Posts Tagged ‘education’
Visioning 2032: Short Films on a Sustainable Future
Posted in Visions by Kate Archdeacon on February 23rd, 2011
The Victorian Eco Innovation Lab (VEIL) has launched a series of thirteen one-minute films at Federation Square, which will run within the regular content on the Big Screen over the next few months. The films are responses to some of the questions VEIL has been asking since the project started in 2007:
What could a sustainable neighbourhood in Melbourne look like? How could we transform a number of our existing urban communities through design ‘interventions’?
If we are to develop low-carbon resilient suburbs in Melbourne, we need to have some vision of what a desirable future living scenario is, and the changes we can make today to set us on a path there. The films are a glimpse of that potential future. The animated films are a culmination of four years’ worth of work by students and staff from Swinburne University, RMIT University, Monash University and the University of Melbourne, as well as from Melbourne design professionals. Each presents a different area of sustainable design innovation. These include new infrastructure schemes for water, food, energy and public transport, along with innovative design strategies for suburban development and new local employment opportunities.
The films can be seen here, on the VEIL website, or they can be downloaded from Vimeo (once you log in).
SustainableCitiesNet is a project of the Victorian Eco Innovation Lab.
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Urban Cultivators in Romita: Sembradores Urbanos
Posted in Models, Movements by Kate Archdeacon on November 25th, 2010
Sustainable Cities Net: Posting from the UCLG Congress in Mexico City 18-25 November
All photos: K. Archdeacon 23-11-10
From Appropedia:
“Sembradores Urbanos is a nonprofit urban agriculture demonstration center and outreach group in Mexico City started by three women living in Mexico. There vision is to transform urban soil into green, productive, and sustainable spaces. They opened the The Center for Urban Agriculture Romita, one of the first urban agricultural community spaces in Mexico. The center demonstrates a variety of urban agriculture and organic gardening techniques as well as serving as a space for workshops and courses. Sembradores Urbanos helps give talks at schools and businesses, puts on community movie nights, and helped start the Barter Exchange Merkado de Trueke in Plaza Romita. They also help install gardens in homes and apartments, hospitals, and juvenile detention centers with local volunteers.”
VEIL colleague Dianne Moy made sure I knew about Sembradores Urbanos before I came to Mexico City, so I visited the site yesterday afternoon. More than three years after the launch, the demonstration projects have increased in diversity, always following a simple, effective approach – making it, naming it and illustrating it – which is lucky because my Spanish is non-existent. This tiny corner of Romita is hidden away in a typically dense neighbourhood, so the gardeners here struggle with the same issues many city-dwellers face – small spaces, limited sunlight, polluted rainfall and nowhere for deliveries of compost or other bulk supplies.
The main website is in Spanish, but the Appropedia article on the project has links to most of the gardening techniques and planting information – both sites are well worth a look.
(I noticed a jar of seed-bombs on the shelf there – will have to keep an eye out for guerilla gardens around the city.)
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Introducing the Smart Grid! via Mexico City
Posted in Movements, Research by Kate Archdeacon on November 19th, 2010
Sustainable Cities Net: Posting from the UCLG Congress in Mexico City 18-25 November
A Smart Grid, described by Siemens as the “intelligent network infrastructure” that supports the “systematic optimization of the energy system”, would allow energy production and consumption to become more aligned, reducing waste in energy production and increasing consumption awareness through smart meters, tariffs and smart appliances.
Siemens have erected their Smart Grid Dome in the Plaza Santo Domingo, here in Mexico City. The interior dome acts as a projection screen for a multimedia introduction to Smart Grid Solutions, while touchscreens around the walls divide the information into (roughly) Grid Management and ICT, Renewable Energy, and Scales of Application (Industrial, Commercial, Residential). The information is a mixture of technical specifications, background information, current research, case studies and proposals.
While it may seem like shifting to smart appliances and meters does not reduce the need for “stuff” (and what we do with all the “non-smart” stuff when it’s not wanted anymore), there are opportunities to combine Sharing Services and Product Service Systems (PSS) with smart grids. For example, a smart grid might encourage people to set their smart washing machine to run during off-peak supply for wind power – say at 3 in the morning. In this model, everyone still owns a washing machine. But what if your local laundry service did the same thing – using less resources and energy while creating a central point for water-saving infrastructure? (Local Laundry Service?? Check out this pedal-powered laundry service in Buenos Aires.)
More to come on this…
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Building as Teaching Tool for Sustainability
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on October 18th, 2010
Image: Ross Barney Architects
From an article on World Architects about the James | Swenson Civil Engineering Building by John Hill:
As sustainability continues to take hold in the architectural profession, the most desirable projects enable designers to express green features, making them educational devices to the clients and users. Chicago firm Ross Barney Architects has done such a thing to great effect at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. The architects answered some questions about their design of the James | Swenson Civil Engineering Building.
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BUILDING AS A TEACHING TOOL
Designed to display the building systems as a pedagogical tool, the building showcases the structural, and mechanical systems as well as stormwater management techniques. The building acts as a working classroom for the students using the space. Structurally, the building utilizes precast concrete walls, precast hollowcore floor slabs, and steel. The puzzle piece precast walls of the structural lab educate that precast can be formed into any shape, while still forming together in a unique pattern offering slot windows throughout the finished concrete box. The south wall of the space retains the exterior tilt-up braces and kickers that are used as temporary supports during the construction process to feature the process of this construction.
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STORMWATER RETENTION
The oversized scuppers serve a functional role in preventing rainwater from overflowing the storm sewer system and causing environmental damage to the local stream beds. Water is directed from the rooftop, down the scuppers, and into a trio of above ground Corten cylinders, which distribute the water into an underground French drain. This reused greywater fills the flume in the Hydraulics Laboratory for student experiments, or gradually filters back into the hydrological system of the site. In addition to the French drain, a number of other stormwater retention strategies were employed, including; an intensive green roof over 30% of the total roof area, rain gardens with non-irrigated native plantings, and permeable pavers. Through the combination of greywater reuse and the implementation of low-flow restroom fixtures, a 56% reduction in water usage was achieved.
Read the full article by John Hill.
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Showcasing Sustainability and Design: Sustain 2010
Posted in Movements, Research by Kate Archdeacon on October 15th, 2010
Image: One of the winning designs – Energy Trumps, from Embodied by Rich Gilbert
Sustain is a showcase for the work, issues and arguments that relate to the ever-more-complex arena of sustainability within the Royal College of Art (UK). The RCA offers a unique forum: we can open up and explore issues without the pressure solely to present solutions; and we bring the ‘systems’-thinking creativity of cross-disciplinary discussion to the presentation and discussion of sustainable practice in art and design disciplines.
Sustainability represents a key emerging institutional need across the creative and cultural industries. Our goal at the RCA is to inspire and challenge a new creative generation across the UK to embrace and address sustainability in their work, demonstrating how principles of sustainability and responsibility can fuel innovation, and support and enhance real-world strategies for change.
The Sustain Award 2010 was presented on 23 September. All the works included in the Sustain 2010 Exhibition can be seen online.
Further reading: The Challenges of Teaching Sustainability: the RCA’s Approach on core77
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Soap Operas (Storytelling) for Education (Behaviour Change)
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on October 6th, 2010
Source: Nourishing the Planet: Worldwatch Institute
From Makutano Junction Soap Opera by Molly Theobald:
The last place most of us look to for useful information is television soap operas. But Makutano Junction, a Kenyan-produced soap opera set in the fictional town of the same name is not your average TV drama. Broadcast in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and throughout English-speaking Africa, Makutano Junction doesn’t deal with the evil twins, amnesia, and dark family secrets typical of U.S. daytime dramas. Instead, the show’s plot lines revolve around more grounded (although not necessarily less dramatic) subjects like access to health care and education, sustainable income-generation, and citizens’ rights.
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In Episode 8 of Season 6, which aired in 2008, the character Maspeedy gets into trouble for soaking seeds. Seed soaking works by essentially tricking the seed into thinking it has been planted, allowing it to soak up in one day as much water as it would in a week in the soil. This speeds up germination and significantly shortens the time between planting and growth, leading to a vegetable harvest in a quick amount of time.
But the other characters in the show are unfamiliar with this practice and, when they discover Maspeedy’s project, have him thrown in jail because they are convinced that he is brewing alcohol illegally. After some plot twists and a little slapstick humor involving two trouble-making characters who attempt to drink the water in order to get drunk, the truth comes to light and Maspeedy is released from jail. He then teaches the rest of the town the simple technique of soaking seeds to speed plant-growth time.
After the episode aired in May 2008, thousands of viewers sent texts to Mediae requesting more information about seed-soaking techniques. These viewers were sent a pamphlet with detailed instructions on how to soak their own seeds. Follow-up calls— which were part of a study to test the effectiveness of the show’s messaging— revealed that 95 percent of those who had texted for more information had found the pamphlets helpful. And 57 percent had tried out seed soaking even before the pamphlet arrived, just based on the information provided on the show. Ninety-four percent said that they had shared the information with up to five other people.
Read the full article by Molly Theobald on Nourishing the Planet.
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Integrating Sustainability Into Design Education
Posted in Models, Research by Rob Eales on September 9th, 2010
Source: Core 77
From “The designers’ accord educational toolkit: what does it really take to encourage sustainable practice?” by Valerie Casey:
How can we start thinking about sustainability as intrinsic part of good design, instead of an addendum? How can we embrace the potential impact of our craft to design new services, shape organizational behavior, and enable policy change, not just churn out artifacts? How can we assume accountability for what our designs influence, and not just the design itself?
These are the questions many of us have been asking constantly—and answering with only with limited success—for years. I am reminded of the confusion designers have around this topic each time I publicly speak about sustainability—the first comment from the audience during Q+A is always the same: “Tell us what to do!” We are a profession who spends our entire lives generating new ideas, challenging the status quo, and building glorious concepts from nothing, yet remarkably we are paralysed when confronted with the issue of how to meaningfully engage in the most important issue of our time.
One of the best ways we can advance our mission to practice sustainable design is to make sure the next generation of designers will graduate with a value system that reflects the new realities of our profession.
This is the challenge the Designers Accord sought to address when it started 3 years ago. The concept was simple: if designers, educators, and business leaders could openly share knowledge and experience about sustainability, we would collectively (and more quickly) build our intelligence around these issues, and then generate more innovative and world-changing ideas.
We all know that a single solution, technology, or person will not solve the humanitarian and climate change challenges we face. There is no silver bullet, but there is silver buckshot. One of the best ways we can advance our mission to practice sustainable design is to make sure the next generation of designers will graduate with a value system that reflects the new realities of our profession. With this in mind, two weeks ago the Designers Accord launched another means of sharing knowledge with the Toolkit to integrate sustainability into design education.
Read the full article by Valerie Casey on Core 77.
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Minimonos & Other Games for Change
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on August 31st, 2010
Source: Worldchanging
From “Games for Change: An Interview with MiniMonos and a Look Back” by Amanda Reed:
Jeff Ramos of GameCulturalist.com recently interviewed Kaila Colbin from MiniMonos.com, which is a virtual world that encourages children and parents to practice sustainability, generosity and community. The game was developed by a group of New Zealanders who were trained by Al Gore to be Climate Ambassadors after The Inconvenient Truth came out.
Here is an excerpt from the interview in which Colbin talks about the real world projects the players of MiniMonos develop as a result of the game’s lessons:
What have you learned about gaming and social interaction because of MiniMonos?
We’ve learned that kids online will continually surprise and delight you. We’ve learned that kids are far more clued up about the environment than we had realized, and that they place far more explicit importance on it than we had realized. We’ve learned that they really appreciate being listened to, and the importance of a sense of belonging. We’ve also learned that they’ll go to astonishing lengths to get a rare virtual item!
We’ve been stunned and humbled by the many ways in which MiniMonos members have picked up the sustainability gauntlet and carried these messages into the real world. We’re seeing a generation of children who already care for the environment, who are tremendously generous, fun-loving, and supportive of each other.
We do everything we can to reinforce the need to take real-world action. We turned off the servers for Earth Hour, and every new membership provides clean drinking water for children in India…
Read the full interview and learn more about MiniMonos and the game developers. As a relative newbie to Worldchanging and games for change, this interview inspired me to look into the Worldchanging archives to see what other games and virtual worlds had been written about in the past…the extensive collection of articles I found was stunning. If you’re interested in checking some or all of them out, the list has quotes from each piece.
Check out the list compiled by Amanda Reed on WorldChanging.
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The Story of Bottled Water
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 20th, 2010
The Story of Bottled Water ( and manufacturing demand…)
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Eating Locally in Dakar: Shifting the Focus
Posted in Models, Movements by Kate Archdeacon on August 10th, 2010
Source: Nourishing the Planet: Worldwatch Institute
From Reigniting an Interest in Local Food by Danielle Nierenberg:
After journalism school in Senegal, Seck Madieng worked for the government. But he wanted to do “something real. I didn’t want to be a bureaucrat.” He left his job and started AgriInfos, the only Senegalese newspaper to focus entirely on agriculture, food, and healthy diets. “I’m interested in going into villages, talking to farmers, seeing how they work, how they eat. I’m trying to understand why they are poor and why they are hungry,” says Madieng.
In 2007, Madieng, along with local chef Bineta Diallo, started the Mangeons Local (Eat Locally) project in two schools in Dakar. Their goals? To teach students how foods were made and who grew and prepared them. Most urban residents in Dakar depend on foods made not in Senegal, but from Europe.
But their lessons aren’t just theoretical, they also teach students how to cook. According to Diallo, for many students it’s the first time some students have ever prepared or cooked food. Instead of baguettes and imported canned foods, the children are learning how to cook cereals and grains, including local rice varieties, fonio (a small grain typically used in couscous), millet, and sorghum. And rather than drinking milk out of boxes imported from Amsterdam, they’re learning how good local milk can taste, as well as all of the things that can be made from dairy products, including crème, cheese, and butter.
Children are the best communication vehicles to parents, according to Madieng and Diallo. They bring the skills they learn at school home, helping to improve their families’ diets. Mangeons Local also celebrates at the end of the school year with a big party highlighting local foods that parents, students, teachers, and the community can all attend. In addition to local food and juices, they play music from Senegalese musicians and singers, including Grammy winner Youssou N’Dour and Ismael Lo, and Bill Yiakhou, who all sing about agriculture.
Mangeons Local gets some support from Slow Food International, but all the staff are volunteers, which limits the number of schools who can participate in the program.
Original article by Danielle Nierenberg.
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