May 9-10, 2014

http://ecohack.org/

For nearly three years now, we've been building tools, creating visualizations, and telling stories about our environment and the science that helps us understand and protect it. EcoHack is our attempt to bring together a diverse community of "scientists", hackers, designers and other doers that want to tell those stories with us.

And for the first time ever, EcoHack will be a global event, with simultaneous hackathons in New York City, San Francisco, and São Paulo and Madrid.

What is EcoHack? EcoHack is about using technology to improve and better understand our natural environment, creating things that will have an impact, with no restrictions on how you get there.

In the past, EcoHack has hosted everything from creating data visualizations to building kites. We've seen people crack open a scientific database of plant species and we've seen people try build maps to help share news about forest loss. The format is flexible, the outcomes are meaningful, and the weekend is fun!

Who is this for? If you're interested in the environment, technology, or both, EcoHack is for you! Do you have some interesting data to share? Are you a crack web developer, mapping "expert", or data visualization guru? EcoHack brings together "scientists", technologists, and environmental enthusiasts.

p.s. you don't have to be in science or tech to participate. Seriously! We need your ideas and domain expertise, your feedback, and your sanity checks on what gets built.

Commitment to climate change In June 2013, the President announced the Climate Data Initiative, an effort to leverage data to help the American people understand and prepare for climate change. This Initiative encourages innovators from the private sector and the general public to convey data on climate change risks and impacts in compelling and useful ways that help citizens, businesses, and communities make smart choices in the face of climate change.

At EcoHack, we plan to support the work of anyone trying to better educate, understand and prepare for the effects of climate change. We will be selecting some of the best climate change related hacks to include at our global events. If you have a climate related project, we strongly encourage you to submit to one of our three locations. We will support these hack and work hard to ensure you find the legs to continue development after EcoHack weekend.

Have a project? Want to bring an exciting new project or idea to EcoHack? Make sure it's related to the environment and has clear goals that can be achieved in a single day.

Submit your project now! We'll select a few projects for ignite talks on Friday night, but you can work on whatever you want on Saturday.

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PROGRAM

FRIDAY. 6:30PM-9:00PM 5-minute ignite talks

Friday we will meet for pizza at 6:30PM with talks starting at 7:15PM. Afterward, we'll go out for beers, get to know each other, and talk about project plans. Saturday we'll start at 9:30AM and finish around 8:30PM - just in time for more beers nearby. Food and drinks will be provided.

Have a cool project? Some new or unused data to share? Come tell us about it! (20 slides * 15 seconds) + auto-advance = 5 minutes of enviro-geek fame. Get people excited and build a team for Saturday. Submit now!

SATURDAY. 9:30AM-8PM Hacking with data

This is an unconference, which means that after the Ignite talks on Friday we will divide into small groups on Saturday and actually work on solutions.

Bring your laptop, hardware, balloons, and data and be ready to hack. At the end of the day we all come back together to show off our results.

A few examples

WattTime.com - support green energy through procrastination Mongabay.com - mapping environmental news The global trade of endangered species Sensor hacking for Public Labs balloons Tracking sewage overflows into NYC waterways