http://sustain.rca.ac.uk Sustain RCA Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:06:12 +0000 http://sustain.rca.ac.uk en http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-News-Blog http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/following/sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-News-Blog Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:06:12 +0000 Sustain RCA 1909603 18 June 2013 Would Urban Food Growers Be Better Campaigning for Land Use Reform? by Dorienne Robinson <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/Dorienne Medley.jpg" width="617" height="218" width_o="617" height_o="218" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/Dorienne Medley_o.jpg" data-mid="31562317" border="0" align="left"/> Greening our cities, vertical gardening, increased demand for allotments, community gardens – all these things show a change in how we see our food being provided for us. But while they are based on a very real need to know where our food comes from; to have helped in its production and harvesting and to have an input into security of supply, they will never offer true food security. There is an energy about these schemes that is so positive and uplifting, the reality is that there just isn’t enough urban space to provide enough food for the average urban population. While all these ideas are helpful contributions towards food production and a healthier environment they can only ever be an add on. What I find worrying is that, all the while the more ’switched on’ and active members of our communities are getting involved in ‘urban greening’ etc, their energies are not going where they are most needed. I recently completed a piece of research which produced a calculation for estimating the area of land needed to feed a given urban populace. An average sized town with a population of around 10,000 people would need 1,135.76 hectares of land to produce their fruit, vegetables, salads, grains and meat. The diet I chose for the study was based on a high fruit and vegetable, low meat menu. An average city the size of Manchester has a population of around 512,000. The maths is simple and means that Manchester will need 58,150.912 hectares of land to feed its population. This surely puts allotments, vertical gardening and green spaces into to context. This piece of work was in response to the imminent impacts on global food production by post peak oil. It takes 10 calories of oil to produce 1 calorie of food. Fertilizers and pesticides are all based on fossil fuels and, of course, our foods reach us by road, rail, plane and sea, the bulk of which are currently dependent on fossil fuel. In a very short space of time, we could well have to come to terms with the fact that when the supermarket trucks stop rolling we will have to very quickly be able to grow for ourselves. Because fossil fuel depletion will mean that foods cannot be trucked around as they are at the moment, food may have to be grown as close to home as possible. Each village, town and city needs to look at its hinterland in order calculate whether there is sufficient land for the required production, and indeed, whether the land is suitable. The structure of production is based on the permaculture concept of zoning. That is to say that immediately outside the community are all the polytunnels and plants that need daily attention. Root crops, brassicas, and fruit bushes etc, which need less attention, follow that. The third zone could be cereals followed by nut trees where poultry roam, then wilder zones for wood fuel production and further animal housing. Barriers to this system being able to operate are fairly predictable, politics and landownership. Politics means that any changes to farming practice will be long and torturous and involve many levels of negotiation in Brussels. Land ownership means that it will be extremely difficult to get many different landowners to work collectively around any centre of urbanisation. This is where I would like to see our activists focusing. Campaigning for serious agricultural and land use reform is vital. Dorienne Robinson is a freelance writer for Resurgence and the Ecologist. She has a background in politics, having worked for the Green Party, and is a vegan/ vegetarian nutrition and horticulture specialist. Recently, she was commissioned to undertake a study on availability of wild foods for local authorities. As part of her MSc Architecture, she produced a system for calculating urban land take for food production. Her passion is working oxen and believes they make better work mates than food. _________________________________________________________________________________ 15 April 2013 Thatcher: An Eco Hero? Do We Really Need to Ask? By Gina Lovett <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/thatcher1-26_1300.jpg" width="671" height="317" width_o="671" height_o="317" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/thatcher1-26_o.jpg" data-mid="29483213" border="0" align="left"/> If you’ve just read that headline and you’re surprised or outraged, then you won’t be alone. In the week leading up to Margaret Thatcher’s funeral, there has been much eulogising, and exploring of the former Prime Minister’s legacy – from the Right to Buy to the Falklands. Among some of the more obscure ‘explorations’, however, were those posing Thatcher as an eco-hero. The Guardian’s John Vidal set out the Iron Lady’s two key speeches on global warming, acid rain and ozone depletion to the Royal Society and later, the United Nations, quoting Jonathan Porritt as saying that Thatcher ‘did more than anyone’ to bring a tree-hugging debate to the mainstream. The Independent also chose to feature a strikingly similar piece, though not quite so comprehensively, and with a more misleading (and irritating) headline, ‘Iron Lady and Eco Warrier: Margaret Thatcher’s Commitment to Green Matters?’. With such attention-grabbing impact, this was a story that was sure to guarantee today’s metrics of digital journalism in comments, retweets and clicks, and was naturally picked up by trade titles like Business Green and numerous other sites. Aside from the obvious ploy, the appearance of such articles beg the question of the responsibility of the media – if Thatcher was one of the architects of the free market capitalism and neoliberalism associated with industry deregulation and environmental destruction, should we be even asking the question? What’s striking about Thatcher’s environmental speeches in the mid to late eighties was that the issues we’re looking at today are still the same as they were twenty-odd years ago. Her referral to the depletion of the ozone layer, the surge in atmospheric carbon dioxide and deforestation are, sadly, every bit as relevant now as they were in 1989. And, ironically, when talking about the cleaning up of the Thames estuary and the Mersey Basin, and tackling the great London smogs, she said, ‘the health of the economy and the health of our environment are totally dependent upon each other.’ How prescient and insightful. But what’s underlined here is the lack of follow-through on Thatcher’s part. If she did so well to bring this debate to the mainstream, why are we, twenty-four years later still slaves to an economic agenda that basically undermines the environment? In fact, it seems that Thatcher’s brief love affair with climate change and tackling environmental issues was motivated by her respect for science, rather than her care for the environment. The initial respect for climate change science was soon countered by corporate-driven sceptic studies that caught her ear. In reality, her commitment was to neoliberalism, privatisation and structural adjustment in developing countries, leading to the cutting of social programmes and industry deregulation, which did more to accelerate the environmental deterioration she once spoke of tackling. Our environment stands at an even more precarious point now – rising population, ageing population, extreme weather and inability to secure our future food production. Why? Mostly because we’re so tightly bound to the growth-dependency paradigm that Thatcher’s global neoliberalism needs. We’ve taken on and extolled the business mentality that perceives everything through a cost-benefit analysis lens – behaviour that has led to paralysis on climate change. Rather than discussing Thatcher as the ‘unlikely eco-hero’, we’d do better to remind ourselves that time has marched on and the environmental issues still stand. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 19 March 2013 Choice Requires Visibility By Graham Oakes, founder of Five Mile Food <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/choice-05_1300.jpg" width="671" height="234" width_o="671" height_o="234" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/choice-05_o.jpg" data-mid="29434865" border="0" align="left"/> Walking through my local supermarket is a surreal experience. Ever since I started looking at the country of origin of the food I buy, I find amazing juxtapositions. Apples from New Zealand in the height of the English apple season. Soft fruits from Chile all year round. Do you know what the carbon footprint of fruit flown in from Chile is? It’s a lot more than the weight of the fruit. Perhaps 12 or 15 kg of greenhouse gases for every kilo of fruit. Horsemeat from Eastern Europe is a lot less concerning that some of the stuff we knowingly buy every day. Most people can live very happily without Chilean blueberries. There are plenty of options that taste just as good, are just as healthy, cost no more, and have vastly less environmental impact. People simply choose those blueberries because they can’t see the impact of their choices. It’d be easy to blame the supermarkets for this. They’re certainly not fighting hard to make those impacts clear. But the problem is deeper than that. The supermarkets and the government agencies, which regulate them, and the agribusinesses, which supply them and the people who buy from them, have co-evolved to favour the supply chains we have now. Over the decades we’ve chosen certain options and favoured certain trade-offs (between price and flavour or between convenience and cookery skills). We’ve ended up with the system we have now, and with the environmental, social, economic and human rights issues that come with it. No one intended to create all the negative consequences. They just happened because we didn't see them coming. I believe that, given a clear view of the consequences of their decisions, most people will choose to do the right thing. Yes, they're constrained by price – most of us have to live within a budget. They’re constrained by lack of time. They want to have a little fun and enjoyment in their lives. But we can still create choices that respect these desires without destroying lives, livelihoods and the planet. To do this, to create meaningful choices, we have to make the consequences visible. It’s only then that people can choose to do good. I’m working on a start-up – Five Mile Food – that’s trying to rebuild the UK’s food chain. Instead of a supply chain based on large, centralised facilities, we want to build a networked, distributed, localised supply chain. We reckon we can get food direct from the producer to the consumer without travelling hundreds of miles in between. (Five miles is an aspiration. Realistically, if we can get it down to 15 or 20 miles, we’ll have made a good start.) This food will be no more expensive than the food that supermarkets currently sell, and no more inconvenient for people to buy. If we can achieve that, we think we can take a percent or two off the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. (Food is a surprisingly big part of emissions. Most of us are aware of heating and transport and suchlike. They’re pretty visible. But, the emissions embedded in food are mostly hidden. Again, visibility matters.) We’re not going to try to replace the existing food chain. We’re merely going to complement it. To give people a choice. And to help them see the consequences of their choices. Let’s look for other ways to make those consequences visible. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/choice22-24_1300.jpg" width="671" height="125" width_o="671" height_o="125" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/choice22-24_o.jpg" data-mid="29444159" border="0" align="left"/> Graham Oakes is an independent consultant on complex technology, relationships, processes and governance, working with organisations such as Skype, Intel, Oxfam, Greenpeace, and the Council of Europe, helping them define technology strategy and set up effective project and product development teams. His background includes stints as a geophysicist exploring for tin and gold in central Australia, as head of project management for one of Sony's games development subsidiaries, senior roles in a number of technology consultancies, and a PhD from Imperial College, London. He is currently working on a startup, Five Mile Food, that aims to eliminate 250,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases from the UK's food chain by building a logistics network that's tuned for local, seasonal food. He chaired SustainRCA’s SeeChange talk on March 19, 2013. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 10 March 2013 Design Like You Give a Damn By Lucy Siegle <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/design2-04_1300.jpg" width="671" height="391" width_o="671" height_o="391" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/design2-04_o.jpg" data-mid="29434751" border="0" align="left"/> I do so love a provocation. The first time I came across the Architecture for Humanity slogan, ‘Design like you give a Damn’, I found it a little bit thrilling. Here was a direct provocation to the design community - in this case architects - to stop messing about and face up to their responsibilities. It was as if AfH founder Cameron Sinclair was asking architects to have a word with themselves saying, ‘stop these half baked, monstrous monuments to ego’ (I paraphrase) and begin using your skills to address the real problems humanity faces which are actually pretty basic. Indeed I’m not sure why I’m paraphrasing Sinclair, who has no problems dropping a truth bomb near his chosen profession. 'Take away all that ego and all we do is provide shelter, and if you can't do that, then don't call yourself an architect,’ he has told me. At Bartlett where he didn’t quite complete his training on account of the fact he walked out, a tutor told him that he found Sinclair’s projects on designing for the homeless depressing. Sinclair responded, ‘I find not designing for the homeless depressing.’ That impasse was never bridged. (more on Sinclair here) Anyway, Sinclair was the first advocate of designing-like-you-give-a-damn to be honoured at the first ever Observer Ethical Awards eight years ago. If you possess similar qualities and a need to design for more than landfill, approval or trend then I’d like to invite you to be the next.  Initially, you probably identified the problem. In Architecture for Humanity’s case there was a very clear priority: design for post disaster reconstruction wasn’t cutting it. A familiar response was to drop some tents in a disaster area, a one size fits all solution. Of course it wasn’t a solution at all. The tents were made of the wrong fabric, they offered pathetic respite from war torn situations (very little to women and children who became targets for rape), no other solutions - sanitation, clean water weren’t designed in - and there was a lack of forward vision. Tents dropped = job done. Well no. The tents became a ghetto. The ghetto became a new problem. Architecture for Humanity was gearing up when the Tsunami struck and it became obvious that post-disaster housing needed to be about post-disaster reconstruction. Local citizens needed to drive their reconstruction, they needed to use local materials, to be consulted, to build the fabric of their lives once more.  I wanted to take what Sinclair does to other design industries - particularly the fashion industry as that’s the sector I work most closely with after media. But of course, it’s complex. You can’t transfer design values from one to the other. Every design industry has its own problems, strength and weaknesses. Balancing aesthetics with ethics in fashion which doesn’t have a clear design hierarchy to inform its designers is particularly tricky. Nevertheless, I like to think we’ve made huge progress, not just ‘educating’ consumers (I use that word advisedly) that a different sort of fashion industry is possible but by working on the supply chain. I was recently involved in the making of a handbag range with Gucci that irons out some major supply chain issues in the Brazilian rainforest; problems by the way that were said to be intractable. So, a blueprint (or greenprint) for one discipline does not transpose to another. But there are some basic truths. One of these is that few designers want to cause damage or come up with meaningless disposable products. (Unless you have patented a brilliant disposable product of course!) I maintain few fashion designers want to design for bin bags, just as few product designers feel like designing for landfill. In common with the Olympics, we’re hardwired to dream of leaving a (positive) legacy.  But how many design services/design industries are still designing for landfill or are so ignorant to reducing their impact and elongating their influence that their design will have no staying power? The answer is too many.  Sustainability as we know isn’t just this antithesis of this mentality, it is a bulwark against unthinking design. It prevents a whole industry from being consumed by corrosive pressures such as the prioritising of trend above all else. Sustainable principles, which follow through to design reinforce the lead and importance of the creative industries, and is a solution. Who wants to be a CAD monkey when you can be an organ grinder?  Believe me the world at large needs help with this. You can only push a planet too far. A variety of factors from resource depletion to growing legislative controls on pollution are messing with the status quo that business and society have previously luxuriated in. Business calls these ‘risks’ and bangs on about them incessantly. It seeks to manage them, creating entire departments to do so. But increasing knowledge and data will only take us so far. We need design: systems, products, models to help us reform.  So you can see where I’m coming from here. I believe that designers are fundamental to creating an environmentally and socially just society. Without your skills in innovation, in transferring the theoretical to the practical in humanising complex truths from energy reduction to resource use we have no hope. Sorry to put it so starkly but you’re not designing for landfill, but for survival. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/design3-07_1300.jpg" width="671" height="222" width_o="671" height_o="222" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/design3-07_o.jpg" data-mid="29434971" border="0" align="left"/> Lucy Siegle is one of the UK’s foremost journalists on environmental issues and ethical consumerism. She joined the Observer in 2000, has been a columnist since 2004. She has contributed feature and opinion pieces to publications ranging from the Times, the New Statesman to Marie Claire and Grazia and blogs for the Huffington Post. Among her campaigning initiatives are The Green Carpet Challenge, with Livia Firth, which aims to fly the flag for ethical fashion through the red carpet celebrity fashion parade. She launched the Observer Ethical Awards in 2005, and in 2010, presented them with Colin Firth at London's Victoria & Albert museum. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 28 February 2013 SustainRCA Hosts an Audience with Cocoa Farmers for Fairtrade Fortnight <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/cocoaa-05_1300.jpg" width="671" height="221" width_o="671" height_o="221" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/cocoaa-05_o.jpg" data-mid="29434139" border="0" align="left"/> SustainRCA will host for an audience with Divine Chocolate cocoa farmers and Trading Visions policy manager Tom Allen for Fairtrade Fortnight this coming week. Allen, who oversees projects and policy at the Divine Chocolate-led charity for small-scale producers from developing countries, will discuss the hugely successful Divine Chocolate social enterprise in the context of Fairtrade, small producers and the co-operative set-up. The farmers will introduce themselves, before presenting a short film about cocoa harvesting and taking questions from audience. Led by the Fairtrade Foundation, Fairtrade Fortnight from 25 February – 10 March, is a nationwide effort to promote awareness of Fairtrade and urge people to buy products carrying the Fairtrade Mark. It unites all Fairtrade supporters, bringing together retailers, manufacturers, producers and consumers. Without such support, smallholders in developing countries are under increasing pressure, hit by fluctuating commodity prices affecting income, rising global food prices, rising production costs, and climate change. The campaign aims to highlight where our food comes from, and through an interactive petition will call on the government to take action before the 2013 G8 Summit. SustainRCA's event will take place on Wednesday 6 March at the Royal College of Art in South Kensington at Lecture Theatre 1, from 6.30-8.30pm. It's free and open to the public. Arrive early to guarantee your seat. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 1 February 2013 ‘Nowhere’ is Better Than Capitalism By Isabelle Fremaux <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/nowhereok1-22_1300.jpg" width="671" height="230" width_o="671" height_o="230" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/nowhereok1-22_o.jpg" data-mid="29441609" border="0" align="left"/> When I left my job as a senior lecturer at a British university in order to move to France to set up a land-based collective, combining art, activism and permaculture with a vegan mobile kitchen and a self-managed mechanic workshop, my colleagues were intrigued, maybe even slightly unhinged. Many declared that they thought it was wonderful but the incomprehension was perceptible behind the displayed enthusiasm. I was often asked what I would actually be doing there, whether I would be growing my own vegetables and living without money, what my ‘job’ would be. I tried to explain, but my ramblings about ecological living, a longing for non-hierarchical relationships and everyday life as art hadn’t really made things much clearer. A few weeks later, Sarah, the school administrator, organised a leaving party for me, secretly organising a collection around the school, inviting colleagues that had become friends, and students that I had taught over a decade in the department. As I opened the present she had chosen, I realised she understood a lot more about what I was about to engage in than I’d thought. In a small black box, was a silver pendant with the engraved inscription 50°N15.03°W51. ‘These are the geographical coordinates of a small town in Devon called Hope,’ Sarah explained. ‘It seemed fitting.’ Indeed it was, for building an ‘alternative’ is always an act of hope, it’s an embodied refusal of the present which unblocks the reigning paralysis fostered by apocalyptic predications of the future. It is a lot easier to imagine the world ending than changing it for the better because there is always comfort in thinking we know what will happen. Ultimately to act from a place of hope is to let go of certainty and to trust that the greatest potential lies within the unknowable. The very ability to conceptualise of something better than what is here—whether it’s a political system, a social relationship, the way our food is grown or our cities built—requires us to develop a critical analysis of the present. If this critique is not grounded in a certain optimism, a shred of belief that the imagined better world can exist in some form in this world now, it risks turning into another theoretical model, abstract and cynical or another excuse to wait for the perfect moment—the revolution, the collapse, the last judgment—a sure recipe for hopelessness. Ideas without a place to test them in are like reflections in a world without mirrors. An alternative is always a speculative projection... with geographical coordinates. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/nowhereok2-23_1300.jpg" width="671" height="230" width_o="671" height_o="230" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/nowhereok2-23_o.jpg" data-mid="29441616" border="0" align="left"/> While most of my colleagues and family were unable to imagine quite why I was doing it, they did acknowledge that once an idea entered into my head I never let go easily and that for me, the idea of giving up a professional job to become an apprentice Utopian made absolute sense. The etymology of the term, ‘utopia’, is a medieval play on words, referring to a good/happy place and yet meaning no place. This suggests that an alternative society is impossible, that a better world will never exist anywhere beyond our imaginations. Five hundred years later our culture fears utopias more than ever, especially when they are bent on being put into practice. Time magazine put it succinctly when it wrote, ‘Basically, utopia is for authoritarians and weaklings.’ The horrors of Stalinism and National Socialism have overshadowed our right to dream of radically different models of society—adjust society yes, remodel it no! But the shadow that those utopian nightmares were made of was not the fact they these were ideologies with geographies, it was that they were violent hierarchies founded on the quest for perfection. Control and purity are the chimeras of totalitarianisms. The promise of a radiant future tomorrow, conceived of as perfect and fixed, has always justified atrocities today. From the second coming to communism, from the package holiday to the Eden of retirement, life, we are told, will be better later. Capitalism has perfected the art of sacrificing the present on the altar of the future. Dominique Méda sums up the paradox succinctly: ‘At first, the point was simply to raise our standard of living. But when will we consider that it has been reached?’ Capitalism has chosen to ignore the basic thermodynamic realities of living on a finite planet. In its madness, perhaps it has forgotten that it exists anywhere at all. Like the worst Utopian projects, capitalism disallows or smothers any alternatives, it punishes those who refuse its rules—compete, work, consume, own—with criminalisation, prison, outcast status, or starvation. Its promises of perfection drive us to desire more and yet we remain in a constant state of dissatisfaction: if you haven’t got the perfect car or body, house, or husband, you are nobody in this nowhere. It is where the architects hide their utopias in-between the pages of beautiful books. The poets and philosophers protect them from the harsh challenges of reality with soft lines of literature. The artists make micro models of them walled inside museums safe from the clutter of mainstream culture. The performers act them out in theatres where at the end, the curtain comes down and everyone goes back to business as usual. For the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination (aka Labofii), Utopia is a practice of everyday life. It is the constant wrench in the gut that reminds us that we do not have to accept the crumbs of the present. There is always somewhere else to go from here. Always. There are as many destinations as there are imaginations, as many places as there are desires. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/Nowhere1-08_1300.jpg" width="671" height="322" width_o="671" height_o="322" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/Nowhere1-08_o.jpg" data-mid="29435052" border="0" align="left"/> Artist-activists Isabelle Fremaux and John Jordan presented and screened their film Paths Through Utopias for SustainRCA at the Royal College of Art on 30 January, 2013. Together, they run Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, an art and permaculture collective in France. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8 January 2013 There's Something Else Going on in Retail by Julian Dobson <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/retail-12_1300.jpg" width="671" height="188" width_o="671" height_o="188" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/retail-12_o.jpg" data-mid="29435560" border="0" align="left"/> The January hangover, apparently, is already here on our high streets. At a time when, traditionally, the sales are in full swing, retailers are already adjusting their mindsets to disappointment. Latest figures from the British Retail Consortium show retail sales values up 0.3% year on year, below the rate of inflation but better than they might have been. ‘Not a cause for celebration, but not a disaster either,’ said Helen Dickinson, the consortium’s chief executive. ‘Rather underwhelming,’ she added, as if the stats needed further commentary. And David McCorquodale, head of retail at KPMG, chipped in by describing the December figures as ‘a flat end to a flat year’. That’s what we pay pundits for. From the narrow perspective of turnover and profit, the figures tell us what we already know: that times are tough, and people are continuing to spend more of the little they do have online because it’s easier. But something else is going on that isn’t picked up in the sales figures, and probably won’t be for some time. More and more people I speak to are choosing how and where to spend. They may be spending less overall, but they are buying from people they know and choosing what’s locally produced. Our family, like many others, set ourselves a Christmas challenge of only buying each other gifts that were locally produced, hand made, reused or recycled. By and large we succeeded. The shopping was more effort than clicking on an Amazon link, but the gifts (and the conversations about them) were much more interesting. In the course of our searches we discovered places like the Nichols Building in Sheffield, where artists and designers create individual products and give new life to old ones, and rediscovered delights like the Rare and Racy bookshop. Supporting local businesses not only does good, it feels good. But there’s a downside. If you want to shop in ways that are thoughtful and conversational, it takes a lot longer. It can involve inconvenient or unfruitful journeys. If what matters is to minimise interaction and get everything over and done with, you’ll find it frustrating. The despondent note of the British Retail Consortium’s news release reflects a culture where the value is placed on the transaction rather than on the relationship. What matters to the big retailers is volume and growth; talk to many independent businesses and you’ll find that alongside the financial realities are the values of relationships and service and being well thought of in the locality. We can approach business relationships as producers or consumers. In a consumer-oriented world, the purpose of the relationship is our own benefit and advancement, and if we can succeed without it, life is so much simpler. But the more we consume relationships, in business or our personal lives, the harder it becomes to build them. The more we act as producers of relationships – people who link others, who build bridges and networks, who are prepared to take the risk of trusting – the more likely we are to create places that flourish and thrive. Each approach has its drawbacks. Acting as producers and creators and bridge-builders takes time and is often abused. Things go wrong and people may fall out or fail to get on. That’s life. But as consumers we gain the product at the expense of the relationship, and our values become geared to stuff rather than people. And that’s lifeless. Julian Dobson heads up the think tank Urban Pollinators and was the founding editor of New Start magazine ____________________________________________________________________________________ December 2013 Is Our Reliance on Data Paralysing Us? By Gina Lovett <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/ice-25_1300.jpg" width="671" height="317" width_o="671" height_o="317" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/ice-25_o.jpg" data-mid="29445145" border="0" align="left"/> After seeing the film ‘Chasing Ice’ – American nature photographer James Balog’s time lapse documentary project on the melting of the glaciers last November, one thing struck me (and everyone else): with consensus among the scientific community, and with such irrefutable proof, why are world political and business leaders still not doing anything? Both the panel and the audience concluded that we can go on measuring and analysing our demise but we already have all the evidence we need. Then I came across a piece in the populist online title, ‘Psychology Today’, suggesting that too much data is in fact killing our ability to make decisions. The author of the piece, Ron Friedman, referenced a study that psychologists at Princeton and Stanford undertook in 1998 to show that when we think data is missing and is then ‘found’, we overestimate its value, even when it’s irrelevant. The study, On the Pursuit and Misuse of Useless Information, demonstrated this with a credit card check experiment. Two groups were given the same scenario: that they were a loan officer at a bank reviewing the mortgage application of a college graduate with a stable, well-paid job and solid credit history. The applicant appears to qualify, but during the credit check it’s discovered that the applicant hasn’t paid a $5,000 current account debt for the last three months. Approval or rejection? Well, the second group saw the same paragraph, but were told there had been conflicting reports on the debt – it had either been $5,000 or $25,000. They were given the chance to reject or approve the applicant there and then, but also given the chance to delay their decision until they got more information. Most, however, waited until they knew the size of the debt. It was then revealed that the student's debt was only $5,000 – the same information that the other group had – though Group 2 felt they had made more effort to find it. The outcome of the study was 71 per cent of Group 1 ejected the applicant, while just 21 per cent Group 2, who asked for additional information. Returning to the issue of inertia on climate change, and our continued measuring and analysing of our demise, it seems that the battle now emerging is that of the most impactful data. James Balog’s ‘Chasing Ice’ is a triumph in data visualisation skill and how it communicates a passing of time and a physical scale that we could never quite comprehend as humans without technology. With more and more data competing to ‘prove’ conflicting agendas, being able to visualise and communicate the intangiblity and scale of incomprehensible phenomena is even more crucial. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 30 November 2012 SustainRCA Featured in the Financial Times SustainRCA has been featured in the Financial Times. Emma Crichton-Miller traces SustainRCA academic leader Clare Brass’ trajectory from her time with Italian homeware manufacturer Alessi to the founding social enterprise SEED and creating the ‘rocket’ composter, as well as examining some of SustainRCA’s most though-provoking and investable student work. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 21 November 2012 Making It Your Business By Gina Lovett With human waste as a resource the topic of SustainRCA’s third talk this term, the question that may spring to mind is why on earth is an art and design college talking about human waste and sanitation? Isn’t this the domain of engineering? Well, according to Clare Brass, head of SustainRCA, it’s designers and artists who have the sideways thinking that can help tackle some of the pressing environmental issues around sanitation and the overuse of resources. ‘It’s real innovation and lateral thinking that’s required to get around these pressing matters, and designers and artists think in perspectives we haven’t yet thought of,’ said Brass. So, what exactly are the environmental issues around sanitation? Doesn’t everything already work well in the UK? Initiatives like World Toilet Day (which just happened to coincide with Making It Your Business on Monday 19 November) may have done much to raise awareness of the need for sanitation in developing countries, but, as speakers at November’s Sustain Talk inferred, the UK’s profligate sanitation system wastes resources and is a missed opportunity in harvesting plant and animal nutrients, as well as energy. Most ‘ludicrous’ about our current water-intensive sanitation system, is that there’s no distinction between our waste water and drinking water – it all goes through the same channels for treatment, according to Barbara Penner, senior lecturer in Architectural History at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and author of Bathroom, A Cultural History of the Bathroom, published by Reaktion. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/toilett-14_1300.jpg" width="671" height="307" width_o="671" height_o="307" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/toilett-14_o.jpg" data-mid="29437218" border="0" align="left"/> ‘If I urinated and defecated into a pitcher of drinking water and then proceeded to quench my thirst from the pitcher, I would be undoubtedly considered crazy. If I invented an expensive technology to put my urine and faeces into my drinking water, and then invented another expensive (and undependable) technology to make the same water fit to drink, I might be thought even crazier,’ Penner quoted Wendell Berry (Foreword, The Toilet Papers, Ecological Design Press, 1977, p9). Household water use in England and Wales is around 145 litres per capita per day, according to DEFRA, while more than 30 per cent of this potable water is used for the privilege of immediately flushing away our bad smells. But while this means we’ve less of a stink, we’re also flushing valuable plant nutrients and potential energy sources down the tube. Urine is high in phosphates and nitrogen, which enable plants to grow, while faeces has the potential to be converted to fertiliser through insect digestion, or methane gas, through natural anaerobic processes. Rather than mining and chemically processing such minerals from the ground to fertilise crops, and rather than drill for the dirtiest and most dangerous types of oil to power waste treatment plants, wouldn’t it make more sense to use what is readily available? Enslaved by the infrastructural and cultural legacy of our current sanitation system, however, we find such ideas incredulous – we have more than enough shit to be dealing with. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/toilet-13_1300.jpg" width="671" height="340" width_o="671" height_o="340" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/toilet-13_o.jpg" data-mid="29436776" border="0" align="left"/> For Virginia Gardiner, the founder of off-grid waterless toilet and power system, Loowatt, (now being piloted across Antananavarivo in Madagascar, supported by the Gates Foundation) her mission is to create ‘not just a toilet, but a whole economic and ecological system. We want everyone to know that the energy is a big part of the system,’ she says of Loowatt. Communities in Antananavarivo in Madagascar pay up to $26 (£16) per month for sanitation, a practice that can be leveraged to create a local economy around interdependent sanitation and energy production, according to Gardiner. ‘We’re looking at linking Loowatt to mobile technology and payments, rather than cleaning products [to create a viable business]. We want to bring toilets out of the realm of hygiene,’ she told an audience at Sustain’s November talk. Compare this to the UK, where water bills can average at least £70 per month on a rates system with costs still rising. Those living alone or indeed just water conscious – perhaps taking a weekly bath and using the same water to wash their bike – pay exactly the same as a family of six, who may all be showering like it’s a tropical downpour and leaving the tap running even after brushing their teeth. Around 95 per cent of water used will manifest itself in sewerage, and despite some communities using rainwater collected through ‘soakways’ to flush, water firms don’t actively recognise this. Does the UK really want to keep throwing money at an antiquated, Victorian system already struggling when so many technologies exist that could solve myriad environmental issues and generate resources rather than deplete them? Our current sanitation system is struggling to cope with the overflow from more than 39 million tonnes of raw sewage swamping the capital’s Victorian infrastructure. To relieve such pressure, and help avoid contamination of the Thames, experts are ploughing their efforts into the ‘supersewer’ Thames Tideway Tunnel. Estimated at a cost of between £3.6–4.1bn and scheduled to complete in 2020 – the year the UK has promised to have 15 per cent of its energy production coming from renewable sources. But how can such huge investment back a project that will use even greater volumes of water to flush, resulting in more effluent, which will need to be pumped through, using electricity for treatment, emitting even greater amounts of carbon dioxide? While the emissions and water use won’t be as visible, customers will notice an estimated hike in their water and energy bills. The cost of the £4.1bn sewer aimed at preventing pollution of the River Thames is expected to put further pressure on household water bills. In October, Thames Water customers were warned that bills are likely to rise by as much as £80 a year to help pay for the ‘supersewer’. ‘Why do we want to keep spending on a system that needs constant renewal and an antiquated system of pipes that take huge amounts to maintain? Do we want to keep spending that on renewing a failing system, or start investing in a more modern and more environmentally-tuned one? asked Walter Gibson, head of Bear Valley Ventures, the man behind ‘vermi-composting’ toilet systems in Wales and in South Africa. (Black soldier fly larvae are a non-pest species, are voracious consumers of human organic waste and can be used as a great source of protein for farm animals) <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/chicken-15_1300.jpg" width="671" height="374" width_o="671" height_o="374" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/chicken-15_o.jpg" data-mid="29436985" border="0" align="left"/> Gibson has called for a ‘visionary’ architect to lead this thinking. Sitting between planners, builders and designers, he said, architects have a keystone position in showing how existing technologies combining waterless sanitation and energy production can be deployed. ‘If we really want something to be done in the UK, we need to show what can be done and be able to measure its impact. That’s the way to move things forward. If there was a piece of urban development, an opportunity to rethink sanitation and energy production – it might be housing or offices – we could show that you could use less water, generate energy and be more sustainable. But until someone shows that, this massive inertia in the UK won’t go away. Architects have the lead needed and understand how components integrate in a development in a way that builders and planners don’t,’ Gibson said. Existing ‘technologies’ need not be thought so novel, Penner showed. Before the founder of the UK’s existing sanitation system, Joseph Bazalgette, brought in a water-borne system, urine harvesting and dry systems were being proposed and were in isolated use. From the pails, troughs and earth closets of Victorian times to South London’s Street Farm House of 1972-5, an ‘ecological’ house designed by Grahame Cain, a body of approaches existed that could have resulted in a very different present. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 8 November 2012 SustainRCA Winner Scoops James Dyson Prize By Gina Lovett <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/net-02_1300.jpg" width="671" height="222" width_o="671" height_o="222" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/net-02_o.jpg" data-mid="29434505" border="0" align="left"/> Last year’s SustainRCA Award winner Dan Watson has gone on to scoop one of the most prestigious international student design engineering prizes, the James Dyson Award. Dan Watson, an Innovation Design Engineering graduate from the Royal College of Art, won the James Dyson Award for his trawler fishing net that can filter out young and endangered fish from a main catch. SustainRCA recognised Dan’s SafetyNet last year, awarding him top honour in the Inspired Products category for a design that uses a combination of strategically placed holes and lighting to direct endangered fish out of the net. The escape rings, when illuminated act as an emergency signal, filtering out fish of varying ages and species, retaining more mature ones. Dan’s £10,000 prize money will go towards further prototype development and testing. Since graduating, Dan has set up his own enterprise, SafetyNet Technologies. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 25 October 2012 Food Policy Key Topic at Disruptive Food Systems Talk By Gina Lovett The role of food policy in sustainability was one of the key themes to emerge from this month's SustainRCA talk, which brought together three food industry mavericks last week to present to a packed audience. SustainRCA invited Andrew Thornton, franchise owner of Budgens, Crouch End, Kelvin Chung, chief executive of FoodCycle, and Charlie Paton from food growing technology firm Seawater Greenhouse to present how, through small scale enterprise, they have begun to tackle some of our most complex food issues. Such challenges include the dependence of our food systems on fossil fuels, global inequality in ability to produce food, and the loss of biodiversity, arable land and a rapid spreading of desert regions. Underpinning of all these issues is the reinforcement of unsustainable food systems by policies into which the market and lengthy supply chains are bound. Unsustainable foundations mean that such systems cannot be maintained long-term without major environmental, social and economic damage. Asked what he thought ought to be the role of policy in food production, Chung responded that it increasingly needs to be informed by example. This was easiest in a market situation, such as Budgen Crouch End’s bold decision to put doors on its chiller cabinets – a move now being emulated by Co-op. Thornton responded that his approach to lead by example had resulted in an initial lack of credibility by his peers but this had given way to wider industry recognition, once his methods had been proven. ‘I go to Budgens events now and I see this stuff being talked about, so it is influencing them. They now have chiller doors in their policy. They’re encouraging roof growing and allotments in car parks or with schools that can help grow. When they recognise that it’s not eccentricity, that it can work, they take notice. This goes back to the circle of influence – we now have credibility. The whole idea is to disrupt and do things differently,’ he said. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/food2-16_1300.jpg" width="671" height="317" width_o="671" height_o="317" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/food2-16_o.jpg" data-mid="29437459" border="0" align="left"/> Despite showing how communities in developing countries could produce their own food, and reduce reliance on imports, Seawater Greenhouse had not seen a wider take-up. SustainRCA leader Clare Brass asked why: ‘You make the answer sound so obvious and easy. What are the barriers to making this happen?’ Despite initial EU support for Paton’s first Tenerife greenhouse, the project was forced to close because it was empowering communities to compete to the extent the EU began to see them as a threat to European food-producing nations, Paton said. ‘They (the EU) considered it was undermining common agricultural policy. The reasoning was that if you enable people in Tunisia or Morocco to compete with our comrades in France, or Spain or Holland, then that’s a bad thing. That’s not what the European Commission should be doing. These are the challenges you don’t anticipate,’ he added. Paton explained that the economic dependency of entire supply chains on unsustainable systems is one of the greatest barriers in moving towards more alternative food production. Citing environmentally damaging desalination plants in the Gulf as an example, he said: ‘If you have 40,000 hectares and a whole supply chain – you have the suppliers, the shippers, the infrastructure manufacturers – it’s good business for everyone. The desalination equipment suppliers do well out of it. The Government does well out of it, and everyone’s doing well out of maintaining a very unsustainable solution. Opposition stems from this.’ <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/food2-17_1300.jpg" width="671" height="317" width_o="671" height_o="317" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/food2-17_o.jpg" data-mid="29437384" border="0" align="left"/> With a question from the audience on how Budgens is tackling the dilemma between selling industrial, processed foods linked to diabetes and offering fresher alternatives, discussion turned towards policy and food poverty. The rise of UK food banks, with a focus on tinned and processed foodstuffs, could create a trap of ill-health for those suffering from food poverty. Chung said: ‘My worry is the kind of society the UK is becoming. They are talking about food stamps now, and food banks are opening at the rate of around 150 a year. They’re giving away so much processed food and tinned food stuffs – it’s really worrying if it’s about diabetes among the poorer classes.’ The era in which we live and political circumstances also help determine attitude towards change, Chung added. Setting up FoodCycle ten years ago, for example, would not have worked because there wasn’t the same attitude to waste in times of prosperity. What has changed, he added, is that waste has become less socially and economically unacceptable. He added: ‘Now we’re informing policy at DEFRA and WRAP. They’re looking for solutions to food waste that are scalable. People now know about food waste and food poverty.’ ___________________________________________________________________________________ 25 September 2012 Sustain Awards Judging Process Raises Debate On Roles Of Art And Design In Sustainability By Gina Lovett The judging process for this year’s Sustain Awards, held last Thursday 21 September, raised significant debate around what is more important in sustainable design: to meet a (sometimes narrow) sustainability agenda, or offer potential for new ways of creating? Design Products graduate Anton Alvarez’s Thread Wrapped Benches prompted discussion because his starting point was not sustainability but a design process into which a sustainability agenda fitted. Judges wrangled over the tension between the need for design to provide practical solutions to pressing social and environmental problems to the need for art and design to inspire through new processes and materials. They asked: can a product designed with just creativity in mind be sustainable? And what good is a project that addresses environmental and social issues but lacks the playfulness and inspiration needed to delight and inspire people to change behaviour? <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/awards3-20_1300.jpg" width="671" height="235" width_o="671" height_o="235" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/awards3-20_o.jpg" data-mid="29441127" border="0" align="left"/> Arguing the case for Anton’s project, designer and founder of Solar Lab Christoph Behling said that it was vital for design to have a sense of playfulness and inventiveness, so it could inspire and delight both consumers and makers. While a sustainability agenda underpinned practical solutions, there was a danger of such sustainable design becoming clichéd and worthy, he said. ‘It’s important to be inspired and to lead with positivity. Right now, society thinks sustainability means a world less exciting and boring. It needs to be shown that with new materials and new processes you can make great products that are just as sustainable or exciting,’ Christoph said. He added: ‘There’s a big creative burden if you want to do good. It’s a complex pit that can weigh you down – it can make you afraid to make the wrong move. Work that is both good and inspiring – that’s the tricky place to be. We don’t want our things to become too religious and heavy. Unless we understand that being frivolous is part of the process, we won’t win the battle.’ Clare Brass, academic adviser and leader of SustainRCA, who oversaw the judging process, was ‘intrigued’ by the debate. She commented that while aesthetics and joy are important, there’s ‘little point if there’s no real underlying sustainability benefit. As some of the judges pointed out, using up bits of wood is not very useful, but using up slats of plastic or metal is’. She added: ‘One thing about the Sustain show is that when you walk in it’s very colourful and positive. Projects like Ai Hasegawa’s Shark are witty and thought-provoking. You shouldn’t have to have one or the other just because it’s sustainable design.’ The debate also underlines a difference in thinking and approaches towards sustainability between Design Engineering and Fine Art students at the College, Clare said. Historically, Design Engineering students were more concerned with solving problems, which meant sustainability was more inherent in their work. The challenge is to get all students across the College thinking about sustainability, through solutions, materials, processes or subject matter. ‘The aim of SustainRCA is to inspire and support. We provide support to any student interested in sustainability,’ Clare added. This year’s winners were: textiles graduate Alei Verspoor’s ‘Packs’ for the Inspired Products category; Hal Watts’ Esource for the Visonary Process category; the Ento project, a collaboration between Innovation Design Engineering graduates Julene Aguirre-Bielschowsky, Jacky Chung, Aran Dasan and Jonathan Fraser, was winner of the Solutions for Society category; and Design Interactions graduate Ai Hasegawa’s was the winner of Moving Minds. Twenty-five entries made the shortlist, including Velopresso, a pedal-powered mobile coffee-making machine, and furniture made from thousands of strands of thread and a new raw material made from discarded plastic. This year’s Sustain Awards judges were Christoph Behling; Fiona Bennie, head of sustainability at Dragon Rouge; Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of sustainability communications consultancy Futerra; journalist, Emma Creighton-Miller and Alex Watson, catalyst programme manager at the Royal Society of the Arts. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/awards2-19_1300.jpg" width="671" height="317" width_o="671" height_o="317" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/awards2-19_o.jpg" data-mid="29441019" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/awards1-18_1300.jpg" width="671" height="317" width_o="671" height_o="317" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/awards1-18_o.jpg" data-mid="29441125" border="0" align="left"/> Hal Watts, IDE, Esource, winner, Visionary Process category. ____________________________________________________________________________________ August 2011 Green Gown Award Shortlist Sustain RCA has been shortlisted for the Green Gown Awards 2011 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/header-21_1300.jpg" width="671" height="134" width_o="671" height_o="134" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/header-21_o.jpg" data-mid="29441286" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/Dorienne Medley.jpg" width="617" height="218" width_o="617" height_o="218" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/Dorienne Medley_o.jpg" data-mid="31562317" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/Dorienne Medley.jpg" width="617" height="218" width_o="617" height_o="218" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1909603/Dorienne Medley_o.jpg" data-mid="31562317" border="0" align="left"/> 18 June 2013 Would Urban Food Growers Be Better Campaigning for Land Use Reform? by Dorienne Robinson Greening our cities, vertical gardening, increased demand... http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Surgery http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/following/sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Surgery Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:41:49 +0000 Sustain RCA 1716276 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716276/surgery-29_1300.jpg" width="671" height="317" width_o="671" height_o="317" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716276/surgery-29_o.jpg" data-mid="31054722" border="0" align="left"/> The Sustain Tutorials run every Tuesday 2-4pm at the Sustain Office and offer students the chance to meet with a variety of sustainability experts to discuss their projects. Whether you want to talk about specific processes or materials or discuss your work in the broader context of sustainability we are here to challenge, inspire and debate with you. Are you a student with a sustainability question? Get in touch with Lizzie to arrange a tutorial. Are you an expert in sustainability? If you have a specific expertise in sustainability and have some time to spare to be an expert for our Sustain Tutorials, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Lizzie for a chat. The Sustain Tutorials run every Tuesday 2-4pm at the Sustain Office and offer students the chance to meet with a variety of sustainability experts to discuss... http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Team http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/following/sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Team Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:52:02 +0000 Sustain RCA 1716117 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716117/new team4.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716117/new team4_o.jpg" data-mid="26979965" border="0" align="left"/>We are (from left to right): Co-ordinator: Lizzie Harrison Sustain Global Co-ordinator: Dejan Mitrovic Team leader: Clare Brass Communications: Gina Lovett There are lots of other people - staff and non-staff - who contribute to and support SustainRCA. Here are just a few to whom we are most grateful. Internal - RCA: Octavia Reeve Sarah Teasley Michaela Crimmin Mike Alexander Alan Cummings Miles Pennington External: Christoph Behling Be a part of SustainRCA Would you like to support SustainRCA? Our students regularly need expert tutorial time to take their ideas forward in the right way. If you have a specific expertise in sustainability and a couple of hours every month to spare for our Sustain Surgeries, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Clare We also welcome contributions to our blog. Or, if you have an idea for an event or talk, please contact Gina We are (from left to right): Co-ordinator: Lizzie Harrison Sustain Global Co-ordinator: Dejan Mitrovic Team leader: Clare Brass Communications: Gina... http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Opportunities http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/following/sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Opportunities Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:50:15 +0000 Sustain RCA 1716115 This page is dedicated to all RCA students and recent graduates looking for interesting opportunities for competitions, work, projects and internships in the area of sustainability. Come back often, as we will update it regularly. THE EUROPEAN PAPER RECYCLING AWARDS The fourth European Paper Recycling Awards scheme is looking to identify and reward some of the innovative, yet little-known paper recycling initiatives led by NGOs, educational institutes, local authorities and industry throughout Europe. Run by the European Recovered Paper Council, the awards aim to establish best practice and inspire others in activities that support paper recycling. Categories include information and education, and technology, improvement and R&D. Birmingham’s work with Smurfit Kappa on drastically increasing the amount of paper recycling in the city, and Spain’s Palwaste, which came up with a way to recycle difficult plastic laminates, were among last year’s winners. The deadline for entries is 28 June. Click here for further details. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SustainRCA Internship Sustain RCA is looking for a communications design intern to join its team. We have two opportunities throughout the year: the first running from April to June, and the second, from September to December. Both are based at the RCA Kensington campus in central London. Role The role is to support the SustainRCA team in all aspects of its communications and events work, as well as the day-to-day running of this busy academic department. Responsibilities Assisting with visual concepts for marketing of events Copywriting for marketing of events Graphic design – printed and digital posters, web visuals and other promotional material Promoting events Assisting with mailouts, enewsletters and email marketing Administration Content research for sustainrca blog Supporting the team at events, talks, and workshops Skills Passionate about sustainability Strong graphic designer Good working knowledge of Adobe Suite Good communications skills. Application If you are interested please send a CV to Lizzie, SustainRCA Co-ordinator lizzie.harrison@rca.ac.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This page is dedicated to all RCA students and recent graduates looking for interesting opportunities for competitions, work, projects and internships in the area... http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Works http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/following/sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Works Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:49:26 +0000 Sustain RCA 1716106 InspireRings Raising athletes' awareness about energy and waste issues. InspireRings is a series of visual puns, playing with perspective to communicate and encourage energy saving and waste reduction. The aim of the project was to promote athletes as environmental champions providing them with cool photo-opportunity artworks to share on social media, influencing fans and wider audiences. The abstract geometries become a complete ring when seen from a specific point in space, giving the the viewer a 'moment of discovery'. This motivates them to take the photo and even appear themselves with the InspireRings. Art-Direction by Dejan Mitrovic, Sustain RCA Fullscreen <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7018.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7018_o.JPG" data-mid="19373439" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7021.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="2048" height_o="1366" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7021_o.JPG" data-mid="19373450" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7041.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7041_o.JPG" data-mid="19373470" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7036.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="2048" height_o="1368" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7036_o.JPG" data-mid="19374726" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6985.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6985_o.JPG" data-mid="19373485" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6987.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6987_o.JPG" data-mid="19373504" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7005.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1364" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7005_o.JPG" data-mid="19373523" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6951.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="2048" height_o="1368" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6951_o.JPG" data-mid="19373542" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6965.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6965_o.JPG" data-mid="19373567" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6962.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1364" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6962_o.JPG" data-mid="19373612" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6934.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6934_o.JPG" data-mid="19373637" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6936.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1364" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6936_o.JPG" data-mid="19373663" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6944.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_6944_o.JPG" data-mid="19373676" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7049.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_7049_o.JPG" data-mid="19374873" border="0" align="left"/> Sustainibalising the RCA Sustainibalising the RCA is a project that tackles sustainability issues across the College. The workshop will be run for five groups, who will be able to choose from different themes. Examples of the briefs include: “Design ideas for upcycling of the huge banners from last year’s RCA show”, “How can the RCA keep its food waste out of landfill?” and more. Project leader: Dejan Mitrovic Project tutors: Clare Brass, Angela Scatigna, Ariane Prin, Alkesh Parmar, Neil Barron, Mike Alexander Fullscreen <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Show_1.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Show_1_o.jpg" data-mid="11684450" caption="&lt;b&gt;Show RCA&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Tanvi Kant, Lucy Norman, Sangwoo Park, James Shaw and James Wright&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Show_2.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Show_2_o.jpg" data-mid="11684452" caption="&lt;b&gt;Show RCA&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Tanvi Kant, Lucy Norman, Sangwoo Park, James Shaw and James Wright&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Show_3.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Show_3_o.jpg" data-mid="11684453" caption="&lt;b&gt;Show RCA&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Tanvi Kant, Lucy Norman, Sangwoo Park, James Shaw and James Wright&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Show_4.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Show_4_o.jpg" data-mid="11684454" caption="&lt;b&gt;Show RCA&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Tanvi Kant, Lucy Norman, Sangwoo Park, James Shaw and James Wright&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Sustainable RGARDEN_01.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Sustainable RGARDEN_01_o.jpg" data-mid="11684458" caption="&lt;b&gt;R-Garden&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Zhanling Feng, Juhye Lee and Huajun Long&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Sustainable RGARDEN_02.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Sustainable RGARDEN_02_o.jpg" data-mid="11684462" caption="&lt;b&gt;R-Garden&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Zhanling Feng, Juhye Lee and Huajun Long&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Sustainable RGARDEN_03.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Sustainable RGARDEN_03_o.jpg" data-mid="11684464" caption="&lt;b&gt;R-Garden&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Zhanling Feng, Juhye Lee and Huajun Long&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Sustainable RGARDEN_04.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/Sustainable RGARDEN_04_o.jpg" data-mid="11684465" caption="&lt;b&gt;R-Garden&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Zhanling Feng, Juhye Lee and Huajun Long&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/slide 1.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/slide 1_o.jpg" data-mid="11684467" caption="&lt;b&gt;R-Cycle&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Ester Svensson, Edward Thomas and Alei Verspoor&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/slide 2.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/slide 2_o.jpg" data-mid="11684469" caption="&lt;b&gt;R-Cycle&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Ester Svensson, Edward Thomas and Alei Verspoor&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/slide 3.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1234" height_o="823" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/slide 3_o.jpg" data-mid="11684471" caption="&lt;b&gt;R-Cycle&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Ester Svensson, Edward Thomas and Alei Verspoor&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/slide 4.jpg" width="670" height="447" width_o="1217" height_o="812" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/slide 4_o.jpg" data-mid="11684472" caption="&lt;b&gt;R-Cycle&lt;/b&gt; by &lt;i&gt;Ester Svensson, Edward Thomas and Alei Verspoor&lt;/i&gt;" border="0" align="left"/> Other Sustain Works projects <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_3568x.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="2048" height_o="1365" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716106/IMG_3568x_o.jpg" data-mid="8443720" border="0" align="left"/> Cherry-picking from a pool of students across the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, Sustain will take on projects with commercial clients who wish to find innovative solutions to sustainability challenges. Two projects, which will take place in November, have already found funding. The first will see teams of students working with external businesses on specific sustainability challenges. The second will address the impact of the College itself, and come up with proposals for how the RCA can become more environmentally responsible. InspireRings Raising athletes' awareness about energy and waste issues. InspireRings is a series of visual puns, playing with perspective to communicate and... http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Talks-Events http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/following/sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Talks-Events Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:48:10 +0000 Sustain RCA 1716098 ABOUT SUSTAIN TALKS <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Sustain Talks poster 3.1 Oct12-02.jpg" width="670" height="238" width_o="701" height_o="250" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Sustain Talks poster 3.1 Oct12-02_o.jpg" data-mid="22449293" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 3.1&lt;/b&gt; Disruptive Food Systems, October 17 2012" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/what-if-lecture-banner-4.jpg" width="670" height="250" width_o="908" height_o="340" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/what-if-lecture-banner-4_o.jpg" data-mid="17779900" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 2.5&lt;/b&gt; What if...artists and designers redesigned economics 6 June 2012" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/sustainable-mobility.gif" width="670" height="238" width_o="670" height_o="238" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/sustainable-mobility_o.gif" data-mid="13732060" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 2.4 &lt;/b&gt; Sustainable Mobility 15 February 2012" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/footprint-8x6.jpg" width="670" height="238" width_o="700" height_o="249" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/footprint-8x6_o.jpg" data-mid="10050676" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 2.3&lt;/b&gt;, Howard Jones, John Thackara, Alison Tickell, Moving Minds, 7 December 2011" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/designing out waste banner.jpg" width="670" height="238" width_o="670" height_o="238" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/designing out waste banner_o.jpg" data-mid="10856427" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 2.2&lt;/b&gt; Designing out waste November 2011" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/divine chocolate2.jpg" width="670" height="238" width_o="700" height_o="249" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/divine chocolate2_o.jpg" data-mid="10040192" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 2.1&lt;/b&gt; Fish, Bread and Chocolate October 2011" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Screen shot 2011-07-12 at 12.44.40banner.jpg" width="670" height="238" width_o="700" height_o="249" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Screen shot 2011-07-12 at 12.44.40banner_o.jpg" data-mid="9828144" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 1.4&lt;/b&gt; Ezio Manzini January 2011" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Sustain Talks poster 3.1 Oct12-02.jpg" width="670" height="238" width_o="701" height_o="250" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Sustain Talks poster 3.1 Oct12-02_o.jpg" data-mid="22449293" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 3.1&lt;/b&gt; Disruptive Food Systems, October 17 2012" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Making it your business web-poster.png" width="670" height="233" width_o="2048" height_o="713" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Making it your business web-poster_o.png" data-mid="23245549" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 3.2&lt;/b&gt; Making It Your Business 19 November 2012" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Bought and Soul-ed Banner 2.jpg" width="670" height="207" width_o="1721" height_o="532" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/Bought and Soul-ed Banner 2_o.jpg" data-mid="25331785" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 3.3&lt;/b&gt; Bought &amp; Soul'd: High Street Revival through the Informal Economy 16 January 2013" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/See Change.jpg" width="670" height="190" width_o="1059" height_o="301" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/See Change_o.jpg" data-mid="27602566" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 3.4&lt;/b&gt; See the Change: Data Visualisation 19 March 2013" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/GREEN GOLD-1.jpg" width="442" height="282" width_o="442" height_o="282" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716098/GREEN GOLD-1_o.jpg" data-mid="28330566" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sustain Talks 3.5&lt;b&gt;Green Gold: the amazing creative and economic potential of algae&lt;/b&gt;" border="0" align="left"/> Sustain Talks is a series of lively debates and discussions, bringing together RCA students, graduates, staff and the public with those at the cutting edge of creativity in sustainability. The aim is to challenge thinking, and inspire and champion sustainability at the RCA and beyond. They are open to the public. Our speakers have included founder of Forum for the Future Jonathon Porritt; Guerilla Gardener Richard Reynolds; writer and thinker, John Thackara; and Italian guru of social sustainability, Ezio Manzini. Coming Up... We had our last talk of this academic year (2012-13) on 10 April. Talks will resume again in October. If you are interested in participating or have some comments, please contact Gina Lovett, gina.lovett@rca.ac.uk Scroll down to find videos of the talks from the last two series. ________________________________________________________________________________ Sustain Talks Season 3, 2012/13 Sustain Talks 3.5 - Green Gold April 2013 (video coming soon) Fuel, food, fertiliser, dyes, cosmetics, colourants – even pollution control are just a few of the many uses of algae. Scientist, academic and business consultant Brenda Parker; V&A resident product designer Julia Lohmann, and textile-researcher Marin Sawa explore the amazing potential of algae, working at the intersection of science, technology and the arts. They show how this diverse biological substance is promising to rival fossil fuels and kickstart new economies around its growth and production. ________________________________________________________________________________ Sustain Talks 3.4 - See Change - March 2013 The digital universe is set to grow to eight zetabytes by 2015, according to IBM. We’re told the insights from this vast Big Data resource will drive new business models, products and services, and steer our future food, transport and energy systems. The intangibility of figures, however, means finding and communicating truth, relevance and value is one of its greatest challenges. In this video, Angela Morelli, Vin Summer and Richard Gilbert show how data visualisation and gamification are changing the way we manufacture products, consume goods and supply energy. ________________________________________________________________________________ Sustain Talks 3.3 - Bought & Soul-ed - January 2013 Benita Matofska, Brick Box and Paul Squires present how independent enterprise, arts schemes and local, sustainable economies might begin to redress the imbalance arising from ailing high streets and restore community social fabric and identity. Sustain Talks 3.2 - Making It Your Business - November 2012 RCA graduate and founder of waterless toilet system, Loowatt Virginia Gardiner, author and lecturer on the cultural history of bathrooms and western sanitation, Barbara Penner, and Walter Gibson, director of Sanitation Ventures present innovations that use human waste as resource and discuss how, by turning to this first, a host of energy and resource issues could be avoided. First year IDE students present P**Corn, a concept for harvesting phosphorus from urine. Sustain Talks 3.1 - Disruptive Food Systems - October 2012 We apologize for not being able to display any videos from this talk due to technical problems. Sustain Talks Season 2, 2011/12 Sustain Talks 2.5 - What if… artists and designers redesigned economics? - June 2012 Noel Douglas from Occupy Design UK, artist Ellie Harrison, and James Meadway and Ruth Potts from the New Economics Foundation discuss the failure of capitalism to deliver on social and environmental wellbeing, and explore the structures that might be, redefining economic parameters. Chaired by Cecilia Wee, RCA. Visual Communication graduate 2012, Livia Lima presents her work on alternative currencies. Sustain Talks 2.4 - Sustainable Mobility - February 2012 Nissan’s head of design Victor Nacif; Hugo Spowers of Riversimple and Ben Reason, director of Livework (the service design consultancy of Streetcar fame) discuss the cost of mobility to society, and explore solutions from open-source hydrogen fuel cells, hybrid cars, or increased fuel efficiency to new business models and new forms of behaviour. Vehicle Design graduate 2011 Ido Baruchin presents his work on localised urban track vehicles. Sustain Talks 2.3 - Moving Minds - December 2011 The renowned writer and critic John Thackara; Howard Jones of Living Networks and Alison Tickell of Julie's Bicycle share how they use a careful combination of inspirational storytelling and practical problem solving to help individuals and organisations see a wealth of positive opportunities for a new future world. Bethany Wells, 2011 graduate, presents her approach to architecture on living to the best we can within our means. Sustain Talks 2.2 - Designing out Waste - November 2011 Feimatta Conteh of Dalston’s Arcola Theatre, Christian Dillon of London Furniture and Lyla Patel from clothing and textiles recycling charity TRAID present their approaches to designing out waste in very different fields. GSMJ graduate 2011 Alkesh Parmar presents Apeel, a durable and hard compostable material he created from fruit peelings. In collaboration with LCRN - London Community Resource Network Sustain Talks 2.1 - Fish, Bread and Chocolate - October 2011 With the provenance, authenticity and health of food one of the most pressing issues of our time, Divine Chocolate’s Sophi Tranchell; Chris Young from the Real Bread Campaign and Arther Potts Dawson challenge the way our current food systems work, offering fresh perspectives and innovative solutions. IDE graduate 2011 Oliver Poyntz presents Fresh Plus, an innovation that helps keep food fresh and prevent food waste, without chemicals. ABOUT SUSTAIN TALKS Sustain Talks is a series of lively debates and discussions, bringing together RCA students, graduates, staff and the public with those at... http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Show-Award http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/following/sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Show-Award Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:43:01 +0000 Sustain RCA 1716079 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/banner_91.gif" width="670" height="238" width_o="670" height_o="238" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/banner_91_o.gif" data-mid="29523295" border="0" align="left"/> Sustain RCA is inviting you to submit your work for the Sustain Show & Award 2013 - a selection of the best sustainability-related projects by final year students from around the college. The Sustain Show will be held in RCA Kensington in September during the London Design Festival and the winner will be announced during the exhibition. If you are developing a project with a social or environmental theme, we would like to invite you to apply to be considered for the selection. FOR FINAL YEAR STUDENTS ONLY Application deadline: Friday, June 7th CLICK HERE TO APPLY --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sustain Show and Award 2012- showcasing the best Sustainability projects by graduating students. Fullscreen We are excited to announce the winners of the Sustain Awards 2012 at this year's Sustain Show, showcasing the best in sustainability thinking from across the Royal College of Art by this year's graduating students. The exhibition will run from 21 September to 3 October 2012. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Ai Hasegawa.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Ai Hasegawa_o.jpg" data-mid="21427919" caption="&lt;b&gt; Ai Hasegawa [Design Interactions] WINNER, MOVING MINDS CATEGORY&lt;br/&gt;&lt;I&gt;I Wanna Deliver a Shark&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt; This project approaches the problem of human reproduction in an age of over-population and environmental crisis. With potential food shortages and a population of nearly nine billion people, would a woman desperate to conceive consider incubating and giving birth to an endangered species such as a shark, tuna or dolphin? This project introduces a new argument for giving birth to our food to satisfy our demands for nutrition and childbirth and discusses some of the technical details of how that might be possible." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/ento.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/ento_o.jpg" data-mid="21427947" caption="&lt;b&gt;Aran Dasan, Jonathan Fraser, Jacky Chung, Julene Aguirre [IDE] WINNER, SOLUTIONS FOR SOCIETY CATEGORY&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Ento&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Insects are more space and energy efficient than traditional livestock and are happy to eat the crops we don't want. They could represent a healthy, tasty, and sustainable alternative to traditional protein, offering a solution to accelerating global food demand. But how can we overcome the cultural barriers and make them an everyday reality? Ento is a roadmap for introducing insects to the western diet, through a sequence of products, services and eating experiences that will steadily build acceptance. By 2020, fresh grasshoppers may be a regular sight in your local Tesco." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/alei verspoor2.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/alei verspoor2_o.jpg" data-mid="21436726" caption="&lt;b&gt;Alei Verspoor [Textiles] WINNER, INSPIRED PRODUCTS CATEGORY&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;PACK!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; is a set of elegant and modular bags that are designed for disassembly, using lo-tech rapid construction techniques: folding and simple weaving. Flexible and practical, they can be formed into bags, but also into seating and storage. Each of the Pack! components is made of one material and has one function, which makes it easy to replace and recycle components when they are worn out or when you want to switch function. Pack! is pattern. With the construction of the packs; the assembling of differently coloured and printed components, three-dimensional check patterns are created, that continue to evolve over time, as components are replaced or added." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Hal Watts.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Hal Watts_o.jpg" data-mid="21427952" caption="&lt;b&gt;Hal Watts [Innovation, Design, Engineering] WINNER, VISIONARY PROCESS CATEGORY&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;Esource&lt;/i&gt; &lt;/b&gt;Electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) is the fastest growing waste stream worldwide. The UK illegally exports 70% of its WEEE, largely to Africa where cables are burnt to recover the copper, with devastating health and environmental consequences. Esource is a bicycle-powered cable recycling system for small-scale recyclers in developing countries, designed to be manufactured, sold and maintained by local workshops. Un-burnt copper can be sold for 20% more than burnt, providing operators with a better income and healthier working conditions." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Anna Filipova.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Anna Filipova_o.jpg" data-mid="21427922" caption="&lt;b&gt;Anna Filipova [Visual Communications]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;North of the Map&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; is predominantly inspired by visits to the Arctic in an effort to find the North. The Arctic is constantly moving, melting, reforming, appearing and disappearing. The weather changes, erases, creates or simply hides the landscape. This series of photographs shows how the Arctic word is disappearing because of Global Climate Change.&lt;/b&gt;" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Anne Sofie Lefevre.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Anne Sofie Lefevre_o.jpg" data-mid="21427931" caption="&lt;b&gt;Anne Sofie Lefevre [Innovation Design Engineering]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Pig Welfare – The Enrichment Feed System®&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; addresses two important issues: animal welfare and food waste. Nine million pigs are slaughtered annually in the UK, 95% of which are reared in intensive indoor systems where pigs’ wellbeing is severely undermined. The ‘EnrichmentFeed’ (EF)® system, consisting of EF Feed, an EF Monitor and an EF device, enables the pig to engage in more natural rooting and employment mechanisms, reducing stress, protecting it from physical injury, and facilitating compliance with welfare legislation without affecting the costs. The EF® system, which makes use of discarded bread, is part of a proposed first step in a broader welfare strategy called ‘Charity pig’, tying main stakeholders in the meat supply chain together, so allowing for a more effective evolution towards pig welfare from within the industry itself." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Anton Alvarez.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Anton Alvarez_o.jpg" data-mid="21427942" caption="&lt;b&gt;Anton Alvarez [Design Products]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Thread Wrapping Machine&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; This machine enables discarded and waste materials to be bound together to make objects. Different materials are passed through the machine, which wraps threads around solid materials as its only method of jointing." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Byun-hak Ahn.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Byun-hak Ahn_o.jpg" data-mid="21427944" caption="&lt;b&gt;Byun-hak Ahn, [Visual Communications] &lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Images of Spectacle&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; What is the role of money and the market in our society? Do economic systems based on these fulfill our lives better? In societies where contemporary conditions of mass production and consumption prevail, as Guy Debord says, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles, appearing as images of moments of capitally constructed contexts: amusement parks, department stores or even museums attain our desire for ownership, authenticity or entertainment. A new series of commodities, a new array of events and new experiences of collections are accumulated as images of spectacle, detached from our daily life. Consequently these distort the right pattern of commercial and cultural consumption and the value of humanity. This project explores the images of spectacle in order to portray capitalist reality in material culture symbolising a common stream in which the capital objectifies reality." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Emma Elston.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Emma Elston_o.jpg" data-mid="21427946" caption="&lt;b&gt;Emma Elston, [Architecture]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Fast Food Farm&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; In a London where one in four meals are takeaways and more than 23 million portions of Chicken Tikka Masala are consumed annually, Fast Food Farm proposes a new sustainable food and transport infrastructure that integrates the mothballed Mail Rail Line with a series of site specific food production units, creating inhabited, industrialised monuments to agriculture, which produce and distribute ready-made meals tailored to the city’s needs.&lt;br /&gt; Sited at intersections of underground and overground rail networks, Fast Food Farm towers use cutting edge biotechnologies to produce, process and distribute London’s favourite takeaway, allowing for the reduction of wastage, sewage and road freight." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/fabienne hess.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/fabienne hess_o.jpg" data-mid="21427948" caption="&lt;b&gt;Fabienne Hess [Visual Communications]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Recovered VIII&lt;/b&gt; (digital print on silk) is a collection of over 30,000 discarded images found on a computer and printed onto silk. These images were deleted and forgotten, but reappeared after running a recovery software. This is an exploration into the digital trash of our technocratic society. Since information nowadays is predominantly written as binary codes the question of the nature of debris needs to be re-examined. This work invites us to replace the modernist question of “What can we make that is new?” with “how can we made do, with what we have?”" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Gaspard.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Gaspard_o.jpg" data-mid="21427949" caption="&lt;b&gt;Gaspard Tiné-Berès [Design Products]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Lasso&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; These slippers are constructed from a single piece of natural wool felt, their 3D form being created by complex 2D geometry of the pattern. The shapes are die-cut from sheets of 5mm thick felt with minimal, simple and affordable tooling - making this product very suitable for small-scale local production. The slippers are delivered flat-packed for assembly by the user by &quot;sewing&quot; the seams with the standard laces supplied in a colour of their choice. The act of self-assembling the slippers increases the sense of ownership and emotional connection with them and allows for personalisation through the choice of laces used." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/henry cloke.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/henry cloke_o.jpg" data-mid="21427956" caption="&lt;b&gt;Henry Cloke [Vehicle Design]&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;Zero &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;This project looks to find simple and innovative transport solutions for the cities of tomorrow. Inspired by Masdar, a new sustainable, zero-carbon, zero-waste city in construction in Abu Dhabi, the vehicle would be part of a public rental system offering users freedom to travel any chosen route, then compactly fold away once returned. Designed to mix in pedestrianised zones, it should be enjoyable and social to use." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Jack_Wates.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Jack_Wates_o.jpg" data-mid="21427977" caption="&lt;b&gt;Jack Wates [Architecture]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Hackney Bathhouse&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Existing in a range of material states, under varying conditions of pressure and temperature, water is hypothesized as a complex ‘living’ architectural material. The scheme takes advantage of Combined Cooling Heating &amp; Power (CCHP) technology in the adjacent Olympic Energy Centre to pump steam up through the building. As condensed water flows back down it picks up mineral deposits from, and imparts heat energy to, the various layers of the building. By employing a process of distillation, the bathhouse filters water from the Lea, often described as the most polluted river in the country, and ultimately cleanses the river itself." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Jan P Rosenthal.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Jan P Rosenthal_o.jpg" data-mid="21427978" caption="&lt;b&gt;Jan P. Rosenthal [Vehicle Design] &lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Lexus LF-Zero&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; We live in an era of ecological re-thinking, and behaviour is changing. Given the right information about materials and production, consumers increasingly opt for the more sustainably product, willing to pay higher prices for a clear conscience. Taking the Cradle2Cradle idea as a model, this concept abandons non-separable materials, and uses single rectangular sheets of wood (biological nutrient) and aluminium (technical nutrient), cut and formed to create a completely waste-free sculpture." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Julene Aguirre Bielschowsky.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Julene Aguirre Bielschowsky_o.jpg" data-mid="21427980" caption="&lt;b&gt;Julene Aguirre-Bielschowsky [Innovation, Design, Engineering]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Nido - sustainable insulation for the Northwest of Mexico&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Despite having the 14th strongest economy in the world, 46% of Mexicans live below the national poverty line. Nido explores how small-scale production systems can activate local economies, enable social mobility and improve quality of life. &lt;br /&gt; With indoor winter temperatures of 10°C and no central heating systems, houses in the north of Mexico are in need of thermal management systems. The social enterprise developed uses local industrial waste as the source material for creating a novel modular insulating product that can be easily installed by home-owners. The manufacturing method is simple and linked to the education system, providing paid working opportunities that encourage youth to stay in school." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/kirsten scott.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/kirsten scott_o.jpg" data-mid="21428003" caption="&lt;b&gt;Kirsten Scott [Textiles] &lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Pidgin Plait&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Using plait as both process and metaphor, this research project explores how the craft traditions of two diverse cultures – those of Uganda and the UK – may be revisited, recycled and re-envisaged to develop new, natural, sustainable and ethically produced materials for the fashion industry.&lt;br /&gt; Working with a group of women in rural Uganda, a series of plaited braids have been developed for use in Western accessory production and other craft contexts, which provide an income for a community in need. Through the process of coming together to plait, the women makers in Uganda have become stronger and more resilient to the challenges they face in life, building social capital while improving their financial situation.&lt;br /&gt; Collaboration: Eyesiga Mukama Craft Group, Bulange, Uganda" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/lisa bloomer.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/lisa bloomer_o.jpg" data-mid="21428009" caption="&lt;b&gt;Lisa Bloomer [Textiles]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Untitled&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; This collection celebrates the spontaneous mark, textural contrast and the mercurial qualities of colour. The work is process led and combines digital technology with a range of traditional skills, including weave, dye, print and freehand techniques, to create bespoke fabrics for interiors and fashion. Sustainable and ethical practices are prioritised at all stages of production and the use of local, biodegradable natural fibres - such as European linen and British wool - alongside UK manufacturing, ensures high-quality investment design.&lt;br /&gt; Collaboration: Tom Crisp (Fashion Menswear)&lt;br /&gt; Supported by: British Wool Marketing Board, Coats Foundation Trust, Michele Solbiati Sasil SpA, The Snowdon Award Scheme, Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen, The Worshipful Company of Weavers" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/making money.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/making money_o.jpg" data-mid="21428019" caption="&lt;b&gt;Petter Thörne, Nic Wallenberg and Sam Weller [Design Products]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Making Money&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; was designed as a performance during the Milan Furniture Fair 2012, challenging the concept of traditional currency and asking the question “What is money?” With a bespoke set of tools, pewter was melted, cast and mauled into makeshift coins in a process of haphazard craft, and exchanged with objects offered from passers by." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Marta Dugoecka.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Marta Dugoecka_o.jpg" data-mid="21428022" caption="&lt;b&gt;Marta Dlugolecka [Visual Communication]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Recyclables&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; is a children's picture book aimed at 4 – 7 year-olds with an environmental message, delivered through emotional story-telling, that seeks to inspire children and their families about the importance of recycling. It is a tale of four friends, Bottle, Carton, Wrapper and Bulb, who after completing their ‘missions’ find themselves at the worst place imaginable, the landfill…" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/natalija_64.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/natalija_64_o.jpg" data-mid="21431481" caption="&lt;b&gt;Natalija Gormalova [Photography]&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;My Daily Bread&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; According to WRAP, about 680,000 tonnes of &quot;avoidable&quot; bakery waste is disposed of each year at a cost of £1.1bn, about 80% of it from packs that have been opened but not finished. &quot;My Daily Bread&quot; draws a parallel between the typical soviet &quot;kirpich&quot; loaf, once strictly rationed (during WWII each family was allowed 25g of bread per day) and the production of bricks in Latvia, both essential components of the rebuilding of a nation, and comments on the contemporary disregard for a nutritional staple that is Britain's most wasted food." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/polyfloss.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/polyfloss_o.jpg" data-mid="21428036" caption="&lt;b&gt;Nicholas Paget, Emile Devisscher, Christophe Machet, Audrey Gaulard [Innovation, Design, Engineering]&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Polyfloss Factory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; is a process to transform plastic waste, typically polypropylene, into a new raw material called Polyfloss, taking the form of a plastic wool. This material is then easy to transform and Polyfloss allows the design and manufacture of upcycled plastic products without expensive or complicated manufacturing techniques. These products have unique properties, most notably thermal or acoustic insulation and the ability to be a multi-structured. These characteristics and new products are achieved through an innovative production method which transforms waste plastics in a process inspired by the principles of a candy floss machine." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/rachel hall.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/rachel hall_o.jpg" data-mid="21428037" caption=" &lt;b&gt;Rachel Hall &amp; co [Fashion] &lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Esprit&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/I&gt; This project, developed with the well-known fashion brand, builds consumer awareness by creating garments with an aesthetic inspired by their component materials. Focusing on natural dye techniques and Esprit's relationship with Gostwyck (a new Zealand merino sheep farm) the garments draw directly from the products used to make them - a knitted sheepskin jumper, indigo dying and imagery of turmeric plant, connecting and engaging the wearer with the clothes on their backs!" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/sukjin moon.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/sukjin moon_o.jpg" data-mid="21428039" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sukjin Moon [Design Products]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Specs&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; is a project born out of the discovery that in the manufacture of bicycle accessories, Brooks makes about 7 saddles from each hide, generating large amounts of leather offcuts. By experimenting with folding and forming leather, and borrowing the crafts techniques from the footwear industry, enough structure was created to provide the frame of a pair of glasses, while maintaining enough flexibility to comfortably fit the human face. It is warm against the skin and creates an unexpected elegance, bringing leather’s own texture quality to eyewear, rather than using conventional materials like plastic or steel for the frame." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/velopresso.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/velopresso_o.jpg" data-mid="21428040" caption=" &lt;b&gt;Amos Field Reid, Lasse Oiva [Design Products] &lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Velopresso&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; is a celebratory fusion of human power, sensory pleasures and technology, bicycles and coffee, engineering and aesthetics. The result is an innovative pedal-powered mobile coffee-making machine for off-grid selling of quality espresso and its derivatives with a compact footprint and near silent ultra-low carbon human-powered operation - fine coffee, no electricity, no motors, no noise. This entirely bespoke first prototype incorporates a pedal-powered grinder that produces a double-shot of espresso with 5 seconds’ easy pedaling, partnered with a prototype espresso machine with traditional sprung lever group heated by a mountain stove. Research is underway to derive a zero-carbon fuel for the stove from waste grinds." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/ying wu.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/ying wu_o.jpg" data-mid="21428046" caption="&lt;b&gt;Ying Wu [Textiles]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;The End of the Age of Turtles&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Living inside a turtle? Are we, in the face of grave ecological disaster, in fact retreating into our shells and failing to take action? This collection of printed fabrics depicts a possible future in an over-industrialised world where environmental issues have been neglected and cultural heritage sites have been demolished." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/zemer peled.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/zemer peled_o.jpg" data-mid="21428049" caption="&lt;b&gt;Zemer Peled [Ceramics &amp; Glass]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;I Am Walking in a Forest of Shards&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt; “I went to see the dead forest; it was the most beautiful, quiet and peaceful place I have ever been. Silence. No sound of animals, or wind blowing on the trees, no evidence left of the catastrophe that happened there only a few weeks earlier. I was walking alone in a forest of black naked trees. The visit to a burnt forest left a strong impact on me and aroused thoughts about death, nature and time.” &lt;br /&gt; Each year, fires burn millions of hectares of forest worldwide. The resulting loss and degradation of forested land is roughly equal to that caused by destructive logging and conversion to agriculture combined, and has wide-reaching consequences on biodiversity, health and the economy. This work reflects the barrenness of a forest devastated by fire, void of life." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/out of the woods.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/out of the woods_o.jpg" data-mid="21437118" caption="&lt;b&gt;Michael Warren and Sam Waller [Design Products] &lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Out of the Woods, Adventures of Twelve Hardwood Chairs&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; is a collaboration between the Royal College of Art and the American Hardwood Export Council that explores the creative and environmental potential of this naturally renewable material and relates it to the world of production. &lt;br /&gt; Michael Warren’s &lt;i&gt;Designed Legacy&lt;/i&gt; uses two super-thin panels laminated together for the seat and lightweight sections for the structure to reduce overall weight and require less energy for drying; each is connected to its neighbour using miniature versions of the substantial joints used in traditional green-oak timber framed buildings.&lt;br /&gt; Sam Weller’s &lt;i&gt;Snelson&lt;/i&gt; has no joints, the round-ended legs instead rest in three hollows under the seat and are tethered by polyester cables, increasing the strength of the structure as load is placed on it. With robust components and no joints to fail, Snelson should have a long life. This longevity allied to the minimal use of machines and raw materials in its production, results in a positive Life Cycle Analysis, despite the use of polyester cord." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/inspirings2.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="670" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/inspirings2_o.jpg" data-mid="21428538" caption="&lt;b&gt;Art Direction Dejan Mitrovic for SustainRCA&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;InspiRings&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; is a series of visual puns, playing with perspective to communicate and encourage energy saving and waste reduction. The aim of the project was to promote athletes as environmental champions providing them with cool photo-opportunity artworks to share on social media, influencing fans and wider audiences. The abstract geometries become a complete ring when seen from a specific point in space, giving the the viewer a 'moment of discovery'. This motivates them to take the photo and even appear themselves with the InspireRings.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; To see the whole series of InspiRings please &lt;a href=&quot;http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Works&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;" border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/inspirings.jpg" width="669" height="446" width_o="669" height_o="446" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/inspirings_o.jpg" data-mid="21428536" caption="&lt;b&gt;Art Direction Dejan Mitrovic for SustainRCA&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;InspiRings&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; is a series of visual puns, playing with perspective to communicate and encourage energy saving and waste reduction. The aim of the project was to promote athletes as environmental champions providing them with cool photo-opportunity artworks to share on social media, influencing fans and wider audiences. The abstract geometries become a complete ring when seen from a specific point in space, giving the the viewer a 'moment of discovery'. This motivates them to take the photo and even appear themselves with the InspireRings.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; To see the whole series of InspiRings please &lt;a href=&quot;http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/Sustain-Works&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;" border="0" align="left"/> Fullscreen <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7220.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1066" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7220_o.JPG" data-mid="21762020" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7226.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7226_o.JPG" data-mid="21762032" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7232.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1600" height_o="1068" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7232_o.JPG" data-mid="21762035" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7240.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1066" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7240_o.JPG" data-mid="21762044" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7253.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7253_o.JPG" data-mid="21762049" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7257.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1600" height_o="1069" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7257_o.JPG" data-mid="21762050" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7270.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1600" height_o="1068" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7270_o.JPG" data-mid="21762055" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7275.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1600" height_o="1068" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7275_o.JPG" data-mid="21762061" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7278.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7278_o.JPG" data-mid="21762068" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7287.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7287_o.JPG" data-mid="21762074" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7288.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7288_o.JPG" data-mid="21762081" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7290.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7290_o.JPG" data-mid="21762086" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7326.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7326_o.JPG" data-mid="21762247" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7331.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7331_o.JPG" data-mid="21762252" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7333.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7333_o.JPG" data-mid="21762257" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7313.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7313_o.JPG" data-mid="21762094" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7317.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1600" height_o="1069" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7317_o.JPG" data-mid="21762188" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7318.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7318_o.JPG" data-mid="21762216" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7318_82.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7318_82_o.JPG" data-mid="21762231" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7320.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1600" height_o="1067" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7320_o.JPG" data-mid="21762238" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7322.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1600" height_o="1068" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_7322_o.JPG" data-mid="21762243" border="0" align="left"/> List of exhibitors 2012: Jack Wates, Architecture Emma Elston, Architecture Natalija Gormalova, Photography Hal Watts, IDE Julene Aguirre-Bielschowsky, IDE Aran Dasan, IDE Jonathan Fraser, IDE Jacky Chung, IDE Nicholas Paget, IDE Emile Devisscher, IDE Christophe Machet, IDE Audrey Gaulard, IDE Anne Sofie Lefevre, IDE Alei Verspoor, Textiles Ying Wu, Textiles Lisa Bloomer, Textiles Kirsten Scott, Textiles PhD Marta Dlugolecka, Visual Communications Fabienne Hess, Visual Communications Anna Filipova, Visual Communications Byun-hak Ahn, Visual Communications Ai Hasegawa, Design Interactions Amos Field Reid, Design Products Lasse Oiva, Design Products Petter Thörne, Design Products Nic Wallenberg, Design Products Sam Weller, Design Products Michael Warren, Design Products Sukjin Moon, Design Products Gaspard Tiné-Berès, Design Products Zemer Peled, Ceramics & Glass Anton Alvarez, Design Products Jan P. Rosenthal, Vehicle Design Henry Cloke, Vehicle Design Rachael Hall & co, Fashion Images from last year's show Sustain Show and Award 2011- showcasing the best Sustainability projects by graduating students. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/show panorama.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/show panorama_o.jpg" data-mid="10537868" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2558.JPG" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2558_o.JPG" data-mid="10537886" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2555.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1200" height_o="802" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2555_o.JPG" data-mid="21429716" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2560.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1200" height_o="801" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2560_o.JPG" data-mid="10537888" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2539.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1200" height_o="801" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2539_o.JPG" data-mid="10537879" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2533.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1200" height_o="802" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2533_o.JPG" data-mid="10537874" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2555.JPG" width="670" height="447" width_o="1200" height_o="802" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/IMG_2555_o.JPG" data-mid="21429716" border="0" align="left"/> Each year, graduating students from across the RCA are invited to submit work that has a focus on social or environmental issues to be considered for the Sustain Show and Awards. This year a selection committee evaluated over 60 applicants during the degree shows, and the work of 22 students was shortlisted for the Sustain Show in September 2011. We are very excited both by the quality and the variety of the shortlisted work, which comes from every programme across the RCA. A prominent panel of judges from the world of creativity, business and media will decide on a winner, to be announced at the opening ceremony of the exhibition. Fullscreen <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/emma_2.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/emma_2_o.jpg" data-mid="9977703" caption="&lt;b&gt;Emma Critchley&lt;/b&gt; [Photography]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;b&gt;WINNER - Moving Minds&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Single Shared Breath&lt;/i&gt;celebrates life’s most precious resources – air and water - exploring our human dependence upon it. Submerged underwater, figures are caught, suspended in an underwater embrace, sustained only by a shared breath. Inhabiting this watery space necessitates both a physical and mental re-alignment, and the idea of breath, an otherwise reflexive function, becomes heightened. The interruption of this silent yet rhythmical exchange is a reminder of the subtle fragility of life, and the disregard of humanity for those critical resources without which it would cease to exist." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/solar sintering.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/solar sintering_o.jpg" data-mid="9976897" caption="&lt;b&gt;Markus Kayser&lt;/b&gt; [Design Products]&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;WINNER - Visionary Process&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;In a world increasingly concerned with questions of energy production and raw material shortages, &lt;i&gt;Solar Sintering&lt;/i&gt; explores the potentials of manufacturing in the desert, where energy and material occur in abundance. Sunlight and sand are used as raw energy and material to produce glass objects, using a 3D printing process that combines natural energy and material with high-tech production technology.&lt;br /&gt; The project aims to provide a point of departure for fresh thinking about the future of manufacturing, and to trigger dreams about the full utilisation of the production potential of the world’s most efficient energy resource – the sun." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/sea chair.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1192" height_o="795" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/sea chair_o.jpg" data-mid="9976811" caption="&lt;b&gt;Alexander Groves, Kieren Jones (2010), Azusa Murakami (2010) &lt;/b&gt;[Design Products]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;b&gt;WINNER - Solutions for Society&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;In the middle of the Pacific Ocean there is a floating garbage patch twice the size of Britain, where the water is filled with six times as much plastic as plankton. &lt;i&gt; The Sea Chair project&lt;/i&gt; addresses the issue of plastic waste accumulating in our oceans, kitting out redundant fishing fleets to collect and process the plastic to make useful objects while cleaning up the water." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/safety net.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/safety net_o.jpg" data-mid="9976865" caption="&lt;b&gt;Dan Watson &lt;/b&gt;[IDE]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;b&gt;WINNER - Inspired Products&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;SafetyNet&lt;/i&gt; is a new trawling system that addresses current practices of the fishing industry, where many current non-selective fishing techniques lead to juvenile and endangered fish being caught along with more marketable ones. In this way, every year, fishermen return over seven million tonnes of unmarketable fish, dead, to the sea. &lt;i&gt;SafetyNet&lt;/i&gt; cuts down on the catching, and subsequent discarding, of juvenile and endangered fish. By exploiting fish’s behavioural habits and physiology, the trawl separates different species and ages of fish, offering security not only to the 40 per cent of the world's population who rely on fish as their primary food source, but also to the fishermen within the industry itself." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Au centre de la terre.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1193" height_o="795" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Au centre de la terre_o.jpg" data-mid="9976905" caption="&lt;b&gt;Nadège Mériau &lt;/b&gt;[Photography]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;b&gt;Honorable Mention - Moving Minds&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br /&gt; Driven by environmentalist theory and biomimicry, &lt;i&gt;Au Centre&lt;/i&gt; explores the life of non-human flora and fauna, imagining a worm’s eye view of the world. In the same way that a foetus feeds off the womb, and human beings feed off their natural and cultural environment, a worm literally digests its burrow. By inserting the camera into edible chambers carved out of natural plant environments (or more recently, bread), this work explores the worm’s imagined perspective, through which the possibility for new architectural propositions emerges." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Apeel.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Apeel_o.jpg" data-mid="9976819" caption="&lt;b&gt;Alkesh Parmar&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt; [Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork &amp; Jewellery]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;b&gt;Honorable Mention - Visionary Process&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt; Apeel&lt;/i&gt; transforms the by-products of orange juice and fruit salad manufacturing into abiodegradable material that can be used to create products. A selection of kitchen implements has been created from a rich mixture of peel, segment membranes and seeds, containing pectin, cellulose and soluble sugar, processed together to create a strong and flexible new material." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/erik - scales.jpeg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/erik - scales_o.jpeg" data-mid="9976878" caption="&lt;b&gt;Erik de Laurens &lt;/b&gt;[Design Products]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;b&gt;Honorable Mention - Visionary Process&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;i&gt;Scale&lt;/i&gt; is a new material that can be produced locally anywhere in the world, made exclusively from fish scales collected from a local fishmonger. With no binding agent, it is 100 per cent recyclable and compostable. It can be dyed in any color, and moulded into different shapes. The project aims to use local resources in order create new forms of local enterprise." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/skeleton.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/skeleton_o.jpg" data-mid="9982764" caption="&lt;b&gt;Renata Fenton &lt;/b&gt;[IDE]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;b&gt;Honorable Mention - Solutions for Society&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br/&gt;From environmental, social and economic perspectives, both the business of death and the process of body disposition are in crisis. &lt;i&gt;Natural Disposition Services&lt;/i&gt; concentrates on the human perspective, allowing for greater involvement by the bereaved and an opportunity for the dying to engage with sustainable practices. The project proposes rituals that enhance healthy grieving practices for the survivors, without compromising the wishes of the dying or the wellbeing of the community and the environment. It suggests a system that engages with the ritual of death in different scenarios and attempts to illustrate alternative translations for the future through an alternative disposition technology." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/SustainShow Inglenook- Iceland- C-Type print- 1981.2 x 1119.77 mm.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/SustainShow Inglenook- Iceland- C-Type print- 1981.2 x 1119.77 mm_o.jpg" data-mid="9984378" caption="&lt;b&gt;Catherine Hyland &lt;/b&gt;[Visual Communication]&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt;Wonderland&lt;/i&gt; examines the unimaginable scale of the man-made and natural world through large-format photographs. The work focuses on the absurd, immensely vast and forbidding situations that remain congruent to the human condition, from the spectacular performances of nature to the discarded structures left dispersed and vacant throughout China as a result of cuts in funding." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Ariane Prin From Here.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1197" height_o="798" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Ariane Prin From Here_o.jpg" data-mid="9976828" caption="&lt;b&gt;Ariane Prin &lt;/b&gt;[Design Products]&lt;br/&gt;&lt;i&gt; From Here&lt;/i&gt; explores the social and natural opportunities around us, taking advantage of everyday situations by connecting human activities with environmental principles. This project uncovers the opportunities offered at the Royal College of Art, taking locally produced waste as a raw material for a local pencil factory that will supply drawing tools to present and future students." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/a different type.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/a different type_o.jpg" data-mid="10001983" caption="&lt;b&gt;Bethany Wells &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/b&gt;[Architecture]&lt;br/&gt;Can a group of people collectively activate their neighbourhood to create educational environments, with equitable access to space, tools and resources? &lt;i&gt;Fairground Collective&lt;/i&gt; expands the role of the architect to support the activation and occupation of existing urban environments. The project, developed with the Transition Network, suggests an alternative use of tuition fees of art, design and humanities courses to create a global urban campus bridging education, design practice and community action. " border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Box.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Box_o.jpg" data-mid="9976842" caption="&lt;b&gt;Richard Bone, James Brooks &lt;/b&gt;[Vehicle Design]&lt;br/&gt;Is it possible to retain the freedom and efficiency of individual travel without destroying our environment or harming our social behaviour? &lt;i&gt;Box&lt;/i&gt; is an essentialist vehicle for the city, a car tailored for sharing and bespoke to central London, tackling the real issues of urban travel." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Elliott_Montgomery_7.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Elliott_Montgomery_7_o.jpg" data-mid="9976870" caption="&lt;b&gt;Elliott P Montgomery &lt;/b&gt;[Design Interactions]&lt;br/&gt;One of the major impediments to the adoption of low-carbon energy is the heavy cost of developing and implementing the associated technologies. &lt;i&gt;Energy Pilots&lt;/i&gt; considers hypothetical business models for the low-carbon energy sector, focusing on the specific financial needs of low-carbon energy businesses in order to help them become cost-competitive. The project aims to foster an environment for exploring new possibilities, to facilitate discussions that may help lead to the adoption of low-carbon technologies." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/gerrit particle economy.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/gerrit particle economy_o.jpg" data-mid="9976880" caption="&lt;b&gt;Gerrit Kaiser &lt;/b&gt;[Design Interactions] &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br /&gt; In a resource-starved future where ‘natural’ deposits are depleted, how will we gather vital raw materials? Are there options beyond recycling as we know it? &lt;i&gt;Particle Economy&lt;/i&gt; explores a possible future in which volcanic eruptions, industrial pollution, oil spills and toxic clouds will be viewed as economical opportunities rather than ecological disasters, offering rare chances to gain access to certain precious commodities. Using advances in biotechnology, geo-engineering and robotics, harvesting the highly diluted minerals scattered all around us might become viable." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/helene_dufour.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/helene_dufour_o.jpg" data-mid="9976883" caption="&lt;b&gt;Helene-Constance O'Sullivan-DuFour &lt;/b&gt;[History of Design] &lt;br/&gt; &lt;i&gt;Communicating the Green Cause: Graphic Design and the Environmental Movement, 1960-2010&lt;/i&gt; is a research thesis that examines the evolution of the relationship between the environmental movement and the graphic design profession with examples from Britain, France, USA and Germany. The posters displayed in the Show were selected from a corpus of 192 posters collected by the French branch of Friends of the Earth, ‘Les Amis de la Terre’, between 1970 and 1990 and provides a historical snapshot of the variety of topics that environmentalists of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s were defending (pollution, anti-nuclear activism, animal rights, parliamentary representation, for example). It also stresses the importance given to the communication of environmental issues and the belief that graphic intervention could, indeed, help change attitudes." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Ido-Baruchin-Otto.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="799" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Ido-Baruchin-Otto_o.jpg" data-mid="9976886" caption="&lt;b&gt;Ido Baruchin &lt;/b&gt;[Vehicle Design] &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;i&gt;The Otto&lt;/i&gt; system considers a new solution for vehicle design and manufacturing, to create a product that is able to respond to specific context. Designed to be manufactured in a variety of locations, the vehicle can be tailored to suit local environments, considering labour, craft and materials in each place. The end product is constructed from a minimum number of parts that can easily disassembled for ease of repair, replacement and recycling, reducing its social and environmental impact." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/openobject.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/openobject_o.jpg" data-mid="9976889" caption="&lt;b&gt;Jessi Baker&lt;/b&gt; [IDE]&lt;br&gt;Consumer choices represent daily opportunities to support alternatives that are better for the environment and society, but how do we know which product to choose? &lt;i&gt;Open.Object&lt;/i&gt; is a system that enables people to access and curate digital information about any product in augmented reality. The project aims to enlighten and empower consumers to make more sustainable product choices, exploring how future technology scenarios in evolved consumer environments might cultivate transparency of information, fostering the creation and access of democratic knowledge about products." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Mohammed_Daud.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Mohammed_Daud_o.jpg" data-mid="9976902" caption="&lt;b&gt;Mohammed N Daud &lt;/b&gt;[IDE]&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;Stephoe&lt;/i&gt; is a social enterprise project aimed at improving the wellbeing of rural agricultural communities in developing nations. The project proposes both new tools and an innovative business model to enable such communities to carry out their farming activities more efficiently, safely and profitably. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;i&gt;Stephoe&lt;/i&gt; redesigns the traditional hoe, a tool used all over the world in the weeding and aerating of the soil, which causes frequent injury to the back, shoulders and arms. &lt;i&gt;Stephoe&lt;/i&gt; has an adjustable foot pedal that changes the way the hoe is used, leading to a balanced use of both upper and lower body. Manufactured in developing countries, the enterprise model sees local farmers provided with free tools, subsidised by sales of the same tool in more affluent markets." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/tomasz 1.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/tomasz 1_o.jpg" data-mid="10006091" caption="&lt;b&gt;Tomasz Crompton &lt;/b&gt;[Architecture]&lt;br&gt; New rules, stating that a percentage of all new developments must be dedicated to social housing, has sent the sector into a spin. &lt;i&gt;Nomad's Land&lt;/i&gt; re-thinks this outdated model, imagining the Kings Cross Central Development as a centre to create an informal community network. A continuous structure growing across the site begins life as a green belt wrapping the periphery of the Development. With the principle of self-build utilising bamboo construction methods and reuse of waste materials to create a non-plan architecture, permanent and transient individuals plug into the network as a place to live, work and socialise, creating fleeting communities and meaningful encounters." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/jump leads_for sustain.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1011" height_o="674" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/jump leads_for sustain_o.jpg" data-mid="9976918" caption="&lt;b&gt; Peter Laugesen &lt;/b&gt;[Animation]&lt;br&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;i&gt;Nature’s Voice&lt;/i&gt; is an observation of human alteration of nature: through a symbolic and experimental approach, it is an attempt to portray a story about this subject. The film depicts usual phenomena in an unusual way; it is executed without direct human images, only images where humans have had an effect on the subject shown. The images were assembled after their initial creation, fitting the scenes together like a filmic puzzle." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/RH11.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/RH11_o.jpg" data-mid="9976935" caption="&lt;b&gt;Robert Hagenström &lt;/b&gt;[Vehicle Design]&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Bamboo Car&lt;/i&gt; is a locally produced utility vehicle made out of bamboo, by and for the poorest people in the third world. The concept includes a manufacturing model based on growing a forest that is both a farm and a factory, and which produces nearly all the construction material (bamboo) and fuel (biodiesel made from switch grass), in addition to providing food and income to the people involved with it." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Tide 1 small.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/Tide 1 small_o.jpg" data-mid="9976939" caption="&lt;b&gt; Maxime Geib, Santi Ortega, Marc Purser, Klemens Schillinger &lt;/b&gt;[IDE]&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;Nature-Aided Design Lab&lt;/i&gt; enables local councils to create unique street furniture with reduced production and transportation costs, using the power and variability of the Thames in London, one of few tidal rivers in the United Kingdom. A flexible Lycra mould containing a concrete mixture is attached to floating buoys and shaped using the tidal forces and currents with no extra energy consumption. The mixture hardens and freezes the form during high tide and is revealed and harvested during low tide. The objects created are unique and imperfect —a direct result of the unpredictability of nature – and embody the identity of a specific time and place." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/untitled cb.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1186" height_o="791" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/untitled cb_o.jpg" data-mid="9976953" caption="&lt;b&gt;Sonsoles Marquez &lt;/b&gt;[Printmaking]&lt;br&gt;In this piece, one of a series, discarded fragments of wasted flooring are celebrated and given a new life. United with other found images, salvaged from second-hand books, a connection is forged between the image and the material, forcing a relationship between the two and creating a dialogue that makes them somehow function together. Stripped of its pure functionality, this waste material acquires a new and greater value." border="0" align="left"/> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/food7.jpg" width="670" height="446" width_o="1200" height_o="800" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/4/130228/1716079/food7_o.jpg" data-mid="10070148" caption="&lt;b&gt;Oliver Poyntz &lt;/b&gt;[IDE]&lt;br&gt; Why is something as natural as a piece of fruit, which has a shelf life of only a few days once picked, often entombed in synthetic, toxic compounds that can take up to 700 years to degrade? &lt;i&gt;Freshplus&lt;/i&gt; aims to mimic the elegance and efficiency with which biological materials are manufactured, embodying these attributes in a new material and an industrial manufacturing process. Insights into the beauty of natural processes gained throughout the project led to a new innovative product solution to be contained within the packaging itself, keeping the food fresher for longer." border="0" align="left"/> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sustain RCA is inviting you to submit your work for the Sustain Show & Award 2013 - a selection of the best sustainability-related projects by final year students... http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/About-Sustain-RCA http://sustain.rca.ac.uk/following/sustain.rca.ac.uk/About-Sustain-RCA Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:36:23 +0000 Sustain RCA 1716041 Established in 2011, SustainRCA is a Royal College of Art initiative that aims to inspire, encourage and support students to embrace sustainability in their work. Working across all disciplines, we guide students, helping them produce innovative solutions to and critical thinking around some of the most pressing social and environmental issues of our time. We bring together interdisciplinary groups with a variety of skills to work and consult with local and global organisations, helping them imagine new and positive futures. Our series of talks and events span topics as diverse as the demise of the UK's high streets to data visualisation and consumption patterns. Every year culminates in the annual Sustain Show & Awards, which honour the very best of graduates' work, bringing to the fore excellence in sustainability, and showcasing the wide range of talent and expertise across the RCA. Established in 2011, SustainRCA is a Royal College of Art initiative that aims to inspire, encourage and support students to embrace sustainability in their work....