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SPRING 2012
SPECIAL ENGINEERING & HUMANITY WEEK ISSUE AGENDA, INSIGHTS, AND INNOVATIONS INSIDE!
HUMANITY UNBOUND
INNOVATION
FOR THE GREATER GOOD Reverse Innovation Reinventing Fire Homes for Humanity
INSIDE: The Cardboard Shoe Guy 10 Innovations to Change the World Women Plant Forests in Kenya Hugh Jackman Cooks Coffee Coated Drumsticks
WOMAN IN INDIA WHO RUNS A DESALINIZATION PLANT
HUMANITY UNBOUND A publication of SMU's Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity PO Box 140805 Dallas, TX 75214-0805 214.738.3655 www.EandHweek.org Vol. 2, No. 1 - Spring, 2012
Editorial Team Stephanie Hunt |Publisher Linda Mastaglio |Managing Editor James Colgan |Senior Editorial Designer Chris Kelley |Senior Writer/Copy Editor
Contributing Authors Annie Griffiths Stephanie Hunt Chris Kelley Linda Mastaglio Geoffrey Orsak, Ph.D. Sonal Shah
Mission The mission of Humanity Unbound is to provide a forum for information exchange to further the global goals and aspirations of the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity. Through the power of engineering—steeped in practical solutions, collaboration with partners, and a commitment to the principles of humanity—we will meet the challenges of the developing world.
This publication is produced by a collaborative initiative involving the Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity, Southern Methodist University’s Lyle School of Engineering, Fairmont Hotel Dallas, and the University of Oxford’s Refugee Center. This magazine is printed on FSC-certified papers with environmentally responsible inks. Please recycle by sharing this publication with your local library, school, or educational institution. ©2012, the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without permission. However, re-distribution and information sharing is highly encouraged. For reprint and reuse permissions, additional copies, or comments to the editor, contact: Linda Mastaglio@twi-pr.com.
Stephanie Hunt: Co-Founder, Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity, Dallas, Texas Thomas E. Lovejoy: Heinz Center Biodiversity Chair, Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment and former Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Amory Lovins: Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute, Boulder, Colorado Tom Luce: CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative and former United States Assistant Secretary of Education for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, Dallas, Texas Bobby B. Lyle: Chairman and CEO, Lyco Holdings Incorporated, Dallas, Texas Alfonso Montiel : Founder, Alsis Funds, Dallas, Texas William T. Solomon: Former Chairman and CEO of Austin Industries, Dallas, Texas Gay F. Solomon: Civic Leader, Dallas, Texas Jonathan Trichel: Principal, Deloitte Consulting, Austin, Texas R. James Woolsey, Jr.: Former Director of the CIA and Senior Vice President of Booz Allen Hamilton, Washington, D.C. Ray Zahab: Ultra-marathoner and founder of impossible2Possible, (i2P), Chelsea, Quebec
Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity Advisory Board Lucy Billingsley: Founder of the Billingsley Company, Dallas, Texas Lori Feehan: Former tax partner with Deloitte and Touche and consultant for high-net worth individuals and private foundations, Denver, Colorado Richard A. Freling: Of.Counsel to Jones Day, Dallas, Texas Hunter Hunt: Co-Founder, Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity, Dallas, Texas
ABOUT THE COVER: Despite no formal education, Rashmi was taught to run a solar desalinization plant in her village in Rajasthan, India. Front and back cover photo: Annie Griffiths/rippleeffectimages.org
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CONTENTS
Highlights 8. FINDING PURPOSE THROUGH REVERSE INNOVATION Vijay Govindarajan speaks out on concepts to help businesses and individuals thrive in a dramatically changing world.
This year’s Living Village at SMU is dedicated to Cooper-Hewitt Curator Cynthia Smith who is making a difference with the exhibit, “Design with the Other 90%: Cities.”
12. TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING TO SUPPORT WORK WITH REFUGEES
36. THE NEXT GENERATION ECONOMY
By Stephanie Hunt and Geoffrey Orsak New partnerships are being forged to encourage young engineers to use their skills in the service of refugees.
By Sonal Shah An investment in an “impact economy” has the potential to create jobs, economic value, and social benefit for the U.S. and the world.
14. HELP A WOMAN, HELP THE PLANET Annie Griffiths, well known for her powerful photography in National Geographic, shares her global experiences through pictures and prose.
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28. HONORING EXCELLENCE
73. IMAGINE... REINVENTING FIRE By Amory Lovins Adapted from the acclaimed book, Reinventing Fire, the article is sure to give you ideas that will change your perception of the future.
CONTENTS
SideLights
Engineering & Humanity Week
22. Game-Changing Innovations: Technology Serving Humanity
40. Anurag Jain and Daniel Gross: Collaborating to Help Others
44. Thought Leadership from Innovation Forum Speakers
24. Cardboard: Reverse Technology in Action
41. Dallas Institute of Humanity and Culture
47. Event Schedule
25. Nathan Myhrvold: From Coding to Cooking
42. Nicole Potter: Embracing the Humanity of Art
54. SMU Map and Shelter Locations
26. Harvey Lacey: Making Refuse into Building Blocks
34. Brad Oldham: A Sculptor with the Mind of an Engineer
42. Michael Leavitt: Cardboard Sneakers a Huge Hit
56. Shelter Descriptions
62. Guest Profiles
GETTING THE PICTURE Engineering is finally getting the picture; and we at the SMU Lyle School can be pleased that we played an important role in putting a focus where it needed to be. The world’s global poor live in environments that are sadly reminiscent of ancient civilizations: devoid of regular clean water, sanitation, safe and secure shelter, stable food supply, education and health care. Life is based more on survival than on the pursuit of happiness. To these vast communities, it’s as if engineering never happened. Engineers can and should do something about this – now. In 2009, we are blessed to have established the Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity – one of the very first international institutes focused on applying the power of innovation to improving the daily reality of the global poor. Already the Hunt Institute is making its presence felt – not only by organizing and hosting powerful events such as Engineering and Humanity Week, but by also providing the impetus to develop and implement new educational and research programs around global development. Just this year, we established a new interdisciplinary graduate program in Sustainability and Global Development to help those with passion and skills pursue their dreams of improving the lives of people all over the world. Our new university-wide minor in Global Development also allows for students across the campus majoring in topics such as business, engineering, science, economics, marketing, education and anthropology to gain the understanding of how to effectively organize solutions to difficult problems in the developing world. The SMU Lyle School of Engineering has always committed itself to really big problems. None are more important today than bringing the benefits of modern society to half the world left behind over the past centuries. Come join us in this noble effort. Geoffrey Orsak Dean Lyle School of Engineering Southern Methodist University
ACUGRAPHICS proudly sponsors Engineering & Humanity Week and the ongoing efforts of the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity. Acugraphics provided the unique, hand-crafted cardboard table, printed exhibit materials, and embroidered bamboo T-shirts for Engineering & Humanity Week promotional efforts.
Acugraphics Embroidery & More, Inc. Digital Printing Embroidery Laser Engraving Screen Printing
2920 Skyway Circle North Irving, TX 75038 972.570.1200 randy@acugraphics.com 4
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CONTRIBUTORS The Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity is most grateful to our sponsors for their generous support of Engineering and Humanity Week 2012.
Gensler Dallas is part of the global design, planning, and strategic consulting firm, with more than 2,600 professionals networked across 35 locations worldwide. Consistently ranked by U.S. and international industry surveys as the leading architecture and interior design firm, Gensler leverages its deep resources and diverse expertise to develop design solutions for industries across the globe. Since 1965, Gensler has collaborated with clients to create environments that enhance organizational performance, achieve measurable business goals, enrich people and communities, and enhance everyday experiences. The SMU Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering is committed to developing the new American engineer, one prepared to excel and lead in creating new economic opportunities while meeting the most difficult challenges facing society. The Lyle School maintains a steadfast focus on using engineering to address important issues both at home and around the world. The school offers eight undergraduate and 29 graduate programs, including both masters and doctorate levels. In the United States, Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries have 45,000 professionals with a single focus: serving clients and helping them solve their toughest problems. Deloitte works in four key business areas — audit, financial advisory, tax and consulting — but its real strength comes from combining the talents of those groups to address clients’ needs. “Deloitte” is the brand under which tens of thousands of dedicated professionals in independent firms throughout the world collaborate. The Beck Group was founded in 1912 and has developed into a full-service builder with international reach. Beck's primary focus is cultivating long-term relationships by offering complete real estate solutions. Beck's multi-faceted structure enables it to better serve clients. By bringing together the knowledge base of all these disciplines, Beck provides a better total solution. Beck maintains a team of over 450 working employees, over 40 percent of whom are LEED® Accredited Professionals, working among a network of offices in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas (headquarters), Denver, Fort Worth, Mexico City, San Antonio and Tampa.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established by the United Nations General Assembly to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. In more than six decades, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of some 7,190 people in more than 120 countries continues to help some 36.4 million persons. The Fairmont Dallas hotel is ideally located in the heart of the downtown Dallas Arts District, just a few blocks from the Central Business District, and less than one mile from Victory Park (home of the American Airlines Center) and the West End Historic District. The hotel—with its 545 redesigned guest rooms-can accommodate lodging needs for business or leisure, grand events, weddings, conferences, or intimate meetings. The hotel includes the four-star and contemporary Pyramid Restaurant & Bar and a lobby-level Starbucks. Nothing compares to The Fairmont Dallas hotel. Visit us in person or online at www.fairmont.com/dallas. One Arts Plaza provides an urban oasis to enhance the lives of everyone who lives, works and visits the Arts District near downtown Dallas. As a place to call home, it redefines modern elegance. As a place to conduct business, it redefines stateof-the-art. One Arts Plaza is a $125 million multiuse structure adorned with dynamic fountains, and enlivened with five restaurants, music and outdoor entertainment, making it a true destination. Future plans call for two more buildings—Two Arts and Three Arts—to add outdoor parks with wi-fi, fountains and cafes. More information available at www.oneartsplaza.com. AcuGRAPHICS provides embroidery, screen printing, large format printing, laser engraving, and branded products for all business needs. Most of the services are available at its own production facility so that its customers receive the top-quality personal service and quick delivery times. For more information, call 972-570-1200, find the business on Facebook, or visit 2920 Skyway Circle North, Irving, TX 75038.
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REWIND: A LOOK AT THE IMPACT OF ENGINEERING & HUMANITY WEEK 2011 The inaugural Engineering & Humanity Week in 2011 created the foundation for an ongoing dialog. What results did it achieve?
It Changed Minds
It Changed Hearts Post-event surveys gave us the following reactions:
910 people attended 18 events and learned from 26 global leaders
“It showed me how I could help with global poverty in more ways than just donating money.” “I’ve been on campus for 5 years and had never seen or been a part of anything like it. I liked the reasoning for it and what it hoped to achieve.” “The week’s efforts matched my own passions. Through the events provided, I grew and encouraged others to grow as well.”
It Changed Lives
53% of attendees said that Engineering & Humanity Week changed the way they think about global poverty. And students who spent 5 days living in disaster relief huts in the Living Village at Southern Methodist University said the following:
“Overall, this has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. When
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you spend days working outside, connecting with people and building something from the ground up, it’s utterly fulfilling when you stand back and witness the fruits of your labor.” “Even though I woke up every morning feeling like I had lost a fight the night before, I was dry, and clean,
and warm(ish). Comparing my shelter to some of the others in the village, I was spoiled!” “Here is a list of things that I learned last night: the ground is hard and cold, I hate grackles, electricians get up early, bugs are everywhere, AND guitars are pleasant to fall asleep to.”
LETTER FROM THE FOUNDERS
THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF HUMANITY UNBOUND The theme of this inaugural issue of Humanity Unbound is not about what is wrong with the world. Rather, it is about what some amazingly creative people are doing to fix it. In these pages, you will meet people who, despite daunting challenges, believe meaningful change occurs when we explore new avenues of possibility. You will learn about innovations of all shapes and materials—from cardboard to recycled plastic—that are changing the world – one invention at a time. You will hear from engineers and entrepreneurs who are harnessing the creativity, flexibility, and opportunity of the global marketplace to effectively combat extreme poverty while creating sustainable business models in and for the countries in which they are working. And, you will reflect on amazing photographs that reveal and celebrate the human spirit, reminding us all that, in spite of our differences, we share respon-
sibility for the care of our planet and one another. For decades, government and philanthropy have worked diligently to find solutions in the battle against global poverty. Now, it’s time that geeks, artists and capitalists get their turn. When we unleash the power of the best thinking from and across all lines of life, we believe new, sustainable solutions will be the result—lasting help for those in need because they will be able to help themselves. This is the ultimate expression of humanity unbound. Thank you,
Hunter and Stephanie Hunt
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FINDING PURPOSE THROUGH
REVERSE INNOVATION Vijay Govindarajan (VG) is a celebrated expert on strategy and innovation, Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, the Founding Director of Tuck’s Center for Global Leadership and author of eight books. His most recent work, Reverse Innovation, was named a Big Idea of the Past Decade by Harvard Business Review. For over 25 years, VG has been researching and writing about strategy and innovation. His publications have been cited more than 8,000 times—placing him among the top researchers in the field of strategic management. VG recently offered insights into his creative thought processes in an interview with Humanity Unbound’s editor, Linda Mastaglio.
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LM: Your perception of reverse innovation has been heralded throughout the globe. Give us the bottom line of your vision.
VG: Historically, multinational corporations in rich countries innovated and then sold their products in poor countries. We need to do the exact opposite. We should, for example, innovate in India and sell that innovation in the U.S. The current process is counter-intuitive. We understand why a poor man wants a rich man’s product; but it is not logical to our way of thinking that a rich man would want a poor man’s product. Yet, this concept will provide the biggest growth opportunity in America in the next 50 years. We must be curious about the problems of consumers throughout the world. America will face economic stagnation if we don’t become global in our thinking.
LM: Why does reverse innovation provide
tions. Consider the Aravind Eye Hospital (AE) in Madurai, India. That facility performs open heart surgeries for about $2,000—and they provide world-class quality. Their mortality rate 30 days after surgery is 1.4%, compared to 2% in the U.S. How can this be? It’s about innovation. Consider this. The AE Hospital buys the same equipment you’ll find in the U.S. at Mayo Clinic or Massachusetts General Hospital. The Indian hospital uses the
That is the power of reverse innovation.
LM: How does the $300 house fit with the concept of reverse innovation?
VG: In a thought experiment I wrote 12 months ago, it became clear that we can create a $300 house for the poor. Where do you need it? Why do we need it? There are 75 million homeless people in the world. That’s the size of the entire population of
“We have to separate who we are from what we have. We accumulate money, houses, cars, degrees; yet the happiness quotient in our world declines as the material quotient increases. Separation is important if we are to be happy. We must have purpose in life.”
a new paradigm?
VG: In the last 100 years, American companies followed one paradigm of innovation–let’s innovate for U.S. consumers and then spread it over the world. We need a fundamentally different paradigm. The biggest R&D lab for an American company must be attacking complex problems in poor countries. Those innovations will transform this nation. You see, we become insular. We have to get over our own history and begin to focus on our capabilities to advance problems of humanity. In the U.S., we tend to divide the world into two parts: the three billion people who are rich and the four billion people who are not. We must bring the four billion into the consuming base and that necessitates that we innovate. Our innovation paradigm has been focused on rich consumers, rooted in the thought that we have to spend money to innovate. In poor countries, people learn to innovate by spending less money. Here is a great example. We think innovation in healthcare is in spending more; yet we don’t guarantee healthcare coverage and 60 million Americans don’t have it. This is not the best thinking. In poor countries, they don’t have enough money to fund healthcare, so they look for new op-
same equipment, they just use it 500 times more often, therefore, the cost per patient comes way down. Consider that the same machine in an American hospital may be used only 15% of the time; yet Americans believe we should have machines conveniently available when we need them, so our expectations drive inefficiency. If Ford Motor Company ran their factories that way, would we tolerate it? The AE Hospital has adapted principles from high volume companies like Ford and McDonalds. They took manufacturing principles and applied them to healthcare and found no difference. Many people assume high volume in healthcare cannot work. On the contrary, the quality improves– and so do the outcomes of many surgeries. Why? Say there are 10 types of bypass surgery. If doctors are constantly performing these complex surgeries, they know all the complications and can specialize in one type and then become a world leader. AE Hospital is now taking their expertise and using reverse innovation to open a cardiac hospital in the Cayman Islands to provide American citizens with heart surgeries for about 40% of what they costs in the U.S. today.
THREE-POINT STRATEGY TO IMPLEMENT REVERSE INNOVATION 1. To capture growth in emerging markets, you must innovate, not simply export. 2. Leverage opportunities to move emerging market innovations to other parts of the world: to other poor countries, to marginalized markets in rich countries, and, eventually, to mainstream markets in rich countries. 3. Keep so-called emerging giants on your radar screen. These small but rapidly growing companies, headquartered in the developing world, have global aspirations that could one day threaten your own.
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the United Kingdom. They live on pavements where the sky is their roof. Is this really right? Even a spider has a home. Every human has a right to a home. This experiment also framed opportunities for large businesses. Defining a modest home is not charity; it’s a challenge of innovation. It’s a problem of commerce. Large businesses should tackle the challenge so they can come back and transform lives in rich countries like the U.S. to solve problems like disaster relief and low income housing. Response to this experiment was so overwhelming that I created www.300house.com, an online community of 2,500 people who all want to help. They are all contributing ideas. It’s like creating a company with 2,500 employees with no CEO and not paying out a dime and the people work so hard. The response led to a global design contest where we picked six winners and brought them to Dartmouth where they rolled up their sleeves and designed a $300 home for Haiti. This led to building a prototype village in Haiti. The concept has now taken on a life of its own. I know nothing about a building a house; but that is my advantage. I can simply ask the question, “Why not?” Sometimes, to innovate, we must forget what we know. Open innovation, such as that which occurs at www.360house.com makes everything we discuss available for anyone to use; the contest winners are there; prototypes will all be there to use. Anyone can take the ideas and implement them— we’re keeping nothing back. We don’t know who will use them and we don’t care. The point is to advance the concept; to create a moment. If people use these ideas and make money, fine. We have a big problem–four billion who are poor, with an average family size of four peo-
ple. Multiply one billion homes by one billion families and that brings opportunity. Business is the answer to solving social problems. If they know how to scale and innovate they can do that and make money. Capitalism is the most powerful and best economic system in the world; but it must be practiced responsibly. The $300 house showcases that we can be a force for the good. We need businesses to solve the housing crisis and practice responsible capitalism, sharing profits and potential with the poor.
LM: How do you see the future if reverse innovation becomes the norm?
VG: I see a fantastic future because reverse innovation is at the heart of what we are talking about–do good, make money. The poor aren’t begging; they don’t want charity. They want dignity and access to opportunity. In my opinion, there is no difference between poor and rich. The
“I strongly believe that engineering holds the key to solving complex social problems such as housing, clean water, renewable energy, transportation … the basic human needs.”
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LEARN MORE Consider the following books by Vijay Govindarajan Reverse Innovation: Create Far From Home, Win Everywhere Harvard Business Review, 2012 (with Chris Trimble, foreword by Indra K. Nooyi) Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators — from Idea to Execution Harvard Business School Press, 2005 (with Chris Trimble) The Other Side of Innovation - Solving the Execution Challenge Harvard Business School Press, 2010 (with Chris Trimble) How Stella Saved the Farm: A Wild and Wooly Yarn About Making Innovation Happen Franklin Green Publishing, 2010 (with Chris Trimble) (Let us just keep my books on innovation)
poor have the same intelligence, same aspirations, same needs as the rich, so why can’t they have the same opportunities? To truly help humanity we need to understand that globalization is like gravity. You cannot deny gravity, you must harness it. Globalization is here to stay; interconnectedness among countries is real. We cannot go back to isolation. Globalization brings many benefits. How can we capture those benefits? As American’s, let us improve humanity through global efforts. To be a great country we can’t think inside our own geography. The world’s people are rooting for us to succeed; to regain our competitive spirit. Horace Mann once said, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” Let us never be ashamed to die. ■
Dadaab, Somalia-August 15, 2011: Children live in the Dadaab Refugee Camp where thousands of Somalis wait for help because of hunger.
New partnerships are being forged to encourage young engineers to use their skills in the service of refugees.
First published in Forced Migration Review, issue 38, 2011 (www.fmreview.org/technology/)
TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING TO SUPPORT WORK WITH Stephanie Hunt serves on the board of USA for UNHCR and, with her husband Hunter Hunt, is co-founder of the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity at SMU within the Lyle School of Engineering. Geoffrey Orsak is the Dean of the SMU Lyle School of Engineering and a professor of Electrical Engineering.
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REFUGEES by Stephanie Hunt and Geoffrey C. Orsak
We have all benefitted from the remarkable global transformation brought about by the work of engineers and innovators. What was once science fiction is today commonplace. None of this would have occurred had there not been engineers and companies motivated by the challenge of the problem paired with the potential for commercial gain. Meeting the needs of refugees and other marginalised people, however, requires us to find ways to attract crucial engineering problem-solvers to humanitarian work where the profit motive is not a primary driver.
Attracting a new generation The engineering salaries of recent university graduates rank at the very top of the pay scale. To attract these individuals to careers that provide direct humanitarian benefits, they must therefore be inspired to a higher goal than simple monetary gain. Engineering has a history of solving problems for the general good – and with so many active conflicts around the globe, there is an opportunity to reframe the myriad challenges associated with supporting refugees as a worthy effort in that great engineering tradition. Many young engineers today are in search of inspiration. Unfortunately, their limited understanding of the global problems of refugees comes primarily from mass media, which often paints the picture as hopeless and driven by political squabbles – not effective messages for recruiting talent. To address this problem, the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity at SMU has been working with teaching staff across the Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas to augment its engineering programmes
with a range of global development programmes that explore the cultural, financial, legal and of course technical challenges faced by those in the Global South, including refugees in camps. Students who were once intent on gaining engineering skills for a life in commerce can now make informed choices about pursuing an alternative vision for engineering.1
An early success story Engineering innovation should not be limited to engineering professionals; students and non-engineers can also provide creative solutions. At the Hunt Institute’s first Engineering and Humanity Week held in April 2011, interdisciplinary student teams competed to develop a complete micro-business to provide clean water and cell phone recharging services from within a temporary refugee shelter. Competing teams formulated detailed business plans that dealt not only with product innovation but also with marketing, sales and distribution challenges. Creative concepts included leasing advertising space on the exterior of the shelter to market to those queueing for services, as well as accepting payment via cell phone for water or phone recharging. The resulting ideas were inventive, practical and, according to the competition judges, viable. This small-scale competition successfully demonstrated how effective cross-discipline collaboration can be in addressing well-defined challenges with immediate benefit to specific local communities.
Field innovation centres In August 2011, UNHCR and the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity at SMU signed an agreement establishing a framework for increasing the role of engi-
MOBILE TECHNOLOGY IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE In determining whether and how to use mobile technology (in particular, SMS) in emergency response, factors such as customs around the use and control of mobile phones, the state of the national mobile market, and the condition of the network are all important considerations. infoasaid and partner Frontline SMS (www.frontlinesms.com) have developed a checklist of factors to be aware of in assessing the mobile context. infoasaid (http://infoasaid.org/) is a consortium of Internews and the BBC World Service Trust, funded by DfID. This initiative aims to enhance the quality of humanitarian assistance through improved information exchange between disaster-affected populations and aid agencies. infoasaid is developing a range of tools and resources for improving preparedness for communications in emergencies and is also working in partnerships with selected aid agencies to inform and support their communications responses in emergencies. See http://tinyurl.com/infoasaid-checklist infoasaid’s YouTube clip, called ‘Communication is Aid’, can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/infoasaid
neering and innovation in support of refugee camp operations. This agreement calls for the organised engagement of universities, government-run research institutes and corporations to work together to address the most pressing technical and infrastructural issues faced by UNHCR in assisting refugees in relation to water, sanitation, shelter, communications and health care. One key element of this plan is to collaboratively develop and deploy Field Innovation Centres in a number of locations within or adjacent to refugee camps and urban slums. These research and development sites will allow for researchers, engineers, innovators and graduate students to work side by side with those working and living in the refugee camps. These Field Innovation Centres, staffed by experts seconded by their organisations, will expose engineers and scientists to the complexities of actual problems faced within the camps, thus increasing the likelihood of real advances.
Importantly, the Field Innovation Centres will directly engage the refugee communities themselves in the development and testing of solutions, particularly those refugees who have engineering skills. This will help ensure that solutions meet the local cultural and technical needs of the community while in turn providing opportunities to develop a specialised workforce within the camps for maintaining and protecting these new assets. Furthermore, creating an international base for technical innovation within the refugee communities we serve will provide a strong humanitarian motive needed to attract the best problem solvers in the world to the service of those with some of the greatest needs. ■ 1. The new programme elements were introduced in 2011.
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Lynn Johnson/rippleeffectimages.org
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HELP A WOMAN, HELP THE PLANET PLANTING FORESTS IN KENYA
Holding seedlings that have been nurtured with love, a Kenyan schoolgirl prepares to plant them among more than eleven million trees planted by African women and girls.
Deforestation has ravaged rural Kenya in areas where drought and flooding cause devastating erosion. But women’s groups are being taught to nurture seeds and saplings, and replant the lost forests of Kenya. Esther Muthoni leads one of these groups and believes that trees are a part of who she is. She passes on the delight of planting to the children of the school she runs. Esther often leads them to a nearby cornfield to plant seedlings along the perimeter—laughing, digging, learning. She teaches that the value of a tree is not just for firewood or for home building but also for cleaning the air, reducing soil erosion and building a sense of community values. To date, more than 11 million trees have been planted. The lessons planted along with the trees are practical as well as uplifting, teaching women and girls about best forestry practices and irrigation techniques. Because women are responsible for the tree-planting program, they have a sense of accomplishment that is especially powerful for this often invisible minority. Success is reflected in everything from individual self esteem, to the group’s joyful sense of community, voices rising in song as they work. And of course there are the millions of trees that blanket the landscape, a testament to women creating hope for the future.
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Lynn Johnson/rippleeffectimages.org
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Women in developing countries bear the biggest burden as climate change impacts our planet. It is in the daily lives of these women that the battle to save the family, the planet, and the future is played out. -ANNIE GRIFFITHS
Below: Willing hands work together to build a sand dam that will change the lives of hundreds of women and girls. Top Left: Village women haul stones and mix cement to construct a sand dam that will capture water, saving them hours of fetching each day. Bottom Left: Girls who once spent as much as 11 hours a day fetching water, are now free to go to school.
Lynn Johnson/rippleeffectimages.org
CAPTURING WATER IN AN ARID LAND In drought prone Kenya, the unpredictable rainfall has led to famine and loss of crops and livestock. During times of drought, women and girls sleep at distant water points waiting in lines of 300 women or more, making their water fetching ordeal last as long as eleven hours. Sadly, the water they work so hard to carry is of poor quality. Diarrhea and other water borne diseases are common, leading to the illness and death of the most vulnerable—children and the elderly. Working together, women have constructed a series of sand dams in nearby villages. They take to heart the motto on a local school building that shouts out, “Unity is Strength” and “No Sweat, No Blessing.” It is in that spirit they lift and carry pans of cement, pass rocks hand to hand, and continue to collect water in the riverbed just upstream from the unfinished dam. Thirty-five years ago this was a permanent river but climate change has altered that. But with powerful women wielding shovels, anything can be changed. In these communities, where women have organized for better water supply, girls are staying in school, crops have higher yields and everyone is healthier.
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BOTTLING THE SUN
Annie Griffiths/rippleeffectimages.org
Imagine your world without light. Now imagine the challenge of preparing supper, caring for children, studying for classes or tending livestock in the dark. Yet, in the harshest places on earth there is one resource in abundance: the sun. Increasingly, women and girls are being taught to harness this boundless solar energy to improve their lives. A solar lantern is the gift of light. In India, women and girls are being taught to build and repair solar panels and lanterns to bring light and clean water to their families and communities. With a solar lantern, a woman’s day is extended by hours. She can begin her day earlier, power the lantern for free all day, and journey into an evening that is brighter and safer. Solar lanterns are lighting the way for women and girls around the world, and Ripple Effect Images is privileged to help tell their stories. ■
Above: Despite no formal education, Rashmi was taught to run a solar desalinization plant in her village in Rajasthan, India. Top RIght: Rural women of northern India receive solar lanterns that were built by other village women. They, in turn, will be taught to build, sell and repair lanterns.
“The women who participate in and lead ecology movements in countries like India are not speaking merely as victims. Their voices are the voices of liberation and transformation.” -VANDANA SHIVA
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Ripple Effect Images is a team of National Geographic photographers and filmmakers dedicated to documenting the innovative programs that are empowering women and girls in developing countries, especially as they deal with the devastating effects of climate change. The resulting photographs, video, and stories are collected in the Rip-
ple Effect Images Archive, which is made available at no cost to our partner aid organizations and to policy makers who are working to empower women and girls. The extraordinary Ripple Effect team includes a MacArthur Genius Fellow, as well as Pulitzer Prize, Emmy Award, and National Humanities Medal winners.
www.rippleeffectimages.org
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E X P E R I E N C E T H E FA I R M O N T D A L L A S .
A Texas legend in luxury, hospitality and service. PROUD SUPPORTER OF
Hunt Institute Engineering & Humanity Week
Conveniently located in the heart of the Dallas Arts District, The Fairmont Dallas offers luxurious hotel accommodations just blocks from Uptown, the Central Business District and the Financial District. Minutes from fine dining, shopping, arts and entertainment, The Fairmont Dallas offers truly unrivalled presence and hospitality. The Fairmont is proud to welcome a new generation of global leaders to the second annual Engineering & Humanity Week. We salute you in your efforts to end global poverty through action. Together we will work to meet the challenges of the developing world.
1717 N Akard St.
Dallas, Texas 75201
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Welcomes The Hunt Institute Engineering & Humanity Week Fresh ingredients from authentically local Texas growers provide inspiration for an innovative menu at The Pyramid Restaurant & Bar. Executive Chef AndrÊ Natera leads a talented culinary team in preparing flavorful dishes, seasoned with herbs from The Fairmont Dallas’ 3,000-squarefoot rooftop garden, for a truly memorable fine dining experience.
1717 N Akard St
Dallas, TX 75201
214.720.5249
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10 INNOVATIONS THAT COULD CHANGE THE WORLD The Saiia Roof
UNICEF Digital Drum
DOT Earth blog
http://inhabitat.com/hand-powered-machinecan-make-thatch-roofs-from-plastic-bottles-intropical-climates/
http://www.designother90.org/cities/ solutions/digital-drum
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/
In Ecuador, thatch roofs are a traditional building technology. Thatch keeps a home cool and reeds can be sourced locally. But thatch has become much harder to acquire as land for food has pushed the needed grass further from villages. Steel and fiberglass panels are poor substitutes as they let in much more heat and during heavy rains make a racket inside. Dr. David Saiia, a professor of strategic economics and sustainability at Duquesne University, has created a unique solution by taking plastic bottles out of the local waste stream and turning them into a thatch replacement with a hand-powered machine he invented. After witnessing the encroachment of unbiodegradable waste piling up in the middle of the South American Rainforest, he developed a device which can cut a 3 liter plastic bottle into strips in seconds. He is now developing and testing multiple ways to produce a thatch covering for housing using the strips. David is continuing to test the viability of the roof to make sure it’s durable and not toxic and hope to build a bio diesel powered device. He hopes to see the production of a system which creates local cottage industries in emerging economies and reduce the plastic pollution. The local labor would see a boon from reroofing homes, which could consume between 1,200 and 1,600 bottles each. ■
Access to valuable information has the power to transform individuals and communities. But thousands of people in rural Uganda lack access to the kind of information and technology that most of us take for granted. UNICEF is changing this reality with the installation across Uganda of more than 100 innovative computer kiosks known as “digital drums.” Inspired by the successful “Digital Doorway” deployed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa, the solar-powered kiosks in Uganda are constructed of recycled oil drums and other locally-sourced materials and are attached to the exterior walls of community centers throughout the country. Initial installation of the digital kiosks—including hardware, solar power and internet connectivity— cost about $6,000, and it will cost an additional $2,000 to maintain the computers each year. To make the project as sustainable as possible, UNICEF has instituted small income generation activities and opportunities for local micro-enterprise entrepreneurs, including battery and mobile phone charging stations, typing, printing, and IT repair services. The digital drums have not only become a source of valuable information that improves lives—information such as the national education curriculum, school-safety guidelines, and videos on topics such as school lessons, public health, and campaigns encouraging girls to stay in school—the computers have become a great source of community pride. ■
By 2050 or so, the human population is expected to reach nine billion, essentially adding two Chinas to the number of people alive today. Those billions will be seeking food, water and other resources on a planet where, scientists say, humans are already shaping climate and the web of life. Dot Earth, a blog of The New York Times written by science journalist and professor Andrew C. Revkin examines efforts to balance human affairs with the planet’s limits. Conceived in part with support from a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Dot Earth tracks relevant developments from suburbia to Siberia. The blog is an interactive exploration of trends and ideas with readers and experts. After four years in existence, Dot Earth is now read by millions of people in more than 200 countries from Brazil to China. Andrew, a Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University is the first two-time winner of the Communication Award bestowed jointly by the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. Considered a pioneer in uses of social media, Andrew has over 26,000 followers on Twitter (@revkin); he maxed out his allotment on Facebook at 5,000 friends a while back. ■
Mine Katon http://www.greenprophet.com/2012/02/wind-powered-bamboo-mine-sweeper/ Afghanistan is home to more land mines than people, so designer Massoud Hassani turned a childhood toy into an extraordinary wind-powered bamboo mine sweeper that destroys and tracks them. Made out of bamboo and biodegradable plastic, the rolling Mine Katon’s arms self-destruct when they hit and simultaneously destroy a land mine. Equipped with a GPS chip, the device also maps out which land mines in the country have been wiped out so that local Afghanis know which areas of the country are safe. As a child, Hassani made wind-powered toys and chased after them in areas of Afghanistan that were pocked with destructive land mines. Tragically, many of Hassani’s friends were killed or seriously injured when they accidentally encountered one of humanity’s most destructive inventions. Twenty years later, as a student of Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Hassani scaled up his childhood toy by twenty times and equipped it with tools that literally save lives. Although Afghanistan? ■
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The Lifeplayer
Camfed
sOccket
http://lifelineenergy.org/lifeplayer.html
www.camfed.org
www.soccket.com
Lifeline Energy has invented a new tool that is being hailed as the“iPod®” for rural populations in the developing world. Created to deliver on-demand programming that classrooms or communities can replay continually, the Lifeplayer is an oversized MP3 player that can be preloaded to hold 64GB of educational content, can download Internet audio and can record live voice or radio programs for playback later. Powered by a wireless solar panel and a hand-wound crank, the Lifeplayer can even charge mobile phones. The Lifeplayer represents the first time that the extremely poor have the opportunity to access realtime information on demand anytime, anywhere without concern for electricity or batteries. Made for large group listening, it has excellent sound quality that ensures 60 learners can hear it clearly. For classrooms of more than 60 listeners, speakers can be added to ensure everyone can hear. The actor Tom Hanks, an advocate for renewable energy solutions, is the primary funder of the Lifeplayer. ■
“When you educate a girl in Africa, everything changes. She’ll be three times less likely to get HIV/AIDS, earn 25 percent more income and have a smaller, healthier family.” This is the premise behind an innovative program in Africa known as Camfed—the Campaign for Female Education founded in 1993 by a Welsh social entrepreneur named Ann Cotton, who began by raising money at her kitchen table to send 32 girls from poor families in Zimbabwe to school. Today, the organization works with 3,667 schools in rural parts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana and Malawi, and has provided direct support for more than half a million children to attend primary school. Camfed has also provided grants to enable 60,000 girls to complete secondary school, supported 15,000 more who attend university or receive business training, and provided financing for 8,000 of their enterprises. With only 133 full-time employees, Camfed is improving the educational environment for two million children. ■
For many people around the world, kerosene is the alternative to electricity, but the fuel can cost a family up to 30 percent of their annual income not to mention their respiratory health. But an innovative product that looks like an ordinary soccer ball—a sOccket—could change that outcome. The sOccket is a power source for small electronic devices—an eco-friendly power generator, which is something the developing world desperately needs. The invention of Harvard graduates Julia C. Silverman and Jessica O. Matthews, who came up with the idea while taking an engineering class for non-engineers, harnesses kinetic energy using a strippeddown gyroscope inside the ball that's rolling as the ball is rolling. The gyroscope harnesses the kinetic energy generated during play and stores it in a battery that users can plug appliances into. The balls haven't been priced yet, but are expected to be in the price range of mid- to high-end soccer balls, around $60. The balls are currently being used in Mexico, El Salvador, and in South Africa, and are heading to Haiti and The Gambia later this year. ■
INBAR www.inbar.int
GRASP Labs https://www.grasp.upenn.edu/ Roboticist Vijay Kumar and his team at the University of Pennsylvania's General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory have created a series of eight-inch, .1-pound, four-rotor autonomous flying robots capable of performing 360-degree flips in less than half a second, zooming through hula hoops thrown into the air and building mini-structures—all without human control. The flying robots riveted the crowd at the annual Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference last February in Long Beach. While theirperformance was impressive and highly entertaining, it's just one of many things the robots can do. Potential uses go beyond simple tricks. For example, they could act as first responders, venturing into collapsed buildings or locations with biochemical leaks to measure damage or toxicity levels and effectively eliminating the need to put a human at risk. The development of larger models could even enable them to transport cargo, either individually or in a swarm formation. The application possibilities are endless. ■
In sub-Saharan Africa, 70 percent of the people cook their meals over wood fires. The very poorest cut down trees for cooking fuel; those slightly less poor buy charcoal made from wood in those same forests. Every year Africa loses forest cover equal to the size of Switzerland. Moreover, much cooking is done indoors. The resulting air pollution kills some two million people a year. Almost half the deaths are from pneumonia in children under age 5. But an innovative new collaboration is working to reverse this sad reality. INBAR—the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan—is a membership organization of 38 countries based in Beijing. INBAR is providing technical support for growing and using bamboo in Ghana and Ethiopia, where deforestation of hardwoods, carbon emissionsand frequent famines have combined to create a vicious cycle. A new bamboo plant is mature enough to harvest after three to six years, depending on the species, and most importantly, is renewable. Unlike hardwood trees, bamboo regrows after harvesting, and can be harvested every single year for the life of the plant.Because bamboo roots grab onto soil, it can help prevent mudslides and erosion and the plant requires little of Africa’s most precious resource: water. ■
AisakaArchitects’ Atelier http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index. php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=19342 Le Corbusier, a master of modern architecture, once said: “A house is a machine for living in.” The description aptly applies to a new home in the suburbs of Fujisawa, Japan, built by a young couple. In a densely populated country like Japan, effective use of space is not only smart but required. All rooms must serve a purpose. But what if you don’t yet need a room for children? Or a guestroom because there are no guests? Aisaka Architects have created an innovative feature that allows form to follow function: a folding floor above the couple’s living room. By closing the folding floor, an extra room can be created whenever it is needed, and by opening the floor, the unused volume of the upper room can be added to the room below that is in use. In short, the folding floor continuously maximizes the home’s floor area ratio. ■
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REVERSE TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION:
CARDBOARD
From left to right: The LeafBed, The Kranium cardboard bicycle helmet, IKEA’s corrugated cardboard shipping pallets, corrugated cardboard bowler hat by Austin + Mergold
by Chris Kelley
In Yemen, it’s a symbol of democracy: the cardboard voting booth. For thousands of refugees around the world, a bed made of cardboard provides a good night’s sleep. And, when it comes to bicycle helmets, cardboard looks to be safer and more effective than plastic. Invented 195 years ago, cardboard is one of the most versatile and durable mediums for innovation today. Engineering & Humanity Week 2012 is pleased to celebrate the use of the recycled and recyclable medium as a source of innovation, inspiration and novelty. Perhaps nothing better symbolizes the spirit of innovation in the developing world than the cardboard voting booth. In Yemen, and other countries throughout the Arab world, the cardboard voting booth is both a tool of democracy and a source of inspiration. Easy to transport and assemble, cardboard voting booths can be deployed in a matter of seconds, offering privacy, peace of mind and fulfillment for voters around the world—some ingredients of freedom. The Kranium cardboard bicycle helmet is made of the same material used for boxes at a supermarket, and it has been proven to absorb four times more impact energy than a standard polystyrene helmet. The Kranium cardboard helmet passed official safety tests after being smashed five times in a row. The cardboard used in a helmet is mixed with a waterproof acrylic compound, so it has
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the same level of resistance to sweat and rain as a standard plastic helmet. The furniture retailer IKEA has replaced its wood shipping pallets with a lighter, thinner and more affordable cardboard variant. Corrugated cardboard shipping pallets are strong enough to support loads of up 1,650 pounds, which is the same as timber. When compared to the traditional wooden pallet, the cardboard version is one-third of the height at 2-inches tall and 90-percent lighter, weighing only 5.5 pounds. In January, IKEA switched all of its 10 million wooden pallets to cardboard, which will save the company an estimated $193 million per year in transportation costs. A low-cost, modular bed made entirely of cardboard has been created for emergency and temporary housing. The LeafBed is an easily transportable and affordable alternative to bulky camp beds that have been deployed by governments and relief organizations during disasters. One hundred of the beds were delivered in December 2010 to people living in unstable housing conditions in Niamey, Niger. Six months later, it was discovered that 99 percent of the recipients were still sleeping on the beds, and 85 percent of the beds were undamaged. LeafBeds are also 100-percent recyclable. Minnesota-based Cardboard Innovations is leading the way in creating products that are entirely made of cardboard. The company specializes not only in retail displays but cardboard furniture, such as full-size tables, chairs and shelving units that are custom-made and completely recyclable. Other cardboard items
that the company produces include cat scratchers, easels, decorative products and more. The London Festival of Architecture commissioned a group of local artists, architects and designers to curate a popup exhibition that explored the intersection between hats and architecture. Hoping to make people smile and help them to understand that architecture can be playful by putting it somewhere unexpected, they produced a series of hats inspired by the city of London. One of the favorite displays: A recycled corrugatedcardboard bowler hat by the architects at Austin + Mergold, who have graciously loaned us the bowler for display at Engineering & Humanity Week. Sometimes a good thing can go too far. One household brand has found ways to help conserve cardboard, so less goes to waste. Campbell Soup Co. has redesigned the shape of its Pace salsa jars, which eliminated a need for extra cardboard in the packaging. Campbell has removed a cardboard insert from its popular V8 product packaging, which has netted the soup company about $230,000 in annual savings, not counting the environmental benefits. Call it reverse reverse technology. ■
FROM CODING TO COOKING NATHAN MYHRVOLD by Chris Kelley What do you get when a genius billionaire, who at one point was one of the biggest brains behind Microsoft, decides to spend a great deal of time and money in the kitchen? The answer is one of the most unique—and some would say one of the most important— cookbooks ever written. With five volumes, 2,438 pages and a weight of 38.5 pounds, Nathan Myhrvold’s Modernist Cuisine aims to forever change the way we look at food preparation. The culinary masterwork is nothing if not innovative and thorough. Picking up with what is often called “molecular gastronomy,” Modernist Cuisine looks deep into the science of our food. It details exact temperatures at which to cook certain dishes for the best results, which can vary depending on where you are on the planet and even, the authors say, what type and color of pan you are using. This isn’t a cookbook that could have been created with your run-of-the-mill kitchen, mind you. Nathan and his team had plenty of high-tech toys, including ultrahigh-pressure homogenizers and a 50G ultracentrifuge. But then, maybe that’s the kind of kitchen you should expect from a man who has studied with Stephen Hawking. More than just an expensive playground for cooks and scientists, the modernist cuisine movement delves into the finer
points of food safety and food preservation. Modernist Cuisine claims to have the most com¬pre¬hen¬sive guide yet pub¬lished on cook¬ing sous vide (French for “under vacuum”). It’s not just about improving your meal at a high-class restaurant—it’s about improving the quality of food for everybody and creating things once thought impossible, like foods that change temperature when eaten or even edible menus. "I believe human creativity is unlimited and that people will continue to come up with fascinating and wonderful food — both chefs and homemakers,” Nathan told TIME. “Everyone who cares about cooking.” An interesting cooking side note of Engineering & Humanity Week 2012 is that the Innovative Leaders Forum will take place at the Dallas Fairmont Hotel, which is home to a 3,000 squarefoot organic herb and vegetable garden and green house. In addition, the Fairmont lodges two bee hives that, during peak season, can house up to 80,000 honeybees capable of producing 60-80 pounds of honey per year. Now, that’s sweet! ■
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MAKING REFUSE INTO BUILDING BLOCKS HARVEY LACEY by Chris Kelley One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, the old saying goes. But Wylie, Texas metal worker Harvey Lacey is bringing that truth to life in Haiti and soon, he hopes, in other developing countries. Harvey, a popular figure at the inaugural Engineering & Humanity Week last year, sees three problems that plague most developing countries: A lack of housing, a lack of jobs and an excess of trash. Using commonsense logic and simple machines, Harvey aims to solve all three problems at once by teaching the people of Haiti and other places how to turn their refuse into building blocks for new homes. Such blocks, built from materials such as plastic and Styrofoam, are lighter than cinderblocks but still impressively stable when plastered together. Since a prototype of his Ubuntu-Blox house debuted at last
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year’s Engineering & Humanity Week, Harvey has built two of his block building machines in Haiti. He didn’t simply come up with the idea and ship it off for someone else to deal with. He has travelled to Haiti to teach residents how to collect plastic and build the houses. Harvey is taking a true “teach a man to fish” mentality rather than building a few homes and calling it a day. He has also submitted the idea to officials in India, where huge housing challenges exist. In February, a test house built from Ubuntu-Blox withstood a simulated earthquake performed at National Technical Systems in Plano, which imitated an earthquake between 7.0 and 8.2 on the Richter scale. The house escaped the faux earthquake with no significant damage, further proving its use in a place like Haiti, which is still recovering from the January 2011 catastrophic earthquake. The structure also withstood simulated winds and rain up to the standards of a hurricane. The word “Ubuntu” means, “I am what I am because of who we all are.” It’s a philosophy meaning that we should all work together for each other’s benefit. Harvey’s Ubuntu-Blox homes embody the idea, applying clever solutions to prevalent problems. ■
A Cen Century ntury of Excellence
HONORING EXCELLENCE
Living Village at SMU Dedicated to Cooper-Hewitt Curator Cynthia Smith
The 2012 Living Village at Southern Methodist University (SMU) was dedicated to Curator Cynthia Smith in honor of her passion for the poor, her commitment to research, and her ability to spread knowledge through creative educational exhibitions. Two such exhibits are ”Design with the Other 90%” (2007) and “Design with the Other 90%: Cities” (2011) which she curated on behalf of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, a subsidiary of the Smithsonian Institution. “Hunter and I first saw ‘Design with the Other 90%’ in 2007 and we were so taken by the breadth and depth of knowledge it presented,” says Engineering & Humanity Week founder Stephanie Hunt. “It served as our inspiration to create the first SMU Living Village during Engineering & Humanity Week last year. The village has changed lives and so have the ‘Design with the Other 90%’ exhibitions. Cynthia’s work has influenced countless people and inspired action and change in so many ways. It is an honor to dedicate this year’s Living Village to her.”
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Cynthia Smith exudes passion. Such zeal is a perfect attribute for the person who would curate “Design with the Other 90%: Cities.” She says: “Ultimately, the exhibition is about improving people’s lives. That’s always a goal for me – to support the people living in urban areas and to inspire people who work in this arena…to help them think about design in a different way. The people living in settlements have good ideas; and when there are reciprocal arrangements with good designers and residents, a great idea exchange takes place.” When Cynthia accepted the challenge of curating this global endeavor, she did not know the impact it would have on her perspective. Using funding provided by the Rockefeller Foundation, she toured 16 cities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America throughout 2009 and 2010 to gain a handson understanding of the people who live in the urban settlements. With the help of a global advisory committee, the exhibit was pared from 300 sites to 60. Her studies spanned two years -- a very compressed research timeline in museum terms “The first group of women I met was in Manila, in the Philippines,” she says. “They were involved in a peer-to-peer exchange, sharing tools and experiences, saving together, and building trust. I was struck that the only thing they lacked was an opportunity. They were just like anyone I’ve met. They could’ve been my neighbors. Now they are finding ways to build opportunities for each other.” Cynthia talked about her research with people living in the settlements and with groups and NGOs working in the settlements. All helped define the form of the exhibition, inputting perceptions of what they thought was important and
what content would be particularly important for people to understand. “The exhibition was conceived to broaden the exchange of information,” she adds. Cynthia also used social media to further the conversation, writing a blog and tweeting about the work. She found that tweeting extended the conversation to a large international following. She also contacted young researchers interested in marginalized communities to write guest blogs. “Design plays an important role in bringing form to ideas, and good designers help define inclusive and sustainable cities by gaining the first-hand knowledge of the people served by their designs,” Cynthia adds. “There is vibrancy and culture in each settlement and both should come through planning and design.”
that are informed by end users: alternative housing design, methods and materials; low-cost clean water; accessible education initiatives; sanitation and solid-waste management; transportation solutions; innovative systems and infrastructure; and urban design and planning. “Cities” is divided into six themes: Exchange, Reveal, Adapt, Include, Prosper and Access. To orient the visitor, compelling information is presented via maps, comparative statistics and a video and sound installation organized by
About the Exhibit “Design with the Other 90%: Cities” is the second in a series of themed exhibitions by Cooper-Hewitt that demonstrate how design can address the world’s most critical issues. The exhibition features more than 60 projects from 23 countries around the globe. The exhibition explores design solutions to the challenges created by rapid urban growth in informal settlements, commonly referred to as slums. Close to 1 billion people live in informal settlements, and that population is projected to swell to 2 billion by 2030. This accelerated urban expansion will take place primarily in developing and emerging economies in an increasingly climatechallenged world. The exhibit includes projects and products at every scale, with a focus on designs
Top Left:“Design with the Other 90%: CITIES" installation at the United Nations. Photo: Matt Flynn, © Smithsonian Institution Bottom Left: Shack/Slum Dwellers International Yerwada Slum Upgrading Project. SPARC Samudaya Nirman Sahayak (SSNS) and Pune Municipal Corporation, with SPARC (Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres), NSDF (National Slum Dwellers' Federation), and Mahila Milan, Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) affiliates. Yerwada slum, Pune, India, 2008-present. Photo: © SDI Top right: "Design with the Other 90%: CITIES" installation at the United Nations. Photo: Matt Flynn, © Smithsonian Institution Bottom right: Praça Cantão, Favela Painting Project. Artists: Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn, Haas&Hahn, with Santa Marta favela community youth. Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2009-10. Photo: © Haas&Hahn for favelapainting.com
The DESIGN OTHER 90 NETWORK – Plug In! The Design Other 90 Network (www.designother90.org) is an open-network database which extends Design for the Other 90%: CITIES beyond the boundaries of the exhibition and catalog. More than a collection of resources, the Design Other 90 Network is a social-media platform that invites members to: • Share vital design resources for developing and emerging economies. • Connect with stakeholders in the fields of design, architecture, sustainability, humanitarian aid, and more. • Engage a broad international audience in developing solutions for those living in poverty. • View and share the more than 100 projects and solutions already in the system, as well as add a project that is making a difference in your community by uploading photos, videos, and text. • Create a group for a project and let other members gain from your knowledge. Become a member of the Design Other 90 Network and you can make a difference in the lives of your neighbors and people around the world.
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The Six Themes of the Cities Exhibition Exchange Increasingly, local and regional authorities cannot keep up with the unprecedented growth of informal settlements or slums. This section of the exhibition showcases innovative solutions that have emerged as the informal and formal cities exchange design knowledge. Projects include community-generated solutions by Shack/Slum Dwellers International that address secure land tenure, housing, basic amenities and livelihood through community-to-community exchanges throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America; the Urbanism Manual for Precarious Settlements, a free “howto” urban design manual for newly arriving settlers; and the Incremental Housing project in Iquique, Chile, and Monterrey, Mexico, which produces half-finished houses that are completed by the residents and contain only the essentials of a built home—bathroom, kitchen, structure and roof. Other projects in this section explore building methods, materials and manufacturing, including a full-scale shelter installation representing an alternative gabions construction method used in Mexico City, in which mesh and wire containers are filled on-site with locally available materials. Also on view is a plastic formwork kit to produce cast-in-place mortar structures using mostly indigenous materials.
Reveal The projects in this section increase awareness of the scope and scale of the conditions in informal settlements, which are often invisible and do not show up on official maps or on census roles. Highlights are: • The Praça Cantão Favela Painting project in Santa Marta, Rio de Janeiro, where artists engaged community members to paint the building exteriors in their neighborhood. • The open-source mapping project, Map Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya, which engages local youth to map the settlement to locate and number the hundreds of thousands of people living there and document the lack of basic services in that informal settlement.
Adapt Designers and architects are collaborating with communities to create design solutions that respond to the local terrain, urban or climate conditions of the region. Featured works include: • The Integral Urban Project San Rafael-Barrio Unido in Caracas, Venezuela, which upgraded the extremely vertical settlement with an improved network of stairs that integrate drainage, sewage and clean water infrastructure. • The Floating Community Lifeboats in Bangladesh which provide space for solarpowered schools, libraries, clinics and community centers in response to rising waters and extreme density.
Include This section features design solutions that involve those who had been marginalized by the established city—the poor, women, youth, and entire communities. Among the featured projects are:
urban videographer Cassim Shepard. “Cities” is accompanied by an online open-network database, which extends the exhibition beyond the physical space. Developed in collaboration with the museum’s curatorial communications and education staff, the database provides design resources for developing and emerging economies; connects stakeholders who practice socially responsible design; and engages a local and international audience in developing solutions for those living in poverty. The database started with 100 projects from both the “Design with the Other 90%” and “Design with the Other 90%: Cities” exhibitions, and in-
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• The Jiko ya jamii (Community Cooker), a large-scale oven that uses trash as fuel to power a communal cooking facility in Kibera, Nairobi. • The city of Diadema, Brazil, where the mayor worked with the informal communities through participatory planning and budgeting to re-urbanize the settlements, including widening and paving what were once narrow streets, cooperatively building social housing, establishing a new system of land tenure and providing quality health care to all residents. • The Kaputiei New Town in Kenya, developed by Jamii Bora Trust, a micro-finance organization started by 50 street beggar families who saved enough money to found the Trust. Jamii Bora members receive loans to start small businesses and save enough to purchase a house in the town where social amenities, facilities and open spaces are maintained by neighborhood management associations.
Prosper The projects in this section create work opportunities, such as: • Spaza-de-Move-on in Durban, South Africa, a portable, durable device that provides dignity and convenience to informal street vendors. • M-PESA, a mobile money transfer service that enables urban migrants in Kenya to send money back to their villages via a mobile device. • Babajob.com, in Bangalore, India, that provides a social-networking service that connects impoverished job seekers with employers through chains of personal connections, replicating the process by which Indians hire in real life.
Access The largest section of the exhibition includes design solutions to improve access to water, sanitation, food security, electricity, health, transportation and education. Projects include: • The SONO Water Filter from Bangladesh, a low-cost, reliable and user-friendly household system to remove arsenic from drinking water through a series of buckets filled with locally available materials that act as natural filters. • The BioCentres in Nairobi, complexes that feature toilets and washrooms accessible to the disabled with free child-only toilets and water kiosks selling affordable clean water. • Garden-in-a-sack in Kibera, Nairobi, made from inexpensive materials and yet promoting micro-agriculture. • The Bicycle Phone Charger, a simple device made from bicycle and radio parts that attaches to a bike to generate enough power to charge a cell phone. • The Shasthya Shebika (Health Volunteer) Kit, a portable pharmacy kit for health volunteers in informal communities in Dhaka, Bangladesh. • The Guangzhou Bus Rapid Transit system in Guangzhou, China, which services nearly 1 million riders per day at a cost that is 10 times less expensive than the metro. • The Digital Drum in Kampala, Uganda, a solar-powered information access point made from two durable, low-cost oil drums welded together, rugged keyboards, solar panels and low-power tablets.
vites user-generated content in order to track a multitude of projects throughout the world and their global impact. An illustrated catalog accompanies the exhibition, and features essays by Somsook Boonyabancha of the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, Edgar Pieterse of the African Centre for Cities, and Christian Werthmann from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. Cynthia personally conducted interviews for the catalog with such leaders as Jockin Arputham of Shack/Slum Dwellers International; Sheela Patel of SPARC; Juliana Rotich of Ushahidi; Rob Small and Christina Kaba of Abalimi Bezekhaya; Gabriela Sorda
from the Architecture, Design and Urbanism Department at the University of Buenos Aires; and Sharad Sapra of UNICEF. The museum’s main facility, housed in the Carnegie Mansion, is experiencing a $64 million renovation which began in the fall of 2011. Consequently, the exhibit opened in the United Nations where it ran through January 9, 2012. The exhibit is now on tour and will make appearances this year on the West Coast and the Midwest. The Hunt Institute intends to bring the exhibit to Engineering & Humanity Week in Dallas in 2013. International interest has also been expressed. ■
Design Change master of arts in sustainability and development
DOORS OPEN FALL 2012 Responsible use. Sustainable design. These are the keys that will open the door to a future of clean air, fresh water, and a higher quality of life for all humanity throughout the world. These are the concepts that must be embraced by designers, engineers, architects. By leaders in every sector, public and private. This is Sustainability and Development, to be offered this fall by the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU. For those who strive to innovate, whose goal is to be a catalyst for change, who intend to make a positive impact, this is the program that can open the door to a future unbound.
ENROLL NOW P. O. Box 750335 Dallas, Texas 75275 EngineeringLeaders@SMU.edu / lyle.smu.edu 214-768-2002
create a better world
“THE REAL DISCOVERY SEEKING N BUT IN SEE NEW E 32
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VOYAGE OF LIES NOT IN EW LANDS, EING WITH EYES.” — MARCEL PROUST
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A SCULPTOR WITH METTLE
Brad Oldham is a sculptor with the mind of an engineer who enjoys creating artistic, useful pieces for communities, business, and upscale residences, as well as buildings undergoing historic restoration. Well known for iconic public sculptures like “The Travelling Man” sculptural series in Dallas, Brad and his team at Brad Oldham International Inc. have an uncommon reputation for quality and a distinctively warm and inviting style. Brad’s custom art and products have been featured on Good Morning America and in Architectural Digest, Better Homes & Gardens, Veranda, The Dallas Morning News, and other publications. Brad was
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presented the “2011 Artisan Award” by Texas Society of Architects and the “2011 Artist/Craftsman of the Year” by the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He was honored to have his work featured in the Americans for the Arts’ prestigious “2010 Year in Review,” a recognition of the best public artwork in the U.S. and Canada. More important however, is his team’s commitment to their community and to the greater good. “We believe strongly in the critical importance of reaching out to our community members in need of help,” says Brad’s wife and business partner, Christy Coltrin. To do
so, the company established a community relations agenda that allows it to build long-term relationships with key partner organizations. The company supports LaunchAbility, which provides services to help people with disabilities to reach their maximum potential and The Arts Community Alliance. Brad served as the Arts Mentor for Coca Cola during its twoyear pilot program; he mentored high school juniors and seniors in how to run an arts business and how art is made. Stephanie and Hunter Hunt have long admired Brad’s work and commissioned him to design the Visionary Award that is being presented to Vijay Govindarajan during Engineering & Humanity Week 2012’s Innovation Forum. Inspired by the cause, Brad created the sculpted piece with much input. Because the award recognizes individuals making change on a global level, the 10-inch tall sculpture incorporates global imagery. The bronze globe is elevated on a tree trunk and instead of longitude and latitude numbers, Brad and the Hunts collaborated on key messages along the coordinate lines running across the sculpted continents and oceans. But the globe is not a complete sphere. Like a geode cut in half, the globe is cut to expose the beauty of what’s inside. The cutaway reveals people, dwellings and commerce – both ancient and modern – working in concert with one another. ■
On a road trip through West Texas to deliver a sculpture, Oldham made several stops to photograph the Bird sculptures in beautiful settings. The stainless steel Bird on the tracks shown here is 27 inches tall.
corr.indd 2
4/5/12 11:43 AM
The Next Generation Economy is reprinted with permission from Momentum, a quarterly publication of Tides. Sonal Shah is a Tides Fellow. Learn more at http://momentum.tides.org
THE NEXT GENERATION
ECONOMY Sonal Shah is the former Director of the first White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation, and is currently a Tides Fellow.
by Sonal Shah
Issue 1: The Future Of...
Social Innovation is fast gaining traction in the United States and overseas. While not a new concept, there is growing recognition that in order to change our trajectory and solve some of the world’s greatest challenges, there needs to be real innovation and scale in the social sector as well as the economy more broadly. The current structures created for addressing social prob-
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lems are inadequate and incentives are not aligned toward achieving outcomes. Hence, social innovation is about building the infrastructure necessary to create an economy that can have a transformational impact in our country and the world around us. This investment in an “impact economy” has the potential to create jobs, economic value, and social benefit for the US and the world. Creating this economy and having real innovation
requires an investment in nonprofits, forprofits and hybrid enterprises to develop the necessary ecosystem for growth. The most important aspect of the impact economy is that each of these sectors measure results. For too long, the definition of success has been the growth of an organization rather than outcome achieved, for example, whether more children graduated from high school, or fewer people were diagnosed with diabetes. In-
For too long, the definition of success has been the growth of an organization rather than outcome achieved.
stead, investors should be asking what problem the organization is trying to solve, and hold themselves and the organization accountable for achieving the stated objectives. This can be achieved across sectors: nonprofits need to start managing to outcomes, not just outputs; governments need to assess how to align incentives to solve problems, not just keep the status quo; and businesses need to find better ways to partner with both governments and nonprofits to help scale solutions. This requires a real investment on behalf of philanthropists to help build the infrastructure that can meet this demand, and build the ecosystem to help create the next generation economy. As the growth and demand of the impact economy increases, there will be real opportunity to more clearly define the term “longterm value” to incorporate social and environmental criteria.
Non-profits Nonprofits play a critical role, providing necessary services to ensure a more educated, healthy, and prosperous society. They work within local communities, across communities, and nationally to address some of our nation’s and world’s most critical challenges. These are largely grantbased organizations like the Latin American Youth Center, YouthBuild, or Year Up. However, as budgets at local and national levels become tighter, it is important to ask what new models need to be developed to help solve some of the tough challenges. Policies and investments in the sector need to focus on the evidence of impact – not just on number of people served. In his book Leap of Reason, Managing to Outcomes in an Era of Scarcity, Mario Morino offers a critical view of how leaders and investors of nonprofits can best manage to outcomes, es-
pecially in an era of decreasing budgets. Grantbased models are changing and it is even more critical to develop new ones, with the appropriate incentives to achieve real results. Philanthropy and government need to support and scale innovative new models and structures that have the potential for transformational change.
For-Profit Enterprises For-profit businesses and enterprises are also critical to creating an impact economy as they have the greatest potential for reaching scale. According to B Lab, there are 50,000-60,000 mission-driven businesses in the US. These are not corporations practicing corporate social responsibility (CSR), but firms specifically created to achieve social purpose and deliver financial returns. These enterprises come in many forms and stretch across industries: from privately held manufacturing businesses such as Interface Carpets in Atlanta, GA, to publicly traded automotive companies like Tesla Motors in Palo Alto, CA; from dynamic software startups including iContact in Raleigh, NC, to corporateowned beverage companies like Honest Tea in Bethesda, MD (which was acquired by Coca Cola in 2011). Investment in these types of businesses is called “impact investing” because they create both social value and have financial returns. According to the Monitor Institute, this is considered to be a $50 billion market that could grow tenfold by the end of the decade. Foundations like Rockefeller, Kellogg, and Heron are already experimenting with “impact investing.” There needs to be greater investment in the sector to create more businesses and a longer conversation with larger corporations on how CSR can more effectively achieve social change while keeping a business focus.
Hybrid Enterprises The third sector in the impact economy is made up of hybrid or social enterprises, which are neither nonprofit nor strictly forprofit. Generally they are innovative non-profit organizations that are driving revenue through dynamic earned income models such as Greyston Bakery in New York City, the Chrysalis workforce training program in Los Angeles, or Aravind Eye Hospitals in India. These social enterprises, like for-profit businesses, believe that organizations need to do more than generate shareholder returns, they must also build value chains that bring value back to the communities that they serve. Whether job training or green jobs, hybrid organizations are creating a new form of engagement between companies and nonprofits. In some cases like Aravind, they are introducing new efficiencies in the market while maintaining incredible quality. When investing in these enterprises, investors should help develop effective business models or continue to scale the existing models, while also providing capital—or outright grants—to continue to innovate and adapt to the needs of the market. We have an opportunity to define new structures that will last into the next century. We can either continue to work at the margins, make small changes, and hope for the best; or we can create new business models for each of these sectors, ask ourselves the tough questions about the impact we want to have, and make some radical changes. The real question is whether we are willing to make the necessary investments and take the risks needed to create a new impact economy that can fundamentally transform our world. ■
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COMMUNITY-BASED STRATEGIES FOR ENERGY-EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGIES Poor and marginalized communities are on the front lines of climate change and adaptation. For decades, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), the world’s largest private international development network, has worked with communities to develop sustainable solutions to environmental and social challenges: water scarcity, drought, deforestation, and other natural and man-made impacts. In the
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coastal and high mountain areas of Asia and Africa where AKDN focuses its work, climate change is expected to have lasting and severe impacts. One example of AKDN’s approach to innovative solutions at the community level is its promotion of improved stoves and construction methods in remote mountain areas.
Building and Construction Improvement Program PROBLEM: High Poverty and Deteriorating Housing Conditions In Pakistan’s most remote and economically disadvantaged northern regions, mountain communities are exposed to frigid weather. Temperatures drop as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit
Left: Most houses in northern Pakistan are cold, dark, damp, smoky, structurally unstable and congested. Heavy use of wood for construction, cooking and heating has caused deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, and affects families’ respiratory health. Right: The fuel-efficient smoke-free cooking stove has been one of BACIP’s most popular innovations. The improved metal sheets and chimney pipes (ferifei) prevent smoke from leaking into the home.
during the four to six-month winter. With an unemployment/underemployment rate of approximately 70 percent, living conditions are difficult for many. In this poverty, most families have poor housing. Most homes are cold, smoke-filled and drafty. Heavy use of wood for construction, cooking and heating is causing rampant deforestation, greenhouse-gas emissions and deteriorating health of residents. An average household burns roughly 5.5 tons of fuel wood every winter. These living conditions have led to high rates of environment-related health problems. Pneumonia, acute respiratory infection, eye infection and diarrhea/dysentery account for more than half of all reported cases at local health centers. In Northern Pakistan, women and children under the age of five, groups who spend the majority of time inside the home, suffer most from exposure to smoke and related health risks. SOLUTION: Building and Construction Improvement In 1997, Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, Pakistan (AKPBS,P) launched its Building and Construction Improvement Programme (BACIP), which develops and tests technologies made using local materials. Each product is designed to make homes more efficient - by decreasing indoor smoke, improving structural integrity or better insulating homes. To date, more than 70 different kinds of household improvements have been developed.
Improved Cook Stoves With around 11,500 sold, the fuel-efficient smoke-free cooking stove has been one of BACIP’s most popular innovations. The improved metal sheets and chimney
pipes prevent smoke from leaking into the home. BACIP’s water-warming facility works with the stove to further reduce indoor smoke emissions. By running pipes through the stoves, families can heat water while cooking. The access to hot water relieves women and children from doing laundry by the river – typically a cold, wet three to four-hour activity. BACIP places a heavy emphasis on sustainability. Before the program agrees to work with a village, that village must have a Village Organization in place that has demonstrated its willingness and capability to manage a project. Aga Khan Planning and Building Services, Pakistan only covers the cost of research and development of products. Community members finance most of the recommended house improvements themselves. For example, a water-warming stove costs approximately US $30-40. Village women act as sales agents and keep products like the water-warming stove on display in their home to demonstrate to potential buyers. Once a product is sold, the women earn a modest commission, creating a steady business for otherwise poor families. To make these improvements available to all income levels, BACIP partners with the First MicroFinanceBank Ltd of Pakistan, which offers homeowners microcredit
loans ranging from $20-$200. Done properly, BACIP products reduce fuel costs, health bills, money spent on home repair and workloads for women and children. Since 1997, BACIP has facilitated the installation and use of nearly 23,000 energy-saving and home improvement products in over 11,000 households in 125 villages. Recognized by the United Nations and other international governments and organizations, BACIP, now replicated elsewhere, is conducting research and developing technologies to meet people’s needs. This program is an example of AKDN’s integrated approach to development, addressing health, environmental and economic factors of sustainability. Just as other AKDN programs address multiple social and economic issues, BACIP is improving health, generating income and protecting the environment. The Aga Khan Development Network is a group of nine agencies and over 150 entities working in over 30 countries, with mandates ranging from health and education to architecture, culture, microfinance, rural development, water and sanitation, disaster reduction and more. ■ Visit www.akdn.org.
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ANURAG JAIN AND
DANIEL GROSS The two men met at last year’s inaugural Engineering & Humanity Week in Dallas and discovered a shared passion that is now poised to change the lives of thousands of India’s poor. Last year, Anurag Jain, founder of Viziniti Global LLC, attended the conference in his role as founder of Laurus Edutech, a leading certified skill development and training company in India, which sponsored the Living Village at Engineering & Humanity Week 2011. Daniel Gross, founder and president of WorldHaus, which manufactures and builds customized, weatherproof homes for families in the developing world at a price they can afford, was a 2011 conference speaker. At Engineering & Humanity Week, the two entrepreneurs discovered a shared vision: safe, affordable and sanitary housing for populations living at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP)—the 2.5 billion people worldwide who live on less than $2.50 per day. Today, Anurag and Daniel are collaborators on an ambitious plan to build 5,000 homes by the end of 2013 in India, employing a modular building system that allows families to build to any size and configuration they desire. “Engineering & Humanity Week has been the most successful conference for us as a business to date,” said Daniel. “Anurag has been indispensable to our company. He is a visionary, he is practical, and he has provided me not only with a lot of resources, but his connections in India have been critical to our success. I am so lucky to have found him at Engineering & Humanity Week.” Through his impact investing incubator, Viziniti Global, Anurag has teamed with Daniel’s WorldHaus to complete their first home last January in Chennai,
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India—a 220-square-foot house built of locally-sourced interlocking compressed earth-bricks, steel and polystyrene roof panels, and concrete—at a cost of $1,500. It was built in 10 days. With a WorldHaus home, a family also can include amenities like clean burning stoves, toilets, and solar electricity systems and expand living space from the one-room base model. “We are working with microfinance institutions and regional rural banks to make our homes available for monthly installments of $20, well within the reach of rural middle class families making between $3 and $10 a day,” Daniel said, noting that WorldHaus will start work on 150 homes in the next few weeks. “We are also in the process of setting up partnerships with state governments, NGOs, and landlords to make the homes available to families making less than $2 a day through subsidies and rental housing programs.” Housing, along with education, healthcare and energy, is a personal passion for him, said Anurag, who until June of 2011, was leading the Dell Services Delivery unit, a global team of more than 18,000 professionals who deliver over $3 billion of leading edge technology solutions to Dell customers around the world. “There is a huge opportunity with the people that we consider BoP,” Anurag said. “They need and deserve the same things we are used to every day.” Anurag Jain is the Founder of Viziniti Global LLC. Prior to Viziniti Anurag also founded Laurus Edutech, a leading ISO 9001:2008 certified skill development and training companies in India. Laurus Edutech provides services across complete skill cycle like training, certification and assessments support, skill
technology, placements and skill infra. Laurus Edutech is one of the leaders in the assessment support space and has helped its clients manage over 77,000 students assessed through its platform. The Services Delivery unit includes Dell’s technology service functions of Infrastructure and Managed Technology Services, Applications, and Business Process Solutions. The organization also included Dell’s Innovation group, which is pioneering technology advancements in areas such as Cloud Computing, Mobility, Virtual Data Services, Technology Delivery and Optimization, and others. Anurag previously led the Perot Systems (now Dell) Applications, Business Process Solutions, Financial Services and Insurance organizations, where he directed global operations and sales to enhance growth and business results. He also served as managing director of the company’s Asia Pacific region. Anurag also previously founded 3 highly successful, large-scale, India-based IT services outsourcing businesses. In addition to his business career, Anurag has been a tireless leader and innovative supporter of skill and vocational development in India. He has been Chairman of the Skill Development Forum for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He also served on the Board of the National Skills Development Corporation until July 2011, a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership in India. In addition, Anurag serves on the Boards of North Texas Food Bank, Asia (Chennai) Engineering and WorldHaus. Anurag holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Science degree in electronics and electrical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, India. ■
DALLAS INSTITUTE OF HUMANITIES & CULTURE dallasinstitute.org by Chris Kelley For more than 30 years the Dallas Institute of Humanities & Culture has sought to enrich lives through literature, history, philosophy, politics, psychology, mythology and everything else that makes up the humanities. Since it was established as a nonprofit organization in 1980, the Institute has strived to discover what the humanities can offer to the cultural life of the city with classes, conferences, seminars, publications and more. It alsoholds many meaningful and impactful events and programs, such as its Festival of Ideas and its annual MLK Jr. Symposium. A big focus for 2012 is the Louise and Donald Cowan Center for Education.The Cowan Center method is based on a belief in the art of teaching for teachers and students alike, with an emphasis on non-competitive, collegial learning. By the completion of 2012, the Cowan Center will have conducted its 2nd annual Superintendents’ Symposium, its 2nd annual Education Forum for
citizens and educators, multiple programs for principals and teachers, and its 29th consecutive session of the Sue Rose Summer Institute for Teachers. Through its programs, the Cowan Center aims to deepen all educators’ understanding of the human condition. Institute Executive Director Dr. J. Larry Allums explains, “Like the humanities themselves, the Institute aims at the democratic ideal – the conviction that every citizen of Dallas can without fail not only learn but feel the genuine pleasure that learning brings. In the process of our individual lifelong learning, our city only gets better – deeper and richer in the ways that matter most: intellectually, imaginatively, and spiritually.” The ideals of the Institute can affect educators across the globe, which in turn can improve and enrich the lives of countless people in various countries and cultures. ■
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EMBRACING HUMANITY NICOLE POTTER by Chris Kelley
At the age of 12, Dallas artist Nicole Potter received her first canvas—and it changed her life forever. As a junior at Highland Park High School, she began selling her art as a way to raise funds for children with cancer. In 2010, Nicole graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in art history with a focus on Mayan/Aztec art.
Today, Nicole is juggling multiple commissions for commercial projects, the launch of a new jewelry line and the sales of her work at a Dallas art gallery and through an online art space. Nicole creates paintings that are primarily large-scale, mixed media acrylic on canvas. Much of her inspiration comes from vintage photography and advertisements in addition to awareness of her surroundings. For Engineering & Humanity Week 2012, Nicole has created an original work of art—painted mannequins of a child and adult to represent the Hunt Institute’s work with refugees. Photographs of refugee camps taken by Stephanie Hunt, the Institute’s co-founder, inspired the
collage effect achieved by the piece. Nicole also just completed an art installation at Dallas’ NorthPark Center commissioned by Engineering &Humanity Week partner Gensler for RETROSPECT, an annual event (April 5-15) organized by the Dallas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to introduce architecture to the community through three-dimensional displays. When she is not painting, Nicole enjoys travelling and spending time with her family and friends—collecting moments and memories that she may very well recollect in future pieces, or so we can hope. ■ Nicolepotter.com
THE CARDBOARD SHOE GUY MIKE LEAVITT by Chris Kelley Cardboard is generally seen as the thing that a new pair of shoes comes in—not a material to make shoes from. So, when Seattle artist Mike Leavitt began making cardboard shoes that not only are functional, but stylish as well, the world took notice of the reverse innovation. Mike excels at a lot of different types of art. He’s well known for a series of artistic action figures that depict famous subjects, such as Vincent Van Gogh, Stevie Wonder, Ralph Nader and urban artist Banksy. But he also has a background in environmentalism and charity, which includes engineering “portable homeless shelters” for tent cities in Seattle. So why make shoes? "I might dabble in satire of other essentials in a bad econ-
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omy: eye glasses, winter coats, food items… but shoes are so intimately linked to our visual culture,” he has said. “They’re a necessity that we still get to have fun buying and wearing.” Mike’s cardboard shoes seem to maintain that fun factor. He has crafted many shoes that mimic popular models of “real” shoe brands, such as Nike, Adidas and Converse. He has recreated famous styles like Air Jordans and Chuck Taylors. Just because they're made from a material most people throw away doesn't mean they can't look good on your feet. Why use cardboard? "It's ironic to use a cheap disposable material like cardboard,” Mike says. “Cheap, disposable material makes an expensive product, oddly
resembling the manufacturing of boutique footwear. The simple image of the cardboard shoe speaks humorously and clearly on consumerism." It may be art and it may have a message, but there's no doubt that the idea of cardboard shoes has highly practical uses outside of the “cool” factor. Taking a resource that's abundant and fashioning it to make items that are in need is the kind of resourceful thinking that could change a society, one foot at a time. ■ intuitionkitchenproductions.com
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP PERCEPTIONS FROM GUEST SPEAKERS AT THE INNOVATION FORUM
“We have to separate who we are from what we have. We accumulate money, houses, cars, degrees; yet the happiness quotient in our world declines as the material quotient increases. Separation is important if we are to be happy. We must have purpose in life.” Vijay Govindarajan (VG) is a Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, the Founding Director of Tuck's Center for Global Leadership and author of Reverse Innovation.
“Engineering finds its ultimate usefulness both in alleviating human suffering as well in contributing to humanity's appreciation of Mother Earth.” Sanjay Rawal is Founder of Illumine, a firm representing celebrity philanthropic interests, a board member for the Voss Foundation and the Global Syndicate, and a documentary filmmaker.
“By bringing capital markets to the social sector and leveraging technology and innovation we can truly solve some of the world’s toughest challenges.” Sonal Shah served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the first White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. She is a fellow with the Tides Foundation and co-founder of the international non-profit, Indicorps.
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“I have witnessed the miracles that happen when women and girls are taught technological skills. The bridge from engineering to human need must be built if we are to change the world.” Annie Griffiths was one of the first women photographers to work for National Geographic and she is Executive Director of Ripple Effect Images, a collective of photographers who document the programs that empower women and girls in the developing world.
“Engineering and Humanity is not just about delivering solutions to vulnerable people; it is about listening to and partnering with them to enable them to find their own solutions.” Dr. Alexander Betts is a University Lecturer in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at the University of Oxford, author of numerous books on refugee issues and global politics. He has worked with the United Nations in multiple capacities.
“In this new millennium, a new wave of engineers, designers, architects, and social entrepreneurs are working directly with people with limited resources, collaborating across sectors to find solutions, demonstrating that humanitarian design can play a significant role in solving the world’s most critical problems.” Cynthia Smith serves as Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s Curator of Socially Responsible Design and who curated both the 2007 Design for the Other 90% exhibition and the 2011 Design with the Other 90%: CITIES.
“The best design solutions are responsive to individual clients, local climate, and community context; and yet we also have to provide solutions at a scale commensurate with the scale of the problems we face. This is our paradox.” Casius Pealer is Principal of Oystertree Consulting L3C, a corporation that provides real estate advisory services focusing on affordable housing that encourages energy efficiency and practical solutions to performance and verification.
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“We have had 200 years of reductionist science and engineering, which have led to great things but today the objective must be integration with humanity for needed good things.” Carl Hodges is an internationally known scientist and Founder and Chairman of The Seawater Foundation which uses seawater, photosynthesis and human intelligence to provide long-lasting planetary ecological balance.
“We are all engineers of a kind, it's just the contents of our toolkits that vary. The challenge is how to apply our ingenuity to advance humanity, rather than destroy it.” Luciano Calestini has been based in Kosovo where he will spend at least three years working with the UNICEF team to help secure the futures of Kosovo's young people.
“It’s not about us. It's about education being the key to overcoming obstacles. It's about being conscious of what we do and how we do it. It's about discovering everyday what we don’t know and doing better the next time.” Barry and David Steingard partnered with Hugh Jackman to create Laughing Man Coffee & Tea. Laughing Man Worldwide gives 100% of profits to charity by incubating companies and products worldwide.
“One of the world's greatest challenges and opportunities in the coming decades sits right at the intersection of engineering and humanity: figuring out how to spur economic growth while using natural resources more efficiently.” Jeffrey Ball, until recently The Wall Street Journal’s environment editor, is scholar-in-residence at Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.
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2012 ENGINEERING & HUMANITY WEEK
EVENT SCHEDULE April 15-20, 2012 - Dallas, TX
SUNDAY - APRIL 15
Innovation Leaders Forum Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, TX
3:30 – 4:00 pm Registration 4:00 – 4:05 pm Welcome – Stephanie and Hunter Hunt
Annie Griffiths/rippleeffectimages.org
"AT ENGINEERING & HUMANITY WEEK, WE PROUDLY SERVE LAUGHING MAN COFFEES, TEAS, AND CHOCOLATES. LAUGHING MAN WORLDWIDE GIVES 100% OF PROFITS TO CHARITY BY INCUBATING COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS THAT SERVE A GREATER GOOD. SUPPORT THEIR WORK BY BUYING LAUGHING MAN PRODUCTS AT WWW. HTTP://SHOP.LIVELAUGHINGMAN.COM/."
4:05 – 5:00 pm Opening Discussion: The 21st Century Supermarket In the developed world, especially in the U.S., citizens view access to nutrition and nutrients as a basic human right; but as demographics shift in the U.S. and agribusiness is forced to deal with the harsh realities of slimmer profit margins, we've seen entire groups cut off from affordable, quality nutrition. Perhaps nowhere is this divide on larger display than in urban communities where poor neighborhoods suffer a lack of affordable, healthy food options. Moreover, recent reports from government oversight agencies and the media have disclosed stories of shortcuts taken in managing the food supply chain, resulting in poor and unsafe working conditions, marginalization of food chain employees and, in extreme cases, even slavery. In the 21st century, just how are large retailers monitoring their supply chains? Why do Americans seem to accept violations of labor practices overseas that they themselves would never tolerate at home? What can citizens do to support the cause of progressive food supply chain monitoring for the 21st century supermarket? This panel of industry experts, academics and activists— among them a Hollywood star—will explore these questions and offer some answers. Moderator: Sanjay Rawal, Documentary Filmmaker Panelists: Eva Longoria, Actress and Activist Jack L. Sinclair, Executive Vice President, Food Division, Walmart Gerardo Reyez-Chavez, Coalition of Immokalee Workers Greg Asbed, Coalition of Immokalee Workers
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MONDAY - APRIL 16
Innovation Leaders Forum Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, TX 11:00 – 11:30 am Registration 11:30 – 1:30 pm Keynote & Awards Luncheon: Reverse Innovation Vijay Govindarajan, Recipient of the 2012 Visionary Award; Author, Reverse Innovation
Afternoon Discussion: Business Models Turned Upside Down Apple, J.C. Penney, G.E. They're examples of big brands that have turned business models upside down, whether through pricing, customer service or reverse innovation. In established markets, consumers are more knowledgeable about what they want or about the prices they are willing to pay—indeed, they've never been smarter. Customers want to do business with brands that offer not only the right product at the right price, but ones which provide intelligence, passion and principle as part of the sale. Apple's sleek retail stores showcase solutions and service (i.e. the Genius Bar), providing not only products but a philosophy. J.C. Penney is retooling its department stores by adding "information specialists" and "consultants" to go with a new logo, spokeswoman, and pricing strategy. Emerging markets are also seeing business models reinvented. G.E., for example, is adopting a strategy of reverse innovation as the company strives to
change their organizational architecture to successfully shift power to where the growth is and to build new products from the ground up at a lower cost. It isn't a choice. In emerging global markets, locally-based competitors have proven that they possess the technical know-how, lowcost strategies and understanding of local needs that allows them to create market-specific technologies for use in richer countries, such as the U.S. This panel brings together some of the most creative minds in the business world with experience both in the U.S. and abroad to explore how business models must evolve or likely face steep declines in market share -- or worse. Moderator: Jeff Ball, Stanford University Panelists: Vijay Govindarajan, Professor of Strategy, Tuck School at Dartmouth Amory Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute; Author, Reinventing Fire
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1:30 – 1:45 pm Break 1:45 – 2:15 pm Paula Broadwell, Author, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus 2:15 – 3:15 pm David and Barry Steingard, Father and Son Co-founders, Laughing Man Coffee & Tea. Inspired by actor Hugh Jackman, Laughing Man Worldwide gives 100% of profits to charity by incubating companies and products that serve a greater good. 3:15 – 3:30 pm Break 3:30 – 4:30 pm Discussion: Humanitarian Innovation: The Global Stage Humanitarian assistance relies upon a range of products and processes in order to address the shelter, health, water, sanitation, livelihoods, education, communication, and other protection needs of the most vulnerable people. As an area dominated by a relatively small number of organizations, humanitarianism has often been institutionally closed to new ideas and ways of thinking. The result has been that the scope for product and process innovation has been limited, and that humanitarian institutions have drawn upon a restricted array of possible solutions and ideas to understand and address humanitarian challenges. However, new thinking is beginning to emerge across
the private sector, international organizations, and universities. This panel brings together some of the most creative minds working in this area to assess existing best practices and to set out a vision for humanitarian innovation.
4:30 – 5:00 pm Annie Griffiths, National Geographic Photographer
Moderator: Alex Betts, University of Oxford, Refugee Studies Center Panelists: Sonal Shah, Former Director of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation and Google.org Luciano Calestini, UNICEF Innovation Lab, Kosovo Cynthia Smith, 2012 Living Village Honoree; Curator for Socially Responsible Design, Smithsonian CooperHewitt, National Design Museum Casius Pealer, Oystertree Consulting
6:30 – 9:30 pm Nasher Sculpture Center Sponsor Dinner honoring Cynthia Smith, Curator, Cooper-Hewitt Presentation by Carl Hodges, Salt water Farming in Desert Regions
5:00 – 5:15 pm Closing Remarks
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Other Engineering & Humanity Week Related Events March 24: Human Rights Initiative's 5K, Bachman Lake, Dallas March 31 and April 1: Cardboard Design Competition entry drop-off between 12pm - 3pm. One Arts Plaza is located in downtown Dallas at 1722 Routh Street
April 14: The Spirit of Uganda, Empower African Children's professional training and touring group, will be featured at a benefit concert at 8 p.m., McFarlin Auditorium, Southern Methodist University
April 15 to April 21: Living Village at Southern Methodist University
April 15: Cardboard competition awards announcement, One Arts Plaza, 12pm - 3pm
April 21: Earth Day at Fair Park
April 19: Refugee Culture Night at the Living Village hosted by the Anthropology Department at SMU
"AT ENGINEERING & HUMANITY WEEK, WE PROUDLY SERVE LAUGHING MAN COFFEES, TEAS, AND CHOCOLATES. LAUGHING MAN WORLDWIDE GIVES 100% OF PROFITS TO CHARITY BY INCUBATING COMPANIES AND PRODUCTS THAT SERVE A GREATER GOOD. SUPPORT THEIR WORK BY BUYING LAUGHING MAN PRODUCTS AT WWW. HTTP://SHOP.LIVELAUGHINGMAN.COM/." 50
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WORTH THE TIME EVERY MAGAZINE DESERVES TO OFFER ONE GOOD RECIPE … ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES FROM HUGH JACKMAN!
Directions Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Step 2: Place 12 Chicken Drumsticks on a baking sheet and season all over Kosher salt. Bake unadorned for 20 minutes (25 minutes if your drumsticks are very large). Step 3: Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together the following ingredients: • 1 cup of strong Laughing Man Coffee (we recommend the Flores) • 1/2 cup of Buttermilk • 2 Tablespoons of Tabasco sauce • 1 Tablespoon of Fennel Seeds (lightly crushed in a spice or coffee grinder) • 2 tablespoons of Black Pepper • 2 tablespoons of Dark Roast Coffee (we recommend the Flores with a fine grind)
Mario Batali’s Spicy Coffee-Coated Drumsticks Recipe (As seen on The Chew)
Step 4: As soon as the drumsticks come out of the over, toss them, in batches, into the coffee-buttermilk mixture to turn to coat, then place skin side up on the rack to drain. Spoon a little of the mixture, with the fennel seeds and pepper, over the top of each one and set aside. (The drumsticks can be baked and marinated up to a day ahead; leave them on the rack, cover, and refrigerate. Bring to room temp before grilling.)
Did you watch Hugh on The Chew? Want to get the recipe for the Spicy Coffee-Coated Drumsticks that he and Mario Batali whipped up on the show? Look no further. Below is the recipe from ABC-TV’s The Chew. And to watch Hugh cook this dish on the program, click on www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPRxz-fqIPY.
Step 5: Preheat a a gas grill or prepare a fire in a charcoal grill.
Things You’ll Need: 12 Chicken Drumsticks 1 cup of Laughing Man Coffee 2 tablespoons of Tabasco Sauce 2 tablespoons of Black Pepper 2 Fennel Bulbs 1/4 cup of Red Wine Vinegar Kosher Salt 1/2 cup of Buttermilk 1 tablespoon of Fennel Seeds 2 tablespoons of Dark Roast Coffee (we recommend the Flores) 4 oz of Gorgonzola Dolce 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Step 7: Crumble 4 ounces of Gorgonzola cheese into a small bowl and mash with a fork. Add 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar and stir with the fork until fairly smooth. Drizzle in 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, stirring, to make a dressing. Pour into one or more shallow bowls for dipping.
Step 6: Trim the fennel bulbs, cut lengthwise in half, and cut out most of the core. Cut into 1/4 inch wide batonettes and toss into a bowl of ice water.
Step 8: Place the drumsticks on the hottest part of the grill, cover the grill, and cook, turning occasionally at first and then more often as they start to caramelize, until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Step 9: Put the drumsticks on a platter. Drain the fennel sticks, pat dry, and plate with the chicken and dipping sauce. Time: 30-60 minutes. Servings: 6 ■
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MAKING A DIFFERENCE An interview with Barry and David Steingard, Laughing Man Coffee & Tea
Q: Are Laughing Man products fairly traded?
A: Our product selection is guided by one
When Barry and David Steingard joined with Hugh Jackman to create Laughing Man Coffee & Tea, they learned more about life than about beverages. In a recent interview, they provided some thoughtprovoking insights:
principle: respect. Respect for the farmer, respect for the land, respect for the bean and respect for the community. There are many different certifications that embody the principle of respect. The most well-known include: Fair Trade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ, Bird Friendly, Shade Grown, Direct Trade and Relationship Coffee. There are also many uncertified coffees that are also grown respectfully. Laughing Man only offers coffees that respect the farmer. Our goal is 100% transparency between the farm and the cup.
Q: Your company slogan is “ALL BE HAPPY.” What does that mean? A: ALL BE HAPPY is a view of the world that comes from a special moment of connection with the person in front of you, your community, the world as a whole. In essence it is a connection with a larger sense of family. From that connection the natural emotion of love arises and wishes all to be happy. ALL BE HAPPY comes from an ancient prayer that says MAY ALL BE HAPPY, MAY ALL BE FREE OF DISEASE. MAY ALL HAVE WELL BEING, AND NONE SUFFER MISERY OF ANY KIND. Everything we do at Laughing Man is to help make an ALL BE HAPPY moment possible for our guests and staff. Because from that moment of great things can happen to benefit Mankind. Q: Does Laughing Man give profits back to charity?
A: Laughing Man Worldwide gives 100% of profits to charity by incubating companies and products that believe in the ALL BE HAPPY vision. Laughing Man Coffee & Tea is the first business started by Laughing Man Worldwide.
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Better Living from Laughing Man Coffee & Tea Be careful with that coffee! Here are some tips for stain removal so you can go back to drinking your perfect beverage in harmony with your wardrobe. • Don’t let the stain set! A dry stain is a difficult stain, so try to treat it right away. • Use a commercial stain remover then wash immediately. This is your best bet, if you’re near a washing machine or Laundromat. • Use vinegar – the green cleaner. Mix one teaspoon of white vinegar in one quart of cold water. Dab stain and wipe clean. • Baking soda – that other green cleaner. Sprinkle a little baking soda on a wet cloth and dab then wipe the stain away. All be happy!
SMU LIVING VILLAGE
The Living Village on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) will be an interactive display and teaching tool for the second Engineering & Humanity Week April 15-20 as students live, cook and sleep in temporary shelters designed for international refugees and rapidly expanding urban populations. Students, faculty and local members of the community will build the village on the SMU campus lawn during Engineering & Humanity Week, showcasing a variety of shelter technologies with applications for people displaced by war and natural disasters, as well as impoverished urban dwellers in the developing world. The village’s temporary residents will be without electricity and running water in the shelters, as is frequently the case for refugee populations. The public is welcome to tour the village and speak with participants who also will be blogging their experiences. Follow them at eandhweek.org.
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TO CARUTH BUILDING
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SHELTER PROFILES UBUNTU BLOX/RECYCLED PLASTIC BLOCK HOUSE
PALLET HOUSE
In 2010, following a Hunt Institute presentation by Kenyan architect Ronald Omyonga, Texas inventor Harvey Lacey began mulling an outside-the-box idea for housing the extreme poor. Within six months, Lacey, a metal worker from the Dallas suburb of Wylie, had invented Ubuntu-Blox, small bricks of plastic refuse—some made of discarded water bottles, others of Styrofoam and plastic film—bound like miniature hay bales.
What ideal building material is made of recycled product and, on its own, recyclable, affordable and plentiful? Bottles and tires meet the criteria, but not as cost-effective building material for refugee housing in Kosovo—the aim of Manhattan-based architects Suzan Wines and Azin Valy. Suzan stumbled over the answer on her way home from work one night when she tripped over a shipping pallet. The rest, as they say, is history. Using only shipping pallets, or skids, the architects have created a tiny, modular home design called simply a Pallet House. Following Ikea-style pictorial instructions, it takes four to five people using power tools less than a week to build a 250-square-foot home out of 100 pallets.
The bales are wired together to form walls, post-tensioned two ways, and covered in mud and stucco. It all adds up to a house that can be built for about $250, using parts that you can find anywhere and plastic trash that you can find, unfortunately, everywhere. “There is a plastic pollution problem in our world. There is a shortage of building materials for housing. The poor need jobs,” Lacey explained. “Where those three bad things collide we find extreme poverty and opportunity. If we are looking for extreme poverty, it is there. On the other hand, if we are looking for opportunity, it’s there too.” Harvey has since taken his technology to earthquake-ravaged Haiti (see story on page xx). Harvey’s Unbuntu Blox house was a huge draw at the inaugural Engineering & Humanity Week in 2011, and it’s back for a repeat appearance in the Living Village. ■
"We've also used zip ties to build entire structures," said Wines, "which is pretty quick, cheap and easy and doesn't require any tools." While a house made of pallets may be considered a more rudimentary form of transitional housing, finding shipping pallets in a disaster zone—where shipments of clothing, food and other emergency supplies arrive on pallets—shouldn’t be too difficult, the architects figured. Not only is shelter provided by material once considered a waste byproduct of the emergency response process, the pallets can be recycled when they’re no longer needed. ■ More information at i-beamdesign.com
More at recycledplasticblockhouses.com
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CARDBORIGAMI
$300 RURAL HOUSE
Homelessness is a systemic issue for communities around the world and, for decades, Los Angeles’ skid row has been home to thousands of permanently homeless individuals. Believing that every person deserves some form of shelter, Tina Hovsepian, a 2009 graduate of the USC School of Architecture, has designed and developed a foldable, portable, emergency housing shelter based on the principles of origami—a design she has field tested in LA’s skid row.
What began as a challenge in a blog post on the Harvard Business Review website in August 2010—figure out a way to construct a simple house for $300 or less—has resulted in a collection of 300 design submissions from around the world (and huge awareness of the need for affordable housing for the extreme poor). The idea for the $300 house project originated in a conversation between Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business professor Vijay Govindarajan and marketing consultant Christian Sarkar. Shelter is one of humanity's most basic needs, but a house is a luxury beyond the wildest dreams of most people in the developed world.
Cardborigami is a portable shelter that provides insulated, water-proof, flame-retardant and recyclable space with no assembly required. It expands into a shelter big enough for two people to sleep in. The cardboard origami shelter can fold down small enough to carry or even be placed on bus bike racks for long distance transport. Cardborigami’s mission is to provide temporary, transitional shelter and connections to social services to help get people off the streets. The vision is to bridge the gap between design and humanity by attracting attention to social issues such as homelessness through design. “With funding we can finalize product development and conduct research by implementing case studies to study behavioral adaptations to the shelter and success rates of those we transition of the streets,” said Tina. “We will then refine the structural elements of the shelter to improve the ergonomics of the unit, making sure that it provides a sufficient fit for the human body, its movements, and its cognitive abilities.” ■ More at cardborigami.org
The $300 House Open Design Challenge asked designers to figure out a way to construct a simple house that could be built on a massive scale. More than 300 entries poured in from the global competition, which received widespread media attention. The winners, selected by the public and a panel of judges comprised of expert designers, architects, and thought leaders, shared $25,000 in total prize money. A prototyping workshop for six participants followed, as did a trip to Haiti, where the $300 Rural House design was field tested. Plans are underway to build the first house—designed for two adults and four children in the Gaspard neighborhood of Fond des Blanc, a community located 60 miles from Port-au-Prince. The house “represents a sense of dignity” for the family and the community, said Vijay, who also serves as director of Tuck’s Center for Global Leadership. “It is a metaphor for a bundle of core human values that many in our world don’t have access to.” ■ More information at 300house.com
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IHOUSE
SMU HABITAT FOR HUMANITY SHELTER
“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.” IADDIC Shelters of Flower Mound, Texas has taken the familiar saying to heart, creating not only a line of highly insulated, low-cost, eco-friendly homes and emergency relief shelters–but a business opportunity for local entrepreneurs to help construct them. IADDIC Shelters are based on a patented new approach to housing, Structurally Insulated Housing (SIH), which relies on a mold-making process to produce temporary shelters and/or permanent homes fast and at high volumes.
Chartered in 2009, the SMU Chapter of Habitat for Humanity will debut a new design for a Habitat shelter in the Living Village. Members of the chapter work closely with Highland Park Methodist Church and Dallas Habitat for Humanity to build quality homes for deserving, needy people locally throughout the school year, said Gwen Carris, chapter treasurer. During summers, several chapter members participate in international build events in places such as Paraguay, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
The iHouse in the Living Village was made in 2 hours and can house a family of five for approximately $1,500. Measuring 10'x12'x9.5,' the structure has three windows and one door, and its SIH foam walls are imbedded with steel piers for anchoring to any foundation. “It will not rot, insects will not eat it, is not harmful to pets, people, or the environment, and can be recycled,” said Richard Grabowski, CEO of IADDIC, & UN Rio+20 Sustainable Community Advisor. IADDIC has also created a turn-key business solution for local entrepreneurs in developing countries called The iVillage, which is shipped in containers. The housing solution contains needed materials and supplies to make a large quantity of customized homes, as well as licensing, training and project management to ensure the first projects are successful and the local business thrives. ■ More at iaddicshelters.com
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“Engineering in Humanity Week’s goals directly align with Habitat for Humanity's goals,” said Gwen, a freshman Civil Engineer and Spanish major. “We want to enable people everywhere to live healthy, productive lives, regardless of where they are born. Home ownership enables stability, community, and safety for families and children, which in turn brings about an increase in education and economic prospects.” ■ More about Habitat for Humanity at habitat.org
SHIGERU BAN’S PAPER LOG HOUSE
THE PENNINGTON SHELTER
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban may be known best for his innovative work on three continents—architectural gems such as museums, factories and houses. But Shigeru’s pioneering Paper Tube Structures (PTS) solution for low-cost emergency housing is also gaining international attention. Shigeru has routinely built shelters for victims of natural and manmade disasters since 1995, when he designed emergency housing with beer-crate foundations and paper-tube walls for survivors of the earthquake in Kobe, Japan.
David Pennington’s passion for aquaponics—the science of efficient food production in a water-based system—has led to the development of a dome shelter made mostly of waste EPS (expanded polystyrene, commonly known by the trade name "Styrofoam"). Aquaponics is the combination of hydroponics (growing plants without soil) with aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms. As CEO of Synergy Aquaponics LLC, Dave designs aquaponic systems in which fish waste is filtered and cleaned using plants. The waste byproducts from aquaculture, which are otherwise serious pollutants, are thereby turned into valuable products. Dave has built a prototype dome structure out of waste EPS near Poetry, Texas. He originally came up with this concept because there wasn’t an affordable insulated structure on the market to house aquaculture species, such as tilapia. As it turns out, the same building method can also be used to construct affordable and efficient housing, which is the purpose of the Poetry dome.
In 1999, he made prototype tents with paper poles for a refugee camp in post-genocide Rwanda. And he built a paperframe schoolhouse in Chengdu, China, after the 2008 earthquake that ravaged Sichuan Province, which The New York Times said “typifies the architect’s gift for combining poetry and utility.” Most recently, the PTS technology has been deployed in Shigeru’s homeland, following the devastating 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011. Not only can Shigeru’s low-cost paper tube structures be molded quickly into load-bearing columns, bent into beautiful trusses and quickly assembled by volunteers without heavy machinery, they can also be made waterproof and fire resistant with varnishes, films and waterproof sponge tape. For Engineering & Humanity Week 2012, Randy Harrill will lead the Acugraphics team to build a representation of Shigeru’s Paper Log House. The walls are made from 3¼-inch tubes and held together with double-stick tape in keeping with the spirit of Shigeru’s houses. The roof and curtains are made from used banner material and the floor consists of cardboard pallets. ■
To build his domes, Dave affixes an inflated balloon form to a “base ring.” A center pole attached to a rotating scaffold allows workers access to spray or hand apply Dave's EPS composite material which, when smoothed and hardened makes a durable insulated shelter or containment vessel. The dome structure—20 feet in diameter and 14 feet tall—is very durable, fireproof, insect and impact resistant, and it can also be recycled repeatedly. Scale models of various dome designs, along with photos and videos of the first prototype dome, will be on display in the Living Village as will composite samples, construction machinery and even a small aquaponic unit. ■
More at shigerubanarchitects.com More at AquaponicDave.com
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“RAJO” SHELTER AT TASFA
BCWORKSHOP’S RAPIDO PROTOTYPE
Designed by a team of SMU senior engineering students, the refugee camp is located outside Dolo, Ado, Ethiopia and named Tasfa, or “Hope” in Ethiopian. Members of the team from the SMU Lyle School of Engineering are Ford Binning, Mary Catherine Corey, Farhan Fazal, and Michelle Senner. Building materials for the camp are native to Ethiopia and require neither water nor any components that need holes bored into the soil; the ground cover is very fine beach sand. Designed for 56,000 refugees, the camp will be divided into two large areas—one built for 184 communities with a popula-
In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, residents of Cameron County and its largest city, Brownsville, have seen more than their fair share of hurricanes and the havoc they leave behind. The Rapido shelter prototype, debuting for the first time in the Living Village during Engineering & Humanity Week, seeks to help South Texas residents not only get back into a shelter, but help them create an attractive, permanent home.
Photo courtesy of the UN
tion of 27,600 people and the other with 194 communities and 29,100 people. Both areas will feature tent shelters that are easily assembled by women and children since they will comprise most of the camp’s population. The shelter tents, called “Rajo” tents (“Rajo” means hope in Somali), will be made of a chicken-wire structure wrapped and tied securely to a PVC frame by rope and PVC fittings and affixed to hooks fastened to stakes attached to a sand-filled base. Tightly secured canvas will cover the tent structure, except in good weather when it can be rolled up to enjoy the breeze. Animal hides will cover the tent’s entrance. The “Rajo” tents will replace UNHCR refugee tents, which have been in short supply, tend to wear out faster and are often subject to catastrophic failure from the region’s notorious and dangerous sandstorms. Although more expensive than UNHCR tents by $50 each, the “Rajo” tent will house larger families more comfortably, last twice as long and be more stable than UNHCR tents. Other infrastructure—water supply, restroom facilities and a laundry area—will also be provided. Although the Senior Design Project is an exercise, the need for new refugee camps in Ethiopia, sadly, is true. ■
bcWORKSHOP, which provided the commissary and a portable gallery at last year’s inaugural Engineering & Humanity Week, is developing the Rapido prototype as part of the state of Texas’ Natural Disaster Housing Reconstruction Plan, which seeks to test the feasibility of rapidly deployed replacement housing for victims of federally-declared natural disasters. Until Engineering & Humanity Week, Rapido prototypes have been confined to designs on paper. But the prototype designs will come alive in the Living Village as bcWORKSHOP will experiment with specific design elements. During Engineering & Humanity Week, bcWORKSHOP designers will be seeking feedback from SMU students and visitors to help them incrementally improve the project’s design, construction process, deployment method, organizational requirements, and performance. In the near future, Rapido shelters will actually be constructed as prototype homes for victims of previous natural disasters in Cameron County as part of the feasibility testing for delivering rapidly deployed replacement housing. bcWORKSHOP designers have already held community meetings with county residents to seek their input on the prototypes. “bcWORKSHOP’S disaster housing reconstruction strategy engages residents throughout and contributes to the sustainable growth of place by enabling communities to recover faster and allowing families to rebuild stronger,” said Dallas architect Brent Brown and founding director of bcWORKSHOP. ■
More about the Lyle School of Engineering at smu.edu/lyle More at bcworkshop.org
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SHELTER AND CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY FOR REFUGEES A course on cultural anthropology can be quite academic, but SMU students in Dr. Faith Nibbs’ ANTH 2301 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class have created several life-changing options that can be implemented today for refugees living in camps. Moved by the transient challenges of the people who wanted to continue their traditions, lifelong trades and cultural identities despite their plight, the students demonstrated what they had learned through displays representing two sets of refugees in Africa and Asia. The students’ focused on cultural sustainability after hearing the stories of refugee camps occupied by the Burundi and Bhutanese people. Burundi is an eastern African country, bordering Rwanda, populated by the Hutu and Tutsi farmers, both of whom have fled to escape ethnic persecution and violence brought on by civil war. The Bhutanese are Nepalese in origin, but have lived as immigrants in southern Asia for centuries due to inter-cultural and religious discrimination.
Recognizing the need for refugees to continue their important cultural practices to contribute some sort of normalcy to their lives while in a refugee camp, the students turned ideas into actual tools and material solutions that can be adapted by UNHCR. A portable pagoda temple makes continuing salient religious traditions possible due to a $49 pop-up tent. A 4-by-6 foot lightweight and mobile garden plot by each camp tent allows agricultural groups to continue growing vegetables, and can fold up and be reused in another location when a camp is emptied. Material for an open
lean-to space creates a cultural preservation site so that the groups’ youth can learn of their heritage. Students also created a camp employment program where refugees can find meaningful work by sharing in the tasks it takes to run the camps. Additionally, a computer program modeled after FEMA’s system to reunite family members after a crisis gives refugees the ability to find missing relatives. The course—headed by Dr. Nibbs and her teaching assistant, Zasha Russell— got its sparks of inspiration from visits to the class by refugees from the two groups who are now living in the U.S. “Camp workers are just thinking about how we can survive,” said one former Burundi refugee, “but in these crises, we are also thinking, ‘How is our culture going to survive?’” The students of Dr. Nibbs’ class hope that by applying the principles of cultural anthropology, they can help solve some of these dilemmas. ■
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SPEAKER PROFILE: GREG ASBED Greg Asbed is a Co-Founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a worker-based human rights organization. He works with farmworkers and their student, labor, and religious allies to organize the national Campaign for Fair Food, a worker-based approach to corporate accountability in the agricultural industry. He coordinates the CIW's negotiating team in talks with food industry leaders, negotiating "Fair Food" agreements with multi-billion-dollar retail food corporations, including McDonald's, Subway, Sodexo, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. He is currently leading the effort to develop new farm labor standards in collaboration with leaders of the Florida tomato industry through ongoing implementation of the CIW's Fair Food Code of Conduct. He is a member of the team that developed and established the Fair Food Standards Council, the third-party monitoring organization that ensures com-MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. pliance with the code through audits and complaint investigation and resolution. Greg is one of the authors featured in the textbook Bringing Human Rights Home: Portraits of the Movement. He has an M.A. in International Economics and Social Change and Development from Johns Hopkins and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. He has also spent the past 15 seasons harvesting watermelons in the states of Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and Maryland. ■
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
SPEAKER PROFILE: JEFFREY BALL Jeffrey Ball, until recently The Wall Street Journal’s environment editor, is scholar-inresidence at Stanford University’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance. Ball spent more than a decade at the Journal writing about energy and the environment, in particular about the economic viability of changing the way the world consumes fossil fuels. He covered the auto industry for the Journal out of its Detroit bureau, and the oil industry from the paper’s Dallas bureau. In 2009, he wrote a Journal column called Power Shift, which won an award from the National Press Foundation for its coverage of the changing energy and environmental landscape. He spent most of 2010 covering the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, focusing on questions about the spill’s environmental effect. Also at the Journal, Ball created and was the found-ROBERT FROST ing editor of Environmental Capital, a blog on energy and the environment. He helped conceive, and was a host and moderator of, ECO:nomics, an annual conference on energy and the environment that brings together chief executives, policymakers, and other leaders in the field. In addition, Ball helped host the Journal’s CEO Council, a group of global chief executives who meet annually in Washington to discuss policy issues and make recommendations for federal action. ■
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
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SPEAKER PROFILE: ALEX BETTS Dr. Alexander Betts is University Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies in the Department of International Development, at the University of Oxford, where he was previously the Hedley Bull Research Fellow in International Relations. He has also been Director of the MacArthur Foundation-funded Global Migration Governance Project and a Senior Researcher at the Global Economic Governance Programme. His research focuses on the international politics of asylum and migration, with a geographical focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Alex is author or editor of numerous books, including Forced Migration and Global Politics, Protection by Persuasion: International Cooperation in the Refugee Regime, Global Migration Governance, Refugees in International Relations (with Gil Loescher), and UNHCR: The Politics and Prac-DALAI LAMA tice of Refugee Protection (with Gil Loescher and James Milner). He has worked for The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and as a consultant to the Council of Europe, the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Commonwealth Secretariat. His work has been funded by, amongst others, the MacArthur Foundation, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Economic and Social Research Council. He has held teaching and research positions at Stanford University and the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. ■
“It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them.”
SPEAKER PROFILE: PAULA BROADWELL Paula Broadwell is a research associate at Harvard University's Center for Public Leadership and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of War Studies at King's College London. She spent much of the past year in Afghanistan as an embedded author, building upon her previous two-year pursuit of a doctoral dissertation: a study in transformational leadership and organizational innovation influenced by U.S. Army General David Petraeus. Her work culminated in the book, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus (with Vernon Loeb), which examine Petraeus’s career, his intellectual development as a military officer, and his impact on the U.S. military. Broadwell's passion for leadership and security policy stems from her background in the U.S. military and her academic pursuits. She graduated with academic and leadership honors from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She has lived, worked, or traveled in over 60 countries during more than 15 years of military service and work in geopolitical analysis and counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations. She has completed assignments with the U.S. intelligence community, U.S. Special Operations Command and an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. She remains active in international women's counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, and conflict resolution efforts as well as veteran support organizations, especially the fitness-oriented Team Red White and Blue. ■
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SPEAKER PROFILE: LUCIANO CALESTINI Luciano Calestini was born in Sydney, Australia to a New Zealand mother and an Italian father. He spent his childhood equally between those three countries, completing his education in Australia before accepting a short-term mission to southern Sudan in the late 1990s to join the famine response. Thirteen years later, the three-month mission continues and since Sudan, Luciano has lived and worked in East Timor (in the aftermath of the 1999 referendum), Kosovo (following the 1999 NATO intervention), Afghanistan (in the period subsequent to the 9/11 attacks), the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and three years in Iraq. He has also been deployed on several shortterm assignments to support emergency response, including Haiti, at the time of the cholera outbreak, and Libya, in the period of the fall of the Gaddhafi regime. -T.S. ELIOT Since April 2010, he has been based once more in Kosovo where he will spend at least three years working with the UNICEF team to help secure the futures of Kosovo's young people. Luciano graduated in International Relations from the University of Sydney and has a Masters of International Development from RMIT University in Melbourne. He has just begun a second masters, this time in Public Policy Management with the University of York in the UK. ■
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
SPEAKER PROFILE: VIJAY GOVINDARAJAN Vijay Govindarajan is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on strategy and innovation. He is the Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He was the first Professor in Residence and Chief Innovation Consultant at General Electric. He worked with GE’s CEO Jeff Immelt to write “How GE is Disrupting Itself”, the Harvard Business Review article that pioneered the concept of reverse innovation – any innovation that is adopted first in the developing world. Harvard Business Review rated reverse innovation as one of the ten big ideas of the decade. VG works with CEOs and top management teams in Global Fortune 500 firms to discuss, challenge, and escalate their thinking about strategy. He has worked with -HORACE MANN more than 25% of the Fortune 500 corporations including: Boeing, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Deere, FedEx, GE, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, J.P. Morgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, New York Times, Procter & Gamble, Sony, and WalMart. He is a regular keynote speaker in CEO Forums and major conferences including the World Innovation Forum, BusinessWeek CEO Forum, World Business Forum, and World Economic Forum at Davos. ■
“Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”
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SPEAKER PROFILE: ANNIE GRIFFITHS One of the first women photographers to work for National Geographic, Annie Griffiths has photographed on every continent during her illustrious career. She has worked on dozens of magazine and book projects for the Society, including stories on Lawrence of Arabia, Baja California, Galilee, Petra, Sydney, New Zealand, and Jerusalem. In addition to her magazine work, Annie is deeply committed to photographing for aid organizations around the world. She is the Executive Director of Ripple Effect Images, a collective of photographers who document the programs that are empowering women and girls in the developing world, especially as they deal with the devastating effects of climate change. With author Barbara Kingsolver, she produced Last Stand: America’s Virgin Lands, a book celebrating the last pristine wilderness in North America. Proceeds -LEONARD COHEN, ANTHEM from the book have raised more than a quarter of a million dollars for grassroots land conservation. In 2008, Annie published A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel, a photo memoir about balance, and the joy of creating a meaningful life. In 2010, she published Simply Beautiful Photographs, which was named the top photo/art book of the year by Amazon and by Barnes and Noble. Annie is currently at work on three new books. ■
“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.”
SPEAKER PROFILE: CARL HODGES Carl Hodges is Founder and Chairman of The Seawater Foundation which uses seawater, photosynthesis and human intelligence to green coastal deserts, create communities, generate wealth and abundance, and provide immediate and long-lasting planetary ecological balance. Carl is an internationally known scientist and a generator of new ideas. An atmospheric physicist and mathematician, the result of his research was seen in Seawater Farms Eritrea (SFE), an integrated agricultural and aquacultural farm in Eritrea, Africa. Leading to this achievement, has been a history of controlled environment agriculture in the Middle East and the Americas, the Land Pavilion at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World in Florida, scientific consultant on Biosphere 2 and many associations with corporations such as Coca Cola, Disney, Kraft Foods, W.R. Grace, and FROM THE POEM JOURNEY TO ITHACA BY C. P. CAVAFY Lufthansa. Through his leadership, The Seawater Foundation has designed Integrated Seawater Agriculture Systems (ISAS) in, Mexico, Egypt, Oman, and the U.S. and has developed a number of salt–tolerant crops that could replace wheat, rice, and soybeans. His work has been acknowledged in publications worldwide. Over 500 articles have been written about Carl and his work over the years, from TIME magazine to the Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair. ■
“…pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge….” -
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SPEAKER PROFILE: HUNTER AND STEPHANIE HUNT Hunter Hunt is President and CEO of Hunt Consolidated Energy, the holding company for Hunt Oil Company, Hunt Refining Company, and Hunt Power. Hunt Oil Company was founded in 1934 and is one of the largest privately-owned energy companies in the world. Hunt Power was established in 1998 to seek opportunities in the utility industry. Hunt Power created Sharyland Utilities, L.P., a Texas-based transmission and distribution electric utility, which was the first new regulated electric utility created in the U.S. in over 30 years. Sharyland Utilities is currently developing a 300-mile electric transmission project to bring wind power from the Texas Panhandle into major metropolitan areas. Prior to joining Hunt Consolidated, Hunter worked with Morgan Stanley, both in corporate finance and commodity trading. Hunter graduated from SMU summa cum laude with degrees in economics and political science. At SMU, Hunter serves - WINSTON CHURCHILL the Engineering School’s Executive Board, the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, and the 21st Century Council, which he chaired. He co-founded the Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the All Stars Project, a nationwide charity based in New York that focuses on developing underprivileged youth through performance and career training.
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
Stephanie Hunt co-founded the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity within SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering. The Hunt Institute is dedicated to bringing technology-driven solutions to improve the lives of those in extreme poverty, and to developing a new generation of engineers who will apply their talents to the challenges facing the global poor. Stephanie currently serves on the boards of the USA for UNHCR (the UN Agency for Refugees); the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas (providing free legal representation and social services to asylum seekers); and The da Vinci School, which specializing in early childhood education. Stephanie is a past chair of the AFI DALLAS International Film Festival and continues her support of film preserva- DALAI LAMA tion through the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. She studied at Sotheby's in London and subsequently worked in their Dallas office. Two years later, she joined the energy research group of the investment bank Wasserstein Perella. ■
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
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SPEAKER PROFILE: KEITH LEBOWITZ Keith Lebowitz is a two-time Emmy Award winning journalist for Outstanding Sports Reporting who has served as a Main Anchor for Fox Sports Net, NBC, CBS, and other television networks and cable outlets. He also produced, wrote, and hosted “Season of Speed,” an Emmy Award-winning, 11-hour-long NASCAR show. Keith also served as Vice President of Marketing for Oryon Technologies, an innovative company that provided an electroluminescent light solution that was bendable, flexible and washable. The company lit the costumes for the Disney Motion Picture Tron Legacy. Most recently, he helped create a television show entitled Eat More Chocolate. Throughout his career, Keith has provided voiceovers and commercial talent for some of the largest companies in the world including Wal-Mart, Energizer, Fuji-Film, Castrol, and Dean Foods. He hosted Fox Sports’ Afternoons with Keith Lebowitz on Fox Sports Radio 1190 and has covered major sporting events, including several Super Bowls, NBA finals, Stanley Cup finals, World Series’, PGA Tour events, and World Cup Soccer. While anchoring at Fox Sports Southwest, he was part of a team of anchors and reporters that won a Katie Award for Best in Texas. ■
SPEAKER PROFILE: EVA LONGORIA Eva Longoria is an actress best known for her role as Gabriel Solis on the hit show Desperate Housewives. In addition to acting, Eva produced the National Council of La Raza’s ALMA awards, Harvest, a documentary about the plight of child farm workers in the U.S., and Latinos Living the American Dream, a film documenting the contributions of Latinos in America. Eva is an active philanthropist. She founded the Eva Longoria Foundation in 2012 to help Latinas build better futures through education and entrepreneurship. She also co-founded Eva’s Heroes, a San Antonio non-profit that benefits developmentally disabled children; and she serves as a spokesperson for Padres Contra el Cancer, an organization supporting Latino families who have children with cancer. Additionally, Eva sits on the boards of the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund and LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. She has supported United Farm Workers and the Dolores Huerta Foundation, among others and has received numerous awards for her philanthropy from organizations such as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, the National Hispania Leadership Institute, and The National Civil Rights Museum. In 2011, Eva was appointed by President Obama to the commission on the National Museum of the American Latin. Today, she serves as a National Co-Chair for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. ■
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SPEAKER PROFILE: AMORY LOVINS Physicist Amory Lovins is Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org), an independent, non-profit, think-and-do tank that drives the efficient and restorative use of resources. An advisor to major firms and governments in over 50 countries for the past four decades, he authored 31 books—his most recent is the acclaimed Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era. In 2009, Time named him one of the world’s 100 most influential people, and Foreign Policy selected him as one of the 100 top global thinkers. Educated at Harvard and Oxford, he is a former Oxford don, an honorary U.S. architect, a Swedish engineering academician, a member of the National Petroleum Council, and a Professor of Practice at the Naval Postgraduate School. He has taught at nine other universities, most recently Stanford University’s School of Engineering. Amory is the recipient of the Blue Planet, Volvo, Zayed, Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, MacArthur and Ashoka Fellowships, 11 honorary doctorates, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Right Livelihood, National Design, and World Technology Awards. Amory co-authored the business classic Natural Capitalism. Other significant works include Small Is Profitable: The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size and the Pentagon-co-sponsored Winning the Oil Endgame. ■
SPEAKER PROFILE: CASIUS PEALER Casius Pealer is Principal of Oystertree Consulting L3C, a mission-driven limited liability corporation that provides real estate advisory services focusing on affordable housing. Oystertree specializes in efforts to use green building as a tool to achieve long-term affordable housing solutions. TexEnergy and U.S. Eco Logic in Dallas, TX are key clients with deep expertise in energy efficiency and practical solutions to performance and verification. Trained as an architect and a real estate attorney, Casius has 15 years of community development experience, including five years as legal counsel for public housing authorities across the country implementing mixed-finance redevelopment projects. Casius served as the first Director of Affordable Housing at the U.S. Green Building Council and is a Senior Sustainable Building Advisor for the Affordable Housing Insti-PAUL HAWKEN tute in Boston, MA. Casius is also an Adjunct Lecturer in Tulane University's Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development (MSRED) program in New Orleans, LA. He has been published in the ABA Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, the AIA Journal of Architecture, and Architectural Record in addition to speaking regularly at professional conferences nationwide. Casius holds a Masters in Architecture from the Tulane School of Architecture and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. ■
“You can't ask poor people to save things that rich people are exploiting.”
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SPEAKER PROFILE: SANJAY RAWAL Sanjay Rawal is Founder of the Illumine Group, representing corporations, philanthropists and NGOs in emerging markets, is a board member of the Voss Foundation, and is a documentary film maker. He has more than a decade of experience in managing corporate social responsibility, philanthropic and government endeavors both domestically and abroad. He has a background in agriculture and is Vice President of California Hybrids, his father's specialty tomato and pepper breeding company. Sanjay was introduced to film as a consultant to the producers on the award-winning doc Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which chronicled the peace movement led by 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee. Sanjay’s first short doc, Ocean Monk, won Best Short Documentary Film (FestivalsOnline) at the 2010 St Louis Intl Film Festival. His second film, -SRI CHINMOY Challenging Impossibility, about the weightlifting exploits of spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy, premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and has played at 75 festivals since then, winning best short documentary film at the Atlanta Shortsfest, Duke City DocFest and DocMiami. Sanjay is currently directing a film on farm labor entitled Food Chain, with an anticipated release date of fall 2012. ■
“Gratitude is receptivity, the receptivity that acknowledges others' gifts, others' love and concern. Each time we express gratitude, we expand our hearts.”
SPEAKER PROFILE: GERARDO REYES-CHAVEZ Gerardo Reyes-Chavez has worked in the fields since age 11, first as a peasant farmer in Zacatecas, Mexico, and then in the fields of Florida picking oranges, tomatoes, and watermelon. He joined the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) shortly after his arrival in the United States in 2000, when his fellow farm worker roommates, who had previously escaped a violent slavery operation hidden in the swamp south of Immokalee, FL, invited him to come to the CIW’s Wednesday evening community meetings. Since then Gerardo has been a key leader of the CIW, his work focusing both at the community level, mobilizing the Immokalee community around national actions in the CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food, and more broadly at the consumer level across the country, raising awareness in support of the Campaign through presentations, workshops, and speeches. Gerardo has helped investigate several modern-day slavery operations, including going undercover to work on tomato farms and interviewing workers who have escaped from violent, brutal operations. He is today a key member of the CIW’s negotiating team in talks with retail food and tomato industry leaders and has been instrumental in forging many of the CIW’s Fair Food agreements. Gerardo also helps to run Radio Conciencia, the low-power community radio station through which the CIW is creating a space to share the diversity of cultures, languages, and experiences that make up Immokalee. ■
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SPEAKER PROFILE: SONAL SHAH Sonal Shah is a fellow with the Tides Foundation focusing on bringing capital markets to the social sector and leveraging technology and innovation to solve social problems. This entrepreneur and innovator served as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the first White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. Sonal also served on President Obama's Transition Board overseeing and leading the Technology, Innovation, Government Reform group in setting up the government. Before joining the White House, she led Google’s global development initiatives for its philanthropy, www.Google.org, leveraging technology and information to help the world’s poor. Prior to Google, Sonal was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs Inc. where she worked with the Chairman and CEO to develop and manage the firm’s environmental strategy. Sonal has also started and managed non-profits. She is co-founder of Indicorps, an international non-profit which offers fellowships for the Indian diaspora around the world. Sonal also helped set up the Center for Global Development, a leading development think tank in Washington, D.C. She worked at the Center for American Progress and also as an economist at the Department of Treasury, where she directed the office for African Nations, worked on the Asian Financial Crisis, and assisted in the post-conflict development in Bosnia and Kosovo. ■
SPEAKER PROFILE: JACK SINCLAIR Jack Sinclair is executive vice president of the grocery division for Walmart Stores Division. He has responsibility for overall grocery strategy for Wal-Mart Stores U.S. In addition, he works to integrate planning, category management, store experience, and private brand development into the grocery business unit. Jack has worked in the retail food business since 1982. He began his career as a trainee at Shoppers’ Paradise in the United Kingdom. He has also worked for Tesco and Safeway PLC, where he eventually served on the board of directors that lead the merger of Safeway PLC and Morrison’s. He has served as the European development director for SB Capital, partnering with banks, private financiers, and private equity houses to assess, advise and implement strategic retail acquisitions. He joined Wal-Mart from McCurrach, a U.K.-based field merchandising business. Sinclair earned a bachelor's degree in economics and marketing from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.
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SPEAKER PROFILE: CYNTHIA SMITH Cynthia Smith serves as Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Curator of Socially Responsible Design. Trained as an industrial designer, she led multidisciplinary planning and design projects for cultural institutions for over a decade. After earning a graduate degree at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, she joined Cooper-Hewitt where she integrates her work experience with her advocacy and activism for human rights and social justice issues. Cynthia co-authored The Politics of Genocide: U.S. Rhetoric vs. Inaction in Dafur for the Kennedy School Review. She co-curated the 2010 National Design Triennial: Why Design Now? and curated both the 2007 Design for the Other 90% exhibition and the 2011 Design with the Other 90%: CITIES. This most recent exhibit has been displayed at the United Nations Headquarters and has taken her around the world researching informal settlements in emerging and developing economies. Named a “20/20 New Pioneer” by Icon design magazine and one of Metropolis magazine’s “next generation of young curators”, Cynthia has served on international design juries and lectured widely on socially responsible design. ■
SPEAKER PROFILE: BARRY AND DAVID STEINGARD Barry is a close friend of Hugh Jackman. Hugh’s visit to Ethiopia and his friendship with Dukale, a local coffee farmer, inspired the vision for Laughing Man Coffee & Tea. The two came together on this idea in a moment of synchronicity. While attending A Street Car Named Desire in Brooklyn, Barry (a 25-year veteran in the coffee and restaurant business) mentioned to Hugh that he and his son, David, were getting back into the coffee business. Returning from Ethiopia and wanting to tell Dukale's Story, Hugh asked Barry if he wanted a partner. David was born and raised in New York City. He left his job as a criminal prosecutor in Brooklyn to return to his entrepreneurial roots and run the day-to-day business of Laughing Man. His wide array of experience in marketing, sales, law, writing, travel and his sincere interest in meeting and being of help to others provides a solid foundation from which to lead Laughing Man. He is proud and honored to be part of the Laughing Man team and join the good company of other businesses that believe commerce and community can grow together for the benefit of all. ■
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Imagine the year 2050 Imagine the U.S. economy has grown 158% Imagine that the nation thrives without oil, no coal, and no nuclear energy.
IMAGINE‌ REINVENTING FIRE Adapted from Reinventing Fire by Amory Lovins (http://rmi.org/rfexecutivesummary)
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Digging up and burning the deposits of ancient sunlight stored eons ago in primeval swamps has transformed human existence and made industrial and urban civilization possible. However, those roughly four cubic miles of fossil fuels every year are no longer the only, best, or even cheapest way to sustain and expand the global economy—whether or not we count fossil fuels’ hidden costs. Those “external” costs, paid not at the fuel pump or electric meter but in our taxes, wealth, and health … are disturbingly large. Tens of billions of taxpayer dollars each year subsidize America’s fossil fuels, and even more flow to the systems that burn those fuels, distorting market choices by making the fuels look far cheaper than they really are. But the biggest hidden costs are eco-
nomic and military. America’s seemingly two-billion-dollar-a-day oil habit actually costs upwards of three times that much—six billion dollars a day, or a sixth of GDP. That’s due to three kinds of hidden costs, each about a half-trillion dollars per year: the macroeconomic costs of oil dependence, the microeconomic costs of oil-price volatility, and the military costs of forces whose primary mission is intervention in the Persian Gulf. Those military costs are about ten times what we pay to buy oil from the Persian Gulf, and rival total defense spending at the height of the Cold War. Any costs to health, safety, environment, security of energy supply, world stability and peace, or national independence or reputation are extra. Coal, too, has hidden costs, chiefly to health, of about $180– 530 billion per year, and natural gas had lesser but nontrivial externalities even before shale-gas “fracking” emerged.
All fossil fuels, to varying degrees, also incur climate risks that society’s leading professional risk managers— reinsurers and the military—warn will cost us dearly. And even if fossil fuels had no hidden costs, they are all finite, with extraction peaking typically in this generation. Yet “peak oil” is now emerging in demand before supply. Thus industrialized countries’ total oil use peaked in 2005, U.S. gasoline use in 2007. Even U.S. coal use peaked in 2005, and in 2005–10,
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coal lost 12% of its share of U.S. electrical services (95% of its market) to natural gas, efficiency, and renewables. This is not because these fuels’ hidden costs have been properly internalized yet into their market prices, but rather because those market prices today are too high and volatile to sustain sales against rising competition. Making a dollar of U.S. GDP in 2009 took 60% less oil, 50% less energy, 63% less directly burned natural gas, and 20% less electricity than it did in 1975, because more efficient use and alternative supplies have become cheaper and better than the fossil fuels they’ve displaced. Yet wringing far more work from our energy is only getting started, and is becoming an ever bigger and cheaper resource, because its technologies, designs, and delivery methods are improving faster than they’re so far being adopted. Many other countries have lately pulled ahead of the United States in capturing the burgeoning potential for greater energy productivity and more durable and benign supplies. During 1980–2009, for example, the Danish economy grew by two-thirds, while energy use returned to its 1980 level and carbon emissions fell 21%. Now the conservative
Danish government has adopted a virtually self-financing strategy to get completely off fossil fuels by 2050 by further boosting efficiency and switching to renewables (already 36% of electric generation, which is the most reliable and among the cheapest pretax in Europe).
Why? To strengthen Denmark’s economy and national security. Europe as a whole is going in the same direction, led by Germany, and now Japan and China are moving that way. What could the U.S. do? In 2010, the United States (excluding non-combustion uses as raw materials) used 93 quadrillion BTU of primary energy, four-fifths of it fossil fuels. Official projections show this growing to 117 quads in 2050. But delivering those same services with less energy, more productively used, could shrink 2050 usage to 71 quads, eliminate the need for oil, coal, nuclear energy, and one-third of the natural gas, and save $5 trillion in net-presentvalued cost. As a better-than-free byprod-
uct of efficient use and a continued shift to renewable supplies, fossil carbon emissions would also shrink by 82–86% below their 2000 levels despite the assumed 2.58-fold bigger economy than in 2010.
Natural gas saved through more-efficient buildings and factories could be reallocated to cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient combined-heat-and-power in industry (though we conservatively assume none in buildings), to displacing oil and coal in buildings and factories, and optionally to fueling trucks. America’s energy supply in 2050 would end up roughly three-
fourths renewable and one-fourth natural gas (the same fraction as in 2010, but of a smaller total—one-fourth less primary energy and one-third less delivered energy). The remaining gas use, which is probably conservatively high, could phase out over a few decades after 2050. Meanwhile, the United States could take advantage of new shale-gas resources if their many uncertainties turned out well, but not be caught short if they didn’t. Biomass would supply about six times more energy in 2050 than in 2010—two-thirds from waste streams (chiefly in industry) and one-third from cellulosic and algal feedstocks whose production wouldn’t interfere with food production nor harm soil or climate. Liquid biofuels needed for transportation would be equivalent to less than one-sixth today’s total U.S. oil consumption.
To shrink U.S. energy use while GDP grows 158% is not a fantasy; in nine of
the 36 years through 2009, the U.S. economy actually did raise energy productivity faster than GDP grew… Just as whale-oil suppliers ran out of customers in the 1850s before they ran out of whales, oil and coal are becoming uncompetitive even at low prices before they become unavailable even at high prices. It’s about $5 trillion cheaper, and smarter in other ways, not to keep on burning them, even if their hidden costs were worth zero. Realizing this potential does not require business to take a hit or suffer a loss. On the contrary, Reinventing Fire applies normal rate-of-return requirements in each sector, so each proposed change must earn at least a 12%/y real return in industry, 7% in buildings, and 5.7% in electricity, and new autos must repay any higher price within three years. Actually, the suggested investment portfolio considerably outperforms these hurdle rates: the Reinventing Fire strategy would achieve Internal Rates of Return averag-
ing 33% in buildings, 21% in industry, 17% in transportation, and 14% across all sectors—including making the entire electricity system clean, secure, reliable, resilient, flexible, and at least 80% renewable. These are among the highest and least risky returns in the whole economy. Overall, a $4.5-trillion extra investment would save $9.5 trillion, for a 2010net-present-valued saving of $5 trillion during 2010–2050, and many key risks to individual business sectors, the whole economy, and national security would be mitigated or altogether abated. Counting the important hidden benefits and costs (to health, productivity, security, etc.) not included in these figures would make the economic case even stronger. The net effect of the Reinventing Fire transition on jobs would be at worst neutral and probably significantly positive, again without counting potentially dominant gains in competitive advantage that could stabilize or reverse the decline of some major U.S. industries... This fits the latest data in the marketplace: more Americans now work in renewable energy installation or in energy efficiency installation than in the entire coal industry, for example. Those new jobs, too, are widely distributed by occupation and location,
are durable, and can’t be moved offshore. Countries with more coherent transitional policies are already further ahead.
all from China and Europe, but rapidly spreading around the globe—leaves American industries little choice…
Denmark’s relative economic health is substantially driven by its world-class energy-technology exports (chiefly wind-
The key barrier to success is not inadequate technologies but tardy adoption.
power) and its lower energy imports and costs. Germany, which has staked its energy future on an efficiency-and-renewables transition, already has fuller employment than it did before the Great Recession. In essence, Germany pays its own engineers, manufacturers, and installers rather than buying natural gas from Russia, and that investment shift is already paying off. Incumbent industries that extract, supply, and use fossil fuels are a major force. They must adapt to these new conditions and requirements just as they always have to many kinds of change. But change need not harm their strategic prospects. Hydro carbons are generally worth more as a source of hydrogen and organic molecules than as a fuel. Hydrocarbon and electricity companies have important assets, capabilities, and skills whose judicious deployment will be vital to a successful energy transition. Moving beyond oil and coal can harness those advantages in ways that sustain profits, diversify options, and manage risks. The firms that do this first should beat the laggards. This is not merely a matter of normal domestic industrial evolution but of global revolution, because extraordinary competition from abroad—most of
The rate of implementation required to reach Reinventing Fire’s ambitious goals is challenging but manageable—just as it was in 1977–85, when the U.S. cut its oil intensity at an average rate of 5.2%/y. Our analysis assumes that on average, the entire United States will ramp up over decades to the rates of efficiency and renewables adoption that the most attentive states have already achieved. Whatever exists is possible. What’s needed is a coherent and compelling vision, leadership at all levels (but not necessarily from Congress, whose action is not actually required for Reinventing Fire), and the courage to capture the opportunities now before each of us. Their value, feasibility, and practical uptake can thrive in our immensely diverse and politically fractious society if we focus on outcomes, not motives—if we simply do what makes sense and makes money, without having to agree on why it’s important. In a nation tired of gridlock, this trans-ideological attractiveness and practicality is good news. Whether we most care about economy, security, or health and environment, Reinventing Fire is
spherically sensible—it makes sense no matter which way around you view it. ■ Learn more at reinventingfire.com
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ENERGY SHOULD FORM ITS OWN DISCIPLINE Sheril R. Kirshenbaum and Michael E. Webber of the University of Texas at Austin
The international energy system needs an overhaul. The sector is multidisciplinary: it must serve modern civilization without compromising economic opportunity, undermining national security or impinging on the environment. Yet innovation today prioritizes improvements to discrete technologies and progress in single disciplines rather than rebuilding the whole system. A more joined-up approach is needed, beginning with education. Retooling the system will require a range of experts who understand new technologies and can translate them to the public, while considering the economic drivers necessary for their adoption. In the United States, for example, the educational framework for undergraduates does not always keep pace with advances in science, engineering and innovation. Even
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though energy is a leading international priority, it lacks definition in universities, where it is largely perceived as a professional pursuit, or as a subset of fields such as petroleum engineering. Often, students are exposed only to glimpses of the sector and do not acquire an integrated, systemslevel perspective. Whereas institutions such as Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, have created programmes to address the changing energy landscape, none offers an interdisciplinary energyfocused degree at undergraduate and graduate levels. We propose that large energy departments should be set up at universities worldwide to tie seemingly disparate
fields of knowledge together. Graduates could move between disciplines to promote ideas and work towards practical solutions. By fostering an open dialogue between specialists, this nascent labour force would then be well equipped to navigate through all of the technical, political and social issues related to energy. â–
Reprinted with permission from the authors and from Nature journal. Original article available at nature.com/nature/journal/v478/n7367/ full/478037a.html
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