Living better, with less, for less

Obsolescence is a crime from Vitsœ on Vimeo.

Teaching design for change

There's an inspiring TED talk from designer Emily Pilloton, describing a real change project in design-led transformation. In her Studio H design class, she's teaching the following principles:

Design through action

Design with, not for

Design systems, not stuff

Document, share, and measure

Start locally and scale globally

Build

That list makes a good start point for most projects. I particularly like the first two points on action and with not for.

Green vs blue

Gunter Pauli, head of ZERI, the Zero Emissions Research Institute, is author of an important book and report called the Blue Economy, which challenges many of the assumptions that 'green is good'. Have a look at this video to discover some of the innovations that he describes which break boundaries:

Gunter Pauli - The Blue Economy - Full Length Complete Talk - May 6 2010 from Brendan Miller on Vimeo.

Hack better

Kickstarter is often good place to go play and find out about new projects and ideas that are bubbling into life. One that caught my imagination was funding to get a documentary made about amateur hackers in the US who spend their time thinking, making and sharing rather than buying tatty pre-made projects.

Watch the promo video for the hack video. Minimum investment is $10. I think I might be in.

Simple works good

Water water everywhere? If only. Much of the world lives hundreds of miles from plentiful, accessible water, which brings its own legion of health and food problems.

Whilst charities such as Water Aid, who TYF have supported for years, do outstanding work in many countries, there's also a place for simple, practical solutions such as the Water Cone, which popped up on my radar thanks to the observant folk at Quiet Riot.

A couple of decades back, I worked as an exploration geologist in a gold mine in the Great Sandy Desert, arguably (as people who live in hot places do) the hottest place on the planet. The guy I replaced had died of dehydration in the desert, running out of shelter, support and water. Learning how to look after ourselves and eke water from a black bin bag of grass left in the sun was training that could separate life from death.

Recognition of the need to find more practical solutions to the world's emerging water crises has prompted a reinvogorated movement that includes the folk behind the Water Cone and EcoSapiens Associate Michael Pawlyn's work on salt water greenhouses and algal biofuel.