the fridge
the fridge foundation
MORE G.A.S., LESS CASH Quality and saving around people and the environment
TALENT GARDEN Where talented minds blossom and grow
EINSTAIN REFRIGERATOR Zero-emission refrigerator
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A volte i piani per la cena cambiano con una telefonata. Cogli tutte le opportunità, sapendo che il nuovo frigocongelatore Electrolux Rex FreshPlus conserverà i tuoi cibi freschi fino a 7 giorni più a lungo*, utilizzando la stessa tecnologia che trovi nei frigoriferi professionali. Questa è solo una delle caratteristiche dei nuovi frigocongelatori Electrolux Rex, ispirate da più di 90 anni di esperienza come partner di riferimento dei migliori ristoranti d’Europa. Abbiamo unito la nostra competenza professionale ad un design d’eccezione per creare una gamma di elettrodomestici che ti consente di vivere al massimo ogni momento, ogni giorno.
* Confrontato con frigoriferi combinati Full No Frost. Test condotto dall’istituto indipendente SGS Institut Fresenius GmbH, Germania
La nuova collezione Electrolux Rex.
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the fridge
OUR MISSION We aim to promote a real “fridge culture” by showcasing different stories from around the world
We believe that food is a culture in our society: it offers the ideal medium for people from diverse backgrounds to learn about each other and share experiences. Through food people can experience new sensations and practices that stem from a need or desire to make it their own: from how it is acquired and its role to how we eat it. We aim to promote a real “fridge culture” by showcasing different stories from around the world. By showcasing photographs of fridges not only can we learn more about how to use them and store food, but we can also share other people’s culinary customs, lifestyles, and individual diets whatever they may be. Alessandro B. - Founder of TheFridgeFoundation.org This issue of The Fridge offers ideas, advice and tips as it takes you on a journey into the world of savings and sustainable negative growth in which lifestyles promote thrifty living, environmental and social sustainability and interpersonal relations, cooperation and altruism that damages individualism. On our first stop we meet Adiconsum, the Italian Consumer and Environmental Protection Association, which reminds us that we can save energy in the home by making a series of changes in our everyday lives that can have a significant impact on our energy consumption and how much we pay for our bills. Next on our journey we meet the solidarity purchasing groups that help with the family budget and propose a different and ethically correct relationship between producers and consumers. Sharing equals savings, and it also means creativity as they prove on a daily basis in the Talent Gardens, the low-cost offices that are springing up like mushrooms all over Italy. Even hostels are getting a new look nowadays and becoming an inexpensive yet comfortable alternative with a major focus on biocompatibility and environmental impact. Entrepreneur Damiano Mazzarella tells us about his life experience with a difference: he moved from hot, sunny Rome to the cooler climes of Sweden where he now shops in markets that look like museums. Next up cold becomes art, saves lives during donor organ transportations, and becomes a wonderful children’s fairytale in the book “La Marcia dei Frigoriferi Verso il Polo Nord” (March of the Refrigerators to the North Pole). The Fridge Foundation magazine hasn’t forgotten about the environmental issues which are featured here with Giuseppe Onufrio, Director of Greenpeace Italia, and zero-emission refrigerators.
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“UN RAGGIO DI SOLE NEL MIO FRIGO.” Veronica Ferraro, Fashion Blogger, Milano
Prenditi cura di ciò che ami. Dalle sfilate di moda ad un evento mondano a New York, Veronica è nota per il suo look. Il suo blog illustra tutte le ultime tendenze di stile: ogni giorno è una nuova occasione, naturalmente anche un nuovo outfit. Ma come riesce ad avere sempre un aspetto così luminoso e fresco? Forse è grazie alle vitamine perfettamente conservate nello scomparto frutta e verdura del suo frigorifero Panasonic NR-B32FX2. Lo scomparto Vitamin Safe è infatti dotato di luci a LED blu e verdi, che simulano la luce naturale del sole, per una conservazione ottimale e più duratura degli alimenti. Anche questo è il segreto del sorriso e della forma smagliante di Veronica! Scopri tutto su Veronica sul sito panasonic.it/veronica-frigoriferi
the fridge foundation
Colophon The Fridge Foundation via E. Filiberto 7/A 20149 Milano T + 39 02 396 115 26 +39 02 396 115 66 press@thefridgefoundation.org
Editor-in-chief Andrea Canevese
Managing editor Alessandra Fraschini
Editorial staff Antonella Armigero Valeria Lodesani
Art Direction & Graphics
Move your fridge for cheaper bills…
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Quality and savings: more G.A.S., less cash
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Where talented minds blossom and grow… 10 Hostels on a par with hotels
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Museums?No, Swedish supermarkets
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FRIGIDO. When cold becomes art
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The fridge’s warm heart
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The 0-emission fridge
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When cold saves lives
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The fridge according to Greenpeace
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FACEFRIDGE
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Studiovix
Freelancers Alessandro Boccolini Sara Carraresi
Publisher Contemporanea srl via E. Filiberto 7/A 20149 Milano Reproduction, even partial, of the contents and photographs is prohibited.
Pietro Giordano President of Adiconsum, the Italian Consumer and Environmental Protection Association
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Move your fridge for cheaper bills… We can save energy in the home by making a series of changes in our everyday lives that can have a significant impact on our energy consumption and how much we pay for our bills. Take Adiconsum’s word for it. di Valeria Lodesani
The energy used by household appliances accounts for about 80% of our domestic electricity bills. If we want to save energy, first of all we need to learn to recognise the energy label on household appliances, which was renewed and extended to cover all products relating to energy consumption at the end of 2011. The new European energy label was designed to offer consumers more help when comparing and choosing the goods that enable them to use less energy (and therefore also save more money). It features 3 new classes on the energy scale that identify the most energy efficient products (A+, A++ and A+++), and new pictograms (explanatory icons) that give consumers more information about the products’ features and how they perform. You need to check the energy label when you buy a refrigerator or a freezer, and you should also look for a quality label that is recognised throughout Europe, such as BSI in the United Kingdom or IMQ in Italy, which confirms that the appliance conforms to safety standards. The EU ECOLABEL is another one to look for (a flower with stars for petals and the “E” for Europe in the middle). This label indicates an “environmentally-compatible” product that normally also
uses less electricity. Here are some simple yet important tips for saving energy and keeping your refrigerator and freezer in good condition: position the refrigerator in the coolest part of the kitchen (away from the oven and hob, radiators and windows), leave a space of at least 10 cm between the back of the appliance and the wall, and check that there is also space above and below the appliance to ensure adequate ventilation, set the thermostat of the refrigerator to a position midway between minimum and halfway; if the temperature is too cold, it can increase energy consumption by 10-15%, and is no good for preserving food. Do not put too much in the refrigerator, and try to leave space between the food and the sides of the fridge to allow air to circulate. Make sure you open and close the door on your refrigerator and freezer quickly and correctly: most energy is wasted by the dispersion of heat. Care and maintenance are also an essential part of prolonging the life of your refrigerator and freezer and saving energy: check that the rubber seals are in good condition (and replace them if necessary), clean the condenser (switch off the electricity first though), and defrost the appliance if the layer of ice becomes thicker than 5 mm.
How many times have you opened the fridge and it’s empty, or you’ve only found a few things and none of them inspire you or get your creative culinary juices flowing? What’s in my fridge is the app that could solve your problems and simplify your life. Ideal for people who live on their own, the app is easy to use and suggests recipes based on what’s left in your fridge. With simple, intuitive and minimal graphics, the app lets you post your recipes on Facebook and photograph the results of your culinary endeavours to share with your friends. 7
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Quality and savings: more G.A.S., less cash Simple, direct, universal. Solidarity purchasing groups propose a different relationship between producers and consumers that revolves around people and the environment. di Valeria Lodesani
G.A.S. is an acronym for “gruppi di acquisto starting with the small local producers, and But it’s not solidale” or solidarity purchasing groups. it is essential that these are as close as These groups aim to give a new meapossible so you get the chance to acjust about saving ning to the chain of production protually meet and get to know them. money. cesses by reorganising them with A direct relationship between the G.A.S. groups are not solely direct, stable relations between consumer and the producer that sellers and buyers. They hope to should also be “profitable” for both guided by the price: it’s bring about major changes in our parties; not just for the consumer, about solidarity which lifestyle, taking us in the direction but also for the seller as this rela“also” takes the form of more critical and ethical contionship is based shared interests. of goods at lower sumption based on a new economy Thanks to G.A.S. groups the goods prices. well away from the supermarket, the are more than a product; they becousual distribution channels, and from me a tool for establishing relations the excessive power wielded by multinatiobetween people so long as the “groups” renal companies by placing people, relations and main small, local and solidary. the environment at the centre of the equation. Within Each G.A.S. group has its own voice or speaks for a this new logic, they try to transform the elements judged mini network, which is formed by multiple G.A.S. groups by others to be diseconomies into resources: organic goods in an area and coordinates their activities. There are no ruwith their costs, saving disadvantaged organisations, the wa- les or charters, nor a minimum number of people needed ste of the standardised offer, safeguarding biodiversities and, to set up a G.A.S. group. The groups have no geographical last but not least, transparent pricing that guarantees savings boundaries, no president, secretary or representative; each for buyers and dignity for sellers. one is organised independently and “lives” its own life. The Who are G.A.S. groups? groups (about 750 groups are actually registered but it is Solidarity purchasing groups are set up by people who have estimated that there are at least twice that figure) are condecided to come together to buy a range of different products nected by a “network” so that they can share and exchange in bulk; since these groups started the most commonly bou- information. Each G.A.S. group has its own criteria of how ght goods are the ones we use every day, such as organic fo- it selects suppliers, chooses how the goods are delivered, ods, fruit, vegetables, and also bread, cleaning products and and establishes a fair price with the producer. These groups even electricity, telephony, travel and wellness products. But have no universal code but over the years they have put toit’s not just about saving money. G.A.S. groups are not solely gether some guidelines that can be summed up as small, guided by the price: it’s about solidarity which “also” takes local and solidary and by the 3 “Ps” of Product, Process, and the form of goods at lower prices. Thinking that it is only a Project. Whether or not goods are organic is one criterion matter of saving money belittles the concept, G.A.S. groups used when choosing what to buy, but it is not the only one: undermine the foundations of our very economy; they are others include supporting social cooperatives, the quality of critical, effective and in some ways even “revolutionary”. All the packaging, proximity, whether the produce is in season, they need to do is collect the orders and satisfy demand by and the size of the producer. 9
TAG They couldn’t have picked a better name to describe this hotbed of flourishing talent
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Where talented minds blossom and grow… TAG offers much more than just low-cost offices. Sharing workspaces, ideas and professional skills stimulates creativity: this is the secret behind the Talent Gardens. di Alessandra Fraschini
In a garden the different plants all germinate and grow together to create a marvellous environment where they all simultaneously collaborate and compete, influencing each other to establish a real ecosystem in a successful garden. This philosophy provided the genesis for the TAG phenomenon, otherwise known as Talent Gardens, the low-cost office space where people can cowork. Coworking first began in America and Northern Europe as a style of work that involves a shared working environment, often an office, and independent activity. Unlike in a typical office environment, those coworking are usually not employed by the same organisation. Some coworking spaces were developed by nomadic internet entrepreneurs seeking an alternative to working in coffee shops and cafes, or to the isolation that many freelancers experience while working in independent or home offices while at the same time letting them escape the distractions of home. Talent Garden is a low-cost office space where you can rent a desk, a meeting room or a workstation for brief or long periods of time, and be in tune with the new increasingly more rapid and flexible rhythms of professional life. But it is also an ecosystem that welcomes and “helps” creative minds to discuss and compare issues relating to the web and communication in a free and productive way, making it easier to exchange ideas and projects. They can challenge each other and work together, naturally pitting themselves against each other while influencing and being influenced. This naturally
adds consistency and entrepreneurial humus to an environment in which new seedlings can blossom and grow from the buds of new ideas, and new companies can enjoy the best terrain in which to grow, develop and become successfully established. TAG becomes a social gathering of a group of people who although they are working independently share the same values and enjoy the synergies that flourish when talented people get together. So, how much does this cost? It’s quite reasonable, about € 250 a month plus V.A.T. Where are the TAG? Several TAG have recently opened in Italy, in Brescia and Dalmine. But probably the most successful TAG can be found in a large office space on Via Merano, which is just outside Milan city centre. Open twenty-four hours a day, it covers 30,000 m2 over three floors and is furnished and decorated with cardboard tables and columns covered with moss to create a natural setting. This is the workplace for the guys from BadSeed, who are working on a new videogame project for smartphones, the Tannico.it team, an e-commerce website that selects and sells bottles of the finest wine, and the creators of Wanderio.com, a portal that lets you plan your trips from doorstep to final destination by booking all your tickets in a click. And then there are also lots of freelancers: programmers, web designers, and even young photographers like Alice Caputo, one of the winners of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards. A powerful blend of pure talent! 11
The new look for hostels
Smaller rooms, with en-suite facilities, rooms for families and for people with disabilities. A focus on biocompatibility and minimum environmental impact
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Hostels on a par with hotels
Hostelling International – known as AIG in Italy – offers a bona fide lowcost alternative for people who really want to see the world. We spoke with Lucia Chessa, who runs the youth hostel in Milan.
di Alessandra Fraschini
AIG, the Italian Youth Hostels Association, currently has more than one hundred hostels, making it the largest accommodation chain in Italy. The Italian Hostelling International hostels have kept pace with the global development of the movement and adapted to cope with the growing demands for social and youth tourism. This has led to the accommodation being given a facelift: smaller rooms, which always have ensuite facilities, rooms for families and for people with disabilities, a focus on biocompatibility and minimum environmental impact. AIG’s hostels can also count on some Italian added value: 65% of the hostels are located in buildings of historical or architectural value that have been converted to fit their new purpose. Another plus point is that they offer many mainly cultural activities in addition to accommodation. How is the Milan hostel run? The youth hostel is a special type of accommodation originally designed for young people but is now open to people of all ages. The real advantage is that it is very economical and has many common areas that encourage and make it easier for guests to socialise, a fundamental element of a proper education for young people. The Milan hostel can sleep 350 people and complies with all health and hygiene regulations. If not properly managed, the refrigerator could potentially become a main source of contamination; this is why we decided it was better not to offer our guests access to a shared refrigerator in such a large establishment. However we do offer a shared refrigerator at our hostel in Bergamo, which has a capacity of 85 beds. Who typically stays in your hostel? Generally speaking we have three types of guest: young people, families and groups. The young people range from 18 to 25/27 years of age; they are traditional travellers or youngsters visiting Milan on study or cultural trips.
The families, particularly in the summer, are foreigners with young children who are travelling as tourists or use the hostel as their main base. The groups are high school, college or university students mainly from other countries, or sports clubs, choirs, and cultural associations with shared interests. What is the hostel’s capacity and when are you busiest? Occupancy is heavily influenced by what’s going on in the city, such as events and trade exhibitions. The biggest is the Milan Furniture Fair, which brings in the most guests, and is closely followed by the International Tourism Exchange exhibition and the Macef International Home Show. Gusts also stay here for major football matches, such as UEFA and Champions League games, or Formula One Grands Prix, as well big concerts, particularly in the summer. How many refrigerators do you have? Is the fridge a meeting place? In Milan, we have the kitchen refrigerator for the breakfast food and a fridge in the reception for the employees; we sometimes let guests use this one if they need to keep medication cool. We also have other refrigerators kept in a locked room that are available for young people who stay with us for several months at a time while studying or training as they have different needs. The Bergamo hostel is ranked as the Best European Hostel thanks to its location and the quality of the furnishings and facilities. It has a Refrigerator Area where guests can store their food in traditional hermitically sealed containers labelled with their name and the date. This makes life easier for those who manage the cleaning. I reckon the refrigerator is a fantastic “place” to get together with others. In a hostel it’s also a bit of an attraction, like a design feature, especially if it looks stylish. 13
Damiano Mazzarella Rome to Sweden, without looking back. Damiano lives in a cool, modern city with outstanding young chefs who are making their mark
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Museums?No, Swedish supermarkets Entrepreneur Damiano Mazzarella emigrated from sunny Rome to chilly Malmo in Sweden. He loves doing the shopping because Swedish supermarkets seem like museums. His fridge is full of healthy, fresh food to ensure a good diet for his three children. di Antonella Armigero
Rome to Sweden. What drove you to make such a drastic life change? Everyone has asked me, “What made you do it?” since I left. However, if you’re driven by instinct, it can’t be that rational. Let’s say that I convinced myself it was the right choice to “emigrate” up to the cold northern regions where the people are cold and everything seems to be really cold. Actually, that’s not true. Even the famous magazine Monocle, my guru among magazines, confirms that Scandinavians (and especially the Danes) are the happiest people in the world! And I believe it; I live in Malmo, across the water from Copenhagen, and I found the city to be extremely vibrant, super cool and modern, a mini melting pot. Plus the people are really young and they seem to have that public spirit which is lacking in many areas of Italy. Beautiful women dashing around on bicycles and young lads who all dress completely differently. So for now it’s long live the new Viking supermodel and you can keep the mandolins and sunsets. Italy? Yes, it’s a great place.... for a holiday! How have your habits changed? Well, since I stopped smoking and drinking I haven’t got many habits left. For the time being I’m a slave, kept prisoner by my fabulous young children. And as I’ve got three there’s plenty to do. And your relationship with food? My relationship with food hasn’t begun yet; we haven’t been introduced yet, but maybe a relationship will get going … Joking aside though, the problem is that I come from a family that’s slightly unique and food never played a major role in the home. My father often advised me not to eat too much to avoid making a bad impression with the girls I went out with, while my mother, like a good smart American, never wanted to compete with Italian haute cuisine.
I had a nanny who stayed with me until I was twenty and loved me as if I were her one of her own but she definitely was not the most talented in the kitchen. I survived by eating a bit of this and that. Maybe that’s where I got lucky. What are the dietary customs in Sweden? Damiano – I want to laugh because this question makes me feel completely Italian and I’d like to shout at the top of my voice to the rest of the world about our culinary invincibility. We eat well in Italy because the ingredients are simple. But in Sweden they have three courses together on one big plate; first and second courses and every now and then pineapple even turns up in the middle of it all. Edible, but with your eyes shut. I’m joking. We eat good, healthy food in my house. Otherwise my wife gets mad. How would you describe the Swedes in the kitchen? And what are they like socially? The Swedes are great cooks and a new generation of chefs is emerging over here. You’d be astounded if you went to Stockholm. I’ve enjoyed the incredible experience of Noma, voted the world’s best restaurant three years running. Now that really leaves you speechless. What do you keep in your fridge in Malmo? I love doing the shopping; it’s the one hour I’m let out for exercise, just joking. Plus being in a Swedish supermarket is a bit like being in a museum. Everyone is blonde, clean and tidy. And you meet some beautiful women, the famous “Swedish blondes” and you just want to buy everything in sight. The fridge is often full, but it doesn’t contain many preserves. I don’t preserve very much. Do you ever feel homesick? Nostalgia for Italy... To be honest I’m not the sort of person who gets nostalgic, I haven’t got time to look back. 15
Alla scoperta dei ghiacci A Lousto in Lapponia, a pochi passi dal villaggio di Babbo Natale, per non perdere l’occasione di godere dell’Aurora Boreale è stato istituito un servizio sms, per aspettare l’evento comodamente dall’Aurora Chalet
Alice Pedroletti The cold is no longer something from which we must or can protect ourselves, but something to be tackled head on. “Frigido” is detachment, a break with the past
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FRIGIDO. When cold becomes art Alice Pedroletti, a young Milanese artist, chose the cold (frigidus) as a way to break with existing form for an event organised by Frigodiffusione at Frigoriferi Milanesi. di Valeria Lodesani
Alice Pedroletti is a young artist and photographer who focuses her craft on the many aspects of life and vision. Her works explore the relationship between man and the environment, the personal and collective memory of places, time and space, and the etymological and semantic study of words that accompany actions; creating archives as an individual discipline and artistic practice. Frigido. Vita di un archivio (2012) is about the birth and life of Alice’s archive and is presented as the story of a creative process. Alice used her archive of photographs as inspiration and selected negatives of past experiences, old jobs, and faded memories from which she decided the time had come to make a break. By submerging the chosen negatives in liquid nitrogen she subjected them to sub-zero temperatures and an irreversible chemical change that transformed them into something akin to crystals. After removing the negatives from the liquid nitrogen Alice preceded to destroy them. The negatives shattered with no real control into different sized pieces, changing their appearance and their meaning: they lost their role as master copies, and also lost the images they had once borne, and gained accentuated materiality, another form and new value as works of art. The next step was to methodically file the fragments in order of size, an action that marked the genesis of a new archive. The exhibition at Frigoriferi Milanesi is the debut showing of a project that evolves over time, following the artist’s ideational and cognitive path. In addition to a series of coloured fragments framed on canvases and some abstract slides, the exhibition also includes Alice’s notes, studies, tools and a video that reveals the groundbreaking process involved in her work. “I chose the cold (frigidus) as the idea of definitive immobility, as way to break with existing form. The cold is no longer something from which we must or can protect ourselves, but something to be tackled head on. “Frigido” is thought, and memory, it’s the moment in which the pain of an emotion allows us to grow. “Frigido” is detachment, a break with the past” - Alice Pedroletti
Alice Pedroletti was born and grew up in Milan, where she still lives and works today. She has taken part in many group exhibitions in recent years, mainly with installations and photographic projects, but also with videos and performances. Some of these were first inspired during art residencies, such as the recent Senza Titolo (AKM0 art residency, Gozzano, 2012), during which Alice used her family archive and personal life experiences to retrace the memory of Lake d’Orta and the Bemberg textile factory (which is now disused), where her grandmother worked for more than thirty years. Alice’s latest experience was in Florida, where she presented a work about the “madness” of Henry Flagler, the American oil tycoon who was responsible for building the road from Miami to Key West and the “Old Seven Mile Bridge” at the beginning of the last century. At the time this colossal bridge was said to be the Eighth Wonder of the World.
Frigoriferi Milanesi Frigoriferi Milanesi is a place that focuses on art and culture where people can meet and exchange ideas. It organises many initiatives, such as Frigodiffusione which is a collection of shows, presentations and discussions open to everyone involving expressive experimentations on a range of themes. A new cultural frequency that you can tune into at any time. 17
Free-zeer! In the book the household appliances that have caused the greenhouse effect rebel against mankind and its bad habits; now they are finally free they put themselves in the hands of the new generation to embark on a symbolic, daring journey to save a precariously balanced ecosystem. If you would like to read more about the author, visit www.francosacchetti.it
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The fridge’s warm heart Waking up and discovering that the fridge has gone; it’s embarked on an environmental mission to save the arctic ice from melting. This is the story told by Franco Sacchetti in his book “La Marcia dei Frigoriferi Verso il Polo Nord” (March of the Refrigerators to the North Pole), an environmental fable that appeals to all ages. di Antonella Armigero
What inspired you to write this green fable? I have followed the environmental cause for many years as a WWF activist and a cartoonist for The Ecologist, and through environmental education with teaching workshops for children. The book is a fusion of my experiences and my travels, and a pretext to tell a story about ecology in a brand-new way that everyone can understand. Who is this book for? For my generation which was born in the concrete of our cities, a child of television and advertising; a generation that has forgotten about the bond between man and the planet. Luckily something is now changing; this is the time to be more aware of what’s going on and teach our children to take back the future, and fight for a better planet. Why did you choose the refrigerator to lead a revolution that starts in our homes? The fridge, like the television, reflects our society. The difference between them is that we can do without one but not the other. It’s the household appliance that contains our nutrition and if it’s true that we are what we eat, we need to be more mindful of what’s inside and how we use it.
What would our lives be like without refrigerators? Can we do without? I spent some time without a fridge to write the book. It was difficult but not impossible. We don’t need to get rid of the technology; we just need to use it more intelligently. For example, the fridge helps us to conserve food better and for longer and can improve the quality of life in hot countries around the world. What’s your relationship like with your fridge? Our relationship has improved since I chose to use solar power. I’m now much less worried about an appliance that is always on. I’ve always viewed the fridge as a suggestive object that’s full of meaning; it’s the only appliance to have earned an upright position in our homes. It’s as tall as a person and is almost humanlike, as I write in my book. The fridge also has a warm heart that clashes with the cold heart of mankind who is letting the Earth perish. What’s in your refrigerator? Which food do you never have? Soy or rice milk, vegetables which I am lucky enough to pick in the woods near Vasto, and leftovers, because it’s important not to waste food. You will never find out-of-season fruit in my fridge or meat, because I’m a vegetarian, and there are no
products associated with the exploitation of labour. The book tells the story of a family and each member embarks on a journey of growth and realisation. What role do the parents play? Valdo, the boy who is the main character, decides to follow the refrigerators as they march to the North Pole in order to save it: a blank page on which to write the future. Even though his father stays at home, he begins to make radical changes to his habits starting with small everyday things like not using the car and regret over the refrigerator. This revolution starts in our homes and with the family, and the parents have to support the children. Are there any children like Valdo who already feel that they can change the world? I meet inquisitive and responsive children during my teaching workshops. They are very attentive and learn easily. Thanks to their enthusiasm I can get through to the adults and convey the right values. What is the first step we need to take to change our lifestyle? Read labels, understand where the food comes from and how it is produced, and change our relationship with food by looking at the planet and the people who farm it with more respect. 19
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The 0-emission fridge Our refrigerators are increasingly more energy efficient, but they contain refrigerant gases that can potentially be pollutants. An idea from the past could now give us a truly green fridge. di Antonella Armigero
A green fridge that uses no electricity and the world is Malcolm McCulloch, an eleccontains no harmful gases? It sounds like trical engineer at Oxford. The British team a modern-day innovation but it was actual- started work on a three-year project to devely invented by Einstein and his student Leó lop a fridge powered by renewable sources of energy, such as small photovoltaic Szilárd back in 1926. In those days panels, that works with more fridges used a highly toxic gas, environmentally-friendly liand wear and tear on the quid gases. internal mechanism freAnother group working quently caused the seals on a zero-emission to break and harmful fridge is Camfridge, a fumes to leak out. To The term Freeijis is a start-up at Cambridge get around this procombination of “free” and the University that choblem the man who se to use magnetic developed the theory Swahili word “friji”, which means fields. Magnetic reof relativity inven“fresh” and “pure”, and the frigeration is based on ted a fridge without letter “S” which stands for the magnetocaloric efa motor based on the the principle of how this fect obtained with very principle of absorption, fridge works expensive and hard-towhich did not involve the find alloys, such as lanthause of harmful pollutants. num and silicon-germanium. Unfortunately freon became The Camfridge doesn’t have a mocommonly used in the current retor so it will be very spacious and quiet. The frigeration systems and so this prototype was never commercially produced. The man scientists are developing less costly alloys to who recovered the patent and brought the produce this innovative green fridge on a larnewly-named Einstein Refrigerator back to ge commercial scale.
Free cooling
Freeijis, the electricity-free fridge A combination of technology and design provides the winning characteristics of Freeijis, the electricity-free fridge designed by Caterina Falleni, a young designer who graduated from the ISIA Design Institute in Florence, and won the prestigious Alexera Singularity Contest which enabled her to study at the NASA centre in Silicon Valley. Freeijis is a domestic cooling system for fruit and vegetables, and the way it works is as simple as it is innovative: it is based on the same water evaporation process used by the human
body to regulate body temperature. Caterina is now working on a new version of the first prototype; an aluminium container inside another clay container with water in between the two that enables evaporation and the internal part to automatically cool. This device has great social as well as environmental value because it makes the consumer more responsible and is based on the concept of clean, natural energy that can be used by everyone. 21
Fast, safe transport
Innova Bollanti specialises in fitting out healthcare vehicles for transporting organs. These vehicles are equipped with portable refrigerators and systems for emergency communications to monitor the transfer
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When cold saves lives
Doctor Antonio Secchi, the coordinator of the transplant unit at San Raffaele Hospital, explains how organs are transported and preserved to The Fridge Foundation. This is when cold and time play an essential role in saving lives. di Antonella Armigero
How are organs transported in Italy? Do you have special refrigerators? Organs that are suitable for transplant are transported in isothermal containers and portable refrigerators, which have special labels so they can be easily identified. We do not use thermostatic fridges. They are working on prototypes of equipment with portable instruments for the perfusion of the organs. How are the organs preserved? At what temperature is this done? The organ is placed in a sterile double bag to create an insulating barrier against the outside and this is put in melting water ice at a temperature of 4° centigrade. This method is known as cold ischaemia, the organs and tissues do not receive a supply of blood or oxygen, and the temperature allows us to stop metabolic and decay processes. What time scales are involved with cold ischaemia? The time varies from organ to organ. The heart is the most delicate organ and needs to be transplanted within two, maximum four hours after retrieval. A kidney can have a longer cold ischaemic time, even up to twenty-four hours, although it is advisable to act within twelve to sixteen hours. What vehicles are used to transport the organs? We use specially equipped healthcare vehicles, and helicopters for urgent cases.
How are the different units coordinated? Up to sixty people with a wide range of different skills may be involved in a transplant. Communication needs to be swift and clear because at times like this speed and clarity are of the essence. Our organisation is the result of thirty years’ work and is like a well-oiled machine with constantly updated protocols and plans of action. Are the assignment of organs and procedures meticulously regulated? Doctor Nanni Costa, director of the National Transplant Centre, has created a system that acts with maximum transparency. Organ transplantation is the only field of medicine in which all the data is published online and may be accessed by everyone in the country. Organs are assigned to recipients via a national waiting list. This prevents favouritism and allows every action to be clearly coordinated with rigorously controlled organs. How many transplant surgeries are performed in your hospital? At San Raffaele we perform about sixty a year. 7,000 people are on the waiting list in Italy and 1,600 transplants are performed every year. Unfortunately the number of donors does not increase, and far too many people are still dying while waiting for an organ. It’s better to dispel any doubts for people, Italian law is very pro civil rights; if brain death is declared, the patient is no longer alive, and nothing should stand in the way of an act of love and generosity like donating an organ.
An act of pure life We can all become donors. All you need to do is register with AIDO, the Italian Association of Organ Donors, and make a voluntary declaration that you wish to become a donor. As well as being an act of love and generosity, it is also a social duty that can give hope and life when a life has gone. Visit the AIDO website at www.aido.it 23
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the fridge
The fridge according to Greenpeace Giuseppe Onufrio, the Director of Greenpeace Italia, explains the project for a refrigerator designed in the 1990s to create an alternative not only to the use of ozone-depleting CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons, banded by the Montreal Protocol), but also the HFC (hydrofluorocarbons) greenhouse gases di Alessandra Fraschini
What is the GreenFreeze project? We aimed to find low-impact alternatives in order to prevent emerging markets from using harmful substances as they developed their economies, and the domestic refrigerator market was the first sector to be targeted. GreenFreeze was first highly successful in Germany, and this enabled us to take the project to China in the second half of the 1990s. So this is not a new project, but an ongoing relatively successful concern that most people are still not aware of. Which refrigerant gas does it use? Natural refrigerants are used in the different product sectors from domestic refrigerators to commercial and industrial refrigeration systems and fixed and mobile conditioners: mixes of hydrocarbons, ammonia, water, CO2 and air, substances that do not deplete the ozone layer and have low global warming potential (nothing for air, water and ammonia). Greenpeace promoted an international initiative – “Refrigerants Naturally” – that involves many important businesses and corporations with the aim of them voluntarily committing to transitioning to natural refrigerants with precise deadlines. Why is it so innovative and environmentally friendly? Because the HFCs that replaced the CFCs once they were banned are potent greenhouse gases and unless we rapidly eliminate their use the global emissions of greenhouse gases will significantly increase. It was recently estimated that if we don’t get rid of these gases,
they will account for 27% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2050. Does it have any limits compared with a traditional fridge? No limits, if anything the drive for innovation has led to improved efficiency. The latest example is the one developed by Coca-Cola in collaboration with Greenpeace for its “cold chain” which was presented at the Olympic Games in Beijing: not only were the HFCs eliminated, but efficiency was improved by 30%. Obviously this is initially more expensive, but that is always the way when technology is improved and an industrial standard is changed. What are the possible commercial developments? Fundamental commercial developments have already been made in the domestic refrigeration industry, and there are already about 650 million GreenFreeze refrigerators around the world. Today 90% of the refrigerators made in Europe and 75% of those made in China are based on this standard: if we buy a new fridgefreezer today more than likely we will see it is a GreenFreeze, while back in the 1990s when production first started you had to order that specific model. The American market has opened up relatively recently and limitations are in place so only high-end models are available (maybe because the main producers of HFCs are American?). There is still a lot to be done in the automotive conditioning industry; there are still no products based on GreenFreeze in this industry, only a variety of possibilities for conversion and adaptation. 25
Andrea 33 years old, web designer Andrea has been married for a year. He does the shopping once a week and knows exactly what he’s going to eat every day. He rounds off all his evening meals with a glass of chilled Mirto, the Sardinian liqueur, even though he has plenty of in-season fruit and vegetables.
Kamila
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42 years old, fashion product manager Originally from Poland, Kamila became an Italian citizen nearly thirty years ago. She loves making alternatives to Italian and Polish cuisine for her children and partner. She always has Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Strolghino salami in her fridge; two traditional products from Piacenza, where she stays at weekends.
the fridge
Facefridge When you open the door to someone’s fridge you can learn a lot about their habits, vices and virtues: it’s not just the food, even the quantity and quality and which shelf it’s on can reveal the behind-the-scene details of all our lives. So, tell me about your fridge, and I’ll tell you who you are!
Davide
32 years old veterinary surgeon Davide lives on his own but is very careful about what he eats. He is a gym fiend and alternates carbohydrates and protein after a tough workout session. He is also very careful about what OMBRA, his six-month-old kitten, eats and sometimes treats her to some ham. 27
Paola 36 years old, mother Paola is a true Neapolitan and only uses organic produce or products whose origins she is sure of. It goes without saying that dining at Paola’s house is heaven for the taste buds ….she follows her grandmother’s recipes to the letter.
Tommaso and Caterina
35 and 33 years old respectively, and married for 5 years
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Tommaso’s fridge was only introduced to order and fresh food after he got married. Before that chaos and frozen food reigned supreme.
the fridge
ARE YOU facefridge?
Send us your photo and your profile to press@thefridgefoundation.org and we’ll publish it in the next issue!
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