hello

Hi guys, just wondering if everyone is free at some point today so we can get our portfolio together as the hand-in is tomorrow. If not we could meet after lectures - whatever suits everyone? bye! :D

Well done on a great presentation. Thanks for all your efforts. Liked the mock up magazine shot and the website looked great. Keep in touch so we can get the portfolio together for the hand in. Dave, if you have printing costs let us know so that we can contribute.

re spread sheet

Amanda and I have the final(hopefully) amended finance sheet and have printed off a couple of copies. Will have one with us for the presentation for this Wednesday or next and then one to go in with the final group report. Is there anything else still to be done before presentation? If so plase get in touch.Thanks Tricia

Website

Got the URL for the webpage, it's looking great!

Will be uploading some pictures of it that I got from Katie later, Dave is going to pop them in to the presentation.

Fraser

Hi guys, so sorry, totally forgot that we were meant to be logging on tonight! I was in uni till nine and just remembered this very second - nearly 3 hours later! Can't see anything on the blog about this though, but then again, i could be doing it wrong - not so familiar with this 'blogging system'! Has everyone decided what they want to talk about? Im happy to do whatever (secretly hoping not the finance!! :0). Hope this message works - sorry again!

Finance sheet needs adjustment

Hi there,

Trish is so on the ball with the finance !! I have just had a text to say that we have estimated costings on the magazine being printed off monthly instead of 4 times a year. 

Therefore a few figures will need to be adjusted for the slide - this shouldn't take long ! See you all at 1pm Monday

Amanda

Hi guys just to let you know we are meeting at 1pm on Monday at the pits in the Mathew building. See you there Tricia

Update!

Hey guys, very sorry I wasn't present at the last meeting, left my diary at home and didn't realise we were meeting so early!

I've been working hard on the presentation, got quite a lot of info in just now. All I will need to round it off is the information on the finance and how we intend to distribute the publication. Oh, and the website. I just need a few screenshots of the site.

If someone could either call or email me, it would really help. 07983992423

Cheers, Dave!

hi

in process of trying to do cashflow sheet - should have on blog tomorrow - will need to still make adjustments and add stuff in on Friday.

Amanda

Wednesday 21t meeting

Hi guys issues arising from this mornings meeting.We need to have delivery costs for our magazine to add to our expenses in order to work out our finances sheet. Merlin is doing this.Also prices to advertise with us on line, Fraser is doing this.Amanda and I sorting out financial spread sheet.We thought it was easier if we formed this as a co-operative and all donated a small amount each to cover our start up costs.This would hopefully be a one off as we raised income from our subscribers and fees from companies wishing to advertise with us.Any profit at the end of the year could then be used to refund our original donated amount and any unforeseen expenses.Any profit left after that would be but back into the business.Next meeting this Friday 23rd at 10.00h at the pits, Mathew building.See you all then,Tricia

Next Meeting

Hi all

Are we meeting on Wednesday - if so where and when ? I realise that alot of the work has been done now. The financing lecture was quite informative.

I have cash flow forecast sheets and examples of financial projections to show you at the next meeting. You may decide to use these as a template for our magazine. We could probably fit it onto one slide so as not to bore off anyone !!

Thanks for all your efforts, Amanda

Finance lecture

websites mentions in the lecture that might be usful

• culturalenerpriseoffice.co.uk - they offer some free workshops on setting up businesses others from £10-£20
• www.theaoi.com
• www.designtrust.com

Pricing

£20 for yearly website supscription + £5 extra a year for the magazine

post and packaging possible more as £5 extra would just about cover the cost of the printing if there were 500-1000 copies printed.

AD space- will we charge per line/word or for a set space on certain pages in the magazine?

Costing
- premisise could be a room in someones house and the costing would be the % of the morgage or the cost of the phone line for the year

-possible only 2 full time wages are needed so if we have to show we employ all 8 of us we would each get paid a % of the 2full time wages

- Website cost? need to work out the cost for domain, upkeep, design etc

- distribution cost need to find out how much to charge for p&p

-we could put in that we have bought 1 or 2 computers to do the work and but them in the spreadsheet

last meeting

Mission statement


We aim to provide a service that enables consumers to make informed decisions on products and services available in order to achieve a sustainable lifestyle.


As a sustainable company we hope to encourage other businesses to follow our lead into a more sustainable future.





Criteria

1. Resources


2. Production


3. Distribution


4. Disposal/recycling


5. Performance of product

Name/logo

KEEP IT GREEN

To do for next week

• website costings
• Layout for magazine
• products
• printing and delivery costs
• logo/branding

Design History, Theory and Practice
Level 3
Interdisciplinary Team Project Part 1
Patricia Griffin, Textiles
Group 14

Resource depletion and design
Definition and causes
The resources of the world commonly referred to in resource depletion are fresh water, food, land and energy. Resource depletion has becoming a major problem in the twentieth and twenty first century partly due to our rapidly increasing population, extending life spans and increasing use of what are limited resources. The ever increasing use of fossil fuels, the destruction of arable land to urban sprawl and a continual need to produce more food all lead to resource depletion. The resources of the world are not infinite, as the world’s population continues to grow, and life expectancy in many countries increases, we cannot continue to use up the natural resources with no regard for the future. The United Nations predict that the world’s population will be around 9.2 billion people by the year 2050.(http://www.un.org/popin/).
The European Union Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) states that it stands for meeting the needs of the present generations without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/) In view of this policy it is therefore unacceptable to continue to use up the worlds natural resources without any regard to future generations. The EU SDS chose to prioritise seven environmental factors to work together on and make more sustainable in future developments. They were clean energy, sustainable transport, sustainable consumption and production, conservation and management of natural resources, public health, social inclusion, global poverty and sustainable development. One of the key facts to this is that not only are they recognising the existence of the problems, they are uniting to form policies to resolve the existing problems. It is essential that the global community works together in sustainable development to arrest resource depletion. In the United Nations, bodies such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) states “The world cannot continue with business as usual “(Nick. Nuttal@unep.org) if we cannot have sufficient clean water, cannot produce enough food to feed ourselves and have no clean available soil to grow crops or timber, have no fuel for energy then there will be nothing left to design for.

Historical Instance
One local example of resource depletion is the Scottish fishing industry; by over fishing the stocks of fish in our seas we have effectively destroyed that resource which in turn has ended the fishing industry in many areas. This in turn has a cumulative effect of destroying the local community and end a way of life which had continued for many generations. The effects of this overfishing continues its environmental impact as those who would have continued to fish, by necessity move into urban areas to find work increasing the drain on resources within the cities.
Sustainable design
Designers must, in the future, consider all aspects of their design and its effect on the environment as a whole. To use Bio fuels as a source of clean energy is no good for the environment if producing the plant matter for fuel has meant that large areas of either farmland or rainforest have been cleared and the biodiversity of that region has been depleted or destroyed.
It is therefore essential in design that we look at the far bigger picture and consider what the effect of our products or services will have on the limited resources available to us.
A company such as Designtex has a more holistic approach to design, in their mission statement they state “Our mission is to design and deliver innovative solutions that benefit human and environmental health, while educating and challenging ourselves, our suppliers and customers in sustainable practices. “ (http://www.designtex.com/environmental_design_Environments.aspx...) It is this encompassing approach that needs to be taken when considering a design project as we have to consider the best resources to use. Do the raw materials come from a sustainable source? Have they been transported far, what type of energy is going to be required to produce the design and what, if any, will be the waste product? How do we deal with that waste?
Michael Braungart and William McDonough (2009.pg3) state “Cradle to Cradle tries to put human being in the same species picture as other living things_ and to us, a misuse of material resources is not just suicidal for future human generations but catastrophic for the future of life”.. In design we need to therefore need to consider our rapidly depleting natural resources in all aspects of our designs

Referrences
Braugart,m and McDonough,W 2009
Cradle to Cradle Re-making the way we make Things
London, Vintage Books

Designtex, A steelcase company
Vision and Mission available from http://www.designtex.com/environmental
Accessed 5/10/2009

Press release from
United Nations Environmental Programme
Spokesperson nick.Nuttal@unep.org
Accessed 29/09/2009

United Nations Report World Population Prospects
http://www.un.org/popin/
Accessed 29/09/2009

Europa>European Commission>Environment>Sustainable Development
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/
Accessed 29/09/2009

Green/sustainable products

naturalinsolation.co.uk- have a few seemingly greener insulation products that might be useful.

tangogrouplimited - have a huge range of green products or products that are powered by green means ie solar powered items

Eco-zone- cover some interesting products such as Eco-plate a biodegradable party plate with sunflower seeds to be planted with the plate when it is disposed of, Magnoloo- chemical free magnetic anti limescale and descaler, Eco-stapler- no need for metal staples.

Powermonkey- have a range of solar powered charging devices for all sorts of everyday items

E-cover products- ecological detergent

meeting today

hi again i put on my last post to meet at 12 I'm not sure if this suits so 2 i probably a better time so meet at 2pm near the seating pits on level 5 of the Mathew building

Upcycling Wiki entry - Dave

Upcycling, downcycling, recycling and design – David McCourt

Upcycling

'Upcycling' is a practice within sustainable lifestyle.

In the loosest sense of the phrase, upcycling refers to the reuse of materials or components with any given product (for example, textiles being used for soft children's toys) using the least amount of treatment or post-production (melting scrap metal/reforming materials therefore using energy) to create something of greater value or importance.

History

The term was first used by Michael Braungart and William McDonough in the international bestseller 'Cradle to Cradle – Remaking the Way We Make Things'. In the text, the authors go in to great detail of all aspects of sustainable living and working and the impact that living a sustainable life or working within a sustainable company will have in generations to come.

Recycling and Downcycling

Braungart and McDonough make it abundantly clear that upcycling is a completely different concept to recycling, whereas people who claim to recycling have been labelled “less bad” (they are trying to show they support the concept of reusing materials rather than letting them find landfill – cutting their life-cycle short).

“Recycling is an aspirin, alleviating a rather large collective hangover... over consumption” - Pg 50

Braungart and McDonough state that most recycling is actually downcycling, based on the fact that materials that are recycled (metal, plastic, paper etc) are used in a second life-cycle, but in a far greater reduced value and quality.

“When plastics other than those found in soda and water bottles are recycled, they are mixed with different plastics to produce a hybrid of lower quality, which is then molded into something amorphous and cheap, such as a park bench of a speed bump” - Pg 56

“Downcycling... can be more expensive for businesses, partly because it tries to force materials in to more lifetimes than they were originally designed for, a complicated and messy conversion and one that itself expends energy and resources” - Pg 59

Upcycling in practice

With regards to big name brands and companies, the concept of upcycling has not really come in to the mainstream and does not appear to be playing a great part in international company's plans, bar the motor company giant Ford, who Braungart and McDonough pay homage to in 'Cradle to Cradle', describing the brand's past and present plans to bring Ford in to a sustainable and eco-effective new era. Henry Ford practiced an early form of upcycling when he had Model A trucks shipped in wooden crates that actually became the vehicle's floorboards once it reached it's destination.

As for smaller, independent companies, upcycling has been growing larger and more widespread as a design function, being practiced by many. Aided by the internet, design consultancies and independent designers are now able to provide sustainable upcycled solutions to client's requests.

An excellent example of this is quirky internet company Terracycle (their brand tagline being “outsmart waste”). Terracycle have found the connection between living a sustainable lifestyle and young children, providing exciting and stimulating products for children of schooling age. By providing children with products which have been upcycled and teaching them about their properties as an upcycled object, the child will be more inclined to use upcycled products in their day to day life as they progress in to adulthood.

Limitations of upcycling

As in any design function/solution, there are downfalls to the concept of upcycling and design. Some materials, plastics in particular, release toxins as they are reused. These toxins are obviously dangerous to the consumer's health, but also to the soil and atmosphere which the plastic is in contact with.

See also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_design

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannover_Principles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recycling

External links

http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm

http://www.ford.co.uk/

http://www.terracycle.net/

hi all sorry about the late notice about the meeting place for today 08/10/09 if we all meet on floor 5 of the Mathew building where the seating pits and vending machines are at 12 then we can use one of the seminar rooms hopefully this suits everyone

Hi guys as promised from our meeting on wed 30/9/09 I have put up the web address for the worldwatch Institute and their mission statement.http://www.worldwatch.org/node/24
The mission statement is- Worldwatch Institute delivers the insight and ideas that empower decision makers to create an environmentally sustainable society that meets human needs.Worldwatch focuses on the 21st century challenges, resource degradation, population growth,and poverty by developing and disseminating solid data and innovative stratagies for achieving a sustainable society.
The DEFRA criteria were a broadbased set of criteria which addressed the areas they assessed looking at what they called a Life Cycle Assessment.For each product they identified when the most harmful impact to the environment occures.The use of natural resources.Emissions to the air,water and soil .The production process,the disposal of waste.Recycling and re-use of material.Noise pollutionand effects on the ecosystem.Their underlying principals were for credibility,fairness and simplicity.They re-assessed their criteria every 3-5yrs to account for market changes and techological advances. tricia

tricia griffin

Hi guys thought I'd update from last weeks meetings.All looking in to further research on the idea of green credentials which is our idea for a Which type resource web page or magazine.Information to be sourced hopefully by next weeks meeting is about transport, buildings, directories,furnishings, standards for ecolabelling and paper production.Next meeting is wednesday at 11.15h.Hope every-one had a good weekend.

First post - Email addresses

Hey guys, got the blog set up and is now running! For those of you who have a Blog Spot/Blogger account already, you need to click on the "Follow Blog" icon on this page. From there, I can select everyone who is following as an administrator of the blog so we can all contribute to the page.

If you do not have a blogger account already, please set one up with the same email account you gave to me (it'll be a lot easier that way!).

Here is a list of the email addresses of all the group, with mine at the bottom.

m_planterose@hotmail.com
FIspowart@dundee.ac.uk
kmmacpherson36@yahoo.com
jmccrystal@dundee.ac.uk
denisandtricia@hotmail.com
k.skinner@dundee.ac.uk
d.mccourt@dundee.ac.uk

See you on Wednesday, hope you had a good weekend!

Dave McCourt