Changers

Messages are Here! Map improved!

Big changes are on the horizon at Changers.

Today we give you two new updates to the community: Messages & Maps.

Messages  

We listened to your feedback and responded by adding this great new tool. Messages will now make it easier to connect with other members on the community. You can now send messages directly to other Changers on the community, straight from your profile. You will be notified when you receive a new message on the left navigation bar, and you can view previous conversations when you click on the “Messages” tab.

Improved Map   

Explore the map to see who’s around you. You could even organize a charging meetup with Changers near you by messaging them! See which cities are full of Changers worldwide, and watch the community grow! The possibilities are now endless with our improved map system.

Keep sending in your feedback and we will keep making the Changers community better.

Earth Hour: March 31, 2012 - 8:30 PM

What are you doing today at 8:30 PM?

We here at Changers know exactly what we will be doing. Today is Earth Hour. For one hour, 147 countries around the world will participate in the fight against climate change and for the love of our planet by shutting off the lights.

By becoming dark, it is a visible symbol and a reminder that even seemingly small actions like switching off a light helps to nurse the planet.

No matter where you are, you can become a part of Earth Hour by simply switching off your lights, and show the world you care. Or, you can participate in a local event in your area — check out the Earth Hour Map where you can find location-specific events catering to your city.

Andy Ridley of Earth Hour says, “Earth Hour’s challenge is no longer to connect people; the challenge is to offer a reason to connect. Any movement of change begins with symbolism - it’s a needed step to prove that enough people care about an issue. Earth Hour is past the beginning now, and lots of people are switching their lights off every year in March. We’re now at a stage of taking it beyond the hour.”

We as Changers do not only agree with Andy and the spirit of Earth Hour — we bring it to life day by day.

What’s new on Changers.com?

We are happy to announce some new features on Changers.com! The new version includes fantastic features along with several bug fixes. Most importantly, we’ve improved the ranking system where you can now find an overview of your rank on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Here’s the complete Changelog:

EyeEm API: A mashup between EyeEm and Changers brought an interesting combination: Together with our friends at EyeEm we have integrated a solution to show pictures of cities and places close to you and your friends while observing data stats from the community.

City and country pages: Now you can see which city/country is the fastest growing inside our community and track their growth statistics. We have some surprises coming up for the most eco-friendly cities, as we are constantly searching for our next surprise-worthy ambassadors.

Ranking: Now you can compare your position and contribution with other changers on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. We are preparing special prizes for the TOP 5 uploaders of the month—so keep up the game of charging.

Minor fixes: Based on your valuable feedback, we improve every day. Bugs reported by you have been fixed. Please keep providing your ideas to the community.

Mail server: Email notifications now work without any problem as we’ve upgraded the mail servers this week.

Uploading fix: Some of our users reported that they saw some bugs while uploading the data; we fought those bugs and can assure that they will never come back again and scare you while you bring all that energy inside the community!

Map: We added a map to the city and country pages, where you can see the location of Changers around the world. Have a look who’s charging around you.   

Startup Spotlight: Lowfoot

We like energy. We exist on energy. And even though here at Changers we create energy, we also admire the work of another startup which aims to reduce energy consumption.

Lowfoot is the conscious startup based in Toronto, Canada and they decided to tackle the problem of energy efficiency. If you are one of those people that must constantly remind yourself to turn off the light before leaving the room, you aren’t alone. Lowfoot believes that a few extra dollars in your pocket is incentive enough for turning off the lights.

By identifying which energy sources are the most inefficient, and by tracking your electricity usage over time, the goal is to reduce your monthly energy bill—saving you money—while also receiving Lowfoot credits if you stay below the target of 10% energy reduction. The credits are then converted into real cash and sent to you through PayPal at the end of every month.

Currently Lowfoot is only available in North America but we wouldn’t be surprised if it spreads around the world sooner than later.

Check out their website for more information: http://lowfoot.com

Guest Changer Blog: Tim Guinee

As we near our next CO2 milestone of 6 kg saved, we wanted to start introducing you to community members who are making this all possible. For our first user profile we chose none other than Tim Guinee, an American actor whom you might recognize from movies such as Iron Man and Broken English. Tim is an early community member with an interesting story and we asked him to write a guest blog post—he graciously agreed.

When I was young the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught on fire. It did over $50,000 worth of damage to local bridges. But more importantly it was one of the sparks that ignited the modern environmental movement in the United States. People were outraged. Rivers shouldn’t burn! (Lesser known is the fact that the Cuyahoga has actually burned on ten separate occasions, starting as far back as 1868 – such is the legacy of our environmental degradation). 

 The Cuyahoga was seen as a clarion call to action and there was great energy and many wonderful policy advances in its wake.

But the truth, for me, is that there seems to be no permanent advance. There can be no relaxing. The environmental movement requires eternal vigilance.

We have continued to see a great succession of Cuyahoga-like disasters: Chernobyl, Love Canal, Fukushima, etc..

One of the things that I love about my Changers system is that it invites conversation. I work as an actor, all over the world, and I can take it with me to set and inevitably people ask about it and it invites a conversation about global warming (One that doesn’t feel like I’m a polemic zealot – because I didn’t start the conversation).

It also demonstrates some small commitment, some tangible energy being spent on solution. My friend Ed Begley is fond of talking about what he calls “the low hanging fruit” – the actions we can take easily to help make a difference. Changers presents such an opportunity.

It is easy for me, to fall into despondency at the seemingly overwhelming reality of the condition our planet is currently in. I believe the move out of despondency is through the small, possible actions we are each capable of - the “low hanging fruit”. This, for me, is where hope is to be found – in the small actions (versus the temptation of non-action).

Thank you Changers for presenting one such possibility.

Thank you Tim, for sharing your story with us. You can see Tim’s latest energy contributions on the Changers community and connect with him on Twitter. 

The Island President

As we told you before, our idea at Changers was inspired by the Maldives islands in the Indian Ocean. We named the charger and solar panel Kalhuohfummi and Maroshi after two specific Maldivian islands with an ancient history behind them. The Maldivian story mirrored the goal we wanted accomplish: overcoming a precarious scenario by coming together as people and making a decision. Our decision today is the one based on our fight against climate change. Some people don’t believe climate change actually exists, or that we have plenty of time to fix the problem. But in reality if we don’t make action soon it will end up being too late.

On February 26, the documentary The Island President about Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed’s fight to save his country from climate change will make its German premiere in Munich at the Best Doks festival after winning the People’s Choice Best Documentary Award at TIFF 2011. Radiohead has used their influence for social good as Thom Yorke himself announced that the band had contributed music to the film. Thom also attended the Copenhagen Climate Conference in 2009. Listen to the latest Radiohead release here and find out where The Island President is playing near you!

Meet on Monday #2: Peter

It’s Monday and that means another introduction to the Changers team. Today we bring you Peter from the development crew who is an all-around cool dude. Let’s find out more about him…

Where are you from?
I was born in Poland and moved quite a few times.

And how long have you been in Berlin for?
Berlin is my sixth residence and I’ve been here for 5 years.

What is your favorite Berlin memory?
Everything that happens during summer.

What is your role at Changers?
I am the head of development, so I am responsible for the community.

So, why did you decide to become a Changer?
Well, I decided to become a Changer because of the great and revolutionary idea that Changers stands for. It seems to be the first time that I am really able to change and influence the world I live in.

Where is your favorite place to use your Maroshi?
Wherever there is sun that can be used for charging.

What do you charge with Kalhuohfummi?
My iPhone.

What did you name your device?
Superpowerplant

What is the last great book you read?
Shogun by James Clavell

Anything else you want to add?
It’s time to change!

Thanks Peter for your time and be on the lookout for the next Meet on Monday!

The New World

We’ve been working hard the past few weeks on refreshing the Changers community and integrating new features to improve your energy-uploading pleasure. Take a look at the new community!

We improved the Activity Stream and made the dashboard easier to navigate. We have also added great new options such as the ability to locate a Changer on the map, so you can view other Changers in your proximity:

We have also updated the graphs and statistics, and made it easier to search for your friends. There are new awards too, for all the Super Savers out there!

And, as always, you can tweet and share your energy savings as much as you like. Looking forward to your latest uploads, Changers!

How do you use Maroshi?

We made another video for you! This time we wanted to show you the proper way to use Maroshi when charging at home, from your window, one of the many places you can get sun.