Blue Gold

I love eye-opening and thought-provoking documentaries. However, the more such films I watch, the more pessimistic I got towards mankind as more and more inconvenient truth is revealed in front of me. Blue Gold is one of such documentaries I watched recently. Based on the book Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water, the film provides a critical examination of the global water privatization.

As stated in the film, water is today’s oil. Water crisis and privatization is simply beyond our imagination. Some shocking facts I learned include: the French water giants Suez, RWE and Vivendi buying water all over the world including many American cities such as Seattle, Chicago and Pittsburgh; the Cochabamba protests in 2000 against privatization of water in Bolivia (even collecting stormwater was against the law!); Bush family buying vast lands in Paraguay which sits atop one of the world's largest fresh-water aquifers…

The title of the film recalls another provocative documentary Black Gold which uncovers the extremely unfair trade in Africa’s coffee planting. Actually Blue Gold also briefly mentions the unfair tea trade which prevents African countries from getting rid of poverty. Both films accuse WTO, World Bank and big corporate firms of rapaciously exploiting resources and labor from developing countries. These agencies are secretly pulling the strings only to ensure the weak always remains weak so that they can always make huge profits. Of course they never forget to play a benevolent role by donating food and money to the poor countries. Without changing the world’s political and economic system, no environmental changes (or any other radical changes) can be made, precisely the key idea conveyed in the film.

The non-profit organization Solutions for a Better Planet has been organizing environmental films and lectures around the world, and Blue Gold is on their list. I’m excited to find out about their China Green Tour -
In June 2010, a month after the official opening of the Shanghai Expo, in eight universities across China we will screen documentaries on the main eco-issues of our current environmental crisis: water, waste, energy, climate change, urbanisation, food, deforestation, desertification..., and present positive examples of pragmatic solutions from all over the world.

I'll be back in China at the time, so hopefully I can attend some of the events!

Sun House in Haiti

I'm working on a rendering for a building in Haiti this week, which makes me wonder about the architecture there. What kind of building should we propose for the people and environment there as Haiti remains the poorest Caribbean country?

I found The Sun House, an earthbag building project at Pwoje Espwa in Southern Haiti. Father Marc Boisvert, the founder and director of Pwoje Espwa (http://www.freethekids.org/), has dedicated his life to serving and helping suffering children. This project not only houses over 700 children, but has an agricultural project, three schools, carpentry and masonry facilities, and an arts and crafts program.


The finished building is quite charming especially after the local artists' decoration. What a perfect fusion of the sustainable building techniques and the unique Haitian art and culture! More process photos can be found here: http://earthbagbuilding.com/projects/haiti.htm


The website EarthBuilding.com offers comprehensive information on earthbag construction, and I learned a lot about the advantages of this building technique. First, earthbag building is very low-cost and easy to build. Second, earthbags function well as either thermal mass or insulation, depending on what the bags are filled with. Third, earthbag structure can be fairly strong if properly constructed. Fourth, earthbag technique works better with non-rectilinear shapes, thus becomes a great tool for creating unique sculptural forms. I'm so tempted to build one myself!


As my Haitian dream continues, I watched Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, an unfinished documentary made by Maya Deren filming the voodoo rituals in Haiti. It's remniscent of Eisenstein's unfinished masterpiece ¡Que viva Mexico! which captures the soul of Mexican culture and its tragic history.

No More Plastic Water Bottles on Penn State Campus?

I learned about this encouraging news today. I would have joined the protest if I were still in school! -

Members of the newly formed Penn State Environment, Ecology and Education in the College of Education (3E-COE) group and other environmental activists gathered to protest the sale and use of plastic water bottles at Penn State. The activists also delivered a letter to Penn State President Graham Spanier's office asking him to ban the sale of disposable water bottles on campus.

"Eliminating water bottles on campus isn't without precedent," said Alexandra D'Urso, co-founding member of 3E-COE, citing Washington University in St. Louis as a university that prohibits the sale of plastic water bottles on campus. "We're not asking people to make huge cultural changes."

The letter to Spanier spelled out the environmental and health concerns 3E-COE says are associated with the use of plastic water bottles and gave examples of their negative effects, particularly the amount of discarded plastic polluting the oceans.
(full report)

Instead of creating mountains of landfill out of plastic bottles, why can't we carry water in an eco-friendly and artful bottle such as SIGG's product? A simple change in our daily habits can make a huge difference on our planet!

Greener Xmas Tree

What a great idea to make a Xmas tree out of recycled cardboards! The tree was designed and developed by Cloud Gate Design LLC, a Chicago based design house. Cloud Gate Design was founded in 2006 by two designer friends, Nick Ng and Dan Greene, as a way to bring environmentally conscious alternatives to market.

In addition to taking the pressure off existing tree farms, a portion of the profits from the Cardboard Christmas Tree sales are donated to the Arbor Day Foundation’s Trees for America Program. For every one dollar donated to the program, one tree will be planted in a damaged forest.

source: Inhabitat

Wild China

I was totally blown away by BBC’s documentary series Wild China. It’s not only the best documentary in terms of presenting China’s most breathtaking landscapes and wildlife, but also an ecologically conscious journey rethinking the balance between man and nature in the midst of China’s booming economy.

Everyone would be impressed with all the extraordinary views captured by the film crew. They traveled to the most remote yet otherworldly areas to get the first-hand images - wild giant pandas’ copulation was filmed first time ever in history. As a Chinese, I was so touched by all the sacred landscapes and exotic wildlife which are unknown to most of us. At the same time I was deeply concerned about many endangered species out there under human threats. I hope every Chinese can watch this documentary and make efforts to protect the remaining beauty which could be lost forever.

Unique lifestyles of various minorities in China are explored with an emphasis on the use of natural resources. Some Chinese traditions associated with animals and landscapes are also integrated into the depiction of natural environment. The soundtrack is outstanding as well, which results in a perfect fusion between Chinese traditional music and the poetic dimension of the landscapes. Obviously a good amount of research on Chinese culture was accomplished when making the series. I wonder why we Chinese can’t make such high-quality and meaningful shows about our own natural heritages.

Radiohead LED Stage Lighting

Last night's Radiohead concert was truly amazing! After so many years, they still remain the most innovative British rock band. The performance was certainly fantastic, but something else got me even more excited: the cutting-edge LED stage lighting!! Radiohead is the first band ever to tour with only LED lighting. By hanging strips of lights over the stage, seemingly infinite patterns and colors were produced which were constantly transforming like auroras.

How great such an influential band is going GREEN. The dazzling visual effects of their show prove that LED is really the future!

Here are some videos showing the lighting -

Mowercycle!

I was chatting with a friend about redesigning everyday objects a moment ago, and then I saw this mowercycle photo at Inhabitat. What a bright idea to transform the tedious yardwork into personal workout! Needless to say, you can stay away from the air pollution produced by gas-powered lawn mowers. I hope such mowercycles can be manufactured.

Shopping Cart Chair

When I looked at the shopping carts at a supermarket last night, I suddenly noticed the proportion of the shopping cart resembles that of a chair. Why not design a shopping cart chair or convert a shopping cart into a chair? Would that be fun?

Later I did an internet search and found someone already had this idea. The following are ANNIE shopping cart chairs by UK designer Max McMurdo. He turned old unwanted shopping carts into beautiful and functional chairs. I wonder if they offer the option with wheels, 'cause some people may want an exhilarating ride:)

Recycled Magazine Mirror

Like the idea! There's a lot we can do with recycled material. You can buy the mirror from UrbanOutfitters.

source: BetterLivingThroughDesign

Who Killed The Electric Cars?

I finally watched this documentary recommended by several co-workers. The disclosed facts were quite shocking: There used to be hundreds of electric cars, EV1 by GM, running on the roads in California and Arizona since 1996. Within 10 years, they were all stripped from their leasers and destroyed in the junkyard by GM. It's pretty painful to watch those beloved fabulous cars being crushed and then shredded into pieces...It was no different than dumping fresh milk into sewers! Thanks to this film, more and more people will learn about the history which the authorities have been trying hard to bury.

Who on earth killed the electric cars? The oil industry, the car companies, the government, the consumers...None of them can get away with the murder. After all, it was our human weakness we have never overcome: the short-sightedness targeting only at short-term profits.

Camper's Wabi

I learned about Camper's environmental shoe Wabi from the latest Metropolis magazine. Wabi means "to ask for forgiveness" in Japanese, which reflects Camper's motto: healthy for the feet and clean for the planet. Besides its environmental-friendly components (made of a recycle rubber ousole, a biodegradable insole made of coconut fiber and wool, and tow liners), Wabi also respects the natural shape of human feet which offers more comfort and pleasure in taking a walk. Finally the both organic and sleek look of the shoe just makes it irresistable - I want to get a pair of Wabi and go for a walk now!

more info from Motropolis: http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2984

Tom Dixon on Sustainable Design

Not being a conscious green designer, Tom Dixon brought a few new perspectives on sustainable design esp. the second cycle idea.
Source: Inhabitat

Manufactured Landscape

Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky takes beautiful large-scale photographs of landscapes that have been industrially altered by mankind to the very extreme. The documentary Manufactured Landscapes by Toronto-based filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal now visits, along with the photographer, places in China and Bangladesh and shows how these amazing pictures are taken. It gives you with a weird as well as surreal experience of the grotesque and grim consequences of mass production. For example, fifty percent of all world‘s computers end up in China, amongst many other used materials… You don’t have to be too ecologically minded, but this documentary will leave you thinking, no doubt.

Source: Pingmag

Click here to watch Edward Burtynsky's TED talk about his works and vision on sustainability. It's very thought-provoking, esp. those disturbing images revealing the huge scale factories filled with cheap labors working like non-stop machines in China.

California's First Green Hotel

Listened to an interview with Wen-I Chang, the developer of the first green hotel in CA on NPR. Later I found this interesting article by him talking about how he became green and the design process of the hotel -

http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2006_4th/Dec06_WenChang.html

GREEN, the new Red White & Blue

I watched a 90-min show last night on Discovery channel, Thomas Friedman (the author of The Wolrd is Flat)'s version of An Inconvenient Truth. He uses "Green, the new red white & blue" as the metaphor to make Americans realize the climate crisis and responsibility to stop it from today. Gore's documentary presents comprehensive scientific discoveries on global warming; Friedman's version is focused on big corporations (such as Google, Walmart, the military)' responses to glocal warming and research on new possible green powers. A new knowledge for me is that low-cost grasses esp. sugarcane can actually generate power. In Brazil, 40% of gasoline need is met by sugarcane-based ethanol. Isn't that amazing?! It also compares to the energy issue in China where the government officials have a stronger crisis mentality than the Americans. A Red China will and will have to become a Green China. Click here to watch a video of Friedman titled The Power of Green, also the name of his essay on The New York Times.

P.S. Today is Earth Day, my contribution would be studying hard for the LEED exam :)

b(eco)me

Today I went to Half Price Books, a great low-price chain bookstore recommended by friends. When I got home, I found this bookmark inside one of the books I bought. On the back it says -

Devices that are "on" even when off waste energy and account for 10% of your electric bill. Put chargers together on a power strip and turn it off while you're away. Unplug unused refrigerators, toasters, coffee pots, blenders and cell phone chargers.

COST BENEFIT: Most people use their chargers only 5% of the time they have them plugged in, wasting both energy and money. Unplugging unused appliances can reduce the phantom energy use in your home and save up to $170 a year. Kitchen countertop appliances alone, when unplugged, can save the average family more than $80 a year.

Learn more at becomegreen.info

Green Jewelry Design

Can you believe this beautiful modern jewelry collection is made from used bicycle reflectors?! Canadian designer Amrita Takhar is leading a green jewelry design. It reminds me of Chris Luebkeman (the speaker at Imperative 2010)'s remarks that nothing is waste - if waste is properly dealt with, it is resource.

source

World's 1st Eco-city in China

At today's 2010 Imperative: Global Emergency web-cast class, Chris Luebkeman from ARUP showed their design for the world's first sustainable city Dongtan, an island near Shanghai.

more info

Cradle To Cradle

Today's sustainable design discovery is the recycled carpet by Shaw Contact Group. Their square-shaped brochure is very well designed, telling you their story of sustainability through metaphorical narrative, simple facts, vibrant colors, smart and thoughtful images. The brochure itself is made of 100% recycled paper, with ink made of soy which makes paper easier to recycle. They call it cradle to cradle design: an analogy drawn from an oak tree that uses what it drops to make itself bigger, stronger and in abundance each year.

What they do is simply collecting the recycled carpet to make new carpet. Their cushioned carpet tile backing is made with 88% plastic soda bottles. It is 4 times stronger than traditional cushion backing. The truth is: In US alone, consumers empty 6.8 million plastic beverage bottles each hour. The backing is also lighter, which means fewer truckloads, which means less diesel used, which means less CO2 released into atmosphere! It makes you realize: the way we design, make and use things right now has a measurable effect on everything, an even greater effect on the future.

Besides all the sustainable ideas, Shaw's carpets are just gorgeous!

An Inconvenient Truth

My studio showed the movie An Inconvenient Truth which I’d been longing to see. I think EVERYBODY should watch this movie. It is a well-made documentary: enlightening, funny, ironic and touching. It is a heartfelt lecture given by Al Core on global warming based on science. Maybe most of the facts revealed in the movie are not unfamiliar to many people, but what moves me most is seeing why he is so devoted to environmental protection from his own life experience and how he found out these facts through his own travel, research and participation.

Like he said, global warming is ultimately a MORAL issue rather than a political issue. He is never tired of giving this slide show around the world. He is doing it country by country, family by family, person by person, since he is a BELIEVER. As an individual, we really should think about what we can do in our daily routine to stop global warming!

http://climatecrisis.org/