Waste = Food

A designer and chemist who are taking sustainability to the next level. This documentary is about true recycling and up-cycling, a way to reuse products that restores them to their raw form. Check out the Nike Consider that snaps apart and other products that are made to be fully biodegradable. Some of the key attributes are:
- these products can be fully disassembled
- made from non-toxic chemicals
- are designed to be cradle to cradle.

Entrepreneurship 3.0

Today's mashup consists of a talk on innovation by Charles Leadbeater and an idea I read in "The Four Hour Workweek," by Timothy Ferris. We live in a world where innovation is just as likely to come about from a professional amateur (someone who is passionate about their "hobby") as it is to come from an innovation or R&D department. Just watch Klunkerz (a doucmentary about the origins of mountainbiking) to get an idea of how this happens. The mountain bike was created out of a real need by a bunch of guys who loved biking in the woods out in Marin, not by the R&D division of Trek.

So how is the approach to business evolving, well I think there is a shift in how a business interacts with the market place and all of it's users/consumers. An entrepreneur can provide people with a platform, tools and some rules and then orchestrate a conversation that stimulates creativity; it doesn't seem like a new idea but it's disruptive to the conventional work place. It's a bit analagous to the open source movement because when passionate people are empowered they are extrememly productive. Even less conventional is allowing the consumer to create content linking the community of users with the company and in essence creating a two way relationship between business and consumer. It's a concept that has made Threadless, Etsy and the Apple iPhone application store a huge success. This is a business model that I think is going to continue becoming increasingly popular.

Quirky

Quirky has some great implications for entrepreneurial minded designers. As a designer and entrepreneur I know that production & communications are a significant part of the equation if you want to make a profit from your product. If you're more an idea person, a creative mind who's time is best spent thinking up an idea and moving on to the next one then Quirky could be a great way to make your creativity come to life.

DIY urban farming

Growing plants on my roof is like trying to grow plants in space. For a long time I've been planning to build a green house on my roof in San Francisco. I've tried growing a few plants without the protection and they last two or three days before the wind sucks the life out them. So I was excited to see this new DIY approach to farming that uses a hydration system to grow plants in your windows.

The plan seems limiting at the moment, but what if we adapted the idea slightly and created a facade for a house that enabled plants to grow up the entire front of your house or apartment. With the use of hydroponics and a protective, greenhouse like cover I can see this as a real possibility.

reclaiming public space

As you stroll city streets you'll realize that construction sites an other areas around town are plastered with repeated advertisements. A large majority of these postings are unauthorized. Streetfest realized this and decided to do something about it. Their mission is to reclaim public space for corporations with private interests, public space should be used by the public.

Ethnography: Project US

The US has some pretty aweful stereotypes. I can't wait to see how their destroyed and encouraged. Interview Project is David Lynch's new project to get a bit more intimate with people across the nation.



If it sounds interesting here's a clip from one an interview in Montana.

Happiness

What makes us happy?

Dr. George Vaillant shares insights from his decades of following the Grant Study men.