Environmental Futures: Newsletter

April 2004

Games are Serious Business

The Future of Computing

A new world of computation is emerging. Over the next ten years, we can expect the convergence of multiple innovations that will reshape the landscape of computation and telecommunications.
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Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Sustainability

On July 1, 2003, a new Office of Sustainability was established with EPA's Office of Research and Development. Under the direction of Dr. Alan Hecht, EPA's sustainability efforts are coordinated through the creation of new partnerships and building on existing collaborations with the Agency's federal and international partners and stakeholders.
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Recent Events

27th Annual American Chemical Society Meeting - Anaheim, Calif.
March 28 - April 1, 2004 (Symposia on Nanotechnology)

Upcoming Events

Breakthrough Technologies for the World's Biggest Problems - Arlington, VA
April 27-28, 2004

EPA Science Forum 2004 - Washington, D.C.
June 1 - 3, 2004

The Annual Conference of the World Future Society - Washington, D.C.
July 31 - August 2, 2004

Games are Serious Business, cont.

An estimated 145 million Americans (about 60%) over the age of six play video games and the numbers continue to grow at an impressive rate. With this ever-increasing number of gamers comes a rapidly growing appreciation for video and computer games as learning tools. A new genre of "edutainment," or serious games, is emerging--games that artfully blend the alluring characteristics of video games with purposeful instructional content. A number of very successful gaming applications are being used in both the public and private sectors. Simulations in the gaming environment are used for the purposes of recruitment (military), training, education, communication and public relations. Some examples include:

America's Army - originally designed as a recruitment tool, it has become one of the world's most successful video games with over 2 million registered users. The Army has since broadened the game beyond the boot camp simulation to include basic first aid training.
Environmental Detectives - is one of the few strictly environmentally-based games developed by MIT, in conjunction with Microsoft, environmental detectives is a role playing game where students try to find the source of contamination in their city and avoid a public health emergency.
NitroGenius - developed for the Dutch Ministry of the Environment, is the world's only computer game designed to solve the problem of nitrogen pollution.

On December 9, 2003, the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars sponsored a Serious Games Day as part of a larger initiative. The project is designed to explore how computer simulations in the form of video games can be applied to address public sector challenges.

The featured games included "America's Army," "Space Station: SIM" (developed for NASA), "Incident Commander" (developed for the Department of Justice) and "Mass Balance" (a budget balancing game developed for the State of Massachusetts). Serious Games Day was followed up by a two-day summit held March 22 and 23, 2004 featuring speakers, panels and working groups examining the intersection of games, learning, policy and management. This marked the first time developers, academics training experts, military personnel government leaders and non-profits gathered to discuss how to develop games for non-entertainment purposes. To learn more about serious gaming, the summit and the games featured here, log on to www.seriousgames.org.

The Future of Computing, cont.

A new world of computation is emerging. Over the next ten years, we can expect the convergence of multiple innovations that will reshape the landscape of computation and telecommunications. Areas such as pervasive, autonomic, and grid computing will defy our conventional notions of what a computer is, radically expand computer applications, and forever change the human-machine interface. These bold new innovations will have deep policy implications for nearly every aspect of our working and personal lives.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Foresight and Governance Project introduced a new initiative, The Future of Computing. This initiative is supported by IBM and has three primary goals:

To explore technological and scientific advances in computation expected over the next decade.
To examine the possible social, ethical, and/or legal implications associated with these advances.
To launch a proactive dialogue within the policy-making community on these emerging technologies, their capabilities, and their public policy impacts.

On March 15 and 16, 2004 the Woodrow Wilson Center sponsored a workshop on Information Technology and the Environment. This workshop was the third in a series on the future of computing. The previous workshops explored the topics of pervasive and autonomic computing. The day-and-a-half meeting featured presentations from industry representatives and researchers on the latest and expected developments in information technology. Dr. Paul Gilman, Science Advisor to EPA, delivered opening remarks on the second day where he presented examples of EPA's use of IT applications in environmental decision-making. Dr. Gilman demonstrated a modeling tool used to recreate the plume of smoke and debris that resulted from the fall of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.

Visit The Future of Computing website for more information about this workshop, including video presentations, and future events on this same topic at: www.thefutureofcomputing.org.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, cont.

Since 2001, the Offices of Research and Development and the Chief Financial Officer have contributed to a cooperative agreement with the Foresight and Governance Project at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars . The Foresight and Governance Project seeks to encourage public sector entities to use foresight techniques in long range planning and facilitate policy discussions. David Rejeski, the project director, has worked with other EPA offices such as the Office of Air Radiation and the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. Mr. Rejeski has also delivered presentations to ORD staff and managers at the 2003 Leadership Summit and the Agency’s 2003 Science Forum. The Wilson Center, in collaboration with ORD, has sponsored workshops on Genomics, Radiation Protection, Nanotechnology, Environmental Modeling, Information Technology and the Environment, and Ecological Thresholds. To learn more about these workshops visit www.environmentalfutures.org.

Recent Workshop at the Woodrow Wilson Center
Dialogue on Nanotechnology and Intellectual Property
March 30, 2004 12:30 - 3:30 PM

Sustainability, cont.

On July 1, 2003, a new Office of Sustainability was established with EPA's Office of Research and Development. Under the direction of Dr. Alan Hecht EPA's sustainability efforts are coordinated through the creation of new partnerships and building on existing collaborations with the Agency's federal and international partners and stakeholders. These collective efforts transcend science and research and encompass the integration of social, economic and environmental polices, environmental futures, and measuring results and evaluating progress toward sustainability. Other goals and activities include:

Coordinating Agency sustainability activities both in the U.S. and abroad
Developing a greater understanding of the interactions between nature and society
Fostering multi-disciplinary collaborations that contribute to the growth of sustainability
Providing greater access to tools and communicating information that encourages sustainable practices at all levels of society
Cultivating transitions to sustainable systems at all levels of society through pilot studies that produce practical solutions

EPA is developing an operational approach to sustainability based on sound science and is expanding and enhancing its already extensive range of projects, programs and tools that promote sustainability. Some of these activities, past and present, have taken on various forms to include research and development, grant programs, technology transfer, design competitions, and voluntary programs such as Energy Star or Extended Product Responsibility. It is through these efforts that EPA is looking to better understand the increasingly complex nature of societal-environmental interactions and to develop knowledge that will enable and stimulate long-term environmental solutions.

One such example is P3 - People, Prosperity and the Planet - a new initiative launched in January 2004, that will provide grants to teams of college students to research, develop, and design sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. These include seven challenges in the areas of agriculture, the built environment, ecosystem, materials and chemicals, energy, resources and water. This is just one way in which EPA is incorporating new ideas and exemplifying its commitment in pursuit of sustainability goals and objectives http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/.

On March 17, 2004, EPA launched its "Sustainability Portal" which is available at www.epa.gov/sustainability/index.htm. The website provides access to information regarding the many available EPA programs and tools that will assist individuals and institutions in meeting their sustainability goals.