The Unsustainable Journal

THE RISE OF SUSTAINABILITY There is light at the end of the tunnel, be it the barrel of the gun, we as a species always endure and are resilient, with odds stacked against us we stand against the rising tide. These are troubling times, with politics, economy, war, justice, equality, industry and survival all intertwined and exposed to the marrow by the advent of electronic and social media, a lot still remains concealed, setting overtones and making waves for the approaching crescendo. The hope lies not just in the powers that be but in the ultimate strength in the human need for survival, I see a lot of change in individuals. http://blogs.worldwatch.org/women-solar-power-change-world/ http://www.realestate.com.au/news/off-grid-house-costs-300-year/ http://www.newsweek.com/green-2016/top-green-companies-world-2016 https://peoplesclimate.org/ people are trying to do their 2 bits, we have to stand united to ensure we keep standing. As the climate changes we have...

THE BUSINESS LOGIC OF SUSTAINABILITY https://www.ted.com/talks/ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability "take / make / waste" industrial system and turn it around. “And I then challenged the people of Interface, my company, to lead our company and the entire industrial world to sustainability, which we defined as eventually operating our petroleum-intensive company in such a way as to take from the earth only what can be renewed by the earth, naturally and rapidly — not another fresh drop of oil — and to do no harm to the biosphere. Take nothing: do no harm. I simply said, "If Hawken is right and business and industry must lead, who will lead business and industry? Unless somebody leads, nobody will." It's axiomatic. Why not us? And thanks to the people of Interface, I have become a recovering plunderer”. Ray Anderson This is the age of the corporates, financial institutions and conglomerates working towards a financial gains and po...

COSMIC VOYAGE - THE POWER OF TEN Possibly the most humbling short I have seen, I saw the original version of its which was made by Charles and Ray Eames back in late 1970’s. THE POWER OF TEN-CHARLES AND RAY EAMES I still remember I was about 7 and my father made me sit with him to watch this 9-minute short film, the lesson he wanted to teach stuck with me he said, “Hammad! We are minuscule and simply negligible in the fabric of time and space, just remember that make a positive impact on what is, and what surrounds you in your life.” We are all the centres of our universe and this journey starts with just that, and through its few steps forward, few steps back, you are left bewildered at the ridiculousness of it all. Humbled by the immense magnitude of what is beyond our being. All we are, our past and our present over 4 Billion years is on this planet and that, and for all its 7.5 billion inhabitants this would be the only place we will call home, and that is not e...

https://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action “Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies”. https://biomimicry.org/what-is-biomimicry/ Nature is not just pretty pictures, it is a path to solving our resource problems and not limited to just that, it has been solving and evolving through the issues we are currently grappling with. Janine Benyus just shows us some examples of how simple nature has inspired some giant advances in our time, and encourages us to explore and step up to look at what surrounds us while attempting to resolve problems, most likely nature could not only provide us with the muse but the cure as well. Biomimicry has applications and integrations all over our context, from fabrics and materials to storage and consumption of resources, with our growing concerns for sustainability, simple codes in nature could provide us with ans...

https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pawlyn_using_nature_s_genius_in_architecture USING NATURE'S GENIUS IN ARCHITECTURE We have a lot to learn from nature, with over 4 billion years of evolution nature can be a source of infinite knowledge and wisdom, scientists are already trying to make connections and find ways to integrate the highly efficient systems found in nature in our daily lives, what nature can do with limited resources and in a closed loop providing us with examples of a highly sustainable and efficient examples, which can be a direction for us to partake. These ventures into exploring the fantastic world are integral in our journey to finding a sustainable solution and securing our future. Michael Pawlyn’s talk on biomimicry was one of my first Ted Talks, one that would prove to be for me a realization, the humbling understanding of how with so much intelligence and understanding we are still leaps and bounds away from the whimsical and symphonic harmony of natu...

THE BIOPHILIC WORLD Bio-Philia /Life-love, we share our world with 8.7 Million species, and of all these we are the only ones who are causing havoc to the ecosystem. An ecosystem that has been evolving for over 4 million years is now falling prey to us, deforestation, over extraction, fossil fuels are just a few of the drastic changes we are making to this planet, most likely the only one we will ever know. Our inherent tendency to appreciate nature and find solace in it is strangely becoming second to our need/greed, we need to realise how much we need nature for our survival food, air, habitat and quality of life are just a few of the components. BIG YELLOW TAXI- JONI MITCHELL They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people A dollar and a half just to see 'em Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone? They paved paradise Put up a parking lot Hey, farm...