We have been looking into getting an office for OVF in Taiwan in the Treasure Hill neighborhood in Taipei. We are considering the possibly of sharing office space with German-based EPEA as they expand their operations in Asia. The company was started by the co-author of Cradle to Cradle (C2C), Michael Braungart. EPEA seeks to promote comprehensive approaches to sustainable production and resource management/recycling.
Treasure Hill is a formerly illegal community in Taipei started by veterans of Chinese Civil War in the 50s. It is now a historic area and has been the focus of government efforts to promote sustainable development in Taiwan.
I got the following info below from Wikipedia:
Working with GAPP (Global Artivists Participation Project) the Taipei City Government developed the area into an example of environmentally sustainable urban community. With the policy of preservation and revitalization, the old settlement unfolded a new vision of an artivist compound which would respect the existing fabric of the community while fulfilling the regeneration concept of “symbiosis” to incorporate production and ecology in communal living and ushering in the program of an international youth hostel and creative ideas of art to further cultural exchanges with broader international communities.
The community has been featured in The New York Times as one of Taiwan’s must-see destinations.
An interesting note: Last year I met with some architectural students who were on a tour of sites around the US. The instructor leading this was a NYC based architect – Matthias Hollwich – who was the founder of Architizer – a social networking website especially designed for architects. There is a page for this project on Architizer (which show me that Architizer has become a success and also tells me that the Treasure Hill folks are doing something that is seen as innovative in the global architecture community).
The Libertarian leaning, Ghana-based think tank IMANI just sent out a conference Invitation: “How Ghana Intends to Spend Her Oil Money.”
IMANI’s Franklin Cudjoe (who also is editor of AfricanLiberty.org) seems to hint at the real issue: the good news is that Ghana Gov wants to discuss this openly. Because the real issue is that the mistakes of other countries can only be avoided if there is a real process for making informed decisions that are in the best long term interest of the society.
Throughout history humanity has repeated mistakes of other societies and past generations again and again because there was not a strong enough process to enable a clear discussion of the issues that kept leading to the mistaken decisions and how to develop a alternative process.
Now we understand or are beginning to understand that it is about the leadership and caliber of thinking that is perpetuated by the leadership in a society that determines whether or not the needs of the entire society overpower the needs of the ruling class.
A strong civil society is key as is a robust entrepreneurship sector. Good government means strong governance where it is key to managing the limitations of those other two. But it also means a government that understands its limitations as well.
What we are talking about really is not just about oil. it’s whether Ghana is able to consciously create a road map for mapping out its destiny in a very troubled continent in a very troubled world. And in that process develop a new leadership model for Africans that is something that genuinely captures the spirit of the place in a positive way and particularly seeing the value of community and culture in building a truly sustainable society.
The question should be whether drilling for more oil is the best option for the long term future of humanity. What about investing in renewables? Is it unrealistic for us to think of a real alternative to seeing oil as a panacea to our development challenges in the world today? What about this idea – paying Ghana NOT to drill its oil and then using that as a preserve for future use if needed when per capita rates are lower and when the oil can be used in a more sustainable way so as not to further push CO2 to even high more unsustainable levels. So then rich countries would buy a portion of a country’s petro or coal or gas reserves and then not use them. In return it would be stipulated that that money would go into investments in renewables.
IMANI in collaboration with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the African Leadership Initiative and AfricanLiberty.org invite you to a one-day meeting on Ghana’s proposed Petroleum Revenue Management Bill.
Since discovering Oil, there has been much discussion and a plethora of international advice on how Ghana should manage its new oil wealth in order to avoid the difficulties others have visited upon themselves as a result of poor management.
In response to public anxiety, the Ghanaian government embarked on a ‘road show’ to collate views from the length and breadth of the country, resulting in a draft bill of what it believes is a better representation of the country’s needs on which our petrol dollars must be spent. However, some preliminary commentary in opposition to the bill point to a subtle ‘hijacking’ of the funds by politicians, hence a black hole destination for the funds is feared. For others, still, the bill represents the most equitable way of sharing national resources, save lingering doubts about the good intentions of the entity supervising the sharing.
The good news is that the Ghanaian government wants the draft bill discussed openly and by all.
So, just how do you design a corruption-proof spending plan to deal with the most cherished, but often problem-laden resource? What visible impact would you want our oil funds to have in Ghana? Should we keep some or whole of our oil funds in foreign bank accounts with more stable and profitable interest rates? Should we spend all the oil funds as they come on pressing problems or save for the future?
To get answers to the above questions as well as others on your mind, please join some of Ghana’s respected civil society organisations at the Holiday Inn Hotel, on June 10, 2010 at 9:00 am as they thoroughly discuss the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill.
Please call Martin on 030 240 99 03 or 030 2 41 70 94 to reserve a seat or email mavis@imanighana.com to reserve a seat.
SolaRoof’s Rick Nelson updated me on his effort to develop SolaRoof research facility in Norway that includes a small demo SolaRoof system at a Environmental Fair in Norway (Translated using Google Translator):
This small demo shows how SolaRoof can effectively use water, soap bubbles and air to manage solar radiation maximizing warmth during winter and coolth in summer
Future Living
At the Oslo Environmental Festival, you can come and look at the latest in environmentally friendly building techniques with focus on good architecture and low-energy housing. Under the Oslo Environmental Festival, You Can Come and look at the latest in environmentally friendly building techniques with Focus on good architecture and low-energy housing.
A group consisting of two architects and two landscape architects have designed a pavilion to be built by the NCC in collaboration with Optimera, Conte, Totaltek and Ledtek. A group of two things consis Architects and Landscape Architects two garden designed a pavilion to Be built by the NCC in Collaboration with Optimera, Conte, Totaltek and Ledtek. The pavilion is designed as two independent, prism-shaped boxes made of wooden arrows. The pavilion is designed as two independent, prism-shaped boxes made of wooden arrows. With their open end surfaces creates boxes through mutual interaction, room for a “green” inspiration exhibition. With its open-end Surfaces create boxes through mutual interaction, room for a “green” inspiration exhibition. Architect Group: Don Lawrence, Johanna Göranson, Marie Fjeldstad, Idunn Kirkreit. Architect Group: Don Lawrence, Johanna Göranson, Marie Fjeldstad, Idunn Kirkreit.
NCC also sets out a passive module that demonstrates the technology in a passive house. NCC Also sets out a passive module That demonstrate the technology in a passive house. A passive house has approx. A passive house has approx. 25% of the energy needs of a typical dwelling. 25% of the energy needs of a typical dwelling. It has reduced energy demand by using extra insulation, extra high-density, and heat recovery. It has reduced energy demand by overusing extra insulation, extra high density, and heat recovery. You can go into the passive house and get information on how to make your home more energy efficient. You Can Go Into the passive house and get information how to Wed make your home more energy efficient.
Life presents SolaRoof Synthesis technology, a building system with dynamic insulation and cooling case, the harvested solar energy and control the environment in a reasonable and effective. Life Synthesis Presents SolaRoof technology, a building systems with dynamic insulation and cooling bag That harvest solar Energy and control the environment In a reasonable and effective. Inside you’ll find modern farming systems, and more information on how to live more sustainable. Inside You’ll find modern farming systems, and more information Wed how to live more sustainable. Pavilion shown at the festival is a collaboration between Life Synthesis AS, Pheonix Planning Design AS and AFarmer Limited. Pavilion shown at the festival is a Collaboration Between Life Synthesis AS, Pheonix Planning and Design AS AFarmer Limited. .
The exhibition opens at. The exhibition Affairs that. 10.00 on 4 10:00 Wed 4 June. June.
A Colleague of ours – Gunter Pauli (who now lives in the Bay Area) will be presenting on April 27th at the Ft Mason Center. He will be discussing his latest Book The Blue Economy which profiles his vision of how holistic thinking and approaches will transform the global society towards a sustainable trajectory. This event will be the launching of Ode Magazine’s Salon Series. Read the rest of this entry »
According to Green Car Magazine, the Green Police Super Bowl ad provides a lighthearted take on the dizzying array of choices confronting those who want to adopt a green lifestyle and minimize their impact on the environment. The 60-second spot ends with the Green Police confirming that the Audi A3 TDI clean diesel is a green choice.
How witty of them. My thought is that if the Audi/Auto Establishment were serious about being green/sustainable/ecoconscious they would be looking and including the total embodied energy and resource to make, transport and then its total transportation and eco-impact throughout the product life cycle and that includes disassembly and handling of any wastes and not just in terms of how things look out of the tailpipe and gas tank.
Of course a full scale analysis of the impact of car on our lives and the environment would probably expose the massive subsidies and special perks the auto industry enjoys particularly in America and I doubt it would be beneficial to have such a light shined on the reality of the situation in regards to “Green Cars”.
This obsession with fuel efficiency and even carbon emissions is a trap, because it takes of huge amount of resources to not only make the car itself, maintain that car, fuel the car but also consider for the indirect social and ecological impacts of that car like the massive amounts of roads, free-ways, parking lots for transporting 100s of millions of cars just in this country alone. Could that massive resource allocation be better spent on say trains and buses and give us much more bang for the buck – that is the ultimate pragmatic question that must be considered in this discussion.
One of the comments was that one of the surprising things about the poll was that so many people who participated (40%) think that Zero Waste is not possible. That compares to simple majority (46%) that thought it was possible… I also think that it is interesting even when considering the limited information and scientific grounding of the poll that such a large number of people visiting the site would see ZERO WASTE as not possible. However it seems that it is marketed to people in the waste disposal field and so that would be a pretty mainstream audience. Do they believe it is not technically possible or is it just considering political, economic and social constraints to the need reforms in policymaking and business practices? Do they feel it is necessary but just not realistic? Are we talking 3% nonrecyclables or 15-20%? So then the question is: is it sustainable to continue to have a open loop system that is producing waste that is not being cycled back into the system? It might be worthwhile to suggest that they put together a real survey that can have some kind of scientific value for helping to understand the views of people in the waste management community.
My thoughts/comments that I posted there were that:
Its understandable that people would believe that an absolute Zero Waste economy is not possible given that the pace of change has been at an standstill in the mainstream over the last say 30 years. We still have #5 unrecycleable plastic for crying out loud filling our landfills! More than that though the deeper paradigm shift in changing how we manage resources and nutrient flows is not there. We are still in the fix the mess that the thoughtless economic opportunists create when they don’t think of the complete life-cycle of everything that was used in the creation of that product, service, buildings, roads, etc. So yes if we don’t have that paradigm shift at the policy-making and business levels, I can definitely understand why people lack the imagination and the vision to see a Zero Waste society or at least cannot see how such a vision is practically implemented.
Rajendra Pachauri head of the Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said Thursday that Obama should do more to reverse Global Climate Change.
“I personally feel he ought to be doing a lot more,” Pachauri told reporters after a debate on climate change in Stockholm, adding the president “really has to assert himself to see that the US passes legislation” prior to the Copenhagen summit.
Obama though has to deal with motivating the American electorate about the need for real action on GCC. And this just as the right is gleefully getting a hard on about all those emails that taken out of context and were hacked from a University in the UK.
Copenhagen takes place in the Danish capital from December 7-18 and nations will attempt to cobble together a climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
Apparently the US Senate was supposed to take up a climate change bill sponsored by Democratic Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer, but the White House pulled back, see how contentious this issue is and that support is limited being as such that Americans were prefer to assume that the skepics are correct and business as usual with regards to the climate is just fine.
While the skeptics in the USA succeed in getting a discussion to question Global Climate Change it seems the scientific community is sending more information about the need to raise a more serious alarm as to the potential implications of current patterns of development and economic activity.
A recent study says that Rising CO2 Will Cause Catastrophic Sea Level Rise according to an Antarctic Study. The worst case scenario is now being floated: that Sea levels could rise by up to six metres if the world fails to get pollution under control.
In the spirit of Blog Action Day, and the need to address global climate change, I am writing about some of the my experiences with regards to some inspirational ways to address global climate change. Nature magazine online has an article about biochar, which its proponents hope will help to sequester carbon to reduce Global Climate Change. However anti-biochar activists see it a unproven technology that could potentially do more harm than good.
We’ve known several people associated with this effort and both are featured in the article. Jim Fournier organized the Planetwork conference in 2003 where I first found out about oneVillage. He later became involved in biochar research through a company called Eprida and now has a company Biochar Engineering that produces small ovens for researchers. Robert Flanagan also started out at Eprida. He now is based in China researching the use of small biochar producing cookstoves. He envisions selling these stoves to a “billion developing world farmers to whom the food and fuel shortage is real.” The idea is to provide heat for cooking as well as heating their homes as a way to migitate carbon emissions at the “bottom of the pyramid”.
I was intrigued by the idea of the latest innovation in the green movement which is ecofriendly lawn care. Annie Carey“Marketing Goddess” of Clean Air Lawn Care, recently sent me an email indicating that they had been nominated to be Entrepreneur Magazine’s Emerging Entrepreneur of 2009. She says of the nomination:
This is a testament to the changing face of business – a commitment to being green, setting high ethical and environmental standards, and being an example to others. Clean Air Lawn Care is a sustainable lawn care service that uses clean electric lawn equipment powered through renewable energy. We have solar panels on our trucks that keep the equipment charged throughout the day. We also offer an organic lawn treatment program. Our success is because of all our customers and friends who believe in making a difference and believe in us.
To view the video and vote, go to the following link:
Jacky Foo has been a supporter of Integrated Farming and has been doing work very similar to what ZERI’s George Chan has done over the last 10-15 years. He has recently focused his efforts in Africa and has joined a Africa Rural Connect (ARC) Contest (this is the same organization that put together a contest that our colleagues at Fantsuam Foundation just won). This content is a “call for ideas” that address fundamental problems of agricultural development and rural poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa; and especially women, the rural poor and the needs of rural communities.
His project is in Kenya and is entitled : “The Ndekero Challenge: A Systems Approach for Rabbit Keeping by a Rural Community in Partnership with a Commercial Rabbit Colony Farm:” http://arc.peacecorpsconnect.org/view/653/
ARC will pick 40 projects (out of hundreds) based on popularity voting and forward them to a panel of judges who will decide on 1 for the grand prize of 20,000 US$.
He says that “To remain short-listed for the next 2 weeks, he needs more votes. Please vote for his project and support his effort. The instructions for voting (takes about 5 minutes) are here: http://www.globetree.org/africa/rabbit-net/arc-endorse.htm
A online colleague of mine – ZERI Practitioner Eric Fedus – recently updated us about the posting of a video he helped produce as part of a presentation on Integrated Farming at the Permaculture 08 conference in Brazil (Integrated Farming System – English Version).
Eric also shared with me a documentary produced by people in the UK as a way to highlight a successful Integrated Farm in Brazil called Irno Pretto that ZERI’s George Chan developed in the late 90s working with TECPAR’s Alexandre Takamatsu. This is also available for viewing on Google Video.
The half-day ZERI Workshop focusing on Nature’s Best Sustainability Technologies and Natural Systems to “help industry be more sustainable, create more green jobs and increase their bottom line.”
Its worth noting that ZERI’s founder Gunter Pauli has been focusing on Nature’s 100 Best, a project he is working on with Janine Beynus President of the Biomimicry Institute.
Key concepts that will be highlighted at the workshop include:
Why nature doesn’t have waste, and why we do
Why systems must take priority over products and processes
Inputs, outputs, abundance, and resilience
Merging social, economic, and environmental values
TEDx Taipei’s website featured Shai Agass’ work and his bold plan for mass adoption of electric cars. On a related note to this…OVF’s Joy Tang may also be presenting at TEDx Taipei (Oct 16,17). I almost expected to see Pixel Qi’sMary Lou Epsen as one of the speakers. I am reminded that my other life at Arcosanti puts me in a place of Cognitive Dissonance – seeing the progression of the electrical and at the same acknowledging the realization the car is a problem for humanity not just because of its CO2 emissions but because of the huge amount of resources that it takes to operate and maintain each one. Also there is the social sustainability issues of dislocation of community life and culture due to the impact of the care both in terms of constructing megafreeways and also in relation to the removal of people from real time interaction with other people and cultural artifacts as well as ecological sensory and touch experiences.
Reducing the cost of Solar: Australia’s Printable Solar Cells effort moves forward using printing presses to make Solar Panels: http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=329
SolaRoof’s Rick Nelson updated me that he plans to appear at RMI 2009 in San Fran Bay Area:
Somehow I get on all these green newsletters email lists. Not all of them I like or even have time to read. However iGreenBuild’s Bi-Weekly Newsletter caught my eye. Claims it provides the most current industry information about Green Building as well the most current and popular events regarding Green Building.
Matthew Kaddat is the publisher of igreenbuild.com
I liked the article/blurb titled “A shift in the Wind.” He says there is a new call going out across the nation and that there are changes in our lives that have historical consequences at all levels of our society. And yet not all of them with a promise of an easy and successful conclusion. Driving this change is the dissatisfaction we feel with the situations in our lives that in the past may have felt beyond our control. Click Here for More Information
Here is an interesting technology that reminds me of the Arcosanti Energy Apron. However, there is a key difference, Energy Alternatives, LLC Greenward™ Ridge Vent harvests ambient hot attic air as it escapes through the ridge of your roof converts that thermal heat into a form of renewable energy to heat the incoming water into your hot water tank, reducing CO2 emissions and saving money, albeit its designed for the single family home the arch-nemesis of Paolo Soleri. Click Here for More Information
Another technology of interest is geothermal. Indian Lake Local Schools, Lewistown, Ohio, is finishing construction on a state-of-the-art elementary school that will feature many of the latest “green” practices, including a ground source geothermal heat pump system. Education and sustainability design go together in helping the student to see the way in which technologies should come together in an integrated way in the design process to create synergies within any system. Click Here to read more ->
Recently a discussion group on green technologies called Krystal Planet included mention of a Chinese decree banning or reducing plastic bags. It is estimated by one report (“Plastic bag limits save China 3 mln tonnes of oil per year“) that it will reduce 3 billion barrels of oil per year.
The headline for this month’s Panos South Asia newsletter raises an interesting question and in consideration of that of changing perceptions of reality…what is the role of ICT in raising awareness of the urgency of this and other ecological issues that we face collectively as a species?
The climate has changed but have we? That’s always the big question. Almost every day, we are in touch with news about glaciers melting, mountains endangered, sea levels rising, floods and disasters. But have these consequences of climate change affected us seriously? Do we still continue to do things the old way? Environment experts say that changing human attitudes is one of the biggest challenges to saving this earth.
Recently Steven Chu Obama’s Energy Secretary travelle to China. Here is what the USA’s Time magazine had to say about it.
Did you know only 44% of Americans believe that something should be done about Global Climate Change and that in China that number is 96%? This issue also ranks last in America among the 20 top issues of concern. Its interesting to consider that why after all the coverage that this issue is so blase for so many Americans.
Taipei to Koasiung 90 minutes 345k or 250kph/120MPH
USD18 billion ten years to complete.
The same travel by car would take 5 hours.
US has no real HSR system at current time although there are plans for something to develop in several corrodors of US. For Taiwan a major issue was the connecting of the northeast-southwest corrodor where most of the people live in the country. The northeast is not as mountainous as the southeast and south central parts of the island which were the areas hardest hit by the recent Typhoon that hit the country.
Actually according to PBS documentary called Trashed, the amount of trash produced by the average American continues to go up.
The consideration of the solid waste as a problem that continues to grow is really nothing new. The idea of the Throwaway Society is hardly nothing new. What might be surprising is that the per capita production of waste by the average American despite all the rhetoric about the greening of America.
My view is when the amount of waste produced per person starts to flatline, we’ll know that the green thinking has really taken hold and is starting to produce results on a grand scale.
Audrey Quaye introduced me to the work of the WTO, no not the World Trade Organization but the World Toilet Organization. As a social enterprise they take a “Market-based approach for achieving social goals.”
Their goals are ambitious to meet “the sanitation Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation by 2015.”
In my Integrated Farming proposals I have tried to show people the potential of the sewage as a resource. Existing modern sanitation systems have major and fatal flaw – they assume sewage is a waste that you have to get away from you as quickly as possible using lots of water, pumps, chlorine and pipes, control systems, etc. All this consumes electricity as well as resources. Finally there is the issue of treating valuable biomass as a waste. Since biomass is finite, if we treat it as if its infinite then common sense tells us we’ll run out of it someday. Of course with that kind of policymaking its also likely that we’ll only see the problem after its too late, unless the current conventional thinking can be overthrown.
Getting to the point of the post is the fact that the world’s 2.6 billion toilet-less are potential customers. Yet that same kind of conventional think has ignored and neglected them as potential customers. Possibly that’s just as well because we cant afford either ecologically or economically to have them adapt to the modern system and its inefficient use of resources.
WTO incorporates Social Enterprise language and jargon well into their copy. They note that “the people at the so-called ‘bottom of the pyramid’ have recently become the focus of parts of both the corporate and development community.”
Whats interesting though is that a note “an ideological shift in thinking about markets…” That’s a key point of the core philosophy of the social enterprise movement and yet it is often not discussed. It needs to be, because while on the one hand you can identify any school of thought as ideology, really it is reflecting a desire to overcome ideological dogmatism and seek out a more thoughtful way of seeing the world that is solutions oriented. This is not to say that all ideological differences can be overcome but rather than it is about ability to be open to the best solution for humanity regardless of ideology that is key to overcoming the increasing polarization in our societies and indeed at the global level.
Ray Kerzweil is a inventor that has been one of the leaders of the Artificial Intelligence movement. Going beyond pure computer technologies he has identified ways that technologies are converging in different fields leading to synergies that is creating quantum leaps in how we address challenges.
With the sanitation field in emerging markets it is not so much about new fangled, sophisticated technologies though as it is about a rethink in the use and configuration of existing technologies.
For example in this field there are these major developments:
Visualizing a new and promising market, in which the sheer number of potential consumers compensates for their little individual purchasing power
Seeing a market for value added products that are produced from the wastes
Seeing a reduction in health and envirionment degradation costs through market driven investments in integrated sanitation and waste management systems
WTO says that Today’s market for sanitation is dysfunctional, due
Muted demand due to lack of capacity, awareness and a low priority among individuals and institutions who have become complacient with inadequate or non-existent sanitation systems
Lack of (freely) available sanitation appropriate technology designs for mass production
Dependence on donations is not sufficient to solve the problem of such a vast magnitude.
They believe a “Market based approach is required to address the problem at a large scale.” So their plan is to build “efficient market infrastructure” to drive “demand through awareness, mindset change, low pricing and stylizing toilets so as to make it a symbol of status and owners pride.”
That might work but my thought is not to make toilets hip so much as to make toilets profitable in terms of the sewage effluent being seen as a valuable resource instead of a worthless waste.
WTO also wants to “install efficient market infrastructure” with the the “objective is to create Integrated Supply Chain…” That all sound interesting but I would like to hear more about specifics.
The issue of global climate change is one that continues to challenge humanity.
Recently Obama faced resistance at a global summit in Italy to try to pressure developing nations to put caps on their emissions of CO2.
A report by James KAnter “Is Being Overweight a Climate Problem?” calls into question the diets of developed countries that encourage people to overeat.
A report in latest issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology concludes that being overweight or obese “should be recognized as an environmental problem” because of its contribution to climate change from additional food and transport emissions.
Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found that a lean population, like the Vietnamese, consume about 20 percent less food and produce fewer greenhouse gases than a population in a country like the United States, where about 40 percent of people are obese.
The authors also found that transport emissions will be significantly less in countries with healthy average body weights because it takes less energy to transport slim people.
Many people already are aware that driving an S.U.V. or traveling by plane can dramatically increase an individual’s carbon footprint, and the study seems to support the idea that some of the most effective ways of reducing emissions begin with changes in individual lifestyles.
The key thing to remember in all fairness is that it is not just about being fat but about how much food you consume. Many who are not fat and have high metabolisms also eat more than what they need. The real issue is that we live in societies that encourage addictive behaviors including eating too much food because this is good for the short term interests of those who control the food industry.
