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Archive of "Design & environment" Category
Nordic Travels and Work in Maputo
From my lecture in the Reykjavik Art Museum. I see this website is on the screen.I took a quick trip to home fields this September to confer with my people about our work here in Maputo, how the strategy is going, how to change course and what the next steps should be. I also attended the annual Cirrus Conference that took place in Copenhagen this time. I am the leader of the Cirrus Network, which is a network of the majority of Design and Art schools in the Nordic and Baltic countries. That work has given me great pleasure (and obligations) since I really enjoy working for design internationally, especially promoting it as something of value for society and with the other institutes influence national and Nordic design policy, education and research.
I gave lectures in Oslo and Reykjavik about our work in Africa and the establishment of ISAC to make sure that a wider group of people participate in our effort. Surely a larger group has the ability to find wider and diverse possibilities that just the two of us. We have also always considered ourselves as representatives of the networks of designers that we belong to like KHiO, LHÍ, Cirrus and the Cumulus Association. The objective of meeting up with friends in the North was to look out for possibilities of cooperation in the coming very sensitive years for the new school. It pleased me greatly how many came to my presenatations, especially to the Reykjavik lecture and it was fun to meet many friends and participate in discussions about possibilities. Now I have returned to the busy life of getting things further off the ground, participating in the World Wide Views workshop and exhibition that Sóley has been running here and get on with the many tasks of creating strategies for the coming months and years.
4th Sept. 2008, Cars that go on air
Small cars that run on air, giving off zero ‘sootprint’ (carbon slip) while driving.
4th July 2008. The Problem with Big Green
Green is getting mainstream… Big Green! Here is an article on worldchanging with an interview with Dr. Tom Crompton, author of the WWF recent report
Weathercocks and Signposts: the environment movement at a crossroads The problem with the small green steps is that it doesn´t seem to lead to bigger steps and a deeper care for the environment and nature, there is even the danger that the small green steps are environmentally unfriendly because it can lead to the idea that we don´t need the BIG environmental steps we REALLY need. Here is one interesting bit of the interview: “To get beyond the small steps and change the fabric of the debate, Crompton says, we need to engage the values that underpin public discussion. For example, appeal to people’s sense of connection to the natural world. And he insists that this isn’t the same as heartstrings-tugging approaches we’ve seen before. Asking the public to save the panda out of moral obligation, because we feel guilty, is not the answer. What previous campaigns have missed is that the world we hope to build as we progress towards sustainability is not just a world that offers a better quality of life, it’s a world that’s more in alignment with the sort of fundamental values (from concern for our children to connection to nature to a sense of duty) that most define us as human beings. When we are at our best, we are capable of extraordinary things.”28th Jan. 2008. Connection of the Bosses
An interesting mapping of the power of those that rule. We in Iceland are especially interested in Alcoa and how the people there are connected to many of the most influential and often not the most ethical practices in the world. Alcoa was lucky enough to be trusted to destroy a large segment of the Icelandic highland for aluminium smelting. See:
6. Dec, 2007. Playing Rethink
is a board game where you take on everyday things and rethink them. Then you can join the network of rethinkers and present your idea and look at others. You can even be featured in the “project of the month”, to nourish your ego! or to get you more enthusiastic! The believe of the designers that made the game is that sharing ideas will help us make the everyday life more environmentally and socially friendly and that creativity can change the world! There are so many things in everyday life that we can find much better solutions to, and often its not so complex, we just have to make the effort to think about it in a creative way. I have put it on my wish list!
5. Dec. 2007, Do you really need new things?
Do you really need something new? That question asks Fretex for this christmas in a well designed poster series.I hope people will really consider it, I will! Go to the second hand shops there are lots of cool stuff, be creative about gifts – give experiences not just new stuff, spend your time and money in the christmas month going to concerts or whatever gives you pleasure other than buying stuff! I think that living more environmentally friendly, consuming less stuff and polluting less will not limit the quality of our life. Just shift it a bit, maybe towards a real quality. One tiny example is allt the plastic bags we get. All these tons of plastic we use in plastic bags does not make us happier! It is just a few weeks work to make the shift to remember to have a bag with you (In Enklere Liv, you can buy a thin compressible bag to have along always). It has taken me a while, but now I have nearly got to the point of no plastic bags! If you doubt that this is of any importance it could be useful to watch the UN film on Climate Change. Just to realize who is suffering the most because of our extreme need of goods and luxury!
