A mini-exhibit on plastic waste, in honor of “Out to Sea”

From my Instagram account ... Follow me there, http://instagram.com/alanatkisson This is all the the plastic garbage I collected from the beach today, on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, in 45 minutes. I've arranged it as an Instagram square, for easy sharing. The "Out to Sea" exhibition we sponsored in Stockholm has closed … Continue reading A mini-exhibit on plastic waste, in honor of “Out to Sea”

Celebrating a victory for ethics and eloquence

For politically centrist, ethically minded people, who prefer serious debate to trolling and twitterstorms, these are challenging times. As Frank Bruni recently wrote in the New York Times (see link below), extremism and outrage is the order of the day. We need antidotes. Here's one: would you like to see (and hear) an example of … Continue reading Celebrating a victory for ethics and eloquence

Crowdfunding Success: a Personal Thank You and Update

In January, I launched a "lightning challenge" crowdfunding campaign to bring a noted international exhibition on plastic garbage in the seas to Stockholm. It was successful, and the exhibit will open this week. Here is the letter I just sent to everyone who contributed, in amounts that ranged from $10 to $3,000. You can get … Continue reading Crowdfunding Success: a Personal Thank You and Update

Crowdfunding 1-week challenge: help sponsor this exhibition!

Dear friends: We need your help. I’ve never tried crowdfunding before, or asking for donations for a project. But now I am. I and my friends in Stockholm are mounting a major and powerful exhibition here, on the problem of plastic garbage in our seas. But we need your help, otherwise it just won’t happen. … Continue reading Crowdfunding 1-week challenge: help sponsor this exhibition!

In Sweden, corporate sponsors did not “show up”

This is the original Facebook post from Jan 9, 2017, that made us realize we should try crowdfunding for our exhibit on ocean plastic waste. UPDATE 25 JAN 2017: WE ARE HALF WAY THERE! THANKS TO SWEDISH, JAPANESE, USA AND OTHER SPONSORS. Can you help? Click here to read more and contribute ... [Translation of … Continue reading In Sweden, corporate sponsors did not “show up”

Melting Polar Sea Ice: A story we ignore at our peril

I spend a lot of professional time reading about the Arctic (for an upcoming WWF report that my firm is developing). Conclusion: the media is practically ignoring one of the biggest stories on the planet. Consider the first graph, and the red line at the bottom, which combines the data for all of 2016 on … Continue reading Melting Polar Sea Ice: A story we ignore at our peril

Letter to Santa Claus 2002: The 2016 Update

In 2002, before the Age of Social Media, I wrote a regular column called "Find/Replace." The following "Letter to Santa" went sort-of-viral, which means it got copied and sent out on various people's email lists (including science fiction writer Bruce Sterling's list, which was an important list at the time). I thought about that article … Continue reading Letter to Santa Claus 2002: The 2016 Update