River Glow

An important step in environmental change is to raise awareness. River Glow's raises awareness about water pollution by using a simple visual indicator to communicate water quality. Designed by The Living, River Glow is a floating system that monitors a river's pH level and gives off red or green light to indicate pollution levels. The system is energy self-sufficient, with energy supplied by one of a few experimental energy generating devices. The suspended light of River Glow has a certain artistic quality to it that reflects the beauty of the water it's trying to protect.

Current State Concept

Check out this Current State concept that I worked on for Kaleidoscope's The Greener Grass project. Current State is a conceptual mobile application used to monitor and control energy usage in your home. The concept was inspired by our discussions about energy consumption and how to teach people to take responsibility and control over their energy usage. The conceptual application allows users to set energy goals for themselves and then monitor how well they are meeting those goals. Current State also gives users remote control over powered devices within their home. Users can turn devices on or off, as well as setting up automatic timers to maximize their energy efficiency.

Vacant Lot

What If is a series of projects, by British Architects Gareth Morris and Ulrike Steven, that asks what if statements about architectural spaces. For example 'What if this vacant car park became a place used by the young people?' or 'What if you woke up with a heard of cows outside your door?'. One of their most interesting projects is called Vacant Lot. It looks at the idea of using a vacant lot for something useful, like growing vegetables and flowers. They opened up a vacant lot in London and filled it with 70 large grow bags of soil and a water tower. The residents of the community took over from there, planting seeds and tending to their makeshift allotments. I think this is a really cool idea. What I like about it is that using the grow bags gives it the possibility of being temporary and mobile. You could essentially just use a lot while it's free and then move onto another lot when someone starts building.

Re-Shirt

I appreciate the idea of buying used clothes but I also find it hard to get past the fact that they once belonged to someone else. My overactive imagination gets caught up in thinking about who owned the clothes before me, what kind of life they lived in them and what sort of mischief they got up to. Re-Shirt has taken advantage of this fact and turned the story behind a used t-shirt into a selling feature. People donate their used t-shirt along with some insight into its existence so far. An orange label with a registration number is added to the shirt. From then on, all owners of the shirt can document their experiences with/in it, giving the shirt a life and history of its own.

I really enjoyed the story behind the t-shirt shown above. Here it is as told from its previous owner's perspective: "I was wearing this t-shirt on a Sunday picnic with friends, kids and dogs. It was a nice autumn day and we enjoyed our sandwiches and a really very nice homemade chocolate cake while sitting on our blankets in the grass on a sunny hill north of Vienna, Austria overlooking the skyline of the city."

Who Knows What's Next

I've been researching videos with environmental messages lately. This is my favorite video that I've come across so far. It's called Who Knows What's Next by Three Legged Legs. What I like about it is that it is done from the perspective of the Earth, who has a 'case of the humans'. The short film entertainingly illustrates how humans slaughter all other forms of life, guzzle natural resources and poison the atmosphere - throwing off Earth's equilibrium. That all sounds very daunting, but the movie is done in such a way that it is funny and effective. I wouldn't want a case of the humans!