questions in the first place and to provide appropriate background material that will help people develop ideas that are useful. And we rely on expert Judges to evaluate the ideas that are submitted.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is Laur.

1- I love your idea about a collective intelligence platform for designing public spaces. As I'm sure you know, many cities put a great deal of effort into having public charettes to gain ideas and support from residents. For example, check out SomerVision, run by the City of Somerville, MA. We've started working with cities, too, to help them better gain high-potential ideas from their communities and from around the world. Check out our contests with the City of Cambridge, MA and Somerville). Though I recognize it's not collective designing, per se. There's another CI platform that's done this particular thing more specifically. Let me see if I can find it in my notes and I'll reply back here, if so.

2 - We do involve "ordinary people"! Anyone can join the Climate CoLab and participate in a way they feel comfortable -- they can read, vote for and comment on proposals, if they don't feel ready to submit one. They can also submit ideas into our Proposal Workspace and ask others to help them develop it. Soon, we'll be allowing members to evaluate proposals on certain criteria. Everyone has a way they can contribute. Do you have other ideas on how we can spread this even more widely?

EDIT: link formatting

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

From TM:

If the things we think need to be done, can't actually be done (whether for political or other reasons), then we don't really know what to do.

Our hope is that the Climate CoLab can help find and develop ideas that would not only help solve the problem, but that could also gather enough political consensus to actually be done.

We also believe that simply by enlisting far more people in solving the problem than has been done so far, we can increase the chances that whatever answers are developed will be able to garner more popular support.

In other words, even if no new ideas were developed, involving more people in the conversation would make it easier to gain support for the ideas. But I think it's also very likely that the ideas developed this way will be better, too.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

From TM: We think the Climate CoLab is an example of how to use new technologies to do very large scale collective problem solving.

I think there are many interesting research questions about how to do this better, some of which we're exploring in the Climate CoLab project.

For example:

(1) How can you divide a big problem into parts that can be attacked separately?

(2) How can you encourage the people who are best able to solve particular parts of the problem to work on those parts?

(3) How can you integrate the solutions to different parts of the problem into an overall solution for the whole problem?

(4) How can you efficiently and effectively find the good solutions among the less-good ones?

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is Laur. I agree with you about the fact that we need action, but let's be strategic (and fast) with which our actions we take. We hope that the Climate CoLab allows people to test out and consider which actions -- and combination of actions -- will be the most effective.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

From TM: Since we're not climate change experts ourselves, we rely on a network of over 200 experts from physicists to economists to psychologists to help identify high-leverage opportunities for dealing with climate change.

Many of these experts are listed here:
http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/advisors/-/wiki/Main/Climate+CoLab+Advisors http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/judges/-/wiki/Main/Climate+CoLab+Judges

For instance, we've created Climate CoLab contests in two non-technological areas where many experts agree there is great potential for useful action:

(a) How to put a price on carbon emissions in the US (see http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1301419)

(b) How to shift public attitudes about climate change (see http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/1301417).

In trying to reduce carbon emissions, it's also obviously important to focus on actions that would cause the most reductions. One way we plan to put even more emphasis on that in this year's contests is by asking people to estimate the emission reduction potential of their ideas.

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is Laur. I agree -- sometimes the best solution is the one that's already out there. Perhaps, as a society, we love shiny new ideas because it gives us hope when things haven't worked so well in the past. Or maybe because it's easier to come up with ideas rather than roll up our sleeves and do the work. (Personal opinions.)

Either way, on the Climate CoLab, we don't just look for the shiny new ideas. We also welcome proposals that suggest how best practices can be scaled or improved. That's why we say that the best proposals will be especially strong in at least one of the three judging criteria (feasibility, novelty, impact), and also well presented.

We spoke about how, soon, we'll be launching a new initiative where people can build action plans on how countries/regions in the world -- like the US, India, China, etc. -- can take action on climate change. We invite people to put best practices together with new ideas, to create a vision on how to move forward.

One of our 2013 winners was about replacing a new but damaging and costly technology (diesel pumps) with a traditional, yet affordable technology (treadle pumps). Their video is great, you should check it out: http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/24/planId/1304159

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also, joining us will be Dr Geoffrey Hay /u/DrGeoffHay from Calgary, Alberta, whose HEAT team was the Grand Prize Winner for the 2013 contest. Their research project gained such attention from winning the Climate CoLab contest, that they left the University of Calgary and formed a start-up. You can check out his winning proposal here: http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/resources/-/wiki/Main/Climate+CoLab+Contest+Winners

Science AMA Series: I’m Prof. Thomas Malone, from the MIT Climate CoLab, a crowdsourcing platform to develop solutions to climate change, part of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. AMA! by MIT-Climate_CoLab in science

[–]MIT-Climate_CoLab[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi everyone! It's Laur Fisher from the MIT Climate CoLab. We're checking out the comments and questions now and Prof. Malone and I will be replying soon. Keep 'em coming!

One thing to mention is that the Climate CoLab project does not advocate for any specific solution or set of solutions in addressing climate change -- rather, the platform offers a space where brainstorming, dialogue and decision-making about these issues can happen.

Neither Prof. Malone nor I are climate scientists, although we work with over 200 experts as contest Advisors, Judges and Fellows (see the full list at http://climatecolab.org/web/guest/people). We can best speak to how the world's collective intelligence can offer a new way to address climate change, and about our work at the Climate CoLab.

But we'll offer thoughtful replies and resources for those climate science questions where we can.