Direct Action

The Self-Sufficient City

- Adam Clare

Looking to save the world? Then enter the international competition to design the self-sufficient city. One of the goals is to spur some online discussion, so what do you think the city of the future will look like? And will you enter the contest?

The competition jury, which is composed of architects, directors of some of the world’s foremost architecture schools, and mayors of cities such as Barcelona, is looking for outstanding proposals for any city in the world, at any scale, and within any timescale. Competition entries should be submitted via the Internet (www.advancedarchitecturecontest.org) on Connected metropolises, Eco neighborhoods, Self-sufficient buildings, Intelligent homes or any other proposal for a short-, medium or long-term project to create habitats that respond to the social, cultural, environmental and economic conditions that may obtain in the 21st century. The proposal should include whatever texts, drawings and other images may be needed to make it fully understandable.
The competition prizes will consist of three scholarships for the IaaC Masters in Advanced Architecture for academic year 2010-11, cash prizes, and the latest generation of large-format HP printers. The selected projects will go on show in a major exhibition, due to open in Barcelona in May 2010, which will then travel to key cities around the world. The best projects will also be featured in a book to be published by Actar. The project is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Housing, the Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona City Council, and the publishing house Actar.

Six Britons can Change the World

- Adam Clare

They have already influenced the world and now they have a chance to change the law in the UK, thus making our planet a better place. In 2007 six Greenpeace activists climbed a coal tower to protest the use of finite fossil fuels and were subsequently arrested. Their court case has attraced scientists worldwide to voice their support and the charges were dropped against the six – making this a case that shocked the British legal system.

The Guardian has an article on the case and how a movie is being released that celebrates the six activists.

When a demonstration at the Kingsnorth power station in north-east Kent in late 2007 led to the arrest of six climate change activists, what had until then seemed a rather dry local planning issue exploded into a story of national and international concern. The verdict at their trial turned out to have far-reaching implications for activism, the future of coal, even the planet.

Now a 20-minute film, A Time Comes, by the much-admired documentary-maker Nick Broomfield, cuts police and Greenpeace footage of the occupation together with news clips and interviews with the activists. What emerges is how ordinary the Kingsnorth Six are – they could be the bloke next door or the woman across the office – but also how brave and tenacious. The film is released just as the government’s review of its coal policy is expected and campaigners hope and expect the review will define a seismic shift in official attitudes to carbon emissions.

Clean the Air While Biking – With Plants

- Adam Clare 3 Comments

Here’s a neat idea to clean the air while getting around town – build a bicycle with a plant box. You can follow the complete instructions at the link, but it looks like it takes a bit of work. I’m sure it’s a pleasure to ride with the smell of fresh herbs or flowers under your nose.

Plant bike

54% of Consumers Care About Product Sustainability

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Some of you might read this and think “only half of shoppers care?” while some of you might read this and think “that’s more than I thought!”. What I find most captivating is that this statistic is from a survey done by marketers to find out if people truly care about the environmental sustainability of a product. Just think, twenty, or even ten years ago people would’ve laughed at you if you mentioned how bad some products are for the environment.

Today half of shoppers will choose the more environmental product and now 95% of shoppers are willing to shop green. Here’s the press release on the survey.

“We found that for most shoppers, sustainable considerations are an important tie breaker when deciding between two otherwise equal products and they are a driver in product switching,” said Brian Lynch, GMA director of sales and sales promotion. “But it’s not enough to just put green products on the shelf. We have to better educate consumers and leverage in-store communication to make the sale.”

Most shoppers surveyed, 95 percent, are open to considering green products, 67 percent of shoppers looked for green products, only 47 percent actually found them and 22 percent purchased some green products on their shopping trip, highlighting the need for better shopper marketing programs to close the gap. Sometimes concerns about product performance and credibility of the environmental claims are the reasons shoppers opt not to buy green products, but more often communication and product education are the biggest obstacles. The study also found that a significant minority of committed and proactive green shoppers will pay a premium for sustainable products; however, the larger potential population of shoppers that lean toward green want price and performance parity for sustainable products because it is not their dominant purchase driver.

Green Painting with Milk Paint

- Adam Clare 4 Comments

You learn something new everyday, and today I learned that you can paint with milk! I found out from this handy green painting guide from National Geographic.

Milk paints are virtually odorless and are made using the milk protein casein and lime. They contain no solvents, preservatives or biocides, though some do have synthetic ingredients like acrylic and vinyl. They come in powdered form and once opened or mixed with water, they should be used quickly, as they can mold if left to stand for a few weeks.

So I did some research on milk paint and found a company that is dedicated to reproducing old fashioned milk paint. From their about us:

In 1974, after much experimentation, we recreated an old Milk Paint formula to provide an authentic finish for our primary business of building reproduction furniture. Since then we have sold our paint to professionals who are either restoring original Colonial or Shaker furniture, making reproductions, or striving for an interior design look that is both authentic and beautiful. Milk Paint is now gaining an even wider usage because it contains only ingredients that are all-natural and will not harm the environment. Our authentic real milk paint is truely a “green paint” that comes in 20 colors.

I also found elsewhere a gallery of milk paint.
milk paint

And here’s a video explaining how to use milk paint:

How have we missed out on milk paint on Things Are Good for so long? Anybody out there now anything more about this painting style?

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