Cut to the world of the nearly-ubiquitous mobile phones. Could these devices be harnessed as learning tools for urban naturalists and farmers? (According to research by Research and Markets, a Dublin, Ireland-based market research firm, 970 million mobile phones were manufactured in 2006 alone).

One idea, conceptualized by Worldchanging's Jeremy Faludi, is to develop mobile applications and web-based services for identifying flora and fauna. Learning about plant and animal identification in the urban context, for example, could boost interest in protecting biotopes, that is, neighborhood-level habitats. Additionally, it could have the salutary effect of nurturing a generation of environmental stewards who are comfortable relating to urban biological space.

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