We Need To Redesign Our Economy To Make It Work For Profits, People, And The Planet
by: Co.Exist, 2013-03-13 13:00:03 UTC

When the richest quarter of the world’s population uses about half of our global resources--and take the liberty to produce half of the global waste--while another third live in poverty, it is clear that our economic and societal systems are failing us.

That is even before we have reached the point where our planet needs to accommodate 9 billion mostly urbanized and aging people. Add in the rapidly growing middle class in China, India, and elsewhere who also want their share, and it is easy to see that our current path is unsustainable.

Over this hangs the cloud of climate change, which is already having huge consequences. Scientists agree that we face the risk of even more severe floods and droughts, which is clearly related to our addiction to fossil resources, necessitating an inevitable transition to renewable, alternative energy sources.

And we need to address food and water security too, for we cannot accept that 2 billion people are malnourished, half of whom go to bed hungry every day. These urgent global challenges surely provide the impetus to redesign our economic system.

We need a new approach that recognizes the importance of profit, but which gives equal weight to the impact of economic activity on our planet and its people, too. In short, a triple P approach in which societal, ecological, and economic value creation are seen as three equal goals for business. This is not just a matter of applying business ethics; we also need to embed this in our economic and business system, using new legal and accounting rules, so as to recast the role of business in society.

Why? Because the impact of the private sector has increased enormously over the last 50 to 100 years. Some of the largest companies now have cash balances that are bigger than some countries’ GDP. The harm companies can do, but also the good, is impacting our planet and its people on a scale never seen before. And it is private companies who, with their technological expertise and innovative power, can provide the answers to the world’s biggest challenges.

I believe that with this increased power comes increased responsibility. We can no longer rely on the traditional paradigm, where governments and the private sector have their separate realms (with international institutions helping on issues crossing national boundaries). The challenges we face are so big that we need companies to take more responsibility, working together with governments and international institutions in private-public partnerships. Nobody can address these issues alone.

The transition from the current fossil age to a new bio-based, renewable age is one such challenge. To go forward here, we need to go backwards to a time when we lived off the land, using renewable resources like the sun, wind, and water. We need to use these truly renewable resources in a much more innovative manner than in the past. Therefore we are working to harness the power of second generation biotechnology so that we can use all of the molecules from agriculture, including so-called residues, to produce food, fuels, and materials.

We need an overhaul of our economic system to enforce this new corporate responsibility. This will not be the end of capitalism, as some say, but we will be using the capitalist system’s own tools to change behavior.

First, to get to a more circular economy where sustainability is an integral part of business decisions, we need agreed systems to measure the impact of our economic activity on people and the planet. Today, we have accounting systems, like IFRS, to calculate profit, which are much more complex than simply revenue minus costs. We need similar systems that supplement the profit calculation with a company’s impact on our planet, its use of the world’s resources and externalities, and its ecological footprint. We need an aligned definition and calculation of what is sustainable. Something similar needs to be developed for the people dimension, looking to the impact of companies on people with respect to health, wellness, labor, and other societal aspects.

When these have been agreed, we can move to the second stage, where people and planet metrics become accepted tools for company valuation, alongside profit. If company leaders know that analysts are following their societal and ecological ratings as closely as their profits, they may feel stimulated to make business decisions differently.

Accordingly, we should anchor value creation (or destruction) on the people and planet dimensions in the overall valuation of companies. One approach might be to introduce differentiated tax regimes depending on companies’ performance or contribution on the ecological or societal axis. A logical complement to such an approach would be to consider increased taxing on the use of scarce resources, whilst diminishing taxes on labor. This would help to tackle the scourge of unemployment and could make it easier to create jobs for older people as well as in certain services that society wants but that have become almost unaffordable.

Moving to such a new model will not be easy. Change triggers resistance. So this transition will require coordinated leadership. Governments, civil society, and business will need to show courage. Asian leaders have a significant contribution to make, since their region will see the greatest increase in resource use and their economic models are rooted in different philosophies than those in the West. The business community will also need to join forces. We need to pool our ideas and resources to achieve global progress like governments do at the UN. We could call this approach United Businesses.

Together, businesses have the power to deliver tremendous progress, and a unique ability to make this world a better place. But this will happen only if we see the economy not as a goal in itself, but as a means to contribute to our planet and its people. This is a notion that we have more or less lost over the last few decades. We should redesign our economic system for a sustainable future--starting right now.

The Long-Awaited “Artificial Leaf” Promises Fuel From Sunlight And Water
by: Co.Exist, 2013-03-13 15:00:49 UTC

While the price of solar power has been falling dramatically, its big disadvantage remains its intermittency. When the sun don’t shine, you’re stuck looking for something to take its place. Which is why the ability to turn solar energy into another usable form--like hydrogen--is potentially so important.

That’s what Daniel Nocera is doing in his lab at Harvard. Take a look at this video. What you’re watching is an "artificial leaf": a piece of silicon (a solar cell) coated with two catalysts. When sunlight shines in, the leaf splits the water into bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen on each side. At scale, the device could provide a super-cheap and storable energy source from the sun; the hydrogen would be piped off and used in a fuel cell to make electricity.

Nocera and his team first announced the technology back in 2011, while the chemist was still at MIT. He’s now published a follow-up paper, showing how the team has improved the leaf’s efficiency, and laying out future challenges, and how these might be overcome.

The researchers now plan a field trial, with the eventual aim of building a commercial device for the developing world. Nocera’s company, Massachusetts-based Sun Catalytix, is commercializing the technology, and has received funding from ARPA-E, among others. His dream, he says, is to provide the poor with "their first 100 watts of energy."

There have been previous attempts to generate hydrogen from sunlight and water. But the materials involved were seen as too expensive, and the devices unstable. Hopefully, Nocera’s template will prove more long-lasting.

This Concrete Fixes Itself When Exposed To Sunlight
by: Co.Exist, 2013-03-13 17:00:47 UTC

Back in 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave U.S. infrastructure a grade 'D’, and said getting to 'B’ standard would require $2.2 trillion worth of investment. So, any technology that might make repairing bridges, roads, and buildings easier, and perhaps cheaper, is welcome.

Led by Chan-Moon Chung, a professor of chemistry at Yonsei University, in South Korea, researchers have come up with a protective coating for concrete that seals up cracks when exposed to sunlight. The research is written up in the journal ACS Applied Material Interfaces.

Though concrete is very strong and adaptable, it is also brittle. Fine cracks can easily appear that, when exposed to air and water, expand over time. The coating contains polymer microcapsules that melt over the gaps when exposed to the sun. And Chung says the agent is relatively inexpensive, and won’t freeze in winter.

Reached via email, he says the material should be available commercially within two years, but "the stability of the system needs to be investigated first."

There are several other innovative concrete ideas out there. A team from the Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands, has developed a living "bio-concrete." The mixture is impregnated with a bacteria that produces a crack-filling mineral, called calcite.

Another researcher, Victor Li from the University of Michigan has developed a concrete that replaces coarser chunks with flexible microfibers. A Forbes article described it thusly:

The healing process is similar to the way human skin repairs itself: A paper cut heals much faster than an inch-wide gash. When Li’s concrete develops hairline cracks, the dry composite is exposed to the moisture in the air, which it absorbs. As it does, it "grows" new concrete, filling in the minuscule cracks. Meanwhile, calcium ions inside the cracked concrete mix with moisture and carbon dioxide from the air, creating a calcium carbonate material similar to what seashells are made of. This enables the concrete to regain its initial degree of strength.

Then there’s this biological concrete from Barcelona that supports fungi, moss, lichen, and allows you to create nice-looking living walls.

All in all, we’re in for a few new concrete ideas going forward, though all them will have to justify themselves in cost terms. They may heal (and beautify) themselves in the long term, but someone, as ever, will have to pay up-front.

AirBag: Lightweight Carry-on by Michael Young for Zixag
by: design milk, 2013-03-07 19:00:55 UTC

I don’t know about you but I travel a lot – but even when I didn’t, I took my luggage very seriously. Think about it: it’s by your side for entire trips, racking up just as many miles as you are and it’s supposed to protect all of your valuables. Imagine my delight when my eyes feasted on the AirBag. Designed by Michael Young for Hong Kong brand Zixag, this super lightweight carry-on looks to be the answer to all my luggage must haves – well designed, durable, and just plain smart.

With so many choices out there, it’s hard to decide whether to get a soft-sided suitcase or a hard-sided one. The AirBag gives you the best of both worlds – the rear shell is made of a hard material for more protection and the front part is a durable fabric.

The single-stalk handle means more compartment space inside, meaning only one bump down the center instead of two.

The main compartment is larger and perfect for clothing and other travel essentials, while the front zippered area is made for your technology gear and anything you might need while in flight or in a meeting.

The AirBag will be available any day now and it can be yours in either beige or charcoal.

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© 2013 Design Milk | Posted by Caroline in Style + Fashion | Permalink | 1 comment



Levitating Wireless Mouse Could Help Prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
by: design milk, 2013-03-08 17:00:18 UTC

Vadim Kibardin of Kibardin Design designed this levitating wireless computer mouse that would help prevent and treat the contemporary disease Carpal Tunnel syndrome. For people who spend a lot of time on a computer (like me!), Carpal Tunnel syndrome is always a risk.

The mouse consists of a mouse pad base and floating mouse with magnet ring.

He is still in the research and testing phase of this design so it is not yet available for sale. I’m interested to see what he discovers.

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© 2013 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime Derringer in Technology | Permalink | No comments



Nike Free Trainer 5.0 by Nike
by: Dezeen, 2013-03-11 11:20:07 UTC
http://www.dezeen.com/2013/03/11/nike-free-trainer-5-0-by-nike/

Ecover Turns Ocean Waste into Bottles
by: Environmental Leader, 2013-03-07 15:40:05 UTC
Ecover and Closed Loop Recycling will begin using plastic collected from the seas to create recyclable plastic bottles for the green cleaning product company. The companies say the plastic marine waste will be collected by European fishermen and sent to Closed Loop’s Dagenham, London facility, where it will be repurposed into a new type of [...]

What It Would Look Like If Tide, Glad, and Nivea Ditched Product Packaging
by: Co.Exist, 2013-03-07 13:30:39 UTC

Think about the last product you purchased. It probably came in a lot of excess packaging. But why does packaging have to exist? In some situations it’s necessary for hygiene purposes, certainly, but designer Aaron Mickelson believes that it’s possible to remove all traces of packaging waste from certain products.

As part of his master’s thesis at Pratt University, dubbed the Disappearing Package, Mickelson created physical prototypes of waste-free packaging solutions for five popular products--Nivea bar soap, Twining’s tea bags, Tide laundry detergent (specifically Tide PODs), OXO POP containers, and Glad garbage bags. "I hope, at the end of the day, I have shown that sustainability can still be beautiful. I leave that up to my audience to decide," Mickelson told Wired.

In real life, Tide’s single use laundry PODs come in plastic bags. Mickelson’s solution: PODs stitched together into a perforated sheet that contains all the product information. The PODs can be torn off and put in the washing machine, where the packaging dissolves. And voila, no waste.

The Nivea soap packaging is also dissolvable. Instead of putting the soap in a heavy carton, Mickelson created a water-soluble box that acts like regular paper until it hits water, at which point it dissolves.

Glad’s existing kitchen bags come in a box that contains a roll of bags. In Mickelson’s world, the bags are sold without the box; they’re pulled out from the center one by one until only the last bag remains. All product information is printed on the last bag--the one that holds all the others together.

The only problem is that each bag is a piece of plastic waste that needs to be thrown away--no dissolving plastic bags here. Nonetheless, Mickelson has taken a huge leap in the right direction.

Dissolvable and disappearing packaging for items that go in trash bins and washing machines is probably palatable to most people, but biomedical engineer David Edwards takes the concept a step further with edible packaging for food products. Check it out here.

One Prize 2013: Stormproof
by: Sustainable Design News, 2013-03-05 21:36:06 UTC


Side Seat Swivels To Make Sitting Less Sedentary
by: Co.Design, 2013-03-04 22:45:00 UTC

The way we sit now is pretty grim: often eight, nine, 10 hours at a time without so much as lifting our fingers off a keyboard or our eyes off a screen. De Stijl icon Gerrit Rietveld had a different view on the act: “Sitting is a verb” was his common response to criticisms that his angular designs weren’t conducive to relaxation. Fellow Dutchies Jurgen Bey and Rianne Makkink (of their eponymous studio) set out to explore the middle ground of the two realities with Side Seat, a new design for Prooff that encourages movement with a bit of a twist.

The concept is an evolution on a chair the pair designed a few years ago for the cafe at the Netherlands’ Kunsthall KAdE museum; that model--which looks like a super cool Franken-hybrid of an Eames shell and old-timey school desk--swiveled to allow the user to face the small, individual table to eat, or away again to chat or take in the surroundings.

For this latest incarnation, they wanted to rework the structure to better suit what they call “semi-public work landscapes”--part of the ever-growing wave of open-plan offices that function primarily outside the confines of cubicles--as well as lobbies, libraries, and airports. “The testing started with a one-to-one cardboard model to understand the volumes and proportions of the object. In the next step, several prototypes were produced to balance out ergonomics,” they tell Co.Design.

And because these spaces see higher-impact hands- and butts-on contact, determining the ideal components for SideSeat proved more demanding than it had been for the earlier KAdE chair. “We had to find a good material that was easy to bend, durable for its function in the semi-public domain, and capable of being put into production but without losing its initial qualities.” In the end, they settled on a plywood frame, fittingly covered in the kind of linoleums and laminates generally found on desktops.

So what does Side Seat actually do? “The turning of the chair offers a twist in focus,” they say. Users can face forward, leaning or taking notes off to the side as one might during a lecture, or swing around to face the table full-on. In addition, the adjacent cabinet can be kept open for stacking papers and bric-a-brac, or filled with drawers for more discreet storage. Is a torso pivot going to solve all your posture problems? Not likely. But it’s encouraging to see designers considering how to shake up our sedentary ways.