Island and coastal communities are especially vulnerable to climate change. How can we work with nature, instead of at cross-purposes to it?
Parks and greenspaces can be created to help communities work with weather systems, instead of fight them. In Hilo, Hawaiʻi, the floodplain is a soccer field when not acting as a drain field. Here, Kotchakorn Voraakhom discusses her inspiring work in Bangkok, Thailand.
Indigenous cultures evolved within their environments. What they learned was built on generation after generation, shaping their environment as the environment shaped them.
As a child educated in the American public school system, I was taught that North America had been a vast untamed wilderness, through which small bands of primitive people roamed, and that the White Man had brought culture and civilization to that wilderness. Among the things that the White Man brought was fire suppression. Fire was seen as an evil enemy of the forest, one which must be stopped at all costs. With the Forest Fires Emergency Act in 1908, which authorized limitless spending on fire suppression, the U.S. Forest Service focused its firefighting efforts on ensuring that no wildfire be allowed to burn.
Unfortunately, this response was based on a misinterpretation of the land. Prior to their removal by the United States government from the landscapes in which their cultures evolved, many of the Native Americans practiced controlled cultural burns to manage the forests and prairies, encouraging the growth of specific flora they found useful, reducing pest populations, and providing increased growth of fodder for the animals they hunted.
The federally implemented fire suppression practices prevented traditional land management by cultural practitioners. This allowed over a century of overgrowth of tinder-production which, combined with global warming, has created the literal firestorm of deadly burns we see in so much of the western USA today.
What can we, as individuals and small business owners do to make positive change? We can start by taking lessons from the past. A first step: Support our cultural practitioners who still retain the traditional knowledge of how to manage landscapes in a way that benefits both the environment and the people within it.
How can we support them?
Innovation thrives in multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary environments.
Usually, when lighting designers and manufacturers talk about security, we are talking about someone breaking into your home or business. Today, I want to talk about another kind of security.
Climate change is affecting global security, creating climate refugees as people leave areas afflicted by massive droughts and rising sea level. Competition for resources, and the growing disparity between those most at risk and those least at risk destabilizes communities, countries, and entire regions, putting populations at risk of war. Loss of our glaciated areas can release pathogens for which we have neither immunity nor cure.
Human activity is driving the gradual warming of our planet, changing the cycles of rains, winds, and currents. Satellite imaginary has shown a 3.1 cm sea-level rise between 1993 and 2003. The intensity and frequency of hurricanes and cyclones has increased. Heat waves in Europe and North America have become more frequent. This summer’s fires in California have dramatically shown the effect of climate change.
What can we small businesses and individuals do?
But how? We are tiny, we don’t have a lot of money. A lot of us are “mom and pop shops.” What can we do that will affect a global problem?
Let’s take this “to do” list one at a time. They are in no particular order, just in the order in which they came to my mind. So, they are not “do one after the other,” but need to be addressed simultaneously. And we can do it!
Let’s start with an easy one:
Reduce energy and resource consumption.
We all know by now to turn off our lights and other power-eaters when they are not in use. Covid-19 has taught us that we don’t need to drive nearly as much as we thought. Telecommuting is a good thing. We can save that fuel for the people who really NEED to travel to their worksites, like farmers, doctors, and others whose work is not portable or digital.
In addition to switching off unused lights, we also can avoid lights in the first place, if we are working with the sun is up. Natural light is healthier for us, so not only will we save money on energy, but we possibly save money on medical treatments for depression and other illnesses associated with insufficient sunlight.
This innovative idea is one of my favorites for lighting indoor spaces with solar power — no batteries needed! Brazilian mechanic Alfredo Moser developed a method for using easily available water bottles and a splash of chlorine bleach to make ceiling lights, allowing people to work indoors in sheltered areas.
Reduce the use of heaters and air conditioners. The problem with air conditioners is that while they are cooling your personal air, they are warming the planet for all of us. We can turn to nature for effective and more closely carbon-neutral solutions.
Maintaining a comfortable temperature has been a goal of human civilizations for millennia. In ancient Rome, cold water from the viaducts was piped through the house walls of affluent citizens. In India, baoli (stepwells) have been revived for cooling structures.
Cooling through natural evaporation has been used for centuries. It is most effective, however, in a dry climate. But in such areas, evaporative refrigeration for food storage is making a comeback. Just a few generations ago, a large earthenware pot set in an open window and filled with water provided cooling for rooms. A large-scale cooler based on this traditional technology was developed by New Delhi based Ant Studio.
If we can learn to work with our climate, instead of fighting against it, we have a change to make our live more comfortable, take steps to mitigate climate change, and make ourselves and our communities more secure.
We all are looking for ways to shrink our carbon footprint, and up-cycling is a fun way to do it!
I thought I would post an easy bit of up-cycled metalwork. All you need is an aluminum tray the right size, the old switch plate, a cold chisel or big old flathead screwdriver (that you don’t mind kind of messing up), a hammer, drill and bit, sandpaper or a file.
Use the old switch plate as a template to mark where you want to cut the holes. Set the tray on an old piece of plywood or a stack of cardboard. While wearing safety glasses, place the business edge of the chisel on the lines and gently tap in grooves on the lines. Double check with your template. Then just keep going over the lines again and again, deepening them each time until you cut all the way through. File the cut edges smooth. Drill holes as per the template. Give it a final polish and install your new switchplate!
I inherited my Nana’s collection of aluminum trays – probably 15 or 20. Some I use regularly, others I enjoy looking at, but how many aluminum trays can you hang on your walls? So, since we were remodeling the kitchen anyway, and I needed new switchplates, 💁♀️
Oh! The wall paneling is deconstructed pallets, stained. The shelves are original wood from the house (1932 Craftsman).
Aloha kākou!
Many people do not realize that in addition to manufacturing new lighting, we also recycle and upcycle interesting things that come our way. Recycling and upcycling are great ways to reduce environmental impact – they keep stuff out of landfills, and reduce the need for new raw materials.
I belong to a number of pages and forums on the topic.
Something I have noticed lately is that with increasing frequency, when people post that they want to paint a vintage or antique piece, other members go ballistic! There are those who respectfully suggest keeping it all original to preserve the historic value, and then the spectrum continues through those who engage in shaming and belittling the owner for even thinking of such a thing.
So, I thought I would post my perspective on the topic here.
Personally, the first thing I look at is historic value. Then I look at the value to me and my family. Does the value of the piece to me and my family outweigh the historic value? Often, the answer is a resounding “YES!”
I have antiques in my home that have been with us for five generations and more. Their importance to our family is not in their value as pristine antiques, but in their value as records of our family’s lived experience.
Sure, it would be nice if my grandmother had not painted the dining room furniture white, then red, then black as she went though her various decorating phases. I love, love, love the look of wood. It was dark wood recalling her mother’s Victorian upbringing when my great grandmother stayed with her one summer. It was whitewashed into memories of Cape Cod beach homes when my uncle married. It was red during her lush Chinese decor phase when she had fabulous parties, the house and yard filled with paper lanterns, and I as a small child met fascinating people from around the world. In the later 60s, it was lacquer-black with red upholstery; it kept the Chinese opium den esthetic with a more sophisticated vibe. (Somewhere, I have photos of the phases. When I find them, I will add them here)
I still have a chair from that time, and now I am sanding it down to reveal the multiple layers of my Nana’s life. I’ll re-upholster the seat to add something of my own personality. When my daughter someday owns it, I hope she does not treat it as an antique, but enjoys it, uses it, makes it her own. And if that includes painting it, that is fine.
There is no quantifiable “right” or “wrong” way to live with our things. It is entirely subjective. What may be right for one person may be utterly wrong for someone else.
Someday, I will upcycle the sofa, too.
