The Backfire Awards

The Categoric Table

Every Midgley nominee and winner on one table. It has the periodic table's 118 squares, grouped by category instead of element. Bf marks a square still waiting for its backfire.

1Chemistry and Materialsmore

Substances made to be useful and durable.

  • CFCs and the ozone hole
  • PFAS, the forever chemicals
  • Asbestos
2Cities and Transportmore

How we build places and move through them.

  • Urban freeways through city neighborhoods
  • Parking minimums
  • Wider roads and the traffic they bring
3Energy and Climatemore

How we power homes, factories and cars.

  • Corn ethanol
  • Coal smoke stacks built tall to clear the air nearby
  • Biomass burning
4Ecology and Agriculturemore

Growing food and managing nature.

  • Cane toads released in Australia
  • DDT
  • Kudzu planted to stop erosion
5Tech and AImore

Computers, networks and software.

  • Engagement-ranked social feeds
  • Email, and spam
  • Infinite scroll
6Policy and Incentivesmore

Laws, rules and rewards that changed what people do.

  • England's window tax, and the bricked-up windows
  • Prohibition
  • Bounties that bred the pests they paid for
7Business and Marketingmore

Products, prices and promotions.

  • Planned obsolescence
  • Bottled water
  • The Landlord's Game, which became Monopoly
8Health and Medicinemore

Treatments, drugs and public health.

  • Antibiotics in animal feed and the rise of resistant bacteria
  • Thalidomide
  • Radium tonics
Prospectivemore

Decisions being made today that could win a Midgley in thirty years. Like the two rows under the periodic table, they sit apart.

  • Nominate one
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