Event Recap — Haverford Idea Hack
The Haverford Innovations Program (HIP) partnered with Earth Hacks for the 2022 Earth Hacks + HC idea hack. This 2-day ideathon took place on February 5–6, 2022 with the goal of bringing student participants from Haverford and other undergraduate programs together to learn about and tackle issues of environmental justice in a fun and collaborative way. This was Earth Hacks’ first hybrid event since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the hackathon took place in a hybrid fashion with presentations, speakers, and students from other institutions participating virtually, and Haverford/Tri-Co students with the option to work in-person (given college policy at the time of event).
This year’s event focused on two challenge tracks:
- Air Pollution, Heat, & Health
- Food Production & Insecurity
Students formed teams of 2–5 where they could imagine solutions to environmental issues in a variety of ways such as, a concept sketch, an art piece, website, game, paper prototype, community model, public policy, software, business plan, etc.
Guest speakers included:
- Sara Barton, Learning Gardens Program Coordinator at Virginia Commonwealth University. sustainability.vcu.edu/gardens.html
- Keenan Johnson, founder of Ribbit Network. The world’s largest crowdsourced network of open-source, low-cost, Greenhouse Gas Detection Sensors. ribbitnetwork.org
- Genna Fudin from UC Berkeley Housing and Dining Sustainability Advocates