Another World Is Here
lifeiscarbon® are big supporters of Worldchanging and the work they are doing to bring about social and environmental change. We recently bought their new book and took a look inside to find out what, if anything, is being done in Scandinavia to bring about world change.
Worldchanging is fast becoming the platform for discussion of innovation and social or environmental transformation. And they’ve recently published their first beautifully designed, hardback book entitled Worldchanging: A Users Guide for the 21st Century. They describe the book as “A compendium of the most innovative solutions, ideas and inventions emerging today for building a sustainable, livable, prosperous future.
Since its inception, Worldchanging (strapline: Another world is here) has fervently presented a visionary, opportune discussion about the transformation of our world in the 21st century and they represent a new generation of ‘greens’ who are embracing world issues as problem/opportunities. Their platform, the weblog, creates the intersection between design, economics, policy, ecology and society. We think it won’t be long before we see Worldchanging content aggregated through other major media channels.
So, what’s going on in Scandinavia that’s truly worldchanging? The book is nearly 600 pages long so you’ll have to excuse the fact that we haven’t read all of it yet. Even so, here are some Scandinavian highlights:
Our friends at RE:FORM, one of several research studios under the umbrella of Sweden’s Interactive Institute, get a mention on page 161 for their beautiful product designs that use interactivity to create awareness of energy consumption in the home. The darling of the project, the Energy Curtain, is a curtain with solar-collecting and light-emitting materials. It stores sunlight in the day and emits it at night. Choosing how much to collect in the day (by leaving the curtain closed) effects how much we get at night and increasing our awareness of our invisible consumption of energy.
Finland gets a mention on page 311. According to an international survey, it has the best education system in the world (BBC 2004). Apparently, Finland has the highest rate of teen literacy in the world and the highest percentage of regular readers, as well as being the most creative competitive economy (World Economic Forum).
Our friends at Swedish design firm Front are celebrated on page 103 for their not particularly green but biomorphic design. Apparently, rats, snakes, and flies are part of the design team. The products are the results of letting the critters alter some of their own design. We guess this is touching on biomimicry.
And the fabulous KaosPilots school of new business design and social innovation in Denmark get a mention on page 406. This is one of our favorite examples of Scandinavian brilliance. As Worldchanging describe, “With the business world in upheaval and values like sustainability, transparency, collaboration and vision at a premium, the KaosPilots don’t so much offer a standard business course as an immersion in what might just be the future”. They focus on systems thinking, grass-roots aristocrats, values-based entrepreneurship, collaboration and coordination. Which has got to be the way forward in the emerging participatory worldview.
Go buy the book. Then turn problems into opportunities and be seen in next year’s publication. Scandinavia owes it to itself to be better represented in the next issue.
Available from: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Powells, Abrams, or independent bookstores (to locate one near you, look here)
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