Cyberjunk

Key concepts: smart energy, Pacific Northwest, Patrick

Mazza

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  of primary interest to

clean energy wonks. Lots of irrelevant but entertaining

links.

 

Links:

 

Viridian List, proudly brought to you from Austin, Texas,

the newly-proclaimed "Clean Energy Capital of the World."

Christmas came early for the Texas solar biz.

http://www.seedcoalition.org/solaraustin/index.htm

http://www.irecusa.org/articles/static/1/1070482973_1018302029.html

 

This whimsical Thai elephant skyscraper is

not quite what we had in mind when we were

rhapsodizing about zoomorphic Tech Nouveau.

http://thomasriddle.net/high-on-chatuchak/pages/elephant.htm

http://www.emporis.info/en/wm/bu/?id=107186

http://www.emporis.info/en/il/im/?id=225564

 

Biomimetic structures out of digitized tumbleweeds.

http://www.tumbletruss.com

 

And other bio-structures, too, and in Barcelona,

the home of Gaudi, wow.

http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2002/0619/tools_1-1.html

 

The Artificial Life Awards in Madrid.  What gives

with the Spain theme lately?

http://www.fundacion.telefonica.com/at/vida/paginas/links.html

 

This 3-D airborne computer-mouse "bat" is either really

cool or just nuts.  One of the things I like best

about Tech Nouveau is that it's so much fun to criticize.

http://www.fraunhofer.de/german/press/pi/pi2003/11/md11_fo3ag.jpg

 

It's the holiday season. Let the kids play with the

drumset. So what if they're a little noisy.

http://www.buckle.com/text/content/games/2003fall_drum_set/drums.html

 

The Majestic Windmills of Native America.

http://nativeenergy.com/index.html

 

*****************************************************

(((I can't exult about the lavishly underwritten

Austin solar industry without allowing Patrick Mazza

to lay it on the line about the scale of what is going

on up in the Pacific Northwest.  It's a complex story,

but it repays some attention to the details, because

it's basically the same development that is happening

here, or trying to happen.  Move that wind and

hydro, companeros, we sun-dazed Austinites are with

you all the way.)))

*****************************************************

 

Source: Patrick Mazza, climatesolutions.org

 

Smart Energy Bulletin #5

 

Northwest Positioned to Lead Global Smart Energy Industry

 

(This is the final installment of the Smart Energy

Bulletin series. All rights to publish and reproduce are

granted. The full series is available at

www.climatesolutions.org.)

 

By Patrick Mazza

 

It is a budding Northwest tech sector composed of at least

225 firms with $2 billion in yearly revenues. It is a

globally significant player in a rapidly growing new

industry that has now reached $15 billion annually. It

counts among its ranks world leaders and a host of

innovative start-ups. Within 20 years it could rival such

other major Northwest sectors as aerospace and

microprocessors in terms of employment and revenues. It is

Smart Energy, the application of computer technology to

the electrical power grid.

 

Over recent decades microprocessors have spread throughout

economic sectors ranging from retailing to

manufacturing. Electrical power is "one of the few

industries yet to feel the full impact of

computerization," notes Prospects for the Smart Energy

Sector in the Pacific Northwest, a new report from the

Athena Institute's Center for Smart Energy, developed for

the Poised for Profit Partnership. But the power industry

is rapidly catching up. In essence, the entire electrical

network from power plants to substations to home

appliances will be smart and software-driven. 

 

One of the strongest drivers for Smart Energy technologies

is the need to modernize an aging and overstressed power

grid for reliability, dramatically underscored by recent

blackouts in the Northeast and in Europe. From 1988-98,

electricity demand grew twice as fast as transmission

capacity. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates

that the power delivery piece of the grid has been running

an investment deficit of $20 billion per year and will

require $100 billion over the next decade to catch up.

Much of this investment will involve upgrading 1950s and

60s technology with modern digital systems, spelling

tremendous opportunities for the Northwest.

 

"The region has quietly become one of the world's leading

centers of Smart Energy research, products and commercial

activity," the Athena report notes. 

 

As Athena inventoried the Northwest Smart Energy sector,

this picture emerged for the first time.

 

"We did not realize the magnitude of what is here until we

started this study," says Jesse Berst, one of the lead

researchers. 

 

To comprehend the region's global stature, consider these

Northwest leaders:

 

* Itron, an annual $600 million firm based in Spokane, is

the world leader in advanced power metering and also has a

strong presence in utility software.

 

* ALSTOM EAI, with 400 employees at its Bellevue

headquarters, creates software used by 40% of the world's

major utilities, and the software programs on which 80% of

the world's wholesale electric markets run. It grosses

$130 million annually. 

 

* Schweitzer Engineering Labs of Pullman, Washington makes

compact solid-state power electronic switches that replace

bulky electromechanical systems. It draws $140 million

annually.

 

* Xantrex, based in Burnaby, B.C. with a manufacturing

plant in Arlington, Washington, makes a substantial share

of the power electronics that control solar panels and

other small scale power generators. It grosses $135

million a year.

 

That a Northwest Smart Energy sector is emerging is not

surprising considering the region's assets. Smart Energy

plays to existing Northwest technology strengths.

 

"This sector has enormous synergies with software,

semiconductors and wireless telecommunications," points

out Berst, a veteran technology analyst and Internet

pioneer.

 

The Northwest also has a heritage of power engineering

expertise rooted in the development of the hydroelectric

system and a transmission network that exports hydropower

all over the west. One particular piece of that heritage

is the presence of two of the nation's finest power

engineering programs at University of Washington and

Washington State University, and a noted electrical

engineering program at Oregon State University. 

 

"We're expanding here because of the base of expertise and

two great universities," ALSTOM EAI CEO J.D. Hammerly

notes. "Washington is one of the few states with

flourishing power engineering schools." 

 

Those schools are part of a regional power technology

research and development base that also gives the

Northwest a significant edge. Schweitzer, for instance,

began with technology developed at WSU. Powertech Labs in

Surrey, BC maintains one of the few high voltage research

facilities on the continent. PNNL in Richland, Washington

is a national and global center for developing the energy

systems of the future, working on everything from smart

appliances to intelligent systems that make it possible to

manage networks of small-scale distributed generators.

 

"You have to have the intelligent grid for the full

benefits of distributed generation to take hold," says

Mike Lawrence, who heads up energy research at PNNL. 

 

One of those benefits is cleaner air, since distributed

generation includes low pollution energy generators

including fuel cells, and zero-pollution technologies such

as wind turbines and solar panels. Generating power close

to where it is used improves efficiency as well since it

eliminates the standard 10% loss of electricity when it is

transmitted long distances.

 

The Athena report represents a milestone. Not only is it

the first identification of a substantial regional

technology opportunity == It also signifies powerful

support for fully catalyzing that opportunity. The report

is the product of the Poised for Profit II partnership

joining Bonneville Power Administration, City of Portland,

Leading Edge British Columbia, NW Energy Technology

Collaborative, PNNL, Oregon Institute of Technology,

Portland Development Commission, Portland Business

Alliance, Portland General Electric, Seattle Office of

Economic Development, and Washington Office of Trade and

Economic Development. The partnership was initiated and is

administered by Climate Solutions, a nonprofit that seeks

to make the Northwest a global warming solutions leader.

 

"As recent blackouts have shown us, there are economic,

safety and environmental reasons driving us to upgrade our

power generation, transmission, distribution and end use

systems," says Climate Solutions Co-Director Rhys

Roth. "Smart Energy offers a double dividend: cost-

effective solutions for the electrical grid and a major

job creation opportunity." 

 

The partnership is the follow-on to the Poised for Profit

I effort in 2001 that overviewed Northwest prospects to

develop globally competitive clean energy technology

industries over the next 20 years. That study concluded

the region could create 32,000 jobs in this sector over

that timeframe if it plays its policy and economic

development cards right. The new partnership aimed to

identify the hottest growth prospects over the next 3-5

years and concluded that Smart Energy represents the

greatest near-term opportunity for the region. 

 

The report recommends a series of steps the region should

take to build its Smart Energy sector. Among them:

 

* Give utilities regulatory incentives to use Smart Energy

technologies. For example, Smart Energy dramatically

improves efficiency, thus reducing the gross amount of

power delivered to customers. But that penalizes

utilities, whose earnings are tied to power deliveries.

Rules need to be changed to give utilities incentives to

deliver efficiency services to customers.

 

* Create testbeds to prove Smart Energy technologies. Most

utilities do not view themselves as early adopters of new

technology. Technology testbeds provide proven track

records that help build markets. The Northwest's leading-

edge Smart Energy companies, innovative utilities and

world-class energy research centers are capable of

mounting globally significant testbed efforts.

 

* Pull together regional Smart Energy research and

development efforts. Coordinate the region's research

centers to avoid duplication, and join in initiatives to

draw new funding to the region. 

 

* Build regional markets for Smart Energy

technologies. Public agencies should incorporate them into

their buildings and operations. Individual consumers

should be financially assisted to buy regional Smart

Energy products in order to build the marketplace.

 

"The Northwest already has the beginnings of a Smart

Energy cluster," the report concludes. By supporting it

through concerted regional action "we can add fuel to the

flame." (((Fuel to the flame?  What's with the combustion

metaphor?  You really had me goin' there!)))

 

Prospects for the Smart Energy Sector in the Pacific

Northwestcan be downloaded from

www.centerforsmartenergy.com.

 

Patrick Mazza is a Climate Solutions researcher. He can be

reached at 206-920-6393 or patrick@climatesolutions.org.

 

Rhys Roth

Climate Solutions

610 4th Avenue E

Olympia, WA 98501

ph 360-352-1763, x101

rhys@climatesolutions.org

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

CREATE TESTBEDS,

PULL TOGETHER

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Cyberpunk.co.uk will be offline from around 6am GMT for about 4 hours tommorow morning 16th December 2003.

 

The server is being moved to a new facility. We are not moving servers rather we are moving facilities which means the server will get phisically moved, probably on the back of a pizza delivery moped, but at least it will stay nice and warm!

(I do an injustice to the hosting company who are brilliant.)

 

We apologise in advance for loss of your service. Have a nice one my son.

   but I am getting old and slow!

I have just changed the home page to one I have had on the back burner (testing) for quite a while. Apart from that nothings changed - especially my lack of time!! Next year though...

Excellent site! Get it into the Cyberpunk Top 100!

Key concepts: Tech Nouveau, zoomorphism, biomorphism,

Victoria and Albert Museum, Hugh Aldersey-Williams, 21st-

century architecture, Ken Yeang, Imre Makovicz, Ralph

Erskine, Philippe Samyn, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster,

Eugene Tsui, Lucy the Margate Elephant.

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  Leans heavily on a

new Victoria and Albert Museum show and a spectacular

new book by British-American design journalist Hugh

Aldersey-Williams.  Lots of links.  Basically a huge

primer on the kind of look the Viridian Movement most

wants to promulgate.  Could prove hugely time-consuming.

You might spend the rest of your life living in stuff

shaped like this.

 

 

The "Zoomorphic" show at the Victoria and Albert Museum,

London.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1269_zoomorphic/homepage.htm

 

Zoomorphic: New Animal Architecture

by Hugh Aldersey-Williams

 

Laurence King Publishing, London, 2003

http://www.laurenceking.co.uk

 

Link:

Hugh Aldersey-Williams

http://www.hughalderseywilliams.com/

 

(((Public-spirited Viridian Dave Phelan

<dphelan*pavilion.co.uk> shipped me this book from Britain

after reading the first Viridian Note on the subject of

Tech Nouveau.  I am thrilled to note that this book is

indeed Pretty Much What We Are Talkin' About. You should

buy it right away, not the least for its 200 colour

illustrations.  The historical timeline of zoomorphic

buildings on pages 32-37 is worth the cost of this book

all by itself.

 

(((Allow me, your Viridian Pope-Emperor, to

put my shoulder behind the wheels of the V&A

and Mr. Aldersey-Williams and give you a freebie,

down-market web-tour of what they and  this fine

tome are on about.)))

 

 

(((I now quote the book.)))

 

page 11

 

"In architecture, this development comes at an opportune

moment.  The old dogmas of both the Modernists and theire

repudiators have collapsed.  Meanwhile, there are new

materials and a new bravado among structural engineers

that allow forms imagined on a computer screen actually to

be constructed.  The technical possibility and the

cultural mood are in rare conjunction.  Freed

from the constraints == ideological and physical == that

favored rectilinear designs, architects are celebrating

with an extravagant eruption of wild forms that go beyond

the merely organic and promise to usher in a period of

biological baroque."

 

(((I like this analysis a lot, but I don't think an

"extravagant eruption" of the "biological baroque" can

or will go much beyond faddism. Tech Nouveau must possess

some ideological and physical constraints in order to

last, because otherwise there is no grain to kick against,

and no way to measure virtuousity in performance.  The

missing ideological and physical constraints are in

"sustainability," which is practically nothing *but* a set

of constraints, and very difficult, very galling ones.)))

 

(((Why is this happening now?  For the best of reasons:

because it's possible now!)))

 

page 23

 

"Modernism as an aesthetic == the International Style ==

may be in retreat, but the movement's underlying doctrine

of functionalism remains unshakable for many architects,

and a second important strain of animal architecture

extends this functionalist tradition.  For, if we believe

(...) that every part of a creature evolves to serve some

function, then by following nature we seek to approach the

ideal of total functionality.  

 

   "This is the root of the functionalist's wish to

emulate nature; and the means to do so more exactly are

fast becoming available, as computer-aided design and

manufacturing allow Fordist economies of scale to be

brought not only to buildings based, like Paxton's Crystal

Palace, on the repetition of identical parts, but to

edifices of more varied morphology assembled from unique

components.  Leaving aside those still detained

by the aesthetics of repetition, the entire 'high-tech'

school now finds itself logically positioned to draw new

lessons and inspiration from biological form."

 

(((You hear all that?  It's actually LOGICAL, MODERN,

FUNCTIONAL and TECHNICAL to make huge buildings shaped

like giant seashells!  Katie, bar the door!)))

 

page 11

 

"There is  the problem of what to call the style, however.

'Organic' has lost its precision, and tends to be applied

loosely to anything with a few curves.  Labels have been

proposed such as 'biotechnic' or 'technorganic,' but these

imply a restrictive dependence of biological form upon

technological means."

 

(((Those terms do imply that restriction, and

think that's a good idea.  It's crucial to tie the concept

of Tech Nouveau to  improvements in the means of

production. Otherwise a vernacular, 100-percent organic

bison-hide tepee  on raw wooden sticks will be the apex of  

design.  Greens have already tried that.  That is never,

ever going to work.)))

 

  "Biomorphism, a term coined during the Art Nouveau

period, remains more specific than 'organic,' but suggests

that it is only shape that matters, whereas it is also

patterns and mechanisms of building use and operation

derived from biological models that interest a number of

architects today."  (((In other words, it's not enough

that a structure *looks* like an animal == it's got to

*act like one.*  This is a great point, because that

designed behavior is the missing link that ties a

high-tech structure to natural-capitalism and a

McDonough-style cradle-to-cradle methodology.)))

 

    "Unfortunately, no one term comfortably encompasses

the variety of the present trend."

 

    (((No term will ever be perfect == even Art Nouveau

had at least four major terms, if you count Jugendstil,

Liberty Style and Arts & Crafts.  Although Aldersey-

Williams' "Zoomorphic" is a swell book title, it's not a

great coinage for a design style; it's too exotic for

everyday usage. "Tech Nouveau"  is, I think, the best tag

available, because it's new and catchy,  it's historically

linked to Art Nouveau, it suggests biomorphism, and it

firmly emphasizes a technical sea change in the way

our stuff is put together.)))

 

  (((Rejoicing in a name (at long last) what Tech Nouveau

needs  most right now is a showplace urban headquarters

("XYZ, The City of Tech Nouveau") and some ardent, moneyed

fashionista group willing to become its official avant-

gardists. They could show up most  anywhere on the planet,

really.  Brazil would be great.)))

 

(((Now let me explain to you the victory condition in an

obscure cultural struggle like this one.  If, within 18

months or so, there is a sudden bloom of nifty

"Tech Nouveau" suites in mags like DWELL, METROPOLIS, and

catalogs like DESIGN  WITHIN REACH, man, we Viridians are

gonna be happier people than we have ever been before!  

Otherwise, well, it's gonna be back to the ol' CAD-CAM

drawing board, and one evil step closer to an across-the-

board Greenhouse calamity.)))

 

(((And now == while those earlier Notes were mostly

about Tech Nouveau consumer items == this is the

big-ticket stuff, here.  Does your city or region

have some structure like these?  It *doesn't*?  Then

you're a hick, damn it!)))

 

Links:

Victor Horta, Tassel House (Belgium, 1890s)

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/mtdavis/243/nouveau/anindex2.html

 

Imre Makovecz, the Stephaneum (Hungary, 1999)

http://www.mediaguide.hu/me/200201stephaneum1HU.html

 

Ralph Erskine, London Ark (London 1991)

http://www.thelondonark.co.uk/architecture.html

 

Ken Yeang, Nagoya Tower (Nagoya, unbuilt)

http://www.trhamzahyeang.com/project/skyscrapers/nagoya-tower01.html

 

Santiago Calatrava, Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee 1994-

2001)

http://www.arcspace.com/architects/calatrava/milwaukee_art_museum/

 

Nicholas Grimshaw, The Eden Project (Cornwall 2001)

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/eden/

 

Eugene Tsui, The Tsui House  (Berkeley 1993-1995)

http://www.tdrinc.com/tsuihs.html

 

Plashet School Footbridge (London, 1999-2000)

http://www.techniker.ltd.uk/plashet.htm

 

Gregory Burgess, The Brambuk Living Cultural Centre

(Victoria Australia 1986-1990)

http://oak.arch.utas.edu.au/projects/aus/163/cbram.html

 

Renzo Piano, Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome 2003)

http://www.structurae.de/en/projects/data/pro345.php

 

Norman Foster, Swiss Re Headquarters (London 2004)

http://www.fosterandpartners.com/interne....No=1004

 

A gas station, of all things, by Philippe Samyn.

http://www.floornature.com/worldaround/articolo.php/art251/3/en

 

Samyn and Partners, Belgium.

www.samynandpartners.be/

 

Festo Airtecture.

http://www.liv.ac.uk/researchintelligence/issue12/beyond.html

http://flow.doorsofperception.com/content/thallemer_trans.html

http://www.viridiandesign.org/notes/51-75/00054_festo_stingray.html

 

page 168:

 

"We would like the 'intelligent' bulding of a future

generation to open its windows like eyelids to the dawn

and to sense the heat in the rising sun or respond to the

chill of a breeze by raising the hairs on its back for

insulation.  Whether it does such things literally or

metaphorically is now the issue.  Of course, it is

possible to engineer solutions not unlike this in

the old brute fashion, but since nature does these things

so well it seems foolish not to sneak a look at her

answers first.

 

"One of its pioneers, zoologist-turned-engineer Julian

Vincent"

 

Link:

http://www.smartarch.nl/smartgrid/items/003_julian.htm

 

"defines biomimetics as 'the abstraction of good design

from nature.'  The qualifier 'good' is important, as is

the term 'abstraction' == biomimetics is not about slavish

imitation of nature at any cost, but the judicious

selection of observed properties and their subsequent

development into sophisticated artificial technologies."

 

(((In other words, try not to do this:)))

http://www.lucytheelephant.org/indexlow.html

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

GO REVEL IN IT!

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Key concepts:  Tech Nouveau, web graphics, consumer

products, architecture, Viridian Vatican house party,

Turkey City science fiction workshop

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  Nice pics.  Also includes

a cheery invite to a Viridian Vatican party this weekend.

 

*********************************************************

The doors will be open at the Viridian Vatican

this Saturday Nov 22 02003. It's another Turkey City

Writers Workshop.   Our literary lion  for the

season will be no less a woman than Connie Willis,

novelist, toastmistress, critic's darling, and a

gal who has won more science fiction awards than

you can shake a dozen sticks at.

Link:

http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/5595/willis/willis.html

 

Festivities will start around half past eight pm or so.

You'll be witnessing a pack of science fiction writers,

weary yet elated with their literary labors, hanging

around here in my increasingly legendary Viridian mansion,

shooting the professional breeze and drinking beer.

If you've never been here before, send me email.

*********************************************************

 

In Viridian Note 00391, on the subject of "Tech Nouveau"

buildings and products, we Papally commanded:

 

(((Somebody go find us web-pics of all this stuff!)))

 

Public-spirited Viridian reader Cotty Chubb

<cotty*chubbco.com>  declares himself up for this task!

"The least I can do, considering all you've given me."

 

*********

 

   "There is a new, witty nouveau afoot, from the Vallo

watering can by Monika Mulder at Ikea, which looks like a

stork,"

 

Link:

http://www.svenskform.se/svenskform/industriell_design.asp

(halfway down the page)

 

"to the coffee and tea set by Greg Lynn for Alessi,

which opens like a clove of garlic."

 

Link:

http://www.a-matter.com/eng/related/Alessi-architecture-re052-01-q.asp

 

"Tord Boontje's chandeliers for Swarovski look like clouds

of slender branches surrounding a light."

 

Link:

http://www.designboom.com/snapshots/milan_02/swarovski.html

 

   "In the United States, the Spanish architect Santiago

Calatrava's addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum looks

like a giant bird about to take off."

 

Link:

http://www.mam.org/site/photos/framesHTML.html

 

"William Sawaya, a designer based in Milan, created a

blossom-like plastic Calla chair for Heller, which was

inspired by a lily."

 

Link:

http://www.highbrowfurniture.com/seating/products/cal_chr/

 

"A new digital camera for Creative Labs by the California

company Whipsaw Design takes its inspiration from the

many-chambered spiral shell called the nautilus."

 

Link:

http://us.creative.com/product....ct=4878

 

(((A final note:

I mislinked Worldchanging.com in the last note.  They're a

dotcom rather than a dotorg.)))

 

Link:

http://www.worldchanging.com

 

(((I am reading this site five times a week.  Those guys

are rocking over there.)))

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

OH YEAH

I AM SO WITH THAT

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Key concepts: worldchanging.org, weblogging,

cybergreen activism, Tech Nouveau

 

Attention Conservation Notice: You should definitely

take the time to read this Note.  This is good news of

high importance to the Viridian scene.

 

********************************************************

(((Alex Steffen, Alan AtKisson, Jamais Cascio, Dawn Danby.

If you've been on Viridian List any length of time, these

are going to be familiar names to you.  They're either

hard-core, long-time conspirators from the Viridian Curia,

people who win our design contests, or  really cool  

futurist guys, or all three.

 

(((Now they've rounded up a pal or two, plus the services

of Laughing Squid == (likely the coolest ISP in the world)

== and boldly started a world-changing weblog.)))

 

Link:

http://www.worldchanging.org

 

(((I just got through surfing it.  Man, does that thing

rock.  It's shaping up to be a kind of BoingBoing of

Cybergreen. Practically everything on that blog is of

direct, penetrating interest to anybody who would be

putting up with Viridianism.

 

(((So go help them.  Go help them right away. I don't know

what they need == probably everything == but whatever it

is, go try and give them some.

 

((("Worldchanging" is very much the same work the Viridian

movement has been  doing since 1998, only now (thanks

God!) it's being done by a relatively organized team of

capable activists instead of by some wacky novelist in his

spare time!  So go make them famous.  Do it now.)))

*********************************************************

 

(((And if that awesomely cool development weren't enough,

check out this great article that I just snagged off

"Worldchanging."  It's the New York Times suddenly

discovering and validating Viridian aesthetics!  There's a

tagline now! "Tech Nouveau."  

 

(((TECH NOUVEAU.  There may be prettier coinages, but

needless to say, we Viridians are absolutely down with

this trend, no matter what it may get labelled:

zoomorphism, organic minimalism, neo-organicism, Tech

Nouveau.  That is our signature Look.  It's amazing that

it can still fight its way up through a grimly

militarizing society, but that's a tribute to its power,

its burning need to exist.

 

(((Christmas is coming.  Are you Viridian? Go buy

something "Tech Nouveau" and flaunt it!  Give it to your

best friends!  Go consume it, for heaven's sake!  Waste

not an hour.)))

 

 

Source: (tiresome registry required)

Phil Patton

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/garden/06NOTE.html?ex=10

68958800&en=abd8509d3632147b&ei=5070

 

NYTimes.com > Home & Garden

 

CURVE APPEAL Ross Lovegrove's stairway, with its helix

profile, is part of a new tendency by designers to borrow

forms from nature.

 

Design

Biology and Biochemistry

Interior Design

Home Furnishings

(((I'm loving this already and the article hasn't even

started yet!)))

 

GONE NATURAL Ross Lovegrove's staircase.

 

"Going With the Flow, Tech Nouveau Arrives

 

By PHIL PATTON

 

Published: November 6, 2003

 

  "REAL estate in the Notting Hill section of London has

become a lot more valuable since the designer Ross

Lovegrove bought a building there nine years ago and

established his home and studio. So when he needed more

room this year, instead of building outward, he expanded

downward == with a remarkable staircase.

 

   "It looks like radiating flower petals or like part of

a double helix == the code for DNA == but with sensuous

blades of a glass and carbon composite instead of building

blocks of nucleotides. Mr. Lovegrove calls his design,

which echoes the sensibility of his bleached-bones Go

chair for Bernhardt, organic essentialism.

 

(((Hey!  Are you rich?  Buy me that Lovegrove Go chair!  

I'll tell you where to ship it! I wanted one since

1999!)))

http://www.dwr.com

 

   "That sensibility has also been called zoomorphism or

neo-organicism or biomorphism, and reflects a widening

interest among designers in borrowing the flowing forms of

nature. But because of new materials and aesthetics, these

influences are updating the effulgent, botanical shapes of

Art Nouveau of a century ago and rethinking the biomorphic

sci-fi boomerangs and kidney-shape coffee tables of the

mid-20th century.  (((Hey Mr Home Design Critic, "sci-fi

boomerang" guys were updating-and-rethinking all this five

years ago!  So there!)))

 

   "There is a new, witty nouveau afoot, from the Vallo

watering can by Monika Mulder at Ikea, which looks like a

stork, to the coffee and tea set by Greg Lynn for Alessi,

which opens like a clove of garlic. Tord Boontje's

chandeliers for Swarovski look like clouds of slender

branches surrounding a light. A great deal of building in

Britain has biomorphic roots, for instance, Snohetta's

whale-shape museum addition planned for Margate, Foster &

Partners' Swiss Re sea sponge building going up in London

and Ushida Findlay's proposal to build a starfish-shape

country manor house in Cheshire.

 

(((Thank you Europe, you wonderful continent you!)))

 

   "In the United States, the Spanish architect Santiago

Calatrava's addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum looks

like a giant bird about to take off. William Sawaya, a

designer based in Milan, created a blossom-like plastic

Calla chair for Heller, which was inspired by a lily. A

new digital camera for Creative Labs by the California

company Whipsaw Design takes its inspiration from the

many-chambered spiral shell called the nautilus.

 

(((Somebody go find us web-pics of all this stuff!)))

 

   "The spiraling nautilus shape is to the current crop

of designs as twining-vine leaf patterns were to Art

Nouveau.

 

   "Dan Hardin of Whipsaw Design said, perhaps a little

too floridly: 'I wanted users to feel an instant

connection with the camera by making it look like a

precious shell you find washed up on the beach and want to

examine and caress. With its natural beauty and tactile

curiosity, the familiar nautilus form, with its graceful

progressive curve, expressed this perfectly.'

 

(((What the hell is "too florid" about that?  That's

a beautiful piece of design rhetoric!)))

 

  "But the new design also looks to new sides of nature

== sometimes microscopic, subatomic, cellular, even

theoretical.  ((("Make the Invisible Visible" == We

Viridians have an entire list of principles about this!)))

BMW's X coupe concept car shifts from standard

aerodynamics to thermodynamics for the 'flame surfaced'

look that Chris Bangle, chief of design for the company,

calls 'sexy math.'  (((Oh to have lived to see the

day when there was a coinage called "Sexy Math"!  Thank

you Chris Bangle! "Sexy Math!" Sure hope you can stick

some hydrogen in those damn cars!)))

 

  "The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has a show on

called 'Zoomorphism,' whose curator is Hugh Aldersey-

Williams. (((Get me the book of the show!  Cost is no

object!)))  It includes biomorphic buildings by Mr.

Calatrava (whose bridges and structures look like skeletal

remains) and Frank Gehry (whose titanium skins evoke fish

scales, and whose undulating shapes look like the frozen

billows of waves or flower petals) and also explores

Wilkinson Ayre's nautilus theater, which has a spiraling

arrangement of 20 movie screens of different sizes.  

(((They're the greatest architects of our age! Them

and Foster, and Foster got name-checked up there in

paragraph four!)))

 

  "Steven Holl's new Massachusetts Institute of

Technology dormitory was inspired by the humble sponge.

The Dutch design star Marcel Wanders has created a riot of

nature-inspired shapes, including vases based on sea

sponges, a Flower Chair inscribed with fine wire flowers

and his voluptuous Egg Vase.  (((I love that Wanders

guy!  He's the greatest slapstick humorist north of

Phillipe Starck!)))

 

  "In Mr. Lovegrove's studio, bones and fossils are

displayed as ideal forms == 'no fat' design he calls them

== arrived at by nature. His organic essentialist

movement, he said by e-mail, 'is almost biomimetic and

inspired by new materials, processes and technologies.'

(((Hallelujah!)))

 

(Page 2 of 2)  (((incredibly, there's even more of it,

and it keeps getting better!)))

 

  "The new shapes depend on high-tech materials and

methods: injection molding, carbon fiber, computer

modeling. New materials like carbon fiber, plastics and

resins lend themselves to more flowing shapes than metal

or wood. Computers that can render the flows of forces ==

the loads, thrusts and twists == allow designers to work

with more dynamic forms. (((Blobject alert!  Yowzah!)))

 

  "To design his staircase, Mr. Lovegrove went through

countless computer analyses and consulted with engineers,

then built the staircase with tools and techniques more

often used to fabricate aircraft or Formula One race cars.

(((Did I tell you how happy this is making me?  I am

absolutely eating this up with an injection-molded

spoon.)))

 

   "Having built the molds, he is eager to make more

staircases. 'I have already received orders from a count

in Rome who would like one for his palazzo,' said Mr.

Lovegrove, who has not yet set a price.  (((Man, that's

the Art Nouveau tradition for you. How totally 1912!  How

on earth does a designer find "a count with a palazzo in

Rome" these days?  Did Ross buy him off eBay?)))

 

  "Scott Henderson, the director of industrial design at

Smart Design, (yay!) a company known for thoughtful

ergonomic tools, (i-rey, mon!)  thinks he knows why the

curvy, organic new shapes are so compelling. 'Because the

human form is curvy, it makes sense that we'd want to

interact with curvy stuff,' he said.  (((Couldn't

have said that better myself!  In fact I *did* say it

myself!)))

 

   "A new Museum of Modern Art book that focuses on

design, 'Objects of Design: From the Museum of Modern

Art,' (((hi Paola!))) includes Peter Reed's essay 'Modern

Nature,' which discusses Antonio Gaudi in company with

Charles Eames, Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen and Philippe

Starck. Hector Guimard, the French architect who designed

the floral Art Nouveau entrances to the Paris Metro, is

cited in the essay for calling on designers to imitate

nature, 'the great architect of the universe.'  (((I'm

breaking down sniffling with gratitude here... just

let me get my breath a minute...)))

 

Link:

http://www.artbook.com/0870706969.html

 

  "Mr. Reed said by phone: 'Organic is back in many ways.

Often it is because new technology and materials have made

it possible to produce forms you couldn't make before.'

(((Yeah!  See, that's called "progress"! When it works,

people think it's really great!)))

 

  "The computer has been important in rendering organic

shapes, but designers are increasingly paying attention to

what might be called the software of evolution: complexity

theory. Half understood by laypeople, complexity theory,

which sees nature as evolving toward better-designed bones

and brains, has managed to inspire designers, too.

 

   "After all, said Mr. Henderson of Smart Design,

'Things in nature have been going through a perfection

process for millions of years of evolution.'"

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

OH MY GOODNESS ME

IT'S JUST SO...

BEAUTIFUL

(sniff)

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Key concepts: Mecca, Ramadan, floods, obstreperous

Saudi behavior at climate change accords, pilgrims

drowning

 

Attention Conservation Notice: Few English-language

news sources seem to care much that Mecca is briefly

subaqueous

 

********************************************************

News has been coming out of Brazil lately that is

completely odd and off the map. Lula (and his peculiar

culture minister, Gilberto Gil) are the most remarkable

politicians today who aren't  invading or shooting

anybody.

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22831/story.htm

 

Johnson Atoll, chemical warfare disposal site, to be

returned to wilderness.

http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2003_11_7.html#0E88A512

http://www.raytheon.com/rse/jatoll.html

 

New supercomputer climate model spawns unexpected tiny

typhoons.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994211

********************************************************

 

(((It wasn't bad enough that Al Qaeda decided to blow up

Mecca during this year's Ramadan.)))

Link:

http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/tue/nov11w19.htm

 

(((They're also drowning.  That's right, drowning from

torrential rains inside Saudi Arabia.  Happens all the

time, eh?  Eighteen feet of water in the spiritual center

of Islam, yep, move right along, business as usual,

nothing to notice here!)))

 

Links:

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=7744

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...._floods

 

Source: Yahoo, AFP

 

"12 dead as torrential rains hit Mecca: medics

 

"RIYADH (AFP) == Torrential rains around the Muslim holy

city of Mecca left 12 people dead, including six children,

and 50 injured, Saudi medical sources said.

 

   "The severe weather hit Mecca on Monday and water

levels in some parts of the city reached six meters (20

feet), according to the medical sources.

 

   "Earlier the Al-Jazeera daily had put the death toll

from the flooding at seven dead and 48 injured.

 

  "'The floods trapped students and employees and traffic

came to a standstill in the Al-Zaher and Nuaraya

neighbourhoods... and all over the city,' said the paper.

 

   "Meanwhile, Mecca's ruler Prince Abdul Majeed bin

Abdul Aziz was quoted by Al-Watan daily as saying 'one

person was killed when he was trapped in the flooding in

one of Mecca's villages.'

 

    "Although Saudi Arabia is one of the most arid

countries in the world and includes the vast Rub al-Khali

desert, or Empty Quarter, severe rainstorms are common in

the mountainous region along the west coast."

 

(((Well, what goes around, comes around.)))

http://www.up.umnw.ethz.ch/~mmalte....iarabia

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

SEVEN PILLARS OF WISDOM

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Glad to hear about your Mum. Puts things in perspective.

Key concepts: blogging, Wired Magazine

 

Attention Conservation Notice: yet more about

the Pope-Emperor's non-Viridian activities; involves

weblogs, notoriously an effort in which other

people have to do all the work.

 

(((It might seem that I've had little to do

with environmental activities lately, but I was

busily attending  the "Eternally Yours" conference

in Eindhoven and the latest AIGA conference in

Vancouver.  Two stellar events, as green-design

gigs go. I learned a lot.  Someday I'll tell you

all about it. If I can make the time, that is.)))

 

Links:

http://www.eternally-yours.org/

http://powerofdesign.aiga.org/

 

 

(((This AIGA gig was particularly and relentlessly

Green, right down to the recyclable lanyard badges

and recycled, chlorine-free paper.  Maybe it was

because AIGA was held outside the USA this year,

but most every American graphics pundit who

took the stage seemed to have something angry,

ashamed and bitter to say about the Bush Administration.

Mind you, these are sweet, mild-mannered graphic-artsy

people who  in happier circumstances should have been

talking about, I dunno, serifs or something.  I wasn't

surprised to see some of this sentiment, but the

universality of it was a little unnerving, frankly.)))

 

(((In the meantime, I have gone and started a new daily

weblog.)))

 

Link:

http://blog.wired.com/sterling

 

(((I'm busily working on a "Beyond the Beyond" Frequently

Asked Questions list, too.  Because (thanks to the

fact that my weblog is associated with a major

magazine) quite a lot of "Beyond the Beyond" fanmail

is already showing up in my emailbox!  Wow!

 

(((My new blog's FAQ not quite ready for prime-time yet,

though, so  I thought I might share it with Viridian List

first.)))

 

************************************************

THE "BEYOND THE BEYOND" FAQ (pre-release alpha)

************************************************

 

1.  

Q.  You ####### cyberpunk dilettante!  Call yourself

a blogger?  Where's the RSS feed?  Every blog

that matters has an RSS feed! You suck!

 

A.  Yeah?  Up yours!

 

2.

Q.  I perceive that there is no commentary allowed on your

blog. This is an outrage and an affront against the spirit

that made the Internet what it is today.  You do make some

mildly interesting points, but your pathetic, half-

educated drivel  cannot survive in the online world

without  my magisterial addenda.   When will you put

this to rights?

 

A. Go away.

 

3.  

Q. Do you get *paid* for doing this?  Really?  This?

You're kidding me.

A.  Yes indeedy.

 

4.

Q.  Let me get this straight.  You and your, uh,

employers, you and them somehow  expect me to actually

*log on* to your stupid *website*?  Where's the RSS?

I'd explain to you what "RSS" means, but I'm busy having

my lunch homogenized so that I can inject it

straight into my arteries.

 

A.  Do I *look* like I own Lycos and Tripod?  Wise up!

 

5.

Q.  Hey wait a minute.  This is some kind of Tripod or

Lycos software you're using, right?  Why don't you build

your own blog from scratch, like a real blogger?  Maybe

you can build something cool that blows up so big and

badly that Google buys you out.

 

A.  I've got an even better idea.  You can build it, and

give it to me, and then pay me to write on it.  And, while

you're at it, where's the RSS?  Be real sure that RSS feed

doesn't blow up the custom template, okay?

 

6.

Q. I know a lot about web design.  You suck. Shall I

explain to you how to make that blog of yours look

tidier and more professional, like a real magazine?

 

A.  I already write for a real magazine!  See that

"subscribe" button right there in the margin of my blog?

Subscribe to the real magazine, log off and read it!

 

7.

Q. Oh my God in Heaven!  You've got EMOTICONS in your

blog! Horrible little dot-gif emoticons!  The ultimate in

cutesy kitsch online trash!  Have you gone completely

insane?

 

A.  Aw c'mon, they're sitting right here in my Control

Panel.  I bet you don't even *have* a Control Panel

on your blog.  Wait till I show you my tiny brown teddy

bear!

 

8.

Q.  These seem to be some pretty interesting websites

you've discovered, but you don't say much about them.

At least, not enough to suit me.  You should work harder.

Can't you explain them a lot more thoroughly?  I'm getting

kind of confused.

 

A.  I'm a novelist! You want a lot of words in a row?

Buy one of my novels!  What do you need here,

an Amazon button?  Get a grip!

 

9.

Q.  Why don't you arrange all your links so they open

in a fresh page?  I like my desktop nice and cluttered.

 

A.  Clutter your own damn desktop!  And be glad you've

got any links!

 

10.

Q.  Are you aware that your graphics are distorting

the margins of your webpage?

 

A.  Be glad you've got any graphics!

 

11.

Q.  Hey dude, those naked Iranian chicks are so hot!

Got any more of those?  Wow!

 

A.  Those women are not Iranian.  It's the photographer

who is Iranian.  And she's not even Iranian, she's

an emigre, even if she is the Shah's niece.  Also,

they're not really that hot.

 

12.

Q. Hey dude, that cute Turkish pop-singer is super, super-

hot! Where'd you hide the "Turkish Pop Nude Celebrity"

site? There must be one, right?  There must be ten!

 

A.  Fella, there are *hundreds* of cute Turkish pop-

singers.

 

13.

Q.  This is some kinda weblog!  I am loving your "Hot

Chicks of the Tragic 21st Century Moslem Self-Immolation"

theme! Yeah man!  Will it *all* be like this?

 

A.  Who knows?

 

O=c=O O=c=O

WHO KNOWS

O=c=O O=c=O

Try Call Of Duty. WWII and not fantasy but its pretty awesome all the same - if you like getting shot at that is.

Media

 

Key concepts: Dead Media Project, media studies,

Steve Baldwin

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  Has nothing to

do with environmental issues, even though a

patch of California the size of Rhode Island

is on fire.

 

The Dead Media Project died some time ago,

although all the data is still there. (Whew!)  Years of

selfless labor!  The world's greatest single

repository on the subject of weird, gimmicky,

extinct forms of communication!  I worked on

that thing for ages.

http://www.deadmedia.org

 

But Halloween rolls around == and lo, the

DEAD WALK AGAIN!!

 

Suddenly a new, selfless martyr is willing to appoint

himself editor of the Dead Media mailing list!

It's Steve Baldwin of "Ghost Sites," the website

where extinct websites live on (whether they

want to or not)!

http://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/

 

You can see from this that, if anything,

Mr. Baldwin is overqualified for the job.

http://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/scb.shtml

 

Here is his email.  If you want to be on the

revived Dead Media mailing list, let Steve Baldwin know.

steve_baldwin*hotmail.com

 

Lord knows I will.  If you want to contribute,

even better.  Needless to say, since Dead Media

Project went into abeyance, media have been

dying at unprecedented rates.  There is

plenty to discuss in this line of research,

and just maybe, someday somebody will

really write that "Dead Media Handbook."

 

Tangentially, I am informed that my net.art

installation "Embrace the Decay" (a work

blatantly infected by dead-media aesthetics) has broken

all previous LAMOCA records for web art traffic,

over at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.

http://www.moca.org/museum/dg_detail.php?dgDetail=bsterling

 

A rare but precious example of Viridian design

activists actually designing something!  Hooray

for us!

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

STAY TUNED FOR MORE EXCITING

WEB NEWS INVOLVING OTHER PEOPLE

DOING MOST OF MY WORK FOR ME

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

As requested by players we have trimmed the games forum down to live games only and have set up another catagory named Mortified Games for deceased games.

 

If your game has been moved there in error please send me a PM and I will move it back!

Of course we missed you! Glad to hear your mums on the mend.

Key concepts: global warming, Antarctic vortex, permanent

drought in Australia, water crisis, eventual collapse of

Australian civilization

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  Who cares about

the miserable fate of doomed Australia? I'm going to

Norway and Holland, starting tomorrow!

 

Links:

"WiFi Speed Spray."  Okay, I'm believing that hook line

and sinker, but what about the ozone layer?

http://www.j-walk.com/other/wifispray/

 

Buying and *skinning* Tickle Me Elmo.  And making jackets

from him.  Okay, I laughed.

http://www.feldmangallery.com/pages/exhsolo/exhhea03.html

 

Tree falls in storm.  Italy ceases to have power.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/12/world/main572985.shtml

****************************************************

 

Link: http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s948858.htm

That sure must have been fun news to hear on Australian

TV.

 

Source: http://www.enn.com/news/2003-09-24/s_8723.asp

Michael Byrne

 

"Scientists See Antarctic Vortex as Drought Maker

Tue September 23, 2003 05:04 AM ET

By Michael Byrnes

 

"SYDNEY (Reuters) == Australia may be facing a permanent

drought because of an accelerating vortex of winds

whipping around the Antarctic that threatens to disrupt

rainfall, scientists said on Tuesday.

 

     "Spinning faster and tighter, the 100 mile an hour

jetstream is pulling climate bands south and dragging rain

from Australia into the Southern Ocean, they say.

 

    "They attribute the phenomenon to global warming and

loss of the ozone layer over Antarctica.

 

   "'This is a very serious situation that we're probably

not confronting as full-on as we should,' Dr James Risbey

of the Center for Dynamical Meteorology and Oceanography

at Melbourne's Monash University told Reuters on Tuesday.

 

(((James Risbey, actual scientist, not a weird crank.)))

http://www.marine.csiro.au/seminars/sem-abs02/Risbey.html

 

  "'There has been real added impetus here in Australia

to try to study (the wind vortex) because we've been faced

with an almost precipitous rainfall decline, particularly

in the southwest of Western Australia,' Risbey said.  

(((One should think that a permanent lack of water on

one's continent would provoke some scholarly interest,

yes.)))

 

   "Australia, one of the world's top agricultural supply

nations, has just been through its worst drought in 100

years.  (((Australia, *formerly* one of the world's top

agricultural supply nations"....)))

 

    "Risbey and other Australians are part of an

international band of scientists and meteorologists

focusing on the vortex as an explanation for declining

rainfall.

 

    "Rainfall has declined by nearly 20 percent in the

past seven years over parts of southwestern Western

Australia, through to Victoria and into southern New South

Wales state, Risbey said.  (((Interesting trend there...

how about those next 7 years?  Will Murdoch's FOX NEWS

offer bold coverage of a depopulated nation?)))

 

     "At the same time, temperatures have been rising in

Australia by about one degree Celsius over the past 50

years, requiring more rain to fall just to keep the status

quo.

 

"SPINNING FASTER

 

     "Australian scientists from the Bureau of

Meteorology, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial

Research Organization (CSIRO) and Monash University are

working with the U.S. Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric

Research and the British Antarctic Division on the

Antarctic vortex.  (((The "coalition of the willing."  

"Wow, we've finally discovered the mass destruction, and

it's right here in Melbourne!")))

 

     "Focusing on the vortex for only the past few years,

they have quantified increased velocity of the wind spin

by measuring pressure differences between high latitudes

over the Antarctic continent and mid latitudes in the

Southern Ocean near Australia.

 

    "A cooling polar area and warming elsewhere is

spinning the vortex faster, which in turn pulls winds and

pressure belts that deliver Australia's winter and spring

rains southward.

 

     "Australia's 2002/03 drought, the worst in 100 years

and the cause of shortages of a wide variety of some of

the world's largest supplies of bulk farm foods, was too

extensive to blame on the Antarctic vortex.  (((Oh.  "Too

extensive to blame."  Hmmm.)))

 

    "But a long-standing drought in the southwest corner

of Western Australia state could be a foretaste of more

extensive drought yet to come in Australia, Risbey said.

 

    "Most worrying is that this could be more or less

permanent, scientists say.

(((Climate change is death knell for 160,000 Third

Worlders a year, and, oops, the rather rich and advanced

continent of Australia.)))

Link:

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArt....3533911

 

   "Water resource managers were already treating the

rainfall decline in southwest Western Australia as

permanent. Melbourne was now in a seven-year drought,

while New South Wales has had declining rainfall for the

past 50 years or so, Risbey said.

 

   "'It is consistent with...the polar vortex,' he said.

 

(((Say, didn't they film "Mad Max" in Australia, with that

mangled feuding over the last of the fossil fuels and all

that?  "I remember lingerie.")))

Link:

http://www.atlyrics.com/quotes/m/madmax2theroadwarrior.html

 

     "Scientists say Australian agriculture would be able

to cope with a 15 percent to 20 percent drop in rainfall,

although farmers may not agree. But changed management and

consumption will be necessary, possibly not only in

southern Australia but also in parts of South America,

South Africa and New Zealand."

 

((("'It is not in Australia's interests to ratify the

Kyoto protocol,' Howard told parliament."  Lotta coal

exports... think that'll buy some rain?)))

http://www.planetark.org/dailyne....ory.htm

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

BEYOND THUNDERDOME

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Key concepts:  John Kessel, Viridian Vatican,

Turkey City

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  Basically

an invitation to drop by and drink beer.

Lots of semi-random links.

**************************************************

 

(((Remember this from the last Viridian Note?)))

 

"1.  A Viridian friend of a friend sent this portrait of

Isobel while she was still at sea."

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/Hurricane-Isobel.jpg

 

(((Well, it's an urban legend!  It's phony baloney!  Nice photo, but

it's got nothing to do with Isobel!  Man, it's tough to trust

the "friend of a friend" on the Internet.)))

http://www.snopes.com/photos/isabel.asp

 

(((Okay, now some guy *claims* these are Isobel pictures from

Baltimore. But are they *really?*  Can you *prove that?*)))

http://petehawkes.com/isabel/display.php?id=01

 

Ross Gelbspan waxes wroth, names names.

http://www.democracynow.org/article....&tid=25

 

Discordia wants you.

http://www.discordia.us

 

Man, that Murakami.  What a cut-up.

http://www.metropolismag.com/html....ty.html

 

Some seriously retinal-boggling optical illusion art here.

Don't drive afterward.

http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/saishin-e.html

 

The Renewable Energy Roundup is this weekend.  I can't go.

You should go if at all possible.

http://www.theroundup.org/

 

Check this out:  there's a big, ambitious "Austin Green

Festival" next month, and I can't go to that either.

http://www.greenfestivals.com/austin.htm

 

John Kessel is a science fiction writer and a good

pal of mine.  John is coming to Austin. We'll be

discussing science fiction stories and drinking

beer this Saturday.  With some friends.

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tenshi/index2.html

 

If you'd like to meet John Kessel, send me email and

I'll tell you how and when to get to the Viridian Vatican on

this Saturday night.

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

"THE EARTH IS ROUND

ELVIS IS DEAD

THE CLIMATE IS CHANGING"

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Key concepts: Washington DC, photojournalism,

Hurricane Isobel, Viridian Pope-Emperor

 

Attention Conservation Notice: is there anything in

the world more boring than some guy showing you

his vacation photos?

 

**********************************************************

Link:  Wow, look everybody!  I've done a cool piece of

electronic interactive multimedia web-accessible techno-

literate digital net.art! After all these years of hanging

out on nettime list, I'm finally right in the game!  

Look out Ars Electronica!

 

By the way, you need Flash 6 and broadband for this thing,

or,  if you're on 56K dialup, get yourself a magazine to

leaf through, or something.

 

"Embrace the Decay" by Bruce Sterling.

Thank you stalwart creatives!

 

Jared Tarbell: Web Design, Programming, Typewriter

Simulation

Duncan Stewart: Engineering, Digital Video

James Lawrence: Best Boy and Gaffer

Monty Zukowski: Decay Algorithms

David Arney: Systems Design Research

David Flanagan: Consulting Engineer

Eric Campdoras: Flash Programmer

Rex Ravenelle: Webmaster

Lisa Mark: Producer

and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

 

http://www.moca.org/museum/dg_detail.php?dgDetail=bsterling

*********************************************

 

 

1.  A Viridian friend of a friend sent this portrait of

Isobel while she was still at sea.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/Hurricane-Isobel.jpg

 

2.  But I went to Washington DC anyway.  Looks like

Washington is still Washington, hurricane or no.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/novusordo.jpg

 

3.  My event was cancelled because of the storm.

So I went over to the "Competitive Enterprise Institute,"

the globally notorious Greenhouse-denial tools of Exxon-

Mobil. Surprise, the hurricane had  closed them too!

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/CEIcloses.jpg

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/interna....00.html

 

4.  CATO Institute also denies the Greenhouse.  They were

in tree-crashing distance from my hotel.

http://www.cato.org/people/michaels.html

http://www.cato.org/dailys/06-15-01.html

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/cato%20tree.jpg

 

5.  Kind of a tough commute to the CATO office there,

what with that big dead tree right on their street.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/catotree2.jpg

 

6. As soon as I took this pic of that wind-flung

windowframe right on CATO's doorstep, that CATO janitor

rushed out and picked it up and carried it inside.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/catodebris.jpg

 

7.  The local arts community had to put their statuary

in bondage, lest the winds carry them  off a la Dorothy

in Oz.  Whoops, that pic is sideways.  Oh well, those

ropes will hold her down.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/bondagestatue1.jpg

 

8.  Kind of an ironic feminist statement here; maybe she

was boldly applying for equal pay for equal work, or maybe

this bulky gal is one o'them "Schwarzenegger Feminists."

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/statuebonds.jpg

 

9.  The bondage ropes may leave, but those big concrete

truckbomb barriers are the signature architectural motif

of War-On-Terror Washington.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/truckbombbonds.jpg

 

10.  Live at the Washington Monument.  One has to wonder

why they didn't reverently take in all those flags.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/landscapeflags.jpg

 

11.  After all, that's George Washington's monument.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/stormflags1.jpg

 

12.  When Washington finally won the Revolutionary War,

the British band played "The World Turned Upside Down."

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/stormflags2.jpg

 

13.  Who's minding the store?

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/blowntoshreds.jpg

 

14.  Before I got into design, I probably wouldn't

have noticed this strange lantern on the side of the

Commerce Department that features *bats and opium

poppies.* Maybe it's a gift from the Afghani Commerce

Department!

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/batspoppies.jpg

 

14.  Nice Commerce motto here... though, if you're working

in fossil-fuel commerce, you're *creating* the winds and

tempests as you "invade every zone."

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/commercewind.jpg

 

15.  The locals didn't look too pleased about the

drenching sheets of rain.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/drenchedlocal.jpg

 

16. Washington lost about 300 trees to Isobel.  Of course

that's nothing much compared to the fate of Annapolis.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/monument.jpg

 

17.  Here I am making the scene at the White House during

a  hurricane.  I probably shouldn't be enjoying myself

quite that much, but, well, it was only a measly Category

2.  Wait'll next time.

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/whitehousepope.jpg

 

18.  Front yard of the White House the morning after

Isobel. Hey, great job with the forest preservation policy

there!

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/whdebris.jpg

 

19.  The White House handily comes equipped with its own

chain saws!

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/whchainsaw.jpg

 

20.  Meanwhile, back in dizzy old San Francisco, where

Democrats cling to power by tooth and nail....

http://www.viridiandesign.org/isobel/solarcisco.jpg

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

YES, IT'S ELECTION SEASON...

NOT LIKE WE GET TO ELECT

A NEW ATMOSPHERE, THOUGH

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

I use System X 10.2.3 on the iMac and the 15" G4 Powerbook.

 

On the sony Viao laptop i have Win 2000.

 

I have not tried running a windows emulator on the Powerbook yet but from what I have read they can be superb - there is now an Open Source one, since Microsoft bought out Virtual PC. What I would love to try is running XP on a G5 - should be awesome! But I don't have a G5 yet...

Just had an e-mail from Chris Moriarty

 

Quote

booktitle: Spin State publisher: Bantam Spectra isbn: 0553382136 Description: Well, I'm probably the wrong person to ask, but here's some of the advance puffery. Great site by the way. I use your lists to find new UK cyberpunk so I don't have to wait on the whims of American publishers ... Spin State delivers the rare mix of action and ideas that sf fans crave ... with style that springboards from the best of the cyberpunks to make Moriarty someone to be closely watched." -SFRevu.com A spiky, detailed, convincing, compelling page-turner ... Chris Moriarty is a dangerous talent. -Stephen Baxter Vivd, sexy, and sharply written ... a non-stop white-knuckle tour of quantum physics, artificial intelligence and the human heart. -Nicola Griffith A thrilling high-end upgrade of cyberpunk![/i] - Kay Kenyon On of the sharpest new talents to emerge on the hard sf scene in years.[/i] -Catherine Asaro Action, mystery, and drama, set against some of the most plausible speculative physics I've seen. This is science fiction for grown-ups." -David Brin Moriarty's debut novel combines a vivid future world of high technology and low politics with sharply drawn characters and a taut storyline. -Library Journal Thanks, guys, and let me know if there's anything else I can do! Chris

 

Available from Amazon

How cool is this!

Key concepts: massively distributed climate prediction

software

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  Software not available for

Mac or Linux, so hapless climate predictors are likely to

be wrecked at random intervals by Microsoft-based viruses

and worms.

 

Links:

After too much grim political and environmental news

on Viridian List lately, it's a delightful change of pace

with some beautiful, encouraging, deeply constructive

things!

 

Bioneers on the way at San Rafael!

http://www.bioneers.org/

 

"Eternally Yours" in Eindhoven.  I'm going, and so is

Brian Eno!

http://www.eternally-yours.nl

 

The "Bacteria Museum," a natural hit for all fans of

cuddly Viridian mascot "Big Mike"!

http://www.bacteriamuseum.org/map.shtml

 

Hey, that's a really nifty, uh, clock!

http://www.andre-michelle.com/studies/cable_clock.swf

 

Young people in France not dead of heat; going nuts for

flashmobs!

http://www.blogdor.com/gallery/display.php?id=flashmob

 

Noted architecture and design fan Adolf Hitler

relaxes in his sumptuous Bavarian home!

http://wow.blogs.com/photos/hitler/ahcover.html

*******************************************************

 

Links:

First announced on Viridian List way back in 1999,  the

climate-predicting network  would appear to be here at

last!

http://www.viridiandesign.org/notes/101-125/00106.html

http://www.viridiandesign.org/notes/101-125/00108.html

 

Get yours now!  Help real climate scientists grasp the

worst!  And they're British too, so they might even be

allowed to talk to us about what they find out!

http://www.climateprediction.net

 

They are in fact working on a Linux port!

http://www.climateprediction.net/rostra/news.php?r=1&t=2&id=19

 

Just look at those noble souls, ladies and gentlemen!  Of

course you'll trust them with the entrails of your home

PC!

http://www.climateprediction.net/misc/team.php

 

 

Source: Planet Ark

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22205/story.htm

 

"Huge Climate Experiment Starts Today - All Welcome"

 

UK: September 12, 2003

 

"MANCHESTER, England == A climate prediction experiment

which is expected to involve two million people around the

world and produce a probable forecast for the 21st century

will be launched today.  (((Yay!)))

 

"Anyone with a personal computer (((even Moslems and

Republicans!))) can join the project and will be expected

to conduct their own unique version of Britain's Met

Office climate model, simulating several decades of the

Earth's climate at a time.

 

"'Everybody gets their own model so they can do an

interesting bit of research on their PC,' Dr Myles Allen,

of the University of Oxford, told a British Association

science conference on Thursday.  (((What a mensch!  Four

solid years of work to boot that project!  This Allen guy

doesn't kid around!  Kudos!)))

 

"The results of the experiment will be sent via the

Internet. The simulations will be used to test different

model versions and the results will be collated to predict

the 21st century climate.

 

"'We can't predict which versions of the model will be any

good without running these simulations, and there are far

too many for us to run them ourselves,' said Allen.

 

"'Together, participants' results will give us an overall

picture of how much human influence has contributed to

recent climate change and the range of possible changes in

the future,' he added.

 

"Allen said the program, which can be downloaded from

www.climateprediction.net, can run on an ordinary desktop

or laptop computer.  It is easy to operate and does not

slow down other tasks on the computer.  (((Help science

learn the worst while reading Viridian email!)))

 

"The project, which is billed as the world's largest

climate prediction experiment, is a collaboration between

the Met Office and several universities including Oxford

and Reading."

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

NOW YOUR COMPUTER WILL STUDY THE

CLIMATE EVEN AS IT HELPS DESTROY IT!

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Key concepts: Bush administration, industrial backers,

pollution, stealth actions, avoiding press coverage

 

Attention Conservation Notice: Involves the increasingly

noisome subject of domestic American politics.

 

Links:

Hey, check this out.  Exxon-Mobil can fund the Competitive

Enterprise Institute, and fund the Bush Administration,

and sue the Bush Administration EPA through the CEI, all

at the same time.  Why don't they just elect a gas-pump as

President?

http://www.greenpeace.org/interna....=308563

 

The malignant Lee Raymond is retiring from Exxon-Mobil

just in time to see 15,000 people killed of the heat in

France.  Oh, and 4,000 Italians, too.

http://www.srimedia.com/artman/publish/article_605.shtml

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/09/11/italy.heat/

 

They've got stop.esso and campaignexxon on their case, and

also Greenpeace and these nice gay people. Wow.  Now

they're in for it!

http://www.stopesso.com/

http://www.campaignexxonmobil.org/

http://www.hrc.org/equalityatexxon/news/010829wsj.asp

 

Gee... I wonder why gasoline costs so much in stricken

California. Plus Enron-esque blackouts and right-wing

recalls?  Goodness me!  What have the Californians

possibly done to deserve all this?

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1434128&nav=5D7lHseG

 

Interesting suggestion here that global warming may be

worse than all-out nuclear holocaust.

http://www.iema.net/article.php?sid=2663

 

********************************************************

 

 

Source: Seth Borenstein, Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper

http://www.philly.com/mld....432.htm

 

"Industry got all it wanted on the environment"

 

By Seth Borenstein

 

Seth Borenstein covers science and the environment for the

Inquirer Washington Bureau.

 

 

"WASHINGTON == In a quiet flurry of late-summer activity,

the Bush administration eased a series of environmental

regulations, delivering almost every rule change on

corporate America's wish list.

 

"The administration diluted federal rules governing air

pollution from old coal-fired power plants; emissions that

cause global warming; contaminated ballast water on ships;

sales of land tainted with PCBs; drilling for oil and gas

on federal land; and scientific studies that underpin

regulations.

 

"In every case the business community got what it wanted,

and environmentalists got mad.

 

"Why so much so fast? Timing. Fewer people pay attention

in the vacation season. The controversial decisions also

got taken care of before President Bush's nominee for EPA

administrator, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, is in a position to

take the heat. And the 2004 campaign is still a long way

off.

 

"Administration supporters say the rule changes eliminate

unnecessary government edicts that curtail energy

production, discourage investment, hinder the economy, or

cost jobs. Moreover, they say, not all rule changes have

favored industry, although they acknowledge that most

have.

 

"Bill Kovacs, vice president for environmental issues of

the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the business community

won more environmental battles during the final week of

August than it had during the entire Clinton era.

 

(((Bill Kovacs, fighting to kill your grandparents with

Greenhouse heat since at least 1998!)))

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/05/18/internet.lobbying/

 

"He and two industry lobbyists said the Bush

administration had delivered nearly every environmental

regulatory change business put on its to-do list in

January 2001.

(((Wow!  What's left to Leavitt to sack and pillage?)))

 

"'They need to get this stuff out of the way before they

get into an election year; they need to get enough below

the radar,' said Stephen Meyer, director of the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project on

Environmental Politics and Policy.

 

"'You can't find a week when people are less likely to pay

attention than the end of August,' said Phil Clapp,

president of the National Environmental Trust.  (((Perhaps

because they're dying of heat!)))

 

"Lisa Harrison, the Environmental Protection Agency's

chief spokeswoman, denied that the timing was politically

motivated. 'It is interesting sport for people to offer

their conjecture, but it's nothing more than that,' she

said. Harrison agreed that the administration had put most

of its regulatory agenda in place: 'That's certainly a

testament... to the President keeping his commitment.'

 

(((Bush EPA spokeswoman... ma'am, that must be some kinda

job you got there.  Where's Christie?  Do you gals

ever talk?)))

http://www.nydailynews.com/08-24-2003/news/story/111653p-100865c.html

 

"Though the changes involved rewrites of arcane regulatory

language, they still constituted major U-turns in policy.

 

"'They're trying to dismantle some of the original clean

air and water legislation that [President Richard M.]

Nixon put through,' said Lester Brown, president of the

Earth Policy Institute. 'They're going full bore.'

 

(((Been a big month for Lester, who was forecasting

planetary starvation in our last note but one.)))

 

"The decisions included:

 

"Two controversial changes in a rule governing expansion

of old coal-fired power plants, dramatically easing

requirements on companies to install new pollution

controls when they make big upgrades.

 

"The conclusion that carbon dioxide, which most scientists

say is the chief cause of global warming, is not a

pollutant that the EPA can cite to regulate emissions from

cars and power plants.

 

"An EPA decision that it won't regulate ships' ballast

water under the Clean Water Act, turning the issue over to

the Coast Guard. The ballast water contains billions of

tiny fish, plants and other foreign species that

scientists say are major threats to native species.

 

"An edict changing a 25-year-old rule to allow the sale of

land tainted with PCBs.

 

"An order to Bureau of Land Management field offices in

the West to speed the process permitting drilling for oil

and gas on federal lands.

 

"An Office of Management and Budget policy governing

scientific studies used to justify costly federal

regulations. The policy orders more stringent peer review;

its critics fear it will slow the implementation of

environmental regulations.

 

"'There's a lot of dramatic change going on. And a good

bit of which would be thought of by many as not very

environmentally sound,' said Dan Esty, who was the EPA's

deputy chief of staff in the first Bush administration.  

(((This is great news for industry, right? Unless you

breathe.  Or sweat.  Or eat.  Or buy real estate tainted

with PCBs.)))

 

"Unable to get its desired changes through Congress, the

Bush team gets them done through administrative rulings.

 

"'They leave the laws in place, but undermine the

regulations below them, undermine the rules and undermine

the agencies,' MIT's Meyer said. 'The details get lost

because the average person doesn't have the details or the

time to follow it.'  (((It's now official!  If you read

Viridian List, you're not an average person!)))

 

"Kovacs of the Chamber of Commerce said Bush was simply

borrowing a tactic that the Clinton administration

routinely used.

 

"'They figured out what the Clinton administration figured

out,' Kovacs said. 'If you control the agencies, you use

them. I wish they had done it sooner.'

 

Contact reporter Seth Borenstein at

sborenstein*krwashington.com.

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

WELL, NOW YOU KNOW

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Congratulations Snowdog!

 

I'm sure you will have a happy life with a couple of puppies to play with.

 

Subject:  Viridian Note 00382:  Wavefront Newsletter

 

Key concepts: online newsletters, Alan AtKisson,

Sustainability Change Agent Network

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  includes the entire text

of a lengthy, multiply-linked newsletter written by

somebody else == a work that is annotated even further and

festooned with extra, attention-hungry links.

 

(((I cannot go to Fredericksburg for the Renewable Energy

Fest this Sept 26-28, for my travel schedule  is crushing

me.  The "Renewable Energy Roundup" is always the Viridian

event of the season.  You should go if at all possible.

It's important.   If you are corporate and have a lot

of money, give it to them.)))

 

Link:

http://www.theroundup.org

 

(((Texans, note that renewable energy is now pretty much

the only method we Texans have to avoid being choked and

poisoned by  emissions sanctioned by the blatantly

malignant EPA.  You might also have noticed during the

recent shattering Northeast blackout that Texas is

entirely on its own grid.  We need that wind, folks.)))

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0336/pyne.php

 

Source:  Russel Smith, Texas Renewable Energy Industries

Assoc.

 

"TREIA Members:

 

"The Renewable Energy Roundup (The Roundup

www.TheRoundup.org) is just three weeks away. The scramble

is on for the last few exhibit spaces. If you haven't

lined up your booth yet NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SO! We have

already logged 65 exhibitors and other commitments have

been made but not yet received. And the full speaker

agenda is now posted on the web site.

 

"Also, don't forget, we need more sponsorships in order to

help us make sure TREIA and TXSES end up with revenue for

future projects and activities. Copy and layout work has

begun on 'The Lariat' (the onsite program guide w/a 7,000+

print run). To be sure you are recognized in it, please

notify me of your sponsorship by Tuesday the 9th.

Sponsorships after that date will still be recognized on

the main sponsor sign at The Roundup gate.

 

"Sponsorship has not yet been secured for the very popular

Friday evening Trail Dust Reception for exhibitors,

speakers, sponsors, volunteers and invited dignitaries.

Any company, or a group of companies, can step up and

claim the rights by providing a total of $3,500. There

will be sign recognition at the event, and recognition

from the standard sponsor benefits list as well, in the

appropriate categories for each company's contribution.

 

"Please call me if you would like to discuss exhibiting or

sponsorship options."

 

Russel E. Smith

Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association

P. O. Box 16469

Austin, TX 78761-6469

Ph.: 512-345-5446

Fax: 512-345-6831

E-mail: R1346@aol.com

**********************************************************

 

Source: Alan AtKisson

http://www.AtKisson.com

 

(((Alan AtKisson of the Viridian Curia is running a

newsletter now.  Man, this "Wavefront" thing is the cat's

pyjamas.)))

 

 

WAVEFRONT

The Newsletter of the Sustainability Change Agent Network

(S.C.A.N.)  

=========================================================

 

Issue 3 = Published 5 September 2003

S.C.A.N. is a service of AtKisson, Inc. www.AtKisson.com

 

LEAD STORY

 

CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING CONTINUES TO MOVE

AHEAD, WITH CHALLENGES

 

An increasing number of corporations are taking on the

voluntary task of producing corporate sustainability

reports. According to the Global Reporting Initiative

(GRI), more than 2,000 companies have voluntarily

published environmental, social, or sustainability reports

to date, with over 300 companies utilizing the reporting

guidelines prepared by the GRI.

 

The GRI is an independent international organization

founded with the purpose of standardizing corporate

sustainability reporting (much the same way that financial

reporting has a set of standardized accounting practices).

The GRI Sustainability Reporting Guidelines outline

specific information requirements for reporting on an

organization's environmental, social and economic

performance.

 

While some companies have complained that the GRI

guidelines are too demanding, an increasing number of

companies continue to adopt them in their reporting.

Notably, Ford and Weyerhauser--two companies closely

scrutinized over environmental issues--recently released

their GRI-based corporate citizenship reports. BC Hydro,

the Canadian utility company, recently became among the

first to completely integrate the GRI's "triple bottom

line" reporting into its regular annual report. Even a

whole stock market has gotten in on the game: as of

September 1, 2003 all companies listed on the Johannesburg

Securities Exchange (JSE) are required to use GRI

guidelines for disclosing their social and environmental

performance.

 

Meanwhile, some GRI critics complain that the reporting

guidelines are not stringent enough, because in some cases

they allow companies to make broad statements of policy,

instead of providing exact measurements of their successes

and failures. A lack of third-party verification of many

GRI-based reports threatens their credibility. To overcome

such problems, the UK group AccountAbility has proposed

new "materiality" standards regarding social and

environmental reporting (as reported here earlier). The

AccountAbility standards would further increase the

pressure for verified accuracy in corporate sustainability

reporting.

 

Though applauded by many, ever-higher reporting standards

may also have a rather ironic result: a deep chill in

corporations' enthusiasm to report their sustainability

practices. The stakes for corporations are high. In Nike

v. Kasky, a legal case that recently appeared before the

US Supreme Court, the Nike corporation was sued for

allegedly making inaccurate statements about its use of

illegal labor in Asia. In returning the case to the lower

courts, the US Supreme Court has left open the question of

whether US corporations can get sued for false or

inaccurate claims made in corporate communications such as

GRI-compliant reports. Cases like this put pressure on

companies to ensure that their reports are true and

accurate ... but is also likely to dampen U.S.

corporations' interest in publishing such reports in the

near term.

 

"Standards around sustainability reporting are going

through turbulent times, but the field is still very

young. Financial accounting standards also went through a

lengthy birth process ... and of course, the waters still

get turbulent there, too."

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hjSb44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hjTb44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hjUb44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hjVb44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hjWb44thQe/

 

=========================================================

 

(((Someday, we may live on a world where off-the-wall NGO

stuff like that *actually works.*  Wouldn't that be

something?)))

 

 

AHEAD OF THE CURVE

Cutting edge developments that are setting the pace of

change

(((I'm pulling right up to the mobile, resilient edge of

my Niels Diffrient Freedom Chair here)))

 

EUROPEAN LAWS INSPIRE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES

California, long considered a progressive leader in U.S.

environmental policy, is now looking to the European Union

for inspiration. The city of San Francisco recently

adopted the "Precautionary Principle" core tenant of EU

environmental policy == which calls for caution in

approving potentially damaging technologies. The

California state legislature voted last year to reduce

greenhouse gases and recently outlawed two chemical flame

retardants already scheduled for prohibition under EU law.

Thanks to the state's enormous economy, California state

laws have a way of transforming industry practice

nationwide, a term policy wonks call the "California

effect."

 

(((This explains everything, doesn't it?  California is

ACTUALLY ITALY! No wonder they once had a "Mediterranean

climate."  And I'm sure waiting for the mania of the

California recall election to hit the Bush Administration

on a federal level.  Oh man... )))

 

"Surf's up in supposedly 'Old' Europe, which has emerged

as the leading source of new strategies for sustainability

advocates."

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hjXb44thQe/

 

=======================================================

 

 

RIDING THE WAVE

Representative stories on the state of the movement

 

 

NEW TERM TO DESCRIBE GREEN CONSUMERS

If you are pursuing a lifestyle of health and

sustainability, there's a name for you: "Loha."

 

(((Huh?)))

 

The term was created by marketers to describe consumers

who incorporate environmental and social issues into their

purchase decisions. The Natural Marketing Institute, the

US research and consulting firm that coined the term,

estimates that a third of the adult population could be

considered Lohas. If that's true, not all of them are

putting their money where their hearts may be. While 40

percent of Americans recently surveyed said they had

bought organic food and beverages, such products account

for only 2 percent of the annual $600 billion in food and

beverage sales in the United States.

 

((("Aw dude, never mind that chick, she's just another

Loha in Birkenstocks.")))

 

They even have a whole journal dedicated to marketing tips

for this group, the Loha Journal. Reminds us a bit of Real

Simple, the slick U.S. magazine designed to market

products to people who want to live with, uh, less stuff.

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hjYb44thQe/

 

(((This is Real Simple magazine.  We Viridians have no

truck with this kind of pre-packaged lifestyle-ese

nonsense.  We like our life  real complicated.)))

http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/

 

(((If you are hopelessly enthralled by stark minimalism in

your homelife, go read "dwell," which invests some

intellectual effort into the topic.))

http://www.dwellmag.com/

 

(((Viridians don't read mere lifestyle mags.  We prefer

*industrial design* mags, made for the people whose

lifestyle is to invent lifestyles  for muddleheaded

Lohas.)))

http://www.idonline.com/

 

 

MEGA-CONSUMERS KEY TO SUSTAINABILITY

A new Worldwatch Institute report says that "mega-

consumers" such as corporations, governments, universities

and international organizations have a crucial role in

bringing about a sustainable world. These large-scale

consumers spend billions of dollars every year, affecting

the health of many of the world's most fragile ecosystems.

The report: Purchasing Power: Harnessing Institutional

Procurement for People and the Planet == details how the

centralized purchasing strategy of mega-consumers allows

single decisions by executives and procurement personnel

to have an enormous practical impact.

 

(((Interestingly, mass procurement issues are also the

scheme in federal computer security.  Never mind tackling

the problem, see; just see if you can buy your way out of

it.  That way, Microsoft won't get mad, kick your ass in

court, and finance some other President!))

http://news.com.com/2100-1023-958545.html

 

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hjZb44thQe/

 

=====================================================

 

 

OUT OF THE LOOP

Unfortunately, some people just don't get it

 

OZONE SET TO IMPROVE, BUT US EFFORTS UNDERMINING MONTREAL

PROTOCOL

Recent evidence collected by NASA shows that the rate of

ozone destruction has markedly declined and that ozone in

the very uppermost portions of the atmosphere may start to

recover within several years. If ozone-depleting chemicals

remain banned according to the terms of the Montreal

Protocol, the entire upper atmosphere is expected to

recover fully before the end of the 21st century. However,

the terms of the Montreal Protocol are being threatened by

recent US efforts to increase the use of methyl bromide, a

pesticide that, among industrialized countries, poses the

largest remaining threat to the ozone layer. The chemical

is scheduled for a complete ban under the treaty in 2005

but the Bush administration is demanding exemptions from

the treaty, which could lead to a 3-fold increase in its

use.

 

"No comment."

 

(((Hey, hey, let *me* comment.  It's not that some people

"don't get it" == neocons get it just fine, but they are

so ideologically eager that they will poison people

on purpose in order to damage the Left politically.  They

don't need that bromine; they just never saw a Protocol

they liked.)))

 

(((This heavily blogged new article pretty much says it

all about neocon Lysenkoism.)))

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0309.marshall.html

 

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj0b44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj1b44thQe/

 

 

COMPANY EXPELLED FROM GREEN GROUP FOR SELLING ILLEGAL

RAINFOREST WOOD

Tesco, Britain's largest retailer, has been expelled from

a green trade group for selling timber illegally harvested

from Indonesian rainforests. Tesco was thrown out of the

"95+ Group", an ethical trading initiative run by the

World Wildlife Fund UK, for selling millions of pounds'

worth of hardwood garden furniture made from logs that

Indonesia banned from export. Rachel Hemberry, manager of

the 95+ Group says that Tesco has also refused to answer

the key questions about its timber supply posed to it by

the 95+ Group. "Tesco fails to understand the issues and

is not committed to the aims of the group," she said.

 

(((Don't shop at Tesco.  Shop around here.)))

http://www.viridiandesign.org/products/furniture.htm

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj2b44thQe/

 

========================================================

 

 

ROUGH SURF ALERT

Potential threats and obstacles to progress

 

NUCLEAR POWER IN TURBULENT WATERS ... AND UNDER THE FIRE

HOSE

Who's for nuclear power as a solution to global warming?

Nuclear power manufacturers, certainly. But the French,

who enjoy low CO2 emissions thanks to their heavily

reliance on nuclear, may have gotten the first of many

second thoughts this summer as the summer heat pushed

reactor cooling systems up to levels that were dangereux.

One reactor (Fassenheim) on the river Rhine was sprayed

with hoses from the outside because of dangerously high

temperatures (the spectacle was shown on French TV). Even

the conservative financial weekly "The Economist" has

decided that nuclear power is not a good investment and

poor security risk. The U.S. Congress, meanwhile, is

likely to extend the Price-Anderson act, which provides

unlimited government insurance for nuclear operators in

case of "catastrophic accidents" == .just when insurance

companies are beginning to absolve themselves of risk

associated with terrorism.

 

(((The world is uninsurable.)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj3b44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj4b44thQe/

 

 

IRONY: WARMING CLIMATE IMPEDES ALASKA OIL EXPLORATION

A warming climate is shortening the number of days per

year that companies can explore for oil on Alaskaís North

Slope. Hauling heavy equipment over tundra requires

adequate snow and ice cover, but whereas in 1970, there

were 200 days per year with such ground cover, there are

only half so many days now.

 

(((Paging Dr. Wexelblat!)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj5b44thQe/

 

 

US TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM: EXPENSIVE, SUBSIDIZED AND

UNHEALTHY

An automobile-centered transportation system is costing US

citizens an (overweight) arm and a leg. A new report by

the Surface Transportation Policy Project finds that the

average U.S. family now spends 19% of their income on

transportation, while the poorest families devote more

than 40% of their household budget to getting around. Not

only are these costs high, but a Minnesota study reveals

that the annual subsidies enjoyed by automobile users are

nearly 20 times as high as the subsidies to public

transportation. These findings may come as a surprise to

those who believe that automobiles drivers pay their own

way. Frequent drivers could be bearing a hefty cost when

it comes to their health, however: a recent US study

showed that those living in suburban neighborhoods weigh,

on average, 6 pounds more than their urban counterparts.

 

"It appears more government investment in public transit

and a greater variety of transportation choices could help

reduce transportation expenses as well as American

waistlines."

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj6b44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj7b44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj8b44thQe/

 

(((This stuff's pretty good, isn't it?  You should

subscribe!)))

 

=======================================================

 

 

WAVES SOME PEOPLE MISSED

Old news for some people, still new for most

 

HEARD ABOUT THOSE GREAT NEW "CORN-BASED PLASTICS"?

A recent news story caught our attention here at AtKisson,

Inc. and led to a very interesting internal debate: are

corn-based plastics really more climate friendly than

their traditional fossil-fuel based counterparts? It

appears that, generally, the process of making plastic

from biomass actually emits more greenhouse gases than

plastics made from fossil fuels. This apparent irony is

explained in the August 2000 Scientific American article,

"How Green are Green Plastics?" The reason green plastics

tend not to be so green after all is the greater amount of

energy required to transform the raw biomass materials

into usable plastic. This energy generally comes from ==

you guessed it == fossil fuels. This critique left us

skeptical about the bio-plastic claims.

 

However, we also ran across a detailed product life-cycle

analysis (LCA) completed by Cargill Dow, the manufacturer

of PLA. PLA is the "corntainer" plastic that recently

appeared in the news and was identified in the Scientific

American article as the one biomass plastic that seems to

have a chance of competing with fossil-fuel plastics  on

greenhouse gas emissions. The LCA concluded, that if

produced using renewable energy sources (wind power and

corn are both abundant in the Midwest), the PLA would beat

all other plastics on greenhouse gas emissions. In fact,

PLA would actually temporarily take carbon out of the

atmosphere, storing it in usable products and the not-yet-

decomposed PLA deposited in landfills.

 

The manufacturer expects PLA production to evolve into

this true-green alternative in the near future.

 

"The take-away lessons: 1) it's important to remain

skeptical about industry claims, and 2) good-faith,

truthful self-reporting by corporations can do much to

clear the air on complex sustainability issues."

 

(((It's great to witness somebody actually thinking

about this stuff!)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hj9b44thQe/

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkab44thQe/

 

======================================================

 

 

WAVEMAKERS

People and organizations setting the pace for change

 

MALE CONTRACEPTIVE ON THE HORIZON

A new, easy, and inexpensive injection for men could be a

great stride forward for contraception worldwide. A Grist

profile details the possibilities and the challenges.

 

(((A big deal for those booming population stats,

especially when men throw away those condoms and swiftly

die of AIDS!)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkbb44thQe/

 

 

TWO OUT OF A HUNDRED IS, WELL, BETTER THAN NONE

Two companies, both of them organic food wholesalers, made

Fortune Small Business magazine's list of the 100 fastest

growing firms in the United States: Green Mountain Coffee

(Vermont), and Horizon Organic (Colorado). Otherwise the

list was dominated by medical supply companies and banks,

with a few gambling operations thrown in for spice.

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkcb44thQe/

 

========================================================

 

 

FOR YOUR READING LIST

 

THE BRONX BIOGRAPHY OF A WOULD-BE SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

One of the great challenges of sustainability is the

effort to transform how businesses operate so that social

and environmental aims are pursued while making a profit.

Two recent books describe Allen Hershkowitzís efforts at

promoting a green capitalism in the Bronx. The books

detail the trials and tribulations of Herskowitz's Bronx

Community Paper Company, an endeavour to transform New

York City's wastepaper into new newsprint for local

newspapers. The two books, ''Bronx Ecology,'' by

Hershkowitz himself, and ''Tilting at Mills,'' by Lis

Harris provide the benefit of hindsight to readers

thinking about new sustainable business ventures.

 

(((The world is littered with the bones of these

noble ventures.)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkdb44thQe/

 

 

HEINZ CENTER'S "THE STATE OF THE NATION'S ECOSYSTEMS"

Published in the autumn of 2002, this report sets the

standard for environmental indicator reporting in the U.S.

The report presents data on 103 environmental indicators

at the national level in a factual and non-judgmental way.

The scientifically sound and non-partisan indicators were

selected by 150 individuals from businesses, environmental

organizations, universities, and federal, state, and local

government agencies.

 

(((I just can't bear to look!  Somebody else check this

thing out and tell me how bad it is!)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkeb44thQe/

 

 

"INDUSTRY GENIUS: INVENTIONS AND PEOPLE PROTECTING THE

CLIMATE AND FRAGILE OZONE LAYER"  BY STEPHEN O. ANDERSEN

AND DURWOOD ZAELKE

Published in July 2003, this book highlights the companies

and people behind ten key technological breakthroughs that

are helping to protect the climate and/or the ozone layer.

The book details the challenges and triumphs in the

process of innovating new technologies that protect the

environment while turning a profit.

 

(((Worth it just to read the work of anyone named "Durwood

Zaelke.")))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkfb44thQe/

 

 

EU STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Earlier in this issue of WaveFront, we mentioned how

California was taking inspiration from EU environmental

policy. Now you can do the same through some online

reading about the EU strategy for sustainable development.

The strategy, adopted by the European Council in

Gothenburg in June 2001, focuses on four key-priorities:

climate change and clean energy; public health; managing

natural resources; and transportation and land use. The

site has a fantastic collection of links for further

reading.

 

(((God bless 'em, they've got the greatest press freedom

in the world, too! Next month, I'm going to Norway!

And the Netherlands, too!)))

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=4116

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkgb44thQe/

 

 

"BIOMIMICRY IN COMMUNITIES: SHARED RESOURCES WORK" BY ONNO

KOELMAN

Biomimicry imitates the best designs and processes of

nature in order to solve human problems. This article

discusses how nature can be used as a model for designing

whole communities.

 

(((Will Onno Koelman collaborate with Durwood Zaelke?)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkhb44thQe/

 

 

"PROGRAM OF ACTION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA IN

THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY"

This report details the Chinese government's plan to

implement their sustainable development strategy.

(((In case you were wondering, the Chinese can probably

kill off the planet's atmosphere all by themselves.  They

already  use 20 percent more coal that the number-two coal

offender, the USA!)))

http://www.germanwatch.org/rio/apbpst03.htm

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkib44thQe/

 

 

"THE 2000 NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE POTENTIAL

CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE"

This US report is the product of nearly a decade of work

by government and private-sector scientists. The authors

explored possible scenarios of global warming using

computer models and historical climate data. The

conservative think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute,

claiming that global warming poses no real economic,

environmental, or health risks, sued the Bush

administration over the "alarmist" report.

 

(((A gutsy Lysenkoist move from those long-term denial

freaks at CEI.  Perhaps they can grow wheat by preaching

at it.)))

http://www.prwatch.org/improp/cei.html

 

 

"Get it while you still can."

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkjb44thQe/

 

========================================================

 

 

WAVEFRONT READERS RESPOND

Ideas, comments, and corrections

 

MORE INFORMATION: WINDPOWER IN INDIA

Aromar Revi, an AtKisson network associate based in India,

commented on our wind power story (WaveFront Issue #2),

pointing out that India has the 5th largest installed wind

power base in the world, after Germany, USA, Spain and

Denmark. The country generates 1,860 Megawatts. India also

recently passed a new electricity that eases the way for

further wind power generation.

 

(((Jaya He!)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkkb44thQe/

 

 

CORRECTION: SOYBEANS IN THE AMAZON

In our story on how soybeans were contributing to the

deforestation of the Amazon basin (WF Issue #2), we made a

quip that now even tofu shares the blame, along with

cattle. WaveFront reader Sat Jiwan Khalsa helped set us

straight about the issue, pointing us to research that

shows that 87% of the soybeans will actually go to feed

European livestock.

 

(((Does this explain BSE?  I thought 87% of European

livestock ate the flesh of other European livestock.)))

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hklb44thQe/

 

=======================================================

 

 

CARTOONS

 

SUSTAINABILITY CARTOONS BY PROFESSOR HIROSHI TAKATSUKI

Check out this fun and well-drawn collection of cartoons

by Professor Hiroshi Takatsuki, hosted on the Japan for

Sustainability web site.

 

http://wavefront.c.tclk.net/maabpSFaa0hkmb44thQe/

 

===================================================

 

 

CREDITS

© 2003 AtKisson, Inc. All rights reserved. Newsletter

may be forwarded or copied.

(((Thanks a lot!)))

 

We welcome submissions and feedback! Please send email to

wavefront@atkisson.com.

 

WaveFront is the newsletter of S.C.A.N.: the

Sustainability Change Agent Network, an information and

support service for professionals, professionals-in-

training, and dedicated sustainability amateurs. S.C.A.N.

is sponsored by AtKisson, Inc., a global sustainability

services network.

 

EDITORIAL TEAM

Alan AtKisson

Aaron Best

Lee Hatcher

Francesca Long

Michael Lunn

 

Visit us on the web at www.AtKisson.com

 

To unsubscribe, please e-mail us at

wavefront@atkisson.com.

 

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

PRONOIA, THAT COZY FEELING THAT

OTHERS LABOR TO DO YOU GOOD

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O