The Digital Civilizations Interviews

Reboot

Blogs and other websites and internet-based networks triggered the change. Some, perhaps most of them, initially focused on the most satisfying task: exposing the bad «eco-practice» of others, especially corporations or celebrities (XposeThem.org), denouncing SUV drivers by name (SUVthepla.net), etc. Others were sharing advice, best personal practices, practical and consumption tips for «greasy» (green and easy) living.

Then an Italian startup came up with cute, portable and easy to use «Ecogotchis», little fun personal carbon-footprint calculators that impersonated all kinds of animals who would choke if you drove, flew or heated your swimming pool too much. These and their many variants, since the design was deliberately open-source, sold by the millions. Thousands of compatible websites recorded Ecogotchi profiles and provided advice and simulations, forums, networking between like-minded owners, etc. Other entrepreneurs seized the opportunity to offer individuals, families and organizations clever and useful ways to reduce their carbon footprint (with instant automated Ecogotchi update): local carbon offset markets in the form of money or community services, open car-sharing mechanisms that paid those who (even very occasionally) took someone else in their car, jobs and places for pooling and sorting recyclable materials…

All this was nice, although very Fist World and very middle class. It certainly did not change the situation in China, the Middle East or the Parisian suburbs very much. But it slowly changed public spirit. This came to be seen most clearly when, after the deadly bombings that killed 4,000 people on the closing days of the 2012 London Olympics, public opinion clearly rejected the new batch of security measures their governments tried to enforce, and especially those that would restrict travel or impose strong controls over the internet. And things quickly went back to normal, except for the fact that several innovative companies came up with novel ways of organizing teleconferences or virtual workspaces, to teleparticipate in public events, etc.

The network that Ecogotchists and others had formed spanned the globe and included more than a hundred million individuals and organisations. It soon found other uses. After massive floods in Bangladesh killed or displaced millions of people, and while governments and international institutions were trying to find the money to act in a serious way, a series of grassroots solidarity initiatives on the Net undertook to collect money, medicines, blankets, food, mobile communicators as well as organizing missions for physicians, technicians, construction workers or teachers. Sure, some of these initiatives were so amateurish that they sometimes made the situation on the ground worse rather than better, and a few others were scams – But it had happened, it had helped, and people felt rightly proud about it.