sustainable packaging

Packaging needs to catch up with product development in moving towards improved sustainability performance. There are consumer pressures mounting in the right direction, and it has been predicted that sustainable packaging will make up 32% of all packaging by 2014. There are even carbon taxes on packaging in the Netherlands. But this is not just about reducing the amount of packaging material used, or even using recycled and recyclable materials. It's about finding creative ways to design packaging with a cradle-to-cradle perspective, in many cases imagining future uses that are completely unrelated to the original purpose of the packaging.

There's a brilliant set of examples, evaluations, interviews and principles in the book Designing Sustainable Packaging by Scott Boylston.

For those of us who are not package designers, it's a good idea to be aware of these examples and guidelines so that we can be discerning consumers. So what follows a 'list of lists' on better package design.

living on the edge

There are people who suggest that global warming of a few degrees is nothing to worry about. Given the normal variability in weather from day to day and year to year, the temperature change would be hardly noticeable to humans. But many flora and fauna are far more sensitive to temperature than we are, and we mustn't forget that we are as dependent on ecological processes as any other species. Whether it's depletion of global fish stocks or the pollination of fruit by bees, or the myriad other known and unknown interactions that we depend on directly for food or economic activities, we are becoming ever more vulnerable to change.

Our growing population forces us to push the boundaries of efficiencies in food production in order to survive. In 1972, the Club of Rome published Limits to Growth, predicting that the human population would hit an upper limit as a result of limits to land, water and other resources needed for food production, and the ability of Earth to absorb pollutants. The assertion was that population grows exponentially, while the ability of technology to increase the availability of resources grows only linearly.

The collapse of our economy hasn't happened yet, as we have managed to harness technology to become more productive with what we have available; nevertheless we have overshot the carrying capacity of Earth's resources.

open source vehicle design

Software like the Linux operating system is developed by opening it up for anyone to tweak and add features and generally make it do what they want. Its inner workings are non-proprietary and completely public so that the power of crowdsourcing can be harnessed to continually fine-tune and improve the product. I've been wondering why nobody has thought of applying the same open source principle to vehicle manufacture. Well, it turns out it is being done, right now.

Jeff Jarvis, in his new book What Would Google Do?, writes about the concept of allowing purchasers to request exactly what features they want in their car, ordering direct from the manufacturer. Ford, GM and the like aren't in the business of manufacturing anyway - they just assemble parts that have been manufactured to their specifications - so why don't they go all the way and focus on transportation as a service rather than a mass-produced vehicle that forces buyers to pay for features they don't want?

The brand would become what you want it to be, and by allowing customisation the manufacturer would discover what we really want, not guess what they think we want. Just the way Google learns from our searches what information we want to see, and focuses on designing the information systems to make that possible, auto manufacturers could focus on making customisation possible. It doesn't suit their current business model, but that's not to say it can't be done. The big-name auto manufacturers have clearly failed to make a success of their businesses anyway.

We're not quite at the stage that Jeff Jarvis is proposing, but there is a nonprofit company working on an open source car that is a contender for the automotive X Prize. The Society for Sustainable Transportation calls it the Open Source Green Vehicle, and it's being designed through a collaborative international effort. All design data and test data will be shared and accessible from the internet.

Open source software needs to work within agreed standards so that anyone who designs a module to run in an operating system like Linux can know how to get the components to communicate with each other. The operating system is a platform that other software can "plug in to", but it doesn't dictate how that other software works. A key concept of the OSGV (known as the Kernel™) is that any fuel source can be used by plugging it in to the vehicle - a physical version of a software module. As with software development, the OSGV needs specifications so that if someone wants to develop a new energy source for the vehicle, they can design the interface between the energy module and the car in accordance with those standards - but the inner workings of the energy module can be designed without constraint.

This breaks down the barrier to entry for alternative fuels because Kernel™ owners don’t have to buy a new car when they want to use a different fuel. Each power source module is self-contained. Simply swap out the original power source module with a different one. Onboard computers will automatically adapt to the new power source module. And, it’s that easy; A qualified facility can complete the conversion in merely hours.

I like it. But that's just a start.

seed bombs for fun and non-profit

Somehow, this recipe feels just right for Easter weekend:

• Combine 2 parts mixed seeds (indigenous flowers, herbs or vegetables) with 3 parts compost.
• Stir in 5 parts powdered red or brown clay.
• Moisten with water until mixture is damp enough to mold into balls.
• Pinch off a penny-sized piece of the clay mixture and roll it between the palms of your hands until it forms a tight ball (1 inch in diameter).
• Set the balls on newspaper and allow to dry for 24 - 48 hours. Store in a cool, dry place until ready to sow.

Throw the balls into vacant lots, pavement cracks, long-standing rubbish piles, or anywhere that would benefit from a bit of random greenery. [Source: The Guerilla Art Kit, by Keri Smith]

Update on 4 Oct 2008: Mother City Living asks "Would you make use of an organic vegetable garden allotment?". There are a few initiatives springing up in Cape Town that are starting to look at urban gardening. There's the Permanent Edible Garden Service set up by Ben Getz and partners, that will help you set up and maintain a garden using permaculture principles. Other South African organic services are listed on Urban Sprout.

I read recently that the "Victory Gardens" in America that were promoted to address the food shortage in World War II resulted in 40% of all fresh vegetables consumed in that country being produced in small urban gardens in 1942 and 1943. So small-scale urban gardening could be a really significant contribution to fresh, healthy food.

Update on 10 February 2009: Here's another take on protest gardening.

Update on 5 June 2009: And a high-tech seedbomb - literally a (non-military) bomb that is dropped from an aircraft, dispensing large numbers of seeds in biodegradable capsules. Soil in the capsule provides the initial nutrients for the seeds to sprout within the protective casing, then the moisture inside causes the capsule to break down so that the plant can continue growing.

global warming primer

Just out in July is the new book Global Warming (Heavyweight Issues, Lightweight Read) by South African authors Jessica Wilson and Stephen Law. There are many other books on either the science or the politics (or personal rants) of this complex topic, but this 112-page overview covers both in easy language. As it says in the introduction, this book will provide you with sufficient evidence and reasoning for you to hold your own in any argument.

global warming guide

Stephen Law and Jessica Wilson of South Africa's Environmental Monitoring Group have just finished a new book on the science of global warming and what can be done about it - technologically and politically. Published by Constable & Robinson in the UK, "A Brief Guide - Global Warming" is billed as an easy read on a complex issue. I've ordered my copy.