Now: May 2009

mon, may 11
Shine
NATIONAL SOLAR ENERGY CONFERENCE
Buffalo, New York

There's a lot that's new under the sun, and program organizers intend to discuss much of it at the 38th annual solar-energy conference. There will be sessions on solar cooling applications -- sounds oxymoronic, but it's real -- as well as case studies on sustainability. The conference promises to help find "hidden opportunities in the trillion-dollar green economy" -- in other words (sorry, we can't resist), your place in the sun. -- AB

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mon, may 11
Recycle
DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE ON SHIP RECYCLING
Hong Kong

Exploding gas tanks. Asbestos poisoning. Falling steel beams. These are the hazards faced by the tens of thousands of people who work in ship-breaking yards in India and Bangladesh. Their pay: on average, $1.30 a day. This year, 80% of the 1,000 commercial vessels sold for scrap will be dismantled by hand on the subcontinent's beaches. In an attempt to reduce the industry's environmental and human tolls (in a typical week, one worker is killed and seven seriously injured), the world's shipping nations will agree to new rules on safe, sus-tainable recycling at this Inter-national Maritime Organization conference. Alas, Ingvild Jenssen, director of the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking, says the document will have little effect because most of the rules are actually just voluntary guidelines. "We all depend on shipping," says Jenssen, and she believes that real regulation won't happen until consumers start caring -- which means it won't happen anytime soon.
-- THEUNIS BATES

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tue, may 12
Eat
FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION FORUM 2009
Chicago

It might read like a shopping list -- Sara Lee, Quaker Oats, Coca-Cola -- but don't be fooled by the forum's presentation schedule: The attendees will work while they eat. In years past, they tackled issues such as marketing to the YouTube generation (solution: Go viral, like Mentos); this year, they'll talk food safety (solution: Avoid anything from the Peanut Corp. of America?). But if you ask organizer Tom Quinn, it's the free desserts that take the cake. "[Sprinkles maker] Parker Products is serving," he says, "so we'll probably have ice cream." -- DM

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tue, may 12
Launch
LAST HUMAN TRIP TO THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE
Cape Canaveral, Florida

What goes up must come down eventually. But before the Hubble Space Telescope does, NASA will send the space shuttle Atlantis up on one last servicing mission. Astronauts will deliver a new data-handling unit, remove and replace broken parts, and make other repairs to the 19-year-old telescope. The Hubble, a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency, has already done heroic work, taking extraordinary photographs, like the one above, and helping scientists calculate the age of the universe, study how planets form, and even identify the first organic molecule outside our solar system. Not bad for a 12-ton hunk of mirrors, metal, and electronics. It's scheduled to splash down at sea, mission accomplished, sometime around 2014. -- KYLE BERLIN

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sun, may 17
Jot
NATIONAL STATIONERY SHOW
New York

Dear stationery makers: The average U.S. teenage cell-phone user sends or receives 1,742 text messages a month. The number of handwritten letters? Zero. But don't fret. There are still enough bridezillas and grandmothers to keep the $54 billion stationery industry afloat for now, and e-cards haven't stopped making us cringe. More than 14,000 buyers are expected at this 63rd annual show to celebrate pulp products and browse 10,000 lines of invitations, envelopes, letterhead, and card stock. Hope 2 CU there. -- KATE ROCKWOOD

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mon, may 18
Sell
UPFRONT WEEK
New York

These days, the big four TV networks might as well be on The Biggest Loser. Viewers are ditching them in favor of cable and DVR, marketers canceled more than 10% of the buys at last year's upfronts, and (ugh) Fox hasn't axed Hell's Kitchen yet. You'd guess none of that, given the swanky venues for this year's upfronts: CBS will be at Carnegie Hall, ABC likely at Lincoln Center. Network execs still seem to be banking on upfront ad sales to beat last year's $8.9 billion. (That's before all those buyers backed out.) Will they succeed? Stay tuned for the answer ... immediately following this two-hour commercial break. -- DM

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mon, may 18
Live
BIO INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION
Atlanta

Biofuels, biotech, bioscience, bioelectricity, bioethics, BioShock, Bio-Dome, Lego Bionicle.... Okay, so maybe we added a few, but this meeting really is all things bio -- which makes it a living, breathing powerhouse, with more than 20,000 life-science pros from around the world in attendance. This year, the focus is on the effects of the recession on the bio industries and how to keep moving forward. Good luck, guys. Please let us know when you've found signs of life. -- ZW

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mon, may 18
Read
SPENT
By Geoffrey Miller

What if everyone got face tattoos that revealed IQ as well as conscientiousness and openness? Audacious? Yes, and it's just one example of Spent's point: Perhaps our rampant consumerism -- what we buy, what we wear, what we flaunt -- isn't the most efficient way for us to signal personal traits. In this wry, pro-vocative book, Miller, an evolu-tionary psychologist, proposes a third way between our consumerist society and the typically cited alternative, what he calls the "eco-commune-primitivism utopia." Using the sweep of history com-pellingly to make his points, he pushes both consumers and mark-keters to a deeper understanding of how people communicate and how we can modify social norms to create a better society -- without the face paint. -- DL

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