HTML PLAIN TEXT COPY <h1>Meet 5 tech innovators figuring out how to fix the future</h1> <p> <em>"This story was originally published by <a href="https://grist.org" title="Grist">Grist</a>. Sign up for Grist's <a href="https://go.grist.org/signup/weekly/partner?utm_campaign=republish-content&utm_medium=syndication&utm_source=partner" title="Weekly newsletter">weekly newsletter here</a>."</em> </p> <p>For every big, ugly, scary challenge in sustainability, there’s a brilliant person dreaming up a new solution. Mountains of unwanted scrap fabric? There’s a website — and a blockchain — for that. Corporate rules that require a throw-away mindset? Somebody’s on top of it. Streets that are fine-tuned for cars rather than people? It can be fixed — with data.</p> <p>Every year, the <a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grist 50</a> highlights emerging leaders who are working toward a more sustainable and equitable future. These five technologists are tinkering away at the fixes that will solve big problems:</p> <ol class="wp-block-list"><li>As the national director of the Right to Repair campaign, <strong><a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/#nathan-proctor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nathan Proctor</a></strong> seeks to give consumers better options for fixing their busted tech, rather than simply throwing it all in a landfill.</li><li>Combining sensors and analytics, <strong><a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/#tara-pham" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tara Pham</a></strong>’s startup, Numina, can tell cities exactly who uses their streets and how — providing granular data for pedestrian-friendly planning.</li><li>Chemist <a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/#tony-bova" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Tony Bova</strong></a> is cooking up a way to use waste products from the paper industry to make a new kind of bioplastic that degrades after use.</li><li>At Sunrun, engineer <strong><a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/#audrey-lee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Audrey Lee</a> </strong>worked on figuring out how to remap the grid to create a virtual power plant of networked car batteries, home solar panels, and other distributed sources.</li><li><a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/#stephanie-benedetto" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Stephanie Benedetto</strong></a>’s blockchain-enabled startup, Queen of Raw, matches fabric buyers and sellers to redirect some $120 billion worth of excess textiles — generated by the apparel industry every year — away from landfills and toward reuse.</li></ol> <p>There are 45 other folks doing great work on our list! Read about all of them on the <a href="https://grist.org/grist-50/2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2020 Grist 50</a>.</p> <p>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://grist.org/">Grist</a> at <a href="https://grist.org/fix/technology/meet-5-tech-innovators-figuring-out-how-to-fix-the-future/">https://grist.org/fix/technology/meet-5-tech-innovators-figuring-out-how-to-fix-the-future/</a>.</p> <link href="https://grist.org/fix/technology/meet-5-tech-innovators-figuring-out-how-to-fix-the-future/" rel="canonical"/> <p>Grist is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Learn more at <a href="https://grist.org/">Grist.org</a></p> <script id="grist-syndication-pixel" async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=" data-source="repub" data-canonical="https://grist.org/fix/technology/meet-5-tech-innovators-figuring-out-how-to-fix-the-future/" data-title="Meet 5 tech innovators figuring out how to fix the future" crossorigin="anonymous"/>