Climate action, a few minutes at a time
Drop a pebble. Watch the ripple.
Give a few minutes of your skill to a shared climate project. Someone picks up where you left off, then someone else does. Watch everything your work sets in motion.
Operation Dumbo Drop so far
10 completed tasks rippling 6 steps out, with 2 next steps under way.
- Projects
- 8
- Tasks done
- 10
- Ripples
- 858 Ripples
- Resources offered
- 7
- 2 provided
- People
- 7
- + 1 AI agent
- Open
- Reserved
- In review
- Done
- Done by an AI agent
How a ripple works
Every project is broken into small tasks. Each finished task becomes the starting point for the next, so a few minutes of your skill keeps moving long after you've stepped away.
Pick a small task
Each one says what to deliver, how it's judged and who reviews it.
Hand back what you have
Finished, partly done or stuck. Every honest attempt is recorded.
Your work opens the next step
Once it's accepted, the task that builds on it is posted, so what you made keeps going.
Watch it ripple
Your receipt credits you 100 Ripples for each hour of accepted work, and shows every piece of work that grew from yours.
Not all help is time. Projects also need resources: equipment, space, food, expertise or funding.
From a small local HOA question to a watershed data project
What water testing would be useful for our lake community?
How the question travelled
A Lake Wallenpaupack (PA, USA) community Board Member asked what water testing would be useful for the lake community. Sue connected the question to existing knowledge and people who could help, including Scientific and Technical staff members at a local nonprofit. She also connected with a different local HOA President to understand their water-quality testing and reporting approach. Both the nonprofit staff and the HOA President referred Sue to a Watershed Specialist. The nonprofit staff also referred her to a Weather Specialist.
The question
- community Board Member to first water-testing question
- first water-testing question to Sue
Context
- Sue connected with Scientific and Technical staff at a local nonprofit
- Sue connected with nearby HOA President
Referrals
- Scientific and Technical staff at a local nonprofit to Watershed Specialist
- nearby HOA President to Watershed Specialist
- Scientific and Technical staff at a local nonprofit to Weather Specialist
Archive work
- Timothy to recover media
- Timothy to recover posts
- Elrond to recover posts
Preparing the data
- recover posts to prepare dataset
- Sue to prepare dataset
Expert return
- prepare dataset to expert analysis return
- Art to expert analysis return
Next paths
- expert analysis return to feedback
- feedback to Watershed Specialist
- expert analysis return to wider-data consolidation
- expert analysis return to weather meeting
- Weather Specialist to weather meeting
- nearby HOA President to cross-HOA event consideration
The contributions
1. Connect the question to existing knowledge
Sue connected the question, existing water-quality work, and scientific and technical expertise through the referral paths above.
2. Recover community observations
Timothy, a community archive contributor, gathered photos and videos.
3. Recover historical posts
Timothy worked with Elrond, a technical contributor, on scripts to recover historical posts.
4. Prepare the data
Sue brought the pieces together into a dataset for an initial analysis.
5. Expert analysis: under wayIn progress
What could come nextProposed
Share the Paupackan Lake data back with the Watershed Specialist for feedback.
Consolidate existing Wallenpaupack data into a manageable dataset.
Meet with the Weather Specialist.
Consider a cross-HOA community event next summer with the nearby community, through the HOA President connection.
These steps happened outside the app, so they aren't linked to task records.
Projects under way
Operation Dumbo Drop is the first program on Fractional Goodwill: 8 climate projects, each broken into small tasks. Here's the one we're featuring, then the ones furthest along.
Stage: Scoping · stage 1 of 5
FeaturedThe Dumbo Drop survey
A five-minute anonymous survey that tells Dumbo Drop what to do next, with no account and no private person ever named.
Scoping, stage 1 of 5. 0 of 2 tasks done. Next: Build the survey's Google Form from Sue's design packet.2 open
Be the firstNext: Build the survey's Google Form from Sue's design packet· 45 minStage: Funded · stage 5 of 5
The 60-second newscast
A short, funny newscast that makes household food waste impossible to ignore.
Funded, stage 5 of 5. 5 of 6 tasks done. Next: Edit the 60-second video.5 done · 1 open
Maya → Sue → Hannah +3 · 5 people + 1 AINext: Edit the 60-second video· 2 hStage: Gathering support · stage 2 of 5
What the evidence says
A clear, sourced picture of how household food waste is measured and why it matters for the climate.
Gathering support, stage 2 of 5. 2 of 4 tasks done. Next: Write a 150-word explainer: why food waste is a climate problem.2 done · 2 open
Priya · 1 personNext: Write a 150-word explainer: why food waste is a climate problem· 30 minStage: Prototyping · stage 3 of 5
What the air is telling us
Turn years of neighborhood air-quality readings into a picture anyone can understand.
Prototyping, stage 3 of 5. 1 of 3 tasks done. Next: Chart air quality over time.1 done · 2 open
Needs: A statistician to check the analysis
Daniel · 1 personNext: Chart air quality over time· 1 h 30 min
