Paper beats plastic? How to rethink environmental folklore
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0:01 - 0:03So imagine, you're in the supermarket,
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0:03 - 0:05you're buying some groceries,
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0:05 - 0:07and you get given the option
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0:07 - 0:10for a plastic or a paper shopping bag.
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0:10 - 0:12Which one do you choose if you want to do
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0:12 - 0:15the right thing by the environment?
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0:15 - 0:17Most people do pick the paper.
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0:17 - 0:18Okay, let's think of why.
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0:18 - 0:20It's brown to start with.
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0:20 - 0:21Therefore, it must be good for the environment.
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0:21 - 0:24It's biodegradable. It's reusable.
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0:24 - 0:26In some cases, it's recyclable.
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0:26 - 0:28So when people are looking at the plastic bag,
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0:28 - 0:31it's likely they're thinking of something like this,
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0:31 - 0:34which we all know is absolutely terrible,
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0:34 - 0:36and we should be avoiding at all expenses
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0:36 - 0:38these kinds of environmental damages.
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0:38 - 0:40But people are often not thinking
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0:40 - 0:42of something like this,
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0:42 - 0:45which is the other end of the spectrum.
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0:45 - 0:48When we produce materials,
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0:48 - 0:49we need to extract them from the environment,
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0:49 - 0:53and we need a whole bunch
of environmental impacts. -
0:53 - 0:56You see, what happens is, when we need
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0:56 - 0:57to make complex choices,
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0:57 - 1:00us humans like really simple solutions,
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1:00 - 1:03and so we often ask for simple solutions.
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1:03 - 1:04And I work in design.
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1:04 - 1:06I advise designers
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1:06 - 1:08and innovators around sustainability,
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1:08 - 1:09and everyone always says to me, "Oh Leyla,
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1:09 - 1:11I just want the eco-materials."
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1:11 - 1:14And I say, "Well, that's very complex,
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1:14 - 1:15and we'll have to spend four hours talking about
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1:15 - 1:17what exactly an eco-material means,
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1:17 - 1:19because everything at some point
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1:19 - 1:21comes from nature,
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1:21 - 1:23and it's how you use the material
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1:23 - 1:26that dictates the environmental impact.
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1:26 - 1:28So what happens is, we have to rely
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1:28 - 1:30on some sort of intuitive framework
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1:30 - 1:32when we make decisions.
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1:32 - 1:34So I like to call that intuitive framework
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1:34 - 1:37our environmental folklore.
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1:37 - 1:39It's either the little voice
at the back of your head, -
1:39 - 1:42or it's that gut feeling you get
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1:42 - 1:43when you've done the right thing,
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1:43 - 1:45so when you've picked the paper bag
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1:45 - 1:48or when you've bought a fuel-efficient car.
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1:48 - 1:51And environmental folklore is a really important thing
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1:51 - 1:53because we're trying to do the right thing.
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1:53 - 1:56But how do we know if we're actually
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1:56 - 1:58reducing the net environmental impacts
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1:58 - 2:01that our actions as individuals and as professionals
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2:01 - 2:03and as a society are actually having
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2:03 - 2:06on the natural environment?
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2:06 - 2:08So the thing about environmental folklore is
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2:08 - 2:10it tends to be based on our experiences,
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2:10 - 2:12the things we've heard from other people.
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2:12 - 2:14It doesn't tend to be based
on any scientific framework. -
2:14 - 2:16And this is really hard, because we live
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2:16 - 2:18in incredibly complex systems.
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2:18 - 2:20We have the human systems
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2:20 - 2:22of how we communicate and interrelate
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2:22 - 2:24and have our whole constructed society,
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2:24 - 2:28We have the industrial systems,
which is essentially the entire economy, -
2:28 - 2:30and then all of that has to operate
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2:30 - 2:31within the biggest system,
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2:31 - 2:34and, I would argue, the most important,
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2:34 - 2:35the ecosystem.
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2:35 - 2:37And you see, the choices that we make
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2:37 - 2:38as an individual,
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2:38 - 2:40but the choices that we make
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2:40 - 2:42in every single job that we have,
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2:42 - 2:45no matter how high or low
you are in the pecking order, -
2:45 - 2:48has an impact on all of these systems.
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2:48 - 2:50And the thing is that we have to find ways
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2:50 - 2:52if we're actually going to address sustainability
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2:52 - 2:55of interlocking those complex systems
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2:55 - 2:58and making better choices that result
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2:58 - 3:01in net environmental gains.
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3:01 - 3:02What we need to do is we need to learn
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3:02 - 3:04to do more with less.
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3:04 - 3:06We have an increasing population,
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3:06 - 3:08and everybody likes their mobile phones,
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3:08 - 3:10especially in this situation here.
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3:10 - 3:14So we need to find innovative ways of solving
some of these problems that we face. -
3:14 - 3:17And that's where this process called
life cycle thinking comes in. -
3:17 - 3:20So essentially, everything that is created
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3:20 - 3:23goes through a series of life cycle stages,
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3:23 - 3:24and we use this scientific process
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3:24 - 3:26called life cycle assessment,
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3:26 - 3:29or in America, you guys say life cycle analysis,
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3:29 - 3:32in order to have a clearer picture of how
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3:32 - 3:36everything that we do in the
technical part of those systems -
3:36 - 3:38affects the natural environment.
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3:38 - 3:40So we go all the way back
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3:40 - 3:42to the extraction of raw materials,
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3:42 - 3:44and then we look at manufacturing,
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3:44 - 3:46we look at packaging and transportation,
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3:46 - 3:48use, and end of life,
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3:48 - 3:50and at every single one of these stages,
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3:50 - 3:52the things that we do
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3:52 - 3:54have an interaction with the natural environment,
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3:54 - 3:56and we can monitor how that interaction
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3:56 - 4:00is actually affecting the systems and services
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4:00 - 4:02that make life on Earth possible.
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4:02 - 4:04And through doing this,
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4:04 - 4:08we've learned some absolutely fascinating things.
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4:08 - 4:10And we've busted a bunch of myths.
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4:10 - 4:15So to start with, there's a word that's used a lot.
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4:15 - 4:16It's used a lot in marketing,
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4:16 - 4:18and it's used a lot, I think, in our conversation
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4:18 - 4:20when we're talking about sustainability,
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4:20 - 4:23and that's the word biodegradability.
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4:23 - 4:28Now biodegradability is a material property;
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4:28 - 4:31it is not a definition of environmental benefits.
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4:31 - 4:33Allow me to explain.
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4:33 - 4:34When something natural,
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4:34 - 4:36something that's made from a cellulose fiber
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4:36 - 4:40like a piece of bread, even, or any food waste,
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4:40 - 4:42or even a piece of paper,
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4:42 - 4:44when something natural ends up
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4:44 - 4:47in the natural environment, it degrades normally.
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4:47 - 4:49Its little carbon molecules that it stored up
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4:49 - 4:51as it was growing are naturally released
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4:51 - 4:53back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide,
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4:53 - 4:55but this is a net situation.
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4:55 - 4:57Most natural things
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4:57 - 4:58don't actually end up in nature.
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4:58 - 5:02Most of the things, the waste that
we produce, end up in landfill. -
5:02 - 5:04Landfill is a different environment.
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5:04 - 5:06In landfill, those same carbon molecules
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5:06 - 5:08degrade in a different way,
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5:08 - 5:10because a landfill is anaerobic.
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5:10 - 5:13It's got no oxygen. It's tightly compacted and hot.
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5:13 - 5:16Those same molecules, they become methane,
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5:16 - 5:19and methane is a 25 times more potent
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5:19 - 5:21greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
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5:21 - 5:24So our old lettuces and products
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5:24 - 5:26that we have thrown out that are made
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5:26 - 5:27out of biodegradable materials,
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5:27 - 5:29if they end up in landfill,
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5:29 - 5:31contribute to climate change.
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5:31 - 5:32You see, there are facilities now
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5:32 - 5:34that can actually capture that methane
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5:34 - 5:36and generate power,
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5:36 - 5:38displacing the need for fossil fuel power,
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5:38 - 5:40but we need to be smart about this.
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5:40 - 5:43We need to identify how we can start to leverage
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5:43 - 5:45these types of things that are already happening
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5:45 - 5:47and start to design systems and services
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5:47 - 5:49that alleviate these problems.
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5:49 - 5:52Because right now, what people do
is they turn around and they say, -
5:52 - 5:55"Let's ban plastic bags. We'll give people paper
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5:55 - 5:57because that is better for the environment."
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5:57 - 5:58But if you're throwing it in the bin,
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5:58 - 6:00and your local landfill facility
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6:00 - 6:02is just a normal one,
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6:02 - 6:07then we're having what's called a double negative.
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6:07 - 6:10I'm a product designer by trade.
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6:10 - 6:11I then did social science.
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6:11 - 6:13And so I'm absolutely fascinated
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6:13 - 6:15by consumer goods and how the consumer goods
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6:15 - 6:17that we have kind of become immune to
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6:17 - 6:18that fill our lives
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6:18 - 6:20have an impact on the natural environment.
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6:20 - 6:23And these guys are, like, serial offenders,
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6:23 - 6:24and I'm pretty sure everyone in this room
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6:24 - 6:26has a refrigerator.
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6:26 - 6:28Now America has this amazing ability
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6:28 - 6:30to keep growing refrigerators.
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6:30 - 6:32In the last few years, they've grown one cubic foot
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6:32 - 6:34on average, the standard size
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6:34 - 6:35of a refrigerator.
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6:35 - 6:38And the problem is, they're so big now,
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6:38 - 6:40it's easier for us to buy more food
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6:40 - 6:42that we can't eat or find.
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6:42 - 6:43I mean, I have things at the back of my refrigerator
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6:43 - 6:46that have been there for years, all right?
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6:46 - 6:48And so what happens is, we waste more food.
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6:48 - 6:52And as I was just explaining,
food waste is a problem. -
6:52 - 6:55In fact, here in the U.S., 40 percent
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6:55 - 6:58of food purchased for the home is wasted.
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6:58 - 7:02Half of the world's produced food is wasted.
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7:02 - 7:05That's the latest U.N. stats. Up to half of the food.
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7:05 - 7:09It's insane. It's 1.3 billion tons of food per annum.
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7:09 - 7:11And I blame it on the refrigerator,
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7:11 - 7:13well, especially in Western cultures,
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7:13 - 7:14because it makes it easier.
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7:14 - 7:17I mean, there's a lot of complex
systems going on here. -
7:17 - 7:19I don't want to make it so simplistic.
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7:19 - 7:22But the refrigerator is a serious contributor to this,
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7:22 - 7:24and one of the features of it
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7:24 - 7:26is the crisper drawer.
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7:26 - 7:27You all got crisper drawers?
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7:27 - 7:29The drawer that you put your lettuces in?
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7:29 - 7:31Lettuces have a habit of going soggy
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7:31 - 7:33in the crisper drawers, don't they?
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7:33 - 7:34Yeah? Soggy lettuces?
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7:34 - 7:36In the U.K., this is such a problem
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7:36 - 7:38that there was a government report a few years ago
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7:38 - 7:41that actually said the second biggest offender
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7:41 - 7:43of wasted food in the U.K. is the soggy lettuce.
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7:43 - 7:46It was called the Soggy Lettuce Report.
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7:46 - 7:48Okay? So this is a problem, people.
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7:48 - 7:50These poor little lettuces are getting thrown out
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7:50 - 7:52left, right and center because the crisper drawers
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7:52 - 7:55are not designed to actually keep things crisp.
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7:55 - 7:57Okay. You need a tight environment.
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7:57 - 7:59You need, like, an airless environment
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7:59 - 8:02to prevent the degrading that
would happen naturally. -
8:02 - 8:04But the crisper drawers, they're just a drawer
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8:04 - 8:05with a slightly better seal.
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8:05 - 8:07Anyway, I'm clearly obsessed.
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8:07 - 8:10Don't ever invite me over because I'll just
start going through your refrigerator -
8:10 - 8:12and looking at all sorts of things like that.
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8:12 - 8:14But essentially, this is a big problem.
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8:14 - 8:17Because when we lose something
like the lettuce from the system, -
8:17 - 8:20not only do we have that impact
I just explained at the end of life, -
8:20 - 8:23but we actually have had to grow that lettuce.
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8:23 - 8:26The life cycle impact of that lettuce is astronomical.
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8:26 - 8:27We've had to clear land.
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8:27 - 8:30We've had to plant seeds, phosphorus,
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8:30 - 8:32fertilizers, nutrients, water, sunlight.
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8:32 - 8:34All of the embodied impacts in that lettuce
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8:34 - 8:36get lost from the system,
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8:36 - 8:38which makes it a far bigger environmental impact
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8:38 - 8:42than the loss of the energy from the fridge.
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8:42 - 8:45So we need to design things like this far better
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8:45 - 8:48if we're going to start addressing
serious environmental problems. -
8:48 - 8:50We could start with the crisper drawer and the size.
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8:50 - 8:52For those of you in the room who do design fridges,
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8:52 - 8:53that would be great.
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8:53 - 8:56The problem is, imagine if we
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8:56 - 8:59actually started to reconsider
how we designed things. -
8:59 - 9:03So I look at the refrigerator as a sign of modernity,
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9:03 - 9:05but we actually haven't really changed the design
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9:05 - 9:07of them that much since the 1950s.
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9:07 - 9:11A little bit, but essentially they're still big boxes,
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9:11 - 9:12cold boxes that we store stuff in.
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9:12 - 9:14So imagine if we actually really started
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9:14 - 9:17to identify these problems and use that
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9:17 - 9:21as the foundation for finding innovative and elegant
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9:21 - 9:24design solutions that will solve those problems.
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9:24 - 9:27This is design-led system change,
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9:27 - 9:30design dictating the way in which the system
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9:30 - 9:33can be far more sustainable.
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9:33 - 9:35Forty percent food waste is a major problem.
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9:35 - 9:39Imagine if we designed fridges that halved that.
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9:39 - 9:42Another item that I find fascinating
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9:42 - 9:43is the electric tea kettle,
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9:43 - 9:44which I found out that
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9:44 - 9:47you don't do tea kettles in
this country, really, do you? -
9:47 - 9:49But that's really big in the U.K.
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9:49 - 9:52Ninety-seven percent of households
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9:52 - 9:55in the United Kingdom own an electric tea kettle.
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9:55 - 9:56So they're very popular.
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9:56 - 9:59And, I mean, if I were to work with a design firm
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9:59 - 10:01or a designer, and they were designing one of these,
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10:01 - 10:03and they wanted to do it eco,
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10:03 - 10:04they'd usually ask me two things.
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10:04 - 10:08They'd say, "Leyla, how do I
make it technically efficient?" -
10:08 - 10:11Because obviously energy's
a problem with this product. -
10:11 - 10:14Or, "How do I make it green materials?
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10:14 - 10:17How do I make the materials green
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10:17 - 10:19in the manufacturing?"
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10:19 - 10:20Would you ask me those questions?
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10:20 - 10:23They seem logical, right? Yeah.
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10:23 - 10:26Well I'd say, "You're looking at the wrong problems."
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10:26 - 10:28Because the problem is with use.
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10:28 - 10:31It's with how people use the product.
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10:31 - 10:32Sixty-five percent of Brits
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10:32 - 10:35admit to over-filling their kettle
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10:35 - 10:37when they only need one cup of tea.
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10:37 - 10:40All of this extra water that's being boiled
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10:40 - 10:44requires energy, and it's been calculated
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10:44 - 10:47that in one day of extra energy use
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10:47 - 10:49from boiling kettles
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10:49 - 10:51is enough to light all of the streetlights
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10:51 - 10:54in England for a night.
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10:54 - 10:56But this is the thing.
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10:56 - 10:58This is what I call a product-person failure.
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10:58 - 11:01But we've got a product-system failure
going on with these little guys, -
11:01 - 11:04and they're so ubiquitous, you
don't even notice they're there. -
11:04 - 11:07And this guy over here, though, he does.
He's named Simon. -
11:07 - 11:10Simon works for the national
electricity company in the U.K. -
11:10 - 11:12He has a very important job of monitoring
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11:12 - 11:15all of the electricity coming into the system
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11:15 - 11:16to make sure there is enough
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11:16 - 11:18so it powers everybody's homes.
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11:18 - 11:20He's also watching television.
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11:20 - 11:22The reason is because there's a unique
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11:22 - 11:24phenomenon that happens in the U.K.
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11:24 - 11:28the moment that very popular TV shows end.
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11:28 - 11:30The minute the ad break comes on,
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11:30 - 11:32this man has to rush
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11:32 - 11:35to buy nuclear power from France,
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11:35 - 11:38because everybody turns their kettles on
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11:38 - 11:40at the same time.
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11:40 - 11:42(Laughter)
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11:42 - 11:481.5 million kettles, seriously problematic.
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11:48 - 11:52So imagine if you designed kettles,
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11:52 - 11:55you actually found a way to
solve these system failures, -
11:55 - 11:57because this is a huge amount of pressure
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11:57 - 11:59on the system,
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11:59 - 12:02just because the product hasn't
thought about the problem -
12:02 - 12:04that it's going to have when it exists in the world.
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12:04 - 12:07Now, I looked at a number of
kettles available on the market, -
12:07 - 12:09and found the minimum fill lines,
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12:09 - 12:10so the little piece of information that tells you
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12:10 - 12:12how much you need to put in there,
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12:12 - 12:15was between two and a five-and-a-half cups of water
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12:15 - 12:18just to make one cup of tea.
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12:18 - 12:21So this kettle here is an example of one where
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12:21 - 12:23it actually has two reservoirs.
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12:23 - 12:25One's a boiling chamber, and one's the water holder.
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12:25 - 12:28The user actually has to push that button
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12:28 - 12:29to get their hot water boiled,
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12:29 - 12:31which means, because we're all lazy,
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12:31 - 12:33you only fill exactly what you need.
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12:33 - 12:35And this is what I call behavior-changing products:
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12:35 - 12:37products, systems or services
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12:37 - 12:41that intervene and solve these problems up front.
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12:41 - 12:44Now, this is a technology arena,
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12:44 - 12:46so obviously these things are quite popular,
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12:46 - 12:48but I think if we're going to keep
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12:48 - 12:50designing, buying and using and throwing out
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12:50 - 12:52these kinds of products at the rate we currently do,
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12:52 - 12:55which is astronomically high,
-
12:55 - 12:56there are seven billion people
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12:56 - 12:58who live in the world right now.
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12:58 - 13:00There are six billion mobile phone subscriptions
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13:00 - 13:04as of last year.
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13:04 - 13:07Every single year, 1.5 billion mobile phones
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13:07 - 13:08roll off production lines,
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13:08 - 13:11and some companies report their production rate
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13:11 - 13:13as being greater than the human birth rate.
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13:13 - 13:16One hundred fifty-two million phones
were thrown out in the U.S. last year; -
13:16 - 13:18only 11 percent were recycled.
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13:18 - 13:21I'm from Australia. We have a
population of 22 million -- don't laugh -- -
13:21 - 13:24and it's been reported that 22 million phones
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13:24 - 13:27are in people's drawers.
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13:27 - 13:31We need to find ways of solving
the problems around this, -
13:31 - 13:34because these things are so complicated.
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13:34 - 13:37They have so much locked up inside them.
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13:37 - 13:41Gold! Did you know that it's actually cheaper now
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13:41 - 13:44to get gold out of a ton of old mobile phones
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13:44 - 13:47than it is out of a ton of gold ore?
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13:47 - 13:50There's a number of highly complex and valuable
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13:50 - 13:51materials embodied inside these things,
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13:51 - 13:54so we need to find ways of encouraging disassembly,
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13:54 - 13:56because this is otherwise what happens.
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13:56 - 13:58This is a community in Ghana,
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13:58 - 14:00and e-waste is reported, or electronic waste
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14:00 - 14:02is reported by the U.N.
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14:02 - 14:05as being up to 50 million tons trafficked.
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14:05 - 14:06This is how they get the gold
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14:06 - 14:08and the other valuable materials out.
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14:08 - 14:10They burn the electronic waste
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14:10 - 14:12in open spaces.
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14:12 - 14:15These are communities, and this
is happening all over the world. -
14:15 - 14:17And because we don't see the ramifications
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14:17 - 14:19of the choices that we make as designers,
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14:19 - 14:22as businesspeople, as consumers,
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14:22 - 14:23then these kinds of externalities happen,
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14:23 - 14:26and these are people's lives.
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14:26 - 14:30So we need to find smarter, more systems-based,
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14:30 - 14:33innovative solutions to these problems,
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14:33 - 14:37if we're going to start to live
sustainably within this world. -
14:37 - 14:41So imagine if, when you bought your mobile phone,
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14:41 - 14:43your new one because you replaced your old one --
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14:43 - 14:45after 15 to 18 months is the average time
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14:45 - 14:47that people replace their phones, by the way —
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14:47 - 14:50so if we're going to keep this kind of expedient
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14:50 - 14:52mobile phone replacing, then we should
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14:52 - 14:54be looking at closing the loop on these systems.
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14:54 - 14:56The people who produce these phones,
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14:56 - 14:58and some of which I'm sure
are in the room right now, -
14:58 - 15:01could potentially look at doing what
we call closed-loop systems, -
15:01 - 15:02or product system services,
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15:02 - 15:05so identifying that there is a market demand
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15:05 - 15:06and that market demand's not going to go anywhere,
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15:06 - 15:09so you design the product to solve the problem.
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15:09 - 15:12Design for disassembly, design for light-weighting.
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15:12 - 15:14We heard some of those kinds of strategies
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15:14 - 15:17being used in the Tesla Motors car today.
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15:17 - 15:19These kinds of approaches are not hard,
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15:19 - 15:21but understanding the system
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15:21 - 15:24and then looking for viable, market-driven
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15:24 - 15:26consumer demand alternatives
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15:26 - 15:29is how we can start radically altering
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15:29 - 15:31the sustainability agenda,
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15:31 - 15:33because I hate to break it to you all:
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15:33 - 15:35Consumption is the biggest problem.
-
15:35 - 15:41But design is one of the best solutions.
-
15:41 - 15:43These kinds of products are everywhere.
-
15:43 - 15:46By identifying alternative ways of doing things,
-
15:46 - 15:47we can actually start to innovate,
-
15:47 - 15:49and I say actually start to innovate.
-
15:49 - 15:51I'm sure everyone in this room is very innovative.
-
15:51 - 15:53But in the regards to using sustainability
-
15:53 - 15:56as a parameter, as a criteria
-
15:56 - 16:00for fueling systems-based solutions,
-
16:00 - 16:03because as I've just demonstrated
with these simple products, -
16:03 - 16:07they're participating in these major problems.
-
16:07 - 16:09So we need to look across the entire life
-
16:09 - 16:10of the things that we do.
-
16:10 - 16:12If you just had paper or plastic --
-
16:12 - 16:15obviously reusable is far more beneficial --
-
16:15 - 16:18then the paper is worse,
-
16:18 - 16:20and the paper is worse because it weighs
-
16:20 - 16:22four to 10 times more than the plastic,
-
16:22 - 16:25and when we actually compare,
from a life cycle perspective, -
16:25 - 16:28a kilo of plastic and a kilo of paper,
-
16:28 - 16:29the paper is far better,
-
16:29 - 16:32but the functionality of a plastic or a paper bag
-
16:32 - 16:35to carry your groceries home is not
done with a kilo of each material. -
16:35 - 16:37It's done with a very small amount of plastic
-
16:37 - 16:39and quite a lot more paper.
-
16:39 - 16:42Because functionality defines environmental impact,
-
16:42 - 16:45and I said earlier that the designers
always ask me for the eco-materials. -
16:45 - 16:48I say, there's only a few materials
that you should completely avoid. -
16:48 - 16:50The rest of them, it's all about application,
-
16:50 - 16:53and at the end of the day, everything
we design and produce in the economy -
16:53 - 16:55or buy as consumers is done so for function.
-
16:55 - 16:57We want something, therefore we buy it.
-
16:57 - 17:00So breaking things back down and delivering
-
17:00 - 17:04smartly, elegantly, sophisticated solutions
-
17:04 - 17:07that take into consideration the entire system
-
17:07 - 17:10and the entire life of the thing, everything,
-
17:10 - 17:13all the way back to the extraction
through to the end of life, -
17:13 - 17:16we can start to actually find
really innovative solutions. -
17:16 - 17:18And I'll just leave you with one very quick thing
-
17:18 - 17:22that a designer said to me recently
who I work with, a senior designer. -
17:22 - 17:25I said, "How come you're not doing
sustainability? I know you know this." -
17:25 - 17:29And he said, "Well, recently I pitched
a sustainability project to a client, -
17:29 - 17:31and turned and he said to me,
-
17:31 - 17:33'I know it's going to cost less,
-
17:33 - 17:34I know it's going to sell more,
-
17:34 - 17:39but we're not pioneers, because
pioneers have arrows in their backs.'" -
17:39 - 17:41I think we've got a roomful of pioneers,
-
17:41 - 17:44and I hope there are far more pioneers out there,
because we need to solve these problems. -
17:44 - 17:45Thank you.
-
17:45 - 17:50(Applause)
- Title:
- Paper beats plastic? How to rethink environmental folklore
- Speaker:
- Leyla Acaroglu
- Description:
-
Most of us want to do the right thing when it comes to the environment. But things aren’t as simple as opting for the paper bag, says sustainability strategist Leyla Acaroglu. A bold call for us to let go of tightly-held green myths and think bigger in order to create systems and products that ease strain on the planet.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 18:07
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