Winston Ford

Democracy

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 23:08:58 +0000

“I had come to Panama to attend a congress, a democratic law making event, of the Emberá, one of a handful of indigenous tribes in Panama.”

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Agua

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 23:07:04 +0000

En Español

In English

Hurricane Dorian

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 22:49:48 +0000

Highest wind speeds of an Atlantic hurricane ever recorded at landfall: 185 mph

In the first half of the hurricane, the rooms I slept in the night before exploded..

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Canopy

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 22:47:30 +0000

While I like the notion of universal basic income, it begs the question: who signs the checks? The philosophy behind Canopy is to make products that make use of universal local resources, starting with the sun. Often times, it’s right outside the window. And since law requires that every bedroom have an opening for egress, the window seemed like a good place to start collecting that sun. So we designed, made, and tested a number of prototypes to do just that: capture and store solar power in the bedroom window to power the daily essentials.

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Planetary Vocabulary

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 22:45:46 +0000

The key to climate change hides in a word that does not exist.

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Archimedes

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 22:43:41 +0000

Competing in a challenge run by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, I led a small team to design a way for insects to help solve a health problem. Pit latrines are the most popular “bathroom” in the majority nations. The problem is that many cannot afford to have them emptied. When monsoons come, the latrines overflow. The result is massive health problems. Using 3D designs skills and in-depth knowledge about an insect Hermetia illucens gained in the Urban Feed Co chapter, I figured we had a shot at solving the problem. One of the requirements, was that the innovation be fabricated with local materials. This is where the local craftsman played a big part. In short, by allying with these insects, the latrines take longer to fill. This means less disease, saving millions in healthcare. We tied for third place. The winning design was not produced with local materials.

For more info, visit the Sanitation Ventures.

Pantrepant

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 22:41:22 +0000

Urban Feed Co partners up with Pantrepant Farm to develop sustainable livestock feed using the black soldier fly. The farm is part of Island Outpost tropical resorts owned by music icon Chris Blackwell. Chris is the founder of Island Records. Ever heard of a band named U2 or an artist named Bob Marley? If it weren’t for Mr. Blackwell, you may not have. Read more at Island Outpost or here

Urban Feed Co

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 22:17:55 +0000

Urban Feed Co is a project to produce sustainable livestock feed from insects that eat wide variety of nutrient wastes. These insects are called black soldier flies, or hermetia illucens, and while native to the tropics, they now live on every inhabited continent. The insect larvae are 30-50% protein. They contain lauric acid, also a major constituent in coconut oil, which kills harmful pathogens like bacteria, viruses and fungi.

At left in the photo above is Dr. Robert Logan, Direct of Research at the College of Arts, Science, and Education in Portland, Jamaica, a great mentor. The college bought one of our units and we donated our time to conduct a study with the students in the photo. One of the highlights was developing a way for the students to log data on old school “dumb” phones. They would text a message with a few bits of info: weight of food, weight of bugs, temperature and pH. A service would strip this data from the email and send it to a simple script I wrote in php. The script would append a line to a .csv file on the server. And finally, a google spreadsheets function would grab this data from the server and update the sheets and charts so the team could analyze progress.

For more info, visit UrbanFeedCo.com.

Skye New York

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 22:16:40 +0000

Inspired by an Amazon woman who lived in a castle on the Isle of Skye, Skye New York is a line of vests I designed and made. Each vest is made to fit from two sheepskin pelts, cowhide, and toggles of wood or horn. Hand made using no machines. Above is Kaya Mckeithan, bass player for Brooklyn band The Skins, rockin a black Skye vest with cowhide and horn toggles. They had jus finished a set at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan.

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Coco Pico

winston — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 22:14:00 +0000

After working with complex aquaponics systems, I decided to design and build an eco system that does not require pumps, filters, lights, and all the electronics and power needed to automate and drive them. The one below is fresh water. I’ve also made some with saltwater. I don’t add food, and I don’t change the water, though I do top it off. These little drops of water are kind of like earth, they have everything needed to sustain life. Just add sunlight.