The Weekly Dive #16
Philippe Cousteau joins us for our next Oceanside Chat! New School Food's plant-based salmon raises $12M to scale its technology. Amazon's Hippo Harvest is growing lettuce using 92% less water. AgFunder leads Mayani's funding round to scale farm and fisheries produce marketplace. CropX acquires precision irrigation startup Tule. Scientists have discovered a new form of ice. This week, we are highlighting Jack Pan, one of HydroDAO's key advisors. Learn about his impressive background and why he is passionate about water.
Your weekly Bonus - US climate funding could make water pollution worse, find out why.
This week's quote:
“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can withstand it.” — Lao Tzu
New Oceanside Chat!!
Join Us for: Philippe Cousteau — Ocean of Hope with HydroDAO on February 21st!
For far too long the oceans have been seen as a victim. Philippe will explore how the oceans can be a source of solutions and source for many of our greatest challenges, from climate change, to food security.
What's New with Water?
New School Foods Unveils Scalable Muscle Fiber and Scaffolding Technology for Whole-Cut Meat Alternatives
The company has raised $12 million USD in funding to build a pilot facility and demonstrate the technology’s scalability.
Amazon introduces Hippo Harvest’s leafy greens line, grown with 92% less water
Backed by Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Hippo Harvest’s process uses robotics and greenhouses to reduce food waste and land use.
New surveillance technology to stamp out illegal fishing in WA, Australia
A nation-first trial using automated vessels to target illegal fishing is set to take place off Western Australia's coast.
Water ATMs were introduced in Ghana - and are changing the way people drink
They were installed at six water standpipes, five with a single ATM and a main station with two ATMs, together serving about 2,000 people.
What's New in the Industry?
AgFunder impact fund leads Mayani’s $1.7m seed round to scale Filipino farm and fisheries produce marketplace
The funding, which closed last year, was used to expand Mayani’s supply chain operations, widen its team and set up a farmer engagement division to enlarge its farmer footprint.
Xylem And Manchester City Bring Water Access And Education To Ghana
The collaboration combined the love of football, water and community for a better future.
New cleantech match-maker for forestry, mining, water launched
A new B2B network is being launched to identify and adopt the best technology to reduce energy and emissions.
BREAKING: CropX acquires precision irrigation startup Tule, its fourth acquisition
This is CropX’s fourth acquisition since early 2020 when it scooped up US-based CropMetrics.
What's New in the Science?
Scientists Discover a Weird New Form of Ice That May Change How We Think About Water
This is amorphous ice, a form not found in nature on Earth. That's because its atoms are arranged not in a neat repeating crystalline pattern, but jumbled up all higgledy-piggledy, an atomic omnishambles.
Scientists introduced alligator DNA into catfish to create hybrid
The disease-resistant catfish could one day be used for human consumption.
Scientists Create Biodegradable Plastic Using Solar Energy
The study documents the first time that fumaric acid has been successfully synthesized from carbon dioxide and sunlight.
Clean energy breakthrough produces hydrogen from sea water
A low-cost catalyst, cobalt oxide coated with chromium oxide, was used.
Jack Pan is an oceanographer, data scientist and entrepreneur at the forefront of climate change and sustainable energy. He has pioneered new ways to track glacial meltwater in the polar regions using satellite imagery and advanced machine learning. These techniques help decision-makers and stakeholders to better understand, predict and respond to a changing climate.
Jack is also the founder and CEO of Ocean Motion Technologies — a wave energy company that has received support from the United States Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the California Energy Commission, and the Eastman Foundation. Ocean Motion is a Blue Tech company in the early stages of powering a paradigm shift to Big Blue Data and the Ocean of Things. It focuses on meeting power demands for big data at sea in ocean observation for tracking climate change, offshore aquaculture monitoring, and surveillance for coastal security applications. Jack is an advocate for an interconnected blue economy, and he is currently serving on the board of the Maritime Alliance and the Marine Technology Society’s SD Chapter.
In addition, Jack is a fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he works on satellite remote sensing projects for monitoring coastal oceans. As a polar oceanographer, Jack has participated in several expeditions to Antarctica and is a recipient of the Antarctica Service Medal. He is also an avid traveler and photographer.
Thank you Jack for your work and leadership protecting the oceans and for your support to our HydroDAO community.
What's in the Future?
‘A national scandal’: how US climate funding could make water pollution worse
The Inflation Reduction Act was hailed for its climate funding – but some are concerned several provisions will worsen a growing environmental disaster.
