9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So imagine, you're in the supermarket, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you're buying some groceries, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and you get given the option 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for a plastic or a paper shopping bag. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Which one do you choose if you want to do 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the right thing by the environment? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most people do pick the paper. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay, let's think of why. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's brown to start with. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Therefore, it must be good for the environment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's biodegradable. It's reusable. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In some cases, it's recyclable. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So when people are looking at the plastic bag, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's likely they're thinking of something like this, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which we all know is absolutely terrible 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we should be avoiding at all expenses 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these kinds of environmental damages. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But people are often not thinking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of something like this, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which is the other end of the spectrum. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When we produce materials, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we need to extract them from the environment, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we need a whole bunch[br]of environmental impacts. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You see, what happens is, when we need 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to make complex choices, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 us humans like really simple solutions, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and so we often ask the simple solutions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I work in design. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I advise designers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and innovators around sustainability, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and everyone always says to me, "Oh Leyla, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I just want the eco-materials." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I say, "Well, that's very complex, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we'll have to spend four hours talking about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 what exactly an eco-material means, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because everything at some point 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 comes from nature, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it's how you use the material 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that dictates the environmental impact. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So what happens is, we have to rely 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on some sort of intuitive framework 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when we make decisions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I like to call that intuitive framework 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 our environmental folklore. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay, it's either the little voice[br]at the back of your head, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or it's that gut feeling you get 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when you've done the right thing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so when you've picked the paper bag 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or when you've bought a fuel-efficient car. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And environmental folklore is a really important thing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because we're trying to do the right thing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But how do we know if we're actually 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 reducing the net environmental impacts 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that our actions as individuals and as professionals 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and as a society are actually having 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on the natural environment? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So the thing about environmental folklore is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it tends to be based on our experiences, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the things we've heard from other people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It doesn't tend to be based[br]on any scientific framework. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And this is really hard, because we live 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in incredibly complex systems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We have the human systems 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of how we communicate and interrelate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and have our whole constructed society, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the industrial systems, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which is essentially the entire economy, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then all of that has to operate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 within the biggest system, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and, I would argue, the most important, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the ecosystem. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And you see, the choices that we make 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as an individual, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but the choices that we make 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in every single job that we have, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 no matter how high or low[br]you are in the pecking order, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has an impact on all of these systems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the thing is that we have to find ways 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if we're actually going to address sustainability 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of interlocking those complex systems 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and making better choices that result 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in net environmental gains. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What we need to do is we need to learn 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to do more with less. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We have an increasing population, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and everybody likes their mobile phones, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 especially in this situation here. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we need to find innovative ways of solving 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 some of these problems that we face. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that's where this process called 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 life cycle thinking comes in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So essentially, everything that is created 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 goes through a series of life cycle stages, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we use this scientific process 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 called life cycle assessment, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or in America, you guys say life cycle analysis, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in order to have a clearer picture of how 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 everything that we do in the[br]technical part of those systems 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 affects the natural environment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we go all the way back 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to the extraction of raw materials, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then we look at manufacturing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we look at packaging and transportation, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 use, and end of life, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and at every single one of these stages, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the things that we do 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have an interaction with the natural environment, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we can monitor how that interaction 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is actually affecting the systems and services 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that make life on earth possible. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And through doing this, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we've learned some absolutely fascinating things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And we've busted a bunch of myths. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So to start with, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there's a word that's used a lot. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's used a lot in marketing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and it's used a lot, I think, in our conversation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when we're talking about sustainability, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that's the word biodegradability. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now biodegradability is a material property. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It is not a definition of environmental benefits. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Allow me to explain. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When something natural, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 something that's made from a cellulose fiber 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like a piece of bread, even, or any food waste, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or even a piece of paper, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when something natural ends up 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the natural environment, it degrades normally. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Its little carbon molecules that it stored up 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as it was growing are naturally released 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but this is a net situation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most natural things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 don't actually end up in nature. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most of the things, the waste that we produce, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 end up in landfill. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Landfill is a different environment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In landfill, those same carbon molecules 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 degrade in a different way, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because a landfill is anaerobic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's tightly compacted and hot. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Those same molecules, they become methane, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and methane is a 25 times more potent 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So our old lettuces and products 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that we have thrown out that are made 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 out of biodegradable materials, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if they end up in landfill, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 contribute to climate change. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You see, there are facilities now 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that can actually capture that methane 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and generate power, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 displacing the need for fossil fuel power, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but we need to be smart about this. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need to identify how we can start to leverage 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these types of things that are already happening 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and start to design systems and services 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that alleviate these problems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because right now, what people do[br]is they turn around and they say, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Let's ban plastic bags. We'll give people paper 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because that is better for the environment." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But if you're throwing it in the bin, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and your local landfill facility 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is just a normal one, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 then we're having what's called a double negative. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay, I'm also a product designer by trade. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I then did social science. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so I'm absolutely fascinated 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by consumer goods and how the consumer goods 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that we have kind of become immune to 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that fill our lives 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 have an impact on the natural environment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And these guys are, like, serial offenders, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I'm pretty sure everyone in this room 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 has a refrigerator. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now America has this amazing ability 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to keep growing refrigerator. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the last few years, they've grown one cubic foot 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on average, the standard size 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of a refrigerator, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the problem is, they're so big now, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's easier for us to buy more food 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that we can't eat or find. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, I have things at the back of my refrigerator 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that have been there for years, all right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And so what happens is, we waste more food. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And as I was just explaining,[br]food waste is a problem. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In fact, here in the U.S., 40 percent 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of food purchased for the home is wasted. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Half of the world's produced food is wasted. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That's the latest U.N. stats. Up to half of the food. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's insane. It's 1.3 billion tons of food per annum. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I blame it on the refrigerator, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 well, especially in Western cultures, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because it makes it easier. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I mean, there's a lot of complex[br]systems going on here. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I don't want to make it so simplistic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the refrigerator is a serious contributor to this, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and one of the features of it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is the crisper drawer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You all got crisper drawers? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know, the draw that you put your lettuces in? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Lettuces have a habit of going soggy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the crisper drawer, don't they. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Yeah? Soggy lettuces? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In the U.K., this is such a problem 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that there was a government report a few years ago 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that actually said the second-biggest offender 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of wasted food in the U.K. is the soggy lettuce. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was called "the soggy lettuce report." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay? So this is a problem, people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These poor little lettuces are getting thrown out 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 left, right, and center, because the crisper drawers 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are not designed to actually keep things crisp. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay. You need a tight environment. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You need, like, an airless environment 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to prevent the degrading that[br]would happen naturally. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the crisper drawers, they're just a drawer 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with, like, a slightly better seal. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Anyway, I'm clearly obsessed. All right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Don't ever invite me over because I'll just 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 start going through your refrigerator 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and looking at all sorts of things like that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But essentially, this is a big problem. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because when we lose something[br]like the lettuce from the system, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not only do we have that impact I just explained 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at the end of life, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but we actually have had to grow that lettuce. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The life cycle impact of that lettuce is astronomical. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We've had to clear land. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We've had to plant seeds, phosphorus, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 fertilizers, nutrients, water, sunlight. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of the embodied impacts in that lettuce 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 get lost from the system, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which makes it a far bigger environmental impact 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 than the loss of the energy from the fridge. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we need to design things like this far better 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if we're going to start addressing[br]serious environmental problems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We could start with the crisper drawer and the size. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 For those of you in the room who do design fridges, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that would be great. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay, so the problem is, so imagine if we 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 actually started to reconsider how we design things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I look at the refrigerator as a sign of modernity, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but we actually haven't really changed the design 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of them that much since the 1950s. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 A little bit, but essentially they're still big boxes, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 cold boxes that we store stuff in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So imagine if we actually really started 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to identify these problems and use that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as the foundation for finding innovative and elegant 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 design solutions that will solve those problems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is design-led system change, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 design dictating the way in which the system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can be far more sustainable. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Forty percent food waste is a major problem. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Imagine if we designed fridges that halved that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Another item that I find fascinating 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is the electric tea kettle, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which I found out that you guys don't really, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you don't do tea kettles in[br]this country, really, do you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But that's really big in the U.K. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Ninety-seven percent of households 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the United Kingdom own an electric tea kettle. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So they're very popular. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And, I mean, if I were to work with a design firm 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or a designer, and they were designing one of these, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they wanted to do it eco, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they'd usually ask me two things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They'd say, "Leyla, how do I[br]make it technically efficient?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because obviously energy's[br]a problem with this product. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Or, "How do I make it green materials? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 How do I make the materials green 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in the manufacturing?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Would you ask those questions? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They seem logical, right? Yeah. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well I'd say, "You're looking at the wrong problems." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because the problem is with use. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's with how people use the product. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Sixty-five percent of Brits 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 admit to over-filling their kettle 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when they only need one cup of tea. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All of this extra water that's being boiled 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 requires energy, and it's been calculated 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that in one day of extra energy use 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 from boiling kettles 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is enough to light all of the streetlights 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in England for a night. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But this is the thing, right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is what I call a product person failure. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But we've got a product system failure[br]going on with these little guys, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they're so ubiquitous, you know, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you don't even notice they're there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And this guy over here, though, he does. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He's named Simon. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Simon works for the national[br]electricity company in the U.K. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He has a very important job of monitoring 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all of the electricity coming into the system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to make sure there is enough 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that it powers everybody's homes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He's also watching television. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The reason is is because there's a unique 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 phenomenon that happens in the U.K. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the moment that very popular TV shows end. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The minute the ad break comes on, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 this man has to rush 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to buy nuclear power from France, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because everybody turns their kettles on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 at the same time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Laughter) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 1.5 million kettles, seriously problematic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So imagine if you designed kettles, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you actually found a way to[br]solve these system failures, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because this is a huge amount of pressure 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 on the system, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just because the product hasn't[br]thought about the problem 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that it's going to have when it exists in the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, I looked at a number of[br]kettles available on the market, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and found the minimum fill lines, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so the little piece of information that tells you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how much you need to put in there, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 was between two and a five-and-a-half cups of water 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just to make one cup of tea. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So this kettle here is an example of one where 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it actually has two boiling chambers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or, sorry, two reservoirs. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 One's a boiling chamber, and one's the water holder. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The user actually has to push that button 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to get their hot water boiled, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which means, because we're all lazy, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you only fill exactly what you need. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And this is what I call behavior-changing products: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 products, systems, or services 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that intervene and solve these problems up front. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, this is a technology arena, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so obviously these things are quite popular, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I think if we're going to keep 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 designing, buying, and using and throwing out 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 these kinds of products at the rate we currently do, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which is astronomically high, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there are seven billion people, right, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 who live in the world right now. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There are six billion mobile phone subscriptions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as of last year. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Every single year, 1.5 billion mobile phones 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 roll off production lines, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and some companies report their production rate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as being greater than the human birthrate. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 152 million phones were thrown[br]out in the U.S. last year. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Only 11 percent were recycled. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm from Australia. We have a[br]population of 22 million. Don't laugh. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And it's been reported that 22 million phones 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 are in people's drawers. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We need to find ways of solving[br]the problems around this, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because these things are so complicated. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They have so much locked up inside them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Gold: did you know that it's actually cheaper now 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to get gold out of a ton of old mobile phones 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 than it is out of a ton of gold ore? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's a number of highly complex and valuable 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 materials embodied inside these things, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so we need to find ways of encouraging disassembly, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because this is otherwise what happens. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is a community in Ghana, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and e-waste is reported, or electronic waste 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is reported by the U.N. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as being up to 50 million tons trafficked. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is how they get the gold 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the other valuable materials out. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They burn the electronic waste 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in open spaces. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These are communities, and this[br]is happening all over the world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And because we don't see the ramifications 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the choices that we make as designers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as businesspeople, as consumers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 then these kinds of externalities happen, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and these are people's lives. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we need to find smarter, more systems-based, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 innovative solutions to these problems, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 if we're going to start to live[br]sustainably within this world. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So imagine if, when you bought your mobile phone, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 your new one because you replaced your old one 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 — after 15 to 18 months is the average time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that people replace their phones, by the way — 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so if we're going to keep this kind of expedient 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 mobile phone replacing, then we should 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 be looking at closing the loop on the systems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The people who produce these phones, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and some of which I'm sure[br]are in the room right now, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 could potentially look at what[br]we call closed-loop systems, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or product system services, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so identifying that there is a market demand 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that market demand's not going to go anywhere, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so you design the product to solve the problem. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Design for disassembly, design for light-weighting. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We heard some of those kinds of strategies 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 being used in the Tesla Motors car today. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These kinds of approaches are not hard, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but understanding the system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then looking for viable, market-driven 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 consumer demand alternatives 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is how we can start radically altering 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the sustainability agenda, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because I hate to break it to you all: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 consumption is the biggest problem. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But design is one of the best solutions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These kinds of products are everywhere. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 By identifying alternative ways of doing things, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we can actually start to innovate, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I say actually start to innovate. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm sure everyone in this room is very innovative. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But in the regards to using sustainability 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 as a parameter, as a criteria 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 for fueling systems-based solutions, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because as I've just demonstrated[br]with these simple products, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they're participating in these major problems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So we need to look across the entire life 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of the things that we do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you just had paper or plastic, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 obviously reusable is far more beneficial, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 then the paper is worse, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the paper is worse because it weighs 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 four to 10 times more than the plastic, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and when we actually compare,[br]from a life cycle perspective, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a kilo of plastic and a kilo of paper, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the paper is far better, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but the functionality of a plastic or a paper bag 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to carry your groceries home 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 is not done with a kilo of each material. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's done with a very small amount of plastic 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and quite a lot more paper. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Because functionality defines environmental impact, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I said earlier that the designers[br]always ask me for the eco-materials. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I say, you know, there's only a few materials 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that you should completely avoid. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The rest of them, it's all about application, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and at the end of the day, everything[br]we design and produce in the economy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or buy as consumers is done so for function. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We want something, therefore we buy it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So breaking things back down and delivering 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 smartly, elegantly, sophisticated solutions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that take into consideration the entire system 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and the entire life of the thing, everything, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all the way back to the extraction[br]through to the end of life, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we can start to actually find[br]really innovative solutions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I'll just leave you with one very quick thing 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that a designer said to me recently who I work with, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a senior designer, I said, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "How come you're not doing sustainability? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know, I know you know this." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And he said, "Well, recently I pitched[br]a sustainability project to a client, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and turned and he said to me, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 'I know it's going to cost less, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know it's going to sell more, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but we're not pioneers, because[br]pioneers have arrows in their backs.'" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think we've got a roomful of pioneers, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I hope there are far more pioneers out there, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because we need to solve these problems. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Applause)