ICIS NeWS

Resources: ICIS News:

July 2004

in this issue:

Introduction

Short News

• Big Power – fusion energy dispute
• Small Power – new fuel battery concepts
• Samsung wants to improve

Environmental

• Exit Lomborg
• “If at first you don’t succeed, then try and try and try again”

Social and Ethical

• Food on the road
• Two ethical consumers...
• Children used in Aids medicine testing

Mind

• Ilunga – the world’s hardest word to translate

Design

• Care underwear
• Papcorn dinnerware
• Made by ratzer
• Model story

ICIS Activities

• Eden Project - architecture master class programme change

Contact ICIS

ICIS CENTRE
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Hornbækgaardsvej 2
DK-3100 Hornbæk
Tel (+45) 49 70 43 64

E-mail address: center@iciscenter.org

Introduction

Dear Subscriber

Summer’s finally here – although in Denmark it seems to be somewhere else – we have seen rain, clouds and more rain.
However, rainy days can be a time for contemplation and there are many topical issues to reflect on; politics, ethics, social issues and the environment to name a few!
For this issue, though, I want to reflect on some more personal experiences. The two key events on my mind relate to work during the past month, including an eye-opening trip to South Africa, where I was one of the keynote speakers (talking about on sustainability) at a conference on ‘Developing Design Leadership for Africa’. This event was organised by the Design Educators' Forum of Southern Africa (DEFSA) and the Design Institute in Pretoria. The other key event was the recently completed second module of our one-year postgraduate course for young design professionals.

My visit to South Africa was a somewhat emotional experience, as it coincided with the 10th anniversary of the year that Nelson Mandela became president and the abolishment of the apartheid system. The 16th June was the anniversary of the Soweto uprising, when students finally refused to learn Afrikaans. Sadly, during the disturbance, a student called Hector Pieterson was shot, and the aftermath of this tragedy finally lead to the dissolution of the apartheid system.

While in Soweto, we visited the Hector Pieterson Museum, as well as the new Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg (which is definitely worth visiting again) and were taken to see ‘Sarafina’, a musical about the students’ protest in Soweto. This was all powerful and disturbing stuff. Although we, as part of the broader international community, were aware of the events taking place at the time and knew about the violence and racial abuse, to be directly confronted with documentaries, films, posters, music, song, dance art installations and architecture really brings home the reality of the pain and suffering of the era. It was very difficult not to be upset and sad on the realisation that we humans can and still do behave in such a barbaric way towards others. Its difficult not to feel despair, knowing it is still going on in many parts of the world (including my own) towards children, women and men of other cultures and traditions.

However, there was also some positivity and inspiration in the short glimpse that I got of life in South Africa. There is a certain atmosphere of energy, enthusiasm and determination emanating from the young South African generation who are too young to remember much about the times of apartheid, although they still feel its reverberations. Happily, this generation is full of creativity, enthusiasm and commitment towards the fusion of the different peoples of South Africa. This can be seen in the country’s politics where many women, particularly black and ‘coloured’ are now taking their rightful place, as well as in design, music and the arts where this cultural mix is inspiring tremendous creativity and originality.

The other event which has made a lasting impression on all of us here at ICIS, was the recently completion of our first educational module for 35 young design professionals. The course focussed on sustainability issues including ethics, and the social, environmental and spiritual aspects of design. Guest lecturers for the programme included Professor Tim O’Riordan from the University of East Anglia in the UK; designer Terry Irwin, previously from Meta Design, San Francisco; architect Dillon Kombumerri from the first aboriginal design group in Australia - Merrima Design in Sydney and finally designer/consultant David Berman, who developed a code of ethics for the Association of Graphic Designers Canada, which we hopefully we will soon develop and adopt in Denmark.

Of course, with these credentials, the lecturers were extremely good and motivating. But the most exciting element was the positivity, inquisitiveness and enthusiasm demonstrated by the group of young professionals – the next generation of designers. The way they contributed, challenged, took things on board, responded and looked after each other was really inspiring. Another interesting note was the fact that more men than women practiced the morning meditation and evening yoga classes; these used to be more of ‘woman’s thing’!
All of this bodes well for the future, so although there is often depressing news about companies and politics, the outlook could be still good!

Have a great summer!

Karen Blincoe,
Director, ICIS

ICIS Short News

• Big Power

Global politics may be playing a part in the lack of no final decision on where to build “Iter” - the world’s largest fusion energy reactor. In ICIS NeWS, January 2004, we reported that it was to be built near Aix-en-Provence. But France and the town of Cadarache ran out of luck when Japan started to bid for Rokkasho as a location for this giant experimental reactor, likely to cost approx. five billion euro to build and operate as an international enterprise in the first decade alone.
Although China, Russia and Europe all support the French location, which is claimed to be scientifically attractive and earthquake-safe, George W. Bush has thrown a spanner in the works by making promises to the Japanese prime minister in early June. This is now backed by South Korea who, like Japan is ready to send its troops to help the US in Iraq.
According to the Iter’s plans, the fusion of hydrogen particles into helium will result in a 100 million Celsius degree plasma after that first decade. In another 20 years, and after spending another € 5 billion, a commercially viable fusion reactor design should be within reach, if the building process starts on time in 2006.

ICIS Viewpoint: Although we’re all keen to see progress in alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and fusion power, perhaps this decision should be postponed another half a year – until after the US presidential election.

• Small Power

For many years, the Japanese and particularly electronics company, Toshiba have been demonstrating that small is both beautiful and sustainable, with the development of diminutive electronic devices such as mini harddisks and mp3-players. Now, the time is ripe for the production of fuel cells that can really make a difference in terms of both battery performance and the mountains of waste that are the direct, negative consequences of the existence of such gadgets.
Toshiba’s new direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) converts methanol and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water through an energy-releasing process. Other companies, like MTI and PolyFuel, announced in June that they are developing similar cells for use in products such as mobile phones and laptop computers. Toshiba’s new “battery” is about the size of a thumb (22mm x 56mm x 9 mm) and is hoped to weigh a lightweight 8.5 grams when it is released next year.

Source: ZCNet

Samsung wants to improve...

Korean electronics giant Samsung has received a poor “0” score on this year’s ‘Computer Report Card’ by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. Only HP and Dell have managed to achieve a score higher than 50% in the fifth annual survey by SVTC, that takes into account the following criteria:
- Effective ‘take back’ programs that recover a fair share of historic e-waste and all future e-waste
- Robust design-for-the-environment programs that ‘design out’ the most toxic materials and design new products that are more easily re-used and recycled
- Transparency of information in the production and disposal supply chains
- Sustainable supply and disposal chain management in both manufacturing and recycling,
- Rewards for companies that go beyond compliance and push the envelope to create real value for their customers in the environmental performance of their products.

However, Samsung has promised Greenpeace that it will reduce harmful chemical pollutants in phones, television sets and other products - including phthalates, that have been proven to cause hormone changes and brominated flame retardants that are believed to cause cancer and brain damage. Greenpeace has highlighted the company’s plan to set firm deadlines for various achievements and has therefore upgraded Samsung from red to orange, despite a somewhat alarming test of various equipment.

Sources:
SVTC (May 19)
Greenpeace

Environmental

• Exit Lomborg

Subscribers to ICIS NeWS will have already received an email comment on the Copenhagen Consensus spring conference. It was organized by the Environmental Assessment Institute, which was run by Bjørn Lomborg until this summer. Lomborg, author of The Sceptical Environmentalist, was selected by the conservative Danish government to further the kind of critical cost-benefit analyses of environmental issues he has always advocated as a statistician.
After the heavily publicised and criticised conference, Lomborg has apparently had enough and now wants to return to an academic environment. The institute still awaits its new director, (hopefully one who is less provocative and self-promoting) – which has made the Danish government vulnerable to criticism of its lack of environmental concerns, in addition to being rightist and anti-Muslim. Danish business daily, Børsen warned in March that opposition parties were gaining ground by attacking the government on environmental issues, locally, nationally, and globally.
In an editorial explaining the purpose of the Copenhagen Consensus conference, the Economist also seemed resigned to the fact that the conference outcomes are largely being ignored because of the narrowness of the panel. " . . . if the Copenhagen panel of experts does manage, despite these difficulties, to reach some kind of substantive agreement, there is little reason to suppose that politicians or the wider public will go along with a consensus reached among a group of economists, a tribe renowned in the wider world for its desiccated view of human welfare," the Economist wrote.

Copenhagen Consensus
BBC - Copenhagen Consensus

BBC - Sceptical Environmentalist

• “If at first you don't succeed, try and try and try again – The Monsanta mantra?

As the GMO discussion continues, Monsanto steadfastly refuses to give up and continues to urge the world to plant its GMO crops. As a consequence of this, a new GMO product is on its way to be launched into in a variety of food products throughout the EU. Before the issues was bt11 or tinned corn, but now it is the concept of GMO rape for animal feed which is being pushed through the shiny doors in Brussels. If the EU Commission doesn’t agree, both EU and WTO court cases could ensue.
The bleak scenario according to some experts is that within a few years 50-60% of all food products will contain GMOs in one form or another – an estimate that is apparently already happening in America.
The examples of multinationals such as Coca Cola and McDonalds, who dominate the market with their unhealthy products don’t bode well for the GMO issue. Human behaviour can be somewhat sheep-like, following these market ‘leaders’, regardless of the consequences and despite known risks.
GMOs remain a very risky business as neither the long term results on the environment from growing GMO crops or the long term effects of GMO consumption on human health are known.
Pro-GMO lobbyists often use the argument that GMOs have the potential to feed the starving masses globally. What they forget to say is that we in fact could feed the world right now without adopting dubious agricultural practices. Clearly, what is lacking is the necessary political will to make this actually happen, despite costly mega-conferences such as the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. In the meantime, who really benefits from the spread of GMO products? It’s certainly not the world’s poor and undernourished, but more likely companies like Monsanto.

Is it ethical to buy foods and goods which have flown 7.000 km (i.e. toys from China) knowing that the cost to the environment caused by the amount of CO2 emissions is not reflected in the price we pay for the products we buy?
Is it ethical to purchase products which are cheap, discounted goods that are produced in third world countries by people who earn less than 2 € a day?
Is it ethical to buy cheap meat and other mass-produced foods that are grown or produced in cruel, inhumane ways, and are often flown around the world to reach us, the consumers?

Social and Ethical

• On the road

Statistics show that on average, food travels 50% longer today than 20 years ago. A meal made up of imported ingredients has CO2 emission which is 650 times that of a meal prepared from local ingredients (World Watch Institute).
These are shocking statistics and many critics are calling for a reduction in consumerism in first world countries to allow third world countries to grow and develop. By the same token, some argue that this development will only serve to increase production and consumerism in developing countries.
Sustainable production and consumption remains a contentious issue because of the ethical factors involved. However, the responsibility for decoupling economic activity from environmental degradation lies squarely at the feet of the developed world, as one of the key commitments made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg was for the signatory states to develop a 10 year framework of programmes that will drive sustainable production and consumption. We just hope that governments actually walk the talk and start to implement these commitments.
One thing is certain though - social justice and environmental responsibility starts with the individual. We need to become more aware of what, how and where we buy – by asking questions in shops, demanding more information and being selective. We need to develop our own personal ethical ‘gyroscope’ in our work and personal life, if we are to effect change on a larger scale..

• Two ethical consumers……..

In a recent newspaper articles, a Danish journalist describes her return with the family from a holiday; in the back of the car, her children are planning where to eat their homecoming meal.

They want ‘junk food’. “But not from McDonald’s” her daughter says “ . . .because they use small children in China to make their toys, so we don't want to eat there”.
“No, that's right” comments her little friend. The mother reflects that if two 11 year-old girls don’t want to go to McDonalds because they have heard that the fast-food chain uses child labour, then there could be more and more children out there who are willing to forego their need for burgers in order to help children in other places in the world.

She then further reflects on her own choice of clothes; how much she pays for them, whether the clothes have been made by children in developing countries and what the living conditions of these children are like. The mother asks what happened to the ethical accounting which was high on the business agenda some years back – did it somehow get lost in discounts?
She finishes on an optimistic note which places hope on children, saying that they are not only wiser than the grown-ups, they also make up the future group of consumers which companies like MacDonalds will have to deal with. She finishes with the words:
“Watch out MacDonalds”!

Source: Politiken 14th April 2004

• Children used in aids medicine testing……..

According to the Observer newspaper, the British medicinal giant GlaxoSmithKline have used children from the tender age of only 3 months to test Aids medicines.
The children involved in the allegation all come from a catholic orphanage in New York. The New York health authorities have started an enquiry into the shocking accusations that at least 100 children from the orphanage were involved in some 36 experiments.

Source: Politiken 5th April 2004

Mind

• Ilunga – the world’s hardest word to translate

Even if, as it’s often said, ”sustainability” means something slightly different to everyone, the word as such probably doesn’t even exist in many languages – and may have very different meanings when translated.
But the world's most difficult word to translate has been identified by the London firm, Today Translations as "ilunga" – a word from the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern Congo.
Ilunga means "a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time".
Ilunga came in first when the translators consulted some 1,000 linguists on this matter.
In second place was “shlimazl” - Yiddish for "a chronically unlucky person". Third was “Naa”, used in the Kansai area of Japan to emphasise statements or agree with someone.

Source: BBC News

Design

• Care underwear

Signe Bonnesen, a recently graduated young Danish textile designer has created a range of underwear, which manages to be both sexy and ecological. The materials used in the production of her saucy lingerie are environmentally certified (EU Flower) cotton and wool. There are an increasing number of shops that specialise in this type of sustainable/ecological lingerie e.g. Zensa in Copenhagen, COOP and the German Company Hess Natur.
www.signebonnesen.dk
www.hess-natur.de

• Papcorn Dinnerware

Papcorn plates are environmentally friendly dinnerware. Made from wheat, maize and lactic acid-based plastics, Papcorn’s disposable dinnerware have a limited life span and are compost-friendly. Designed by Danish designers Anne Bannick and Lene Vad Jensen.
www.mocoloco.com/archives/000125.php

• Made by ratzer

Textile designer Tina Ratzer also works with sustainable design.
Her latest work, a textile wall mural made from 356 strips of woven material is displayed at the Danish Design Center, Copenhagen.
A textile wall mural made from 356 strips of woven material.

Source: Kunstuff, Danish Craft and Design, No.2/2004

• Model story

Bibi Russell, a supermodel seen in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan has returned to her homeland, Bangladesh to make clothes for and with the empowerished local population of women. Through her work, that includes clothes design, crafts and textiles, she is engaging around 30.000 weavers in designing for local development.
Source: M/S Berlingske Tidende 20/6/2004

Dear readers: if you know of designers and/or architects working with sustainability please let us have their names and websites or email addresses. We would like to mention them in the ICIS e-news. Thanks!

ICIS Activities

• News re ICIS MC Programme in September 2004

ICIS has gratefully received funding from Margot and Torvald Dreyers Fond for MC 402 - The Eden Project UK, which takes place on the revised dates of (please note) 4th and 5th September 2004 in Hornbæk, north of Copenhagen.
This funding means that we can reduce the cost of participation from 750 to 500 euro per person, all expenses included. The master class will be led by Jolyon Brewis of the Eden Project, Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, London.

More info here

Contact ICIS

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Copy editor: Trudy Folwell

ICIS news editors:
Karen Blincoe & Henning Wettendorff