Hack the Climate: Manila - The Longest Hackathon in the Philippines

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"....we found ourselves staying up late in our common room discussing the possibilities of using technology as a tool for social justice, especially as it relates to the climate crisis. We wondered, what if the same energy that went into the development of YouTube or LinkedIn was applied to conservation, recycling or disaster relief?
Hackathons could provide the venue for coordinating grassroots efforts to create technology that solves the climate problem" -Jacob Scheer and Miguel Lachanski

"Hack the Climate: Manila" will soon be the longest hackathon happening in the Philippines. This is a coding marathon aiming to create an app (mobile/web/hardware) that can be used by an NGO whose main advocacy is to respond to the Climate Change problem such as Move.ph, Greenpeace, ReDraw the Line, WWF and others.

"The climate problem is complex and technological innovations, especially mobile applications will be instrumental in solving many of the challenges particular to the Philippines. The hackathon is designed to support the development of applications that include but are not limited to: day-to-day decision making (i.e. adjusting to shifting agricultural zones), crisis management (finding a hospital/food during extreme weather events like Typhoon Haiyan), or long-term adaptation efforts (migration away from rising sea level)."

The organizers target to get at least 250 to 300 Tech Rockstars to launch a technology that could help our country in responding to Climate Change.

"The goal is to bring together coders, developers, climate change activists and Princeton students for a stimulating weekend developing applications that address the climate change issues facing the Philippines. There will also be an educational component to the event where environmentalists familiar with the issues will share their needs and ideas with the computer programmers who can help use technology to solve these problems."

Hack the Climate: Manila hackathon prizes will be the following for a team of 3-5: US$ 800 in cash, Macbook Pro, Dell Inspiron Mini 10" netbook, iPod Shuffle, iPod Video, iPod Touch plus more.

"There will be two categories for judging in this hackathon—best web application and best mobile application. The Best App prize will be determined by a panel of judges comprised of both Filipino environmentalists and technologists. Teams will give a short demo of their app at the conclusion of the hackathon. The teams which demonstrate the best mobile or web apps will be able to win up to 1000$ USD for each category."

For more details, visit www.hacktheclimatemanila.org and www.hacktheclimate.net.

This event is presented by Princeton University Pace Center for Civic Engagement, De La Salle-College of St. Benilde, RapplerMove.PH, SmartDevNet, IdeaSpacePH and more.