The Creative Sustainable Opportunity

The Creative Sustainable Opportunity

View more presentations from StefaanVandist.

Tomorrow, I'll have a talk at the Salon Entreprendre 2009 at Tour et Taxis in Brussels.

I'll use my 20 seconds-a-slide talk (Pecha Kucha-format indeed) to show entrepreneurs how to benefit the creative sustainable opportunity. Powered with some inspiring examples, i'll do my best to demonstrate it as an opportunity for disruptive innovation, differentiation and positive growth. Feel free to have a preview above

the triple-E model

The Triple E Model

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: sustainability trinity)

The triple P-model (Profit, people, planet) is grown into a kind of principle or symbol for the philosophy of responsible entrepreneurship. Sometimes it is referred to as the 'triple bottom line'.

The angle point of William Mc Donoug and Michael Braungart is based on eco-effectiveness (doing good) in stead of eco-efficiency (doing less bad) is interesting and inspiring and delivered the triple-E model (Equity, Economy and Ecology).
More or less, it is the same as the tripl-P model. But they see it as a tool. They see it as an instrument that any entrepreneur can use to discover opportunities for positive growth. Because it is an business opportunity, and not an obligation, they call it "the triple-topline"

Michael Braungart's keynote at the volvoSportsDesign Forum (part 2)

- What's the difference between eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness?
- What's wrong with our concept of waste?
- Why turn products into services?
- Why design cycles and not products?
- Are there really to much people on the planet?
- What is cradle-to-cradle?
- Why minimize our footprint? Why not maximize our footprint?

Enjoy his talk

Michael Braungart's keynote at the volvoSportsDesign Forum (part 1)

- What's the difference between eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness?
- What's wrong with our concept of waste?
- Why turn products into services?
- Are there really to much people on the planet?
- What is cradle-to-cradle?
- Why minimize our footprint? Why not maximize our footprint?

Enjoy his talk

Turning Elephant poo into paper

Great example of 'upcycling'. The people at The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company have taken sustainability to the next level, creating various stationary products from dried elephant dung. However, the companies’ mission has a purpose beyond making a functional product from elephant poo. The stationary goods are part of a creative sustainable cycle in which portions of their profits are contributed to elephant welfare and conservation. Not only do they save trees, but also the elephants themselves are benefited.

Their paper making process is quite fascinating – the elephant dung is collected from various conservation parks which is then dried, washed, and eventually processed into paper sheets that are made into products ranging from notebook journals to photo albums. Over 10 standard sized journals are produced from a single piece of poo. Each product comes with an informative booklet of the unique production process as well as tidbits about elephant conservation, making the stationary both functional and educational. And no, the paper does not smell of poo! Visit their Poo-tique for more information about their products.

http://poopoopaper.com

6 ways mushrooms can save the world

Enjoy this tedtalk form Marsch 2008, where entrepreneurial mycologist Paul Stamets explains how we can restore the ecosystem with mushrooms

Rules of thumb in Green (III): William Mc Donough

In his Hannover Prinicples of Sustainable Developement, William Mc Donough (co-author of Cradle-to-cradle) provides us with 9 principles, in which he clearly makes way for eco-effectiveness (celebrating abundance and diversity) in stead of eco-efficiency (urging for less...)

No need to say this is (already now) one of my all time favourites:

1. Insist on rights of humanity and nature to co-exist:

in a healthy, supportive, diverse and sustainable condition

2. Recognize interdependence

The elements of human design interact with and depend upon the natural world, with broad and diverse implications at every scale. Expand design considerations to recognizing even distant effects.

3. Respect relationships between spirit and matter
Consider all aspects of human settlement including community, dwelling, industry and trade in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material conciousness

4. Accept responsibility for the consequences of design decisions
upon human well-being, the viability of natural systems, and their right to co-exist.

5. Create safe objects of long term value
Do not burden fututre genetations with requirements for maintenance of vigilant administration of potential danger due to the careless creation of products, processes and standards.

6. Eliminate the concept of waste
Evaluate and optimize the full life-cycle of products and processes to approach the state of natural systems in which there is no waste.

7. Rely on natural energy flows
Human designs should, like the living world, derive their creative forces from perpetual solar income. Incorporate the energy efficiently and safely for responsible use.

8. Understand the limitations of design
No human creation lasts forever and design does not solve all problems. Those who create and plan should practice humility in the face of nature. Treat nature as a model and mentor, not as inconvenience to be evaded and controlled.

9. Seek constant improvement by the sharing of knowledge
Encourage direct and open communication between collegues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility, and re-establish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.

Nike Considered: Nike's first sustainable running shoe

NIke has chosen for Jordan Air as platform for it's first line of sustainable shoes, nike considered.

Some of the intentions that are very close or equal to cradle-to-cralde:

1. Must be made from recyclable materials. (i.e., 100% recyclable plastics or veg-tanned leathers.)
2. Zero Toxins. Zero chemical adhesives. (no glue.)
3. Mechanical vs Chemical. (using mechanics and engineering to put the shoe together instead of chemical solutions.)
4. Closed Loop Technology. (the shoe must be able to come back 100% as another shoe or something else. Nothing goes to waste.)

Read the entire story of the concepting and processing on the blog of foodwear designer Jeff Staple, here

For a happy 2008 and next(1): The Treescraper

What would you call a skyscraper that works like a tree, makes oxygen, distills water, produces energy, and changes with the seasons? Perhaps it’s time to propose a new word: treescraper! Biomimicry - the art of drawing inspiration from nature’s designs - is a strategy often found in green architecture, and here’s a tree-inspired super structure that exemplifies healthy and high-tech design for the future. Designed by William McDonough, the green architect par excellence, who built the first solar-powered house in Ireland in 1977 and was entitled “Hero of the Planet” in 1999 by the Time magazine, this latest proposal for the Tower of tomorrow was commissioned by Fortune Magazine. McDonough’s proposal focuses on the possibilities of today, for a future context, integrating green and arboreally-inspired systems in a super efficient, forward-thinking architectural marvel.

Read more about Mc Donough's treescraper at Inhabitat, here

Grow a house out of a tree

This is one of Eco-architect Mitchell Joachim's visionary idea's: growing tree houses.
If you like it, there is a step-by-step presentation of the build-up of the tree house, on the website of Mitchel Joachim's Archionode Studio here, and morez nice stuff to be found at the Terreform website, here

A keynote introduction to Biomimicry (Janine Benyus) (3)

This 23 minutes keynote of Janine Benyus at TEDtalks is probably the best introduction to the fascinating universe of Biomimicry.

Biomimicry is fascinating, because it starts with a strong design intention
With 3.8 billion years of research and development on its side, nature has already solved problems that human designers and engineers still struggle with. In this inspiring talk, Janine Benyus provides fascinating examples of biomimicry -- the way humans mimic nature in the products we build and the systems we implement. And because the champion adapters in the natural world are, by definition, those that can survive without destroying the environment that sustains them, biomimicry can contribute to the long-term health of our planet.

Another opportunity for great brand stories: biomimicry! (1)

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Since its birth on earth 3,8 billion years ago, life spread out in countless species interacting in a dynamic balance with the planet. Today, the number of living species is estimated at 15 millions. Each one has secured its long-term survival through a natural adaptation process of trial-and-errors and thus displays a concrete application of the principles of sustainability.

The prime idea of Biomimicry is that nature already has in stock a certain number of answers to the problems of durability with which we are confronted today. Biomimicry Europa defines Biomimicry as an ” innovation process encouraging the transfer of ideas, concepts and strategies inspired from the living world, with the objective of designing human applications aiming at a sustainable development ” (extracted from Biomimicry Europa’s statutes).

Concretely, in front of a given problem, the Biomimicry methodology consists in looking for highly capable answers already given by living beings, albeit cost/emission-effective, and/or non-toxic. It is then a question of identifying the champions, namely the organisms the survival of which depends on the quality of the solution. Biomimicry delivers, in this manner, three levels of increasing requirement in terms of sustainability:

The first level of inspiration comes from the shapes which the identified living beings actually take;

The second level of inspiration relates to the “manufacturing” processes operating in those living beings;

At the last level, one gets inspired by the interactions which the species entertain between each other and by the global functioning of natural ecosystems.

The ultimate objective of the Biomimicry methodology is to propose solutions up to the third level so that the selected objects, techniques and organization structures allow the human race to be in a dynamic balance with the ecosystem of our planet.

Straight from biomimicryeuropa.org

Cradle-to-cradle: Waste Equals Food

It is the latest, and most revolutionary step in environmental thinking (cradle-to-cradle design)
Last few years people talked eco-efficiency (less waste, less emissions, less toxics, less pollution…everything must be LESS)
But William Mc Donough and Michael Braungart have another vision:

Eco-effectiveness: Waste more, consume more, … and produce more. But do it just like a cherry three which produces enormous amounts of blossoms, fruit and waste, but lots of people, animals and other parts of the eco-system enjoy its beauty, food and existence .

That’s the cradle-to-cradle vision: we have to transfer business and industry into circular processes. As long Waste equals Food just like in nature, and as long the economy equals the circular idea of the eco-system.

First cradle-to-cradle congress in Europe, 1 and 2 November 2007 in Maastricht

The planet prosperity foundation organises the very first Cradle-to-cradle seminar in Europe. It will be held in Maastricht, the 1st and 2nd of November.
Cradle-to-cradle is a revolutionary design principle that brings sustainability to a higher level. At the c-to-c-point, environmentalism meets consumerism. They make each-other stronger.
Read about cradle-to-cradle here.

Heroes for the Planet according to Times Magazine

Click here to find the pioneers of sustainability
according to Times Magazine.

Trash becomes food: TV documentary on the principles of cradle-to-cradle design

I've seen this exciting TV-documentary, yesterday at the Flemish TV.

Originally it is a VPRO-documentary from the Netherlands. From it's TV-program "Tegenlicht".

You find more about the documentary and its shown cases here.

You can find the documentary in video format here.

Who beat "Plant Love": eco-design, cradle-to-cradle and social marketing in one

CARGO Cosmetics introduces PlantLove, a collection of 12 lipsticks each cased in a compostable plastic tube made out of corn. The lipsticks are made from a plant based formula with no added petroleum products. The box is also eco-friendly and infused with seeds which sprout wildflowers when planted. Five of the colours were designed by “celebrities” such as Lindsay Lohan, while 6 lipsticks were inspired by eco destinations like Yellowstone. If that weren’t enough already, CARGO is donating $2 from every sale to a Children’s Hospital. How’s that for social entrepreneurship?

Keynote of William McDonough: the wisdom of designing cradle to cradle

Enjoy this inspiring keynote of William Mc Donough,
the author of "cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things"