News Collection #3: 02.08.22

Policy.

On 28th July 2022, the world collectively reached one of the earliest Earth Overshoot Days recorded - the calendar date on which humanity's resource consumption for the year exceeds Earth’s capacity to regenerate those same resources in that particular year. In 2019 the Overshoot date was 29th July, in 2021 it was 30th July, with the year in the middle - 2020 - being August 22nd only due to the impact of the initial Covid-19 lockdow

Of course many countries are “in the red,” which means they use more natural resources (their Ecological Footprint) than their ecosystems can regenerate (biocapacity). The UK for instance hit its capacity on 19th May 2022.

While this isn’t a policy update, it requires heavy legislation and governmental collaboration to ensure those country’s constantly taking the piss with their resources don’t continue to do so. This is injustice on so many levels; you use up resources that others should have access to and you’re limiting beneficial social and economic growth, and impacting the environment we all depend on.

Materials.

Considering the impact of the heatwave on cities, with parched ground and inability to retain water, we need to rapidly readdress how the built environment is constructed. Here are some interesting materials for use in and outside of buildings that bring creative solutions for existing waste streams:

Hygroscopic mortar.

This material has been researched and developed to benefit urban environments and almost provides a local vernacular. Collecting local ceramic waste (from where is unclear) and combing with recycled stone (from building refubishments maybe), a paving material can be created that has porosity to support water drainage. It is made from 85% crushed ceramic and recycled stone, with 15% stabilised with white cement. The ceramic inclusion does mean it cannot carry as heavy loads as 100% cement, so limits the use, but is a nice way to utilise and reduce commonly used materials with a beneficial impact on towns and cities, and perhaps there would be different varieties depending on where the raw recycled material was sourced from.

HempWood® natural flooring.

The veneer for this flooring comes from blocks of hemp straw and soy adhesive, with hemp sourced apparently from within 100 miles of the factory. However, they then require a substrate underneath for support and so use a USA forest product - unclear if it’s sustainably-managed. They say it is safer fire wise than the usual commercial standard, has low VOC’s {volatile organic compounds - a no-no for greenhouse gas emissions), and is harder than using oak. The use of soy will always be an issue to me because it goes hand-in-hand with deforestation and land injustices.

On the flip side is a sheeting material dubbed Why Knot as it uses the invasive Japanese Knotweed as its raw material. In the Netherlands, this plant costs millions to remove with remnants generally burned (though it is an edible crop). This Circular Challenge 2022 solution came out of the Dutch innovation hub BlueCity, and rather simply, the knotweed is cut and heat pressed into a sheet material. I’d love to see the options for using knotweed opened up in the Netherlands to edibles too, to build on the education of plant uses, however as it stands, it’s a cool creative solution to a number of issues.

BioBuilder cow manure insulation.

As there is a lot of agriculture, and with that a lot of cattle manure, firms are coming up with inventive ways to use this beneficial raw material using traditional methods. One such is cow manure as insulation - which we sort of see anyway from the temperature-regulating duality caused by using cob. Of course, it is better if manure is continued to be used on the land - regardless of nitrogen release - yet apparently there is only limited capacity. Currently, the Dutch start-up BioBuilder team are testing various types of manure to indicate the fire safety and smell, and in 2023, BioBuilder expects to realise a demo structure in the form of a mobile tiny house as proof of concept.

An example of insulation alternative is found with Margent Farm, a hemp farm in Cambridgeshire advocating for hemp as a sustainable building material. They grow hemp for health products, including CBD oil, but remaining straw is essentially a waste byproduct. So this they use for corrugated cladding panels and wall insulation. (I’ve however found them to be limited in their open-mindedness; I queried whether I could gain some experience working on their farm to which I received a blanket response not answering my question).

OurCarbon concrete.

It’s not particularly clear what the organic waste is, but diverted from landfill, this raw material is converted into a potential replacement for some of the sand used in concrete. The researchers say that the carbon locked in the raw material can neutralise the carbon footprint of the rest of the ingredients.

Recycled carpet waste furniture.

A student of the MA Material Futures degree at Central Saint Martins, Riccardo Cenedella spotted a street carpet and wondered how it could be utilised. As synthetic carpets are polycomposite, there is no recycling infrastructure. They could be shredded and used as insulation, but really they’re not as beneficial as wool carpets in this respect. The use of the materials is pretty rudimentary, in that the designer wraps waste carpet around metal moulds and uses a heat gun to create furniture shapes (the act of the heat melts the carpet into an almost pumice stone texture by the looks of it). It would then be interesting, and of wider use, to develop this material as wall panelling or similar; carpeting after all is comforting and does provide soundproofing and insulation.

Inspiration from Material District.

{At the end of 2021, I also put together a Masterclass on the topic of Sustainable Cities and Communities in line with the SDG. It was for a business that I'm no longer part of, and it's behind a paywall so I can't share it fully with you, but had the pleasure of speaking with such organisations increasing the viability of cities in a degrowth world, including Zedify, Incremental Urbanism, Post Carbon Lab, Power To Change and ReLondon. The possibilities for considering sustainable spaces goes beyond materials, to the resources used to transport and mine and make them, to the psychology of how we manouevre around them}.⁠

Images: Hygroscopic mortar; HempWood® natural flooring; Margent Farm’s hemp straw insulation; OurCarbon concrete; Riccardo Cenedrella’s waste carpet furniture.

Visit.

The Hackney Creative Reuse Project launched last month, July 2022, to connect businesses and makers in the borough of Hackney in East London with pre-consumer waste and surplus materials. The mission is to inspire and educate on the benefits (environmentally, socially and economically) of finding creative solutions for repuprosed textiles and materials. On the flip side, businesses with the waste are able to find an outlet - yet, the aim of course would be to avoid this in the first place. By working collectively, there is a way to support one another, especially when there is a cost attached to both discarding and obtaining materials. The circular economy can be a win-win when do in a humble and realistic manner.

Yodomo, the business heading up the project, is a UK-based social venture that already supports {mainly} craft businesses to accelerate their audience and skills through online courses and kits.

Watch.

Fashion Declares! is a bottom-up movement of people in the fashion industry who want to learn, share best practice, and take effective action in the climate, ecological and social crisis. Founded by Safia Minney, yet also led by other founding signatories (including product directors, strategic advisors and CEOs of non-governmental organisations), they are calling on action from fashion industry professionals to unlearn and learn from one another.

We need a system where new fashion production is net-zero, uses resources within planetary boundaries, promotes human rights and fair and decent livelihoods. The Fashion Declares community advocates for a fashion system where the sustainability agenda is not confined to sustainability teams alone but underpins all our work and thinking within the industry.

However, since they launched somewhere back in March I think, they have recorded a wonderful array of free live webinars that all can access - fashion industry or not. We all wear clothes after all. And though the sessions are focussed on what those in the industry can do to improve practices, it is also an opportunity for the “everyday person” to educate themselves on problems within a massively polluting sector.

So, you can find all webinar recordings via the links below:

- How to Communicate the Emergency and Lead a Conversation and Action

- How to Decarbonise your organisation

- How to Promote Social Justice & Equality

- Fashion Communications & Building the Creative Narrative

- Low Impact Materials, Biodiversity & Regenerative Farming

- How to Reduce Water Usage & Pollution

- Join the Community - How can Fashion Declares Support you Leading Change?

- Fashion Communications in the Climate, Ecological & Social Emergency

Read.

I am a fan of journals and magazines, though these days I rarely give the time to them, mostly because I’ve got a book in hand instead - generally switching between something heavy (like Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything) and a re-read of something more personal (like Cheryl Strayed’s Wild). Though magazines can be fairly time-sensitive, journals are one of those things I keep hold of, especially as the majority are beautifully composed. So here are some of my favourites:

Sowing Seeds.

Sowing Seeds is an Australian journal available physically and digitally. I purchased them physically as I value the tactlity, though being shipped from the other side of the world was excessive. However, I simply know that I won’t read something digital.

It is a seasonal non-profit publication focussed on the many ways you can respond with environmental action for a more sustainable life and business. The stories are diverse, the imagery is captivating.

Hole & Corner.

It’s one of the ones I no longer buy due to the high cost (obviously worthwhile for the amount of content), but Hole & Corner is undeniably stunning. Even the descriptions of what you’ll find in the journal are riveting, making you feel both inspired and miserable at how you’re not spending your days in the same way:

We spend a day on a Kentish farm where flocks of Merino and Romney sheep are reared alongside a flower garden in a pilot project where yarn and dyes are grown from the same soil. At Marchmont House in the Scottish Borders, local makers and apprentices are given space and a community in which to thrive, and we find an artist who builds layer upon layer of pigment to create extraordinary surfaces that positively vibrate.

The Land Magazine.

The Land is a very full magazine (I think it comes quarterly) that reflects the preoccupations of two previous publications: The Land Is Ours newsletter and Chapter 7 News, which published news and views about land campaigns.

For me it gives an overview of all the small actions that are being taken regarding land rights. It is a heavy read however and so I do have back issues to catch up on. I was pleased one day to find it in Shoreditch shop Goodhood.

The Land is written by and for people who believe that the roots of justice, freedom, social security and democracy lie not so much in access to money, or to the ballot box, as in access to land and its resources.

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